Towards an immature sociology

Sociological theory displays a tendency to depict the social world in terms of completed ‘beings’. The social, thus depicted, is a world of powers to ‘finish’(such as the power granted to convention to provide for social order), and finished products (such as agents and ethical points-of-view). As sociologists of childhood have attempted to bring children into sociological focus in their own right, the disciplinary concern with the ‘complete’ has required that children be attributed the properties assumed more normally to belong to adults. The sociology of childhood has thus preserved the privilege of the complete and the mature over the incomplete and the immature. In this paper the key sociological issues of convention, agency and ethics are given a theoretical interpretation that makes them fit for understanding childhood. The ability of convention to complete social order is questioned. Agency is portrayed as the emergent property of networks of dependency rather than the possession of individuals. An alternative to the ethics of ‘positions’ is offered in the form of an ethics of ‘motion’. Where extant sociologies of childhood have brought children into the ‘finished’ world of sociological theory, this paper uses childhood's ontological ambiguity to open the door onto an unfinished social world.     

Social Movement Rhetoric and the Social Psychology of Collective Action: A Case Study of Anti-Abortion Mobilization

This paper seeks to contribute toward anintegrated approach to social movement mobilization. Itdoes so through considering how a social psychologicalaccount of the determination of collective behavior (selfcategorization theory) may be applied tothe mobilization rhetoric of social movements. Morespecifically it argues that as people may definethemselves and act in terms of social categories, we may usefully conceive of social movement rhetoricas being organized so as to construct social categorydefinitions which allow the activists preferred courseof action to be taken on by others as their own. Our theoretical argument is illustrated throughthe detailed analysis of category construction incontemporary U.K. anti-abortion argumentation.     

Relational sociology and culture: a preliminary framework

In this paper I outline a framework for a relational sociology of culture. I begin by briefly defining relational sociology and contrasting it with both individualistic and holistic alternatives. Culture, I suggest, is an inherently relational concept and needs to be theorised and analysed as such. This argument is briefly elaborated through a discussion of the generation and diffusion of culture by way of interaction and social networks. The respective contributions of Tarde, Durkheim, Merleau-Ponty, and Wittgenstein are given particular attention. In the final part of the paper I introduce and discuss Howard Becker's notion of ‘art worlds’, drawing out and elaborating upon its relational foundations whilst also further developing it through a more sustained reflection upon both the facilitative potential of social networks and their shaping, as hypothesised by Peter Blau (and developed by Miller McPherson and Noah Mark), by way of homophilic attraction in ‘social space’. The paper covers a lot of ground and is intended as a sketch which subsequent work will fill out.     

Enhancing Service Evaluability: Lessons from a Programme for Disaffected Young People

The effectiveness of children's services is often limited by a series of problems that also impede meaningful evaluation. This article describes and assesses research strategies to enhance the evaluability of a programme for disaffected young people, arguing that they have the potential to improve services more widely. It explores methods for developing a logic model, setting target group criteria, tightening programme components, identifying sufficient suitable candidates and selecting appropriate measures. Examples of other preparatory work aimed at helping the evaluation are given, including firming‐up the programme and evaluation ethics and dealing with the politics of a fairly complex evaluation (a randomised controlled trial) that involves numerous stakeholders.     

Children’s conceptualisation(s) of their well-being

This paper describes the process and some findings of a collaborative project between the New South Wales Commission for Children and Young People and researchers at the Social Justice and Social Change Research Centre, at the University of Western Sydney. The project was designed to inform the Commission in implementing its legislative mandate to develop a set of well-being indicators to monitor children's well-being over time. Placing children centrally as research participants was fundamental to the methodological approach of the project in which children's understandings of what contributes to their well-being were explored through qualitative methods. We discuss the epistemological and methodological approaches used in the project, in the context of other, earlier research towards the development of children's well-being indicators. Some of the early findings from the collaborative project are outlined and an example given of the way in which knowledge produced by a research approach which places children centrally, differs from and is similar to knowledge produced by more traditional child social indicator research. The paper ends with a discussion of some of the implications and challenges posed by reflecting on the research process and early findings from the research.     

'Race', employment and equal opportunities: towards a political economy and an agenda for the 1990s1

This paper attempts to provide a broad overview of the recent history of equal opportunities, particularly of work-place policies and programmes directed towards ethnic minorities. It identifies three main stages in the recent history of equal opportunities at the work-place and seeks to connect these with an analysis of the economic arrangements and dominant political philosophies characteristic of each phase. The paper concludes by noting that there is currently a widespread view that equal opportunities policies represents a happy coincidence of principle and expediency for firms in the 1990s. It suggests that whilst a number of trends with the potential to realise this promise can be discerned, other outcomes are possible. Writing in mid-1992, it remains to be seen whether the new rhetoric of citizenship and business efficiency can secure both the continuing commitment of those with the power to make changes and the enduring support of the disadvantaged.