Search

In this paper, we examine whether social class and class divides in social networks contribute to individuals' attachment to society. We argue that network segregation restricts individuals' social worlds, thereby diminishing societal attachment. Our research site is Chile, a country with relatively low social cohesion and one of the world's highest levels of economic inequality. We use large‐scale representative survey data collected in 2016 for the Chilean urban population aged 18–75 years (n = 2983) and interrelate indicators of well‐established dimensions and sub‐dimensions of societal attachment. Results of our regression analyses show that members of the upper middle class are more attached to society than their fellow citizens from other social strata. In addition, having more social contacts within one's own social class reduces attachment to society. In particular, network homogeneity lessens societal attachment for lower‐ and upper‐class individuals, but not so strongly in the middle class. We conclude that social cohesion in Chilean society would be enhanced not only by more equal opportunities but also by changes to the social settings in which social class segregation is (re)produced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to an expanding body of research that has analysed the interactional foundations of economic activity, and price determination, by quantifying the financial implications of different micro-interactional practices. Drawing on video recordings of naturalistic interaction the paper analyses a simple consumer choice, whether to pay one of two prices, the lower 'standard' price (£8.00) or the higher 'gift aid' (£8.80) price, to enter an arts institution. Utilizing resources from conversation analysis, the paper analyses different ways of posing this choice. It describes how, as interactional constraints tighten, standard prices become less socially desirable and customers increasingly 'volunteer' to pay the higher price. The paper contributes to sociological understandings of economic activity, demonstrating how simple one-off choices, and prices, are accountably responsive to micro-interactional structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the substantial body of literature concerned with the ways in which digital media are transforming contemporary society and institutional life, we have relatively little understanding of the ways in which new technologies feature in day to day organizational conduct and interaction. There is however a growing corpus of empirical research which places the situated and contingent character of new technologies at the heart of the analytic agenda, but as yet, these studies are relatively little known within sociology. They include ethnographies of command and control centres, financial institutions, the news media, and the construction industry. They address the ways in which tools and technologies, ranging from paper documents through to complex multimedia systems, feature in work and collaboration. In this paper, we discuss these so-called ‘workplace studies’ and consider their implications for our understanding of organizational conduct, social interaction and new technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Bourdieu's account of a relational social space, and his relative neglect of social interaction within this framework. Bourdieu includes social capital as one of the key relational elements of his social space, but says much less about it than economic or cultural capital, and levels of social capital are rarely measured in his work. Bourdieu is reluctant to focus on the content of social networks as part of his rejection of substantialist thinking. The neglect of substantive networks creates problems for Bourdieu's framework, because many of Bourdieu's core concepts rest upon assumptions about their interactional properties (in particular, the prevalence of homophilous differential association) which are left unexamined. It is argued here that Bourdieu's neglect of the substance of social networks is related to the criticisms that Bourdieu's framework often encounters, and that this neglect bears re-examination, since it is helpful to think of the ways in which differentiated social networks contribute to the development of habitus, help form fields, and so constitute the intersubjective social relations within which sociality, and practice more generally, occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Auctions provide an institutional solution to a social problem; they enable the legitimate pricing and exchange of goods where those goods are of uncertain value. In turn, auctions raise a number of social and organizational issues that are resolved within the interaction that arise in sales by auction. In this paper, we examine sales of fine art, antiques and objets d'art and explore the ways in which auctioneers mediate competition between buyers and establish a value for goods. In particular, we explore how bids are elicited, co-ordinated and revealed so as to rapidly escalate the price of goods in a transparent manner that enables the legitimate valuation and exchange of goods. In directing attention towards the significance of the social interaction, including talk, visual and material conduct, the paper contributes to the growing corpus of ethnographic studies of markets. It suggests that to understand the operation of markets and their outcomes, and to unpack issues of agency, trust and practice, we need to place the ‘interaction order’ at the heart of analytic agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been calls from several sources recently for a renewal of class analysis that would encompass social and cultural, as well as economic elements. This paper explores a tradition in stratification that is founded on this idea: relational or social distance approaches to mapping hierarchy and inequality which theorize stratification as a social space. The idea of 'social space' is not treated as a metaphor of hierarchy nor is the nature of the structure determined a priori. Rather, the space is identified by mapping social interactions. Exploring the nature of social space involves mapping the network of social interaction — patterns of friendship, partnership and cultural similarity — which gives rise to relations of social closeness and distance. Differential association has long been seen as the basis of hierarchy, but the usual approach is first to define a structure composed of a set of groups and then to investigate social interaction between them. Social distance approaches reverse this, using patterns of interaction to determine the nature of the structure. Differential association can be seen as a way of defining proximity within a social space, from the distances between social groups, or between social groups and social objects (such as lifestyle items). The paper demonstrates how the very different starting point of social distance approaches also leads to strikingly different theoretical conclusions about the nature of stratification and inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to develop the concept of dialogue as a dimension of social life bearing its own ethical code. It is suggested, that the principle underlying the framework of dialogue is the production of a 'dialogic' connection' between two (or more) individual selves based on the idea of recognition. Recognition is both demanded from and given to the Other. But, unlike ordinary exchange it is not carried through by way of things. It occurs directly between selves, and it is ethically governed by a set of three obligations: The obligation to speak, the obligation to listen, and the obligation to respond. In each of these three dialogic acts one is obligated to turn to the other as an Other, and call the other into presence within the dialogic connection. Across the dialogic distance selves are interpersonally created, connections produced and thereby the social 'whole' as an open dialogic structure and process is realized. In this paper, the dialogic connection and its ethics are first examined and compared with commodity exchange and gift bonds. Then, each of the three dialogic obligations is explored. Finally, a distinction is made between ritualistic dialogue and dialogue that is regarded as an ethical accomplishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent commentary on working-class life has emphasised its 'privatisation', the restriction of networks of everyday relationships to the immediate family and its home. This marks a distinctive shift from earlier characterisations in terms of 'communal sociability' in which the extended family and a web of neighbours and friends are prominent. This paper presents evidence from a study of people living in a post-war suburb of Coventry which points to a considerable degree of communal sociability in an (apparently unlikely) locality. Privatisation is wholly inapt as a description of the contact with relatives, sources of help, neighbourliness, membership of organisations and recreation reported by respondents. The empirical basis of claims put forward by advocates of the privatisation thesis is examined and an alternative approach to the issue is sketched. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A distinction has recently been proposed between bridging (or encompassing) and bonding (or inward-looking) social networks. However, existing theoretical contributions remain vague as to the fundamental meaning of both concepts. As a consequence, two distinct interpretations have developed alongside each other. In the present paper, we employ data on voluntary association membership in Flanders to empirically illustrate that both approaches can lead to substantially different outcomes and therefore appear to tap into different dimensions of bridging versus bonding. These findings underline the problematic nature of the current conceptual ambiguity. We conclude that should the bridging/bonding distinction add meaningfully to our understanding of the external effects of social networks, it is essential to resolve the conceptual and methodological imprecision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines some central themes about change in consumption behaviour through an empirical investigation of the practice of eating. It analyses patterns of food consumption in the UK using time diary data from 1975 and 2000. The practice of eating is decomposed into four component activities which are used to explore systematically the inter-relationships between social processes – such as commodification and temporal fragmentation – and ways of providing and consuming food. It charts the expansion of eating out, the degree to which it substitutes for other eating activities, and the implications of its development for social relations and the temporal organization of daily life. Analysis reveals that food consumption continues to be differentiated along established lines of social division, although the content of those divisions has changed and varies across components of the practice. Increasing commodification of the food chain is documented, but without appearing to have a corrosive impact on household organization or social relationships. While tendencies indicative of temporal fragmentation are revealed, counter-tendencies exist which suggest that the practice of eating is resilient to many forms of external pressure. Finally, the application of a practice-based analytical approach permits critical evaluation of theories of social transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that although classical sociology has largely overlooked the importance of social relations with the material world in shaping the form of society, Braudel's concept of ‘material civilization’ is a useful way to begin to understand the sociological significance of this relationship. The limitations of Braudel's historical and general concept can be partially overcome with Elias's analysis of the connection between ‘technization’ and ‘civilization’ that allows for both a civilizing and a de-civilizing impact of emergent forms of material relation that both lengthen and shorten the chains of interdependence between the members of a society. It is suggested that the concept of the ‘morality of things’ employed by a number of commentators is useful in summarizing the civilizing effects of material objects and addressing their sociological significance. From the sociology of consumption the idea of materiality as a sign of social relationships can be drawn, and from the sociology of technology the idea of socio-technical systems and actor-networks can contribute to the understanding of material civilization. It is argued that the concept of ‘material capital’ can usefully summarize the variable social value of objects but to understand the complexity of material civilization as it unfolds in everyday life, an analysis of ‘material interaction’ is needed. Finally the paper suggests some initial themes and issues apparent in contemporary society that the sociological study of material civilization might address; the increased volume, functional complexity and material specificity of objects and the increased social complexity, autonomy and substitutability that is entailed. A theory of ‘material civilization’ is the first step in establishing a sociology of objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A prominent strand within both sociological and social theory has been concerned to develop a 'systems approach' with