Showing papers in "Critical Sociology in 2016"
TL;DR: In this paper, the concept of everyday resistance has been used to describe resistance in the context of everyday life. But existing studies utilize very different definitions, methodologies and approaches, and they use different approaches to define everyday resistance.
Abstract: Since James Scott introduced the concept of everyday resistance’ in 1985, research has grown within partly overlapping fields. Existing studies utilize very different definitions, methodologies and ...
153 citations
TL;DR: For nearly three decades, racial formations theory has influenced ideas, discourses and political projects surrounding race and racism in the United States as mentioned in this paper, which holds that although race is a...
Abstract: For nearly three decades, racial formations theory has influenced ideas, discourses and political projects surrounding race and racism in the United States. The theory holds that although race is a...
148 citations
TL;DR: This article argued that the logic of decolonization movements for indigenous sovereignty and against the settler states of Canada and the USA overlap the discursive field of contemporary post-racialism in ways that circumvent the challenges and possibilities offered by black radicalism in the historic instance.
Abstract: This article addresses the relationship between anti-racism and decolonization in the North American context. It argues that the logic of decolonization movements for indigenous sovereignty and against the settler states of Canada and the USA overlap the discursive field of contemporary post-racialism in ways that circumvent the challenges and possibilities offered by black radicalism in the historic instance. After engaging recent theoretical literature on settler colonialism, it is suggested that the freedom drive that abolishes slavery unsettles both colonial and decolonial forms of sovereign determination.
138 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines the tensions between constitutional rights, welfare politics and extractivism in Ecuador and concludes that the rights of nature risk being subordinated to other human values amidst strategic State interests in economic development and social programs due to the government's pragmatic approach toward environmental rights.
Abstract: This article examines the tensions between constitutional rights, welfare politics and extractivism in Ecuador. In practice, the rights of nature risk being subordinated to other human values amidst strategic State interests in economic development and social programs, due to the government’s pragmatic approach toward environmental rights. The Ecuadorian Constitution of 2008 has been celebrated for being the most radical in the world regarding the specific rights of nature and the indigenous peoples. The central framing of the Constitution is the indigenous concept of Sumak Kawsay regarding humans being in harmony with nature. The Rafael Correa government launched a groundbreaking initiative to protect biodiversity and indigenous peoples in the oil rich national park of Yasuni, adding to the image of Ecuador as an ecological alternative to follow and a challenge to global capitalism. Far-reaching welfare programs have been implemented during the Correa administration, but resource extraction has increased. In light of the Ecuadoran experience, substantial questions remain as to whether Sumak Kawsay can be a path for socialist transformation and ecologically solvent development.
68 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the constructions and dynamics of subaltern migrant subjectivities in three arrival cities, Athens, Istanbul and Nicosia, were explored, drawing on empirical research in three cities.
Abstract: This article explores the constructions and dynamics of subaltern migrant subjectivities in three arrival cities, Athens, Istanbul and Nicosia. The paper draws on empirical research in three cities...
55 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored Latina/o American college students at a predominantly white university in the South and found that 12 students understood racism and racial discrimination at the University of South Carolina, South Carolina.
Abstract: This study explored Latina/o American college students at a predominantly white university in the South. The authors assessed how 12 Latina/o American college students understood racism and racial ...
54 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw on understandings that link the notion of the precariat (and processes of precarization) to practices and investigate links between immigration and precarity, and argue that the analysis of what precarity is should be supplemented by an inquiry into what it does.
Abstract: Guy Standing’s description of the precariat in his 2011 book has revitalized the debate on what the precariat is, and what it is not. Although the book faced criticism from labour studies, Marxist approaches and others, it opened up a new discussion of precarity under neoliberal capitalism. This article draws on understandings that link the notion of the precariat (and processes of precarization) to practices and investigates links between immigration and precarity. It argues that the analysis of what precarity is should be supplemented by an inquiry into what it does. Precarity is here understood as a mode for analysing economy and for rethinking heterogeneous identities and group formations. The article uses two cases, Lampedusa in Hamburg 2013–2015 and the “Freedom Not Frontex” action in June 2014, to illustrate how processes of precarization play out in everyday life situations and the economic, legal and social system for immigrants.
