Showing papers in "Canadian Journal of Sociology in 2004"

Creeping conditionality in the UK: From welfare rights to conditional entitlements?

Abstract: A widely recognised central tenet of New Labour’s ‘Third Way’ is no rights without responsibilities. The extent to which this idea underpins the British government’s approach to welfare reform has been extensively commented upon. Initially, the article places the UK reforms in the context of wider theoretical debates about welfare reform in Western states. It then highlights the ways in which a principle of conditionality is being practically applied in a wide range of sectors in the UK including; social security, housing, education, and health. The details and impact of recent relevant legislation and initiatives are discussed. It is argued that as policies based on conditional entitlement become central to the ongoing process of welfare reform the very idea of ‘welfare rights’ is systematically undermined.

Criminal circumstance : a dynamic multicontextual criminal opportunity theory

Abstract: The main objective of this book is to propose an alternative criminal opportunity theory. The authors build upon social control and routine activities to develop a dynamic, multi-contextual criminal opportunity theory. Emphasizing the importance of contextual explanations of criminal acts, they propose two levels of analysis: individual and environmental. At each level, the theory pivots on three broad organizing constructs--offenders motivated to commit criminal acts, targets such as persons or property suitable as objects of criminal acts, and the presence or absence of individuals or other defensive mechanisms capable of serving as guardians against criminal acts. Crime is profoundly real, possessing qualities that make its occurrence and prevention pressing and persistent matters for individuals and societies. Theory, in contrast, is seen as highly abstract and removed from the seriousness of "real life." Theory almost seems to be a peculiar sport of an academic class. The practically minded, even some academic criminologists, are often perplexed by the seeming obsession some scholars have with theory, which, after all, is nothing more than an explanation of facts. The practically minded, seeing a compelling need to identify the crucial factors that could be used to predict and prevent crime, wonder why anyone would invest precious time and energy into speculating about the abstract, underlying details of why crime occurs when and where it does.The authors contend that every intervention, prevention, and policy is based on some theoretical explanation of the causes of human behavior. The improvement of interventions, preventions, and policies is thus directly related to the improvement of theoretical understandings of the abstract, underlying details of the causes of crime. The development of explanations of events, when properly done, is a crucial component to understanding and possibly improving the "real world." This work does just that.

The Transformation of Private Tutoring: Education in a Franchise Form

Abstract: Various forms of private education are growing in Canada. This paper explores one instance of this change, private tutoring. Data from Ontario show that this massively growing industry is expanding its reach, as exemplified by the evolution from "shadow education" provision into "learning centre" franchises. Tradition al shadow educators closely folio w the school curriculum, offering short-term homework help and test prep. Learning centres develop their own curricular and assessment tools, offer comprehensive menus of services, and aim to nurture long-term skills. In so doing, these businesses are becoming increasingly "school-like," moving beyond supplementary education towards a fuller alternative to public schooling. We link this evolution to the imperatives of the franchise form. Their larger investment prompts franchises to control their services via standardization, to secure stable revenues, and to seek new market niches. In conclusion we discuss the prospects for minting and other forms of private education. Resume: Dans le secteur prive, differents modeles d'enseignement se developpent actuellement au Canada. Cet article illustre un cas specifique de cette evolution : la transformation du tutorat. Des donnees de l'Ontario demontrent que cette industrie, qui connait un essor formidable, est en pleine expansion, tel qu'on peut le constater par la modification du tutorat, qui mene d'une forme d'education parallele a des centres franchises d'education. Les educateurs traditionnels qui offrent des services paralleles suivent de pres les programmes scolaires, offrant de l'aide a court terme pour les devoirs et pour les preparations aux examens, tandis que les centres d'education developpent leurs propres outils d'apprentissage et d'evaluation, leurs programmes de services educatifs polyvalents et visent aussi a entretenir leurs competences a long terme. Ce faisant, ces entreprises deviennent de plus en plus >, passant, au-dela de l'enseignement d'appoint, a une alternative plus serieuse a l'ecole publique. Nous attribuons cette evolution aux imperatifs entraines par la formule des franchises. Les centres d'education, necessitant de plus gros investissements, poussent les franchises a standardiser leurs services, a s'assurer des revenus plus stables provenant de sources traditionnelles et a rechercher de nouveaux creneaux dans le domaine. Pour terminer, nous discutons des perspectives a court et a long termes du marche du tutorat et d'autres formes d'education privee. Introduction: The Transformation of Tutoring Various forms of private education are expanding in the western world. Canada is no exception. (1) The proportion of Canadian students enrolled in private schools grew from 5% to 6% over the past decade, a growth of 20%. The corresponding percentage in Ontario, the site of our research, was 40%. There are now 750 private schools in the province, a rise of 44% (Davies, Aurini and Quirke, 2002). Private education is rising among both older and younger students. Private preschools are witnessing great growth, as exemplified by the expansion of Montessori schools (Aurini, 2002), while proprietary vocational colleges have grown as well (Sweet and Gallagher, 1999). Such growth is not limited to traditional school forms, however. Beyond regular schools, other forms of private education in North America are growing immensely, ranging from corporate training (Scott and Meyer, 1994) to home schooling (Arai, 2000; Stevens, 2001). In this paper we focus on another form of private education, one that has received very little attention from sociologists: tutoring businesses. Tutoring has long been a cottage industry organized in personal networks among individual tutors and students, with the exception of "test prep" companies such as Kaplan and Princeton Review that offer coaching for standardized entrance exams (see Lemann, 1999). But over the past decade the tutoring industry has undergone a staggering transformation. …

Console and Classify: The French Psychiatric Profession in the Nineteenth Century (review)

Abstract: humans provide plentiful opportunities for specialization and exchange. To be sure the advantage is more in the getting than the giving or letting have, and to be sure cheating can and does take place in cooperative contexts. However it is still often enough the case that the advantages of specialization are more than sufficient to overcome these “transaction costs”. It is interesting that the most prominent use of multilevel selection today (in theories of the evolution of complexity) is exactly the reverse of Field’s. Field emphasizes symmetry, group selection (for social altruism), then individual selection (for cooperation). Others emphasize asymmetry, individual selection (for social relationships which could be cooperative, commensalistic or even parasitic), then group selection of the new aggregate units (for controlling conflict and enhancing cooperation within them). The old debate over the importance of individual versus group selection then is being transformed into one over the temporal order of their importance but with the familiar lines drawn. I find the alternative to Field’s view more persuasive, although there is little evidence human groups beyond the immediate family have or are in the process of evolving as did cells, multicellular organisms, or even colonies. As a social scientist I was disappointed by Field’s treatment of learning and culture. Rather than viewing them as enemies in the nature versus nurture and nature versus culture paradigm wars, some evolutionists are fascinated by the fact that individual learning by trial and error and cultural change based on the social learning of memes are, like the adaptive immune response as well, instances of a general class of selection processes i.e. are detailed analogues of the biological evolutionary process. While the historical evidence suggests that we are neither uniformly antagonistically nor altruistically inclined, the experimental gaming literature reviewed by Field just may support the view that we are generally inclined towards “truck and barter” as Adam Smith originally thought — inclined to cooperate expecting reciprocation. If so, it is entirely possible that such is a feature of the human modular mind evolved over millions of years in our early history as hunters and gatherers as the evolutionary psychologists whose paradigm Field has generally adopted propose. However, multi-process selection theory suggests that it is equally possible that we have learned individually or have culturally evolved to be so inclined.

