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This essay focuses on some of the main challenges that currently face the sociology of sport, the challenge from the natural sciences, the challenge from mainstream sociology and the challenge which we have set ourselves and which, requires new intellectual innovations of the type discussed in the final sections of this essay. It is vital that the sociology of sport be defended against the tyranny of the natural sciences. This project, however, must not be disaggregated from the requirements to fight for greater acceptance from mainstream sociology and to address our own shortcomings by extending the sociology of sport in potentially exciting ways. In this respect, both memory and space present interesting possibilities. They are highlighted in this essay, from among numerous possible alternatives, for largely personal reasons. The general point, however, is that if we are to defend the sociology of sport successfully, we need to be more creative, both methodologically and theoretically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses a research article by Brandon Vaidyanathan and colleagues regarding the use and type of causal claims in sociology. Topics discussed include relationship between sociology and causation, causal language in contemporary American sociology, and discipline of international relations.

This is a brief account of the author's career beginning with his student days in the Department of Sociology, University of Chicago and the School of Public Health, University of Michigan. The following evaluation projects are summarized: the impact of an interstate highway on the Detroit Orthodox Jewish Community funded by the Michigan Department of Transportation; Healthy University Health Promotion Project funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation; Drug Use and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Demonstration funded by the DHHS Center for Substance Abuse; utilization of the Ryan White Care Act (HIV-AIDS) funded by DHHS Heath Resources and Services Administration; and National Environmental Health Action Plans in Europe funded by the World Health Organization/Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This reflection offers considerations of a career in policy sociology. The author reflects on the role of the policy sociologist and the research produced for policy. Three examples of sociological practice focus on the sociologist as offering actionable evidence for nongovernmental organizations, as evaluator of prison and substance abuse treatment programs, and as watchdog for government accountability. Thoughts are offered on training for a career in policy sociology, as well as caution to remain reflexive and critically aware of bias sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces the idea of philosophical sociology as an enquiry into the relationships between implicit notions of human nature and explicit conceptualizations of social life within sociology. Philosophical sociology is also an invitation to reflect on the role of the normative in social life by looking at it sociologically and philosophically at the same: normative self-reflection is a fundamental aspect of sociology's scientific tasks because key sociological questions are, in the last instance, also philosophical ones. For the normative to emerge, we need to move away from the reductionism of hedonistic, essentialist or cynical conceptions of human nature and be able to grasp the conceptions of the good life, justice, democracy or freedom whose normative contents depend on more or less articulated conceptions of our shared humanity. The idea of philosophical sociology is then sustained on three main pillars and I use them to structure this article: (1) a revalorization of the relationships between sociology and philosophy; (2) a universalistic principle of humanity that works as a major regulative idea of sociological research, and; (3) an argument on the social (immanent) and pre-social (transcendental) sources of the normative in social life. As invitations to embrace posthuman cyborgs, non-human actants and material cultures proliferate, philosophical sociology offers the reminder that we still have to understand more fully who are the human beings that populate the social world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several marketing theories have highlighted the role of depersonalization in consumer behavior. Moving from "old" to "new" products, the consumer reduces the depersonalization generated by the excessive market diffusion of the product he has chosen and through which he searches for a social self-categorization. But this theoretical framework cannot justify in a convincing way those stable integrations of a community type around particular styles of consumption (for example, those that are called "neotribalisms"). On the basis of an empirical study, we argue that the depersonalization acts according to a duality neglected by marketing. On the one hand it can mean loss of the distinguishing characteristics, but on the other it can mean de-personalization in the sense of a translation of the "me" into a communal "us". This second form of depersonalization does also exist in consumption and allows us to shed light on the apparent contradiction between the idea of several marketing theories according to which consumers can always achieve satisfaction through differentiation and the thesis of a "final dissatisfaction" of the consumer, advocated by much of contemporary theoretical sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of sociology has been one of borrowing and synthesizing methods and theoretical frameworks form sister disciplines in largely a reciprocal fashion. While these transitions are often well documented and attributed to a progression towards an 'improved' sociology, a recent increasing interest in the spatial context in which individual and group actions occur has largely gone unnoticed. The current manuscript takes a historical approach in implementing a pseudo content analysis of all articles ever published in mainstream sociology journals. The results show that while sociology has historically been a leader within the social sciences concerning ecological analyses, a recent boom in its presence has solidified its place within the discipline. Ultimately, this is not surprising given the core tenets and roots of the discipline. However, what is somewhat surprising is the relative absence of acknowledgement of such a transition outside of the sub-disciplines of demography, criminology and rural sociology. This manuscript looks to those areas as evidence of future work in the more general field of sociology and couples that argument with historical results substantiating the trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While Foucault described population as the object of biopower he did not investigate the practices that make it possible to know population. Rather, he tended to overemphasize it as an object on which power can act. However, population is not an object awaiting discovery, but is represented and enacted by specific devices such as censuses and what I call population metrics. The latter enact populations by assembling different categories and measurements of subjects (biographical, biometric and transactional) in myriad ways to identify and measure the performance of populations. I account for both the object and subject by thinking about how devices consist of agencements; that is, specific arrangements of humans and technologies whose mediations and interactions not only enact populations but also produce subjects. I suggest that population metrics render subjects interpassive whereby other beings or objects take up the role and act in place of the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The study of ethnicity, race and nationalism lacks theoretical cohesion because its three central constructs are tied to the circumstances of time and geographical space; they are culture-bound. Their limitations can be reduced if they are seen as three items in a larger set of social categories. A synthesis of existing knowledge is presented in the form of 16 propositions about the genesis of social categories, both physical and cultural, and the significance attributed to them. Changes in the significance of social categories are illustrated by reference to recent immigration into the United Kingdom from outside Europe. The study of ethnicity, race and nationalism might be better integrated were future sociological research to investigate the circumstances in which behaviour is structured by social categorization and when it is not. To be culture-free, that research will have to uncover determinants that underlie the consciousness of the individuals involved. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

