http://soc.sagepub.com Sociology RSS feed -- current issue August 2008 Sociology 0038-0385 http://soc.sagepub.com:80/icons/banner/title.gif http://soc.sagepub.com http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/4/597?rss=1 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508094929 British Sociological Association 4 42 600 2008-08-01 597 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/4/601?rss=1 Many manage risks of urban violence through constructing of no-go areas — not so the residents there. How do they manage risks of violence? This paper approaches this question through the concepts of risk and (dis)trust of Sztompka (1999) and within a framework of disadvantage in a`matrix of oppression'(Collin 2000). Based on ethnography, the paper asks how people experience risks of `street violence' and `personal violence', how they manage them, and how their discourses about it relate to institutional discourses of how to solve problems of violence. I show that violence is being accepted and rejected in their specific relation to identity enhancement and respect within a context of intersecting forms of oppression along lines of race, class and gender.Through a discourse of fate, residents tell that violence concerns the wider context of stigmatization and exclusion — which does not match with the approach of local institutions.

]]> 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508091617 British Sociological Association 4 42 617 2008-08-01 601 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/4/618?rss=1 The conceptual separation of `work' and `life', as distinct elements of social activity, has become established as shorthand for the social and psychological dislocation felt by being at work and not being at work.There is a literature on the work/life balance driven by governmental rhetoric, based on the idea of flexible working. This article suggests that distinctions between `work' and `life', implying a dichotomy in adult life, are overstated. Using material from a study of bicycle messengers this article presents a rich account of a group of workers for whom the binary distinction between work and life is meaningless. The account of this world of work is more closely aligned with those of the jazz musicians described by Becker or the boxers of Weinberg and Arond, where the occupation, identity and culture are not confined to hours of work.

]]> 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508091619 British Sociological Association 4 42 634 2008-08-01 618 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/4/635?rss=1 This article examines the widespread proposition that the mobile phone dissolves the boundaries that separate work and home, extending the reach of work. It analyses data derived from a purpose-designed survey to study social practices surrounding mobile phone use.The key components of the survey investigated here are a questionnaire and a log of phone calls retrieved from respondents' handsets. Rather than being primarily a tool of work extension, or even a tool that facilitates greater work-family balance, we show that the main purpose of mobile phone calls is to maintain continuing connections with family and friends. Our findings suggest that individuals exert control over the extent to which calls invade their personal time, actively encouraging deeper contacts with intimates.

]]> 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508091620 British Sociological Association 4 42 652 2008-08-01 635 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/4/653?rss=1 While women continue to do the lion's share of foodwork and other housework, they and their families appear to perceive this division of labour as fair. Much of the research in this area has focused on families of European origin, and on the perceptions of women. Here we report findings of a qualitative study based on interviewing multiple family members from three ethno-cultural groups in Canada. Women, men and children employed similar rationales for why women did most of the foodwork, though explanations differed somewhat by ethno-cultural group. Explicitly naming foodwork as women's work was uncommon, except in one ethno-cultural group.Yet more individualized, apparently gender-neutral rationales such as time availability, schedules, concern for family health, foodwork standards, and the desire to reduce family conflict were grounded in unspoken assumptions about gender roles. Such implicit gender assumptions may be more difficult to challenge.

]]> 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508091621 British Sociological Association 4 42 671 2008-08-01 653 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/4/672?rss=1 There is growing interest in the role of migrants' social networks as sources of social capital. Networks are, however, often conceptualized rather loosely and insufficient attention has been paid to how migrants access existing networks or establish new ties in the `host' society.The assumption that migrants are able to access dense networks within close-knit local communities simplifies the experiences of newly arrived migrants, underestimating difficulties they may face in accessing support. Exploring the work of Putnam, as well as Coleman and Bourdieu, we critically engage with the conceptualization of bonding and bridging social capital, and the relationship between them, through an exploration of Polish migrants' networking skills and strategies. In examining the different types and levels of support derived through social ties, this article contributes to understandings of social networking by arguing for a greater differentiation and specification of networks both vertically and horizontally, but also spatially and temporally.

