514 research outputs found
A dynamic and multifunctional account of middleârange theories
This article develops a novel account of middleârange theories for combining theoretical and empirical analysis in explanatory sociology. I first revisit Robert K. Mertonâs original ideas on middleârange theories and identify a tension between his developmental approach to middleârange theorizing that recognizes multiple functions of theories in sociological research and his static definition of the concept of middleârange theory that focuses only on empirical testing of theories. Drawing on Merton's ideas on theorizing and recent discussions on mechanismâbased explanations, I argue that this tension can be resolved by decomposing a middleârange theory into three interrelated and evolving components that perform different functions in sociological research: (i) a conceptual framework about social phenomena that is a set of interrelated concepts that evolve in close connection with empirical analysis; (ii) a mechanism schema that is an abstract and incomplete description of a social mechanism; and (iii) a cluster of all mechanismâbased explanations of social phenomena that are based on the particular mechanism schema. I show how these components develop over time and how they serve different functions in sociological theorizing and research. Finally, I illustrate these ideas by discussing Mertonâs theory of the Matthew effect in science and its more recent applications in sociology.This article develops a novel account of middleârange theories for combining theoretical and empirical analysis in explanatory sociology. I first revisit Robert K. Mertonâs original ideas on middleârange theories and identify a tension between his developmental approach to middleârange theorizing that recognizes multiple functions of theories in sociological research and his static definition of the concept of middleârange theory that focuses only on empirical testing of theories. Drawing on Merton's ideas on theorizing and recent discussions on mechanismâbased explanations, I argue that this tension can be resolved by decomposing a middleârange theory into three interrelated and evolving components that perform different functions in sociological research: (i) a conceptual framework about social phenomena that is a set of interrelated concepts that evolve in close connection with empirical analysis; (ii) a mechanism schema that is an abstract and incomplete description of a social mechanism; and (iii) a cluster of all mechanismâbased explanations of social phenomena that are based on the particular mechanism schema. I show how these components develop over time and how they serve different functions in sociological theorizing and research. Finally, I illustrate these ideas by discussing Mertonâs theory of the Matthew effect in science and its more recent applications in sociology.Peer reviewe
Spectral action for torsion with and without boundaries
We derive a commutative spectral triple and study the spectral action for a
rather general geometric setting which includes the (skew-symmetric) torsion
and the chiral bag conditions on the boundary. The spectral action splits into
bulk and boundary parts. In the bulk, we clarify certain issues of the previous
calculations, show that many terms in fact cancel out, and demonstrate that
this cancellation is a result of the chiral symmetry of spectral action. On the
boundary, we calculate several leading terms in the expansion of spectral
action in four dimensions for vanishing chiral parameter of the
boundary conditions, and show that is a critical point of the action
in any dimension and at all orders of the expansion.Comment: 16 pages, references adde
Consumption caught in the cash nexus.
During the last thirty years, âconsumptionâ has become a major topic in the study of contemporary culture within anthropology, psychology and sociology. For many authors it has become central to understanding the nature of material culture in the modern world but this paper argues that the concept is, in British writing at least, too concerned with its economic origins in the selling and buying of consumer goods or commodities. It is argued that to understand material culture as determined through the monetary exchange for things - the cash nexus - leads to an inadequate sociological understanding of the social relations with objects. The work of Jean Baudrillard is used both to critique the concept of consumption as it leads to a focus on advertising, choice, money and shopping and to point to a more sociologically adequate approach to material culture that explores objects in a system of models and series, âatmosphereâ, functionality, biography, interaction and mediation
Symptomatic Social Science: Reflexivity, Recognition and Redistribution in the GBCS
The article examines methodological and theoretical issues related to the GBCS.
