Showing papers in "Contemporary Sociology in 1996"

The Elementary Forms of Religious Life.

Abstract: 'If religion generated everything that is essential in society, this is because the idea of society is the soul of religion.' In The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912), Emile Durkheim set himself the task of discovering the enduring source of human social identity. He investigated what he considered to be the simplest form of documented religion - totemism among the Aborigines of Australia. Aboriginal religion was an avenue 'to yield an understanding of the religious nature of man, by showing us an essential and permanent aspect of humanity'. The need and capacity of men and women to relate socially lies at the heart of Durkheim's exploration, in which religion embodies the beliefs that shape our moral universe. The Elementary Forms has been applauded and debated by sociologists, anthropologists, ethnographers, philosophers, and theologians, and continues to speak to new generations about the origin and nature of religion and society. This new, lightly abridged edition provides an excellent introduction to Durkheim's ideas. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

A Classic of Its Time@@@Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century.

Abstract: First published in 1974, this text is written in a direct way by Harry Braverman, whose years spent as an industrial worker gave him insight into the labour process and the conviction to reject the reigning wisdoms of academic sociology. Here, he analyzes the division of labour between the design and execution of industrial production, which underlies all our social arrangements. This new edition features a new introduction by John Bellamy Foster, setting the work in historical and theoretical context, as well as two more articles by Harry Braverman.

Inventing our selves : psychology, power, and personhood

Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. How should one do the history of 'the self'? 3. A critical history of psychology 4. Psychology as a 'social' science 5. Expertise and the 'techne' of psychology 6. Psychology as an 'individualizing' technology 7. Social psychology as a science of democracy 8. Governing enterprising individuals 9. Assembling ourselves 10. Notes 11. Bibliography.

Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage.

Abstract: Preface ix CHAPTER 1 Introduction and Overview I CHAPTER 2 Employer Responses to the Minimum Wage: Evidence from the Fast-Food Industry 20 CHAPTER 3 Statewide Evidence on the Effect of the 1988 California Minimum Wage 78 CHAPTER 4 The Effect of the Federal Minimum Wage on Low-Wage Workers: Evidence from Cross-State Comparisons 113 CHAPTER 5 Additional Employment Outcomes 152 CHAPTER 6 Evaluation of Time-Series Evidence 178 CHAPTER 7 Evaluation of Cross-Section and Panel-Data Evidence 208 CHAPTER 8 International Evidence 240 CHAPTER 9 How the Minimum Wage Affects the Distribution of Wages, the Distribution of Family Earnings, and Poverty 276 CHAPTER 10 How Much Do Employers and Shareholders Lose? 313 CHAPTER 11 Is There an Explanation? Alternative Models of the Labor Market and the Minimum Wage 355 CHAPTER 12 Conclusions and Implications 387 References 401 Index 415

How the Irish became white

Abstract: Ignatiev traces the tattered history of Irish and African-American relations, revealing how the Irish used labor unions, the Catholic Church and the Democratic party to succeed in American. He uncovers the roots of conflict between Irish-Americans and African-Americans and draws a powerful connection between the embracing of white supremacy and Irish "success" in 19th century American society.

Accounting as social and institutional practice

Abstract: 1. Accounting as social and institutional practice: an introduction Peter Miller 2. Early double-entry bookkeeping and the rhetoric of accounting calculation Grahame Thompson 3. Writing, examining, disciplining: the genesis of accounting's modern power Keith Hoskin and Richard Macve 4. Governing the calculable person Peter Miller and Ted O'Leary 5. Accountancy and the First World War Anne Loft 6. Accounting and labour: integrations and disintegrations Philip Bougen 7. The politics of economic measurement: the rise of the 'productivity problem' in the 1940s Jim Tomlinson 8. Corporate control in large British companies: the intersection of management accounting and industrial relations in postwar Britain Peter Armstrong 9. Value added accounting and national economic policy Anthony Hopwood, Stuart Burchell and Colin Clubb 10. Management by accounting Brendan McSweeny 11. Regulating accountancy in the UK: episodes in a changing relationship between the state and the profession David Cooper, Keith Robson, Tony Puxty and Hugh Wilmott 12. The audit society Michael Power

