Showing papers in "Canadian Journal of Sociology in 2006"

Science and citizens : globalization and the challenge of engagement

Abstract: * Contents * Foreword - John Gaventa * Part 1: Science and Citizenship * 1. Introduction: Science, citizenship and globalization - Melissa Leach, Ian Scoones and Brian Wynne * 2. Science and citizenship in a global context - Melissa Leach and Ian Scoones * Part 2: Beyond risk: defining the terrain * Commentary - Melissa Leach, Ian Scoones and Brian Wynne * 3. The post-normal science of safety - Jerry Ravetz * 4. Are scientists irrational? Risk assessment in practical reason - Frank Fischer * 5. Risk as globalizing 'democratic' discourse? Framing subjects and citizens - Brian Wynne * 6. Knowledge, justice and democracy -Shiv Visvanathan * Part 3: Citizens engaging with science * Commentary - Melissa Leach, Ian Scoones, Brian Wynne * 7. Myriad stories: Constructing expertise and citizenship in discussions of the new genetics - Richard Tutton, Anne Kerr and Sarah Cunningham-Burley * 8. AIDS, science and citizenship after apartheid - Steven Robins * 9. Demystifying occupational and environmental health: Experiences from India- Murlidhar V. * 10. Absentee expertise: Science advice for biotechnology regulation in developing countries - Kees Jansen and Esther Roquas * 11. Interrogating China's biotechnology revolution: Contesting dominant science policy cultures in the risk society - James Keeley * 12. Environmental perception and political mobilization in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo: A comparative analysis - Angela Alonso and Valeriano Costa * 13. 'Let Them Eat Cake': GM Foods and the Democratic Imagination - Sheila Jasanoff * 14. Plant biotechnology and the rights of the poor: A technographic approach - Paul Richards * Part 4: Participation and the politics of engagement * Commentary - Melissa Leach, Ian Scoones, Brian Wynne * 15. Opening up or closing down? Analysis, participation and power in the social appraisal of technology - Andy Stirling * 16. Geographic information systems for participation - John Forrester and Steve Cinderby * 17. Democratizing science in the UK: The case of radioactive waste management - Jason Chilvers * 18. Genetic engineering in Aotearoa New Zealand: A case of opening up or closing down debate? - Audley Genus and Tee Rogers-Hayden * 19. Exploring food and farming futures in Zimbabwe: A citizens' jury and scenario workshop experiment - Elijah Rusik

Entre contraintes institutionnelle et domestique: les parcours de vie masculins et féminins en Suisse

Abstract: This study analyzes occupational trajectories in Switzerland on the basis of hypotheses about standardization, individualization and gendering of life courses which are often related to the increasing and later decreasing influence of the welfare state that accompanies the reinforced influence of neoliberal policies. It is based on the retrospective data of the Swiss household panel collected in 2002. Sequence analyses show that female trajectories are at a time more varied and more sensitive to factors such as education, number of children, and birth cohort, than male trajectories which are comparatively more stable and homogenous. The standardization, individualization, and gendering hypotheses can only partially account for the existence of the differentiated trajectories we find and should be completed by the principle of gendered master statuses that is informed by the perspective of linked lives and the feminist critique of life-course sociology. Resume : Cette etude analyse les trajectoires professionnelles des femmes et des hommes vivant en Suisse a la lumiere des hypotheses de standardisation, d'individualisation et de sexuation des parcours de vie, souvent associees a la montee puis a l'affaiblissement de l'Etat social, concomitant a l'influence croissante des politiques neoliberales. Elle se base sur les donnees retrospectives du Panel suisse de menages, recoltees en 2002. Des analyses de sequences revelent que les trajectoires des femmes sont a la fois plus variables et plus sensibles a des facteurs tels que le niveau de formation, le nombre d'enfants, la cohorte de naissance que les trajectoires des hommes, en comparaison beaucoup plus stables et homogenes. Les hypotheses de standardisation, d'individualisation et de sexuation des parcours de vie ne contribuent que partiellement a expliquer l'existence de ces trajectoires differenciees. Ces hypotheses doivent etre completees par le principe du statut-maitre, inspire par la perspective des linked lires et par la critique feministe de la sociologie des parcours de vie. ********* 1. Des parcours de vie entre standardisation et individualisation L'interet des sociologues pour les differentes formes de trajectoires de vie remonte au debut du 20e siecle (2). Elles n'ont neanmoins guere ete theorisees d'une maniere globale et coherente. Les cadres theoriques et meme disciplinaires sont a ce jour variables et peu consolides. La psychologie, qui s'interesse depuis longtemps au developpement de l'individu (surtout, il faut le preciser, jusqu'a l'adolescence), que se soit au niveau intellectuel ou plus generalement cognitif, emotionnel, moral ou relationnel, a analyse beaucoup plus attentivement les regularites observables concernant ce developpement que les explications, partant le plus souvent du principe que les causes biologiques primaient largement sur les influences sociales, a l'exception notable du modele sociodynamique de Erikson (1950) ou de l'approche ecologique de Bronfenbrenner (1979). Pour de nombreux sociologues, le parcours de vie est a peine plus qu'une idee sur la localisation temporelle d'une serie d'evenements significatifs a l'echelle individuelle. La dimension temporelle necessairement impliquee dans cette perspective a rarement ete prise en compte autrement que comme une sorte de variable naturelle, mesurable essentiellement a l'aune de l'age chronologique, comme dans la plupart des analyses demographiques depuis Glick (1947) et Lansing et Kish (1957). L'idee meme d'une regulation sociale du timing de ces evenements a recu peu d'attention, a l'exception entre autres de l'idee de normes sociales plus ou moins efficaces, etablissant des liens normatifs entre d'importantes transitions de vie et l'age de ceux qui les realisent (Neugarten et al. 1965 ; Settersten et Hagestad 1996a, 1996b). Une discussion proprement sociologique s'est developpee essentiellement dans la sociologie europeenne depuis environ 20 ans, avec des contributions interessantes issues de l'histoire sociale et de la demographie historique, surtout en Allemagne. …

The West and the Rest Revisited: Debating Capitalist Origins, European Colonialism, and the Advent of Modernity

Abstract: The ascent of the western European powers to global hegemony in the early modern period remains a central problematic in social scientific inquiry. In seeking to comprehend the causes that facilitated the European passage to colonial domination and capitalist modernity, scholars have looked to a series of interdependent institutional and cultural developments that unfolded cumulatively over the long-term, and which issued in greatly enhanced capacities in coercive and productive power. Revisionist scholarship is now challenging this understanding. Dismissing the consensus view as a mirage of "Eurocentric" and "Orientalist" mythologizing, revi- sionists are insistent that the major societies across Eurasia were all progressing along a comparable course of modernizing development, and that the West's surge to global supremacy was a late and contingent historical outcome. It will be argued here that the revisionist position is both empirically suspect and analytically incoherent. Affirmed in counterpoint are the explanatory principles of path-dependent historical trajectories and the pervasive structural integration of social formations. Resume : La montee des pouvoirs de l'Europe de l'Ouest vers une hegemonie globale au debut de la periode moderne demeure une question inquietante dans les sondages socio-scientifiques. Pour comprendre les causes qui ont facilite la domination coloniale des Europeens et le capitalisme des temps modernes, les erudits se sont tournes vers des developpements institutionnels et culturels xxxxxx

