http://soc.sagepub.com Sociology RSS feed -- recent issues 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 http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/3/397?rss=1 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507089542 British Sociological Association 3 42 399 2008-06-01 397 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/3/400?rss=1 This article examines empirical qualitative data on men who buy sexual services from women who work as escorts and in massage parlours. It investigates that men give to sexual experience, their desires for intimacy and their experience of the commercial boundaries. This article argues that there are problems with initially making the distinction between normative and non-normative sexual relationships where commerce is present.The sexual scripts of the `regular' male client are compared to heterosexual male sexual scripts, arguing that commercial sexual relationships can mirror the traditional romance, courtship rituals, modes and meanings of communication, sexual familiarity, mutual satisfaction and emotional intimacies found in `ordinary' relationships.The findings suggest that general understandings of sex work and prostitution are based on false dichotomies between commercial and non-commercial relationships. Nuanced understanding of the micro-relationship between the sex worker and regular client beyond a structural analysis can be applied to a policy framework that reinforces responsibility in the male client role.

]]> 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508088833 British Sociological Association 3 42 417 2008-06-01 400 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/3/418?rss=1 This article presents ethnographic data showing how recruitment consultants negotiate managerial attempts to control workforce culture. I suggest the values which senior managers encourage consultants to embody prioritize so-called`masculine' attributes over `feminine' ones. I attempt to demonstrate the limits of cultural control by outlining three ways in which the consultants engage with this imposed culture: defiance, parody and ritual. These activities contain gendered assumptions similar to those embedded in corporate culture. I discuss the potential such practices have for resisting corporate culture and the gender within it, suggesting that one source of ambiguity within workplace `control' and `resistance' practices is that they employ overlapping cultural resources and assumptions.

]]> 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508088834 British Sociological Association 3 42 435 2008-06-01 418 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/3/436?rss=1 Industrial heritage deals directly with working-class experience in a very public forum, but has not really been analysed in relation to class issues. This article discusses the case of ex-workers re-employed as heritage guides to tell the story of their own lives at a living history coalmining-museum, exploring the nature of the performances/representations of class that are produced. Heritage performance is caught up in a double bind that is familiar to other kinds of working-class representation: a continual equivocation between foregrounding dignity and autonomy on the one hand, and acknowledging subjugation and defeat on the other.This tension is played out, though differently, both in the guides' past occupations and their present ones.The article examines the public narratives they produce for visitors in the here and now as well as locating these in an understanding of their current positions as tour guide employees and their living through of their memories and identities as mineworkers.

]]> 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508088824 British Sociological Association 3 42 452 2008-06-01 436 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/3/453?rss=1 Perspectives on gender and identity that emphasize variability of performance, local context and individual agency have displaced earlier paradigms.These are now perceived to have supported gender stereotypes and language ideologies by emphasizing gender difference and homogeneity within genders. In a secondary analysis of health and illness narratives we explore the interaction of class and gender in individuals' constructions of gendered identity. High social class men perform gender in particularly varied ways and we speculate that this variable repertoire, including the use of what was once termed `women's language', is linked to a capacity to maintain social distinction and authority. Men's performance of conventional masculinity is often threatened by both the experience of illness and being interviewed about personal experience. Lower social class women in particular demonstrate an intensification of a pre-existing informal family and support group culture, marking successful members by awarding them the accolade of being `lovely'.

]]> 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508088835 British Sociological Association 3 42 469 2008-06-01 453 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/3/470?rss=1 This article examines how women present a moral self in relation to public norms that constitute`good' motherhood.Thefocus of this article is on two types of written life story: first, those written by mothers who express a past or current wish to divorce and, second, those written by lone mothers.The life stories offer insights into how individuals account for their actions in situations where they face the moral dilemma of clashing ethical norms — care for self and care for children — and how individuals with a `spoiled identity' manage a moral presentation of self. The article concludes by critically examining the consequences of using written life stories rather than face-to-face interviews as data in a study of the moral tales that individuals tell.