Conceiving the new world order : the global politics of reproduction

Abstract: This groundbreaking volume provides a dramatic investigation of the dynamics of reproduction In an unusually broad spectrum of essays, a distinguished group of international feminist scholars and activists explores the complexity of contemporary sexual politics around the globe Using reproduction as an entry point in the study of social life and placing it at the center of social theory, the authors examine how cultures are produced, contested, and transformed as people imagine their collective future in the creation of the next generation The studies encompass a wide variety of subjects, from the impact of AIDS on reproduction in the United States to the aftereffects of Chernobyl on the Sami people in Norway and the impact of totalitarian abortion and birth control policies in Romania and China The contributors use historical and comparative perspectives to illuminate the multiple and intersecting forms of power and resistance through which reproduction is given cultural weight and social form They discuss the ways that seemingly distant influences shape and constrain local reproductive experiences such as the international flows of adoptive babies and childcare workers and the Victorian and imperial legacy of eugenics and family planning

Ain't no makin' it : aspirations and attainment in a low-income neighborhood

Abstract: The Hallway Hangers And The Brothers As Teenagers * Social Immobility in the Land of Opportunity * Social Reproduction in Theoretical Perspective * Teenagers in Clarendon Heights: The Hallway Hangers and the Brothers * The Influence of the Family * The World of Work: Aspirations of the Hangers and Brothers * School: Preparing for the Competition * Leveled Aspirations: Social Reproduction Takes Its Toll * Reproduction Theory Reconsidered Eight Years Later: Low Income, Low Outcome * The Hallway Hangers: Dealing in Despair * The Brothers: Dreams Deferred * Conclusion: Outclassed and Outcast(e)

Childhood matters : social theory, practice and politics

Abstract: This volume discusses the living conditions of children in industrial society, and presents new theories and interpretations regarding the position of childhood in modern society, in relation to family, economy, politics, time and space, intergenerational relations and demographic developments.

Everyday Forms of State Formation: Revolution and the Negotiation of Rule in Modern Mexico

Abstract: Everyday Forms of State Formation is the first book to systematically examine the relationship between popular cultures and state formation in revolutionary and post-revolutionary Mexico. While most accounts have emphasized either the role of peasants and peasant rebellions or that of state formation in Mexico’s past, these original essays reveal the state’s day-to-day engagement with grassroots society by examining popular cultures and forms of the state simultaneously and in relation to one another. Structured in the form of a dialogue between a distinguished array of Mexicanists and comparative social theorists, this volume boldly reassesses past analyses of the Mexican revolution and suggests new directions for future study. Showcasing a wealth of original archival and ethnographic research, this collection provides a new and deeper understanding of Mexico’s revolutionary experience. It also speaks more broadly to a problem of extraordinary contemporary relevance: the manner in which local societies and self-proclaimed "revolutionary" states are articulated historically. The result is a unique collection bridging social history, anthropology, historical sociology, and cultural studies in its formulation of new approaches for rethinking the multifaceted relationship between power, culture, and resistance. Contributors . Ana Maria Alonso, Armando Bartra, Marjorie Becker, Barry Carr, Philip Corrigan, Romana Falcon, Gilbert M. Joseph, Alan Knight, Florencia E. Mallon, Daniel Nugent, Elsie Rockwell, William Roseberry, Jan Rus, Derek Sayer, James C. Scott

The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon

Abstract: ""The DNA Mystique" is a wake-up call to all who would dismiss America's love affair with 'the gene' as a merely eccentric obsession."--"In These Times" "Nelkin and Lindee are to be warmly congratulated for opening up this intriguing field [of genetics in popular culture] to further study."--"Nature" "The DNA Mystique" suggests that the gene in popular culture draws on scientific ideas but is not constrained by the technical definition of the gene as a section of DNA that codes for a protein. In highlighting DNA as it appears in soap operas, comic books, advertising, and other expressions of mass culture, the authors propose that these domains provide critical insights into science itself. With a new introduction and conclusion, this edition will continue to be an engaging, accessible, and provocative text for the sociology, anthropology, and bioethics classroom, as well as stimulating reading for those generally interested in science and culture.

The populist persuasion : an American history

Abstract: This text gives an account of populism in American politics from the Revolutionary War to the present day. The roots of populism are found in the left, voicing the dreams and demands of exploited workers, the poor and the dispossessed. More recently, the populist tradition has been harnessed by the right, fuelled by the anti-Communist rhetoric of the Cold War, and the ascendancy of the Christian right. This development is traced through the presidential campaigns of George Wallace, to the forthright populism of Ronald Reagan.