It acknowledges its importance for the public profile of sociology, whilst arguing
that it needs to develop a better sense of what it stands for not only in terms of
understanding societal changes, but contributing to human betterment. To achieve
this it discusses the role of reflexivity in the GBCS with reference to position and
disposition and accounts of its process. It then moves on to examine its normative
basis in terms of an âexistential analyticsâ and suggests a series of ways in which it
might advance its insights as the work develops
In search of theory? The workplace case study tradition in the 21st century
Workplace case studies have been valued by some for their ability to advance theory while others dismiss them as little more than descriptive stories. This paper presents a detailed content analysis of case study articles to assess the relative balance between theory, conceptual analysis and description. Drawing on a random sample of papers (n = 173) published in leading journals, I find that fewer than one in seven are descriptive papers while only one in ten are theory oriented. Using three criteria, I identify exemplars of theoretical and conceptual analysis and show how these may be used to advance the field
Has education lost sight of children?
The reflections presented in this chapter are informed by clinical and personal experiences of school education in the UK. There are many challenges for children and young people in the modern education system and for the professionals who support them. In the UK, there are significant gaps between the highly selective education provided to those who pay privately for it and to the majority of those educated in the state-funded system. Though literacy rates have improved around the world, many children, particularly boys, do not finish their education for reasons such as boredom, behavioural difficulties or because education does not âpayâ. Violence, bullying, and sexual harassment are issues faced by many children in schools and there are disturbing trends of excluding children who present with behavioural problems at school whose origins are not explored. Excluded children are then educated with other children who may also have multiple problems which often just make the situation worse. The experience of clinicians suggests that school-related mental health problems are increasing in severity. Are mental health services dealing with the consequences of an education system that is not meeting childrenâs needs? An education system that is testing- and performance-based may not be serving many children well if it is driving important decisions about them at increasingly younger ages. Labelling of children and setting them on educational career paths can occur well before they reach secondary schools, limiting potential very early on in their developmental trajectory. Furthermore, the emphasis at school on testing may come at the expense of creativity and other forms of intelligence, which are also valuable and important. Meanwhile the employment marketplace requires people with widely different skills, with an emphasis on innovation, creativity, and problem solving. Is education losing sight of the children it is educating
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
Standard Model Anomalies in Curved Space-Time with Torsion
Using the Fujikawa and the heat-kernel methods we make a complete and
detailed computation of the global, gauge and gravitational anomalies present
in the Standard Model defined on a curved space time with torsion. We find new
contributions coming from curvature and torsion terms to the leptonic number
anomaly (so that is not conserved any more), to the gauge and to
the mixed -gravitational anomalies, but the gauge anomaly cancellation
conditions on the hypercharges remain the same. We also find that the
condition, usually related to the cancellation of the mixed
-gravitational anomaly, can be reobtained in the context of the
Standard Model in flat space-time by requiring the cancellation of the global
Lorentz anomaly without any reference to gravitation.Comment: 44 pages, latex, no figure
Lives on track? Long-term earnings returns to selective school placement in England and Denmark
We explore the influence of between-school ability placement at lower secondary education on earnings across the life course in England and Denmark. We go beyond the mid-career snapshot provided by previous studies by exploiting the availability of four decades worth of earnings data for individuals born in the mid-1950s. Members of this cohort who were judged to be among the most academically able attended grammar schools in England (19 percent) and advanced secondary schools (Realskole) in Denmark (51 percent) prior to the start of comprehensivisation. This key difference makes England and Denmark interesting cases for comparison, not least since pro-selection policies have re-emerged in England based on the claim that grammar schools lead to better educational and labour market outcomes. Our analysis of the influence of selective school placement on earnings finds little support for this contention. We find that those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds were strikingly under-represented in schools ear-marked for higher ability pupils in both countries, even after taking into account social class differences in measured ability. Our analysis for England finds only modest earnings returns to attending a grammar school, totalling just ÂŁ39,000 across the life course, while in Denmark the lifetime earnings returns to attending Realskole are somewhat larger (ÂŁ194,000). Because those from advantaged backgrounds were substantially over-represented at grammar schools and Realskoles, these returns accrue disproportionately to pupils from more advantaged backgrounds. Lower secondary school placement in Denmark accounts for forty percent of the intergenerational reproduction of socioeconomic advantage and disadvantage, more than half of which is due to selection into school types based on socioeconomic background rather than measured ability. Our findings question the wisdom of expanding grammar schools when they appear to do little to improve individualsâ earnings or increase social mobility
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