The Social Construction of Abducted Children as a Social Problem

Using the theoretical framework developed by Spector and Kitsuse (1973; 1977), this paper describes the development of the issue of abducted children as a social problem. Analysis of this particular case suggests theoretical refinements for the social constructionist perspective. It is argued that the concept of a "valence issue" could be used to differentiate between the natural histories of substantively different kinds of social problems.     

Defining Deviance: John Kitsuse’s Modest Agenda

This article highlights and appreciates an often overlooked aspect of John Kitsuse’s work in the sociology of deviance. Years before he invented a new sociology of social problems, Kitsuse crafted theoretical and empirical statements that helped establish the “labeling” or “societal reaction” definition of, and perspective on, deviance. Kitsuse’s work was a key in the movement to forge labeling theory’s distinctively radical edge. At the same time that he pioneered new sociological territory, Kitsuse also resisted the conceptual slippage that plagued so many others working on the frontier.     

THE MASS MEDIA AND THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE MISSING CHILDREN PROBLEM

This article traces the role of the mass media in the social construction of the "missing children issue' as a social problem. The social construction explanation of social problems offered by Blumer (1971) and Spector and Kitsuse (1977) has been criticized (cf. Best and Horiuchi 1985) for lacking a conception of extra-media influences that can affect audiences beyond the initial viewing situation. Recent work in mass communication indicates that a media logic is adapted by other institutions to amplify television imagery and themes about crime, danger, and child abuse. A case study of the origins and claims and counterclaims about the nature and extent of missing children is combined with an empirical analysis of the impact of various sources of information about the missing children issue in order to demonstrate the process by which a social problem is constructed. The impact of additional information is analyzed by administering a self-report questionnaire to 96 respondents before and after viewing a two-part documentary on the complexities of the issue. The data suggest that mass-mediated imagery and formats forge an interactive informational context for social problems by sustaining what is viewed in one's living room with imagery in bulk mail, milk cartons, and posters. It is further suggested that mass media depictions of problems such as "missing children' carry over into consonant images such as child abuse. This conceptualization is capable of encompassing other accounts of social problems (e.g., "urban legends") within claims-making activity.     

Interest,Ideology, and Claims-Making Activity*

Social constructionists have produced a rich theoretical and empirical literature on the rise and fall of public issues. By focusing exclusively on claims-making behavior in a micro interactive context, social constructionists, in the tradition of Spector and Kitsuse, generally have rejected efforts to link claims-making to antecedent variables. Thus they often treat claims-making participants as activities, devoid of motives, meanings, and intentions. In this paper, ideology and interest are offered as antecedent variables to claims-making and as the critical factors which determine why some claims are more marketable than others. Interest and ideology also are examined as both subjective and structural/cultural phenomena.     

Adolescent network positions and memory performance in adulthood: Evidence from sibling fixed effects models with sociometric network data

Although research has explored social factors influencing memory performance during adolescence, the impact of adolescent social network positions remains largely unknown. This study examines whether adolescent network position is associated with memory performance in adulthood, while also considering potential gender differences. The study used a sibling sample from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 2462) and employed sibling fixed effects models to account for unobserved family background factors, such as genetics, parental characteristics, family environment, and childhood neighborhood. Four dimensions of adolescent network position—i.e., popularity, sociality, degree centrality, and closeness centrality—were sociometrically assessed in schools. Memory performance in adulthood was measured using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. The sibling fixed effects estimates indicate that sociality, degree centrality, and closeness centrality are significantly associated with increased memory performance in adulthood, even after controlling for unobserved family heterogeneity as well as a set of individual-level covariates. In contrast, controlling for unobserved family heterogeneity attenuated the association for popularity, making it statistically insignificant. This study also provides evidence of gender differences in the association between social network position and memory performance. The associations for popularity, sociality, and degree centrality are more pronounced among men than women. This study’s findings highlight the importance of adolescent network positions as social determinants in shaping cognitive outcomes over the life course. Interventions that encourage positive peer interactions and reduce social isolation during adolescence may help improve cognitive health in the population.     