The Search for Political Community: American Activists Reinventing Commitment

Abstract: This book challenges the myth that Americans' emphasis on personal fulfilment necessarily weakens commitment to the common good. Drawing on extensive participant-observation with a variety of environmentalist groups, Paul Lichterman argues that individualism sometimes enhances public, political commitment and that a shared respect for individual inspiration enables activists with diverse political backgrounds to work together. This personalised culture of commitment has sustained activists working long-term for social change. The book contrasts 'personalised politics' in mainly white environmental groups with a more traditional, community-centred culture of commitment in an African-American group. The untraditional, personalised politics of many recent social movements invites us to rethink common understandings of commitment, community, and individualism in a post-traditional world.

I've got the light of freedom : the organizing tradition and the Mississippi freedom struggle

Abstract: This momentous work offers a groundbreaking history of the early civil rights movement in the South. Using wide-ranging archival work and extensive interviews with movement participants, Charles Payne uncovers a chapter of American social history forged locally, in places like Greenwood, Mississippi, where countless unsung African Americans risked their lives for the freedom struggle. The leaders were ordinary women and mensharecroppers, domestics, high school students, beauticians, independent farmerscommitted to organizing the civil rights struggle house by house, block by block, relationship by relationship. Payne brilliantly brings to life the tradition of grassroots African American activism, long practiced yet poorly understood. Payne overturns familiar ideas about community activism in the 1960s. The young organizers who were the engines of change in the state were not following any charismatic national leader. Far from being a complete break with the past, their work was based directly on the work of an older generation of activists, people like Ella Baker, Septima Clark, Amzie Moore, Medgar Evers, Aaron Henry. These leaders set the standards of courage against which young organizers judged themselves; they served as models of activism that balanced humanism with militance. While historians have commonly portrayed the movement leadership as male, ministerial, and well-educated, Payne finds that organizers in Mississippi and elsewhere in the most dangerous parts of the South looked for leadership to working-class rural Blacks, and especially to women. Payne also finds that Black churches, typically portrayed as frontrunners in the civil rights struggle, were in fact late supporters of the movement."

Building a safer society : strategic approaches to crime prevention

Abstract: Examining the research and experience concerning crime prevention, this book offers a new conceptualization of the subject incorporating developmental, community, situational and law enforcement approaches. This collection of 11 essays also examines substance abuse, interpersonal violence, burglary prevention, retail sector crimes and city-centre street crimes.

Popular Contention in Great Britain, 1758-1834.

Abstract: Part 1 From mutiny to mass mobilization: contention in 1833 what changed and why? what's at issue? contending ideas common action and shared understanding repertoires of contention insistent questions, possible answers what's to come. Part 2 Contention under a magnifying glass: a change of repertoires problems, sources, methods a calendar of contention numbering the struggles forms of contention, old and new. Part 3 Capital, state and class in Britain, 1750-1840: proletarians, landlords and others the growth of industry urbanization income and inequality war and the British state repression in Britain popular participation in national politics social movements and democracy. Part 4 Wilkes, Gordon and popular vengeance, 1758-1788: how Britain was changing contention's flow how the repertoire worked against poorhouses and enclosures workers' contention mutations. Part 5 Revolution, war and other struggles, 1789-1815: associations in France and Britain economy and demography state, war and parliament textures of contention contentious issues the issue is food who contended, and how? revolution and popular sovereignty. Part 6 State, class and contention, 1816-1827: economy and state, 1816-1827 from war to peace to contention contentious contours Queen Caroline contentious actors workers in action contending with associations political entrepreneurs, radicals and reformers. Part 7 Struggle and reform, 1828-1834: spurting population, expanding economy, consolidating state repertoires for the 1830s the political crisis of 1828-1834 embattled bobbies swing time for reform workers glimmers of revolution. Part 8 From donkeying to demonstrating: to retell the story to meet in public catholics in politics toward explanation social movements and demonstrations national and international politics foundations of popular contention mass national politics and democracy. Appendices: sources and methods major Acts by the British government directly affecting popular association and collective action, 1750-1834.

Research-doctorate programs in the United States: continuity and change

Abstract: Doctoral programs at U.S. universities play a critical role in the development of human resources both in the United States and abroad. This volume reports the results of an extensive study of U.S. research-doctorate programs in five broad fields: physical sciences and mathematics, engineering, social and behavioral sciences, biological sciences, and the humanities. Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States documents changes that have taken place in the size, structure, and quality of doctoral education since the widely used 1982 editions. This update provides selected information on nearly 4,000 doctoral programs in 41 subdisciplines at 274 doctorate-granting institutions. This volume also reports the results of the National Survey of Graduate Faculty, which polled a sample of faculty for their views on the scholarly quality of program faculty and the effectiveness of doctoral programs in preparing research scholars/scientists. This much-anticipated update of such an essential reference will be useful to education administrators, university faculty, and students seeking authoritative information on doctoral programs.

