bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Social and Religious Change in Four English Roman Catholic Parishes
Authors: Hornsby-Smith Michael P. , Lee Raymond M. , Reilly Peter A.
Published: September 2003

This paper reports some of the findings from a study of social and religious change with random samples of both Catholic and non-Catholic electors in four Roman Catholic parishes in England in the mid-1970s. The hypothesis that, as a result of the post-war expansion of educational provision in Britain, Catholics, with their largely urban, immigrant, working class origins, would have experienced a `mobility momentum' relative to the rest of the population, was not supported. Social mobility experiences were shown to be less important than parish effects on sexual morality and the stable middle class were less likely than other groups to defer to authority. The analysis of attitudes to contraception and to recent liturgical changes indicated that attitudes to religious authority were being transformed. There was little evidence that the shifts of religious ideology legitimated by the Second Vatican Council had any salience for Catholics generally.
More on Gender and Justice: Girl Offenders on Supervision
Authors: Webb David
Published: September 2003

This article discusses the findings from a survey of 14-16 year olds made subject to a supervision order in 1978. The social enquiry reports and case files of 241 girls and 971 boys reveal a number of noticeable differences between the sexes in the imposition of this particular sentence. Girls are made subject to an order for less serious offences than committed by boys, after having been involved in fewer previous misdemeanours and for having committed fewer current offences. Taken together, the data would appear to point to a degree of discrimination in the administration of juvenile justice.

This pattern is set within the contexts of the supervision order being a disposal of wide and often unspecified remit and can thereby be readily interpreted by both sentencers and social workers or probation officers as extending general superintendence to wayward youngsters. Because troublesome girls are viewed as exceptional delinquents, they are vulnerable to a greater degree of control and regulation `for their own good' than are boys. Whilst ideas of welfare that are enshrined in legislation directed at young offenders have a benign objective, an emphasis upon `needs' can be variously interpreted meaning that everyday typifications become expressed in the penological regulation of delinquent girls.
Some Anomalies in Social Class Coding and the Official View of the Professions
Authors: Brewer R. I.
Published: September 2003

Despite its frequent use by sociologists there has been relatively little discussion of the practical difficulties involved in operationalizing the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) system of social class allocation. Using social class coding data from a national study of child development this paper examines one problem which occurs when using the OPCS scheme - illegal combinations of employment status and occupational codes. Attention is only focused on occupations falling into Social Class I and for these professional occupations it is shown that illegal combinations are the result of the OPCS conceptualization of the professions.
Telephone Screening as a Research Technique
Authors: McCann Kathryn , Clark David , Taylor Rex , Morrice Ken
Published: September 2003

This paper reports on a successful experiment in the use of the telephone to screen a large urban population in order to identify a relatively small sub-sample. The problem at hand was the identification of a sample of wives of men working in the offshore oil industry. Alternative ways of identifying such a sample are discussed and reasons are given for the decision to use the telephone. The form of random digit dialling used in the study is described and the results of a pilot and the main screening exercise are presented in some detail. The final section of the paper takes a broader view of telephone interviewing. Data are presented on telephone coverage in the U.K., and the advantages and disadvantages of the telephone are assessed in relation to other data collection methods.
Women's Jobs do Make a Difference: A Reply to Goldthorpe
Authors: Heath Anthony , Britten Nicky
Published: September 2003

This paper uses fresh data to confirm and extend our original findings (Britten and Heath, 1983) which were criticized by Goldthorpe ( Sociology, November 1983). Given that the manual/non manual divide has little relevance for women's jobs, we demonstrate that office work and sales work entail very different conditions of employment for women, although the market situation of both groups is inferior to that of men in manual work. The career paths for women across three distinct labour markets (semi-professional, office and unskilled) demonstrate women's attachments to particular kinds of work in spite of interrupted employment histories. It is concluded that the intermittent nature of women's employment does not detract from our approach. In fact we show that women's qualifications have a more significant association with their careers than do their husbands' class positions. Using a new class schema, we confirm the importance of women's jobs in explaining their voting and fertility behaviour.
Social Class of Men, Women and Families
Authors: Erikson Robert
Published: September 2003

An increased interest in the social class position of women has followed the increased labour force participation of married women. But if more than one member of a family is assigned a class position independently of the other members, the two basic factors of class position, according to Lockwood, work situation and market situation, do not necessarily coincide, since the work situation relates uniquely to the individual, while the market situation refers to the family or household. It is suggested that work position, based on the occupations of individuals, should be used as an indicator of the work situation, and that class position, based on information about the occupations of those family members who carry the economic responsibility of the household, should be used as the indicator of the market situation.

