Showing papers in "British Journal of Sociology in 1998"
1,946 citations
TL;DR: Wacquant as mentioned in this paper discusses the history of the field of power and its transformations in the academic world. But the focus of his paper is on the production of a Nobility.
Abstract: Foreword by Loic J. D. Wacquant. Translatora s Note. Prologue: Social Structures and Mental Structures. Part I: Academic Forms of Classification:. 1. Dualistic Thinking and the Conciliation of Opposites. 2. Misrecognition and Symbolic Violence. Part II: The Ordination:. 1. The Production of a Nobility. 2. A Rite of Institution. 3. The Ambiguities of Competence. Part III: The Field of the Grandes Ecoles and its Transformations:. 1. A State of the Structure. 2. A Structural History. Part IV: The Field of Power and its Transformations:. 1. Forms of Power and their Reproduction. 2. Establishment Schools and Power over the Economy. 3 Transformations in the Structure of the Field of Power. Part V: State Power and Power over the State:. Notes. Index.
1,172 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors look at major changes which have taken place in the late 20th century and at educational policy and discuss the social study of education at the centre of political and sociological debate about post industrial societies.
Abstract: Education aims to establish the social study of education at the centre of political and sociological debate about post industrial societies. It looks at major changes which have taken place in the late 20th century and at educational policy.
534 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that employment structures are the outcome of both choice and constraint, and that this is the case for women, as well as men.
Abstract: Explanations of the persisting differences in the structure of men's and women's employment have long been debated in the social sciences. Sociological explanations have tended to stress the continuing significance of structural constraints on women's employment opportunities, which persist despite the removal of formal barriers. Neo-classical economists, in contrast, have emphasized the significance of individual choice, an argument which has been recently endorsed by C. Hakim who suggests that patterns of occupational segregation reflect the outcome of the choices made by different 'types' of women. In this paper, a previous debate relating to the explanatory utility of men's 'orientations to work' is used to argue that employment structures are the outcome of both choice and constraint, and that this is the case for women, as well as men. The argument is illustrated with evidence from cross-nationally comparative biographical interviews carried out in five countries
370 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a critical view of the culturalist explanation for Chinese business success and the inferred disparity between an idealized, static model of the three concepts and that of how guanxi and xinyong are dynamic concepts and how they actually play out in the reality of running a firm are discussed.
Abstract: This chapter focuses on personalism, elaborating on the three key elements—guanxi, xinyong, and personal control. It takes a critical view of the culturalist explanation for Chinese business success and the inferred disparity between an idealized, static model of the three concepts and that of how guanxi and xinyong are dynamic concepts and how they actually play out in the reality of running a firm. The chapter also makes a key distinction of guanxi bases as a necessary prerequisite but not equivalent to guanxi relations, in the process identifying six main guanxi bases—locality/dialect, fictive kinship, kinship, workplace, trade associations and social clubs, and friendship. It suggests that a multiplex of guanxi relations facilitates better business ties than singular strands. The chapter explores the difference between personal trust and systems trust. It stresses the need to consider institutional and environmental elements that may shape the organization of Chinese firms rather than just the organization per se.
306 citations
TL;DR: A search for clear definitions in the relevant literature is in vain this article, not because the concept lacks definitions; rather the definitions are too multiple and varied to bring clarity, and most writers on civil society agree that civil society has an institutional core constituted by voluntary associations outside the sphere of the state and the economy.
Abstract: Vaclav Havel observed that a strong civil society is a crucial condition of strong democracy. Empowering civil society is a central concern for the project of democracy, just as the question of how best to think about such empowerment is important to social and political theory. But what is ‘civil society’? A search for clear definitions in the relevant literature is in vain. Not because the concept lacks definitions; rather the definitions are too multiple and varied to bring clarity. Most writers on civil society agree, however, that civil society has an institutional core constituted by voluntary associations outside the sphere of the state and the economy. Such associations range from, for example, churches, cultural associations, sport clubs and debating societies to independent media, academies, groups of concerned citizens, grass-roots initiatives and organizations of gender, race and sexuality, all the way to occupational associations, political parties and labour unions (Habermas 1992a: 453).
