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The paper examines two interrelated puzzles: the empirical one concerns communication in electronic anonymous markets. If trading screens provide traders with all the needed informational resources (including data interpretation), why do said traders constantly engage in chatter and instant messaging? These latter should be seen as time consuming, as distracting, and as increasing uncertainties. The theoretical puzzle is provided by the need to conceptualize communication as more than a set of maintenance and support functions for networks of traders, and as different from a tool used in reducing uncertainties about the future. I argue that in order to be able to act, actors need to typify transactions, based on their observable features. Typification is a collaborative activity, consisting in identifying particular, observable elements of market transactions as marks or tags characteristic for a certain type. Tags enable market participants to judge transactions as instances of particular types, along multiple criteria. Four kinds of tags are identified here: personal, agential, actional and procedural. Based on them, market actors solve action- and decision-relevant problems. The communicative engagement in typifications is a mechanism of differentiation and group building in online markets. Its investigation helps shed light on the social dynamics of electronic trading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a list of new books on sociology received for the journal "Social Forces." Some of the books included in this list are: "The Age of Anxiety. A Baroque Eclogue," by W.H. Auden; "Rubber Policies of the National Defence Advisory Commission and the Office of Production Management, May 1940 to December 1941," by George W. Auxier; "Soviet Foreign Trade," by Alexander Baykov; "Wartime Apparel Price Control," by Wilfred Carsel; "The United States. Experiment in Democracy," by Avery Craven and Walter Johnson; "As You Sow," by Walter Goldschmidt; "Field Songs of Chhattisgarh," by S.C. Dube.

Scholar Earle E. Eubank's discussion of contributions of sociological theory to social work is a more ambitious undertaking than the usual efforts in this field for it presents several case analyses in terms of sociological concepts supplemented by a list of principles that he believes are derived from social theory. However much one may commend Eubank for his courage in dealing boldly and frankly with this much debated issue, his statement of the case for sociology is not at all likely to be convincing to the social worker. A defense of sociology on the conceptual plane has serious limitations because concepts have real meaning only for those who have been trained to use them as tools in their thinking. A social worker whose professional education has included a thorough study of sociology might read Eubank's paper with approval, since he has become accustomed to think about social problems in terms of such concepts. The typical social worker, however, is likely to be more familiar with psychological and psychiatric terms and therefore could easily make the claim that his vocabulary is equally, if not more illuminating than that of the sociologist. Moreover, when he studies Eubank's analysis of the case stories, he can not help but be perplexed to find that concepts which he had taken over from the fields of psychology and psychiatry are here set forth as contributions of sociological theory to social work.

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of mortality. Numerous investigations have linked occupational factors and CVD. Occupational factors such as overtime work have an enormous effect on the CVD risk of industrial workers. However, risk factors for CVD are not systematically reviewed in the workplace. The purpose of the paper is to review work-related risk factors for CVD. Methods: A systematic review of work-related CVD risk factors was performed, yielding 180 articles. All articles were assessed in relation to inclusion and exclusion criteria, resulting in 44 articles being reviewed. The sole inclusion criteria was work-related environmental factors and intra/inter-personal factors (psychosocial factors), which is based on the socioecological perspective. The articles were also assessed regarding the quality of each study using the scoring methods developed by Cesario et al. and Brown et al. Conclusion: The literature review demonstrated that work environment factors such as shift work, overtime work, and noise and chemical exposures; and psychosocial factors such as job stress, social support, and socioeconomic status cannot be explained or intervened by one single risk factor. Furthermore, certain occupational factors were shown to aggravate or attenuate other risk factors. The implication of these findings is to incorporate work-related environmental and psychosocial factors into assessment of the patient's CVD risks and intervention plan. Future research should also incorporate a well-defined conceptual framework to address the effects of work-related environmental and psychosocial factors on CVD among CVD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the significance of new developments in the social studies of childhood for the social professions and social work. These evolving fields of knowledge present challenges to social work as they seek to reshape traditional accounts of children and integrate revised knowledge to inform practice and policy issues. The article begins by mapping the social studies of childhood and then considers the models of childhood that underpin professional knowledge and practice. The next section examines the ways in which aspects of these paradigms have entered policy and practice. This article considers how childhood studies might contribute to social work through the development of a more integrated and distinctive model of professional practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although there have been many critiques of the central role that trauma plays in social work practice with refugees, nevertheless, trauma discourse maintains a powerful shaping force on service delivery in Australia, intersecting with, and gaining power from, managerial discourses that specify individually focused approaches to practice. The outcome is a double bind for refugee populations, who quickly learn that, in this country, identifying themselves as vulnerable is a pathway to resources, yet, who then find themselves caught in processes that have precarious effects for agency. Trauma work, the paper argues, however necessary at some points, is overemphasised and over-legitimised, and a range of critiques are drawn on to substantiate this. Revisiting some of the traditional disciplinary bases of social work and human services may facilitate organisations and practitioners to engage more proactively and reflexively with people who arrive as refugees across a broader range of tasks associated with re-establishing themselves in a new country. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The association between quality assessment and status attainment is fundamental in the sociology of markets. However, past literature failed to explain status dynamics such as mobility in the status order where highly uncertain goods make quality hard to measure. This paper contributes to the understanding of this relationship by identifying various social mechanisms behind quality evaluation processes. It also explores why certain products are considered to be more valuable than others. The results demonstrate that only through exchange relations and active participation in the marketplace (what I call status actions) can actors affect the social definition of what are perceived as high-quality products. The results also provide evidence of two major market outcomes: conservativism and centralization. The findings improve the understanding of the evolution and dynamics of status in uncertain markets from both micro- and macro-sociology of markets. These processes are illustrated in a study of the art market in Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using the author's own experiences in local politics, the paper examines several cases in which pieces of mundane infrastructure are contested. The cases include eruvs, traffic-calming technologies, and invisible dog fences. The argument is that in contra distinction to abstract philosophical approaches to technology, the social construction of technology (SCOT) needs to return to the examination of the mundane embeddedness of technologies in everyday life. It is argued that an adequate approach to the role of the human and the non-human should not buy into a distinction between ontology and epistemology but instead should focus upon the contested interaction of humans and non-humans in everyday life and thereby restore the analysis of intentionality and meaning to its rightful place at the core of the sociology of technology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Foster care systems across Australia are widely recognised as being 'in crisis'. Problems of both supply (a lack of appropriate placements for children) and demand (increasing numbers of child protection notifications) are central to this crisis. Addressing these problems requires an approach to social work practice that encourages greater support for existing foster carers, and that in so doing, helps to attract new carers to the system. One of the ways in which this may be achieved is through an emphasis on foster care as a form of family based care that holds the potential to meet the needs not only of children, but of adults seeking to engage in familial relationships with children. Drawing upon a psychoanalytically-informed approach to social work, this paper presents and analyses data from a national research project examining existing Australian foster carers' experiences of care provision. The results demonstrate that despite considerable adversity (which often takes the shape of foster families not being recognised as such), foster carers continue to form unique, supportive families with children. Implications are drawn from this for a social work practice that acknowledges diversity in family forms and which validates the identifications and desires that circulate within foster families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many international relations (IR) theories examining the identity/alterity nexus share a dichotomized vision of the social and political reality sustaining their approach to “identity” by dividing the latter into either its “corporate” or its “social” dimension. This dichotomized conception of the social and political falls into what Norbert Elias termed “process-reduction,” a fallacy leading to an isolation and essentialization of certain aspects of processes and bracketing the inherent eventness of the “international.” This paper will theoretically identify the shortcomings of this dichotomized vision and then provide an empirical narration of what a non-dichotomized conception can look like and consider how it provides us with a more acute rendering of the social and political dimensions of collective political identity formation and politics of representation. To do so, a dialogical understanding of the variety of constellations of collective political identities that have informed questions regarding multiculturalism ranging from the Tokugawa (1603–1867) to the Taishō (1912–1926) eras in Japan will be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critiques the hegemonic constructions of child soldiers to be found in civil society and Anglophone media accounts. Close examination of these texts reveals that the discourse mirrors Anglophone imaginaries and preoccupations over childhood rather than the distinctive concerns of child soldiers themselves. It claims that the discourse accomplishes considerable political work in buttressing the international order between the global North and South. Furthermore, it asserts that the discourse operates as a site where wider Anglophone fears over the functioning of its personal, “private” sphere can be rehearsed and disciplined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information by Nancy Nason-Clark about the September 2004 issue of the journal "Sociology of Religion." September is the time of new beginnings, for students and faculty alike. Some of us make mental notes of things we wish to change, term papers graded more quickly, lectures more engaging, student problems understood more clearly, journals read from cover to cover, and so on. Themes of marginalization and private religious practices weave their way through the various articles presented in the journal. Two of the articles consider the interface of gender or race in contemporary evangelical discussions. Two other articles consider the impact of spiritual experiences: in the workplace or in the construction of privatized religion.

