The sociology of social classes

Comme son titre l'indique, cet article tente de récapituler les travaux les plus importants sur les classes sociales dans la sociologie québécoise des cinquante dernières années. Ces travaux se rattachent à divers courants de pensée théorique qui ont suivi des voies parfois parallèles et parfois opposées les unes aux autres: problematiques d'inspiration weberienne, parsonienne, marxiste, gurvitchienne, tourainienne, etc. En meme temps, la sociologie des classes s'est integree dans plusieurs conjonctures politiques successives, toutes marquees par la question nationale. Ses debats scientifiques eclairent les principaux enjeux de ces conjonctures eu egard au changement social et aux groupes qui en sont l'avant-garde.
As its title indicates, this article attempts to summarize the most important work on social classes in Quebecois sociology during the last 50 years. Social class research in Quebec has been associated with various theoretical approaches (Weberian, Parsonian, Marxist, Gurvitchian, Tourainian, etc.) which have taken either parallel or conflicting paths with each other. At the same time, the sociology of classes has been associated with many successive political conjunctures, each of which has been marked by the national question. These scientific debates illustrate the most important stakes involved in these conjunctures, especially with regard to social change and avant-garde social groups.     

The sociology of social problems in Japan

The sociology of social problems in Japan has different characteristics from its counterpart in the United States. These differences are the circumstances surrounding an individual’s knowledge of social science prior to World War II, and the two main streams of social science after the rush of American sociology into Japan following that war. A few legends in some of the main fields of study are reviewed. Additionally, one of the most urgent social problems facing sociologists in Japan, the decline and survival of departments of sociology, is described and discussed.     

A social world of sociology in Japan

This article discusses the characteristics, problems, and future direction of sociology in Japan. The core problem of the discipline is the disparity between theories and empirical studies. That is, sociologists in Japan are not yet accustomed to the practice of integrating both conceptual inquiry and empirical methods—which has resulted in futile research that is unable to influence social policies. This article explores this problem by surveying historical and institutional circumstances that have surrounded sociologists since the founding of the discipline. The issues discussed include: the birth of the discipline, the rule of the academy by prominent universities, the system of funding, and the practice of recruitment. By suggesting problems that should be dealt with by today’s sociologists, the article indicates the road that sociologists must follow to rise above their “TV commentator” image and take on more influential social roles as professional experts.     

Towards a sociology of social anthropology

Theory and Society - The framework that I have used, I suggest, provides insights into how the paradigms in our discipline, or any discipline for that matter, are generated, become dominant and,...     

Clinical sociology between social disease and sociological disease

This essay's aim is to explore the potential for relieving suffering with which clinical sociology can provide social actors. The author carries out a theoretical reflection of culture's function in human societies. Culture is an instrument for social actors, to give a meaning to what is happening at each moment. If culture does not grant an effective interpretation of reality, phenomena of disease can arise. This can happen for many different reasons, such as incoherent cultural representations or conflicts between different cultural issues. The paper outlines the kinds of cultural disease that can occur, as well as the possible causes of each. It also sets a link between cultural disease and the contemporary, general lack of cognitive references, due to historical changes – such as globalization – that have been happening too fast to be fully accepted by all.     

Re-counting 'illiteracy': literacy skills in the sociology of social inequality

Recent media reports have repeated claims that there are very large numbers of illiterate people in Britain, seven million adults being the most common figure. The moral panic this engendered has helped to justify educational initiatives and greater public spending on basic skills. However, a closer investigation of definitions and measurements of illiteracy in major national studies reveals the peculiarity of this social construction of illiteracy. Not least, it is argued that the numbers actually suffering significant literacy deficits are much lower than reported. Partly because British sociology has given literacy little attention (despite the advent of the 'New Literacy Studies'), official accounts of illiteracy remain unduly 'normative', seriously under-estimating cultural differences like gender, ethnicity and class. A new classification of low literacy skills is proposed, with the intention of demonstrating connections with structural accounts of social inequality and sociological theory. Low levels of literacy skill remain important because they are related to other forms of social inequality, even when the number of people disadvantaged in this way is much smaller than previously claimed.     

The role of social policy research in society and in sociology

Changes in the dominant mode of social research since 1900 have mirrored changes in the structure of society. The relation of social research to society has changed, however, with social policy research constituting a feedback mechanism for certain types of social action. The future of social policy research depends upon how it becomes institutionalized in a society characterized increasing by asymmetric social relations. Graduate training in sociology must begin to define itself in relation to the functioning of modern society or it faces the danger of becoming “that in which no one else is interested.” He has engaged in extensive social policy research in education since 1965. His most recent work, with Thomas Hoffer, is reported inPublic and Private High Schools: The Impact of Communities (1987).     