289 citations
TL;DR: In the first part of the paper, varieties of RAT are distinguished in terms of three criteria according to whether they have strong rather than weak rationality requirements and claim to provide a general rather than a special theory of action.
Abstract: Rational action theory (RAT) is not a highly unified intellectual entity. In the first part of the paper, varieties of RAT are distinguished in terms of three criteria: i.e. according to whether they (i) have strong rather than weak rationality requirements; (ii) focus on situational rather than procedural rationality; (iii) claim to provide a general rather than a special theory of action. In the second part, these same criteria are applied in a consideration of which version of RAT holds out most promise for use in sociology.
287 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, women are more religious than men on virtually every measure in western societies influenced by Christianity and women's religiosity can be explained by economic or social circumstances, or the vulnerability of the physical body.
Abstract: In western societies influenced by Christianity, women are more religious than men on virtually every measure. If religion is rooted (as Marx suggested) in economic vulnerability, can the religiosity of women be explained by economic or social circumstances? Or what about the vulnerability of the physical body - can women's religiosity be explained by their greater contact with birth and death? If modernity entails the progressive eradication of all kinds of vulnerability, what might this mean for the future of religion in general and of women's religiosity in particular? And what further twists to the story might postmodernity add? The article uses these questions as a frame for reviewing the literature on women's religiosity in the modern West.
265 citations
TL;DR: No evidence was found that, in addition to a same-sector effect, it matters whether parents' occupations represent gender-traditional or non-traditional models; and parents of the service classes or highly educated parents--expected to be the most gender egalitarian in attitudes and behaviours--have a positive influence upon children's choice of gender-atypical education.
Abstract: Parental role models are often put forward as an explanation for the choice of gender-atypical educational routes. This paper aims to test such explanations by examining the impact of family background variables like parental education and occupation, on choice of educational programme at upper secondary school. Using a sample of around 73,000 Swedish teenagers born between 1972 and 1976, girls' and boys' gender-atypical as well as gender-typical educational choices are analysed by means of logistic regression. Parents working or educated within a specific field increase the probability that a child will make a similar choice of educational programme at upper secondary school. This same-sector effect appeared to be somewhat stronger for fathers and sons, while no such same-sex influence was confirmed for girls. No evidence was found that, in addition to a same-sector effect, it matters whether parents' occupations represent gender-traditional or non-traditional models. Parents of the service classes or highly educated parents--expected to be the most gender egalitarian in attitudes and behaviours--have a positive influence upon children's choice of gender-atypical education.
201 citations
TL;DR: Hakim as mentioned in this paper argued that no women can be regarded as grateful slaves and that all women are self-made women, in the sense of having chosen their particular lifestyle among the options currently available to women.
