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Sociologists tend to see G. H. Mead's conceptualization of self as fundamentally correct. In this paper, we develop a critique of Mead's notion of the self as constituted through social interactions. Our focus will be on Mead's categorial distinction between the socially constructed self and subjective experience, as well as on the tendency of post‐Meadian sociologists to push Mead's position in ever more radical directions. Drawing inspiration from a multifaceted understanding of selfhood that can be found in Husserlian phenomenology, we then propose that the most basic level of selfhood is anchored in irreducible subjective experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analytical concept of accounts has long presented sociologists with an excellent tool for the study of talk. Nonetheless, studies of accounts often neglect the fact that cooperation is common when an account for untoward behavior is constructed. Many studies tend to flatten the process of how accounts are created by routinely describing them as being “offered” by offenders and then “evaluated” by reproachers. We assume that accounts are often negotiated between parties as a means of avoiding conflict and preserving a relationship. As such, this paper develops the concept of cooperative accounts that are offered to (or projected upon) offenders as a means of explaining their untoward behavior. While also examining hostile accounts, this paper concentrates on developing the cooperative account in order to investigate more fully Scott and Lyman's (1968) argument that accounts are crucial for managing conflict and maintaining social order. Because offering cooperative accounts to others is a routine social interaction their examination provides an opportunity to reanchor the study of accounts back into the symbolic interactionist tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over a century ago, German sociologist Georg Simmel observed that the figure of the stranger is characterised by a peculiar mixture of physical proximity and social distance. In both social science and popular media, the stranger tends to be treated as equivalent to the immigrant or the unknown Other. This paper takes some of the ideas that the stranger concept generates and pushes them outwards by using Simmel's observation as a springboard to develop the relational concept of strangership. Where the study of strangers focuses on the specific traits of individuals and groups, the concept of strangership focuses instead on the characteristics of relationships between strangers. Three conditions for the emergence and/or presence of strangership are described. In the spirit of contemporary theoretical work that seeks to connect the special position of the stranger to inequality, the paper concludes by proposing the concept of strangership as a way to foreground the relational character of life lived amongst strangers in ways that can thicken how we think about both solidarity and inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The point of the paper is discussing whether the term ‘agency’ is useful for the study of interaction practices or whether instead it denotes a set of features which relate to an individualistic perspective from the point of view of a theory or social action, and a voluntaristic perspective from the point of view of a theory of language in action. The argument of the paper is that studying interaction does not require an individualistic and voluntaristic notion of social action. In this regard, Goffman, Garfinkel and conversational analysis offer an alternative approach to the study of interaction practices in natural settings. This reasoning stems from data collected during research conducted on medical emergency call centres in Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses data from twenty-one online and in-person qualitative interviews to examine the meaning and use of chat rooms located on men for men (M4M) websites from the perspectives of men seeking men on the Internet. This research is inspired by recent public health and social sciences literature on gay websites and chat rooms. The data indicate that these online sites help expedite learning about sex and sexuality and, for men who are shy or geographically isolated, to interact with metropolitan gay communities. There is, however, a measure of stigma associated with use of these chat rooms, particularly by men who are older or in coupled relationships. Using these data, the paper argues that M4M chat rooms play a vital role in fostering the sexual autonomy of many men who frequent these venues and that sociologists should devote more study to the complexity of online social interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the overlaps and divergences between network sociologist Harrison White’s second edition of Identity and Control: How Social Formations Emerge (2008) and poststructuralist theories from the past three decades. Although poststructuralist thought is barely discussed in White’s work, comparing the approaches reveals significant convergence. I detail two major overlaps: White’s ideas of control compared to Foucault’s concept of discipline, and White’s conception of identity compared to that of feminist poststructuralists. Differences are apparent also, especially as regards treatment of categorical identities such as gender and race. Then, I turn to two ways poststructuralism and White can be put into productive conversation: how focusing on gender as discursive rather than attributional can help network analysts develop theories that better explain the gendered dimensions of social life, and how using blockmodeling methods can aid feminist poststructuralism in understanding what gender looks like without men’s and women’s bodies present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relevance of Pierre Bourdieu's 'epistemic reflexivity' for the sociology of religion, in particular by examining his neglected address to the French Association for the Sociology of Religion in 1982. Whilst sociologists of religion have addressed some issues of reflexivity in their practice, less attention has been paid to the crucial scientific requirement, highlighted by Bourdieu, to break from the 'illusio' of that field and thus avoid alignments with positions taken by religious actors themselves. As a result, many sociologists inevitably participate in religious contestations and stakes, whether or not they affirm or deny their own religious identification with those they study. Although Bourdieu's address was a response to a particular national and historical form of the sociology of religion, we argue that it retains much significance today and may lead to fruitful debate within the discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The