Showing papers in "Sociology in 2007"
TL;DR: The authors argue that both the sample survey and the in-depth interview are increasingly dated research methods, which are unlikely to provide a robust base for the jurisdiction of empirical sociologists in coming decades.
Abstract: This ar ticle argues that in an age of knowing capitalism, sociologists have not adequately thought about the challenges posed to their expertise by the proliferation of `social' transactional data which are now routinely collected, processed and analysed by a wide variety of private and public institutions. Drawing on British examples, we argue that whereas over the past 40 years sociologists championed innovative methodological resources, notably the sample survey and the in-depth interviews, which reasonably allowed them to claim distinctive expertise to access the `social' in powerful ways, such claims are now much less secure. We argue that both the sample survey and the in-depth interview are increasingly dated research methods, which are unlikely to provide a robust base for the jurisdiction of empirical sociologists in coming decades. We conclude by speculating how sociology might respond to this coming crisis through taking up new interests in the `politics of method'.
781 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors draw on data collected from a recent qualitative project to highlight the enthusiasm of middle class parents for enrolling their under-5s in enrichment activities (extra-curricular creative and sporting classes).
Abstract: In this paper we draw on data collected from a recent qualitative project to highlight the enthusiasm of middle class parents for enrolling their under-5s in ‘enrichment’ activities (extra-curricular creative and sporting classes). We seek to identify the part activities play in parental strategies for class reproduction. We first consider the broader issue of children and consumption, drawing out the way in which consumption and leisure activities are highly classed, and focusing on notions of taste and distinction. Then using examples from the data, we emphasise the sense of urgency and responsibility parents felt concerning their child’s development and the classed and gendered involvement of parents. We conclude that enrichment activities are one response to the anxiety and sense of responsibility experienced by middle class parents as they attempt to ‘make up’ a middle class child in a social context where reproduction appears uncertain.
469 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that even those white middle classes committed to multi-ethnic schooling face the perils of middle-class acquisitiveness, extracting value from, as they find value in, their multiracial ''other''.
Abstract: Drawing on data from interviews with 63 London-based families, this article argues that there are difficult and uncomfortable issues around whiteness in multi-ethnic contexts. Even those parents, such as the ones in our sample, who actively choose ethnically diverse comprehensive schools appear to remain trapped in white privilege despite their political and moral sentiments. This is a complicated question of value; of having value, finding value in, getting value from, and adding value. Even those white middle classes committed to multi-ethnic schooling face the perils of middle-class acquisitiveness, extracting value from, as they find value in, their multi-ethnic `other'. In such processes of generating use and exchange value a majority of both the white working classes and the black working classes, those who are perceived not to share white middle-class values, are residualized and positioned as excessive. Symbolically, they come to represent the abject `other' of no value.
293 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that trust in people is similar in nature to trust in institutions, and that trust should be used as a variable or as a process, rather than a process.
Abstract: What is trust? Should trust be used as a variable or as a process? Is trust in people similar in nature to trust in institutions? These are three main questions I address in this article. I argue t...
237 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored how urban working-class young people's performances of embodied identities, as enacted through practices of ''taste' and style, are played out within the educational field, and argued that these practices may also play into oppressive social relations and contribute to fixing the young people within marginalized and disadvantaged social positions.
Abstract: This ar ticle explores how urban working-class young people's performances of embodied identities — as enacted through practices of `taste' and style — are played out within the educational field.The ar ticle considers how such practices may contribute to shaping young people's post-16 `choices' and their views of higher education as `not for me'. Drawing on data from longitudinal tracking inter views with 53 individual young people and discussion groups with a fur ther 36 pupils, the article discusses the double-bind experienced by these young people as a result of their performances of style. It is argued that whilst the young people seek to generate wor th and value through their investments in style, these practices may also play into oppressive social relations and contribute to fixing the young people within marginalized and disadvantaged social positions.
