Sociological Practice Research Articles

Negotiating the boundaries of sociological knowledge and practice: Ann Denis's contributions to Canadianand globalsociology.

Negotiating the boundaries of sociological knowledge and practice: Ann Denis's contributions to Canadianand globalsociology.

Practicing as knowing

This article investigates how practices and practicing are also ways of knowing and knowledge and thus epistemologically generative. Drawing on philosophy of religion, practical-theological ideas of practical wisdom, as well as sociological practice theory, it argues that practices are sites of generating and acquiring basic epistemic skills of perception and forming beliefs. But even more, they are shared forms of knowing since they provide socially, materially and bodily distributed interpretations of objects, persons and abstracts and their import, circulating knowledge of how to do and perform practices, and an understanding of the objectives of practices and their emotive significance. This is then exemplified with certain aspects of funerals, analysing how they are cultural and religious sedimentations of knowing death and mortality.

Netnography: towards a new sociological approach of qualitative research in the digital age

This paper tackles the question ofnetnographyin the digital age. The shifts that the world has known during these last decades lead to the emergence of a new paradigm. The research in digital studies raises today many issues about the notions and the methods that we should use in this new field of study. We aim from our research to contribute to this current scientific discussion through a main question that we intend to address in our paper, and which we can formulate as follows: what is the nature of the criteria and the characteristics which make netnography a different method than ethnography? And if the subject of study in this practice is virtual and geographically undetermined, how can the researcher limit it, and how can he address it scientifically? Our goal from this paper is to unveil the specificity of netnography as a new notion and a new practice in sociology. So, we will formulate our perception of this concept by demarcating the lines between it and the other notions which intersect with it, namely, ethnography.

Sociology of nutrition: theory and practice

The subject of the article is the theory and practice of sociology food supply in Russia. The purpose of the study is defined as the analysis of the main trends and problems of theory and practice of modern nutrition sociology in Russia. The material of the study was the works of domestic and foreign authors in the field of areas of nutrition sociology, as well as the authors ’ sociological research on food culture. Based on the analysis of the main approaches to nutrition research Abroad, the authors highlight the main trends in the development of modern nutrition sociology. The authors ’ sociological research on food culture allowed us to identify the main problems in this area, analyze changes in culture nutrition events that occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic. Results of the study we have shown the importance of sociological studies of food culture for a comprehensive solutions to the problem of ensuring food security in the context of economic growth the decline caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Such research is necessary for the development and implementation of comprehensive programs to improve the efficiency of agri-food systems, support for farms and small businesses in rural areas, social and economic support for vulnerable segments of the population.

Assessing sociology and psychology in UK undergraduate medical education: Square peg in a round hole?

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Background: Attention has turned in recent years to the broader inclusion of sociology and psychology in medical curricula. Despite this, there is limited published evidence about how best to assess these subjects. This lack of evidence is significant given that most medical schools are likely to include some form of assessment of sociology and psychology, and that sociology and psychology are included in areas examined in admissions tests and in licensing exams. Methods: We ran three one day workshops in the UK (London, Edinburgh and Manchester, June - July 2019), to consult with educators involved in sociology and psychology teaching in medicine on: what methods are being used to assess sociology and psychology in UK undergraduate medical education, and the challenges and opportunities experienced. 36 participants attended the workshops, representing 19 of the 33 UK medical schools. Following the workshops, we collated the notes and presentations in order to develop a summary of current assessment practices and synthesis of the main themes identified. Results: There were many examples of good practice and development of innovative assessments, particularly in the early years of the programmes. At the same time, participants raised several challenges and tensions in relation tothe method, timing, and placement of sociology and psychology assessment. Participants reported that many of these issues related to dominant assessment cultures in medical education. As a result, assessing sociology and psychology in medicine can seem like fitting a square peg into a round hole. Solutions to these challenges may require wider changes to assessment practices and cultures. Conclusion: The challenges shared by participants are evident; nonetheless, there are important opportunities. Our participants were unanimous in their desire to become involved in dialogue and consultation about assessment. This article, reporting on the views of UK SBS educators, is a positive step towards creating a more robust evidence base upon which to engage in these conversations and inform best practice in sociology and psychology assessment.

New Frontiers of Robo-Advising: Consumption, Saving, Debt Management, and Taxes

Traditional forms of robo-advice were targeted to help individuals make portfolio allocation decisions. Based on the balance-sheet view of households, the scope for robo-advising has been expanding to many other personal-finance choices, such as households' saving and consumption decisions, debt management, mortgage uptake, tax management, and lending. This chapter reviews existing research on these new functions of robo-advising with a special emphasis on the questions that are still open for researchers across several disciplines. We also discuss the attempts to optimize jointly all personal-finance decisions, which we label ``holistic robo-advisors.'' We conclude by assessing fruitful avenues for research and practice in finance, computer science, marketing, decision science, information systems, law, and sociology.

