From risky to responsible: expert knowledge and the governing of community-led rural development

Rural development policy and practice in the ‘advanced’ Western nations is based increasingly on community-led strategies that seek to manage risk and facilitate change at the local level with minimal direct state intervention. It is widely assumed that such development strategies enable local people to have a greater say in transforming the fortunes of their communities, and are therefore a means of empowerment. Drawing upon the literature on governmentality, this paper argues with specific reference to Australia that such a view depoliticises the significant role played by expertise in defining, governing and setting limits on community-led rural development. We suggest that the notion of risk provides a crucial focal point for exploring sociologically the expert knowledge, categories and techniques through which communities are encouraged to think of and manage themselves as ‘self-governing’, ‘empowered’ and ‘responsible’. Additionally, foregrounding the concept of risk enables a critical analysis of the power-knowledge effects of expertise on rural development practice. Thus, we argue through the use of two case studies that while the use of various forms of rural development expertise creates opportunities for some communities, it enhances inequality for others who either fail to conform to the risk-minimising forms of conduct prescribed by experts, or who pursue alternative forms of development. The paper concludes by considering the implications of these arguments for rural development policy and practice in Australia and in other nations.     

The new genetics: professionals' discursive boundaries

In this paper we examine new genetics professionals’ accounts of the social context of their work. We analyse accounts given in interview by an ‘elite’ group of scientists and clinicians. Drawing on the work of Gilbert and Mulkay (1984), we consider interviewees’ discourse about knowledge, exploring the way in which they separate science from society through the use of what we have called the ‘micro/macro split’. We then go on to consider the reasons for such a discursive boundary, exploring the interviewees’ wider discourse about expertise and responsibility for the social implications of the new genetics. We argue that interviewees’ discursive boundaries allow them to appeal variously to their objectivity, to dismiss bad science and to characterize the public as ignorant. However, these discursive boundaries are permeable and flexible, and are employed to support the new genetics professionals’ role in guiding education and government policy, whilst at the same time deflecting ultimate responsibility for the use of knowledge on to an abstract and amorphous society. Responsibility is flexibly embraced and abrogated. These flexible discursive boundaries thus promote rather than challenge the cognitive authority of new genetics professionals as they engage in debates about the social implications of their work. We end by challenging the replication of these discursive boundaries, noting some of the implications of such a critique for evaluation of the new genetics.     

The post-Macy paradox,information management and organising: Good intentions and a road to hell?

Between 1946 and 1953, leading scientists met in New York in the context of the so-called Macy conferences, often linked to the emergence of cybernetics. They hankered for a new vision of mind and society. The traumatism of WW2 was implicit but omnipresent, and the Cold War was beginning. Macy key tools and concepts about information, the value of information, and computer artefacts have finally produced a new world, in particular an organisational world, which is far removed from their original dreams. Organisational members are now involved in difficult situations in terms of organising, that is, new modes of performativity which are difficult to comprehend and deal with; a transformation of meaning and knowledge in collective activity; and a threat to well-being and happiness as mental activities, cognition and bodies are increasingly disconnected. We use the Macy conferences as an entry point to reflect on the ‘longue durée’ evolution of the material underpinnings of information and their relationship with organising. We first explore the new conceptualisations at the core of the Macy conferences, information, value of information, and computer artefacts. We then put the Macy conferences into a socio-historical perspective by means of two theoretical approaches, iconographical and semiotic; this involves a historical comparison between the ‘screen-images’ or our Information Age and the ‘object-images’ of medieval cathedrals. We show that there are important disruptions in organising grounded in a new semiosis, which emerged over the longue durée of collective activity, and was articulated further during the Macy conferences. We describe this long-term evolution as the post-Macy paradox.     

Constituting best practice in management consulting

This paper offers critical reflections on the construction and propagation of ‘best practice’: a concept which has become increasingly important in the business world and in civic life more generally. Focusing upon the activities of the Management Consultancies Association (MCA), we offer an analysis of the awards process instituted to applaud ‘best practice’ in the arena of consulting. Departing from existing academic representations of the advice industry which generally exclude this trade body from the analytical frame, we consider the role that the MCA performs in the field of consulting. Situating the MCA's attempt to constitute best practice within the work of Bruno Latour, we argue that this construct depends upon the mobilization of an extended network of allies, advocates and spectators whose interactions have been written out of academic analysis. The paper concludes by proposing the need for further research designed to explore, both, the heterogeneity and the porosity of the networks that construct, convey and applaud key knowledge products such as ‘best practice’.     