This section introduces the articles featured in the June 2004 issue of Social Forces. In the June issue, the editor Richard L. Simpson retires from his position as co-editor. Judith Blau will become editor on July 1, 2004. 2004 was a year of many changes at Social Forces. The editors are extremely sad to lose Paul Mihas as the Managing Editor at the end of June 2004, when the Journal moves completely to the Department of Sociology. The journal is well on its way to implementing electronic management of manuscripts and reviews, anticipating the full transition to online-submission capability sometime in Summer 2004. The first article in the issue is Patricia Yancey Martin's presidential address that she delivered at the 2003 meetings of the Southern Sociological Society: Gender as Social Institution. Following the peer-reviewed articles is a section that includes a paper by Michael Burawoy, Public Sociologies: Contradictions, Dilemmas and Possibilities, along with rejoinders by Francois Nielsen, David Brady, and Charles Tittle. Catherine Zimmer, President of the North Carolina Sociological Association (NCSA), introduces these four papers that are based on a session at the NCSA. Judith will continue to devote a short, bracketed section of each issue of Social Forces devoted to Commentary and Debate.

The recent accounts of the new war paradigm have been thoroughly scrutinized in a variety of disciplines from security studies and international relations to political economy. The general trend is to focus on the scope, methods, tactics, strategies, forms of war, and/or the level of atrocity. However, there has been little sustained attempt to assess structural causes and the arguments about the changing aims of contemporary warfare. This paper provides a critical analysis of the macro sociological accounts of the new war paradigm with a spotlight on the purpose and causes of the recent wars. The author argues that despite the development of elaborate models, the sociology of contemporary warfare rests on shaky foundations and hence fails to convince. Rather than witnessing a dramatic shift in the causes and objectives of contemporary violent conflict, one encounters a significant transformation in the social and historical context in which these wars are waged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Communication Theory (1050-3293) is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper illustrates case studies of four developing countries and compares them as to relative advancement in tobacco control as prescribed by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Tobacco-control efforts first seem to involve assessment of tobacco use prevalence and passage of tobacco-control legislation (e.g., warning labels). Tanzania, Nepal, and China serve as examples. Eventually, an integrated tobacco-control stance that demonstrates several cycles of tobacco-control activities occurs, as is shown in Thailand. Through these case studies, one can achieve a sense of the direction of progress in tobacco control in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Communication Theory (1050-3293) is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Very little has been written in scholarly or popular venues on the conceptualization and utilization of the term network to describe terrorist organizing. In this paper, we identify critical disjunctures between the assumptions of contemporary communication network theory and the assumptions and appropriation of network concepts by the current U.S. Administration in discussions of terrorism networks. We argue that the theoretical and empirical foundations of contemporary network research provide a more complex and constructive platform from which policy makers may ask better questions and find better solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses levels and trends in within-country income inequality during the second-half of the 20th century. Two broad general trends were visible: beginning in the 1950s and 1960s inequality declined substantially in most countries, and in the 1980s and 1990s it increased more variably and more slightly. However, we focus here on presenting and explaining the distinct `macro- regional' regimes of inequality that became evident in this period. We identify six: Anglo, Nordic, Continental West European, Latin American, East Asian and South Asian. We show that intra-regional variations in inequality have been much less than inter-regional variations, and that the six regional regimes did not remain constant but had distinct trajectories through time. The Anglos were at first the most egalitarian, only later developing the greater inequality supposedly characteristic of their `liberalism'. The Nordics only became the most egalitarian in the middle of our period. The Euro-Continentals began as the most unequal among the Western countries, but then became almost as equal as the Nordics. Latin America began and remained the most unequal region of all. East Asia was rather egalitarian, while South Asia converged towards a middling inequality. Though pressures towards more inequality strengthened from 1980, regional responses remained varied and path-dependent. Then, in more speculative vein, we seek to explain these regional patterns in macro-sociological terms. Beginning from a model of dynamic interactions between economic, ideological, military and political power relations, we trace the political institutionalization of distinct macro-regional ideologies of `best practices' of socio-economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I outline the theory of institutional economics developed by John R. Commons and contrast it with neoclassical economic theory. Key concepts in Commons' theory are bounded rationality, property rights, working rules, institutions, transactions and incomplete contracts. Although Commons' writings tend toward the obscure and descriptive, I demonstrate that on a deeper level of analysis his ideas and concepts provide the basis for an alternative body of economic theory. In certain respects, this body of theory complements neoclassical theory by fleshing-out the institutional infrastructure that governs and regulates market exchange. In other respects, however, Commons' theory of institutional economics is a heterodox substitute for neoclassical theory because it is built using a different methodology, replaces or modifies central theoretical pillars of neoclassical theory, and denies the validity of the `Invisible Hand' theorem and other core neoclassical propositions. Commons' institutional economics also provides a theoretical framework for an integration of the economic and social dimensions of human behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the devices by which we persuade in the discipline—to produce and reproduce representations of economies that focus on atomistic individuals, freedom of choice and closed systems. By means of these devices we erase from our perceptual field those characteristics of the economic realm that consider elements of the social nature of individuals, open system thinking, relationality and relative power, including the influence played by income and wealth distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In sociology, the appropriateness of national approaches for understanding social inequality in today's societies is being increasingly questioned, and EU-wide approaches are advocated instead. In this paper, we link the growing debate about national or EU- wide approaches to reference group theory, investigating whether comparisons with foreign countries influence levels of individual life satisfaction. Our results indicate that, on the one hand, more people can be assumed to have a national frame of reference than a broader international one; on the other hand, among those who do have an idea of how average people in other countries live, cross-border comparisons certainly influence people's satisfaction with life. Upward comparisons in particular are important: the more people feel personally deprived, relative to other countries, the less satisfied they are with their lives. In contrast, the feeling of relative gratification has a much smaller impact on life satisfaction, and often no impact at all. This leads us to conclude that EU-wide approaches to inequality do make sense, but that there is also no need to jettison national approaches completely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years questions about the coherence of Religious Studies have been raised, responses to which have important implications within both the politics of institutions and broader cultural politics. As specializations deepen, some fragmentation in the field of Religious Studies is inevitable and a welcome antidote to earlier universalising claims. But we need to overcome the inadequate choice of using either problematic general categories or a relativistic reversion to purely area-specific study which relegates the study of ‘religions’ to departments of anthropology, sociology, or other splintered fields, and excludes theologies of traditions from the secular academy. This paper argues for Religious Studies not only as the social scientific study of religion but as an arena that gives hospitality to traditions' self-inquiry within a framework of rational discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1960s, one of the great strengths of social history has been its willingness to respond to contemporary concerns. However, as environmental issues have pushed their way to the top of the global political agenda, social historians have been slow to meet this new challenge. This paper examines reasons for this reluctance and, more importantly, explores the opportunities for integrating social and environmental history. It is divided into three main parts. The first section deals with the failure of social history to strike up a dialogue with environmental history. Section two aims to show that social and environmental history are basically compatible and complementary fields, and argues for increased collaboration by making human-environment relations a key theme for future research. Drawing on studies—both rural and urban—that have begun to establish common ground between the two fields, section three outlines new areas for investigation, including: the interconnections between social inequality and environmental degradation; environments and identities; and consumption and the environment. By focusing attention on how ordinary people interacted with their environments in the past, social historians could make a significant contribution to current discussions about a sustainable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the key issues that need to be addressed in seeking to enhance the appeal of social history to undergraduates. Consideration is given to content selection; enhancing cognitive skills; learning and teaching approaches; and assessment techniques. Additionally, in relation to each of these matters, the notion of progression is examined, which in this context is concerned with how the study of social history can be made more challenging for students as they proceed through their programmes of study. The argument is made that, for social history to prosper at undergraduate level, careful account will have to be taken of students' needs, especially in terms of their employability, and meaningful ways found of reflecting these needs both in the way the curriculum is designed and in the learning and teaching approaches that are adopted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I trace the development of statistical significance testing standards in sociology by analyzing data from articles published in two prestigious sociology journals between 1935 and 2000. I focus on the role of two key elements in the diffusion literature, contagion and rationality, as well as the role of institutional factors. I find that statistical significance testing flourished in the 20th century. Contagion processes and the suitability of significance testing given a study's data characteristics encourage the diffusion of significance testing, whereas institutional factors such as department prestige and particular editorships help explain growing popularity of the .05 alpha level and use of the "three-star system" of symbolic codes (i.e., *p < = .05, **p < = .01, ***p < = .001). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the concept of convention in the social sciences. It presents the two major neo-Humean philosophical approaches to convention and challenges their intuitive appeal and research implications. The weaknesses of these approaches are examined and a new direction is suggested for the study of convention. The paper goes onto develop a framework for the analysis of conventions, using the notion of `the exemplar' introduced by Thomas Kuhn. An illustration of this alternative approach is provided using the example of the `wage relation'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses trends in social work in the last twenty-five years. Within the broad theme of social work as a social institution, more detailed attention is focused on: services for children and elderly people; manageralism; and social work research and evaluation. Processes of secularization, professionalism and manageralism have weakened the impetus for social reform. This has sharpened dilemmas for social