Showing papers in "Historical Social Research in 2016"
TL;DR: The emerging field of sociology of quantification, which can be regarded as a transdisciplinary approach to the analysis of processes of quantifying, has been studied in the literature as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The introductory article to this HSR Special Issue presents the emerging field of sociology of quantification, which can be regarded as a transdisciplinary approach to the analysis of processes of quantification. Processes of categorization and classification are included because they can result in processes of generating figures and numbers also. The contribution sketches the science-historical development of this field. It is argued that processes of quantification are related in many ways with other social and socio-economic processes. Therefore, one can speak of a comprehensive political economy of statistics, quantification and categorization. Especially the works of the French statistician and sociologist Alain Desrosieres are an innovative and far-reaching groundwork for the analysis of statistics, quantification and categorization. Also, Desrosieres has pointed to the fundamental role of conventions for processes of quantification (as for processes of categorization) and he has published important contributions to the French science movement of economics of convention (economie des conventions). At the end of the article, a set of positions for a sociology of quantification are presented.
64 citations
51 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors define three periods associated with conventional calculation systems that may shape investment decisions: the actuarial convention at the end of the 19th century, the mean-variance convention during the 1970s, and the marketconsistent convention since the 1990s.
Abstract: »Die drei Perioden der finanztechnischen Quantifizierung: ein konventionentheoretischer Ansatz zur Analyse der finanztechnischen Metrologie«. This article presents a conventionalist interpretation of the financialization of the economy. We define three periods, each one associated with conventional calculation systems that may shape investment decisions. Each of these periods begins with the adoption by financial practitioners of a new “convention” to make investment decisions: the actuarial convention at the end of the 19th century, the mean-variance convention during the 1970s, and the marketconsistent convention since the 1990s. These conventions are rooted in finance theory developments and are associated with different financing circuits for economic activity. When a new convention arises, it does not mean the disappearance of the old one, which can still be used by some practitioners for certain given matters, but it can also redefine some financial professions by fragmenting them according to the convention followed, and it can finally also give rise to new professions.
44 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an orientierenden Rahmen fur eine visuelle Grounded-Theory-Methodologie (GTM) are presented, e.g., Memowriting, sampling, and Kodierung/Kategorienbildung.
Abstract: Ausgehend von der fur die Grounded-Theory-Methodologie (GTM) zentralen Pramisse des "all is data" und vor dem Hintergrund zunehmender Beschaftigung mit visuellen Daten in der qualitativen Forschung, bietet der Beitrag einen orientierenden Rahmen fur eine visuelle Grounded-Theory-Methodologie. Aufbauend auf Uberlegungen aus der objektiven Hermeneutik, der dokumentarischen Methode, der Segmentanalyse sowie GTM-internen Perspektiven wird gezeigt, wie dieser traditionell textorientierte Ansatz auf visuelle Daten bezogen werden kann. Im Zentrum steht dabei die (Re-) Formulierung der Verfahrensschritte Inventarisierung, Segmentierung, Kodierung/Kategorienbildung inkl. Memowriting sowie Sampling zur Untersuchung von Bildern im Sinne einer GTM-Logik. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs160225
31 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a framework for the study of global statistics in the context of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as defined by the United Nations in 2000, where the focus lies on statistical practices in East Africa in the epoch of late imperial rule and during decolonization.
Abstract: »Die Ursprünge der Milleniums-Entwicklungsziele«. Global comparative statistics have become a major mode of international political communication. One prominent case in point is the Millennium Development Goals as defined by the United Nations in 2000. The article contributes to a critical discussion of their functioning by designing a framework for the study of global statistics. Historians of statistics have so far largely focused on the national level and posited a strong connection between calculating social instances and governing collectives. The category of the nation was one of the foremost effects of statistics, and numbers have helped in strengthening national institutions. But what about the international realm in which the Millennium Development Goals are located? The leading question of this article is to what extent a co-construction of statistics and political institutions can also be found in the analysis of global statistics. The focus lies on statistical practices in East Africa in the epoch of late imperial rule and during decolonization. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is of special interest. Statistical knowledge was surprisingly incomplete and became a major issue only with the formation of new states and new international organizations post-1945. Statistical knowledge as represented in the Millennium Development Goals works through a radical reduction of complexity and necessarily renders a biased image of the world. In contrast to the national level, on the international level no single center of calculation emerged with the growing power of statistics.
