Showing papers in "Revista Internacional De Sociologia in 2009"
TL;DR: In this article, an ethnographic study was conducted in the sports hall of a Spanish prison to understand exercise and sport meanings among inmates, workers, educators and monitors, concluding that sport can play a symbolic "evasion" and personal liberation, but are constrained by a context in which control and order are at the forefront of everything.
Abstract: Sport practices belong to the prison’s landscape. Nevertheless, there is a lack of knowledge about the role they play in prisons ordinary life. Therefore, we developed an ethnographic study, mainly located in the sports hall of a Spanish prison, to understand exercise and sport meanings among inmates, workers, educators and monitors. Data indicate that social rehabilitation through sport is an illusion, although it is the official goal of imprisonment. Even so, participants assign different benefits to exercise and sport, especially inmates. Educative potential of self-control through sport and, mainly, distraction and compensation strategy to cope with boredom, time and confinement’s physical and mental problems are among them. Paper concludes that exercise and sport can play a symbolic ‘evasion’ and personal liberation, but are constrained by a context in which control and order are at the forefront of everything.
34 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine some of the meanings that are sometimes neglected under the generic term of neorurality and analyse the significance of the move for the migrants in the context of Navarre.
Abstract: This paper examines some of the meanings that are sometimes neglected under the generic term of neorurality. From our point of view, moving one’s home from town to countryside is not solely a change of house, but a life venture, bringing together social representations of the rural and the urban, of country life and the urban lifestyle. In the case of people who have moved from Pamplona (county town of Navarre, a northern region of Spain) to any rural area of Navarre, these representations, along with the broad heterogeneity of underlying reasons and expectations for the future, have shaped three different types of neo-rurality. They represent, somehow, three ways of constructing differing rural spaces (and ruralities). The paper analyses these types of neo-ruralities and the significance of the move for the migrants in the context of Navarre. To do this, we analyse the discourse expressed in diverse indepth interviews conducted with people who have identified themselves as urban-to-rural migrants.
22 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, two opposing theoretical approaches, the New Home Economics framework and the Social Capital or sociological framework, were used to test the validity of these two frameworks with data from the Spanish Fertility and Family Survey of 1995.
Abstract: Do all women experience a labor “double burden”? Are women responsible for domestic tasks in all households? What explains variation in patterns of distribution of household labor across families? In this article, I approach these questions from the perspective of two opposing theoretical approaches: the New Home Economics framework, and the Social Capital or sociological framework. I test the validity of these two frameworks with data from the Spanish Fertility and Family Survey of 1995. The results point towards the validity of the sociological perspective: those families in which the husbands have medium labor status present more egalitarian patterns of household labor distribution. Additionally, the results confirm the importance of attitudinal variables such as religiosity to explain domestic labor division patterns: women with more traditional values experience a more severe double burden.
21 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the integration process of second-generation inmigrant integration in the countryside of Almeria (Spain) is analyzed in the following dimensions: socioeconomic, mixed relationships, relating cultural, norms and transnationalism.
Abstract: The objective of this article is to know the integration process of “second-generation” inmigrant integration in the countryside of Almeria (Spain). We analyze the adaptation that the youths are experiencing in the following dimensions: socioeconomic, mixed relationships, relating cultural, norms and transnationalism. The data are obtained with the administration of a questionnaire in different educational centres and in the residential environment; the final sample is formed by a total of 390 surveys. The results show that not all the second- generation immigrants have the same adaptation; we can observe, on the contrary, unequal situations, what draws a scenario of fragmented pluralism. The origin, the years of stay, the level of studies, the profession and the habitat are the key variables that predict this process.
20 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used quantile regression and data from a group of European countries to show that differences across segments of the distribution are indeed large, and that women are more severely penalised for overeducation than men.
Abstract: The overeducation literature has typically assumed that the effect of overeducation on wages is constant across the conditional wage distribution. In this paper we use quantile regression and data from a group of European countries to show that differences across segments of the distribution are indeed large. We find significant differences between sexes, in the sense that it is not true that in countries where men are penalised more severely, women are also severely penalised. Moreover, different trends are observed depending on the country and sex. For example in Germany, the wage penalty for overeducation is higher among women than men. Furthermore, while the wage penalty for men increases from decile 10 to decile 90, the wage penalty decreases for women. In Spain, women are more severely penalised for overeducation than men and the effect of overeducation is quite homogeneous across deciles for both men and women.
