Andrew Mason
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199264414
- eISBN:
- 9780191718489
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199264414.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
‘Equality of opportunity for all’ is a fine piece of political rhetoric but the ideal that lies behind it is slippery. Some see it as an alternative to a more robust form of egalitarianism, whilst ...
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‘Equality of opportunity for all’ is a fine piece of political rhetoric but the ideal that lies behind it is slippery. Some see it as an alternative to a more robust form of egalitarianism, whilst others think that when it is properly understood it provides us with a real radical vision of what it is to level the playing field. This book combines a meritocratic conception of equality of opportunity that governs access to advantaged social positions, with redistributive principles that seek to mitigate the effects of differences in people's circumstances. Taken together, these spell out what it is to level the playing field in the way that justice requires.Less
‘Equality of opportunity for all’ is a fine piece of political rhetoric but the ideal that lies behind it is slippery. Some see it as an alternative to a more robust form of egalitarianism, whilst others think that when it is properly understood it provides us with a real radical vision of what it is to level the playing field. This book combines a meritocratic conception of equality of opportunity that governs access to advantaged social positions, with redistributive principles that seek to mitigate the effects of differences in people's circumstances. Taken together, these spell out what it is to level the playing field in the way that justice requires.
Andrew Mason
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199264414
- eISBN:
- 9780191718489
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199264414.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
This chapter begins with an examination of the simple view that equality of opportunity requires open competition for advantaged social positions. It is argued that this idea is not really so simple. ...
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This chapter begins with an examination of the simple view that equality of opportunity requires open competition for advantaged social positions. It is argued that this idea is not really so simple. The notion of an open competition and the idea of a qualification which it presupposes are more complicated than they seem, and need to be looked at in a broad account of justice in general, or equality of opportunity in particular. The simple view must be regarded as incomplete: it is implausible to suppose, for example, that open competition for advantaged social positions is a sufficient condition of equality of opportunity. Reflection upon the simple view suggests that any adequate account of equality of opportunity must include at least two components: the idea that there should be open competition for advantaged social positions, and that there should be fair access to the qualifications required for success in these competitions.Less
This chapter begins with an examination of the simple view that equality of opportunity requires open competition for advantaged social positions. It is argued that this idea is not really so simple. The notion of an open competition and the idea of a qualification which it presupposes are more complicated than they seem, and need to be looked at in a broad account of justice in general, or equality of opportunity in particular. The simple view must be regarded as incomplete: it is implausible to suppose, for example, that open competition for advantaged social positions is a sufficient condition of equality of opportunity. Reflection upon the simple view suggests that any adequate account of equality of opportunity must include at least two components: the idea that there should be open competition for advantaged social positions, and that there should be fair access to the qualifications required for success in these competitions.
Andrew Mason
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199264414
- eISBN:
- 9780191718489
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199264414.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
This chapter examines the most obvious way of developing a meritocratic account, one in terms of the idea of desert. According to this approach, the best-qualified candidates should be appointed to ...
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This chapter examines the most obvious way of developing a meritocratic account, one in terms of the idea of desert. According to this approach, the best-qualified candidates should be appointed to advantaged social positions because they deserve to be, provided there is fair access to qualifications. David Miller's version of this approach is examined. He maintains that the best-qualified applicants for jobs deserve them because they are the most likely to come to deserve the rewards attached to them, at least when the market is functioning properly. Against this approach, it is argued that ordinary judgements about economic desert are sensitive to effort-making, not just achievement, and the degree of effort that people make corresponds in a highly imperfect way to their qualifications.Less
This chapter examines the most obvious way of developing a meritocratic account, one in terms of the idea of desert. According to this approach, the best-qualified candidates should be appointed to advantaged social positions because they deserve to be, provided there is fair access to qualifications. David Miller's version of this approach is examined. He maintains that the best-qualified applicants for jobs deserve them because they are the most likely to come to deserve the rewards attached to them, at least when the market is functioning properly. Against this approach, it is argued that ordinary judgements about economic desert are sensitive to effort-making, not just achievement, and the degree of effort that people make corresponds in a highly imperfect way to their qualifications.
Raymond Plant
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199281756
- eISBN:
- 9780191713040
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199281756.003.0014
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics, Political Theory
This concluding chapter seeks to review the whole argument of the book to sustain the polemical claim made in the book that neo‐liberalism in fact does not possess the intellectual coherence to ...
