Showing papers in "Canadian Journal of Sociology in 1998"

Too Close for Comfort? Parental Assessments of "Boomerang Kid" Living Arrangements

Abstract: *This study was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Thanks to Ellen Gee, Andrew Wister, and Doug Talling for their contributions to this research. Abstract: The recent trend of young adults returning to the parental home has resulted in a burgeoning field of research. However, a controversy exists concerning the consequences of this social phenomenon for family members. Drawing on life course theory, this paper examines parental satisfaction with "boomerang kid" living arrangements by analyzing data collected from 218 Canadian families who recently experienced this transition "reversal". The main findings suggest that, from the parental point of view, returns to the nest are not typically characterized by dissatisfaction and conflict. Furthermore, parental satisfaction is greater when children reciprocate exchanges of support, are more autonomous, and are closer to the completion of adult roles. In recognition that many parents are experiencing a delay in the transition to the empty nest and an extension of their day-to-day responsibilities for children, implications for theory, parental well-being during midlife, and for social policy are discussed. Resume: La tendance recente d'un mouvement de retour a la maison parental observe chez les jeunes adultes s'est traduite par l'eclosion d'un champ de recherche. Toutefois, il existe une controverse au sujet des consequences de ce phenomene social sur les membres de la famille. En s'appuyant sur la theorie du cycle de vie, cet article etudie la satisfaction parentale vis-a-vis les modalites de vie des enfants boomerang en analysant des donnees recueillies aupres de 218 familles canadiennes ayant vecu une telle transition. Du point de vue parental, les principaux resultats suggerent que le mouvement de retour au nid n'est pas necessairement source de mecontentement ou de conflit. En outre, la satisfaction parentale est plus grande lorsque les enfants s'engagent dans une relation d'entraide, lorsqu'ils sont plus autonomes et qu'ils sont sur le point de remplir pleinement leur role d'adulte. Etant donne que plusieurs parents se voient contraints de retarder leur transition vers le nid vide et d'accroitre leurs responsabilites quotidiennes envers les enfants, nous discutons des implications tant au niveau de la theorie, qu'au niveau de la politique sociale et du bien-etre parental au mi-temps de la vie. Introduction From the perspective of parents, the launching of children marks an important transition in the life course into what is commonly termed the empty-nest stage. For young adults, the formation of independent households apart from parents is an important aspect of the passage into adulthood. Yet, recent Canadian data reveal that, even though leaving the parental household is a normative transition for the majority of young adults, it is not always permanent. Given the significant increase in rates of coresidence among adult children and their parents, it appears that young-adult children are increasingly likely to refill the parental nest as "boomerang kids." (1) Although historical and cross-cultural evidence suggest substantial diversity in patterns of coresidence (e.g., see White, 1994; Jones, 1995; Weinick, 1995), Canadian statistics reveal a rise in the rates of intergenerational doubling-up in 1991 compared to earlier decades. (2) For example, among unmarried people aged 20-24, 70.5% of men and 63.4% of women were living at home in 1991. This represents approximately a 10% increase since the 1970s, leading some researchers to characterize these young adults as "a generation on hold" or "the postponed generation" (Littwin, 1986; Cote and Allahar, 1994). Thus, as attention devoted to youth transitions grows, it has become clear that coresidence, and returning home in particular, has numerous sociological, demographic, and economic implications, not the least of which is its impact on parent-child relationships, and ultimately, the quality of life experienced by parents during their middle-years. …

New Dimensions of Social Movement/ Countermovement Interaction: The Case of Scientology and its Internet Critics*

Abstract: The interaction between social movements and countermovements is a key aspect of resource mobilization theory, yet researchers have devoted comparatively little study to it. This article uses the conflict between Scientology and its Internet critics as a case study in movement/countermovement interaction, concentrating on resource deprivation and damaging actions. The uniqueness of Internet communication, however, requires adjustments to traditional resource mobilization theory in order to theorize this conflict, and this article proposes two refinements. First, the study of Internet movement/countermovement interaction involves the displacement of the normally-central role of the state in resource mobilization theory. Second, a

Empowerment, Emancipation and (Health Promotion Policy)

