Showing papers on "Social theory published in 2008"

Internet and Society: Social Theory in the Information Age

Abstract: In this exceptional study, Christian Fuchs discusses how the internet has transformed the lives of human beings and social relationships in contemporary society. By outlining a social theory of the internet and the information society, he demonstrates how the ecological, economic, political, and cultural systems of contemporary society have been transformed by new ICTs. Fuchs highlights how new forms of cooperation and competition are advanced and supported by the internet in subsystems of society and also discusses opportunities and risks of the information society.

Understanding Social Presence in Text-Based Online Learning Environments

Abstract: BenjaminKehrwald B.A.Kehrwald@mas sey.ac.nz This article reports on key aspects of a theory generative study into social presence in textbased online learning environments. The focus of the article is the nature of social presence as experienced by online learners in those environments. Employing a collective case study design, the study accessed online learners’ experience-based heuristic knowledge through a multi-phase dialogical process which functioned as an extended interview. Among the key findings was (a) a definition of social presence drawn from learners’ experiences; (b) explication of the nature of social presence in online learning environments; (c) suggestions for the creation and sustenance of social presence in those environments; and (d) support for a relational view of social presence which emphasizes human agency in mediated social processes and foreshadows a role for social presence as a critical element of online learning environments.

Cultural Criminology: An Invitation

Abstract: This title is the winner of the ASC Distinguished Book Award for International Research! 'Beautifully written and superbly conceived, with illustrations and examples that combine theory and practice across a range of disciplines, "Cultural Criminology" should be read by anyone - academics and smart readers alike - interested in crime, media, culture and social theory. Bravo to Ferrell, Hayward and Young on a tour de force that is at once cool and classic! "Cultural Criminology" will influence the field for a very long time to come' - Professor Lynn Chancer, Hunter College, CUNY, USA. 'This is not just a book on the present state and possible prospects of our understanding of crime, criminals and our responses to both. However greatly criminologists might benefit from the authors' illuminating insights and the new cognitive vistas their investigations have opened, the impact of this book may well stretch far beyond the realm of criminology proper and mark a watershed in the progress of social study as such' - Zygmunt Bauman, Emeritus Professor, University of Leeds, UK. '"Cultural Criminology" offers a fresh new perspective on both criminality and criminal justice. It outlines the cultural hegemony of the powerful while also documenting the growing resistance to mindless criminalization and mass incarceration. Artfully written, the authors also document the work of those consciously creating a new political space to challenge the increasingly global, security society that seems inextricably tied up with late capitalism' - Meda Chesney-Lind, University of Hawaii at Manoa. 'Creative, challenging and controversial: a manifesto for mean times' - Tony Jefferson, Visiting Presidential Scholar, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, USA. Here is the definitive book on cultural criminology. Lively, innovative, engaging and accessible, "Cultural Criminology" draws together the work of three of the leading international figures in the field today. The book traces the history, current configuration, methodological innovations and future trajectories of cultural criminology, mapping its terrain for students and academics interested in this exciting field. The book highlights and analyzes issues of representation, meaning and politics in relation to crime and criminal justice, covering areas such as: crime and the media; everyday life and everyday transgression; popular culture; consumerism; globalisation; and, social control. The use of vignettes, case studies and visual material throughout the text brings the subject to life. "Cultural Criminology" is indispensable to students, lecturers and researchers in criminology, sociology, cultural studies and media studies. Jeff Ferrell is Professor of Criminal Justice at Texas Christian University and Visiting Professor at the University of Kent. Keith Hayward is Director of Studies for Criminology/Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Kent. Jock Young is Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent and Distinguished Professor at John Jay College, CUNY.

Understanding Latina and Latino College Choice: A Social Capital and Chain Migration Analysis

Abstract: Through interviews and focus groups with 106 high school juniors and seniors, this research examined the college choice process for Latina and Latino students in the greater Los Angeles basin. Using chain migration theory within a social capital framework, the results indicated that as primarily first-generation college students, the students in this sample relied heavily on siblings, peers, relatives, and high school contacts for purposes of postsecondary planning and for creating a college consideration and application set.