18 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show how, contrary to the sustainable development agenda, the population does not connect the global dimension of the climate change to the need of implementing regional/local policies.
Abstract: The objective of this article is to contribute, from the environmental sociology, to the debate on the relationship between public opinion and environmental policies. We show the diversity existing at social perceptions on environmental issues in accordance to the geographical level we take as reference (local, regional, national and global). This topic is very important both to define and implement policies aimed to mitigate the effects of climate change. The empirical analysis has carried out of the information offered by the Ecobarometro of Andalusia, which is an annual survey made from 2001 by the IESA-CSIC. The main contribution of this article is to show how, contrary to the sustainable development agenda, the population does not connect the global dimension of the climate change to the need of implementing regional/local policies. The Andalusian people perceive that the policy aimed to mitigate the effects of climate change is a “supra policy”, and they consider that actions implemented at the regional/local level are none effects on global environmental problems.
18 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed the time variation in the lethal violence of the terrorist organization ETA, given the dynamic structure of the time series of fatalities, looking at the effect of a number of independent variables (the celebration of different types of elections, anti-ETA activity by extreme right-wing organizations and the GAL, police arrests, and other relevant events, such as the referendums on the Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy of Guernica).
Abstract: This article analyzes time variation in the lethal violence of the terrorist organization ETA. Given the dynamic structure of the time series of fatalities, I look at the effect of a number of independent variables (the celebration of different types of elections, anti-ETA activity by extreme right-wing organizations and the GAL, police arrests, and other relevant events, such as the referendums on the Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy of Guernica). To do so, I have estimated several ARIMA models using the time series of fatalities between 1968 and 2007. Moreover, the results obtained are complemented by a historical-political analysis of the period of maximum violence, which took place during the Spanish transition to democracy.
16 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a giro analitico supondria, pues, sentar la sociologia de nuevo sobre una base solida.
Abstract: En los ultimos anos un importante grupo de cientificos sociales ha sentido la necesidad de promover un giro analitico en sociologia. Esa necesidad se ha debido al hecho de que algunas corrientes sociologicas muy influyentes se han deslizado por la pendiente del irracionalismo, la imprecision conceptual, la vaguedad teorica y la esterilidad cientifica y explicativa. El giro analitico supondria, pues, sentar la sociologia de nuevo sobre una base solida. La sociologia espanola no ha sido ajena ni al deterioro de la sociologia como disciplina cientifica ni al giro analitico. Por tal motivo el presente articulo quiere contribuir al debate actual mediante la diseccion, primero, del estado actual de la sociologia y estableciendo despues las bases de lo que es la sociologia analitica, para finalizar defendiendola frente a algunas confusiones y acusaciones habituales.
10 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an analysis of interviews conducted with workers of an automotive multinational in Barcelona, showing the innovative, autonomous, logical and coherent character of the set of meanings guiding workers' everyday actions.
Abstract: While some of the recent literature addressing the sociology of work and organizations recognizes the role of workers’ agency, it always includes the concept of workers’ subjectivity as a contradictory and inconsistent “effect” of power relations. In contrast to this approach, using the analysis of eighteen interviews conducted with workers of an automotive multinational in Barcelona, it will be shown in this article the innovative, autonomous, logical and coherent character of the set of meanings guiding workers’ everyday actions. In this case study, the everyday actions of the workers are guided by a belief in the necessity of an ethical code of behavior. This code is composed of a set of congruent moral principles. The actions of resistance and commitment, presented by several authors as contradictory, appear being consistent with a set of ethical principles, and therefore, as value-rational actions.
10 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) to illustrate an institutional change process taking into account the tension that exists between the public status of research centers and the high level of independence of its scientific communities.
Abstract: What factors affect the organizational models of the large national public research centers? How does organizational change affect the nature of the scientific activities they perform? This article uses the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) to illustrate an institutional change process taking into account the tension that exists between the public status of research centers and the high level of independence of its scientific communities. The main purpose is to explain how changes in the CSIC’s internal power structure, along with the relationships with external funding and evaluation agencies, cause those research practices considered most legitimate to emerge and produce a reorientation of the entire organization. To that end, a historical account of the CSIC’s situation in the period between the Spanish Democratic Transition and the beginning of the 21 st century is provided. The theoretical basis is defined by concepts from new institutionalism in organizational sociology. The results show that during the last quarter of the 20 th century, the CSIC has become an organization oriented to basic science. The conclusions have implications for future studies on the transformation of public research centers and for science policy in this field.
