354 research outputs found
Polish Migrants and Organizations in Australia
The social profile and the organizational landscape of Polish diaspora, known as âPoloniaâ, in Australia has been undergoing a significant change: sociodemographic (ageing), sociocultural (diversification) and sociopolitical (integration and assimilation). The âwave-typeâ immigration (1947-56 and 1980-89), combined with the sudden decline in immigration after Polandâs independence (1989) and accession to the EU (2004), resulted in the rapid shrinking, ageing and internal differentiation of the Polish community. The pre-1989 âethno-representativeâ and ex-servicemen organisations have been withering away. The âculture preservingâ ethnic organizations, as well as religious/church groups also weaken, due to their shrinking demographic base. The Australian âPoloniaâ is diversifying, as well as internally dividing, the latter process accelerated by widening political-ideological divisions in Poland. Under the impact of social diversification and globalization, and in the context of evolving multicultural policies in Australia, new forms of organization and social activism emerge. Interethnic, integrative and âbridgingâ organizations and initiatives, anchored mainly in metropolitan social circles of Melbourne and Sydney, attract the most educated immigrants and their offspring and break the mould of ethnic exclusivity. Next to traditional Polish Associations, multiplying Senior Clubs and still numerous Polish schools there also appear some nationalistic groups, active mainly in social media. These general trends: numerical decline, ageing and diversification (combined with political divisions) reflect the changing conditions in the Australian and Polish societies, as well as the processes of migrant adaptation and integration
No way back up from ratcheting down? A critique of the âmicroclassâ approach to the analysis of social mobility
A neglected pool of labour? Frontline service work and hotel recruitment in Glasgow
The paper presented considers soft skills in the hospitality sector and explores how managers in four hotels in Glasgow, Scotland enact recruitment and selection processes. Empirically, the analysis is based on a rich cross case comparison including interviews, observations, attendance at training events and analysis of hotelsâ recruitment and selection policies. Conceptually, the analysis draws on the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Andrew Sayer, portraying an understanding of social class as a social, economic, and cultural category and peopleâs agency as shaped by their habitus and lay normativity. Crucially, the paper reveals the pivotal role individual managers play in enabling and constraining opportunities for employment in the enactment of hotel recruitment policy and engagement with job applicants and new recruits. Overall, the analysis suggests that, despite many deterministic analyses of class, an organizationâs recruitment, learning and development strategies, plus managementâs commitment to make a difference, can positively impact on those who might otherwise be part of a neglected pool of labour
Living for the weekend: youth identities in northeast England
Consumption and consumerism are now accepted as key contexts for the construction of youth identities in de-industrialized Britain. This article uses empirical evidence from interviews with young people to suggest that claims of `new community' are overstated, traditional forms of friendship are receding, and increasingly atomized and instrumental youth identities are now being culturally constituted and reproduced by the pressures and anxieties created by enforced adaptation to consumer capitalism. Analysis of the data opens up the possibility of a critical rather than a celebratory exploration of the wider theoretical implications of this process
Influence of light on bacterioplankton production and respiration in a subtropical coral reef
The influence of sunlight on bacterioplankton production [14C-leucine (Leu) and 3H-thymidine (TdR) incorporation; changes in cell abundances] and O2 consumption was investigated in a shallow subtropical coral reef located near Key Largo, Florida, USA. Quartz (light) and opaque (dark) glass biological oxygen demand (BOD) bottles containing 0.8 um filtered reef water amended with C, N and P were incubated in situ and exposed to natural variations in solar radiation over a 48 h period. Photoinhibition of Leu and TdR incorporation was observed at all depths during both daylight periods. Photoinhibition of bacterial production decreased with depth and was significantly higher during the first day of exposure. Bacterial abundances also decreased during daylight periods particularly during the second day of exposure. Leu and TdR incorporation rates and bacterial abundances exhibited recovery during periods of darkness. Light treatment bacterial O2 consumption was inhibited at all depths during Day 1 but enhanced relative to dark treatments at all depths during Day 2. Estimates of light treatment bacterial gross growth efficiencies (GGE) determined during the evening of Day 1 were similar to dark treatment estimates. Light treatment GGE determined during Day 2, however, were lower than dark treatments but increased with depth. Recovery of bacterial production and respiration during the second day of exposure suggested photoinduced selection for light tolerant cells and/or physiological adaptation to ambient light regimes occurred over the duration of exposure. The results of this experiment suggested that solar radiation may have a significant effect on bacterial metabolism in this shallow euphotic marine ecosystem.Peer reviewedMicrobiolog
Anarcho-Environmentalists: Ascetics of Late Modernity
This article explores experiences of environmental activism from the viewpoint of members of a radical environment group. It is based on data collected during eight months of participant observation and through semistructured interviews with ten core members and two ex-members. Working on personal feelings, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors (self-work) was central to the strategy for social change employed by this group. Drawing on Weber's sociology of religion, this article explores the way the high expectation the activists had of themselves matched Weber's typification of the rationally active ascetic. It is argued that asceticism is an enduring element of Western culture that takes different forms in response to historical conditions. In this case, we see a form of secular asceticism that responds to the conditions of late modernity
Inside story : product placement and adolescent consumer identity in young adult fiction
The troubling concept of class: reflecting on our âfailureâ to encourage sociology students to re-cognise their classed locations using autobiographical methods
The troubling concept of class: reflecting on our âfailureâ to encourage sociology students to re-cognise their classed locations using autobiographical methods Abstract This paper provides a narrative of the four authorsâ commitment to auto/biographical methods as teachers and researchers in ânewâ universities. As they went about their work, they observed that, whereas students engage with the gendered, sexualised and racialised processes when negotiating their identities, they are reluctant or unable to conceptualise âclass-ifyingâ processes as key determinants of their life chances. This general inability puzzled the authors, given the studentsâ predominantly working-class backgrounds. Through application of their own stories, the authors explore the sociological significance of this pedagogical âfailureâ to account for the troubling concept of class not only in the classroom but also in contemporary society
Parenting high achieving boys in poverty â critiquing âactive cultivationâ as an explanation for âbeating the oddsâ in the early years
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