53 citations
TL;DR: The case of Fort Myers, FL illustrates the cognitive mechanisms that help explain why and how external threats can transform a latent sense of group membership among unconventional protest organizers into a willingness to take action and utilize pre-existing community resources for the purpose of mass mobilization as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Survey research shows that foreign-born Latinos in the USA are among the least likely to participate in political activism. Yet during the spring of 2006, up to five million (mostly Latino) immigrants and their allies took part in a historic national protest wave. This article examines how nativist legislation can spark immigrant large-scale collective action in an unexpected location. The case of Fort Myers, FL illustrates the cognitive mechanisms that help explain why and how external threats can transform a latent sense of group membership among unconventional protest organizers (e.g. immigrant soccer league members and ethnic small business owners) into a willingness to take action and utilize pre-existing community resources for the purpose of mass mobilization. These findings have important implications for Latino politics, immigration, and social movement scholars.
51 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the conflicting understandings surrounding the recognition of anti-black racism in Mexico, drawing from an analysis of the 2005 controversy around Memin Pinguin, and ask what i...
Abstract: This article analyses the conflicting understandings surrounding the recognition of anti-black racism in Mexico, drawing from an analysis of the 2005 controversy around Memin Pinguin. We ask what i...
50 citations
TL;DR: Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has positioned itself as a modernising country (re)built on the profits of its energy boom and the efforts of, currently, over four million labour mig...
Abstract: Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has positioned itself as a modernising country (re)built on the profits of its energy boom and the efforts of, currently, over four million labour mig...
48 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors adopt a theoretical and empirical analysis of the relationship between precarity and migration in the Turkish context by critically evaluating migrant workers' work and life experiences, including migrants' contestations of their everyday life.
Abstract: Migrants with undocumented/irregular statuses constitute one of the most vulnerable groups in terms of living and working conditions. This paper critically engages with the discussions on precarity in relation to irregular migrant labour in Turkey. It addresses the living and working conditions of migrant workers as a particular form of work and life, who can be seen as representing the new precariat of Turkey. The number of immigrants has grown in Turkey since the late 1980s, and with the mass influx of Syrian migrants since 2011 the public visibility of migration and associated precarity has increased as well. Deriving from such a context, the article adopts a theoretical and empirical analysis of the relationship between precarity and migration in the Turkish context by critically evaluating migrant workers’ work and life experiences (including migrants’ contestations of their everyday life).
TL;DR: Although tenant evictions are routine in impoverished urban communities throughout the USA, scholars of housing and urban poverty have consistently overlooked this social problem as discussed by the authors, drawing predomina(s).
Abstract: Although tenant evictions are routine in impoverished urban communities throughout the USA, scholars of housing and urban poverty have consistently overlooked this social problem. Drawing predomina...
TL;DR: The authors examines the range and strength of analysing contemporary transformations and struggles through the lens of "precarity" and argues that precarity may be a political proposition as much as a sociological category that offers an analytical description of current transformations.
Abstract: The current special issue examines the range and strength of analysing contemporary transformations and struggles through the lens of ‘precarity’. Rather than defining a single precariat, the interest is in exploring ‘varieties of precarity’. These take different forms in different parts of the world, on different scales and in different socio-economic contexts, and yet they share certain characteristics in terms of conditions and capacity for agency. Contributions to this volume testify that precarity may be a political proposition as much as a sociological category that offers an analytical description of current transformations. The selection of articles has the ‘politics of precarity’ as a frame of reference. It describes the political economy of neoliberal globalization producing institutionally embedded precarization of labour, livelihoods and citizenship, but also resistance against the systemic structuration within which it is embedded.
TL;DR: The authors argue that the concepts of repression and militarization are inadequate tools for a radical critique of the targeted and selective application of coercion and consent in efforts to (re)produce a liberal capitalist order.
Abstract: This article will argue that the concepts of repression and militarization are inadequate tools for a radical critique of the targeted and selective application of coercion and consent in efforts to (re)produce a liberal capitalist order. The article will first of all show how liberal social control is best understood as uneven processes of pacification targeting specific individuals, groups and populations through a combination of coercion and consent. Secondly, the article will examine historical and current efforts to control protest through the lens of pacification. The analytic of pacification will then be applied to broader trends in US social control. Last but not least, the article will show that the apparently technical distinctions that allow for the targeted application of coercion and/or consent frequently reflect and reinforce existing societal divisions along the lines of race, class and gender.