197 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the idea of a hidden ethnography, that is, empirical data not previously published because it may be considered too controversial, and argue that qualitative work in sociology needs to consider the existence of the "hidden ethnography" in order to advance understanding of how studies are carried out and theory constructed.
Abstract: In sociology, the movement towards acceptance of emotion within research has been a slow process. Often referred to as the ‘reflexive’ turn (Bourdieu and Wacquant, 1992), this development has enabled qualitative research to put forward more realistic fieldwork accounts. Drawing upon ethnographic studies on young people, this article explores the idea of a ‘hidden ethnography’, that is, empirical data not previously published because it may be considered too controversial.The article examines how explanations of research methods in sociology are reluctant to explore the legitimacy of emotional relations developed between the researcher and the researched, and seeks to add to the literature on emotion as a male researcher studying female participants. I argue that qualitative work in sociology needs to consider the existence of the ‘hidden ethnography’ in order to advance understanding of how studies are carried out and theory constructed.
184 citations
TL;DR: This article found that British migrants to Spain have high incidence of social, cultural, economic, and political exclusion, and they do not wish to transcend the assimilationist model, nor have the resources to depend on transnational ties.
Abstract: European migrants to Spain's coastal areas could be described as the archetypal elite transmigrant. Embodying Papastergiadis' spectre of placeless capital and the homeless subject, `residential tourists' make creative use of modern communication technologies and increasingly accessible air travel to construct fluid migration trajectories, employing transnational affective and instrumental networks. However, research on British migrants to Spain has revealed a high incidence of social, cultural, economic, and political exclusion. Following a dream of star ting a new life in a new place, some migrants do not wish to transcend the assimilationist model, nor have the resources to depend on transnational ties. Their dream is integration, but the tensions inherent in the mobility—enclosure dialectic — the contradictions between freedom of movement and the reasser tion of the nation state, an ambiguous status in Spanish society, their own ambivalent attitudes — constrain both assimilation and their ability to tr...
173 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: The Routledge Handbook of Ethics and Public Policy as mentioned in this paper is the first handbook of its kind, and is comprised of 41 chapters written by leading international contributors and is organized into four clear sections covering the following key topics: Methodology: philosophical approaches to public policy, ethical expertise, knowledge, and public policy Democracy and public policies: identity, integration and inclusion: voting, linguistic policy, discrimination, youth policy, religious toleration, and the family Public goods: defence and foreign policy, development and climate change, surveillance and internal security, ethics of welfare, healthcare and fair trade
Abstract: The Routledge Handbook of Ethics and Public Policy-Annabelle Lever 2018-10-26 What does it mean to do public policy ethics today? How should philosophers engage with ethical issues in policy-making when policy decisions are circumscribed by political and pragmatic concerns? How do ethical issues in public policy differ between areas such as foreign policy, criminal justice, or environmental policy? The Routledge Handbook of Ethics and Public Policy addresses all these questions and more, and is the first handbook of its kind. It is comprised of 41 chapters written by leading international contributors, and is organised into four clear sections covering the following key topics: Methodology: philosophical approaches to public policy, ethical expertise, knowledge, and public policy Democracy and public policy: identity, integration and inclusion: voting, linguistic policy, discrimination, youth policy, religious toleration, and the family Public goods: defence and foreign policy, development and climate change, surveillance and internal security, ethics of welfare, healthcare and fair trade, sovereignty and territorial boundaries, and the ethics of nudging Public policy challenges: criminal justice, policing, taxation, poverty, disability, reparation, and ethics of death policies. The Routledge Handbook of Ethics and Public Policy is essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy, politics, and social policy. It will be equally useful to those in related disciplines, such as economics and law, or professional fields, such as business administration or policy-making in general.
170 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the core clash between the Islamic world and the West is over issues concerning gender equality rather than democracy, and a comparison between Arab and non-Arab countries is made.
Abstract: Inglehart and Norris argue that the core clash between the Islamic world and the West is over issues concerning gender equality rather than democracy. However, a comparison between Arab and non-Ara...
