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While torture and assassination have not infrequently been used by states, the post 9/11 ‘war on terror’ waged by the US has been distinguished by the open acknowledgement of, and political and legal justifications put forward in support of, these practices. This is surprising insofar as the primary theories that have been mobilized by sociologists and political scientists to understand the relation between the spread of human rights norms and state action presume that states will increasingly adhere to such norms in their rhetoric, if not always in practice. Thus, while it is not inconceivable that the US would engage in torture and assassination, we would expect these acts would be conducted under a cloak of deniability. Yet rather than pure hypocrisy, the US war on terror has been characterized by the development of a legal infrastructure to support the use of ‘forbidden’ practices such as torture and assassination, along with varying degrees of open defence of such tactics. Drawing on first-order accounts presented in published memoirs, this paper argues that the Bush administration developed such openness as a purposeful strategy, in response to the rise of a legal, technological, and institutional transnational human rights infrastructure which had turned deniability into a less sustainable option. It concludes by suggesting that a more robust theory of state action, drawing on sociological field theory, can help better explain the ways that transnational norms and institutions affect states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1996, Sotheby's in New York held a four-day auction of many of the possessions Jackie Onassis purchased during her lifetime. This paper is an ethnography of a loose social circle of gay men, some of whom attended the pre-auction display of these objects and who regularly hold their own informal Jackie ‘O’ celebrations. It looks at what their worshipping of a female figure, Jackie ‘O’, means and how a distinctive cultural capital is espoused by gay men which differentiates them from other Jackie collectors. To this end, the paper also focuses on ‘vocabularies of appreciation’ ( ), or kitsch consumption among this loose social circle and, in this process, categories of ‘us’ and ‘them’ are performed (see ; ; ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically scrutinizes the thesis put forward by Jennifer Platt in a recent article in The Sociological Review about the general relation between theory and method, based on her investigation of the specific example of functionalism and survey research in post-war US sociology. The present paper questions the extent to which Platt's analysis and general conclusions mask important levels of connectedness between theory and method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to illustrate the utility of regarding the census more as a 'narrative source'[10] than as a statistical one. Attention is paid to the character of the classificatory devices employed, not for the ambiguities contained in them and consequent levels of error, but for their substantive character and what they reveal about the contemporary social setting. The paper starts from the assumption that the census is a social product, both arising from and reflecting the social concerns of an era. As such it may be said to mirror the dominant values of the time, among which will be values concerning occupations, their legitimacy, their boundaries and their social worth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of the Christian Right and the pro-life movement over the last fifty years has transformed US politics in general, and the Republican Party in particular. Its seemingly all-pervasive influence on contemporary US politics has commanded much social scientific attention. However, policy debates over embryonic stem cell research during the Presidency of George W. Bush exposed deep, moral fissures amongst American conservatives. As one of the most recent 'hot button' issues in America's culture wars, embryonic stem cell research appeared to energize the under-studied moderate wing of the 'Grand Old Party' (GOP), which belatedly emerged to challenge what often seems like a homogeneous and monolithic Christian Right. This paper argues that during the 109 United States Congress, moderate Republicans identified in embryonic stem cells a powerful entity around which to mobilise themselves as a set of otherwise diverse interests. This enabled them to imagine a political future for themselves in which they could successfully challenge the hegemony of the Christian Right in grassroots Republican Party politics. In states like Missouri, however, which fought a referendum on embryonic stem cell research in the 2006 midterm elections, it could be argued that emboldened GOP moderates overplayed their hand. Furthermore, a fully-formed GOP moderate counter-movement to the Christian Right failed to materialize as centrists and moderates were amongst the first to lose their seats when the Democrats reclaimed Congress at the 2006 midterms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at a recent historical moment in which the American national identity was defined and contested in the public arena. The Persian Gulf crisis of 1990-91 presents a case in point in which official actors attempted to define the American character and in so doing prescribed particular actions necessary to fulfill what it means to be an American, President George Bush's discourse used the crisis to rejuvenate US prestige and American confidence. He described Americans as unique in esteemed values and America as the only country capable of leading the world. In so doing, he invited American participation in support for US military intervention. On the other side, the peace movement chose to emphasize American weaknesses, domestic problems, and the gullible nature of the American people. In so doing, it attempted to shame Americans into supporting the anti-war movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many writers hold that research method is necessarily determined by theory, and it is common to suggest the relationship between functionalism and survey method in post-war US sociology as an example of this. This paper questions the extent to which that method and that theory were in reality meaningfully associated, and argues against the position that theory and method are in general invariably connected in the way suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to argue that part of this dilemma results from the abandonment of the concepts of rle. Its reinstatement, in suitably modified ways, may provide that sense of form which is missing from much interactionist writing. The argument is based upon a study of professional-client interaction in various medical settings in Scotland and the United States.[2] The study was not undertaken in search of rles, indeed it was initially assumed that these, like the unicorn, would never be seen again. Nevertheless, only the. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]