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This paper aims to discern, clarify, criticise, and advocate some uses of phenomenology in sociological research. Phenomenology is increasingly evoked or implicitly employed in sociological endeavours. Little attention, however, is paid to what is entailed in taking a phenomenological approach, and whether it is employed to advance empirical or theoretical knowledge. I build an analytic typology of different empirical and theoretical uses of phenomenology, criticise a range of these uses, and argue that other uses bear significant potential for the advancement of theoretical and empirical knowledge. The paper's main contribution lies in comparing and contrasting the many invocations of phenomenology in contemporary social scientific research to discern their benefits and shortcomings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phenomenological sociology is one of the most recognized approaches for explaining the constitution of social behaviour and the construction of social reality. To this day, phenomenological sociology usually belongs to the tradition of Edmund Husserl's transcendental phenomenology and to Alfred Schütz's mundane phenomenology, thus generally presenting itself as sociology of lifeworld, sociology of everyday life, and sociology of knowledge. In contrast to this, this paper intends to outline an alternative kind of phenomenological sociology that finds its philosophical foundation in Hermann Schmitz's "New Phenomenology". With regards especially to Schmitz's theory of the felt body ("Leib") and his theory of situation, the basic principles of Neophenomenological Sociology (NPS) will be introduced. Their main components are (1) felt body and affective involvement as the pre‐personal apriori of sociality, (2) felt‐bodily communication as the basic unit of sociality, and (3) joint situations as the socio‐ontological foundation and empirical manifestation of sociality. With these specific key concepts, NPS proves itself to be a socio‐theoretical approach whose foremost strength is that it can identify and properly analyse the pathic dimensions of social behaviour and social situations that social sciences tend to overlook. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the summary of several articles on nursing research. "Research Into Patients' Perspectives: Relevance and Usefulness of Phenomenal Sociology," by C. Edwards and A. Titchen; "Psychometric Properties of the SF-36 in the Early Post-Stroke Phase," by S. Hagen, C. Bugge and H. Alexander; "Efficacy of Swallowing Training for Residents Following Stroke," by L. C. Lin, S. C. Wang, S. H. Chen, T. G. Wang, M. Y. Chen and S. C. Wu; "Management of Childhood Constipation: Parents' Experiences," by M. Farrell, G. Holmes, P. Coldicutt and M. Peak; "Korean Mothers' Psychosocial Adjustment to Their Children's Cancer," by H. R. Han.

Research on regulation and regulatory processes has traditionally focused on two prominent roles: rulemaking and rule‐taking. Recently, the mediating role of third party actors, regulatory intermediaries, has started to be explored – notably in a dedicated special issue of the ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. The present special issue extends this line of research by elaborating the distinction between formal and informal modes of regulatory intermediation, in the specific context of transnational multistakeholder regulation. In this introduction, we identify two key dimensions of intermediation (in)formalism: officialization and formalization. This allows us to develop a typology of intermediation in multistakeholder regulatory processes: formal, interpretive, alternative, and emergent. Leveraging examples from the papers in this special issue, we discuss how these four types of intermediation coexist and evolve over time. Finally, we elaborate on the implications of our typology for regulatory processes and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper considers the ways in which the dynamic nature of transit migration may be captured in categories that provide a basis for developing our understanding of the phenomenon but do not attempt to artificially pin it down. The first section re-examines common ways of categorising migrants and the second turns to existing research and activism around subjects of immigration in North Africa. The final section applies the common categorisations of the first section with the developing research considered in the second to examine the data that is available to enhance our understanding and possibilities of developing categorisations of transit migration. The conclusion sets out ways of advancing the research agenda on transit migration. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the influences on professional judgements about large sibling group placement. The paper attempts to explain how social workers’ awareness of the significance of sibling relationships operates in the process of making judgements and decisions about placement. It undertakes a detailed phenomenological analysis of the process in five cases involving large sibling groups. Drawing on philosophical theories of equity and pragmatism, it proposes a theoretical approach to addressing the issues in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

