Showing papers in "International Review of Sociology in 2005"
TL;DR: This article found that public doubts about politicians and government are spreading across almost all advanced industrial democracies, and examined the social correlates of the decrease in trust, finding that the greatest declines are among the better-educated and upper social status.
Abstract: The phenomenon of declining political trust among the American public has been widely discussed, with the explanations often focusing on specific historical events or the unique problems of American political institutions. We first demonstrate that public doubts about politicians and government are spreading across almost all advanced industrial democracies. The pervasiveness of this trend suggests that common social forces are affecting these nations, and we examine the social correlates of the decrease in trust. We find the greatest declines are among the better-educated and upper social status. These results suggest that changing citizen expectations, rather than the failure of governments, are prompting the erosion of political support in advanced industrial democracies.
267 citations
TL;DR: Cultural factors, as measured by the two dimensions of values identified by Inglehart, explain 75% of the variation in the perceived corruption index across non-communist countries.
Abstract: Cultural factors, as measured by the two dimensions of values identified by Inglehart, explain 75% of the variation in the Perceived Corruption Index across non-communist countries. A strong ‘survival’ orientation contributes twice as much as a strong ‘traditional’ orientation to higher levels of corruption. When controlling for these cultural variables, communism and post-communism increase the levels of corruption even further, both directly and by contributing to heavier emphasis on survival values. Communism created structural incentives for engaging in corrupt behaviors, which became such a widespread fact of life that they became rooted in the culture in these societies – that is, the social norms and practices prevailing in communist societies. The transitions toward democracy and market economies have not yet erased this culture of corruption. In addition, the process of privatization itself has opened myriad opportunities for corruption. The effects are manifest in comparisons of corruption in no...
204 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that the Chinese public expresses fairly strong criticism of some aspects of Chinese society, but they express high levels of confidence in the national government, indicating that people are less deferential to authority and increasingly ready to challenge government.
Abstract: Political trust has been declining among the publics of almost all advanced industrial societies in recent years. This has been attributed to a Materialist–Postmaterialist value shift, which has given rise to a public that is less deferential to authority and increasingly ready to challenge government. This phenomenon has been interpreted as a ‘crisis of democracy’. Although one might expect to find low level of political trust in repressive authoritarian societies, survey data indicates that political trust in China is actually very high. Does this simply mean that people are afraid to express any opinions that might be viewed as critical of authority? As this article will demonstrate, this does not seem to be the case. The Chinese public expresses fairly strong criticism of some aspects of Chinese society – but they express high levels of confidence in the national government. Although rich democracies provide both a higher standard of living and more personal freedom than is available to the average Ch...
170 citations
TL;DR: This article argued that the aspect of political culture that is most relevant to democratization is mass aspirations for freedom, and if a given public emphasizes these values relatively strongly, democratisation is likely to occur.
Abstract: An influential analysis by Przeworski and Limongi (1997) argued that a pro-democratic culture may help existing democracies survive, but political culture does not contribute to the process of democratization, which is entirely done by elites. We challenge this conclusion, arguing that it neglects the very nature of democratization. For (as Human Development theory argues), democratization is a liberating process that maximizes human freedom by establishing civil and political rights. Consequently, the aspect of political culture that is most relevant to democratization is mass aspirations for freedom – and if a given public emphasizes these values relatively strongly, democratization is likely to occur. To test this thesis, we use data from the Values Surveys, demonstrating that a specific component of postmaterialism (‘liberty aspirations’) had a major impact on the extent to which societies gained or lost freedom during the Third Wave of democratization. This effect holds up in tests of Granger causali...
113 citations
TL;DR: The idea of cosmopolitan Europe as discussed by the authors is defined against a 'national Europe', on the one side and on the other, 'global Europe' where an internationalist EU-led Europe plays a major role in the world.
Abstract: The idea of a cosmopolitan Europe is defined against a 'national Europe', on the one side and on the other, 'global Europe' where an internationalist EU-led Europe plays a major role in the world. A cosmopolitan Europe is a more accurate designation of the emerging form of Europeanization as a mediated and emergent reality of the national and the global. It is possible to conceive of European identity as a cosmopolitan identity based on a cultural logic of self-transformation rather than as a supranational identity or an official EU identity that is in a relation of tension with national identities. As a cosmopolitan identity, European identity is a form of post-national self-understanding that expresses itself within, as much as beyond, national identities.
