Mutual Interests,Different Lenses: Current Neuroscience and Symbolic Interaction

As reflective thinkers, symbolic interactionists may well be curious about the organ with which we think. Leading neuroscientists are quite aware that a working brain depends on other brains. This article considers selected neuroscience approaches to topics traditionally addressed by symbolic interactionists including some confirmations, refinements, and challenges from current neuroscience. Confirmations support features of Mead's “objective reality of perspectives” and a relational epistemology, the inevitability of ad hoc “accounts,” self‐consciousness as behavioral control, and “self unity” as constantly re‐created illusion. Divergence between neuroscience and symbolic interaction mainly involves new evidence for the importance of unconscious cognition, emotion, and memory in shaping human behavior. The rooting of cognitive and perceptual processes in motor activity challenges the extremes of the “linguistic turn.” Refinement involves reasons for attending to the embodied salience of thoughts produced by “somatic markers” rather than mere content.     

The Universal King? Memory,Globalization, and Martin Luther King,Jr.

This article examines how Martin Luther King, Jr. is remembered and represented by journalists in Ghana, South Africa, and Mexico, looking at coverage of “critical discourse moments” from King's life and legacy (1963–2016). I argue that representations of King vary in terms of local resonance—how well foreign figures or events align with local myths, values, and expectations—and global salience—the perceived world historical importance of a past figure or event. I then propose a new typology of global memory reception.     

Implications of the Memory Controversy for Clinical Practice: An Overview of Treatment Recommendations and Guidelines

SUMMARY

The controversy surrounding delayed and recovered memories of incest/child sexual abuse has had a profound impact on clinical practice. This article first provides an overview of the positions taken by both sides in the dispute, the “false memory proponents and the traumatic stress proponents”. It then presents the major findings of several of the professional task forces charged with reviewing the controversy and arriving at recommendations for research, clinical practice, and forensic practice regarding delayed recall of memories for sexual abuse. The current status of scientific and clinical knowledge is discussed, especially in terms of its implications for therapists and clinical practice. Nineteen recommendations and practice guidelines are presented for therapists working with individuals who report or suspect childhood sexual abuse on the basis of continuous and/or recovered memory.     

What are Homes Made of? Building Materials,DIY and the Homeyness of Homes

This article considers the meanings that are attached to, and outcomes produced by, the things that houses are built from. It reflects on the meanings attached to the “robustness” of building materials for people who carry out DIY (Do-It-Yourself) projects. DIY is important to some people as a way to build relationships and perform a culturally valued identity. For interviewees in New Zealand, working on their own homes was an important aspect of their lives, and more malleable building materials allowed such work and had positive connotations and produced feelings of homeyness in contrast to more robust “permanent” materials. The article thus raises questions about how the built material of home relates to our feelings about it as well as highlighting the diverse practices and relationships that—literally—construct homes.     

THE LIMIT OF THE DISCURSIVE: A Critique of the Radical Constructionist Approach to Family Experience

To date, the postmodernist approach to family experience which considers the actor's use of discourse rather than external sociocultural forces as primordial in constituting domestic reality has become an intellectual stream which sociologists can hardly ignore. Using the Gubrium–Holstein model as an exemplar for a “more sophisticated” postmodernist approach to constructing family experience, this article attempts to outline a critique of radical constructionism which overemphasizes the discourse of actors as artfully producing reality as featured in the notions of “doing things with words” and “talking reality into being.” The critique is mainly based on the works of Schutz and Garfinkel, of which Gubrium and Holstein claim their own model share “abiding concern,” and is further supplemented by the work of Bourdieu. This article carries a commitment to rebuking the postmodernist emphasis on the discursive by highlighting that the prepredicative structure of the lifeworld—which is nondiscursive in nature—constitutes the primordial, albeit insufficient, basis of the nomos pertaining to experience as constituted.     