]]> 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508088836 British Sociological Association 3 42 486 2008-06-01 470 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/3/487?rss=1 This article examines fatherhood as a contemporary sociological phenomenon. Drawing on interviews with 40 fathers, it considers perceptions and experiences of how the concept and practice of fatherhood are undergoing important changes. Specifically, it argues that fatherhood is affected by (after Giddens) a process of detraditionalization, whereby fathering is increasingly a response to personal biography and circumstances rather than being modelled on traditional ideal types of what it means to be a father.Theoretically, the discussion uses some of the ideas developed in debates on reflexive modernization to suggest that fatherhood is becoming progressively individualized. It uses these theoretical interpretations as a tool in understanding the way that societal change in all its complexity impacts on the role of the late modern reflexive father.

]]> 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508088837 British Sociological Association 3 42 502 2008-06-01 487 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/3/503?rss=1 It has been claimed that the conditions of modernity create the opportunities as well as the need for social actors to take greater responsibility for their own identities. Feminist theorists have responded to such `celebratory' views of identity transformation with caution, emphasizing instead the situated nature of critical reflexivity and arguing that the opportunities for transformations in gender identity are far more limited than has been suggested by modernization theorists. In this article, the authors address this issue of the transformative potential of critical reflexivity by drawing upon Frankfurt's (1988) notion of second-order desires and Bonham's (1999) re-working of this in relation to Bourdieu's social theory. Illustrating the argument with data drawn from three case studies from Singapore, the authors show that where second-order desires result from deliberations and public debates — whether these are habituated or institutionalized, or not — transformations in conceptions of gender can and do emerge.

]]> 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508088825 British Sociological Association 3 42 521 2008-06-01 503 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/3/522?rss=1 It has been suggested that class schemas are appropriate for analysing class relations among men but not among women.This article examines wage growth patterns, i.e. a crucial aspect of class relations. There are several reasons why class would be less effective as a predictor of wage growth for women than for men: for example, that factors such as discrimination blur this association for women; and that women are over-represented in occupational sectors where this association is less strong.The analyses are based on a Swedish panel data set of employees (age 30—35 years) in large private firms and in the public sector who had the same employer in 1999 and 2003 (N about 99,000). Class is measured using the European Socio-economic Classification — ESeC. Contrary to some expectations class patterns of wage growth are similar for women and men and for different sectors of the labour market.

]]> 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508088838 British Sociological Association 3 42 540 2008-06-01 522 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/3/541?rss=1 This article presents a sociological study of sleep issues in the British print news media, with particular focus on the relationship between sleep, work and the changing demands of `flexible capitalism'. Drawing on over 1000 newspaper articles from 1984 to 2005, we explore how and why sleep is framed or constructed in terms of continuity and change (in British working life and work cultures) and, equally, viewed as a neglected component of our social lives which is too easily sacrificed to the demands of the 24/7 society, long hours culture and the struggle to create a harmonious work-life balance. This is particularly the case for certain British work cultures in which sleep has conflicting and contrasting associations. Finally, we reflect on the broader class-based discourses and debates that arise from certain workers having their sleep patterns increasingly scrutinized and regulated, and the role of the media in any ensuing sleep/work `crisis'.

