Showing papers in "Sociology in 2014"
TL;DR: This paper examined the relationship between social capital and labour market integration of new refugees in the UK using the Survey of New Refugees (SNR), and found that length of residency and language competency broaden one's social networks.
Abstract: This study examines the relationship between social capital and labour market integration of new refugees in the UK using the Survey of New Refugees (SNR). Our findings suggest that length of residency and language competency broaden one’s social networks. Contacts with religious and co-national groups bring help with employment and housing. The mere possession of networks is not enough to enhance access to employment. However, the absence of social networks does appear to have a detrimental effect on access to work. The type of social capital appears to have no significant impact on the permanency or quality of employment. Rather, language competency, pre-migration qualifications and occupations, and time in the UK are most important in accessing work. Our findings also have clear implications for both asylum and integration policy. The unequivocal importance of language ability for accessing employment points to a clear policy priority in improving competency.
191 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, theories of gender hegemony are utilized to assess how changing norms impact upon the binary construction of gender, and how hegemonic relations are reproduced alongside the production of plural femininities and masculinities.
Abstract: In this article theories of gender hegemony are utilized to assess how changing norms impact upon the binary construction of gender. Transformed gender ideals have materialized in the figure of the ‘empowered’ and autonomous yet reassuringly feminine woman. Despite the assimilation of key attributes associated with masculinity this particular expression of idealized femininity does not necessarily rework dominant perceptions of gender difference and their organization into a relation of hierarchical complementarity. Through the review of key empirical studies which have examined identity work undertaken by young women and young men as they negotiate idealized gender norms, this article examines how hegemonic relations are reproduced alongside the production of plural femininities and masculinities. This analysis is discussed in relation to changes associated with a move from a private to a public gender regime, a perceived feminization of the public sphere, and the complication of contradictory gender ideals.
191 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored how affective relationships between humans and animals are understood and experienced and argued that, although the context of close relationships with pets has changed, affective relationship between people and animals have a long history.
Abstract: This article explores how affective relationships between humans and animals are understood and experienced. It argues that, although the context of close relationships with pets has changed, affective relationships between humans and animals have a long history. The affinities between people and their pets are experienced as emotionally close, embodied and ethereal and are deeply embedded in family lives. They are understood in terms of kinship, an idiom which indicates significant and enduring connectedness between humans and animals, and are valued because of animals’ differences from, as well as similarities to, humans. Kinship across the species barrier is not something new and strange, but is an everyday experience of those humans who share their domestic space with other animals. Rather than witnessing a new phenomenon of post-human families, multi-species households have been with us for a considerable length of time but have been effectively hidden from sociology by the so-called species barrier.
158 citations
TL;DR: Increasing social mobility is the "principal goal" of the current Coalition Government's social policy as discussed by the authors, however, while mainstream political discourse frames mobility as an unequivocally progressive...
Abstract: Increasing social mobility is the ‘principal goal’ of the current Coalition Government’s social policy. However, while mainstream political discourse frames mobility as an unequivocally progressive...
142 citations
TL;DR: A set of methodological principles for approaching Twitter data that stand in contrast to previous research are outlined; a new tool for harvesting and analysing Twitter built on these principles are introduced; and a new approach to analysis of Twitter data linked to political protest over UK university fees is introduced.
Abstract: The emergence of Big Data is both promising and challenging for social research. This article suggests that realising this promise has been restricted by the methods applied in social science research, which undermine our potential to apprehend the qualities that make Big Data so appealing, not least in relation to the sociology of networks and flows. With specific reference to the micro-blogging website Twitter, the article outlines a set of methodological principles for approaching these data that stand in contrast to previous research; and introduces a new tool for harvesting and analysing Twitter built on these principles. We work our argument through an analysis of Twitter data linked to political protest over UK university fees. Our approach transcends earlier methodological limitations to offer original insights into the flow of information and the actors and networks that emerge in this flow.
134 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the UK government's plans to create a social investment market is analysed, and the authors argue that policies ostensibly aimed at resolving the crisis in ways that empower local communities actually foster further financialisation and a deepening of capitalist disciplinary logics into the social fabric.
