Critical Sociology Research Articles

Sketch for a Sociology of Sociological Self-Analyses

This essay analyzes one of the major expressions of the sociological critique of sociological reasoning, the objectivation of the subject of objectivation, who should analyze the sociohistorical conditions of possibility of the very act of objectivation. Though Bourdieu's invitation to a reflexive sociology of sociology has not been widely accepted and put into practice, the authors argue that its actual application actually brings about consistent payoff: this special issue represents but one installment. Reclaiming a place for socio-analysis, this paper highlights how this activity can produce a cognitive difference in the making of sociological research, insofar as its genesis and development are defined by the sharing of a specific thought style, existing within and because of an intersubjective framework.

Sociological critique of Sakha's poetry

ادبیات، هویتِ خویش را ‌از زبان و جامعه می‌گیرد. این فرزندِ اجتماع، می‌تواند نقشِ مهم و اثرگذاری را در بهبود دشواری‌ها و مسائل محیط خود داشته باشد. از این میان شعر، شاید بیش‌تر از همه در جامعة ما نقش ایفا نماید. پرداختن به نقشِ شعر در زمان‌های مختلف در اجتماع، می‌تواند گفت‌و‌گوهای سازنده‌یی را به ارمغان آورد. در جامعۀ ما، شاعرانِ بسیاری زیست می‌کنند و ای‌بسا، متعهدانه در برابر جامعة خویش دست به سرایش می‌زنند؛ از این میان، سخا را می‌توان به‌عنوان نسلِ متعهدِ شعر امروزِ افغانستان و هرات به‌حساب آورد؛ بدین‌منظور، این پژوهش کتاب‌خانه‌یی با هدفِ نقدِ جامعه‌شناختیِ شعر سخا، با‌توجه به مجموعه‌شعریِ چهار فصل زشتِ تقویم، شکل گرفته‌است. روش تحقیق، تحلیلی – انتقادی است که از مباحث نظریِ نقدِ جامعه‌شناختی، ‌و به‌خصوص از دیدگاهِ جورج لوکاچ، که آثار ادبی را جهانِ صغیر در عالم کبیر می‌دانست، سود جُسته شده است. پرسشی‌که در این پژوهش به دنبالِ پاسخ‌یابی به آن بوده‌ایم، این بوده‌است که: شعر سخا را می‌توان شعرِ متعهدِ اجتماعی نام نهاد و اگر پاسخ مثبت است، به چه مفاهیمی باتوجه به مجموعه‌شعری چهار فصل زشت تقویم، پرداخته شده است؟ یافته‌های پژوهش نشان می‌دهند که: مجموعه‌شعری چهار فصل زشتِ تقویم، جامعة خویش را به‌خوبی به نمایش می‌گذارد. به‌صورت کلی، شعرهای این مجموعه را نیمی شعرهای اجتماعی و نیمی را شعرهای پُراحساس / عاشقانه تشکیل می‌دهد. موضوعاتی چون‌: جنگ، حاکمیتِ ناشایست، فاصله‌گیری ملت از دولت، پراکنده‌گی ملت و وارونه‌گی مِعیارها، دزدی و ناامیدی، از مسائلِ کلانی‌است که در این مجموعه، گاهی به شکل انتقادی و زمانی هم‌چون شعر مقاومت، هستی یافته‌اند.

Epistemologies Underlying Feminist and Anti-Racist Methodologies and Their Contributions to Critical Sociological Research

Epistemologies Underlying Feminist and Anti-Racist Methodologies and Their Contributions to Critical Sociological Research

Place of alcohol in the 'wellness toolkits' of midlife women in different social classes: A qualitative study in South Australia.

In this article, we explore how women in different social classes had differential access to resources and services to enhance their 'wellness'-resulting in classed roles in alcohol consumption. We analyse data from a qualitative study on alcohol by midlife women in South Australia and employ the analogy of a 'toolkit' in order to understand the structural patterning of 'wellness tools'. Bourdieu's relational model of class guides our exploration of women's inequitable opportunities for wellness. Higher social class women had 'choices' facilitated by bulging wellness toolkits, such as yoga, exercise and healthy eating regimens-alcohol consumption was not essential to promoting 'wellness' and did not have an important place in their toolkits. Middle-class women had less well-stocked toolkits and consumed alcohol in a 'compensation approach' with other wellness tools. Alcohol consumption received positive recognition and was a legitimised form of enjoyment, fun and socialising, which needed counterbalancing with healthy activities. Working-class women had sparse toolkits-other than alcohol-which was a tool for dealing with life's difficulties. Their focus was less on 'promoting wellness' and more on 'managing challenging circumstances'. Our social class-based analysis is nestled within the sociology of consumption and sociological critiques of the wellness industry.