TL;DR: This paper used focus group analysis to investigate how young, feminist-idealistic women responded to the Dove campaign for "real beauty" and found that young women were more receptive to the message.
Abstract: The Dove campaign for ‘real beauty’ has been exceptionally successful, generating public attention and increased sales. This article uses focus group analysis to investigate how young, feminist-ide...
TL;DR: This paper brought together Karl Marx's key intellectual contributions and the best of contemporary anti-racist (critical race) queer feminism, which is a promising direction for critical social theory, in the context of critical race theory.
Abstract: Bringing together Karl Marx’s key intellectual contributions and the best of contemporary anti-racist (critical race) queer feminism is a promising direction for critical social theory. Important s...
TL;DR: The construct of place has largely been underutilized, and therefore, under-theorized, in social science discussions regarding systematic racial oppression, but we need to consider physical space as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The construct of place has largely been under-utilized, and, therefore, under-theorized, in social science discussions regarding systematic racial oppression, but we need to consider physical space...
TL;DR: In this article, the particularity of post-racial ideology in Brazil is analyzed and the recent deployments of mixture and racial democracy as re-articulations of historically hegemonic versions of post racial ideology are examined.
Abstract: In this article, I analyze the particularity of post-racial ideology in Brazil. I examine recent deployments of mixture and racial democracy as re-articulations of historically hegemonic versions o...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the transformation of South Africa's labour force management and its migratory system from a centralized management of unfree labour by the apartheid state bureaucracy, to a post-apartheid state of precarity, driven by "flexploitation".
Abstract: The article focuses on systemic drivers of poverty, inequality and precarious livelihoods. It discusses the transformation of South Africa’s labour force management and its migratory system from a centralized management of unfree labour by the apartheid state bureaucracy, to a post-apartheid state of precarity, driven by ‘flexploitation’. The nexus of precarious work and a fracturing citizenship is seen to represent a duality of flexibility linking practices of employment and labour control to areas like welfare benefits, citizenship status, political participation and informal livelihoods. This is applicable to migrants and natives alike, but with migrants being particularly flexible. The author connects the issue of precarity with politics of xenophobia seen as a stratagem for the retaining of hegemony confronting looming labour struggles and an insurgent citizenship of the poor. The argument revolves around precarity as representing a rallying point for resistance as well as a social condition.
TL;DR: In this paper, macro-level trends regarding gender equity for women managers in paid workplaces and examines the importance of factors related to equitable promotion are discussed, focusing on the role of women managers.
Abstract: This article documents macro-level trends regarding gender equity for women managers in paid workplaces and examines the importance of factors related to equitable promotion. Primary evidence is dr...
TL;DR: The concept of corporate social responsibility has been widely discussed in academia in the past decades as mentioned in this paper. Most often, however, this debate has taken place in the traditional hierarchical and struct...
Abstract: The concept of corporate social responsibility has been widely discussed in academia in the past decades. Most often, however, this debate has taken place in the traditional hierarchical and struct...
TL;DR: The special issue on post-racial ideologies and politics in the Americas as discussed by the authors argues for the necessity of a transnational frame when examining the related, yet historically different, topics of race.
Abstract: This article introduces the special issue on post-racial ideologies and politics in the Americas. It argues for the necessity of a transnational frame when examining the related, yet historically v...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess efforts by one ecovillage in the Pacific Northwest to find alternative forms of settlement, and assess the impact of these alternative settlements on the ecology of the region.
Abstract: In cities around the world, environmental concerns have spurred urban activists to organize alternative forms of settlement. Here, we assess efforts by one ecovillage in the Pacific Northwest to ch...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine processes of state formation in Chiapas, Mexico, from the time of the Revolution (1910-17) to the present, from a historical perspective.
Abstract: This article examines processes of state formation in Chiapas, Mexico, from the time of the Revolution (1910–17) to the present. The purpose of the article is threefold. First it demonstrates how d...