Abstract: Conventional approaches to social intervention assume that the solutions to social problems lie in the ability to organize the social world according to the technocratic mindset of the state administrative apparatus An emancipatory approach to intervention adheres to the principle that systemic activity must be rationalized by collective understanding emerging from everyday experience This article examines the extent to which Canadian empowerment oriented health promotion programs demonstrate a capacity to support this emancipatory interest Using a Habermasian framework I put forward the argument that the political strength of such programs lies in their capacity to create communicative spaces which allow for the exploration of common interests and the emergence of collective political agency Resume: Les approches traditionnelles a l'intervention sociale partent du principe que les solutions aux problemes sociaux reposent sur la capacite d'adapter le monde social aux attitudes ancrees des technocrates de l'appareil administratif de l'Etat Une approche emancipatrice a l'intervention sociale soutient qu'il faut rationaliser l'activite systemique au moyen d'une comprehension collective issue du vecu quotidien Le present article examine jusqu'a quel point les programmes canadiens de la promotion de la sante de type habilitateur peuvent eclairer cette approche emancipatrice A l'aide d'un schema inspire de Habermas, je soutiens que la force politique de ces programmes depend de leur capacite de creer des possibilites de communication qui facilitent l'exploration des interets communs et l'action politique collective Introduction Since the early 1980s social programmers and activists within the health promotion, adult education and social welfare sectors increasingly have used the language of empowerment oriented intervention to articulate and develop strategies for enhancing the skills, knowledge and behavioural capacity of the dispossessed This paper assesses the emancipatory potential of this "empowering" approach to social intervention using a Habermasian analytical framework My interest in pursuing this concern is twofold First, I hope to advance the potential of empowerment oriented intervention as an emancipatory project The issue is particularly relevant for feminists and other critical thinkers whose interventionary efforts are directed at the dissolution of oppressive social practices and structures Second, I hope to contribute to the growing body of literature which explores the practical, everyday dimensions of Jurgen Habermas's theory of communicative action (Fischer, 1985; Carr and Kemmis, 1986; Forester, 1988, Hart 1989; Collins, 1991; Welton, 1995; Marshall, 1995; Parkin, 1996) In pursuing this argument, first I will provide an introduction to the practice of social intervention and a description of empowerment oriented intervention specifically as it has been articulated in the social programs emerging from Health Canada's Ottawa Charter (1986) Second, I will discuss what Habermas argues are the disempowering attributes of the social interventionary process -- the privileging of technocratic rationality, systemic appropriation of communication, and the disempowerment of the political citizen Using three Health Canada projects as examples, I will examine the extent to which these characteristics continue to manifest themselves in social programs which are based on some notion of empowerment Third, I will argue that the emancipatory "moment," or critical fulcrum in empowerment oriented interventions, lies in the emphasis on group participation and mutual support I will argue that it is here that one finds the legitimate starting point for the construction of an emancipatory approach to social intervention Intervention, Empowerment and Health Promotion In advanced capitalist societies, organized state-initiated social programming has become the remedial response to an ever growing list of societal ills …

The genesis of adolescent risk-taking : Pathways through family, school, and peers

Abstract: This paper presents an empirical examination of Sampson and Laub's social control theory. It tests the effects of family structure, family attachment, school attachment and peer attachment on a generalized form of risk-taking behaviour which includes delinquency and drug use. The data come from a single stratified sample of 1,075 high school students in Ontario. The findings suggest that the effect of family attachment on risk-taking is moderated by both school and peer involvement. When family attachment is low, school attachment inhibits risk-taking and strong peer attachment reinforces it.

Global Risks and Social Inequality: Critical Remarks on the Risk-Society Hypothesis

