scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question

Showing papers in "Sociology in 1996"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue for an interpretation of the winter of discontent as a moment of state crisis, rather than the mere accumulation of contradictions, but rather to a moment in transition and decisive intervention.
Abstract: The winter of discontent continues to exert a powerful hold over the British political imaginary. It acts as a discursive key to a collective mythology seemingly appealed to, and conjured, in each wave of industrial unrest, in each hint of political turmoil and, until recently, whenever the election of a Labour Government looked credible. In this paper I consider the rhetorical strategies and linguistic devices deployed by the tabloid media in the narration of the events of the winter of 1978-79. I argue for an interpretation of the winter of discontent as a moment of state crisis. By crisis however I do not refer to the mere accumulation of contradictions but rather to a moment of transition, a moment of decisive intervention. Within such a framework, the winter of discontent emerges as a strategic moment in the transformation of the British state, and perhaps the key moment in the pre-history of Thatcherism. For, as I hope to demonstrate, the initial appeal of the New Right was premised upon its ability to offer a convincing construction of the winter of discontent as symptomatic of a more fundamental crisis of the state. In such a moment of crisis, a particular type of decisive intervention was called for. In this discursive construction of crisis the New Right proved itself capable of changing, if not the hearts and minds of the electorate, then certainly the predominant perceptions of the political context. It recruited subjects to its vision of the necessary response to the crisis of a monolithic state besieged by the trade unions. This was perhaps the only truly hegemonic moment of Thatcherism. It occurred well before Mrs Thatcher entered Number 10. It is thus not surprising that one of the most enduring and distinctive legacies of Thatcherism has been the new political lexicon of crisis, siege and subterfuge born of the winter of discontent. Language: en

387 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a growing number of women entering the professions and considerable public debate concerned with equal opportunity and barriers to women's advancement, attempts to theorise the role of gender discrimination in women's career advancement were made.
Abstract: Notwithstanding the growing numbers of women entering the professions and considerable public debate concerned with equal opportunity and barriers to women's advancement, attempts to theorise the r...

345 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The importance of the distinction between ''social'' and ''system' integration (agency and structure) introduced by David Lockwood in 1964 was highlighted in this paper. But, as the individualist/collectivist debate was superseded, Lockwood's distinction was redefined in structuration theory, where insistence on treating structure and agency as mutually constitutive effectively denied their independent variation and thus reduced the social and the structural to differ.
Abstract: This paper underlines the importance of the distinction between `social' and `system' integration (agency and structure) introduced by David Lockwood in 1964. Its four sections (i) examine the original difficulty of maintaining any distinction between the `parts' of society and its `people' against the social ontology of Individualism whose proponents argued that the former must always be reduced to the latter as individuals were the ultimate constituents of society, (ii) shows how collectivist opposition held `systemic factors' to be indispensable in sociological explanations, but could not substantiate their ontological status against the charge of reification whilst empiricism held sway, (iii) explores how once the individualist/collectivist debate was superseded, Lockwood's distinction was redefined in structuration theory, where insistence on treating structure and agency as mutually constitutive effectively denied their independent variation and thus reduced the `social' and the `systemic' to differ...

247 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper examined the use of the concept of "patriarchy" as a tool for analysing gender inequality, while signalling the problems which arise from a common confusion between its use as short-hand descriptio...
Abstract: This paper examines the concept of `patriarchy' as a tool for analysing gender inequality, while signalling the problems which arise from a common confusion between its use as short-hand descriptio...

163 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a study of the work and family experiences and aspirations of young adult women who were interviewed by either one or the other of the authors in 1992 is described, and a comparison can be found between the two interviews.
Abstract: This paper is drawn from a study of the work and family experiences and aspirations of young adult women who were interviewed by either one or the other of the authors in 1992. A comparison can thu...

