Collective Action,Everyday Protest,and Lived Religion

The conflict in 2001 at the Kukdong (now Mexmode) maquila garment factory is one of the rare cases of success in the wider struggle for independent unionism in Mexico. The success of the struggle, which has attracted scholars interested in the campaigns against sweatshop labour conditions and on behalf of labour internationalism, has been attributed chiefly to the role played by transnational advocacy networks in mobilizing pressure on the global sportswear giant Nike, whose brand-name, collegiate apparel was being produced in the plant. In this paper we seek not to explain why the struggle was successful, but to examine the trajectory it took over a protracted period of about nine months. We draw on McAdam et al.'s reformulation of the analysis of contentious, transgressive politics to identify three mechanisms that were particularly salient in shaping the course taken by the conflict: scale shift, actor decomposition, and brokerage. Scale shift occurred as the workers quickly escalated the conflict by broadening their demands from the resolution of particular concrete grievances to a demand for freedom of association that made the existing corporatist union, the FROC-CROC, which had a signed a protection contract with the plant's management, the principal target of opposition and challenge. Actor decomposition occurred as the workers' strategy locally and transnationally sought to isolate the FROC-CROC by detaching it from other members of the corporate–state bloc (Kukdong management, Nike, and the local political authorities). Brokerage, finally, occurred as Nike in particular was used to mediate pressure from the workers' transnational supporters (principally labour rights NGOs and the anti-sweatshop movement) on Kukdong and the local political authorities to respect the workers' right to freedom of association, which resulted in the ouster of the FROC-CROC as the legally certified union at the factory and its replacement with an independent union (SITEMEX) formed by the workers themselves.     

Situated Objectivity

ABSTRACT: This paper is a re-examination of the issue of objectivity in sociology. Though it begins from the premise that objectivity is a necessary precondition for a minimally scientific sociology, it sides with subjectivists who claim that values are ever present in investigation. Values are shown to exist along a continuum in investigation. The paper develops the argument that objectivity is a value itself and is nested in other values that will take on a contextual character dependent upon disciplines. Two brief research examples are used to illustrate the way in which objectivity is transferred (or fails to get transferred) through three different levels in sociology.     

Business Unusual: Corporate Responsibility in a 2.0 World*

The imperatives of a growing consensus on human‐induced causes of climate change, an increasing gap between rich and poor, and the misguided incentives in the economic, business, and financial models that dominated the last quarter of the twentieth century and first decade of the twenty‐first century along with the emergence of Web 2.0's transparency have highlighted the need for a new approach to capitalism. Looking around the world, we can witness the emergence of numerous new forms of enterprise that are part of a broader movement that we are calling change to a sustainable enterprise economy (SEE Change). This article details the broad outlines of the emerging shift, highlighting the new types of enterprise that constitute the SEE. First, we set the context in which business unusual is evolving, a context of “wicked problems”uncertainty, and sustainability problems. Then we provide an overview of new types of enterprises that are already emerging to cope with these changes, enterprises of the cloud (interlinked, web‐based enterprises that rely on the “cloud” of computers that store data such as social media, eBay, and Google). Next, we outline how such enterprises are permitting processes of dematerialization and “servicization” (the shift from product to services) to create new forms of enterprise that are less dependent on physical resources. From here, we explore what we term enterprise unusual, corporations that incorporate pro‐social goals into their very essence, for example, for‐benefit corporations, the B Corporation, and conscious capitalism companies, along with a few entities that are shaping their product development along the lines of biomimicry. All of this change, we argue, has created a blurring of sector boundaries evidenced in the rapid emergence of social enterprise, of which explore a variety of types, and what is being called the fourth sector, where business purpose and pro‐social activity are combined.     

Moving beyond Litigation and Positivism: Another Approach to Accusations of Sexual Abuse

Correspondence to Professor Lena Dominelli, Department of Social Work Studies, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 IBJ. Summary The Current polarized debated about false memory and reclaimedmemory with regard to child sexual abuse have trivialized thesignificance of experimental knowledge and contributed to thesilencing of the voice of the victim-survivor. They have alsoenabled the alleged abuser to avoid confronting those elementsof his behaviour which are problematic for others and discouragedpreventative approaches by locking the protagonists into adversarialpositions. We argue that this need not be the case if therapeuticrelationships can operate outside of court driven proceedingsand be aimed at responding to the needs of the victim-survivorto have their experience of abuse validated and of the allegedabuser to work on non-abusive ways of relating to others.     

Putting Moral Standards on the Map: The Construction of Unemployment and the Housing Problem in Turn-of-the-Century London1

Abstract This article challenges the idea that the construction of unemployment in turn-of-the-century Great Britain was an attempt simply to normalize employment relations by promoting regular work patterns. An analysis of the Booth survey in terms of the standard of life concept demonstrates the importance of the slum clearance problematic in bringing about the major rethink in policy thinking which ultimately led to the labour exchange project. The peculiar mobilisation patterns promoted by the labour exchange project reflect the difficulty or impossibility of delocalising industry or dock activity into the London suburbs.     

Understanding 'Going Missing': issues for social work and social services

Correspondence to Malcolm Payne, Professor of Applied Community Studies, The Manchester Metropolitan University, 799 Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, Manchester M20 8RR. Summary Recent research about young people and adults who ‘gomissing’ raises important issues for social work and thesocial services. Large numbers of young people go missing eachyear, becoming vulnerable to exploitation and at risk of committingcrime and suffering from other social difficulties. Adults leavebehind families with practical and emotional difficulties. Adefinition of ‘going missing’ should focus on absencefrom social expectations and responsibilities. Five groups ofmissing person are identified: runaways, pushaways, throwaways,fallaways and takeaways, reflecting different social situationsin which going missing occurs. It is argued that going missingis one of a range of choices which people in difficulties maymake, depending on their approach to problems in their livesand the availability of opportunities. Effective local co-ordinationto focus on reasons for going missing, on reunions and returnsto residential care or home, and to provide emotional and practicalhelp to people ‘left behind’, are required, providedthat care is taken to protect people who go missing becausethey are subject to abuse and violence.     

The early history of Scottish child welfare

SUMMARY. There is a growing interest in the history of childhood and child care. This article brings together from disparate sources some of the details and themes concerning the emergence and development of public and voluntary child welfare in Scotland. Particular attention is given to residential and foster care arrangements under the Poor Law and to the influence of ‘philanthropic’ individuals and organisations. Comparative references are made to the contemporary situation in England and Wales and to present day practice.