Abstract: The "risk-society hypothesis" consists of two related parts. In its first part, the hypothesis views modern societies as being in a transition from "class societies" to "risk societies." In its second part, it states that modern societies undergo a process of "individualization." Essentially, Ulrich Beck and others elaborate both parts of the hypothesis with respect to industrial societies in general and to German society in particular. Critics argue that the hypothesis misjudges the relation between societal risk distribution, conflict, and social inequality. It fails to understand the main reasons for risk-related conflicts in society when it supposes that the basic conflicts characterizing risk societies are different from the basic conflicts in class societies. It fails mainly because it ignores the possibility of causal attributions and risk perceptions directly related to antagonistic (class) positions. As far as the postulated individualization process is concerned, the risk society hypothesis represents a peculiar mixture of supposedly right and wrong assumptions. The hypothesis seems quite right in assuming changing modes of social integration: Not so much traditional ties as market and competitive mechanisms determine social life, often advancing to its most private corners. The hypothesis fails, however, in its structural implications. In particular, the view that the postulated trends question the "hierarchy model of social inequality" is neither theoretically convincing nor empirically tenable. Instead, neither exposition to global risks nor individualization is likely to make society more egalitarian. Furthermore, instead of assuming that risk-societies overcome class conflicts, the paper envisions the emergence of a new risk-related cleavage in society. Introduction: The Risk-Society Hypothesis (1) The "risk-society hypothesis" (Beck, 1992) views modern societies as being in a transition from "class societies" to "risk societies." To Beck, class societies are "scarcity societies" concerned with "the distribution of socially produced wealth and related conflicts" (op.cit, p. 20). He states that "sooner or later in the continuity of modernization the social positions and conflicts of a `wealth-distributing' society begin to be joined by those of a `risk-distributing' society," and clarifies that "by risks" is meant "above all radioactivity, which completely evades human perceptive abilities, but also toxins and pollutants in the air, the water and foodstuffs, together with the accompanying short- and long-term effects on plants, animals and people" (op.cit, p. 22). Essentially, the risk-society hypothesis implies a set of three related propositions, namely a globalization and conflict proposition concerning the relationship between social inequality ("the logic of wealth distribution") and risk ("risk distribution"), and a proposition concerning the "individualization of social inequality." (a) Globalization Proposition The globalization proposition states that the hazards in risk societies are modernization risks with an "inherent tendency toward globalization." Though it is conceded that "the history of risk distribution shows that, like wealth, risks adhere to the class pattern, only inversely," that there exist "broad overlapping areas between class and risk society" to the extent that one is tempted to conclude "risks seem to strengthen, not to abolish, the class society." Although "the possibilties and abilities to deal with risks, avoid them or compensate for them are probably unequally divided among the various occupational and educational strata," Beck explicitly rejects the conclusion "that through these reflective and well financed dealings with risks the old social inequalities are strenghtened on a new level." Instead, "that does not strike at the heart of the distributional logic of risks" (op.cit, p. 35f.). …

Sociology for whom? : The role of sociology in reflexive modernity

Abstract: Les connaissances sociologiques ne sont pas seulement utilisees par les politiciens et autres experts. Les gens ordinaires s'approprient les savoirs issus des sciences sociales de maniere routiniere, c'est-a-dire dans le cadre des decisions de la vie quotidienne. La these de la modernite reflexive permet de situer le processus d'appropriation des connaissances sociologiques par les gens ordinaires dans le cadre des transformations qui ont trait a la construction de l'identite-de-soi. Une forme d'utilite majeure de la sociologie reside dans la transformation continue du sens commun, et dans la diffusion d'une conscience sociologique, qui marque la facon dont les gens construisent leurs recits de vie. Cette conscience sociologique renvoie a la relation entre le personnel et le social, et a la facon dont les gens determinent leur responsabilite et leur degre de controle vis-a-vis des evenements de la vie quotidienne

Neglected and Rejected: A Case Study of the Impact of Social Research on Canadian Drug Policy

Abstract: Dans cet article, l'A. etudie le developpement de la nouvelle loi canadienne sur la drogue. Il a fallu quatre annees, deux gouvernements, et trois commissions pour enfin declarer le projet de Loi C-7 en mai 1997. Cette loi affirme l'importance du crime ayant rapport aux stupefiants et aussi du châtiment en punition de ce genre de criminalite. A certains egards, la loi ne tient pas compte des recherches empiriques soulignant la valeur d'autres facons d'aborder le probleme, c'est-a-dire celles qui evitent le châtiment et se prononcent en faveur de la sante publique et de la justice sociale. L'A. reexamine les recherches sur cette question, y compris des arguments presentes directement aux commissions. Elle examine certaines des raisons qui ont contribue a faire rejeter la competence des sociologues et des autres specialistes lors de la determination de la nouvelle loi