Changing the Paradigm: Family Responsibility or Investing in Children

Abstract: Since the 1980s and even more markedly in the 1990s, new public policies and programs with "child" or "children" in the title have proliferated in Canada. This article makes the claim that this shift in policy focus marks the appearance of a new policy paradigm. The article supports this claim first by describing change over time, characterizing it as shift from a paradigm in which parents have full responsibility for their children's well-being to one that can be labeled an investing-in-children paradigm, in which responsibility for children's well-being is shared by families and the broader community. In each case, the role of the state and its public policy choices are quite different. The article next accounts for the change, attributing it not only to new social and economic risks but also to the work of a social-learning network made up of advocates and experts from civil society and inside the state. Depuis les annees 1980 et 1990, les politiques publiques dont le titre contient les mots "enfant" ou "enfance" ont prolifere au Canada. L'auteure de cet article soutient que ce changement de perspective annonce l'emergence d'un nouveau paradigme de politiques publiques. L'argument est formule en deux etapes. Dans la premiere partie, ce changement est decrit et analyse comme le mouvement d'un paradigme dans lequel les parents ont toute la responsabilite du bien-etre de leurs enfants vers un paradigme dans lequel la collectivite partage cette responsabilite avec les parents, a savoir un paradigme "d'investissement dans l'enfant". Le role de l'Etat et les choix de politiques publiques different d'un paradigme a l'autre. Dans la deuxieme partie, les facteurs a l'origine de ce changement sont presentes: l'emergence de nouveaux risques economiques et sociaux; les interventions d'un reseau d'apprentissage social compose d'experts travaillant au sein de la societe civile et de l'appareil d'Etat.

Changing Colours: Spatial Assimilation and New Racial Minority Immigrants

Abstract: The social complexion of Canadian cities have been irreversibly altered since the 1960s as new waves of visible minority immigrants have replaced traditional white, European, migrant flows. For Canada and other nations with little prior history of "racial" diversity, this development raises the prospect of racialized urban ghettoes along American lines. We address this question with "locational attainment" models estimated with census micro-data for Toronto, the only Canadian city with a large black population. Unlike previous studies, we conclude that residential settlement pat- terns among Blacks and South Asians, like those of recent non-English speaking white immigrants, conform rather well to the immigrant enclave model associated with conventional spatial assimila- tion theory. As anticipated by Logan, Alba and Zhang, however, early success in the housing market among Chinese immigrants is associated with the formation of more enduring ethnic communities. Resume: L'arrivee de nouvelles vagues d'immigrants issus de minorit6s visibles et le d6part d'une immigration traditionnellementeuropeenne et blanche, ont irremediablement modifie la composition sociale des villes canadiennes. Pour le Canada et les autres soci6ets faiblement marqu6es dans leur

Canadian Disability Policy: Still a Hit-and-Miss Affair

Abstract: When the Canadian record on disability policy-making is reviewed a deja vu discourse is clearly evident. Assessing disability policy reform over recent decades evokes a strong sense that we have been here before in terms of the problems identified and the promises made. From interviews with disability community leaders and documentary analysis, five explanations for this frustrating pace of reform over the last 25 years are examined. These are public attitudes and the lack of information; the relative powerlessness of the disability community; the constraints of economic thinking and public finances; federal-provincial jurisdictional issues; and the absence of robust accountability mechanisms for disability policy within Canada's welfare state. Drawing on Foucault's concept of governmentality, the article argues that governance arrangements and discursive techniques, and not only programs and benefits, need to be the focus of advocacy and scrutiny by the disability movement and by scholars in disability studies. ********** A quarter century ago, a major Canadian study on policies and programs for people with disabilities was aptly entitled A Hit-and-Miss Affair (Brown, 1977). Prepared for the Canadian Council on Social Development, the inquiry sought to discover what was happening in services and programs for people with physical disabilities across the country. Looking at the total policy system, Brown found that the network of policies for Canadians with disabilities was not functioning effectively. Gaps in service provision, late referrals and inadequate follow-up programs, insufficient linkages among social programs, and incomplete information systems were among the barriers. Brown concluded her study with two strong impressions: "The first was that there is a lively awareness of the many deficiencies in policies for disabled people in Canada together with a desire for constructive change. The second was a strong sense of frustration that the need to change is not being given an adequate priority at the level where decisions must be made" (Brown, 1977: 548). A growing awareness of the need for change coupled with a strong frustration with inadequate policy action meant that addressing the needs and rights of Canadians with disabilities was a hit-and-miss affair. This description of the policy setting, I will argue, remains a fair portrayal of Canadian disability programs and services, especially so from the perspective of groups of, and for persons with disabilities. Why has there been relatively slow movement on the disability agenda in Canada in recent decades? To explore this question, the paper examines reports and observations by various disability community groups and parliamentary committees that critique the Canadian government's disability policy record since the early 1980s, spanning the International Year of Disabled Persons of 1981 to the current context in the early 2000s. (1) The slow pace of reform is evident by what I call the deja vu discourse on disability reform and the disability issues circle. Traditionally, disability studies as a field of inquiry included relatively little analysis of public sector governance and related policy processes. Canadian social science was a clear example of this custom that, happily, is changing with major contributions to problematizing the way people with disabilities and their experiences have been studied or ignored (Bickenbach, 1993; Enns, 1999; Titchkosky, 2000 and 2003; Cameron and Valentine, 2001). A key premise of this article is that matters of governance and public policy are major determinants of the sluggish pace of reform. The paper therefore identifies several interrelated factors for why we are still a long way from meeting disability policy commitments on the Canadian government's agenda. Foucault's concepts of bio-politics and governmentality are used to inform the analysis and interpretation of this state of affairs. …

A Comparison of the Labour Market Outcomes of Postsecondary Graduates of Various Levels and Fields over a Four-Cohort Period

Abstract: The evolving "knowledge-based" economy is widely believed to affect the labour market outcomes of highly educated workers. However, there are conflicting arguments regarding the needs of the new economy, and there is little evidence available in the research literature to determine whether the labour market outcomes of various postsecondary graduates have changed among graduates of recent cohorts. Drawing on the 1982, 1986, 1990, and 1995 National Graduates Surveys, this paper builds on previous research by comparing the earnings and employment outcomes of graduates of various levels of postsecondary schooling (i.e. trades, college, and university) and fields of study over a 13-year period. The analyses suggest that the labour market experiences of postsecondary graduates of the various programs have remained relatively stable over the period investigated. Introduction More than a decade ago, it was argued that if "Canada is to remain competitive and benefit from the current microelectronics and information technology revolution, it must provide a closer integration of skill development, on one hand, and skill utilization, on the other" (Lowe and Krahn, 1989: 187). This assertion may be even more important now, as we continue to move through the early stages of the "knowledge-based" economy. Characterized by globalization and the production of knowledge, particularly in areas related to information technology, the evolving knowledge-based economy is believed to require skills that previously did not exist. The changing skill requirements of employers have likely had a profound effect on the transition from school-to-work for graduates with postsecondary credentials (Economic Council of Canada. 1987). However, there is little evidence available to assess whether the relative employment outcomes of graduates with different types of postsecondary credentials have changed over the last few decades, particularly when controlling for a variety of sociodemographic characteristics that might play an important role in the relationship. Drawing on a series of large cross-sectional Canadian datasets, the purpose of this paper is to build on previous research by comparing the employment outcomes of graduates of four cohorts who were surveyed two years after graduation. By pooling recent waves of the National Graduates Surveys (NGS), this study is able to assess changes in the earnings and employment status of graduates of various levels of postsecondary schooling and fields of study, while, at the same time, controlling for other possible sociodemographic factors. Review of the Literature The North American economy has undergone some remarkable changes during the second half of the twentieth-century. It has been marked by two primary epochs, characterized as the transition from the industrial (Fordist) era to the post-industrial era (Esping-Andersen, 1993). Fordism is considered as the form of capitalism constructed after 1945 in all of the advanced capitalist countries (Jenson, 1989: 70). It entailed a form of manufacturing involving standardized mass production oriented toward greater consumption, where organizational structures are considered to be rigid and hierarchical in order to distinguish between management and workers (see Piore and Sabel, 1984). However, beginning in the 1970's, investigators argued that the economy had transformed as a result of advancements in technology, whereby manufacturing jobs largely disappeared, creating a new economic form of structural organization (see Bell, 1973). This new post-industrial economy has been characterized by a type of productive activity round in knowledge sectors, which include research and development, as well as computer and technology areas (See Bell, 1973). (1 2) It is also marked by the emergence and expansion of a new professional class of experts, researchers, scientists and technicians. This new professional class of white-collar workers largely replaced the preexisting labour-management arrangement. …