Abstract: I look forward to the day when a British female sociologist reads my research reports (Hakim, 1991, 199S, 1993a, 1993b, 1994, 1996a, 1996b, 1996c) before launching into a critique. Crompton and Harris certainly do not appear to have done so. Someone who straddlesjournalism and the academic world told me that Key Issues in Women's Work (Hakim 1996a) is an interesting and complex book too complex for journalists to handle, he warned. It appears that it is more complex than some academics have realized as well, and it does not reduce to the simplistic story that Crompton and Harris present and criticize. I am grateful to those book reviewers who did consider my arguments in full. Writing in Work, Employment and Society in September 1996, Professor Peter Elias concluded that it presents the most important synthesis of research on women's work for a decade and is a serious attempt to get to grips with conflicting arguments. Writing in the British Journal of Industrial Relations in March 1997, Odile Benoit-Guilbot of the CNRS concluded that it is a rich and important book. If Crompton and Harris had read the 1991 'Grateful slaves' article more carefully, they would have noticed that in the concluding section I repeatedly state that no women can be regarded as grateful slaves and that all women can be regarded as self-made women, in the sense of having chosen their particular lifestyle among the options currently available to women. The article was an attack on the victim feminism that is fashionable in academic circles and is reiterated by Crompton and Harris. Their misrepresentation of my article is unfortunately not unique (Phizacklea and Wolkowitz, 1995: 12; Fagan and Rubery, 1996: 227).1 If Crompton and Harris had read the 1991 'Grateful slaves' article, the 1996 'Labour mobility' article and the 1996 Key Issues book, they would have seen that they all present a three-fold typology of women's work preferences, work plans and employment profiles, not the twofold typology they criticize. The 1991 article shows clearly the large size and complex nature of the middle group of women, about half of the age cohort entering the labour market in the 1960s, which I previously labelled 'drifters' and 'unplanned careers' (Hakim 1991: 112) but would now describe under the more positive label of 'adaptives'. The 1996 'Labour mobility' article also presents a threefold typology of employment histories and again shows the middle
199 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an emergent perspective on Chaos and Pattern in Complex Systems is presented. But it is based on the notion of the Micro-Macro Bridge and does not consider the complexity of human relationships.
Abstract: Foreword - Frederick Turner Chaos and Social Science Preface PART ONE: EMERGING NEW DIRECTIONS: MYTHS AND THEORIES The Myth of Postmodern Science - Bob Price From Enlightenment to Chaos - Mary E Lee Toward Nonmodern Social Theory The Persistence of 'Emergence' - Kevin Mihata Chaos and Complexity - Kurt W Back Necessary Myths Nonlinear Dynamics and the Micro-Macro Bridge - Thomas S Smith Nonlinear Dynamics, Complexity and Public Policy - Euel Elliot and L Douglas Kiel Use, Misuse and Applicability Self-Organization of the Economy - Helmut Michael Staubmann A System-Theoretical Reconsideration of Georg Simmel's Philosophy of Money The Omicron Point Sociological Application of the Anthropic Theory - William Sims Bainbridge The Origins of Order and Disorder in Physical and Social Deterministic Systems - Alvin M Saperstein PART TWO: PRELIMINARY THINKING ABOUT METHODS Webs of Chaos - William F Stroup II Implications for Research Designs Chaos and Social Reality - R J Bird An Emergent Perspective Chaos and Pattern in Complex Systems - Ben Goertzel PART THREE: CONCEPTUAL MODELS AND APPLICATIONS Dynamics of Children's Friendships - Lutz-Michael Alisch, Shahram Azizighanbari and Martin Bargfeldt Short-Term Changes in the Domestic Division of Labor - Sara Horsfall and Elizabeth Maret Intimations of Complexity Biological Foundations of Social Interaction - Thomas S Smith and Gregory T Stevens Explorations of Nonlinear Dynamics in Arousal-Modulation Collective Behavior Following Disasters - Eve Passerini and David Bahr A Cellular Automation Model Organizations and Constraint-Based Adaptation - Kakthleen M Carley Chaotic Behavior in Society - Kevin Dooley et al Adolescent Childbearing in Texas 1964-1990 So Where Are We Now? A Final Word - Raymond A Eve
TL;DR: The authors argue that the media will shift from alarming to reassuring coverage when a 'hot crisis' portends a possible grass root panic, and compare newspaper and magazine coverage of emerging diseases with their coverage of Ebola Zaire.
Abstract: Drawing on the sociology of moral panic, this paper argues that the media will shift from alarming to reassuring coverage when a 'hot crisis' portends a possible grass root panic. To determine whether this moderation effect follows from dread-inspiring events that are developing in unpredictable and potentially threatening ways, the paper compares newspaper and magazine coverage of emerging diseases with their coverage of Ebola Zaire. The results reveal that the mutation-contagion package, with its frightful account of emerging diseases, was quickly abandoned and subverted during the Ebola epidemic. In its place, the media fashion a containment package that uses a strategy of 'othering' to allay the fear. The conclusion discusses the flexibility in the tool kits used by the media to frame events
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyse the British dance music industry and assesses claims that it offers a powerful alternative to the'mainstream' music business, and argue that a number of features of the dance music sector work against a view of the sector as a radical challenge to prevailing cultural-industry practices.
