Cape Breton: The photographs

This paper considers the need for an image‐based research methodology. The term ‘image‐based’ is meant to reflect the use of a wide range of visuals, for example, film, video, photographs and cartoons, within a qualitative research context. It is also meant to apply generically to encompass a wide range of fields of study including sociology, anthropology, education and health studies. There are principally two reasons why an image‐based methodology is needed: in order to enhance the status and acceptability of image‐based research in the wider research community; and to provide a critical platform from which to examine and refine visual methods. A common methodology would improve the status of image‐based research in the eyes of orthodox word orientated qualitative researchers and go some way to avoiding damaging divisions within image‐based research. The paper explores three areas: How do writers of research methodology view image‐based research?; what constitutes a methodological framework?; and some important elements of a visual methodology.     

Workfare's Cousin: Exploring a Labour‐force Enhancement Experiment in Cape Breton*

Bien que les Néo‐Ecossais n'aient pas encore été soumis au type de réformes d'aide sociale édictées dans d'autres provinces, certains programmes visant à promouvoir la participation de la main‐d'?uvre par les bénéficiaires de paiements de transfert gouvernementaux ont récemment été mis en place à l'île du Cap‐Breton, la région de la province la plus marginale sur le plan économique. Cet article étudie la structure de l'un de ces programmes, parrainé par le gouvernement fédéral. L'analyse présentée ici avance l'idée que, en dépit du discours public officiel, la conception du programme n'apporte que peu d'avantages à la collectivité locale et à ses citoyens le plus dans le besoin, mais véhicule des avantages idéologiques importants pour l'état. Même si le programme ne peut être appelé un programme de travail obligatoire, au sens strict de l'expression, il reflète la même idéologie néo‐libérale que celle qui a inspiré des réformes sociales plus draconiennes. Though Nova Scotians have not yet been subjected to the type of provincial welfare “reforms” enacted in other provinces, some programs aimed at promoting work‐force participation by recipients of government transfer payments have recently been introduced to Cape Breton, the province's most economically marginal region. This paper examines the structure of one such program, sponsored by the federal government. The analysis presented here suggests that, despite public rhetoric, the program's design delivers limited benefits to the local community and to its neediest citizens, but carries major ideological benefits for the state. While the program cannot be called workfare, in the strict sense of the term, it does reflect the same neo‐liberal ideology that has inspired more Draconian social reforms.     

Culture, Capital and Class Conflicts in the Political Economy of Cape Breton

Abstract This paper examines the unprecedented rapid unionization of fish processing plant workers in the industrial town of Glace Bay, Cape Breton. The explanation for union militancy is tied to historical dynamics in local labour markets and the transposition of working class consciousness from the mining sector to the fish processing sector. Historically forged household and community dynamics and cultural values provide the key to the mobilization of the Cape Breton fish plant workers. While the contradictory and complex nature of local culture allowed for the emergence of resistance, the conditions which inspired such action also nurtured social patterns well accommodated to the region's marginal economic conditions. Thus, the circumstances under which strategies for resistance are forthcoming must hold particular and locally meaningful cultural significance. Paternalistic control of the labour force in local fish plants successfully manipulated local cultural values. Impersonal corporate management strategies violated these codes of conduct and provoked rapid collective response.     

The Christian difference: Surviving postmodernism

Abstract

Drawing on the work of Nicholas Boyle, this paper argues that postmodernism represents the intellectual style we should expect as part of developing global capitalist regimes. Accordingly, I argue that postmodernism is not a friend but an enemy to Christianity just to the extent the former tempts us to lose our history. In that respect, the challenge of postmodernism is no different than the challenge of modernity. It becomes the Christian task now to narrate modernity and postmodernity on our own terms rather than those offered by the postmodernists. But for Christianity to be capable of such narration, it must rediscover in its own life the significance of the church which is capable of surviving in a world which is in many ways quite accurately described as postmodern.     

GangstaLife: Fusing Urban Ethnography with Netnography in Gang Studies

Qualitative Sociology - Recent research on street-involved populations has documented their online presence and has highlighted the effects of their online presentations on their lives in the real...     

