Showing papers in "Sociology in 1988"

The Tavistock programme: the government of subjectivity and social life

Abstract: In contemporary western societies the subjective features of social life have become the object and target of a new expertise. The paper addresses the limitations of certain influential approaches to this phenomenon, in particular analyses framed in terms of `social control' and `medicalisation'. It offers an alternative framework based on three elements: firstly, a conception of government as a varying set of rationales and programmes which seek to align socio-political objectives with the activities and relations of individuals; secondly, the constitutive roles of psychological and managerial techniques and vocabularies. These are seen to be crucial in the formation of new ways of thinking about and acting on the social relations of the family and the workplace; thirdly, a notion of subjectivity as a capacity promoted through specific regulatory techniques and forms of expertise. This framework is utilised in the analysis of the Tavistock Clinic and Tavistock Institute of Human Relations to explore some...

Mass Communication and Modern Culture: Contribution to a Critical Theory of Ideology:

Abstract: This paper argues that the analysis of culture and mass communication should be regarded as central concerns of sociology and social theory. It develops a framework for the analysis of culture and shows how this framework can be applied to the study of mass communication. Focusing on the medium of television, the paper highlights some of the distinctive characteristics of mass communication and examines some of the factors involved in the production, construction and reception of media messages. It is argued that this approach enables the analyst to pose questions concerning the ideological character of mass communication in a new and more fruitful way.

Competence and culture in the police

Abstract: Assessments of the achievement of competence in organisations often obscure the relationship between external or formal criteria of competence and those of members. Efforts to reform police practice may founder on the lack of fit between the terms in which outsiders and members construe `competent' practice. In order to approach this matter it is initially necessary to specify the terms in which members attribute competence to practice at incidents, and to examine the formal and informal constraints and goals which influence their action. This article pursues the issue in the context of ethnographic research into policing in American and British urban settings.

Sociology of Development: Reflections on the Present Crisis:

Abstract: This paper argues (a) that some of the present difficulties experienced by the sociology of development can be overcome by a macro comparative historical focus on the qualitative differences between the long term development of the capitalist centre and periphery, as well as on the strikingly different developmental trajectories to be seen within the third world; (b) that Marxism in general, and the dependency approach in particular, although more suitable than alternative paradigms for such a historical comparative task, present certain limitations that can only be dealt with by the creation of new tools for the study of the non-economic spheres (particularly the political).

Teenage Girls Talking about Class

Abstract: Here I present extracts from discussion about `class' by teenage girls from working class, upper working/lower middle, and upper middle/upper class backgrounds. The data demonstrate the variation in salience of class for girls from these different groups. This finding stands in contrast to the finding from the same research project that for all girls `gender' is highly salient. The material also underpins an argument about research method. There are ambiguities in the girls' talk about class, which raise two issues: first there is the question of how we interpret ambiguous talk; second, there is the issue of our responsibilities to our informants, who are made aware by the research process that they put forward ambiguous or even contradictory views, and are discomfited by this knowledge. TEENAGE GIRLS TALKING ABOUT CLASSHeather[whispers] what's the difference between middle class and lower class?Lindalower class don't workSarahmiddle class are lower than working classSuzanneno, working class are lowerHeat...

The Politics of Gender in Exile

Abstract: This article explores the experiences of Chilean men and women exiled in Britain since the military overthrow of the Popular Unity government in September 1973. The study, based on in-depth intervi...

Social Work as Social Control Re-Examined: Beyond the Dispersal of Discipline Thesis:

Abstract: A common theme in recent historical and theoretical scholarship on the development of social and penal policy has been that of the `dispersal of discipline'. It has been suggested that social disci...