which to explore social life. One of the most original contributions to a systems approach has arisen within critical realism. In particular critical realism demonstrates that it is possible to abstract the causal powers of different objects of analysis to examine their interaction within concrete and contingent 'open systems'. The recent dialectical turn of critical realism develops this systems approach in a much more rigorous manner. However, in this paper I argue that the (dialectical) critical realist mode of abstraction ultimately fails to embed concepts and categories internally within the specific ideological and historical forms of social relations. Or rather, critical realists do not seek to develop concepts that reflect the self-movement of a historical and contradictory essence. This self-movement is what I prefer to call a 'system'. Consequently critical realists are led to separate method from system in theory construction and such a separation leads to a problematic dualist mode of theorizing. I make these observations from a Hegelian-Marxist position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vigorous growth of Cultural Studies has in part come about through an insistence on strong contrasts with sociology. Unlike sociology, the theoretical orientations of Cultural Studies are often held to be postmodern and discursive in character. This paper questions the usefulness of such contrasts by examining the work of Stuart Hall, focusing in particular on the problem of hegemony. I argue that Hall's approach slides ambiguously between reading hegemony as either con- centrated state domination or free-wheeling discourse. Consequently, Hall cannot resist and indeed in some ways reinforces the discursive turn in contemporary Cultural Studies, despite his own explicit criticisms of this development. I track the instability of Hall's approach to an abstract logic of articulation that fragments social relations and subordinates them to political association. Hall's predicament suggests that social life must be theorized as something more than a pliant diversity of sites. The problem of hegemony calls for an account of cultural and group formation as distinct from their political and ideological construction. I thus conclude that Cultural Studies stands in need of a sociological re-orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first half of this paper (in BJS Volume 40, No. 4) we considered the development of thinking about beauty and the face chronologically, from the Greeks and Romans through Christianity and astrology to the present. Here we trace the matter thematically, the face as mask in social interaction; the face as art: makeup and plastic surgery; and the face as battlefield: a source of ideological controversy. A final section considers some of the variables and dimensions around which discourse on beauty and the face has centred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of news is an important part of contemporary cultural and social life. Much has been written about the 'news values' (occupational knowledge) of newsmen, and of their role in the construction of a picture of reality. The starting point of the argument here is that one key set of concepts--those which relate to time--have so far been missing from the account. The broad intention, therefore, is to remedy an oversight in recent sociological work. The paper begins by locating the B.B.C. newsmen studied (through direct observation in the London newsrooms) as members of a time-conscious Western culture. It then argues that the structure of competition which defines news as a perishable commodity demands a production structure geared to the value of 'immediacy' and to the temporal horizons of a daily cycle. We find, on investigation, that an acute consciousness of the passage of time invades the very details of the broadcasting newsman's work. The newsman's language displays fine conceptual distinctions regarding time which show how significant is the temporal dimension of his work. Further, certain concepts, notably 'pace', 'sequence', 'duration', are used in the framing of news as a cultural form. Lastly, the paper argues that for newsmen the mastery of time-pressure is a way of manifesting their professionalism. It closes by drawing attention to the way in which 'news' as presently conceived tends to abolish an historical awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 19th century U.S., European ethnics were considered dark‐skinned and working‐class. By the 1950s, they were re‐categorized as White Americans. Assimilation theory suggests that Europeans' intergroup interactions such as socioeconomic attainments and intermarriage with Anglo‐Saxon Whites led to their assimilation and racial re‐categorization. The theory anticipates that class mobility translates into re‐categorization into Whiteness such that non‐Europeans' upward mobility will also propel them into Whiteness. Despite non‐Europeans' successful intergroup interactions, their assimilation and belonging is still up for debate. If both Europeans and non‐Europeans have participated in similar rates of intergroup interactions, which other factor has determined their differential assimilation outcomes? In response, we conceptualize a boundary model for understanding group belonging. To do so, we distinguish between symbolic and phenotype or somatic race. The former provides and attaches meanings to soma. This boundary model comprises the combined effects of individuals' intergroup interactions and majority groups' symbolic racial boundary expansion‐contraction. Assimilation outcome occurs only when majority groups' boundary expands to recognize intergroup interactions as meaningful and to include newcomers as racial group insiders. We revisit the case of European ethnics to show that the symbolic boundary of Whiteness expanded to re‐categorize them as assimilated Whites. Accordingly, we formulate four hypotheses about the possibilities of re‐categorizing groups in and out of a master category such as Whiteness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is the thesis of this paper that the organizational process of social definition has its natural beginnings in the interactional setting, and that it is from the intrinsic nature of this interactional setting that certain types of organizational patterns arise to remove and therefore define a person as deviant. Previous attempts to analyze this process have been: Goffman[1] who located embarrassment as the source of organizational process for dealing with deviants; Kitsuse[2] who, in trying to get away from the notion of 'forms of behavior', has concentrated upon the 'perceptions' of others; while Lemert[3] has attended to the conspiratorial and reaffirming effects of social organization in relation to interactional process. Although these writers examine the isolation and exclusion of deviants, they tend to do so only in small group contexts, without extending their theories to show how removal occurs as a broad societal reaction. Erikson[4] does attempt this explicitly in his study of the defining of witches by the New England Puritans, as does Wilkins[5] in his theory of deviation amplification. However, the common thread of all these works is that the outcome of the defining process is not only that a person is labelled deviant, but that he is removed from his interactional partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do political investigations affect relations of power? Earlier studies have focused on the empowering effects of political knowledge – in contrast, I analyse how the pursuit of such knowledge makes the investigator dependent on others. I hypothesize that where the will to know empowers others, ignorance becomes a strategic alternative. This mechanism should play out strongly at the intersection of global governance and local political crises: here, global governance actors lack knowledge, investigations often constitute the first direct interaction between actors from both sides, and solidification of power (instead of empowering others) should be a central interest of global governance actors. I first explore the hypothesized mechanisms theoretically and develop a framework to analyse dependencies between investigators and their interlocutors. This framework then facilitates a within‐case comparison of investigative approaches of United Nations Panels of Experts. The results support and elucidate the hypothesized mechanisms. The study shows how the analysis of social interaction can create new views of the much‐studied relationship between knowledge and power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following up on the prediction by classical sociological theorists that neighbours will become irrelevant as societies become more mobile, this research examines the strength of people's social ties with neighbours and the associations thereof with residential, physical and virtual mobility using longitudinal data for Germany. Unlike previous studies, the research considers the three forms of mobility simultaneously and contrasts its effects on social ties with neighbours to those with family. The results show that residential and physical mobility are negatively associated with social ties to neighbours and positively with ties to family. Virtual mobility does not weaken social ties with neighbours but ties with family. The positive association between mobility and social ties with family may not be strong enough to ascertain that people maintain as close social ties to others in the future as it does not outweigh the negative association with visiting neighbours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The persistence of social disparities in educational achievement in contemporary societies is a matter of concern to social theory. Sociology of education has distinguished between the primary and secondary effects of socialization in order to construct explanatory theories of inequality of educational opportunity. Empirical evidence from the recent OECD PISA research is analysed to suggest that causes of the primary effect are the most important. The case is made with close reference to Goldthorpe's attempt to provide a rational action model of social disparities in education. An approach informed by scientific realism is held to offer a more adequate explanation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meaning is necessary in social processes. An absence of meaning in an activity or circumstance leads to an experience of boredom. This is a restless, irritable feeling that the subject's current activity or situation holds no appeal, and that there is a need to get on with something interesting. Thus boredom emotionally registers an absence of meaning and leads the actor in question towards meaning. Boredom, then, is central to key social processes centered on questions of meaningfulness. Given the pervasive preconditions for boredom, release from boredom is a factor that explains characteristic social practices, including risk taking and intergroup conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the claims of Stephen Ball and Peter Woods in their ethnographic studies of option choice schemes. Woods' and Ball's central concern was with the amount of choice pupils had in selecting fourth- and fifth-year courses. They claim that there is an inconsistency between the amount of choice officially offered and the amount of choice pupils were actually given. This is an important issue in itself, but it has heightened significance for these authors because of the consequences that they believe pupil choice could have for the differentiation of pupils within schools. And such differentiation is considered to be important because of its assumed consequences for occupational placement and the reproduction of the social class structure. Alongside with the role of schools in the reproduction of social inequality, there is another theme in these two studies, the importance of giving attention to micro as well as macro special processes. The accounts of option choice that they provide are in each case part of ethnographic studies of particular schools. The authors emphasize the importance of investigating processes of social interaction within the school, rather than treating the schools as black boxes and only studying their inputs and outputs.

This article presents information regarding methodological implications of symbolic interactionism for the study of deviance. Theoretically symbolic interactionism rests on three primitive assumptionst reality as it is sensed, known and understood is a social production. As such it consists of social objects, the meanings of which arise out of the behaviours persons direct towards them. Humans are granted the capacity to engage in minded, self-reflexive behaviour. In the course of taking their own standpoint and fitting that standpoint to the behaviours of others, humans interact with one another. Interaction is seen as an emergent, negotiated, often times unpredictable concern. Interaction is symbolic simply because minded, self-reflexive behaviour demands the manipulation of symbols, words, meanings and diverse languages. Language refers to all the utterances, gestures and movements one interactant communicates to self or other. It is viewed as a conversation of gestures arising out of the interaction process. Interactants can communicate in a silent-gestural language or in a set of personally specific vocal utterances. Their languages may transcend situations.