A way for ascribing a class position to families, and thereby to family members, is developed. It utilizes the work positions of both spouses and is based on an order of dominance, where occupations high in this order are presumed to influence the market situation of the family more than occupations of lower levels.

Class positions of single individuals or families are thought to be rather stable over time. Although women are shown to have looser attachments to the labour market, we do not find more intragenerational mobility among women than among men, neither in terms of work position nor in terms of class.
The Ultimate Compliment: A Sociological Analysis of Ceremonial Discourse
Authors: Mulkay Michael
Published: September 2003

Recent concepts and findings from conversation analysis are used as the point of departure in studying the social structure of Nobel Ceremonies. Six predictions about such ceremonies are derived from prior work on responses to compliments in ordinary conversations. Data obtained from the published texts of Les Prix Nobel confirm these predictions. It is shown that participants use the same forms of discourse to construct informal complimentary exchanges and celebratory rituals, such as the Nobel Ceremonies. It is suggested that the social structure of such ceremonies is indistinguishable from these regular patterns of discourse and that this is one reason why it has proved to be so fruitful to proceed in this analysis from the organisation of ordinary conversations to the structure of complex interactions.
Traditional and Professional Frames of Meaning in Management
Authors: Spybey Tony
Published: September 2003

This paper explores two distinct frames of meaning used by managers in an industrial enterprise. One is taken to be derived from the traditions of the industry and is consequently particular to it. The other is taken to be derived from conceptions of the professional management of organizations and is universalistic. In looking for explanation, the background to each frame is elucidated, in terms of Giddens' `structuration', and attempts are made to relate them to the divorce of ownership and control and the associated development of capitalism. A change of control in the enterprise, resulting from the latter, is used to highlight the frames of meaning and suggestions are made as to the possible connections between the emergence of finance capital as the power in capitalism and that of a financially-dominated form of management in the organization.
New Theories of State and Civil Society Recent Developments in Post-Marxist Analysis of the State
Authors: Pierson Christopher
Published: September 2003

For many theorists the problem of the capitalist state is seen to have been exhaustively posed in the 1970s by Miliband, Poulantzas and the state derivationists. Yet more recent years have seen the same issues that underlay these positions fuel a much broader and, in terms of the Marxist tradition, more heretical discussion of the nature of the relationship of state and society. This article traces the way in which this more recent debate has emerged and developed, (giving particular attention to the decisive contribution of Claus Offe), outlines the most important claims that have emerged from it and offers an (interim) evaluation of its success in re-casting the relations of state and society.
Government Popularity and the Unemployment Issue, 1966-1983
Authors: Husbands Christopher T.
Published: September 2003

Sociologists have neglected the implications for their subject of the various factors that determine the level of popularity of governments. Whether the rate of unemployment, for example, is related to government popularity may sometimes be an indicator of the existence of `communalism' in a society. For three of the four full-term or near-full-term governments since 1966 the rate of unemployment has been a predictor of month-by-month government popularity, as measured by the Gallup Poll; the exception was the period of Labour government between 1974 and 1979. The relationship between the unemployment rate and government popularity before 1974 is interpreted as indicating the existence of a degree of social communalism. This was eroded by events between 1974 and 1979. However, it is unlikely that the re-emergence of the unemployment rate as a predictor of government popularity since 1979 is to be explained by a revival of communalism; rather, it shows that the current high levels of unemployment are having direct political effects in a now substantial proportion of the electorate who are personally or vicariously affected.
Class Images of `the Economy': Opposition and Ideological Incorporation within Working Class Consciousness
Authors: Emmison Michael
Published: September 2003

The nature of working class or subordinate consciousness and its relation to the dominant value system has been a central component of the research into actors' `images of society'. This paper offers an empirical contribution to this topic via an examination of the conceptions of the economic system held by samples of Australian managers and shop stewards. Previous research has suggested that the consciousness of members of subordinate groups is inconsistent or contradictory in that lower class actors provide a mixture of support for and rejection of dominant values. The evidence reviewed here lends support to this finding but by focusing more closely upon the categories, vocabularies and frameworks which make up the actors' images of the economy, the paper attempts to offer a more satisfactory explanation of how such inconsistencies can appear, one which highlights the role of language as a mechanism in ideological incorporation.
Ideology and Elective Affinity
Authors: Thomas J. J.R.
Published: September 2003