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This concluding chapter seeks to review the whole argument of the book to sustain the polemical claim made in the book that neo‐liberalism in fact does not possess the intellectual coherence to distinguish itself clearly from Social Democracy which in the twentieth century was one of the main aims of neo‐liberals. There is a clear distinction between neo‐liberalism and libertarianism but not between neo‐liberalism and Social Democracy. This chapter seeks to underpin this claim not just be reviewing the arguments set out thus far in the book, but also by considering further points at issue, particularly for example ideas about power and the contrast which turns out to be important between power over and power to and the relationship between power and markets in these two dimensions.Less
This concluding chapter seeks to review the whole argument of the book to sustain the polemical claim made in the book that neo‐liberalism in fact does not possess the intellectual coherence to distinguish itself clearly from Social Democracy which in the twentieth century was one of the main aims of neo‐liberals. There is a clear distinction between neo‐liberalism and libertarianism but not between neo‐liberalism and Social Democracy. This chapter seeks to underpin this claim not just be reviewing the arguments set out thus far in the book, but also by considering further points at issue, particularly for example ideas about power and the contrast which turns out to be important between power over and power to and the relationship between power and markets in these two dimensions.
Heather A. Haveman
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164403
- eISBN:
- 9781400873883
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164403.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Theory
This chapter examines the evolution of magazines in America from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries, with particular emphasis on who launched them and and why they did so. It also ...
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This chapter examines the evolution of magazines in America from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries, with particular emphasis on who launched them and and why they did so. It also considers how magazines' internal operations evolved to take advantage of increasingly beneficent material and cultural resources such as population growth, urbanization, and improved printing technologies. To find out who founded magazines, the chapter focuses on entrepreneurs' social positions—their status, meaning their relative positions in a social hierarchy—which afford them access to the resources they needed to start new ventures. It then compares later magazine founders with their predecessors and investigates how founders' motivations changed over time. It also describes what founders said they hoped to accomplish with their magazine publishing ventures and concludes by analyzing the strategies they used to gain legitimacy and support from subscribers.Less
This chapter examines the evolution of magazines in America from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries, with particular emphasis on who launched them and and why they did so. It also considers how magazines' internal operations evolved to take advantage of increasingly beneficent material and cultural resources such as population growth, urbanization, and improved printing technologies. To find out who founded magazines, the chapter focuses on entrepreneurs' social positions—their status, meaning their relative positions in a social hierarchy—which afford them access to the resources they needed to start new ventures. It then compares later magazine founders with their predecessors and investigates how founders' motivations changed over time. It also describes what founders said they hoped to accomplish with their magazine publishing ventures and concludes by analyzing the strategies they used to gain legitimacy and support from subscribers.
Mark Edele
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199237562
- eISBN:
- 9780191717185
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199237562.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter explores the evidence for each of two popular views about Soviet veterans after the war: as victims and as victors. It shows that it is impossible to think of veterans as one united ...
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This chapter explores the evidence for each of two popular views about Soviet veterans after the war: as victims and as victors. It shows that it is impossible to think of veterans as one united group as far as their social trajectory is concerned. There was a minority in the Communist Party, in institutions of higher education, and in administration, who clearly moved up in the world. In most cases, however, this was a continuation of prewar patterns of social mobility, not a change triggered by the war. For the majority of veterans, the return to civilian life meant a return to a similar social position as before the war and it is impossible to find a clear pattern of mobility of former soldiers as a group.Less
This chapter explores the evidence for each of two popular views about Soviet veterans after the war: as victims and as victors. It shows that it is impossible to think of veterans as one united group as far as their social trajectory is concerned. There was a minority in the Communist Party, in institutions of higher education, and in administration, who clearly moved up in the world. In most cases, however, this was a continuation of prewar patterns of social mobility, not a change triggered by the war. For the majority of veterans, the return to civilian life meant a return to a similar social position as before the war and it is impossible to find a clear pattern of mobility of former soldiers as a group.
Charlotte Witt
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199740413
- eISBN:
- 9780199918720
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199740413.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter explains the notion of gender used in articulating the claim of gender essentialism, and begins by drawing a distinction between sex and gender. Next, it explores the nature of social ...