Re-Homing and Identity Reconstruction of Diaspora in Jhumpa Lahiri’s “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine”

This study aims to analyse and describe how diaspora characters in “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine” reconstructed their identity and negotiate the process of re-homing in their current home. “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine” short story (WMPCD), written by Jhumpa Lahiri, depict the complex relation of identity and home experienced through diaspora characters, Pirzada and Lilia’s family. To pursue the objective of the study, qualitative descriptive approach was used together with Laurenson’ and Swingewood’s sociological criticism theory, Castells’ identity formation, and Zhang’s re-homing theory. The results of this study indicated that the process of re-homing depicted in WMPCD has a significant impact on the identity formation of diaspora characters, in this case, Pirzada and Lilia’s family. It means that the diaspora process of identity construction will not be efficiently completed since identity, particularly for diaspora individuals, will continue to be established and reconstructed in the context of the identity-forming resources accessible in their new ‘home’ and what they bring from their homeland. When it comes to re-homing and de-homing, the process of navigating this identification is becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated. ‘Home’ is no longer exclusively defined geographically as location, but by time and the people who contribute to forming personal ties to similar experiences. In short, re-homing becomes an essential element of the identity reconstruction process

Buttigieg’s Method

Joseph Buttigieg’s introduction to his uncompleted edition of the Prison Notebooks is one of the best things ever written about Gramsci’s prison writings. The last section reproduces, with minimal changes, Buttigieg’s 1990 article “Gramsci’s Method,” and it has the same title. That title, however, is misleading, since what Buttigieg reconstructs is not so much Gramsci’s method of writing the notebooks as his own process, as editor, of reading them, which is far from being a factual report of how Gramsci “actually wrote.” It involves, instead, a set of interpretive hunches, which in turn presuppose a prior knowledge of all of Gramsci’s texts, without which it would not be possible to make the connections he makes between different topics or to rank them, to identify some – such as the critique of positivist sociology and the idea of the philosophy of praxis – as more important, more overarching than others. Symptomatic here is Buttigieg’s use of an apparently insignificant note, of just twenty words, “L’ossicino di Cuvier,” generally overlooked by Gramsci scholars, as a point of entry into a set of interconnected notes and from there to the whole intellectual edifice of the Prison Notebooks.

Beyond Adherence: The Healthwork of People Living with HIV in Nigeria

ABSTRACT Following the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in 1996, adherence was regarded by biomedical researchers as the only way to manage HIV effectively in everyday life. The sociological critique of this biomedical stance posits that the everyday management of HIV goes beyond the biomedical conception of adherence, as HIV-positive individuals undertake healthwork practices that form the basis of HIV management. Using symbolic interactionism and social context theory to ground the lived experience of healthwork, this paper explores the kinds of healthwork people living with HIV in Nigeria undertake. Drawing from 32 semi-structured interviews with HIV-positive individuals living in Nigeria, it was observed that healthwork is an individualized practice including spirituality, testing, counseling, adherence, concealment, dieting, and support-group participation. These practices are shaped by the sociocultural, economic, political, and structural factors in the Nigerian context. Meaningful healthwork practices were informed by the personal responses to HIV diagnosis, and such practices were tied to formal rules, local dynamics, and contextual issues that are shaped by structural and institutional factors. This paper contributes to sociological knowledge on HIV management by demonstrating the importance of context and meaning in the design of health interventions and programs connected with the lived experience of people living with HIV.

"I do the she and her": A qualitative exploration of HIV care providers' considerations of trans women in gender-specific HIV care.