Accreditation of Sociology Programs: A Bridge to a Broader Audience

Abstract: Alors que de plus en plus de diplomes en sociologie trouvent un emploi en dehors de l'universite, le besoin d'une instruction convenable, particulierement au niveau de la licence et de la maitrise, a augmente. La sociologie doit se manifester pertinemment a un public plus vaste au-dela du monde universitaire. Cet article commence par definir la sociologie des professions puis explore les problemes auxquels la sociologie est confrontee : sa nature obscure, son interet marque pour les juridictions professionnelles, et les debouches des sociologues en dehors de l'universite. Une reconnaissance officielle est presentee comme la base de toute certification et comme moyen d'ameliorer la qualite de l'instruction sociologique clinique et appliquee

The Significance of Family, Work, and Power Relations for Mothers' Mental Health

Abstract: The connections among employment and family conditions, gender, and psychological distress are examined using a power relations framework with a sample of mothers. We consider how broader societal conditions impact on mother's lives to differentially shape their opportunities and rewards, and therefore their distress. Employment, as well as income and control, benefit mother's mental health. Single parenthood per se is not a risk factor for distress. Rather, increased childcare strain, the lack of adequate financial resources and the employment opportunities associated with lone-motherhood disadvantage these women.

Social Origins, Social Statuses and Home Computer Access and Use

Abstract: This paper assesses the effects of social origins as well as individual level socio-economic statuses on respondents' access to and use of home microcomputers in Canada. The study shows members of lower class origins and individuals in lower socio-economic statuses owning and using a home computer to a significantly lesser extent than those from higher social origins and individual statuses. Much of social origin effects are mediated through respondents' socio-economic statuses, particularly education. Respondents' education, consistent with previous research, is the best predictor of home computer access and use. Moreover, the analyses lend support to Bourdieu's view that upper classes are able to reproduce themselves by adopting

Self-Identity and Readiness for Interethnic Contact among Young Palestinians in the West Bank

Abstract: 1. The author, associate professor of sociology, wishes to thank his students of methodology course, which he offered in Birzeit University, West Bank, Palestine, in 1993/94, for participating in designing the research and collecting the data. Abstract: This paper argues that among Palestinians in the West Bank, Palestinian national identity is the strongest, followed, in order, by local identity, Arab identity, religious identity and lastly clan identity. Moreover, the paper argues that while Palestinians' readiness to contact Jews is weak, the greatest readiness is to work in the same office, followed by readiness to make Jewish friends and readiness to live in the same neighbourhood, and that readiness to marry Jews is the lowest. Multiple regression analysis shows that readiness for interethnic contact is not significantly correlated to self-identity, but rather is significantly correlated to other variables, and primarily to party support. Supporters of Islamic organizations and of Marxist organizations are less ready to contact Jews than supporters of Fatah. The former have rejected the Israeli-Palestinian agreement, while the latter have approved it. Survey interview data were collected from a total sample of 496 students at Birzeit University in 1994. Resume: Cette etude montre que l'identite nationale palestinienne est l'identite la plus forte chez les Palestiniens de Cisjordanie, suivie dans l'ordre par: l'identite locale, l'identite arabe, l'identite religieuse et, enfin, l'identite clanique. Il apparait en outre que si les Palestiniens sont en general peu disposes a entrer en contact avec des Juifs, en revanche, l'inclination a travailler dans le meme bureau est forte suivie en cela par l'inclination le meme bureau est forte suivie en cela par l'inclination a habiter le meme quartier. Par contre, ils sont peu favorables au mariage interethnique. De multiples analyses de regression montrent que la tendance au contact interethnique n'est pas en correlation significative avec l'identite propre; elle l'est plutot avec d'autres variables et, en particulier, avec l'appartenance politique. Ainsi, les partisans des organisations islamiques ou marxistes sont moins enclins a avoir des contacts avec les Juifs que ceux du Fatah, les premiers ayant rejete l'accord israelo-palestinien, les seconds l'ayant soutenu. Les donnees ont ete recueillies a partir d'interviews realisees sur un echantillon de 496 etudiants de l'Universite de Birzeit en 1994. Introduction Research Problem and Significance The present paper focuses on the following questions: 1. How do Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip identify themselves? More specifically, to what extent do they identify themselves as Palestinians, as Arabs and as Muslims or Christians? 2. To what extent are these Palestinians ready to coexist with Jews and to have social relations with them? 3. Has the start of the implementation of the Israeli-Palestinian agreement, the DOP (Declaration of Principles), affected Palestinians' identity and readiness to have social relations with Jews? 4. Is there a relationship between the self-identity of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and their readiness to contact Jews? This research is significant not only because no empirical studies have been conducted on the topic in the occupied Palestinian territories, but also because its findings may contribute to the existing limited empirical knowledge regarding identity and interethnic contact in colonial and post-colonial societies. In addition, the research is significant because it examines the effect of an important event in Palestinian history, that is the start of implementing the DOP in Spring 1994, on Palestinians' identity and readiness for interethnic contact. The collection of data before and after that event allows us to study its effect on Palestinians' identity and readiness. …

