‘From Behind the Women's Petticoats’: The English Factory Act of 1874 as a Cultural Production1

Abstract In 1874 Parliament passed a law entitled ‘The Factories (Health of Women. etc) Act’ which limited the hours that women and children could work in textile factories to a 56 1/2 hour work week. In this paper I interpret the debates over hours legislation and the resulting Act as cultural productions. These cultural productions contributed to the formulation of a new social problem,‘the working mother’ promulgated an interpretation of who caused the problem, and reinforced a particular view of who was responsible for social reproduction. The rhetoric in the debates about the measure made crucial contributions to the future agenda for public policies concerning married women workers and working mothers, and reinforced a world view that state, economy and family are, and ought to remain, independent entities. My analysis draws from a range of theoretical traditions and works stressing the importance of language and other symbolic practices such as rituals in creating political subjects, problems and solutions. I examine the debates about state regulation in the 1870s to show how a symbolic or cultural analysis illuminates state-level politics and the formulation of public policy. It was through such laws and debates that the state contributed to the social construction of gender and a gendered economy.     

The Politics of Drugs: an Inquiry in the Sociology of Social Problems*

While a great deal of sociological attention has been given to phenomena identified as social problems, a general theory of social problems has yet to be presented. The describing and categorizing of social problems has dominated such inquiry, with little attention given to the process of problem creation and maintenance within the context of power, interests, and politics. We must look to the arena of political, social, and economic power, and identify those varying interests vying to define certain phenomena as problematic and those attempting to counter such recognition. The emergence of the “drug problem” in the early twentieth century provides an excellent example of the political nature of problem identification and definition. Early entrepreneurs and their organizations brought about the institutionalization of the problem through the passage of drug laws. While medical interests were victorious in protecting their practice in the Harrison Act of 1914, subsequent efforts by enforcement agencies, among others, brought about the criminalization of the user. The criminalization of the “drug problem” was aided by a change in the image of the user.     

The Failure of Sexuality Education

Summary

Even “comprehensive” sexuality education has failed to reach its potential in that it cannot convincingly demonstrate its effectiveness in facilitating behavioral change. Commitment to a comprehensive, sex-positive perspective is proposed as one important component in creating behavioral outcomes that balance the reduction of hurt with the enhancement of pleasure. Until sexuality educators become comfortable and committed to emphasizing the pleasure dimension of sexual experience” the legitimate impact of sexuality education may be compromised in the eyes of students.     

State-Level HIV Criminalization Laws: Social Construction of Target Populations?

Applying Schneider and Ingram’s social constructionist framework that places people living with HIV (PLWH) in the intersection of both minimal power and negative social construction, this study investigates whether HIV criminalization laws are more likely to be present in states that have a relatively larger percentage of socially marginalized populations. A database was assembled of state-level variables related to HIV criminalization laws and indicators of social marginalization. Analyses show that states with HIV criminalization laws have relatively larger African American populations. Future research is needed to further clarify the racial component of HIV criminalization.     

Public duty and private prejudice: sexualities equalities and local government

Rather than critiquing social institutions and practices that have historically excluded lesbians and gay men, as did earlier social movements in the 1960s and 1970s, since the 1990s the politics of sexuality has increasingly been about demanding equal rights of citizenship. These citizenship demands have, at least to a degree, been answered via a raft of recent legislation in the UK including the Adoption and Children Act 2002, Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003, Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the Civil Partnership Act 2004, and by associated changes in policy making and practice that emphasize ‘Equality and Diversity’. In this article we consider how the implementation of sexualities equalities policies is related to processes of privatization and individualization. This is illustrated by using sexualities equalities work in local government as a case study to indicate how processes of change and resistance are aided by these processes. The article draws on findings from a study of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equalities initiatives in local government in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which examined the views of those who now have a public duty to implement recent legislative and policy shifts and are obliged to develop equalities initiatives concerning ‘sexual orientation' and ‘gender reassignment’.     

