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This paper provides an assessment of Pierre Bourdieu's sociology based on a reading of his posthumously published lectures on the state in Sur l' État. It argues that the state was a foundational element in Bourdieu's rendition of the symbolic order of everyday life. As such, the state becomes equally pivotal in Bourdieu's sociology, the applicability of which rests on the existence of the state, which stabilizes the social fields and their symbolic action that constitute the object of sociology. The state, which Bourdieu considers a 'meta'-ordering principle in social life, ensures that sociology has a well-ordered object of study, vis-à-vis which it can posit itself as 'meta-meta'. The state thus functions as an epistemic guarantee in Bourdieu's sociology. A critical analysis of Bourdieu's sociology of the state offers the chance of a more fundamental overall assessment of Bourdieu's conception of sociology that has relevance for any critical sociological perspective that rests on the assumption of a meta-social entity, such as the state in Bourdieu's work, as a final ordering instance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Basel Convention (the Convention) is a key piece of law governing the international waste trade. The spirit of the Convention is to prohibit the dumping of hazardous waste from 'developed' countries to 'developing' countries. Yet, a careful consideration of the Convention suggests a problematic geographical imaginary at work in it. It imagines a bi-modal world comprised of what it calls Annex VII countries ( Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ( OECD), the European Community ( EC) and Lichtenstein) and non- Annex VII countries (all other signatories) and seeks to prohibit the shipment of hazardous waste from the former to the latter. In effect, what this geographical imaginary attempts to institute is a world of trade in which all non- Annex VII territories are equally vulnerable to hazardous waste dumping from Annex VII territories, but not vulnerable to such dumping amongst themselves. Yet, the non- Annex VII grouping contains a hugely diverse set of countries, including the two largest non- Annex VII economies, China and India. Drawing on textual analysis of Convention documents and trade data available for China and India, the paper engages with recent research into the growing role of ' South- South' trade to critically engage with the geographical imaginary of the Basel Convention. It suggests that as the global patterns of hazardous waste trade shift, the relevance of the Basel Convention's geographical imaginary declines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I summarize an emerging debate in the cognitive sciences over the right taxonomy for understanding cognition - the right theory of and vocabulary for describing the structure of the mind - and the proper role of neuroscientific evidence in specifying this taxonomy. In part because the discussion clearly entails a deep reconsideration of the supposed autonomy of psychology from neuroscience, this is a debate in which philosophers should be interested, with which they should be familiar, and to which they should contribute. Here, I outline some of the positions being advocated, and reflect on some of the possible implications of this work both for scientific and folk psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we argue that trust is an important aspect of social reality, one that realist social theory has paid little attention to but which clearly resonates with a realist social ontology. Furthermore, the emergence of an interest in trust in specific subject fields such as organization theory indicates the growing significance of issues of trust as market liberalism has developed. As such, the emergence of an interest in trust provides support for Archer's characterisation of late modernity in The Reflexive Imperative (2012) as a period of heterogeneity and greater incongruity. Commenting on this provides an opportunity to discuss the issue of habit in relation to trust and also the importance of the analysis of integration as a means to explain problems of trust. The commentary draws on examples from finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is commonly assumed that 'ought' implies 'can', that is, that if we ought to do something, then it must be the case that we can do it. It is a frequent quip about this thesis that any account must specify three things: what is meant by the 'ought', what is meant by the 'implies', and what is meant by the 'can'. Something is missed, though, when we state the thesis in its shortened, three-word form. We overlook what it means to do something. It is, I think, not mere coincidence that nobody has discussed this issue: It is very difficult to specify what it means to do something in the relevant sense. This paper is devoted to fleshing out one way of doing something that is a problem for the thesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite recent attention on the social implications of his work, little has been done to articulate a substantive Kierkegaardian social theory. In this paper, I argue that Kierkegaard's A Literary Review describes four principles of social analysis. Together they reveal the social character of Kierkegaard's thought while presenting significant challenges for more traditional ‘social readings’ of his work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an agonistic interpretation of Robert Brandom's social-pragmatic account of normativity. I argue that social practice, on this approach, should be seen not just as cooperative, but also as contestatory. This aspect, which has so far remained implicit, helps to illuminate Brandom's claim that normative statuses are 'instituted' by social practices: normative statuses are brought into play in mutual engagement, and are only in play from an engaged social perspective among others. Moreover, in contrast to a positivist or conventionalist understanding of Brandom's work, it shows that the possibility of a critical stance toward existing practices is not only compatible with, but already implicit in this form of pragmatism. This can be made explicit with the notion of farcical practices: practices that are treated merely as if they institute genuine commitments and entitlements. Interpreting a practice as farcical is taking a critical stance toward it, and this possibility is inherent in Brandom's theoretical framework. This opens the way for a fruitful appropriation of Brandom's pragmatism for social and political philosophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effects of a top-down (TD) versus bottom-up (BU) orientation in different stages of the budgetary target-setting process on slack and managerial performance. We use social exchange theory to explain the outcomes of these alternative budgetary arrangements, and complement the traditional focus on budgetary participation in target setting with a process-oriented perspective. We develop hypotheses predicting that TD and BU orientations in the subsequent stages of the budgeting process have different effects on managers' exchange relationships with the firm, and their behavioural responses. Using survey evidence from German managers across 127 firms we find that a TD orientation in the issuance of guidelines enhances economic exchange and that a BU orientation in the development of the initial budget proposal enhances social exchange, which in turn are associated with reduced slack and higher performance, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces a series of articles about feminist ethics and social theory.

Background: Functional Family Therapy (FFT) is a short‐term family‐based intervention for youth with behaviour problems. FFT has been widely implemented in the USA and other high‐income countries. It is often described as an evidence‐based program with consistent, positive effects. Objectives: We aimed to synthesise the best available data to assess the effectiveness of FFT for families of youth with behaviour problems. Search Methods: Searches were performed in 2013–2014 and August 2020. We searched 22 bibliographic databases (including PsycINFO, ERIC, MEDLINE, Science Direct, Sociological Abstracts, Social Services Abstracts, World CAT dissertations and theses, and the Web of Science Core Collection), as well as government policy databanks and professional websites. Reference lists of articles were examined, and experts were contacted to search for missing information. Selection Criteria: We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi‐experimental designs (QEDs) with parallel cohorts and statistical controls for between‐group differences at baseline. Participants were families of young people aged 11–18 with behaviour problems. FFT programmes were compared with usual services, alternative treatment, and no treatment. There were no publication, geographic, or language restrictions. Data Collection and Analysis: Two reviewers independently screened 1039 titles and abstracts, read all available study reports, assessed study eligibility, and extracted data onto structured electronic forms. We assessed risks of bias (ROB) using modified versions of the Cochrane ROB tool and the What Works Clearinghouse standards. Where possible, we used random effects models with inverse variance weights to pool results across studies. We used odds ratios for dichotomous outcomes and standardised mean differences for continuous outcomes. We used Hedges g to adjust for small sample sizes. We assessed the heterogeneity of effects with χ2 and I2. We produced separate forest plots for conceptually distinct outcomes and for different endpoints (<9, 9–14, 15–23, and 24–42 months after referral). We grouped studies by study design (RCT or QED), and then assessed differences between these two subgroups of studies with χ2 tests. We generated robust variance estimates, using correlated effects (CE) models with small sample corrections to synthesise all available outcome data. Exploratory CE analyses assessed potential moderators of effects within these domains. We used GRADE guidelines to assess the certainty of evidence on six primary outcomes at 1 year after referral. Main Results: Twenty studies (14 RCTs and 6 QEDs) met our inclusion criteria. Fifteen of these studies provided some valid data for meta‐analysis; these studies included 10,980 families in relevant FFT and comparison groups. All included studies had high risks of bias on at least one indicator. Half of the studies had high risks of bias on baseline equivalence, support for intent‐to‐treat analysis, selective reporting, and conflicts of interest. Fifteen studies had incomplete reporting of outcomes and endpoints. Using the GRADE rubric, we found that the certainty of evidence for FFT was very low for all of our primary outcomes. Using pairwise meta‐analysis, we found no evidence of effects of FFT compared with other active treatments on any primary or secondary outcomes. Primary outcomes were: recidivism, out‐of‐home placement, internalising behaviour problems, external behaviour problems, self‐reported delinquency, and drug or alcohol use. Secondary outcomes were: peer relations and prosocial behaviour, youth self esteem, parent symptoms and behaviour, family functioning, school attendance, and school performance. There were few studies in the pairwise meta‐analysis (k < 7) and little heterogeneity of effects across studies in most of these analyses. There were few differences between effect estimates obtained in RCTs versus QEDs. More comprehensive CE models showed positive results of FFT in some domains and negative results in others, but these effects were small (standardised mean difference [SMD] <|0.20|) and not significantly different from no effect with one exception: Two studies found positive effects of FFT on youth substance abuse and two studies found null results in this domain, and the overall effect estimate for this outcome was statistically different from zero. Over all outcomes (15 studies and 293 effect sizes), small positive effects were detected (SMD = 0.19, SE = 0.09), but these were not significantly different from zero effect. Prediction intervals showed that future FFT evaluations are likely to produce a wide range of results, including moderate negative effects and strong positive results (−0.37 to 0.75). Authors' Conclusions: Results of 10 RCTs and five QEDs show that FFT does not produce consistent benefits or harms for youth with behavioural problems and their families. The positive or negative direction of results is inconsistent within and across studies. Most outcomes are not fully reported, the quality of available evidence is suboptimal, and the certainty of this evidence is very low. Overall estimates of effects of FFT may be inflated, due to selective reporting and publication biases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that an explanation of the role of aesthetic patterning in human action needs to be part of any 'qualitative' social theory. It urges the social sciences to move beyond contextualism and to see art as visual, acoustic and other media that lead to heightened sensory perception and the coordination of feelings through symbols. The article surveys the argument that art provides a basic model of how the self learns to interact with external environments; and the complementary thesis that art could be seen as integral to the emergence of systems of human knowledge, communication and economy. Ornamentation and stylization are advanced as two concrete devices through which human attention is captured and experience is ordered through aesthetic patterns. The conclusion is drawn that art offers the social sciences a meaningful account of the perceptual or 'qualitative' dimensions of social interactions; and that this is much needed today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section provides an overview of articles presented at a conference about the world cities hypothesis, held in Sterling, Virginia in April 1993.

Western theoretical traditions can benefit from systematic engagement with non- Western concepts: This is shown through an analysis of the Chinese concept guanxi. After considering the general nature of guanxi, including its possible association with corrupt practices and its particular cultural characteristics, the paper goes on to identify the elements of its general form which have universal representation. The possibility of conceiving guanxi as a variant form of social capital is explored. This shows the way in which both the expressive and instrumentalized forms of guanxi indicate otherwise neglected aspects of social and economic relationships not always recognized and addressed by analogous terms current in social theory but which are none the less important for its advancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I this paper, I draw on recent research on the radically embodied and perceptual bases of conceptualization in linguistics and cognitive science to develop a new way of reading and evaluating abstract concepts in social theory. I call this approach Sociological Idea Analysis. I argue that, in contrast to the traditional view of abstract concepts, which conceives them as amodal 'presuppositions' removed from experience, abstract concepts are irreducibly grounded in experience and partake of non-negotiable perceptual-symbolic features from which a non-propositional 'logic' naturally follows. This implies that uncovering the imagistic bases of allegedly abstract notions should be a key part of theoretical evaluation of concepts in social theory. I provide a case study of the general category of 'structure' in the social and human sciences to demonstrate the analytic utility of the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on research investigating the impact of health imperatives around obesity, diet and exercise on the actions of teachers and pupils in schools, this paper offers a reflexive account of the relationships between the 'noise' of obesity discourse in the public domain, policies forged to tackle health issues and the realities of teaching in schools. Our analyses suggest that intersections of bio-policies, body pedagogies and human agents forge assemblages of meaning that frame and regulate but cannot determine either teachers' or young people's lives. Teachers and pupils experience the capriciousness of policies as they flow through specific school contexts and intersect with 'local' institutional cultures, expectations and interests. We suggest that Basil Bernstein's concepts and poststructural social theory prove useful when addressing how the aforementioned processes are emplaced, enacted and embodied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential care has had a poor reputation. There are concerns about the abuse of children in care, and evidence of poor outcomes and poor practice. In this context, residential care is often compared in a negative way to family placements. On the other hand, residential care can also provide a positive experience for some children and young people. Residential care has increasingly been contrasted with family placements, and yet children and young people describe their positive experiences in residential care as like being in a family, and refer to care staff using kin terms, such as 'dad' or 'sister'. With the growing diversity of families in Western society, there have been significant developments in sociological theories of families, and these highlight the importance of family practices and displaying family. New kinship studies in anthropology have raised questions about the nature of the family. Research on children's conceptualization of family has begun to identify features of 'family-like' relationships. These theories will be discussed in relation to the ambivalence about residential care, current thinking about residential child care and, importantly, the way in which some children and young people use the family metaphor to express their experience. The paper will explore the ways in which this can develop and benefit practice in residential care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adoption policy in the UK emphasizes its role in providing secure, permanent relationships to children in care who are unable to live with their birth families. Adoptive parents are crucial in providing this life-long, stable experience of family for these vulnerable children. This paper explores the experience of adoptive parenthood in the context of changes to adoptive kinship relationships brought about by new, unplanned contact with birth family during their child's middle adolescence. This contact was initiated via informal social networks and/or social media, with older birth siblings instrumental in negotiating renewed relationships. The contact precipitated a transition in adoptive family life resulting in emotional challenges and changes in parent/child relationships, which were experienced as additional to the normative transitions expected during adolescence. Parental concern as a dominant theme was founded in the child and birth sibling's stage of adolescence, coupled with constraints on adoptive parenthood imposed by the use of social media, by perceived professional attitudes and by parental social cognitions about the importance of birth ties. Adoptive parents' accounts are interpreted with reference to family life-cycle theory and implications are suggested for professional support of adoptive kinship relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces the papers from two video conferences recently held between philosophers at Moscow State University and the University at Albany, State University of New York. The overarching theme is philosophical progress in the past fifty years, but the conferences were designed also to illustrate the range of work now being done by American analytic philosophers and by Russian thinkers. The Albany essays focus on philosophy of science, philosophical logic, Kantian studies, applied ethics, and ethical and political theory. The Russian essays concern philosophy of culture, philosophy of mind, phenomenology, social philosophy, feminism, and postmodernism. This introductory essay notes similarities and differences that exist among American and Russian approaches to philosophy and the prospects for the convergence (or not) of these approaches. It also indicates ways in which contemporary Russian thinkers are striking out in new directions while seeking to recover those parts of their past that were silenced during much of the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we argue that the new availability of digital data sets allows one to revisit Gabriel Tarde's (1843-1904) social theory that entirely dispensed with using notions such as individual or society. Our argument is that when it was impossible, cumbersome or simply slow to assemble and to navigate through the masses of information on particular items, it made sense to treat data about social connections by defining two levels: one for the element, the other for the aggregates. But once we have the experience of following individuals through their connections (which is often the case with profiles) it might be more rewarding to begin navigating datasets without making the distinction between the level of individual component and that of aggregated structure. It becomes possible to give some credibility to Tarde's strange notion of 'monads'. We claim that it is just this sort of navigational practice that is now made possible by digitally available databases and that such a practice could modify social theory if we could visualize this new type of exploration in a coherent way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper advances a critical social psychological approach to the study of citizenship. It builds upon recent social psychological work on the subject, particularly in discursive and rhetorical psychology but also other critical approaches such as social representations theory. The paper also borrows insights from the interdisciplinary field of citizenship studies in order to conceptualise citizenship in both its conventional (enacting well‐established scripts of political action) and its transformative aspects (making rights claims that are disruptive of established scripts). The paper is divided in five sections. The first section considers the relationship between social psychology and citizenship; the second section offers a conceptualisation of citizenship that takes under consideration citizens' practices from the ground up and constraints posed by existing norms and laws; the third section considers the value of adding citizenship into the social psychological conceptual toolkit. The fourth more substantive section advances a critical social psychological approach to citizenship which focuses on the study of the different ways that "ordinary" political actors engage with political matters in the mundane practices of everyday life. The last section concludes the paper and makes some suggestions for future directions, such as the study of emerging forms of citizenship through a more nuanced examination of intersecting political affiliations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys the current philosophical discussion of the ethics of risk imposition, placing it in the context of relevant work in psychology, economics and social theory. The central philosophical problem starts from the observation that it is not practically possible to assign people individual rights not to be exposed to risk, as virtually all activity imposes some risk on others. This is the 'problem of paralysis'. However, the obvious alternative theory that exposure to risk is justified when its total benefits exceed its total costs faces the standard distributional challenges of consequentialism. Forms of contractualism have been proposed as a solution, but how exactly such theories can be formulated remains problematic, especially when confronted with the difficult cases of mass, novel, risk such as climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the value of using interviews to research routine practices. Interviewing could easily be framed as inappropriate for this task, either because such practices are too difficult for respondents to talk about as a result of having sedimented down into unthinking forms of embodied disposition or because this method is out of step with a current enthusiasm for research styles that do not focus unduly on the representational. The discussion starts with how some key proponents of social practice theory have characterised the possibility of talking with people about these matters before turning to my own experience with two interview projects that attempted to do so inside city offices and older person households. I conclude that people can often talk in quite revealing ways about actions they may usually take as a matter of course and offer suggestions about how to encourage them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of facilitated, technology-supported efforts to resolve complex problems, we recognize the critical role that visual representations can play in both the content and process of collaboration. How these representations are wielded by facilitators and interpreted by participants determines whether they help resolve conflicts or close down conversations. We identify three key attributes of scripted problem-solving facilitation, as well as three key attributes of visual representations that function as boundary objects, to gain insights into pivotal experiences when group problem-solving efforts turned from collaboration to conflict and vice versa. We draw on three vignettes from facilitated group problem solving to illustrate how these attributes can be deployed to move conflict-mired conversations into collaborative discussions. This paper contributes to collaborative problem solving by using the formal sociological theory of boundary objects to offer a deeper, richer understanding of successes and shortcomings of visual representations as drivers of conflict resolution in model-building approaches. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper begins by describing three elements of Gellner's social philosophy that lay behind his essentially optimistic version of liberalism. The argument that follows suggests that all these elements – respect for the procedures of modern science, general participation in a growing economy and 'ironic' nationalism – are under attack. In consequence, we live again in an age of anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systems archetypes are effective in communicating complex behaviour with relatively simple structures, across a wide range of topics. The "power dynamics" between different power holders are critically important in decision making when it comes to formulating and implementing policies. This topic was explored at a four‐day Australasian systems workshop run in New Zealand. A synthesis approach was combined with analytical procedures from system dynamics (SD). Building on Rahn's "Fear and Greed" political archetype, a conceptual "Power and Influence" political archetype was developed. This political archetype shows the impact of public support. It is used to analyse a crowdfunding story in New Zealand. A small SD concept model was subsequently constructed to test this story and evaluate alternative public support scenarios. A library of political archetypes and concept models would be an asset for the field of SD and provide a means of synthesising insights from case studies and social theory. © 2019 System Dynamics Society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes three major theoretical perspectives in research on volunteering: social theories that stress the importance of context, roles, and integration; individual characteristic theories that emphasize values, traits, and motivations; and resource theories that focus on skills and free time. It unites research from multiple disciplines into a single hybrid model, performs a preliminary test of the model on a nationally representative US dataset, and concludes with recommendations for scholars and practitioners. Using the 1995 Midlife in the US dataset, we operationalized concepts from each theoretical category and found that variables measuring each perspective played a substantial and independent role in predicting volunteering. Our hybrid model, which includes significant variables from each theory, offers some directions for recruitment and retention by showing how social roles and networks can constrain or encourage volunteering at different stages of the life course. As social roles and networks are both highly predictive and easily observed, volunteer managers can use them to recruit and retain volunteers. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrative social contracts theory (ISCT) has been an influential theory in normative business ethics for well over a decade, drawing attention both as an object of criticism and as a source of inspiration. In this paper I argue that, despite this attention, the fact that it is a genuinely pluralistic theory, in the tradition of pluralistic theories of political philosophy, is often overlooked. It is in the notion of moral free space that this pluralism is most clearly expressed. This oversight is unfortunate for two reasons. Firstly, it prevents the potential of ISCT, as a normative theory of business ethics, from being appreciated fully; secondly, it leads us to ignore resources that could help tackle its most problematic flaws. In this second respect, I show how some of these flaws could be addressed by paying closer attention to the similarities between ISCT and John Rawls' theory of Political Liberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a critical review of the theoretical basis and empirical evidence for the popular practitioner idea that there are generational differences in work values. The concept of generations has a strong basis in sociological theory, but the academic empirical evidence for generational differences in work values is, at best, mixed. Many studies are unable to find the predicted differences in work values, and those that do often fail to distinguish between 'generation' and 'age' as possible drivers of such observed differences. In addition, the empirical literature is fraught with methodological limitations through the use of cross-sectional research designs in most studies, confusion about the definition of a generation as opposed to a cohort, and a lack of consideration for differences in national context, gender and ethnicity. Given the multitude of problems inherent in the evidence on generational differences in work values, it is not clear what value the notion of generations has for practitioners, and this may suggest that the concept be ignored. Ultimately, it may not matter to practitioners whether differences in the values of different birth cohorts reflect true generational effects, provided one can reliably demonstrate that these differences do exist. However, at present this is not the case, and therefore significant research is required first to disentangle cohort and generational effects from those caused by age or period. The suggestion that different groups of employees have different values and preferences, based on both age and other factors such as gender, remains a useful idea for managers; but a convincing case for consideration of generation as an additional distinguishing factor has yet to be made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is a sounding of Ulrich Beck's and Edgar Grande's conceptual map of the varieties of second modernity - Western and Non-Western, European and beyond - that makes up today's world. Their mapping is examined in the light of two, striking analytical perspectives associated with Ulrich Beck: everyday 'cosmopolitization' and his call for a methodological cosmopolitanism. A line of inquiry explores whether contemporary modernities are essentially expressions of a single, underlying modernization drive or whether they are utterly disparate entities. The implications of treating them as 'variants and variations' are unpacked with reference to musical models and how they generate difference. The probe into methodological cosmopolitanism touches on 'de-provincialization' that is somewhat at odds with the postcolonial project of 'provincializing' Europe. It looks at the attempt to go beyond 'nation-bound' sociological dualisms in determining the appropriate 'unit of analysis' for our ever-morphing current reality. Does this imply engaging with 'singularity'- with a mode of conceptualization that sidesteps the universal/particular couple and related either/or thinking? References to the making of the 'first modernity' under unequal centre/periphery relations of colonial power are aired for possible lessons in mappings of the second. Ulrich Beck's 'impure, really-existing cosmopolitanism'- in contrast to its speculative counterpart derived from the realm of pure ideas - springs from humdrum global economic and political links and institutions that span out across, above and beyond the 'container of the national space'. With the inadvertent cosmopolitical impact of the migrations it amounts in practice to a functioning 'cosmopolitan realpolitik'. Is there room for it to develop or will it stall as a mere front for national, tribal-territorial interests - going the way of 'multiculturalism and diversity' that seem increasingly to serve as governmental ideologies for managing global difference? Whether each of the varieties of second modernity throws up a 'cosmopolitan vision' of its own remains to be determined more fully. It seems possible that friction between the modernities might fetch up on a higher plane as clashing cosmopolitanisms. Historical precedents give scant comfort if we look at the fate of the ecumenic empires of the ancient world of the 'first cosmopolitan age' or at landmark cosmopolitan endeavours such as Aby Warburg's and WEB Du Bois' on the eve of counter-cosmopolitan currents of the 1930s. An abiding scepticism prevails about the capacity of 'impure cosmopolitanism' to bootstrap and elaborate itself from an involuntary, reflex condition into a self-reflexive, critical dispensation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article underscores the desperation of two very different groups of people; the owners of Hokkaido dairy farms and the economic migrant workers, often young Chinese nationals, who labor for them. The central argument is that rural economic and social decline in Hokkaido is due in part to Japan's centralist political and economic policies; policies that, by and large, are based on a model of rice production and this practice's often perceived linkage with socio-cultural homogeneity. Such official policy is, however, viewed by many Hokkaido locals as a hindrance wherein the 'Otherness' of the region and of dairy work are not accounted for. What follows is based on the assumption that the reader is not a specialist in Japanese area studies but is interested in comparing and thinking philosophically about humans, agriculture, and policy. It begins with a brief explanation of how the topic was 'discovered' during ethnographic research. It then shifts to the history and image of Hokkaido and of dairy work as 'Other,' as a form of agriculture perceived to be on the periphery of normative Japanese domestic daily life-an irony given the official government status of dairy as the only essential food industry alongside rice production. It underscores why exploitative practices are deemed necessary by owners and acceptable by staff. This is followed by the thrust of the article, an ethnographic example detailing the experiences of one dairy owner and of two young workers from Outer Mongolia. It also contrasts the otherness of their dairy farm experience with Japanese employees; notably young Japanese 'furiita-' (non-permanent staff). Finally, the paper addresses the challenges that marginal agriculturalists face in their search for economic, social, and ontological security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK, researchers across the health professions are increasingly being encouraged by policymakers and research commissioners to ‘involve’ service users in research. A recent review shows there is some evidence that involving patients, carers, relatives, social or community groups directly and actively as part of the research process can improve the conduct of research studies and the impact of the findings. Yet, little is known about how involvement is played out within research studies and there is a need for more critical and consistent assessment of what constitutes quality involvement. The overall purpose of this paper is to support learning about quality service user involvement in health care research. The aim is to provide service users and researchers with a structured and consistent way to reflect and report on their experiences. A range of philosophical and social theories of power and empowerment were reviewed and synthesized to create a model of quality involvement. The analysis encompassed both service user factors (what a person feels able to do, whether they feel their potential is being fulfilled and their sense of being valued) alongside research factors (research relationships, ways of doing research, research structures). A model is presented (Quality Involvement Framework), which contributes theoretically informed perspectives about the meaning and assessment of quality service user involvement in research. The model is developed as a practical measure (a Quality Involvement Questionnaire) for researchers and service users to be more reflective about the constraints and possibilities of involvement. The tools presented here could help research teams to examine personal factors and the research contexts that influence the nature and quality of service user involvement in research. They may also help to identify reoccurring issues about quality which could inform future policy, practice and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes a case for academic research and writing that looks beyond the learning potential of technology and, instead, seeks to develop social scientific accounts of the often compromised and constrained realities of education technology use ‘on the ground’. The paper discusses how this ‘critical’ approach differs from the ways that educational technology scholarship has tended to be pursued to date. These differences include viewing technology as being socially constructed and negotiated rather than imbued with pre-determined characteristics; developing objective and realistic accounts of technology use in situ; and producing ‘context rich’ analyses of the social conflicts and politics that underpin the use of technology in educational settings. The paper concludes by encouraging academic researchers and writers to show greater interest in the issues of democracy and social justice that surround educational technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, philosophers and psychologists defending the embodied cognition research program have offered arguments against mindreading as a general model of our social understanding. The embodied cognition arguments are of two kinds: those that challenge the developmental picture of mindreading and those that challenge the alleged ubiquity of mindreading. Together, these two kinds of arguments, if successful, would present a serious challenge to the standard account of human social understanding. In this paper, I examine the strongest of these embodied cognition arguments and argue that mindreading approaches can withstand the best of these arguments from embodied cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out an approach to the analysis of political power in terms of problematics of government. It argues against an overvaluation of the ‘problem of the State’ in political debate and social theory. A number of conceptual tools are suggested for the analysis of the many and varied alliances between political and other authorities that seek to govern economic activity, social life and individual conduct. Modern political rationalities and governmental technologies are shown to be intrinsically linked to developments in knowledge and to the powers of expertise. The characteristics of liberal problematics of government are investigated, and it is argued that they are dependent upon technologies for ‘governing at a distance’, seeking to create locales, entities and persons able to operate a regulated autonomy. The analysis is exemplified through an investigation of welfarism as a mode of ‘social’ government. The paper concludes with a brief consideration of neo-liberalism which demonstrates that the analytical language structured by the philosophical opposition of state and civil society is unable to comprehend contemporary transformations in modes of exercise of political power. 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops an argument that leads to a vision of management research as a form of design science. Such an approach to research requires an inversion of the relationship between rigour and relevance. Giving primacy to the pursuit of rigour, as tends to be the current norm, de-emphasizes the importance of relevance and leads to research that interests very few beyond the community of management scholars. We argue that we should re-imagine relevance as a necessary condition for rigour and that this will lead to new forms of engagement with theory and practice that have the potential to create a new science of management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chapter starts with a historical overview of the subject of narcissism in psychoanalysis. Some sociophilosophical definitions of narcissism are explained and the connection to self psychology is described. It is especially referred to Honneth's Struggle for Recognition, which is related to the need for selfobject experiences. An outline of different concepts concerning narcissism, especially in the European psychoanalytic tradition, follows and leads to a clearer understanding of Kohut's conception of the self and its selfobjects. Because self psychology can often be understood as applied developmental psychology, useful links to attachment research are described and the move to the level of representation by mentalization is clarified. Further development of self psychology in the direction of intersubjectivity helps to supply connections to systems theory. Recently developed theories of empathy with reference to neurobiological findings provide a dynamic perspective of the activation of empathy. Thus, empathy seems to be better understood as a sort of contagion on which cognitive cortical processes are superimposed. Finally, the therapeutic process in psychoanalytic self psychology is portrayed. This process implies a disruption and repair process by which transmuting internalization can take place. More current theories of self psychology view this process in its essence intersubjectively as a co-construction between patient and analyst. The paper concludes with some hints for a paradigm shift in the direction of a more holistic understanding of the self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I argue that recent sociological theory has become increasingly bifurcated into two mutually incompatible styles of theorizing that I label formalist and behavioral-realist. Formalism favors mathematization and proposes an instrumentalist ontology of abstract processes while behavioral-realist theory takes at its basis the “real” physical individual endowed with concrete biological, cognitive and neurophysiological capacities and constraints and attempts to derive the proper conceptualization of social behavior from that basis. Formalism tends to lead toward a conceptually independent sociology that in principle requires only minimal reference to the empirical and ontological storehouse of other disciplines, while behavioral-realist theory leads to an interdisciplinary sociology that can be located within a hierarchy of behavioral sciences, leading to questions regarding the relationship between sociology and other disciplines as well as issues of transdisciplinary unification and possible interdisciplinary reduction. I explore the consequences of this split for the project of explanatory sociological theory within the context of how it has manifested itself in sociological network theory and social psychology. I close with a critique and assessment of formalist tendencies in sociological theorizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of sociology in nursing continues to cast new light on many aspects of health and illness. Over the last 20 years, nursing practice has seen sociological theory become a valuable clinical tool, both in the diagnosis and prognosis of a wide range of illnesses and long-term conditions. Nevertheless, of these, the sociological examination of mental health problems and its impact upon nursing practitioners has received little coverage, simply because, as a discipline, mental health nursing has historically been wedded to a biomedical model, one which continues to embrace psychiatry/psychology as the driving force in the diagnosis and treatment of psychopathology. Adopting a sociological approach, this paper brings to light previously unexplored insights into the way nurses interact with patients experiencing mental health problems. Drawing on social interactionist methodology, this paper considers depression and other mental health problems in relation to current psychiatric nursing practice. Specifically, the paper focuses on aspects of role performance and interpersonal care in a psychiatric setting, and the impact the individual role may have on the wider aspects of institutional and official practices. The paper concludes by making a number of recommendations/observations for nursing practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the unfolding of the quality agenda in England from 1992 to the present. By using two disciplinary approaches, ‘political science’ and ‘social philosophy’, the article traces the recent transition from quality assurance to quality enhancement. How is this development to be explained and how significant is it? Are the concepts of quality assurance and quality enhancement contested territories? The article argues that the undermining of quality assurance was the consequence of the emergence of a different kind of higher education politics in Britain: the shift from a corporatist model to one driven by pressure-group politics. Furthermore, although theoretically quality enhancement has the potential of a transformative discourse, it is unlikely to unsettle the relative stable structures in which quality assurance functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By focusing on the unique velocity and over-stimulation of metropolitan life, Georg Simmel pioneered an interpretation of cultural boredom that has had a significant impact on contemporary social theory by viewing it through the modern experience of time-pressure and social acceleration. This paper explores Simmel's account of boredom by showing how—in the frenzy of modern life—it has become increasingly difficult to qualitatively distinguish which choices and commitments actually matter to us. Furthermore, this emotional indifference invariably pushes us towards more excessive and risky behavior, towards, what I call, “extreme aeshesia.” Insofar as novel experiences quickly become routine in the technological age, it appears that only extreme sensations and experiences can break the spell of boredom, allowing us to momentarily feel strongly for something. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on the paper "Collective Moral Autonomy Thesis" (CMA) by David Copp, published within the issue. The author argues that Copp's examples, as part of his argument for the CMA, do not demonstrate the truth of his thesis. He states that Copp did not offer an account of what he calls "collectives" yet in his examples, he refer to organized and unorganized collectives. There is also a certain unclarity, which pertains to both moral and mental properties, in his arguments regarding the relationship between collectives and the individuals who partly constitutes them. Moreover, he suggests that Copp should provide clear examples of collectives which possess moral obligation and bears moral responsibility, for him to sustain the CMA.

The article explores the possibility that moral responsibility of individuals can be used to explain one form of collective responsibility: responsibility of collective effects. Here, the author argues that the responsibility for collective effects naturally suggests an analysis in terms of universalizability. Moreover, she explains the distinction between justification of a practice and justification a particular act falling under a practice, which is drawn from a paper by John Rawls. She concludes that under Kantian view, it is not believable to see individual agents as morally responsible for collective effect when the actions they contributed are based on maxims defined by patterns of social organization and not social practices.

Identifying a methodology to guide a study that aims to enhance service delivery can be challenging. Participatory action research offers a solution to this challenge as it both informs and is informed by critical social theory. In addition, using a feminist lens helps acquiesce this approach as a suitable methodology for changing practice. This methodology embraces empowerment self-determination and the facilitation of agreed change as central tenets that guide the research process. Encouraged by the work of Foucault, Friere, Habermas, and Maguire, this paper explicates the philosophical assumptions underpinning critical social theory and outlines how feminist influences are complimentary in exploring the processes and applications of nursing research that seeks to embrace change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I seek to document and substantiate the notion of the production of socio-natures by elaborating how Spain's modernization process after the Civil War became a deeply and very specific scalar geographical project, articulated through the production of a specific technonatural hydraulic edifice. I shall focus on the momentous transformation of the hydraulic environment during the Franco period (1939–1975) and seek to reformulate Spain's socio-hydraulic reconstruction in the context of a double and partly contradictory ‘scalar’ politics. Two theoretically interrelated arguments guide this endeavour. On the one hand, Franco's ideological-political mission was predicated upon national territorial integration, the eradication of regionalist or autonomist aspirations, and a concerted discursive and physical process of cultural and material national(ist) homogenization and modernization. On the other, the production of the technonatural material infrastructures of this modernizing programme was predicated upon re-scaling the ‘networks of interest’ on which Franco's power rested from a national visionary to an internationalist geo-economic and geo-political imagination, articulated through Spain's integration in the US-led Western Alliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on social behavior which include a dynamic behavior of embodiment that aims to get beyond the absent moving body in embodied social theory, a paper on institutions and social structures, and a report on the Vygotskian tradition in the realist theoretical discussion of the structure-agency problem.

Experimental examination of how the folk conceptualize certain philosophically loaded notions can provide information useful for philosophical theorizing. In this paper, we explore issues raised in Shaun Nichols’ (2004) studies involving people’s conception of free will, focusing on his claim that this conception fits best with the philosophical theory of agent-causation. We argue that his data do not support this conclusion, highlighting along the way certain considerations that ought to be taken into account when probing the folk conception of free will. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I criticize one of the most convincing recent attempts to resist the underdetermination thesis, Laudan’s argument from indirect confirmation. Laudan highlights and rejects a tacit assumption of the underdetermination theorist, namely that theories can be confirmed only by empirical evidence that follows from them. He shows that once we accept that theories can also be confirmed indirectly, by evidence not entailed by them, the skeptical conclusion does not follow. I agree that Laudan is right to reject this assumption, but I argue that his explanation of how the rejection of this assumption blocks the skeptical conclusion is flawed. I conclude that the argument from indirect confirmation is not effective against the underdetermination thesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critiques the conventional concept of ‘insight’ within the mental status assessment, seeking to unseat its taken-for-granted definition and the status it has acquired in research and practice. Drawing on social theory, consumer perspective and interdisciplinary research, the paper focuses on the impact of ‘thin’ biomedical understandings of insight, in disqualifying and demoralizing persons subjected to assessment and at the same time creating punitive scrutineers out of well-intentioned practitioners. Nurses and their mental health colleagues are encouraged to reconsider their reliance on the concept of insight. We entertain the alternative idea that insight is a quality of perception that mental health practitioners can cultivate, to more deeply understand their work, culture and the self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent paper in this journal by Hardcastle et al. in 2005 argued that Anthony Giddens’s Structuration Theory (ST) might usefully inform sociological nursing research. In response, a critique of ST based upon the Realist Social Theory of Margaret Archer is presented. Archer maintains that ST is fatally flawed and, in consequence, it has little to offer nursing research. Following an analysis of the concepts epiphenomenalism and elisionism, it is suggested that emergentist Realist Social Theory captures or describes a more coherent explanatory vision of social reality than other perspectives and nurse researchers are advised to consider its potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a critical overview of the controversy between the Radical approach to Discursive Psychology (RDP) and the Social Representations Theory (SRT). After having analyzed several positions, the first part of the article aims to show what is potentially complementary and contradictory in Discursive Psychology (DP) and the Social Representations Theory, when and why they are incompatible. In the second part of the article, we examine some of the main pillars of the RDP's antagonistic dispute and confutations and describe how the radicalism of the socio-constructionist thesis upheld by Radical Discourse Analysis can give rise to several hard-to-solve problems, which may then be translated into a boomerang effect: a) making relativism relative; b) reflecting on reflexivity; c) reducing the subject's role in a radical "contingentism" perspective; d) affirming the "totalising" and "reifying" role of discourse-action; e) assuming a "tautological" model of the binomium communication and representations, rejecting the concept and metaphor of communication. The paper concludes by arguing for a "dialogical" perspective not only in the terms peculiar to the SRT, but also for a "cross-fertilization" between the researchers inspired by the less radical approach to discursive psychology and those inspired by Social Representation Theory, highlighting the effect of the methodological implication that this would entail if researchers with various "school" memberships would instead of speaking and writing for their own academic circles would also learn to listen and read each other with respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]