Tears, fears and careers : Anti-racism and emotion in social movement organizations

Abstract: Debates about anti-racism in many organizations often collapse into emotional and turbulent scenes characterized by anger and tears. The central concerns of this paper are the practices and discourses of emotional expression that shape what can be said in these organizational debates about racism and anti-racism. A predominant mode of discussion in many social movement organizations, particularly those inspired by feminist and collectivist histories, is one that privileges the disclosure of personal experiences and emotion. I demonstrate that this wide-spread mode of discussion, which I refer to as the "let's talk" approach, also produces a tightly controlled space for the expression and suppression of knowledge and feelings about racism. In particular, interviews with feminists active in anti-racist efforts shows that this "let's talk" approach often deflects and personalizes attempts at organizational change. The implication of this research is that simply "adding" feelings to organizational efforts, as some sociologists of emotion, feminist scholars and activists have suggested, is an enterprise that must be carefully interpreted. This paper suggests we should be re-thinking not only the practices of emotion in organizations, but also the historical relations of power that prompt emotional resistance to discussions of race. Resume: Le debat sur l'anti-racisme dans nombre d'organismes donne souvent lieu a des scenes emotionnelles et turbulentes caracterisees par de la colere et des larmes. Au centre de l'article se trouvent les pratiques et les discours sur l'expression emotionnelle qui faconnent ce que l'on peut dire dans ces debats organisationnels sur le racisme et l'anti-racisme. Le mode de discussion predominant dans de nombreux organismes de mouvements sociaux, surtout ceux qui sont nes des evolutions feministes et collectivistes, privilegie la communication d'experiences et d'emotions personnelles. Je demontre que ce mode de discussion largement repandu que j'appelle la demarche « entre nous », produit aussi un espace tres controle pour l'expression et la suppression de connaissances et de sentiments sur le racisme. Tout particulierement, les entrevues avec des feministes actives dans l'effort anti-raciste montrent que la demarche « entre nous»» devie et personnalise souvent les tentatives de changement organisationnel. Les reepercussions de cette recherche signifient qu'en simplement « ajoutant»» des sentiments a l'effort organisationnel, comme certains sociologues d'emotions, universitaires feministes et activistes l'ont suggere, represente une

The Rise of Cohabitation in Quebec: Power of Religion and Power over Religion

Abstract: The author develops the hypothesis that the rise of cohabitation in Quebec can be explained by the fact that almost all of its French speaking population was Catholic, and that the Church's refusal to change its doctrine on marriage and sexuality, and to allow laity to play a decisional role in the definition of doctrine, provided Quebec Catholics with the motive to abandon the traditional Christian norms in these matters; the local Catholic authorities' withdrawal from the institutions that framed people's lives "from cradle to grave" made it possible to actually abandon these norms. This case study allows the author to argue that the speed with which each society proceeds along the path should be studied by analyzing the political, legal, and institutional contexts within which such changes of the second demographic transition occur in each society.

What Causes Canadian Aboriginal Protest? Examining Resources, Opportunities and Identity, 1951-2000

Abstract: Drawing on the social movement literature, this paper tests whether or not Canadian Aboriginal protest, 1951-2000, can be explained by resource mobilization, political opportunities, or the construction of a PanAboriginal collective identity. Using regression analysis it argues that the strongest influences on protest are the founding of new organizations, federal monies, media attention, and successful resolution of land claims. The paper also concludes that differences among "status groups," and their access to resources and opportunities, inhibit broad based PanAboriginal protest. Resume: Cet article se base sur la discipline de mouvements sociaux pour tester si les demonstrations d'autochtones canadiens peuvent etre expliquees par les theories de mobilisation de ressources, d'opportunites politiques ou d'identite collective Pan- Autochtones. En utilisant une analyse de regression, l'article maintient que les influences les plus considerables sur les demonstrations sont l'etablissement de nouveaux organismes, l'aide federal, l'attention mediatique ainsi que la resolution favorable de disputes territoriales. L'article conclu egalement que des differences entre les « groupes de statuts » ainsi que dans leur acces a des ressources et opportunites ont une influence nefaste sur les demonstrations Pan-Autochtones plus etendu. During the 1990s, Canada experienced a rise of Aboriginal contentious action. Opposition against the Meech Lake Accord, its defeat, the violent standoff at Oka, the Dudley George shooting at Ipperwash Park, or the Mi'qmak lobster crisis in the Maritimes are just some examples. 1 However,

Technology as a Cultural Force: For Alena and Griffin

Abstract: To various degrees, the citizens of the advanced industrial countries are suffering from a crisis that is as profound as it is vague and therefore hard to deal with. The problem is particularly acute in the United States, however, and in what follows, some of the illustrations pertain particularly to that country, the one I live in and know best. In any case, though vagueness obscures the crisis, there have to be symptoms of some sort; otherwise we would not feel troubled. What are the signs of trouble in the culture of technology and democracy? First there are economic problems--national budget deficits, problems of international trade, newly emerging and powerful competition, viz., India, and China, and the dwindling supply of oil. The last issue connects with the environmental worries. We could easily increase the supply of energy by burning coal and splitting atoms. The problem with the environment is not that it has run out as a source, but that it is overflowing as a sink. We don't know what to do with harmful emissions or how to store nuclear wastes. Hence global warming has become a looming threat. But pollution and species extinction remain problematic as well. In the political sphere, we face foreign and domestic issues. There are people that bitterly hate the liberal democracies and terrorize them as best they can. There are also people around the globe who are in bitter need of aid. Domestically, the distance between the rich and the poor and between conservatives and liberals is wide and has been growing in some cases. The sense of national unity and cooperation is weakening. These are obvious and grave problems. But the problem with these problems is that we can solve them, and one gets the depressing feeling that even if they were solved, the deep and troubling malaise would remain. With the problems solved we might be in the position of the person who had ambitious goals and succeeded--the advanced degree, the appropriate spouse, the successful career, the children studying at elite universities, the retirement provided for, and still the sense of a life misspent. The industrial democracies could address their budget woes and stimulate innovation, production, and export. They could stretch their energy resources through technological sophistication and conservation and push the advancement of clean energy. They could improve on the Kyoto protocol and embrace the Millennium project. They could make taxes more progressive and increase welfare spending. They could increase domestic security and pursue a foreign policy that would decrease the resentment of so many Muslims. They could do this without severe consequences to their standard of living, and they would certainly be better countries as a consequence, more stable, more secure, more just. But we, the citizens of these democracies, would still be in a position of the person who to all appearances did everything right and yet feels empty, foflorn, and aimless. The overt problems having been resolved or at least addressed, we might eat well, but we would not sleep well. Something must be amiss in this analysis, however. If the signs of trouble in fact turn out to be overt problems that can be solved, where are the symptoms of the deeper troubles to begin with? There are, I believe, indicators in the economy, the environment, and politics that point to more profound issues. An economy whose prosperity has been set on a stable footing will fail to make us happy. An environment that is sustainable and benign will not give us a sense of belonging. And politics of social and global justice will leave us morally abandoned. There are people who have recognized and are concerned with these issues. Social scientists have observed that our economy is not designed to help people pursue happiness successfully. The deepest concern of most environmentalists is not just to secure a sustainable setting for our way of life, but to bring about a wider and more meaningful way of life. …