92 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a theory of place attachment and socio-territorial belonging is proposed for the analysis of human action in diverse geographical and social contexts, and results from surveys conducted in diverse geographic and social context, comparing them with those of surveys carried out in Italy in recent years.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to furnish elements both theoretical and empirical useful for the formulation of a theory of place attachment and socio-territorial belonging, two dimensions that are analytically distinct but empirically co-present and interrelated. After delineating a frame of reference which accounts for the distinction and interrelation between place attachment and socio-territorial belonging, the structure of social belonging, of socio-territorial belonging and its relations with other components of human action, and of dynamics of socio-territorial belonging, consideration is made of results from surveys conducted in diverse geographical and social contexts, comparing them with those of surveys carried out in Italy in recent years (1985–2000).
74 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that cultural change is roughly predictable: to a large extent, it is shaped by a few variables included in a model of cultural modernization that is presented here, and they stick their necks out and predict the locations on two major cultural dimensions of all the countries likely to be included in the next wave of the World Values Survey.
Abstract: This article argues that cultural change is roughly predictable: to a large extent, it is shaped by a few variables included in a model of cultural modernization that is presented here. The beliefs and values of a society's people are also affected by unique world events and country-specific factors that would not fit into a general model, such as a given society's political parties and leaders, so our predictions will not be precisely accurate. Nevertheless, in this article we will stick our necks out and predict the locations on two major cultural dimensions of all the countries likely to be included in the next wave of the World Values Survey, to be carried out in 2005–2006. Using a simple predictive model based on our revised version of modernization theory, we first ‘predict’ and test the positions that 80 societies should have on a two major dimensions of cross-cultural variation in the most recent wave of surveys (carried out in 1999–2001); we find that our predictions are surprisingly accurate: th...
42 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the relative importance of national, sub-national, local, and supranational attachments in the contemporary world system was investigated, and the relative strength of attachment to the nation versus attachment to other levels of community.
Abstract: Attachment to community is a central component of identities in the modern world, and community attachment can be expressed at different levels within national states. Most classical perspectives on modern societies have taken for granted that national states have long been the most important locus of citizen attachment and loyalty in the contemporary world system. More recently, many influential perspectives on globalization have suggested that national states are becoming less important, because of the rise of subnational units on the one hand, and supranational entities on the other. What is the relative importance of national, subnational, local, and supranational attachments in the contemporary world system? Is the structure of attitudes similar across national settings? What is the relative strength of attachment to the nation versus attachment to other levels of community? How willing are people to move to a different community to improve their economic condition? This exploratory paper will invest...
38 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the concept of lifestyle is traced to its early roots in personality psychology and in marketing, and it is often considered as a very important and promising approach by administrators working with the regulation of risk and risk communication.
Abstract: In this article, the concept of lifestyle is traced to its early roots in personality psychology and in marketing. In the latter field, many commercial marketing firms have made strong claims as to the explanatory power of lifestyle dimensions, often based on procedures which have been kept secret, but researchers have seldom been able to verify such claims. In spite of this, the approach is very popular, has wide credibility and is often given very favorable media coverage. Probably because of this, it is often considered as a very important and promising approach by administrators working with the regulation of risk and risk communication. It may also be credible in some quarters because it affords a way of ‘explaining’ risk perception as being non-rational. In this paper, we give results from an empirical study of nuclear waste risk perception which is related to a basic risk perception model and three approaches to lifestyles: Kahle's List of Values, a Swedish adaptation of the ‘Agorametrie’ approach ...
26 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors use the concept of ecological democracy as metaphor to analyze two politically relevant problems of contemporary society: the uncertain legitimacy of the international institutions and the lack of institutionalization of the social movements.