30 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the Entwicklung und Auspragung der Unterschiedlichkeit soziologischer Wissenskulturen im Hinblick auf den Einsatz qualitativer bzw. interpretativer Ansatze seit den 1960er Jahren in Deutschland und Frankreich.
Abstract: Wie wissen Soziologinnen und Soziologen, was sie wissen? Trotz der Internationalisierung der Soziologie bestehen nach wie vor starke sprachraumliche Unterschiede in der soziologischen Wissensproduktion, in eingesetzten Theorien, Methoden und Fragestellungen. Der nachfolgende Beitrag erlautert die Entwicklung und Auspragung der Unterschiedlichkeit soziologischer Wissenskulturen im Hinblick auf den Einsatz qualitativer bzw. interpretativer Ansatze seit den 1960er Jahren in Deutschland und Frankreich. Er stutzt sich auf ein von uns 2012-2014 geleitetes Forschungsprojekt und dessen empirische Grundlagen: Dokumentenanalysen und Interviews. Wissenskulturen werden als die Arten und Weisen der Produktion und Legitimation von (hier: soziologischem) Wissen verstanden. Diesbezuglich lasst sich von der Erkenntnisproduktion als dem zentralen Handlungsproblem soziologischen Forschens sprechen. Wahrend fur die franzosischsprachige Soziologie diagnostisch von einer Losung dieses Erkenntnisproblems durch die den Forschenden zugeschriebenen Kompetenzen und Inspirationen ausgegangen werden kann, schiebt sich im deutschsprachigen Raume eine prozedurale Legitimation durch Verfahren in den Vordergrund. Der Beitrag rekonstruiert exemplarisch die Ausgangssituation dieser Entwicklungen um die Wende zu den 1960er Jahren und bettet sie in die weitere Entfaltung der jeweiligen Soziologien ein. Er will damit zur gegenwartigen Entwicklung einer reflexiven Soziologie beitragen.URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1601145
28 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the differences between social and statistical conventions are analyzed from a wider point of view of social conventions, and a wider conception of quantification processes in the social world is elaborated, which opens fresh views on what become, in these processes, the concepts of facts and democracy.
Abstract: »Quantifizierung und Objektivität. Von statistischen Konventionen zu sozialen Konventionen«. Standard quantification processes and most often their analysis are derived from statistics’ technique and approach. Social conventions are at the core of daily life, practical knowledge and coordination between people; statistical conventions are at the heart of cognitive activities developed by statisticians. What does quantification mean when addressed from the wider point of view of social conventions? This article analyzes the differences between social and statistical conventions. It enlarges the concept of objectivity in having recourse to the lenses of the plurality of worlds as defined by the economics of convention (EC), and to the concept of the informational basis of judgement in justice introduced by Amartya Sen. A wider conception of quantification processes in the social world can thus be elaborated, which opens fresh views on what become, in these processes, the concepts of facts and democracy.
26 citations
TL;DR: The authors proposed a more analytically coherent approach to risk in history, which integrates theoretical tools developed by social theorists and contemporary sociologists, with the historian's attention to change over time, historical contingency, and individual agency.
Abstract: »Risikogeschichte: Wie, warum und zu welchem Ende schreiben wir eine Geschichte des Risikos?«. The risk of accidents and disasters has always been central to the human experience. Yet, historians have only recently begun to consider risk as distinct category of historical analysis. Instead, the study of risk has been fragmented into a series of rubrics, including: risk society, modernity, history of safety, and disaster studies. This article calls for a more analytically coherent approach to risk in history, which integrates theoretical tools developed by social theorists and contemporary sociologists, with the historian’s attention to change over time, historical contingency, and individual agency. Borrowing from the work of historians of technology and material culture scholars, this approach also pays particular attention to how the material dimensions of risk entwine with politics and culture. The article also offers an overview of the existing literature and suggestions for areas of future research.