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This chapter explains the notion of gender used in articulating the claim of gender essentialism, and begins by drawing a distinction between sex and gender. Next, it explores the nature of social norms, and social normativity because an individual's gender, being a woman or being a man, is a position associated with a social role, a complex set of social norms. One central question about social norms is why individuals are responsive to and evaluable under them. The view developed here is that for some social positions individuals are responsive to and evaluable in relation to a social role simply because they occupy the social positions that correspond to the norms. For a range of social positions, including gender, social recognition is a necessary element in determining social position occupancy.Less
This chapter explains the notion of gender used in articulating the claim of gender essentialism, and begins by drawing a distinction between sex and gender. Next, it explores the nature of social norms, and social normativity because an individual's gender, being a woman or being a man, is a position associated with a social role, a complex set of social norms. One central question about social norms is why individuals are responsive to and evaluable under them. The view developed here is that for some social positions individuals are responsive to and evaluable in relation to a social role simply because they occupy the social positions that correspond to the norms. For a range of social positions, including gender, social recognition is a necessary element in determining social position occupancy.
Martin Ruef
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691162775
- eISBN:
- 9781400852642
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691162775.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change
This chapter assesses whether the class structure of the South changed in the postbellum era and whether different individual and locational attributes predicted who would come to occupy preferred ...
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This chapter assesses whether the class structure of the South changed in the postbellum era and whether different individual and locational attributes predicted who would come to occupy preferred social positions. It suggests another source of categorical uncertainty during Reconstruction and beyond. While many Southern journalists and politicians celebrated the expansion of an entrepreneurial middle class at the time, this class actually declined numerically in the proverbial New South. Moreover, the “decaying” planter class was remarkably persistent, both in its dominance of the top of the wealth distribution and its involvement in the postwar industrialization of the region. The social categories of planters and middling Southerners that were deployed in popular discourse—and within the “New South Creed”—thus had little in common with the reality of class structure following the Civil War.Less
This chapter assesses whether the class structure of the South changed in the postbellum era and whether different individual and locational attributes predicted who would come to occupy preferred social positions. It suggests another source of categorical uncertainty during Reconstruction and beyond. While many Southern journalists and politicians celebrated the expansion of an entrepreneurial middle class at the time, this class actually declined numerically in the proverbial New South. Moreover, the “decaying” planter class was remarkably persistent, both in its dominance of the top of the wealth distribution and its involvement in the postwar industrialization of the region. The social categories of planters and middling Southerners that were deployed in popular discourse—and within the “New South Creed”—thus had little in common with the reality of class structure following the Civil War.
Cybelle Fox
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691152233
- eISBN:
- 9781400842582
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691152233.003.0011
- Subject:
- Political Science, Public Policy
This concluding chapter summarizes the principal findings and offers some reflections on the boundaries of social citizenship and the role of race and immigration in American social welfare ...
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This concluding chapter summarizes the principal findings and offers some reflections on the boundaries of social citizenship and the role of race and immigration in American social welfare provision. Taken together, the treatment of blacks, Mexicans, and European immigrants provides a nuanced picture of how race, citizenship, and nativity served as dividing lines between those who were judged worthy of assistance and those who were not. Despite persistent and widespread nativism, European immigrants were included within the boundaries of social citizenship while Mexicans were left on the periphery, granted limited inclusion at times, completely excluded at other times, and in some instances expelled from the nation entirely. Ultimately, the different treatment of blacks, European immigrants and Mexicans reflected the worlds each group inhabited—worlds bound by both regional political economies and each group's social position.Less
This concluding chapter summarizes the principal findings and offers some reflections on the boundaries of social citizenship and the role of race and immigration in American social welfare provision. Taken together, the treatment of blacks, Mexicans, and European immigrants provides a nuanced picture of how race, citizenship, and nativity served as dividing lines between those who were judged worthy of assistance and those who were not. Despite persistent and widespread nativism, European immigrants were included within the boundaries of social citizenship while Mexicans were left on the periphery, granted limited inclusion at times, completely excluded at other times, and in some instances expelled from the nation entirely. Ultimately, the different treatment of blacks, European immigrants and Mexicans reflected the worlds each group inhabited—worlds bound by both regional political economies and each group's social position.
