Showing papers in "Sociology in 1984"
TL;DR: In this paper, a way for ascribing a class position to families, and thereby to family members, is developed, which utilizes the work positions of both spouses and is based on an order of dominance, where occupati...
Abstract: An increased interest in the social class position of women has followed the increased labour force participation of married women. But if more than one member of a family is assigned a class position independently of the other members, the two basic factors of class position, according to Lockwood, work situation and market situation, do not necessarily coincide, since the work situation relates uniquely to the individual, while the market situation refers to the family or household. It is suggested that work position, based on the occupations of individuals, should be used as an indicator of the work situation, and that class position, based on information about the occupations of those family members who carry the economic responsibility of the household, should be used as the indicator of the market situation.A way for ascribing a class position to families, and thereby to family members, is developed. It utilizes the work positions of both spouses and is based on an order of dominance, where occupati...
558 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the submerging of women's class position with that of their husbands is not justified, and that it closes off some of the most intriguing issues in class analysis.
Abstract: In `Women and Class Analysis' (Sociology, November 1983), John Goldthorpe defends the conventional practice of making general claims about class from research focused mainly or exclusively on male `heads' of households. The concern of this paper is to show that the submerging of women's class position with that of their husbands is not justified, and that it closes off some of the most intriguing issues in class analysis. Goldthorpe points to substantial similarity in the types of employment undertaken by husbands and their wives; a re-analysis of his argument and evidence shows that the same data can actually be used to demonstrate a remarkable dissimilarity in the types of employment in which spouses are engaged - even greater dissimilarity than theorists of `cross-class' marriages have claimed. It is argued that the conventional approach advocated by Goldthorpe both obscures the extent to which the class experience of wives differs from that of husbands, and ignores the extent to which the inequalities...
207 citations
TL;DR: The authors used fresh data to confirm and extend their original findings (Britten and Heath, 1983) which were criticized by Goldthorpe (Sociology, November 1983), given that the manual/non manual div...
Abstract: This paper uses fresh data to confirm and extend our original findings (Britten and Heath, 1983) which were criticized by Goldthorpe (Sociology, November 1983). Given that the manual/non manual div...
150 citations
TL;DR: Men and Class Analysis: in Defence of the Conventional View as discussed by the authors is a seminal work in the area of women and class analysis, and it has been criticised for the treatment of married women in class analysis.
Abstract: In this note my main concern is to respond to the comments on my paper 'Women and Class Analysis: in Defence of the Conventional View' (. Sociology , vol. 17, no. 4) that have been offered by Stanworth ( Sociology , vol. 18, no. 2) and by Heath and Britten (this number). I shall however also refer frequently to Erikson's paper, 'Social Class of Men, Women and Families' (this number) since it is of obvious relevance to the issues under debate. It is always congenial to find one's critics at odds among themselves, and the disagreements explicit and implicit between Stanworth and Heath and Britten are evident enough. I shall return to them in due course. First, though, I would like to note one respect in which they seem in accord for what is here indicated is that they have alike failed to engage with the central thrust of my original argument. Both Stanworth and Heath and Britten apparently think that my position must be necessarily and automatically undermined to the extent that it can be shown that the employment of married women 'makes a difference'. Thus, the purpose of the analyses on which the latter report in their Tables 6-8 is to show that the employment of married women is associated with their political partisanship and their fertility; and while Stanworth's paper contains no comparable analyses, she invokes 'accumulated information' which indicates that wives' employment has an important effect on family income, family saving, home ownership etc. However, there would be point in all this only if I had sought to deny effects of the kind in question which I most certainly did not do. 1 The chief concern of my paper was with the way in which the position of married women has been treated by exponents of class analysis. More specifically, I aimed to show that their approach was a more considered one than critics had recognized and that charges of 'intellectual sexism' were unwarranted. In this regard, I was at some pains to spell out what, as I understood it, class analysis did, and did not, attempt to do. Here I can only refer the reader to my original text (pp. 467-8, 483 esp.) and make the following summary points. (i) Class analysis aims first to establish how far classes have formed as relatively stable collectivities.
128 citations
TL;DR: The problems involved in assessing the meaning and significance of becoming a grandfather are tied to the issue of the contextual production of sociological data as mentioned in this paper, and the respondents, in this study, provided explanations of why it was difficult to understand or assess this.