Queers,Bullying and Schools: Am I Safe Here?

SUMMARY

This article reports on interviews conducted with students and educators in various Toronto-area high schools in an attempt to gauge how and to what extent so-called “formal” law (laws, policies, regulations) interacts with other, sometimes, competing normative orders, such as gender codes, sexuality, race, religion, in the educational setting. This approach is necessary to understand how anti-harassment and anti-homophobia policies are complicated by these other regulating influences.     

Opening the government’s black boxes: freedom of information and algorithmic accountability

Freedom of information laws are intended to illuminate how governments operate. However, the operations of governments increasingly involve algorithms, such as those used to recommend criminal sentencing and determine eligibility for social services. Algorithms function as ‘black boxes’ that turn inputs into outputs using processes that are often, by design, not transparent. Freedom of information laws allow one potential means for algorithmic transparency. However, whether such laws can be used to access algorithms is unclear. This research examines, in two ways, the availability of government algorithms to the public. First, this study examines laws, regulations, advisory opinions, and court rulings relevant to the disclosure of algorithms. The second part of this study analyzes actual responses by US government agencies to Freedom of Information Act requests for algorithms. This study concludes that governmental policies and practices related to algorithmic disclosure are inconsistent. Such inconsistencies suggest a need for better mechanisms to hold government algorithms accountable.     

Disability and sex work: developing affinities through decriminalization

This article argues that strong policy frameworks are required to support the health and well-being of sex workers, disabled people, and disabled sex workers. Through an examination of the context of sex work in Canada, we articulate the flaws of sex work criminalization and the persistent barriers that criminalization creates. Our analysis of the intersection of disabled sexuality and access to sexual services identifies how the sex industry can aid in the flourishing of the erotic lives of disabled people. The article culminates in a discussion of the benefits of sex work decriminalization for sex workers, disabled people, and disabled sex workers.     

The Social Construction of Trafficked Persons: An Analysis of the UN Protocol and the TVPA Definitions

This study is an investigation of the discourse surrounding trafficked persons. The U.S. federal government constructs human trafficking as “illegal immigration” and “prostitution.” As such, it may prioritize punishing those who violate trafficking laws. In order to examine this, a content analysis was conducted examining the United Nations Protocol on Human Trafficking and the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Findings suggest that the way in which these laws construct the meaning of trafficking and the surrounding discourse may be influenced by political agendas and subsequently may also influence the utilization of policies and the allocation of social services.     

Pleasure-Centered Educational Program: A Comprehensive Approach to Pleasure-Oriented Sexuality Education in Domestic Violence Shelters

ABSTRACT

Women in a domestic violence shelter in Georgia were recruited to participate in a series of comprehensive, sex-positive, educational workshops. The purpose of the series was to provide a place for survivors of domestic violence to discuss positive and negative aspects of their previous sexual experiences and to offer a forum in which all aspects of sexuality, including pleasurable sexuality, could be discussed. The focus of the program was to educate women in the group on a wide array of topics from negative sexual rights (e.g., the right to be protected from or ability to protect oneself from sexually transmitted infections) to positive sexual rights (e.g., the right to experience pleasure). The program was based on previous strengths-based educational formats and tools. Positive feedback from informants included the applicability, accessibility, and engaging format of the program. Women reported that this program was informative and structured in a way that safely encouraged open discussions among participants, as well as encouraged open dialogue with their children.     

Elder Abuse:

Elder abuse in Québec has been defined as a social problem since the late 70s. Many changes in policies, social practices, and laws are proposed as scientific knowledge is still growing. Using research methodology in criminology, elder abuse is defined and the impact of violence and neglect towards elders in the community, family and nursing home settings investigated. This paper critically examines the current knowledge gained through research on elder abuse in Québec and offers suggestions for future progress on this issue.     