Playful biometrics: controversial technology through the lens of play

This article considers the role of play in the context of technological emergence and expansion, particularly as it relates to recently emerging surveillance technologies. As a case study, I consider the trajectory of automated face recognition—a biometric technology of numerous applications, from its more controversial manifestations under the rubric of national security to a clearly emerging orientation toward play. This shift toward “playful” biometrics—or from a technology traditionally coded as “hard” to one now increasingly coded as “soft”—is critical insofar as it renders problematic the traditional modes of critique that have, up until this point, challenged the expansion of biometric systems into increasingly ubiquitous realms of everyday life. In response to this dynamic, I propose theorizing the expansion of face recognition specifically in relation to “play,” a step that allows us to broaden the critical space around newly emerging playful biometrics, as well as playful surveillance more generally. In addition, play may also have relevance for theorizing other forms of controversial technology, particularly given its potential role in processes of obfuscation, normalization, and marginalization.     

“And Let the Grove,If Not the Parlour,Stand”: Home,Memory, and Gender in Mary Leapor's “Crumble-Hall”

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on Mary Leapor's “Crumble-Hall” and attempts to shed light on her gendered/class poetics. It argues that the poet uses the house as a metaphor for gendered (male) and social class (gentry) dominance as well as that through memory she assumes (poetic) control over it, demolishes and remakes it, thus forging her female/literary identity. The article also demonstrates that Leapor makes use of both social and psychological space in her poem. By appropriating the country-house convention, she creates a dialectical relationship between external space—the architectural structure; and internal space—the kitchen maid's unconscious; and points out that as the former crumbles, the latter stands because of the significance it acquires. Indeed, her memory of Crumble-Hall not only spawns years of suppression and hardship but also becomes the stepping-stone for her rebellion as well as for the creation of her verse. Her poetic empowerment is projected through the image of the grove surrounding the country house, a multifaceted symbol signifying the interrelation of home, memory, and female literary production. Overall, Leapor re-creates the past glory of the gentry house, depicts her subservient state, conveys her subversion, and finally, establishes her newfound identity as a female poet, all within the framework of fragmented memories. Consequently, she succeeds in promoting the need for gendered and class transgression, in the hope that her sisters can bring about the “crumbling” of their own “house” and remake their “home.”     

Zu subtil?

Recent research on inter-ethnic relations in Germany discusses fundamental changes in patterns of attitudes and latent discrimination on the part of Germans towards ethnic minorities. It is argued that “modern”, rather subtle forms of attitudes and social distances emerged which cannot be measured with conventional indicators. Based on data from a Eurobarometer survey, Pettigrew and Meertens developed two scales — the Subtle Prejudice Scale and the Blatant Prejudice Scale — to close the gap. The aim of this article is to find out whether these scales are useful as supplement or substitution for commonly used measurement instruments in Germany. On the basis of data collected in 1999 the reliability and validity of the scales are tested. Moreover, the relations between the newly arranged indicators and the often used measurement instruments from the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) are analysed for the first time. The empirical results show that especially the reliability and validity of the Subtle Prejudice Scale is questionable. It is concluded that the new scales in their current form provide no useful alternative to the commonly used measurement instruments.     

Philanthropic Soldiers,Practical Orientalism,and the Occupation of Iraq

This article discusses the ways in which white, male, United States soldiers make sense of both themselves and Iraqi others. Drawing from qualitative interviews with twenty-four said soldiers from southern Indiana, most of whom having deployed to Iraq, it is shown how these soldiers perform gendered and racialized Orientalist discourses to rationalize United States empire and in particular the military occupation of Iraq. Specifically, imperialist discourses that imagine a superior “us” and an inferior “them” and understand United States state violence as ultimately a Western humanitarian “rescue” are shown to be powerful cultural logics in the sense-making practices of the interviewed soldiers. This article then is concerned with what others have called “practical Orientalism”—or the ways in which formal and official Orientalist discourses are adopted by everyday actors.     