Introduction: global knowledge and advocacy networks

As global and regional networks proliferate, one important aspect of their operations has been the exchange of knowledge, information and expertise. ‘Global knowledge networks’ have become important components of the global political economy. Within these networks key knowledge institutions and actors can be development agencies, foundations, think‐tanks, universities, consultancy firms as well as individual experts and academics. A primary mechanism for the spread of their knowledge has been through global and regional networks. The article evaluates first, concepts of networks, especially the epistemic community and transnational issue network frameworks; second, theories about international diffusion of ideas; and third, some of the literature on the links between ideas and politics. Control over knowledge and information is important to policy making. Additionally, the status and prestige associated with scholarly expertise and professional training is politically empowering for individual experts consulted or co‐opted into policy making. Yet, norms and values cannot be divorced from ‘scientific advice’ especially when knowledge gains greater impact through advocacy and alliance with societal forces.     

Internet risks and expert views: a case study of the insider perspectives of youth workers in Hong Kong

This study collects and analyses the viewpoints of front-line youth workers regarding the notion of ‘Internet risks’. Previous studies have examined and discussed various dangers of the Internet. Parental, school, and governmental interventions are often called for by those concerned. The implicit assumption is that these are the people who possess the expertise to tackle the problems at hand. Through participation in three forums focusing on ‘Internet risks’, and in-depth interviews with 10 such ‘experts’ in Hong Kong, the study examines if this is a valid assumption. It finds that experts perceive Internet risks rather differently. In addition to the more conventional views about content, contact and conduct risks, our interviewees are aware that a new order is quickly emerging in the new media environment. Despite being considered as ‘experts’, they do not necessarily know how to tackle the so-called ‘youth-at-risk’. Rather, they are exploring how they would capitalize on the opportunities offered by the developments. The key findings highlight the need to critically review the notion of ‘Internet risks’. As with other risk frameworks, the ultimate aim is to develop intervention programmes. In this regard, risks are often treated as concrete problems that can be solved. Youth experts, however, find that the changing scope, speed and persistence of communication in today's information society present the biggest challenge in youth work. The existing framework of risks was unable to describe and account for such risks. In response, Internet risk has to be reconceptualized so that more updated, relevant and imaginative intervention can be introduced.     

Serious case reviews: learning to use expertise

While undertaking an analysis of 20 serious case reviews for the Welsh Assembly Government, the authors became aware of important, largely unexplored, practice issues with implications for training, service delivery and the role of the lead professional. The reviews were studied using a ‘layered reading’ methodology to ensure that emerging themes were grounded entirely in the reports. In looking beyond the familiar recurring themes and practice failings, findings emerged about the use of expertise in its widest sense. The need for more skilled use of expertise was identified, from external specialists and child protection specialists, and from children, siblings and parents. Professionals from agencies who contribute less routinely to the process of safeguarding children should be consulted as experts and be empowered to play a fuller part. Consultation could often be used prior to, or in place of referral. The barrier to the collation and analysis of relevant information often appeared to be a failure to recognize and understand expertise rather than a lack of communication as often postulated in review reports. Skilled use of expertise and consultation in a coordinated manner could result in more rigorous assessments and promote greater professional trust, confidence and challenge. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Plural processes,patterned connections

Plural globalizations refer to large-scale processes occurring today at an accelerated pace (due to information and communication technologies) and with extremely uneven effects (due to continuing and new inequalities). Conventional analytical and disciplinary frameworks can neither make adequate sense of, nor effectively politicize, these developments. The quantitatively large scales and qualitatively novel changes require new orientations. This essay draws on critical, interpretive, feminist perspectives to propose conceptual innovations and a cross-disciplinary framework for analyzing globalizations. The alternative framing moves beyond a narrow definition of economics to identify and integrate reproductive, productive, and virtual economies (understood in a Foucauldian sense as systemic sites through and across which power opcratcs). The new framing brings the concepts and practices of ‘social reproduction’, non-wage labor, and informalization into relation with the familiar but increasingly global, flexibilized, and service-oriented ‘productive economy’, as well as with the less familiar but increasingly consequential ‘virtual economy’ of financial markets, commodified information, and the exchange less of goods than of signs.     

#Funeral and Instagram: death,social media,and platform vernacular

This paper presents findings from a study of Instagram use and funerary practices that analysed photographs shared on public profiles tagged with ‘#funeral’. We found that the majority of images uploaded with the hashtag #funeral often communicated a person's emotional circumstances and affective context, and allowed them to reposition their funeral experience amongst wider networks of acquaintances, friends, and family. We argue that photo-sharing through Instagram echoes broader shifts in commemorative and memorialization practices, moving away from formal and institutionalized rituals to informal and personalized, vernacular practices. Finally, we consider how Instagram's ‘platform vernacular’ unfolds in relation to traditions and contexts of death, mourning, and memorialization. This research contributes to a broader understanding of how platform vernaculars are shaped through the logics of architecture and use. This research also directly contributes to the understanding of death and digital media by examining how social media is being mobilized in relation to death, the differences that different media platforms make, and the ways social media are increasingly entwined with the places, events, and rituals of mourning.     