Long-Term Intergenerational Mobility in Quebec (1851-1951): The Emergence of a New Social Fluidity Regime

Abstract: 1. This paper was prepared with the financial help of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (grant #410-93-1400). It is a revised version of a paper presented at the XIIIth World Congress of Sociology of the International Sociological Association in Bielefeld (Germany, July 1994). Michel de Seve and Gerard Bouchard Abstract: Using data extracted from parish registers of the Saguenay Region in Quebec from 1842 to 1971, this study explores the usefulness of the Erikson and Goldthorpe "core model of social fluidity" to describe the historical evolution of relative mobility in a "frontier" region. The conclusions of this study are two-fold: 1) relative mobility has only changed in minor ways between 1842 and 1971, 2) in so far as it has changed, it had converged toward the core model of social fluidity observed in contemporary industrialized societies by Erikson and Goldthorpe. Resume: A l'aide de donnees extraites des registres paroissiaux de la region du Saguenay au Quebec entre 1842 et 1971, cette etude examine la pertience du "modele fondamental de fluidite sociale" propose par Erikson et Goldthorpe pour decrire l'evolution historique de la mobilite relative dans une region en voie de developpement. Deux conclusions principales sont proposees: 1) la fluidite sociale a peu change entre 1842 et 1971, 2) en autant que celle-ci a change, elle a evolue vers le "modele fondamental de fluidite sociale" observe dans les societes industrielles contemporaines par Erikson et Goldthorpe. Objectives Two main theses are currently discussed by analysts of intergenerational social mobility in a historical perspective: - according to some authors (Erikson and Goldthorpe, 1992), not only contemporary industrial societies share a similar regime of relative mobility but this "fluidity regime" has mostly remained constant since the beginning of the XXth century, - according to others (Ganzeboom, Luijkx and Treiman, 1989), intergenerational exchanges between social positions in these contemporary societies are increasingly easy, even after eliminating the effects of the evolution of the social positions' distribution. Recent debates published in the European Sociological Review (vol. 8, no. 3, December 1992) show that statistical models reflecting these two conceptions explain approximately the same proportion of observed relative mobility in contemporary industrial societies (Jones, 1992). Unfortunately, as far as we know, historical data required to test both hypotheses are very rare. On the one hand, contemporary data used by Erikson and Goldthorpe (1992) or Ganzeboom, Luijkx and Treiman (1989) have been collected during the second part of the XXth Century and they can at best provide a picture of social mobility since the beginning of the XXth Century. On the other hand, recent analysis of historical data using sophisticated models as those of van Leeuwen and Maas (1996), Miles (1993) or Fukomoto and Grusky (1993) do not allow for firm conclusions concerning the changing or stable character of the fluidity regime during the XIXth Century: while the first two suggest that this regime has changed, the last one supports the hypothesis of a constant relative mobility regime. In Quebec, there exists only one study having compared the occupational mobility over a relatively long time period: Garon-Audy (1979) has examined three cohorts of young married men between 1954 and 1974 and pointed to a weak equalization of mobility odds over time. Reanalysed by Beland (1987), these data seem rather to indicate a stability in the association between fathers' and sons' positions. It seems necessary to complement these two last studies for at least three reasons: 1) the occupations of both the sons and fathers used in these studies are observed at the beginning of their careers (son's occupation at his wedding and father's occupation at the birth of his son, usually both before the age of 30), 2) the categories used for classifying these occupations do not permit comparisons with studies of other societies and 3) the period in question (1954 to 1974) is relatively short and recent. …