9 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that there is interdependence when the actions of an individual influence the decisions (and later actions) of other individuals, and that social networks define the structure of that range of influence and unleash a number of mechanisms that go beyond those captured by rational action theory.
Abstract: There is interdependence when the actions of an individual influence the decisions (and later actions) of other individuals. This paper claims that social networks define the structure of that range of influence and unleash a number of mechanisms that go beyond those captured by rational action theory. Networks give access to the ideas and actions of other individuals, and this exposure determines the activation of thresholds, the timing of actions, and the emergence of contagion processes, informational cascades and epidemics. This paper sustains that rational action theory does not offer the necessary tools to model these processes if it is not inserted in a general theory of networks. This is especially the case in the context opened by new information and communication technologies, where the interdependence of individuals is acquiring greater empirical relevance.
TL;DR: In this article, a multi-method approach combining qualitative (interviews and focus groups), and quantitative (survey) techniques was applied to understand the citizen's perceptions an expectancies.
Abstract: This paper reflects on trust and its role in shaping the public perception and response towards a new technological centre. In particular, it deals with the introduction of a research centre on clean coal combustion in a mining area of the Northwest of Spain. When the siting of this centre was announced, a multi-method approach combining qualitative (interviews and focus groups), and quantitative (survey) techniques was applied to understand the citizen’s perceptions an expectancies. Results allow a discussion on the role traditionally assigned to trust as a key dimension in the social perception of risk, as well as in the acceptability of some emergent technologies.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the co-optation to local government by the paramilitary armed groups in Colombia from the government presided over by Belisario Betancur (1980-1984) to the presidency of Alvaro Uribe (2002-2006) and propose a theoretical framework which describes and analyzes the political opportunities and constraints for those armed actors to carry out the mobilization, development and consolidation of their activities within an action framework characterized by the existence of an internal armed conflict.
Abstract: This paper analyzes the co-optation to local government by the paramilitary armed groups in Colombia from the government presided over by Belisario Betancur (1980-1984) to the presidency of Alvaro Uribe (2002-2006). This research analyzes how these paramilitary groups succeeded in establishing their power in the Colombian local government and its consolidation as the major actor in certain departments. We study the issue from a historical perspective and turning to the sociological discipline. We propose a theoretical framework which describes and analyzes the political opportunities and constraints for those armed actors to carry out the mobilization, development and consolidation of their activities within an action framework characterized by the existence of an internal armed conflict.
TL;DR: This article examined the redistributive nature of public educational spending through a cross-country analysis from 1960 to 1996, and provided evidence on the role of the ideological nature of the party in government and of the economic position of the median voter on the configuration of this policy.
Abstract: In this article, we examine the redistributive nature of public educational spending through a cross-country analysis from 1960 to 1996. Existing studies on the determinants of the extent of public funding of education tend to give for granted its progressive nature. We question this view and, assuming that the redistributive nature of public education is conditional on how expenditure is allocated between the different levels of schooling, we provide evidence on the role of the ideological nature of the party in government and of the economic position of the median voter on the configuration of this policy.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used external ecological variables which affect adolescent development and possible violent behaviour at school, and applied the discriminating technique to a sample group of young people in obligatory secondary school education and found that social class/socio-economic status was a robust independent variable capable of discriminating, to a greater extent than the others, the individual and collective violent from the non-violent group.