24 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors offer a 30 years' perspective on the avenue of research that began with the article ''L’économie du codage social'' which goes from labour designation and qualification to ways of making occupation worthy.
Abstract: »Von der sozialen Kodierung zur economics of convention: Eine dreißigjährige Perspektive auf die Analyse der Investitionen in Qualifizierung und Quantifizierung«. Among the contributions to the presently growing sociology of quantification, a long-standing French tradition has built on an approach to the \"politics of statistics\" based on the formatting practices of the transformative chain that leads to data. It resulted from statistician-economists who, in the critical spirit of the 1960s, were reflexive and largely open to the social sciences, and cooperated with historians and sociologists. The article offers a 30 years’ perspective on the avenue of research that began with the article \"L’économie du codage social\" which goes from labour designation and qualification to ways of making occupation worthy. It leads to the broader notion of \"investments in forms\" which produce equivalence and economies of coordination. While making available in English large extracts of the original paper, the author adds comments from today perspective on the development of this trend which has fuelled both On Justification (co-authored with Luc Boltanski) and convention theory more generally.
22 citations
TL;DR: In this article, Conventions and quantification in economy, politics, and statistics are discussed from a historical perspective, with a focus on the historical perspectives of the participants in these conventions.
Abstract: special issue „Conventions and quantification in economy, politics and statistics – historical perspectives”
21 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines two mechanisms that mediate how numbers do both reverse engineering and emotional attachment: reverse engineering describes how working backwards from a desired number shapes organizational routines; emotional attachment describes the processes by which numbers generate a variety of emotions that sometimes stimulate collective identities.
Abstract: »Reverse Engineering und emotionale Bindungen als Mechanismen, die die Effekte der Quantifizierung vermitteln«. Alain Desrosières understood statistics as simultaneous representations of the world and interventions in it. This article examines two mechanisms that mediate how numbers do both. The first, reverse engineering, describes how working backwards from a desired number shapes organizational routines. The second, emotional attachment, describes the processes by which numbers generate a variety of emotions that sometimes stimulate collective identities. Focusing on educational rankings but including examples of other types of numbers, it argues for the importance of disclosing the effects of specific causal mechanisms in the analysis of particular performance measures.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the use of risk as a category of analysis for a social history of the twentieth century and argue that risk as an analytical category offers new avenues into understanding modern societies in three important ways: (1) the importance of time and future in human actions and debates, (2) the dual nature of risks as discursively constructed and simultaneously material, (3) the social justice implications of this dual nature that were often unequally shared.
Abstract: »Risiko als Analysekategorie für eine Geschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts: Eine Einführung«. Risks are of particular relevance for the social history of the twentieth century. On the one hand, Western societies’ economic growth gave impetus to the rise of new technologies. Technology, we argue, brought with it new possibilities, but it was also loaded with new risks. On the other hand, societies discussed and explored new notions of responsibility for risks, their management and mitigation. Both aspects changed the meaning and perception of traditional risks, such as natural catastrophes, sickness or falling into poverty. In this introduction, we explore the use of risk as a category of analysis for a social history of the twentieth century. In a form of double-intervention on time and methodology, we, on the one hand, hold risks as a ‘phenomenon’ to be of particular relevance – even characteristic for – the twentieth century; on the other hand, we posit that risk as an analytical category offers us new avenues into understanding modern societies in three important ways: (1) the importance of time and future in human actions and debates, (2) the dual nature of risks as discursively constructed and simultaneously material, (3) the social justice implications of this dual nature that were often unequally shared, be it nationally or globally. In the end, we argue, by linking the materiality of challenges and risks with how these were perceived and discursively constructed, we are better able to understand the rules and the changes that underpin historical societies and which are – as our authors show in this HSR Special Issue – very often determined in reaction to risks.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the "deadbeat dad" as a contemporary figure originating in the Reagan era and analyzed TV newscasts displaying the prosecution of delinquent fathers publicly.