]]> 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508091622 British Sociological Association 4 42 690 2008-08-01 672 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/4/691?rss=1 The last quarter of the 20th century gave rise to debate in this journal and elsewhere regarding the treatment of women in class analysis. It is argued here that the question of minority ethnic achievement has given new impetus to arguments in favour of taking account of mother's occupation in class schemas.The article constructs three different class schemas and tests their utility in this context. It then uses one schema to assess the importance of social class in explaining achievement differentials among minority ethnic pupils in Britain. Class background is found to be a key factor for all groups.The analysis finds significant differences between ethnic groups even when pupils from the same social class background are compared. When disparities within ethnic groups are examined, however, it is found that the effect of moving one place down the social class structure is similar.

]]> 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508091623 British Sociological Association 4 42 708 2008-08-01 691 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/4/709?rss=1 The article presents an exploratory analysis of the significance of personal names in contemporary Western societies, the UK in particular. Names are seen as having the dual character of denoting the individuality of the person, and also marking social connections.The focus is particularly on kinship, and the ways in which names can be, and are, used to map family connections as well as to identify unique individuals.The author argues that both surnames and forenames can serve to ground the individual within family relationships, though the extent to which this is used actively can vary. In turn the way in which names and naming are used within the family context sheds light upon contemporary kinship, with its enduring and variable dimensions. Additional empirical exploration of names and naming could further illuminate its characteristics.

]]> 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508091624 British Sociological Association 4 42 725 2008-08-01 709 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/4/726?rss=1 This article, based on an interview study of public engagement with the new Welsh Assembly building — the Senedd — theorizes the limits and opportunities of `political tourism', or visits to sites of political importance. To understand visitors' engagement with the assembly building, we explore how they account for their reasons to visit, and their perceptions and expectations of the new building and institution. We identify two principal types of vocabulary displayed by members of the public in making sense of the building, those of political engagement and tourist consumption. Both are informed by what we refer to as practices of the `democratic gaze'. Both vocabularies reveal, to varying degrees, the social mechanics of the gaze, and the inscription and interpretation of agency around the building's design. We conclude by exploring how this study can inform discussions of political engagement and tourism practices.

]]> 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508091625 British Sociological Association 4 42 744 2008-08-01 726 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/4/745?rss=1 The death taboo has been depicted as modernity's burial of the question of human mortality. Death is prejudged as a `pornographic' event that should be veiled. Critics argue that this taboo has been exaggerated and the sequestration of death reflects a crisis of meaning in modernity. However, sources of re-enchantment in modernity have continually undermined the death taboo by keeping alive the meaning of transcendence. New Age redefinition of death as spiritual transition and representation of near-death experiences as affirmation of the afterlife have revived the quest for transcendence over the silence perpetrated by the taboo. As part of the quest for transcendence, re-enchantment emasculates death as a foe in order to redefine it as a vehicle of emancipation.

]]> 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508091626 British Sociological Association 4 42 759 2008-08-01 745 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/4/760?rss=1 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508091628 British Sociological Association 4 42 766 2008-08-01 760 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/4/767?rss=1 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508091629 British Sociological Association 4 42 769 2008-08-01 767 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/4/770?rss=1 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420041102 British Sociological Association 4 42 772 2008-08-01 770 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/4/773?rss=1 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508091630 British Sociological Association 4 42 774 2008-08-01 773 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/4/774?rss=1 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420041202 British Sociological Association 4 42 776 2008-08-01 774 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/4/776?rss=1 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420041203 British Sociological Association 4 42 777 2008-08-01 776 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/4/778?rss=1 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420041204 British Sociological Association 4 42 779 2008-08-01 778 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/4/779?rss=1 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420041205 British Sociological Association 4 42 781 2008-08-01 779 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/4/781?rss=1 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420041206 British Sociological Association 4 42 783 2008-08-01 781 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/4/783?rss=1 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420041207 British Sociological Association 4 42 784 2008-08-01 783 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/4/784?rss=1 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420041208 British Sociological Association 4 42 786 2008-08-01 784 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/4/787?rss=1 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508094933 British Sociological Association 4 42 793 2008-08-01 787 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/4/794?rss=1 2008-07-28 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508095905 British Sociological Association 4 42 796 2008-08-01 794 Article