From the vantage point of criminology, one of sociology's main export subject areas, the present and future of sociology appear a good deal more promising than John Holmwood's essay on the discipline's misfortune would suggest. Sociology remains in high demand by students and faculty hiring remains strong, even in its more critical sub-fields, such as race and ethnicity, sex and gender, and social inequality. Holmwood is correct that sociology is vulnerable to external pressures to demonstrate its relevance to social practice, but those pressures come from left-wing social movements as well as from centres of power. He is also correct that external pressures contribute to internal disagreement, but sociology has been at war with itself since the 1960s, with little evident decline in its academic standing or intellectual vitality. Those of us on the discipline's diaspora, who depend on sociology for both support and light, must remain hopeful about sociology's continued good fortune. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the involvement of H.G. Wells in the early institutional development of sociology in Britain. It addresses Wells's aspiration to a Chair of Sociology as the context for his claim that that 'the creation of utopias - and their exhaustive criticism - is the proper and distinctive method of sociology', and the implications of a hundred years of suppression of utopianism and normativity within the discipline. It argues that Wells was substantially right, and that if sociology embraced the more utopian method of the Imaginary Reconstitution of Society, it would inform a greater range of social alternatives for confronting ecological and economic crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arguably, sociologists often apply deterministic explanations, unlike in many other sciences where probabilistic explanations have turned out to be more efficient. The advantages of applying probabilistic explanations more frequently could be: improved possibilities for cross-disciplinary work; the simplification of successful explanations; an easier way to implement uncertainty to models; new ways to utilize the classical theories of sociology; and increased freedom to choose research methods. According to the previously published literature, one of the reasons for not applying probabilistic explanations has been the strong positivist heritage in sociology. The following additional factors are considered: important classics of sociology were written before probability theories matured; and qualitative methods have provided the possibility to respond to the need for empirical research. In this way, sociologists have avoided the extensive work of re-evaluating the existing theories from a probabilistic point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article contains letters to the editor which relate to the June 2009 issue of this journal, to an essay by Ann Mische, and to the articles "Sociology and the Future," "Fortifying Myths: A Future in Action," and "In the Shadows of Projects."

