Autopoiesis and socialization: on Luhmann's reconceptualization of communication and socialization

In 1984, Niklas Luhmann published Soziale Systeme in which he applies the idea of autopoiesis (= self-production) to social systems. Abstracted from its biological connotations, the concept of autopoiesis leads to a sharp distinction between different kinds of autopoietic organization, i.e. between life, consciousness and communication. According to Luhmann, the relationship between social systems and human beings cannot be adequately analysed except by taking into account that they are environments for one another. If this theoretical background is accepted, the concepts and theory of socialization need to be revised. Luhmann takes issues with classical notions such as internalization, inculcation, or 'socialization to the grounds of consensus' (Talcott Parsons). After a historical overview of social systems research and general systems theory, it is indicated how communications trigger further communications and realize the autopoiesis of social systems. In the second part of the article, the distinction between social systems and psychic systems is used to discuss issues crucial to socialization theory. Both a revision of the concept of socialization, and lines for an empirical research programme are proposed in accordance with Luhmann's theory of social systems.     

Adam Smith and Musgrave’s concept of merit good

In this paper I claim that Adam Smith distinguished between economic activities without labeling these distinctions; and, that those distinctions correspond with the modern concepts of private, public and merit good. Musgrave introduced the concept of merit good, but he himself (and several commentators) limited the applicability of the concept merit good. I argue that a close reading of Adam Smith solidifies the distinction conceptualized by the modern ideas of public and merit good; gives the concept merit good a broader domain of applicability; and makes of the ideas of public and merit good concepts which are ideal concepts, and can therefore be applicable jointly and in degrees to particular economic activities.     

Contesting Practices, Challenging Codes: self advocacy, disability politics and the social model

This paper examines the relationship between Self Advocacy and the disability movement in Britain in the light of social movement theory. Using the concept of 'collective identity' as it is explored in social movement theory, the analysis examines why the disability movement's promotion of a strong disabled identity may be difficult to achieve for all its constituents, particularly people with learning difficulties. Additionally the concept of symbolic production within social movement theory is used to explore how the movement uses the social model of disability as its 'collective action frame'. It is argued realignment of this frame is taking place within the movement and is reflected in debates within Disability Studies about the role of impairment. The voices of people with learning difficulties remain silent in this debate. The paper concludes by arguing for the recognition of social, psychological and cognitive difference as pre-requisite to an inclusive theory and politics of disability.     

Varieties of social research: A typology

The distinction between basic and applied social research continues to be influential. Problems with this distinction are identified, and an alternative typology is presented. This distinguishes, first of all, between scientific and practical research, in terms of their audience and mode of validation. Further distinctions are then made within each of these categories, between theoretical and substantive scientific research, and between contract-based versus autonomous, and dedicated versus democratic, practical research.     

‘It didn’t come up on my radar’: an examination of students’ orientation toward disability justice in the US

Abstract

While social justice is a well-recognized concept, it is less frequently examined through the lens of disability. In order to address existing gaps within social justice education, this qualitative case study investigates how participation in a semester-long Introduction to Disability Studies (IDS) course affected students’ orientation toward disability justice, or the conception of disability as an issue of social justice. The framework underpinning this research merges Cipolle’s theory of critical consciousness development with disability-based constructs. Findings reveal that participation in IDS allowed participants to develop an awareness of their ability privilege, understand the experiences of peers with disabilities, increase their social awareness of disability, and consider their work as disability allies. This article concludes with recommendations for social justice educators who are interested in applying disability justice practices.     

Critical Race Theory in the US Sociology of Immigration

This article reviews the recent literature that has incorporated critical race theory to study migration. It includes a survey of the uses, approaches, and contributions of critical race theory in the field of migration. Immigration studies have historically/traditionally focused on demographic aspects of population movements, leaving virtually outside of its analysis social processes at the core of migration, like the social construction of race and citizenship. This disconnect is troubling in the current context of globalization, where specific migrant populations have become target of specific forms of violence on the basis of their racialization. Workplace raids, midnight searches, city ordinances, and changes in social services legislation, to name a few, are consistently used against specific groups to perpetuate their oppression and subordination, becoming in a sense new forms of state sponsored violence. This article begins by outlining major CRT concepts and frameworks used in legal scholarship on immigration. Next, we identify emerging themes generated by this approach by highlighting research questions and operationalization of the CRT framework. Thirdly, we highlight areas of distinction to mainstream sociology in US scholarship.     