Convivial Quarantines: Cultivating Co-presence at a Distance

Qualitative Sociology - Sociology’s focus on sociality and co-presence has long oriented studies of commensality—the social dimension of eating together. This literature commonly...     

Conceptualising social capital in relation to the well-being of children and young people: a critical review

This exploratory article forms the background for an empirical study for the Health Education Authority on children, young people, health, well-being and social capital. In terms of morbidity, children tend not to exhibit clear health problems, but obviously engage in activities that have important implications for their health and well-being (West & Sweeting, 1996), and these activities may be influenced by, as well as impact upon, children's social capital. Social capital is an elusive concept and has been defined in various ways, and refers to sociability, social networks and social support, trust, reciprocity, and community and civic engagement. The paper contrasts three interpretations of the concept, by Coleman (1988, 1990), Putnam (1993, 1995) and Bourdieu (1986). It concludes that the concept is currently poorly specified as it relates to children, and that the use of the term is inherently problematic, and needs to be carefully critiqued and empirically grounded before it can usefully be applied in social policy formulations. One possible way forward might be to conceptualise social capital not so much as a measurable ‘thing’, rather as a set of processes and practices that are integral to the acquisition of other forms of ‘capital’ such as human capital and cultural capital (ie qualifications, skills, group memberships, etc).     

LGBTQ Activist Organizations as ‘Respectably Queer’ in India: Contesting a Western View

This study contests the distinction of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) organizations suggested by earlier scholars as ‘respectable’ — i.e. normalizing, professionalizing and conforming to the dominant cultural and institutional patterns — and ‘queer’, meaning challenging the cultural and institutional forces that ‘normalize and commodify differences’. Using Bernstein's model of identity deployment, it is found problematic to distinguish LGBTQ organizations this way because when the actions of LGBTQ organizations are more complex to describe, it is not warranted to conflate identity goals with identity strategies — whether normalizing (respectable) or differentiating (queer). To examine these concerns, a qualitative inquiry was used to study five LGBTQ organizations in India where the intersections of post‐colonial ethnicity, gender, social class and sexuality offer an intriguing context through which to study queer activism. Based on the findings, it is argued from a post‐colonial perspective that when the socio‐cultural and historical existence of non‐homonormative queer communities and practices is strong, LGBTQ organizations challenge the heteronormative and/or other forms of domination to become ‘queer’. But they may simultaneously become ‘respectable′ by conforming to the diversity politics of non‐profit business, donors, and social movement organizations they seek support from, and turn out as ‘respectably queer’.     

The Blurring Hypothesis Reconsidered: How Sector Still Matters to Practitioners

This article asks: Is sector still a useful concept for social science research on nonprofit organizations and related fields, such as social entrepreneurship? We answer that it is relevant to practitioners for whom sector boundaries remain an important orienting feature of their organizational worldviews. This observation is at odds with the recent scholarship on “blurring” sector boundaries, much of which suggests that sector is increasingly an outdated concept. Data from one uniquely blended space—the fair trade industry—coupled with insights from Scott’s (Institutions and organizations: ideas, interests, and identities, 2014) theory about the three pillars of institutions suggest that sector remains meaningful despite developments that appear to render it obsolete.     

Degradation of the Word or the Adventures of an Intelligent in Viktor Pelevin’s Generation II

This paper addresses the concept of the intelligentsia and its transformation in the post-Soviet period. I present a brief overview of the multiple and problematic ways of defining the intelligentsia, and then turn to a novel that I see as a chronicle of the post-perestroika intelligentsia, Viktor Pelevin’s Generation П. I suggest that the intelligentsia, the milieu in which major Russian cultural myths originated and developed, is itself best understood in terms of cultural myth—a cultural construct reflecting the group’s self-image. A major component of this image is the intelligentsia’s reliance on culture, and especially literature, as both a source and justification for its view of the world and its role in it. In Pelevin’s novel, the career of a poet turned advertising writer—copywriter— parallels the post-perestroika cultural crisis in Russia and the degradation of the Word, which, in turn, symbolizes the demise of the intelligentsia.     