Abstract: The article analyses the UK government’s plans to create a social investment market. The Big Society as political economy is understood as a response to three aspects of a multi-faceted, global crisis: a crisis of capital accumulation; a crisis of social reproduction; and, a fiscal crisis of the state. While the neoliberal state is retreating from the sphere of social reproduction, further off-loading the costs of social reproduction onto the unwaged realms of the home and the community, it is simultaneously engaging in efforts to enable this terrain of social reproduction to be harnessed for profit. Key to this process are specific government policies, the creation of new financial institutions and instruments and the introduction of the metric of ‘social value’. Policies ostensibly aimed at resolving the crisis in ways that empower local communities actually foster further financialisation and a deepening of capitalist disciplinary logics into the social fabric.
130 citations
TL;DR: Savage et al. as mentioned in this paper used an internet survey, the BBC's Great British Class Survey (GBCS), to construct a new model of the British class structure, which they used for class classification.
Abstract: Savage et al. (2013) claim they have produced a new model of the British class structure. They stress the innovative use of an internet survey, the BBC’s Great British Class Survey (GBCS), but it p...
87 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore empirically how the modernist framing of Bourdieu's aesthetics needs to be rethought in the context of contemporary aesthetic change and find that the familiar Bourdieusian opposition between popular (based on beauty and harmony) and highbrow aesthetics is still important.
Abstract: Bourdieu’s Distinction (1984) has been highly influential in sociological debates regarding cultural inequality, but it has rarely been considered a theory of aesthetics. In this article we explore empirically how the modernist framing of Bourdieu’s aesthetics needs to be rethought in the context of contemporary aesthetic change. Drawing on a survey of museum visitors in Ghent, Belgium (n = 1195), we use Multiple Correspondence Analysis to analyse what aesthetic dimensions are important when people contemplate works of art. We find that the familiar Bourdieusian opposition between popular (based on beauty and harmony) and highbrow aesthetics is still important. However, the content of highbrow aesthetics has changed, now privileging ‘postmodernist’ dimensions over modernist ones. We can also detect another dimension that favours a socially reflexive art compared to a detachment of art from social preoccupations, which is not recognized in Bourdieu’s account.
81 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a range of sociological issues can be seen and re-thought through the eyes of financial calculus, and the authors identify the ways in which this logic is spreading into an increasing range of social, economic and political policy domains.
Abstract: The period since the global financial crisis has seen financial derivatives not only grow quantitatively in financial markets but also expand socially as a calculative logic, giving increasing precision to the concept of capital and hence class relations The logic of derivatives involves deconstructing ‘things’ into a spectrum of tradable risks The article identifies the ways in which this logic is spreading into an increasing range of social, economic and political policy domains It posits how, through the logic of derivatives, a range of sociological issues can be seen and re-thought through the eyes of financial calculus
78 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that young people do indeed talk about their educational choices in ways which fit Rational Action Theory (RAT) accounts, and their class-based habitus often provided upper and lower boundaries for their aspirations, thus conditioning the nature of the cost-benefit analysis.
Abstract: Both Rational Action Theory (RAT) and Bourdieu’s habitus theory are employed to explain educational decision-making. RAT assumes that decision-making involves cost-benefit analysis, while habitus theory sees educational pathways as shaped by dispositions reflecting familial class of origin. These theories are often seen as conflicting, but we argue that they can fruitfully be used together.Proponents of these theories often employ different methods. RAT advocates usually employ survey data, while those favouring habitus theory often use case studies. If cost-benefit reasoning does partly explain educational decision-making, then we should expect to find evidence of it at the micro-level. Drawing on interviews conducted in Germany and England, we show that young people do indeed talk about their educational choices in ways which fit RAT accounts. Their class-based habitus often, however, provides upper and lower boundaries for their aspirations, thus conditioning the nature of the cost-benefit analysis ent...
75 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the critics may focus too much on neighbourhoods and that mixing within neighbourhood institutions might work differently, drawing on data from a mixed school in Berlin, Germany, highlighting the setting's importance and the agency of lower/working and middle-class parents.