An Ambivalent Civility

Abstract: Social and political theorists have increasingly celebrated civility as a civic virtue that is sensitive to value pluralism and yet has the potential to ameliorate deep differences. Using the insights of Norbert Elias, this paper makes three points: first, civility is marked by a deep-seated ambivalence that emerges through historical processes of pacification and distinction; second, we find this ambivalence manifest in the contemporary tension between individual desires and social expectations; and third, current uses of civility exhibit this ambivalence insofar as civility is used both as a means of distinction that authorizes certain forms of dialogue at the expense of others and as a mechanism of pacification whereby constraints are placed on dialogue to give voice to the marginalised. This ambivalence is illustrated by the work of Edward Shils, Mark Kingwell and Benjamin Barber, each of whom advances a conception of civility that responds to the perceived stresses of social conformity in a social milieu that stresses individuality. Resume: Les sociologues font de plus en plus l'eloge de la civilite comme une vertu du citoyen capable de valoriser le pluralisme culturel et de combler des differences societales profondes. Se referant aux idees de Norbert Elias, cet article souleve trois points: Premierement, la civilite est caracterisee par une ambivalence bien ancree qui emerge a travers des processus historiques de pacification et de distinction. Deuxiemement, des manifestations de cette dualite se retrouvent dans cette tension actuelle entre les desirs des individus et les attentes de la societe. Troisiemement, la civilite darts son usage courant contient un double-sens darts la mesure ou elle expose une mesure de distinction qui pennet d'une part un dialogue excluant certains et qui d'autre part offre un mechanisme de pacification ou l'echange privilegie l'expression des marginaux. Les oeuvres d'Edward Shils, de Mark Kingwell et de Benjamin Barber refletent cette ambivalence, chacun d'eux conceptualisant une representation de la civilite faisant echo aux tiraillements du conformisme social dans un milieu social qui promouvoit l'individualisme. ********** Civility has been a frequent catchword of the media and popular press for the last several years. Offered as a salve for an indiscriminate list of social ills, civility has become a beacon for public moralists seeking to curb the unbridled rudeness and incivility that apparently threatens modern western societies. Although it might be tempting to dismiss this interest in civility as an expression of a relatively insignificant moral panic, such a view is potentially short-sighted given that the discussion of civility and its discontents has been increasingly taken up as a social problem by social and political theorists. In this context, civility is typically promoted as a civic virtue that has the potential to ameliorate some of the cleavages and tensions that abound in pluralistic societies. While it is possible to see these calls for civility as a puerile attempt to "get along" in the face of deep seated structural inequalities, the scope and depth of recent discussion suggests that something more may be at stake. As much as civility is typically associated with qualities such as politeness and the display of good manners, for contemporary social and political theorists it has increasingly come to represent civic virtues such as tolerance, nondiscrimination and public reasonableness. Civility is therefore "more" than good manners--it is a set of practices that involves the exercise of self-constraint and a concern for others. It is expressed as a mode of conduct organized by reason and principle that allows one to negotiate differences in civil society fairly and reasonably. Hence, for Benjamin Barber, civility promotes "reciprocal empathy and mutual respect" because it relies on reason in order to help citizens deal with conflicts of public life (1984: 223, 190). …

The Genuine Jewish Type: Racial Ideology and Anti-Immigrationism in Early Medical Writing about Tay-Sachs Disease

Abstract: This article presents a critical, genealogical analysis of the discourse of Tay-Sachs disease (TSD), a genetic metabolic disorder historically perceived as exclusive, or nearly exclusive, to Jews. Drawing on medical case reports from the period between 1881 (when the disease was first observed) and 1943, i.e., the early years of the Second World War, the study examines how Tay-Sachs was discursively constructed as a Jewish disease. In particular, the study provides an analysis of TSD in the context of anti-immigrationism, especially in 1910s and 1920s US, when both eugenics and Jewish emigration from Eastern Europe were on the rise. The argument illustrates the reification of Jews as "raced" in and through this disease, demonstrating that knowledge about Tay-Sachs (and other group-specific genetic diseases) needs to be examined in socio-cultural terms alongside existing biological accounts. Resume: Cette etude retrace la genealogie du discours sur la maladie de Tay-Sachs, un desordre genetique du metabolisme, historiquement concu comme exclusif aux juifs ou pratiquement exclusif a ceux-ci. Elle en propose une critique. Fondee sur l'analyse de rapports medicaux allant de 1881 (date a la quelle la maladie a d'abord ete identifiee) a fin 1943, c'est-a-dire les premieres annees de la seconde guerre mondiale, cette etude decrit comment les discours prononces autour de la maladie de Tay-Sachs en ont fait un probleme juif. Elle se penche en particulier sur le contexte anti-immigration des decennies 1910 et 1920 aux Etats-Unis alors que l'eugenisme et l'emigration en provenance de l'Europe de l'Est prenaient de l'essor. Elle tente d'etablir comment les juifs furent reifies en tant que > a travers et grace a cette maladie, et montre comment le savoir relatif a la Tay-Sachs (ou a toute autre maladie genetique specifique a un groupe) releve tout autant de termes socioculturels que des donnees biologiques existantes. Introduction--Towards a Genealogy of Medical Racialism Howard Omi and Michael Winant propose a theory of "racial formation," which they define as "the sociohistorical process by which racial categories are created, inhabited, transformed, and destroyed." They link racial formation to the evolution of hegemony and argue that it is a process constituted by a series of "historically situated projects in which human bodies and social structures are represented and organised." Racial projects, they argue, can be found at both the macro and micro levels, and as examples they cite both neoconservative and liberal politics as well as everyday encounters. Thus, they maintain that although it has no biological validity, the idea of race plays a "fundamental role in structuring and representing the social world." In other words, because it has a social reality we cannot abandon the concept of race in our analyses of racism and "racial" politics (1994:55-6; emphasis in text). Omi and Winant's position--one assumed by many sociologists interested in "race relations"--is evocative of Thomas and Thomas' famous assertion that situations defined as real are real in their consequences (1928). While there is no biological basis for race, there are certainly social implications of the idea of biological race; if the idea of race "has a social reality that is independent of its utility as a biological construct," then the thinking is that it must therefore remain central in any social analysis of "race relations" (Satzewich, 1990:318). Miles and Torres (2000) challenge this view, arguing that the continued use of "race" as an analytic category legitimizes and reinforces the misconception that biological races exist and are the cause, rather than the consequence, of racism. Instead of studying race, they argue, we are better off studying the social processes of racism and racialisation, or the social process through which individuals or groups are constructed as being members of a "race. …

Governing Homelessness Through Land-use: A Sociolegal Study of the Toronto Shelter Zoning By-law

Abstract: In this paper, we focus on one particular effort undertaken by the city of Toronto, in the late-1990s, to address the problem of homelessness, namely, the attempt to build more homeless shelters and equitably spread them across the city. We argue that any attempts made by municipal governments to address issues of homelessness — and more broadly, matters of social justice — are bound to run into serious roadblocks, so much so that even the most compassionate and well- intended efforts to provide a temporary roof over the heads of those who find themselves without shelter, are likely to be thwarted, significantly delayed or deviate drastically from their original intentions on the one hand, or at the other extreme, fail miserably. When municipalities attempt to address issues such as homelessness, and matters of social justice more generally, these issues are often funnelled into the awkward machinery of zoning law, one of the few legal fields within municipal jurisdiction. Zoning law governs uses and spaces, not persons. This basic legal fact is shown to have an important effect on the outcome of political conflicts, and this problem is exacerbated when a hot-button issue such as where to locate shelters is opened up for public input and consultation. This case study thus suggests the importance of closely studying the specifics of the legal architecture within which municipal politics are waged.

