Sociological Frame Of Reference Research Articles

Teaching the Crisis: A Primer

In this article, we provide a ‘road map’ for teaching the global economic crisis (the Crisis hereafter) sociologically, using Kindleberger’s schema of financial crises. The causes of the Crisis are often associated with financial and economic technicalities, and we provide readers who are unfamiliar with the jargon of Collateralized Debt Obligations and Credit Default Swaps with a summary of the role played by these and other financial products. We seek to situate technical finance within the sociological frame of reference, where rationality and reality are areas of contention, rather than mathematical certainty. The article seeks, throughout, to foreground the social processes behind the credit bubble which burst in 2007. We argue for an understanding of the Crisis which takes into account the social totality, taking in culture, ideology and discourse, as well as political economy.

“Like a trip to McDonalds”: A grounded theory study of patient experiences of day surgery

BackgroundThe amount and complexity of (ambulatory) day surgery is rapidly expanding internationally. Nurses have a responsibility to provide quality care for day surgery patients. To do this they must understand all aspects of the patient experience. There is dearth of research into day surgery using a sociological frame of reference. ObjectiveThe study investigated patients’ experiences of day surgery using a sociological frame of reference. DesignA qualitative study using the grounded theory approach was used. SettingThe study was based in two day surgery units in two urban public hospitals in the United Kingdom. Participants145 patients aged 18–70 years and 100 carers were purposely selected from the orthopaedic, ear nose and throat and general surgical lists. They were all English speaking and were of varied socio-economic background. MethodsThe data was collected from 2004 to 2006. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on three occasions: before surgery, 48h following surgery and one month following discharge. Permission was received from the Local Research Ethics Committee. Analysis of the data involved line-by-line analysis, compilation of key words and phrases (codes) and constant comparison of the codes until categories emerged. FindingsPatients liked day surgery and placed it within the wider societal context of efficiency and speed. Time was a major issue for them. They wished surgery, like all other aspects of their life to be a speedy process. They likened it to a McDonald's experience with its emphasis on speed, predictability and control. ConclusionThis study throws new light on patient experiences and offers an understanding of day surgery against a western culture which emphasises the importance of speed and efficiency. It is a popular choice for patients but at times it can be seen to be a mechanistic way of providing care. The implications for nurses to provide education and information to add to the quality of the patient experience are discussed.

Guest Editor's Introduction

Guest Editor's Introduction Karen L. Harris The Focus of This Issue Is on the Chinese in South Africa whose history and present development have received increasing scholarly attention. The four articles and one report were papers initially presented at the regional conference of the International Society for the Study of Chinese Overseas (ISSCO) held at the University of Pretoria in December, 2006. They discuss a range of topics that reflect the extent and significance of the Chinese presence in this part of the world. The first two articles deal with the indentured Chinese laborers imported to South Africa during the first decade of the 20th century to work on the Witwatersrand gold mines in the northern interior of the country. Andrew Macdonald takes a refreshing look at the topic by assessing the attempt by medical officials to impose colonial control over the laborers as they were transported from China to South Africa in what he refers to as "floating compounds." He relates how both state and capital went to great lengths to ensure the laborers were kept in a state of good health, a futile attempt which was tenaciously resisted by the latter. Tu Huyhn's article focuses on the question of identity formation during the period of Chinese indenture. Tu argues that in the early 20th century, the deliberations over the import of labor from China as well as public reactions to the desertion of Chinese laborers is an historical process of great significance in the development of "South Africa's racial labor hierarchy." Yoon Park's article brings the reader to the more recent past by taking an in-depth look at the place and space of the Chinese in the latter half of the 20th century and considering the question of identity among South African-born Chinese. Using a sociological frame of reference, her study shows how the South African state diminished the Chinese sense of identity, while the Chinese state, or "mythical China," served to reinforce an ethnic Chinese identity. Emmanuel Ma Mung looks beyond the borders of South Africa to the bigger context of Africa and Chinese migration. Focusing on the past decade, he discusses three strands of Chinese migration to the continent which has taken place in tandem with China's recently expanded foreign policy toward Africa. He also re-addresses the dyadic relations between China and the Chinese overseas and argues ultimately for the extension of this analysis to a triadic relationship which includes the settled countries. In the report on the life of a Chinese woman, Thisgingnio, who settled in the Cape of Good Hope in the 18th century, historian James Armstrong, through a "mosaic-building process," uses her carefully inventoried estate and other archival records to piece together what might have been a tragic life, but ultimately one of "recovery and resiliency." It would also be a story that typifies the lives of exiles and convicts sent to the Cape. Copyright © 2008 Journal of Chinese Overseas

Basque Pelota in the European Space... Towards a Sociological use of the Notions of Sporting Evolution and Diffusion

Diffusion of the Basque sport, Pelota, has progressed beyond the anthropological borders of the Basque people. In addition to spreading throughout Spain and France, pelota has come to the attention of Belgians and Italians. This situation is analyzed using data collected via surveys, interviews, documentary studies and cartographic studies. Four main dimensions appear germane to an understanding of this development: a strong expression of a community spirit, a federal politics of equipment, affinitary recompositions and cultural transnationalism. This empirical study allows to consider a more theoretical aspect relative to the use of the notions of sporting evolution and diffusion. A sociological frame of reference constructed around the four repertoires: expressiveness, communication, efficiency and competition shows under which conditions a traditional game transforms itself into a modern sport.

Justice: An Illusive Concept in Christianity

Justice, the value dominant in the Old Testament in general and among the teachings of the Prophets, is absent from the New Testament. The ideal of justice has been replaced in the New Testament by love (agapae). Using a sociological frame of reference, this paper advances reasons for this change. The argument is that this change is due to the socio-political conditions that affected the rise of Christianity as a religion and community, as well as the need for developing an identity independent of its Jewish origin.