Objectives:Women of all genders, including cisgender (cis) and transgender (trans) women, experience social and structural drivers of HIV inequities and pervasive barriers to HIV care. Yet, little is known about how HIV care providers address gender diversity in health care. Through a critical feminist lens informed by intersectionality theory, medical anthropology, and critical sociology, we explored (1) how do HIV care providers describe women living with HIV’s care needs and barriers; (2) what are their perspectives on optimal HIV care for women; and (3) to what extent do these conceptualizations include/exclude trans women.Methods:Utilizing a community-based exploratory qualitative study design, we conducted 60–90 minute semi-structured individual interviews from March 2019–April 2020 with eight HIV care providers (n = 4 social service providers; n = 4 physicians) practicing across seven counties representative of rural, suburban, and urban Michigan, United States. Data were analyzed utilizing a reflexive thematic approach.Results:Three overarching themes emerged: (1) Emphasis on (different) clinical needs: key considerations in cis and trans women’s HIV care; (2) Recognition of the structural: barriers to HIV care affecting women of all genders; and (3) Proposed solutions: piecing together individual, social, and organizational interventions to increase access to HIV care that may benefit women living with HIV of all genders but are disproportionately framed as being for cis women. While HIV care providers recognized both cis and trans women living with HIV’s clinical care needs and structural barriers to care, they rarely envisioned optimal HIV care inclusive of gender affirmation and structural interventions.Conclusions:Findings suggest that HIV care providers can avoid reducing gender to biology and making assumptions about reproductive care needs, endocrinological care needs, caregiving responsibilities, and other life circumstances; provide gender-affirming medical care; and address structural barriers to HIV care to enhance intersectional and structurally focused gender-affirming—that is, trans-inclusive—women-centered HIV care.

Художественный текст в контексте эпохи: итальянские стихи Прекрасной гречанки и другие нарративы рассказа Э.Т.А. Гофмана "тайны"

The object of research is the communicative structure of the narrative of a literary work and important for understanding and perception plot-forming and meaning-forming elements. The goals and objectives, as well as the methodology of the work, are determined by the modern (structural) theory of narration, the key concept of which is "narrative". The ideological intention of a literary work is realized in the process of interaction (writing, publishing, reading and subsequent interpretation) of the author and the reader; it does not matter whether they are contemporaries or are separated in time, in any case, as participants in social and cultural communication they find themselves in the epicenter of the tense, cognitively saturated with "meanings" discourse of the era; these constructs have a diverse nature (ideological, political, ethical, aesthetic). What is important is the context of hypertext growing as it takes root in the time continuum (this is how masterpieces are born, equally belonging to national classics and world literature). The "semantic content" of the narratives of the literary text of one of the later (ironically parodying romantic poetics) stories of E.T.A. Hoffmann is considered at the junction of linguistics, sociology of literature and literary criticism. The traditions of "trivial" literature correspond to the title of the story (the final part of the satirical diptych), the mystical atmosphere, the diversity of the characters, the theatricality of the characters of the characters and plot conflicts; combining everyday reality with the phantasmagoric illusion of "authentic being" (the writer's characteristic duality). The genre nature of the work is designated as the transformation of a curious "fable" into a kind of love novel, the "true events of the day" (the events of the Greek uprising of 1821) are relevant. The analysis of the narratives of the literary text made it possible to identify the evolution of the creative principles of the writer, their functional role (structural significance) in the organization of the narrative, the semantic load: the signs of the time "objectify" the subjective space of the romantic work.

Adorno’nun Diyalektik Meta-Eleştirisi Ve Bourdieu’nün Düşünümsel Sosyolojik Eleştirisi: Heidegger Eleştirileri Üzerinden Bir Karşılaştırma

Adorno and Bourdieu share the same interest in developing theoretical and methodological tools of a sociology of cultural forms. In this article, I argue that the main goal of both thinkers is to investigate ways to overcome internal and purely formal interpretations without falling into vulgar sociological explanations that reduce cultural forms to external social context. In line with the thesis of “priority of mediation” of his negative dialectics, Adorno develops a meta-critical style of interpretation based on establishing formal analogies between different fields which abolishes the illusion of absolute autonomy of cultural forms while acknowledging their truth contents. In his reflexive sociological critique, Bourdieu aims to reveal social and political implications of cultural forms without reducing them to external social context by building homologies between different fields. I try to reveal the common aspects of these critical methods through the Heidegger critiques of two thinkers. I also try to show that the dialectical critiques of rationality of them echo each other in aiming to reach an understanding of reason free from domination and symbolic violence by revealing the social mediations of reason that embodied in cultural fields.

GOODBYE TO THE BODY AND THE SOUND OF SILENCE IN THE EXAMPLE OF THE MOVIE SOUND OF METAL

In this text, the movie "Sound of Metal" is discussed in terms of body philosophy, body anthropology, and health sociology. Sound of Metal is about the experiences of a person and couple after hearing loss. This film has been examined especially with reference to David Le Breton's important works titled Goodbye to the Body, Anthropology of Pain and Ivan Illich's Medical Nemesis: The Expropriation of Health. In the film, Ruben's focus on bodily loss and the process of not being able to cope with it are actually discussed through the mind-body distinction of the modern age, the desire of man to transform into a mind or a machine, and the social and cultural iatrogenesis that Illich mentions. It is also emphasized in the text that health, illness, physical "losses" are cultural, political or sociological phenomena rather than individual, physiological, medical issues and that they should be approached differently. In addition, it has been argued that human ontologically is an ear/hearing/speech/language/meaning entity, but modern scientific, medical and technological culture imprisons humans in a mechanical, visual and technical world. The result of such a culture is undoubtedly the loss of meaning that many thinkers bring to the agenda in their criticism of modernity. Therefore, the scientific, technological, medical culture we live in has to be re-evaluated based on these philosophical and sociological criticism points.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: International education in the Asian Century: Decline of Anglophone dominance?