Life in the fast lane? Towards a sociology of technology and time.

Abstract: Assumptions about the pace of life speeding up abound in contemporary social theory. While many factors are contributing to this phenomenon, information and communication technologies are seen as the main drivers. This article considers the way social theorists analyse the concepts of time and speed and then examines how these claims might be assessed in the light of empirical research. Such research shows that time compression has multiple dimensions, and that the effect of digital devices like the mobile phone is not simply one of acceleration. In particular, I suggest that the social studies of technology offers a richer analysis of the reciprocal relationship between technological innovation and changing time practices. My argument is that while the hitherto neglected temporal dimension in sociological theory is now being addressed, there is an urgent need for increased dialogue to connect social theory with detailed empirical studies. Without this, we will continue to have difficulty distinguishing social science from science fiction.

From relational ontology to transformative activist stance on development and learning: expanding Vygotsky’s (CHAT) project

Abstract: Research in psychology and education today is going through a paradoxical phase, perhaps to such an extent that the cliche “the best of times, the worst of times” cannot be avoided when trying to describe it. On the one hand, we are witnessing much ferment and enthusiasm as novel ideas, exciting discoveries, and innovative methodologies are emerging and flourish across a variety of approaches that explore the effects of culture and society on human development. These new and innovative approaches are often underwritten by a common commitment to social justice and equity (these approaches will be termed sociocultural herein for lack of a better unifying term). On the other hand, it is impossible not to notice a rising tide, indeed a tsunami, of starkly mechanistic views that reduce human development (more boldly now than at any other time in recent history) to processes in the brain rigidly constrained by genetic blueprints passed on to contemporary humans from the dawn of the evolution. The sad irony is that these latter views represent a strikingly united front in sharp ascendance—drawing together resurrected tenets of sociobiology, innatist linguistics, narrowly conceived neuroscience, orthodox modular cognitivism, with the test-and-control, knowledge transmission–based educational models following suit—while the alternative sociocultural approaches remain starkly disconnected, without much dialogue or coordination among them. Indeed, no consensus of a sort now propagated by the “new” reductionist synthesis is apparent in sociocultural approaches that are scattered across areas as diverse as critical pedagogy, social theory, adult learning, disability studies, critical race theory, constructivist education, science studies, human-computer interaction, feminist studies, literary criticism, cultural anthropology, and developmental psychology, among others.

Social Comparison in the Classroom: A Review

Abstract: This article reviews research conducted on social comparison processes in the classroom since Festinger proposed his theory of social comparison. It covers the theoretical framework of social comparison theory, and it is organized around the following themes: motives for social comparison, dimensions of social comparison, direction of social comparison, and consequences of social comparison. The overall picture is an emerging one in which pupils prefer to compare their performances upward—specifically, with pupils who perform better than themselves but who resemble themselves on related and unrelated attributes. Although the magnitude of the effects of social comparison in the classroom is not examined, the review suggests that such upward comparisons not only lead pupils to perform better but evoke negative affect and lower academic self-concept. Topics discussed include inconsistencies (especially with regard to the direction of comparison and the motives underlying social comparison in the classroom), ...

Creating subjectivities [Editorial]

Abstract: Welcome to the first launch issue of Subjectivity, previously the International Journal of Critical Psychology Subjectivity is an international, transdisciplinary journal that will explore the social, cultural, historical and material processes, dynamics and structures of human experience As topic, problem and resource, notions of subjectivity are relevant to many disciplines, including cultural studies, sociology, social theory, science and technology studies, geography, anthropology, gender and feminist studies and psychology The journal will bring together scholars from across the social sciences and the humanities in a collaborative project to identify the processes by which subjectivities are produced, explore subjectivity as a locus of social change, and examine how emerging subjectivities remake our social worlds Our aim, then, is a re-prioritization of subjectivity as a primary category of social, cultural, psychological, historical and political analysis