The article discusses the methodological and philosophical developments in the field of sociology that resulted from the discipline's study of suicide or self-destruction. The article describes the rise of Rationalism, empiricism, and positivism in relation to the sociological study of the rise of suicide in the modern world, exploring how the irrationality of suicide affected sociologists who believed in the progressive and positivist power of the social sciences. Subjects under discussion include the sociologist Emile Durkheim, the physician Henry Morselli and his book "Suicide: An Essay on Comparative Moral Statistics," and the concept of anomie.

Having taken taking as one of its starting points a concern to avoid fetishising method – or employing any form of method for its own sake – this paper then argues that visual methods of research may be particularly helpful in investigating areas that are difficult otherwise to verbalise or articulate. These include Bourdieu's understanding of habitus; our predisposed ways of being, acting and operating in the social environment that Bourdieu himself suggests are ‘beyond the grasp of consciousness, and hence cannot be touched by voluntary, deliberate transformation, cannot even be made explicit’ (Bourdieu, 1977 : 94). Having outlined what Bourdieu means by habitus and considered some of the difficulties surrounding its operationalisation, the paper goes on to consider Bourdieu's own use of photography and understanding of photographic practice. It is then argued that we can move beyond Bourdieu's position by employing visual methods specifically to uncover and illuminate aspects of habitus. Where research participants are directly involved in this process this also means that visual methods can be potentially transformative, allowing for the development of forms of critical self-awareness amongst research participants of the sort that Bourdieu attributes to ‘socioanalysis’ ( Bourdieu, 1999 : 611). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is concerned with the ontology of a certain class of social entities and the role of language in the creation and maintenance of such entities. The social entities I have in mind are such objects as the $20 bill in my hand, The University of California, and the President of the United States. I also include such facts as the fact that George Bush is President of the United States; that the piece of paper I hold in my hand is a $20 bill; and that I am a citizen of the United States. I call such facts “institutional facts,” and it will emerge that the facts are logically prior to the objects. Under the concept of social entity, I also mean to include such institutions as money, property, government, and marriage. I briefly examine the nature of language and its relation to society. One point I make is that once we have a language, we have a social contract. The discussion shows why language is the fundamental social institution and why it is not like other institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a central construct for sociologists, the concept of institution continues to elude clear and full specification. One reason for this lack of clarity is that about 50 years ago empirical researchers in the field of sociology turned their gaze downward, away from macro-sociological constructs in order to focus their attention on middle-range empirical projects. It took almost 20 years for the concept of the institution to work its back onto the empirical research agenda of mainstream sociologists. The new institutional project in organizational sociology led the way. Since then, scholars in this tradition have achieved a great deal but there is still much more to accomplish. Here, future directions for research are considered by reviewing how the concept of the institution has come to be treated by mainstream philosophers, sociologists of science and technology studies, and social network theorists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the two distinct communicative logics that inform the institutional geography and normative understanding of global sociology. The globalizing logic imagines a unitary global space that organizes sociological debate; the transnational logic envisions a series of overlapping sociological debates, often organized within a national context that is in the process of cosmopolitan, global, and transnational transformation. We argue that both logics shape communication in the sociological tradition, even if neither project is fully realized. The main challenge to global sociology, particularly in its globalizing form, is the existence of extremely influential spaces of sociological debate in North America and Europe, which reproduce the privileges of the larger and more powerful national associations. At the same time, these large, powerful national associations are becoming increasingly transnationalized, putting centre and periphery into dialogue, if in limited and uneven ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's reflection on the challenges to a unified sociological theory presented by the singularity of sociological developments in each particular country and context. The author discusses the contextual aspects of sociological developments and describes some of the particularities of sociological theorizing in the United States compared to that in Germany. He comments on how such particularities create intercultural obstacles to the creation of a unified international body of sociological theory.

