Social Encounters and the Worlds Beyond: Putting Situationalism to Work for Qualitative Interviews

In Goffman's terms, qualitative interviews are social encounters with their own realities. Hence, the ‘situational critique’ holds that interviews cannot produce knowledge about the world beyond these encounters, and that other methods, ethnography in particular, render lived life more accurately. The situational critique cannot be dismissed; yet interviewing remains an indispensable sociological tool. This paper demonstrates the value that situationalism holds for interviewing. We examine seemingly contradictory findings from interview studies of middle-class identity (cultural hierarchies and/or egalitarianism?). We then render these contradictions comprehensible by interpreting data excerpts through ‘methodological situationalism’: Goffman's theories of interaction order, ritual, and frontstage/backstage. In ‘situationalist interviewing,’ we suggest that sociologists be attentive to the ‘imagined audiences’ and ‘imagined communities’. These are key to identifying the situations, interaction orders, and cultural repertoires that lie beyond the interview encounter, but to which it refers. In sum, we argue for greater situational awareness among sociologists who must rely on interviews. We also discuss techniques and measures that can facilitate situational awareness. A promise of situational interviewing is that it helps us make sense of contradictions, ambiguities, and disagreements within and between interviews.publishedVersio

Transmission of child removal stories Among Norwegian Somalis: An interactionist analysis of ethnic minority parents’ fears of child welfare services

Ethnic minority parents who are fearful of child welfare services (CWS) is an acknowledged social problem, but the existing academic understanding is limited. Interpretations in previous research have tended to highlight people's ‘dispositions’, typically cultural backgrounds, and lack of knowledge, or ‘structures’ like welfare and penal systems. More neglected is how CWS fears can be generated from interactional processes within groups. Building on extensive ethnography with Norwegian Somalis, a marginalized migrant group, we extend the sociological understanding of ethnic minority parents’ CWS fears. Relying on an interactionist theoretical framework, we centre Erving Goffman's interaction ritual (e.g., facework) and stigma, which we combine with Robert Putnam's bonding social capital. From this vantage point, we construct a ‘bottom-up’ theoretical model highlighting transmission of child removal stories in tight-knit social networks. Among Norwegian Somalis, fears emanate from a social process with four interconnected factors: (A) adversities and ‘tribal stigma’; (B) bonding social capital, for coping and self-respect; (C) children as a ‘lifeline’. Together these generate (D) wide diffusion of child removal stories, which perpetuates pervasive CWS fears. This model should productively inform comparative research.publishedVersio

Migration and traces of religious architecture in European urban areas: perceptions of youths ; part 2, First results from three research sites

'Die Autoren beschreiben die drei Forschungsstandorte des 'The Architecture of Contemporary Religious Transmission'-Projektes: Hamburg-St. Georg, Alt-Oslo/ Grönland und Finsbury Park, London. Hier führten sie ca. 50 Interviews sowohl mit religiösen - christlichen und muslimischen - als auch mit nicht-religiösen jungen Erwachsenen durch. Alle drei urbanen Räume sind stark von Migration und der durch sie mitgebrachten Religionen geprägt. In diese lokalen Kontexte betten die Autoren erste Forschungsergebnisse aus drei Forschungsstandorten ein. Der Teil über Hamburg-St. Georg behandelt eine Moschee als Bildungsstandort und Ort, an dem islamisches Wissen übertragen wird. Die Projektpartner in Alt-Oslo/ Grönland begegnen dem Phänomen der Ethnizität/ Rasse als Mediator und sichtbare Kennzeichnung von Religiosität. Sowohl junge Muslime als auch junge Christen formulieren ihre Narrationen in einer Sprache der Individualität. In Finsbury Park sind die Autoren einer dialogischen Auseinandersetzung der jugendlichen Muslime mit ihrem Glauben und einer Neubewertung des Materialismus bei zugewanderten pentekostalen Christen auf der Spur.' (Autorenreferat)'The authors describe their respective research sites in Hamburg-St. Georg, Old Oslo/ Gronland and the Finsbury Park area of London as part of the 'The Architecture of Contemporary Religious Transmission' project. In these sites they conducted approx. 50 interviews with religious - both Christian and Muslim - and non-religious youth. All three areas have been strongly influenced by migration and the religions it has introduced to these urban areas. In this context the authors embeded preliminary findings from each site. The section on Hamburg-St. Georg deals with a mosque as a space of education and venue of transmission of Islamic knowledge among Muslim youth leading to the objectification of Islam. The project partner researching in Old Oslo/ Gronland encounters the phenomenon of ethinicity/ race as mediator and ocular signifier of religiosity and how both Muslim and Christian youth frame their narratives on religion in a language of individualism. In Finsbury Park the authors find new dialogic engagements with faith amongst Muslim youth and the visibility of re-evaluated materialism amongst migrant and pentecostal Christians.' (author's abstract)

Long-Term Traffic-Related Exposures and Asthma Onset in Schoolchildren in Oslo, Norway

