Animals and Sociology

This paper outlines some of the major theoretical contributions of the specialty field known as ‘animals and society’. It examines three areas of focus within the field. One of these areas finds connections between our exploitation of animals and other forms of domination and oppression. Consequently, this body of research provides insight into how we might challenge and overcome inequality, more generally. A second area examines animal abuse and questions entrenched assumptions about the link between cruelty to animals and violence directed toward humans. This research also reveals that animals are often victims and pawns in domestic violence. A third area uses human–animal interaction to challenge dominant sociological views of the self. By doing so, this work expands our knowledge of what it means to live in a social world. Overall, the scholarly work within the field of animals and society suggests that the inclusion of animals in sociological research can expand and clarify existing theories and concepts.     

A cross-national consensus on a unified sociological theory?

Can a standard set of sociological theories be formulated that would command consensus across the globe? Sociology developed in the context of nation-specific knowledge communities and hence constitutes a singular endeavor anchored deeply in the respective regions of its birth. Every society’s mode of sociology analysis varies. A case study — Sociology in the US — illustrates this position. A discussion of the original contours and developmental trajectory of German Sociology is utilized in order further to isolate the uniqueness of sociological theory’s ?location” in American Sociology. Pivotal differences continue to anchor nation-specific traditions and approaches to sociological theory, all of which preclude standardization attempts.     

The demographic transformation and the sociological enterprise

The dramatic demographic changes of the 1980s and 1990s in the United States are creating a multiracial, multicultural society. This article examines the intellectual challenges for sociology posed by the emerging racial diversity brought about by these population trends. The problem is that conventional sociological frameworks no longer apply in this increasingly complex social world of rapid population changes, diversity, and polarization. Most significant, conventional American sociology, which has focused on white society rooted in western culture, is challenged by three large racial/ethnic categories. We argue that diversity must be incorporated into our sociologies. This requires two new approaches: (1) Sociology must be recentered, that is, it must move away from the notion that whites have the universal experience against which all others are measured; and (2) Sociologists must apply to diverse populations the same kind of sociological analysis that they apply to mainstream categories. This means that we demythologize by dispelling common myths about those outside the mainstream and that we uncover the mechanisms that construct social differences.     

School choice's idealized premises and unfulfilled promises: How school markets simulate options,encourage decoupling and deception,and deepen disadvantages

In school choice systems, families choose among publicly funded schools, and schools compete for students and resources. Using neoinstitutionalist and relational inequality theories, our article reinterprets recent critical sociological and education research to show how such markets involve actors' enacting myths; these beliefs and their associated practices normalized white, privileged consumption as a basis for revamping public education as market exchanges between schools and families. Proponents argue that choice empowers individuals, focuses organizations on improving quality, and benefits society more broadly by reducing inequality and segregation. We argue that such school choice myths' excessive emphases on individual decision‐making and provider performance obscure the actual impacts of school choice systems upon people, organizations, and society. First, rather than enlarging alternatives that families can easily research, select, and (if needed) exit, school choice systems often simulate options, especially for disadvantaged populations. Second, rather than focusing schools' efforts on performance, innovation, and accountability, they can encourage organizational decoupling, homogeneity, and deception. Third, rather than reducing societal harms, they can deepen inequalities and alienation. Future research should examine both how markets are animated by bounded relationality—routines that enable them to form, maintain, and complete exchanges with organizations—and how activism can challenge marketization.     

Public Relations and Symbolic Politics

In German-speaking countries public relations scholars emphasize the role of public relations (PR) in society in their theorizing. These scholars seek to understand PR as a macro-level, or sociological, phenomenon in contrast to the micro-level, or management, emphasis of scholars in the United States. This article builds a sociological theory of PR by comparing it with the practice of symbolic politics as conceptualized in political science. The theory states that both PR and symbolic politics develop and use symbols—signs that influence and guide conceptions—to achieve their purposes. They also rely heavily on journalistic media. Media reality, however, frequently departs from extramedia reality. The difference between these two types of reality makes it possible for symbolic politics and PR to influence the gap and perhaps to separate the symbolic world from the external world. On the other hand, attention is a scarce resource, and increased activity in PR and symbolic politics eventually will have a declining marginal social utility.     

“I’m not male,not white,want to start there?”: Olivia Chow and Identity Work in Toronto’s 2014 Mayoral Election

ABSTRACT

This article uses sociological theories of identity work to extend the research on political leadership. Focusing on Toronto mayoral candidate Olivia Chow—a high-profile progressive politician, an instant frontrunner, and a stark contrast to Mayor Rob Ford’s populist conservative agenda—this article argues that Chow was required to negotiate and mobilize identity in ways that were different from her white male opponents. Based on an intersectional analysis of participant observation in twenty mayoral debates, this article offers three concepts that illuminate forms of identity work on the campaign trail: dispositional requirements, ideological alignment, and political compensatory labour. This article illustrates that the racist and sexist terrain of politics requires a complex set of decisions and actions on the part of marginalized candidates.     