Abstract: The problems involved in assessing the meaning and significance of becoming a grandfather are tied to the issue of the contextual production of sociological data Grandfatherhood is analysed by taking into account the way in which the grandfathers contributed in research interviews Since they did not speak readily about grandfatherhood, it becomes difficult for an investigator to describe its features An assessment of grandfathers' roles showed that indeed they had little to do during the early months of grandfatherhood, thus reinforcing their reticent role in the interview setting Yet, grandfatherhood was still held to be something significant, and the respondents, in this study, provided explanations of why it was difficult to understand or assess this By focusing on such respondent accounts the problems of gender and method in sociological research can be more clearly understood
58 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that game-theoretic Marxism is a new theoretical current in Western sociology, and that it sitsuates the current in what seems to be a more general paradigm shift from the mid 1970s, that is, from a focus on structure to an emphasis on agency.
Abstract: This paper argues there is a new theoretical current in Western sociology - `game-theoretic Marxism'. It situates the current in what seems to be a more general paradigm shift from the mid-1970s, that is, from a focus on structure to an emphasis on agency. In this context we consider the debate between the new theory's foremost proponent Jon Elster and G. A. Cohen, advocate of functional explanation. It is shown, then, how this new theory of collective action draws on Mancur Olson's formulations of the mid-1960s, after which its central tenets are developed in a discussion of two significant variants of it. Finally, the shortcomings of game-theoretic Marxism are analysed and an alternative notion of explanation by collective agency is proposed: one that centres upon the `causal powers' of social classes and breaks with both Cohen's functionalism and Elster's intentional explanation. This alternative version (1) can account for non-intentional causation and (2) considers social classes (and other collectiv...
54 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a case study of capitalist farmers in lowland Britain is presented, in which the author attempts to expose the structural differences between family relations and market relations, by analyzing the relationship between families and markets.
Abstract: Family relations and market relations have usually been perceived of as structurally distinct. By analysing a case study of capitalist farmers in lowland Britain, the author attempts to expose the ...
41 citations
TL;DR: London oncology consultations drawn from the private sector and the National Health Service are compared and it is shown that private consultations offer more `personalized' consultations than are found in the NHS.
Abstract: Following Strong's (1979) model of the `ceremonial order' of the clinic, London oncology consultations drawn from the private sector and the National Health Service (NHS) are compared. Using both qualitative and quantitative measures, it is shown that private consultations offer more `personalized' consultations than are found in the NHS. Furthermore, private patients are more inclined to orchestrate their own care and to exhibit control of territory and agenda. The clinical and social gains and losses of these private consultations are examined and the issue of whether they provide a model for NHS care is assessed.
40 citations
34 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, recent concepts and findings from conversation analysis are used as the point of departure in studying the social structure of Nobel Ceremonies and six predictions about such ceremonies are derived.
Abstract: Recent concepts and findings from conversation analysis are used as the point of departure in studying the social structure of Nobel Ceremonies. Six predictions about such ceremonies are derived fr...
TL;DR: In this paper, two distinct frames of meaning used by managers in an industrial enterprise are explored, one derived from the traditions of the industry and is consequently particular to it, and the other derived from conceptions of the professional management of organizations and is universalistic.
Abstract: This paper explores two distinct frames of meaning used by managers in an industrial enterprise. One is taken to be derived from the traditions of the industry and is consequently particular to it. The other is taken to be derived from conceptions of the professional management of organizations and is universalistic. In looking for explanation, the background to each frame is elucidated, in terms of Giddens' `structuration', and attempts are made to relate them to the divorce of ownership and control and the associated development of capitalism. A change of control in the enterprise, resulting from the latter, is used to highlight the frames of meaning and suggestions are made as to the possible connections between the emergence of finance capital as the power in capitalism and that of a financially-dominated form of management in the organization.
TL;DR: This paper examined the post-redundancy labour-market experience of forty redundant steel workers and found that poor conditions of employment, associated with a relative increase in the use of contractors by large scale enterprise has encouraged an increase in informal means of recruitment, minimizing cost to the employer and maximizing co-operation from the workforce.