Sociology and Economic Development Policy: The Case of Industrial District Promotion*

Abstract: La critique de la pertinence limitee de la politique gouvernementale sur la recherche sociologique a cree un besoin urgent d'une connaissance davantage axee sur les politiques. L'A. aborde la promotion des regions industrielles pour le developpement economique comme un secteur ou les sociologues pourraient jouer un role predominant dans les debats publics. Il affirme que les regions industrielles sont des systemes principalement sociaux, et non techniques. Il demande aux sociologues d'accorder une attention accrue aux procedes institutionnels par lesquels les structures inter-entreprises sont creees et transformees

The Analytical and Political Utility of Poststructuralism: Considering Affirmative Action

Abstract: Dans cette intervention, l'A. estime que la sociologie poststructuraliste peut augmenter la capacite civique de la sociologie. Les theories poststructuralistes permettent aux sociologues d'analyser les debats sociaux dans le but specifique d'augmenter la participation politique dans notre societe. Il suggere que l'oeuvre de Michel Foucault et de Jacques Derrida peut etre prise comme un moyen a partir duquel une sociologie poststructuraliste pent se developper. Finalement, il utilise une de ses propres recherches, a titre d'exemple de perspective sociologique poststructuraliste, pour mettre au clair la controverse actuelle sur l'action politique de l'affirmative action aux Etats-Unis

Changing the subject(s) of the history of Canadian sociology : The case of Colin McKay and Spencerian marxism, 1890-1940

Abstract: Although Canadian sociologists, responding to such issues as Canadianization, feminism, and postmodernism, have over the past quarter century shown a strong interest in writing historical narratives about their discipline, they have tended to focus exclusively on university-based sociology This focus has obscured the extent to which "sociological discussion" was a broadly-based intellectual activity in the North Atlantic world, especially among self-taught working-class intellectuals fired by evolutionary theory and a sense of sociology's emancipatory potential Colin McKay, one of the most prolific and important of these working-class sociologists in Canada, exemplified their general tendency to work within a paradigm influenced by both Karl Marx and Herbert Spencer His work, taken as an outstanding example of radical sociological writings in this tradition, had important things to say about class, culture, and capitalism in Canada Resume: Depuis 25 ans, les sociologues canadiens, repondant aux questions telles que l'independance canadien, le feminisme, et la condition postmoderne, ont construit des recits historiques au sujet de leur discipline, concentre presque exclusivement sur le monde universitaire, une strategie qui passe sous silence les traditions du sociologie populaire, souvent inspires par Marx et Herbert Spencer Ici on examine les ecrits sociologiques de Colin McKay, un autodidact ouvrier, qui a propose des theses eclairantes a propos de la culture et le capitalisme au Canada In every one of their recent "great debates" -- over Canadianization, Quebec, Marxism, feminism, postmodernism -- Canadian sociologists have been drawn into a discussion of the significant events in the history of sociology in Canada A new development in the field is often "historicized" by relating it to "the Canadian sociological tradition," made up of a certain number of key events and personages (eg, the "beginnings" of sociology at McGill under CADawson in the 1920s and 1930s, the emergence of the Toronto School in the 1930s and 1940s, with Harold Innis and SD Clark as the significant figures, Americanization in the 1960s, Canadianization in the 1970s, postmodernism and cultural studies in the 1990s, and so on) Such historical narratives have naturalized a narrowly academic definition of "Canadian sociology" A broader approach to the history of Canadian sociology may bring rewards not just to sociologists but also to all scholars concerned with the exploration of "the social" in Canada I begin with a brief consideration of the academic emphasis in existing histories of Canadian sociology, then proceed to an analysis of the work of Colin McKay, a working-class intellectual who exemplified a wide-spread enthusiasm for radical sociology in turn-of-the-century Canada Drawing upon theories of Karl Marx and Herbert Spencer, such "sociologists" as McKay developed their own critical understanding of capitalist development a Narratives of Sociological Development Accounts of the history of Canadian sociology almost always work with an implicit equation: sociology = the discipline taught in sociology departments Gillian Creese is typical in remarking that The history of sociological research on British Columbia is not much older than BC Studies [b 1969] The first sociology course was offered at the University of British Columbia in 1918 and the first sociologist was appointed in 1929, but the discipline did not develop until the late 1960s This pattern was not unique to BC Until 1961 McGill University possessed the only independent Sociology Department in Canada (Creese, 1993-1994: 21) The implicit assumption here is that sociological research is obviously the same as academic sociology, and that nearly all sociologists, as intellectuals, worked as teachers in the universities (see also Childers, 1973: 40) Frank E Jones has claimed that sociology in Canada was largely neglected until the 1950s (Jones, 1992: 21) …

