Bodies, technologies and action possibilities: when is an affordance?

Borrowed from ecological psychology, the concept of affordances is often said to offer the social study of technology a means of re-framing the question of what is, and what is not, ‘social’ about technological artefacts. The concept, many argue, enables us to chart a safe course between the perils of technological determinism and social constructivism. This article questions the sociological adequacy of the concept as conventionally deployed. Drawing on ethnographic work on the ways technological artefacts engage, and are engaged by, disabled bodies, we propose that the ‘affordances’ of technological objects are not reducible to their material constitution but are inextricably bound up with specific, historically situated modes of engagement and ways of life

Research in universities, independent institutes and government departments : Eleven contributions to a discussion

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69026/2/10.1177_053901846700600421.pd

The difference that tenure makes

This paper argues that housing tenures cannot be reduced to either production relations or consumption relations. Instead, they need to be understood as modes of housing distribution, and as having complex and dynamic relations with social classes. Building on a critique of both the productionist and the consumptionist literature, as well as of formalist accounts of the relations between tenure and class, the paper attempts to lay the foundations for a new theory of housing tenure. In order to do this, a new theory of class is articulated, which is then used to throw new light on the nature of class-tenure relations

Third party consultation: a method for the study and resolution of conflict

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66597/2/10.1177_002200277201600105.pd

Working together to make the world a healthier place: Desiderata for the pharmaceutical industry

Cross-sectorial, dynamic, and innovative partnerships are essential to resolve the challenges of humankind in the 21st century. At the same time, trust in each other’s integrity and good will is a precondition for the solution of any complex problem, and certainly for the success of the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda. Experience shows that a nation’s economic and social success is at its greatest if, and when, there is cooperation and even cocreation involving a fair division of labor and responsibility among the different societal stakeholders. This paper uses Ralf Dahrendorf’s seminal work on obligations, as well as the European Commission’s Science with and for Society unit’s definition of responsible research and innovation (RRI), to motivate industry responsibilities to make the world a healthier place

Elite Conflict Orientations in Polish and US Cities

This paper analyzes the values of local leaders in Poland and the United States. A matched subset of cities is used. Interview data were collected in the 1983-84 period. The focus is on elite views about political conflict. Striking differences were found in the types of problems seen as serious in their communities. Yet, similar proportions perceived and tolerated conflicts today as in 1966. Individual level data on leadership position, party affiliation or status, length of tenure and age revealed differences. And in both countries community differences were considerable.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66987/2/10.1177_019251218901000402.pd

The English Riots of 2011: Misreading the signs on the road to the society of enemies

Most of the riots that occurred in England throughout modernity were associated with symbolic protests and fuelled by an underlying sense of injustice about specific, objective grievances related to the position of the agrarian or industrial working classes in the socioeconomic and political structure. In the period that stretched from the 1880s to the 1930s, however, it is possible to discern a significant shift in form. Perhaps the most important aspect of this shift was the gradual emergence and development of coherent, unifying political discourses amongst the popular classes (Thompson, 1991). To be specific, the motivation and symbolism that underpinned both protests and riots became increasingly shaped by the related but competing political visions of communism, socialism or Labourite social democracy. These discourses did not incorporate populations en masse, and indeed many individuals remained apolitical or conservative in outlook despite their continued economic exploitation and political marginalization. However, the influence exerted by these discourses was most certainly on the rise and, between the two World Wars, it could be seen at the forefront of most protests and riots