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The task essayed in this paper is a discussion of problems encountered, and solutions arrived at, during the course of the project.
The qualifications are necessary at the outset. Firstly, the demands of the 'problem and solution' approach encourage the deployment of the 'chronological lie'. Some, even much of what I discuss was only perceived in terms of problem and solution after the event. Secondly, there are many research situations where, one might say, a kind of 'principle of complementarity' obtains--that is where, when a solution to one sort of problem is approached closely, another sort of problem inevitably increases in magnitude. In the latter part of the paper certain problems will be discussed in these terms. That discussion looks at ways of optimizing the inevitably approximate fit between an external reality and what is observed. However, it should be noted that other interpretations of these observational problems are possible? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our research on integration and regulation in organizations is based upon concerns we share about the way organizations adapt or, rather, fail to adapt in our society. We have observed situations in many kinds of organizations where most people are aware that values are not being served, concerns are not being met and issues are not being resolved, but where either no action is taken or, if it is, it fails to achieve desired results. We call these situations social deadlocks and our long-term normative interest is to see whether they can be broken.[1] Although this paper is addressed to methodological aspects of our work, we hope to demonstrate how the design of our research project and the concepts and methods we use are guided by these concerns. Starting with a very brief outline of three of the cases, we then identify a number of common themes and concepts as the key research interests. Some of the problems of pursuing these interests are raised in terms of problems of definition, the collection of evidence and of inference. We argue that attempts to deal with these problems lead us to adopt a particular focus, design and approach for research. The paper then moves to a description of our methods and to some of the problems of analysis and explanation associated with the contextualist style of research we have adopted. Finally, we go back to the cases to demonstrate how our concepts and theories are refined by the research process, which is essentially a dialectic between emergent and imposed frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to present, by means of a case study, a method for the study of cultural phenomena--in particular the drama, It is not concerned with the purposes or functions of the drama in general or of particular dramas, nor is it an enquiry into the ultimate status of the arts in society. The paper is simply concerned to demonstrate how it was that one form of drama was eclipsed and superseded by an entirely new one.
should be recognised that there exist presently close limits to what a sociologist is able to say concerning such phenomena as the drama, dependent upon his particular theoretical posture. A neo-Durkheimian such as J. S. R. Goodlad[1] is, fairly predictably, concerned to demonstrate that the popular drama is a device for the explication of the social structure, the inculcation of morality, the expression of emotion at repressed items in culture (catharsis), and the reproduction and consideration of conflicts inherent in society. The Marxist, Lucien Goldmann[2], however, stresses the determinacy of the class-moment and the status of a valid work as the expression of a world view. 'Simationalisms' of considerably less subtlety than the Lukacs-Goldmann tradition exist, which usually tend toward nominalism.[3]
But whether we take the drama to be pulled into being by the weight of need the social organism has of it, or to be thrust up from the bowels of the substructure, it seems possible to discuss the drama, its form, and the relation of its form to the agencies producing it, in such a way as to be its mechanic rather than its philosopher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the author presents a response to the article "The body in Sociology," by Alexandra Howson and David Inglis, published in this issue of the journal "The Sociological Review." According to the author, Howson and Inglis' paper is both timely and thought provoking. However, the author's contention is that their argument, made through five claims, is fundamentally flawed. The first two concern the emergence of sociological interest in "the body," which, according to the author, are sound. The third is that the work of M. Merleau-Ponty, which has been central to many forms of "corporeal sociology," lacks an account of social structure and is insufficiently sociological in focus to be of use to sociology. The fourth suggests that the work of Pierre Bourdieu, which might be deemed a corrective to Merleau-Ponty, cannot serve this purpose without generating a form of social structural determinism which would undermine the benefits of Merleau-Ponty's contribution. The fifth speculates on whether cultural studies might not provide a more fruitful avenue for those who wish either to avoid determinism or to rejoin Merleau-Ponty. The author's contention is with the third and fourth of these claims, though his view also necessarily has implications for the fifth.

During its eighty-year history, the sociology of youth has provided a succession of partial explanations of the circumstances and responses of the young. The paper critically reviews this history and defines the challenge currently faced by sociologists: to develop a conceptual framework for understanding both the transitions young people pass through as they become adult, and the differential experiences of young people from different social groups. It is argued that such a framework requires the integration of the concepts of process and structure Secondary analysis of existing large data sets is suggested as an available means of meeting the challenge, since such data sets can provide both large representative samples which allow inter-group comparisons, and wide-ranging longitudinal data which allows the study of processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though necessarily selective, I want to present a biography of the research which principally focusses on 24 families with an epileptic child, to illustrate changing perspectives, emergent problems and some of the solutions, or attempted solutions, to overcome them, indicating my position then as it was; and how, in the light of an examination o[ the data, revisions in procedures and interpretations were required. In particular, the paper focusses on the problems of making sense of extensive data, much of which is biographical, collected on one of these families. Analysis of these accounts suggests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]