In this introductory paper I sketch the tradition, several early aspects of which are discussed in the following essays and reviews. I introduce the main figures whose work initiated and maintained the sociological orientation in Hungarian philosophy thereby tracing its evolution. I suggest that its sociological outlook, if taken to be a characteristic tendency that gives Hungarian philosophy its distinctive flavour, provides us with the framework of a possible narrative about the history of Hungarian philosophy in the broader context of Central European philosophy. This narrative, in turn, suggests a way of integrating the latter into the history of Western philosophy rather than restricting its scope to a handful of canonical works only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The historical sequence of core New Zealand sociology texts is presented through brief descriptions of their content and form, together with some comments on other sociology-related texts and New Zealand-produced sociology texts that have wider distributions. Texts are progressively larger and with a more extensive range of coverage and move from being compilations of previously published work to original material. As the pedagogic form and content of the texts thickens, there is a consequent tendency for the texts to be distanced from ongoing sociological research in New Zealand and there is less attention to the key features of New Zealand society as the framework for organizing the text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses implication analysis, an approach to sociology in which statistical models are judged as explanatory narratives rather than scientifically falsifiable experiments. This approach, framed as a rejection of scientism, is described as an argument in favor of maintaining a close connection between theory and practice in sociological research. The interpretation of theoretical frameworks is considered in terms of developing comparative approaches to understanding the development of social problems. Issues relating to the establishment of salient models of causation are also considered.

The article discusses researches on Africa and the conflict of different ideologies in this connection. The observations of Africans and their destinies are analyzed. African societies as ethnographic ones stand to be understood as fragile and vulnerable to disappearance. The races or the concept of savages needs to be considered altogether again. Ethnography is seen as a science but the scholars are looked at with ambiguity. A sociologist's work becomes as important in the cultural concept for objectivism.

In 1998 Ann Oakley published an article in Sociology entitled 'Gender, Methodology and People's Ways of Knowing. Some Problems with Feminism and the Paradigm Debate in Social Science'. Within this piece she suggests that the main methodological concern of feminist sociologists is whether qualitative or quantitative methods are the best way to find out about people's lives. My reading of the feminist literature leads me to disagree and to suggest that the relationship between the process and product, between doing and knowing i.e. how what we do affects what we get, while using both qualitative and quantitative methods, is the main concern of contemporary feminists. In this piece I present my own review of the feminist literature in order to demonstrate the centrality of the process and product/doing and knowing debate. I draw on a range of work, including other work of Oakley, and I also refer to my own experiences of research and show how issues of process and product/doing and knowing are relevant for me. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the preconditions for, the nature of, and the consequences of charisma —factors that must be understood for charisma to be a useful empirical and theoretical concept. Unfortunately, as the first section of this essay demonstrates, due primarily to the influence of certain of Max Weber's discussions of charisma, sociological progress in these areas has been limited. However, drawing on two neglected hints by Weber—that the preconditions 1or the phenomenon of charisma are extraordinary human needs and that Freud's work can illuminate this field of inquiry—the second section of this essay attempts to correct this state of affairs through an application of the results of much psychoanalytic investigation. It argues that, because extraordinary needs (the preconditions for charisma) are of various types, charisma must be differentiated into four phenomena—omnipotence, excellence, sacredness, and the uncanny—and it then tentatively specifies both their variable immediate and long-range consequences. In so doing, it incorporates systematically many of the widely divergent findings reported in sociological research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The feasibility, relevance and value of modem sociology is in question in a number of analyses which have identified possible limits to the project of modernity. Through a discussion of the works of a number of theorists, consideration is given to (i) the effect of transformations of modernity upon sociology and (ii) the question of postmodernity and sociology. Although a preoccupation with the state of the discipline is longstanding, the current debate over modernity and postmodernity raises a number of fundamental issues for sociological investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]