164 citations
TL;DR: Based on a qualitative study of 26 migrant nurses in Britain, this article conducted interviews and analysed the data and is the sole author of all the publications, including all the interviews and all the analyses.
Abstract: Based on a qualitative study of 26 migrant nurses in Britain. Louise Ryan carried out all the interviews, analysed the data and is the sole author of all the publications.
156 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that gendered segmentation has become a defence mechanism of an embattled profession, ensuring that the elite segments hold onto their status and associated rewards while the feminized segments increase leverage without rocking the partnership system, effectively forming a reserve army of legal labour with lesser terms and conditions.
Abstract: Successful professions have historically relied on the establishment of effective closure regimes. The last 30 years or so have witnessed a gradual erosion of the legal profession's external closure regime, which seems to be associated with the gradual feminization of the legal profession. Women now represent the majority of salaried solicitors; yet, despite some recent progress,they still represent a mere quarter of partners. In reference to these developments this article seeks to cultivate a typology of patterns of gendered segmentation in the legal profession. We argue that gendered segmentation, which thrives on the ideology of women's difference, has become a defence mechanism of an embattled profession, ensuring that the elite segments hold onto their status and associated rewards while the feminized segments increase leverage without rocking the partnership system, effectively forming a reserve army of legal labour with lesser terms and conditions.
TL;DR: The authors argue that post-colonisation is more an attempt at recuperating the transformative aspect of post-colonialism than engaging with its critiques, and suggest that by engaging with postcolonialism there is the potential to transform sociological understandings by opening up a dialogue beyond the simple pluralism of identity claims.
Abstract: Sociology is usually represented as having emerged alongside European modernity. The latter is frequently understood as sociology’s special object with sociology itself a distinctively modern form of explanation. The period of sociology’s disciplinary formation was also the heyday of European colonialism, yet the colonial relationship did not figure in the development of sociological understandings. While the recent emergence of post-colonialism appears to have initiated a reconsideration of understandings of modernity, with the development of theories of multiple modernities, I suggest, however, that this engagement is more an attempt at recuperating the transformative aspect of post-colonialism than engaging with its critiques. In setting out the challenge of post-colonialism to dominant sociological accounts, I will also address ‘missing feminist/queer revolutions’, suggesting that by engaging with post-colonialism there is the potential to transform sociological understandings by opening up a dialogue beyond the simple pluralism of identity claims.
TL;DR: This paper developed a four-fold typology of glocalization projects, with reference to relativization, accommodation, hybridization and transformation, and illustrated and elaborated this typology through substantive reference to specific migrant cultures, namely the North American-based supporters of two Scottish football (soccer) clubs.
Abstract: The concept of glocalization has the potential to advance sociological understanding of globalization with reference to social agency and cultural differentiation. In this article, we develop a four-fold typology of glocalization projects, with reference to relativization, accommodation, hybridization and transformation. We illustrate and elaborate this typology through substantive reference to specific migrant cultures, namely the North American-based supporters of two Scottish football (soccer) clubs. We advance a theoretical model that may be utilized and applied to account for the glocalization projects of different migrant communities in other domains of popular culture.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors apply the author's jigsaw model to throw light on the causal role of social structures in shaping sex work stigma in relation to women migrants from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics working as escorts in central London, typically on a short-term opportunistic basis.
Abstract: The social institution of prostitution or sex work has a long and varied history in the West, during almost all of which women plying their trade within it have been stigmatized. After a brief excursus on contemporary sex work and the concept of stigma itself, this article applies the author's jigsaw model to throw light on the causal role of social structures in shaping sex work stigma, in relation to women migrants from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics working as escorts in central London, typically on a short-term opportunistic basis. Interviews with a small snowball sample of a dozen women inform and illustrate the analysis. The differential causal effects of relations of class, command, gender and ethnicity, as well as those of stigma, are considered. It is argued that stigma relations in a given context or figuration cannot be grasped in isolation, but are always part of a nexus of social structures of varying causal importance.
