Diagnosis as Subculture: Subversions of Health and Medical Knowledges in the Orthorexia Recovery Community on Instagram

Qualitative Sociology - Diagnoses are powerful tools that fulfill various practical and symbolic functions. In this paper, I examine how a contested diagnosis called orthorexia nervosa has been...     

Indirect Socialization in Preschool: How Teachers Harness Children’s Ability to Shape Peer Behavior

Qualitative Sociology - How do teachers use children to shape the behaviors of their peers, and which students benefit? In this qualitative case study of a half-day preschool classroom, I find that...     

Review—Feature

Book Reviews are in this Articles.
Class, Codes and Control, Volume I: Theoretical Studies Towards a Sociology of Language. By Basil Bernstein.
Class, Codes and Control, Volume II: Applied Studies Towards a Sociology of Language, edited by Basil Bernstein.     

The Classed Body in the Sociological Imagination

Class theorists of embodiment in Sociology point to and illuminate both an over‐ and an under‐exposed body and experience that ultimately mark the bodies of the poor as ideologically, discursively and materially abject. In this essay, I map out theories of the bodies of the poor, including those of Marx, Engels, Elias, Bourdieu, Foucault, Donzelot and Adair. I suggest that an understanding of the ways in which the bodies of the poor are positioned as abject can facilitate a flexible and reflexive heuristic through which we can negotiate epistemic shifts between material and discursive categories, as well as providing us with a template through which we can come to understand even the most profoundly abject bodies, those of poor women in a welfare state, as potential sites of embodied agency and resistance, all central to the ethical and holistic study of sociology.     

American Sociology: History and Racially Gendered Classed Knowledge Reproduction

The purpose of this paper is to explore how racially gendered classed power‐relations structure history, knowledge and American Sociology's historical memory and disciplinary knowledge production. In order to do so, this paper will 1) utilize Cabral's (1970) theory of history to center humanity as historically developed into a racially gendered classed capitalist world‐system, 2) employ intersectionality as a heuristic device to see how knowledge is manipulated to normalize dehumanization as well as to perpetuate exploitation and privilege by denying “Othered' ” knowledges, and lastly 3) sociologically imagine this racially gendered classed process in the “institutional‐structure” of American Sociology by exploring the ancestry of the concept of “intersectionality.” In all this paper argues 1) American Sociology under theorizes history, a central aspect of the sociological imagination and production of new sociological knowledge, 2) American Sociology reproduces a dehumanized theory of history per Marx's “historical materialism” and 3) the structure of American Sociology's knowledge is racially gendered classed, as illustrated in the collective memory of the concept of “intersectionality.”     

Sociology in the Academy: A Study in Contradictions?

In this essay, the authors present data collected in mixed-method and multi-phased projects that reveal some troubling contradictions within the discipline of Sociology. From a range of respondents, students through college presidents, several themes emerge that may not bode well for Sociology if left unchecked. Most important are the conflicting demands to provide large General Education classes while maintaining a robust, rigorous curriculum for Sociology majors; to meet university standards for scholarly production while allowing for work that is not within the traditional definitions of research; and to increase interdisciplinary collaboration without diluting the discipline.     

Mathematical Sociology in Japan: Its Powerful Development and a Problem

Mathematical sociology in Japan was born in the mid-1970s and has actively developed since then. Mathematical sociologists in Japan have studied various topics of mathematical sociology as well as of quantitative sociology. The Japanese Association for Mathematical Sociology (JAMS) was established in 1986. It holds semi-annual conferences and publishes Sociological Theory and Methods, its official journal. Thus, the JAMS is a platform for mathematical sociologists in Japan to present and publish papers, contributing to the institutionalization of mathematical sociology in Japan. It has also co-sponsored five joint conferences with the Section on Mathematical Sociology of the American Sociological Association. Based on these activities, mathematical sociology in Japan could be judged to be vibrant domestically and internationally; it has a bright future. I argue, however, that mathematical sociologists in Japan have tended to confine themselves to areas where mathematical modeling is relatively easy. These areas are not necessarily attractive to sociologists in other fields. I propose that mathematical sociologists in Japan should tackle social phenomena that other sociologists think are critical to sociology so that they further contribute to advances in the discipline.     