Abstract: The term “ecological democracy”, is used here to indicate an alternative democratic model, critical towards laissez-faire, but not anti-liberal. The foundations of this model are in the common capital of the knowledge of social sciences. The paradox of collective action, the existence of entitlements to resources before market trading and of externalities. Ecological democracy is utilized as metaphor to analyze two politically relevant problems of contemporary society: the uncertain legitimacy of the international institutions and the lack of institutionalization of the social movements.
24 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the value shift each group underwent during the decade 1992-2001 within the context of broader changes in Russian society and emphasize key influences conditioning the transformations of values.
Abstract: The Green movement in the USSR/Russia has existed for more than forty years. During this period, seven groups have been shaped and consolidated within the movement (the conservationists, the alternativists, the traditionalists, the civil initiatives, the ecopoliticians, the ecopatriots, and the ecotechnocrats). The aim of this article is to consider the value shift each group underwent during the decade 1992–2001 within the context of the broader changes in the Russian society. The article emphasizes key influences conditioning the transformations of values. These include changing of local and national contexts caused by the overall process of society's westernization and globalization, as well as by the changes in each group's positions vis-a-vis the state, market economy, science and local population.
TL;DR: From the pioneering studies of the first half of the 1960s (Fried & Gleicher, 1961; Treinen, 1965; Pivetau, 1965) until today, theoretical research and empirical inquiry have undoubtedly contribute...
Abstract: From the pioneering studies of the first half of the 1960s (Fried & Gleicher, 1961; Treinen, 1965; Pivetau, 1965) until today, theoretical research and empirical inquiry have undoubtedly contribute...
TL;DR: The concept of communaute was introduced in the literature sociologique dans le concept of "classique", "locale", "du risque", "esthetique" and "neo-communautariste".
Abstract: Le present voyage sociologique dans le concept de communaute ambitionne de saisir les differentes modalites selon lesquelles le terme « communaute » est aujourd'hui employe au fil des divers essais de description de la realite sociale contemporaine. A cet effet, l'on a distingue sept types de communaute (« classique », « locale », « du risque », « esthetique », « communicative », « du don », « neo-communautariste »), dont la breve description permet d'offrir un panorama assez significatif, quoique ne pretendant pas a exhaustivite, des aspects que la litterature sociologique nous offre pour penser la communaute. Les auteurs de reference ci indiques ont surtout une valeur symbolique et en d'autres occasions ils pourraient etre remplaces par d'autres en tant que symboles du type auquel on les a voulu lier. En effet l'on ne veut pas tant ici illustrer la position des auteurs consideres que, surtout, tenter d'extraire l’element pregnant de chaque type de communaute pour sortir, apres, des donnees traditionnell...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the current visibility of religion on Italian television, amplified by the Jubilee 2000 and confirmed by the repeated successes of fictions dedicated to religious characters, put unusual questions to sociological theory.
Abstract: This study suggests to look at the audiences of religious television programmes as a possible common field of interest for both the sociology of religion and communication research. The current visibility of religion on Italian television, amplified by the Jubilee 2000 and confirmed by the repeated successes of fictions dedicated to religious characters, put unusual questions to sociological theory. We argue here that such visibility must be interpreted within the ‘process of de-secularization’, i.e. one of the many processes which are currently de-constructing modernity and confusing the distinction between the public and the private sphere. The ‘mediated’ religion is the result of the ambiguous rediscovery of religion in the post-modern society. From this point of view, the Jubilee 2000 appears as a media event typical of the global media society, in that religion is spread throughout the world but within the limits of media (and especially television) formats.
TL;DR: In this article, the synthesis of Boolean data, as can be performed for example by QCA (qualitative comparative analysis), is perfectly compatible with the realist synthesis; when not quite constituting its rigorous formalization.
Abstract: This article pursues two aims, a major and a minor one. The major one is to read some important results in the sociological literature on suicide, namely those obtained by Durkheim in 1897, Giddens in 1966 and Pope and Danigelis in 1981, as Context–Mechanism–Outcome configurations. The realist interpretation of the theories of suicide is deemed to be fundamental for the explanation of this social phenomenon, if one wishes not to be misled by the (false) laws which have repeatedly been designated to govern it, e.g., the married are more immune than the unmarried, and, above all – being clamorously labelled ‘Sociology's One Law’ – the one declaring ‘Protestants kill themselves more often than Catholics’. The minor aim is to show that the synthesis of Boolean data, as can be performed for example by QCA (qualitative comparative analysis), is perfectly compatible with the realist synthesis; when not quite constituting its rigorous formalization.