141 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors compared the nature and extent of change in gender-role attitudes in Britain with other nations using data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) and made comparisons over a shorter time period with Ireland, the Netherlands and Italy.
Abstract: This paper compares the nature and extent of change in gender-role attitudes in Britain with other nations. We hypothesise that while many of the changes would be similar across nations reflecting, in part, the increased importance of women's labour-force participation, the pace and sources of attitudinal change would be different in the different nations. Comparisons are made over the last decade between Britain, the United States and Germany. Using data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) additional comparisons over a shorter time period are made with Ireland, the Netherlands and Italy. Data from the General Social Surveys of America (GSS) and Germany (ALLBUS) reveal that there has been a marked liberal shift in attitudes, with more of the change occurring within cohorts than through the process of cohort succession. In Britain, data from the British Social Attitudes surveys (BSA) reveal a slower and less consistent pace of change, with evidence of a growing gender difference in belief...

123 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the time-use of diaries of a sample of couples are used to explore the relationship between partners' daily pattern of activities and their enjoyment of those activities.
Abstract: In this paper the time-use of diaries of a sample of couples are used to explore the relationship between partners' daily pattern of activities and their enjoyment of those activities. By analysing...

118 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the sociological significance of informal giving in the Netherlands is addressed, and the question of whether informal giving can compensate for the failing efficacy of official politics to counteraccelerate social change is addressed.
Abstract: In this paper the sociological significance of informal giving in the Netherlands is addressed. Does informal giving in any way compensate for the failing efficacy of official politics to counterac...

113 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper explored alternative meanings and functions of home-directed consumption, in particular those aspects of consumption which have to do with presentation and appearance (fittings, furnishings and decor).
Abstract: In this article we explore alternative meanings and functions of home-directed consumption, in particular those aspects of consumption which have to do with presentation and appearance (fittings, furnishings and decor). Our focus is on popular taste, on those whose needs are met principally by mass marketing rather than the avant garde or the connoisseur. Recent debates have drawn attention to the possibility of pleasure and self-expression through consumption: contrasting the active shaping of cultures of consumption with the notion of consumer as mere passive recipient, manipulated by business interests. Our work suggests that neither view gives a satisfactory account of the complex meanings of consumption in the home. `Home' carries a heavy ideological weight and these meanings permeate interpretation of consumption for the home. Questions of style, design and tastefulness evidently cause anxiety, but they are largely subsumed by familial values (a relaxed, comfortable haven) and also by the desire to ...

79 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors use evidence from the Scottish Young People's Surveys to explore some of the ways in which local contexts help to shape young people's subjective orientations towards the labour market.
Abstract: In this paper we use evidence from the Scottish Young People's Surveys to explore some of the ways in which local contexts help to shape young people's subjective orientations towards the labour market. We attempt to move beyond the concept of `opportunity structures' introduced by Roberts by considering the salience of a number of possible components of these structures of opportunity. We argue that young people's occupational aspirations are shaped as part of an interplay between individual inequalities and opportunity contexts and we provide evidence to challenge earlier research which cast doubt on the importance of local contexts. Our research suggests that neighbourhoods have an important impact on male occupational aspirations but that contextual effects have a weaker effect on females.

73 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors compared women's employment in France and Britain at the macro, meso (occupational), and micro (individual) levels and found that there are considerable similarities between women in the two countries at the occupational and individual level, despite national variations.
Abstract: Equality with men in the world of paid work has been a major feminist objective. Given that work in the `public' sphere has historically been shaped on the assumption that the `worker' will be male, then national employment systems which facilitate masculine employment patterns (i.e. full-time work and unbroken employment careers) might be expected to be more likely to generate gender equality. This paper compares women's employment in France (where `masculine' careers for women are common) and Britain (where part-time work and broken employment careers are more likely) at the macro, meso (occupational), and micro (individual) levels. The two occupations studied are finance and pharmacy. The evidence presented suggests that there are considerable similarities between women in the two countries at the occupational and individual level, despite national variations. In the light of this evidence, structural and individual explanations of women's employment behaviour are examined, and the continuing significa...