Women at Class Crossroads: A Critical Reply to Erikson and Goldthorpe's Note

Abstract: Today's conjugal family presents some significant problems for empirical studies. Class analysts treating the family can choose between a) a neo-conventional approach using the spouse with the highest socioeconomic position as the determinant for family classification; b) an analysis based on individuals or c) an analysis based upon both spouses' positions in the world of work. Our most important objection to the conventional approach is that it only considers the contribution of one partner. In Erikson and Goldthorpe's work families are generally classified according to the male position, while economically active women are usually excluded in the analysis of the class position of conjugal families. The conventional approach constitutes both an empirical and a theoretical handicap for dealing with the issue of the family in class analysis. For instance, the conventional classification offers no option for studying class related conflicts within the family over such issues as children's education. Further, with a focus limited to the family level, conventionalists cannot hope to deal with the articulation of gender at the societal level in the class system. This articulation, as critics such as Stan worth (1984) and Marshall et al. (1988) note, has consequences for the distribution 'of lifechances, class formation and class action among both men and women alike' (Marshall et al. 1988:73). In our questioning of the conventional approach, we hope to demonstrate first that women's wage labour influences both their own, their spouse's and their family's life situation. Further we note that with higher female employment frequency and continuing gender segmentation of the labour market, one obtains a number of families with cross-class experience. Our second major point is that these partnerships differ in many crucial ways from class homogeneous families. Thus, the spouse's class is germane to any analysis of families in the class system. Analyses which ignore one partner are based on assumptions which are difficult to defend either theoretically or empirically. Erikson and Goldthorpe accuse us of not clearly supporting either model (b) or (c) nor suggesting some new model. We look for a class analysis where individuals occupy positions in mediating instances such as the family, unions, interest organisations and political parties (1987a:395). Such institutions provide at least a potential base for class action. Thus for us the conflict is not about the use of individuals versus families. We consider individuals as people stamped by their experience in families, as well as in other situations. We have approached our analysis by attempting to present individuals in the appropriate context for the problem under consideration, meaning that at times we consider individuals, and at times look at individuals as members of specific sorts of family or other constellations such as unions. We do not accept the criticism that we have

Inventions from R & D: Organizational Designs for Efficient Research Performance

Abstract: Invention rates are found to be more proportional to R & D input if organization design is organic-professional rather than mechanistic-bureaucratic in a diverse sample of 110 U.S. factories. However, organic design rules are appropriate only if the work of the organization is small-scale and technically complex. Problems and opportunities associated with incorporating organic design elements into large, high-tech industries are explored and some observations offered on practices in Japanese industries.

Class Structuration and Patterns of Social Closure in Australia and New Zealand

Abstract: On the basis of patterns of intergenerational mobility and class endogamy in Australia and New Zealand, we develop models of exchange between the generations. Data on intergenerational change in terms of social mobility (father-to-son mobility) and class endogamy (the social origins of spouses) reveal considerable stability in patterns of exchange in each country and across age cohorts.The analysis shows that, while considerable social interchange occurs, it does so at different rates depending on social distance and class background. The barriers that inhibit exchange are grounded in institutions of structured inequality, and they operate selectively within the class structure.

Social movements, self-limiting radicalism and the green party in west germany

Abstract: The Green Party in West Germany represents a renewed challenge to interpretations of the relationship between social movements and parliamentary politics. Its emergence and durability can, to a large degree, be explained in terms of an attempt to reconcile innovative with established organizational forms, radical goals with reformist political practice, and the interests of the new middle class with those of marginalised social groups. Support for this interpretation is derived from empirical studies and from theoretical accounts of social movements. The latter have focused on the reconstruction of the most influential paradigms, namely, the traditional, resource mobilization and action-oriented ones (see Cohen 1985). Although largely conceptual, these attempts to arrive at a new synthesis lend support to an analysis of the Green Party in terms of its `self-limiting' characteristics.

On the Interactional Management of Defeat

Abstract: Victories and defeats at sports events generate contrasting interactional consequences for the respective parties, and accordingly are accounted for in different ways. This paper is an examination of the strategies employed by defeated players together with commentators and audiences to successfully manage the status of loser at the subsequent ceremonial presentation, interview or press conference. There are a number of constraints which are operative during the delivery of and response to commiserations, and a variety of strategies for accounting for a defeat are discussed. In general defeat talk is organised in such a way as to reaffirm the particular logic of the sporting order, a belief that effort, dedication and determination will eventually be rewarded.

Profit Sharing and the Cycle of Control

Abstract: Profit sharing has recently returned to public prominence and is becoming increasingly popular in British industry. Although it is commonplace to view the previous incidences of profit sharing in terms of the cycle of control thesis, this perspective cannot explain the present enthusiasm. This paper re-examines the cycle of control theory's ability to predict the timing, the contextual conditions and the managerial motives for the introduction of profit sharing. Two case studies are presented in order to show ways in which management have used profit sharing; these studies raise serious doubts about the explanatory value of the cycle of control thesis.

Employers, Labour Markets, and Redistribution Under State Socialism: An Interpretation of Housing Policy in Hungary 1960-1983

Abstract: This paper seeks to explain the evolution of housing policy in Hungary in order to throw light on the character of redistribution under state socialism, and on the conditions under which employers intervene in the housing sphere Changes in housing policy are explained by a model which emphasizes developments in the Hungarian economy, such as the rise of the second economy, changes in labour market competition, and the changing power of large firms, and their consequential effects on employer motivation and capacity to intervene in housing to recruit, motivate and retain their labour force Whereas for Szelenyi state socialist redistribution is inherently regressive, the model advanced here both draws attention to variations in the regressiveness/progressiveness of housing policy and offers an explanation of these changes in terms of the changing balance of forces acting on the state, and in particular the importance of large employers and the opportunities open for them to use housing to resolve their la