TL;DR: This paper examined a single case from a database of recorded beauty salon interactions, showing how a beauty therapist manages conflict between her multiple involvements in the salon: between her simultaneous engagement in topic talk and hair removal.
Abstract: Building on Hochschild's path-breaking analysis of service providers' `emotional labour', this article demonstrates some of the interactional skills required for emotional labour to be performed. Using conversation analysis (CA), we examine a single case from a database of recorded beauty salon interactions. The episode was chosen because it makes visible the mechanics of how a beauty therapist manages conflict between her `multiple involvements' in the salon: between her simultaneous engagement in topic talk and hair removal. We show first how she navigates this conflict and then how her actions may be understood as an example of emotional labour. The article addresses, then, both the feminist concern with making visible the skills of emotional labour and the conversation analytic concern with how participants manage multiple involvements in a socially meaningful way.
TL;DR: In this article, an analysis of the minutiae of ever day embodiment of older social actors active in the social field of Veteran athletics suppor ts the contention that over time we become caught up in an age habitus.
Abstract: This ar ticle is concerned with ageing embodiment and social change. It operates a synthesis of Bourdieu's theor y of the logic of practice and understandings of agency as an embodied process. Is age a source of habitus? Within what structural circumstances can ageing embodiment lead to social transformation? What are the limitations to this? An analysis of the minutiae of ever yday embodiment of older social actors active in the social field of Veteran athletics suppor ts the contention that over time we become caught up in an age habitus. A challenge to this can be effected through modalities of embodiment within social fields in transition. The permeability of the field, and its own internal logic, the achievement of bodily competence, combined with the active control of the organization of the field, offer some oppor tunities to reconstruct the discourse of ageing.
TL;DR: This article argues for a more dynamic theoretical vision of the clinical encounter: one that shifts attention away from a Parsonian ‘paradigm’ of professional–patient interaction towards a perspective that incorporates the systemic changes that late modernity brings to medicine.
Abstract: The encounter between professional and patient is one of the basic units of analysis in the field of ‘medical’ sociology. From the very beginnings of the sociological investigation of medical practice it has been conceived as a dyadic encounter, defined by asymmetries of power, the negotiation of rational and authoritative scientific knowledge, and private, proximal, relations. This article argues for a more dynamic theoretical vision of the clinical encounter: one that shifts attention away from a Parsonian ‘paradigm’ of professional–patient interaction towards a perspective that incorporates the systemic changes that late modernity brings to medicine.The clinical encounter is no longer the dyadic system envisaged by Parsons, and his theoretical perspective–which has played an important part in framing sociological accounts of the practice of medicine – now needs to be reframed in relation to the organizing impulses of contemporary corporate professional practice.
TL;DR: The authors examines the question of how the relationship between gender and sexuality has been theorized and five strands of argument, which draw on different epistemological concerns, are identified and examined.
Abstract: This ar ticle examines the question of how the relationship between gender and sexuality has been theorized. Five strands of argument, which draw on different epistemological concerns, are identifi...
TL;DR: This paper examined the usefulness of the generalized other in the process of leaving the parental home and concluded that it continues to have considerable usefulness, in particular in relation to what might be turned a recent ''ethical turn' in social enquiry.
Abstract: In examining transcripts of inter views conducted as par t of an investigation of the process of leaving the parental home, we were frequently reminded of Mead's idea of `the generalized other'. This ar ticle explores the usefulness of this somewhat neglected idea. After examining the possible range of meanings suggested by this idea and affinities with other concepts (especially Bourdieu's notion of `habitus') we develop this idea through the use of three case studies taken from inter views in three different cities. We consider normative points of comparison, reflexivity and the generalized other and judgements about other people. We conclude that Mead's idea continues to have considerable usefulness, in par ticular in relation to what might be turned a recent `ethical turn' in social enquiry.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the success of different global regulatory strategies in the shipping industry and conclude that smart regulation has been vitiated by perceived inconsistency in inspection practice and enforced self-regulation has been rendered less effective by cross-national differences in resourcing and regulatory commitment.