(Un)becoming Dayak: Intermarriage and the Dynamics of Identity and Belonging in East Kalimantan

Much of the ethnographic literature on East Kalimantan has assumed relatively stable group identities. Intermarriage between different Dayak groups has been frequent, but is usually perceived as leading to swift cultural assimilation of the in-marrying party. Similarly, Dayak-Malay intermarriages have been understood in terms of socio-religious assimilation (masuk Islam). This article suggests that a number of socio-historical developments, including Christian mission work, the spread of formal education and recent advances in regional political autonomy, have resulted in high cultural adaptability among East Kalimantan's ‘Dayaks’, leading to hybrid identity formation. Simultaneously, people of mixed ancestry are confronted with ethno-nationalist revitalisation and often face a problematic lack of belonging, challenging them to become—or un-become—‘Dayak’. This article explores the marital histories and social networks of two extended families in the urban and semi-urban centres of the province. It suggests that children of mixed parentage have cultivated various modes of adaptation to the expectations of Dayak indigenism, often involving the strategic invocation of essentialised ethnic labels (suku).     

On ‘problems and solutions’. The reproduction of problems for rural communities in Britain during the 1980s

Rural studies have long taken an interest in the problems besetting rural people, and in the ways in which these problems have been addressed by policy-makers. This paper briefly reviews the conventional analyses of problems and policy solutions in rural Britain during the 1980s and also raises the question of how rural researchers should regard the ‘problematic’ in these contexts. The move from regarding problems as the result of the structuring of opportunities to regarding them as a far more complex set of experiences and reactions to changing social, economic, political and cultural practices, raises interesting issues about the nature of power in rural lifestyles. It is argued that existing interpretative discourses of rural problems should be augmented by further study of problematic experiences relating to social constructions of belonging, feeling welcome, and cultural competence, and that the interconnected nature of power in politics, practice and discursive expectations about rural lifestyles will be an important subject for future research on these issues.     

Raymond Williams and sociology

The purpose of this article is to recover Williams as a major theoretical inspiration for the social sciences, specifically, as the inaugurator of what might be regarded as a research paradigm, cultural materialism. In the first section, Williams's encounter with the discipline of sociology is traced and distinguished as a critical alternative to the presently ascendant – at least in the USA – neo‐Durkeimian school of ‘cultural sociology’. In the second section, his cultural‐materialist programme is proposed as a powerful analytical framework for the study of culture and society today. In the final section, a key concept of Williams's cultural materialism, mobile privatization, is selected illustratively and proposed as a powerful analytical tool for studying the production and technological mediation of typical modes of communicative sociality in the early twenty‐first century.     

Family is NOT an institution: distinguishing institutions from organisations in social science and social theory

This paper addresses the use, and potential misuse, of the ‘institution’ as a key concept in sociology. The concept of the ‘institution’ is interrogated using ‘family’ as an example and new institutional economics (NIE) as a crucible. The sociological understanding of family as an ‘institution’ is challenged by the distinction between ‘institutions’ and ‘organisations’ in NIE. The blurring of generic non-sociological terms with critical sociological concepts causes confusion between institutions and organisations. This is highly problematic for understanding social change in increasingly complex systems. I conclude that the contextual embedding of sociological concepts remains important to the appropriate use of the term ‘institution’ in the social sciences.     

An indolence of the heart

Walter Benjamin’s understanding of allegory as developed in The Origin of German Tragic Drama, and whose genius is Dürer’s image of winged melancholy, stands in diametric opposition to the symbolic unity proposed in Michael Fried’s emblematic modernist essay “Art and Objecthood”. The complex cultural tensions and expectations defined by these texts—as well as the complementary terms symbol and allegory—can be understood as a function of the category of time, and it is this temporal problematic that this essay situates with reference to the contingent art forms of the late 1960s and early 1970s.     