edwards c. & titchen a. (2003) Journal of Advanced Nursing 44(5), 450–460 Research into patients’ perspectives: relevance and usefulness of phenomenological sociology The dominant epistemology underpinning much inquiry in the field of patient evaluation of health care is positivist, with categorization and quantification being high priorities, despite the highly personal and dynamic nature of people's responses to their health care experiences. The mis-match between underpinning theoretical assumptions and the nature of the subject under investigation has led to ineffectiveness in much current inquiry into patients’ perspectives. More needs to be learnt about patients’ processes of evaluation prior to any summary assessment of the quality of their care. This paper documents the search for a close fit between a study's research questions and a theoretical perspective with which to underpin the research. It describes the benefits of identifying a specifically relevant perspective, in this case phenomenological sociology, and discusses the potential of that particular perspective to underpin research within health care. Research questions relating to patients’ processes of evaluation were established. The possible contribution of a range of interpretative methodologies was considered. While all were relevant to some degree, phenomenological sociology was identified as having considerable specific potential to illuminate the patient's process of evaluation. The particular strengths of phenomenological sociology relevant to the investigation of patients’ processes of reflection are in highlighting the importance of subjectivity; its insistence on a clear link from theoretical development right back to the raw data; its wealth of evocative ideas and concepts that support the investigation of the development of interpretation; and the relatively accessible language and style of its texts. Time spent evaluating the potential contribution of different theoretical perspectives to a study is worthwhile, as a good choice can not only support but also enhance the quality of the research. Phenomenological sociology has much potential to underpin research into patient evaluation of health care and in nursing research more widely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many students have poor mental health literacy when they finish Bachelor of Nursing courses. This paper presents the findings of a longitudinal study of Australian Bachelor of Nursing students' mental health literacy about the effectiveness of interventions for people with schizophrenia. The 'Attitudes and Beliefs about Mental Health Problems: Professional and Public Views' questionnaire was used with a non-probability sample of nursing students. A time series approach to data collection was used, with data collected on three occasions between 2005 and 2007. Ethics approval was obtained from a university ethics committee. Data were analysed using SPSS Version 15.0. The students' views about the helpfulness of interventions showed a significant and positive improvement as they progressed through the course. There were significant differences over time in their views about the helpfulness of professional and lay interventions, their opinions about the helpfulness of mental health and other medications, and the usefulness of activity and non-pharmacological interventions. Because nursing students need to be mental health literate when they complete their course, mental health nursing content should be incorporated earlier in comprehensive undergraduate curricula and incrementally increased in each year of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a scholarly paper on sensible qualities and the structure of appearance. It aims to clear confusions on sensible qualities and explain the structure of gustatory appearance by representational explanation. Accordingly, it says that sensible qualities are perceptible properties like colors and shapes. It concludes that the structure of appearance is elaborated by representation of sensible qualities.

This is a qualitative study of Black cisgender women's faculty experiences using an interactionist framework. Relying on in‐depth interviews, we explore the experiences of eight Black, cisgender, women, sociology faculty across the United States in various tenure and non‐tenure roles at different institutions (community college, teaching college, and research universities). Participants engaged in a variety of impression management techniques to overcome implicit biases and controlling images that shaped their students', and their colleagues', perceptions. While women in our study had agency, they were limited in the ways they could present themselves, a phenomenon Deil‐Amen and Tevis describe as circumscribed agency. Once women in our study had achieved seniority they were able to express themselves in culturally authentic ways. Theoretically, this study shows how interpretive sociology can overcome its theoretical limitations in dealing with race, and shows that the interactionist perspective is actually well suited towards discussing this matters in a meaningful way. We conclude by advocating for greater awareness surrounding the lived experience of Black, women faculty, especially by those who mentor and evaluate them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years concepts drawn from linguistics have been used increasingly in social and political theory. Such concepts as deep structure, surface structure, transformation rules, etc., are borrowed from Chomsky's theory of transformational-generative grammar. This paper examines two instances of this "linguistic drift" in action theory—the work of Marshall Edelson on personality and Terrence Turner on kinship and socialization. Analysis shows that in these instances the analogies with the linguistic concepts are not very rigorous. The author makes some tentative statements about the current status and prospects of such research programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors argue that temporality is a significant dimension of social activity. The paper reviews the phenomenological experience of temporality, ways of conceptualizing time, and ways in which temporality may shape interpretation, and illustrates these themes through an empirical study in which approximately 80 subjects read and responded to one of two short stories. Themes of temporality were explored in the interview transcripts through references to temporal themes, temporality as an influence on causal and trait attributions, temporal chains, and other forms of interpretive cycles, as well as ways in which temporality is involved in the definition of other and "possible others." On the basis of these patterns, we conclude that time is a crucial factor in shaping interpretations of social life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on sociologist Peter L. Berger's definition of religion. In his stimulating article in the June 1974 issue of Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Berger presents an argument for reconsidering the kind of definition employed in the scientific study of religion. The major thread of his argument runs as follows. Concepts and definitions are tools fitted to the purposes of the investigator, like substantive or functional definitions of religion. Some use functional definitions for ideological purposes, that is to avoid specifically religious experience or to deny the transcendent. The scientific study of religion needs a reinvigorated substantive definition of religion from the phenomenological approaches of analysis of the numinous as religious experience and of model of multiple realities. The author agrees with Berger's approach while disagreeing with the impact of the total argument. The author holds that there are issues in the formation of concepts and definitions which are logically prior to the purposes of investigators.

The paper compares one aspect of Max Weber's explicit conception of ‘interpretive sociology’ with his actual practices in his substantive investigations. It shows that Weber's overt emphasis on the importance of meanings and motives in causal explanation of social action does not correspond adequately with the true mode of explanation involved in his comparative-historical studies of the world religions. Rather, the ultimate level of causal explanation in Weber's substantive writings is that of the social-structural conditions under which certain forms of meaning and motivation can achieve historical efficacy. A model is developed to represent the actual nature of ‘Weberian sociology’. It is proposed that this internal comparative analysis and interpretation can have useful implications for contemporary sociological debates and approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginnings are both theoretically and experientially anchored in a distinctively discontinuous conception of time. This paper examines the conventional nature of beginnings, calls attention to the politics of establishing official beginnings of historical narratives, and claims that the way groups (from families to nations) construct their historical beginnings ought to be at the heart of any study of the development of collective identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Abstract: This article offers an interpretive political analysis framework, exploring and asserting its value for understanding penal change. It is argued that this approach serves, in part, to emphasise the importance of the minutiae of political activity: the crucial impact that apparently minor decisions, unimportant participants, or particular ‘rules of the game’ can play in specific outcomes. It emphasises the importance of human agency and meaning: the relationship between politics and fate. It facilitates the connections of particular ‘micro’ analyses with ‘macro’ accounts of penal change. I argue that the approach set out here thereby enables us to place centre stage the beliefs and practices of policy participants, and the political dynamics of policymaking. By doing so, particular case studies serve as valuable ‘windows’ into the meanings in action that iteratively make sense of, respond to, and thereby (re‐)constitute the realities in which actors operate, specific penal outcomes, and broader penal change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article focuses on a phenomenological study of trainee/educational psychologists’ lived experiences regarding the support roles in the implementation of inclusive education practices in Zimbabwe. In‐depth phenomenological interviews were done with 16 purposely selected participants (13 trainee/educational psychologists located at three administrative offices and three experts on inclusion from three universities) and data was transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed. Monthly/annual reports from trainee/educational psychologists were used as reference material. Three major themes emerged from the support roles: (1) diverse views on inclusion; (2) critical roles, successful and unsuccessful experiences in implementing inclusive education; and (3) impact of experiences on rendering support services. Key findings indicate that advocacy and consultation, assessment and placement, and in‐service training were viewed as critical and successful experiences, whereas negative teacher attitudes and limited resources were viewed as barriers toward the implementation of inclusive education practices. The impact of experiences indicates inadequacy in the provision of support services. Annual reports of trainee/educational psychologists indicated inadequate ongoing training on inclusive education practices. These findings are discussed in relation to the inclusive education literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The past two decades have seen an explosion of literature on Hume's views about mental representation and intentionality. This essay gives a roadmap of this literature, while arguing for two main interpretive claims. First, Hume aims to naturalize all forms of mental representation and intentionality, that is, to explain them in terms of properties and relations that are found throughout the natural world (not just in minds) and that are not, individually, peculiar to representational or intentional things. Second, Hume holds that the passions are not representational but do have intentionality extrinsically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative research examines the influence of animosity on physicians during clinical encounters and its ethical implications. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten Israeli-Jewish physicians: four treated Syrians and six treated Palestinian terrorists/Hezbollah militants or Palestinian civilians. An interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to uncover main themes in these interviews. Whereas the majority of physicians stated they are obligated to treat any patient, physicians who treated Syrians exhibited stronger emotional expression and implicit empathy, while less referring to the presence of the Israeli-Arab conflict. In contrast, physicians who treated enemy combatants or Palestinian civilians showed the exact opposite. Linking these results to the "Implicit Bias" theory, the role of empathy and the beneficence principle in medical ethics, we argue that: (a) the unconscious decreased emotional involvement among the latter group of physicians is a deficiency that needs to be recognized; and (b) this deficiency undermines the principle of beneficence, thereby possibly influencing the fulfillment of the commitment to treat patients. Acknowledging and addressing the potential emotional and ethical deficiencies entailed in encounters with the so-called enemy-patients are of importance to the global medical community, since such encounters are increasingly an integral part of the current political realities faced by both the developed and developing worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Block () highlights two experimental studies of neglect patients which, he contends, provide 'dramatic evidence' for unconscious seeing. In Block's hands this is the highly non-trivial thesis that seeing of the same fundamental kind as ordinary conscious seeing can occur outside of phenomenal consciousness. Block's case for it provides an excellent opportunity to consider a large body of research on clinical syndromes widely held to evidence unconscious perception. I begin by considering in detail the two studies of neglect to which Block appeals. I show why their interpretation as evidence of unconscious seeing faces a series of local difficulties. I then explain how, even bracketing these issues, a long-standing but overlooked problem concerning our criterion for consciousness problematizes the appeal to both studies. I explain why this problem is especially pressing for Block given his view that phenomenal consciousness overflows access consciousness. I further show that it is epidemic-not only affecting all report-based studies of unconscious seeing in neglect, but also analogous studies of the condition most often alleged to show unconscious seeing, namely blindsight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I here investigate whether there is any version of the principle of charity both strong enough to conflict with an error-theoretic version of nominalism about abstract objects ( EN), and supported by the considerations adduced in favour of interpretive charity in the literature. I argue that in order to be strong enough, the principle, which I call '(Charity)', would have to read, 'For all expressions e, an acceptable interpretation must make true a sufficiently high ratio of accepted sentences containing e'. I next consider arguments based on (i) Davidson's intuitive cases for interpretive charity, (ii) the reliability of perceptual beliefs, and (iii) the reliability of 'non-abstractive inference modes', and conclude that none support (Charity). I then propose a diagnosis of the view that there must be some universal principle of charity ruling out ( EN). Finally, I present a reason to think (Charity) is false, namely, that it seems to exclude the possibility of such disagreements as that between nominalists and realists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vision plays a privileged role in social interaction and the construction of intersubjective reality. Given that one of sociology's tasks is to problematize the taken for granted, research that examines rarely foregrounded non-visual modes of sensory perception is a powerful resource. This article draws on twenty-seven interviews that explore blind people's perceptions of male and female bodies. I highlight several distinctive features of non-visual sex attribution (salience, speed, and diachronicity), and argue that conceptions of sex as 'self-evident' primarily reflect visual perception. These findings suggest the need to explore the sociology of perception as a new approach to the sociology of the body, and more broadly highlight the role of sensory perception in the social construction of reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. A