Advancing scientific knowledge through participatory action research

This paper aims to demonstrate the value of participatory action research (PAR) for advancing scientific knowledge as well as for solving practical problems. The article supports the argument through brief summaries of three PAR cases in industry: Norwegian shipping, Xerox Corporation, and the FAGOR group of the Mondragón cooperatives. While noting the practical gains achieved through PAR, the author concentrates particularly on the advances in substantive knowledge and theory that would have been unlikely to emerge out of more orthodox sociological research. The author suggests finally that wider use of participatory action research can have a stimulating effect upon the future development of sociology.     

The power of scientific knowledge - and its limits*

C'est un postulat quasi-généralisé en sociologie que la connaissance scientifique est inévitablement appelée à remplacer les formes de connaissance traditionnelles. Ces dernières sont présentées comme incapables de résister à la diffusion progressive de la connaissance scientifique. Tandis que les formes de connaissance traditionnelles sont censées être liées aux institutions, la connaissance scientifique existerait hors de tout temps et de tout lieu. Enfin, on considère que le pouvoir des porteurs des types de connaissance conventionnels est insuffisant pour en ralentir ou empêcher la disparition. En dépit du large consensus à ce sujet, force nous est de reconnaître que les formes de connaissance traditionnelles se portent plutôt bien dans la société moderne et qu'il doit done y avoir des limites à la connaissance scientifique. L'auteur résume les arguments qu'on retrouve dans beaucoup d'écrits sociologiques sur la puissance de la connaissance scientifique, pour ensuite en examiner les limites. II conclut qu'au lieu d'être une simple conséquence de la résistance à la diffusion et à la domination de la connaissance scientifique dans la société contemporaine, ces limites sont elles-mêmes constitutives de formes de savoir scientifique. With few exceptions classical and contemporary sociological discourses have assumed that scientific knowledge will inevitably replace traditional forms of knowledge. These latter forms of knowledge are portrayed as incapable of resisting the progressive dissemination of scientific knowledge. Traditional forms of knowledge are defined as institutionally based while scientific knowledge knows no time and place. It is further assumed that the carriers of conventional types of knowledge are not sufficiently powerful to slow or prevent their demise. Despite the broad consensus, thriving traditional forms of knowledge in modern society suggest distinct limits of scientific knowledge. This essay outlines the case made for the force of scientific knowledge in much of sociological theory but also examines the limits of the power of scientific knowledge, limits which are     

Black Sociology and Phenomenological Sociology*

This paper is a comparative analysis of black sociology and phenomenological sociology and an attempt to show how phenomenology might be used to provide an epistemological foundation for black sociology. Attention is directed toward the writings of black and phenomenological sociologists. Arguments rest on appeals to authorities—quotations from and citations to influential writers. The specific points of comparison are the way the protagonists of the perspectives (1) define their activities, (2) criticize conventional sociology, and (3) investigate social reality. Epistemological issues are examined within a framework of the standard methodological problems of validity and reliability.     

Sociology

The authors describe how three elementary teachers working in very different parts of the United States teach about Mexico. These teachers' practices allow them to enhance the traditional social studies curriculum, help children learn about themselves and other people, and increase children's capacities for global citizenship.     

Committing Canadian Sociology: Developing a Canadian Sociology and a Sociology of Canada