Environmental Justice at the Crossroads

Abstract: The field of environmental justice emerged at a crossroads of social movements, public policy, and academic research ‐ what we call environmental justice praxis. Now, the field finds itself again at a crossroads as it expands to address new populations, problems, and places. In this article, we first outline the competing definitions of the problems of environmental inequality and environmental racism from the perspective of social movements, policy, and research. Second, we identify the expansion of the field in two key areas: new issues and constituencies and new places and sites of analysis ‐ specifically the relationship between the local and the global. This expansion leads to increasingly sophisticated spatial methodologies and social theories to examine problems of environmental injustice. Finally, we identify three promising trends in the field: refining the mechanisms and processes of environmental injustice, a renewed focus on the state and the environment as key actors, and a revitalized focus on the interactive and continually evolving relationship between scholarship and social movements.

Online Social Media in Crisis Events.

Abstract: © 2008 Leysia Palen My research group at the University of Colorado, Boulder, studies the relationship between human behavior and information and communication technology (ICT). The group, the connectivIT lab, includes researchers who are interested in how ICT connects people with each other and the information they seek (http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~palen/ connectivIT/). Our work is cross-disciplinary, with researchers possessing skills in empirical research, social theory development, and technology design. Our current, primary focus is on an area of research called crisis informatics, which examines the technical, social, and information aspects of disasters and crises. We believe that an informatics focus on matters of disasters is critical for the social good. With increasing attention from all sectors on disaster preparation, warning, response, and recovery, we hope that cross-disciplinary examination of information dissemination issues results in effective technology design and technology-related policy development for both official responders and members of the public alike. To that end, we collaborate closely with our colleagues at the University of Colorado’s Natural Hazards Center (http:// www.colorado.edu/hazards), an organization that conducts disaster research and serves as a worldwide information clearinghouse for social and behavioral disaster matters. Here, I report on a particular line of Online Social Media in Crisis Events

New Directions in Bioarchaeology: Recent Contributions to the Study of Human Social Identities

Abstract: As a discipline that bridges the biological and social sciences, bioarchaeology has much to contribute to a contextualized and theoretically sophisticated understanding of social identities. Here, we discuss the growing methodological sophistication of bioarchaeology and highlight new developments in osteological age and sex estimation, paleodemography, biodistance analysis, biogeochemistry, and taphonomy, particularly anthropologie de terrain. We then discuss how these methodological developments, when united with social theory, can elucidate social identities. More specifically, we highlight past and future bioarchaeological work on disability and impairment, gender identity, identities of age and the life course, social identity and body modification, embodiment, and ethnic and community identities.

Language Teacher Identities: Co-constructing Discourse and Community

Abstract: Set in the rapidly changing world of the contemporary United Arab Emirates and bringing together detailed linguistic analysis with cutting edge social theory, this book explores the development of the first cohort of students to complete a new Bachelor of Education in English language teaching, theorizing the students’ learning to teach in terms of the discursive construction of a teaching identity within an evolving community of practice. Both a study of the influence of issues such as gender and nationalism in language teacher education in the Middle East, as well as of the power of discourse and community in shaping identity, this book will be of relevance to anyone working in teacher education as well as to those with an interest in theorizations of discourse and identity.