Abstract: »Väter zwischen Schuldenmoral, Gericht und Medien in den USA der 1980er Jahre«. This article explores the “deadbeat dad” – fathers short on child support payments – as a contemporary figure originating in the Reagan era. It questions risks that were morally redirected in the 1980s, addressed towards particular groups of fathers and their relatives. After setting the question in relation to contemporary masculinity studies, the author brings “deadbeat dads” in line with the history of indebtedness and default. By scrutinizing how the claim to secure single mothers’ alimony was integrated into a neoconservative project and the state’s retreat from welfare in the United States, the paper analyses TV newscasts displaying the prosecution of delinquent fathers publicly. Adopting a discourse-analytical perspective, the author sketches out how the figure of the male breadwinner resonated in claims for economic and biological responsibility that were revived in the Reagan years. Exemplified by the context of the current case of Walter Scott, the contemporary history of child support debtors demonstrates how black fathers do not only face a higher risk of becoming victims of police violence, but also how ascribing default to African American fathers tied irresponsibility to black masculinity.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors apply Elias' theories on childhood and individualization to Gypsy-Traveller/Roma groups in Europe and argue that the above processes differ markedly for many groups and, coupled with the existence of a very strong group orientation and long-term stigmatisation, are central to explaining their relative lack of social integration.
Abstract: Norbert Elias provides a very useful theoretical framework for understanding long-term
changes in childhood-adulthood relations at the societal level. Key processes central to this
theorization include: the increasing separation of the social worlds of children and adults; the
increasing distance between childhood and adulthood; the partial defunctionalisation of the
family; the civilizing of parents; changes in the "we-I balance" towards the "I"; and the
gradual conversion of social constraints into self-restraints. Yet variable trajectories are
under-developed in Elias' work: the differing nature of these interrelated social processes for
different "outsider" groups in society were not systematically addressed by him. However,
this paper argues that Elias's theories on childhood do provide us with a very useful
conceptual framework from which to understand these variable trajectories. It applies his
theories on childhood and individualization to Gypsy-Traveller/Roma groups in Europe. The
paper argues that the above processes differ markedly for many groups and, coupled with the
existence of a very strong group orientation and long-term stigmatisation, are central to
accounting for their relative lack of social integration. That is, differing processes of
childhood and family socialisation are crucial in explaining how Gypsy-Traveller/Roma
groups have maintained their own group identity and cultural continuity under intense
pressures to assimilation and conformity.
TL;DR: In this article, a new multidimensional concept of societal wellbeing is proposed to understand and evaluate new cleavages in societal embeddedness, social recognition and social belonging, which are also mainly responsible for the rise in ethnocentrism and radicalization in many European societies.
Abstract: »Gesellschaftliches Unbehagen und Ethnozentrismus. Eine empirische Analyse der subjektiven Stimmungslage des sozialen Wandels in der EU«. During the last years a vague sense of discomfort with current societal developments is spreading all over Europe and is particularly affecting lower social classes of society. It seems necessary to theoretically derive new concepts of quality of society and to take these crises perceptions of EU-citizens more adequately into account. In this article a new multidimensional concept of societal wellbeing is proposed to understand and evaluate new cleavages in societal embeddedness, social recognition and social belonging. It is hypothesized that those restrictions concerning quality of life are also mainly responsible for the rise in ethnocentrism and radicalization in many European societies. A macro-micromacro explanation of causes, characteristics and consequences of societal malaise is developed as a theoretical framework and also addressed empirically. As a first step, a cluster analysis of indicators of societal developments is used to justify the conceptualization of a highly diverse Europe. The empirical approach on the micro-level is based on two survey waves of the European Social Survey (2006 and 2012). After testing the cross-national equivalence of the new concept of societal wellbeing, which is based on 14 indicators, the evolution of certain crises feelings in society is documented for several European regions in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Finally, separate multiple OLS-regressions within those regions were conducted to derive crucial factors which are responsible to explain ethnocentrism. It is notable that feelings of societal malaise exert a high influence on perceptions of an ethnic threat – especially in Western Europe. These value polarizations between social groups have to be considered as a future threat of social cohesion.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors employ the concept of risk as a lens through which to explore discursive constructions of coal mining and coal miners in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s.
