Bringing Poulantzas Back In

Not only does the state theory of the late Nicos Poulantzas recapitulate the history of Marxist state theory at large, it also moves beyond the boundaries of this history, showing up its limitations and asking new questions that still, in this age of 'globalization', await their proper settlement-some of the terms of which are set out in advance, as it were, by Poulantza's writings.     

The Crowd and Collective Behavior: Bringing Symbolic Interaction Back In

Presented as the Distinguished Lecture at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in August 2005, this article's objective is to illustrate the importance of symbolic interaction in the formation of temporary gatherings, in the dynamic alternation between individual and collective actions that comprise those gatherings, and in the dispersal processes that bring such gatherings to an end. In reviewing the phenomena to be explained, I also call attention to the limitations of the concepts of “the crowd” and of “collective behavior.” Finally, to make sense of the dynamic variation and alternation between individual and collective actions, and the variation in the latter, I champion and extend G. H. Mead's theory of the act as a closed‐loop, negative‐feedback model of purposive action. No lesser model of agency and action is adequate to the challenge of understanding and explaining the phenomena in question.     

The Physically Disabled: How They Cope with Loneliness

Abstract

Physical Disability has a profound effect on one's quality of life, social intercourse and emotional well being. Loneliness has been found to be a frequent companion of those afflicted with chronic illnesses that result in physical disabilities. The present study examined the ways in which the physically disabled cope with loneliness. Five hundred and ninety three participants volunteered to answer a 30-item yes/no questionnaire. The physically disabled were compared to the general population in phase I, while in phase II of the study, five subgroups (i.e. those afflicted with Multiple Sclerosis, Osteoporosis, Parkinson's Arthritis and “Other” disabilities) were compared to each other and to the general population sample which was composed of those who are healthy and not afflicted with chronic illnesses. Results indicated that the physically disabled differ significantly from the general population in the manner in which they cope with loneliness.     

Living Options for Physically Disabled Adults: A Review

Over the last 20 years changing social attitudes towards disabled people and their own burgeoning aspirations have been reflected in every aspect of living arrangements. The United Kingdom literature is reviewed with reference to influences from Northern Europe and the U.S.A. Demand is increasing for wide spread availability of a range of options; implications for the social services are discussed.     

International Funding of NGOs in India: Bringing the State Back In

This article seeks to understand how the Indian state exercises control over transnational ties between foreign and domestic actors by examining the national legislative practices that determine receipt of foreign funds and the data on foreign funding flows to NGOs (a database of more than 18,000 associations). The article shows how legislative practices of democratic states serve to reduce foreign influence. Issue characteristics are also shown to determine state response to externalization, blocking transnational ties in “high politics” areas such as minority claims. Finally, within state imposed restrictions, religious rather than secular organizations remain dominant transnational actors in India. The study contributes evidence to suggest that contrary to the arguments of world polity theory and many transnational social movement scholars, states continue to remain powerful actors limiting transnationalization.

Bringing It All Back Home: Individual and Group Supervision in Family Therapy Training*

Literature in family therapy training neglects to address the usefulness of individual supervision. Just as family members struggle to integrate needs for autonomy with needs for family membership, so the individual family therapy trainee has individual concerns. Psychoanalytic literature fully recognises the power of the emotional responses of the psychotherapist, but is uncertain how to handle these reactions, especially in terms of the parallel process between psychotherapy and supervision. The integration of individual process-centred supervision with live group supervision and training provides a structure within which to maximize the supervisory experience.     

Bringing the Polluters Back In: Environmental Inequality and the Organization of Chemical Production

Environmental justice scholars have suggested that because chemical plants and other hazardous facilities emit more pollutants where they face the least resistance, disadvantaged communities face a special health risk. In trying to determine whether race or income has the bigger impact on a neighborhood's exposure to pollution, however, scholars tend to overlook the facilities themselves and the effect of their characteristics on emissions. In particular, how do the characteristics of facilities and their surrounding communities jointly shape pollution outcomes? We propose a new line of environmental justice research that focuses on facilities and how their features combine with communities' features to create dangerous emissions. Using novel fuzzy-set analysis techniques and the EPA's newly developed Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators, we test the influence of facility and community factors on chemical plants' health-threatening emissions. Contrary to the idea that community characteristics have singular, linear effects, findings show that facility and community factors combine in a variety of ways to produce risky emissions. We speculate that as chemical firms experiment with different ways of producing goods and externalizing pollution costs, new "recipes of risk" are likely to emerge. The question, then, will no longer be whether race or income matters most, but in which of these recipes do they matter and how.     