Max Weber's use of the term `elective affinity' is neither consistent nor clear. It is analogous to the concept of ideology, dealing with the relationship of ideas to interests. As such, it can be given a materialist interpretation which would ally it to modern, more sophisticated marxist accounts of ideas in society. Equally, though, it has often been seen as an idealist critique of such accounts. This confusion arises because both idealist and materialist readings ignore the fact that `elective affinity' is not a precise concept at all, but rather an oblique, metonymic reference to Goethe. By exploring that reference to an ambigious and elusive novel, it can be shown that Weber was trying to break away from the dichotomies that typified nineteenth century accounts of belief systems. At the same time, however, in avoiding what he saw as a crudely deterministic concept, `ideology', Weber has instead created one that is largely directionless.
The Decline in Survey Response: A Social Values Interpretation
Authors: Goyder John , Leiper Jean McKenzie
Published: September 2003

Theoretical understanding of survey nonresponse is implicitly heavily behaviourist, concentrating upon researchers' inputs such as follow-up arrangements, and predetermining social role characteristics of sample listings. With the decline over time in response rates, however, the possible importance of social values concerning privacy invasion has been more seriously entertained by methodologists. The paper describes evidence indicating that, in both the USA and Canada, the post-1960's decline in response is not accounted for simply by input explanations. A privacy index is generated by content analyzing British, Canadian, and American newspapers for privacy-related objections to the decennial census. Decade and country, scored according to the privacy index, are then entered into an empirical model for predicting response rate on a survey.
Work and Career Expectations of Insurance Company Employees and the Impact on Unionisation
Authors: Childs Penny
Published: September 2003

The paper presents the results of a study of insurance company employees in 1979. The sample differentiated between `professionals' whose work was not significantly affected by computerisation and rationalisation, and `non-professionals' whose work had generally changed fundamentally through these processes. The data obtained covered the areas of respondents' jobs and their views of both their employer and trade union. A widespread lack of fulfilment of traditional expectations was identified, especially concerning promotion prospects. It was also found that these employees were interested in union involvement in topics such as the career structure and work content which have been regarded as areas of managerial prerogative. The study concludes that experience of decline in traditional white-collar work expectations, hastened by computerisation, leads such employees to view their union as a possible means of gaining influence over their work and careers.
Structural and Circulation Mobility are Alive and Well: A Critical Comment on Sobel's Premature Obituary Notice
Authors: Jones F. L.
Published: September 2003

Hope's halfway model, which represents an attempt to differentiate structural from other sources of occupational mobility, is defended against Sobel's recent criticism, which has force only if the independence model is rejected as an appropriate baseline from which to measure social mobility and immobility. Sobel treats the independence model primarily as a statistical model, whereas in the classical tradition it was a substantive model as well: the model of equality of opportunity. Understood in this way, the independence model, and the macrosociological concepts of structural and circulation mobility, have a continuing place in mobility analysis. It is also argued that Sobel's strictures on the Yasuda index are vacuous, since the examples he gives merely illustrate the nature (and crudity) of that measure.
Capstones and Organisms: Political Forms and the Triumph of Capitalism
Authors: Hall John A.
Published: September 2003

This paper argues against the dominant tendency in social theory to speak of “the state”. It distinguishes two types of state: the capstone state sitting on top of societies, blocking alternative sources of power, and the organic state allowing and encouraging the co-operation of different power sources, which is held to be characteristic of European development. The main argument of the paper is that the latter type of polity was a necessary feature in the complex that allowed the endogenous creation of a broadly capitalist dynamic in the Occident.
The Means of Management Control
Authors: Storey John
Published: September 2003

In the understanding of managerial control over work, the labour process literature has been very influential. Recent critical contributions from the sociological tradition have, however, served to so fragment the underlying perspective that its coherence is now threatened. This paper seeks to demonstrate how a dialectical analysis can lay the basis for a viable amended approach. The need for a dialectical framework has often been urged - illustrations of such a perspective in operation, however, are rare. Using a series of examples, this paper argues that the dialectic of work control can be revealed by focussing on two phenomena: the `levels' and `circuits' of control.
Exploitation or Exclusion?
Authors: Murphy Raymond
Published: September 2003

This paper demonstrates that, although exploitation is central to Marxian theory, the Marxian conception of exploitation has serious limitations. The paper shows that the appropriation of productive labour is best viewed as only one of the possible consequences of the more general process of exclusion in the Weberian sense. It argues that Weberian closure theory begins with a broader conception, exclusion, which captures the common and essential feature of forms of domination which on the surface appear quite different, and it demonstrates that closure theory provides the basis for the development of a power theory of prices and profits as an alternative to the restricted Marxian conception of exploitation and associated labour theory of value.
From Ethnography to Theory: A Programme and Paradigm in the Sociology of Education
Authors: Hammersley Martyn
Published: September 2003