Departmental Demography and Reputational Success: The Fall and Rise of Top Sociology Departments 1950–1980

Between 1950 and 1980 surveys of academic sociologists revealed a major shift in the relative ratings of the top six Sociology departments. Wisconsin rose from a distant sixth to being rated first or second. Harvard and Columbia dropped from first and second the rankings to as low as sixth seventh. Underlying these trajectories were a variety of historical changes affecting academia and Sociology, particularly in the 1960s. Using complete yearly listings of the faculties of these six top departments I trace the demographic changes that appear to have been instrumental in producing the movement in ratings. In particular, the radical growth and youth of Wisconsin, and the aging of Harvard and Columbia seem to have played an important role.     

Bringing our bodies and ourselves back in: reflections on a past, present, and future "medical sociology"

This paper is a revision of an address given upon receipt of the Leo G. Reeder Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Medical Sociology. It was presented on August 14, 1990 to The Medical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association during its annual meetings, held in Washington, DC. Herein I reflect on the structured silence of personal bodily experience and on the unfinished paradigmatic challenge of feminism as a way of leading to a new praxis in medical sociology.     

Historical events as transformations of structures: Inventing revolution at the Bastille

Conclusion Just as the taking of the Bastille led to a cascade of further events, so the theoretical reflections touched off by my analysis of that event has led to a cascade of further reflections. And as the analyst must draw an arbitrary boundary to establish analytical closure to an event, so must I bring to a close an article that still seems to me radically open and unfinished. I believe I have written enough to establish that thinking about historical events as I do here - that is, treating them as sequences of occurrences that result in durable transformations of structures - is potentially fruitful. Precisely how fruitful can only be determined by future work on other historical events.I have had useful comments on this article from Ronald Aminzade, Laura Downs, Muge Goçek, David Laitin, Colin Lucas, Sherry Ortner, Sharon Reitman, Sidney Tarrow, the Editors of Theory and Society, and the members of the Social Theory Workshop at the University of Chicago. Earlier versions of the article were presented at the Center for Comparative Research in History, Society, and Culture at the University of California, Davis; the Fifth Norwegian National Sociology Conference; the Sociology Department at the University of California, Berkeley; and the 1994 Dean's Symposium at the University of Chicago.     

Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Too): Complicating the Study of Femininity and Women's Leisure

Sociology is the study of society. However, not all aspects of society get the same scholarly attention by academics. Throughout my research program, I have highlighted some of the lesser‐covered areas of society, like feminine leisure seen in activities such as quilting, knitting, and membership in the Red Hat Society. In this article, I discuss how the development of sociology as a discipline has focused on public matters in society like the economy, leaving non‐economic or private activities with less attention. My research on women's feminine leisure from a third‐wave feminism perspective importantly addresses a gap in the discipline.     

Commitment and imagination in the social sciences: A concern for the future state of sociology

This paper deals with the actual as well as possible roles of sociologists in modem societies. It is based on the experiences of a typical pragmatical Scandinavian welfare state, namely Norway, where sociology undoubtedly has reached a certain level of success, especially as a repair‐oriented applied science. Sociology thus provides an avenue for entering important political and administrative processes in society. But this development—desirable as it may be—also includes certain risks. Sociology may thus abstain from becoming a kind of critical and intellectual pursuit it could be by paying due attention to alternative ways of organizing social life. A discussion is needed about how to avoid this trap and how new roles may be created.     

The changing evaluation of knowledge: A study of introductory sociology textbook reviews, 1895–1979

This study involves an analysis of 276 reviews of introductory Sociology texts published in the American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, and Contemporary Sociology between 1895 and 1979. Criteria used both to praise and critique these works were studied by decade of journal publication. It was found that evaluative criteria proceeded from an emphasis on theoretical classification and pedagogical utility through the importance of clarity, explanation, and objectivity to the contemporary concern with well‐organized, formatted, and stimulating texts. The limitations of this largely formal, pedagogical evaluation of “Introductory Sociology” are discussed in conclusion.     