Abstract: This paper examines the post-redundancy labour-market experience of forty redundant steel workers. The data presented suggest that poor conditions of employment, associated with a relative increase in the use of contractors by large scale enterprise has encouraged an increase in informal means of recruitment, minimizing cost to the employer and maximizing co-operation from the workforce.The effects of special provisions for redundants are discussed with reference to: (a) the restructuring of employment opportunities following from the increased use of contractors.(b) informal economic activity.Three contrasting patterns of social activity are identified and evidence presented to indicate that these different patterns will channel people towards different kinds of employment.The suggestion is that where there is high competition for employment then an individual's labour market experience will be conditioned by patterns of social contact as much as by any conscious strategy of job search.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors contrast alternative, yet related, theories of historical development: historical materialism, Parsonian modernization theory, Habermasian social evolution, etc.
Abstract: The aim of this essay is to contrast alternative, yet related, theories of historical development: historical materialism, Parsonian modernization theory, Habermasian social evolution. These theore...
TL;DR: For many theorists the problem of the capitalist state is seen to have been exhaustively posed in the 1970s by Miliband, Poulantzas and the state derivationists as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: For many theorists the problem of the capitalist state is seen to have been exhaustively posed in the 1970s by Miliband, Poulantzas and the state derivationists. Yet more recent years have seen the same issues that underlay these positions fuel a much broader and, in terms of the Marxist tradition, more heretical discussion of the nature of the relationship of state and society. This article traces the way in which this more recent debate has emerged and developed, (giving particular attention to the decisive contribution of Claus Offe), outlines the most important claims that have emerged from it and offers an (interim) evaluation of its success in re-casting the relations of state and society.
TL;DR: In his reply to my article as discussed by the authors, Bulmer expanded a theme that has run through his recent articles (Bulmer and Bulmer 1981 ; Bulmer 1982); this writer along with Richard Brown (1979) are characterized as radical critics who espouse the crude determinism of Marxist theory.
Abstract: In his reply to my article (Fisher 1983) Martin Bulmer expands a theme that has run through his recent articles (Bulmer and Bulmer 1981 ; Bulmer 1982). This writer along with Richard Brown (1979) are characterized as radical critics who espouse the crude determinism of Marxist theory. I am charged with exaggeration, misrepresentation, distortion, presenting a caricature of events, utilizing inadequate theory, being tendentious, and, with subscription to a conspiracy theory of history. According to Martin Bulmer, I hold the position that philanthropic foundations have 'perverted' the course of development of the social sciences in the interests of the ruling class. In making these accusations Martin Bulmer ignores the evidence that is included to support my case. This becomes particularly galling when parts of the story that I have told are recapitulated in order to criticize my work. It goes without saying that we view the world very differently. I do not expect to change Martin Bulmer's mind, rather my purpose here is to partially set the record straight. There are, I think, primarily three reasons why Martin Bulmer is drawn to his conclusions. First, a point about source material. While it is the case that Martin Bulmer and I have covered some of the same material there is still only partial overlap. Even in those cases where we have utilized the same document it is clear to me that our modes of analysis and interpretation are different. My developing theoretical framework by definition guides and focuses my perception. Martin Bulmer's implicit views serve the same function. This leads to different definitions of what counts as evidence. Second, a point about the use of evidence. My article had the limited objective of describing, analyzing and interpreting the process by which Rockefeller policy for the social sciences emerged. The question of who controlled this process is central. In answering this question I try to place the ideological viewpoint of Rockefeller philanthropy in the wider political economy. In footnote seven I specifically exclude from this piece a description of the impact of these policies on the social sciences. Yet against this background Martin Bulmer virtually ignores the policy making process and proceeds to focus on the impact of those policies on institutions as a means to rebut my argument. In one instance, when referring to the establishment of a Chair in Sociology at Cambridge University, Martin Bulmer presents negative evidence concerning the control exercised by Rockefeller philanthropy on recipient institutions. He notes that Cambridge 'rebuffed' the offer by the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial to endow the new chair. While we disagree about the details of the story (cf. Fisher 1977: 390-395; Fisher 1980; Bulmer 1981) it is the case that Cambridge did not take up the offer. The significance here is that from my preliminary analysis of the relations between Rockefeller philanthropy and recipient institutions in Britain, the United States and Canada, this piece of negative evidence stands out as an exception. The material evidence on more than 100 recipient institutions and on the thousands of negotiations that were conducted between these bodies and Rockefeller philanthropy, leads me to conclude that
TL;DR: This paper applied multivariate regression techniques to 1968 survey data to examine these disparities and found that Catholics born into elite families were greatly disadvantaged, while those born into average families were only slightly disadvantaged, if at all.