This paper is a slightly revised version of the author's “Outstanding Career Award Lecture” presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Sociological Association in Victoria, British Columbia on June 6, 2013. The paper distinguishes between Canadian Sociology and the Sociology of Canada. The former involves the explanatory stance that one takes to understanding Canada. The latter addresses the significant social dimensions that underlie Canadian social organization, culture, and behavior. I make a case for a Canadian Sociology that focuses on the unique features of Canadian society rather than adopting a comparative perspective. I also argue that there is a continuing need within the Sociology of Canada to address the issues of staples development. However, I argue that “new” staples analysis must have a directional change from that of the past, in that social processes now largely determine the pattern of staples development. Moreover, new staples analysis must include issues that were never part of earlier staples analysis, such as issues of environmental impacts and of staples depletion under conditions, such as climate change. The paper concludes by analyzing four factors that provide the dominant social contexts for analyzing modern staples development: (1) the rise of neoliberal government, (2) the implementation of globalization and its social consequences, (3) the assumption of aboriginal rights and entitlement, and (4) the rise of environmentalism. These factors were generally not considered in earlier staples approaches. They are critical to understanding the role of staples development and its impact on Canada in the present time. Cet article est une version quelque peu révisé du cours pour le “prix pour contributions exceptionnelles” de l'auteur, présenté à la réunion annuelle de la Société Canadienne de Sociologie à Victoria, Colombie‐Britannique le 6 juin 2013. Cet article ce distingue entre la sociologie canadienne et la sociologie du Canada. Le premier ce concerne la position explicative que l'on prend pour comprendre le Canada. Le dernier adresse les importantes dimensions sociales qui sous‐tendent l'organisation sociale, culturelle et comportementale. Je soutiendrai une sociologie canadienne qui se concentre sur les aspects uniques de la société canadienne au lieu d'adopter une perspective comparative. Je soutiendrai aussi qu'il existe un besoin continu au sein de la sociologie du Canada pour adresser les questions de la théorie des principales ressources. Cependant, je soutiens que l'analyse des principales ressources “nouvelle” nécessite un changement de direction que celles du passé, en ce que les processus sociaux déterminent principalement le système de développement des principales ressources. De plus, l'analyse des principales ressources “nouveau” doit inclure les problèmes qui n’étaient jamais partis des analyses précédentes, comme les problèmes d'impacts environnementaux et de la diminution des principales ressources dans les conditions comme celui des changements climatiques. Cet article ce termine par scruter quatre facteurs qui produisent le contexte social dominant dans les analyses du développement des principales ressources moderne: (1) la croissance du gouvernement néolibéral; (2) l'implémentation de la globalisation et ses conséquences sociales ; (3) l'assomption des droits autochtones, et (4) l'ascension d'environnementalisme. Ces facteurs n'ont été généralement pas considérés dans les méthodes d'analyse des principales ressources antérieures. Ils sont cruciaux pour comprendre le rôle du développement des principales ressources et leurs impacts contemporains sur le Canada.     

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...     

A Sociology of the Periphery Versus a Peripheral Sociology: Rural Sociology and the Dimension of Space1

Abstract Rural sociology is intrinsically concerned with the spatial dimensions of social life. However, this underlying research tradition, particularly the use of space as a research strategy, has been insufficiently addressed and its contributions to general sociology are little recognized. I outline how concern with space, uneven development, and the social relationships of peripheral settings have provided substantive boundary and conceptual meaning to rural sociology, propelled its evolution, and left it with a legacy of strengths, weaknesses, and challenges. A willingness to tackle the dimension of space and the thorny problems it raises often sets rural sociologists apart from other sociologists. This research tradition contrasted with general sociology's concern with developing generalization, aspatial covering laws, and proto-typical relationships of modern or Fordist development settings. Conceptual openings have left sociologists questioning their past agenda. Coupled with the “creative marginality” inherent in the questions and contexts addressed by rural sociologists, this makes the subfield central to contemporary sociology.     

Animals and Sociology

This paper outlines some of the major theoretical contributions of the specialty field known as ‘animals and society’. It examines three areas of focus within the field. One of these areas finds connections between our exploitation of animals and other forms of domination and oppression. Consequently, this body of research provides insight into how we might challenge and overcome inequality, more generally. A second area examines animal abuse and questions entrenched assumptions about the link between cruelty to animals and violence directed toward humans. This research also reveals that animals are often victims and pawns in domestic violence. A third area uses human–animal interaction to challenge dominant sociological views of the self. By doing so, this work expands our knowledge of what it means to live in a social world. Overall, the scholarly work within the field of animals and society suggests that the inclusion of animals in sociological research can expand and clarify existing theories and concepts.     

Saving Academic Sociology

In this paper, I argue that academic sociology threatens to slip into the very limited relevance of scholasticism. Saving it from such a fate will require less academic interest in textual or epistemological analysis and more academic interest in the contributions to empirical understanding that applied sociology can make.