Visions of power: ideology and practice in the American garage sale

In this article, we examine ideological statements reflected in, and to a small extent created by, people's participation in garage sales.¹ Although the article touches upon the economics of garage sales, its focus is on ideology, about how people understand what they are doing when they buy and sell, and how this relates to their more general perception of the social world and their position in it. The way people discuss their participation in garage sales tells a great deal about how they understand their worlds: patterns of work and consumption, claims (especially by women and the aged) that their daily activities have more dignity than is normally afforded them within society, a felt need for moral and practical networks. The expression of ‘oppositional culture’in the statements garage sale participants make to describe their lives is certainly underdeveloped. It is not free of the dominant ideology, cannot be the basis of class-conscious political practice and in present form poses little danger to any social institution (except perhaps department stores). Still it does contain, in shadowy form, seminal statements in contradiction to what is generally regarded as the dominant ideology. We will call these emerging elements ‘prefigurative cultural formations’, as in vague form they connote emergent social values. Further, we will argue that these prefigurative cultural formations are grouped into discrete ideological claims that we call ‘Visions of Power, each of which speaks to the empowerment of subordinate groups. We will discuss four specific Visions of Power: reclaiming control of one's work, creating a sense of social justice, beating the system, and feeling oneself a part of a nurturing community. Before attempting to demonstrate the utility of these concepts in understanding forms of belief reflected in garage sales and other informal economic activities, we will briefly explore our approach to ideology, and will attempt to situate it within the contemporary debate on the nature of ideology.     

Hemispheric Visions and Border Divisions: Differential Decolonizations at the US National Museum of the American Indian

Abstract

While many populations have suffered unique forms of colonial oppression, what these varying populations seem to share is an understanding of the importance of community support and cultural continuity in the face of struggle. Drawing on notions of differential oppositional consciousness and decolonization, this article examines the US National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC in light of its efforts to represent a hemispheric indigeneity. The Our Lives gallery exhibit co-curated by the Campo Band of Kumeyaay Indians (whose aboriginal lands straddle the border between the US and Mexico) is analyzed alongside the author’s personal reflections of her encounters with the NMAI as a US Chicana/Latina subject. The article urges scholars to recognize how they have been differ entially positioned against power and, furthermore, to acknowledge how and when efforts to decolonize may result in the re-colonization of another already marginalized group. This project asserts that the strength of alliances may not always be built on sameness, but perhaps can be built out of differences.     

Legitimation,Ambivalence, Condemnation: Three Sociological Visions of the American University in the 1960s and 1970s

This article compares three great works on higher education, all written in the 1960s and 1970s. Special attention goes to how the authors assessed the impact of federal research funding on the identity of professors and their commitment to teaching. The article reveals a spectrum of perspectives, ranging from Parsons and Platt’s justification of the new research complex to Robert Nisbet’s denunciation of the decline of solidarity among professors and students.     

Visions of development: faith-based initiatives

As someone who fears all religions, reviewing a book on faith-baseddevelopment is a particular challenge for me. I am among thosewhom the editor of this book charges with seeing religion ‘aspart of the problem rather than as part of the solution.’(p. 167). So I ventured into this book with trepidation. My more basic fears were laid to rest, however. Among the storiestold from across the developing world, and from religions suchas Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Mayan, the Bahá'ífaith, and various versions of animism, is a great deal of honesty.The stories     

Visions and Revisions in Family Therapy in Africa

This paper reviews the changes that have taken place in the field of guidance given to the family in Africa in the last one hundred years. It distinguishes several eras in ideas about the family and ways of working with the family in Africa. It traces adaptations in both orientation and technique made by contemporary family therapists in Africa to respond to the changing needs and problems of today's African client family. The essay is restricted to the experience of family therapy in Africa south of the Sahara, excluding South Africa.     

Research in economics and management in France: A bibliometric study using the h-index

This paper presents an application of new measures of research excellence, namely Hirsch's index (2005) and derived indexes. It gives a ranking of French departments of Economics, departments of Management and Business schools based on the quality of the academic environment offered by these institutions using these measures. It argues that, since the bulk of the research is done by a very small number of researchers, a greater concentration of the best researchers seems necessary for France to achieve international visibility in Economics and Management.     

