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Showing papers in "Sociology in 1977"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Worker participation has not evolved out of the humanization of capitalism, as is usually suggested, but has appeared cyclically as discussed by the authors, and these cycles are traced over more than a century and are shown to correspond to periods when management authority is felt to be facing challenge.
Abstract: This paper argues that worker participation has not evolved out of the humanization of capitalism, as is usually suggested, but has appeared cyclically. These cycles are traced over more than a century and are shown to correspond to periods when management authority is felt to be facing challenge. Participation is thus best understood as a means of attempting to secure labour's compliance. However, the framework of common interests upon which participation is premised is untenable, and in practice the efficiency of such schemes in Britain has been for the most part severely attenuated by the realities of structural conflict.

292 citations


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159 citations


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72 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the socio-ecological environment provides specific socially defined opportunities for interaction and talk, and the socially defined character of the different areas of a nursing home is discussed.
Abstract: This paper focuses on how the socio-ecological environment provides specific socially-defined opportunities for interaction and talk. The socially defined character of the different areas of a nurs...

63 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors report findings of research into the organizational structure of ordinary conversation, focusing on building rigorous descriptions of transcribed convergences in the context of ordinary conversations, and present an organizational structure for ordinary conversations.
Abstract: This paper reports findings of research into the organizational structure of ordinary conversation. Substantively, the paper is preoccupied with building rigorous descriptions of transcribed conver...

53 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, it is shown that ascriptive constraint and non-wage coercion increases with the expansion of capitalism and moreover that this is not a feature of ''early stages' but crucial to such ''high technology' areas as the European motor car industry''.
Abstract: Through examining bonded service relations in Britain; slavery and neo-slavery in the U.S.A., Tsarist Russia, and Southern Africa; and what is normally perceived as `migration', it is shown that ascriptive constraint and non-wage coercion increases with the expansion of capitalism and, moreover, that this is not a feature of `early stages' but crucial to such `high technology' areas as the European motor car industry. Closes by arguing for the recognition of `migration' as the circulation of a commodity (labour power) and for the primacy of relations of production, in the combination of relations and forces which define particular production modes.

51 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, three specific theses -those of ''closure'' at the higher levels of the class structure, of a ''buffer-zone'' around the division between manual and non-manual occupations, and of ''counter-balance'' in rates of inter- and intragenerational mobility-were critically examined on the basis of a survey inquiry into occupational mobility carried out in England and Wales in 1972.
Abstract: In recent analyses of the class structure of Britain and other modern western societies, arguments have been advanced relating mobility patterns to class formation and modes of class action. Three specific theses-those of `closure' at the higher levels of the class structure, of a `buffer-zone' around the division between manual and non-manual occupations, and of `counter-balance' in rates of inter- and intragenerational mobility-are critically examined on the basis of a survey inquiry into occupational mobility carried out in England and Wales in 1972. The sources of the various discrepancies which emerge between the three theses and the results of the enquiry are discussed, and major importance is attached in this respect to the evolution of the occupational division of labour in Britain over recent decades.

46 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the concepts of bargaining power, influence, and manipulation are introduced and related to three different ways of operationalization: decision-making, non-decision-making and studying information flows.
Abstract: Concepts of bargaining power, influence, and manipulation are introduced and related to three different ways of operationalization—namely from decision-making, non-decision-making, and studying information flows. The concept of autonomy is introduced and briefly studied in the context of causal and teleological accounts of `power play'.

26 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
A. J. Wootton1
TL;DR: In this article, a group therapy system which emphasizes the therapeutic efficacy of group therapy place some emphasis on the sharing of experiences among patients, and the identification of the identificatio...
Abstract: Psychiatric treatment systems which emphasize the therapeutic efficacy of group therapy place some emphasis on the sharing of experiences among patients. In such systems therefore the identificatio...

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Jason Ditton1
TL;DR: A lengthy period of participant observation and subsequent semi-structured interviewing in the sales department of a factory bakery showed that the bread salesmen regularly 'fiddle' small amounts of bread as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: A lengthy period of participant observation and subsequent semi-structured interviewing in the sales department of a factory bakery showed that the bread salesmen regularly `fiddle' small amounts o...