Abstract: Policy makers tend to think that residential ‘mixing’ of classes and ethnic groups will enhance social capital. Scholars criticize such ‘mixing’ on empirical and theoretical grounds. This article argues that the critics may focus too much on neighbourhoods. Mixing within neighbourhood institutions might work differently, we argue, drawing on data from a mixed school in Berlin, Germany. While class boundaries are constructed, we also find class-crossing identifications based on setting-specific characteristics, highlighting the setting’s importance and the agency of lower/working and middle-class parents. Parents create ties for exchanging setting-specific resources: child-related social capital. Institutional neighbourhood settings can hence be important for boundary work and social capital. Criticism of social capital and social mix should not overlook the role of networks for urban inequality.
TL;DR: An overview of some contemporary importations of biological and neurobiological knowledge into the sociological field and a challenge for the monolithic view of biology present amongst social theorists and a new opportunity of dialogue for social theorists interested in non-positivist ways of borrowing from the life sciences are offered.
Abstract: The epistemology of the life sciences has significantly changed over the last two decades but many of these changes seem to remain unnoticed amongst sociologists: both the majority who reject biology and the few minorities who want to biologize social theory seem to share a common (biologistic) understanding of ‘the biological’ that appears increasingly out of date with recent advances in the biosciences. In the first part of this article I offer an overview of some contemporary importations of biological and neurobiological knowledge into the sociological field. In the second section I contrast this image of biological knowledge circulating in the social sciences with the more pluralist ways in which biology is theorized in many sectors of the life sciences. The ‘postgenomic’ view of biology emerging from this second section represents a challenge for the monolithic view of biology present amongst social theorists and a new opportunity of dialogue for social theorists interested in non-positivist ways of...
TL;DR: The authors argued that class identity cannot be fully understood without taking account of the intersecting role of race, exposing how white identity and white racial knowledge work to inform and protect the boundaries of middle class and elite class positions (to the disadvantage of minoritised groups).
Abstract: This response piece is informed by recent public discussions concerning the BBC ‘Great British Class Calculator’ – a survey which seeks to rethink traditional ways of categorising class for the 21st century. This article focuses on how individuals feel about, and respond to, their class location. Drawing on data from a two-year study about the black middle classes, it is argued that class identity cannot be fully understood without taking account of the intersecting role of race. Specifically, exposing how white identity and white racial knowledge work to inform and protect the boundaries of middle class and elite class positions (to the disadvantage of minoritised groups) remains central to advancing race equity and genuine social mobility.
TL;DR: The work of Savage et al. as mentioned in this paper in relation to the Great British Class Survey is acknowledged as an important contribution to a reinvigorated sociological research agenda on class, with a major public interest in class.
Abstract: The work of Savage et al. in relation to the Great British Class Survey is acknowledged as an important contribution to a reinvigorated sociological research agenda on class, with a major public im...
TL;DR: This paper explored habitus and the family field within South Asian Muslim communities in the UK as the site of intergenerational transmission and sought to understand how these parents pass on values to their children.
Abstract: Much sociological research using Bourdieu’s theory to analyse intergenerational reproduction tends to focus on the educational rather than the familial aspect of this process. Instead, this article explores habitus and the family field within South Asian Muslim communities in the UK as the site of intergenerational transmission and seeks to understand how these parents pass on values to their children. Based on 52 semi-structured interviews with 15 South Asian Muslim families, the findings suggest that Islam was mobilised by parents to inform the transmission of a sense of morality, support children’s education and reinforce family ties. The concept of ‘Islamic capital’ was developed to add specificity to Bourdieu’s ideas of family spirit and cultural capital in order to capture the dynamics between parents and their children. In the context of multicultural Britain, these findings shed light on the diversity of parenting to inform family support grounded in the understanding of different communities.
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of women in negotiating access to local social ties was explored in French highly skilled families in London, and they used social network theory to explore the composition, function and dynamism of these social relationships and develop a "sociological explanation" of networking strategies.
Abstract: There is developing interest in the role of social networks in migratory experiences of highly skilled migrants. While there is some research on the networking of single economic actors, there is less focus on the social ties associated with family life and parenting among highly skilled migrants. The limited research that has been undertaken, mainly in the USA, points to the role of ‘trailing wives’ in building local social relationships. This article draws on a study of French highly skilled families in London, and explores the role of women in negotiating access to local social ties. Following Eve, we use social network theory to explore the composition, function and dynamism of these social relationships and develop a ‘sociological explanation’ of networking strategies. We contribute to understanding the ‘human face’ of highly skilled migrants, by examining the opportunities and the unanticipated obstacles they encounter in building new social ties.