Abstract: Almost a decade and a half after the start of the civil disturbances in Ulster, there remains scholarly disagreement over how extensive economic disparities between Protestants and Catholics were when the disturbances began in the late 1960s. This paper applies multivariate regression techniques to 1968 survey data to examine these disparities. The picture that emerges is a complex one. The apparently lower levels of occupational status among Catholics appear not to be due to discrimination but largely reflect differences in education and family background. But a substantial disparity in income remains, and cannot be accounted for so easily. More detailed analysis shows that Catholics born into elite families were greatly disadvantaged, while those born into average families were only slightly disadvantaged, if at all.
TL;DR: In this paper, a survey of 14-16 year olds made subject to a supervision order in 1978 was carried out and the findings from a survey showed that girls were subject to an order for less serious offences than committed by boys after having been involved in fewer previous misdemeanours and for having committed fewer current offences.
Abstract: This article discusses the findings from a survey of 14-16 year olds made subject to a supervision order in 1978. The social enquiry reports and case files of 241 girls and 971 boys reveal a number of noticeable differences between the sexes in the imposition of this particular sentence. Girls are made subject to an order for less serious offences than committed by boys, after having been involved in fewer previous misdemeanours and for having committed fewer current offences. Taken together, the data would appear to point to a degree of discrimination in the administration of juvenile justice.This pattern is set within the contexts of the supervision order being a disposal of wide and often unspecified remit and can thereby be readily interpreted by both sentencers and social workers or probation officers as extending general superintendence to wayward youngsters. Because troublesome girls are viewed as exceptional delinquents, they are vulnerable to a greater degree of control and regulation `for their ...
TL;DR: A review of social science literature relating to Northern Ireland can be found in this article, where Boal and Douglas, Cormack and Osborne, Darby, and Harbinson have reviewed four collections of papers and referred to the edited books by abbreviated titles.
Abstract: ALL the best news is bad news. That has been particularly true with respect to Northern Ireland and 'the troubles'. From being a relatively obscure almost Ruritanian backwater of the British Isles prior to 1968, the Province has generated a vast amount of journalistic, political and academic analysis in the last fifteen years. The books under review here are a small sample of the recent additions to this literature. Reviewing a collection of papers is never easy; all too rarely is there a unified thread of argument running through the book, and, faced with a number of authors, each with their own message to deliver, the reviewer is frequently tempted to catalogue and summarize the papers, and simply leave it at that. Reviewing four collections of papers is even more complicated. In order to prevent tedious repetition, and to allow the arguments of papers in one book to be related to those in another, I shall, throughout this article, refer to the edited books by abbreviated titles, i.e. Integration (Boal and Douglas), Equal Opportunity (Cormack and Osborne), Background (Darby) and Children (Harbinson). When one examines the social science literature relating to Northern Ireland, the importance of social geography is immediately apparent. The discipline can lay claim to a number of important and pioneering works dealing with both rural and urban social life (e.g. Evans 1957, 1973; Heslinga 1962; Jones 1960). The collections edited by Boal and Douglas and, to a lesser extent, Cormack and Osborne, reflect this local research tradition, a tradition which is closely identified with the Geography department at the Queen's University of Belfast.
TL;DR: In this article, changes in the perception of inequalities in Poland over the last twenty years are used to shed light upon the psychological substratum of the events in that country in August 1980.
Abstract: Changes in the perception of inequalities in Poland over the last twenty years are used to shed light upon the psychological substratum of the events in that country in August 1980. The analysis is based on the results of the various empirical studies carried out in Poland during that period. They show that while the value of the abolition of inequalities was acquiring an increasing importance in the eyes of public opinion, people observed around them a growing dimension of inequalities. But greatest frustration was due to a decomposition of the system of meritocratic justice, accepted by the majority of the Poles, combined with the expansion of other, unaccepted, criteria for rewards. Thus the growth of increasing inequalities was accompanied by a total withdrawal of the legitimization of inequalities.
TL;DR: In this paper, a successful experiment in the use of the telephone to screen a large urban population in order to identify a relatively small sub-sample was reported, where the problem at hand was the identification of a sample of wives of men working in the offshore oil industry.