Colonial criminology: A survey of what it means and why it is important

As the United States is experiencing unprecedented high rates of incarceration, especially of minorities and marginalized communities, racialized punishment has been addressed by many scholars (Alexander 2010; Wacquant 2001; Cole 1999, Tonry 2011; Stevenson 2014). Studies have shown the connection between racialized structures of inequality, punishment, and colonization (Agozino 2000, 2003; Irwin and Umemoto 2016; Bosworth and Flavin 2007). However, scholars have recognized a void in the discussion of colonial theory in the field of criminology (Agozino 2003; Cunneen and Tauri 2016; Bosworth and Flavin 2007). In this paper, I identify several ways in which criminology is closely tied to colonialism. I argue that a colonial criminology perspective assists in identifying power distinctions that construct notions of difference, thus providing a more nuanced understanding of crime, violence, and criminalization as a response to oppression and alienation. I focus primarily on colonialism in Hawai'i because of its fairly recent colonization and continuing indigenous struggle for Hawaiian sovereignty. Furthermore, Hawai'i is representative of racial and ethnic inequality and disparity within the United States criminal justice system, as the majority of both the adult and juvenile incarcerated populations in Hawai'i are of Native Hawaiian and/or Pacific Islander decent.     

The expansion of “crimmigration,” mass detention,and deportation

In recent years, the deportation and detention of immigrants has become a common phenomenon around the world. In this article, we shed light on the global expansion of crimmigration (the increasingly blurring of lines between immigration and criminal laws) and examine in depth the United States as an example of this trend. Crimmigration scholarship has largely focused on the processes in which laws, media narratives, and political discourses criminalize undocumented immigrants. We summarize the literature that demonstrates how these processes are predicated on the racialization and gendering of certain immigrants, in the United States and elsewhere. Using the US case as an example, we discuss how criminalization practices are closely tied to for profit prison interests. Finally, we provide suggestions for future research to critically examine the criminalization of immigration and immigrants.     

Risk, sexuality and economy

From the mid 1980s onwards HIV/AIDS became a new subject of work reform, with a range of experts producing new knowledges on work and the worker in regard to HIV/AIDS and workplace organizations putting in place workplace HIV/AIDS policies and programmes. To date, much of the discussion in sociology in regard to such policies and programmes has focused on the issue of effectiveness and has been concerned with making such policy 'better'. In this article however, and with particular reference to sexuality, I suggest that such approaches fail to register that workplace HIV/AIDS policies concern new conceptualizations of worker identities. Specifically, I suggest that such policies may be viewed as part of an assemblage of work reforms which are reworking worker identities as risk identities. Thus I argue that workplace HIV/AIDS policies and programmes are best understood as risk rationalities. Further, I consider the alignment between such rationalities and neo-liberal modes of rule, and in particular consider the ways in which workplace HIV/AIDS policies render both HIV/AIDS and sexuality calculable and governable in terms of notions of risk, self-responsibility and self-management.     

Health Consequences of Laws and Public Policies That Target,or Protect,Marginalized Populations

Laws and public policies that are seemingly unrelated to health, nevertheless, can have health consequences in populations that are targeted, or protected, by that legislation. In this paper, I first review research showing that systems of oppression, such as racism and sexism, can cause negative health outcomes. I next discuss mechanisms underlying the relationship between such systems of oppression and negative health effects. Last, I review research showing that laws and public policies can be seen as components of systems of oppression and, as such, are linked to health outcomes. Some policies and laws I include in my review are anti‐same‐sex marriage bills, punitive immigration laws, stop and frisk policies, and state‐level voter disenfranchisement policies. The link between health outcomes and laws and public policies has implications for the current political climate.     