TL;DR: In this paper, it is argued that because the neoliberal project developed out of an epistemological and political critique of classical ideas of the social, this places sociology in a position of strength to advance a critical response to the intellectual basis of neoliberalism.
Abstract: This article argues that neoliberal thought initially positioned itself in relation to classical sociology by developing an economic epistemology in response, on one hand, to Max Weber’s methodological writings, and, on the other, to the positivist sociology of figures such as Auguste Comte. These points of contact between early sociological and neoliberalism are addressed in detail in order to consider the challenges that the latter poses to sociological thought. It is argued that because the neoliberal project developed out of an epistemological and political critique of classical ideas of the ‘social’, this places sociology in a position of strength to advance a critical response to the intellectual basis of neoliberalism.
TL;DR: The authors argue that sociology's marginality to public discussion of the crisis stems partly from naivete about the sociology of its own knowledge, in particular about its interlocutors' interests.
Abstract: Sociology’s marginality to public discussion of the crisis stems partly from naivete about the sociology of its own knowledge, in particular about its interlocutors’ interests. Historically, sociology has repeatedly re-established its intellectual relevance through its dialogue with movements for social change; this article argues that another such dialogue is overdue.
Starting from existing discussions of social movements and their knowledge production, the article focuses on the organisational dimension of such knowledge and explores how this is elaborated in the current movement wave. Looking at movement spaces of theoretical analysis, new popular education processes and movements’ knowledge creation institutions, the article highlights potential contributions to renewing sociological processes of theorising, teaching and engaged research respectively, paying particular attention to movement practices of ‘talking between worlds’. It concludes with a call for a dialogue of critical solidarity between public sociology and new forms of social knowledge production.
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of public discourses in biographical narratives by focusing on discourses of integration and migrant narratives in a contemporary Swedish context is explored, and it is argued that these dominant discourses help to normalise some of those experiences, and as such may contribute to the reproduction of inequalities.
Abstract: This article considers the role of public discourses in biographical narratives by focusing on discourses of integration and migrant narratives in a contemporary Swedish context. In particular, it explores how public discourses that emphasise migrants’ agency and responsibility to ‘integrate’ help frame the ways in which migrants present themselves. While recognising the importance of biographical research for exploring migrants’ experiences and bringing their voices to the fore, the article argues that we need to pay more attention to how public discourses constrain narratives. It proposes that migrant narratives studied in their social and political context can be used to understand inequalities not only by gaining knowledge of lived experiences of inequalities, but also by considering how dominant discourses help to normalise some of those experiences, and as such may contribute to the reproduction of inequalities.
TL;DR: The meaning of kinship received little sustained attention for some time in British sociology as discussed by the authors, and the issue of bringing kinship into being is a key concern in the process of becoming a parent, and it is argued that kinship is a multilayered and malleable resource with an exceptional capacity to encompass difference.
Abstract: The meaning of kinship received little sustained attention for some time in British sociology. However, we are now beginning to see a shift, and Jennifer Mason’s (2008) conceptualisation of kinship affinities makes an important contribution to emerging debates. In this article I seek to add to such debates and also provide original data from the field of donor conception and lesbian motherhood, a particularly rich field in which to explore the meaning of kin. I investigate stories about becoming parents, and demonstrate that the issue of bringing kinship into being is a key concern in that process. I develop the argument that kinship is a multilayered and malleable resource with an exceptional capacity to encompass difference. This leads me to suggest that we need to be sensitive to the multitude, shifting ways in which connectedness is experienced in personal life.
TL;DR: This paper examined how respondents disavow racism they experience when to do so is counter-intuitively understood to be associated with being racist or intolerant, and argued that we must access narratives in ways that reveal the embeddedness of race and contradictory levels of experience and bring attention back to the meanings and effects of race in everyday life in order to challenge racism and white privilege.