On the Road to Damascus: First Steps towards Changing the Relations of Disability Research Production

This paper distinguishes between participatory and emancipatory research, and discusses how both differ from other research practice. A further distinction is made between material and social relations of disability research production. It is argued that, although there are significant constraints imposed by the material relations of research production, genuine progress can still be made in changing the social relations of disability research. Based on the experience of doing research commissioned by organisations of disabled people and other work carried out within a framework of 'user's perspectives' on services and policy, the discussion focuses on the lessons we have learnt-and those we still need to learn-about how to change the relations of research production. Consultation between researchers and disabled people, subjecting research to critical scrutiny, and making researchers accountable to disabled people are suggested as key issues in the development of participatory research.     

Family is NOT an institution: distinguishing institutions from organisations in social science and social theory

This paper addresses the use, and potential misuse, of the ‘institution’ as a key concept in sociology. The concept of the ‘institution’ is interrogated using ‘family’ as an example and new institutional economics (NIE) as a crucible. The sociological understanding of family as an ‘institution’ is challenged by the distinction between ‘institutions’ and ‘organisations’ in NIE. The blurring of generic non-sociological terms with critical sociological concepts causes confusion between institutions and organisations. This is highly problematic for understanding social change in increasingly complex systems. I conclude that the contextual embedding of sociological concepts remains important to the appropriate use of the term ‘institution’ in the social sciences.     

Situated Learning and Cognition: Theoretical Learning and Cognition

The aim of this article is to analyze how schoolchildren's thinking and concept formation generated in classroom teaching can relate to daily life situations. Situated thinking and learning and theoretical thinking and learning are discussed as learning forms that can accomplish this integration. According to Vygotsky, subject-matter concepts are transformed into personal concepts through children's ability to use them in daily life. The relation between skill and content has to be presupposed in this transformation of subject-matter concepts into everyday concepts, because everyday or daily-life concepts are learned through and interwoven with practical activities in cooperation with other people. The analyses are based on distinctions between (a) societal and personal knowledge, (b) subject-matter and everyday concepts, (c) subject-matter methods and content, and (d) thinking as related to subject-matter methods and concepts as related to subject-matter content. For the personal aspect of knowledge, everyday concepts are located within the life setting of a person; therefore, the relation between subject-matter concepts and personal concepts is often much weaker for immigrants and refugees coming to a new country than for children with generations of ancestors in a society. A project with Puerto Rican children is sketched to discuss how classroom teaching can relate subject-matter knowledge of social science with children' s everyday concepts and thereby enhance the children's theoretical concepts and thinking.     

A Comparative Analysis of the Global Emergence of Social Enterprise

This article compares the emerging concept, practice, and context of social enterprise across seven regions and countries of the world. Broadly defined as the use of market-based approaches to address social issues, social enterprise provides a “business” source of revenue for civil society organizations. However, within these broad parameters, world regions have come to identify different concepts and contexts with the social enterprise movement in their areas. Largely lacking in the social enterprise literature are explanations of what these regional differences are, and whether and how socioeconomic context may play a role in these variations. Drawing on social origins theory, recent social enterprise comparative research, and socioeconomic data, this article examines the different factors shaping social enterprise in seven regions and countries. It finds that variations in socioeconomic contexts appear to account for international differences in social enterprise. These findings have practical implications for the development and transfer of social enterprise internationally.     