recent theory of motivation (PRIME theory) has proposed that the formation of a 'non-smoker' identity is necessary for long-term abstinence. This study aimed to explore how a smoker's sense of identity changes following smoking cessation. Design. This was a qualitative, semi-structured interview study with a purposive sample of individuals who had quit smoking. An interpretative phenomenological approach was taken to elicit in-depth accounts of the participants' understanding of smoking, stopping, and maintaining abstinence. Methods. Ten participants who quit smoking with the support of a National Health Service (NHS) stop-smoking service in England and were still abstinent a year later were interviewed. An interpretative phenomenological analysis of the interview transcripts was conducted. Prospective contextual detail of motivational and other variables pre-quit were also obtained from the clinic assessment form that participants completed at the first group session. Results. A process of identity change was observed towards that of a 'non-smoker', assisted initially by a transient identity of 'team stop-smoker' accompanied by a sense of achievement. All participants retained a residual attraction to smoking suggesting that the process was not complete and reflecting an 'ex-smoker' identity. Participants labelled themselves as non-smokers regardless of how much transition had occurred. Conclusions. It appears useful to distinguish two levels of 'non-smoker' identity: a surface level comprising the simple label and a deep level made up of often conflicting thoughts and feelings about oneself in relation to smoking. A total coherent 'non-smoker' identity does not appear to be necessary for long-term abstinence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We apply a life course perspective to study young men's transition to adulthood within the context of their return to family after a period of incarceration. Our phenomenological analysis was based on 9 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with formerly incarcerated men between the age of 18 and 24. Our findings revealed that reentry was a developmental paradox that embodied contradictions about employment, maturity, and dependence on family. A key developmental contradiction was that although employment was essential for young men's ability to become independent, it was out of reach for most of the study participants due to their criminal justice involvement. Furthermore, lived meanings around dependency on family as a result of incarceration ran counter to young men's self-definitions of adult manhood. Recommendations are discussed to help resolve these contradictions and facilitate young offenders' ability to move forward in life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was designed to qualitatively investigate secondary students' interpretations and experiences of bullying (and victimization) in Greek schools, with a focus on gender similarities and differences. Overall, 95 students (50 boys and 45 girls), 15 or 16 years old, participated in focus group interviews that were homogeneous in terms of grade and gender. Data analysis, using the interpretative phenomenological approach, showed that different interpretations and meanings of bullying between genders have important consequences on actual behavior. Furthermore, students do not reveal bullying and victimization to either parents or teachers, who are described as indifferent and ineffective. Results are indicative of a school culture that is conducive to bullying behaviors and have important implications for antibullying interventions. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This narrative study explores the experience of 'moving on' from homelessness for individuals with major mental illnesses, after they have obtained permanent housing with supports. Twelve participants were interviewed up to three times over 6 months. There were various routes to homelessness, participants were homeless for varying lengths of time, and they described different journeys of 'moving on' in their lives. Place, and a series of places, were central for participants in this experience. The experience of homelessness for many could be described as 'on the move', in a circular pattern from shelter to shelter or street. Permanent housing and supports allowed participants to 'move on', reconnecting with family, getting jobs and planning for the future. Several participants wanted their stories used to send messages of hope, courage and survival. This study highlights the need for nurses to be aware of the concept of 'place' in the process of recovery from mental illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to explore views of life among people with long-term mental illnesses. The participants' possible cognitive inability to express such views dictated a research design that was both fit for purpose and respectful of their integrity. The study, based on an ethnographic framework, involved photographs and interviews with five women and three men. The participants were the photographers, as well as the authors of their own narratives, and the photographs served as a starting point for the interviews. The interview material was analysed in terms of the phases of interpretation. Four main themes were identified: 'thoughts about God and the meaning of life and death', 'the meaning of relationships with others', 'how animals give meaning to life without demands' and 'the symbolic bearing of objects on life'. These four themes represent key existential issues among people with long-term mental illnesses, but they lack confidants to share or discuss these matters with. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been much recent literature about the need for appropriate policies and approaches to ensure that patient's rights and standards of care are safeguarded. The focus from national policy is on suicide reduction and prevention, and the nursing literature has concentrated on the importance of engaging the patient and ensuring that there is the least amount of restriction possible. A research study was carried out to explore the perspective of mental health nurses working in these intensive situations, using a purposive sample of nursing staff from the local National Health Service Trust's acute units. A phenomenological approach to the study was chosen to allow an in-depth exploration of the issues -'seeing things up close'- using the philosophy of Husserl as a base. The key areas of enquiry were: to explore and amplify the experiences of nurses undertaking constant observations, including any effects that may have on nurses; to gain further understanding of the dynamics and processes involved; to discover information that can inform and support development needs. Individual taped interviews were carried out with six nurses working in an acute admission ward, and these were then transcribed and analysed using Giorgi's method of analysis. The results of this analysis showed that nurses are keenly aware of some of the professional and ethical tensions involved in the process of keeping patients safe while trying to promote recovery. Results have implications for policies, preparation and support of staff, and provide some further insights into the nature of this experience for nursing staff who are caring for patients who are presenting with risks to themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Situations that social scientists and others explain by using concepts like “custom” and “norm” often tend to be situations in which many other kinds of explanations (for example, biological, psychological, economic, historical) seem plausible as well. Do these other explanations compete with the custom or norm explanations, or do they complement them? We need to consider this question carefully and not just assume that various accounts are all permissible at different levels of analysis. In this article I describe two families of noncompeting accounts: (1) explanations of different (but similarly described) facts, and (2) accounts that seem to differ but are really different parts or versions of the same underlying explanation. I argue that while many types of apparent competitors don't really compete with norms, there are usually some that do. These competing accounts will usually undermine the norm account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We posit that the high rates of suicidal behavior by teenage Hispanic females reported in large-scale surveys can be understood as a cultural phenomenon, a product of specific elements of the history, tradition, ideology, or social norms of a particular society, and that treatment interventions must take family and cultural factors into consideration. For over a decade, surveys have reported that among ethnic and racial minority youth in the United States, Latinas have the highest rates of suicidal behavior compared to African American and non-Hispanic White adolescent females. However, other research shows that the psychological profiles of suicidal Latina adolescent girls and the risk factors for Latina suicidal behavior may not be that different from non-Hispanic suicidal adolescent females. The unique situation of adolescent Latinas involves the convergence of cultural and familial factors (i.e., familism, acculturation, relatedness, autonomy, etc.) with the developmental, social, and individual factors frequently associated with suicidal behaviors. Based on this background, family-oriented interventions appear to be the most appropriate approach to the prevention and treatment of Hispanic suicidal girls. Factors implicated in Latina suicidal behavior and community-based interventions that include the adolescent and her family are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports upon the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) of a small number of semi-structured interviews, conducted with persons engaging in either recreational drug-use (primarily identified here as Ecstasy-users) or dangerous sports (primarily identified here as bungee-jumpers). Our analysis focuses upon the manner in which these participants make sense of their initiation and maintenance experiences, and the means by which they understand and make sense of risk. In particular, we draw attention to the distinctions between our participants' rational and contextual reconstructions of risky decisions. These distinctions indicate that our participants are able to draw upon a complex cultural and relational understanding of risk and pleasure, and are thus able to deal quite effectively with the contradictory experience of taking ‘non-volitional’ action. This exploration of persons' strategies for displacing agency in relation to potentially negative outcomes may have implications for research and practice in related areas. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A characteristic feature of patient satisfaction research is the consistently high level of satisfaction recorded. More reliable and relevant inquiry tools are constantly being developed, but underlying psychological and social pressures that could promote such a consistent and undiscriminating response have been little investigated. explored the phenomenon and concluded that, by considering issues of duty and culpability, patients could make allowances for poor care, and avoid evaluating it negatively. Their study was in community mental health. This study follows up their work within elective orthopaedic surgery, and investigates the pressures promoting such apparent transformation of opinion. Using a longitudinal design, and in-depth qualitative interviews, the patient's process of reflection was explored. Three psycho-social pressures were identified that appear to work together to make the transformation of opinion almost the default process. They are: the relative dependency of patients within the healthcare system; their need to maintain constructive working relationships with those providing their care; and their general preference for holding a positive outlook. It is suggested that, while it is the patient's prerogative to re-interpret the quality of their care positively, it is not the prerogative of the inquirer to accept this re-interpretation as representative of the patient's experience. Methods of inquiry are needed which access something of patients’ development of opinion, and thereby something of their initial, often more negative, untransformed responses to their healthcare experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the social sciences beginnings, many theorists who have believed that explaining social facts in terms of nonsocial facts was impossible. A thorough understanding of the world, they claimed, required autonomous social sciences, since social laws and forces existed that could not be reduced to facts about individuals or any smaller entities. It is not surprising that we should find anti-reductionist attitudes among those social theorists who believe that social sciences should be more like the humanities than like the natural sciences.

Philosophers of action tend to take for granted the concept of basic actions--actions that are done at will, or directly--as opposed to others that are performed in other ways. This concept does foundational work in action theory; many theorists, especially causalists, take part of their task to be that normal, complex actions necessarily stem from basic ones somehow. The case for the concept of basic actions is driven by a family of observations and a cluster of closely related anti-infinite regress arguments. I review this case in the work of Arthur Danto, Donald Davidson, and Jennifer Hornsby--three of the most important developers of the concept--and find it lacking. I conclude by sketching the possibility of a non-foundationalist action theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims at incorporating the reasoning generated from phenomenology and sociology of knowledge into the conception of judgement on policy- and decision-making for changing management practices. The objectives include: (1) to show how the reasoning generated from phenomenology and sociology of knowledge can be applied to the 'trapped' situation of management, and (2) to identify blocking essences to initiate changes within the framework of these disciplines. Several phenomenological essences extracted from the interviews in Tokyo are illustrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family therapists are being exhorted to adopt a social constructionist epistemology and to abandon science as a valid form of knowing. Epistemological objections to science are usually directed at ‘positivism’, an outmoded view that is largely discredited among practising scientists. Contemporary science, is, rather, constructionist, differing from other constructionist approaches only in ways of arbitrating between world views. Criticisms aimed at science apply to all forms of discourse, including family therapy. I conclude that science has failed family therapy at the practical, not the philosophical level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of cognitive mapping as drawn from sociological phenomenology is used to clarify the complexity of the concept of community. Fifty residents of a Midwestern rural area were asked to drawn maps of their community. The maps reveal individual differences in the perception of a community and a tendency for the perception of community to vary by gender. Where the activities within a community tend to he segregated, there will also tend to be different viewpoints or cognitive map of the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weber's interpretive sociology requires the understanding of motives, affectual states, and actions. These are understandable because they themselves represent or embody interpretations. The Weberian statements are shown to be compatible with a conception of the human individual as a being who interprets subjective experiences in terms of cultural categories and guides his conduct by such interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation of the concept ‘sense making practices’ in ethnomethodology receives attention. The referents and uses of the concept suggest that ‘sense making practices’ form a family rather than a class. Family membership is a matter of family resemblance. Thus claims about new family members run a risk of intelligibility. Finally, the search for universally invariant properties is fundamentally misguided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author establishes several criteria which in our culture are used by an individual to determine whether another person loves him/her. Three conditions necessary for the perception of love are elaborated and shown to entail several logical and psychological inconsistencies. It is suggested that our society, while emphasizing the importance of being loved, defines love so as to mitigate against it being perceived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay attempts to identify some underlying commitments of ethnomethodology. The commitments explored are the idea of reflexivity, science, normal practice and the radical empirical stance—all of which are essential to ethnomethodology. Finally, it is argued that as an upshot of these commitments, ethnomethodology harbors a political implication which allows for its use as an instrument for de-objectification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]