BACKGROUND: Whether there is a causal relation between long-term exposure to traffic and asthma development is so far not clear. This may be explained by inaccurate exposure assessment. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the associations of long-term traffic-related exposures with asthma onset assessed retrospectively and respiratory symptoms in 9- to 10-year-old children. METHODS: We collected information on respiratory outcomes and potential confounding variables by parental questionnaire in 2,871 children in Oslo. Nitrogen dioxide exposure was assessed by the EPISODE dispersion model and assigned at updated individual addresses during lifetime. Distance to major road was assigned at birth address and address by date of questionnaire. Cox proportional hazard regression and logistic regression were used. RESULTS: We did not find positive associations between any long-term traffic-related exposure and onset of doctor-diagnosed asthma. An interquartile range (IQR) increase of NO(2) exposure before asthma onset was associated with an adjusted risk ratio of 0.82 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.67-1.02]. Handling early asthma cases (children /= 4 years of age) were positive but not statistically significant. For current symptoms, an IQR increase of previous year's NO(2) exposure was associated with adjusted odds ratios of 1.01 (95% CI, 0.83-1.23) for wheeze, 1.10 (95% CI, 0.79-1.51) for severe wheeze, and 1.01 (95% CI, 0.84-1.21) for dry cough. CONCLUSIONS: We were not able to find positive associations of long-term traffic-related exposures with asthma onset or with current respiratory symptoms in 9- to 10-year-old children in Oslo

Perspektiver på kvalitet i barnehagen

Denne artikkelen bygger på studien ”Barnehagens organisering og strukturelle faktorers betydning for kvalitet” (Vassenden m.fl. 2011), som tar utgangspunkt i de senere årenes utviklingstrekk og endringer innen barnehagesektoren. Betydningen av organisering og størrelse for barnehagenes daglige kvalitet både for barn og voksne utforskes i artikkelen ut fra både kvantitative og kvalitative data. Tre ulike barnehageformer står sentralt i artikkelen og belyses i forhold til pedagogisk kvalitet: små avdelingsbarnehager, mellomstore avdelingsbarnehager og store avdelingsfrie barnehager (basebarnehager). Gruppestørrelse, antall voksne pr. barn samt de voksnes mulighet for faglig utvikling analyseres. De mellomstore barnehagene kommer heldigst ut i dette materialet. De synes å være store nok til å sikre faglig utvikling for personalet, og små og oversiktlig nok til å ivareta trygge rammer for barna. m.fl

Et flipperspill i velferdsstaten: Innlåsing av innvandrere med «språkutfordringer» i NAV

Mange innvandrerbrukere «låses» inne i NAV-systemet som varig avhengige av økonomisk sosialhjelp. Slike innlåsingsmekanismer beskrives ofte som resultatet av at brukere blir «kasteballer» mellom tjenester og ikke får den hjelpen de har behov for. I artikkelen utforsker vi slike innlåsingsmekanismer og belyser hvordan veiledernes forståelse og bruk av kategorien «språk» bidrar til å diskvalifisere (innvandrer)brukere fra en rekke aktuelle tjenester og ytelser og «låse» dem inne i NAV-systemet. Artikkelen bygger på et fem måneders feltarbeid ved et NAV-kontor, og vi anvender teorier om bakkebyråkrati og analytiske begreper fra institusjonell etnografi. Vi foreslår flipperspill som analytisk metafor som hjelper oss å identifisere og visualisere hvordan en slik kasteballproblematikk opptrer og skaper innlåsing. I kategoriseringen av ulike saker bruker NAV-veilederne regelverk og vilkår til å støte det de definerer som «språksaker» mellom team og avdelinger. Til tross for flipperteamets forsøk på å holde språksakene i spill, ender disse språksakene i flipperspillets hull, «pensjonert på sosialhjelp». Ved å introdusere flipperspillet som analytisk metafor i empirisk forskning søker vi også å bidra til videre utforskning av innlåsingsmekanismer i velferdsstaten.publishedVersio

Reciprocal Relations Between Student-Teacher Relationship and Children's Behavioral Problems: Moderation by Child-Care Group Size

In this Norwegian study, bidirectional relations between children's behavior problems and child-teacher conflict and closeness were examined, and the possibility of moderation of these associations by child-care group size was tested. Eight hundred and nineteen 4-year-old children were followed up in first grade. Results revealed reciprocal effects linking child-teacher conflict and behavior problems. Effects of child-teacher closeness on later behavior problems were moderated by group size: For children in small groups only (i.e., ≤ 15 children), greater closeness predicted reduced behavior problems in first grade. In consequence, stability of behavior problems was greater in larger than in smaller groups. Results are discussed in light of regulatory mechanisms and social learning theory, with possible implications for organization of child care

Marinbiologiske undersøkelser i Kollevågen i 2006-2016. Observasjoner i 2009

Rapporten inneholder resultatene av en marinbiologisk miljøundersøkelse i Kollevåg-område, et område som tidligere har fungert som avfallsdeponi for Bergen kommune, og hvor det er registrert høye forekomster av PCB i sediment, blåskjell og fisk. Undersøkelsen er en del av et marint overvåkningsprogram som skal registrere miljøtilstand, spredning av PCB og effekten av en tildekking av den PCB-holdige sjøbunnen.Bergen Kommune v/Fritz Hafne