Modernisierungstheorie und Wandel der Weltgesellschaft

The modernization and industrialization of the developing countries, especially in Asia and Latin America in the last 30 years, are facts that seem to contradict to the basic assumptions of the ruling sociological theories of development. The rise of the developing countries is a main part of the process called “globalization”. The different parts of the world are getting closer to each other by trade, industrial investments, tourism, political influences and co-operations on different levels. Theories of dependence and similar approaches don’t fit these social developments and seem to have gotten a status of falsified, refused, neglected or simply forgotten theories. “Sociological Theory” is till this day not ready to answer the open questions and to fill the scientific gap. The article shows that the classical theory of modernization is capable to describe and explain the process of modernization not only in Europe but also in the developing countries. Modernization theory is the central and encompassing theory of development, no matter whether Europe in the last 200 years, the present-day developing countries or processes of globalization is the chosen and focused subject of research activities.     

System Theory as Global Sociology-Japanese Ramifications of Parsonian and Luhmannian Thought

This article explores various engagements of system theory with Germany and Japan, looking in particular at the theories of Talcott Parsons and Niklas Luhmann. Talcott Parsons based his sociological theory on the idea of a system of the values of a given society. Niklas Luhmann’s extended version was based on the idea of self-reproduction (or “autopoiesis”) of social systems within all modernized societies. Two studies have recently re-examined system theory on basis of its engagement with Japan: Günther Distelrath has subjected Parsonian theory on Japanese modernity to a structural revisioning in Die japanische Produktionsweise (1996); and Peter Fuchs has reconciled what he calls the “dividualism” of the Japanese psyche with the Luhmannian theory of functional differentiation in Kommunikation — Japanisch (1995). Distelrath critiques the Parsonian school of thought for giving Japan the status of a backward “follower” of the West. Fuchs, in contrast, endorses the universalist premise of Luhmann’s concept of society and makes Japanese “dividualism” the paradigm of effective modernization. Following on from Fuchs, I argue that system theory has the potential to overcome cultural limitations and become a global sociology. Its theoretical agenda in the twenty-first century includes the refinement of its concepts of the psychical system, the revision of its notion of the public and the mass media, as well as a systematic contribution to environmental protection and ecological communication in a functionally differentiated world society.     

Arguing globalizations: Propositions towards an investigation of global formation

Abstract

Theorizing globalization in all its contradictions and unevenness is still at a very formative stage. Too many theories are either characterized by reductive appropriations of the phenomenon or by studied vagueness. This article attempts to answer the question how can we set up a method for understanding such a variable set of processes associated with globalization(s) while still recognizing broad and changing dominant patterns of practice across world history. The article begins with the apparently simple issue of defining globalization, suggesting that definitional issues often hide a multitude of methodological questions. It then goes onto to develop a series of propositions about the nature of globalization and how we might move from detailed empirical studies of different social processes of extension across world space and time to an understanding of the changing nature of the spatiality and temporality itself. This is linked to an argument about the structures of power and subjection.     

A Sociology of Foreign Aid and the World Society

This article highlights an emerging research agenda for the study of foreign aid through a World Society theory lens. First, it briefly summarizes the social scientific literature on aid and sociologists' earlier contributions to this research. Next, it reviews the contours of world society research and the place of aid within this body of literature. Finally, it outlines three emergent threads of research on foreign aid that comprise a new research agenda for the sociology of foreign aid and its role in world society globalization.     

Sociological conceptualizations of compassion fatigue: Expanding our understanding

Compassion fatigue has been primarily studied at the micro level and framed as a psychological “personal trouble” that results from one's personality traits, demographic characteristics, or life and work stressors. In addition, compassion fatigue is used to predict other psychological outcomes such as burnout, depersonalization, and stress. This literature on compassion fatigue has been reviewed, in order to illustrate areas where sociologists can contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the phenomenon. In this article we conceptualize compassion fatigue as a sociological concept and overview the potential ways that sociological approaches can enhance our understanding. We draw on the literatures of emotion work, social exchange theory, and macrolevel sociological theories to facilitate the use of compassion fatigue from a sociological perspective. For example, we use concepts such as social integration and anomie to stimulate thinking about rates of compassion fatigue.     

Olympic and world sport: making transnational society?