Every Child Matters? A critical review of child welfare reforms in the context of minority ethnic children and families

This paper critically reviews some key government papers that together largely provide the foundation for the relevant child welfare reforms in England and Wales. The context of this review was to evaluate whether these papers and documents made sufficient reference to improving policies and practices for minority ethnic children and families involved in child welfare matters, given the research evidence from the early 1990s suggesting that such families may experience particular disadvantages or discriminations within the UK child welfare system. The research evidence cited draws upon studies that have considered the experiences of different minority ethnic groups from the point of referrals through to long term services, including those children who have been looked after in local authority care and those families that have been subject to care proceedings. This paper concludes that more is needed under the Every Child Matters agenda to both acknowledge and address the specific needs of minority ethnic children and their families, as identified in the range of studies published post Children Act 1989. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gender‐Related Violence and Young People: An Overview of Italian,Irish, Spanish,UK and EU Legislation

Do laws regarding violence against or sexual exploitation of young people recognise gendered and other power dynamics? Cross‐national comparison of legal texts can illustrate the benefits of framing issues of violence/gender/youth in certain ways and offer critical reflection on particular legal frameworks or cultural understandings. This policy review is based on an analysis of select laws regarding gender‐related violence (GRV) as relates to young people in Italy, Ireland, Spain and the UK. Here, GRV is defined as sexist, sexualising or norm‐driven bullying, harassment, discrimination or violence whoever is targeted. It therefore includes gender, sexuality and sex‐gender normativities, as well as violence against women and girls. A tension emerges between granting young people agency and recognising the multiple, intersecting power relations that might limit and shape that agency. This article draws out the implications for the UK in particular, highlighting the absence of preventative measures and the need for a broader approach to combat GRV.     

Social Structure, Crime and Criminalization: An Empirical Examination of the Conflict Perspective*

Using available data from a variety of secondary sources, this research examines the empirical validity of arguments maintained by conflict theorists about the interrelations among economic inequality, the incidence of crime, and the official crinrinalization of people through arrest. The reported findings, although not definitive, suggest that official criminalization may be a function of the structure of dominant/subordinate relations within populations, rather than the incidence of crime. These findings are dependent, however, on whether the incidence of crime is measured by official or unofficial statistics on criminal activity. The implications of the findings are discussed, and we conclude that they lend some support to conflict criminology and suggest that further aggregate tests using structural variables are desirable.     

Keeping the cash under control: what's the problem with direct payments in Scotland?

Implementation of the 1996 Community Care (Direct Payments) Act from April 1997 has gradually gained momentum as more and more local authorities have begun to embrace the idea, and develop their own direct payment policies and support structures. However, whilst users have overwhelmingly welcomed this transition, there remains a stark divide between the implementation and promotion of policy in different parts of the UK. This has resulted in only marginal use of direct payments for a small number of disabled persons in Scotland. As legislation moves to widen access to direct payments in Scotland, this article draws on a series of interviews with policy makers in two local authorities and examines some of the key problems that, to date, have prevented many authorities from offering direct payments as a mainstream service option for disabled people.     

Hidden boundaries and shared meanings: the roles of researcher characteristics and cultural norms in shaping understandings of sexuality in the unstructured interview setting

This paper examines the role of the research process in shaping the construction of knowledge about sensitive topics in in-depth interviews particularly with regard to researcher identity and cultural influences or norms. We argue that these influences shape all aspects of the research process and that researchers will benefit from reflecting upon them when planning, undertaking and interpreting qualitative studies. Drawing on an empirical study interviewing Australian women aged 55 years and older about sexuality we address differences and similarities between researchers and participants; cultural constructions of sexuality and ageing, and generational influences. Using examples from our interview data we interrogate the contribution of each of these aspects to the interview dynamic and the co-production of meaning. Our analysis draws attention to the fluidity of insider and outsider status and to the existence of hidden boundaries that impact on how certain topics can be discussed in interviews. The paper argues that knowledge about sensitive topics such as older people’s sexuality must be viewed as a situated occurrence shaped by the particularities of the interview and the cultural context. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for qualitative inquiries into sensitive topics.