The Relationship of Weight,the Self Perception of Weight and Self Esteem with Courtship Behavior

No abstract available for this article.     

A Sociology of No‐Self: Applying Buddhist Social Theory to Symbolic Interaction

Although fraught with complexity, the self is a central phenomenon of discussion and analysis within sociology. This article contributes to this discourse by introducing the Buddhist ideas of anatta (no‐self) and prattyasamutpāda (interdependence) as analytic frameworks to deconstruct and rethink the self within sociology. We argue that the sociological self, most clearly articulated by symbolic interactionism, is premised on a self‐other dualism. This dualism leads to a conceptualization of the self as constantly threatened and anxious. Using these Buddhist concepts we propose an alternative interpretive schema, a sociology of no‐self, for analyzing social interaction and understanding the roots of social angst.     

Castration and Medusa: Orlan's Art on the Cutting Edge

French multimedia artist Orlan (b. 1947) literally altered her body and identity in the name of art by undergoing multiple cosmetic surgeries that replaced her features with those from art historical masterpieces. She transformed herself into an objet d'art as well as a site for public debate, thereby injecting a radical sensibility into Western art and its history. The provocative surgeries at the core of Orlan's “carnal art” both exemplify and expand Freud's notion of castration to include the wish to transcend gender and even the body itself. Like Medusa, Orlan confronts us with blinding images that compel us to question our assumptions about art, beauty, gender, identity, and technology. Her project shows us the fate of human embodiment in a posthuman age. In addition to elucidating her social, feminist, and aesthetic agenda, this paper clarifies her personal psychology and her work's effect on the audience.     

The Therapist's Imagination of Self in Relation to Clients: Beginning Ideas on the Flexibility of Empathic Imagination

The therapist's capacity to imagine is one specific part of the endeavour of empathy which lies at the heart of the processes of the therapeutic relationship. This article offers beginning ideas about the significance of therapist's imagination of self in relation to her/his clients in the task of trying to understand their experience. In seeking to ‘understand’ the experience of others, the therapist is able to move between an imagination of sameness/identification with the client/s, and an imagination of difference/‘foreignness’. The family therapy orientation of curiosity and ‘not‐knowing’ relies on the imagination of self as different to our clients; more traditional understandings of empathic connection rely more heavily on the imagination of sameness/identification with clients. This article argues that flexibility in the therapist's use of self in moving between these positions allows an expanded capacity for therapeutic connectedness. These ideas have special valence in the practice territories of impasse and intercultural therapy.     

Public Sociology: Working at the Interstices

The article examines recent debates surrounding public sociology in the context of a UK based Department of Applied Social Sciences. Three areas of work within the department form the focus of the article: violence against women and children; community-based oral history projects and health ethics teaching. The article draws on Micheal Burawoy’s typology comprising public, policy, professional and critical sociology, and argues that much of the work described in the case studies more often lies somewhere in between, in the interstices, rather than within one or other of the four types. The result is not without its tensions and dilemmas, some of which are identified and explored, notably those arising from attempts to appeal to diverse audiences and meet the sometimes conflicting expectations of each.     

Look Who's Talking: Compositional Effects of Gender and Status on Verbal Contributions at Sociology Conferences

Making a verbal contribution is an efficient means to increase one's visibility in the academic job market. Therefore, we examine the duration and word density of spoken contributions made in debates at sociology conferences held in Germany, thus enriching the discussion on the gender gap in scientific careers. We differentiate between the contributors' age and gender, and the social context of the conferences. Hidden observation of 392 verbal contributions on 64 topics at five different conferences using hierarchical linear models shows that with increasing age, women speak more slowly and for longer, while the duration of verbal contributions of men rises up to the age of 53 and then decreases again. Contrary to our hypothesis, the duration of spoken contributions of men is not longer than that of women; in fact if there is a majority of female associate or full professors in the audience, contributions by women become significantly longer. This finding underlines the importance of social context for gender‐related features of communication. In addition, we find that word density depends on the age and gender of the speaker.     

The Objects of Sociology: A Response to Breslau's "Sociology After Humanism"

Daniel Breslau's essay opens up a valuable space in seeking to align the sociologically impure objects explored in science studies with the practice of a pure sociology. I challenge Breslau's conclusion that the latter can swallow the former and proceed with business as usual. Contrary to Breslau, I argue that confronting head-on the impure objects of science studies can indeed represent a new beginning in sociology as a discipline. I also correct Breslau's misreading of my work as "symmetrical humanism."     

Moving from Urban Sociology to the Sociology of the City

The American Sociologist - Castell’s claim that urban sociology has no subject matter has yet to be refuted. In this article, I argue that urban sociology should be understood as the...     

The Summer-Porter Controversy at Yale: Pre-Paradigmatic Sociology and Institutional Crisis*

This reappraisal of the dispute between William Graham Sumner and Noah Porter at Yale (1879-1881) emphasizes the conjunction of disciplinary unxieties (over the academic establishment of sociology) and institutional crisis (over Yale's classical curriculum). Theoretical implications are developed through further explication of Thomas Kuhn's notion of “pre-paradigmatic” science.     

The Sociology of the Family in Spain:

This paper analyses research undertaken in Spain on the sociology of the family. A set of intellectual and cultural condi- tions at the end of the 19th century suggested that there would be a rapid growth of this area of specialisation. Nevertheless, the disci- pline did not become institutionalised despite the efforts of Adolfo Posada, who had taken the initiative to formalise its status. Other factors which should have encouraged developments in this field such as the debate on the role of women in society, the survey of the Ateneo de Madrid of 1901 or the profound legal changes introduced by the Second Republic in fact made little impact. Although the emergence of empirical sociology at the end of the 1960s is related to the study of the Spanish family, it is in other fields of sociology where advances were more marked. With the death of Franco in 1975 and the legislative and social changes which followed, the sociology of the family acquired greater vigour, although many gaps remain to be covered by research.     

Art at the Edge of Texas

This review examines the work of the artist Forrest Bess. Sexuality, hermaphroditism, and gender are discussed as possible determinants of Bess's studio practice.