Book Reviews/Comptes Rendus

Book reviewed in this article:
VINCENT SACCO (ed.), Deviance: Conforrnzty and Control in Canadian Society.
R.S. RATNER and JOHN MCMULLAN (eds.), state Control: Criminal Justice Politics in Canada.
KWOK B. CHAN and DOREEN M. INDRA (eds.), Uprooting, Loss and Adaptation: The Resettlement of Indochinese Refugees in Canada.
MICHAEL D. BARBER, Social Typification and the Elusive Other.
NANCY ADAMSON, LINDA BRISKIN and MARGARET MCPHAIL, Feminist Organizing For Change.
DAVID A. NOCK, A Victorian Missionary & Canadian Indian Policy: Cultural Synthesis us. Cultural Replacement.
JEFFREY C. ALEXANDER, Twenty Lectures: Sociological Theory Since World War II.
MARGRIT EICHLER, CONNIE GUBERMAN, ALISON HAYFORD, MEG LUXTON, JOHN F PETERS, ELAINE PORTER, C. JAMES RICHARDSON and GEOFFREY TESSON, Family Matters: Sociology and Contemporary Canadian Families.
IAN A. GLOVER and MICHAEL P. KELLY, Engineers in Britain: A Sociological Study of the Engineering Dimension.     

Book reviews / Comptes rendus

Book reviewed in this article:
BRUCE WINTERHALDER and ERIC SMITH (eds), Hunter-gatherer foraging strategies.
ROBERT PAINE (ed.), Politically Speaking: Cross Cultural Studies of Rhetoric.
JOHN C. KENNEDY, Holding the Line: Ethnic Boundaries in a Northern Labrador Community. Social and Economic Studies no. 27.
GREGORY S. KEALEY, Toronto Workers Respond to Industrial Capitalism 1867–1892.
RAYMOND BOUDON, The Crisis in Sociology: Problems of Sociological Epistemology.
BERNARD P. COHEN, Developing Sociological Knowledge: Theory and Method.
ROBERT K. MERTON and MATILDA WHITE RILEY (eds), Sociological Traditions from Generation to Generation: Glimpses of the American Experience.
CRAIG C. PINDER and LARRY MOORE (eds), Middle Range Theory and the Study of Organizations.
J. DAVID LEWIS and RICHARD R. SMITH, American Sociology and Pragmatism: Mead, Chicago Sociology and Symbolic Interaction     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this article:
Ecology and Society: An Introduction Luke Martell
Animal to Edible Noëlie Vialles (translated from the French by J.A. Underwood)
Challenging Medicine Jonathan Gabe
The Social Organisation of Mental Illness Lindsay Prior
Health and Health Care in Britain Rob Baggott
Mothering: Ideology, Experience, and Agency Evelyn Nakano Glenn
Anorexic Bodies: A Feminist and Sociological Perspective on Anorexia Nervosa Morag MacSween
Self-consciousness: An Alternative Anthropology of Identity Anthony Cohen
The Cultural Turn: Scene Setting Essays on Contemporary Cultural History David Chaney
Postmodernism and Popular Culture Angela McRobbie
Cinema and Modernity John Orr
Baudrillard and Signs: Signification Ablaze G. Genosko
Travellers' Tales: Narratives of Home and Displacement George Robertson
Museum Culture Histories, Discourses, Spectacles, Sherman, D. and Rogoff, I. (eds)
Television and Everyday Life Roger Silverstone
The Sociology of Deviance: an Obituary Colin Sumner
The Electronic Eye: The Rise of Surveillance Society David Lyon
Some Trouble with Cows: Making Sense of Social Conflict Beth Roy
'Race', Ethnicity and Nation: International Perspectives on Social Conflict Peter Ratcliffe, (ed.)
Constructions of Race, Place and Nation P. Jackson and J. Penrose (eds)     

Book Reviews/Comptes Rendus

Book reviewed in this article:
STEVEN M. TIPTON, Getting Saved From the Sixties: Moral Meaning in Conversion and Cultural Change. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984, pp. 364 J. MILTON YINGER, Countercultures: The Promise and Peril of a World Turned Upside Down. New York: The Free Press, 1984, pp. 371
MARIE HAUG and BEBE LAVIN, Consumerism in Medicine: Challenging Physician Authority. Beverly Hills, ca : Sage Publications, 1983, pp. 239
MAUREEN BAKER (ed.), The Family: Changing Trends in Canada. Scarborough, Ont.: McGraw-Hill Ryerson
SUSAN A. MCDANIEL and BEN AGGER, Social Problems Through Conflict and Order. Don Mills, Ontario: Addison-Wesley Publishers
R. W. BIBBY, and D.C. POSTERSKI, The Emerging Generation, An Inside Look at Canada's Teenagers. Toronto: Irwin, 198
MICHAEL BRAKE, Comparative Youth Culture, The Sociology of Youth Cultures and Youth Subcultures in America, Britain and Canada. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985, pp. 228
EDWARD W. LAINE (ed.), Scandinavian-Canadian Studies/Etudes Scandinaves au Canada. Ottawa: Association for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies in Canada, 1983, pp. 172
S.D. BERKOWITZ (ed.), Models and Myths in Canadian Sociology. Toronto: Butterworths
DAN ALBAS and CHERYL ALBAS, Student Life and Exams: Stresses and Coping Strategies. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1984, pp
Reply to G.L. WATSON concerning his review of Dialectic and Sociological Thought (November issue of CRSA     

Hall's Encoding/ Decoding and Its Influence on Media Study

As an outstanding representative of British Cultural Studies, Stuart Hall has long been occupied as the leader of the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) in its theories, thoughts and factual work. He has been concentrated on the critical topics such as culture, ideology, and identity. In the field of mass communication, major contribution of Hall lies in his attempts to connect the ideological encoding of cultural formation to the decoding position of the audiences. His thought develops the critical theories of mass communication. Given the importance of Hall's role in the contemporary cultural studies and his significant contribution to mass media research, it is worthwhile for us to probe deeper into his thought to explore valuable contents. In this essay, it mainly concerns Hall's new model of encoding/decoding and the theory of the audience.     

Book Reviews

Berg, Ivar and Kalleberg, Arne L. Sourcebook of Labor Markets: Evolving Structures and Processes
Boyne, R. Risk
Castells, Manuel and Himanen, Pekka The Information Society and the Welfare State: The Finnish Model
Glasius, Marlies, Kaldor, Mary and Anheier, Helmut (eds) Global Civil Society 2002
Handel, Michael J. The Sociology of Organizations: Classic, Contemporary, and Critical Readings
Klinenberg, Eric Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago
Moss, Pamela and Dyck, Isabel Women, Body, Illness: Space and Identity in the Everyday Lives of Women with Chronic Illness
O'Hearn, Denis The Atlantic Economy: Britain, the US and Ireland
Perrow, Charles Organizing America: Wealth, Power, and the Origins of Corporate Capitalism
Sharot, Stephen A Comparative Sociology of World Religions: Virtuosos, Priests, and Popular Religion
Sklair, Leslie The Transnational Capitalist Class
Wagner, Peter Theorizing Modernity: Inescapability and Attainability in Social Theory     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: Robert Maclver on Community, Society and Power, selected writings edited and with an introdution by Leon Bramson. Longitudinal Studies and the Social Sciences by W. D. Wall and H. L. Williams. Crime, Police, and Race Relations: A Study in Birmingham by John R. Lambert. Family, Class and Education: A Reader edited by Maurice Craft. Family, Class and Education: A Reader edited by maurice Craft. Social Mobility and Political Change by Ioan Davies. Social Stress edited by Sol Levine and Norman A. Scotch. Sociology in Britain: A Suvey of Research by Ernest Krausz. Polls, Television, and the New Politics by Harold Mendelsohn and Irving Crespi. Social Work and the Sociology of Organizations by Gilbert Smith. The Sociology of Progress by Leslie Sklair. The Legacy of Max Weber by L. M. Lachmann. The Moral Development of Children by N. Williams and S. Williams. Rationality edited by Bryan R. Wilson. Adolescent Needs and the Transition from School to Work by Joan Maizels. Sociology in its Place and Other Essays by W. G. Runciman. Sociology and Social Work: Perspectives and Problems by Brian J. Heraud.     

Cultural studies and sociology at,and after,the closure of the Birmingham school1

This article analyses and comments on the sudden closure of the Department of Cultural Studies and Sociology (CSS) at the University of Birmingham in July 2002. The origins of cultural studies are delineated and its reception within and outside Birmingham University is tracked. The relation to sociology and its own ‘cultural turn’ is observed. Explanations for the closure of CSS — amidst the enormous popularity and influence of cultural studies – are sought in the ongoing stresses and strains influencing universities in the current era.     

Teaching & Learning Guide for ‘The Conflictual Model of Analysis in Studies on the Media Representation of Islam and Muslims: A Critical Review’

‘The Conflictual Model of Analysis in Studies on the Media Representation of Islam and Muslims: A Critical Review’ was published in Sociology Compass 9/5 (2015) pp. 321–335, DOI: 10.1111/soc4.12264 . This Teaching and Learning Guide is designed to accompany this article. In brief, the article examined the extent to which various studies on the media representation of Islam and Muslims use the conflictual model analysis that underpins theoretical frameworks, such as Orientalism, Clash of Civilisations, Cultural Racism and Islamophobia. It argued that in the context of a complex multicultural society, conflictual model of analysis is inadequate because it simply employs a binary way of thinking as clearly indicated in ‘the West versus Islam’ paradigm. In response to the inadequacy of this model of analysis, the article proposed an adoption of an alternative dialogical model of analysis in the light of the political theory of recognition. This guide provides useful information regarding the use of this article for teaching and learning purposes. It includes recommendation of readings, online resources, sample syllabus, focus questions and project idea.     

Life in the fast lane? Towards a sociology of technology and time

Assumptions about the pace of life speeding up abound in contemporary social theory. While many factors are contributing to this phenomenon, information and communication technologies are seen as the main drivers. This article considers the way social theorists analyse the concepts of time and speed and then examines how these claims might be assessed in the light of empirical research. Such research shows that time compression has multiple dimensions, and that the effect of digital devices like the mobile phone is not simply one of acceleration. In particular, I suggest that the social studies of technology offers a richer analysis of the reciprocal relationship between technological innovation and changing time practices. My argument is that while the hitherto neglected temporal dimension in sociological theory is now being addressed, there is an urgent need for increased dialogue to connect social theory with detailed empirical studies. Without this, we will continue to have difficulty distinguishing social science from science fiction.     

Castells' Catalan routes: nationalism and the sociology of identity

Castells' analysis of the rise of a global network society and information age is underpinned, paradoxically, by a nationalist vision with organic links in a Gramscian sense to Catalan nationalism. This leads to various weaknesses in his theory, especially an over-emphasis on language and nation at the expense of class. Exploring the specifically Catalan origins of his work, and testing its adequacy there, helps us to understand Castells' broader approach. Discussion of Castells has perhaps overlooked his commitment to nationalism because the sociology of identity sometimes unwittingly adopts what Billig has called a banal nationalist perspective. A stricter distinction between the different meanings of the term identity would help sociology to avoid arguments, such as that of Castells, that risk becoming determinist, teleological or both. The article concludes by asking whether the 'sociological imagination' has been alert enough to its banal nationalist form, facilitated by its intimate relationship with the state, its concern for policy relevance and methods of data gathering.     

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
A Critical Dictionary of Sociology R. Boudon and F Bourricaud (translated by Peter Hamilton)
A Treatise on Social Theory. Volume II: Substantive Social Theory W.G. Runciman
Mind in Action Jeff Coulter
Max Weber and Thomas Mann: Calling and the Shaping of the Self Harvey Goldman
Éamile Durkheim and the Reformation of Sociology Stjepan G. Mestrović
Politics and Class Analysis , B. Hindess
Choice, Rationality and Social Theory , B. Hindess
Social Anthropology and the Politics of Language , Ralph Grillo (ed.)
The Pluralist Theory of the State: Selected Writings of G. D.H. Cole . J.N. Eiggis and HJ. Laski Paul O. Hirst (ed.)
Let History Judge: The Origins and Consequences of Stalinism , Roy Medvedev
Feminism and Psychoanalytic Theory Nancy J. Chodorow
The Woman in the Body. A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction , Emily Martin
Rediscovering Masculinity: Reason. Language and Sexuality , Victor J. Seidler
Growing Old in the Twentieth Century , Margot Jefferys (ed.)
Nursing the Dying , David Field
Doctoring the Media: the Reporting of Health and Medicine , Anne Karpf
Social Order/Mental Disorder: Anglo-American Psychiatry in Historical Perspective , Andrew Scull
Sport in Britain: A Social History Tony Mason (ed.)
Family Art , Philip Pacey
'Highbrow/Lowbrow': The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America , Lawrence W Levine.     

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Sociology and its Publics: The Forms and Fates of Disciplinary Organization T.C. Halliday and M. Janowitz (eds)
Social Evolutionism: A Critical History Stephen K. Sanderson
History and Social Theory Peter Burke
Time: An Essay Norbert Elias
Postmodernity Barry Smart
Social Movements: The Politics of Moral Protest Jan Pakulski
A Communitarian Defense of Liberalism: Emile Durkheim and contemporary Social Theory M.S. Cladis
Pierre Bourdieu Richard Jenkins
Social Research and Social Reform Colin Crouch and Anthony Heath, (eds)
Prospects for Democracy: North, South, East and West David Held, (ed.)
The Elite Connection: Problems and Potential of Western Democracy Eva Etzioni-Halevy
Lives in Trust: The Fortunes of Dynastic Families in Late Twentieth Century America George E. Marcus with Peter D. Hall
The Politics of State Expansion: War, State and Society in Twentieth-Century Britain James E. Cronin
The Development of Industrial Society in Ireland J.H. Goldthorpe and C.T. Whelan (eds)
Social Theory for Action: How Individuals and Organisations Learn to Change William Foote Whyte
Sociological Perspectives on Modern Accountancy Robin Roslender
Professions and Patriarchy Anne Witz
White, Male and Middle Class: Explorations in Feminism and History Catherine Hall
Shaping up to Womanhood: Gender and Girls' Physical Education Sheila Scraton
Symbolic Interaction and Cultural Studies Howard S. Becker and Michael M. McCall, (eds)
Fashion, Culture and Identity Fred Davis
Fields of Vision: Landscape Imagery and National Identity in England and the United States Stephen Daniels
The City Assembled: The Elements of Urban Form Through History Spiro Kostoff
Television and the Drama of Crime: Moral Tales and the Place of Crime in Public Life Richard Sparks
Writers in Prison Ioan Davies
Death, Dying and Bereavement Donna Dickenson and Malcolm Johnson, (eds)     

A RESPONSE TO JEFFREY ALEXANDER'S THEORETICAL LOGIC IN SOCIOLOGY CONCERNING THE ALLEGED UNIDIMENSIONALITY OF MARXIAN THEORY

In the second volume of his Theoretical Logic in Sociology (1982b), Jeffrey Alexander argues that Marxian theory is predicated on a unidimensional model of human action. That means that Marxian theory overlooks the normative dimension of action, thereby portraying human action as entirely egoistic and deterministic. This article argues that Alexander's criticisms of Marxian theory are unfounded, and, more fundamentally, that Alexander's unfounded criticisms reveal that his whole neo-Parsonian project is based on an underlying conception of human action that is seriously mistaken. A major objective of this article is to present a more tenable conception of action.     