Myths about Qualitative Research and the Tri-Council Policy Statement

Abstract: It is no secret that qualitative research and Canada’s Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS) has been an unhappy union. Much in the TCPS is drawn from the research ethics literature that addresses research in the medical context. Although acknowledged, the social sciences and humanities research experience has a low profile in the TCPS. The presence of qualitative research methods within the spectrum of healthcare research has an even lower profile. Some might suggest (incorrectly) that the social sciences, humanities, and qualitative research methods do not appear to influence the policies found in the TCPS at all. Accordingly, in universities and hospitals, in discussions among colleagues at conferences and research venues, and outside the closed doors of research ethics board (REB) meetings, there has been much criticism about the TCPS by those who use different theories and methods than are typical in medical research protocols. While some criticism is justified, some of it is misguided. Despite its emphasis on research ethics in medicine, the TCPS actually allows for more flexibility than some qualitative researchers and REB members sometimes give it credit for. In this paper we address eight common criticisms related to qualitative research and the TCPS, most of which relate to supposed “requirements” surrounding the consent process. It is our contention that these criticisms are not inherent in the TCPS itself, but rather in its interpretation and application. Hence we call these criticisms “myths”. By debunking these myths, our aim is to free researchers and REBs from placing undue restrictions on qualitative research. We encourage qualitative researchers and REBs to refer to

A British Connection? A Quantitative Analysis of the Changing Relations between American, British and Canadian Sociologists

Abstract: Is Canadian sociology facing a crisis? Depending on one's point of view and temperament, one can always provide arguments for comfort or alarm. Although we recognize that some debates are difficult, if not impossible to settle, we are also convinced that most questions framed in terms of "crisis" are unfalsifiable and particularly ill-suited for constructive analysis, and can easily lead to tavern-like discussions and grandiose pronouncements. McLaughlin's recent discussions of Canadian sociology's future (McLaughlin, 2004, 2005, 2006) and the debate they have fuelled provide an illustration of such artificial polemics created by an inadequate formulation of the question and insufficient methodologies to provide an answer. McLaughlin emphasizes the institutional weakness of the Canadian sociological tradition. This institutional weakness would be a reflection of Canadian sociology's historical connections to the kind of social sciences practiced in the United-Kingdom and consequently explains its meagre appeal to the American scientific field (McLaughlin, 2004 and 2005). Assuming that British sociology is a "weakly institutionalized discipline" and that Canadian sociology is excessively embedded within this British tradition, it should surprise no one that McLaughlin concludes that "this has hurt the development of a strong sociological perspective in Canada" (McLaughlin, 2004: 89). Combined with two other major factors--the "flatness' or non-hierarchical nature of the Canadian education system and the left-wing orientation of Canadian sociology (McLaughlin, 2004)--the "British flavour" pervading Canadian universities has not only hampered the development of a "distinct and serious discipline" but threatens to make it "cease to exist in Canada in anything more than name alone" (McLaughlin, 2005: 6). In reading McLaughlin's articles it is unclear whether he believes the "Englishness" of Canadian sociology to be either a cause or the effect of a vague but persistent anti-American sentiment among Canadian scholars. This "relative indifference even hostility to American sociology" (McLaughlin, 2005: 19) nevertheless is treated as self-evident. "Far too much of Canadian sociology has become dominated by a knee-jerk anti-Americanism, leaving us vulnerable to falling uncritically in with trends in the European-oriented critical humanities." (McLaughlin, 2004: 92) Since the article provides the reader with no empirical evidence of such implicit "xenophobia", one is reluctant to take the author's word for it as the very existence of a homogeneous "American sociology" is dubious at best, given its high diversity in methods and approaches. Is McLaughlin correct in assuming that the continuing reliance of Canadian scholars on British sociology is "something that can be seen in terms of faculty hiring, university governance, and culture as well as the intellectual orientation of Canadian institutions of higher education" (McLaughlin 2004: 89)? Should readers believe him when he claims that American sociology is neglected by Canadian social scientists? We leave to others to assess if McLaughlin is right in arguing that England, "the homeland of empiricism, classical liberal political and economic thought, Fabian socialism and analytic philosophy", truly "remains a relative backwater with regards to the discipline of sociology" (McLaughlin, 2005: 16). What appears more problematic in our eyes is that throughout his three lengthy papers, the author mainly relies on quotations from a few Canadian sociologists, vague intuitions and unquestioned judgements to substantiate his claims. The only fact offered as hard evidence of the embedment of Canadian sociology within a British tradition is that "even as late as 1997, faculty in sociology departments with M.As and PhD. Programs in Canada where ten times more likely to be trained in Britain than faculty at equivalent institutions in the United States" (McLaughlin, 2004: 90, emphasis by the author). …

Refeudalizing the Public Sphere: "Manipulated Publicity" in the Canadian Debate on GM Foods

Abstract: This article develops Habermas' concept of refeudalization in a critical assessment of the public debate surrounding genetically modified (GM) food in Canada. A recent initiative by the Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee, a federal consultative body, is evaluated according to the normative criteria of Habermas' ideal-typical public sphere. In turn, the case study uses Habermas' account of the structural transformation of the public sphere to examine ways in which political-economic conditions under globalization impinge upon the prospects for rational-critical public debate. I argue that external economic pressure associated with the drive for international competitiveness in an increasingly globalized economy has spurred the Canadian state to embrace contradictory roles vis a vis GM food. Given the state's role in regulating and actively promoting the technology, government-sponsored public consultations have taken on the aura of public rela- tions and have risked foreclosing meaningful opportunities for debate.