This paper introduces the special issue of the British Journal of Sociology on the subject of the transnational aspects of Olympic and world sport. The special issue is underpinned by the perspective that because sport provides a space for the forging of transnational connections and global consciousness, it is increasingly significant within contemporary processes of globalization and the making of transnational society. In this article, we examine in turn eight social scientific themes or problems that are prominent within the special issue: globalization, glocalization, neo-liberal ideologies and policies, transnational society, securitization, global civil society, transnational/global public sphere, and fantasy/imagination. We conclude by highlighting five 'circles' of future research inquiry within world sport that should be explored by social scientists.     

The Modern Poor: On the Sociological Position of Social-Aid Clients

Abstract

The social-aid institution has been analyzed almost exclusively from a social problems approach, aiming at the understanding of social aid clients as a social problem. This article views them from a different angle, as a sociological category occupying a unique position in society. Following Simmel, we deal here with those who are poor in a social sense, i.e., anyone receiving public assistance. It is the acceptance of social assistance which makes clients into a specific sociological stratum. The specific kinds of rules and roles involved in any society's public assistance system are thus seen to produce the sociological position of the clients. With goalmotivated assistance, clients tend to be by-passed. With relationship-motivated assistance, the increasing formalization of modern society has made clients and practioners equal in one important sense—both are subordinated to the same rules and regulations.     

Warum die Weltgesellschaft nicht existiert. Kritische Reflexionen zu einigen empirischen und epistemologischen Problemen der Theorie der Weltgesellschaft

Use of the term “World Society” in its present connotations is becoming an accepted part of the vocabulary of globalization in academic thinking. Despite its relatively rapid rise as an analytical tool, the popularity of the term does not appear to be matched by any widespread consensus concerning its precise meaning. This paper therefore sets out to take a recapitulating look at the concept of “World Society” from both a theoretical and systematical standpoint. The aim is to offer a detailed account of the concept of World Society. Current sociological research on World Society focuses on three sets of central assumptions, which are of special relevance for its genesis: 1. Communication technologies; 2. Global diffusion of cultural/ normative patterns; 3. Functional Differentiation. This serves as the backdrop for an analysis of the epistemological limitations and modal epistemological problems of World Society Theory. Epistemic modality deals with the reality or truth-status of propositions. Due to reflections on philosophy of modality, this paper attempts to show that socio-cultural rules as such are merely “virtual”. Structures are not fixed or given. They exist only as they are instantiated in action. On this basis the paper argues that world society does not exist, because World society theory mostly overlooks implementation. It attends almost entirely to law on the books, not law in action. Synonymous with the Western metaphysical tradition world society theory presents a modern version of a Platonic theory of ideas. In a critical discussion of concepts of World Society Theory, the limits of this approach as well as noteworthy challenges for historical-sociological research on contemporary processes of globalization are identified.     

The Threat of the “Other”: Ethnic Competition and Racial Interest

Racial conflict has been at the center of US society since its inception. Various theories have tried to explain why racial conflict arises and what the motivating factors are. The aim of this article is to examine one of these theories––ethnic competition––by reviewing the sociological literature from the 1970s to present that focuses on racial interest, ethnic competition, and racial threat.     

Status Attainment and Social Mobility

This paper discusses why and how the consideration of inter-individual genetic variation can enhance the explanatory power of sociological inquiries of status attainment and social stratification. We argue that accounting for genetic variation may help to address longstanding and in some cases overlooked causality problems in explaining the emergence of social inequalities—problems which may interfere with both implicit and explicit interpretations of a society as “open” or “closed,” as meritocratic or non-meritocratic. We discuss the basic methodological tenets of genetically informative research (Sect. 2) and provide empirical examples and theoretical conceptualizations on how genetic variation contributes to status attainment (Sect. 3). This is followed by a discussion of gene-environment interplay in relation to more abstract ideas about social mechanisms that generate inequality, touching on normative implications of these ideas as well as considerations from a social justice perspective (Sect. 4). Finally, we briefly review the potential benefits as well as pitfalls of incorporating genetic influences into sociological explanations of status attainment. As we will argue, understanding how social influences impinge on the individual and how genes influence our lives requires sophisticated research designs based on sound sociological theory and methodology (Sect. 5).     

Micro-Sociology on the Rise: The Changing Sociological Field in the 1960s and the Case of Conversation Analysis

There were substantial changes to be observed in the sociological field in the 1960s. Grand theories were being left behind and the notion of agency and an active shaping of structure became more popular in the turn towards micro-sociology. Harvey Sacks’ conversation analysis (CA) is one good example of the evolution of such a renewing way of doing sociology. Only relatively late in the evolution of CA, though, we can observe instances of institutionalization like the publication of compendia, the formation of sections within scientific associations, and a society dedicated to CA research. Applying a neo-institutional framework in this paper, we take into account the mutual influences between the established forces of the sociological field and the upcoming micro-sociological approaches in the 1960s with conversation analysis being one example. This procedure should help us to come closer to an understanding of the complex processes taking place in the course of the evolution of ideas.     

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.