Classical sociology and cosmopolitanism: a critical defence of the social

It is frequently argued that classical sociology, if not sociology as a whole, cannot provide any significant insight into globalization, primarily because its assumptions about the nation-state, national cultures and national societies are no longer relevant to a global world. Sociology cannot consequently contribute to a normative debate about cosmopolitanism, which invites us to consider loyalties and identities that reach beyond the nation-state. My argument considers four principal topics. First, I defend the classical legacy by arguing that classical sociology involved the study of 'the social' not national societies. This argument is illustration by reference to Emile Durkheim and Talcott Parsons. Secondly, Durkheim specifically developed the notion of a cosmopolitan sociology to challenge the nationalist assumptions of his day. Thirdly, I attempt to develop a critical version of Max Weber's verstehende soziologie to consider the conditions for critical recognition theory in sociology as a necessary precondition of cosmopolitanism. Finally, I consider the limitations of some contemporary versions of global sociology in the example of 'flexible citizenship' to provide an empirical case study of the limitations of globalization processes and 'sociology beyond society'. While many institutions have become global, some cannot make this transition. Hence, we should consider the limitations on as well as the opportunities for cosmopolitan sociology.     

Learning to feel: the neglected sociology of social movements

This paper discusses the experience and ideology of emotions among animal rights activists, and more broadly, the applicability of the sociology of emotions to the field of social movements. I examine the case of a social movement which relies heavily on empathy in its initial recruitment, and which has been derisively labeled by outsiders as ‘emotional’. I explain recruitment to animal rights activism by showing how activists develop a ‘vocabulary of emotions’ to rationalize their participation to others and themselves, along with managing the emotional tone of the movement by limiting the kinds of people who can take part in debates about animal cruelty. The interactive nature in which emotions develop in social movements is stressed over previous approaches to emotions in the social movement literature, which treat emotions as impulsive or irrational.     

Theorizing in sociology and social science: turning to the context of discovery

Since World War II methods have advanced very quickly in sociology and social science, while this has not been the case with theory. In this article I suggest that one way of beginning to close the gap between the two is to focus on theorizing rather than on theory. The place where theorizing can be used in the most effective way, I suggest, is in the context of discovery. What needs to be discussed are especially ways for how to develop theory before hypotheses are formulated and tested. To be successful in this, we need to assign an independent place to theorizing and also to develop some basic rules for how to theorize. An attempt is made to formulate such rules; it is also argued that theorizing can only be successful if it is done in close unison with observation in what is called a prestudy. Theorizing has turned into a skill when it is iterative, draws on intuitive ways of thinking, and goes beyond the basic rules for theorizing.     

Disciplinary knowledge revisited: The social construction of sociology

In Making Science (1992) I make the distinction between two types of knowledge: research frontier knowledge and core knowledge. Core knowledge is the small body of knowledge for which the entire scientific community treats as indisputable facts. The research frontier is all new knowledge which makes claim to being facts but in practice there is no consensus on this knowledge. The two types of knowledge are linked together by the evaluation process. Most frontier knowledge turns out to be insignificant and is ignored. A small part of frontier knowledge is taken as candidates for the core and evaluated. Most of this knowledge turns out to be “wrong.” Thus the important data of Jacobs ( 1989) loses a good deal of its impact because he forces it into a theory which he calls “social control”: a theory for which there is no evidence. Stephen Cole is professor of sociology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is the author of Making Science: Between Nature and Society and, with Jonathan R. Cole, Social Stratification in Science. Stephen Cole is professor of sociology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is the author of Making Science: Between Nature and Society and, with Jonathan R. Cole, Social Stratification in Science.     

From sociology to historical social science: prospects and obstacles

Analysis is provided of the roots of sociology and its links with historical optimism. Particular focus is placed by such a sociology upon the origins of modernity and problems of urban disorder. Sociology's golden age was in the immediate postwar period. But since the 1960s, 'globalization', the sciences of complexity and cultural studies have transformed the context for sociology (especially transforming the so-called 'two cultures'). The article concludes with some wide-ranging recommendations as to how sociology should be developed into a re-unified, historical social science on a truly global scale.     

Commitment and imagination in the social sciences: A concern for the future state of sociology

This paper deals with the actual as well as possible roles of sociologists in modem societies. It is based on the experiences of a typical pragmatical Scandinavian welfare state, namely Norway, where sociology undoubtedly has reached a certain level of success, especially as a repair‐oriented applied science. Sociology thus provides an avenue for entering important political and administrative processes in society. But this development—desirable as it may be—also includes certain risks. Sociology may thus abstain from becoming a kind of critical and intellectual pursuit it could be by paying due attention to alternative ways of organizing social life. A discussion is needed about how to avoid this trap and how new roles may be created.     

Diversity in sociology and social policy analysis: Education reform and the immigration act of 1990

Against the criticism of extreme specialization in sociology, it is argued that such specialization can prove insightful to the implications that social policy in one area may have for social policy in other areas. Such insight derives from sociologists straddling two or more areas of specialization. The example of the implications that the Immigration Act of 1990 has for education policy, in relation to social class and race, is used to illustrate the argument. Earlier versions of parts of this paper were presented at the Association For Humanist Sociology 16th Annual Meeting, October 26, 1991, Ottawa, Ontario; and at the Eastern Sociological Society 62nd Annual Meeting, April 4, 1992, Washington.