There is a shortage of well-developed and systematically tested theory in sociology, and in the sociology of education in particular. The studies of the effects of streaming and banding carried out by Hargreaves, Lacey and Ball provide one of the few examples of a powerful theory which has survived systematic testing. This sequence of studies provides the basis for a research programme extending beyond the field of education. At the same time, and more importantly, this body of research offers a paradigm for case study research designed to develop and test theory. In this way it helps to close the deplorable, and much lamented, gap between theory and empirical research.
Theorising Gender
Authors: Connell R. W.
Published: September 2003

A social theory of gender is implied and required by current sexual politics. Its scope cannot be defined a priori, but can be defined practically by the reach of a network of arguments generated by feminism, gay liberation, psychoanalysis and some branches of academic sociology and psychology. Two main types of theory have emerged: one emphasising attitudes and social expectations, centring on the idea of `sex roles'; the other presupposing the categories of `women' and `men' and focussing on power relations between them. Criticisms of both general approaches to gender relations are outlined. An argument is advanced for a modification of the second, centring on the practices that constitute gender categories. Some examples of this third approach are mentioned. The problem of `natural difference' can be handled in a practice-based theory of gender by a radical reversal of usual assumptions about biological `bases' of gender, stressing negation and practical transcendence. Some political implications of this approach to theory are raised.
Professionalism and Work Organisation: Some “Loose Ends and Open Questions”
Authors: McCormick Kevin
Published: September 2003

This note examines the thesis advanced by Child, Fores, Glover and Lawrence that a British conception of professionalism has underlain developments in post-school education and shaped a characteristic pattern of work organisation with depressing effects on the status and performance of British manufacturing industry. Historical and contemporary material is used to question the historical generalisations, omissions, interpretations, and policy recommendations which concentrate on reform of the educational system in the search for improved economic performance. In conclusion it is argued that further research and policy is more appropriately directed to employer conduct in training and employment.
The Incorporation of Workplace Trade Unionism? Some Evidence from the Mining Industry
Authors: Edwards Christine , Heery Edmund
Published: September 2003

The incorporation of the workplace leadership has been a recurrent theme in recent writings on British trade unionism. Several surveys have revealed the emergence, since the 1960s, of more full-time representatives and more elaborate hierarchies on the shop floor, amounting to a `bureaucratisation' of the workplace union organisation. The newly established tier of senior shop stewards, it is said, have become distant from the shop floor workers and their concerns, and have been drawn closer to management and national union officials.

The paper explores this proposition by reference to an empirical study of local trade unionism in the coal industry. The organisation of workplace representatives in coal mining exhibits many of the trends which are said to be associated with the incorporation of the shop floor. Detailed examination of local NUM branch officials' relationship with managers, their members and full-time union officers in a sample of 35 collieries, however, revealed that the workplace leadership do not behave as the theory predicts. There was no evidence that they act against their members' interests and pursue, instead, those of management or their national union leaders. The paper ends by questioning the assumptions on which the theory of incorporation is based,.
Rationalization and the Status of Gender Divisions
Authors: Thomas J. J.R.
Published: September 2003

What position did Max Weber take in relation to gender differences and the feminist movement? The work of both Max and Marianne Weber is examined in relation to this question. Both argued that the `original' household had been a patriarchal one rooted in force. Therefore, the subsequent development of marriage and inheritance law, religious and secular ethics and the growth of the capitalist enterprise from the household should all be understood as limitations on patriarchy and thus potential `mother-rights'. There are close parallels here to his account of the decline of status as a mode of the social division of power. Both Max and Marianne Weber adopted a non-socialist feminist position, arguing that the expansion of the capitalist market, and the accompanying processes characterized by him as `rationalization', were themselves responsible for the decline of the household and the progressive emancipation of women. However, this emancipation was one that led to a state where instrumental criteria of expediency would progressively dominate personal and sexual relationships.
Constructing Grandparenthood: Anticipating Appropriate Action
Authors: Cunningham-Burley Sarah
Published: September 2003

Drawing on data from a study of grandparenthood, this paper examines the nature of projected action, and the value of the concept of `rule' in both lay and sociological reasoning.

The way in which people becoming grandparents for the first time defined grandparenthood is analysed through an examination of their formulations of appropriate grandparenting behaviour, as elicited in qualitative interviews. Although much was left ill-defined, grandparental involvement with the younger generations was accounted as being bounded by certain rules or guidelines which served to restrict grandparental action, and set limits to their intended behaviour.