The development track and academic practice of Sociology in Sichuan in the past 40 years

This paper makes a comprehensive analysis of the recovery, reconstruction and development of Sichuan sociology in the past 40 years. This paper makes a simple analysis of the development stages of Sichuan sociology, and holds that there are two major stages, namely, the restoration and reconstruction stage and the academic research stage. This paper makes an in-depth investigation of the characteristics and achievements of the academic practice of Sociology in Sichuan in the past 40 years, especially in the study of religious and ethnic issues. At the same time, we also realize that there are shortcomings in discipline construction, research team, research field, etc., and there is still a big gap with the eastern region and foreign sociology research. This requires Sichuan sociology to form a joint research force, maintain its advantageous research field, broaden its research horizon and actively build a high-level research team, so as to better promote the development of Sichuan sociology.

ЦИФРОВАЯ СОЦИОЛОГИЯ ДЛЯ ИЗУЧЕНИЯ ЦИФРОВОГО ОБЩЕСТВА

The advent of the digital age has become a serious challenge for researchers in various fields of scientific knowledge. Among others, this refers to sociology, which tried to give an adequate answer to the question of how the world is changing. The purpose of this article is to outline the contours of a new sociological field — digital sociology, which has been actively developing in recent years. The article provides an overview of Russian and international studies that have contributed to the formation of the scope of research and research objectives of digital sociology. It focuses on digital society, which appears due to the development and implementation of modern technological infrastructure represented by key digital technologies (communication networks, big data technologies, algorithms and complex algorithmic systems, platforms, artificial intelligence technologies, cloud computing, augmented and virtual reality technologies, etc.). This extremely complex infrastructure has a decisive influence on the emergence of new social practices, on identity, on the everyday life of both the individual and society as a whole. Digital sociology aims to theorize critically about digitalization, datafication, algorithmization, and platformization, and to determine the social implications of these processes. Moreover, digital sociology offers a range of methodological techniques and tools based on digital technologies that provide new possibilities for quantitative and qualitative sociological research. Digital sociology is also seen as a professional sociological practice which includes teaching the discipline, carrying out scientific communications, and sharing the results of sociologists’ scientific work.

Pragmatism as Problem Solving

At the level of sociological practice a three-sided debate occurs in American sociology between the rationalist tradition, in which the goal is the better understanding of society; the emancipatory tradition, in which the goal is improvement of society; and the skeptical tradition, which argues that we cannot know if either our knowledge or our norms are correct, and therefore it is not possible to expect progress in either. Each of these strands runs into difficulties: for the rationalist tradition, an inability to cumulate knowledge; for the emancipatory tradition, a difficulty in grounding the norms that would determine what counts as emancipation if norms are socially constructed; and for the skeptical tradition, inability to accept the logical conclusion of the argument, which is inaction even in the face of extreme injustice. The author shows that when pressed on these points, each tradition moves in the direction of pragmatism understood as problem solving, and that the practice of problem solving offers resolutions to these dilemmas.

Мультипотенциалы в образовательном дискурсе

While responding to the challenges of globalization, the system of modern education often reduces the range of humanitarian disciplines, forming utilitarian programs in universities, but at the same time preserves such a vestige of the past as the priority of the academic format over the heuristic one. At the same time, the global world, a multiplex of events and opportunities, contributes to the emergence of a special type of a student in the educational discourse – a multipotential (MPL), who is capable of succeeding in several activities at once. The philosophical and methodological key to the reorganization of education within this context may be the idea of ​​a “transversal self” of a student in the dynamics of diversity and creative self-development. In light of the theory of generations and multipotentiality, a balance of academism and new forms of university communication is becoming necessary because in the life of millennials and representatives of generation Z, reality and virtual space, modular thinking and multitasking, the dislike for reading and creativity, and independent judgments merge. Interactive, visual, virtual and performative forms of learning are the most effective solutions for them. Social cataclysms of the beginning of the 21st century also require special stress resistance, emotional intelligence, auto-reflection, and media literacy from participants of the educational process. This actualizes the resources of practical philosophy, psychology, sociology and other humanitarian disciplines for the comprehensive development, awareness and self-regulation of a person. A very constructive educational discourse is the communication of a multi-potential teacher with gifted students. One example can be the scientific and creative activities of Vanya Angelova, a professor at Velikotyrnovsky University. St. Cyril and Methodius, who emphasizes the value of the "return" of the book, the co-creation of teachers and students, and wide international cooperation within the context of the topic of multi-potentials.