Abstract: This paper reports on a successful experiment in the use of the telephone to screen a large urban population in order to identify a relatively small sub-sample. The problem at hand was the identification of a sample of wives of men working in the offshore oil industry. Alternative ways of identifying such a sample are discussed and reasons are given for the decision to use the telephone. The form of random digit dialling used in the study is described and the results of a pilot and the main screening exercise are presented in some detail. The final section of the paper takes a broader view of telephone interviewing. Data are presented on telephone coverage in the U.K., and the advantages and disadvantages of the telephone are assessed in relation to other data collection methods.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show how, in an Ulster community, images of the siege of Derry, the household, the church, certain secret societies and, by implication the human body, are all articulations of the same paradigm.
Abstract: A paradigmatic structure generates idealized images of {inter alia) social groups. These provide frames for the description and evaluation of particular objects and events. This article shows how, in an Ulster community, images of the siege of Derry, the household, the church, certain secret societies and, by implication the human body, are all articulations of the same paradigm. This process of framing is a cause of discontinuity in the description of experience. What is deemed good in relation to one ideal image, may be thought bad in relation to another. Because descriptions of the world and specifically of people and social groups often imply self evaluation, it follows that, members of one social group will tend to prefer certain frames and avoid using others. Choice of frames will therefore reflect social status. Nevertheless, the different descriptions of the world given by members of this community are all articulations of the same shared paradigm.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the relationship between ownership and control in relation to one set of financial institutions, namely pension funds, and suggest that the notion of ownership is even less clearcut in the case of pension funds than it is for public corporations.
Abstract: Recent literature suggests that control of corporations has shifted from individual capitalists to financial institutions. The article, based on original research, examines the relationship between ownership and control in relation to one set of financial institutions, namely pension funds.Focusing particularly on the role of employee representatives on trustee boards of pension schemes, the authors first suggest that the notion of ownership is even less clearcut in the case of pension funds than it is for public corporations. Recognition of pensions as deferred pay implies that the funds should belong to the scheme members, but ownership rights are severely circumscribed. Turning to the control issue, the authors report first on the recent increase in employee representation; they look at the content of decision-making, focusing specifically on three areas: investment, information and the selection of professional staff; and then examine the structure of decision-making, looking both at institutional fea...
TL;DR: The impact of the family on the economy has been accepted as a general principle by sociologists; it is widely assumed by both parents and politicians that family values, instilled through child-rearing, are a potent force in economy and society; and it has been suggested that changes in family values may be one factor in explaining British economic decline as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The impact of the family on the economy has been accepted as a general principle by sociologists; it is widely assumed by both parents and politicians that family values, instilled through child-rearing, are a potent force in economy and society; and it has been suggested that changes in family values may be one factor in explaining British economic decline. Yet there has been remarkably little systematic investigation of these influential assumptions.The objective of this paper is to suggest how this neglect could be remedied. In the first section a theoretical perspective is outlined, and the principal theoretical and empirical contributions which can be drawn from the current literature are discussed: from psychology, economics and anthropology as well as from social history and sociology. The second section considers the findings of the author's current research on the role of family values and differing forms of child-rearing in explaining economic success or failure in fishing communities, and the p...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined one problem which occurs when using the OPCS scheme - illegal combinations of employment status and occupational codes and found that illegal combinations are the result of the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys conceptualization of the professions.
Abstract: Despite its frequent use by sociologists there has been relatively little discussion of the practical difficulties involved in operationalizing the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) system of social class allocation. Using social class coding data from a national study of child development this paper examines one problem which occurs when using the OPCS scheme - illegal combinations of employment status and occupational codes. Attention is only focused on occupations falling into Social Class I and for these professional occupations it is shown that illegal combinations are the result of the OPCS conceptualization of the professions.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors deal with the sociological theories that developed in Poland during the height of societal expectations for better life and a brighter future, however, the decade of 1970-80 already contained seeds of crisis.
Abstract: This paper deals with the sociological theories that developed in Poland during the height of societal expectations for better life and a brighter future. However, the decade of 1970-80 already contained seeds of crisis. The mainstream sociological theories that are analysed here neglected many of the alarming features of the socialist society already to be seen. Instead, the proponents of those theories actively supported the political enterprise of the existing power elite. As a result, those major sociological theories have little explanatory utility, since they are not an adequate tool of cognition for the actual existing socialist society. The non-mainstream approaches, on the other hand, although being far more critical, did not bear features of sociological theory either.