Abstract: This article analyses the British dance music industry and assesses claims that it offers a powerful alternative to the 'mainstream' music business. Two unusual features of the sector are identified. Whereas the recording industry as a whole is marked by concentration and centralization, the UK dance music industry is relatively decentralized and is made up of large numbers of 'independent' companies. Reasons for the success of small, local companies are offered, in particular the emphasis amongst dance audiences on genre, rather than on performer identity; and the low promotional costs enabled by negative press coverage of 'acid house' in the late 1980s. But the article argues that a number of features of the British dance music industry work against a view of the sector as a radical challenge to prevailing cultural-industry practices. These are as follows : firstly, the reliance of dance music companies on crossover hits and compilation albums; secondly, close ties between the independents and corporate partners; and thirdly, the pressures placed upon small companies to follow the standard ways of dealing with risk in the recording industry - in particular, the development of a star system
TL;DR: The issue of morality has lost its position of importance within the discipline, yet a growing number of sociologists interested in the ambivalent character of (post) modernity have returned to this subject in recent years.
Abstract: The issue of morality has lost its position of importance within the discipline, yet a growing number of sociologists interested in the ambivalent character of (post) modernity have returned to this subject in recent years. This article examines the revival of interest in morality and suggests it would benefit by engaging creatively with Durkheim's writings on homo duplex, collective effervescence, and the social construction of moral orders. After examining this relatively neglected part of Durkheim's work, developed most fully in his «The Elementary Forms of Religious Life», the authors focus on two of the most influential contemporary commentators on morality, Z. Bauman and A. Giddens. Having evaluated the limitations of their respective approaches (which associate the sources of morality respectively with a methodologically individualistic bodily impulse of 'being for the other', and with an increasingly global cognitive reflexivity), they analyse recent writings which have attempted to transcend such difficulties by engaging with some of the tensions in Durkheim's account of sacred moral orders. These highlight those features of Durkheim's work which continue to offer a productive basis on which to develop further a thoroughly sociological appreciation of morality
TL;DR: In this paper, the application of Foucauldian perspectives within sociology is considered, and it is argued that post-structuralists other than Foucault may offer more to sociology.
Abstract: This paper considers the application of Foucauldian perspectives within sociology. While Foucault’s epistemology has generated novel historical and philosophical interpretations, when transposed to sociology, problems arise. The first of these concerns the association of knowledge and power, and the concept of ‘discourse’. Foucault suggested that there are ‘rules’ of discursive formation which are extraneous to the ‘non-discursive’ realm of ‘reality’. This formulation is consequently both deterministic and incapable of supplying explanations of why some practices become discursive which others do not. This determinism is reflected in some sociological analyses of embodiment, offering a model of the ‘body’ which is passive, and incapable of resisting power/knowledge. Secondly, Foucault’s notion of the ‘self’ moves to the other extreme, inadequately addressing the constraints which affect the fabrication of subjectivity. Sociological accounts do not always recognise the ambiguities which consequently result from efforts to use Foucauldian positions. It is argued that post-structuralists other than Foucault may offer more to sociology.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that it would be fruitful to regard personal networks as a form of capital capable of generating economic returns by drawing on their research findings on the recent wave of emigration from Hong Kong.
Abstract: In this paper we argue that it would be fruitful to regard personal networks as a form of capital capable of generating economic returns by drawing on our research findings on the recent wave of emigration from Hong Kong. By putting network capital on a par with economic and cultural capital we seek to identify its distinctive features in terms of institutionalization capacity moral economy and processes of conversion and reproduction. In substantiating our argument we present some quantitative evidence from our survey data on the uneven distribution of kinship ties which can be mobilized for emigration among different occupational classes. (EXCERPT)
TL;DR: The article draws on public policy on dependency, legislation on retirement, superannuation and pensions, and stereotypes of the elderly to study inter-generational inequalities and considers the formation of generations around political events, shared culture and strategic advantage.