The U.S. Economic Polity,Social Identity,and International Human Rights

In this essay, I provide some complementary perspectives on certain themes that emerge in Judith Blau's (2016) timely and insightful article, “Human Rights: What the United States Might Learn from the Rest of the World and, Yes, from American Sociology.” In response, I offer some very brief reflections structured through two prisms by which we might think further about the United States and human rights. These perspectives pick up on the core issue of Blau's article, the U.S. rejection of socioeconomic rights, and how this issue in turn relates first to the “social identity” of the United States as a whole, and second to the role of the political economy in states' recognition of human rights.     

On The Question of Developing a Sociology of the Canadian Family: A Methodological Statement*

Recently I had the opportunity of attending a special session of the “Sociology of Family” at the national meetings of our association. The chairman had arranged this session in part to discuss the means through which a “Sociology of the Canadian Family” could be developed fruitfully. To this end a select group of teachers and researchers in this field had been invited. Those present included some of the best known sociologists in the area of the family in Canada. After the chairman suggested arranging a seminar of national scope a really enthusiastic discussion followed which, in the manner of many discussions in this part of the world, was focused more on the periphery of the problem than on its centre. As a result the session ended inconclusively and in confusion.     

Ende des Elends

In the German speaking Sociology of the Industry the debate about an alleged crisis of the discipline itself continues. Yet recent contributions demand structural surmounting of this crisis through reminiscence and consecutive re-wording of ancient theories — particularly Marx’ theory. The article is considered as an actual contribution towards a conceptual endeavour of the re-wording of the Sociology of the Industry. To begin with, it will be demonstrated that the claim for an action-theoretical re-interpretation endeavour of the re-wording of Marx’ fundamentals falls on prolific grounds — as the Sociology of Work and Industry has already contributed specifically towards the sociological Action-Theory with the concept of subjectifying work action. In addition, the paper shows that the claimed societal-theoretical re-foundation demands a dialectic re-animation of Marx’ fundamentals (perhaps not just) of the Sociology of Work and Industry, and that it seems solvable with the category of work capacity. Thereby an actual contribution to the recent once more claimed extension of the work notion is presented. The article thereby critically continues the debate which has been taking place.     

Comments on Sociology of Religion in America: A History of a Secular Fascination with Religion

Anthony J. Blasi’s book, Sociology of Religion in America: A History of a Secular Fascination with Religion, is a valuable contribution to the history of the sociology of religion. In this comment paper, I assert that this text is a fine addition to any graduate-level course on the sociology of religion, and I discuss three different threads of discussion that masters and doctoral students could explore in class. These discussion threads include: 1) Can sociologists maintain objectivity when studying faith-based phenomena? 2) How can sociologists best study religion today? 3) How does the current study of religion today compare to the subfield a century ago? Educators can use this text as a springboard for their students to think, discuss, and write critically.     

Contingent Government Workers and Labor Solidarity: The Case of Contract Welfare-to-Work Staff and Their Clients

Contemporary US labor solidarity faces new opportunities and challenges in the midst of global economic and governmental restructuring. Indicative of these changes the 1996 welfare reform has created a new brand of contingent government contract workers to implement welfare-to-work while simultaneously fostering contingent work among welfare clients. In this paper I use ethnographic data from a major city in New York State to explore the relative positioning of these labor groups and I ask whether contingent government workers could mediate between organized labor and welfare recipients, thereby facilitating political collaboration. I conclude by identifying considerable structural and interpersonal barriers to solidarity including lack of contingent worker consciousness, difference in “skill” levels, antagonistic relationships with clients and a tendency to interpret client hardships in terms of personal defects. I contrast these findings with instances where labor unions have become involved in welfare issues and propose steps toward a new paradigm for labor solidarity.