The Ethnic and Family Nexus of Homeleaving and Returning Among Canadian Young Adults

Abstract: Coupling a life course and social capital perspective, this article examines the influence of cultural and family diversity on homeleaving and home returning behavior of young adults. Survival analyses are performed on data from a survey of 1,907 Canadian young adults aged 19-35 of four distinct ethnic origins--British, Indo, Chinese, and Southern European. Ethnocultural factors are found to play a more important role in shaping the timing and pathways of homeleaving than for returning. In particular, compared to the British, all ethnic contrasts display longer durations before their first homeleaving Parent-child relationship quality, and parental financial support, surface as key family environment determinants of homeleaving and returning home. Furthermore, income, marital status, and main activity of the young adult at the time of the event, as well as the pathway out of the parental home, strongly affect duration away from home after an initial departure. Resume: En associant une perspective de vie et de capital social, cet article examine l'influence de la diversite culturelle et familiale sur le comportement des jeunes adultes vis-a-vis du depart et du retour au foyer familial. Les donnees obtenues lors d'un sondage de 1 907 jeunes adultes Canadiens ages de 19-35 ans, de quatre origines ethniques distinctes--Britannique, Indochinoise, Chinoise, et Sud-europeenne--ont ete soumises a des analyses de survie. Les resultats demontrent que les facteurs ethnoculturels jouent un role plus important dans la determination du moment et des trajectoires du depart du foyer que du retour au foyer. En particulier, comparativement aux Britanniques, les autres ethnies mettent plus longtemps a realiser leur depart initial. La qualite de la relation parent enfant et le soutien financier parental ressortissaient comme etant les facteurs du contexte familial qui jouent un role essentiel dans le depart et dans le retour au foyer familial. De plus, le revenu, le statut marital et l'activite principale du jeune adulte au moment de l'evenement, ainsi que la voie suivie au depart du foyer parental, affectent profondement la duree du sejour hors du foyer apres le depart initial. Introduction In North American and many other industrialized societies, leaving the parental home and establishing a separate residence is a principal developmental milestone in the passage to adulthood. Recently, however, young people have been delaying their final "launch" from their family of origin (Cherlin, Scabini, & Rossi, 1997) because of two converging patterns: later ages at homeleaving and a higher prevalence of returns back home. Notably, Canadian census data show that 41% of the 3.8 million young adults aged 20-29 lived with their parents in 2001, a jump from 27% two decades earlier. In addition, almost one-third of these young adults have returned home--33% of men and 28% of women (Statistics Canada, 2003a), thereby creating the growing phenomenon of "boomerang kids." Numerous sociocultural and economic forces have been identified in the growing literature on intergenerational coresidence. Noteworthy are transformations in employment opportunities, later ages of marriage, increased post-secondary enrollment, and higher immigration patterns (Mitchell, Wister, & Gee, 2002). At the family level, marital disruption, parental relationship quality, family socioeconomic status, and more recently, ethno cultural dimensions ave been linked to co-residence (e.g., Aquilino, 1991; 1996; Boyd, 2000; Gee, Mitchell, & Wister, 1995; Goldscheider & Goldscheider, 1999; Mitchell, Wister, & Gee, 2000; White & Rogers, 1997). The multicultural composition of Canadian society makes this latter factor particularly important as a focal point. In addition, several studies demonstrate that individual characteristics of young adults, such as their gender, age, marital status, personal income, and employment status, also determine the timing of homeleaving and returning home (e. …

Memories of Internment: Narrating Japanese Canadian Women's Life Stories

Abstract: This paper attempts to bridge the dichotomy of "historical truth" and personal recollection by exploring the sociological concept of memory. Drawing on 30 oral testimonies of Nisei (second generation) Japanese Canadian women, I explore the diverse and often complex ways in which Nisei women remember the internment, with particular attention to the intermingling of pest and present, the relationship between teller and listener, as well as the layering of personal and public narratives, in the construction of these memories. The theme of silence and telling is also explored, with the understanding that the literacization of memories is always a political act. Resume: Cet article essaie de relier la dichotomie de la > et des souvenirs personnels an explorant le concept sociologique de la memoire. M'inspirant de 30 temoignages oraux de femmes canadiennes japonaises Nisei (deuxieme generation), j'explore les manieres variees et souvent complexes dont les femmes Nisei se souviennent de l'internement, en accordant une attention toute speciale au melange entre le passe et le present, a la relation entre le narrateur et l'auditeur et a la superposition de narrations personnelles et publiques dans la reconstruction de ces souvenirs. Le theme du silence et de la narration y est aussi explore en sachant que toute transposition par ecrit de souvenirs represante toujoars an acte politique. Basically, my experiences are through the eyes of a thirteen-year-old. And over the years maybe I've embellished things a bit or I've been able to rationalize why things had to be done that way, to a point. But I also know that there could have been a better way of doing it. It was truly unthinking politicians that created all this hardship and unnecessary move for the Japanese Canadians, removing all their property from them. You couldn't even go back home because you had nothing. They'd taken everything away. (Polly) The Internment of Japanese Canadians The most devastating event shaping the lives of Japanese Canadians was the internment and forced dispersal of "all persons of the Japanese race" during, and in the years immediately following the Second World War. By now, the rough contours of the story are familiar to many Canadians, if only vaguely. After the bombing of Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, Japanese Canadian citizens and Japanese Nationals in Canada were subject to government curfews, personal interrogation, and ultimately job loss and severe economic hardship. All Japanese language newspapers were shut down, fishing boats were impounded, and the federal government liquidated businesses, and sold vehicles, houses, and personal belongings. The proceeds of the sales were used to pay auctioneers and realtors, as well as to cover the costs of the internment. First interned were "alien" men, next Japanese Canadian men, and lastly all women and children of Japanese descent. Women and children were initially placed in "detainment centres," former livestock pens that reeked of urine and manure. Such violations were not short term. Even after the war, Canadians of Japanese origin were denied full citizenship rights, including the right to vote. Furthermore, they were prohibited from returning to the former sites of their homes on the west coast until 1949, four years after the war's end. (2) These events in Canadian history represent the deliberate destruction of a community, a form of "cultural genocide," (3) an erosion of human dignity, and a dramatic disruption of personal lives and family relationships. The latter is especially significant as the family had been the primary vehicle for the acquisition of an ethnic identity and for the transmission of Japanese cultural symbols in Canada. The internment of Japanese Canadians has had profound social, political and economic implications. Some scholars have described it as an act of political violence (see for example, McAllister, 1999). …