Science at the bar : law, science, and technology in America

Abstract: Foreword by Richard C. Leone Preface The Intersections of Science and Law Changing Knowledge, Changing Rules The Law's Construction of Expertise The Technical Discourse of Government Law in the Republic of Science Toxic Torts and the Politics of Causation Legal Encounters with Genetic Engineering Family Affairs Definitions of Life and Death Toward a More Reflective Alliance Notes Index

Representation in ethnography

Abstract: An End to Innocence - John Van Maanen The Ethnography of Ethnography 'Deja Entendu' - Jean E Jackson The Liminal Qualities of Anthropological Fieldnotes Making a Study 'More Ethnographic' - Harry F Wolcott Literary Journalism as Ethnography - Michael Agar Exploring the Excluded Middle On Acknowledgements in Ethnographies - Eyal Ben-Ari Humor in Ethnographic Writing - Gary Alan Fine and Daniel D Martin Sarcasm, Satire, and Irony in Erving Goffman's Asylums Narrative and Sociology - Laurel Richardson Performing the Text - Marianne A Paget The Challenges of Postmodernism - Peter K Manning

The Spectacle of History: Speech, Text, and Memory at the Iran-Contra Hearings

Abstract: How is history produced? How do individuals write—or rewrite—their parts while engaged in the production of history? Michael Lynch and David Bogen take the example of the Iran-contra hearings to explore these questions. These hearings, held in 1987 by the Joint House-Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaragua Opposition, provided the nation with a media spectacle and a rare chance to see a struggle over the writing of history. There was Oliver North, prime suspect and designated scapegoat, turning into a hero of the American Right before the very eyes of the nation. How this transformation occurred, with the complicity of the press and the public, becomes disturbingly clear in The Spectacle of History. Lynch and Bogen detail the practices through which the historical agents at the center of the hearings composed, confirmed, used, erased, and denied the historical record. They show how partisan skirmishes over the disclosure of records and testimony led to a divided and irresolute outcome, an outcome further facilitated by the “applied deconstruction” deployed by North and his allies. The Spectacle of History immerses the reader in a crowded field of texts, utterances, visual displays, and media commentaries, but, more than a case study, it develops unique insight into problems at the heart of society and social theory—lying and credibility, the production of civic spectacle, the relationship between testimony and history, the uses of memory, and the interplay between speech and writing. Drawing on themes from sociology, literary theory, and ethnomethodology and challenging prevailing concepts held by contemporary communication and cultural studies, Lynch and Bogen extract valuable theoretical lessons from this specific and troubling historical episode.

Talking from 9 to 5: How Women's and Men's Conversational Styles Affect Who Gets Heard, Who Gets Credit, and What Gets Done at Work.

Abstract: As the author did when discussing men's and women's tendencies to adopt different conversational styles in "You Just Don't Understand", Tannen is careful in this book to emphasize that not all men follow typically masculine patterns of conversation, and not all women follow typically feminine patterns. Based on research and interviews, and written with humour, Tannen aims to encourage both women and men to learn from different styles of conversation at work, and to show people how to interpret conversational signals and thereby open up new opportunities for postive exchange and development.

Age and structural lag : society's failure to provide meaningful opportunities in work, family, and leisure

Abstract: Partial table of contents: THE DILEMMA OF STRUCTURAL LAG. Structural Lag: Past and Future (M. Riley & J. Riley). Opportunities, Aspirations, and Goodness of Fit (R. Kahn). DIRECTIONS OF CHANGE. Social Structure and Age-Based Careers (J. Henretta). Work and Retirement: A Comparative Perspective (M. Kohli). Family Change and Historical Change: An Uneasy Relationship (T. Hareven). Old Age and Age Integration: An Anthropological Perspective (J. Keith). CURRENT INTERVENTIONS: OLDER WORKERS. Realizing the Potential: Some Examples (W. McNaught). Changing Policy Signals (R. Burkhauser & J. Quinn). Endnote: The Reach of an Idea (A. Foner). Indexes.

Gendered Work: Sexuality, Family, and the Labour Market.@@@Engendering Business: Men and Women in the Corporate Office, 1870-1930.

Abstract: Sexuality and the labour market family production and the labour market sexual servicing and women's employment the condition of women's work.