Retraction statement: We, the Publisher of the journal Educational Philosophy and Theory, have retracted the following article: Rulin Xu, Yodpet Worapot, Hongjun Tian, Xiyuan Zhang, Yi Zhang, Hazzan Moses Kayode, Michael Adrian Peters, Benjamin Green, Fazal Rizvi & Cathy Ping Xie (2021) International education in the Asian Century: Decline of Anglophone dominance?, Educational Philosophy and Theory, DOI: 10.1080/00131857.2021.2017885. Since publication, concerns have been raised regarding unreferenced text overlap within the following sections of the article: Neoliberalism and the AC in international education’, authored by Xiyuan Zhang, and; Chinese internationalism and the BRI’, authored by Hazzan Moses Kayode. Upon investigation, within the section authored by Xiyuan Zhang, there appears to be substantial overlap with the following published work: Johnstone, M., & Lee, E. (2017). Canada and the Global Rush for International Students: Reifying a Neo-Imperial Order of Western Dominance in the Knowledge Economy Era. Critical Sociology, 43(7–8), 1063–1078. https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920516654554 Kandiko, C. B. (2010). Neoliberalism in higher education: A comparative approach. International Journal of Arts and Sciences, 3(14), 153-175. Within the section authored by Hazzan Moses Kayode, there appears to be substantial overlap with the following published work: Benjamin Green (2021) Emancipation, revolutionary nationalism, and “everything under the sun”: Chinese internationalism, higher education and the search for alternative modernity, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 53:6, 563-567. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2020.1744418 Busse, M., Erdogan, C., & Mühlen, H. (2016). China's impact on Africa–The role of trade, FDI and aid. Kyklos, 69(2), 228-262. https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/41634/internationalism-in-china-a-historical-snapshot When approached for an explanation, authors Xiyuan Zhang and Hazzan Moses Kayode fully cooperated with the investigation, but were unable to provide an explanation that addressed the concerns raised. The journal considers the article to be a breach of editorial policies in relation to the two sections detailed above and are therefore proceeding with retraction of the article. Xiyuan Zhang and Hazzan Moses Kayode have agreed to the retraction of this article and apologise for this oversight. We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and the COPE guidelines. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted’.

Fatima Riza-Zade (Sayyah), a Dostoevsky Scholar

The article is devoted to the biography of the Soviet-Iranian researcher F. Riza-Zade, also known as F. Sayyah, and her studies of Dostoevsky’s literary heritage. A number of archival materials that reflect the professional and friendly relations of F. Riza-Zade in 1929–1930s have been introduced into scientific circulation. A review of the articles “Dostoevsky and Modern French Literature (On the Influence of Dostoevsky)” and “Dostoevsky in Western Criticism,” as well as the preface to the Persian translation of Dostoevsky’s novel “White Nights”, published in Tehran, has been carried out. It is noted that the researcher’s works have laid the foundations of Soviet and Iranian comparative studies: Dostoevsky’s work was interpreted in the broad context of French literature, German philosophical and aesthetic tradition and Iranian cultural symbols of good and evil. The key methodological principles of F. Riza-Zade are analyzed: the focus on sociological criticism of the Pereverzev school, a cultural and aesthetic approach to the analysis of genre problems, tendency towards self-sufficiency in literary research and rejection of philosophical speculation. The conclusion is made about the importance of the works of F. Riza-Zade in the study and popularization of Dostoevsky’s work and in the fostering of Russian-Iranian cultural ties.

"I am in other people's hands as regards my health" A sociological critique of health care encounters of people with cirrhosis. A secondary analysis.