Multiple Lenses, Multiple Images: Perspectives on the Child across Time, Space, and Disciplines

Abstract: ment in Canada declined by $14.4 billion (or 70%) in 2003, from $21 billion in 2002 to only $6.6 billion in 2003. At the same time, Canadian foreign investment abroad exploded with $15 billion more capital exported than coming into the country. Carroll’s study is dense and detailed. He asks good questions and is convincing about the realignments of the complex of corporate capitalism underway at home and abroad. While corporate boardrooms may not have the role they once had, he documents the rise of “policy boards” as new organic organizers of the corporate elite. These are led by the Business Council on National Issues (since 2001 the Canadian Council of Chief Executive Officers) plus the C.D. Howe Institute, The Conference Board and Fraser Institute. One of his sub-titles is revealing: “From a Culture of Leisure [private men’s clubs] to a Culture of Activism [policy boards].” While there have been notable changes in how the corporate elite is organized, located and practices, there are some basic underlying continuities. In Carroll’s words, “Canada’s corporate elite, both in its pursuit of profit and in its extensive culture and political activism, continues to exert a dominant influence on the lives of those within its ambit. ... the present analysis confirms the continued existence of a robust nationally organized business community (217–218).” Students of the Canadian condition will benefit greatly from this innovative, original and theoretically informed research.

Democracy, Political Institutions, and Trust: The Limits of Current Electoral Reform Proposals

Abstract: A variety of electoral reforms have been proposed to reduce the perceived "democratic deficit" in Canada. Among the most prominent are recall and referenda, based in neo-populist notions of direct democracy, and proportional representation and electoral spending limits, originating in representative notions of democracy. This paper examines the extent of public support in Alberta for these electoral reform initiatives and inquires into the relationship between such support, trust in government, and assessments of the health of democracy in the province. We find a stronger link between trust and assessments of the health of democracy than between support for institutional reforms and such assessments. This suggests programs and policies that enhance trust in government are more capable of reducing the distance between government and citizens than proposed reforms frequently recommended by members of the "political community." In particular, programs and policies that render politics more transparent and that disperse political decision-making seem to have the most promise for overcoming the deficit. Overall, the data suggest widespread public support for changes that will enhance democratic practices, a policy opportunity which should not be ignored. On a propose, pour remedier au « deficit democratique » percu au Canada, une serie de reformes electorales. Parmi celles frequemment suggerees, figurent les referendums et la revocation, inspires par des notions neopopulistes de democratie directe, ainsi que la representation proportionnelle et les limites aux depenses electorales, liees au souci d'une democratie representative. Le present article mesure jusqu'a quel point la population albertaine soutient ces initiatives de reforme electorale. Il explore aussi le rapport entre ce soutien, la confiance accordee au gouvernement et des evaluations de la vitalite de la democratie dans la province. La conclusion est qu'il existe une correlation plus etroite entre la confiance et la vitalite mesuree de la democratie qu'entre cette vitalite et le soutien aux reformes institutionnelles. Apparemment, pour reduire la distance entre le gouvernement et les citoyens, des programmes et politiques ameliorant la confiance accordee au gouvernement valent mieux que les reformes frequemment recommandees par les membres du milieu politique. En outre, parmi ces programmes et politiques, ceux ameliorant la transparence des politiques et repartissant la prise de decision politique semblent particulierement aptes a remedier au deficit. Dans l'ensemble, les donnees suggerent qu'il existe dans la population un soutien generalise pour des changements permettant d'ameliorer la pratique de la democratie, etat d'esprit que les politiques devraient exploiter.

Whither the Future of Canadian Sociology? Thoughts on Moving Forward

Abstract: There is no crystal ball or scientific formula to allow us to conclusively predict how things will turn out for the discipline of sociology in English Canada over the next several decades. We will just have to discuss the issues, hopefully with evidence and professional civility, while waiting to see how things turn out in our lifetimes. The debate that has been playing out in response to Curtis and Weir's "The Succession Question" essay in Society/Societe, Robert Brym's critique of the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association (CSAA) in the Canadian Journal of Sociology (CJS), and my own "Canada's Impossible Science" suggests both good news and bad news lies ahead (Brym 2003, Curtis & Weir 2002). The discussions I have been involved in over the past couple of years with many scholars around the country have been inspiring. While it is obvious that a number of Canadian sociologists are not particularly pleased with some of my views, conversations with scores of others suggest to me that there is real support for new directions for the discipline. Some of the responses to my essay in CJS give me new optimism. The essays authored by Baer, Warren, and Johnston, in particular, raise important analytical questions we can debate with evidence, reason, and a common commitment to our craft. It is clear that there are many scholars in Canada who care deeply about the institutional health and intellectual vibrancy of sociology. Our future holds opportunities as well as challenges. At the same time, the relative lack of professionalism central to our problems is evident in the tone and quality of some of the interventions in the debate. There is empirical evidence suggesting that we do, in fact, face a potential "crisis" despite the self-serving pep talks recently published in CJS. My response will address elements of the discussion that lead to both optimistic and pessimistic predictions, build on constructive criticism, and discuss three central issues raised that move us forward in positive directions: the question of national sociological traditions, how to determine excellence in scholarship, and the larger normative context of the debate. What does it mean to be a Canadian sociologist, who gets to decide how our standards are set, and what is the larger social purpose for our collective enterprise? I will conclude with eleven specific suggestions for the future. Let us start with the bad news, focusing on whether or not Anglo-Canadian sociologists have something to worry about. We are told that there are important structural realities undermining disciplinary practises and professional associations throughout the contemporary academy. In contrast to my perspective, a number of scholars suggest that any problems in Canadian sociology are no worse than ones faced by Canadian political science, history, or economics, or in sociologies in other nations. We are seeing institutional transformations in our universities, changes that are leading to more and better interdisciplinary knowledge production. We live in the best of all possible worlds, suggest some of my critics. Is there really anything to be concerned about? In answering this question, focusing exclusively on the CSAA would be a mistake. The health of the association and professional meetings for any discipline will ultimately depend, if I can draw on a perhaps outdated but still useful terminology, on a material base created by strong departments and tenure-stream hiring. A vibrant professional association is ultimately the result of a discipline's healthy institutionalization within a research university system not a cause, even if we can do many things to improve the CSAA. Tenure stream hiring at the most prestigious PhD-producing institutions is an indicator of such health, since this plays a pivotal role in the inter-generational reproduction of disciplinary research programmes. A discipline that is producing and hiring its own young scholars is in a good institutional position. …

Intelligent Design Theory: A Site for Contemporary Sociology of Knowledge

Abstract: The recent rise of intelligent design theory in opposition to the Neo-Darwinian synthesis as an account for the nature of life reflects an underlying shift in the defining ideological polarity of our time. The difference between these two scientific world-views cuts across the left-right binary that has dominated political thought for the past two centuries. The result is an updated version of Sorokin's opposition between "sensate" and "idealistic" cultures — represented by, on the one hand, the carbon-based orientation to life espoused by Peter Singer and other Neo-Darwinists, and, on the other, the silicon-based orientation promoted by Ray Kurzweil and his allies in intelligent design, who include many proponents of artificial intelligence. In the balance hangs the locus for defining "humanity," which in the past had been satisfied by the stable existence of something called "society." This paper traces the roots of intelligent design theory to the aspiration of Newton and other scientific revolutionaries to regard the mechanical world-view as enabling humans to approximate the mind of God.

Sociologizing Alone? Is Anglo-Canadian Sociology Really Facing a Crisis?