Translations in social work

This article is concerned with the relation between classical texts within social work and the interpretation of these classics in contemporary literature. It aims to explore how classical texts influence and work in our perception of, and writing about, our history, but also how they influence our perception of social work today. A study is made of Mary Richmond’s classic text Social diagnosis [1917. Social diagnosis. New York, NY: The Russell Sage Foundation] and later interpretations of her text in secondary literature. Through this analysis, a grand narrative within the effective history of social work: social work as a ‘borrowing field’ is questioned. Using translation theory as an alternative to the borrowing metaphor, I analyze the transference of ideas and concepts from other disciplines into social work and how these processes have been perceived. The dynamic processes of translation places social work within an interdisciplinary field, where ideas and concepts are continually exchanged between disciplines. It is the thesis of this article that research into authorities within the discipline and early contributions to the development of social work strengthen the discipline’s insight into past and current theoretical contributions within the discipline itself and the knowledge base of social work.     

Private Tragedy in Social Context? Reflections on Disability,Illness and Suffering

This article reviews aspects of the debate about the contested divide between disability and illness. It considers this divide in the context of three main themes: political efficacy; contradictions between the project of accommodation and that of cure; and Western cultural concerns with bodily control. It suggests that attempts to specify a distinction between disability and illness simply shift the boundaries of social and conceptual exclusion. Chronically sick people remain stigmatised, with their strengths unrecognised and measures to improve their lives unformulated. While acknowledging the serious difficulties involved, the article argues for a more inclusive and diverse movement, which can encompass those whose suffering is resistant to social accommodation.     

Preparation for Practice: Can Philosophy Have a Place in Helping Students Incorporate the Social Model of Disability Within Their Praxis?

This short paper emerges from an engagement with the paper by Morgan in this special edition which argues that the social model of disability can be viewed as a threshold concept which students struggle to ‘get’. I suggest that introducing social work students to philosophical concepts such as recognition at an early stage of their learning about skills, values and anti-oppressive practice, could facilitate the transition over this disability studies threshold, reducing the potential for ritualised performance instead of true understanding. It will be argued that Honneth's account of recognition in particular can be helpful in reducing the risk of psycho-emotional disablism within professional relationships between social work students and disabled service users. However, I also suggest that encouraging students to engage with philosophical questions about personhood and humanity are crucial to maintaining true anti-oppressive practice at a time of financial cutbacks in social work services.     

From leisure and disability to disability leisure: developing data, definitions and discourses

Although both disability studies and leisure studies have grown to become influential subject fields in their own right, there has been little discursive exchange between the two fields. This article seeks to address these equally significant gaps in disability research within leisure studies and leisure research within disability studies. Empirical data examining the role of leisure in the lives of a group of young people with cerebral palsy are introduced to contextualise definitions and discourses of leisure and disability. The article demonstrates that, for many young disabled people, the role of leisure in tackling social exclusion remains within the realms of policy rhetoric, rather than everyday reality. The dissonance between these agendas and actualities is reviewed in relation to definitions and discourses of disability and leisure evident in wider social policies, and in relation to definitions, discourses and models of disability that remain dominant within leisure provision.     

The concept of social movement

Recent developments in social movement research have evidenced a greater underlying consensus in the field than one might have assumed. Efforts have been made to bridge different perspectives and merge them into a new synthesis. Yet, comparative discussion of the concept of ‘social movement’ has been largely neglected so far. This article reviews and contrasts systematically the definitions of ‘social movement’ formulated by some of the most influential authors in the field. A substantial convergence may be detected between otherwise very different approaches on three points at least. Social movements are defined as networks of informal interactions between a plurality of individuals, groups and/or organizations, engaged in political or cultural conflicts, on the basis of shared collective identities. It is argued that the concept is sharp enough a) to differentiate social movements from related concepts such as interest groups, political parties, protest events and coalitions; b) to identify a specific area of investigation and theorising for social movement research.     