Muslims in post-war Sri Lanka: understanding Sinhala-Buddhist mobilization against them

This study attempts to understand the recent mobilization against the Sri Lankan Muslim community by Sinhala-Buddhist organizations. In doing so, it adds to the discussion about the relationship between second-order minorities and the state and how identities can be manipulated pre- and post-conflict. States, led by majority ethnic groups, may choose to work with second-order minorities out of convenience in times of crisis and then dispose of them afterwards. The article will attempt to look critically at some state concessions to Muslim political leaders who supported successive Sri Lanka’s ruling classes from the independence through the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in 2009. It will also examine the root causes of the Sinhala-Buddhist anti-Muslim campaigns. Finally, it will discuss grassroots perspectives by analysing the questionnaire on the anti-Islam/Muslim campaign that was distributed to youth, students, unemployed Muslims and workers in the North-Western and Western provinces.     

Practices of border crossing in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina: the case of Mostar

In this article, I bring together literature from the fields of memory and reconciliation to investigate practices of ‘border crossing’ in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina. While national divisions prevail, subtle attempts at border crossing can be witnessed even in those areas most impacted by the war’s partition, such as in Mostar, a city that has been left divided into Croat and Bosniak sides. Borders are physically crossed to reintegrate the ‘other side’ into one’s everyday life, but also in a more metonymical sense through the questioning of absolute national identities. Such acts of border crossing heavily rely on memories of positive pre-war cross-national relations, which are brought forward to re-establish these relations in post-war times. The research findings suggest that re-enacting a shared common ground – most often found in the past rather than in the present – bears an integrative potential that deserves more attention in post-conflict settings.     

Visions in monochrome: families, marriage and the individualization thesis

This paper takes issue with the way in which the individualization thesis--in which it is assumed that close relationships have become tenuous and fragile--has become so dominant in 'new' sociological theorizing about family life. Although others have criticized this thesis, in this paper the main criticism derives from empirical research findings carried out with members of transnational families living in Britain whose values and practices do not fit easily with ideas of individualization. It is argued that we need a much more complex and less linear notion of how families change across generations and in time.     

Industrial conflict in post-war Ontario or one cheer for the Woods Report*

Le rapport Woods sur les Relations de Travail au Canada proposaient certaines conclusions quant aux changements qui marquerent les rapports patronat - travailleurs au cours des années soixante, Les auteurs du rapport soutiennent que les aspirations des travailleurs se sont modifiées, tant au niveau qualitatif que quantitatif, et ces changements expli-queraient, en partie du moins, L'agitation ouvrière et le militantisme accru de cette période. Cette position fut critiquée par Douglas Smith (1972,1976). Dans les pages qui suivent, les facteurs déterminants des conflits de travail en Ontario durant la période de L'apres guerre sont analysés. Jen' conclus que bien que certaines affirmations du rapport prê-tent le flanc á de sérieuses critiques, il nen' demeure pas moins que L'interprétation offerte par les auteurs du rapport repose sur une compréhension de facteurs bien réels. The Woods Report on Canadian Industrial Relations made a number of claims concerning significant changes in the character of the relations between employers and employees during the mid-1960s. The authors of the report claimed that workers' aspirations were changing both qualitatively and quantitatively in a way which created substantial industrial unrest. This position has been criticised by Douglas Smith (1972, 1976). Through a close examination of the pattern of determinants of industrial conflict in postwar Ontario, this paper shows that though some of the claims made in the Woods Report are indefensible, there was at least an important element of truth in the interpreta-tion of the authors of that Report.     

Milk quotas in France

Milk quotas were introduced in 1984 to control the problems of surpluses. In France, milk deliveries have fallen by 2% and over 40,000 farmers have left dairying with an outgoers grant. The effects on agricultural patterns, markets and linked activities are already considerable and will be even more extensive as technological change within dairying releases land from milk production. A further downward adjustment in quotas will be necessary to remove existing surpluses.