"Grand" Expectations: The Experiences of Grandparents and Adult Grandchildren

Abstract: Within the context of social and demographic change and in dialogue with theories of individualization and the concept of intergenerational ambivalence, this paper explores the existence of normative "grand" role expectations among grandparents and adult grandchildren. The data from qualitative life-history interviews with both generations (n=37) indicate that while sometimes proscriptive rather than prescriptive, there are identifiable, albeit general, normative behavioral expectations associated with both familial roles. According to both generations' accounts, these expectations are instructive and provide a general framework as individuals negotiate and evaluate their interactions and relationships with one another. Placed within a wider social context, these expectations reflect and reinforce cultural emphasis on personal freedom and independence, as well as prevailing social discourses relating to youth, old age and family life. Resume Dans un contexte de changement social et demographique et de dialogue relatif aux theories de l'individualisation et du concept de l'ambivalence entre les generations, cet article explore l'existence d'attentes « normatives » du role de grands-parents chez les grands-parents et les petits-enfants adultes. Les donnees provenant d'entrevues qualitatives sur les cycles de vie avec les deux generations (n=37) indiquent que, bien qu'il s'agisse souvent de proscriptions plutot que de prescriptions, il existe bel et bien des attentes normatives identifiables, quoique generales, en matiere de comportement relativement aux deux roles familiaux. Selon les temoignages des deux generations, ces attentes s'averent revelatrices et fournissent un cadre general permettant aux individus de negocier et d'evaluer les interactions et relations qu'ils entretiennent l'un avec l'autre. Vu dans un contexte social plus large, ces attentes traduisent et renforcent l'importance culturelle de la liberte et independance personnelle ainsi que les discours sociaux dominant en matiere de jeunes, d'aines et de la vie de famille.

Negotiating Affirmative Repair: Symbolic Violence in the British Columbia Treaty Process

Abstract: Amidst the current proliferation of new struggles and the continuation of protracted conflicts between long-warring enemies, "reconciliation" has become a pressing concern for many (Barkan, 2000; Brooks, 2000; Dwyer, 1999; Tavuchis, 1991; Torpey, 2001). For those partial to the discourses of "conflict resolution" and "alternative dispute resolution" the goal is one of imagining creative new options for peace that allow those locked in a seemingly intractable dispute to make the transition to a new relationship. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), for example, has provided both hope and a model for addressing interethnic conflict, demonstrating that a society rife with crimes against humanity and political and economic oppression can begin to emerge from these conditions by reckoning with its unsavory past (Minow, 1998; Tutu, 1999). As well, dispute resolution techniques such as mediation and restorative justice have developed a new language of peacemaking intended to encourage parties to move away from their hardened "positional" views toward malleable "interests" that can be made amenable to the equally flexible interests of opposing parties (Bush and Folger, 1994; Fisher and Ury, 1991; McEvoy and Mika, 2002). At this reconciliatory historical juncture, which overlaps with (and is perhaps in part a reaction to) what has been referred to as the "age of genocide" (Alvarez, 2001 ; Power, 2002) these processes are held up as examples of the human capacity to construct creative visions of justice. Yet, despite our best efforts to create processes that allow human creativity to flourish, the project of historical repair is often circumscribed by the pragmatics of the present. (1) Indeed, the prevailing economic and political rationalities of those in possession of various forms of social power often permeate reparative discussions, and this presents strategic challenges for those demanding moral reckoning or material redistribution in the face of historical injustices. Such is the case in modern-day British Columbia, where a process to negotiate treaties between the First Nations of the region and the provincial and federal governments is underway, guided by the dual goals of"justice" and "certainty"--that is, justice in terms of addressing First Nations long-standing land claims, and certainty in terms of the desire to create political and economic stability within the province. This article provides examples of how these two discourses are mobilized within the British Columbia Treaty Process, and examines the symbolic violence enacted by the non-Aboriginal governments in attempt to forward a rigid notion of certainty that limits the possibilities for "justice." (2) Based on this examination, an exploration of what a "transformative" justice might look like is initiated and contrasted with the current trajectory of the treaty process, which appears headed toward what will be described as, borrowing from Nancy Fraser (1997), a remedy of "affirmative repair." (3) The B.C. Treaty Process Unlike other parts of Canada, the majority of the land in British Columbia was not obtained through treaty settlements that mark the transfer of Aboriginal lands to the Crown. (4) Because of this, the spectre of Aboriginal title has haunted the provincial government's claim to jurisdiction over B.C.'s lands and resources. (5) In addition to the expropriation of their lands, First Nations in B.C. also faced the same assimilative policies that were imposed on Aboriginal peoples all across Canada: the residential schools that forced Aboriginal children from their homes and into institutions in which their culture was "trained" out of them (see Haig-Brown, 1988); the laws prohibiting Aboriginal cultural practices such as the "potlatch" that were perceived to be a threat to "civilization" (see Cole and Chaikin, 1990); and the laws preventing them from taking legal actions to pursue their land claims (see Mathias and Yabsley, 1991). …

Du pareil au meme? La position des quatre principales provinces canadiennes dans l'univers des regimes providentiels

Abstract: Dans la foulee des travaux de Gosta Esping-Andersen, plusieurs etudes ont identifie divers regimes providentiels dans les societes avancees du monde occidental. L'examen d'un ensemble d'indicateurs sociaux au moyen d'analyses de classification hierarchique permet de confirmer l'existence de tels modeles, qui correspondent a des articulations specifiques entre la famille, l'Etat et le marche pour produire les ressources necessaires au bien-etre des individus. En fait les auteurs ont identifie, dans un travail anterieur (Saint-Arnaud et Bernard, 2003), quatre ensembles de pays, correspondant aux trois regimes identifies a l'origine par Esping-Andersen — social-democrate, liberal, conservateur — auxquels s'ajoute, comme l'avaient anticipe plusieurs auteurs, un regime distinct de ce dernier, le regime familialiste. Ils examinent ici, avec la meme approche methodologique, la situation des quatre plus grandes provinces canadiennes — le Quebec, l'Ontario, l'Alberta et la Colombie britannique — au milieu des annees 90, pour voir a quel regime elles se rattachent. Il s'agit de determiner si leur appartenance a un meme pays les rend semblables entre elles et proches des caracteristiques moyennes de ce pays, ou si, au contraire, elles presentent des ecarts notables, correspondant a des differences economiques, politiques et culturelles entre elles dont l'expression serait rendue possible parce que plusieurs des instruments cle d'intervention en matiere de politiques sociales sont controles par les provinces dans le regime federal canadien. Les resultats indiquent une marge de variation limitee mais reelle, l'Alberta tendant a se rapprocher du modele "ultra-liberal" americain, tandis que le Quebec manifeste des penchants plus europeens, souvent social-democrates. Following the seminal work of Esping-Andersen, many studies have identified a variety of welfare regimes in advanced Western societies. Analyzing a set of quantitative social indicators, using hierarchical cluster analysis, allows the identification of such regimes, which display specific arrangements between markets, the State, and families in the production and distribution of the resources required for the material well-being of people. Indeed we have confirmed, in earlier work (Saint-Arnaud and Bernard, 2003), the existence of four regimes, the three originally proposed by Esping-Andersen —social-democratic, liberal, and conservative— to which one must add, as many authors have pointed out, a fourth regime, distinct from the latter, called familialistic. We examine here, using the same methodological approach, the situation of the four largest Canadian provinces — Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia — in the middle of the 90s, to determine which regime they belong to. The main issue is whether their belonging to the same country makes them very similar to the average profile of Canada, or whether, on the contrary, they display notable divergences, stemming from economic, political and cultural differences among them; the latter would manifest themselves to the extent that many key social policy areas are under provincial jurisdiction and control in the Canadian federation. The results indicate modest, albeit significant, variations: Alberta somewhat resembles the "ultra-liberal" United-States, while Quebec leans in the direction of Europe, and to some extent, of social-democracy.