Postmodernism and Sociology: From the Epistemological to the Empirical

This article investigates the place of postmodernism in sociology today by making a distinction between its epistemological and empirical forms. During the 1980s and early 1990s, sociologists exposited, appropriated, and normalized an epistemological postmodernism that thematizes the tentative, reflective, and possibly shifting nature of knowledge. More recently, however, sociologists have recognized the potential of a postmodern theory that turns its attention to empirical concerns. Empirical postmodernists challenge classical modern concepts to develop research programs based on new concepts like time-space reorganization, risk society, consumer capitalism, and postmodern ethics. But they do so with an appreciation for the uncertainty of the social world, ourselves, our concepts, and our commitment to our concepts that results from the encounter with postmodern epistemology. Ultimately, this article suggests that understanding postmodernism as a combination of these two moments can lead to a sociology whose epistemological modesty and empirical sensitivity encourage a deeper and broader approach to the contemporary social world.     

Handlungszuschreibung und Situationsdefinition

Action as meaningful behavior and action as an attributional category are usually understood to represent competing concepts of action. In contrast, the present paper argues that the sociological theory of action should include both views. One main reason is that the concept of social action does not only rely on the social actor’s own meaningful behavior but requires him or her to interpret the behavior of the other(s) as action and thus implies the attribution of action. Attributed actions are not just imagined actions. Rather, when attributed actions become the social actor’s reference point for his own actions, they gain a reality of their own. Especially when the attribution of action takes place within the frame of reference of intersubjective definitions of the situation, attributed actions tend to gain such a reality of their own. This effect is connected with two different forms of intersubjective definitions of the situations: those who are commonly shared and those who are effectively enforceable. Additionally, the paper distinguishes between two modes of attributing actions: attribution of reasons and attribution of causation. Using these both distinctions, the paper analyses different ways of how attributed actions come into effect within social action.     

Constructions and Creations: idealism, materialism and disability theory

This paper suggests that a proper understanding of disability theory requires more than a distinction between individual and social model approaches. It is also helpful to distinguish between materialist and idealist explanations. These two dimensions are used to generate a four-fold typology which highlights important differences between the main approaches. Social models are distinguished as those premised upon commonality. However, it is argued that recent discourses of 'difference' do not detract from social model theory. Social model approaches are examined in more detail and the paper concludes that although social constructionist accounts have been useful they do not provide a sufficient level of explanation. Disabling social values reflect material relations of power and may be better explained as 'ideology'.     

Disability as a Phenomenon: a discourse of social and biological understanding

This paper addresses conceptualisations of disability and what it constitutes as a category in a social security system. It argues that the conceptualisation of disability involves a discourse about definitions. This means it is an ongoing debate about principles or which determinators to use presenting the 'correct' understanding of disability as a phenomenon. The disability discourse involves a contest between a biological and social understanding of disability. This paper discusses which domains of interest are produced by each of these understandings. They are based on empirical findings when analysing rights of entitlement to a disability programme in the Swedish social security system. The study followed documentation of the public debates for a period of 25 years and extracted what was communicated as constituting disability in these debates. Which definition to give disability by this social security programme appeared as being a continuous contest between medical and social understanding. The paper argues that, rather than approaching the biological understanding as representing an antiquated concept to disability and the social model as a modern conceptualisation, these understandings are competitive. This makes disability into a flexible and heterogeneous concept, a term difficult to give a specified and limited meaning.     

From hegemony to affinity

Drawing upon a critique of the (post)Marxist theory of hegemony and examples from contemporary activism, this article assesses new possibilities for the construction of radical alternatives within and against postmodern globalizing capitalism. It notes that many elements of the ‘newest’ social movements have taken a turn away from the universalizing conception of social change that is characteristic of the logic of hegemony as it has developed. within (post)Marxism and (neo)liberalism. Instead, these activist currents are driven by an anarchist logic of affinity. Along with this logic has come an emphasis on direct action tactics, which is discussed. with reference to a theoretical distinction between a politics of the act and a politics of demand. Although most existing paradigms of social movement analysis have not addressed. these shifts, they are implicitly acknowledged. in the concept of constituent power developed. by Michael Hardt and Toni Negri. Their work falls short, however, to the extent that it remains in other respects within the tradition of hegemonic thought. To more fully comprehend current developments, it is necessary to construct an alternative genealogy based. on anarchist theory and practice, with a focus on the tradition of ‘structural renewal’ that finds it apogee in the work of Gustav Landauer.