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors test the cross-sex validity of the employee classes within the schema by examining their within-sex association with measures of theoretically relevant occupational characteristics relating to employment and payment conditions, and promotion prospects.
Abstract: The Goldthorpe class schema has been criticised as being unsuitable for assessing women's class positions. This paper tests the cross-sex validity of the employee classes within the schema by examining their within-sex association with measures of theoretically relevant occupational characteristics relating to employment and payment conditions, and promotion prospects. Using data from the Social Class in Modern Britain survey, it is shown that class divisions are operationalised similarly among men and women. The only difference of note is a slightly weaker overall association between class position and certain job characteristics among women, which results from the allocation of large numbers of women to class IIIa. With this class excluded from the analysis these differences are removed. It is further shown that the clustering of women in the category of routine non-manual workers stems not from deficiencies in the logic of Goldthorpe's conceptualisation of class, or from limitations associated with its...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The main purpose of as mentioned in this paper is to challenge the assumptions that lie behind the Foucauldian concepts of power and surveillance, and the argument is made in two stages: the first stage, concentrat...
Abstract: The primary purpose of this paper is to challenge the assumptions that lie behind the Foucauldian concepts of power and surveillance. The argument is made in two stages. The first stage, concentrat...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a critical analysis of street homelessness and associated activities such as begging is provided, informed both by theoretical debates concerning social space and the author's own fieldwork with street homeless people in Manchester (England).
Abstract: Street homelessness (and associated activities such as begging) has become a prominent issue in recent years. This article provides a critical commentary on this phenomenon, informed both by theoretical debates concerning social space, and the author's own fieldwork with street homeless people in Manchester (England). An analysis is provided of temporal and spatial ordering of the homelessness circuit; of survival strategies such as shadow work and sleeping rough engaged in by people living in Cardboard City; and of policing responses to street homelessness and begging.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Les AA. examinent les analyses of P. Saunders as discussed by the authors and affirment enfin that ce derniern'ta pas su analyser l'influence de l'origine sociale sur la destination of l'individu
Abstract: Les AA. examinent les analyses de P. Saunders. Ce dernier avait propose une analyse de la societe britannique et s'etait interroge sur la nature meritocratique de celle-ci. Ils affirment que Saunders n'a pas etudie attentivement les travaux menes sur cette question. Ils montrent comment celui-ci definit la meritocratie comme liee a une situation sociale d'egalite des chances qui conduit a une inegalite des revenus. Ils soulignent qu'il met de cote le fait que l'egalite est un concept comparatif et discutent ses analyses statistiques. Ils montrent que les inegalites entre les classes sociales peuvent reduire a neant le principe meritocratique d'une egalite des chances ce que Saunders ne semble pas prendre en consideration. Ils affirment enfin que ce dernier n'a pas su analyser l'influence de l'origine sociale sur la destination de l'individu

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose an analysis of the defensive crime prevent strategy in the context of social movements with progressive organizations and movements, and propose a defensive crime prevention strategy for social movements, as a corrective to the continuing preoccupations of the sociology of social movement with progressive organisations and movements.
Abstract: Seen as a corrective to the continuing preoccupations of the sociology of social movements with progressive organisations and movements, this paper offers an analysis of the defensive crime prevent...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an analysis of the events surrounding the suspension of the licence for the widely used sleeping tablet Halcion (triazolam) by the British Licensing Authority in October 1991 is presented.
Abstract: This paper offers an analysis of the events surrounding the suspension of the licence for the widely used sleeping tablet Halcion (triazolam) by the British Licensing Authority in October 1991. It is argued that these events highlight a growing crisis in modern medical treatments and in the social relations of health care. This is illustrated by focusing on four elements which have contributed to Halcion becoming a public issue and to its suspension and subsequent banning, namely the claims-making activities of medical experts, the development of legal challenges to medicine, the role of the media and the response of the state.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that the main reasons for the abandonment of the concept of "motive" in sociologists lie in C. Wright Mills's reformulation of the notion in conjunction with the influence of certain post-Wittgensteinian philosophers.
Abstract: It is noted that Weber's original programme for understanding the conduct of individuals cannot be realised because the concept of motive is no longer employed by sociologists. The principal reasons for this loss are shown to lie in C. Wright Mills's reformulation of the concept in conjunction with the influence of certain post-Wittgensteinian philosophers. Taken together these influences led to a progressive process of displacement as first, the original `dynamic' connotations were discarded such that `motive' was equated with `the reason' or `the reasons' for acting, and then second, identified with `justifications' and `excuses'. The arguments advanced to support these changes of usage are then considered and shown to be in part dependent on selective interpretations, or to rest on contestable claims concerning the contexts in which actors might discuss motives and the role of actor-accounts in action. It is concluded that there is no good reason for the abandonment of the concept of motive.1