Patterns Of Segmentation And Intersection In The Computing World*

Differentiation of the computing world is discussed in terms of the major lines of segmentation and cleavage which generate sub-worlds within the larger computing world context. The relationship of one particular pattern of cleavages—the production system—is described vis-vis other lines of cleavage and segmentation. Patterns of intersection among sub-worlds generated by these lines of cleavage are also discussed, and the implications of these intersections for the organization of the production system are described. Patterns of intersection are conceptualized as systems of interlocked negotiating contexts, whose attributes shape the outcomes of computing work.     

The Double Center of Gravity in Durkheim's Symbol Theory: Bringing the Symbolism of the Body Back In

By studying Durkheim through a Schopenhauerian lens, the one-sidedly cognitivist and functionalist reception of his social theory can be balanced. Durkheim explicitly rejected such monistic interpretations. His dialectical approach was always aimed at an essentially dualistic perception of man and society, wherein the lower pole, the individual, is central. In Durkheim's symbol theory, this position leads to two kinds of symbols: those that are bound to the human body, here called "this and that" symbols, and those people can choose freely, here called "this for that" symbols. This twofold symbol theory can already be found in medieval philosophy (e.g. Dante Alighieri) as well as in the work of Paul Ricoeur. For Durkheim the human person is the symbol par excellence. By implication the rituals in which the person is (re)constructed, that is the rites of passage, should be central. The interpretation here opens up new perspectives for a more psychological interpretation of Durkheim's sociology.     

Bringing the Material Back In: Understanding the U.S. Position on Climate Change

This paper analyzes how natural resource interests have been translated into political outcomes in the form of American climate change policy. Incorporating data about natural resource use and national decision-making, this paper concludes that comprehending fully political decisions about global climate change in the United States requires us to recognize how land-use interests in the growth machine are translated into political outcomes. The findings of this paper suggest that, in order to understand social phenomena more fully, sociologists must recommit to studying the conjoint constitution of natural resources and social processes.

Transnational Migration: Bringing Gender In

This article aims to bring gender into an even tighter transnational migration focus by broadening and deepening our original framework of “gendered geographies of power,” linking it more directly to existing and emerging scholarship. We examine and highlight previously neglected areas such as the role of the state and the social imaginary in gendering transnational processes and experiences. We identify topics that remain under‐appreciated, under‐researched, and/or under‐theorized. Finally, we initiate a discussion of how a gendered analysis of transnational migration can help bridge this particular research to other gendered transnational processes under study that do not privilege migration.     

Bringing Back Community: Family Support From the Bottom Up

This paper presents findings of an evaluation of a one‐off, small scale, pilot project. Picking up where Sure Start, the government programme for families of newborns to threes, leaves off, ‘Families in Focus’ works with children aged four to 16 on a disadvantaged council estate in London. Through this route, the programme also reaches out to the families, providing a high level of on the spot local support. Feeding into the government's social exclusion agenda, the impact of the project has been significant, not least in restoring a strong sense of community to a previously alienated problem estate.     

Bringing the Citizen Back In: Supporting Decentralisation in Fragile States ‐ A View from Burundi

While, in theory, decentralisation offers many benefits, empirical evidence of these benefits remains limited. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Burundi in 2011, this article argues that the current donor emphasis on institution‐building alone proves insufficient. Evidence is presented to show that current support, while consolidating the authority of local political elites, reinforces political and horizontal inequalities, thereby paving the way for further disaffection and conflict. Reflecting back to the initial aims of the process, a re‐orientation is proposed, moving the focus of support beyond elite state actors and institutions and bringing citizens back into the process of state building and transformation.     

New Disability Services: The Critical Role of Staff in a Consumer-directed Empowerment Model of Service for Physically Disabled People

Australian disability services have undergone a major review. Initiated by the government and now enshrined in new legislation, this review has significant implications for non-government social welfare organisations as major service providers in that it demands a significant service delivery reorientation. This paper describes one demonstration project involving four physically disabled persons, one female and three males, located in one domiciliary unit which signposts this new service direction and identifies it as a consumer-directed and empowering model. This is contrasted with previous institutional and care models of service. It identifies the staff role as important in this client-empowering model of service and raises a range of critical issues in the consumer-staff interface which enhances such empowerment. The paper suggests that where these staffing features and empowerment processes are lacking deinstitutionalisation may well have occurred without consumer empowerment being achieved.     

Back and to the Future: The Intergroup Contact Hypothesis Revisited*

This article discusses definitional and methodological problems which have marked the forty-year history of the Allport-Pettigrew contact hypothesis and reports on a study of biracial private neighborhoods at two points in time, including tests of all four enhancing conditions of the hypothesis. Findings indicate that though interracial visiting and prejudice are inversely related, more strongly for whites than for blacks, support for the hypothesized qualifying conditions is stronger for blacks. Duration in the contact situation and age of the respondent are examined as tests of differential selection and as possible explanations for anomalous findings. New directions, guided by recent models and by reformulations of traditional frameworks, are suggested.