Abstract: "Das Ende des Mitleids: Steinkohlebergbau, Gefahren am Arbeitsplatz und Risikopolitik in Grosbritannien, ca. 1970-1990". This article employs the concept of risk as a lens through which to explore discursive constructions of the nature of coal mining and coal miners in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s. Drawing on a diverse primary source base, ranging from songs and poetry to parliamentary debates and government files, it contextualises and refines labour historian Dick Geary’s observation about the “death of sympathy” for the miners in the coal strike of 1984/85. It argues that over the course of the period, coal miners turned from an object of risk into its subject; they were transformed, in political discourse, from heroes and victims into enemies of the state and society. Although the notion that coal miners were a “special case” on account of the hazardous working conditions in which they laboured, continued to resonate in popular culture throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the political bargaining power of the “blood on the coal” argument became progressively eroded after its successful application in the strikes of 1972 and 1974. By the time of the strike of 1984/85, Conservative opponents of the miners’ cause had turned the argument on its head: The very hazardous working conditions were
taken as proof of an obstinate refusal of the industry to go with the times. The real danger, they argued, were not health hazards, but the miners themselves.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors trace Desrosières' career and that of his contemporary Parisian scene in three steps: first, the period when he was associated to Pierre Bourdieu; second, the one when he became part of what we propose to call a flock of scholars all working on the qualification of reality; and finally, they use statistics to analyze the extent of the international reception of his work.
Abstract: »Alain Desrosières und die Pariser Gruppe. Die Social Studies der Quantifizierung in Frankreich seit den 1970ern«. Alain Desrosières has played a central role in the French intellectual scene from the 1980s to today for his theories of quantification. In this article, I trace his career and that of his contemporary Parisian scene in three steps: first, the period when he was associated to Pierre Bourdieu; second, the one when he became part of what we propose to call a flock of scholars all working on the qualification of reality; and finally, the one when Desrosières was associated with the Centre Koyré d’histoire des sciences. Finally, we use statistics to analyze the extent of the international reception of his work.
TL;DR: In this paper, differences in adult mortality between natives and domestic and international migrants in three Northwestern European cities during different stages of the epidemiological transition were studied between the two groups....
Abstract: Differences in adult mortality were studied between natives and domestic and international migrants in three Northwestern European cities during different stages of the epidemiological transition. ...
TL;DR: The history of securitization reveals a longterm shift in the conventions addressed when dealing with risks as discussed by the authors, where socio-political conventions were gradually replaced by financialized, market-oriented conventions in which investors would take responsibilities and replace other actors, like the state or private corporations, which were previously involved.
Abstract: »Risikokalkulationen: Finanzmathematik und Verbriefung seit den 1970ern«. The article investigates the history of securitization in order to analyze more general transformations in the social and political approaches towards various types of credit risks. The history of securitization reveals a longterm shift in the conventions addressed when dealing with risks. Socio-political conventions were gradually replaced by financialized, market-oriented conventions in which investors would take responsibilities and replace other actors, like the state or private corporations, which were previously involved. The first part of the article examines the epistemic and economic origins of securitization. In the second part, the analysis focuses on the golden age of securitization, from the 1980s to the mid-2000s, discussing decisive factors for its expansion. The third part reflects the role of securitization in the financial crisis of 2007/08 and debates the extent to which mathematical expertise can be made responsible for the collapsing securities market.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce the concept of communicative figurations, which is used in media and communication studies, and re-formulate it for historical research, and transfer it in research on imagined communities in times of analogue media.