Abstract: This article considers the challenge of regulation across national borders using the
example of the shipping industry. It examines the success of different global regulatory
strategies in the sector, specifically the implementation of smart regulation
and enforced self-regulation. In doing so it draws upon empirical research into the
enforcement of labour standards via port-State control in India, Russia and the UK,
and the regulation of training in Singapore, Philippines and the UK. It concludes that
effective global regulation faces considerable challenges. Within the relatively conducive
environment of shipping it finds that smart regulation has been vitiated by
perceived inconsistency in inspection practice and that enforced self-regulation has
been rendered less effective by cross-national differences in resourcing and regulatory
commitment, compounded by the difficulties of paper-based validation. It
argues that, in relation to issues of effective global governance, the shipping industry
may stand as a critical case.
TL;DR: This article showed that there is a strong relationship between the ''Weberianness'' of a national state's bureaucratic capacities and its record on economic growth, using their analysis of economic growth.
Abstract: Evans and Rauch (1999) have demonstrated that there is a strong relationship between the `Weberianness' of a national state's bureaucratic capacities and its record on economic growth. Using their ...
TL;DR: In recent years, a large amount of attention has been paid to young British Asian Muslim identity in recent years as discussed by the authors, and much of the literature has addressed the diasporic and transnational nature of British Muslim identity.
Abstract: Considerable attention has been given to young British Asian Muslim identity in recent years. Whilst much of the literature has addressed the diasporic and transnational nature of British Muslim id...
TL;DR: The research of Jahoda et al in the Austrian town of Marienthal in the 1930s had a formative influence over the future of unemployment research in the social sciences as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The research of Jahoda et al in the Austrian town of Marienthal in the 1930s had a formative influence over the future of unemployment research in the social sciences This article contends that t
TL;DR: It is concluded that lessons can be learned for Sociology from the experiences of social researchers in Health and the functions of RECs may need to reassess and to strengthen other procedures to ensure the highest ethical standards for Sociologists.
Abstract: The article reviews ethical consideration in social research and identifies current approaches to safeguarding ethical standards. One of these is the requirement to obtain approval from research ethics committees (RECs). Based on the results of a survey of UK social science academics about the process of applying to National Health Service RECs, we conclude that lessons can be learned for Sociology from the experiences of social researchers in Health. Overly rigid ethics committees could be counter-productive; we may need to reassess the functions of RECs and to strengthen other procedures to ensure the highest ethical standards for Sociology. Some suggestions for how this might be done are taken from the literature in the hope that they will stimulate debate.
TL;DR: The authors identify and critically engage with those aspects of poststructuralist vitalism, transcendental realism, multiculturalist thinking, and the recent 'dialogical' sentiments of Habermas that might undermine sociology's definitive (but broadly conceived) secularism/naturalism.
Abstract: This article identifies four articulations of the growing `postsecular' condition of social and political thought, and places the idea of sociology in relation to them. I identify and critically engage with those aspects of poststructuralist vitalism, transcendental realism, multiculturalist thinking, and the recent `dialogical' sentiments of Habermas that might undermine sociology's definitive (but broadly conceived) secularism/naturalism. This implies that if we are concerned about advancing the role of `public sociology' then we should be actively engaged in countering anti-secular and anti-naturalistic elements of the postsecular climate.Yet we must avoid anthropomorphizing sociology as a public player, and accept too that the postsecular reconsideration of `faith versus reason' stretches beyond the confines of epistemological and explanatory considerations per se.
TL;DR: In a recent article in Sociology, Anderson et al. as discussed by the authors explored the plans Scottish young adults formulated for their future lives, drawing largely on survey evidence, in the context of taking issue with qualitative research conducted by Brannen and Nilsen (2002) concerning how British young people and young Norwegians think about the future.