Abstract: In response to Sarah Irwin, the article develops a conflict model of inter-generational exchanges and treats generation as a neglected dimension of social stratification theory and research. Against Irwin's focus on individual attitudes from survey data towards intra-familial co-operation between generations, the article draws on public policy on dependency, legislation on retirement, superannuation and pensions, and stereotypes of the elderly to study inter-generational inequalities. Employing Pierre Bourdieu's distinction between cultural and economic capital, it considers the formation of generations around political events, shared culture and strategic advantage. Generational conflict is structurally organized around the tensions between early retirement, age-related competency, legislation on ageism, and youth unemployment. Given rapid and radical changes to the labour market, generational cohesion is an important dimension therefore of strategies of social closure.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the continued relevance of the fear of crime in political and policy debate in the light of findings from an in-depth two and a half year research project.
Abstract: The fear of crime has been at the centre of political and policy debate for some time. The purpose of this paper is to examine critically the continued relevance of that debate in the light of findings from an in-depth two and a half year research project. The findings from that project suggest that the relation people have with crime, criminal victimization, and the fear of crime is mediated by the relevance of their relationship with their local community and their structural position within that community. Understanding the nature of these relationships suggests the question of trust is of greater value in highlighting who is and who is not afraid of crime.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors deal with aspects of the work of Elias: how he dealt with the rise of Nazism and the Holocaust, and how they fit into the general context of his theory of "civilizing processes".
Abstract: This paper deals with aspects of the work of Elias: how he dealt with the rise of Nazism and the Holocaust, and how they fit into the general context of his theory of «civilizing processes». In response to critics such as Zygmunt Bauman and Ian Burkitt, the authors seek to clarify what Elias argued in his theory; and to show how, particularly in his book on «The Germans», Elias was able, using this theory, to shed light on the origins and growth of Nazism and its consequences for Germany and the world at large
TL;DR: Class structures class processes class consciousness social power social closure degradation incorporation social exclusion as mentioned in this paper, and social exclusion, respectively, have been used in the work of the authors of this paper.
Abstract: Class structures class processes class consciousness social power social closure degradation incorporation social exclusion.
TL;DR: Bremmer and Roodenburg as discussed by the authors described the comic and counter-reformation in the Spanish Netherlands in the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries in England: Derek Brewer.
Abstract: List of illustrations. Notes on contributors. Preface. Introduction: Humour and History: Jan Bremmer and Herman Roodenburg. 1. Jokes, Jokers and Jokebooks in Ancient Greek Culture: Jan Bremmer. 2. Cicero, Plautus and Roman Laughter: Fritz Graf. 3. Laughter in the Middle Ages: Jacques Le Goff. 4. Bakhtin and his Theory of Carnival: Aaron Gurevich. 5. Frontiers of the Comic in Early Modern Italy, c1350--1750: Peter Burke. 6. The Comic and the Counter Reformation in the Spanish Netherlands: Johan Verberckmoes. 7. Prose Jest--Books Mainly in the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries in England: Derek Brewer. 8. To Converse Agreeably: Civility and the Telling of Jokes in Seventeenth--Century Holland: Herman Roodenburg. 9. How was Jan Steen Funny? Strategies and Functions of Comic Painting in the Seventeenth Century: Mariet Westermann. 10. Parliamentary Hilarity Inside the French Constitutional Assembly (1789--91): Antoine de Baecque. 11. Humour and the Public Sphere in Nineteenth--Century Germany: Mary Lee Townsend. 12. Humour, Laughter and the Field: Reflections from Anthropology: Henk Driessen. 13. Humour and History: A Research Bibliography: Johan Verberckmoes. Index of Names. Index of Subjects.