Scott Eddie
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198201663
- eISBN:
- 9780191718434
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198201663.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter sets the historical stage, puts the study in context, and reviews the relevant literature, beginning with the pioneering efforts of Johannes Conrad to quantify land ownership by size and ...
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This chapter sets the historical stage, puts the study in context, and reviews the relevant literature, beginning with the pioneering efforts of Johannes Conrad to quantify land ownership by size and by social position of the owner. It then reviews critically similar efforts by Conrad's students and later scholars, with detailed critiques of the work of Hess, Buchsteiner, Nabert, and Schiller. The chapter concludes with a long section showing why the data of the German agricultural censuses are not only unsuitable, but downright misleading for the study of land ownership: production units do not correspond to ownership units, and the size of agricultural enterprises cannot even serve as a proxy for size of ownership units, neither at a single date nor for changes over time. Moreover, the censuses contain inconsistencies with each other, requiring major adjustment to the figures from the 1882 census.Less
This chapter sets the historical stage, puts the study in context, and reviews the relevant literature, beginning with the pioneering efforts of Johannes Conrad to quantify land ownership by size and by social position of the owner. It then reviews critically similar efforts by Conrad's students and later scholars, with detailed critiques of the work of Hess, Buchsteiner, Nabert, and Schiller. The chapter concludes with a long section showing why the data of the German agricultural censuses are not only unsuitable, but downright misleading for the study of land ownership: production units do not correspond to ownership units, and the size of agricultural enterprises cannot even serve as a proxy for size of ownership units, neither at a single date nor for changes over time. Moreover, the censuses contain inconsistencies with each other, requiring major adjustment to the figures from the 1882 census.
Carol Thomas
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199599295
- eISBN:
- 9780191731532
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199599295.003.0028
- Subject:
- Palliative Care, Patient Care and End-of-Life Decision Making
This chapter considers the interests of disabled people in the social management of death and dying. It covers: the meaning and nature of disability, including key concepts; the social position and ...
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This chapter considers the interests of disabled people in the social management of death and dying. It covers: the meaning and nature of disability, including key concepts; the social position and health status of disabled people across the globe; the relevance of disability for end of life care services and practice; and principles for the avoidance of inequity in the provision of support at the end of life.Less
This chapter considers the interests of disabled people in the social management of death and dying. It covers: the meaning and nature of disability, including key concepts; the social position and health status of disabled people across the globe; the relevance of disability for end of life care services and practice; and principles for the avoidance of inequity in the provision of support at the end of life.
Sarah E. Hill
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198703358
- eISBN:
- 9780191772603
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198703358.003.0007
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
This chapter explores the relevance of multiple axes of social identity/position for health inequalities research. Drawing on a range of research (including from countries such as New Zealand and the ...
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This chapter explores the relevance of multiple axes of social identity/position for health inequalities research. Drawing on a range of research (including from countries such as New Zealand and the USA), the chapter highlights how socially defined categories such as ethnicity and gender have relevance for health inequalities alongside the UK’s traditional focus on health gradients related to class and socioeconomic status. The chapter explores ‘intersectionality’ as a conceptual tool for considering the relationships between these different axes of social position. Using research on smoking as an example, the chapter illustrates the relevance of different axes of social identity/position for health inequalities and compares various explanations researchers have advanced to account for these inequalities. The chapter concludes by arguing that a focus on the ‘upstream’ drivers of the different axes of health inequality points to a shared understanding of their fundamental causes via a political analysis of power relations. Such an analysis can help researchers identify common causes, and may suggest common policy approaches to tackling health inequalities.Less
This chapter explores the relevance of multiple axes of social identity/position for health inequalities research. Drawing on a range of research (including from countries such as New Zealand and the USA), the chapter highlights how socially defined categories such as ethnicity and gender have relevance for health inequalities alongside the UK’s traditional focus on health gradients related to class and socioeconomic status. The chapter explores ‘intersectionality’ as a conceptual tool for considering the relationships between these different axes of social position. Using research on smoking as an example, the chapter illustrates the relevance of different axes of social identity/position for health inequalities and compares various explanations researchers have advanced to account for these inequalities. The chapter concludes by arguing that a focus on the ‘upstream’ drivers of the different axes of health inequality points to a shared understanding of their fundamental causes via a political analysis of power relations. Such an analysis can help researchers identify common causes, and may suggest common policy approaches to tackling health inequalities.
Kylie Ball and David Crawford
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199571512
- eISBN:
- 9780191595097
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199571512.003.0008
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
Obesity is socio-culturally distributed, i.e., the prevalence of obesity is known to vary according to socio-cultural factors, including socio-economic position (SEP), social roles and circumstance, ...
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Obesity is socio-culturally distributed, i.e., the prevalence of obesity is known to vary according to socio-cultural factors, including socio-economic position (SEP), social roles and circumstance, and cultural factors. Further, these socio-cultural patterns are complex and specific to sex, age, and sometimes racial groups, as well as type of society, with patterns of relationships observed in developed countries sometimes reversed in developing countries. There is little doubt of the importance of the changing physical environment to the increases in obesity observed over several decades. However, far less attention has been paid to investigating the potential contribution of socio-cultural factors and to changes in the socio-cultural environment over time to the current obesity pandemic. The mechanisms through which socio-cultural factors may influence body weight and risk for obesity are not well understood. This chapter provides an overview of the effect of socio-cultural influences on obesity in developed countries and considers the potential pathways through which these influences may operate. It concludes by speculating on the potential effect of societal trends on future rates and patterns of obesity in developed countries.Less
Obesity is socio-culturally distributed, i.e., the prevalence of obesity is known to vary according to socio-cultural factors, including socio-economic position (SEP), social roles and circumstance, and cultural factors. Further, these socio-cultural patterns are complex and specific to sex, age, and sometimes racial groups, as well as type of society, with patterns of relationships observed in developed countries sometimes reversed in developing countries. There is little doubt of the importance of the changing physical environment to the increases in obesity observed over several decades. However, far less attention has been paid to investigating the potential contribution of socio-cultural factors and to changes in the socio-cultural environment over time to the current obesity pandemic. The mechanisms through which socio-cultural factors may influence body weight and risk for obesity are not well understood. This chapter provides an overview of the effect of socio-cultural influences on obesity in developed countries and considers the potential pathways through which these influences may operate. It concludes by speculating on the potential effect of societal trends on future rates and patterns of obesity in developed countries.
Michael R. Watts
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198229681
- eISBN:
- 9780191678905
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198229681.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Respectability had become, by the mid-19th century, the great idol of the middle and upper working classes. The obsession with respectability was the product of a hierarchical yet mobile society in ...
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Respectability had become, by the mid-19th century, the great idol of the middle and upper working classes. The obsession with respectability was the product of a hierarchical yet mobile society in which substantial sections of every class sought to emulate the lifestyle and manners of those above them and to distance themselves from those they imagined to be beneath them. The working-class correspondents to the Nonconformist in 1848 despised the cult of respectability, but to many skilled workers respectability was as much the goal of their endeavours as it was of the bourgeoisie. The conventions of respectability were flouted at one end of the social scale by members of the upper class whose wealth, social position, and self-confidence obviated the need to imitate anyone else, and at the other end by those people whose economic conditions were so depressed that they despaired of ever being able to improve their lot.Less
Respectability had become, by the mid-19th century, the great idol of the middle and upper working classes. The obsession with respectability was the product of a hierarchical yet mobile society in which substantial sections of every class sought to emulate the lifestyle and manners of those above them and to distance themselves from those they imagined to be beneath them. The working-class correspondents to the Nonconformist in 1848 despised the cult of respectability, but to many skilled workers respectability was as much the goal of their endeavours as it was of the bourgeoisie. The conventions of respectability were flouted at one end of the social scale by members of the upper class whose wealth, social position, and self-confidence obviated the need to imitate anyone else, and at the other end by those people whose economic conditions were so depressed that they despaired of ever being able to improve their lot.
Gloria Origgi
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691196329
- eISBN:
- 9781400888597
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691196329.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter contains a critical analysis of people's faith in experts. It presents many biases that influence and distort people's perception of the reputation of others. It also examines the ...
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This chapter contains a critical analysis of people's faith in experts. It presents many biases that influence and distort people's perception of the reputation of others. It also examines the heuristics that influence people's perceptions and lead them to classify accurately or inaccurately a person or object within a social network. Reputation can never be taken for granted and always creates uncertainty and anxiety. This is because social position is always precarious and can never be objectively determined. The chapter also distinguishes the “good” from the “bad” uses of reputation in order to develop a proper epistemology of reputation. The objective is to identify a set of normative and descriptive instruments that can be used to classify the heuristics and establish some sort of criteria, along the lines of the classical epistemological tradition in order to distinguish between the rules of inference that place too much or too little trust in the reputations of others.Less
This chapter contains a critical analysis of people's faith in experts. It presents many biases that influence and distort people's perception of the reputation of others. It also examines the heuristics that influence people's perceptions and lead them to classify accurately or inaccurately a person or object within a social network. Reputation can never be taken for granted and always creates uncertainty and anxiety. This is because social position is always precarious and can never be objectively determined. The chapter also distinguishes the “good” from the “bad” uses of reputation in order to develop a proper epistemology of reputation. The objective is to identify a set of normative and descriptive instruments that can be used to classify the heuristics and establish some sort of criteria, along the lines of the classical epistemological tradition in order to distinguish between the rules of inference that place too much or too little trust in the reputations of others.
Ilan H. Meyer and David M. Frost
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199765218
- eISBN:
- 9780199979585
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199765218.003.0018
- Subject:
- Psychology, Developmental Psychology
Minority stress refers to a conceptual model that describes stressors embedded in the social position of sexual minority individuals as causes of health-related conditions, such as mental disorders, ...
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Minority stress refers to a conceptual model that describes stressors embedded in the social position of sexual minority individuals as causes of health-related conditions, such as mental disorders, psychological distress, physical disorders, health behaviors (e.g., smoking, condom use), and, more generally, a sense of well-being. The minority stress model suggests that because of stigma, prejudice, and discrimination, lesbian, gay, and bisexual people experience more stress than do heterosexuals and that this stress can lead to mental and physical disorders. This chapter begins with a brief overview of the minority stress model. It then discusses the domains of health and well-being that are affected by minority stressors, including mental health, physical health, health behaviors, and well-being.Less
Minority stress refers to a conceptual model that describes stressors embedded in the social position of sexual minority individuals as causes of health-related conditions, such as mental disorders, psychological distress, physical disorders, health behaviors (e.g., smoking, condom use), and, more generally, a sense of well-being. The minority stress model suggests that because of stigma, prejudice, and discrimination, lesbian, gay, and bisexual people experience more stress than do heterosexuals and that this stress can lead to mental and physical disorders. This chapter begins with a brief overview of the minority stress model. It then discusses the domains of health and well-being that are affected by minority stressors, including mental health, physical health, health behaviors, and well-being.
Geoffrey M. Hodgson
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226168005
- eISBN:
- 9780226168142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226168142.003.0002
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic Systems
Chapter 2 outlines some basic and more general concepts and issues that are necessary before dealing with the more specific social formation of capitalism. A social structure is defined as a set of ...
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Chapter 2 outlines some basic and more general concepts and issues that are necessary before dealing with the more specific social formation of capitalism. A social structure is defined as a set of social relations between interacting individuals in a society. Social positions are designated social roles within social structures. Institutions are systems of established and prevalent social rules that structure social interactions. An organization is a special type of institution involving membership, principles of sovereignty, and a structure delineating responsibilities. It is then argued that systems such as capitalism cannot be understood purely in terms of the ideas people use to describe the system or are prevalent within it. Marx's base/superstructure metaphor is found wanting, partly because elements consigned to the “base” require legal terms to define them, while Marx allocated law to the “superstructure.” A brief, evolutionary-grounded account of human motivation is outlined, stressing that people have moral as well as selfish motives, as well as dispositions to obey authority.Less
Chapter 2 outlines some basic and more general concepts and issues that are necessary before dealing with the more specific social formation of capitalism. A social structure is defined as a set of social relations between interacting individuals in a society. Social positions are designated social roles within social structures. Institutions are systems of established and prevalent social rules that structure social interactions. An organization is a special type of institution involving membership, principles of sovereignty, and a structure delineating responsibilities. It is then argued that systems such as capitalism cannot be understood purely in terms of the ideas people use to describe the system or are prevalent within it. Marx's base/superstructure metaphor is found wanting, partly because elements consigned to the “base” require legal terms to define them, while Marx allocated law to the “superstructure.” A brief, evolutionary-grounded account of human motivation is outlined, stressing that people have moral as well as selfish motives, as well as dispositions to obey authority.