]]> 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508088839 British Sociological Association 3 42 558 2008-06-01 541 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/3/559?rss=1 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508088842 British Sociological Association 3 42 563 2008-06-01 559 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/3/564?rss=1 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508088841 British Sociological Association 3 42 567 2008-06-01 564 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/3/568?rss=1 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508088840 British Sociological Association 3 42 569 2008-06-01 568 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/3/569?rss=1 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420031002 British Sociological Association 3 42 571 2008-06-01 569 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/3/571?rss=1 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420031003 British Sociological Association 3 42 572 2008-06-01 571 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/3/572?rss=1 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420031004 British Sociological Association 3 42 575 2008-06-01 572 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/3/575?rss=1 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420031009 British Sociological Association 3 42 577 2008-06-01 575 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/3/577?rss=1 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420031005 British Sociological Association 3 42 578 2008-06-01 577 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/3/578?rss=1 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420031006 British Sociological Association 3 42 580 2008-06-01 578 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/3/580?rss=1 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420031007 British Sociological Association 3 42 581 2008-06-01 580 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/3/582?rss=1 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420031008 British Sociological Association 3 42 583 2008-06-01 582 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/3/584?rss=1 2008-06-13 info:doi/10.1177/0038038508094629 British Sociological Association 3 42 590 2008-06-01 584 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/2/219?rss=1 2008-04-22 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507087350 British Sociological Association 2 42 221 2008-04-01 219 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/2/223?rss=1 This article argues that Max Weber's use of the concept of paradox has been relatively under-examined in the secondary literature. It argues that there is a highly distinctive form of paradox that Weber uses extensively throughout his writings. Weber deploys this term in two main senses: as a universal condition of human action; and as a specific way of understanding the logic of western modernity. The article suggests that this latter sense lies at the heart of Weber's understanding of agency in modernity.

]]> 2008-04-22 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507087351 British Sociological Association 2 42 241 2008-04-01 223 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/2/243?rss=1 In recent years practice theory has challenged the leading position of social constructionism within action and social theory. This challenge has mainly come from realist thinkers in practice theory. One such thinker is Margaret Archer, who has argued that pre-social practices constitute selfhood independent of social factors. While welcoming critiques of constructionism, I maintain that realist practice theory gives an undersocialized picture of selfhood at the expense of intersubjectivity, which is a founding feature of proper agency and selfhood. The private realm of selfhood nevertheless exists, and it can be theorized as consisting of internal conversations. These conversations are a mediating factor between action and social structures. However, in the maintenance of structures the role of reflexive deliberation is subordinate to habitual dispositions because the former is usually present in situations of crisis, whereas habitual action is the normal state of affairs.

]]> 2008-04-22 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507087352 British Sociological Association 2 42 259 2008-04-01 243 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/2/261?rss=1 This article engages with the current literature on `small world networks'. I argue that this literature could be very important for sociology but that much of the sociological content and purchase of early work has been overlooked in recent contributions. I then reflect upon four social systems which appear to manifest small worldliness, arguing that small-world issues and concepts acquire significance and value when considered in relation to these (and other) systems.The aim of the article is to consider how and in what ways current discussions of the small-world problem could be of significance to sociology.

]]> 2008-04-22 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507087353 British Sociological Association 2 42 277 2008-04-01 261 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/2/279?rss=1 This article considers how structures of community feeling and ways of belonging are produced, maintained and recreated in local rural environments. It argues that rural social organizations, which operate through, and are embedded in, notions of conviviality and community, have taken up a particular role in this process. While using the concept of community with all the usual sociological caveats in place, the article seeks to emphasize a) the importance of the sociality of community and b) the need to understand the ways in which this sociality is continually shaped by the potent imaginary of what `community' and, more specifically, what `rural community' mean and represent. Drawing on a qualitative data set the article details the emotional connectivity participants made between the local and the social and the everyday routine practices involved in constructing a community sensibility. It concludes by examining how ambiguity and governance are part of these processes.

]]> 2008-04-22 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507087354 British Sociological Association 2 42 297 2008-04-01 279 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/2/299?rss=1 Habermas may be best known for a `structural strain' approach to movement mobilization, but he also offers an untapped `resource' focused appproach which this article seeks to unearth. Social networks, collective identities, and cultural formations have been seen as key resources shaping participation in social movements. These three types of resources map on to what Habermas calls `the lifeworld': society, personality, and culture. Combining theoretical and empirical observations, I look at how the lifeworld can be viewed as a resource for social movement participation, and the consequences of its colonization. I draw upon a case study of the UK National Union of Teachers (NUT) and use interview data (N = 45), and Labour Research Department survey data (N = 1252), to argue that the colonization of schools results in an erosion of `lifeworld resources' necessary for the mobilization of trade unionists in the current UK context.