Sources of Stress among Student Practitioners in Social Work: A Sociological View

Abstract Student practitioners experience considerable anxiety in their dealings with clients. This article, based on students' autobiographical accounts, seeks to locate the sources of their anxiety within a sociological frame of reference. Three interrelated sources of anxiety are considered: (1) the prescription to develop an “amicable” relationship with clients, (2) the desire to attain treatment objectives in the absence of adequate resources, and (3) the particular perspective that students bring to bear on their activities.

Socialization, Structure of Personal Norms, and Norm Alienation

In the beginning of the article the concepts of personal norm and norm alienation are analyzed. The personal norm is divided into three structural components: affective, cognitive and behavioral. From an analysis of different norm structures composed of the three components the author defines two distinct types of norm alienation: norm uncertainty and normlessness. After this conceptual analysis factors influencing each norm component, the balance of norm structures and norm alienation are studied in the sociological frame of reference of socialization process. A multidimensional norm questionnaire called 'norm-differential' was designed on the basis of the theory. Basic hypotheses of this theory have been empirically tested by materials collected with the norm-differential. The results are presented at the end of the article. In the light of them the author considers the multidimensional approach to be useful for both theoretical analysis and development of differentiated measuring devices.

Transference neurosis. Object choice and object relationships: the dyad and triad.

The importance of object choice and object relationships has been emphasized in the theoretical and clinical studies of psychoanalysis. The transference neurosis that develops in a given patient, as well as the significantly focused upon role of the therapist, have also been investigated. Consideration of the analytic alliance as a psychosociological phenomenon involving two persons has been absent. It is the purpose of this communication to present the sociological conceptualizations of Georg Simmel, and to illustrate their pertinence to the psychoanalytic process. Utilizing this sociological frame of reference allows for the establishment of a genetic developmental sequence that can be related to the actual interchange occurring during a psychoanalytic treatment. I. The Dyad and Triad of Georg Simmel Georg Simmel (1858-1918), a German sociologist, developed his ideas about the numerical components in group formation at the end of the 19th century.

Comment on Professor Kolb's Reply

dered in terms of Marxian images of men, Freudian images, and other purely deterministic images. The question of the adequacy of such a comparative sociology of religion remains to be determined by empirical investigation. Finally, I have difficulty in understanding what Professor Parsons means when he says that There must be a more generalized nonpositivistic image of man which can also be Islamic, Buddhist, and Hindu in the sense of comprising them all. If he means that a sociological frame of reference must be capable of comprehending the behavior of members of all these faiths, I agree, and would only say that every frame of reference, Marxian, Freudian, or what not, has made this claim. If he means that Islamic, Buddhist, and Hindu conceptions of man must be built into the image of man (frame of reference) as heuristic presuppositions, in the way in which I have argued for the inclusion of the JudaicChristian image, then I cannot imagine what such a frame of reference would be like. One cannot postulate simultaneously, for example, man as an entity whose reality resides in his natural and historical existence, even given an eschatological dimension to that existence, and man as an entity whose natural and historical existence is illusion and whose reality resides in the ultimate dissolution of self. The data will be ordered in a different way, if one believes that man's central empirical problem is the threat of meaninglessness to the ego and the resultant egocentricity, than if one believes that the empirical is not to be taken seriously, that man's central problem is that he is an ego and that the solution is to escape from the self rather than from selfcenteredness.

The Minority Course

ON my desk are twelve books, published since 1948. The publisher of each hopes I will adopt it as a text for a course called Minority Groups. The titles, points of view, and contents vary widely. The most frequently-occurring word is minority, yet the authors use it with different denotative and connotative meanings. There are also relations and inter-group relations and inter-cultural relations and sometimes just relations '-although that seems a rather broad and ambitious topic for a single course. Some texts describe a long or short list of groups and may point out the contributions of each to our American way of life. The main subject of others is prejudice or discrimination and their effects, often reflecting a neo-Freudian psychology. There are also studies of the Negro in the United States like those of Frazier and Davie.2 The typical recent text, however, contains larger or smaller amounts from each of several approaches. The contents and approaches of texts are disturbing to one who believes that is concerned with the development of empirically-tested generalizations regarding human relationships. A course on Minority Groups should present, or attempt to develop, generalizations regarding minorities. 3 Yet, there is now no sociology of minorities in this sense. Nowhere in the literature can one find a systematic and comprehensive set of sociological generalizations. This lack is not so culpable, for such a set does not now exist. What surprises me is the fact that many authors do not seem to miss it. In the texts one finds many facts, most of them interesting and some of value. There are numerous hypotheses and frequent personal opinions, often stated as if they were conclusions. Preachments regarding what, or who, is bad and proposals for reform are quite common. The few tested generalizations present are often hard to recognize and separate from less useful statements. Anathema need not be pronounced on all, however. As early as 1932, Young sought for generalizations within a sociological frame of reference not used again until Part II of Simpson and Yinger.4 Among other recent authors who have sought with varying success for some conceptual system are Berry, Marden, McDonagh and Richards, and Walter.5 However, most of texts, too, contain a little something for everybody: chapters on what prejudice is and what race isn't, sketches of selected minority groups, advice or proposals on how to solve these problems. Berry and Marden, in very different ways, have been most successful perhaps in the search for sociological generalizations or uniformities of some kind. Despite recent improvement, however, the teacher still seeks in vain for an objective, systematic, comprehensive, sustained, sociological analysis. A truly sociological ap-