Abstract: »Die kommunikative Konstruktion von Kollektivitäten. Ein interdisziplinärer Zugang zur Mediengeschichte«. The paper discusses some concepts, trends, and deficits in recent media history, and it makes a plea for a history of communication to implement media into a broader conception of social history. Therefore, we employ a wider notion of mediatization which is used in media and communication studies, and re-formulate it for historical research. On the basis of that notion, we introduce the theoretical concept of ‘communicative figurations’ which an interdisciplinary research group in Bremen and Hamburg developed to ask how changing media environments and ensembles interrelate with societal and political transformations. In transferring it in research on imagined communities in times of analogue media, the paper presents some early insights into an on-going project and pursues questions about the communicative construction of collectivities.
TL;DR: Based on German experience in two times of transformation (1945/49 and 1989/90), the article reflects on the usefulness of transferring these (meanwhile historic) experiences as a specific "lesson" to the Korean peninsula as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: »Dezentralisierung von Macht und Entscheidungsfindung – ein institutioneller Treiber für Systemwechsel zur Demokratie«. Regarding processes of system change towards democracy, rule of law and market economy from a comparative point of view, the decentralization of political institutions and of managing public affairs is one important system goal. Based on German experience in two times of transformation (1945/49 and 1989/90), the article reflects on the usefulness of transferring these (meanwhile historic) experiences as a specific “lesson” to the Korean peninsula. Our conclusion is threefold: First, a reform of the political system should combine a maintaining vertical hierarchy acting top down with local autonomy with either a strong or a weak set of responsibility. Second, an elite circulation of small size which incorporates cooperative parts of old elites seems to be useful; thereby risks of obstruction can be neutralized and local rationalities can be unlocked in situations of transition crises. Third, local self-government serves not only as a “driver” of democratization but also for optimizing people`s demands of functional execution of public
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine some of the interdependent processes and relationships that have been contributing to "jihadist terrorism" and use a number of figurational concepts with which to do this, including established-outsider figurations, double-binds, and decivilising processes.
Abstract: The attacks in Paris in November 2015, the conflict in Syria and Iraq and the huge amount of political and media attention that these issues have had show that the problem of 'jihadist terrorism' is significant for Western nation-states. In this paper I examine some of the interdependent processes and relationships that have been contributing to 'jihadist terrorism' and use a number of figurational concepts with which to do this, including 'established-outsider figurations,' 'double-binds' and 'decivilising processes.' I focus specifically on the November 2015 Paris attacks and with the use of media reports and government documents discuss how the language used reveals the complexities of the 'established-outsider' figurations and double-binds that Western nation-states and 'jihadists' are locked into with each other, and how the structures of these relationships are contributing to 'decivilising' or 'brutalisation' processes of Western 'jihadists.' These brutalisation processes are, in turn, 'feeding back' and contributing to the double-binds within which Western nation-states and jihadist are caught.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors use the incident of the scuttling of the USS Le Baron Russell Briggs, loaded with roughly 22,000 tons of outdated chemical weapons in 1970, to extrapolate how, why, and when in the United States chemical weapons that had been produced as the ultimate answer to the risk of nuclear war became reframed as a risk themselves.
Abstract: »‘Cut Holes and Sink 'em‘: Die Entsorgung chemischer Waffen und die Geschichte des Kalten Kriegs als eine Geschichte des Risikos«. Using the incident of the scuttling of the USS Le Baron Russell Briggs, loaded with roughly 22,000 tons of outdated chemical weapons in 1970, this contribution extrapolates how, why, and when in the United States chemical weapons that had been produced as the ultimate answer to the risk of nuclear war became reframed as a risk themselves. The analysis settles on how questions of knowing and not-knowing about potentialities of future events influenced these renegotiation processes between the myriad actors involved such as the US military, politicians, environmentalists, Anti-Vietnam activists, and the American public. Beyond analyzing historic examples of risk assessment and management, this contribution also demonstrates how we can read the history of the Cold War as a history or risk. I argue that studying the controversy of operation CHASE 13, the sinking of the SS L. B. Briggs, from a risk perspective opens up new avenues into understanding the Cold War from a social and cultural perspective while integrating political and environmental history.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide an exposition and over-view of Elias and Scotson's Established and Outsiders, seeking to identify the empirical and conceptual significance of the relational model of inter-group tensions contained therein.