]]> 2008-04-22 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507087355 British Sociological Association 2 42 316 2008-04-01 299 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/2/317?rss=1 There are many debates in the social sciences about the certain and uncertain nature of subjectivity and knowledge. Often these debates create competing theoretical camps, each hell bent on refuting the other (materialist—idealists; modernist—postmodernists; structuralists—post-structuralists; medical—social). These critiques often fail to engage with the social and material lives of human actors, particularly when those actors occupy positions of relative marginalization. This article pitches these debates in emerging accounts of parents of disabled babies, which have developed from a three-year ESRC research study. ¹ We highlight the ways in which parents adaptively and strategically use and refuse forms of certainty and uncertainty in order to configure ways of living with their children.We suggest that parents are nomadic but also settlers in the journeys with their children, and that modernist and postmodernist analyses both allow us to make sense of parents' situated agency within particular social, cultural and material locations.

]]> 2008-04-22 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507087356 British Sociological Association 2 42 335 2008-04-01 317 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/2/337?rss=1 This article proposes a (re)consideration of antisocial behaviour control informed by an analysis of the seminal work of sociologists of `reflexive modernity' (Beck, 1992, 1994; Giddens, 1990, 1991; Lash, 1994). It is hoped that the arguments advanced within this article will prompt further consideration of the following questions: What does the relative neglect of the reflexive modernity thesis tell us about the domain conjecture(s) of sociological theory on antisocial behaviour policy and the use of ASBOs? And can a focus upon reflexive modernity theory help to construct a more proportionate account of ASBOs as a form of social control? Hence, it is the purpose of this article to consider critically the implications of Beck's `risk society' to our understandings and explanations of antisocial behaviour, ASBOs and social control, by linking the late modern (re)formatting of antisocial behaviour(s) and the creation of ASBOs to the new parameters of the `risk society'.

]]> 2008-04-22 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507087357 British Sociological Association 2 42 355 2008-04-01 337 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/2/357?rss=1 Recently, a distinction between bridging and bonding networks has been made in the social capital literature. Bridging groups are often expected to have greater effects on democratic norm development and to generate more positive externalities on society than bonding networks. To allow application of these theoretical constructs in practice, however, an adequate measurement of bridging versus bonding networks is crucial. One approach builds on connections between voluntary associations through individuals with multiple memberships. However, simply counting the number of members' additional memberships in other associations, as in previous work, is inappropriate. Indeed, we illustrate that this is biased towards finding that large associations are more bonding.We then propose a technique to alleviate this bias and illustrate that the proposed correction is crucial to avoid erroneous conclusions in tests of the hypothesis that membership in bridging or bonding associations is differently related to individuals' civic attitudes.

]]> 2008-04-22 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507087359 British Sociological Association 2 42 369 2008-04-01 357 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/2/371?rss=1 2008-04-22 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507087362 British Sociological Association 2 42 374 2008-04-01 371 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/2/374?rss=1 2008-04-22 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420021002 British Sociological Association 2 42 377 2008-04-01 374 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/2/379?rss=1 2008-04-22 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507087363 British Sociological Association 2 42 380 2008-04-01 379 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/2/381?rss=1 2008-04-22 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420021102 British Sociological Association 2 42 382 2008-04-01 381 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/2/382?rss=1 2008-04-22 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420021103 British Sociological Association 2 42 384 2008-04-01 382 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/2/384?rss=1 2008-04-22 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420021104 British Sociological Association 2 42 385 2008-04-01 384 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/2/386?rss=1 2008-04-22 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420021105 British Sociological Association 2 42 387 2008-04-01 386 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/2/387?rss=1 2008-04-22 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420021106 British Sociological Association 2 42 389 2008-04-01 387 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/2/390?rss=1 2008-04-22 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507087364 British Sociological Association 2 42 392 2008-04-01 390 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/1/7?rss=1 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507084822 British Sociological Association 1 42 9 2008-02-01 7 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/1/11?rss=1 In New Zealand, ovarian egg donation and surrogate pregnancy arrangements are often viewed through the interpretative lens of altruism and reproductive gift-giving. However, gift terminology does not represent the narrative accounts of all women who have participated in donor-assisted conception strategies. Drawing on interview data with New Zealand women, this article deals with accounts from donors who see their donative acts not so much as gifts, but as projects of the self, or as events that serve to mark out new beginnings in their lives.