TL;DR: Both religious and liberal secular thinking offer comprehensive approaches to considering the place of the sexual drive in our personal lives and communities as mentioned in this paper. But what has communitarian thinking to offload sexual drive to off...
Abstract: Both religious and liberal secular thinking offer comprehensive approaches to considering the place of the sexual drive in our personal lives and communities. What has communitarian thinking to off...
TL;DR: The problem of uncertainty, ignorance and risk is a rather general one in market economies, and it is closely bound to the very market utopia that is at the origin of dominant economics itself.
Abstract: The problem of uncertainty, ignorance and risk is a rather general one in market economies, and it is closely bound to the very market utopia that is at the origin of dominant economics itself. In other words, the question of uncertainty and the entailed questions of ignorance and risk are powerfully linked to the historical and empirical puzzle of the degree of perfection of our ‘market’ economies: these last exist in spite of the market system not being reality yet. Uncertainty, ignorance and risk must also be conjugated with the question of crises/depressions. Whether we believe these last to be the reminders of the imperfection of present-day capitalism, the cause of capitalism’s doomsday, or just capitalist normality, we cannot help conceding a powerful role to uncertainty and ignorance. A complication is constituted by the fact that economic theory is widely regarded by its practitioners as an abstract subject. We should therefore ask whether a completely abstract (in the economistic sense) treatment is sufficient to produce theories that must account for a reality that is far from perfect. As already said, Western countries are far from being market economies in the sense postulated by (abstract) economic theory, and yet empirical and historical treatments powerfully depend on the theory itself. But on top of this basic limitation theory presents a very distinct set of problems of its own. We are led, inevitably, back to Keynes, Schumpeter and more, in general, to ‘multidisciplinary’, as they rather narrow-mindedly put it in our days of over-specialized economic studies, accounts of the economy and of its functioning. I shall confine myself here, as a starting point for a discussion that cannot be resolved here, to looking at how the question of uncertainty highlights important limitations of economic theorization. This determines on the one hand the need to
Abstract: By using forms of conservatism as criteria, this paper advances a novel conceptualization and typology of comparative-historical social systems. The paper attempts to do justice to the crucial complexities involved in the relations between a free-market economy, a democratic polity and a free society overall on the one hand and varieties of conservatism on the other. Such attempts are all the more indispensable in light of various simplifications and conflations committed by the conventional wisdom, especially in the USA, in this realm. One of these simplifications is the spurious (American) equation of economic conservatism or the laissez-faire economy with a free society. Another is the broader but also dubious equivalence of the admixture of economic conservatism and formal political democracy, with a free social system. It is the purpose of this article to redress these popular misconceptions. Special emphasis is placed on a peculiar social system denoted authoritarian conservatism or conservative aut...
TL;DR: In this article, contemporary societies are defined as digital, i.e., societies in which people are essentially separated, yet still tightly connected in spite of everything that divides them, and Ferdinand Tonnies characterizes community as 'organic' and society as'mechanic'.
Abstract: One of social theory's main concerns is the analysis of the changes that take place in human societies. This article systematizes existing knowledge about the characteristics of post-modern societies by incorporating it into Ferdinand Tonnies’ classical theory of societal change. Post-modern societies are defined as societies in which people are essentially separated, yet still tightly connected in spite of everything that divides them. Tonnies characterizes community as ‘organic’ and society as ‘mechanic’. In this article, contemporary societies are defined as ‘digital’. Their ‘psychological’ foundation, or founding will, is found in the concept of ‘imagination’. New forms of relationships accompany the coming of the digital society. Relationships with other individuals and with the territory are defined as ‘fluid’.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the privileged spaces should pay the cost of adjustment: they have to create a special image of themselves which differentiates them from other places, and in order to achieve a distinct image they need to reinvent themselves.