反思“始终局外人”：伯明翰学派青年文化研究民族志方法论探析

伯明翰学派当代文化研究中心在20世纪70年代对第二次世界大战后英国工人阶级青年文化进行了大量研究,关于其方法论中的民族志,一直存在争议。通过批判文献阅读和比较分析,从伯明翰学派青年文化研究的代表文本来看,其研究工作以文本分析为基础,而非严格的参与观察。这种始终局外人的民族志书写方式,就思想史而言,可以归因于早期英国文化研究的政治立场、新马克思主义对理论的辩证态度、英国本土文化主义与欧陆结构主义思潮的矛盾。然而,在批判性青年研究的框架下,如何结合经验性的描述和理论性的分析,仍是研究当代青年问题面对的难题,在这个问题上,伯明翰学派出身的民族志学者威利斯的文化分析方法,可供借鉴。     

Shift-and-persist coping and health among rural African American adolescents

This study examines whether shift-and-persist coping, a coping strategy defined by accepting challenges and remaining hopeful for the future, is associated with psychosocial and physical health and/or moderates the effects of contextual stress (i.e., racial discrimination, financial strain) on health among African American adolescents living in the rural Southeastern United States. Participants (N = 299, 56% boys, M_age = 12.91) completed measures of shift-and-persist coping, contextual stress, and psychosocial and physical health. Shift-and-persist coping was generally associated with better health but did not buffer the effects of contextual stress. Results suggest that shift-and-persist coping may serve as a source of resilience among African American adolescents living in a context where many experience heightened contextual stress.     

Topological social choice: Reply to Le Breton and Uriarte

One of us has given seminars on related issues at Cornell, LSE, University of Pennsylvania and the University of British Columbia. We are grateful to all participants. For helpful conversations we are grateful to David Cass, Birgit Grodal, Andrew McClennen, Murat Sertel and Ho-Mou Wu. The views expressed are our own.     

Stress and coping of adults and young adults in economically uncertain rural areas

This paper discusses the degree and type of stress experienced by adults and young adults, coping strategies used, and their family, financial, and community satisfaction in economically distressed rural counties. Data were analyzed from questionnaires completed by 447 adults and 118 young adults. Results indicate greater perceived stress, use of some less effective coping strategies, and less satisfaction among young adults. Both groups indicate similar numbers of stressful events and a generally positive perception of community social services.Dorothy Z. Price received her Ph.D. from Michigan State University. She is a Professor, Department of Child & Family Studies, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-2010. Research interests include decision-making and consumer behavior.Lonnie J. Dunlap, M.A. is a Graduate Research Assistant, Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program, Department of Child & Family Studies, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-2010. Research interests include work and family interactions and career development.     

Help-seeking and coping strategies for intimate partner violence in rural and urban women

Women experiencing intimate partner violence may use a variety of help-seeking resources and coping strategies. The purpose of this study was to examine rural (n = 378) and urban (n = 379) women's help seeking, coping, and perceptions of the helpfulness of resources used in dealing with partner violence. Overall, results suggest that women from both areas utilized a variety of help-seeking resources and coping strategies in significantly different ways. Urban women used more help-seeking resources than rural women. Urban and rural women used different types of resources. Rural women perceived the justice system services as less helpful than urban women. Coping strategies and help seeking are related, with problem-focused coping associated with the use of more formalized help-seeking resources. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Stimulated Recall Interviews in Ethnography

This article describes the use of stimulated recall interviews as a technique for investigating how people approach interactions in a number of different situations. In general, the technique I describe involves interviewing individuals by playing them audio or audiovisual recordings of their own behavior in social situations and discussing different aspects of those recorded interactions. Doing so can help us to understand what signals interactants understand as important, what signals they try to convey to others, and how they choose from various options to act upon the information they receive in interactions. Using the example of jazz jam sessions, I ask why it is that interactions can sometimes go smoothly and uneventfully, or sometimes break down completely. The stimulated recall interviews provide a valuable tool in helping the ethnographer to answer these kinds of questions.     

College students coping with interpersonal stress: Examining a control-based model of coping

Objective: The ways that college students cope with stress, particularly interpersonal stress, may be a critical factor in determining which students are at risk for impairing mental health disorders. Using a control-based model of coping, the present study examined associations between interpersonal stress, coping strategies, and symptoms. Participants: A total of 135 undergraduate students from 2 universities. Methods: Interpersonal stress, coping strategies, depression, anxiety, and somatization were assessed via self-report. Results: Students reporting more interpersonal stress reported more depression, anxiety, and somatization, and they reported less use of engagement coping strategies and greater use of disengagement coping strategies. Engagement coping strategies accounted for a significant portion of the association between interpersonal stress and mental health symptoms. Unexpectedly, coping strategies did not moderate the association between stress and mental health symptoms. Conclusion: Interventions designed to improve students' coping strategies may be an effective way to reduce mental health problems on college campuses.     

Ethnography: Tales of the Nonprofit Field

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - Ethnography is a rich research tradition originating from sociocultural anthropology that aims to vividly represent...     

The seduction of unreason, the intellectual romance with fascism: From Nietzsche to postmodernism

This essay reviews in detail The Seduction of Unreason, The Intellectual Romance with Fascism: From Nietzsche to Postmodernism by Richard Wolin (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004).