Talking about culture in social work encounters: immigrant families and child welfare in Finland

This article aims at analysing the ways in which people talk about ‘culture’ in social work encounters involving child welfare in immigrant families. The empirical material includes conversations between immigrant clients, their social workers and co-operating professionals at six Finnish social service offices, as well as interviews with the persons participating in these meetings. The theoretical and methodological frames of reference are social constructionism and discourse analysis. The study suggests three ways in which the concept of ‘culture’ is used by social workers and their clients: firstly, as a means of explaining ‘the ordinary and normal ways’ of raising children; secondly, as ‘a difficulty’ in the interaction between social workers and clients; and thirdly, as ‘a methodical tool’ in creating dialogue with clients. As far as the practical implications for social work are concerned, it is emphasized that in order to avoid ethnocentric practice or ‘culturalization’ of problems, it is important for social workers to be conscious of the various meanings of ‘culture’ both in their own practice and in the ways their clients employ cultural symbolism.     

‘Sticking with your Mates?’ Children's Friendship Trajectories during the Transition from Primary to Secondary School

For many children, the transition to secondary school is marked by both anxiety and excitement, particularly in relation to friendship. This article draws upon the concept of social capital — the resources individuals and collectives derive from their social networks — in order to understand the significance of change and continuity in children's friendships during a challenging period in their lives. Children's social networks often provide important, but under‐researched resources which aid their progress through the transition. This article presents findings from a three‐year ESRC study exploring children's and parents’ use of social capital during their secondary school transfer.     

In the right place at the right time: electronic tagging and problems of social order/disorder

This paper explores the relationship between technology and problems of social order/disorder in the context of discussions of surveillance and ‘virtuality’. The emphasis is on understanding the connections between technology and social relations in areas where issues of social order/disorder are a prominent feature of concern and where one can identify the emergence of new regimes of virtual control which are directed at solving the (supposed) deficits in order or the threats posed to it. Rather than constituting a ‘technical fix’ for the problems of social order/disorder, it is argued that forms of virtual control both presuppose a reconstruction of social order and at the same time aim to effect a suppression of disorder. Focusing in particular on various manifestations of electronic tagging from prisoners to babies, from retail goods to works of art, from television programmes to Personal Identification Numbers—the paper argues that these share a problematic which interrelates technology, order/disorder, subjects/objects, time, and space. It thus seeks to generalize the concept of electronic tagging, to regard it as a practice rather than a specific set of artefacts. Moreover, in contrast to the negative, panoptic reading of tagging technologies, the paper considers the active public participation in systems of surveillance and thereby the more positive or productive exercises of power which they may be taken to constitute.     

Medical diagnosis of dyslexia in a Swedish elite school: A case of “consecrating medicalization”

Based on qualitative data of an upper-secondary school in Sweden’s primary elite community, Djursholm, I propose how medical diagnosis of students as dyslexics contributes to consecrating them by offering a short cut to successful performance, while at the same time reproducing differences between social classes. The study suggests how students that do not score top can be labeled dyslexic and the social and moral consequences of that. I introduce the concept of “consecrating medicalization” in order to discriminate between the effects of medical diagnosis of members of different social classes. In this way, this paper contributes to further examining some key problems in medical sociology and the sociology of elites, by offering a framework of synthesis and integration.     

Trust and Society: Suggestions for Further Development of Niklas Luhmann's Theory of Trust

This paper addresses an apparent gap in the work of Niklas Luhmann. While the issue of trust continues to receive widespread attention in the social sciences, Luhmann's interest in this topic declined following the development of his systems theory. It is argued that this decline does not reflect any diminished relevance of trust for systems theory, but rather that the architectural remodeling of theory cannot easily be applied to the issue of trust. Here, the issue of trust is reconceptualized as a connection medium. This entails a reconstruction of Luhmann's early theory of trust, especially with regard to function and social positioning. In this context, trust can in turn be linked to the concept of medium in Luhmann's late work. As a connection medium, trust mediates between the different levels of sociality—interaction, organization, and society. These theoretical considerations are employed to develop a more applied framework for empirical research, with a brief case study from southern Italy. From this perspective, the idea of trust as society's glue is seen to be overly simplistic. The common ethical understanding that more trust leads to a better society is also questioned on the grounds that social cooperation can also lead to social sclerosis. Finally, risk and trust are shown to accommodate the formation of different cultures of trust. The paper shows how Luhmann's updated version of trust can inspire current research and enhance our understanding of how trust operates in contemporary society.