Patterns of Age Variability in Life Course Transitions

Abstract: This study examines age variability in life course transitions using retrospective data collected through the 1995 Canadian General Social Survey on the Family. The analysis of interquartile ranges obtained through life tables shows that school completion, and for women, start of regular work have become more age-homogenous. For family events such as home-leaving, first union, first marriage, and first and last birth there was a move towards narrower age ranges in which major events are experienced up to the cohort born in the first half of the 1940s, or in terms of period, up to around 1970s. Subsequently, from cohorts born in 1946 and later, age ranges started to widen. Resume: A base de l'Enquete sociale generale de 1995, nous examinons la variation selon l'âge dans les transitions de la vie. Selon les tableaux du type esperance de vie, la terminaison de l'education, et pour les femmes le commencement du travail reguler, sont devenu plus homogene selon l'âge. Pour les cohortes nes jusqu'au debut des annees 1940, ou les periodes jusqu'environ 1970, on a egalement vu un retrecissement des differences dans le depart du foyer, la premiere union, premier mariage, ainsi que la premiere et derniere naissances. Depuis, c'est a dire pour les cohortes nees apres 1945, il se produit un accroissement des variations selon l'âge.

Pension Politics in Three Small States: Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands

Abstract: This article emphasizes class politics and path dependence in accounting for the development of pension regimes in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands. The political strength of the Swedish Social Democratic Party in alliance with the trade unions resulted in the emergence of a statist pension system. In the Netherlands and Denmark, a politically weak and divided left settled for collectively regulated but privately organized supplementary pensions. However, the Dutch and Danish cases suggest that several types of pension regime structure are capable of producing "social democratic" outcomes such as poverty alleviation, reducing income inequality, and covering various risk profiles. In both countries, private occupational pensions thus produced outcomes similar to those of Sweden. These historical choices decisively shaped the subsequent development of pensions. Cet article met l'accent sur la politique de classes et la continuite institutionnelle (path dependence) pour expliquer le developpement des regimes de pension en Suede, au Danemark et aux Pays-Bas. La puissance politique du Parti Social Democrate suedois dans le cadre de son alliance avec les syndicats a provoque l'emergence d'un systeme de pension etatiste. Aux Pays-Bas et au Danemark, une gauche divisee et politiquement faible s'est contentee d'un systeme de pensions complementaires regule collectivement mais organise de maniere privee. Cependant, les cas neerlandais et danois suggerent que differents types de structures institutionnelles peuvent produire des resultats "sociaux democrates" tels que la reduction de la pauvrete, la reduction des inegalites, et la couverture de differents profils de risque. Dans ces deux pays, des pensions privees ont donc produit des resultats semblables a ceux du systeme suedois. Ces choix historiques ont profondement influence les developpements ulterieurs de ces systemes de pension.

Fighting "Big Government": Frames, Federalism, and Social Policy Reform in the United States

Abstract: In recent decades, historical institutionalism has contributed to the political and sociological analysis of public policy. While drawing on this fruitful theoretical approach, this article argues that institutionalist scholars should pay more attention to the specific ways in which ideas impact policy processes. In order to underline the role of ideas in policy-making, this article examines the interaction between frames, federalism, and political strategies in the United States, a country in which recent attempts to decentralize social policy have been especially spectacular and ideologically-driven. Two key pieces of legislation enacted during the Clinton presidency are examined: the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and, more importantly, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. Starting with the fact that US conservatives have monopolized the issue of decentralisation in their struggle against federal social programmes, this article shows that attempts to create a New Federalism in the field of social policy have failed. Moreover, it demonstrates that the critique of centralization rooted in a well-established ideological repertoire is politically relevant only to the extent that there is a budgetary rationale justifying it. When it comes to conservative social issues like "family values" and "personal responsibility," this critique loses much of its political appeal and "moral centralization" prevails. Resume: Au cours des recentes decennies, l'institutionnalisme historique a contribue a l'analyse politique et sociologique des politiques publiques. Tout en s'inspirant de cette approche si utile, cet article soutient que les chercheurs institutionnalistes devraient se pencher davantage sur la maniere dont les idees affectent les processus d'elaboration des politiques publiques. A fin de souligner le role des idees dans ces processus, l'article examine l'interaction entre les cadres ideologiques, le federalisme et les strategies politiques aux Etats-Unis, un pays dans lequel les tentatives recentes de decentralisation des politiques sociales ont ete a la fois spectaculaires et fortement marquees ideologiquement. Deux legislations essentielles adoptees durant la presidence Clinton sont analysees: l' Unfunded Mandates Reform Act et, plus important encore, le Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. En partant du fait que les conservateurs ont monopolise la reference a la decentralisation dans leur lutte contre les programmes sociaux federaux, cet article montre que les tentatives de creer un Nouveau Federalisme dans le champ des politiques sociales ont echoue. De plus, il est demontre que la critique de la decentralisation ancree dans une repertoire ideologique bien etabli est politiquement pertinente uniquement dans la mesure ou une justification budgetaire existe. Lorsqu'il est question d'enjeux sociaux conservateurs comme la "responsabilite individuelle", cette critique perd de son interet et la "centralisation morale" triomphe. In recent decades, historical institutionalism has contributed to the political and sociological analysis of public policy. (1) This is especially true in the area of social policy analysis, where the frequently cited contributions of authors such as Paul Pierson and Theda Skocpol have influenced the way social scientists analyse welfare state politics (Pierson, 1994; Skocpol, 1992). For institutionalist scholars, party systems, state administrative capacities, and formal political institutions structure the strategies of bureaucrats and elected officials while shaping the way in which interest groups and social movements influence policy outcomes (Maioni, 1998). Rejecting a static, a-historical vision of political structuration, institutionalist scholars have also recognized that the order in which a country undergoes large-scale political transformations makes a significant difference in the character and outcome of those changes. …

Max Weber on Nations and Nationalism: Political Economy before Political Sociology *

