Search Results

This chapter examines the various types of monogamy that exist. It examines monogamy not as a unitary construct, but that there exist multiple categories of monogamies. This is because the term monogamy refers to a highly contestable, individualized and socially malleable set of attitudes and behaviors. These meanings are currently embedded within a number of other social institutions, including religion, politics and the nuclear, or ‘standard’ family. It also sets the definition of monogamy that is used in this research: an overt and/or implicit expectation that a couple is socially expected to reserve all sexual interaction (including sexual kissing) to one another.

Reconsidering policy requires a closer look at the process of categorisation in policy making. Categorising is integral to the dynamics of the policy-making process. It plays a key part in the conception, design, and implementation of policies. It illustrates how policy is a meaning-making process in which categories are symbolically created according to the policy-making context. Theorising policy requires considering both how and why categorising occurs. This includes examining the rationale behind the requirement for categories in policy-making and the impact behind the adopted categories of policy development. This emphasises the fact that categories employed by policymakers should not be taken for granted; rather, they should always be questioned as a crucial part of problematising policy. This chapter discusses categorising and policy making. It first illustrates that categorising is part of the meaning and language of policy because policy making involves putting people into categories. Second, it elucidates how categorising is part of the practical framework for the expression of political messages and achievement of social goals. Finally, the chapter discloses how a critical look at categorisation aids a better understanding of the practice of policy because of its contribution to the awareness of the extent to which policies can attain their stated goals.

This chapter looks at the term ‘social policy’ and asks a good many questions about it. It considers various definitions of associated concepts and categorised labels: social administration, social services, social welfare, social security, welfare states, and so forth. It determines the need to study social policy at all or, for that matter, society's response as it identifies or fails to identify social needs and problems. It tries to determine whether it is concerned with principles and objectives about certain areas of social life and organisation or with social engineering, that is, with methods and techniques of action, management, organisation, and the application of games theory. It opines that whatever answers are arrived at, it cannot fail to become heavily involved in the issues of moral and political values. It notes that political propaganda frequently masquerades under social policy labels.

This chapter provides a comprehensive review of the scientific literature on intelligence, race, and genetics. It evaluates the claims made about the alleged relationships between race and intelligence through the lens of genetics, arguing that race and intelligence does not fit into the genetic pattern. Race is a social construct that not based on biology and only emerges as a result of a person's desire to classify and categorize, while intelligence is too difficult to define and measure. However, there are studies that correlate race and intelligence using proxies intended to intimate a biological basis for each construct. One set of studies attempts to give biological credence to the concept of race by equating it with skin color. Another set attempts to justify the reification of race by arguing that race is an important factor in customizing medical diagnoses and treatments.

Chapter 6 describes the process of analyzing interview transcripts, which involves a search for the patterns concealed within the complex material that these transcripts contain. Analyzing interview data involves a number of methodological strategies. These include immersing oneself in the findings; developing concepts and organizing the material conceptually; attending to non-relationships and contradictory findings; and applying the basic rules of the logic of inquiry, such as conducting a comparative analysis and examining the time order of events and responses to events. All these steps provide ways to impose order on messy material, which then increases the chances of making empirical discoveries and theoretical breakthroughs. The chapter provides a step-by-step consideration of how coding and categorizing can be used to make sense out of the material. By dividing the analytic process into separate concrete steps, analysis becomes more manageable, less intimidating, and more fun. This systematic approach also increases confidence in the findings, enhances their credibility, and raises the potential for making theoretical breakthroughs.

Clarification of terms codes/coding, categories/categorizing, concepts/conceptualizing; The hierarchical ordering of codes, categories, and concepts. Innovative form of coding developed by Glaser and Strauss in GTM, in contrast to the use of predetermined coding grids.; Coding with gerunds, and Bryant’s doughnut test. Initial sampling in GTM. Description of the early stages of GTM sampling and coding with reference to use of Venn diagrams. Different levels and types of code – open, focused, theoretical. Commonality across all GTM variants – the method is designed for all levels of researcher, and can be used with confidence by doctoral students. General characteristic of GTM coding – at the outset fracturing the data for initial codes, and then integrating these to derive concepts with explanatory power.

The introduction begins with a discussion of the nature of jazz composition, advancing the view that improvisations can sometimes become compositions. The concept of an authoritative recording is discussed, that is, that a recording with sufficient properties may instantiate a composition in lieu of an officially notated version. The book’s method of listing and categorizing Parker compositions then follows. For the latter, Parker’s compositions are divided into seven groups, which proceed from fully composed 32-bar pieces to those works with minimal music. This final group also includes improvised pieces. The introduction ends by citing significant prior studies and explaining the book’s analytical approaches.