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A study of Glasgow's Asian school-leavers at a time of recession showed that in relation to a similarly qualified native control group the Asian boys' job opportunities are markedly inferior as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Studies of immigrant school-leavers' opportunities have focused on England and on areas with low unemployment. A study of Glasgow's Asian school-leavers at a time of recession shows that in relation to a similarly qualified native control group the Asian boys' job opportunities are markedly inferior. Whereas a good proportion of native Glaswegians have access to the `primary labour-market' through jobs with formal training and relatively good pay and promotion prospects, Asian school-leavers are relegated to the `secondary market'. Two-thirds of the Asians at work have entered employment within the immigrant economic infrastructure itself, despite their unambiguous rejection of such jobs earlier, and many have responded by seeking more education as a remedy for their problem. Explanations of Asians' poor job-chances in terms of unrealistic aspirations and inadequate job-hunting are satisfactory only in a minority of cases. Segmentation of the labour-market analogous to the racial and class divisions of Am...

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue that Fox's recent ideas do not represent a fundamentally radical break from liberal-pluralism and that his attempt to develop an alternative approach to industrial relations is based on preserving rather than rejecting the concept of mutual survival.
Abstract: This paper is a critical evaluation of Alan Fox's recent work and attempt to move away from the liberal-pluralist approach to industrial relations. Fox's early work is usually seen as forming part of the Oxford School and consequently his latest writings, for example Beyond Contract, which criticize its pluralist foundations are seen as a recantation and rejection of his earlier position. The authors argue that overall Fox's recent ideas do not represent a fundamentally radical break from liberal-pluralism. Whilst his critique of pluralism which questions the mutual dependence aspect of pluralism points in the direction of a radical analysis, his attempt to develop an alternative approach to industrial relations is based on preserving rather than rejecting the concept of mutual survival. Fox's use of the notion of trust to explore an evolutionary route to social change thus has many affinities with pluralism and is best seen as an attempt to modify pluralism in the light of changing socio-economic conditi...



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on formal constitutional provisions, elections, officer turnover, and the existence of structured groups in union politics, but do not address the role of unions in union membership.
Abstract: Political scientists and sociologists trying to understand union politics have concentrated on formal constitutional provisions, elections, officer turnover, and the existence of structured groups ...


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Social movements are commonly regarded either as irrational responses to social tension or as rational attempts to introduce social innovations as mentioned in this paper. In the latter case, the aims of the movement are nec...
Abstract: Social movements are commonly regarded either as irrational responses to social tension or as rational attempts to introduce social innovations. In the latter case, the aims of the movement are nec...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, Weber develops implicit sociological paradigms of the group, power and the relation between economics and politics that are nowhere to be found in his formal theoretical sociology, and that indeed, in some instances, contradict the latter.
Abstract: There is a tension between History and Sociology in which the historian tends to focus on the concrete historical reality while the sociologist focuses on increasingly abstract models. This tension is resolved in historical sociology where implicit sociological paradigms are derived from and applied to concrete historical reality.In his study TheCity Weber practices a true historical sociology in contradistinction to the formal theoretical sociology developed in his Economy and Society. In The City Weber develops implicit sociological paradigms of the group, power, and the relation between economics and politics that are nowhere to be found in his formal theoretical sociology, and that indeed, in some instances, contradict the latter.In The City Weber also utilizes an historical paradigm that resolves the tension between History and Sociology by way of a dialectic in which the sociological paradigm becomes a pure heuristic which is negated at the moment when the historical sociologist returns to the conte...