International organizations beyond depoliticized governance

This article aims at questioning the idea that international organizations (IOs) are ‘depoliticized’ by nature. Based on a review of the literature in sociology, political science, and anthropology about IOs, the purpose is to provide an analysis of the dialectic about politicization and depoliticization in IOs. We identify the main processes through which depoliticization is operated by IOs: the use of ethics and norms, the political neutralization of their official rhetoric, and the resorting to multiform expertise as a means of apolitical self-legitimization. We also explore the factors that may explain this tendency to depoliticize: their problematic status in regard to democratic theory, the diplomatic constraints attached to the intergovernmental structure of their managing bodies, and the administrative and cultural constraints that befall IOs’ bureaucracies. Finally, we try to go beyond the concept of depoliticization by stressing the consequences of politicization that stem from IOs’ resilient political rhetoric and from the ethical norms and expertise produced by IOs. Because IOs cannot totally eliminate political controversy and debates, the idea of ‘international depoliticized governance’ as a result of IOs activity should be put into perspective.     

Index of Volume 4, 2002

This article links a theoretical debate within poststructural feminisms – whether feminist politics can be pursued without hegemonic representations of women and gender – to the practice of transnational feminist organizing in the World Conference against Racism (WCAR) in Durban in 2001. It goes beyond the traditional analysis of ‘adding’ gender to a mega world conference and asks the critical question of what

gender signifies in this instance of UN politics. The article argues that feminists’ strategic use of the concept of ‘gender as intersectionality’ marks a paradigm shift from the predominant monolithic representation of gender as women, being equal to or different from men, in international human rights frameworks. It puts the issue of diversity among women at the forefront of the intergovernmental WCAR. Far from entailing an abandonment of feminist politics, as some poststructuralist feminists have suggested, it is argued that opening up ‘gender’ for unlimited signification in

the case of WCAR marks the beginning of a new phase of transnational feminist mobilization.     

'I don't know what I'd do without our Mam' motherhood, identity and support networks

This paper explores the role and importance of kinship within the lives of 14 working class women as they seek to make sense of motherhood and their own self‐identity as a young mother. Within late modernity, numerous discourses suggest that kin networks and the role and importance of kinship are in decline as ‘the family’ changes and adapts. Indeed, the idea of extended family support and networking is frequently viewed as a historically cozy image rather than an everyday reality as we enter the twenty‐first century. However, this paper demonstrates that the situation is far from straightforward. The young mothers’ discourses and everyday experiences remain firmly grounded in relations of class, gender and the locality within which they live. Hence, although many of the young women are increasingly individualised, self‐reflexive actors seeking to make sense of intimate relations and kinship in an ontologically insecure world, kin networks, especially female kinship continue to play a pivotal role in their lives—practically, socially and emotionally. Indeed, female kinship is closely interwoven with their self‐identity as a caring and capable mother.     

If we practice posthumanist research,do we need ‘gender’ any longer?

This article offers a reflection around the question of ‘do we need ‘gender’ any longer?’ In taking up this problem and inspired by the way in which postqualitative inquiry has opened a conversation with Deleuzian philosophy and formulated a ‘concept as/instead of method’ line of thought, I wonder whether new images of thought might give the concept of gender ‘the forces it needs to return to life’ or the forces to abandon it. I propose four different images that might provoke the desire to experiment with a new image of thought in relation to the problem: a vegetal mode of thought, a musical mode, a fleshy mode as labiaplasty, a nonliving mode. This choice is connected to the dualities they target: the human/vegetal living world, the rational/artistic production of knowledge, the dis‐embodied/corporeal being in the world, the life/nonlife hierarchization. Each way of thinking of ‘gender’ stages, enacts, performs a different material reality of the concept that shifts the focus from linguistic representations to discursive practices. Hence, if gender has become a dominant discourse, it may be that positive repetition of this discourse might become a way of opening a new site inside it, by de‐territorializing it and re‐territorializing it otherwise.     

