Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Compte rendu: La société canadienne en débats

Alain Faure and Robert GriffithLa société canadienne en débats :  What holds Canada together? Paris :  l’Harmattan, 2008, 224 pp. 20.90 € (2296059309)

Cette collection de chapitres rédigés par treize auteurs est le fruit d’une série de conférences tenue par des géographes français sur l’« impensé » de l’unité canadienne.  La question qui figure en sous-titre de cet ouvrage, « What holds Canada together? » reçoit plusieurs réponses, qui toutes s’articulent autour de la pluralité des forces qui contribuent à l’unité canadienne.  Une unité certes mythique et instable, mais construite sur des bases étonnamment pérennes : cycles politiques, culturels et géographiques récurrents, équilibres plus ou moins calculés entre groupes linguistiques majeurs, inclusion sinon réussie du moins promises aux nouveaux arrivants et groupes minoritaires, et politiques sociales égalitaires mais disputées. Lire plus

Monday, December 20, 2010

Compte rendu: Les Assistés sociaux

Michel MessuLes Assistés sociaux, suivi de l’Assurance d’assistance. Coll. « Res Socialis ». Fribourg : Academic Press Fribourg, 2010, 283 pp. 36,00 € (978-8271-1057-5)

Gageons que la dernière publication de Michel Messu, professeur de sociologie à l’université de Nantes et spécialiste des politiques publiques sociales, ne passera pas inaperçue dans le champ de l’assistance sociale. L’ouvrage est composé de deux parties distinctes : l'une issue de sa recherche doctorale et déjà publiée 1991, Les Assistés sociaux, et l'autre inédite, intitulée L’Assurance d’assistance, dans laquelle il critique la vision française « enchantée » de l’histoire de l’assistance sociale et défend la thèse du renforcement continu de l’État social depuis 1945. Contrairement aux discours pessimistes sur le déclin irrémédiable de l’État-providence, récurrents depuis la fin des années 1980, la protection accordée aux personnes assistées sociales serait, selon Messu, bien plus développée qu’il y a deux décennies … Lire plus

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Compte rendu: La politique de la stupéfaction

Nicolas Carrier (2008), La politique de la stupéfaction. Pérennité de la prohibition des drogues, coll. « Le sens social », Rennes : Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 376 p., 19,00 €, ISBN 978-2-7535-0591-9

Proposer « une théorie du droit qui soit en mesure d’interpréter la pérennité de la prohibition des drogues, cela en considérant le droit pénal tant au plan de son autonomie que de celui de ses rapports de dépendance avec des formes, des logiques, des jeux de langage distincts et du juridique et du droit. » Cette formule (p. 132) dit bien l’ambition de l’ouvrage. Celui-ci est le fruit de deux démarches complémentaires. D’une part, un vaste inventaire des concepts et modèles théoriques susceptibles d’être mobilisés dans cette interprétation,  Lire plus

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Review: William Ramp on The Intellectual Pursuit of the Sacred

Alexander Tristan RileyGodless Intellectuals: The Intellectual Pursuit of the Sacred Reinvented. New York & Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2010, 328 pp. $US 95.00 hardcover (978-1-84545-670-2)

The title of this engaging work might seem paradoxical, but while the intellectuals it describes may have been godless, they were deeply concerned with some of the central issues addressed by religion. In explaining how, Riley gives us an historical sociology of a stream of Durkheim-influenced thinking that has only recently gained recognition, and indeed, is still ignored in certain quarters. His Durkheim is one whose approach, ideas and preoccupations, mediated through the French cultural avant-garde, neglected, and re-appropriated in various ways, had a formative influence on French post-structuralist thought, and thence on the wider world of letters.  Read more

Review: Raymond Arthur on Youth Justice Systems

Jane B. Sprott and Anthony N. DoobJustice for Girls? Stability and Change in the Youth Justice Systems. Adolescent Development and Legal Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009, 232 pp. $US 37.50 hardcover (978-0-226-77004-8)

Sprott and Doob aim to use female juvenile offending as “a lens through which one can better observe, and thus, understand” the youth justice systems of the United States and Canada. The purpose of this comparative approach is to help in unravelling the puzzle of girls, juvenile crime and the criminal justice system. Virtually all literature on juvenile offending focuses on male participation in juvenile offending behaviour.  Read more

Review: Mervyn Horgan on Anthropology and Social Theory

Sherry B. OrtnerAnthropology and Social Theory: Culture, Power, and the Acting Subject. Durham: Duke University Press, 2006, 200 pp. $US 21.95 paper (0-8223-3864-5), $US 74.95 hardcover (0-8223-3811-4)

Practice theory stands as one of the most significant theoretical developments in the social sciences over the last half century. In Anthropology and Social Theory, Sherry Ortner sets out to show how, when well-grounded in original empirical research, practice theory throws new light on questions of culture, power, agency and subjectivity.  Read more