Three main restrictions on potential action were noted: `not-interfering', `sharing', and `not-spoiling'; the grandparents' elaborations of these will be examined. They seemed to express underlying `rules' which represented a way of speaking about or making sense of a future role. However, the failure of these `rules' to perform as clear cut prescriptions for behaviour enabled the grandparents to develop a role for themselves.

Nations of appropriate grandparenting behaviour were found to be based on personal experience or commonsense knowledge. Drawing on their knowledge of family life, the grandparents were able to give themselves a positive but nonetheless non-interfering role.

The personal characteristics and expectations of the grandparents, as people able and willing to spend time with their families, seemed to create an inherent contradiction in their projections of a grandparental role. Yet it was such different relevances which facilitated the production of a potentially satisfactory set of practices for `doing grandparenting'.
Statistical Anomalies in Comparing the Sentencing of Males and Females
Authors: Walker Monica A.
Published: September 2003

Comparisons between the offences, or other characteristics, of male and female offenders given particular disposals can lead to unjustified conclusions if the data are examined without reference to the wider context of the characteristics of all offenders convicted. Two studies are discussed in which unjustified conclusions are drawn.
State Theory and Statutory Authorities: Points of Convergence
Authors: Palmer Ian
Published: September 2003

This paper argues for an institutional approach to state analyses. It notes that in general the Marxist literature on the state has paid little attention to the different types of state administration (departments, statutory authorities), and the effect of administrative forms on the ability of state agencies to conduct activities, or engage in struggles within the state. By contrast, there is an extensive and insightful body of writings to be found in traditional administrative literature on different forms of administration. This literature remains conservative in orientation and rarely directs itself to the broader concerns of theories of the state. This paper attempts to bring these two bodies of writings together by focusing on `quasi-government' bodies such as statutory authorities. It is argued that these administrative forms raise in an acute form the Marxist concerns with struggles, conflicts and allegiances within the state.
Social Closure and Occupational Registration
Authors: Macdonald Keith M.
Published: September 2003

The concept of social closure has been employed by followers of Max Weber as part of an explanation of how members of a social stratum establish and maintain their status, and of how collective social mobility is achieved. Particular attention has been drawn to professional occupations and their registration under statute as an important part of the process of closure. This paper examines the case of the accountancy profession and shows how, after decades of attempting to achieve registration, this goal was abandoned, partly because the costs came to outweigh the rewards and partly because a very similar end was achieved by other means.

A model of social closure is presented which allows this exceptional case to be explained without dispensing with existing formulations. The explanation hinges on the nature of occupational knowledge, the nature of the clientele, the historical/cultural antecedents and the interplay of these factors in the `professional arena'.
Why not a Sociology of Machines? The Case of Sociology and Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Woolgar Steve
Published: September 2003

In the light of the recent growth of artificial intelligence (AI), and of its implications for understanding human behaviour, this paper evaluates the prospects for an association between sociology and artificial intelligence. Current presumptions about the distinction between human behaviour and artificial intelligence are identified through a survey of discussions about AI and `expert systems'. These discussions exhibit a restricted view of sociological competence, a marked rhetoric of progress and a wide variation in assessments of the state of the art. By drawing upon recent themes in the social study of science, these discussions are shown to depend on certain key dichotomies and on an interpretive flexibility associated with the notions of intelligence and expertise. The range of possible associations between sociology and AI reflects the extent to which we are willing to adopt these features of AI discourse. It is suggested that one of the more important options is to view the AI phenomenon as an occasion for reassessing the central axiom of sociology that there is something distinctively `social' about human behaviour.
Class Formation within the Peasantry: Recent Theoretical Developments in the Analysis of the Peasantry with Specific Reference to the East African Debate
Authors: Currie Kate , Ray Larry
Published: September 2003

Debate over the `agrarian question' has continued throughout this century. In recent years, however, partly arising from a renewed interest in Marxist theory, research into rural transformation in Latin America, Africa, and India has both attacked and modified the notion of undifferentiated `peasant societies' (Chayanov, Shanin), and approached the classical Marxist model of assumed differentiation (Marx, Engels, Kautsky) as an empirical question. Rejecting the a priori view that the peasantry in the Third World are being polarised into rural bourgeoisie and landless proletarians, recent research has identified the various forms of subsumption of small-holders to capital. A conflict of interest has been identified between indigenous and international finance capital, the former with an interest in differentiation and accumulation in the countryside, the latter preserving, though exploiting, a `non-accumulating middle peasantry'. It has also been argued that capitalist penetration of the countryside might take place in a form that creates accumulating small producers, without creating a landless proletariat, as a result of the absorption of surplus labour by households. Again, it has been suggested that, while retaining the form of individual proprietorship, small producers are `really' disguised proletarians, a thesis developed in opposition to the articulation position. Finally, recent research has posed questions about the implications of particular forms of transition for political action and consciousness.
German Developments in Role Theory: 1958-1980
Authors: Winnubst Jacques A.M. , ter Heine Egbert J.H.
Published: September 2003