The Body: The Key Concepts

Abstract: Questions around 'the body' are central to social theory Our changing understanding of the body now challenges the ways we conceive power, ideology, subjectivity and social and cultural process The Body: the key concepts highlights and analyses the debates which make the body central to current sociological, psychological, cultural and feminist thinking Today, questions around the body are intrinsic to a wide range of debates - from technological developments in media and communications, to socio-cultural questions around representation, performance, class, race, gender and sexuality, to the more 'physical' concerns of health and illness, sleep, diet and eating disorders, body parts and the senses The Body: the key concepts is the ideal introduction for any student seeking a concise and up-to-date analysis of the complex and influential debates around the body in contemporary culture 'In accomplishing the important task of mapping where the body presently is in the field, Lisa Blackman also points the way forward in her explorations of embodiment as a multiplicity of networks, connections, operations and potentialities A contribution that will be welcomed by those new to the area as well as by more established body scholars' Chris Shilling, University of Kent 'A Comprehensive, incisive and sophisticated overview of the field Highly recommended' Tim Lawrence, University of East London

Language and the nation‐state: Challenges to sociolinguistic theory and practice1

Abstract: Communities, identities, processes, and practices are key linked concepts of concern to research on the role of language in the construction of social relations within the nation-state. In the current globalizing context, sociolinguistics has begun to recognize the need to reorient studies of language, community, and identity in the nation-state away from autonomous structure and towards process and practice, in order to capture the ways in which linguistic variation is central to new forms of social organization. Such an approach examines the circulation of communicative, symbolic, and material resources, as well as the trajectories of social actors and of discursive spaces. The example of francophone Canada shows how dominant ideas about language as bounded systems, identities as stable social positions, and communities as uniform social formations are superseded by mobility and multiplicity. Sociolinguistics is well positioned to take on the challenge of addressing how social actors construct such flows and transformations and to contribute to a social theory of globalization, transnationalism, and the new economy.

The Bioarchaeological Investigation of Childhood and Social Age: Problems and Prospects

Abstract: Recently, the value of the study of children and childhood from archaeological contexts has become more recognized. Childhood is both a biological and a social phenomenon. However, because of specialization in research fields within anthropology, subadults from the archaeological record are usually studied from the biological perspective (bioarchaeology) or, more predominantly, the social perspective (social archaeology), with little research that incorporates both approaches. These polarized approaches to childhood and age highlight the dualistic way in which “biological” and “social” aspects of the body are viewed. Some recent literature criticizes bioarchaeological approaches, and calls for the incorporation of childhood social theory, including social age categories, into subadult health analysis. However, few studies have explicitly addressed the practicalities or theoretical issues that need to be considered when attempting this. This paper critically examines these issues, including terminology used for defining subadulthood and age divisions within it, and approaches to identify “social age” in past populations. The important contribution that bioarchaeology can make to the study of social aspects of childhood is outlined. Recent theoretical approaches for understanding the body offer exciting opportunities to incorporate skeletal remains into research, and develop a more biologically and socially integrated understanding of childhood and age.

Space and spatiality: what the built environment needs from social theory

Abstract: To foresee social outcomes from decisions about the physical and spatial form of the built environment, built environment professionals need to make use of theory-like propositions linking the two domains. In the absence of scientifically tested propositions, a shifting consensus of beliefs fills the need, and it can take decades of social costs to show the inadequacy of these beliefs. The problem of social theory and the built environment is then defined for the purposes of this paper in terms of the potential for testable propositions at the level at which one intervenes in the built environment. This is called the need for 'design-level' theories, defining design in the broad sense of all the choices and decisions made by built environment professionals in creating and modifying the built environment. Examining social theory under two broad headings, 'urban sociology' and 'society and space', it is noted that both approach the society-environment relation 'society first', in that the form of the environment is sought as the product of the spatial dimensions of social processes. This is called the 'spatiality' paradigm, and note that such approaches have never reached, and probably can never reach, the level of precision about the built environment which would be needed to found testable propositions at the design level. The alternative is to turn the question the other way round and through 'environment first' studies look for evidence of social processes in the spatial forms of the built environment. Recent work of this kind is outlined within the 'space syntax' paradigm and it is shown how the greater descriptive precision this brings to the built environment both permits linkages to mainline formulations in social theory and leads to testable design-level propositions.

A Review and Reconceptualization of Social Aggression: Adaptive and Maladaptive Correlates

Abstract: The emergence of a research literature exploring parallels between physical and nonphysical (i.e., social, relational, indirect) forms of aggression has raised many questions about the developmental effects of aggressive behavior on psychological functioning, peer relationships, and social status. Although both forms of aggression have been linked to problematic outcomes in childhood and adolescence, more recent findings have highlighted the importance of considering the possible social rewards conferred by socially aggressive behavior. This paper examines relevant theory and empirical research investigating the adaptive and maladaptive correlates specific to nonphysical forms of aggression. Findings are explored at the level of group (e.g., peer rejection), dyadic (e.g., friendship quality), and individual (e.g., depressive symptoms) variables. Key developmental considerations and methodological issues are addressed, and recommendations for future research integrating current theoretical conceptualizations and empirical findings on social aggression are advanced.

Trust in the health system: An analysis and extension of the social theories of Giddens and Luhmann

Abstract: Social theory provides a lens through which we can analyse the role of trust in health systems However, the majority of theoretically informed trust literature addresses ‘institutional’ or ‘interpersonal’ trust individually, failing to investigate trust as determined by a ‘web’ of mutually interacting relationships between individuals and social systems Current theoretical assumptions are also problematic as they fail to recognise the role that social factors (such as socio-economic status, class and age) play in an individual’s willingness to trust Through the analysis and critique of existing social theories of trust, this paper demonstrates a need for further empirical research into the multidimensionality of trusting relationships, while suggesting new directions for research in public health

Институты и индивиды: взаимодействие и эволюция

Abstract: The author claims that the conceptualization of the relation between individual and structure is central to social science. This paper overviews some recent developments in the social theory of structure and agency, and makes a novel addition, based on a concept of habit derived from pragmatist philosophy and sociology and from Veblenian institutional economics. The author shows how processes of habituation provide a mechanism of ‘reconstitutive downward causation’ where institutional circumstances may affect individual preferences. Finally, special characteristics of organizations are discussed, endorsing an evolutionary analytical approach that combines insights from both evolutionary economics and organization science.

Social Control, Serious Delinquency, and Risky Behavior A Gendered Analysis

Abstract: Social control theory asserts that strong social bonds inhibit delinquency, whereas weak bonds offer little resistance to offending. In the development of this theoretical perspective, new research suggests that the type and magnitude of social bonds have differing effects on male and female delinquency. This study adds to our understanding of how social control factors of parental attachment, involvement in diverse prosocial activities, belief in traditional norms, and school climate affect both young men’s and young women’s reports of serious delinquency and risky behavior in a sample of high school youth. Whereas previous research has generally either controlled for the effect of gender statistically or studied all-male samples, this article uses separate models to examine the independent effects of social bonds on male and female delinquency. The findings support the development of gender-specific analyses to understand how social control affects male and female pathways into delinquency.

Social Comparison and Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effects on Self-Concept and Other Self-Belief Constructs: Role of Generalized and Specific Others.

Abstract: Two studies integrate the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE; negative effects of class-average achievement on academic self-concept, ASC), which is based upon educational psychological research, with related social psychological research that is based on social comparison theory. Critical distinctions are the nature of the social comparison processes that are based on generalized-other (class- or school-average) or individual (target comparison classmate) comparisons, and the nature of self-belief constructs that invoke normative (social comparison) or absolute frames of reference. In a large cross-national study (26 countries; 3,851 schools; 103,558 students), school-average ability negatively affected ASC but had little effect on 4 other self-belief constructs that did not invoke social comparison processes. In Study 2 (64 classes; 764 students), 2 sources of social comparison information (class-average achievement and achievement of an individually selected target comparison classmate) each had distinct, substantial negative effects on agency self-beliefs that invoked social comparison processes but not on metacognitive responses that did not invoke these processes.

'Oh goodness, I am watching reality TV': how methods make class in audience research

Abstract: One of the most striking challenges encountered during the empirical stages of our audience research project, `Making Class and the Self through Televised Ethical Scenarios' (funded as part of the ESRC's Identities and Social Action programme), stemmed from how the different discursive resources held by our research participants impacted upon the kind of data collected. We argue that social class is reconfigured in each research encounter, not only through the adoption of moral positions in relation to `reality' television as we might expect, but also through the forms of authority available for participants. Different methods enabled the display of dissimilar relationships to television: reflexive telling, immanent positioning and affective responses all gave distinct variations of moral authority. Therefore, understanding the form as well as the content of our participants' responses is crucial to interpreting our data. These methodological observations underpin our earlier theoretical critique of the `turn' to subjectivity in social theory (Wood and Skeggs, 2004), where we suggest that the performance of the self is an activity that reproduces the social distinctions that theorists claim are in demise.

Building a Social and Motivational Framework for Understanding Satisfaction in Online Learning

Abstract: This study examines how social and motivational attributes may influence students' online learning experiences. Based on a review of social theories of learning and research about individual characteristics associated with motivation four constructs were included: social ability, learning goal orientation, perceived task value, and self-efficacy. A model was generated to depict the dynamic relationships among these constructs and the outcome measure of learning satisfaction. Factor analyses highlight four dimensions of social ability: social presence-students, social presence-instructors, social navigation, and written communication skills. The results of applying structural equation modeling to data from a sample of 110 online students show the importance of students' perceived task value, self efficacy, and social ability for satisfaction in online learning.

People and Things: A Behavioral Approach to Material Culture

Abstract: People and Things: A Performance-Based Theory.- Behavior, Selection, Agency, Practice, and Beyond.- The Origins of Pottery on the Colorado Plateau.- Smudge Pits and Hide Smoking.- The Devil is in the Details.- Ritual Performance: Ball Courts and Religious Interaction.- Social Theory and History in Behavioral Archaeology: Gender, Social Class, and the Demise of the Early Electric Car.- Studying Technological Differentiation.

The Structural Evolution of Morality

Abstract: Preface Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Types of evolutionary models 3. Cooperation 4. Trust 5. Fairness 6. Retribution 7. Multiplayer games 8. Philosophical reflections Select bibliography References Index.

Modernity as Experience and Interpretation: A New Sociology of Modernity

Abstract: * Preface * Chapter 1 * Ways of understanding modernity * Part I * Interpretations of political modernity: liberty and its discontents * Overture * Multiple interpretations of political modernity * Chapter 2 * Modernity and the question of freedom * Chapter 3 * The political forms of modernity * Chapter 4 * Modernity as a project of emancipation and the possibility of politics * Part II * Interpretations of economic modernity: the endgame and after * Overture * Capitalism and modernity as social formations and as imaginary significations * Chapter 5 * The critique of capitalism and its impasse * Chapter 6 * Towards a comparative-historical sociology of capitalism * Chapter 7 * The exit from organized economic modernity * Part III * Interpretations of epistemic modernity: distance and involvement * Overture * The quest for knowledge beyond experience and interpretation * Chapter 8 * The critique of science and its prospects * Chapter 9 * Varieties of socio-political interpretations of modernity * Part IV * The European experience and interpretation of modernity * Overture * European integration as an interpretation of modernity * Chapter 10 * Logics of European history * Chapter 11 * Regionalizing European modernity * Part V * The analysis of modernity and the need for a new sociology * Overture * When the light of the cultural problems has moved on * Chapter 12 * The social theory and political philosophy of modernity * Chapter 13 * The conceptual history and historical sociology of modernity * References

Toward a Unified Social Theory of Genre Learning

Abstract: This article discusses the development of a unified social theory of genre learning based on the integration of rhetorical genre studies, activity theory, and the situated learning perspective. The...

Uneven and combined development: the social-relational substratum of ‘the international’? An exchange of letters

Abstract: What is ‘the international’ from the point of view of social theory? Can its significance be apprehended from within existing social theories, suitably applied? Or does it necessitate a revision of...