Olympic Films and Public Memory

How is our memory of mega‐events structured? This article investigates the relationship between cinema and the Olympic Games. To this end, it first unravels the historical origins of the strong link between the two, as both are symbolic products of the 20th century. The Olympics reaffirm the image of the modern nation‐state; the cinematic medium visually represents the Games as spectacle. Leni Riefenstahl's film, Olympia (1938), recorded at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, supplies the most enduring imagery of this type. In addition to Riefenstahl's thoughts and methods, this study delves into Kon Ichikawa's Tokyo Olympiad (1965), which was influenced by Olympia. Ichikawa's film, which reflects his artistry and showcases his various skills, won critical acclaim and, intriguingly, precipitated the “document or art” controversy that involved the Japanese state and the mass media. Whether document or work of art, this film has supplied the public with imagery for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games—various images that most of us recognize—and thereby played a key role in constituting our memory of them. Therefore, our experience of the Games is a mediated experience through the construction of our public memory. Our memory culture is composed of “prosthetic memories” that are technologically assembled through cinema and act as Freudian “screen memories.”     

Durkheim's cult of the individual as civil religion: Its appropriation by Erving Goffman

The purpose of this article is to provide a systematic analysis of the place of Durkheim's “cult of the individual” in Erving Goffman's sociology.¹ I have reviewed the most pertinent aspects of Durkheim's sociology of religion. This article discusses and/or analyzes the development of the cult of the individual primarily within the context of Durkheim's (1951) monograph on suicide; Durkheim's notions of sacred, profane, and ritual; Goffman's two‐pronged intellectual heritage; and Goffman's “Communication Conduct in an Island Community” (1953) with respect to several key Durkheimian concepts. Also discussed are several important secondary analyses—primarily those of Jurgen Habermas and Stanford Lyman—which help to further delineate the conditions of the Durkheim‐Goffman link. The final section applies Goffman's sociology to the case of Evangelicalism and “political civility.”     

Accumulating history: dirt,remains and urban decay in Nairobi

Abstract

In anthropology and related fields, “ruin” and “decay” are terms that are often used interchangeably. By paying close attention to the materiality and politics of dirt and decay in a colonial-era housing estate in Nairobi, Kenya, this article argues for their uncoupling. Instead of implying loss or oblivion, decay is explored as a process of accumulation: an excess that constitutes a material history. Remains, rubbish and dirt continue to be active in the present, effecting and constraining certain atmospheres, attitudes and politics. Drawing a distinction between “urban decay” as a policy category and as a material process, the article also considers what happens if these remains are wiped away in schemes of urban renewal. The loss usually associated with ruination may emanate not so much from decay as from its elimination.     

The myth of the “data‐driven” society: Exploring the interactions of data interfaces,circulations, and abstractions

The prominence of data and data technologies in society, such as algorithms, social media, mobile technology, and artificial intelligence, have heralded numerous claims of the revolutionary potential of these systems. From public policy, to business management, to scientific research, a “data‐driven” society is apparently imminent—or currently happening—where “objective” and asocial data systems are believed to be comprehensively improving human life. Through a review of existing sociological literature, in this article, we critically examine the relationship between data and society and propose a new model for understanding these dynamics. “Using the concept of the informatic,” we argue the relationship between data and society can be understood as representing the interaction of several different social trends around data; that of data interfaces (that connect individuals to digital contexts), data circulation (trends in the movement and storage of data), and data abstraction (data manipulation practices). Data and data technologies are founded to be entwined and embedded in numerous social relationships, and while not all are fair and equitable relationships, there is ample evidence of the deeply social nature of data across many streams of social life. Our three‐part informatic framework allows these complex relationships to be understood in the social dynamic through which they are witnessed and experienced.     

Desiring T,Desiring Self: “T-Style” Pop Singers and Lesbian Culture in China

This article examines an emerging group of “T-style” female singers in the popular music scene in China. The expression “T,” which is developed from the term “tomboy,” refers to lesbians with masculine gender style. It is a widely used form of identification in local lesbian communities in China. The emergence of “T-style” female singers coincided with the rapid development of local lesbian communities in major cities in China. By exploring the intersections—or mutual modeling—of “T-style” singers and local lesbian gender culture, this article also analyzes the different receptions of “T-style” singers by local lesbian women, and explores whether “T-style” singers are seen as a “cultural resource” that aids the construction of lesbian gender and sexual identities.     

