Social Change and the Gendered Division of Household Labor in Canada

Housework is asymmetrically distributed by gender. This uneven allocation is an important indicator of inequality between women and men. The imbalance is closing, although exactly why remains uncertain. It is also unclear if the convergence has more to do with women's lives becoming more like men's, or whether it is because men are changing their practices on the home front. Using 30 years of nationally representative time use diary data, we explore three broad theoretical frameworks addressing social change—cultural, structural, and demographic—to examine how and why the gender dynamics around housework are shifting. We find that structural factors, and in particular women's engagement with paid work, have changed most sharply as drivers of greater symmetry in domestic labor, although changing cultural beliefs have contributed as well. Furthermore, there have been significant changes in men's behavior. One focal point for this domestic change is in men's and women's shifting practices around childcare. Intensive parenting, not just intensive mothering, has become more prevalent.     

Ashore on the Land of Joiners: Intergenerational Social Incorporation of Immigrants1

Juxtaposing two clichés, “the land of immigrants” and “the land of joiners,” poses an intriguing question: Do they fit in with each other? In other words, is Tocqueville's oft‐quoted dictum —“Americans of all ages, all stations of life, and all types of disposition are forever forming associations”— applicable to immigrants as well? Focusing on the process of social incorporation of immigrants that connects the two sides, and taking advantage of the unique features of the dataset, the study examines intergenerational patterns of immigrants' participation in voluntary associations. Substantial variations across generations and association types are found, and their pathways of social incorporation are charted.     

Teacher Engagement with Bullying: Managing an Identity within a School

Bullying is a social problem that is detrimental to a student's education. Teacher response is an important factor to reducing bullying, which is especially important at the elementary school level. While teachers show a greater understanding of the definition of bullying than students, they struggle to recognize and respond to bullying. Using 12 grade-specific focus groups of K–5th grade teachers, this study analyzed the disconnect between teachers' understanding of what bullying is and their perception of the experiences of bullying around them. Using a modified Ecological Model, examining the teacher experience, it was found that a whole-school response to bullying is needed to help teachers stem the academic definition of bullying into their workplace engagements, taking responsibility for changing the culture of bullying. Without school support, teachers sustained a more stereotypical perspective of bullying as they managed their teacher identities, struggling to avoid them being “spoiled.”     

Gender‐Related Violence and Young People: An Overview of Italian,Irish, Spanish,UK and EU Legislation

Do laws regarding violence against or sexual exploitation of young people recognise gendered and other power dynamics? Cross‐national comparison of legal texts can illustrate the benefits of framing issues of violence/gender/youth in certain ways and offer critical reflection on particular legal frameworks or cultural understandings. This policy review is based on an analysis of select laws regarding gender‐related violence (GRV) as relates to young people in Italy, Ireland, Spain and the UK. Here, GRV is defined as sexist, sexualising or norm‐driven bullying, harassment, discrimination or violence whoever is targeted. It therefore includes gender, sexuality and sex‐gender normativities, as well as violence against women and girls. A tension emerges between granting young people agency and recognising the multiple, intersecting power relations that might limit and shape that agency. This article draws out the implications for the UK in particular, highlighting the absence of preventative measures and the need for a broader approach to combat GRV.     

The contribution of social support to children and adolescents' self-perception: The mediating role of bullying victimization

The purpose of this article is to report on a study that explores the linkages among self-perception, perceptions of social support, and bullying involvement among children and youth, with a focus on how bullying victimization mediates the association of social support and self-perception. We employ Harter's multidimensional model of self-esteem (1999; 2012), which highlights the inextricable link of social support to global self-esteem but does not explore the contribution of bullying involvement to this association. Our findings indicate that social support is associated with self-perception, and that traditional victimization mediates the association between social support and self-perception for three self-perception measures: social acceptance, physical appearance, and global self-worth. Contrary to our expectations, cyberbullying victimization was not found to mediate the relationship between social support and self-perception. These findings underscore the importance of exploring both traditional bullying victimization and cyberbullying victimization in relation to social support in order to understand their effect on development and wellbeing. More broadly, this study's finding that social support was a significant buffer to bullying victimization emphasizes the necessity of developing prevention and intervention strategies which are relationship-based and implemented early in young people's lives.     

