Sociological Questions Research Articles

Turning Theory to Practice: Palestine as a Sociological Question: ASA Resolution for Justice in Palestine

Turning Theory to Practice: Palestine as a Sociological Question: ASA Resolution for Justice in Palestine

The Rise and Fall of the Sociology of the Global City

In the 1980s and 1990s, a series of publications, including Saskia Sassen's landmark book The Global City, triggered a new current of research aiming to link a cycle of globalized financial and tech capitalism to a new type of city, analogous to what the industrial city had been in the past. This article first reviews this literature in relation to the history and sociology of the world city. It then reviews criticism and sociological questions advanced by the global city literature and, in particular, research by Saskia Sassen and Manuel Castells. It argues that claims about the uniqueness of the global city were not validated empirically. Nonetheless, the issues this literature raised became central to research on globalizing cities, in particular in relation to the role of finance and financial capitals. Finally, this article argues that different forms of globalization give rise to different types of globalizing cities. A new cycle of research is now underway in relation to the climate crisis and pandemics, as the climate crisis becomes the most important global phenomenon.

Diversifying Gender Categories and the Sex/Gender System

The growing visibility of transgender and nonbinary people raises important sociological questions about how the structure of sex and gender is shifting and underscores necessary changes to research practice. We review what is known about emerging gender identities and their implications for sociological understandings of the relationship between sex and gender and the maintenance of the sex/gender system of inequality. Transgender and nonbinary identities are increasingly common among younger cohorts and improved survey measurements of sex and gender are expanding information about these changes. In the United States, an additional gender category seems to be solidifying in public usage even as the higher status of masculinity over femininity persists. The continuing power of the normative binary contributes to both violent backlash and characteristic patterns of discrimination against gender diverse people; yet, underlying support for nondiscrimination in the workplace is stronger than commonly recognized. New, more consistent efforts to account for gender diversity in social science research are needed to fully understand these changes.

Medicalization in Global Context: Current Insights, Pressing Questions, and Future Directions Through the Case of ADHD

ABSTRACTRecent decades have witnessed the increased emergence and global application of medicalized meanings and practices related to mental health, with cases of contestation, adoption, as well as resistance observed. Such globalization raises a number of important sociological questions about the nature and consequences of such practices, as well as what they might mean for the changing nature of medicalization. Focusing on a classic case within medicalization studies, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, this paper reviews existing insights on medicalization and mental health diagnosis and treatment in global context, future lines of inquiry, and related challenges.

“Nobody Becomes a Criminal to Work 9 to 5”: Unpaid Labor, Stigma, and Hegemony in Addiction Treatment

Abstract Is compulsory unpaid labor essential “therapy” or unjust exploitation? The informants of this study do not agree, but most believe the former: that the 40 hours a week they worked without pay for the Salvation Army’s multimillion-dollar thrift store enterprise was not unjustly exploitative. Yet how can such seemingly overt exploitation be justified in this way? The answer, this article argues, is stigma. This study’s 40 informants were residents of the Salvation Army’s addiction programs, where “work therapy”—compulsory unpaid labor—is the primary form of addiction “treatment.” Because people with addiction are stigmatized as unproductive and immoral, even by people who have themselves struggled with addiction, their exploitation is deemed legitimate. They need to learn the value of work and even how to work, informants argue, and so unpaid labor becomes much-needed “therapy.” This article offers new answers to longstanding sociological questions about why workers consent to their own exploitation. While scholars have identified how exploitation is both obfuscated and legitimated in the workplace, little attention has been paid to dynamics beyond the workplace. This article shows that stigma is a powerful tool of labor hegemony, wielded even by those who are themselves stigmatized.