Sociology, civil society, and the unbound world

Abstract: La sociologie a ses origines dans la modernite urbaine - dans la societe civile, plus precisement. Ces sources ont donne lieu a l'elaboration de systemes totalisants (totalistic) de representation sociale, qui culminent dans l'Etat moderne. Les deux contextes ont fait de la sociologie une sorte de pont entre la societe civile et l'Etat ou, en termes plus generaux, entre les traditions des collectivites sociales prosaiques et celles d'un appareil d'Etat (systematicity) pragmatique. On soutient ici que les processus modernes de mondialisation ont modifie la donne - la societe civile mondialisee tendant a se soustraire a l'autorite d'un Etat qui devient lui-meme de moins en moins competent en tant qu'agent d'action strategique au sein de cet univers modifie. Cette impasse est prejudiciable a la sociologie, qui se trouve ainsi detournee de la fonction de fil communicateur qui la caracterisait depuis les debuts de la modernite

Contemporary capitalist dilemmas, the social sciences, and the geopolitics of the twenty-first century

Abstract: L'A. s'efforce de prevoir dans quelle mesure les sciences sociales pourront faire face aux changements geopolitiques qui surviendront au cours du 21 e siecle. Il souligne que le capitalisme se trouve confronte a une evolution fondamentale. Il rappelle que l'intervention de l'Etat dans l'economie tend a etre remise en cause par la pensee neoliberale. Il analyse les processus de fixation des salaires, de la fiscalite dans l'economie capitaliste. Il affirme que celle-ci, de par son mode de fonctionnement, met en peril la biosphere. Il met en lumiere certaines limites dans les programmes economiques neoliberaux. Il estime qu'une economie mondiale capitaliste a besoin d'une autorite et d'une connaissance secularisees. Il estime que les sciences et plus particulierement les sciences sociales tendent a jouer un role de plus en plus important. Il considere que les sciences doivent abandonner la notion de certitude. Il critique le systeme «inter-etatique» actuel qui a vu la mise en place des institutions internationales. Il denonce le mythe de l'egalite des nations souveraines. Il note un affaiblissement tres important de la puissance economique americaine par rapport a celle de l'Union europeenne et a celle du Japon. Il s'attache a identifier les evolutions qui vont affecter les espaces economiques internationaux de libre-echange