work in balancing benefits for service users and public involvement with tight state control and regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we describe and explain country differences in the effect of gender on the risk of becoming poor, using data from the Luxembourg Income Study on 22 industrialized countries. Although in most countries women are more likely to become poor than men, this is not the case for all countries. Composition effects explain 18 per cent of the country differences: differences in the educational level of the population are most important, whereas labor market participation plays a smaller role. Country characteristics, especially economic growth and social-democratic tradition, explain between 29 and 36 per cent of the country differences in the gender-poverty-gap. Both composition effects and country characteristics are better suited to explaining the disadvantages of women than the disadvantages of men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper formalizes a widely discussed peer effect titled "acting White." "Acting White" is modeled as a two-audience signaling quandary: signals that induce high wages can be signals that induce peer group rejection. Without peer effects, equilibria involve all ability types choosing different levels of education. "Acting White" alters the equilibrium dramatically: the (possibly empty) set of lowest ability individuals and the set of highest ability individuals continue to reveal their type through investments in education; ability types in the middle interval pool on a common education level. Only those in the lower intervals are accepted by the group. The model's predictions fit many stylized facts in the anthropology and sociology literatures regarding social interactions among minority group members. "Some African-American students, unable to extricate themselves from the quicksand of self-defeat, have adopted the incredibly stupid tactic of harassing fellow blacks who have the temerity to take their studies seriously. According to the poisonous logic of the harassers, any attempt at acquiring knowledge is a form of "acting white" [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is there a difference between the social capital developed in faith-based and secular poverty-to-work programs? Comparative field research investigating five faith-based and secular poverty-to-work programs in southeastern America finds that values expressed by a secular non-profit organization and two faith-based programs correspond with more activities that develop social capital than the programs run by a for-profit organization and a reinvented government agency. In all the programs this social capital is both 'bridging,' by crossing barriers of race, gender, and class, and 'bonding' by tying participants and staff into at least a temporary supportive community. The programs see that this social capital is effective in supporting low-income persons through the transition to full-time employment. In addition, the faith-based programs seek to extend the social capital by developing long-term ties between clients and local religious congregations. This paper also specifies how social capital is developed in these programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In some forms of sociology, "culture" has come to replace "society" as the central object of study. This has encouraged an epistemological relativism that overrides a proper engagement with human ontology, while it has also allowed for the development of forms of reductionism where culture turns out to be determined by something deemed more fundamental, such as technology. Some influential contemporary accounts of the "information age" exhibit both these characteristics. The argument of this paper is that these do not offer a productive route forward for sociology in general, or for sociologists of religion in particular. It is argued that Durkheim's social realism not only helps to illuminate the inadequacy of those theories that ignore the human and religious dimensions of contemporary life in their intoxication with machine-mediated flows of information, but can also point towards a more productive way forward for the analysis of contemporary social and cultural realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The dehumanizing aspects of conflict and war are increasingly recognized as serious health and human rights concerns. This paper examines the impact on civilians of the 29 March 2002 Israeli Army invasion and subsequent curfews lasting up to 45 consecutive days, of five West Bank towns. Methods: Using focus groups, a 10-item scale was devised to measure the effects of the invasion's impact on the social and health-related quality of life. The scale is an aggregate of three constructs measuring housing, financial, and health-related issues. A survey composed of demographic questions and the 10-item social/health scale was administered to a stratified random sample of inhabitants of the five towns. Results: the invasion caused extensive destruction, food and cash shortages, internal displacement of civilians, psychological distress, and serious interruptions of basic services, including crucial health services. Overall, Jenin experienced the most deleterious effects. Using the subscales, Jenin experienced the highest overall housing damage, Bethlehem the most financial difficulties, and Ramallah the most health-related hardships. Conclusions: civilians inevitably suffer during conflict and war from destruction of the community infrastructure and from personal stress due to disruption of services and the non-fulfilment of basic human needs. In contradistinction to standard damage assessments that focus on collective physical damage, this scale provides richer information on the needs of civilians in conflict-torn areas, and can assist aid workers in the efficient deployment of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the Enlightenment, the concept of‘critique’ broadened and acquired a political denotation, in which the expression of opinion alone could itself be already considered critique. This meaning of‘critique’ expresses acknowledgement of men as equal, free and rational. This broad concept of critique, however, also tends to negate certain more technical and specific forms. This paper goes back to conceptions of critique introduced by Kant and developed in an educational perspective by the neo-Kantian Paul Natorp. Kant's concept of critique concentrated on the conditions of possibility of judgemental powers, resulting in a transcendental critique of Reason. Natorp applied this conception of transcendental critique to education. Though Natorp relates education to society as