TL;DR: The authors examines the impact of neoliberal reforms on Mexico's mining sector, with a focus on the social and environmental conflicts that have emerged since the 1990s, and distinguishes between two types of conflict: labor conflicts, which stem from intensified labor exploitation in the realm of expanded reproduction; and eco-territorial conflicts around accumulation by dispossession.
Abstract: This paper examines the impact of neoliberal reforms on Mexico’s mining sector, with a focus on the social and environmental conflicts that have emerged since the 1990s. It distinguishes between two types of conflict: labor conflicts, which stem from intensified labor exploitation in the realm of expanded reproduction; and eco-territorial conflicts around accumulation by dispossession. It argues that free-market mining in Mexico has led to Mexican oligopoly control, Canadian imperialism and narco-mining.
TL;DR: The authors explores dimensions of a foundational social antagonism that characterizes the Brazilian polis, by analyzing the ways in which the problem of Black presence manifes can be expressed in the form of a black presence manifold.
Abstract: This article explores dimensions of a foundational social antagonism that, the author claims, characterizes the Brazilian polis, by analyzing the ways in which the problem of Black presence manifes...
TL;DR: In this article, an ethnographic study of the process by which a young man became a drug dealer in a small northeastern US city is described. Drug dealing was the principal occupation in his predomi...
Abstract: This article reports on an ethnographic study of the process by which a young man became a drug dealer in a in a small northeastern US city. Drug dealing was the principal occupation in his predomi...
TL;DR: The authors examines the racial identities of middle class Mexican Americans and provides a focus on how racial oppression plays a significant role in the formation, negotiation, and organization of the Mexican American community.
Abstract: This article examines the racial identities of middle class Mexican Americans, and provides a focus on how racial oppression plays a significant role in the formation, negotiation, and organization...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the relations between different migrants who meet in Spain and discuss issues of mobility, the globalization of care and service work, and precarization of labor and live-work.
Abstract: Exploring the relations between different migrants who meet in Spain, this article discusses issues of mobility, the globalization of care and service work, and precarization of labor and livelihoo...
TL;DR: A recent study published by Green Lifestyles.org (Truman, 2015) finds that 50 to 75% of the human body is made up of water and access to safe water is critical as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: What is it about Michigan and water? Michigan, the Great Lakes state, a state with 3288 miles of coastline, a state within which there are almost 63,000 lakes of all sizes, with 98 lakes over 1000 acres and 10 lakes over 10,000 acres (for reference, that is over 15 sq. mi. or 40 sq. km), a state that is bordered on three sides by Great Lakes (Superior, Michigan and Huron) and very close to a fourth (Erie), a state arguably with an abundant source of free water, perhaps the most of any state and perhaps many countries. And yet, its residents suffer over access to water, over the availability of clean drinking water on demand. Access to water may well be the most important challenge facing the globe, to the clean and safe water required to sustain life. We are made up of water (estimates range from 50 to 75% of our bodies, depending on age, gender, weight, height and fitness level), and access to safe water is critical. We use it to drink, cook, bathe, and a host of other activities we often take for granted. And yet, due to a range of environmental problems and the spread of global poverty, we face serious challenges. ‘In a world of unprecedented wealth, almost 2 million children die each year for want of a glass of clean water and adequate sanitation’ (Watkins, 2006: abstract). ‘As human populations continue to grow, regional conflicts over water, ecological degradation, and human illness and death are becoming more frequent and serious’ (Gleick, 1998: 571). Given the abundance of water in Michigan, one could not be faulted for assuming this is one place where these concerns are, at worst, far into the future. Yet, Michigan has become the proving ground for neoliberal expansion and the taking of critically important social resources for private gain. For some time now, concerns have been raised by conservationists and citizen groups who question the appropriation of ground water by bottling it and selling it as spring water. Nestlé Waters North America has wells in Michigan that draw water (some argue by drilling under the Great Lakes), bottling about 700,000 gallons a day at its Ice Mountain facility, and more in its operations in Guelph, Ontario. ‘The question is whether bottling water from the aquifers that feed the lakes, the largest repository of fresh water on Earth, should be seen as ordinary human consumption, commercial production, or export of a treasured natural resource’ (Lydersen, 2008). And this activity goes on unabated. A recent study published by Green Lifestyles.org (Truman, 2015) finds that: