Curtis J. Evans
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195328189
- eISBN:
- 9780199870028
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195328189.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Sociologists, black and white, set out in the 1940s to bury residual notions of blacks as naturally religious. Innate religiosity now connoted essential racial difference and an obstacle to black ...
More
Sociologists, black and white, set out in the 1940s to bury residual notions of blacks as naturally religious. Innate religiosity now connoted essential racial difference and an obstacle to black assimilation into the white mainstream. Yet as black and white interpreters abandoned biological theories of racial difference they began emphasizing distinctive features of black culture as peculiarities that needed to be shed and the new sociological framework focused on cultural pathology as the central feature of black life in the urban North. As black critics became more disillusioned with this dour view of black life, reassertions of black romantic racialism in the more secular language of a black “soul” movement found a broader audience. Black religion lost its former salience as urbanization became increasingly seen as the crucible that ended persisting notions of black innate religiosity.Less
Sociologists, black and white, set out in the 1940s to bury residual notions of blacks as naturally religious. Innate religiosity now connoted essential racial difference and an obstacle to black assimilation into the white mainstream. Yet as black and white interpreters abandoned biological theories of racial difference they began emphasizing distinctive features of black culture as peculiarities that needed to be shed and the new sociological framework focused on cultural pathology as the central feature of black life in the urban North. As black critics became more disillusioned with this dour view of black life, reassertions of black romantic racialism in the more secular language of a black “soul” movement found a broader audience. Black religion lost its former salience as urbanization became increasingly seen as the crucible that ended persisting notions of black innate religiosity.
Mike Savage
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199587650
- eISBN:
- 9780191740626
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199587650.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Comparative and Historical Sociology
This chapter traces the institutional rise of sociology within the academic social sciences in Great Britain during the 1960s. It shows that sociology was directly implicated in claims to modernity ...
More
This chapter traces the institutional rise of sociology within the academic social sciences in Great Britain during the 1960s. It shows that sociology was directly implicated in claims to modernity and novelty during this period, and that it can be considered as a social movement concerned to challenge traditional forms of knowing in the name of a new, rational mode of expertise which embraced science. The chapter considers the launch of New Society in the early 1960s and suggests that, during this period, the social scientists were not innocent observers of change, but imported it as an essential feature of their self-identity.Less
This chapter traces the institutional rise of sociology within the academic social sciences in Great Britain during the 1960s. It shows that sociology was directly implicated in claims to modernity and novelty during this period, and that it can be considered as a social movement concerned to challenge traditional forms of knowing in the name of a new, rational mode of expertise which embraced science. The chapter considers the launch of New Society in the early 1960s and suggests that, during this period, the social scientists were not innocent observers of change, but imported it as an essential feature of their self-identity.
Martin Bulmer
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263426
- eISBN:
- 9780191734298
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263426.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Research and Statistics
Two books, one written by Chelly Halsey (2004) and the other by Jennifer Platt (2003), raise some very stimulating questions about the development of sociology in twentieth-century Britain, but they ...
More
Two books, one written by Chelly Halsey (2004) and the other by Jennifer Platt (2003), raise some very stimulating questions about the development of sociology in twentieth-century Britain, but they do not exhaust those questions. This chapter raises what seem to be significant questions stimulated by the two books and by the two-day conference held at the British Academy in May 2004. While there are reasons for disappointment about the history of British sociology in the twentieth century, there are still concrete achievements to celebrate, much distinguished individual scholarship to admire, and a number of salient issues to pursue. This chapter discusses who should write the history of sociology, who count as sociologists, the political embeddedness of sociology, whether sociology is characterized by its methods, the direction of sociology and its aims as an academic discipline, and what sources should be used for the history of sociology.Less
Two books, one written by Chelly Halsey (2004) and the other by Jennifer Platt (2003), raise some very stimulating questions about the development of sociology in twentieth-century Britain, but they do not exhaust those questions. This chapter raises what seem to be significant questions stimulated by the two books and by the two-day conference held at the British Academy in May 2004. While there are reasons for disappointment about the history of British sociology in the twentieth century, there are still concrete achievements to celebrate, much distinguished individual scholarship to admire, and a number of salient issues to pursue. This chapter discusses who should write the history of sociology, who count as sociologists, the political embeddedness of sociology, whether sociology is characterized by its methods, the direction of sociology and its aims as an academic discipline, and what sources should be used for the history of sociology.
Dominique Schnapper
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263426
- eISBN:
- 9780191734298
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263426.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Research and Statistics
The French are not familiar with British sociology. As a first indicator, British sociology is hardly ever translated into French. In Britain, Anthony Giddens is the most cited and the most widely ...
More
The French are not familiar with British sociology. As a first indicator, British sociology is hardly ever translated into French. In Britain, Anthony Giddens is the most cited and the most widely read British sociologist, along with Karl Marx, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, and Talcott Parsons. British sociology is not well known and is rather uninfluential in France. On the one hand, its so-called ‘classical’ form, used by the 1950 generation, appears to many to be too rigorous and too marked by ‘positivism’. This type of sociology is therefore the object of criticism both on the continent and among young British sociologists. What is striking when reading British sociology is that British research has often been more rigorous than French research because it is based on fieldwork of an anthropological nature, an approach which French scholars have often been reticent about. Moreover, British researchers are more scathing, when it comes to criticism of their own nation, than their French counterparts.Less
The French are not familiar with British sociology. As a first indicator, British sociology is hardly ever translated into French. In Britain, Anthony Giddens is the most cited and the most widely read British sociologist, along with Karl Marx, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, and Talcott Parsons. British sociology is not well known and is rather uninfluential in France. On the one hand, its so-called ‘classical’ form, used by the 1950 generation, appears to many to be too rigorous and too marked by ‘positivism’. This type of sociology is therefore the object of criticism both on the continent and among young British sociologists. What is striking when reading British sociology is that British research has often been more rigorous than French research because it is based on fieldwork of an anthropological nature, an approach which French scholars have often been reticent about. Moreover, British researchers are more scathing, when it comes to criticism of their own nation, than their French counterparts.
Gianfranco Poggi
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263020
- eISBN:
- 9780191734199
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263020.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
Tom Burns had possessed extraordinary professional gifts as an observer and analyst of social life ‘on the ground’. He preferred practising sociology rather than debating its nature or justifying its ...
More
Tom Burns had possessed extraordinary professional gifts as an observer and analyst of social life ‘on the ground’. He preferred practising sociology rather than debating its nature or justifying its existence. One might say that, throughout his career, he preferred being a practitioner of sociology to being an apologist for it. Tom's overall intellectual stance expressed a deep commitment to the moral values and the political priorities associated with the British labour tradition. He always wrote to a high literary standard, which reflected on the one hand his thorough familiarity with British and European literature, and on the other his keen sense for the social and moral significance of the way people express themselves verbally in ‘real life’. His accounts of organisational life devote a great deal of attention to local speech codes — the expressive and ritual aspects of the way in which people address each other in a variety of contexts.Less
Tom Burns had possessed extraordinary professional gifts as an observer and analyst of social life ‘on the ground’. He preferred practising sociology rather than debating its nature or justifying its existence. One might say that, throughout his career, he preferred being a practitioner of sociology to being an apologist for it. Tom's overall intellectual stance expressed a deep commitment to the moral values and the political priorities associated with the British labour tradition. He always wrote to a high literary standard, which reflected on the one hand his thorough familiarity with British and European literature, and on the other his keen sense for the social and moral significance of the way people express themselves verbally in ‘real life’. His accounts of organisational life devote a great deal of attention to local speech codes — the expressive and ritual aspects of the way in which people address each other in a variety of contexts.
Christine L. Williams
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520241367
- eISBN:
- 9780520937857
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520241367.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Theory
Neil Smelser is a professionally trained psychoanalyst who maintained a clinical practice for several years while maintaining and managing his more visible career as academic sociologist and ...
More
Neil Smelser is a professionally trained psychoanalyst who maintained a clinical practice for several years while maintaining and managing his more visible career as academic sociologist and statesman. This fact is not well known to the many who know him principally through his published work. However, his interest in the unconscious, in the irrational and the ambivalent were apparent to his students and to anyone who knows him personally. Smelser taught respect for and inquisitiveness for personality and selfhood, and the conviction that social problems can only be adequately understood by grasping the complex and hidden motives of individuals in social life. In the following three chapters, ambivalence is thoroughly examined and analyzed. Smelser argued that extreme feelings of love and hate are likely to arise in any social situation of high dependency. Ambivalence is experienced in highly idiosyncratic ways, but it tends to elicit predictable responses, such as defense mechanisms. These three chapters demonstrate that accepting ambivalence as a tangible and permanent part of the human condition is the key to achieving a deeper and richer understanding of social life.Less
Neil Smelser is a professionally trained psychoanalyst who maintained a clinical practice for several years while maintaining and managing his more visible career as academic sociologist and statesman. This fact is not well known to the many who know him principally through his published work. However, his interest in the unconscious, in the irrational and the ambivalent were apparent to his students and to anyone who knows him personally. Smelser taught respect for and inquisitiveness for personality and selfhood, and the conviction that social problems can only be adequately understood by grasping the complex and hidden motives of individuals in social life. In the following three chapters, ambivalence is thoroughly examined and analyzed. Smelser argued that extreme feelings of love and hate are likely to arise in any social situation of high dependency. Ambivalence is experienced in highly idiosyncratic ways, but it tends to elicit predictable responses, such as defense mechanisms. These three chapters demonstrate that accepting ambivalence as a tangible and permanent part of the human condition is the key to achieving a deeper and richer understanding of social life.
Matthew M. Briones
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691129488
- eISBN:
- 9781400842216
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691129488.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This introductory chapter draws on Charles Kikuchi's diaries in presenting a trail guide for a reconstructive study of why the various schools of American democracy—including Nisei intellectuals at ...
More
This introductory chapter draws on Charles Kikuchi's diaries in presenting a trail guide for a reconstructive study of why the various schools of American democracy—including Nisei intellectuals at Berkeley, pluralist advocates, Chicago School sociologists, and African American progressives, among other types—ultimately failed in part and, not insignificantly, of how some of their ideas managed to survive the larger society's capitulation to Orwellian, Cold War ideology in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Kikuchi's preservation of the time's key moments and meaning makers allows for a restaging of historical actors and events. Most importantly, through Kikuchi's narrative, historical actors reenact their earnest but fallible efforts at progressively redefining the idea of American democracy on a stage not quite prepared for the glare of klieg lights.Less
This introductory chapter draws on Charles Kikuchi's diaries in presenting a trail guide for a reconstructive study of why the various schools of American democracy—including Nisei intellectuals at Berkeley, pluralist advocates, Chicago School sociologists, and African American progressives, among other types—ultimately failed in part and, not insignificantly, of how some of their ideas managed to survive the larger society's capitulation to Orwellian, Cold War ideology in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Kikuchi's preservation of the time's key moments and meaning makers allows for a restaging of historical actors and events. Most importantly, through Kikuchi's narrative, historical actors reenact their earnest but fallible efforts at progressively redefining the idea of American democracy on a stage not quite prepared for the glare of klieg lights.
Geetha B. Nambissan and S. Srinivasa Rao
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780198082866
- eISBN:
- 9780199082254
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198082866.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Education
This essay presents an account of the author's own personal and institutional experiences related to sociology of education (SoE)) in India. It explains that the author has been a sociologist of ...
More
This essay presents an account of the author's own personal and institutional experiences related to sociology of education (SoE)) in India. It explains that the author has been a sociologist of education for 45 years since 1964. It suggests that the establishment of the sociology of education (SoE) as an academic field in India started in 1964, with the appointment of the Education Commission which had the mandate to advise the government on how education could be used as an instrument of national development. This chapter highlights the accomplishments of Commission Member Secretary Shri J.P. Naik and the importance of the December 1964 seminar organised by the Commission in the history of SoE in India.Less
This essay presents an account of the author's own personal and institutional experiences related to sociology of education (SoE)) in India. It explains that the author has been a sociologist of education for 45 years since 1964. It suggests that the establishment of the sociology of education (SoE) as an academic field in India started in 1964, with the appointment of the Education Commission which had the mandate to advise the government on how education could be used as an instrument of national development. This chapter highlights the accomplishments of Commission Member Secretary Shri J.P. Naik and the importance of the December 1964 seminar organised by the Commission in the history of SoE in India.
Kai Erikson
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780300106671
- eISBN:
- 9780300231779
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300106671.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Theory
This chapter considers a second approach to the sociological perspective, which has to do with the effort to make clear that the social scene and the individual persons who compose it can be viewed ...
More
This chapter considers a second approach to the sociological perspective, which has to do with the effort to make clear that the social scene and the individual persons who compose it can be viewed as quite different entities. Sociologists know how to approach their subject matter as an assembly of parts. At the same time, they are cognizant of the fact that the social world, in essence, is a continuous field of force—a thing of drifts and tides and currents and flows. Human beings are all caught up in those drifts and flows, often without knowing that to be so. Autonomy is not a quality gained by asserting it to be so (“we believe in free will”). It is a quality to be gained by becoming aware of and coping with the social forces that make up the world in which we live.Less
This chapter considers a second approach to the sociological perspective, which has to do with the effort to make clear that the social scene and the individual persons who compose it can be viewed as quite different entities. Sociologists know how to approach their subject matter as an assembly of parts. At the same time, they are cognizant of the fact that the social world, in essence, is a continuous field of force—a thing of drifts and tides and currents and flows. Human beings are all caught up in those drifts and flows, often without knowing that to be so. Autonomy is not a quality gained by asserting it to be so (“we believe in free will”). It is a quality to be gained by becoming aware of and coping with the social forces that make up the world in which we live.
Renée C. Fox and Judith P. Swazey
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195365559
- eISBN:
- 9780199851881
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195365559.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This book is a collaboration of two social scientists: a sociologist and a historian. This chapter presents the work of the authors before they immersed on bioethics research, their perspective on ...
More
This book is a collaboration of two social scientists: a sociologist and a historian. This chapter presents the work of the authors before they immersed on bioethics research, their perspective on bioethics, and the book's beginnings and contents.Less
This book is a collaboration of two social scientists: a sociologist and a historian. This chapter presents the work of the authors before they immersed on bioethics research, their perspective on bioethics, and the book's beginnings and contents.
Nicholas Jardine
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198250395
- eISBN:
- 9780191681288
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198250395.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This chapter first discusses the origin of the work then presents the aims of this book that are addressed to the students of the sciences — philosophers, historians, and sociologists. It suggests a ...
More
This chapter first discusses the origin of the work then presents the aims of this book that are addressed to the students of the sciences — philosophers, historians, and sociologists. It suggests a shift in focus to the questions and answers posed by science, arguing that this shift makes it possible to overcome long-standing obstacles to the understanding of sciences and opens up new fields of inquiry. Then, the chapter raises some questions regarding the philosophy of science, which is almost always focused on scientific doctrines. Lastly, the chapter presents a plan of the work and an outline of the topics arranged according to chapters.Less
This chapter first discusses the origin of the work then presents the aims of this book that are addressed to the students of the sciences — philosophers, historians, and sociologists. It suggests a shift in focus to the questions and answers posed by science, arguing that this shift makes it possible to overcome long-standing obstacles to the understanding of sciences and opens up new fields of inquiry. Then, the chapter raises some questions regarding the philosophy of science, which is almost always focused on scientific doctrines. Lastly, the chapter presents a plan of the work and an outline of the topics arranged according to chapters.
Murray A. Straus and Michael Donnelly
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300085471
- eISBN:
- 9780300133806
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300085471.003.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Family Law
The goal of this book is to stimulate further research by psychologists, sociologists, and other social scientists concerned with child development and parent behavior. Given the recent and growing ...
More
The goal of this book is to stimulate further research by psychologists, sociologists, and other social scientists concerned with child development and parent behavior. Given the recent and growing concern with corporal punishment, the book appears at an opportune moment, when it might be the catalyst for more systematic and coherent research. Chapters define corporal punishment from the perspective of a particular theory, identify those aspects of corporal punishment that the theory is most adequate to explain, and relate the theory at hand to other theories. Many of the chapters also review empirical research on corporal punishment informed by the given theories, explore methodological issues, and suggest avenues for further research.Less
The goal of this book is to stimulate further research by psychologists, sociologists, and other social scientists concerned with child development and parent behavior. Given the recent and growing concern with corporal punishment, the book appears at an opportune moment, when it might be the catalyst for more systematic and coherent research. Chapters define corporal punishment from the perspective of a particular theory, identify those aspects of corporal punishment that the theory is most adequate to explain, and relate the theory at hand to other theories. Many of the chapters also review empirical research on corporal punishment informed by the given theories, explore methodological issues, and suggest avenues for further research.
Iain McLean
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748623525
- eISBN:
- 9780748672110
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748623525.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
This book aims to show that Adam Smith (1723–90), the author of Inquiry into…the Wealth of Nations, was not the promoter of ruthless laissez-faire capitalism that is still frequently depicted. His ...
More
This book aims to show that Adam Smith (1723–90), the author of Inquiry into…the Wealth of Nations, was not the promoter of ruthless laissez-faire capitalism that is still frequently depicted. His ‘right-wing’ reputation was sealed after his death, when it was not safe to claim that an author may have influenced the French revolutionaries. But as the author also of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, which he probably regarded as his more important book, Smith sought a non-religious grounding for morals, and found it in the principle of sympathy, which should lead an impartial spectator to understand others' problems. The book locates Smith in the Scottish Enlightenment; shows how the two books are perfectly consistent with one another; traces Smith's influence in France and the United States; and draws out the lessons that Smith can teach policy makers in the twenty-first century. Although Smith was not a religious man, he was a very acute sociologist of religion. The book accordingly explains the Scottish religious context of Smith's time, which was, as it remains, very different to the English religious context. The whole book is shot through with an affection for Edinburgh, and for the Scottish Enlightenment. It begins and ends with poems by Smith's great admirer, Robert Burns.Less
This book aims to show that Adam Smith (1723–90), the author of Inquiry into…the Wealth of Nations, was not the promoter of ruthless laissez-faire capitalism that is still frequently depicted. His ‘right-wing’ reputation was sealed after his death, when it was not safe to claim that an author may have influenced the French revolutionaries. But as the author also of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, which he probably regarded as his more important book, Smith sought a non-religious grounding for morals, and found it in the principle of sympathy, which should lead an impartial spectator to understand others' problems. The book locates Smith in the Scottish Enlightenment; shows how the two books are perfectly consistent with one another; traces Smith's influence in France and the United States; and draws out the lessons that Smith can teach policy makers in the twenty-first century. Although Smith was not a religious man, he was a very acute sociologist of religion. The book accordingly explains the Scottish religious context of Smith's time, which was, as it remains, very different to the English religious context. The whole book is shot through with an affection for Edinburgh, and for the Scottish Enlightenment. It begins and ends with poems by Smith's great admirer, Robert Burns.
Christian Smith
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520230002
- eISBN:
- 9780520936706
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520230002.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This chapter explains the secularization of American higher education by employing the theoretical perspective of secular movements. It presents accounts of the marginalization of religion and ...
More
This chapter explains the secularization of American higher education by employing the theoretical perspective of secular movements. It presents accounts of the marginalization of religion and morality in American higher education as well as an analysis of secular movements that contribute to the understanding of the secularization of American higher education. The chapter reveals that a certain group of largely irreligious early American sociologists worked actively to discredit the religious claims and concerns of their perceived competitors and was instrumental in making religion irrelevant in American higher education. Thus, it supports the larger claim that the historical secularization of American higher education was not an abstract, natural, and inevitable by-product of some evolutionary modernization process. Rather, it was the achievement of intentional agents, influenced by particular ideologies and interests, seeking to enhance their own status and authority by actively displacing the competing status and authority of religious actors.Less
This chapter explains the secularization of American higher education by employing the theoretical perspective of secular movements. It presents accounts of the marginalization of religion and morality in American higher education as well as an analysis of secular movements that contribute to the understanding of the secularization of American higher education. The chapter reveals that a certain group of largely irreligious early American sociologists worked actively to discredit the religious claims and concerns of their perceived competitors and was instrumental in making religion irrelevant in American higher education. Thus, it supports the larger claim that the historical secularization of American higher education was not an abstract, natural, and inevitable by-product of some evolutionary modernization process. Rather, it was the achievement of intentional agents, influenced by particular ideologies and interests, seeking to enhance their own status and authority by actively displacing the competing status and authority of religious actors.
Julia Brannen
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781529208566
- eISBN:
- 9781529208610
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781529208566.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Research and Statistics
This introductory chapter provides a brief biography of the author, offering a glimpse of the author's beginnings in the field of social research. This story is not intended to be a tale of ...
More
This introductory chapter provides a brief biography of the author, offering a glimpse of the author's beginnings in the field of social research. This story is not intended to be a tale of individual endeavour but an examination of the times, concerns, and conditions in which the work of one sociologist develops and how a career reliant on research that is externally funded is forged. The research that the author discusses concerns the family and working lives of mothers and fathers, and also the lives of children, both across the life course and over historical time. The book has two main themes that will be interwoven throughout the text. A central theme is how social research matters in relation to historical context. A second theme focuses on the practice of social research; research is a craft that is learned with and from others as well as through reading methodological texts and training. Although the expertise of the researcher is crucial to all phases of the research process, much of the success of funded research is dependent on collaboration and the creation of conditions that are conducive to team-based research.Less
This introductory chapter provides a brief biography of the author, offering a glimpse of the author's beginnings in the field of social research. This story is not intended to be a tale of individual endeavour but an examination of the times, concerns, and conditions in which the work of one sociologist develops and how a career reliant on research that is externally funded is forged. The research that the author discusses concerns the family and working lives of mothers and fathers, and also the lives of children, both across the life course and over historical time. The book has two main themes that will be interwoven throughout the text. A central theme is how social research matters in relation to historical context. A second theme focuses on the practice of social research; research is a craft that is learned with and from others as well as through reading methodological texts and training. Although the expertise of the researcher is crucial to all phases of the research process, much of the success of funded research is dependent on collaboration and the creation of conditions that are conducive to team-based research.
Julia Brannen
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781529208566
- eISBN:
- 9781529208610
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781529208566.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Research and Statistics
This chapter reflects on the shifting public discourses in Britain concerning mothers and the labour market from the end of the Second World War and shows how the framing of research questions ...
More
This chapter reflects on the shifting public discourses in Britain concerning mothers and the labour market from the end of the Second World War and shows how the framing of research questions reflects these changing public discourses. At the end of the Second World War, women were ejected from many of the jobs in which they had worked in wartime to create work for returning servicemen. This ejection marked a watershed in women's lives and a backward step in female emancipation. The author began research on mothers in the labour market in the late 1970s. At that time, home was still promoted as the ‘best place’ to rear young children and mothers the best people to do so. This narrative shifted in the late 1980s, reflecting not only the rapid growth in the employment of mothers with young children but the increased emphasis placed by government on market forces and the notion of ‘individual choice’. Reflecting these changes, the social research agenda also shifted. In the 1960s and 1970s, motherhood was a small field of inquiry occupied mainly by those concerned with family life or child development. Gradually, much of the territory of ‘family studies’ was taken over by feminist sociologists whose work threw the spotlight on to patriarchy and women's oppression.Less
This chapter reflects on the shifting public discourses in Britain concerning mothers and the labour market from the end of the Second World War and shows how the framing of research questions reflects these changing public discourses. At the end of the Second World War, women were ejected from many of the jobs in which they had worked in wartime to create work for returning servicemen. This ejection marked a watershed in women's lives and a backward step in female emancipation. The author began research on mothers in the labour market in the late 1970s. At that time, home was still promoted as the ‘best place’ to rear young children and mothers the best people to do so. This narrative shifted in the late 1980s, reflecting not only the rapid growth in the employment of mothers with young children but the increased emphasis placed by government on market forces and the notion of ‘individual choice’. Reflecting these changes, the social research agenda also shifted. In the 1960s and 1970s, motherhood was a small field of inquiry occupied mainly by those concerned with family life or child development. Gradually, much of the territory of ‘family studies’ was taken over by feminist sociologists whose work threw the spotlight on to patriarchy and women's oppression.
Julia Brannen
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781529208566
- eISBN:
- 9781529208610
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781529208566.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Research and Statistics
This chapter highlights food as a key lens through which a sociologist may understand family relations in social context. Given that the meaning of food and its material form are subject to variation ...
More
This chapter highlights food as a key lens through which a sociologist may understand family relations in social context. Given that the meaning of food and its material form are subject to variation and change across time and place, the concept of ‘social practice’ has been employed in its study. A practice approach engages with the habitual aspects of human behaviour that are not easily open to reflexive engagement. From this perspective, it becomes possible to understand how practices are established and consolidated, and how they change. A practice approach, moreover, engages with the constitutive elements relating to a social domain, for example, cooking, eating meals and washing up, and the sequencing of, and the linkage between, these and other practices. Thus, a focus on food can suggest the ways in which family experiences and practices are reproduced, are in tension, or in the process of change. The chapter then looks at cases and interview extracts which demonstrate some of the methodological benefits of food as a pretext for entry into the field of family lives.Less
This chapter highlights food as a key lens through which a sociologist may understand family relations in social context. Given that the meaning of food and its material form are subject to variation and change across time and place, the concept of ‘social practice’ has been employed in its study. A practice approach engages with the habitual aspects of human behaviour that are not easily open to reflexive engagement. From this perspective, it becomes possible to understand how practices are established and consolidated, and how they change. A practice approach, moreover, engages with the constitutive elements relating to a social domain, for example, cooking, eating meals and washing up, and the sequencing of, and the linkage between, these and other practices. Thus, a focus on food can suggest the ways in which family experiences and practices are reproduced, are in tension, or in the process of change. The chapter then looks at cases and interview extracts which demonstrate some of the methodological benefits of food as a pretext for entry into the field of family lives.
Roger Cotterrell
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199282548
- eISBN:
- 9780191700200
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199282548.003.0002
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
This chapter addresses the nature of sociology as a knowledge-field. It also asks: what is sociology for legal theorists, especially for jurists pursuing theoretical inquiries about the nature of law ...
More
This chapter addresses the nature of sociology as a knowledge-field. It also asks: what is sociology for legal theorists, especially for jurists pursuing theoretical inquiries about the nature of law as doctrine, ideas, and reasoning? And, by contrast, it asks, what is sociology for sociologists? The chapter attempts to illustrate that sociologists can even help to clarify the very nature of theoretical legal studies. It begins by presenting the conceptualization of sociology in association with legal theory. In addition, it considers the views of sociologists' contemporary debates about the nature of their scholarly enterprise. It also describes Ehrlich's equation of legal theory with sociology of law. Legal theory is mainly the focus of jurists and sociolegal scholars who may occupy different positions in connection with the debates considered in this chapter.Less
This chapter addresses the nature of sociology as a knowledge-field. It also asks: what is sociology for legal theorists, especially for jurists pursuing theoretical inquiries about the nature of law as doctrine, ideas, and reasoning? And, by contrast, it asks, what is sociology for sociologists? The chapter attempts to illustrate that sociologists can even help to clarify the very nature of theoretical legal studies. It begins by presenting the conceptualization of sociology in association with legal theory. In addition, it considers the views of sociologists' contemporary debates about the nature of their scholarly enterprise. It also describes Ehrlich's equation of legal theory with sociology of law. Legal theory is mainly the focus of jurists and sociolegal scholars who may occupy different positions in connection with the debates considered in this chapter.
C. G. N. Mascie-Taylor
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198523369
- eISBN:
- 9780191688898
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198523369.003.0004
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
Burt's 1961 paper was part of a wider debate on the causes of social class differences in intelligence. Burt held the view that a large part of the heterogeneity in intelligence between social ...
More
Burt's 1961 paper was part of a wider debate on the causes of social class differences in intelligence. Burt held the view that a large part of the heterogeneity in intelligence between social classes was due to innate or inherited differences. In this respect he was at odds with some of the leading British sociologists (e.g. Floud and Halsey) who said that class differences in intelligence were the result of differences in environmental conditions. A large part of the introductory section of the paper covers points of agreement and disagreement between Burt and his critics. But the empirical findings presented by Burt in the remainder of the paper were claimed to provide decisive evidence in support of the genetical (polygenic) theory.Less
Burt's 1961 paper was part of a wider debate on the causes of social class differences in intelligence. Burt held the view that a large part of the heterogeneity in intelligence between social classes was due to innate or inherited differences. In this respect he was at odds with some of the leading British sociologists (e.g. Floud and Halsey) who said that class differences in intelligence were the result of differences in environmental conditions. A large part of the introductory section of the paper covers points of agreement and disagreement between Burt and his critics. But the empirical findings presented by Burt in the remainder of the paper were claimed to provide decisive evidence in support of the genetical (polygenic) theory.
Barbara Ehrenreich
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520251373
- eISBN:
- 9780520940758
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520251373.003.0016
- Subject:
- Sociology, Comparative and Historical Sociology
This chapter is skeptical about the distinctive contributions of sociology. It argues that sociologists must focus on the problems endemic to modern society. To do so requires reaching out to other ...
More
This chapter is skeptical about the distinctive contributions of sociology. It argues that sociologists must focus on the problems endemic to modern society. To do so requires reaching out to other disciplines, even at the risk of disrupting boundaries and ceding turf. It makes a case that sociology needs history, psychology, and even biology, asking at least that public sociologists be “willing to go anywhere” in pursuit of answers, even to go boldly, when the questions carry them there, where no social scientist has gone before.Less
This chapter is skeptical about the distinctive contributions of sociology. It argues that sociologists must focus on the problems endemic to modern society. To do so requires reaching out to other disciplines, even at the risk of disrupting boundaries and ceding turf. It makes a case that sociology needs history, psychology, and even biology, asking at least that public sociologists be “willing to go anywhere” in pursuit of answers, even to go boldly, when the questions carry them there, where no social scientist has gone before.