a whole, his concept of critique does not uncover the social determinants of educational views but holds on to a transcendental critical idea of critical judgement that is not completely socially determined. Consequently, in the transcendental critical approach, the critical function of Reason is given priority over any political vision. This results in a conception of critique that primarily questions validity claims, stressing rational testing as opposed to other sources of validity, such as traditional or religious authority. The transcendental critical programme, further developed in twentieth-century Germany, still endorses the implied denial of the possibility of deriving the validity of propositions from experience. It can be distinguished from Karl-Otto Apel's brand of transcendental critique by its refusal to assume any primary criterion for critical judgement, in the manner of Apel's‘ideal communicative community’. Consequently, this programme cannot result in any positive conception of education. Its main contribution consists in exposing those presuppositions of educational views and practices that function as a priori ideas as conditions of the possibility of their justification. Though not denying the value and relevance of positive educational conceptions, this transcendental critical approach primarily aims at preventing metaphysical foundational questions from being forgotten or dogmatically fossilised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dramatic religious growth has occurred throughout the former Soviet Union in the past 30 years with approximately 100 million people joining religious groups for the first time. These religious revivals correspond to lessening restrictions on religious activity — a dear prediction of the ’religious-economies’ or ’supply-side’ approach to the study of religion. Nevertheless, a comparative analysis of past-communist countries reveals that levels of religious pluralism are not commensurate to levels 4 religious growth, a finding which seemingly contradicts a central proposition in the supply-side approach. This paper argues that a religious-economies explanation of post-communist religious growth remains untarnished when one considers the impact of Soviet atheism on religious markets and the role of religious regulation in the post-communist era. These two factors have created an instance where religious monopolies are able to grow at unprecedented rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religious life has long been global. Contemporary migrants extend these ties by transnationalizing everyday religious life. While much has been written about transnational economic and political practices, transnational religious life is not well understood. This paper examines the institutional characteristics of transnational religiosity and has three broad goals. First, it reviews this emerging body of literature and proposes an approach to the study of transnational migrants' religious practices. Second, it proposes three types of extended, negotiated, and recreated transnational religious organizations. Finally, it begins to untangle the relationship between transnational religion and politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The religious question of men's origin and destination can be answered by belief, unbelief, uncertainty and indifference. The degree of secularization should increase belief against the three remaining options, unbelief against uncertainty and indifference, and uncertainty against indifference. The paper asks if the enforced form of secularization of East European countries has the same effects even if the degree of secularization is controlled, and if these developments are reversed after the demise of communism Furthermore, it examines if the developments of countries and their reversal remain significant if the education, the age and the religious practice of individuals are controlled. Dependent variables are the belief in God and the Bible as surveyed in the ISSP 1991 and 1998. In 1991, the degree and the form of secularization affect the answers to the religious question as expected. Up to 1998, the effects of the degree and the form of secularization persist. Furthermore the effects of the degree and the form of secularization do not shrink if education and age of individuals are controlled, and do shrink but remain significant if additionally religious practice is controlled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are different processes that lead to the emergence of norms. One process begins with a behavioural regularity. It is often claimed in the literature that if such a behavioural regularity has been established the respective behaviour turns into a norm: what is becomes what ought to be. This paper addresses the question whether this proposition is a general law, or whether it holds only under certain conditions. To answer this question the focus is on a particular kind of behaviour, viz, political protest behaviour. The question is then whether and, if so, under what conditions political action generates a norm to participate. In the first part, some propositions are suggested which are then tested with a two-wave panel study. One finding is that political action affects the acceptance of a protest norm indirectly. The intervening variables are norm-generating incentives. The data indicate that protesters are exposed to these incentives to a particularly high extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we ask why some Norwegian social assistance recipients move to work, while others do not. The aim is to shed new light on the heterogeneity/dependency issue in welfare research by defining work as the destination of interest, adopting methods that allow for assessment of the effect of time, and that take into account observed variables as well as unobserved heterogeneity. The sample includes all first time recipients aged 30-60 years in 1995 (n = 15,837). This entry cohort is followed up for 5 years, i.e. through 1999. About 10 per cent of the social assistance recipients experience a first transition to work (n = 1563). Individual characteristics like education and ethnicity, and structural factors like national unemployment rates are important predictors of exit to work. The adjusted effect of time on exit to work has a bell-like shape: first it increases sharply and then declines slowly. Thus, the `time dependency' hypothesis that assumes a steadily declining hazard rate, is not supported. Our interpretation of the bell-shaped exit rate focuses on the labour market conditions, job search efforts, and (changing) characteristics of the long-term social assistance recipients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has