Abstract: In the introduction to this HSR Special Issue we provide an exposition and over- view of Elias and Scotson's Established and Outsiders, seeking to identify the empirical and conceptual significance of the relational model of inter-group tensions contained therein. Our core argument is that Elias and Scotson wrote in the historical context of a British intellectual Zeitgeist in which a preoccupa- tion with 'established' groups followed from proto-Marxist political/macro- sociological concerns with the reproduction of social elites; and an engage- ment with 'outsiders', which followed from an ascendant micro-sociological concern with sub-cultural and 'deviant' groups who defined themselves in op- position to a dominant mainstream. Elias and Scotson's contribution, viewed in this vein, was to provide a radically relational theoretical-empirical model which synthesised micro, meso and macro sociological concerns with social power dynamics into a unified synthetic scheme. We propose that while such a model is entirely consistent with the broader conceptual architecture of Elias's approach, it is important also to recognise the not insignificant influence of Scotson's empirical work in informing the specific concerns of their study. We further reflect upon the origins of the study and its implications for our more general methodological questions relating to undertaking 'figurational analysis' in the context of historical social research.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose that four inter-related developments have contributed to the redefinition of tattooing: the increasing importance of the body as a site for constructing identity; processes of cultural diversity and globalization; the increased visibility of the practice in popular culture; and attempts to legitimise the practice as an acceptable art form both within academia and popular culture.
Abstract: »Vom Außenseiter zum Etablierten – Erklärungen zur aktuellen Popularität und Akzeptanz von Tätowierungen«. Tattooing is a practice long associated with social outsiders – sailors, criminals, bikers and women of disrepute. In recent years, however, the practice has become increasingly popular, and acceptable, in mainstream culture as these marks of distinction appear on an ever greater number of bodies. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, academic literature, and content analysis of popular media, I propose that four inter-related developments have contributed to the redefinition of tattooing: the increasing importance of the body as a site for constructing identity; processes of cultural diversity and globalization; the increased visibility of the practice in popular culture; and attempts to legitimise the practice as an acceptable art form both within academia and popular culture. By drawing together these inter-related developments this paper demonstrates how Elias’ theories of establishedoutsider relations provides an understanding of the processes that lead to changing statuses for certain cultural practices.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors put the sociology of quantification into perspective regarding a fruitful but rarely addressed approach in this research stream: the relationships that are built between official (or scholar) classifications and ordinary categorizations of the social space.
Abstract: »Von der statistischen Kategorisierung zur alltäglichen Kategorisierung des sozialen Raums: Geschichte und Vermächtnis einer originären und auf einem Spiel mit Karten basierender Studie«. This article puts the sociology of quantification invented and promoted by Alain Desrosières into perspective regarding a fruitful but rarely addressed approach in this research stream: the relationships that are built between official (or scholar) classifications and ordinary categorizations of the social space. In order to achieve this, the article first sheds light on the history of an innovative study designed by Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot, a study which aimed to put ordinary people in the position to produce their own classification of the social space on the basis of a “card game.” In a second step, we aim to compare and analyze the later uses of this study in France and abroad (Germany, Chile and Switzerland). Beyond differences due to each study’s design and theoretical background, every study’s collected ranking clearly depicts hierarchical social structures, even though those rankings show some variations which rely on the kind of information indicated on each card games, national contexts and respondents’ dispositions.
TL;DR: The history of prisons and methods of incarceration has been a subject of interest and popular distraction since the great European reform movement in the 19th century. as discussed by the authors examines the practice and ideology of prisons, in historical context and in cross-cultural analysis.