Review: Jim Cosgrave on The Contemporary Goffman

Michael Hviid Jacobsen, edThe Contemporary Goffman. Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought. New York: Routledge, 2010, 396 pp. $US 95.00 hardcover (978-0-415-99681-5)

In his contribution to The Contemporary Goffman, Charles Lemert asks: “Who, in his day, would have thought that Erving Goffman’s writings would endure as long as they have?” While there is no question that sociological interest in the work of Goffman persists, The Contemporary Goffman contributes to appraising and sustaining Goffman’s oeuvre by emphasizing its contemporary significance. Appearing 50 years after the publication of The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, it also presents a case for considering Goffman’s oeuvre and sustained focus on the Interaction Order as classic within the sociological canon. Read more

Review: Karen Hughes on Gender, Family and Unemployment in Ontario’s Great Depression

Lara CampbellRespectable Citizens: Gender, Family and Unemployment in Ontario’s Great Depression. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009, 304 pp. $29.95 paper (978-0-8020-9669-2), $65.00 hardcover (978-0-8020-9974-7)

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial collapse, there has been a surge of interest in the Great Depression, with several economic history books vaulting to the top of bestseller lists. While Lara Campbell likely never anticipated such keen interest in her chosen subject, her book is certainly a welcome addition, appearing when public and scholarly interest in the events of the Great Depression is at an all time high. Campbell’s account is highly engaging and readable, offering new insights into the gendered dynamics of economic crisis as it played out in the lives of women and men living in Ontario in the 1930s. Focusing on the economic hardship faced by families, and the role of individual protest and collective action in redefining welfare and citizenship, Respectable Citizens offers a vivid, perceptive analysis of a unique period in Canadian history … Read more

Review: Sally Lindsay on Freedom and Disability in a Community Group Home

Jack LevinsonMaking Life Work: Freedom and Disability in a Community Group Home. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010, 304 pp. $US 22.50 paper (978-0-8166-5082-8), $US 67.50 hardcover (978-0-8166-5081-1)

Jack Levinson’s book describes a year-long ethnography of a group home for adults with intellectual disabilities. This book is important because in the sociological literature relatively little attention has been paid to people with intellectual disabilities. Most of the research on group homes focuses on homeless or troubled youth, and very little is known about the inner workings of a group home for people with intellectual disabilities. Levinson’s book addresses these gaps in the sociology and disability studies literature. Read more

Review: Hoffbauer and Ramos on Opp's Theories of Political Protest

Karl-Dieter Opp. Theories of Political Protest and Social Movements: A Multidisciplinary Introduction, Critique, and Synthesis. New York: Routledge, 2009, 448 pp. $US 45.95 paper (978-0-415-48389-6), $US 150.00 hardcover (978-0-415-48388-9)

Theories of Political Protest and Social Movements sets out to identify the explanatory power of dominant social movement theories in accounting for political protests. In doing so, the book highlights the implicit and under-theorized links between micro and macro level social movement perspectives, and identifies how they influence one another. Opp argues that current theoretical approaches should be integrated to gain a better understanding of protest actions and movement outcomes, and that such integration can be achieved by adopting a structural-cognitive model.  Read more

Review: Arthur Frank on Norbert Elias

Norbert Elias. The Loneliness of the Dying AND Humana Conditio. Edited by Alan Scott and Brigitte Scott. Chester Springs PA: University College Dublin Press / Dufour Editions, 2010, 192 pp. $US 99.95 hardcover (978-1-906359-06-5)

The present volume includes one of Elias’s most frequently cited books, The Loneliness of the Dying, published in German in 1979 and in English in 1985. The other text, Humana Conditio, was published in German in 1985 as an expansion of lectures that Elias gave at the University of Bielefeld on the fortieth anniversary of the end of World War II. The present publication is the first English translation.  … The Loneliness of the Dying analyzes how peculiarities of contemporary social structure have produced characteristic problems for dying. The book’s interest is not the observation that dying persons are lonely, but rather understanding why this loneliness is predictable, if not at all inevitable.  Read more

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Review: Will van den Hoonard on Institutional Review Boards and the Social Sciences

Zachary M. SchragEthical Imperialism: Institutional Review Boards and the Social Sciences, 1965–2009. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010, 264 pp. $US 45.00 hardcover (978-0-8018-9490-9)

Ethical Imperialism is about the power exercised by federal ethics regulators and ethics committees in American universities (and hospitals). This power has stymied social research through broken promises, the exclusion of social researchers from decision making, threats and suspensions, distrust, and reliance on medical and psychological practices to nullify the concerns of social researchers. Read more.