Abstract: It is not easy to name racism in a context in which race is almost entirely denied. Despite a recent focus on the ‘silencing’ of race at a macro level, little has been done to explore the effects of living with these processes, including how they might be resisted. Drawing from a study with 20–30 year olds in Manchester, this article addresses this gap. It examines how respondents disavow racism they experience when to do so is counter-intuitively understood to be associated with being racist or intolerant. These narratives demand that we ask the question, why is racism denied? Or, why is it difficult to articulate? To do this, the article argues we must access narratives in ways that reveal the embeddedness of race and contradictory levels of experience and bring attention back to the meanings and effects of race in everyday life in order to challenge racism and white privilege.
TL;DR: The authors explored men's motivations to attend and demonstrated some of the challenges relating to masculine identity that fathers face when seeking support regarding their children, highlighting how aspects of masculinity may shape men's limited knowledge concerning the needs of their children and their capabilities as involved fathers.
Abstract: This article is based on qualitative research with men who voluntarily attended a ‘dads only’ parenting programme. The article explores men’s motivations to attend and demonstrates some of the challenges relating to masculine identity that fathers face when seeking support regarding their children. It also highlights how aspects of masculinity may shape men’s limited knowledge concerning the needs of their children and their capabilities as ‘involved’ fathers. The article then explores how men made sense of their changing thoughts and practices regarding fathering and fatherhood within the context of their conceptualisations of masculinity. Whilst men appeared to embrace parenting qualities more commonly associated with women they did not completely distance themselves from traditional fathering templates. Moreover, although they gained a sense of mastery over childcare, the ways in which men care for their children is inevitably context dependent and some demonstrations of involved fathering may clash wi...
TL;DR: Drawing on qualitative data from domiciliary carers, managers and stakeholders, this article highlights the commodification of caring labour and reveals the constraints, contradictions and challenges of paid care work.
Abstract: Domiciliary carers are paid care workers who travel to the homes of older people to assist with personal routines. Increasingly, over the past 20 years, the delivery of domiciliary care has been organised according to market principles and portrayed as the ideal type of formal care; offering cost savings to local authorities and independence for older people. Crucially, the work of the former ‘home help’ is transformed as domiciliary carers are now subject to the imperative of private, competitive accumulation which necessitates a constant search for increases in labour productivity. Drawing on qualitative data from domiciliary carers, managers and stakeholders, this article highlights the commodification of caring labour and reveals the constraints, contradictions and challenges of paid care work. Labour Process Theory offers a means of understanding the political economy of care work and important distinctions in terms of the formal and informal domiciliary care labour process.
TL;DR: The authors examines the conflicts that emerge from the friction of the prevalent cultures of valuation and the extensive embodiment of value production and argues that bio-financialisation alters the very material infrastructure of bodies and forms of life.
Abstract: The ascent of biofinancialisation since the 1980s brought with it a culture of valuation that spread well beyond financial markets and came to pervade everyday life, subjectivity, ecology and materiality. At the same time, and as a response to the social conflicts of the previous decades, value production shifts to incorporate the extended lifeworld of working people, their networks of sociality and the commons. The article examines the conflicts that emerge from the friction of the prevalent cultures of valuation and the extensive embodiment of value production and argues that biofinancialisation alters the very material infrastructure of bodies and forms of life. What is the autonomy of politics when biofinance becomes molecularised in code and in matter?
TL;DR: Focusing upon scapegoating in post-crash Ireland, the authors considers a pervasive political process that is protective of powerful interests and the status quo following the 2008 Global Financia...
Abstract: Focusing upon scapegoating in post-crash Ireland, this article considers a pervasive political process that is protective of powerful interests and the status quo following the 2008 Global Financia...
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TL;DR: The importance of social class as an explanatory concept was highlighted by the BBC class survey (http://www.bbc.co.uk/ news/magazine-22000973) and the article published simultaneously in Sociology (Savage et al., 2013) as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Social classes are changing as people move around the world more often, moving more frequently between different class systems, holding different positions in different places, and changing the meanings of class, and social classes are also changing as rising economic insecurity reduces established certainties. The continued worldwide emancipation of women and rising income and wealth inequalities all change how we see ourselves and treat others. We are also changing how we wish to be grouped and seen. The BBC class survey (http://www.bbc.co.uk/ news/magazine-22000973) and the article published simultaneously in Sociology (Savage et al., 2013) have generated considerable public discussion in the media but that debate is still largely parochially British. A public debate was initiated over how class is defined and about the relevance of social class in the contemporary world. Contributors ranging, in occupational class terms, from celebrity comics to the elite of the intellectual commentariat began to re-engage with the importance of social class as an explanatory concept. But if class matters as much as we now think it does we need to know how it is changing and how we can help change it for the better.