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article argued that the 1949 Glass study appears to have an implausible number of middle-class fathers and made a strong case for the rejection of the Glass findings, and also that those theories of stratification which have drawn too uncritically on Social Mobility in Britain must now be re-examined.
Abstract: Social Mobility in Britain has been a key work for theories of mobility and social stratification, but its basic data on the occupation of fathers and sons is open to question. Arguing from evidence (mainly from the Census) about occupational transition and differential fertility, this paper suggests that the 1949 study appears to have an implausible number of middle-class fathers. When this critique is related to the peculiarities of the data already separately reported by others such as Ridge, Hope, and Noble, a strong case can be made for the rejection of the Glass findings. It follows that the conventional sociological wisdom that Britain has a low rate of mobility must be reconsidered, and also that those theories of stratification which have drawn too uncritically on Social Mobility in Britain must now be re-examined.

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TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw a conceptual protrait of the nineteenth-century state (to be used as a baseline for work on contemporary state/society relations) focused on the following topics: the plurality of states and the meaning of sovereignty; the unitary nature of the state; some of its specifically modern institutional traits; its relation to law; some modalities and issues of the political process in the nineteenth century state.
Abstract: Many sociologists are currently interested in the contemporary impact of state activities upon the social process at large; but in coming to terms with this topic are hampered by decades of neglect of the state as a topic in standard sociological literature In forming an elementary institutional picture of the modern state, they can gain from some acquaintance with literature in the fields of public law and the history of political institutions Utilizing some of this literature, the author draws a conceptual protrait of the nineteenth-century state (to be used as a baseline for work on contemporary state/society relations) focused on the following topics: the plurality of states and the meaning of sovereignty; the unitary nature of the state; some of its specifically `modern' institutional traits; its relation to law; some modalities and issues of the political process in the nineteenth-century state

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TL;DR: In this article, the legitimacy of any political system requires that its members have access to the channels whereby social goals arc articulated, that to varying degrees, members are aware of and feel entitled to exercise their rights in the translation of subjective needs into specific and local allocations of institutional resources, and that members' troubles with the determinate processes of resource allocation establish prima-facie claims for reforms at level or change of goals at level.
Abstract: There are numerous ways to approach the legitimation of power in industrial societies. We shall treat the legitimation process as a communicative task addressed to the mobilization of members ' commitment to the goals and institutionalized allocations of resources that translate social goals into daily conveniences, rewards, and punishments.1 Along these lines we can formulate a first gloss on the legitimation problem in the following terms : the legitimacy of any political system requires that (i) its members have access to the channels whereby social goals arc articulated (ii) that to varying degrees, members are aware of and feel entitled to exercise their rights in the translation of subjective needs into specific and local allocations of institutional resources and (iii) that members' troubles with the determinate processes of resource allocation establish prima-facie claims for reforms at level (ii) or change of goals at level (i). The interrelationship or loop-effect between the prccccding processes represents a normative formulation of the legitimation process as a communicative community. Whenever there are gross faults in the articulation of goals, access to means, deprivation of rights, in short, where there are practices of misinformation, false consciousness, and ignorance, as well as forceful exclusions, we may speak of repressive communication.2 In strictly normative terms, the practices of repressive communication lower the legitimacy of the political system. In practice, however, they may well contribute to its integration as a system o (power. The preceding propositions stand as a gloss or idealization upon the communicative processes they seem to describe inasmuch as they are perfectly elliptical with respect to the endogenous orders of practical reasoning, expressions, and displays that accomplish the mundane work of legitimation. The fix on the problem of order which appears through the functionalist metaphors that tie these propositions consists solely in the result that such talk cannot fail to locate the sources of order and disorder as an aesthetic product of its own speech. Moreover, the same aesthetic bias rules conflict theory which otherwise claims a more adequate grasp of the problem of order. Rather than reject these first approximations, we treat them as providing for a reasoned conjecture with respect to the problem in hand whose sensible nature otherwise remains for study as the situated and endogenous communications through which members provide for the work of political legitimation.3 In view of the intractability of the separation between ethical and repressive communication that may nevertheless integrate the political system, we are obliged to reconjecture the legitimation problem as the communicative task of maximizing the ethical probability that the political system will mobilize commitment, apart from consideration of members' actual beliefs and loyalties, and in ways that are recognizable resources of rule and participation.