two main objectives. One is to consider the central place of human rights in today's global order and the other is to articulate a theoretical framework that will make sociological sense out of current human rights discourse and practice. Human rights emerged from, but need to be distinguished from, societal rights, and they are to be viewed as social claims upon social power arrangements. In advancing our perspective, special attention is given to the place of organizations in human rights theorizing; at the same time, we delineate some of the highly contested aspects of the endeavor to institutionalize a set of human rights principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically examines how Anthony Giddens's theory of structuration has been utilized within criminological studies. It suggests that rather than resolving many traditional dilemmas within sociology, structuration theory effaces them by compacting together structure and agency. Adverting to the critical literature on structuration theory, it points out the consequences of binding structure and agency together so tightly. The distinctive properties of each are collapsed into social practices which entail that structure is defined virtually—in terms of rules and resources—so that it does not have an objective existence. This confers a spurious malleability upon social structures, yet structuration theory is unable to specify when transformation will occur, and also fails to explain why there should be change since agents are overwhelmingly concerned with the preservation of security through the adherence to routines. These and other deleterious consequences are drawn out through an examination of three studies that incorporate structuration theory and they are traced to an unwillingness to conceive of social reality as being multidimensional, with each level possessing its own distinctive properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unemployment has a negative effect on the mental well-being of individuals who experience it. The well-being of the partners and children of these individuals is also negatively affected by this transition. Little is known, however, on the effect of the transition into unemployment on the mental well-being of the parents of unemployed people. This article analyses the association between child's transition into unemployment and parents' minor psychiatric morbidity, using the General Health Questionnaire score as a proxy. The effects of the length of the unemployment spell and the specific pathway into unemployment are investigated. Eventually, the moderating role of the national level of unemployment is also explored. Data from the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society are used. The results of the analyses indicate that child's transition into unemployment has a small, statistically significant, negative effect on mothers' mental well-being, whereas the effect on fathers' distress is negligible. The association between mother's mental well-being and child's unemployment does not vary by the duration of the unemployment spell, or by the specific path into unemployment (from employment, studentship, or other inactive status). Differently, the negative effect of child's unemployment on mother's well-being is larger at higher levels of unemployment at the country level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A successful school-to-work transition is crucial to an individual's initial entry into the labor market and overall sustainable career development. Scholarly interest in how emerging adults (i.e. late teens to late 20s) can achieve a successful transition to work has grown considerably, stemming from various disciplines, such as educational sciences, psychology, sociology, and economics. These disciplines have all produced valuable knowledge, yet, they mostly exist as separate silos, without clear integration. To create an overview of the literature, we systematically reviewed school-to-work transition literature and used a sustainable career lens to organize it. Based on 365 articles from the past 28 years, our review findings show that there are different conceptual and theoretical approaches to studying school-to-work transitions. We subsequently organize these perspectives into antecedents categorized into the sustainable career perspective's person, context, and time dimensions. Moreover, we categorize school-to-work transition outcomes as proximal and more distal outcomes related to happiness, health, and productivity indicators. Finally, we reflect on the implications of our review article and suggest ways forward for conceptualizing and theorizing modern school-to-work transitions, along with an agenda for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper-reconsiders the political constraints and organizational dynamics which limit standard-setting by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Past research is dominated by class analytic perspectives which trace the failure of regulatory agencies to either direct "capture" by regulated industries or widespread concern about business confidence. This paper synthesizes the insights of critical legal studies and recent work in political sociology to further specify the social bases of corporate power in the regulatory arena. Critical legal scholars emphasize the ways in which "class neutral" legal statutes create opportunities for capital at the expense of subordinate groups. Recent work in political sociology clarifies the complex organizational and institutional dynamics that shape the mobilization of strategic resources in the context of political opportunities. Using a sample that covers 25 years. we examine the extent to which due process in standard-setting favors capital at the expense of labor due to disparities in resource mobilization. Due process provides capital several opportunities to challenge regulatory initiatives. Capital, led by trade associations and Fortune 500 companies, has consistently mobilized the resources necessary to exploit these opportunities. In contrast, organizational constraints have seriously limited the mobilization of labor and its potential allies, including state technocrats, to defend regulatory initiatives. We identify two far-reaching gains secured by capital given these disparities. On the one hand, the mobilization of a corporate counter movement in any one case may have precluded the effective defense of other regulatory initiatives, since the resources of labor and regulatory agencies are easily exhausted. On the other hand, the mobilization of capital has served to safeguard its right to due process and the opportunities this right affords. We conclude