Abstract: This article addresses McLaughlin's (2005), Brym's (2003) and Curtis and Weir's (2002) recent claims to challenge some current ideas about Canadian sociology and its progressive loss of autonomy and identity. As McLaughlin suggests, 'Hopefully, Brym's provocative piece in CJS will give rise to a reasonable debate: (2005, 27). It is our contention that such a debate is indeed needed. And yet we are not convinced the debate has been thoroughly engaged at this point. This is why we shall elaborate some brief remarks in order to further clarify the problems and challenges Canadian sociology is at present struggling with. We must begin this critical note by observing how the recent debates launched by McLaughlin, Brym, Curtis and Weir, among many others (in Quebec, let us mention Freitag (2002), Gagne (1999), Gingras (2004)), is timely and stimulating. In paying attention to the intellectual and theoretical level of the debate one can not help but wonder if their criticisms are as well founded as they pretend to be! We shall not, therefore, attempt to resolve the question in such little space. Our goal is much more modest in that we aim to relativize some of their premises and widen the scope of inquiry in order to situate sociology's crisis within a more extensive social, political, and epistemological horizon. (1) McLaughlin's, and Curtis and Weir's argument revolves around the unquestioned conviction that sociology's autonomy is decreasing and that its professional character is slackening. McLaughlin mainly offers one "fact" to support his assertion (2); that "the national professional association for the discipline could lose [and, shall we add, is indeed losing] viability as an organizational form" (McLaughlin 2005, 5). "The Canadian sociology association has serious problems" (McLaughlin, 2004, p.95). We set ourselves to examine this alleged "fact" in order to re-evaluate the extent to which it proves valid. It is indeed curious, if not somewhat perplexing, to notice that this "fact" is taken for granted in some of the more recent criticisms of the state of Canadian sociology. The crisis of recruitment in sociological associations has been the subject of some circumscribed and small-angled talks during the past five years. Consequently, the analysis of their internal and idiosyncratic problems has been inflated to the detriment of a larger analysis of the new social context in which they must now evolve. Although, like some scholars have attempted, it is always possible to link these recruitment problems to a slow but inexorable decline in professionalism during the 1990s, it is tempting to reverse this explanation, and recognize the general and widespread crisis faced by north-American professional sociological associations after the big boom of the 1970s and 1980s, as the cause behind the field's slacking criteria of excellence. This reversed perspective seems even more justified from a sociological point of view. Instead of focusing exclusively on personal, ideological, and internal uses, the transformation of social structures and culture can be placed at the core of the analysis. Although we share much of Robert Brym's concerns regarding the future of our Canadian national sociological association and we recognize that Bum's article, whose foundations McLaughlin' s article is mostly built upon, is the first serious attempt to tackle the issue of falling membership within a broad perspective, we disagree with some of his conclusions regarding the causes for the crisis they face. Because of the briefness of this essay, and because it is based in part on hypothesis and intuitions, it should not be interpreted as a blunt criticism of Brym's analysis, or for that matter McLaughlin's or Curtis and Weir's analysis, but on the contrary, it should be read as an engagement in dialogue. Should this essay give rise to more criticisms and replies, it will have fulfilled its purpose. …

Merton's Ambivalence towards Autonomous Theory-And Ours (1)

Abstract: Using the term ambivalence in the title of a talk honoring the life and work of Robert K. Merton seems perfectly plausible. For one thing, the man himself was the object of considerable ambivalence. Evoking the (expectable) negative sentiment customarily directed against outstanding public figures, Merton was resented for ways in which he appeared to deploy an interest in others in manipulative ways and to pursue a seemingly insatiable agenda of self-aggrandizement. On the other hand, there were those, myself included, who were awestruck by the depth of his collegial goodwill and of his proactive generosity toward younger colleagues and students. In this regard, David Caplovitz's review of a Merton Festschrift (1977) sets a high bar: Caplovitz not only extols Merton's brilliance as a lecturer and his talents as a poet, but also highlights the boundless energy and wit with which he tackled the prose of all hapless texts that came his way. Again, there are those who now blame Bob Merton (along with Talcott Parsons) for having narrowed theoretic discourse in sociology and thereby derailed the project of robust advances American sociology to the extent that it has faltered irreversibly since his death (Turner 2004). And again, however, there are those, myself included, who regard Merton's lifework on behalf of sociology in general, and sociological theory in particular, as arguably the greatest single intellectual boost that the discipline received in more than half a century. On those controversial issues I shall comment no further here. Rather, I want to take note of the fact that Merton was practically alone among sociologists of his time in theorizing about the phenomenon of ambivalence itself. In that vein he distinguished insightfully between psychological ambivalence and what he called ambivalence at the social level. The latter notion enabled him to conceptualize patterns of action in terms of socially structured alternatives presented in the form of binary oppositions. For example, he argued that scientists feel obliged [both] to publish quickly and to avoid rushing into print, to value humility as well as take pride in originality; physicians are socialized [both] to show sympathy as well as detachment; business leaders are expected [both] to project a sharply defined vision of their firm's future and to avoid narrow commitments which distance their subordinates, to provide special facilitates so departments can perform well, and to subordinate departmental goals to those of the whole organization. (Levine 1978, 1278) For Merton, then, this meant that social roles should no longer be analyzed as coherent sets of normative expectations, but as clusters of norms and counter-norms that alternatively govern role-behavior. To be sure, the notion of socially structured alternatives appears in Parsons's conception of the pattern variables and elsewhere. However, Parsons wants to characterize social relations in terms of the dominant pattern alternative they embody. Merton stresses the significance of continuously operative counter-norms that alternate with dominant norms in defining social roles. This slight difference is big with theoretical implications. It means that opposition to a dominant norm need not be construed as deviant behavior, expressing some sort of alienative disposition, but rather as normatively valorized conduct. It thereby normalizes ostensible deviance. It intensifies the compulsivity of behavior that veers to one of the normative poles. It produces more openings for the identification of social conflict. It more readily leverages tendencies toward social change. With but few exceptions, (2) this highly important theoretical position has been ignored in subsequent theorizing. Sociologists continue to find it difficult to tolerate the ambiguity involved in such formations (Levine 1985). Nevertheless, my responsibility here today is to comment on Robert K. …