Reference Groups,Mob Mentality,and Bystander Intervention: A Sociological Analysis of the Lara Logan Case1

Despite that it involves mobs, bystanders, and political theater—three classic concepts in social psychology—academics have neglected analyzing the Lara Logan sexual assault case through these lenses. I explore how the case has been discussed in the media and suggest that analysis of the mob and bystanders has been, oddly, lacking. I argue that the best reference group to use when discussing this case is not other journalists or even other women who have survived assaults, but is instead enemy women who have survived politically motivated wartime gang sexual assaults. Most observers have overlooked the relevant reference group due to focusing on the traits of the victim, rather than on the context of the event itself. I argue that the case conforms to important dimensions: (1) the sociological norm that gang violence involves premeditation, (2) an agreement of values among perpetrators, and (3) that the violence itself lacked cultural and social legitimacy. Logan was likely targeted because she was a “stranger”; she was saved, in part, for the same reason. The case illustrates known patterns of mob mentalities and bystander intervention, yet it is unlike most cases of both nonwartime gender violence and violence against journalists.     

The Structure of Issue Voting in Postindustrial Democracies

Issues matter for elections. The issue environment, however, varies across political campaigns as well as across countries. How does the issue environment structure the vote? Is the issue space single‐ or multidimensional? Do issues vary in terms of salience across parties or nations? This article addresses these questions using an original dataset of mass and elite policy positions covering the United States and nine other industrialized nations. Results show that while the traditional language of politics—expressed as the left/right divide—still resonates, the issue space is not single dimensional but two dimensional. Issues associated with globalization represent a crosscutting divide, which complicates the voter's decision. Further, the salience of an issue to a party varies as a function of the party's type, size, and age. This article shows how a cross‐national approach provides perspective on how voter decision making operates in different country contexts.     

'Will the real Niklas Luhmann stand up, please'. A reply to John Mingers

This article is a critical response to John Minger's recently published piece ‘Can social systems be autopoietic?’. It draws attention to instances in this piece where Mingers has misconstrued Luhmann's theory—especially in the central concepts of openness and closure, system‐environment relation, interaction, and functionality, but also in the interpretation of the role which Luhmann ascribes to the political system—and it attempts to give a more accurate analysis of these terms, and of their place in Luhmann's overall sociology. The article also asserts, more generally, that to criticize Luhmann from the perspective of action‐centred theory, as Mingers has done, fails to reflect on and integrate Luhmann's direct challenge to perspectives of this kind. The article concludes with the argument that legitimate criticism of Luhmann should set out a more immanent account of his sociology, and should not simply have recourse to the more traditional sociological perspectives, which Luhmann has already effectively called into question.     

Giving,Saving, Spending: What Would Children Do with £1 Million?

This article explores children's responses to a single question: ‘If someone gave you £1 million today, what would you do with it?’ Although such an exploration might seem trivial, we argue that their responses provide important insights into children's values and priorities. One‐third intend to spend it all, one quarter to save it. But the largest group claim that they would give all or some of the money away. Their responses highlight the divergent ways in which children use money to foster particular forms of social relations and social standing. Against the prevalent discourse of consumer society, the dominant theme of giving may indicate that the individualism of neoliberalism is less pervasive than is often feared, but also suggest that further research is needed into the social contexts and processes which encourage children to be ‘givers’, ‘savers’ or ‘spenders’.     