This paper gives an overview of developments in the area of role theory which took place in West Germany between 1958 and 1980. We differentiate three periods. The first is characterized by a discussion of Dahrendorf's Homo Sociologicus, of which we highlight only the essentials. This discussion took place in the early '60s. For the second period, in the late '60s - early '70s, the role theory discussion went into a different phase as a result of the so-called `positivism debate' in German sociology. The various points of view explored in this discussion seem to have converged since the mid '70s; the contours of an integrated role theory are becoming apparent. The paper closes with an overview of both positive and negative sides of the developments outlined.
Credentials and Careers: Some Implications of the Increase in Professional Qualifications amongst Women
Authors: Crompton Rosemary , Sanderson Kay
Published: September 2003

Although the extent of women's participation in the formal economy has grown considerably since the Second World War, it is a well-established fact that this increase has not been evenly distributed throughout the occupational structure. Women who work tend to be concentrated either into `women's' occupations or other low-level jobs. One reason for this, it has been argued, is that women have historically failed to acquire formal work-related qualifications. A preliminary model is developed relating specific career paths to particular kinds of employment-related qualifications and training. On the basis of our existing knowledge, characteristically `male' and `female' qualifications and career path combinations are identified. This model is then used to explore the possible consequences for male and female careers of the recent, and substantial, increase in young women gaining formal qualifications of all kinds.
Leaders of the Solidarity Movement: A Sociological Portrait
Authors: Pakulski Jan
Published: September 2003

Data on the social backgrounds of 33 leading activists of the Polish Solidarity movement are examined in the context of the character of the movement, its social basis, and historical background of mass dissent in Poland. In the light of a typology suggested by the author, the recruitment and composition of the leadership could be seen as reflecting the anti-partocratic and crisis-triggered character of the movement. The top Solidarity activists were leaders and organizers of the 1980 strikes. They were predominantly young and skilled industrial workers, manual and non-manual, employed in the large factories in traditional centres of workers' unrest. They represented this section of the `generation of People's Poland' whose upward mobility in a climate of political optimism generated high expectations and aspirations. These aspirations, frustrated by political exclusion and the economic crisis, led to the rebellion against the partocratic institutions. Although most of the Solidarity leaders were not involved in dissident activities before summer 1980, their backgrounds show a clear link with the political history of Poland and testify to the dramatic failure of the mechanisms of political participation and cooptation.
Personal Consumption, Gender and Marital Status: A Comment on Taylor-Gooby
Authors: McGlone Anne M. , Pudney Stephen E.
Published: September 2003

This note re-examines the conclusions of a recent report by Taylor-Gooby (1985). Using more appropriate statistical methodology, we are unable to support his conclusion that married women have greater access to consumption goods than married men.
The Hard Sell: `Patter Merchanting' and the Strategic (Re)Production and Local Management of Economic Reasoning in the Sales Routines of Markt Pitchers
Authors: Pinch Trevor , Clark Colin
Published: September 2003

This paper proposes that selling can be viewed as essentially a social, interactional accomplishment, not an economic one. A corpus of audio-visual recordings of `pitchers' — market traders who attempt to sell their goods with a sales `spiel' — is analysed. We locate a number of rhetorical formats and interactional practices (`selling techniques') regularly used by pitchers to manage sales. We show how bargains are constituted and enhanced through a contrast between the `worth' and the selling prices of the goods offered for sale. A number of resources used by pitchers to produce mass sales are also documented. Some analytical consideration is given to the manner in which pitchers strategically exploit intersubjectively held social conventions (`economic' reasoning) in order to intervene in the purchasing decisions of audience members to elicit sales. The consequences of understanding selling and other reltedSociology May 86 4256 locally managed, social accomplishments are also explored.
Does Experience of Work Help School Leavers to Get Jobs?
Authors: Breen Richard
Published: September 2003