Ethno-racial Minorities and the Juno Awards

Abstract: This article examines ethno-racial minorities (especially Francopbones, Blacks and Aboriginal peoples) in relation to the Juno Awards ceremony for the Canadian recording industry. After documenting how such minorities have often not been seen at the Junos, three arguments are made. First, the frequent absence of ethno-racial minorities can partially be attributed to the promotional strategy adopted by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS). Second, ethno-racial minorities have challenged their general lack of representation through several forms of promotional opposition. Third, CARAS' response to promotional opposition has included efforts to secure an Anglo cultural hegemony. Resume: Ce document examine la ceremonie des Prix Juno de l'industrie canadienne du disque et son rapport avec les minorites ethnoraciales (tout particulierement les Francophones, les Noirs et les peuples autochtones). L'absence frequente de ces minorites a la ceremonie des Prix Juno est d'abord demontree, puis trois arguments sont developpes. Le premier argument est que l'absence frequente des minorites ethnoraciales peut etre en partie attribuee a la strategie promotionnelle adoptee par l'Academie canadienne des arts et des sciences du disque (CARAS). Le deuxieme argument est que les minorites ethnoraciales ont conteste leur faible representation par differentes formes d'opposition promotionnelle. Le troisieme argument est que la reponse de CARAS a l'opposition promotionnelle des minorites ethnoraciales montre des efforts pour obtenir une hegemonie culturelle anglaise. Introduction Three key questions can be posed about ethno-racial minorities and the media. First, to what degree have these minorities been seen in the media, and what explains any lack of representation? Along with mis-representation, under-representation is an issue that has received a great deal of attention from researchers (Mahtani, 2001). Second, to what extent have ethno-racial minorities challenged their lack of representation, and what forms of resistance have been involved? Third, where resistance has existed, how have media or cultural institutions responded to the opposition of ethno-racial minorities? With few exceptions (especially Tator et al., 1998), the last two questions have not been addressed by scholars. Indeed, it has been suggested that future research needs to focus on issues associated with resistance (Mahtani, 2001:118). All three of the questions noted above are answered in this study of ethno-racial minorities and the annual Juno Awards ceremony for the Canadian music industry. The analysis considers the experiences of Francophones, Blacks and Aboriginal peoples in relation to the Junos and the organization that administers the ceremony, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS). In answer to the three questions that have been raised, three inter-linked arguments are made. First, ethno-racial minorities have been seen infrequently at the Junos, and this can partially be attributed to the institutional practices and promotional strategy adopted by CARAS. Second, in the context of CARAS' promotional success, some ethno-racial minorities have engaged in various forms of promotional opposition to contest their general lack of representation. Third, CARAS' response to the resistance of ethno-racial minorities has included efforts to secure an Anglo cultural hegemony. Analytical Framework Along with other aspects of Gramsci's formulations, the concept of hegemony is employed in this article to interpret the struggles of ethno-racial minorities at the Juno Awards. There are two key reasons for drawing upon Gramsci. First, as Hall (1986: 26) notes, the analysis of politics in racially-structured contexts can be enhanced through concepts such as hegemony and passive revolution. Second, the present article attempts to build on two other Canadian studies that have utilized the concept of cultural hegemony to investigate minorities in relation to the arts. …

Canadianization Revisited: A Comment on Cormier's "The Canadianization Movement in Context"

Abstract: In "The Canadianization Movement in Context," Jeffrey Cormier (2005) analyzes and compares the structure and work of two different forces in the movement: a broadly public "movement community" that we started to form in 1968, and a more narrowly based, academic, disciplinary organization--the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association (CSAA) Although Cormier does not explicitly identify his "context," one presumes that it must be his history of the struggle as presented in The Canadianization Movement: Emergence, Survival, and Success (Cormier, 2003) Readers may recall that Cormier argues in this book that the movement went through three phases The first consisted of its launching at Carleton University in December of 1968, our "framing" of the terms of the debate, and the vigorous public discussion that followed over the next two or three years The second phase he describes as beginning when the CSAA became active on the question, internally in 1972 and publicly in about 1973 Cormier's report of the CSAA's activity until about 1976 suggests to readers that the most important activity relating to Canadianization took place in that organization Cormier's third phase began (with some overlap) in the late 1970s and culminated in 1981 with the adoption, by the federal Department of Manpower and Immigration, of new immigration rules for the employment of foreign scholars; this phase consisted primarily of a growing awareness within the CSAA of the need for Canadianization and the CSAA's elaboration of specific policies with respect to disciplinary teaching and research, employment practices, and immigration For Cormier, this phase was the work of professional anthropologists and sociologists working within the formal constraints of their academic organization, and it represented the movement's essential "success" In Part 1 below, we suggest that this analysis of the two extremely different elements comprising the movement and their three-phase developmental context is inadequate Citing evidence from a small survey of course descriptions, we argue that Cormier has completely overlooked and thus excluded an important element in the movement which should be taken into consideration In Part 2, we make some observations as outside observers about the work of the CSAA in relation to the Canadianization movement Our remarks are for the most part skeptical, and our suggestion is that the role ascribed to the CSAA by Cormier is exaggerated In Part 3, we discuss Cormier's analysis of the public movement and the role he has assigned to us, arguing that that there are serious deficiencies in his account Our Conclusion suggests that, although Cormier's work may be praiseworthy as an initial attempt to understand a complex matter, his treatment of the movement is misleading as social and political history and problematic as a study of a social structure We then spell out several questions in the hope that they will lead to further study Part 1: A False Dichotomy: The Case of a Missing Dimension The main problem with Cormier's argument is that his account is based on a simple dichotomy that completely overlooks a third element that was at work during the seventies This constituent added an effective component to the kind of reform being advocated both by the public "movement community" and the CSAA and thus formed an extremely important part of the movement's structure It consisted of many hundreds, if not thousands, of individual university teachers who worked diligently and effectively in their respective departments to bring Canadian material into their courses Their work brought about a major enduring curricular reform that was one of the movement's most important achievements, and may have been, to use Cormier's term again, its main "success" Before describing the details of this work (which are suggested by Table A), we would ask our readers to recall that very few new appointments were made in Canadian humanities and social science departments for about ten years after 1971 …

Nation, Civil Society and Social Movements: Essays in Political Sociology, and: Peasant Movements in Post-colonial India (review)

Abstract: of the state in its development (outside of the Olympics), and the evolution of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), all topics which would resonate with undergraduate students taking the classes this text is targeted for. Despite its shortcomings, Sport in Canada will be a valuable text for undergraduate courses on the history of sport in Canada. It will also provide a strong starting point for graduate students interested in research in this field. In doing so, the text will motivate future scholars who can hopefully address some of the aforementioned gaps in our understanding of Canada’s sporting past.

Globalization, Technology, and Philosophy (review)

Abstract: “Canadian responses to modern life and mass culture” might radically change if such standpoints were included. Kuffert’s version of Canadian history 1939–1967 is a decidedly bourgeois history as it latently reproduces the notion of a uni-Canadian national identity in a state which is clearly multinational. This work would be a perfect platform for challenging the nationalistic projects of identity formation which occurred in the mid-20 century, but as it stands A Great Duty is best suited for nostalgic, educated offspring of the baby boom.