Penal state power in Latin America: Cases, concepts and questions for the political sociology of penality

AbstractExamining penality across different regions and periods of time allows us to develop both a robust empirical imaginary and conceptual understanding of the commonalities and variation in how penal state power operates. In this article I elaborate key dimensions of penality in contemporary Latin America. Since the late 20th century, Latin American countries have undergone economic and political transformations with profound effects for the organization of their societies and the features and implications of penal state power. First, I situate research on penal state practices in Latin American countries within the broader dynamics of violence and social conflict across the region. Second, I review scholarship on the relationship between the features of penal state policies and reform in the region and the transformative, procedural and cultural dimensions of democracy. Third, I describe initiatives to expand state capacities to incarcerate criminalized people at an unprecedented scale and clarify the relationship of carceral administration to social order and political legitimacy across Latin America. I then conclude by elaborating how penality in Latin America contributes to our broader understanding of the relationship between penal power, state authority, and inequality; and I highlight three lines of inquiry for future research.

Scientific Wonder, Artificial Intelligence, and Awe of the Divine

Science employs wonder and its associated emotions to explore unknown mysteries in the pursuit of knowledge about the natural world. Discovering scientific truth may inspire awe—a transcendent, indescribable experience of enhanced awareness and astonishment at the extensive interconnectedness of reality. The emotion of awe expands human consciousness and also mediates possible spiritual encounters with the Divine. Prompted by wonder and curiosity, scientific studies of the human mind and cognition yield insights that contribute to artificial intelligence research, especially the potential development of conscious artificial general intelligence. Yet, emerging artificial intelligence technologies raise religious and sociological questions about consciousness, personhood, and whether conscious artificial general intelligence is capable of expressing wonder and experiencing awe of the Divine.

A Contribution of Social Work to the Discourse on the Theory-Practice Relationship

The question of the theory-practice relationship is one of the core questions of philosophy and the social sciences. How should the proportions between theory and practice best be determined? Social work joins this discourse from a logic of applied sciences. It can develop an appropriate answer that can be generalized if it first participates on that discourse. For that, the theory-practice relationship is first distinguished from the theory-practice proportion. Because while a proportionality points to communication, which could be determined vertically in one way, in the case of the relationship is horizontality at the centre of the debate, which refers to the consent of the other actor. Therefore, the following paper will first distinguish the philosophical question of how the relationship between knowledge and action should be determined from the sociological question of how the proportion between knowledge and action is in a given profession. After an introduction, the genesis of the theory-practice communication the question is put what can be deduced from this distinction for social work. Depending on the viewpoint, the relationship can either be transformed into communication through mediation between theory and practice, or theory can be separated, decoupled from practice. In a third proposal developed here, this theory-driven relationship and/or proportion can be viewed from the logic of theory-practice complementarity.

Royalty and Its Representation in Popular Culture

Royalty and Its Representation in Popular Culture

Artificial Intelligence Policymaking: An Agenda for Sociological Research

Sociological research on artificial intelligence (AI) is flourishing: sociologists of inequality are examining new and concerning effects of AI on American society, and computational sociologists are developing novel ways to use AI in research. The authors advocate for a third form of sociological engagement with AI: research on how AI can be publicly governed to advance equity in American society. The authors orient sociologists to the rapidly evolving AI policy landscape by defining AI and by contrasting two leading approaches to AI governance: a safety-based and an equity-based approach. The authors argue that the safety-based approach is the predominant one but is inadequate. They suggest that sociologists can shift AI policymaking to prioritize equity by examining corporate political power in AI policy debates and by organizing research around four sociological questions centered on equity and public engagement. The authors conclude with recommendations for supporting and coordinating policy-oriented research on AI in sociology.

Studying lithium-ion batteries across and beyond companies, states and the environment

This article explores how questions of global anthropology and sociology can contribute to the analysis of lithium-ion battery production and circulation, by reviewing critically the institutional approaches that foreground and legitimize how companies and states foster electric vehicles to tackle global environmental degradation. The article shows how analyses can go beyond this framing by studying how companies, states and imaginaries about the environment and humanity result from multiple power relations that cannot be subsumed under a single logic, and that intersect with social hierarchies established in terms of gender, class, nation, race, age, location and religion, among others. Attentive to this multiplicity, this work explores various scales, imaginaries, connections and interdependences, reflecting on how notions of environment and humanity also inform, normatively and conceptually, some of the social scientific analyses themselves.

SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS TAX PAYMENT: A SURVEY-BASED EVIDENCE FROM SADC COUNTRIES

Tax non-compliance and its consequences have become a subject of increasing interest in academic literature and economic forums worldwide. While most studies on this issue focus on developed countries, there is a growing trend to explore understudied developing countries. To fill this gap, we investigated tax evasion drivers in eight Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, using the round 7 Afrobarometer survey data conducted in 2019-2020. The survey's comprehensive coverage of economic, political, and sociological questions made it one of the most extensive surveys on the continent. We used logistic regression and Empirical Bayesian estimation and found that political legitimacy significantly influences tax evasion behavior in the SADC region. Individuals residing within the SADC are more likely to engage in tax evasion activities when they perceive a lack of access to fundamental services provided by their governments or harbor doubts about the legitimacy of political institutions. Therefore, policymakers in SADC member states should prioritize reviewing and evaluating economic policies, the performance and efficiency of political institutions, and more inclusive governance. We suggest that a strong and legitimate political framework, coupled with effective service delivery, can contribute to reducing tax evasion rates and enhancing public welfare outcomes. Institutional reforms, increased transparency, accountability, and a more inclusive governance system are necessary for fostering a culture of compliance and trust, leading to improved revenue collection.

Old and New Questions for Sociology: The Global Importance of the Sociology of Emotions

Old and New Questions for Sociology: The Global Importance of the Sociology of Emotions

Managing Employee Motivation in Slovak Universities from the Perspectives of Time and Age

Human resources refer to a special and unique field as they are the most valuable but also the most costly factor of production. The aim of the research is to analyze the level of motivation of university teachers in Slovakia in terms of time and age, and to define the motivational needs of university teachers. The method of sociological questioning is used. The collected data from 2016 university teachers from Slovak technical universities are analyzed using the Tukey HSD test. Based on the research results, it can be stated that university teachers are the most motivated by relational and financial motivational factors. There is a significant change in the level of average importance of motivational factors across time (years), but there is no change in their structure. In terms of the age factor, significant differences over time are identified. Finally, Slovak teachers display the need for a more respected social status and a better image of their profession. The research findings will help university managers in raising the level of teachers’ motivation and in designing motivation programs.

Unemployment, workplace socialization, and electoral participation: evidence from Sweden

Abstract How unemployment affects electoral participation is a archetypal question in political sociology and of particular relevance in economic crises; in the 1930s as well as during a pandemic. A frequent argument in the literature is that unemployment leads to political withdrawal as the unemployed have to focus on their economy and other personal matters. Some scholars, on the other hand, reason that unemployment triggers political mobilization through feelings of grievance and a strive to protest against leading politicians. However, existing empirical evidence is mixed and often suffers from limitations in data and research design. To make progress on this difficult empirical question, the present study leverages Swedish register data on turnout, spanning nine elections between 1970 and 2018. This extensive panel dataset enables us to more adequately address the causal status of the relationship by relying on the with-in individual variation in turnout. Our results report significant but modest negative effects of both unemployment in general and of losing a relatively well-paid job (job loss). The effects are driven by the young. We also find that the negative effect is less pronounced for those who have previously worked at a workplace where most colleagues participate, supporting a socialization mechanism.

Network Planning at the Faculties of Physical Education and Sport in the Postmodern Era

The article aims to study the issues of university teachers and students from the faculties of physical education and sport to improve the educational process based on the principles of network planning. The article presents the results of the sociological questioning of the subjects of the educational process of physical education and sport faculties about the problems in the organization and planning of effective learning, as well as appropriate optimizing recommendations. A subject correlation matrix has been developed in the furtherance of this goal, in which each subject has a specific line and column. The analysis of the subjects’ matrix allows one to pre-determine the order of study of individual subjects in courses and cycles, their relationship and interframe sequence. Within the framework of the experiment, the authors of the article have surveyed 52 university teachers and 450 physical education students. The survey included questions relating to personal opinions about the advantages and disadvantages of the new curriculum and relevant programmes in 16 major subjects. Statistical data processing was carried out using the SPSS Statistics 17.0 software package. The recommended concentrated arrangement of the leading subjects of the biomedical cycle will allow one to create an interdisciplinary programme giving a complete vision of the structure, functions and biochemical processes occurring in various human body systems.