visual symbols of society's most deeply lived religious beliefs are ever-present: what one sees is what one believes, and what one believes is evident in what one sees. Relying on the foundational work of sociologists, this paper considers the reciprocal relationship between the political economy and the voice of religion by focusing on a specific object of material culture: the architecture of a Wal-Mart store. People often define place, community, and value in relation to a Wal-Mart store, which raises important theological concerns surrounding individual and community identities, sin, grace, abundance, dependency, commodification, and consumption, as well as specific sociological concerns surrounding class, religious fundamentalism, and militarism. Generated by the neo-colonial interests of economic and cultural globalization, a Wal-Mart building communicates a "visual theology," with roots in a monolithic form of cultural production beyond the control of individuals and communities and yet determinative on many levels of social life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT:In order to delimit the realm of social phenomena, sociologists refer implicitly or explicitly to a distinction between living human beings and other entities, that is, sociologists equate the social world with the world of living humans. This consensus has been questioned by only a few authors, such as Luckmann, and some scholars of science studies. According to these approaches, it would be ethnocentric to treat as self-evident the premise that only living human beings can be social actors. The methodological consequence of such critique is a radical deanthropologization of sociological research. It must be considered an open question whether or not only living human can be social actors. The paper starts with a discussion of the methodological problems posed by such an analysis of the borders of the social world, and presents the results of an empirical analysis of these borders in the fields of intensive care and neurological rehabilitation. Within these fields it must be determined whether a body is a living human body or a symbol using human body. The analysis of these elementary border phenomena challenges basic sociological concepts. The relevant contemporary sociological theories refer to a dyadic constellation as the systematic starting point of their concept of sociality. The complex relationship between at least two entities is understood as the basis of the development of a novel order that functions as a mediating structure between the involved parties. Based upon empirical data, I argue that it is necessary to change this foundational assumption. Not the dyad but the triad must be understood as the foundational constellation. This implies a new understanding of the third actor, which is distinct from the concepts developed by Simmel and Berger and Luckmann. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The opposition of individual and society lies at the foundation of theoretical thinking about the conditions for being human. Common views on social interaction fall prey to two opposing stances, that of sociological individualism and that of sociological universalism (terms central to the work of a German sociologist of the first half of the 20th century, Othmar Spann). The dilemma entailed in this opposition is closely related to the distinction between differentiation and integration. When this distinction is added to the problem, the initial problem is translated into a related one, namely that of the relation between action and order. In order to get a hold on these issues, preliminary questions, such as those related to the nature of reality and those accounting for the status of (scientific) knowledge, are treated. The distinction between rationalism and irrationalism appears to hinge upon the account one gives for the relationship between universality and individuality. This in turn, serves to elucidate the complex nature of nominalism, both in its opposition to realism and with regard to the foundational role it plays in respect of methodological individualism in social theory. After examining the conceptions of three classical sociological thinkers (Tönnies, Spencer and Durkheim), the paper argues that organicism may be advocated both in an individualistic and a universalistic fashion. A brief orientation is then given regarding the nature of analogical concepts, which is followed up by a treatment of the connection between universalism and biotical analogies, with reference to Parsons and Müinch. In conclusion a summary of the line of argumentation followed in this article is given with a view to a follow-up article which will propose an approach possibly capable of transcending the impasse of individualism and universalism in sociological theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although it is a prominent feature of modern experience, driving has received little attention from sociologists. Yet social interaction between motorists is an integral part of the traffic situation. This paper explores its bases and some of its typical dynamics. Other sociologically relevant aspects of driving are delineated and the issue of how driving may influence modern culture is addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes up the debate on strategy initiated by Crow (Sociology 23). It argues that the concept of strategy has been uncritically appropriated by sociology. It has been treated as though it were an unproblematic concept, whereas in fact it is embedded within specific discourses and has particular social effects. In particular, Crow fails to consider the explicit use of the concept of strategy in two key areas of social life - the military and business organisation. Had he considered these areas, he would have noted that the concept of strategy needs understanding in terms of its role in reproducing specific sets of hierarchically organised social relations. We argue that utilising the concept of strategy in other areas of social life has similar power effects. In our view, strategy must be treated as a topic of sociological analysis, not as a resource for explaining social life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers central correctionsn to J. David Lewis' paper "The Classic American Pragmatists As Forerunners to Symbolic Interactionism," that appeared in "The Sociological Quarterly," in the Summer of 1976. Misrepresentations of the views of sociologist George Herbert Mead. The weakness of Lewis' major argument that symbolic interactionists do not follow the position of Mead, but take instead, the position of John Dewey, was pointed out. Lewis' speculative conjecture is evident in his effort to trace the intellectual history some sociologists in the case of symbolic interactionism.