Engineering Education in Britain and Japan: Some Reflections on the Use of `the Best Practice' Models in International Comparison

Abstract: International comparisons of engineering graduate numbers are frequently used as indices of industrial development and measures of the responsiveness of the educational system to industrial requirements. Such comparisons make implicit assumptions about quality by assuming that like institutions or like qualifications are being compared. In this paper the concept of `best practice' engineering education is derived from engineering manpower reports of German engineering education in order to address issues of both quantity and quality in comparing engineering education in Britain and Japan. Japan is found to have associated engineering education with relatively more prestigious institutions and to have attracted a higher proportion of more able male pupils to broad based engineering education compared to Britain. Yet there are some interesting differences between the model of `best practice' engineering education based on Germany and Japanese practice, particularly in curricula, which underline the importan...

The Effect of Auspices, Style and Layout on Response Rates to Mailed Questionnaires

Abstract: The research reported in this paper assesses the impact of auspices, style of question and layout of questionnaire on response rates, using an experimental design.

Schooling the Family

Abstract: This paper explores the pre-conditions of the images of normal family relations which inform contemporary discourse on truancy. It locates these pre-conditions within state intervention into nineteenth century schooling. This structured the kind of school relations which were to become fundamental to state-authorised schooling. It illustrates the way in which this intervention fostered the generation of one particular model of family relations as `normal' and rendered alternatives deviant. It argues that a theory of correct family relations was embedded in the model of good schooling which was being structured by the state. Any given social division of labour involves a particular scheduling of social identities. A division of labour involving the family as a unit of production meant a scheduling of identities such that schooling and work would intersperse with each other. State intervention into schooling undermined social relations of families in occupations characterised by this form of organisation. I...

The discipline of violence: state, capital and the regulation of naval warfare

Abstract: This paper provides an analysis of certain aspects of the regulation of warfare during the 19th century in order to cast light on the contradictory process of monopolising control of the means of violence in the modern world. Resort to privateering - private naval auxiliaries mobilised by the search for profit - was a major feature of maritime warfare until the middle of the 19th century, when it was abolished by The Declaration of Paris. Analysis suggests that shifting patterns of global military, economic and political hegemony were responsible for the emergence of this treaty, which increased both (a) the general level of discipline and control over naval violence that was exercised by states, and (b) the global naval domination of the core capitalist nations. There is a long theoretical tradition in liberal and critical sociology that identifies the process of state formation with control of the means of violence, and both of these with the pacification of national territories. Moreover, there is considerable agreement that a principal force in these historical tendencies has been the development of industrial capitalism (e.g. Weber 1954; Aron 1958,1962; Anderson 1974; Elias 1982; Giddens 1985). This nexus has also been a main theme in analyses of the changing nature, frequency and impact of international warfare. For example in The Nation State and Violence , Giddens (1985:26) notes that both liberal and marxist schools of thought conceive of industrial capitalism 'as essentially a pacific force, inevitably going beyond national communities, unifying the globe through

Women and Equality: The Acquisition of Equal Pay in the Post Office 1870-1961

Abstract: While gender-related inequalities at work remain common, examples of their elimination, though rare, do exist. This paper provides an empirical examination of the acquisition of equal pay by women in the Post Office between 1870 and 1961. Using the dual theoretical axes of strategic action and structural constraint, it focuses upon the collective action of social groups, and the structural constraints within which they acted. Arguing that structure and action cannot be isolated from each other except for heuristic purposes, it concludes that men were the primary inhibitors of equal pay, and politically buttressed market forces its crucial promoter.

Classes and Elites, Wars and Social Evolution: A Comment on Mann

Abstract: A minor purpose of this comment is to highlight Mann's use of the term `ruling class'; this allows a better appreciation of the differences between Tsarist Russia and Wilhelmine Germany. The major purpose of the comment is to argue that social evolutionism has something to be said in its favour. Mann is right to discount the radical potential of workers, but newer middle class elements may have greater salience.

Diversity, Complexity and Technological Change: An Empirical Study of General Printing

Abstract: The study of technological change is now well established However, much of the sociological work in this area has been concerned with the identification of international/national general trends or tendencies towards either deskilling or enskilling As yet relatively little attention has been devoted to the detailed ethnography of the effects of technological change as experienced by those directly involved Where such work has been undertaken it tends to point towards a more complex reality than is commonly acknowledged by the more quantitative or general theories Using data from a qualitative study of employment relations in the general printing industry this paper seeks to set detailed micro-level analysis within this wider context of technological change, thereby drawing attention to those areas of diversity and complexity which may be overlooked by more general theories