TL;DR: This article revisited the individualization debate in the context of Polish migration to the UK and argued that individual mobility is a relational process and one that can, and should, be analysed alongside family structures rather than separate from it.
Abstract: This article revisits the individualization debate in the context of Polish migration to the UK Drawing on empirical research with young Polish migrants in Scotland and Poland, I argue that as new opportunities for migration have shaped Polish family life, the family plays ideological, affective and practical roles in shaping and supporting young people’s mobilities The pursuit of an apparently individualistic, mobile life in the context of post-accession Polish mobility is confounded by the persistence of family structures and relations that underpin and shape individual decisions and mobility pathways I discuss three ‘ruptures’ to the individualization thesis (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 2001) that relate to the process of migration over the lifecourse: ‘moving out’, ‘keeping in touch’, and ‘coming back’ Through these discussions I argue that individual mobility is a relational process and one that can, and should, be analysed alongside family structures rather than separate from it
TL;DR: The authors report evidence of pervasive black markets in confectionery, junk food, and energy drinks in English secondary schools, which represent a new form of counter-school resistance to institutional constraints within the context of enduring, although less visible, class-based stratification in British secondary schools.
Abstract: Drawing on two qualitative studies, we report evidence of pervasive black markets in confectionery, ‘junk’ food and energy drinks in English secondary schools. Data were collected at six schools through focus groups and interviews with students (n = 149) and staff (n = 36), and direct observations. Supermarkets, new technologies and teachers’ narrow focus on attainment have enabled these ‘underground businesses’ to emerge following increased state regulation of school food and drink provision. These activities represent a new form of counter-school resistance to institutional constraints within the context of enduring, although less visible, class-based stratification in British secondary schools. These black markets also appear to be partly driven by the unsafe and unsociable nature of school canteens, which was a recurring theme across all schools. These findings highlight how new school food ‘bans’ ignore the complex, ecological drivers of poor diet in youth and the potential for iatrogenic effects which exacerbate health inequalities.
TL;DR: The Imitation Game as mentioned in this paper is based on the idea of interactional expertise, which distinguishes discursive performance from practical expertise and can be used to investigate the relationship between groups that diverge culturally or experientially.
Abstract: This article describes a new research method called the Imitation Game. The method is based on the idea of ‘interactional expertise’, which distinguishes discursive performance from practical expertise and can be used to investigate the relationship between groups that diverge culturally or experientially. We explain the theory that underpins the method and report results from a number of empirical trials. These include ‘proof of concept’ research with the colour blind, the blind and those with perfect pitch, as well as Imitation Games on more conventional sociological topics such as the social relationships between men and women, homosexuals and heterosexuals, and active Christians and secular students. These studies demonstrate the potential of the method and its distinctive features. We conclude by suggesting that the Imitation Game could complement existing techniques by providing a new way to compare social relationships across social and temporal distances in both a qualitative and a quantitative way.
TL;DR: It is found that the number of WRCs has increased in Argentina, and that they represent a viable production model and that integration of their experience has potential to revitalise the field.
Abstract: We analyse how far Argentina’s worker-recovered companies (WRCs) have sustained themselves and their principles of equity and workers’ self-management since becoming widespread following the country’s 2001–2 economic crisis. Specialist Spanish-language sources, survey data and documents are analysed through four key sociological themes. We find that the number of WRCs has increased in Argentina, and that they represent a viable production model. Further, they have generally maintained their central principles and even flourished. This occurred despite the global economic crisis, legal and financial pressures to adopt capitalist practices and management structures, the risk of market absorption and state attempts to coopt, demobilise and depoliticise the movement. We argue that today they function as a much-needed international beacon of an alternative vision for labour and that integration of their experience has potential to revitalise the field.