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors apply the work of Callon in attempting to explore the relation between discourse and agency in an analysis of the hiring of management consultants by a large life insurance organisation, ''Lifeco''.
Abstract: This paper applies the work of Callon in attempting to explore the relation between discourse and agency in an analysis of the hiring of management consultants by a large life insurance organisation, `Lifeco'. The data focus on the recruitment and deployment of management consultants within Lifeco, and explore the actor network relevant to this process. As well as examining the `moments' of translation within the network, attention is paid to the degree of longer term `convergence' (Callon 1991) around the consultant's work within Lifeco. Whilst acknowledging the advantage of Callon's work to exploring agency and discourse, the paper remains critical of certain aspects of his theorising, especially the question of access to particular locations in an actor network.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argued that the project of modernity should be seen as incomplete, rather than abandoned, and outlined and elaborated five metatheoretical theses that set the parameters for a fin-de-siecle sociology, geared above all to the rationalisation of the lifeworld, which is both credible and critical in orientation.
Abstract: This paper is premised on the view that it is premature to write about the end of modernity Moreover it is argued that, for all the flaws of early Enlightenment philosophy, what Jurgen Habermas has termed the `project of modernity' should be seen as incomplete, rather than abandoned Drawing more generally on Habermas' theories, five metatheoretical theses are outlined and elaborated These, it is suggested, might set the parameters for a fin-de-siecle sociology, geared above all to the rationalisation of the lifeworld, which is both credible and critical in orientation

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors assess the conditions under which wife's class affects the class identification of both spouses and find that the explanatory power of a spouse's class does not appear to depend on gender inequality for men but does so for women.
Abstract: Two decades after Joan Acker (1973) castigated mainstream stratification research for its `intellectual sexism', the debate over the impact that married women's paid employment has on class analysis is perhaps the most controversial issue in social stratification. Using two decades of survey data from the U.S., we assess the conditions under which wife's class affects the class identification of both spouses. Our principal findings include: (a) although the class positions of both spouses have an impact on class identification, husband's class is more important; (b) the explanatory power of wife's class does not appear to depend on gender inequality for men but does so for women; and (c) in certain situations, wife's class significantly modifies or reverses the class leanings expected on the basis of husband's position.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The use of empirical data and the role of quantification in articles published in some major British journals of sociology has been discussed in this article. But the use of quantitative data has been criticised in the past.
Abstract: To provoke debate, the paper, after fifteen years, repeats and expands on an analysis of the use of empirical data and the role of quantification in articles published in some major British journals of sociology The earlier paper argued that the training of undergraduates, and the influence and example of their teachers, tends to orient them, well before graduate education begins, towards particular kinds of research topic and, where empirical data are used, approaches employing no quantification or very simple techniques It suggested this would be a selfreinforcing process unless there were far-reaching changes in undergraduate curricula which were unlikely to come about It predicted that the divide between these aspects of British sociology and that practised in North America and many parts of Europe would widen further British sociology has become somewhat more empirical over the past fifteen years, with the bulk of this expansion in the qualitative area The more sophisticated quantitative approac