Longitudinal Associations Between Adolescents' Bullying‐Related Indirect Defending,Outsider Behavior,and Peer‐Group Status

During adolescence, youth become more likely to avoid involvement in witnessed bullying and less likely to support victims. It is unknown whether—and how—these bystander behaviors (i.e., outsider behavior and indirect defending) are associated with adolescents' peer‐group status (i.e., popularity and social acceptance) over time. Cross‐lagged path modeling was used to examine these longitudinal associations in a sample of 313 Dutch adolescents (M_age‐T1 = 10.3 years). The results showed that status longitudinally predicted behavior, rather than that behavior predicted status. Specifically, unpopularity predicted outsider behavior and social acceptance predicted indirect defending. These findings suggest that a positive peer‐group status can trigger adolescents' provictim stance. However, adolescents may also strategically avoid involvement in witnessed bullying to keep a low social profile.     

Framing the Fat Body: Contested Meanings between Government,Activists, and Industry*

Sociologists have long recognized that social problems do not derive solely from objective conditions but from a process of collective definition. At the core of some social issues are framing competitions, struggles over the production of ideas and meanings. This article examines competing cultural meanings about the fat body. Through frame analysis of organizational materials, I map the contested field of obesity and document three cultural frames—medical frame, social justice frame, and market choice frame—as represented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA), and the food industry group the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), respectively. Using the “framing matrix,” I explore each frame's key signature elements and discuss its social and cultural significance. Notably, each frame leads to different outcomes for social equality and how society thinks about fat bodies, health, and public policy.     

Gypsy fetish: music,dirt, magic,and freedom

This article offers a reading of Transylvania (2006) directed by Tony Gatlif. It makes evident Gypsy identity’s unconscious dynamics when it occupies the position of a fetish within the cinematic story and in the interaction of the viewer with the exotic images on the screen. This specific reading argues that Gypsy fetish signals and covers over a site of psychic pain for the protagonist as well as for the viewer. Our argument insists that as a fetish Gypsy identity props up the social order. In this sense Gypsy identity is not addressed as it often is as a symptom, or more specifically as a challenge to the social order, but instead the analysis renders it to be a concealment of the lack around which the symbolic network is articulated. The article further explores Gypsy identity’s music, magic, dirt, and freedom as its key characteristics which conserve a potential access to what was disavowed and covered over – a lost enjoyment.     

Basic‐Level Categories,Mirror Neurons,and Joint‐Attention Schemes: Three Points of Intersection Between G.H. Mead and Cognitive Science

Recent research in cognitive science has provided broad empirical support for the model of cognition and self‐development formulated by G.H. Mead. This is demonstrated specifically through three distinct cognitive mechanisms: basic‐level categories, mirror neurons, and joint‐attention schemes. These mechanisms illustrate a form of embodied sociality that underscores the intersubjective foundation of mind and self articulated by Mead. Research on basic‐level categories, mirror neurons, and joint‐attention schemes further extends Mead's relevance outside standard sociological and social psychological circles to the field of cognitive science and its emerging focus on sociality and social interaction.     

Watching the Detectives

Abstract

Do popular authors of African detective fiction use their sleuths to clean up what they perceive to be post-colonial crimes? And is it possible for readers of whodunnits to make any sort of serious assessment of the socio-economic conditions of a country through following the trail of these ‘ethical eyes’? This article investigates Dan Fulani's Special Agent Pius Shale 005, Unity Dow's Amantle Bokaa, Alexander McCall Smith's Precious Ramotswe and Deon Meyer's Zatopek van Heerden.     

Rumors and gossip as tools of social undermining and social dominance in workplace bullying and mobbing practices: A closer look at perceived perpetrator motives

The impact of ‘bully bosses’ on organizations is well studied and research has established a number of antecedents, correlates, moderators and mediators of workplace bullying and mobbing as well as the impact of the practices on the targets, bystanders, perpetrators and the employing organizations. The current study focuses on rumors and gossip as ‘tools’ used by perpetrators of workplace bullying and mobbing. This study is important because while researchers have generally agreed that rumors and gossip can contribute to a better understanding of different areas of interest to organizational behaviorists and researchers; the role played by the two social processes (i.e., rumors and gossip) have not been adequately interrogated by scholars or practitioners studying organizations. To address this gap in research, the main objective of the current study was to use collaborative and analytic autoethnography (CAAE) in exploring and presenting qualitative empirical inquiry on the dynamics of workplace bullying as perpetrated by ‘bully bosses’ and as characterized by rumors and gossip. The findings and extant literature suggests that depending on: contents, functions, and the situational and motivational contexts, perpetrators of bullying and mobbing may use rumors and gossip: 1) for maintenance of oppression and social dominance; 2) as an expression of envy and social undermining; 3) as a weapon to humiliate subordinates by corporate/organizational psychopaths; and/or 4) as a psychological attempt to close or widen the power gap.     