Abstract: »Menschenopfer, Todesstrafe, Gefängnisse und Justiz: Funktion und Scheitern des Strafens und die Suche nach Alternativen«. The history of prisons and methods of incarceration has been a subject of interest and popular distraction since the great European reform movement in the 19th century. Critics (e.g., Foucault 1977) have concentrated their efforts on demonstrating that the ends achieved in the design of prisons and methods of correction have had effects outside of the prison walls in the daily lives of free and innocent citizens, both in the loss of privacy due to increased police surveillance and in the creation of a population of criminals and personnel of the criminal justice system in an integrated culture. Whether we view a society regimented by a uniform ideology like the Soviet Union or one with a less systematic one like the USA, the effects are clear. This paper examines the practice and ideology of prisons, in historical context and in cross-cultural analysis. Worldwide incarceration of people takes up an increasing amount of state budgets and targets in many cases minorities or ethnic groups. This has economic effects on society at large and specifically those minorities as well as repressing the incomes of sectors of cities. Public health is impacted as is education and inequality enhanced. Prisons and punishment differ historically in the same culture and between cultures. The goal of punishment and discipline in society has many forms, to control certain populations, to enrich others and to define certain behaviors and people as dangerous. Inevitably we want to know, can we do without prisons in complex society? Is our system of punishment accelerating the collapse of social capital in America and social cohesion?
TL;DR: In this paper, the impact of the world financial crisis on the post-communist European states is predicated on their position in the world economic system, which is argued that the legitimacy of neoliberal policies has been undermined and state regulation enhanced.
Abstract: Post-sozialistische Staaten und Weltwirtschaft: Die Auswirkungen der globalen Wirtschaftskrise?. The impact of the world financial crisis on the post-communist European states is predicated on their position in the world economic system. The first part of the paper considers the changing position of the European state socialist societies in the world system. The second part analyses the impact of the economic financial crisis. Since 1989, the post socialist states have pursued different trajectories. The new member states of the European Union (EU) have followed a neoliberal course and have entered the world economy formally as members of the 'core' (the EU). The Com monwealth of Independent States (CIS) constitutes a 'hybrid' social formation containing elements of state coordination, national and global capitalist inter ests - characteristics of 'semi-peripheral' states. The exposure (through trade and finance) of all the post-communist states to the world system has opened up their economies making them liable to external shocks. This is illustrated by the effects of financial stress caused by the world economic crisis of 2007 2009. Reactions and adaptations to the crisis are discussed: the post-socialist members of the EU have been more affected by the crisis than the CIS states. It is contended that the legitimacy of neoliberal policies has been undermined and state regulation enhanced. It is argued that the semi-periphery is not a tran sitionary formation in the world-economy. In a world system perspective, the 'semi-periphery' has to be differentiated between potential 'counterpoints' (Russia and China), which have a capacity for autonomy and renewal, and
TL;DR: In this article, the use of telegrams in communicating official correspondence between the Governor of Ceylon and the Secretary of State for the Colonies of India is examined. But the period of examination of this article ends right around the turn of the twentieth century, for reasons of frame.
Abstract: Einsatz und Begrenztheit von Telegrammen in der offiziellen Kor respondenz zwischen Ceylons Generalgouverneur und dem Secretary of State for the Colonies, circa 1870-1900?. This article attempts to provide some ex amples of Ceylon's Governor's and the Secretary of State for the Colonies' uses of telegrams in communicating official correspondence. It also tries to de scribe the limitations of using telegrams to this end. The analysis of the article starts from 1870 - after telegraphic communication between Ceylon and Eng land became established and stable by Ceylon's connection to the Red Sea Ca ble through its telegraphic link with Madras, India. The period of examination of this article ends right around the turn of the twentieth-century, for reasons of frame. The materials consulted herein include telegrams and letters found in Ceylon's original correspondence records kept at the National Archives in Kew, London.