Making the Sociological Promise: A Case Study of Rosemary Brown's Autobiography*

Cet article reprend les formules de C. Wright Mills, la « promesse sociologique » et l'« imagination sociologique », et considère son engagement, de même que l'engagement de la sociologie, envers les récits populaires. On se rappelle que, selon Mills, la pensée sociologique est une question de narrations biographique et historio-graphique, des pratiques le mieux illustrées, affirme-t-il, par la prose non savante. En examinant une autobiographie populaire - celle de Rosemary Brown, femme politique et activiste canadienne -, on avance qu'une imagination sociologique à la fois exemplaire et créatrice est située dans ses constructions discursives de la parole, de la mémoire et de la subjectivité. Enfin, on recommande que les sociologues étudient les récits populaires afin de mettre en valeur et d'encourager les aperrçus qu'ils incarnent implicitement. This article takes up C. Wright Mills' formulations of the “sociological promise” and the “sociological imagination,” and considers his commitment, and sociology's commitment, to popular narratives. It is recalled that for Mills sociological thought is a matter of biographic and historiographic story-telling, practices he claims are often best exemplified in non-academic prose. By considering one popular autobiography—that of Canadian politician and social activist Rosemary Brown—it is argued that an exemplary and creative sociological imagination is located in her discursive constructions of speech, memory, and subjectivity. Finally, it is recommended that sociologists study popular narratives to point to and encourage the sociological insights that they often implicitly embody.     

Interprofessional Learning: Reasons,Judgement, and Action

This article uses the theoretical and methodological tools of cultural historical activity theory and critical realism to examine three case studies of the introduction and expansion of sustainable agricultural practices in southern Africa. The article addresses relevant issues in the field of agricultural extension, which lacks a theoretical “bridge” between top-down knowledge transfer and bottom-up participatory approaches to learning. Further, the article considers the learning environments necessary for sustainable agriculture. Such environments provided research participants with encounters with “postnormal” scientific practices that recognise and engage plural ways of knowing. Our research explored why farmers learn and practise sustainable agriculture, how they learn and practise it, the contradictions they are facing, and how these contradictions can be overcome in a context of change-oriented learning.     

Thinking and Working Politically: Learning from practice. Overview to Special Issue

Over the last 15 years, a set of ideas now referred to as “thinking and working politically” (TWP) has coalesced into a “second orthodoxy” about how to take context into account when implementing development interventions. This approach stresses the importance of obtaining a better understanding of the local context (“thinking politically”) in order to support local actors to bring about sustainable developmental change (“working politically”). However, the evidence base to justify this new approach remains thin, despite a growing number of programmes which purport to be implementing it. Officials in development agencies struggle with putting it into practice and it is unclear how TWP differs—or not—from similar approaches, such as Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) and Doing Development Differently (DDD). This Special Issue sheds light on what TWP means in practice by examining a set of initiatives undertaken by both development partners and government departments in Nigeria, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, China and India. This overview article outlines, in brief, each of the Special Issue's four papers and then draws out five lessons—for funders and for practitioners—from across all the papers. Our five lessons are: (1) the fundamental importance of undertaking political economy analysis (PEA) to adapt programmes to their contexts; (2) the importance of having a realistic level of ambition for interventions; (3) the need to support local ownership—not just “agreement ownership” (between a donor agency and government) or local “management ownership” of the programme, but critically “driver ownership” by generating trust with the key local actors driving change; (4) the need for a more effective set of tools for measuring results in complex programmes that attempt to achieve improvements in long‐run governance; and, (5) that although the political economy of donors is often seen as a barrier to applying TWP, the articles show how much can be done with a TWP approach if the analysis takes into account the political economy of donors as well as that of the local context. We conclude with a set of operational recommendations for donors and implementors, as well as suggestions of avenues for further research.