Abstract: In a recent article in Sociology, Anderson et al. (2005) explore the plans Scottish young adults formulated for their future lives, drawing largely on survey evidence. They do so in the context of taking issue with qualitative research conducted by Brannen and Nilsen (2002) concerning how British young people and young Norwegians think about the future.This article compares the respective studies in greater depth. First, it examines the different aims of the respective studies and their conceptualizations. Second, it looks at issues of methodological difference.
TL;DR: The special issue of Sociology on ''Class, Culture and Identity'' as discussed by the authors illustrated how often Giddens is cited as an antagonist of class *theor y. It comes as some surprise, then, to find that his exact view on the demise of class has, to date, received remarkably little in the way of substantial exposition and critique.
Abstract: The special issue of Sociology on `Class, Culture and Identity' illustrated how often Anthony Giddens is cited as an antagonist of class *theor y. It comes as some surprise, then, to find that his exact view on the demise of class has, to date, received remarkably little in the way of substantial exposition and critique.This ar ticle seeks to fill this void by outlining Giddens' theor y of the reflexive project of the self in late modernity and its precise consequences for the concept of class, moving on from that to distinguish it from the kindred ideas of Beck and to suggest some of its key failings. Finally, I suggest the ways these problems can be overcome — and class salvaged in the process — by turning to Bourdieu.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors trace the origins and context of the term institutional racism in the black power movement of the 1960s and argue that sociology's public role is contested and that trying to develop a public voice through the media is challenging.
Abstract: The concept of institutional racism emerged in 1967, the same year that this journal began. This first part of the article traces the origins and context of the term in the black power movement of the 1960s. Its subsequent adoption by sociology shows its engagement with issues of race and racism, though sociology itself became the object of critique for its understanding and explanation of racial inequalities. Links and differences between the USA and Britain are used to reflect on the different public roles of their national sociological associations. The second section draws on the example of the Macpherson inquiry and its difficulty in conceptualizing institutional racism. This shows that sociology's public role is contested and that trying to develop a public voice through the media is challenging. Overall, while focusing on some of the problems for developing public sociology, the article argues that confronting such problems is essential for the vitality of the discipline.
TL;DR: It is argued for a re-focusing of social theory to embrace an understanding of grass-roots ontological tensions seen in the experiences of individual cancer patients as well as the problematic nature of maintaining a narrowly defined `evidence-base' policy.
Abstract: Drawing on in-depth interviews with cancer patients, this article examines patients' perspectives on the nature of evidence and the degree to which different understandings of evidence inform decision-making about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and biomedical cancer treatments. Results illustrate the ways in which many cancer patients critically engage with questions about the nature of knowledge and the potential pitfalls of science.Their accounts can largely be characterized by a dialectical tension between individuation (espoused by many CAM therapies) and depersonalization (implicit in biomedical care); a tension mediated by individual cancer patient's prognosis and age. On the basis of the results we argue for a re-focusing of social theory to embrace an understanding of grass-roots ontological tensions seen in the experiences of individual cancer patients.The problematic nature of maintaining a narrowly defined `evidence-base' policy on CAM and cancer is also discussed in light of the data.
TL;DR: The authors argue that the progress narrative no longer inspires young women, who take gender equity for granted, and the implications of this shift for the ''work-life balance' social policy agenda are then considered.
Abstract: This ar ticle addresses the dilemmas associated with continuing to interpret women's experience through the lens of a progress narrative that emerged to represent the aspirations of women during the peak of the women's movement. The central theme of this narrative is that gender will no longer act as a social constraint once women are recognized as workers as well as mothers. Drawing on the theoretical framework of Karl Mannheim and empirical data from in-depth inter views under taken as par t of a generational study of Australian women, the ar ticle argues that the progress narrative no longer inspires young women, who take gender equity for granted. Although motherhood continues to shape their working arrangements, the discourses they use to make sense of the tensions involved are embedded in a new Zeitgeist which prioritizes `choice', not `equity'. The implications of this shift for the `work-life balance' social policy agenda are then considered.