Visual Sociology of the Vernacular Urban Landscape: An Interview with Jerome Krase

Visual sociologist Jerome Krase looks at how cities change with immigration, globalization, and gentrification, with a focus on Brooklyn as well as comparative work in cities around the world. He focuses on what can be learned through direct observation of the vernacular landscapes of neighborhoods where the interface between the public and private domains is individually and communally appropriated. He has argued consistently that ordinary residents have the power to change the meaning of a place by changing how it looks. His sociological practice has involved photography for decades, and he has developed a large visual archive of urban neighborhoods around the world. This illustrated interview focuses on the articulation of domestic, commercial, and real-estate practices, especially in Brooklyn, New York, and on the displacements, exchanges, and adaptations that characterize both vernacular agency and the academic use of the concept of “vernacular” across the social sciences.

Reflexive practice in live sociology: lessons from researching Brexit in the lives of British citizens living in the EU-27

This paper brings reflexivity into conversation with debates about positionality and live sociology to argue for reflexivity to be reimagined as an enduring practice that is collaborative, responsible, iterative, engaged, agile and creative. We elaborate our argument with reference to examples and contemplations drawn from our experiences researching what Brexit means for Britons living in the EU-27 for the BrExpats research project, which was informed from the outset by reflexive practice. We outline three (of a number of) potential strategies for engaging in reflexive practice: reflexive positioning, reflexive navigating and reflexive interpreting or sense-making. We acknowledge that these are not separate actions in practice but are conceptually distinguishable aspects of an ongoing reflexive practice, informed by our understanding of the cognitive relationship between reflexivity and practice theory.

How the meanings of \u2018home\u2019 influence energy-consuming practices in domestic buildings

The UK introduced carbon budgets in 2008, with an aim to reduce greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050 compared with the 1990 levels. It has been argued that the 2015 Paris Agreement on limiting the global average temperature rise to ‘well below 2° C’ requires deeper and more rapid emission reductions than the current UK targets. Household energy consumption accounts for almost a third of total UK CO2 emissions in recent years. This paper explores drivers of high energy consumption in domestic buildings from a sociological practice perspective and through a lens of dominant meanings of ‘home’. Whilst the practice approach and meanings of home have been explored separately in the literature to understand household energy consumption, this paper adds new findings on the interaction between the meanings of home and the elements of practices. Results show the dominant meaning of home differs between householders; this in turn affects the materials and procedures of energy-consuming practices. For instance, if ‘home’ means ‘hospitality’, this changes the standard of comfort and convenience people perceive at home. Understanding how practices and meanings of the home intersect, provides new, much needed insights that could support policy change commensurate with more rapidly reducing CO2 emissions from domestic energy consumption.

The Formation and Development of Foreign Sociology of Higher Education: A Review

The review article summarizes the processes of development of higher education sociology abroad over the past 50 years. The choice of the research object was determined by the real achievements of national higher education systems and a high level of higher school sociology development in USA, Great Britain, France, Scandinavian countries, and Spain. The review reflects the advancement of leading sociologists of higher education in these countries. The authors have applied a methodology of comparative analysis studying the Western experience of sociological research in higher education, the main ideas and trends. The article dwells on the ways of changes in the content field of Western sociology of higher education. The practical significance of the review is determined by the possibilities of using the proposed analysis for the development of Russian sociology of higher education and University development practices.

Doing Post-Western sociology in Central and Eastern Europe before and after the Great Change: some epistemological questions

Analyzing the sociology in Central and Eastern Europe before and after the Great Change in 1989, the article aims to present the main epistemological questions that Post-Western sociology raises for the discipline of sociology as a whole. The focus is put on a paradoxical feature in the development of sociology in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe: before 1989, under conditions of Marxist monoparadigmality, relative isolation of scientific cognition, and political and ideological pressure, sociological research in these countries was characterized by methodological rigor and conceptual innovativeness, while after 1989, in the context of institutionalized plurality of paradigms (polyparadigmality), and intensive scientific exchange, the dominant tendency is—for social scientists in the countries in question—to borrow methodologies, theories, and concepts from the Western sociological tradition, without analyzing the epistemic relevance of these loans with regard to the societies in which they are applied. This paradox is examined in terms of sociological production in two research fields: the general sociological theory of society and sociology of youth. Comparing studies and analyses carried out in these two fields in Central and Eastern Europe before and after the Great Change, the article demonstrates that Post-Western sociology is a valid research posture for a wide variety of sociological practices regardless of the concrete national, theoretical, or institutional frameworks in which researchers are working. Sensitivity to the context of research is what permits Post-Western sociology to eliminate cognitive hierarchies and inequalities and restores the epistemic autonomy of each cognitive practice, emphasizing the inevitable cultural variations in the interpretation of one and the same phenomenon and the impact of these variations on methodology. In this sense, Post-Western sociology raises important epistemological problems regarding the relationship between maintaining the disciplinary principles of sociological knowledge on the one hand, and the application of those principles in different epistemic contexts on the other hand. The main question could be formulated as follows: how does Post-Western sociology enrich the deontological and epistemological principles of the discipline and in what way does it contribute to developing its scientific project?