CULTURAL STUDIES IN THE CORPORATE UNIVERSITY

This essay is about the fate of Cultural Studies in the new context of the market-based reform of Higher Education and the resurgence of liberal capitalism. As the global corporate demand for educational services increases, universities are becoming more like businesses. The trend toward a corporate style university can be seen in the way that its educational mission is being subordinated to the criteria of the flexible labour market. Neo-Liberal forms of governance introduce economic calculation into what were previously social and bureaucratic domains. The emergence of Cultural Studies in the 1960s was a challenge from the New Left to both the humanities and to the historic national mission of the university. The rise of the corporate university and its Benthamite utilitarianism in the 1980s confronted Cultural Studies with its own hiatus. The essay argues that we need to revisit Cultural Studies’ early rejection of humanism and work out a new kind of'humanism without guarantees, if we are to adequately confront this conjuncture and find the moral and intellectual resources to restore Cultural Studies as a critical and engaged practice.     

Book Reviews

Erving Goffman and Modern Sociology , Philip Manning
The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, Love and Eroticism in Modern Societies , Anthony Giddens
Sport and Leisure in the Civilizing Process: Critique and Counter-Critique , Eric Dunning and Chris Rojek (eds)
The Symbol Theory , Norbert Elias
The Reflexive Thesis: Wrighting Sociology of Scientific Knowledge , Malcolm Ashmore
Feminine Sentences: Essays on Women and Culture , Janet Wolff
The Woman in Question – m/f , Parveen Adams and Elizabeth Cowie (eds)
Studying Collective Action , Mario Diani and Ron Eyerman, (eds)
Social Movements: A Cognitive Approach , Ron Eyerman and Andrew Jamison
Social Classes and Social Relations in Britain, 1850–1914 , A.J. Reid
Property, Bureaucracy and Culture: Middle-Class Formation in Contemporary Britain , M. Savage, J. Barlow, P. Dickens and T. Fielding
Critical Management Studies , M. Alvesson and H. Willmott, (eds)
White-Collar Crime: Criminal Justice and Criminology , Hazel Croall
Discrimination and Public Policy in Northern Ireland , R.J. Cormack and Osbome, R.D.
The Gypsies , Angus Fraser     

Sponsored Social Change in a Public Housing Project

Federal and local pressures have given rise to a hybrid organization that brings together disparate groups from the public and non-profit sectors to address complex social problems. This article examines one such organizational emergence of state-affiliated sponsorship. Based on data from a multi-method case study, we find that not only do members of the sponsoring organization use legitimate authority structures, existing laws, and social norms to reproduce their power, they do so with a state mandate that privileges their expertise and processes.Parts of this paper were prepared while the third author, Beth A. Rubin, was on leave to serve as Director, Sociology Program, National Science Foundation. The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect those of the National Science Foundation. P. Denise Cobb is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice Studies at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. This research reflects one part of Cobb's dissertation research that addresses how organizational actors from unequal social positions define a collective agenda and whose interests prevail when there is a lack of consensus. Her current research further examines the emergence of the university-community partnership form. She has published related work in Administration & Society and previously in Qualitative Sociology. Jon Shefner is Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Global Studies Interdisciplinary Program at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. He is co-editor, with Patricia Fernandez-Kelly, of Out of the Shadows: Political Action and the Informal Economy in Latin America (2006: Pennsylvania State Press). He is currently working on a book examining the impact of globalization and democratization on the mobilization and well being of Mexico's urban poor. Beth A. Rubin is Professor of Management and Adjunct Professor of Sociology at University of North Carolina-Charlotte. Rubin publishes on economic and workplace transformation, labor unions, homelessness and social policy and social theory in leading academic journals. Her current research is on organizational commitment in the context of the new economy, inequality and industrial restructuring, organizational and workplace restructuring and time in organizations, the latter of which is represented in the forthcoming book, Research in the Sociology of Work: Workplace Temporalities, that Rubin is editing.     

Socioeconomic Inequality in Decoding Instructions and Demonstrating Knowledge

Qualitative Sociology - Cultural capital may contribute to socioeconomic achievement gaps by shaping how students engage with authority in schools. However, social class shapes academic skills and...     

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.