Sociology and Its Publics -- Whither Sociology?: An Introduction

Abstract: This "Special Issue" has been prepared to coincide with the quadrennial meeting of the International Sociological Association in Montreal July 1998, which is the first time that body will hold its general meeting in Canada. The original inspiration for this issue came from Dr. Susan McDaniel, the previous editor of The Canadian Journal of Sociology who invited me to take on the task of editing it. I undertook to do so because I agreed with Dr. McDaniel that an occasion when several thousand sociologists from around the world were meeting in Canada was a good time for this journal to devote an issue to sociology's relationship to its various "publics." Moreover, as this was to be the last such ISA meeting before the start of the new millennium, it seemed to be a particularly appropriate time that such a Special Issue also consider the future role of sociology as we enter into what appears to be a very uncertain future for our discipline. This Special Issue itself has been three years in the making. The "Call for Papers" was issued in 1995. Appropriately, it was not only circulated to the subscribers of this journal but was one of the first general announcements circulated by the ISA using its newly created list of members' e-mail addresses. As a result, not only Canadian scholars but those from a wide range of countries submitted manuscripts for review, and much of the ensuring period has involved a time consuming process of evaluation, re-writing and re-submission. While the nine papers included here were the ones ultimately chosen by reviewers as most deserving of publication, and even though they collectively have resulted in an issue which is more than double the usual length for this journal, there were many other quality contributions which could not be included. Hence, I thank not only those whose articles appear here for their good humoured perseverance in response to both the comments of the anonymous reviewers and myself, but also the considerably larger group of persons worldwide who submitted papers not accepted for inclusion. Let me also take this opportunity to thank the sociologists worldwide, many known to me only through their published works, who so willingly gave their time and offered imaginative insights to those whose works they reviewed. At the time that I developed the "Call for Papers" for this "Special Issue," two books on the "policy" role of sociology had just appeared in the United States. They were Sociology and Its Publics (1992) edited by Halliday and Janowitz, and Sociology and the Pubic Agenda (1993) edited by William Julius Wilson. Both works contain papers examining sociology's relationship with a range of its "user groups" including students, employers and other professionals. As the Editor's introductory essay in each volume might be expected to convey the general sense of the issues underlying this area, they are worth summarizing here. As I read these, the underlying theme of both is that sociology has not developed the "voice" that it might have deserved in shaping the pubic agenda. In his introductory paper, Halliday seems particularly pessimistic about this, virtually lamenting that "sociology has no generally accepted authority or "knowledge mandate" over a particular set of problems that it can legitimately claim as its own" (1992: 12), and he discusses at length the problems which arise in maintaining a distinct "professionalism" while working either for the state or private "clients" (1992: 15). He concludes that "sociology's vulnerability to external influences might not be so vexing if its internal conditions were more resilient" (1992: 38) and suggests that the papers following in the volume indicate that "sociology is a fragile and uncertain discipline" (1992: 39). In contrast, Wilson's introductory essay adopts a more positive view. He argues that claims "... concerning the fall of sociology are overstated" (1993: 3) and supports this view with figures showing a slight increase in sociology department enrollments in the United States. …

Sizing up the Forest, or Brief Reflection on the Question of Whether There is Such a Thing as Society

Abstract: Depuis les annees 70, l'on a parle plusieurs fois de la disparition de la societe et de l'hypothese pour les sociologues d'aborder de nouveaux objets de recherches. L'A. examine ces affirmations dans trois contextes differents. Du point de vue de (1) l'individualisme, le social n'est rien d'autre que l'ensemble des individus, alors que selon les (2) globalistes les societes modernes forment une seule societe mondiale. Selon les theoriciens (3) post-modernes, les societes modernes se sont deja desintegrees et les nouveaux phenomenes devraient etre examines par de nouvelles notions. Le point de vue de l'A. est que l'existence de la sociologie a ete provoquee par la volonte de se connaitre des societes modernes, elle ne peut donc pas refuser le devoir de formuler et de satisfaire ce besoin

The company of strangers : Sociology in trans-disciplinary research

Abstract: En 1993, le Secretariat Tri-Conseil, qui vit le jour apres la mise en place du Projet vert du gouvernement federal, subventionna plusieurs projets multidisciplinaires dans le domaine de la recherche ecologique. Un de ces projets ayant pour centre l'Universite de Guelph avait pour but explicite le developpement d'indicateurs de la sante des agro-ecosystemes. Etant donne que la dimension humaine-sociale se trouve a la base des systemes agro-ecologiques, la sociologie a entrepris de cooperer avec les disciplines qui ont contribue au Projet d'etude de la Sante des Agro-ecosystemes. Cet article etudie le role de la sociologie dans le cadre de cette recherche en approfondissant la question : ou va la sociologie ? ou encore, comment va la sociologie ? ce genre de question peut s'exprimer et trouver une solution grâce a l'un examen des deux conditions suivantes : les ressources de base de la discipline (qui refletent sa capacite a repondre a la pression) et l'efficacite de la sociologie (qu'on mesure par sa capacite a atteindre des buts). Au travers d'une critique de l'adaptation de la perspective sociologique au regard des methodes et de l'analyse dans le cadre du Projet d'etude de la Sante des Agro-ecosystemes, cet article suggere que la sociologie fait face a un avenir prometteur pour deux raisons : elle sait, d'une part, s'adapter et, d'autre part, elle s'est engagee a poursuivre des projets qui peuvent trouver des applications dans le domaine de l'elaboration des politiques ainsi que dans le domaine des nouvelles approches en matiere scientifique