The Social Production of Bullying: Expanding the Repertoire of Approaches to Group Dynamics

Bullying research has widely included group dynamics as contextual factors. However, explanations addressing the causes of bullying predominantly emphasise individual dysfunctions related to aggression and empathy. Analysing qualitative data from Norwegian schools, this article explores four different group dynamics that may produce bullying behaviours as well as deactivate empathy. Drawing on theories of social hierarchies and ingroups/outgroups, the article offers new approaches to understanding the ways in which the intense markings of social distinctions between positions and cliques in peer culture represent significant social driving forces in school bullying.     

Rethinking the Margins/Thinking from the Margins: Culture,Power, and Place on the Frontiers of the New World

In this article, I undertake a critical analysis of the writings that contributed to set up the foundation for eclipsing Amerindian social dynamics and their complexity. Starting from a presentation of Jesuit Jos de Acosta's classifications of the indigenous sociopolitical forms, I show that both the evolutionist and discontinuist perspective still in vogue among some Americanists and the positivist approach of some borderlands historians tend to perpetuate a conquest culture (the material and symbolic power relation of domination) while concealing indigenous social dynamics and adaptation strategies. I end the article by presenting some of the perspectives and concepts developed by a new historical anthropology that seek to re-politicize the production of social and cultural differences otherwise considered as natural.     

Class Origin and College Graduates' Parenting Beliefs

Previous studies have documented relationships between parenting beliefs and social class. Few studies, however, have examined how parenting beliefs vary among those who share a class position. Drawing upon interviews with 54 college graduates—27 parents with working‐class origins and their 27 spouses with middle‐class origins—I show that heterogeneity in college‐educated parents' beliefs cohered around class origin. Specifically, ideas of children's education and time use related to class origin, though ideas of how to talk with children did not. I discuss the implications of these findings in terms of cultural reproduction, cultural mobility, and intergenerational inequality.     

Collective Memory: The Two Cultures

What is collective about collective memory? Two different concepts of collective memory compete—one refers to the aggregation of socially framed individual memories and one refers to collective phenomena sui generis—though the difference is rarely articulated in the literature. This article theorizes the differences and relations between individualist and collectivist understandings of collective memory. The former are open to psychological considerations, including neurological and cognitive factors, but neglect technologies of memory other than the brain and the ways in which cognitive and even neurological patterns are constituted in part by genuinely social processes. The latter emphasize the social and cultural patternings of public and personal memory, but neglect the ways in which those processes are constituted in part by psychological dynamics. This article advocates, through the example of traumatic events, a strategy of multidimensional rapprochement between individualist and collectivist approaches.     

Rethinking biomedicine in the age of translational research: Organisational,professional, and epistemic encounters

In the most recent decade, translational research (TR) has played a pivotal role in the production and circulation of medical knowledge and technologies, thus redefining biomedicine's moral force, its cultural authority, and its status in society. As a major component of contemporary life sciences, TR—or more commonly, translational biomedicine—aims to transfer more quickly and effectively the findings of basic science into therapeutic interventions for patients by means of innovative organisational arrangements, research methodologies, protocols, and professional roles. This article brings together sociological research examining translational biomedicine from different perspectives to accomplish two goals. First, it offers a comprehensive introduction to the social science debate concerning the growing adoption of a TR framework in biomedicine, with a special focus on the organisational, professional, and epistemological issues. Second, the article has an operational purpose to raise questions about the main methodological repercussions for social scientists facing the investigation of TR as a complex and multi‐sited phenomenon that challenges traditional qualitative/quantitative research approaches.