]]> 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507084823 British Sociological Association 1 42 28 2008-02-01 11 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/1/29?rss=1 This article uses the examples of the `kinship consequences'of assisted conception, the contemporary enthusiasm for tracing family histories, and a more general interest in family resemblances to argue that there is a contemporary fascination with kinship which existing sociological and anthropological theory do not entirely explain. It proposes a conceptual framework for understanding what is both distinctive and fascinating about kinship, based on four dimensions of affinity: fixed affinities, negotiated and creative affinities, ethereal affinities and sensory affinities. These are dimensions where kinship is engaged with, defined, known and expressed. Collectively, these are referred to as`tangible'affinities, not because they are all literally tangible but because of their resonance in lived experience and their vivid and palpable (or almost palpable) character.

]]> 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507084824 British Sociological Association 1 42 45 2008-02-01 29 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/1/47?rss=1 This article contributes to theorizing on multiculturalism by countering some previously identified criticisms of the notion of minority integration through cultural recognition. This is achieved by drawing on empirical evidence on identity construction and negotiation by minority ethnic communities through engagement in the arts.The socio-political context of the study is devolved Scotland, where multiculturalism is entangled with issues of national self-definition. The study reveals considerable interest by minority ethnic communities in engaging in the arts, particularly those associated with their ethnic background. However, such efforts are constrained by structural and cultural relations and differential power to claim resources from public organizations. The article argues that in the devolved context, minority ethnic communities' ability to claim interpretive space in the public arena is crucially dependent on the extent to which their claims to evolving representations of national culture are recognized within a wider drive to promote separate nationhood.

]]> 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507084833 British Sociological Association 1 42 64 2008-02-01 47 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/1/65?rss=1 Since 2002, the`chav' has become a ubiquitous symbol of class difference in Britain. Simultaneously, a heterogeneous industry has appropriated `chav culture' in order to market a range of products and services orientated to gay men. In this article I explore some of the representations employed by this industry to argue that they function within a symbolic economy in which the chav is positioned as a subject lacking any intrinsic worth. However, while representations continually impute a lack of value to such subjects, it is precisely this lack which is converted into symbolic capital to be bought and sold.The effect of such representation is performative since it both constructs and inscribes subject positions in social space. In conclusion, I argue that a form of symbolic violence is created by such representation through the legitimacy it lends to normative conceptions about, what become imagined as,`real' people.

]]> 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507084825 British Sociological Association 1 42 82 2008-02-01 65 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/1/83?rss=1 Few studies have considered the nature of violence and its implications for Anglican clergy. A conventional victimological approach would go no further than to identify the social correlates of victims and perpetrators. While this enables us to establish patterns of violence we also need to draw on lifestyle and routine activity theory to understand violence. In addition, a more critical victimology suggests that we consider the role of socio-cultural and macro organizational factors. The purpose of this article is to explore the value of these approaches and it is structured as follows: first, it provides evidence of the degree and type of violence experienced by Anglican priests in urban and rural localities in the south east of England and their response; second, the article describes how clergy make sense of`everyday' violence in these locations; and finally, it describes how this relates to the public and private worlds that they inhabit.

]]> 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507084826 British Sociological Association 1 42 99 2008-02-01 83 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/1/101?rss=1 The activity of work takes place in a variety of socio-economic relations, shifting over time across the boundaries between different sectors of employment (public, private, not-for-profit or voluntary) and forms of unpaid work (domestic, community, voluntary).Taking the social care work of older people as a research probe, this article explores linkages between paid and unpaid work across key forms of provision (public sector, market, family/household and voluntary sector). We analyse the relative importance of the different providers of elder care in four European countries in order to highlight the relationship and interactions between paid and unpaid modes of care work. As well as revealing contrasting national configurations, our findings show clear interconnections between work undertaken in differing socio-economic modes, such that what goes on in one sector impacts upon what goes on in another. Building on a `total social organization of labour' framework, this analysis of a specific field develops further an approach that may also be deployed elsewhere.

