{"title":"The ethics of open methods.","authors":"R. Homan","doi":"10.2307/591538","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/591538","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":365401,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of sociology","volume":"41 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1992-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131101674","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Tomb, temple, machine and self: the social construction of the body.","authors":"A. Synnott","doi":"10.2307/591202","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/591202","url":null,"abstract":"The body is socially constructed; and in this paper we explore the various and ever-changing constructions of the body, and thus of the embodied self, from the Greeks to the present. The one word, body, may therefore signify very different realities and perceptions of reality; and we consider briefly how and why these meanings changed. Plato believed the body was a 'tomb', Paul said it was the 'temple' of the Holy Spirit, the Stoic philosopher Epictetus taught that it was a 'corpse'. Christians believed, and believe, that the body is not only physical, but also spiritual and mystical, and many believed it was an allegory of church, state and family. Some said it was cosmic: one with the planets and the constellations. Descartes wrote that the body is a 'machine', and this definition has underpinned biomedicine to this day; but Sartre said that the body is the self. In sum, the body has no intrinsic meaning. Populations create their own meanings, and thus their own bodies; but how they create, and then change them, and why, reflects the social body.","PeriodicalId":365401,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of sociology","volume":"38 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1992-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131023036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Disability and social stratification.","authors":"R. Jenkins","doi":"10.2307/591447","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/591447","url":null,"abstract":"This paper suggests that, for a variety of reasons, the sociology of social stratification--and, as a consequence, mainstream sociology more generally--has neglected the topic of disability. Using material drawn from a range of sources, it is argued that disability is related in definite ways to social class. Further, it is also argued that disability must be considered as a factor contributing to the production and reproduction of stratification in its own right, independently of class relations. These arguments are further advanced in the course of a more detailed consideration of research evidence concerned with mental handicap. The paper ends with a consideration of the role of non-class factors--specifically social status and citizenship--in the stratification systems of modern industrial societies.","PeriodicalId":365401,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of sociology","volume":"140 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1991-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123318367","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The politics of welfare policy in Sweden: structural determinants and attitudinal cleavages.","authors":"Stefan Svallfors","doi":"10.2307/591450","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/591450","url":null,"abstract":"The article analyzes attitudes to Swedish welfare policies, using data from a survey conducted in 1986. In the first section, a number of indices tapping various aspects of attitudes to welfare policy are constructed. In the second section these indices are used to give an empirical assessment of competing theories about the impact of different structural determinants on attitudes. It is concluded (a) that there is general support for Swedish welfare policies, which, however, is mixed with criticisms of bureaucracy and suspicion about abuse of welfare programs, and (b) that class position and 'class-related' determinants such as income are more important than factors such as gender, private or public sector location or consumption groups in structuring attitudes. In the concluding section, these findings are discussed in relation to recent theorizing about newly emerging lines of division in the population. It is argued that either Sweden must be seen as a deviant case, which for specific historical and institutional reasons is characterized by class conflicts rather than other sectional splits, or the theories about new lines of division are simply mistaken.","PeriodicalId":365401,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of sociology","volume":"179 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1991-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115285997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The social facts of deviance in school: a study of mundane reason.","authors":"S. Hester","doi":"10.2307/591189","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/591189","url":null,"abstract":"This paper reports an ethnomethodological study of the use of mundane reason in relation to deviance in schools. Its central theme is that the social facts of deviance in schools are constituted through the assumptions, practices and procedures which comprise mundane reason. The data upon which the study is based consist of transcribed tape recordings of meetings between teachers, psychologists and social workers at which children referred from schools to the Child and Family Guidance Service are discussed. The talk in these meetings is shown to reveal the use of mundane reason with respect to a variety of practical actions. These include categorization, accounting for referral and other actions towards referrals, referral recipiency, reporting referrals, and the formulation of reactions to referrals. Each of these practical actions is considered in turn and its contribution to fact constitution identified. Taken together and viewed consecutively, they can be seen to have a cumulative impact on the social constitution of deviance in schools.","PeriodicalId":365401,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of sociology","volume":"138 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1991-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127530138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Obligations of kinship in contemporary Britain: is there normative agreement?","authors":"Janet Finch, Jennifer Mason","doi":"10.2307/591185","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/591185","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the extent to which there is normative agreement in contemporary Britain about the 'proper thing to do' for relatives. Using quantitative survey data generated using the 'vignette technique', the authors assess how far certain policy and sociological assumptions about appropriate kinship obligations hold up to empirical scrutiny. They argue that there is not a straightforward consensus about a set of normative principles but that it is possible to identify patterns of normative agreement. These vary more in line with the circumstances specified in the vignettes than with the social characteristics of the respondents. There is more evidence of a consensus over procedures - that is what factors people should take into account in working out the proper thing to do for relatives - than over the substance of what should be done. The authors conclude that people do not carry around with them stable sets of values and meanings about obligations to kin, but construct them when they have to out of various materials available.","PeriodicalId":365401,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of sociology","volume":"23 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1991-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122203500","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Social images of suicide.","authors":"R. Marra, M. Orrù","doi":"10.2307/590371","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/590371","url":null,"abstract":"Emile Durkheim's analysis of historical attitudes of societies toward suicide led him to claim that (1) the social disapproval of suicidal conduct increased constantly from ancient times to the present; (2) such increased disapproval was generated by the growing emphasis put on the dignity and sacredness of the individual; (3) the condemnation of suicidal conduct was therefore essentially moral, and it expressed the strong reaction of the collective conscience against offenses to the cult of the individual. In this study we show that Durkheim's interpretation of the historical evidence is erroneous: not increasing condemnation of suicide, but rather tolerance or mild aversion is the typical social response to suicide. Also, when confronted with the historical evidence, Durkheim's claim that increased disapproval of suicide accompanied increased consideration for the dignity of the individual is shown to be unfounded. Our argument develops in four steps. First, we survey the historical evidence on views of suicidal conduct from classical times to the nineteenth-century; second, we present the moral statistics literature on suicide which flourished during Durkheim's lifetime; third, we analyze Durkheim's own theory of anomic suicide. In the conclusion we propose an alternative interpretation of the historical evidence on attitudes on suicide, and a different framework in which to highlight their significance in contemporary society.","PeriodicalId":365401,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of sociology","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1991-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128733999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ethnostatistics and the AIDS epidemic.","authors":"M. Bloor, D. Goldberg, J. Emslie","doi":"10.2307/590838","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/590838","url":null,"abstract":"Ethnostatistics is the study of the social practices surrounding the construction and interpretation of statistics. This paper considers certain ethnostatistical aspects of the official statistics on AIDS cases--the monthly updated figures on AIDS cases supplied by the Department of Health and derived from the English and Scottish voluntary reporting schemes. The paper focuses on problems in the classification of cases according to the route of virus transmission, particularly where multiple risk practices may be reported. Some (but not all) classification problems can be avoided by adopting a cross-tabular format of presentation. The data on reported Scottish AIDS cases are re-analysed in order to illustrate such a cross-tabular representation. These data are the basis for a concluding statement on the difficulties in projecting future heterosexual epidemic spread.","PeriodicalId":365401,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of sociology","volume":"32 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1991-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115614739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Professional culture and organizational morality: an ethnographic account of a therapeutic organization.","authors":"M. Nijsmans","doi":"10.2307/590832","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/590832","url":null,"abstract":"An ethnographic exploration of the social reality of a counselling and training institute points to the profound impact of the therapeutic paradigm on the 'patterned regularities', the general principles, rules and daily practices, in other words, the organizational morality. The limited house-rules or practices emerged mainly as 'enabling conditions' to let professional autonomy prevail and to maintain the game rather than to prescribe behaviour. Organizational rules, structures, mechanics served as a platform for negotiations among different groups of 'provinces of meaning'. These negotiations do not necessarily show any sense of organizational logic or administrative rationality. Perhaps the opposite is true. Loosely coupled interactions and consensual validation rather than goal-oriented thinking appeared to be the predominant organizational occupation. The irrational, at times even ironic dynamics operative in organizational morality are nevertheless meaningful. They function as 'mapping' and sense-making devices and can be seen as vehicles for reflecting and ordering underlying meanings.","PeriodicalId":365401,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of sociology","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1991-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132570413","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Race and ethnicity in the European context.","authors":"S. Allen, M. Macey","doi":"10.2307/590964","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/590964","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":365401,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of sociology","volume":"3 6","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1990-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"113976728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}