Leo Strauss, Max Weber, and the Scientific Study of Politics (review)

Abstract: Nasser Behnegar, Leo Strauss, Max Weber, and the Scientific Study of Politics Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2005, 216 pp First published in 2003, Leo Strauss, Max Weber, and the Scientific Study of Politics has now been released in paperback The title is somewhat misleading, inasmuch as Weber is only invoked in connection with Strauss' critique of social science The book's stated objective is to show that 'Leo Strauss is a friend, perhaps an indispensable friend, of the scientific study of politics' (1) Relativism above all galvanized Strauss' belief that returning to classical political philosophy is 'a necessary step in achieving clarity about preferences of any kind' (3) Thus Part I assesses the viability of contemporary alternatives to his conception of a genuine science of politics The conclusion is announced at the onset: the history of positivism is largely one of 'social science's dissatisfaction with its own achievements' (9) In this vein, the unraveling of Comte's progressive expectations with the advent of the First World War and the ascent of mass democracy, and their ultimate disappointment at the hands of behaviourist and rational choice paradigms, is chronicled And this lamentable process, it is argued, culminates in political science's steadfast refutation of universally valid moral laws According to Strauss, however, natural right is a perennial human need; it alone enables judgments about injustice Hence the rejection of natural law occasions nihilism But he warns there is no guarantee this repudiation is unwarranted and, therefore, that we must not 'embrace natural right in a spirit of fanatical obscurantism' (59) Rather, deliverance from our present-day sense of despair requires an acute appreciation of the fact that 'only the full awareness of our own perplexity can lead to the realization of the possibilities that remain open to us' (61) The rest of the book is devoted to Strauss' critique of positivism The demise of natural right, he avers, occurred with the triumph of historicism on the one hand and a fact/value distinction on the other Part II concentrates on the latter and, for this reason, deals with his chapter on Weber in Natural Right and History because of its 'thematic treatment' of this issue (5) For Strauss, reading Weber is vital to a full understanding of the modern condition, insofar as the idea of irreconcilable value conflicts gives rise to philistine conformism which, in conjunction with an untenable commitment to value-neutrality that vitiates the ascendancy of ultimate principles, undermines moral concerns This nihilistic Weltanschauung has its origins in the theory of natural causality behind his model of science and allied notion of disenchantment What is more, it discloses his opinion that conflict is a necessary condition for morality and, it follows, his 'preference for the tragic life' (114) All told, Weber hauntingly illuminates the abiding and seemingly insoluble tension between philosophy and revelation, between human and divine guidance Strauss hopes that openness to the prospect of faith will put an end to this stand-off and cultivate earnest moral sensitivity …

City Politics, Canada (review)

Abstract: 2004; Shaw 2005). More than ever, interpretive scholars need to explore ways that examine and describe the increasingly integrated and mutually reinforcing dimensions of environmental science-policy regimes. My suggestion for the next instalment (and hopefully there is one) is to expand on Section IV in order to reinforce the need for a nuanced and holistic discourse on Science-Policy Regimes in the International Environment that recognize science-policy as a bidirectional flow of information, ideas, practices, and knowledge. At this point, the question becomes; what are the implications of emerging and diverse science-policy regimes for international environmental cooperation?

How High School Drama Helped Me to Become a Sociologist: An Essay in the Sociology of Autobiography

Abstract: After dinner, my parents assembled all the relatives in the living room. I then entered through a narrow hallway. Although I was barely four years old, I was unafraid. I wore a white shirt and dark brown corduroy pants. "Sha, sha," my father urged ("hush, hush"). When the room fell still, I sang a Yiddish song about young boys, "fresh out of their eggs," playing under the boughs of saplings. Whether I sang well or poorly I do not recall. I know I sang confidently, mimicking the expansive arm movements of performers I had seen on the Ed Sullivan Show. I also remember being surprised that I momentarily captured the attention of my normally raucous two- and three-year old cousins. When I finished, there was murmured approval and cheek pinching and lipstick staining my face. Then we drank tea and milk and indulged in my mother's pastries. My first public performance was a success. Although I seemed to take naturally to performance, there was actually little natural about it. My father taught me a repertoire and promoted bravado. My mother's unflagging love instilled self-confidence. Therefore, it only seemed natural to me that, at the age of five, I should jump, uninvited, onto the stage of a talent show at the synagogue and burst spontaneously into song. Why certain audience members thought I was obnoxious I couldn't imagine. And although some public school teachers apparently disapproved because I was Jewish, it even seemed natural to me that I should be asked to play the lead role of Santa Claus in my grade two class play, advancing to the role of Narrator for the grade four Christmas pageant, presented in the auditorium before the whole primary school. Whether reading from the Book of Matthew or singing Unter di grininke baymelekh, performance always gave me pleasure. I enjoyed the attention and the prestige, to be sure. But it was also fun to escape the everyday world through an act of imagination and to pretend to be someone else; and it was exhilarating to be able to influence the emotional state of so many people all at once. For a decade--between the ages of five and fifteen--the real world grew malevolent. I felt less an actor than the object of other people's actions. But performance offered temporary escape and hinted at better possibilities that would be fully realized only in high school. In the 1950s and 1960s, Saint John was a largely working class city of 100,000 people. With only a small middle class, it lacked a university, a professional theatre, and even a bookstore. And while in other Canadian cities of similar size, such as St John's, Newfoundland, there was a rich folk tradition of music, theatre, and dance that drew sustenance from preindustrial times, I was never aware of any such heritage in Saint John. Although I was born in Saint John, I was a stranger there. My family's culture did not have a great deal in common with that of the 250 or so embourgeoisified and acculturated members of the Jewish community, and very little in common with that of the city's mainly English Protestant and Irish Catholic Gentile population. My father, a tailor, had grown up in Poland, where he was a young activist in the Labour-Zionist movement. He trained as an agricultural labourer in preparation for work on a kibbutz. He never made it to Palestine because in the pre-war years the British Mandate sharply restricted the entry of Jews so as not to upset the Arab majority. He escaped Poland just as the Nazis entered and spent the war years in a workers' battalion attached to the Soviet Red Army, driving camels in Kazakhstan, sewing uniforms in a Ural Mountain kolkhoz, and surviving the bombing of Smolensk and the siege of Stalingrad. Following the war and two years in an American-controlled detention camp in Germany, he embarked for the city where his only North American relative, a first cousin, happened to reside: Saint John. My mother had arrived twenty years earlier from Lithuania. …

Science and Politics in the International Environment (review)

Abstract: discuss the impact of surveillance practices on issues such as health, identity, commerce, and consumption. This area shows quite clearly that surveillance is not only a means to generate conformity, but simply to gather information and produce individual profiles for marketing and other strategies. Turow explores the issue of trust in what he calls Cracking the Consumer Code. Advertisers, Anxiety, and Surveillance in the Digital Age — a theme that affect all consumers. Tinic looks at questions of power in The Age of Interactive Television and whether this is just another data generating machine for the industry rather than an empowering technology. Martin uses so called mood charts to examine forms of self-surveillance in respect to mental illnesses and the current health systems. Cultures of Mania: Towards and Anthropology of Mood is the only anthropological orientated contribution in this volume. Wall and Gandy Jr. both take a look at the Internet as instruments where large amounts of data may be gathered and used for further purposes. While Wall is interested in the Internet as part of an Information Capitalism and focuses Spams and Public Trust in the Information Society, Gandy Jr. directs his attention towards Data Mining and Discrimination the Post-9/11 Environment. He empirically shows what Bogard was developing theoretically when he was speaking of hyperrealitites that are produced collections of data. The volume offers a broad view of contemporary surveillance studies — albeit from a sociological viewpoint. It necessarily cannot provide an all encompassing perspective, including also geographical, anthropological or historical perspectives. The collection of 15 articles is a fine collection of mostly theoretical approaches that discuss surveillance in a comprehensive manner — highlighting the problem that was posed by Haggerty and Ericson in their introduction. Clearly this book is an important contribution to the field of surveillance studies and many arguments will find their way into other, nonsociological approaches.