]]> 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507084827 British Sociological Association 1 42 118 2008-02-01 101 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/1/119?rss=1 This article uses qualitative data from a study of young adults aged 20—34 in Bristol to explore the labour market transitions considered typical of contemporary advanced economies.The main objective of the article is to develop a typology of labour market pathways that illuminates the complexity and variability of lengthened youth transitions. In addition to this typology we explore the economic consequences of these pathways for young adults, showing that they are vulnerable to job change, unemployment and low pay. Finally, we explore the attitudes of young adults to their situation.We found that they were surprisingly undismayed by these labour market vicissitudes: many of them displayed a `structure of feeling' we refer to as `internalized flexibility', which helps them to maintain optimism and anticipate change in a challenging economic environment.

]]> 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507084828 British Sociological Association 1 42 136 2008-02-01 119 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/1/137?rss=1 The article seeks to explore the significance of class membership among young people in the so-called internet age. Internet access and use in Britain has remained by and large concentrated in wealthier households, underlining, at an aggregate level, a clear link between individuals' socio-economic background and their use of the internet.A somewhat contradictory statement emerges, however, from recent claims made by techno-enthusiasts, and apparently young people themselves, about the existence of a digital generation.This generational label suggests that young people today are, irrespective of their background, growing up with a sense of digital expertise, where class boundaries have become obscured. The article discusses this apparent contradiction, based on a study of young internet users.The findings suggest that, while class boundaries can be affected by internet use, the impact of this use remains nonetheless short lived and unlikely to significantly impinge on young people's social mobility in the future.

]]> 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507084829 British Sociological Association 1 42 153 2008-02-01 137 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/1/155?rss=1 Using data from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development (the British 1946 birth cohort), we take a life course approach with a sociology of mental health framework to examine the relationship between adolescent affect and adult social integration. The results suggest that being observed as anxious or sad in adolescence has a long-term effect on adult social integration.These associations are not explained by adult mental health or socioeconomic status, for the most part.The results demonstrate support for social selection processes between adolescent mental health and adult social outcomes and suggest a disparate effect of type of adolescent affect on adult social outcomes.

]]> 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507087358 British Sociological Association 1 42 177 2008-02-01 155 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/1/179?rss=1 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507084831 British Sociological Association 1 42 185 2008-02-01 179 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/1/187?rss=1 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507084834 British Sociological Association 1 42 189 2008-02-01 187 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/1/191?rss=1 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507084835 British Sociological Association 1 42 192 2008-02-01 191 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/1/192?rss=1 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420011202 British Sociological Association 1 42 194 2008-02-01 192 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/1/194?rss=1 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420011203 British Sociological Association 1 42 195 2008-02-01 194 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/1/196?rss=1 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420011204 British Sociological Association 1 42 197 2008-02-01 196 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/1/197?rss=1 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420011205 British Sociological Association 1 42 199 2008-02-01 197 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/1/199?rss=1 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420011206 British Sociological Association 1 42 200 2008-02-01 199 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/1/200?rss=1 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420011207 British Sociological Association 1 42 202 2008-02-01 200 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/1/202?rss=1 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420011208 British Sociological Association 1 42 203 2008-02-01 202 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/1/204?rss=1 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420011209 British Sociological Association 1 42 205 2008-02-01 204 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/1/205?rss=1 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420011210 British Sociological Association 1 42 207 2008-02-01 205 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/1/207?rss=1 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/00380385080420011211 British Sociological Association 1 42 209 2008-02-01 207 Article http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/42/1/211?rss=1 2008-02-21 info:doi/10.1177/0038038507084836 British Sociological Association 1 42 216 2008-02-01 211 Article