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the paradoxical coexistence of collectivity and passivity among Russian workers, which is linked to the non-monetary character of Soviet society.
Abstract: This article examines the paradoxical co-existence of collectivity and passivity among Russian workers, which is linked to the non-monetary character of Soviet society. The article, based on fieldwork carried out in a mining village in Western Siberia, examines three distinct forms of collectivity: the symbolic collectivism of the enterprise as a whole; the collective identification of ordinary workers; and the collectivity of the immediate work group. In each case it is argued that the collective is defined negatively in relation to the outside and is not expressed in any form of collective self-organisation. This can be explained by reference to the structure of the enterprise within a non-monetary society, which fosters both dependence and division among workers.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examined the determinants of employee job performance in the U.S. and Britain and found that American employees were more likely to report higher levels of performance quantity and (especially) quality.
Abstract: This paper examines the determinants of employee job performance in the U.S. and Britain. We use two nationally representative data sets (the 1991 General Social Survey and the 1992 Employment in Britain survey) that contain comparable indicators of job performance and of motivation, ability and task characteristics. American employees were more likely to report higher levels of performance quantity and (especially) quality. Most of our explanatory variables affected the two dimensions of performance in similar ways in the two countries. Both quality and quantity performance were more strongly affected by income in the U.S. Quality of performance was more strongly related to the size of the workplace in Britain. Quantity of performance was more strongly related to the importance placed on promotion and to task significance among American workers.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a re-reading of the Foucauldian analysis of professional accounting firms given by Grey in his ''Career as a Project of the Self...' (Sociology, 28,2) is presented.
Abstract: This paper presents a re-reading of the Foucauldian analysis of professional accounting firms given by Grey in his `Career as a Project of the Self...' (Sociology, 28,2). It argues that Grey's paper provides an exemplar of the `desocialising' tendencies observed in some Foucauldian analysis and attempts to illustrate this desocialisation through placing Grey's data in an Eliasian rather than a Foucauldian framework.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that individual rights-based defenses of abortion lead to a clash of opposing claims and that pro-choice and anti-abortion proponents however find common ground in their promotion of responsible sex nurturing parents and caring communities.
Abstract: This paper proposes that individual rights-based defenses of abortion lead to a clash of opposing claims. Pro-choice and anti-abortion proponents however find common ground in their promotion of responsible sex nurturing parents and caring communities. In countries such as Ireland therefore where abortion is extremely restricted broadening the debate to include responsibilities-based arguments that situate specific abortion needs in the context of care and social duties will persuade society of the crucial nature of abortion rights. This thesis is developed with three main points: 1) abortion rights are part of broader reproductive freedoms and social commitments; 2) legal religious and moral debates ignore the realities of the social changes women have experienced; and 3) societies must ensure that moral agency can be fully exercised in reproductive matters. After its introduction the paper looks at problems arising from an exclusive emphasis on abortion rights. The next section considers the social and moral significance of abortion in terms of womens tendency to nurture. Then the legal and sociological understandings of abortion in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are reviewed to contextualize the sociological discussion. The reaction of the European Union to Irelands constitutional ban on abortion as evidenced in the Irish Protocol to the Maastricht Treaty is covered along with the influence of the Roman Catholic Church on the Irish state. The history of abortion law in the north is presented as an exception because this Protestant country scores low on a reproductive freedoms scale. After a review of actual abortion practices among Irish women cultural identities are considered responsibilities are proposed as a common ground for dialogue and the tension between tradition and social change is described. Finally Ireland is shown to evade its responsibility for addressing the needs of its citizens by permitting Britain to assume responsibility for Irish womens abortions. Irish women are shown to be deprived of social agency because they are deprived of the civil liberty to affirm abortion as a morally responsible decision connected with the social practice of nurturing.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a qualitative analysis of the kibbutz industrial workers found relative compensations to unpleasant, tedious and demanding work through intense social interaction Tightly cohesive work groups provide both a defence mechanism against the brutality of the work and, through the creation of group work norms, act as a spur to ensure productivity.
Abstract: The recent attention paid to corporate culture by managerial gurus has revived interest in the relationship between occupation and community, particularly the influence of social organisation upon work experience Examination of kibbutz industry supplements these contemporary debates by extending the analysis into a form of work organisation formally devoid of managerial control, instead determined by those informal social relations identified by writers critical of corporate culture Indeed, kibbutz industrial workers find relative compensations to unpleasant, tedious and demanding work through intense social interaction Tightly cohesive work groups provide both a defence mechanism against the brutality of the work and, through the creation of group work norms, act as a spur to ensure productivity Awareness of this dialectical relationship between occupation and community is not new However, the qualitative analysis presented of the communal socialism of the kibbutz does provide a unique insight into