Jane Griffiths
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199273607
- eISBN:
- 9780191706301
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199273607.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This introductory chapter begins with a brief discussion of the work of John Skelton. It then describes the primary aims of the book, which are to provide a new reading of Skelton's work, and ...
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This introductory chapter begins with a brief discussion of the work of John Skelton. It then describes the primary aims of the book, which are to provide a new reading of Skelton's work, and question whether Skelton is as unassimilable to the English literary canon as has frequently been assumed. It is argued that Skelton's nonconformity has its roots in his confrontation of precisely those questions that exercised the later 16th century too: the purpose of poetry, the social position of the poet, and the relation between external guarantors of the poet's authority and the energy they seek to contain. The views of authority to which Skelton alludes explicitly are only the public face of a private obsession, and Skelton's most radical discussions of the poet's authority are to be found not in his adaptations of established views, but between the lines of his works themselves. An overview of the subsequent chapters is presented.Less
This introductory chapter begins with a brief discussion of the work of John Skelton. It then describes the primary aims of the book, which are to provide a new reading of Skelton's work, and question whether Skelton is as unassimilable to the English literary canon as has frequently been assumed. It is argued that Skelton's nonconformity has its roots in his confrontation of precisely those questions that exercised the later 16th century too: the purpose of poetry, the social position of the poet, and the relation between external guarantors of the poet's authority and the energy they seek to contain. The views of authority to which Skelton alludes explicitly are only the public face of a private obsession, and Skelton's most radical discussions of the poet's authority are to be found not in his adaptations of established views, but between the lines of his works themselves. An overview of the subsequent chapters is presented.
Chak Kwan and Graham Bowpitt
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781861344311
- eISBN:
- 9781447302551
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781861344311.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility
This chapter compares the welfare measures of the four systems studied in this book and examines their impact on the dignity of unemployed people. It then identifies the different welfare measures ...
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This chapter compares the welfare measures of the four systems studied in this book and examines their impact on the dignity of unemployed people. It then identifies the different welfare measures that suppress or enhance the dignity of welfare recipients. Since the unemployed are often politically and economically weak, the way these people are treated can say a lot about the nature of a welfare state, the social and economic positions of poor citizens, and its distribution of political power.Less
This chapter compares the welfare measures of the four systems studied in this book and examines their impact on the dignity of unemployed people. It then identifies the different welfare measures that suppress or enhance the dignity of welfare recipients. Since the unemployed are often politically and economically weak, the way these people are treated can say a lot about the nature of a welfare state, the social and economic positions of poor citizens, and its distribution of political power.
Sandra Torres
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781447328117
- eISBN:
- 9781447328131
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447328117.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gerontology and Ageing
This chapter presents the ways in which understandings of ethnicity and race have evolved, and what characterises the different perspectives on these social positions that are available (i.e. ...
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This chapter presents the ways in which understandings of ethnicity and race have evolved, and what characterises the different perspectives on these social positions that are available (i.e. essentialism/ primordialism, structuralism/ circumstantialism and constructionism). In doing so, this chapter maps out what these different perspectives mean to how we make sense of the impact that ethnicity and race have in our lives, and explains why some scholars refer to ethnicity and race as background variables, while others regard them as social positions, locations or identification grounds. In doing so this chapter problematizes what previous research on the intersection of ethnicity/ race and ageing/ old age has shown as far as the understandings of ethnicity and race that inform this scholarship.Less
This chapter presents the ways in which understandings of ethnicity and race have evolved, and what characterises the different perspectives on these social positions that are available (i.e. essentialism/ primordialism, structuralism/ circumstantialism and constructionism). In doing so, this chapter maps out what these different perspectives mean to how we make sense of the impact that ethnicity and race have in our lives, and explains why some scholars refer to ethnicity and race as background variables, while others regard them as social positions, locations or identification grounds. In doing so this chapter problematizes what previous research on the intersection of ethnicity/ race and ageing/ old age has shown as far as the understandings of ethnicity and race that inform this scholarship.