Aesthetics and Cartography: Post-Critical Reflections on Deviance in and of Representations

Cartographic representations are subject to sensory perception and rely on the translation of sensory perceptions into cartographic symbols. In this respect, cartography is closely related to aesthetics, as it represents an academic discipline of sensory perceptions. The scholarly concern with cartographic aesthetics, by today, has strongly been focused on the aesthetic impact of cartographic representations. The consideration of the philosophical sub-discipline of aesthetics however is rather restrained. This is also true for the connection between sociological questions and the social construction of aesthetic judgments. We address both topics in this article. We refer to post-critical cartographic theory. It accepts the socially constructed nature and power-bound nature of maps but does not reject “traditional” and widely established positivist cartography. Drawing on the theory of deviant cartographies related to this, we understand cartography designed according to aesthetic criteria as meta-deviant, as it makes the contingency of world interpretations clear. Especially augmented and virtual environments show a great potential to generate aesthetically constructed cartographic representations. Participatory cartography enables many people to reflect on the contingency of their spatial experiences and spatial abstractions without expert-like special knowledge. A prerequisite, however, is the greatest possible openness to topics and representations. This is not subject to a moral restriction.

Humanitarianism’s New Business Model

Abstract There has been a transformation in the relationship between the corporate and humanitarian worlds over the last two decades, as the humanitarian sector has integrated a corporate mentality that would have once been viewed as downright deplorable by humanitarian actors. The search for a “new business model” is symbolic of the times. After situating the historical moment in terms of the relationship between humanitarianism and neoliberalism, the article examines three defining elements of this model: humanitarian finance; the role of corporations and markets for addressing life-threatening circumstances; and a business-oriented rationalization. These developments can constrain and possibly soil the legitimacy of humanitarianism. They might also alter humanitarianism’s practices and distort what humanitarian is. Such concerns raise the sociological question of: what function does humanitarianism play in the world order? Where does humanitarianism’s new business model fit?

SIMBOLIČKI INTERAKCIONIZAM I HERMENEUTIKA KAO STRATEGIJE SOCIOLOŠKOG ODREĐENJA KULTURE / SYMBOLICAL INTERACTIONISM AND HERMENEUTICS AS STRATEGIES FOR THE SOCIOLOGICAL DETERMINATION OF CULTURE

In this paper, it is argued that symbolic interactionism and hermeneutics are possible strategies for the sociological determination of culture in the context of contemporary transformations of "cultural identities". The paper is based on the assumption that contemporary reflections on the sociological question of culture, due to the overemphasis of empirical research, have lost sight of some classic theoretical starting points that can be an important resource in determination and a better understanding of the general spiritual crisis of the modern world. With this idea in mind, the paper tries to accentuate two theoretical paradigms in the domains of their classical interpretation with the possibility of "strategic adjustment" of certain conceptual frameworks aimed at problematizing cultural reality on the "glocal" level. The paper in its various aspects is critical of the "Balkan" understanding of culture in the 21st century.

Contextual Origins of Black-White Educational Disparities in the 21st Century: Evaluating Long-Term Disadvantage Across Three Domains

AbstractHow much do black-white educational disparities reflect differences in family, school, and neighborhood contexts? We use 16 years of statewide student administrative data from Michigan to update this classic sociological question with attention to observed racial differences in the duration of exposure to contextual disadvantage. We show that a longitudinal measure of family economic disadvantage explains significantly more of the black-white gap in test scores, high school completion, and college entry than a cross-sectional measure commonly used in education research. Racial differences in school context—much more than differences in neighborhood context—explain a large portion of remaining black-white educational disparities. Controlling for black-white differences in exposure to disadvantage across all three contexts reduces 8th and 11th grade test score gaps by over 60% and completely reverses educational attainment gaps, revealing a black net advantage. Our results demonstrate the need to incorporate longitudinal measures in educational administrative data and suggest that schools play a substantial role, after family disadvantage, in the persistence of racial educational inequality. More broadly, our study amplifies the argument that undoing systemic racism will require a confrontation with the deep contextual roots of black-white inequality in the 21st century.