Review: John Goyder on Social Status and Cultural Consumption

Tak Wing Chan, edSocial Status and Cultural Consumption. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010, 290 pp. $US 95.00 hardcover (978-0-521-19446-4)

Social Status and Cultural Consumption
is a good testament to the effectiveness of the International Sociological Association in fostering international collaboration through its research committees. As explained in the Acknowledgments page, Tak Wing Chan’s book is largely a product of RC 28 on Social Stratification and Mobility. This edited collection presents studies from Great Britain, the United States, France, Chile, Hungary and the Netherlands. I think the choice of countries reflects interest and activity levels within RC 28 more than either a random or a theoretically-informed sample of counties, but the six do present sufficient variation to convince the reader that social inequality indeed has something to do with the sorts of entertainment people seek out. Read more.

Review: Harris Ali on Racism, Disease and a Media Panic

Charles T. Adeyanju. Deadly Fever: Racism, Disease and a Media Panic. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2010, 136 pp. $15.95 paper (978-1-55266-341-7)

In this empirically detailed and theoretically informed case study, Charles T. Adeyanju demonstrates how a moral panic initiated by a potential infectious disease outbreak reveals the mechanisms, nature, and extent to which racism operates in Canada.   Read more

Friday, December 10, 2010

Review: Thomas Crosbie on The Culture of Military Innovation

Dima Adamsky. The Culture of Military Innovation: The Impact of Cultural Factors on the Revolution in Military Affairs in Russia, the US, and Israel. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010, 248 pp. $US 25.95 paper (978-0-8047-6952-5), $US 65.00 hardcover (978-0-8047-6951-8)

Dima Adamsky’s The Culture of Military Innovation is an account of how one intellectual paradigm, called the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA), rose and fell in the militaries of the USSR, USA and Israel. Adamsky characterizes it as an empirical and theoretical contribution to the third, constructivist wave of strategic culture scholarship. This subdiscipline has made various attempts to identify culture, instead of rationality, as “the pivotal intervening variable” in military development. The study distinguishes itself within its subdiscipline for its excellent sources (archival material from all three countries and interviews in Israel), skillful argumentation, and very intelligent case selection. Read more

Review: Danielle Soulliere on Re-Thinking Men

Anthony Synnott. Re-Thinking Men: Heroes, Villains and Victims. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009, 306 pp. $US 124.95 hardcover (978-0-7546-7709-3)

Re-Thinking Men aims to broaden the traditional conceptualization of gender and gender relations through a lens of binary opposites through a more comparative perspective which reconsiders how men and women are more alike than different. Synnott addresses what he rightly perceives as a glaring gap in both feminist and masculinist research and scholarship, offering a humanist perspective on gender and gender relations. He concludes that this more balanced perspective is good for both women and men, moving us closer toward achieving true gender equality and justice. … Read more

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Review: Randolph Haluza-DeLay on Organizing Urban America

Heidi J Swarts. Organizing Urban America: Secular and Faith-based Progressive Movements. Social Movements, Protest, and Contention Series, volume 28. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008, 336 pp. $US 25.00 paper (978-0-8166-4839-9), $US 75.00 hardcover (978-0-8166-4838-2)

With the election of a former community organizer as President of the United States, the time is ripe for scholarly attention to local community organizing. Organizing Urban America is important for two reasons. First, it focuses on the local, whereas much social movement research has been at larger geographic scales. Second, Swarts highlights culture, with an expansive conception that shows how central it is to understanding movements’ dynamics, effectiveness, and links with political opportunities and the mobilization of resources. … Read more

Review: Zohreh Bayatrizi on Suicide, Foucault, History and Truth

Ian Marsh. Suicide: Foucault, History and Truth. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010, 264 pp. $US 34.99 paper (978-0-521-13001-1), $US 95.00 hardcover (978-0-521-11254-3)

Ian Marsh’s Suicide: Foucault, History and Truth chronicles the process through which suicide, similar to motherhood, became pathological at the hands of the ‘psy’ disciplines, psychiatry in particular. Here too, hormonal imbalances and mental illness are often seen as the main culprit. Marsh’s Suicide, written in the style of a “history of the present,” begins with “mapping a contemporary ‘regime of truth’ in relation to suicide,” where the author examines how a “compulsory ontology of pathology” is produced and reproduced in professional accounts of suicide, how authority is established, objects and subjects defined, and truths disseminated.  … Read more

Review: Marion Blute on Cultural and Social Selection

W. G. RuncimanThe Theory of Cultural and Social Selection. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009, 266 pp. $US 27.99 paper (978-0-521-13614-3), $US 75.00 hardcover (978-0-521-19951-3)

W. G. Runciman (Walter Garrison Runciman, 3rd Viscount Runciman of Doxford, Commander of the Order of the British Empire and Fellow of the British Academy) is an historical and comparative sociologist and social theorist. Along with Anthony Giddens and Margaret Archer, he is arguably one of the three most distinguished British social theorists of his time. He has a number of honourary degrees including from Oxford, he served as President of the British Academy from 2001-2004, and he is a Foreign Honourary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. As both an abbreviation and an extension of his three volume A Treatise on Social Theory (particularly of the second volume), The Theory of Cultural and Social Selection is a welcome addition to Runciman's corpus.  … Read more