Abstract: Globalisation is affecting global space in various ways. One of its most dramatic effects is the creation of large spaces of exclusion. But also the privileged spaces ought to pay the cost of adjustment: they have to create a special image of themselves which differentiates them from other places, and in order to achieve a distinct image they have to reinvent themselves. They thus become (hyperreal) ‘imagined localities’ which more and more lose the connection to the ‘lifeworld’ of people. Along with other processes of social disembedding, this creates, on the level of the individual, a sometimes backward-oriented, sometimes utopian-transcendent longing for reembedding. This is also reflected in the (metaphorical) imaginations of people about their social (group) contexts. We may find both reflexive and ‘deflexive’ ways of social imagination as the examples, which are analysed here, show.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a view of the history of the expansion mondiale du capitalisme, in which the transformations qualitative des systèmes d'accumulation d'une phase à l'autre de son histoire façonnent à leur tour les formes successives de the polarisation asymétrique centres/périphéries.
Abstract: L’analyse que je propose ici s’inscrit dans une vision historique générale de l’expansion capitaliste développée ailleurs, sur laquelle je ne reviendrai pas ici. Dans cette vision le capitalisme a toujours été, depuis l’origine, un système polarisant par nature, c’est à dire impérialiste. Cette polarisation*/c’est à dire la construction concomitante de centres dominants et de périphéries dominées, et leur reproduction s’approfondissant d’étape en étape*/est immanente au procès d’accumulation du capital opérant à l’échelle mondiale, fondé sur ce que j’ai appelé «la loi de la valeur mondialisée». Dans cette théorie de l’expansion mondiale du capitalisme les transformations qualitatives des systèmes d’accumulation d’une phase à l’autre de son histoire façonnent à leur tour les formes successives de la polarisation asymétrique centres/ périphéries c’est à dire de l’impérialisme concret. Le système mondial contemporain demeurera donc impérialiste (polarisant) pour tout l’avenir visible, pour autant que la logique fondamentale de son déploiement reste commandée par la dominance des rapports de production capitalistes. Cette théorie associe donc impérialiste et procès d’accumulation du capital à l’échelle mondiale que je considère comme ne constituant alors qu’une seule réalité dont les différentes dimensions sont de ce fait indissociables. Elle se différencie donc tant de la version vulgarisée de la théorie léniniste de «l’impérialisme phase suprême du capitalisme» (comme si les phases antérieures de l’expansion mondialisée du capitalisme n’avaient pas été polarisantes) que des théories post modernistes contemporaines qui qualifient la mondialisation nouvelle de «post impérialiste».
TL;DR: In this paper, a debate has started among sociologists and political scientists regarding the nature and particular features of the no-movement phenomenon and its nature and characteristics, and its particular features.
Abstract: Since the ‘movement of movements’ first caught scholars’ attention a debate has started among sociologists and political scientists regarding its nature and particular features. Soon labelled ‘no g...
TL;DR: In the last decades various sociological theories analyzed the social phenomenon of movement actions as a relevant example of conscious protest of the negative effects of Modernity (Touraine et al. as mentioned in this paper ).
Abstract: During the last decades various sociological theories analysed the social phenomenon of movement actions as a relevant example of conscious protest of the negative effects of Modernity (Touraine, O
TL;DR: The question of what is genius was first raised by Mino Vianello in his article "Judentum und Deutschland" as discussed by the authors, which raised a number of intriguing questions that have long occupied my mind as well.
Abstract: Some time has passed since I first came across Mino Vianello’s extremely thoughtprovoking article ‘Judentum und Deutschland’ in this journal (Vol. 14, No. 1, March 2004, pp. 107 /110). It raised a number of intriguing questions that have long occupied my mind as well, which I have sought to resolve within a number of theoretical frameworks. Most of my work in this regard has remained inconclusive, however, and had Vianello not opened up the discussion in question, this might have continued to be the case for some time to come. But since he has let the genie out of the bottle, I feel compelled to take advantage of the opportunity thus presented and share my views on the more general scientific topic where I think Vianello’s discussion leads, namely What is genius? We could also raise this question from a more ‘Swedish’ perspective and ask: What do the Nobel Prize winners have in common? One advantage to this formulation is that we certainly know a great deal about Nobel prize winners, which might facilitate our discussion. But while there is an impressive amount of literature dealing with their personal and social biographies, the fact is that an analysis of this information hardly reveals any significant social or biographical patterns. Indeed, all that we have been able to do in this regard is record the social history of human genius as a collection of the unique biographies of the various Nobel prize winners. The question of genius also involves the question of who the Fathers of sociology were and consequently is closely related to the issues concerned with the sociological selfreflection and self-thematisation.