Abstract: Although Weber voiced doubts about the scientific value of the concepts of "ethnicity" and "nation," in his work one can detect the outlines of two theories of nation In the political-sociological theory (exposed in Economy and Society), the nation is understood as a status group united by common historical memory and fighting for the prestige of power and culture with other nations Besides that, in his early work Weber outlines the political-economical (or "national-economical") theory of nation, conceiving nation as the organizational form of economic association which is optimal in the fight for "elbow-room" in the globalized "Malthusian world" as described by the classical model of long-term economic dynamics Weberian political-economical concept of nations and nationalism is explicated using recent idea of rent-seeking, and is applied to highlight the deficiencies of the prevailing EGellner-EHobsbawm-BAnderson theory of nations and nationalism Resume: Bien que Weber ait des hesitations concernant la valeur scientifique des notions de la "nation" et "l'ethnicite" c'est possible distinguer les esquisses des deux theories de la nation dons ses travaux La theorie politique-sociologique (en Economie et societe) define la nation comme une groupe de statut uni par la memoire historique commune, qui se battre contre les autres nations pour le prestige de pouvoir et culture Dons ses travaux premiers Weber profile aussi la theorie politique-economique (ou "national-economique") de la nation Ici la nation est conceptualisee comme une formed' organisation de association economique, qui est optimale pour la lutte pour l'espace vitale dans "le monde scion Malthus" (comme il c'est decrit dons le medele classique de la dynamique economique d'une longue duree) globalisee La conception weberienne politique-economique des nations et nationalisme est reconstruite an utilisant la notion contemporaine des "lutte pour des rentes" (rent-seeking) Cette conception est aussi utilise pour exposer les defauts de in theorie de la nation et nationalisme de EGellner-E Hobsbawm-BAnderson, qui prevaut jusqu' a present Introduction In one of his essays comparing the theoretical views of Max Weber and Ernest Gellner, Perry Anderson noted: "Whereas Weber was so bewitched by the spell of nationalism that he was never able to theorize it, Gellner has theorized nationalism without detecting the spell" (Anderson, P 1992: 205) Anderson wants to say that Gellner's theory of nationalism (Gellner 1983, Gellner 1994) cannot explain the attractiveness of the ideas of nationalism About Weber, Perry Anderson claims that although the famous German sociologist in his political views was an ardent German nationalist, he had no well-considered concept of nations and nationalism, and unreflectively adopted the dominant ideology in Wilhelmine Germany In my paper, drawing on Weber's early writings (some of them became more accessible only after their reprint in his Gesamtausgabe), I try to reconstruct Weber's early political-economic (or "national-economic") concept of nation This is done in the second section of my paper The first section discusses the later and more widely known political-sociological concept of nation, which is documented by Economy and Society, and the publications during the First World War In the fourth and concluding section, I will try to evaluate both of Weber's concepts of nation from the viewpoint of the contemporary discussion about nations and nationalism Most importantly, I will attempt to show here how Weber's early political-economic concept of nations and nationalism can be useful for the revival of the political-economic concept of nationhood which has unfortunately been eclipsed in current discussions But firstly, I must explain how my contribution is related to the existing body of literature on Weber's notions about nations and nationalism One of the reasons why Perry Anderson and other authors writing about the irrationalism and arbitrariness of Weber's nationalism (1) do not find the conceptual foundations of his political choice, is that in their searches they restrict themselves to the quite fragmentary chapters of Weber's Economy and Society devoted to ethnicity and nations, written between 1910 and 1914, and not prepared by Weber himself for publication …

Manitoba's Childcare Regime: Social Liberalism in Flux

Abstract: This article assesses the "social liberalism" of Manitoba's childcare system, drawing on welfare state regime theory. Childcare in Manitoba is characterized by more social solidarity than in other English provinces. Longstanding design features have created a distinctly progressive Manitoba tradition in childcare, in place since the establishment of provincially regulated childcare. Recently, under the NDP, restructuring has occurred in childcare policy, policy-making institutions and the political opportunity structure. Key examples include a wide-reaching community consultation, the announcement of a provincial Five Year Plan, innovative funding, and a new relationship between social actors and the state. Despite the flux introduced by such changes, the overall effect has been to further entrench social liberalism rather than generate regime change. Failure by legislators to significantly improve childcare cannot be attributed to entrenched policy legacies, which instead readily lend themselves to transformation. As a result childcare in Manitoba highlights the degree to which policy redesign is a political, not a technical, problem. Resume: Inspire de la theorie des regimes providentiels, cet article evalue le "liberalisme social" du systeme manitobain de garde a l'enfance. Au Manitoba, les services de garde se caracterisent par davantage de solidarite sociale que ceux des autres provinces anglophones, Dans cette province, des caracteristiques institutionnelles presentes depuis l'etablissement d'un mode provincial de regulation ont cree une tradition progressiste distincte dans le champ des services de garde a l'enfance. Recemment, sous le regne du NPD, il s'est produit une restructuration des politiques de garde, des institutions d'elaboration des politiques publiques ainsi que de la structure d'opportunite politique. Les exemples les plus marquants incluent une vaste initiative de consultation publique, l'annonce d'un Plan Quinquennal provincial, des innovations en maniere de financement et l'avenement d'une nouvelle relation entre les acteurs sociaux et l'Etat. Malgre le mouvement perpetuel apporte par ces initiatives, leur effet global a ete de renforcer davantage le liberalisme social au lieu de generer un changement de regime. L'absence d'amelioration majeure aux services de garde ne peut etre attribuee a de profonds heritages institutionnels, qui ont au contraire tendance a se transformer. Consequemment, les politiques de garde au Manitoba soulignent la nature politique, et non technique, de ce probleme. Introduction Welfare state regime theory provides a powerful explanatory and comparative framework for social policy. (1) Although most regime studies have been oriented to nation-states, the framework is also useful for analyses of smaller units. This flexibility is particularly valuable for Canadian social policy inquiry. Canada has a patchwork of varying provincial programs, characterized by diverse institutional arrangements and bases of entitlement, as well as varying levels and forms of expenditures. Across the provinces, we can identify distinct differences despite identical federal cost-sharing arrangements. Such variation points to the significance of close study of similarities and differences in policy design and political arrangements, including the role of social actors. From a comparative perspective, Canada sits squarely within the "liberal" world of social welfare, characterized by a narrow notion of state intervention and a high reliance on the family and the market. In liberal states, a certain constellation of public welfare policies coexist with, and help to reinforce, certain sorts of family and market relations. A key dimension of their policy logic is the "primacy of the market and the privacy of the family, resulting in a doctrine of minimal government intervention in the economy and family life." (Sainsbury 1999). In consequence, they express a gender-logic which relies on a traditional sexual division of paid and unpaid labour. …

What do We Know about Knowledge? An Essay on the Knowledge Society

Abstract: I. After God created the heaven and the earth, land and sea, plants and animals, and, finally, man and woman, everything appeared to be good. For the children of God to enjoy immortality and the peace of paradise, their ignorance would have to be maintained. Thus God commanded Man and wife to refrain from eating fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. But, as we know, the blissful existence of the young lovers was cut short. In the middle of the Garden of Eden, right under the forbidden tree, a snake tempted the woman into disobeying divine law. The first man and woman could not know that their impermissible appetites would bring death and tribulation to all mankind, beginning the fate of the eternal repetition of the human tragedy. If they had taken a more careful look at the snake, they would have seen the sign of their future. But they did not know anything. They did not even have knowledge of the opportunity to know anything. Above all else, they did not know that knowledge, like a snake, is constructed circularly. News of the original sin apparently caused God enough anxiety for him to make absolutely certain that in the future, creator and creatures would remain distinctly separate, never again to coincide. He drove the human beings out of paradise, far from that divine location of self-sufficient happiness, that place that makes invisible the conditions of its own possibility. In the Garden the creatures were not even able to see their own nakedness. Nakedness: meaning just as they were, living in a carefree manner and without any real interest in the world. But now, outside of paradise, life became a finite resource; a project that would have to be achieved and a project that might fail. It appears that a fundamental aim of God was to give man order, but a form of order he should never really understand. Man's erection of the Tower of Babel arrogantly demonstrated the triumph of an early knowledge society, one in which knowledge was successfully managed to achieve the world and divine truth, because all human beings spoke the same language. This human triumph was also punished by God. The punishment was the advent of confusion and difference and the curse that knowledge will never be able to reach heaven. This sentence was the beginning of the limits of knowledge: all knowledge is limited by and based on itself, not on the world. The Book of Genesis tells a story that unfolds two fundamental problems. On the one hand it shows that the primordial order of the world seems forever remote from man's knowledge. One compensation is the possibility of divine association; a relationship the creatures can believe in, but one they cannot know. On the other hand, it symbolizes that human knowledge is limited to its own circularity, bounded by language and confronted with the diversity of languages. It seems that the God of the Jahwistic tradition might be described as a considerable postmodern guy, one who has set everlasting differences into a world that disappears behind the language and the diversity of languages. God must have been rather alarmed that man's successful overcoming of difference through language would make Gods of his creatures, paradoxical characters, both created and creators. If created characters could achieve the absolute, there appears certain evidence that they are not created characters but creators by themselves. From now on knowledge was the essential resource for those mortal and particular human beings struggling to cope with a world that could be imagined as being independent from any observer. In Western tradition, knowledge emerged as a cipher to abolish the difference between observer and observation. To know something simulates having direct access to the world. The problem of reasonable knowledge than leads to the question of whether or not one's own observation, one's own sight, ultimately, one's own knowledge can be brought into harmony with the being of the world. …

Re-writing the Social, Re-writing Sociology: Donzelot, Genealogy and Working-Class Bodies

Abstract: A generation ago, Dorothy Smith's groundbreaking work (1974) inspired numerous sociological neophytes to not only prioritise their own embodied experience, but also to question the hitherto taken for granted methodological conventions of the then current sociology. Yet for some students growing up on Smith's Marxist-influenced "nourishment," worrying problems remained. Fortunately, with "textual maturity" some resolution of these problems can now be proposed. Thus, this paper introduces readers to Donzelot's genealogical analysis of the "social" (Donzelot 1984) in order to show that Smith's original critique of conventional sociology must now be re-evaluated. Specifically, it will suggest that Smith's unquestioning usage of Marxist discourse needs to be subjected to critical analysis, because Marxism itself was heavily implicated in the original "invention" of sociology, and the "social" more generally. Resume: Il y a une generation, los travaux revolutionnaires de Dorothy Smith ont inspire un grand nombre de socio-neophytos a non seulement privilegier leurs experiences interiorisees du monde. mais aussi a questionner los conventions methodologiques, prises pour acquis jusqu'ici dans l'acceptation de cette version theorique de la sociologie. Cependant, pour certains etudiants de l'ecole de pensee de Smith, dont la theorie se nourrit de l'influence marxiste, des problemes inquierants restent a etre resolus. Heureusement, grace au "textual maturity" certaines solutions a ces problemes peuvent maintenant etre suggerees. Ainsi, cet article propose aux lecteurs les analyses genealogiques de Donzelot sur le 'social' (Donzelot 1984), tout en demontrant que la critique originale de Smith sur la sociologie conventionnelle doit faire maintenant l'objet d'une re-examination. En effet, cet essai emettra l'hypothese que l'usage inconditionnel du Marxisme chez Smith doit se preter aux analyses critiques, car le Marxisme lui-meme etait lourdement implique dans l'invention originelle de la sociologie, et, par extension, du "social" en general. ********** I was weaned on ethnomethodology/conversation analysis (Wootton 1975, Atkinson and Drew 1978, Drew 1978, Benson and Drew 1978) and simultaneously exposed to Dorothy Smith's early articles (1974a, 1978), as she began developing what would later become her institutional ethnography (1987), her feminist textual analysis (1974b, 1990a, 1990b) and, more recently, her "intertextual" concern with "writing the social" (1999a). In this intellectual infancy, the ethnomethodological critique of sociology (Garfinkel 1967, Zimmerman and Wieder 1970, Blum 1970a, 1970b Mehan and Wood, 1975, Filmer et al, 1972) and its associated "methods" (Cicourel 1964, Atkinson 1971, McHugh 1970) was absolutely foundational for my later development, (1) while the attraction of Smith's work was that it pushed this critique of conventional sociology further, so as to explore those everyday relations of power which remained rather marginal in the ethnomethodological literature of that time. (2) Yet, throughout this scholarly socialization, I constantly experienced "a feeling of uneasiness ... some disquiet" (Smith 1999a:8-9) about Smith's own (apparently straightforward) use of Marxism to ground her feminist career. (3) No doubt influenced by my own working class upbringing, and the apparent inability of Marxist discourse to explain that embodied experience, I initially attempted to go beyond Smith's sociology as "ruling apparatus" (Smith 1981a:3) thesis, by using Foucault and his (novel, at the time) conceptualisation of power/knowledge. (4) Not surprisingly, perhaps, in those formative years of my sociological education, my attempted "genealogy" of sociology, focussing on the "social control" (5) element within contemporary sociology, as well as the subjugation of both Comte's and Garfinkel's thought in its theoretical development (Doran 1984), was rather rudimentary. As a result, that particular project remained unfinished for some considerable time. …

Seymour martin lipset : Life and work

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to study the nexus between the life and work of Seymour Martin Lipset. My goal is to combine Lipset's life and work, the historical context and his scholarly production. I concentrate my analysis in two basic themes: Lipset's view on Democracy and anti-democracy and American exceptionalism. I conclude my analysis presenting three reflections that have resulted from Lipset's academic career, and that seems to me to be of particular interest for social scientists. Resume: Le but de cet article est d'etudier la connexion entre la vie et le travail de Seymour Martin Lipset. Mon objectif est de combiner la vie et travail de Lipset, le contexte historique et sa production scolaire. Je concentre mort analyse dans deux themes de base : vue de Lipset sur la democratie et l'anti-democratie et l'exceptionalism americain. Je conclus mon analyse presentant trois reflexions qui ont resulte de la carriere academique de Lipset, et semble dont a moi soyez d'interet particulier pour les scientifiques sociales. ********** Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both. C. Wright Mills, The Sociological Imagination In 1987, the distinguished American political scientist Michael Rogin stated that "Seymour Martin Lipset is the most eminent living American political sociologist." (2) Rogin's estimation was well-founded. Lipset is not only a prolific writer, having written more than 50 books and about 100 articles; he is also one of the main protagonists in American scholarly debates for the last 50 years. His work in the area of modernization theory, his contributions to the study of democracy and anti-democracy, and his views about American Exceptionalism have all been central to modern social science research agendas. His books have been acclaimed and criticized, but never ignored. Lipset's work has had a profound impact on academics in the U.S. and worldwide. Indeed, he is the most cited social scientist in the world. This article is a general review of Lipset's academic career. An account of Lipset's intellectual development and published work is a difficult and complex task. I shall therefore concentrate on two themes that have constituted the foundation of his academic writing: his work about democracy and anti-democracy (the radical right), and his analysis of American Exceptionalism, These two topics embraced not only a significant amount of Lipset's work, but also a relevant part of his concern for Canada. Since his early days as a BA student, Lipset showed a special inclination for the political situation in Canada. During his academic career, Lipset viewed Canada not only as an interesting country in itself, but also as a great mirror to contrast American political development and culture. Lipset's view of American Exceptionalism has a sort of Canadian content. My goal is not to evaluate in detail his scholarly corpus, but rather to blend Lipset's life and work--the historical context of his life with his scholarly production. Childhood is Destiny Seymour Martin Lipset is the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants that arrived in the United States at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. His father, Max Lipset, was a typographer in Russia and a member of the Kiev typographer's union. His father's experiences in the Russian labor movement had a great impact on young Martin. Max would often relate anecdotes of his life as a union member in the old country. Lipset recalls, "once he told me that Stalin had appeared before his union's members." I asked, "what do you remember about Stalin?" Lipset replied, "I remember that he was different from the other Bolsheviks. The others would come and talk about Marxist theory and the revolution. Stalin spoke about organization, efficiency and money." (3) Max Lipset viewed political events in Russia favorably. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, he applied to return to the Soviet Union, an application that was denied. …