People with cirrhosis are encouraged to participate in shared decision-making with their doctors, but studies suggest that doctors limit the amount of information that is shared. In this study we explore the presence of medical power in clinical encounters in 2015 from a patient perspective and highlight its effects on healthcare interactions. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten people with cirrhosis attending a tertiary liver transplant centre in southern England. We explored their understanding of their disease and prognosis, and their participation in decision-making. Using the lens of medical power as a framework, we analysed findings into thematic sentences to summarise key ideas whilst preserving the complexity of identified concepts. Three key concepts explained patient perspectives of their communication with doctors: (1) portraying a positive image to doctors, (2) avoiding confrontation with doctors, (3) feeling powerless in the face of doctors' medical knowledge. These concepts show deeper dynamic issues of power during healthcare encounters, illustrated by participants' reluctance to voice their concerns and express themselves, challenge decisions, or seek information. People with cirrhosis struggle to articulate their concerns or challenge decisions on their care and treatment and may worry about potential consequences. Our findings demonstrate the continuing persistence of issues of power at play in contemporary health care.

Can Buildings be Racist? A Critical Sociology of Architecture and the Built Environment

Can buildings be racist? In the study of racism, there is extensive literature on racist popular culture. However, buildings and architecture, as potentially racist cultural products, are understudied. This article examines Spanish‐Colonial Revival architecture in Southern California as an example of urban placemaking with racist origins and legacies. This article relies on archival research to examine how buildings can be just as, if not more, racist than other forms of visual culture. The built environment physically structures human activities and movements, but it operates in the background. This invisibility of the built environment as “culture” allows architects, builders, and other social actors to design structures that enforce racial boundaries both symbolically and physically. This article concludes with a discussion of how architecture and the built environment can be foregrounded in sociological research.

Zwierzęta towarzyszące człowiekowi ery cyfrowej

The paper deals with changes in human relations with other people and with animals caused by digital transformation. The authors question the socio-cultural value of observed changes in the perspective of critical sociology. Based on their own observations, using the achievements of leading representatives of sociology and philosophy, they present the negative consequences of digital transformation, which are reflected in conditio humana. The paper aims to answer the question whether the ongoing technological progress and the global direction of change constitute the right model for the future.

Three types of indigenization in the development of Korean sociology

This article focuses on the intellectual efforts to implement Western sociology into a Korean context during the country’s dynamic modernization. Three different types of responses are explored from the perspective of indigenization: historical sociology, critical sociology, public sociology, and comprehensive sociology. They suggest different approaches and strategies with their own research topics and academic activities. Although the simple dichotomy between Western universalism and Korean particularism is no longer presumed, intellectual efforts for indigenization remain an ongoing issue in Korean sociology.

PEMBELAJARAN SASTRA DI SEKOLAH: SEBELUM, SELAMA, DAN SESUDAH PANDEMI (Literature Learning In School: Before, During, And After Pandemic)

This article aims to review some discussions on literature learning in Indonesian schools before the pandemic, highlight the real problems, and propose a new model of learning during and after the pandemic. This is a qualitative narrative article. This article interconnects between the references and the writer’s personal experience in tackling the problems and proposing solutions. Based on the findings, literature learning in Indonesian schools needs to be made more challenging and fun for students by refreshing the benefit of literature learning within Indonesian literature teachers’ minds which is expected to change the teachers’ perspective on literature learning into something positive and beneficial in literature learning as well as the use of the internet and digital information technology which serves as students’ new learning environment in developing Higher-Order Thinking Skills and 4C skills (critical thinking & problem solving, communication, collaboration, dan creativity & innovation). Meanwhile, the introduction of basic knowledge on the sociology of literature, reader-response criticism, and intertextuality to students will give them a certain framework and direction needed in a critical and challenging reading of literary work. This can be applied in literature learning during and after the pandemic.

Sociological critique of men's capital according to Pierre Bourdieu's theory of types of capital in Suvashun's novel

In the following article we seek to critique the sociology of contemporary Persian novels, based on the theory of the various types of capital of the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. Bourdieu generalizes the Marxist analysis of economic capital to a variety of cultural, social, and symbolic exchanges. He believes that these capabilities are forms of capital because they contribute to the purchasing power of different situations. This multifaceted concept of capital makes it possible to provide a better picture of the structure, order of relationships, and dependencies of social space. Based on this, we examine the four types of capital of the male characters of Simin Daneshvar's novel Suvashun and we showed that; what methods do men choose based on their behavioral mood to produce and maintain capital? And what prevents them from gaining power? The sociological study of men's capital in Suvashun's novel deals with the position of male characters in various fields and it opens up various ways for them to earn or lose capital.

A sociological criticism of the ISIS behavior toward women in the novel Ala Maedat ul-Da’ish by Zahra Abdullah

A sociological criticism of the ISIS behavior toward women in the novel Ala Maedat ul-Da’ish by Zahra Abdullah