Exploring Narratives and Antenarratives of Graffiti Artists: Beyond Dichotomies of Commitment and Detachment

In this article, we propose engagement in critical analysis of social phenomena—here, that of ‘commitment’—through consideration of narratives of and about graffiti artists (‘graffers’). We discuss ways in which graffers are viewed as demonstrating conformance with or rebellion against prevailing social mores. We address representations of them through their own work, as well as in the media and in academic literature. We find that graffers are generally portrayed in simplistic terms, being either vilified and seen as detached from norms of society or justified through incorporation into the discourse of modern art. In our analysis, we employ Boje’s concept of ‘antenarrative’ to challenge the dichotomous depictions of graffers, particularly in relation to the notion of commitment. We posit that the antenarrative approach can also enable analysis of less extreme groups, helping us to explore relevant concepts and phenomena.     

THE GIFT OF SPIT (AND THE OBLIGATION TO RETURN IT)

People can now send a sample of their saliva to an internet-based company in order to discover genetic information about themselves. Entering this ‘direct-to-consumer’ genetic testing (DTC GT) marketplace can result in enticement to engage in various forms of ‘participatory’ practices, such as taking part in genetic research. In this article, we analyse the research activities of one of the largest and best-known DTC GT companies, 23andMe. 23andMe research is based on what they term ‘participant-led’ research methodologies, which utilize a combination of consumers’ genetic information and self-reported data in the form of completed online surveys. Our analysis shows that 23andMe presents research participation as a form of gift exchange, implying some kind of social bond. Social ties between the consumer-participant and 23andMe are integral to the company's ‘novel’ research agenda which relies on the ongoing aggregation of data from a loyal re-contactable cohort. We argue that the notion of gift exchange is used to draw attention away from the free, clinical labour which drives the profitability of 23andMe. We offer an account of a particular form of online research participation which differs from other kinds of participatory medical research. As medical research becomes increasingly driven by large data sets and internet-based research methods, we offer a timely analysis of emerging participatory practices.     

Like Everest: defamiliarization and uncanniness in media representations of inaccessibility

This paper uses phenomenology to explore recent representations of inaccessible architectural environment featured on major Bulgarian television channels. It is argued that by exposing the environmental restrictions faced by disabled people in their everyday activities, Bulgarian media unwittingly engage in an operation described by formalist literary critics as ‘defamiliarization’. As a result, familiar elements of the everyday, lived world are illuminated as strange. In phenomenological terms, this brings about the experience of ‘uncanniness’. The paper concludes by highlighting the transformative potential inherent in this experience; that is, its power to illuminate as artificial and oppressive the taken-for-granted aspects of the world we inhabit.     

Work,Bodies and Boundaries: Talking Sexual Harassment in the New Economy

This article examines sexual harassment in the context of the new economy and highlights the manner in which the changing nature of work — and in particular the acknowledged rise of sexualized ‘body work’ — troubles conventional understandings of what constitutes sexual harassment in the workplace and the means to address it. Using data from a small‐scale qualitative study of service workers and professional employees, we explore the ways in which those definitions of sexual harassment now fail to match participants' accounts of their working lives. We examine sexual harassment in the context of the rise of service roles that require forms of increasingly sexualized ‘body work’ from employees, increased demands for workers to ‘self‐manage’, and new flexible modes of employment that blur the boundaries between being ‘on’ and ‘off’ the job. We conclude that these ‘new’ modes of work may provide the conditions for the revival of ‘old’ stories which limit the capacity of individuals to recognize and label behaviours as ‘sexual harassment’.     

Bindung und Impression-Management: Beeinflusst der individuelle Bindungsstil das Selbstdarstellungsverhalten in sozialen Situationen?

A central tenet of John Bowlby’s attachment theory is that people’s attachment experiences are integrated into so-called ‘internal working models’. These working models are supposed to contain representations about ‘the world’ as well as certain attitudes towards one’s self or one’s self-concept. In the present study, it is assumed that this self-concept, which reflects the individual’s attachment experience, exerts substantial influence on one’s self-portrayal in social situations, which is viewed as the process during which the self-concept is communicated to an audience. In the present study the attachment type was determined by the ‘Skala zur Erfassung von Bindungsrepräsentationen’ (Scale for the determination of attachment representations) which was developed by Grau (1999). Additionally, the tendency to exhibit ‘positive’ impression management strategies was measured by the ‘Fragebogen zur Erfassung positiver Selbstdarstellung’ (Questionnaire for recoding positive self-portrayals) by Mummendey and Eifler (1994). Subsequently, people’s positive self-portrayal score was compared to their attachment type. Analysis indicated that the attachment type merely had an influence on the tendency to exhibit positive self-portrayal strategies when participants had a negative representation of their-self, as well as a negative representation of others, a pattern which characterises the ‘fearfulavoidant’ type. Results also demonstrated that elder participants scored lower on the positive self-portrayal scale, irrespective of their attachment type.