School leavers looking for work often complain that employers refuse to hire them because of their lack of work experience. In this paper, using data on three recent cohorts of school leavers in Ireland, an attempt is made to assess the advantages in obtaining a job of having work experience. It is found that job seekers with work experience are at an advantage over those seeking a first job at times when the labour market is poorest. Some explanations are advanced to account for this finding, and some consequences for government sponsored work experience programmes are discussed.
The Concept of Class in Closure Theory: Learning from Rather than Falling into the Problems Encountered by Neo-Marxism
Authors: Murphy Raymond
Published: September 2003

Parkin has developed a unified conceptual framework which integrates the analysis of class divisions with the analysis of communal divisions, arguing that all of these divisions are based on processes of social closure which are of the same generic kind. Within his closure model he proposes a non-structuralist collective action conception of class. This paper examines critically the conception of class of Parkin and of the Marxist structuralists he was reacting against when he developed his conception. It demonstrates that the deficiencies of Parkin's conception are the result of that reaction: he has thrown out essential conceptual tools with the bathwater. Thus the paper shows that he falls into the same difficulties as E.P. Thompson in the latter's anti-structuralist position within Marxism. The paper then suggests an alternative for closure theory to Parkin's conception of class and class action and to his way of dealing with the connection between exclusionary practices faced and collective usurpationary action engaged in.
B.S.A. Presidential Address 1986 The Undergraduate Curriculum in Sociology - `A Core for Humane Education'
Authors: Albrow Martin
Published: September 2003

Neither the furtherance of the discipline nor the need for trained professionals in themselves justify 78 institutions offering single-subject sociology degrees. Sociology has enjoyed widespread support because of the inherent centrality of the idea of the social in a wide variety of disciplines and because it can provide the `core for a humane education'. We need to fulfil the educational promise of the discipline by reviewing the first degree curriculum to ensure that it does promote the skills and capacities of which it is such an inherently suitable bearer.
Social Reality as Figuration: A Critique of Elias's Conception of Sociological Analysis
Authors: Layder Derek
Published: September 2003

Elias has proposed what he suggests is a novel characterisation of social reality, in the shape of the concept of `figuration'. Elias claims that this concept, and the `figurational sociology' which analytically supports it, transcend extant approaches. Elias also claims to have `transcended' epistemological debates such as rationalism versus empiricism, as well as such categories as `true' and `false', by appeal to the notion of the `object adequacy' of concepts. I examine the epistemological and ontological assumptions built into Elias's analysis, and conclude that he exaggerates the novelty and explanatory power of his approach. I also argue that far from transcending epistemological concerns, Elias's whole analysis is constrained by his implicit commitment to a sophisticated empiricism.
The Structure of Social Processes
Authors: Bogner Artur
Published: September 2003

This paper seeks to explore the implications of Elias's conceptual framework and of his theoretical-empirical investigations for the study of long-term social processes. It emphasizes the centrality of the non-intentional orderedness of social interdependences and their dynamics for Elias's conception of social `structure' and for his frame of reference (2). It is in this context that his specific concept of `power' has to be understood (3) and acquires primal relevance as a tool for the reconstruction and explanation of the processual structures of long-term societal developments (4). The second part of the paper (4- 7) interprets Elias's studies of `the civilizing process' in the light of the preceding discussion of his theoretical approach, devoting attention to - among other things - the problem of physical force and its monopolization, and to the analysis of `rationalization' (in Weber's sense). The last section (7) hints at the conclusions to be drawn for an adequate understanding and conceptualization of the developmental processes of societies.
Social Class and the Self-Employed
Authors: Dale Angela
Published: September 2003

The self-employed are characterised in the sociological literature as owning their own means of production and having considerable self-direction and autonomy within the work process. However, social survey and official statistics usually use arbitrary definitions, based upon method of payment of National Insurance or income tax, by which to define self-employment among those with no paid employees. Recent work, particularly by Hakim, makes it apparent that many of those officially designated as self-employed do not possess their the autonomy within the workplace or the productive capacity usually attributed to them by sociologists.
Life Stress, Vulnerability, and Depression: A Methodological Critique of Brown et al.
Authors: McKee David , Vilhjalmsson Runar
Published: September 2003

The conceptualization and measurement underlying the `vulnerability' model of depression in women proposed by George Brown and his colleagues are criticized and an alternative, additive `strain' model is proposed. It is also argued that Brown et al.'s statistical methods are inappropriate. An alternative approach utilizing logit and linear probability estimation is proposed. With these techniques, the `vulnerability' and `strain' models are tested, using Brown and Harris' data. The `vulnerability' model is confirmed with the linear probability estimation but not with the logit estimation, while the `strain' model is confirmed with the logit estimation but not with the linear probability estimation. The significance of these results for an assessment of the work of Brown et al. and their implications for other research involving highly skewed dichotomous dependent variables are discussed.
Biology and Social Theory: Parsons's Evolutionary Theme
Authors: Haines Valerie A.
Published: September 2003

The evolutionary theme of Parsons's sociology relates his theory of sociocultural evolution to the theory of organic evolution and to the general theory of action systems. To grasp both relationships, the immanence and Darwinian interpretations of Parsonsian evolutionism must be rejected. Parsons's assumptions about the nature of change and the nature of what is changing follow from the use of Emerson's model of group selection as his source analogy. Its holistic conception of the part-whole relationship explains the theoretical fit between Parsonsian evolutionism and the general theory of action systems, and Parsons's exclusion of action from his evolutionary theory. This limitation and Parsons's restricted focus on the course of evolution can both be corrected by introducing individual selection as a source analogy for sociological evolutionism.
Distributional Struggle and Moral Order in a Market Society
Authors: Marshall Gordon , Vogler Carolyn , Rose David , Newby Howard
Published: September 2003

This paper challenges the widely held view that novel and fundamental changes in the structure of social hierarchy have altered the basis of distributional conflict in modern Britain. Reference to nineteenth-century developments shows that sectionalism, egoism and privatism are not peculiar to the present economic recession. It is then argued that commentators on the left and right alike have oversimplified the relationship between the distributional order of societies, on the one hand, and the specific forms taken by distributional conflicts on the other. This means that the implications of the lack of a capitalist Sittlichkeit (morality or moral order) for social integration may be quite different from those commonly drawn in recent studies.
Sources of Cross-National Variation in Mobility Regimes: English, French and Swedish Data Reanalysed
Authors: Breen Richard
Published: September 2003

This paper presents a reanalysis of the British, French and Swedish mobility data first presented by Erikson et al. (1979). A descriptive model is specified and used to identify precisely where the differences in the relative openness of the three societies are located. In doing this the paper seeks both to synthesize previous findings and to extend our knowledge of the mobility processes at work in the three societies.
The Vignette Technique in Survey Research
Authors: Finch Janet
Published: September 2003

This research note describes the use of vignettes in the author's current survey of beliefs about family obligations, and discusses the potential of the technique for eliciting survey data of a normative kind. Comparisons are made between different ways of using vignettes in British and American surveys concerned with beliefs and norms.
Language Skill, Language Usage and Opportunity: Immigrants in the Australian Labour Market
Authors: Evans M. D. R.
Published: September 2003

This paper examines how immigrants' proficiency in speaking English, and preference for retaining their native tongue as the language of the home, affect their occupational attainment in the Australian labour market. In particular, it investigates how well three approaches - an assimilationist approach, a Neo-Marxist approach, and an ethnic enclaves approach - account for differences among groups in how important language usage and skill are in occupational mobility. The data are drawn from the 1981 Census public use sample. The findings show that monolingual English usage is of no benefit in the labour market and that weak English skills harm the occupational opportunities of some groups much more than others, a finding that is fully consistent with the ethnic enclaves approach. Generalising from the differences among Australian immigrant groups, the paper provides some hypotheses about language effects among immigrants to industrialised societies more generally, and develops some hypotheses about conditions fostering development of ethnic enclaves in such societies.
Pinch and Clark's Patter Merchanting and the Crisis of Sociology
Authors: Cherrington Ruth , Tomlinson Dylan , Watt Paul
Published: September 2003

This paper discusses Pinch and Clark's recent article on the strategies of market pitchers for managing local economic reasoning. We suggest that their research is illustrative of the lack of seriousness and relevance to social issues of a small proportion of sociological studies. In developing this argument, the paper considers the methodology, ethical issues and substantive content of the article. We conclude by noting that, whilst the study of the work of market pitchers is clearly an important research topic, such study should have regard to local social and economic conditions.
The Means of Management Control and Labour Process Theory: A Critical Note on Storey
Authors: Friedman Andrew L.
Published: September 2003

John Storey has criticised the labour process literature for its `monist' presumptions; that is, for developing simple generalisations which cannot deal with the diversity and complexity of social control processes within work organisations. His argument is weak in three ways. First, he misrepresents the labour process literature by treating it as homogeneous. Monism may be a valid criticism of Braverman, but it is not a valid criticism of certain later labour process writers Storey names. Second, many aspects of his `positive' contribution, which he suggests should take the place of monist presumptions, are easily taken into account within the management strategies variant of labour process theory. Finally, his alternative formulation, the means of management control, has serious flaws.