Abstract: In recent years, we have seen an abundance of studies on the subject of bullying with an emphasis on its prevalence and its characteristics. However, there has been little progress at regards the explanation of the aetiology of the phenomenon itself. Using external ecological variables which affect adolescent development and possible violent behaviour at school, the discriminating technique is applied to a sample group of young people in obligatory secondary school education. the results show social class/socio-economic status to be a robust independent variable capable of discriminating, to a greater extent than the others, the individual and collective violent from the non-violent group. these findings provide empirical evidence of the importance of what Wilson called “neighbourhood pressure” and Sampson denominated “collective efficacy”.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the dissident thought within the feminist movement, and claim that conservative, betrayal, and anti-feminism harassment are the main reasons for such attacks.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to examine the dissident thought within the feminist movement. This new approach dissents from some main epistemological assumptions of the feminism, and claims against its effects, both in the academy and the public agenda. On the one hand, the authors that have leaded the critique against the so-called “gender ideology”, have the support of most of the American public. On the other hand, they are experiencing the wrath of the academic feminist and the accusation of being part of a backlash. The charges are conservatism, betrayal, and anti-feminism harassment. The social tension has increase with the date rape crisis, the new feminism cause, besides the current politics against pornography and sexual harassment. Furthermore dissident voices in Canada, France and Spain prove a serious break up in one of the most important social movements in the last decades.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the main claiming actors within their case study and highlight new insights to the literature drawing on the conclusions of the case study, focusing on the creation of "unemployment" as a public problem and a contentious cause.
Abstract: For more than 15 years now, the political actions of the Moroccan unemployed graduates challenge the mainstream conclusions of the researches dealing with unemployed collective action theory. This mobilization is symptomatic of a series of dynamics taking place in the socio-political space: the failure of the education system, the inefficient management of public resources or the culture of cooptation of social leaders. Although this case of collective has become a constant in the Moroccan contentious space, it has never been analyzed. First of all, we will present the main claiming actors within our case study. Secondly, we will review some conclusions of the literature on unemployed collective action. We will highlight new insights to the literature drawing on the conclusions of our case study. We will focus on the creation of “unemployment” as a public problem and a contentious cause. Finally, we will conclude with some interrogations on the interactions with the political arena of this so-called “apolitical” mobilization.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present three voting models that attempt to explain what is specific about each of the last three general elections held in Spain, including the 1996 elections, the rational economic model for the elections in 2000, and a mediatized model to explain the mechanisms that intervened in the 2004 elections.
Abstract: The article presents three voting models that attempt to explain what is specific about each of the last three general elections held in Spain. Thus, a structural model is proposed for the 1996 elections, a rational-economic model for the elections in 2000, and a mediatized model to explain the mechanisms that intervened in the 2004 elections. The article then presents a voting model that attempts to integrate the main conclusions drawn from each of the previous models. Special emphasis is placed on the communicational mechanisms of the last elections (2004), underlining the influence of the media in attributing responsibility, the issue according to which voters evaluate public policy. Simultaneously, attention is called to the active role of the audiences in selecting the messages that are coherent with their personal experience and their cultural pattern.
Journal Article•
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Familia, trabajo, and territorialidad: Tres anclajes sociales dinamicos for la integracion de las jovenes en una sociedad rural difusa.
Abstract: 3 paginas.-- Critica del libro: "Familia, Trabajo y Territorio. Tres anclajes sociales dinamicos para la integracion de las jovenes en una sociedad rural difusa".
TL;DR: Empirically examining how confidence in healthcare varies based on assessments made by users regarding different aspects of medical care finds that successful doctor-patient relationships are based on effective communication and not a mere exchange of information.
Abstract: Various studies have focused on defining the roles that both doctors and patients should adopt during consultations with a view to improving user satisfaction and confidence in the medical care they receive. These two factors clearly contribute to ensuring compliance with the advice and treatments prescribed by healthcare providers and the subsequent success of consultations. Due to the lack of consensus among researchers, this paper aims to empirically examine how confidence in healthcare varies based on assessments made by users regarding different aspects of medical care. The data were taken from the Survey of primary healthcare users of the Andalusian Healthcare Service in 2006. Trust in healthcare is highly related to the satisfaction users express in the four variables examined in the study. The main conclusion is that successful doctor-patient relationships are based on effective communication and not a mere exchange of information.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that after more than ten years of the present Penal code approval, although having lately experienced an outstanding expansion, such measure has not yet reached its maximum development.
Abstract: As a result of the progressive increase of the imprisoned population in Spain, the debate about alternative measures to prison and, particularly, about the one which proposes working in benefit of community services, has acquired a renewed interest during the last years. Starting from the existing theories about the penalty, the purpose is to show that after more than ten years of the present Penal code approval, although having lately experienced an outstanding expansion, such measure has not yet reached its maximum development. And that in spite of the positive effects already demonstrated in other different countries of our environment in regard to its major efficacy in the social reinsertion of the prosecuted people and, consequently, in the diminution of the prison occupancy density.