Theoretical and practice-oriented sociology, its virtual and real grounds

In this article, the author distinguishes between practical sociology, the field of study of which is socio-cultural reality, and theoretical sociology, the subject of study of which is logical analysis of concepts and empirical facts. Positivist sociology, according to his opinion, deals not with the social reality itself, but with its modeling in the researcher’s thinking with the help of methods of various surveys, document analysis, social experiment. Practice-oriented sociology studies the following: socio-historical, socio-symbolic, anthropological and other cultural reality, in the study of which the decisive role belongs not to theory and logical analysis, but to experience of social interaction within a certain social space and time characterized by their inherent values and norms of behavior (historical epoch, national, territorial, settlement, gender and age, professional and other community). To form a realistic picture of crime in society, to reveal the causes of crisis in education, spiritual and moral degradation etc. from the position of their theoretical modeling, is impossible, according to the researcher. Its creation requires an appeal to the analysis of spiritual, symbolic, energy and other foundations of the development and functioning of society. The author traces the development of sociological science from medieval nominalism and realism to positivism of Auguste Conte, and from him to social logic and laws of imitation of Gabriel Tarde and social-cultural sociology of Emile Durkheim, from the religious and philosophical tradition of orthodox energetism and cosmism to social structuralism of Levi-Strauss and Michel Foucault, «habitus» by Pierre Bourdieu, symbolic interactionism of George Mead, theory of stigmatization, noospheric sociology, and a number of other research areas of Western European, American and domestic sociology.

Augustus Granville Dill: A Case Study in the Conceptualization of a Black Public Sociology

Black sociology developed as a response to mainstream, white sociology’s failures to address the condition of Black people in the Unites States. Central to the practice of Black sociology is that it necessitates sociological work be used, where possible, for the benefit of Black people. The contemporary practice of public sociology has similar aims of bringing sociological knowledges to various publics to address their particular issues. The public sociology literature, though, fails to conceptualize or articulate praxes of public sociology that are constructed to address the unique needs of various communities. Using the biography of the little-known Black, queer sociologist Augustus Granville Dill (1881–1956) as a case study, the authors conceptualize a practice of Black public sociology as one of many public sociologies. Like Black sociology before, Black public sociology is a rearticulation of established sociological practice that centers on Black people and Black communities. Using the most comprehensive biography of Dill published to date, the authors examine how he transitioned from knowledge producer to knowledge disseminator via the practice of Black public sociology. This article, then, serves to highlight a Black, queer foreparent of the discipline and to use his forgotten story to inform the practice of contemporary public sociology.

Review: The Sociology of Identity: The Dialectics of Consciousness, Deconstruction and Reconstruction, by Abdulghani Imad

Review: The Sociology of Identity: The Dialectics of Consciousness, Deconstruction and Reconstruction, by Abdulghani Imad

Structure and Historicity of Cultural Tastes. Uses of Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Sociological Theory on Age: The Case of Music and Movies

The sociology of cultural tastes and practices seeks, on the one hand, to show how tastes and practices are structured, and on the other hand, to explain them. For this purpose, multivariate analysis, and in particular, multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), has been chosen as the preferred statistical method to support a theory of ‘homology’ between ‘social position’ and preferences. This article reassesses the initial interpretation offered by Bourdieu of the two factor spaces of ‘dominant’ and ‘petit-bourgeois’ tastes in Distinction (1979) and discusses how MCA is used in the sociology of culture as ‘structural homology’, especially one-dimensionally (single-axis reduction) and positionally, without the inclusion of the age variable. The two ways of considering the effect of age are either by excluding it a priori (‘omitted axis’) or by not theorizing it (‘descriptive axis’). We show, using data from the 2008 French Cultural Practices survey on tastes in music and movies, how a factor analysis that incorporates age outlines a generational and historical structuring of tastes. We explain the different dimensions of age in terms of cultural practices and we interpret the level of education in terms of knowledge. The article advocates a model for the interpretation of tastes that is no longer based on the structure of capital, but rather on cultural history and specific competences.

A World in Flux. Introduction

The present state of the world is in flux. Globally, communities and individuals are experiencing tremendous change, instability, transition, mobility, and uncertainty. Amidst this tenuous future, how are artists, designers, and educators responding? How can we prepare and strengthen our future through pragmatic or theoretical means? What is the role of design, the designer, and design education in such pronounced states of flux? It is with this desire to examine, question, and propose new insights into the current global state of flux that we present our journal. The authors consider the contemporary landscape from diverse perspectives and offer speculations and insights in pedagogy, student development, design education, entrepreneurship, economics, design systems, globalization/localization, sustainability, commercial media, sociology, and design practice/ industry