that due process in standard-setting in the context of resource disparities necessarily favors capital because It inevitably results in "opportunity costs," reflected in the hundreds of regulatory initiatives that remain dormant indefinitely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper criticizes the deskilling hypothesis for temporal change in occupations. Case studies of occupations alleged to support the deskilling hypothesis have typically been insensitive to the internal heterogeneity found within occupations, and to the fact that the boundary between adjacent occupations located on the same functional hierarchy can shift over time. When these factors are explicitly taken into account, it is found that apparently compelling evidence for the thesis of clerical downgrading better supports an alternative explanation, which might be called the process of status redefinition, an aspect of the process of professionalization. The case of clerical workers in the federal government is examined in some detail, Available evidence supports the argument that status redefinition occurred. Status redefinition and des killing are not mutually exclusive explanations for change, though they do conflict in important respects. This paper suggests that case studies of occupations should focus on functional hierarchies, rather than specific occupations, in order to avoid the comparability problems which arise when occupational boundaries change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suburban exploitation of the central city was once a hotly contested issue, but the exodus of people and jobs from the city and the involvement of the federal government in urban service provision have moved it from the forefront of scholarly attention. Those same developments, however argue for more rather than less attention to exploitation, and the purpose of this paper is to offer some of that. Using data collected for 188 relatively comparable American SMS As for 1960, 1970, and 1980, the paper begins with a replication of an earlier study by Kasarda of suburban demands for city service spending. It then extends that research to 1980 and expands it to asses suburban participation in city retail sales generation as well. The results indicate a substantive narrowing over time of suburban demands for city services, but a sizeable and growing gap nonetheless between expenditures demanded and retail revenues provided. The paper than turns to an analysis that attempts to test empirically th relative merits of ecological and politicoeconomic explanation for these changes. The results of that test are more supportive of the former then the latter; hence, the paper concludes with an interpretation of them that links to underlying ecological processes the changing social psychological perspective on the city and its role in social life held by surrounding suburban dwellers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past half century, northern Europe has seen a striking decline of belief in God and the supernatural. Yet the churches there have not died, and in some cases they remain strong and active. Whence does the vitality of these churches derive, if belief has eroded? This paper examines one such church, an independent Lutheran congregation in northwestern Denmark. It suggests that the church's importance stems from its "span of ambiguity," the broad range of meanings which it expresses in its local context. Its ability to integrate meanings from a variety of social arenas gives it a powerful role in a rapidly changing society. The paper argues that religious systems generally have an unusual capacity for such expression and integration, It is the extent to which they can maintain their spans of ambiguity, rather than the extent to which they can maintain belief, which accounts for their persistence or decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both academic and popular discussion of consumption tend to centre around too dominant discourses or rhetorics. These ore those of need (satisfaction) and want (desire). These rhetorics relate to contrasting models of human action with associated ideologies. The need rhetoric has its origin in a Puritan-inspired utilitarian philosophy of comfort and satisfaction, while the wont or desire rhetoric has its origin in a Romantic-inspired philosophy of pleasure-seeking. Although both ideologies and their associated rhetorics are institutionalized in contemporary society, it is the former that tends to have greater legitimacy. This paper looks at the various relationships which it has been suggested exist between these two rhetorics in theories of consumption, examining these as they have been represented historically, bio-psychologically and sociologically. Finally, material from the author's current research on shopping is used to demonstrate how these two rhetorics are related to gender roles, as well as employed by individuals to help them accomplish their consumption goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based upon participant-observation in a research project that conducted AIDS prevention among street- based drug injectors, this paper analyzes the challenges presented in the application of an underdog sociological perspective in a quasi-human service agency. The directors of the AIDS Project incorporated the principles of Becker's labeling theory (1963) and the epistemological foundations of naturalist ethnography into the agency's outreach and research design. As such, this paper explores the bounds of the promoted "underdog sympathy." In addition, since the agency hired mostly former "underdogs" to conduct street outreach, the author examines conflicts in theoretical knowledge claims between the administration and staff. Whereas the outreach staff members embraced more lay-oriented psychological and therapeutic concepts, their experiential authority was dismissed by the sociologist administrators, belying formal claims to privileging underdog perspectives. Inasmuch as the directors dismissed the outreach workers' experiential knowledge, the directors were engaged in "ontological gerrymandering" (Woolgar and Pawluch 1985): selectively distinguishing objective reality from subjective claims. This paper focuses on two issues that represent the difficulty in applying an underdog sociology: 1) the dynamic construction of drugs, addiction, and recovery; and 2) collective representations of drug using clients. Employing Gouldner's (1967) critique of labeling theory, this paper deconstructs empirically the role of interests in the production of knowledge and contradictory sociological sentiments toward "deviants" in an applied setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]