TL;DR: In this article, the compatibility between Islamist agenda and democratic principles and the conception this agenda confer to women is discussed, while making some considerations about the necessity to use the social sciences methodology for analysing political and social situation in the Arab world.
Abstract: Since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, we can observe the trend to analyse what it is happening in the Arab world based on religious references which appears in social and political actors’ discourses. Many experts have spent much energy looking for evidence of a relationship between what the Koran and later exegesis say and violent activism. In this context, Islamism is often confused with political violence. At the same time, Muslim people as a whole are perceived as Islamists. In this paper, we analyse some significant aspects of Islamism. We propose a definition of what Islamism is and then we discuss two main topics: the compatibility between Islamist agenda and democratic principles and the conception this agenda confer to women. Likewise, we present the main thesis that have interpreted the evolution of Islamism and its future. Finally, we make some considerations about the necessity to use the social sciences methodology for analysing political and social situation in the Arab world.
TL;DR: In contemporary capitalism, productive economical activity changes into configuring a hybrid landscape formed by a mixture of advanced modalities based on microelectronics and language, which are postfordist, and techno-organizational and contractual components evoking, some of them, the manchesterian “factory system” as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In contemporary capitalism, productive economical activity changes into configuring a hybrid landscape formed by a mixture of advanced modalities based on microelectronics and language, which are postfordist, and techno-organizational and contractual components evoking, some of them, the manchesterian “factory system”. These changes involve a deep transformation of work and technic systems and organizations distinctly differents from those which appear defined by “endogenous” thesis (Smith’s version and Kaldor law). In new prototypes, turning to automatic and telecommunication systems as well as to a relational, cognitive and linguistic productive forms, knowledge raises as capital productive force. Nevertheless, most of all, this knowledge is fed by an innovative environment and a systemic and not systemic knowledge. However, these changes involve the emergence of new problems, being to emphasize the dychotomic character of those processes which generate valuating knowledge in a global context determined by asset logic.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze the contents of the first work by the French anthropologist and sociologist Pierre Bourdieu: Sociologie de l´Algerie, considering the relationships the author had with other intellectuals from 1955 to 1958, period of time in which he wrote this book.
Abstract: This paper analyses the contents of the first work by the French anthropologist and sociologist Pierre Bourdieu: Sociologie de l´Algerie. In this respect, these contents will be studied considering the relationships the author had with other intellectuals from 1955 to 1958, period of time in which he wrote this book. Our thesis on this article is based on the fact that this work will only be properly understood if we take into account the relations between the intellectuals living in Algeria at the beginning of its Independence War. We will only be able to understand the author´s political and theoretical choices if we analyse the possible influences that he could have had at that time. At the end of the present paper, we will raise a number of objections to Bourdieu´s work in the light of other publications of the same period.
TL;DR: The family associations represent phenomena typical of the advanced current societies, on having combined associative and community trends In her configuration there are reflected proper features of new social movements and the organizations of the third sector, putting on the accent in the autonomy of the civil society to be organized about the family.
Abstract: The family associations represent phenomena typical of the advanced current societies, on having combined associative and community trends In her configuration there are reflected proper features of the new social movements and the organizations of the third sector, putting on the accent in the autonomy of the civil society to be organized about the family In this work one presents an approximation to these actors in Spain, contributing different theoretical keys for her interpretation and an analysis of quantitatively and qualitatively on her presence and configuration in our country
Journal Article•
Journal Article•
TL;DR: A nota necrológica es una adaptación for la RIS del comentario publicado por Salvador Aguilar en la página web de la Editorial Hacer con motivo del fallecimiento de Charles Tilly as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Esta nota necrológica es una adaptación para la RIS del comentario publicado por Salvador Aguilar en la página web de la Editorial Hacer con motivo del fallecimiento de Charles Tilly. Esta editorial, uno de cuyos editores es Salvador Aguilar, ha publicado o está en vías de hacerlo cinco obras mayores del sociólogo norteamericano desaparecido el 29 de abril de 2008 a los 78 años. Salvador Aguilar es Profesor Titular de Estructura y Cambio Social (Universidad de Barcelona).