Qu'ont a dire les sociologues sur l'organisation des societes? Remarques sur la sociologie quebecoise contemporaine

Abstract: Dans cette breve >, je cherche a repondre a la question percutante qui a ete recemment l'objet de vifs debats au Quebec et en France (1) : Qu'ont a dire les sociologues sur l'organisation des societes? Sans etre un disciple inconditionnel de la theorie de Pierre Bourdieu qui, a la fin de sa vie, a largement reflechi a la place et au role des sociologues dans la vie sociale, il me semble que la reponse a cette question est relative a la configuration du champ intellectuel, scientifique et institutionnel dans lequel s'insere la sociologie au fil des epoques La > (Bourdieu 2001 : 117; voir egalement Bourdieu, 2002) C'est dans cette perspective que je formulerai la reponse a la question au programme L'heure de gloire de la sociologie au Quebec Tropjeune pour avoir connu l'epoque et pour en garder aujourd' hui la nostalgie, je peux poser en theorie que la sociologie quebecoise a connu son heure de gloire dans la foulee de la Revolution tranquille qu'on aurait tort d'associer uniquement aux reformes des institutions publiques et de l'Etat Le bouillonnement social de naguere n'a pas manque d'attribuer a la sociologie l'ambition d'expliquer l'organisation de la societe et, en l'occurrence, d'orienter egalement la vie sociale a la lumiere de theories generales afin d'en rendre raison dans sa totalite Les sociologues sont aux premieres loges l'heure de l'effritement du pouvoir de l'Eglise, de la modernisation rapide des institutions publiques vouees a l'education et a la sante, de la liberation nationale, de la lutte des jeunes, de celle des femmes et de la volonte des francophones de s'affirmer sur le plan economique Ils se font fort d'alimenter la modernisation du Quebec du haut de leurs chaires universitaires, mais aussi en mettant la main a la pate grace a la collaboration des Guy Rocher, Marcel Rioux et Fernand Dumont aux diverses entreprises de reflexion collective qu'ont ete tour a tour la Commission Parent (1965), la Commission d'enquete sur l'enseignement des arts (1969) et la Commission d'etude sur l'Eglise quebecoise (1971) L'analyse des sociologues qui porte sur l'organisation de la societe ne s'arrete pas a remedier aux besoins de l'Etat ni a la demande sociale Au contraire, l'une et l'autre de ces entreprises s'affichent, au dire de Fernand Dumont, comme forum utile > (Dumont, 1997 : 169) Leurs artisans ne restreignent pas leurs reflexions aux seuls besoins circonstancies de l'organisation de la societe Celles-ci font office de tremplin propice la production d'ouvrages qui couvrent l'organisation de la societe darts sa totalite grace a des theories de cet ordre Guy Rocher (1969), par exemple, publie sa fameuse Introduction a la sociologie generale qui, on l'a oublie, comporte trois tomes aux titres singulierement revelateurs de l'ambition sociologique de l'epoque : action sociale, organisation sociale et changement social En d'autres termes, la theorie sociologique cible l'action des individus et des groupes dans l'intention de vouloir l'organiser apres l'avoir envisagee sur le plan theorique afin de changer la societe Marcel Rioux et Fernand Dumont ne sont pas en reste puisque le premier entend repondre a la Question du Quebec (Rioux, 1969) tandis que le second, quant a lui, apres mures reflexions sur la religion et la culture populaire, veut creer une anthropologie grace a laquelle l'Homme aura un lieu et le sens de la vie sociale ne se formera plus en son absence (Dumont, 1968; 1981) …

... to race and gender, everyone? Some thoughts on the future of research on social inequality

Abstract: It is good to see a discussion of economic inequality return to the pages of the CJS (John Myles: "Where have all the sociologists gone?" Touraine (2003) and Hamel (2004) raise related issues). Myles is right. The diminished sociological interest in the subject stands in stark contrast to growing national and international disparities in the distribution of wealth. The changes are nothing short of stunning. Recent US Congressional Budget Office figures show that from 1979 to 2000, after-tax incomes for the bottom four quintiles of US households rose from between 9% to 24%, while that of the top fifth increased by a staggering 201%. Corporate tax rates are at their lowest levels since the 1930s, while working hours in many Ontario businesses are back to what they were in the 19th century--as much as 60 hours per week. Tax cuts and tax evasion, especially through international asset movements, have significantly reduced public revenue and public services. Mobility has decreased, too. More people remain in their income brackets, both at the top and the bottom, than a decade ago. Sociologists barely seem to notice. Once considered a rebellious discipline, sociology has fallen in with a mix of neo-conservative liberalism and what a recent report of the British Civitas Institute calls conspicuous compassion: once progressive agendas which have been coopted by powerful institutions and vested interests. The study of social inequality has withdrawn to politically less risky and intellectually less contested terrain. Even the few theoretical contributions to the field, such as Tilly (1998), focus on "categorical," i.e. clearly polarized, differences of gender and race. The Funding agencies and university research administrations rephrase questions about the causes and the justification of inequality as practical problems of equity and diversity, thereby reducing their scope and relieving them of their more "controversial" aspects. But Myles' plea for better ways to fill the categorical "empty spaces"--class, occupations, status etc.--with empirical data goes only part of the way towards reviving research on economic inequality. Our problems are not just empirical, but theoretical: they lie with the categories themselves. Like so much else in our field, they are a legacy of the rise of sociology in the 19th century, a politically and socially unstable, turbulent and insecure time when making sense of the new industrial social order was at the top of the agenda of the social sciences. Clear categorical distinctions suited that purpose. Marx used them to highlight class divisions. Comte, Spencer, Sumner, and Durkheim used them to show that stratification was a natural or rational layering of society by ability or function, an antidote to "revolutionary periods when authority is weakened through the loss of traditional discipline," and "a spirit of anarchy" seemed to prevail. Categorical views of inequality arose thus from ideological priorities rather than empirical ones. By the end of the 19th century, if not earlier, the "empty spaces" were already unable to accommodate the full complexity of industrial societies. Weber's warning that subjective association and identity were as variable as structural positions, and that the two often drastically diverged, was mostly lost on sociologists who took it to mean that more categories--"status" and "power"--should be added to "class." Changes in the composition and characteristics of aggregate categories, and movements of individuals within and between them, became the mainstay of sociological research on social inequality and mobility, in part because they created convenient receptacles for empirical data, in part because of the ideological appeal of the homey image of society as a lasagna with clearly distinguishable layers, topped off by the Big Cheese. When postmodernism made such structural images unfashionable, categorical analysis, largely unencumbered by theory, proved eminently suitable for a more decentralized view of inequality. …

Reply to Lutz Kaelber

Abstract: Canadian social and developmental research and the NLSCY data upon which this book draws will continue to provide thick, rich and descriptive information on the state of children and childhood in Canada. I found it to be particularly useful by reading this book side by side with Keating and Hertzman’ The Developmental Health of Nations that probes more deeply into the underlying biological, psychological and social dynamics of development. The stage would then be set for a prospective third companion volume that would examine in greater detail the precise kinds of program interventions that have been found through evidence-based research to have positive impacts on the developmental trajectories of young children in Canada today and into the future.