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The article reviews the book "Sociology of Memory: Papers From the Spectrum," edited by Noel Packard.

Reviews the book "Philosophical Papers," edited by P. K. Feyerabend.

Reviews the book "Certainties and Doubts: Collected Papers, 1962-1985," by George Caspar Homans.

The article reviews the book "Freud and American Sociology," by Philip Manning.

West Wales and the Valleys is approaching the mid-way point of its European funded Objective 1 programme—the highest form of Structural Fund aid for the Union's economically and socially ‘lagging’ regions. Objective 1 has afforded Wales the tools to develop an economic regeneration strategy aimed at improving the performance of the western part of the Welsh economy, and combating the country's entrenched pockets of economic and social disadvantage. However, after three years there are some important structural and implementation problems facing those managing Objective 1 in Wales, specifically in terms of the governance of the programme and resource allocation. This paper draws out these key issues by tracing the main fault lines in the design and delivery of the programme, and also offers some critical assessment of the initial economic impact of Objective 1. In short, this paper argues that Wales has shown little evidence of learning the lessons from other Objective 1 regions, but has been rather more adept at emulating the errors found elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Virdee’s account of how racialized minorities in socialist movements ‘played an instrumental role in trying to align struggles against racism with those against class exploitation’ (p. 164). In so doing, Virdee makes an important intervention at a time when popular historians and other ideologues are colluding in the elevation of myths and – no doubt in their view – noble lies that preclude these stories. Moving through theoretical debates concerning the relationships between race and class, the nature and form of sociologies of ‘outsiders’, to political issues of mobilization, Virdee’s book successfully brings in from the margins an account the multi-ethnic character of the working class in England from the very moment of its inception. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article comments on several articles about the phenomena of war and peace in relation to sociology. Several authors recognize the threat posed to Marxism by the phenomenon of war. Weaker sociologists will take refuge in useful phrases, such as relative autonomy, uneven development and determination in the last instance. One of the legacies of Marxism is the division between base and superstructure, and its idea that political decisions are the effects, but not the causes of economic change. Class analysis comes to the fore only in two papers, one by John Mattausch, the other by Graham Day. Mattauch's unconcealed nostalgia for mass working class support sits unhappily with the fact that the majority of activists are state class radicals. Other papers are more interested in peace movements than in peace. They make no reference to the actual effect of such movements, for example, in contributing to the pre-war strategy of Adolph Hitler. Only one paper offers a definition of war. This occurs as a prelude to David Riches' discussion of the peaceful Eskimos. War, according to Riches, is the authorized employment of physical force against other persons, as means by which groups competing for control of public resources and benefits attempt to influence the outcome of the competition in their favor.

Edward Tylor had envisioned anthropology to be comprised of ethnology and ethnography in equal parts, but today ethnography dominates the field. In this paper, we examine two reasons for the refugee status of ethnology. First, we look at the notorious "Galton effect." Second, we examine the problem of defining and using cultural units, particularly when positivistic and static theories and methods of culture have been largely discredited by anthropology. We argue against any formulaic solutions to these problems and show that for each research question one needs to reconsider the criteria for how to construct cultural units and how to ensure that the cultures under study are not merely replicas of one another. We show that previous solutions to these issues are limited because they fail to appreciate the contingent and multidimensional nature of culture. We also argue that, instead of a "Galton problem," there is actually a "Galton asset," which can be used to study historical and emergent communicative networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviews the book "Structures of Power and Constraint: Papers in Honor of Peter M. Blau," edited by Craig Calhoun.

Reviews the book `The Sociology of Emotions: Original Essays and Research Papers,` edited by David D. Franks and E. Doyle McCarthy.