TL;DR: The story that appeared in an issue of the Guardian in February 1998, detailing efforts by international agencies such as the World... as mentioned in this paper, is perhaps no more fitting tale for our insecure times than the story in the Guardian.
Abstract: There is perhaps no more fitting tale for our insecure times than the story that appeared in an issue of the Guardian in February 1998, detailing efforts by international agencies such as the World...
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the relationship between the postmode and the post-modernity, i.e., the postmodality and the modernity, in the sense that the post mode is a relation of the vie humaine and sociale, individuelle e collective.
Abstract: S’il est aisé de comprendre le rapport sémantique entre la mode et la modernité (modernité /modus hodiernus, c’est à dire la manière de vivre et donc de s’habiller aujourd’hui), il est plus difficile de comprendre le rapport entre la postmode et la post-modernité: peut-être ignorons-nous encore ce qu’est la post-modernité, du fait que nous n’avons pas encore pris conscience de la vivre, d’en être complètement imprégnés, même si beaucoup de monde en parle. Nous nous livrerons ici seulement à quelque réflexions sur le thème de la mode et nous tenterons de définir ses liens avec la modernité. La déesse des apparences, comme Mallarmé l’a définie, est la définition la plus juste e la plus appropriée de cette magie étrange, mais aussi de ce rituel religieux, qu’est la mode. Divinité comme non-identité et divinité comme transcendance. Aujourd’hui, on ne saurait parler de la Mode, mais des modes, nombreuses visibles et invisibles, comme expression de la multeplicitè des identités vrais ou présumées. La mode est en effet illusion et vérité, liberté et contrainte, désir et réalité, séduction et répulsion. On a dit que la mode était morte, on en a fait maintes fois l’oraison funèbre et on a parlé de sa renaissance, si non réelle du moins virtuelle. Pourtant la mode est une relation de la vie humaine et sociale, individuelle e collective, une sorte de lien qui rapproche plus que les valeurs et les idées. A travers la mode, non seulement on parle on communique, mais on fait aussi de déclaration de paix ou de guerre, on s’aime ou on se hait, à travers la mode on exprime des sentiments, changeants et éphémères eux aussi, avec lesquels on affront la réalité et la vie quotidienne. J’ai peut-être été ambitieuse, récemment, en voulant tenter d’évaluer dans une recherche in fieri, sous le titre «Mode, identité, consensus» dans quelle mesure et si la mode influence, modifie altère les sentiments, ceux les plus communes et les plus répandus, comme l’amour, l’amitié, l’envie, mais aussi la vengeance, la gratitude, c’est-à-dire des sentiments négatifs et positifs et combien durent de tels sentiments.
TL;DR: Simmel and Kandinsky perspectives, in the light of parallel history, intend to be the starting point of an analysis of creativity and complexity as mentioned in this paper, in this sense the term seems to be double bound; the social probably cannot operate in a significant way without the aesthetic and vice versa.
Abstract: Simmel and Kandinsky perspectives, in the light of parallel history, intend to be the starting point of an analysis of creativity and complexity. Social aesthetics cannot be observed alone, in this sense the term seems to be double bound; the social probably cannot operate in a significant way without the aesthetic and vice versa. Aesthetics is a sociological experience as well; therefore, aesthetics seems to be in precarious position because of its own position as a result of the information culture at large. Social change takes the artist towards a more complex life, and left without objective truth, but not without informal form, keeping its sociological form of expression and function. In this way, Simmel's theoretical premises and the complex representation of art in Kandinsky, seems to represent a sort of example to begin with, an historical double-exposure or cross-fertilization. Don't be afraid of Life Alyosha, in, The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky