bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Configurational Similarity in Three Class Contexts in British Society
Authors: Mitchell J. Clyde , Critchley Frank
Published: September 2003

Using data from the Nuffield 1972 Occupational Mobility Survey at the 36 category level of the Hope-Goldthorpe scale, we investigate the basic structure in the dissimilarity matrices for categories of respondent with respect to their profiles of (i) fathers, (ii) fathers-in-law and (iii) spare-time associates. The major finding is that the basic structure is essentially the same in all three cases. An interpretation of this common structure is offered and some important departures from it noted. The data analysis methods used are: (a) a recent parametric multidimensional scaling method and (b) generalised Procrustes analysis. This latter method seems not to have been used in sociological research before and offers considerable potential in a variety of applications. Our results are compared with those in some similar studies and are found in the main to be concordant with them.
A Framework for Comparative Analyses of Social Mobility
Authors: Breen Richard
Published: September 2003

Criticisms of the analysis of social mobility using the structural mobility/exchange mobility distinction are discussed, and its replacement by an absolute/relative mobility perspective, following Goldthorpe (1980), is advocated. Based on this perspective a framework for cross-population analyses of mobility is developed and illustrated using well-known English/Welsh and Danish data. This framework leads to a definition of the total mobility variance in the populations under study, which may, in turn, be separated into shared and unique components of mobility variance within each of which the importance of absolute and relative mobility may be assessed. It is argued that the absolute/relative approach avoids the problems which have beset the more ambitious structure/exchange distinction and that the framework developed here permits the straightforward testing of the Lipset-Zetterberg (1959) and Featherman, Lancaster-Jones and Hauser (1975) theses.
The Flexibility of Recruitment in the Construction Industry: Formalisation or Re-Casualisation?
Authors: Bresnen M. J. , Wray K. , Bryman A. , Beardsworth A. D. , Ford J. R. , Keil E. T.
Published: September 2003

Common sense views of the construction industry tend to characterise its labour market processes as haphazard, if not anarchic, and requiring reform through formalisation. In contrast, a sociological perspective might point to the possibility of an underlying rationality beneath the apparent confusion.

Industry data suggest a growing degree of casualism in construction, in the sense that employers and self-employed have become a significantly larger proportion of the overall workforce. These changes form the background to a discussion of labour recruitment practices on large construction sites, using data drawn from empirical investigation.

In addition, the question of the relationship between recruitment practices and strategies of managerial control will also be confronted. Such an analysis would have to take into account the possibility that construction firms face distinctive problems in relation to the recruitment and subsequent control of their workforce that stem from, for example, the fact that the product is immobile, and the firm must form a series of temporary organisations at the point of consumption. This implies that the firm may not be able to draw upon the full range of control and recruitment devices available to `static' firms in a conventional and familiar labour market.
Is Small Beautiful? Industrial Relations in Small Clothing Firms
Authors: Rainnie Alistair
Published: September 2003

The first part of the article traces, briefly, the political and ideological background to the resurgence of interest in small business. Largely unresearched and uncritically adopted, the theory that “small is beautiful” assumes that harmonious industrial relations characterise small firms. The proxy measures of harmony (strike indices, levels of unionisation) commonly used to support the “small is beautiful” school of thought are examined.

Secondly, using research in small clothing firms as an example, an investigation into what lies behind statistical returns reveals a reality different from that conventionally assumed to be reflected in the statistics. It is argued that apparent industrial relations harmony, in this case, can be explained by a mixture of the isolation of shop stewards from the union, the weakness of that union, the resulting weakness of workplace trade unionism and the general position of women at work and the role of the family. These factors combine to produce the proxy measures of harmony that have been uncritically accepted in constructing the “small is beautiful” thesis.
Personal Consumption and Gender
Authors: Taylor-Gooby Peter
Published: September 2003

This paper reanalyses data from the `Breadline Britain' poverty survey to examine differences in personal consumption between men and women. It has been argued (a) that resource allocation in marriage reflects the pattern of inequalities in society, so that married women tend to have a lower level of consumption than married men; and (b) that women's involvement in paid work may not enhance their personal command over resources, because the extra income is absorbed by other members of the household. An index of personal consumption (as distinct from joint consumption, shared with other members of the household) was constructed from information on who had access to items which are normally consumed on an individual basis. This was related to marital status, participation and other characteristics for men and women. The analysis shows that, for women, both being married and being engaged in paid work tend to be associated with a higher individual standard of living to a far greater extent than is the case for men. Neither of the arguments mentioned above is supported.
East European Labourers in an American Mill Town, 1890-1940: The Deferential-Proletarian-Privatized Workers?
Authors: Morawska Ewa
Published: September 2003

Using the Lockwoodian typology of deferential, proletarian, and privatized working-class consciousness, this social-historical analysis reconstructs and compares the kinds of social representations held by East European workers of the immigrant and native-born generations in an American mill town in the period 1890-1940. Exemplifying and extending the newer literature on class consciousness and social imagery, the paper shows (1) how and which influences of a micro- and macroscopic nature shaped the social meaning-systems of East European workers; and (2) how and under which circumstances their images of the social order formed complex, fragmented, and multivalent configurations.
Integrating Women into Class Theory
Authors: Dale Angela , Gilbert G. Nigel , Arber Sara
Published: September 2003

A theoretical framework is proposed by which women as well as men may be included in class theory, and a methodology is suggested by which one aspect of women's class location, their relationship to the labour market, may be measured. It is argued that social class in a Weberian sense may be seen as comprising two distinct although related dimensions. Firstly, that based upon relationship to the labour market, measured at the level of the individual; and second, that represented by patterns of consumption (in terms of goods and services), measured at the level of the family. All those with a direct relationship to the labour market may be allocated to an occupational class position, irrespective of position within the family. Data from the General Household Survey are used to produce a preliminary occupational class schema for women which does not depend upon assumptions of skill or the manual/non-manual nature of the work.
National Wage-Rate Claims and Settlements - II. An Exploratory Study of some Possible Determinants of Claims and Settlements
Authors: Halfpenny Peter , Abell Peter
Published: September 2003

What are the determinants of the level of trades unions' wage-rate claims? To answer this question, a range of simplified models is examined. One set of these models pictures bargainers being influenced when setting claims by looking backward to past variations in the cost of living, past changes in general wage-rates, the gap between the union's claims and settlements in previous bargaining rounds, and the time since their last settlement. A second set pictures bargainers looking forward, as some versions of expectation theory suggest, to rationally expected future price increases, expected future wage-rate changes, and the time to the next claim. Another model pictures bargainers tactically setting claims beyond their realistic expectations in anticipation of settlements being forced at a level below their stated claims. Applications of these models to nine groups of workers represented by five large British trades unions over the period 1947 to 1970 shows that claims appear to be more influenced (though only weakly) by retrospective than by prospective price increases (so there is little support for monetarists' rational expectations theory of inflation) though they appear to be more influenced by prospective than by retrospective increases in general wage-rates. Claims are uninfluenced by the gap between past claims and settlements or by time variables, but there is strong support for the bargaining tactics hypothesis.
Trends in Intergenerational Class Mobility in England and Wales, 1972-1983
Authors: Goldthorpe John H. , Payne Clive
Published: September 2003

Results on trends in intergenerational class mobility in England and Wales obtained from the Nuffield inquiry of 1972 are updated to 1983 on the basis of material derived from the British General Election Study of that year. Overall, a marked continuity in trends in absolute mobility rates and in associated patterns of social fluidity and structural change is revelaed. The most important new development in the context of far more adverse economic conditions is for the mobility chances of men of working-class origins to polarise - a continuing improvement in opportunities for upward mobility into service-class positions going together with increasing risks of downward mobility via unemployment. The results reported are shown to be ones that do not readily accord with current theories, whether Marxist or liberal, of the development of the class structures of modern western societies.
Modes of Discrimination in the Recruitment Process: Formalisation, Fairness and Efficiency
Authors: Jewson Nick , Mason David
Published: September 2003

Equal opportunities policies, and other programmes for the elimination of racial and sexual discrimination at work, frequently place great store by the formalisation of the recruitment process. This article suggests that such recommendations fail to take account of the nature of recruitment to most occupations. This point is developed by the presentation of both a typology of modes of discrimination in the recruitment process and an empirical case study.
Contingent and Noncontingent Effects of Unemployment
Authors: Travers Peter
Published: September 2003

Does unemployment set its victims on a permanent downward trail in terms of future occupation? Interviews of a randomly selected group of 177 men who survived the Depression of the 1930s, and who are currently living in Adelaide, South Australia, showed that half had experienced unemployment during the 1930s. Though unemployment was concentrated overwhelmingly among men of working-class origin, the formerly unemployed experienced such high rates of mobility in later life that by the time of retirement their class distribution was similar to that of those who escaped unemployment. Reasons for this unexpected finding are discussed. It is argued that the principal explanation for the mobility pattern of this group of survivors lies in structural changes in the economy between 1940 and their retirement. All the explanatory factors cited are contingent upon a particular set of historical circumstances. The conclusion is reached that it is only in a very weak sense that one can talk at all about noncontingent, or necessary, effects of unemployment.
Privatisation, Power and the Welfare State
Authors: Taylor-Gooby Peter
Published: September 2003

It is commonly argued, from both right and left wing perspectives, that consumers of welfare state services experience the use of these services as oppressive and alienating. The result is an endemic dissatisfaction with the welfare state, and the desire to escape public provision and use more immediately accountable private services. This paper distinguishes two main variants of this view. One claims that the experience of control through the exercise of bureaucratic and professional power is the main cause of resentment. The other suggests that the central problem is the perception of state services as inadequately resourced in comparison to the private sector. These arguments are tested against evidence from a recent national survey. Neither experience of control nor concern about resources offer particularly good explanations of support for state welfare, but resource issues appear to have the edge.
The Sociology of Petit Capitalism: A Trend Report
Authors: Curran James , Burrows Roger
Published: September 2003

Despite the demonstrable importance of small scale capitalism in contemporary industrial societies, sociologists still generally ignore its economic, social and ideological significance. However, it is now possible to bring together the main elements of a sociology of petit capitalism. Four areas are examined: the class analysis of the owners of small capital; the sociology of entrepreneurship; social relations in the enterprise; and the links between small capital and the wider society.
Eating Properly, the Family and State Benefit
Authors: Charles Nickie , Kerr Marion
Published: September 2003

In this paper we explore the relations between `proper' eating and the family. In particular we are concerned to analyse the attitudes towards food and eating that are expressed by women who are dependent on the state for their basic needs, and the way in which these attitudes relate to food practices within their households. We demonstrate that families living on state benefit find it difficult to eat `properly'; that is, they are unable to consume `proper meals' (consisting of meat or fish, potatoes and vegetables) regularly and a Sunday dinner once a week. Attempts to maintain these standards of proper eating have consequences in terms of the food consumption of all family members. This is explored in relation to single parent and two parent unemployed families and it is shown that the presence of a male partner has an impact on the diet of all members of the family.
Workplace Relations in the Economic Crisis: A Comparison of a British and a French Automobile Plant
Authors: Grunberg Leon
Published: September 2003

This study tests the hypothesis that recent changes in political direction in Britain and France would have changed the previous patterns of workplace relations in comparable automobile plants in the two countries. It finds that there have indeed been changes in the workplace balance of power and, as predicted, in productivity. Changes in the accident rate, however, are more difficult to interpret.
On the Class Mobility of Women: Results from Different Approaches to the Analysis of Recent British Data
Authors: Goldthorpe John H. , Payne Clive
Published: September 2003

Data on the class mobility of women in modern Britain are analysed following the `conventional', `individual' and `dominance' approaches to the problem of determining women's class location. Results obtained via these three approaches and the different substantive problems to which they lead are examined, and the further issue is considered of how far, in the light of the analyses presented, studies of class mobility that have focused on the experience of men could be regarded as misleading.
Limitations of Class Theory and the Disappearance of Status: The Problem of the New Middle Class
Authors: Barbalet J. M.
Published: September 2003

Through a brief examination of neo-Marxist and neo-Weberian arguments it is demonstrated that the class nature of the new middle class has yet to be established. The paper goes on to show that as well as differences arising out of material conditions (i.e. class differences), inequalities based on expectations of entitlement or norms are also significant in capitalist society. Weber's treatment of status has not encouraged an adequate understanding of the concept, and an alternative is outlined. The paper then argues that the differences between the so-called new middle class and the working class are reasonably understood on a number of criteria as differences between status groups which form part of a single class. Not only does this approach remove a number of difficulties from accounts of the salariat, it also helps explain the different political alignments of social collectivities.
`The Civilizing Process': Some Remarks on Elias's Social History
Authors: Robinson R. J.
Published: September 2003

The theory of the `civilizing process' claims to be based on a detailed empirical history. In this essay, an analysis is made of the basic premisses of Elias's interpretations of `warrior society' and the absolutist state. In the former case these are the propositions that the early mediaeval period was one of near-chaos, and that the mediaeval knight lived without significant contact with monetary relations. In the case of absolutism, Elias's model of the political structure of the court is founded on a theory of the monrach's manipulation of contests between bourgeoisie and aristocracy, and the belief that the aristocracy of this period, like their warrior predecessors, were largely divorced from any direct concern with `economic rationality'. All these propositions are contested, and alternative interpretations offered for some of the evidence Elias cites.
Politics and Method in Mannheim's `Ideology and Utopia'
Authors: Scott Alan
Published: September 2003

Previous interpretations of Mannheim, as relativist, as co-founder of the sociology of knowledge, or as hermeneutic thinker, fail to identify one of his basic intentions, namely the defence of Enlightenment notions such as `reason' and `rationality' against what he identifies as the dislocating effects of modernity. Contrary to the interpretation of Mannheim as a relativist, we argue, on the basis of a detailed discussion of Ideology and Utopia, that relativism is not the conclusion of his sociology of knowledge but its starting point. Mannheim wants to save the project of epistemology - the reconstruction of a unifying world order - in the light of historical developments which render an absolute solution no longer feasible. He attempts this ambitious project not through the dissolution of epistemology, but rather through a sociological reconstruction of its basic categories. This leads him to an essentially methodological solution to the problems of modernity, the political and sociological implications of which are identified as the elevation of the sociologist to the role of cultural arbitrator and the consequent reduction of differences of interest and value to questions of planning.
Women's Social Class Identification: Does Husband's Occupation Make a Difference?
Authors: Abbott Pamela
Published: September 2003

Research into social stratification has tended to concentrate on working-class men; there has been little on the middle classes, and even less on women. This paper looks at the class position and class images of 342 working married women in social grade C1, drawn from a national survey of class images conducted between 1981 and 1984, to assess the extent to which these women's class identification is determined by the occupation of their husbands and the way in which the middle and working classes are perceived by women in same-class and cross-class marriages. It is concluded that a woman's class identification is determined at least in part by her own characteristics rather than her husband's, with education being a particularly important variable.
The Impact of the Economic and Political System on Social Stratification and Social Mobility: Soviet Lower White-Collar Workers in Comparative Perspective
Authors: Lane Christel
Published: September 2003

This paper provides the first detailed study of lower white-collar workers in Soviet society. It traces the historical development of this social category during the Soviet period, gives a general social profile of the stratum now and locates it in the Soviet system of social stratification. Comparisons are made with equivalent strata in Western society, and both divergences and commonalities are identified. The former are explained by reference to the different economic, political/ideological and cultural factors which have shaped the system of social stratification and movement within it. Similarities are seen to be a consequence of the fact that the same division of labour characterises both types of society.
Does Unemployment Run in Families? Some Findings from the General Household Survey
Authors: Payne Joan
Published: September 2003

Data from the 1980 and 1981 General Household Surveys are used to examine patterns of economic activity in the families of origin of economically active 16-19 year olds. It is shown that unemployed young people are much more likely than their working peers to have another member of their family out of work, both in the parental and sibling generations; there is also an association between youth unemployment and economic inactivity in the family. Logistic regression shows that family employment characteristics contribute very importantly to the prediction of individual youth unemployment when many other variables associated with unemployment are controlled. Reasons are considered for supposing a causal link between parental and youth unemployment. The findings have implications for how the burden of unemployment is shared in Britain and for the attitudes of some groups of young people towards work.
Fathers and Sons: Family Farms, Family Businesses and the Farming Industry
Authors: Hutson John
Published: September 2003

This paper is concerned with changes in relationships between parents and children in family farming businesses under contemporary relations of production. The family farm is today more effective as a management unit than as a labour unit. Farmers seek to expand the family business through the incorporation of children into an extended family. To this extent, family form and relationships between close kin are clearly articulated with market forces. However, the increasing capitalization and commercialization of family farming do not necessarily mean a lessening significance of kinship links. Rather, such processes serve to redistribute kin ties in new concentrations so that they have become more important in the management of a viable business and less significant between farmers in an agricultural industry.
Labour Movement Theory Versus Corporatism: Social Democracy in Sweden
Authors: Fulcher James
Published: September 2003

This article assesses the challenge from `labour movement theory' to the conventional `corporatist' interpretation of Social Democratic Sweden. It begins by outlining the theoretical debate. It then examines the labour movement's compromise with capitalism and the issues of redistribution, codetermination and economic democracy. It argues that the corporatist interpretation of the period from the 1930s to the 1960s stands up well to criticism. The more radical Social Democratic policies of the later 1960s and after are more consistent with `labour movement theory', but in the end demonstrate the weakness of labour political power in a capitalist society. `Corporatist theory' provides a better starting-point than `labour movement theory', though it must be modified to include the notion of the contradictions of corporatism. The strength of the Swedish labour movement made corporatism possible but when the discontent generated by corporatism threatened the unity of the movement it was this same strength of the labour movement that produced the radicalism of the 1970s. Radical measures were, however, blocked by the state's dependence on capital and the employer counter-offensive.
Women at Class Crossroads: Repudiating Conventional Theories of Family Class
Authors: Leiulfsrud Håkon , Woodward Alison
Published: September 2003

A revised version of the conventional approach of classifying families in social class analysis recently surfaced in Sociology. Two-partner families are classified according to the class position of the main bread-winner, usually male. This approach discounts the importance of the other partner's work experience within the family. The special case of the cross-class couple is used to illuminate significant problems in the conventional approach. Swedish data from 1980 brings into question several of the assumptions of the conventional approach. Do women actually have a weaker attachment to the world of work? Are most families actually class homogeneous as the unitary family classification system would lead one to believe? Using evidence from a qualitative study of cross-class couples, this paper argues that diametrically opposed class experiences have significant effects on dynamics in the family unit. Issues in the division of labour in the home and access to cultural capital are clearly affected in class heterogeneous families. Women's work makes a significant difference in everyday life in the family and should necessarily affect the classification of families in class analysis.
Gender, Status and Professionalism
Authors: Crompton Rosemary
Published: September 2003

This paper attempts to develop a framework through which the location of women in the occupational structure can be `thought through'. It is argued that approaches which derive their inspiration from class theories (of various types) have not been particularly successful. The Weberian concept of `status', it is suggested, may be more useful in understanding the employment position of women. However, Weber's original formulation of the status concept contains a number of ambiguities which may be rendered less problematic by thinking of `status' as a quality located in a matrix which has several dimensions, rather than in emphasising particular aspects of the `status' concept to the virtual exclusion of the others. Finally, these arguments are applied to the discussion of a small but significant section of the labour force - the professions. This task is of considerable contemporary interest given the recent, and considerable, increase in the proportion of women gaining `professional' qualifications.
Durkheim on Religion and Suicide - A Demographic Critique
Authors: Day Lincoln H.
Published: September 2003

Employing essentially the same method as Durkheim - but with data that, while largely contemporaneous with those he used, are arguably better suited to the task - it is considered whether there is any empirical basis, even in Durkheim's terms, for one of his best known and most significant theoretical statements: that based on the analysis of differential suicide rates between Catholic and Protestant populations. Analysis of data from Prussia, Switzerland, and the Netherlands affords no support for the view that there is less suicide in Catholic than in non-Catholic populations. The apparent differential between them can readily be attributed to a greater tendency within Catholic populations to register suicide as something else - most commonly as either accidental death, `sudden' death, or death of unknown cause. This raises doubts not only about Durkheim's theories concerning suicide but also about other causal theories concerning this phenomenon that rely on a sociological, as contrasted with a psychological (or even idiosyncratic) frame of reference.
Equalisation and Improvement: Some Effects of Comprehensive Reorganisation in Scotland
Authors: McPherson Andrew , Willms J. Douglas
Published: September 2003

This study examines the effects of the later stages of comprehensive reorganisation in Scotland. Nationally representative samples show that standards of attainment rose, particularly among females and pupils of lower socioeconomic status (SES). The rise was faster than could be accounted for by the rise in average SES. Inequalities of attainment associated with SES varied between communities but, overall, they declined for both males and females. Female attainment moved ahead of male attainment. Creamed comprehensives did worse than uncreamed ones, but the longer that either creamed or uncreamed schools had been established as comprehensive the higher was their average attainment. Some implications for the reduction and reproduction of inequalities of attainment are discussed.
Corporate Strategy, Ownership and Control
Authors: Morgan Glenn , Hooper David
Published: September 2003

The labour process debate has failed to analyse systematically the `deus ex machina' in Braverman's original contribution, capital. This paper elaborates a complex conception of capital which differentiates circuits of capital - industrial, banking and commercial - both within the firm and in the economy as a whole. The specific way in which these circuits are integrated and the meaning of this for firms is examined through a case study of events within Imperial Tobacco in the 1970s. The labour process and strategies towards the labour process are seen as only one element in the complex articulation of the circuits of capital within firms and in the economy as a whole. The role of owners and ownership in particular requires greater consideration.
The Politics of Gender in Exile
Authors: Kay Diana
Published: September 2003

This article explores the experiences of Chilean men and women exiled in Britain since the military overthrow of the Popular Unity government in September 1973. The study, based on in-depth interviews, examines the very different accounts of exile given by men and women. These gender differences in accounting are related to men's and women's different location and involvement in public and private spheres. During a period of accelerated social change - from a period of socialist experimentation and a military dictatorship in Chile to exile in a developed capitalist country - both public and private spheres undergo dramatic quantitative and qualitative shifts. This study highlights the impact of these shifts for relations between men and women exiles. It is argued that public and private spheres were brought into a new and more conflictual relationship in exile, politicising areas of life which had been largely unexamined during Popular Unity. The impact of these changes for women's experiences of subordination in the home and marriage and on women's ability to formulate their grievances as public issues are explored.
Sociology of Development: Reflections on the Present Crisis
Authors: Mouzelis Nicos P.
Published: September 2003

This paper argues (a) that some of the present difficulties experienced by the sociology of development can be overcome by a macro comparative historical focus on the qualitative differences between the long term development of the capitalist centre and periphery, as well as on the strikingly different developmental trajectories to be seen within the third world; (b) that Marxism in general, and the dependency approach in particular, although more suitable than alternative paradigms for such a historical comparative task, present certain limitations that can only be dealt with by the creation of new tools for the study of the non-economic spheres (particularly the political).
Schooling the Family
Authors: Paterson Fiona M.S.
Published: September 2003

This paper explores the pre-conditions of the images of normal family relations which inform contemporary discourse on truancy. It locates these pre-conditions within state intervention into nineteenth century schooling. This structured the kind of school relations which were to become fundamental to state-authorised schooling. It illustrates the way in which this intervention fostered the generation of one particular model of family relations as `normal' and rendered alternatives deviant. It argues that a theory of correct family relations was embedded in the model of good schooling which was being structured by the state. Any given social division of labour involves a particular scheduling of social identities. A division of labour involving the family as a unit of production meant a scheduling of identities such that schooling and work would intersperse with each other. State intervention into schooling undermined social relations of families in occupations characterised by this form of organisation. It is argued that both the form and the content of schooling were implicated in fostering a particular scheduling of social identities and in marginalising alternative patterns of living.
Social Network Analysis
Authors: Scott John
Published: September 2003

This paper reports on the development of social network analysis, tracing its origins in classical sociology and its more recent formulation in social scientific and mathematical work. It is argued that the concept of social network provides a powerful model for social structure, and that a number of important formal methods of social network analysis can be discerned. Social network analysis has been used in studies of kinship structure, social mobility, science citations, contacts among members of deviant groups, corporate power, international trade exploitation, class structure, and many other areas. A review of the formal models proposed in graph theory, multidimensional scaling, and algebraic topology is followed by extended illustrations of social network analysis in the study of community structure and interlocking directorships.
The Tavistock Programme: The Government of Subjectivity and Social Life
Authors: Miller Peter , Rose Nikolas
Published: September 2003

In contemporary western societies the subjective features of social life have become the object and target of a new expertise. The paper addresses the limitations of certain influential approaches to this phenomenon, in particular analyses framed in terms of `social control' and `medicalisation'. It offers an alternative framework based on three elements: firstly, a conception of government as a varying set of rationales and programmes which seek to align socio-political objectives with the activities and relations of individuals; secondly, the constitutive roles of psychological and managerial techniques and vocabularies. These are seen to be crucial in the formation of new ways of thinking about and acting on the social relations of the family and the workplace; thirdly, a notion of subjectivity as a capacity promoted through specific regulatory techniques and forms of expertise. This framework is utilised in the analysis of the Tavistock Clinic and Tavistock Institute of Human Relations to explore some of the fundamental transformations in twentieth century British society. Three `case studies' are provided: the mental hygiene movement in the 1920s and 1930s; the role of psychological expertise in the Second World War; and the links between industrial productivity, group relations and mental health forged in the immediate post-war period.
The Discipline of Violence: State, Capital and the Regulation of Naval Warfare
Authors: O'Malley Pat
Published: September 2003

This paper provides an analysis of certain aspects of the regulation of warfare during the 19th century in order to cast light on the contradictory process of monopolising control of the means of violence in the modern world. Resort to privateering - private naval auxiliaries mobilised by the search for profit - was a major feature of maritime warfare until the middle of the 19th century, when it was abolished by The Declaration of Paris. Analysis suggests that shifting patterns of global military, economic and political hegemony were responsible for the emergence of this treaty, which increased both (a) the general level of discipline and control over naval violence that was exercised by states, and (b) the global naval domination of the core capitalist nations.
Teenage Girls Talking about Class
Authors: Frazer Elizabeth
Published: September 2003

Here I present extracts from discussion about `class' by teenage girls from working class, upper working/lower middle, and upper middle/upper class backgrounds. The data demonstrate the variation in salience of class for girls from these different groups. This finding stands in contrast to the finding from the same research project that for all girls `gender' is highly salient. The material also underpins an argument about research method. There are ambiguities in the girls' talk about class, which raise two issues: first there is the question of how we interpret ambiguous talk; second, there is the issue of our responsibilities to our informants, who are made aware by the research process that they put forward ambiguous or even contradictory views, and are discomfited by this knowledge. [Table: see text]
Mass Communication and Modern Culture: Contribution to a Critical Theory of Ideology
Authors: Thompson John B.
Published: September 2003

This paper argues that the analysis of culture and mass communication should be regarded as central concerns of sociology and social theory. It develops a framework for the analysis of culture and shows how this framework can be applied to the study of mass communication. Focusing on the medium of television, the paper highlights some of the distinctive characteristics of mass communication and examines some of the factors involved in the production, construction and reception of media messages. It is argued that this approach enables the analyst to pose questions concerning the ideological character of mass communication in a new and more fruitful way.
Classes and Elites, Wars and Social Evolution: A Comment on Mann
Authors: Hall John A.
Published: September 2003

A minor purpose of this comment is to highlight Mann's use of the term `ruling class'; this allows a better appreciation of the differences between Tsarist Russia and Wilhelmine Germany. The major purpose of the comment is to argue that social evolutionism has something to be said in its favour. Mann is right to discount the radical potential of workers, but newer middle class elements may have greater salience.
Inventions from R & D: Organizational Designs for Efficient Research Performance
Authors: Hull Frank
Published: September 2003

Invention rates are found to be more proportional to R & D input if organization design is organic-professional rather than mechanistic-bureaucratic in a diverse sample of 110 U.S. factories. However, organic design rules are appropriate only if the work of the organization is small-scale and technically complex. Problems and opportunities associated with incorporating organic design elements into large, high-tech industries are explored and some observations offered on practices in Japanese industries.
Diversity, Complexity and Technological Change: An Empirical Study of General Printing
Authors: Goss David
Published: September 2003

The study of technological change is now well established. However, much of the sociological work in this area has been concerned with the identification of international/national general trends or tendencies towards either deskilling or enskilling. As yet relatively little attention has been devoted to the detailed ethnography of the effects of technological change as experienced by those directly involved. Where such work has been undertaken it tends to point towards a more complex reality than is commonly acknowledged by the more quantitative or general theories. Using data from a qualitative study of employment relations in the general printing industry this paper seeks to set detailed micro-level analysis within this wider context of technological change, thereby drawing attention to those areas of diversity and complexity which may be overlooked by more general theories.
Social Movements, Self-Limiting Radicalism and the Green Party in West Germany
Authors: Papadakis Elim
Published: September 2003

The Green Party in West Germany represents a renewed challenge to interpretations of the relationship between social movements and parliamentary politics. Its emergence and durability can, to a large degree, be explained in terms of an attempt to reconcile innovative with established organizational forms, radical goals with reformist political practice, and the interests of the new middle class with those of marginalised social groups. Support for this interpretation is derived from empirical studies and from theoretical accounts of social movements. The latter have focused on the reconstruction of the most influential paradigms, namely, the traditional, resource mobilization and action-oriented ones (see Cohen 1985). Although largely conceptual, these attempts to arrive at a new synthesis lend support to an analysis of the Green Party in terms of its `self-limiting' characteristics.
Social Work as Social Control Re-Examined: Beyond the Dispersal of Discipline Thesis
Authors: Rodger John J.
Published: September 2003

A common theme in recent historical and theoretical scholarship on the development of social and penal policy has been that of the `dispersal of discipline'. It has been suggested that social discipline in modern society is maintained as much by the institutions of welfare, particularly those of social work, as by those institutions explicitly concerned with punishment. This paper argues that large-scale historical and theoretical analyses of social control in social policy require a framework through which systematic observations of the concrete implications of this process can be made. It draws on the conceptual vocabulary of Basil Bernstein's sociology to suggest an appropriate perspective for developing an understanding of the social control effects of social policy, especially in the context of social work practice.
Engineering Education in Britain and Japan: Some Reflections on the Use of `the Best Practice' Models in International Comparison
Authors: McCormick Kevin
Published: September 2003

International comparisons of engineering graduate numbers are frequently used as indices of industrial development and measures of the responsiveness of the educational system to industrial requirements. Such comparisons make implicit assumptions about quality by assuming that like institutions or like qualifications are being compared. In this paper the concept of `best practice' engineering education is derived from engineering manpower reports of German engineering education in order to address issues of both quantity and quality in comparing engineering education in Britain and Japan. Japan is found to have associated engineering education with relatively more prestigious institutions and to have attracted a higher proportion of more able male pupils to broad based engineering education compared to Britain. Yet there are some interesting differences between the model of `best practice' engineering education based on Germany and Japanese practice, particularly in curricula, which underline the importance of the division of labour between education and employment in the education and training of engineers. Examining the responsiveness of educational systems through propositions derived from a model of `best practice' rather than through simple output statistics underlines the importance of different patterns of institutional development, the role of the state, educational and occupational selection, and status within the curriculum for understanding the variety of contemporary engineering education.
The Use of the Concept of `Strategy' in Recent Sociological Literature
Authors: Crow Graham
Published: September 2003

One notable feature of recent sociological writing is the growing frequency with which actions are interpreted as forming part of a strategy. All sorts of social actors, from lowly individuals, through households, family businesses, social movements and classes, to mighty multi-national corporations and nation-states, have been represented as employing strategies, and sociologists' usage of the concept of `strategy' is now sufficiently common to warrant its investigation, especially since important and difficult issues are raised when it is adopted. Academic fashion may play a part in explaining the current prominence within the sociological vocabulary of the concept of `strategy', but greater significance should be attached to underlying trends in sociological theorising, even if these are not appreciated in every case where `strategy' is found being employed. Analysis of actions and their outcomes in terms of strategies carries with it the promise of avoiding some of the pitfalls of the classic agency/structure dichotomy, as well as shedding a different light on questions of rationality. Against this, it must be recognised that the extent to which social actions can be illuminated by focussing on strategies is variable; some actions are more open to investigation in terms of strategies than others.
The Value of Re-Studies in Sociology: The Case of Clergy and Ministers, 1971 to 1985
Authors: Bryman Alan
Published: September 2003

This article presents the results of a partial re-study of an investigation of the religious functionary reported in Clergy, Ministers and Priests by Ranson, Bryman and Hinings (1977). The re-study reveals a mixture of both continuity and change in respect of a variety of themes that had been addressed in the earlier investigation. The article reflects on the significance of the findings for the sociology of religion (and the study of churches in particular), but also draws out a number of methodological implications for the problems and prospects of conducting re-studies in sociology.
Informal Practices, Flexible Firms and Private Labour Markets
Authors: Fevre Ralph
Published: September 2003

Interest in informal recruitment methods, and workers' informal job search and acquisition methods, has increased since the recession began. Although evidence (for example, the General Household Survey) does not suggest that the recession has led to a general increase in employers' use of informal methods, significant advances have been made in the theory of informal practices. These ideas are tested against some new evidence from South Wales, and the results are incorporated into a simple model of informal practices which introduces the idea of a `private labour market'. The model suggests that some `recruitment' methods are best seen as contingent and sometimes as the absence of recruitment methods. Finally, the importance of the various stimuli to change in informal practices is considered in the light of the GHS and South Wales evidence.
Patriarchy and Viriarchy: An Exploration and Reconstruction of Concepts of Masculine Domination
Authors: Waters Malcolm
Published: September 2003

The use of the term `patriarchy', in both feminist and sociological analysis, faces problems because of the etymological roots of the term, the form of its connection to political struggles, and the ahistorical fashion in which it is typically employed. There are four principle traditions within which the terms is used: as a kinship based system of government; as generalized masculine oppression; as a mechanism in the social reproduction of capitalism; and as a sex-class system. Elements of these traditions are recombined into a quadrapartite scheme for the analysis of masculine gender-systems which distinguishes between `patriarchy' (rule by male heads of extended families) and `viriarchy' (rule by adult males); and between directly oppressive systems and systems which operate by means of social reproduction.