Civic Epistemologies: Constituting Knowledge and Order in Political Communities

How do we know things? The question of epistemology – which drives both the sociology and philosophy of science – is also a crucial question for political sociology. Knowledge is essential to even the most basic and foundational of political processes and institutions. In 2000, for example, the transition of power in the US presidential election hung for 36 days on uncertainty over a seemingly simple question of fact: who won the most votes in Florida? A few years later, disputed factual claims about Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction unraveled, calling into question key justifications of the US decision to invade Iraq in 2003 and significantly weakening perceived US legitimacy. Yet, surprisingly, sociologists and political scientists know relatively little about how knowledge gets made in political communities, nor how the making of knowledge is tied to other key aspects of political life, such as identity, authority, legitimacy, and accountability.     

Guidance,counselling, therapy: responses to ‘marital problems’ 1950–901

This paper makes a contribution to the still relatively undeveloped literature on the sociology of counselling, using a detailed case study of one organisation. Styles of intervention are explored in the work of the National Marriage Guidance Council/Relate. The paper rejects a simple linear development model based on transitions from ‘guidance’, to ‘counselling’ to ‘therapy’ Influences deriving from Rogerian models of counselling, from psychodynamic and behavioural theory are explored and are placed in the context of wider organisational factors. Attention is given to the varying fortunes of the medical model within Marriage Guidance. The paper concludes with an examination of the contradictions thrown up by recent attempts to develop an eclectic model of marital counselling, which appear to founder on the absence of any clearly defined goals for intervention.     

THE DARK SIDE OF PURPOSE:

A review of riot and riot participation research requires rejection of structural strain and deprivation-frustration-aggression explanations. The complex and varied riot phenomena to be explained require a model of purposive actors. Competing models are reviewed. A perception control theory explanation of riot participation is supported by experimental and ethnographic evidence.     

Enclaves, neighbourhood effects and employment outcomes: Ethnic minorities in England and Wales

Ethnic minorities in England and Wales are spatially concentrated in relatively-deprived urban areas. Both geographic clustering and the economic characteristics of ethnically-concentrated neighbourhoods can impact upon the opportunities and constraints facing residents of such areas. This paper explores the relationship between the existence of enclaves and the employment prospects of ethnic minorities in England and Wales. It is shown that there is considerable spatial variation in employment outcomes. There is a lower incidence of self-employment in more ethnically-concentrated urban areas, which contradicts the view of ethnic entrepreneurship as an enclave phenomenon. Unemployment rates are also higher for minorities living in more concentrated areas. Enclaves in England and Wales do not appear to offer many economic benefits to minority individuals. Received: 31 December 1999/Accepted: 27 November 2000     

Family,marital, and occupational satisfaction for recovering pathological gamblers

This paper describes the efforts of a private gambling treatment program to conduct a retrospective study of pathological gamblers treated in a publicly supported residential program. The Johns Hopkins Center for Pathological Gambling treated approximately 100 pathological gamblers nationwide from 1979 to 1983 in its residential component. Twenty-six gamblers were assessed regarding their recovery status with specific focus on family, marital status and occupational satisfaction. It was hypothesized that the more satisfied patients would display lower frequencies of gambling and that gambling frequency was dependent upon the level of satisfaction. Thirty-one percent of these gamblers reported abstinence. Regression analyses indicated that the recovery of pathological gamblers as measured by frequency of gambling is significantly influenced by job satisfaction, and moderately influenced by marital status and family life satisfaction. Consequently, these factors should be addressed by mental health professionals in research and treatment of pathological gambling.     

The effects of prevailing wage laws: A comparison of individual workers’ wages earned on and off prevailing wage construction projects

I evaluate the effects of prevailing wage laws using a unique data set that shows the wages paid to workers on prevailing wage projects and the wages paid to the same workers during the same time period for work on projects not covered by prevailing wage regulations. The wage comparison shows that workers are generally paid more for work on prevailing wage projects than they are for work on nonprevailing wage projects. Thus, prevailing wage laws likely do increase the cost of public construction. In addition, to the extent that the quality of construction is improved, prevailing wage laws appear to be an inefficient mechanism by which to achieve additional quality, as the regulations often result in workers being paid more than they earn in the private market. This research was done originally for the Program Review and Investigations Committee of the Kentucky State Legislature. I thank the staff of the Program Review and Investigations Committee and the Legisla-tive Research Commission for assistance with data collection and Mark Berger for helpful comments. Due to confidentiality requirements, the data cannot be made available.     

Review Essay: Analyzing Emotions: Prisms,Transferences, Rituals,and Histories

Sociological Forum -     

Managing the introduction of new technology

Most of the existing literature on the implications of new technology focuses on either its ‘impact’ or the social choices that lie behind strategies for its introduction into work organisations. The problems of managing the implementation of new technology have yet to be extensively examined despite this being one of the most critical aspects in the process of technological change. The findings from two case studies are presented which show how managers in the organisations concerned developed contrasting approaches to the problem of implementation in the context of opportunities and constraints presented by product markets and technological advance. Similarities between the two approaches are identified, in particular the role played by top management support in facilitating the acceptance of the new technology. The argument that management is able to develop a single unitary strategy towards the introduction of new technology is rejected in favour of a view of managerial actions as a series of flexible and changing sub-strategies associated with different stages in the process of change.     

Demographic Foundations of Political Empowerment in Multiminority Cities

As U.S. cities accommodate increasing ethnic and racial diversity, political choices may unify or divide their local populations. Those choices pull communities toward two different modes of pluralism: traditional “melting pot” assimilation or a complex mosaic of racial and ethnic assertiveness. Central to this issue is equity and empowerment, which may be accentuated by minority populations’ size, structure, and spatial concentration. We examine two potential modes of local empowerment: “dominance,” whereby each group is the majority of voters in single election districts (reinforcing separative tendencies), and “influence,” whereby a group gains “influential minority” status in several districts (reinforcing unifying tendencies).