Journal of Sociology

Escalating concern regarding environmental issues has resulted in an increase in the number and scope of environmental movements internationally. The diversity and proactive nature of these movements has put pressure on public (state) actors to address challenges and engage with movement actors. Engagement is not universally positive and can lead to attempts to disrupt or subvert challenging movements. This article examines the impact of perceived state subversion on trust within the New Zealand environmental movement through the alleged use of spies. The analysis finds that short-term emotional reactions within the movement that led to questioning of relationships were outweighed by longer-term pragmatic view about the need to maintain collective action.

This article focuses on some of the fantasies underpinning contemporary politics and the way that these ‘perform’, in effect, to occlude more complex understandings. To develop my argument, I deploy a critical discourse analysis to consider the narratives used by politicians during the 2010 Australian Federal election campaign to galvanise popular support by raising the ‘threat’ posed by large-scale population growth. I argue that narratives framing ‘population growth as unsustainable’ have a resonance with sections of the electorate because they connect to a sense of unease about the present and the future. The vexed debates surrounding population size are indicative of anxieties that lie beneath the surface of political discourse.

Problems of defining such terms as ‘society’, ‘the social’, and ‘the social system’ remain an ongoing bane of social theory in general and sociology more specifically. This article is located in the context of recent debates that ‘society’ as an empirical reality and ‘society’ as a concept is in crisis. We begin by briefly reviewing sociological understandings of ‘society’ and noting the ‘death of society’ thesis in recent social theory. In an attempt to extend this debate beyond naïve proclamations of the ‘end of society’, we argue – in an exploratory and provisional manner – that the bulk of sociological discourses on the ‘social’ can be located within one of the following categories or registers: (1) society as structure; (2) society as solidarity; and (3) society as creation. These three registers of the social are briefly sketched in the remainder of the article. This argument arises from a larger ‘work in progress’ on the logics of the social.

Drawing on a survey of households across a small rural community in north central Victoria, Australia, this article uses social network analysis to examine the embedded political resources citizens draw on and mobilize in order to effect change at the local level. The article uses a name generator to map the structure, size and composition of citizens’ political support networks and to identify key actors or ‘nodes’ they rely upon to get action on local issues. More traditional quantitative measures are then used to examine how being more or less ‘politically connected’ impacts upon levels of political engagement. The findings confirm that ‘who you know’ is important, with both the level of political connectedness and breadth of contact types important predictors of increased participation in political activities.

What is it like to be socialised into the self-contained Christian fundamentalist world of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and to move towards disinheriting that tradition during adolescence? This article considers this question by looking at how a group of young, Australian Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs), who were born into the religion, make the journey from membership to dissent. The interview data suggest that for these young respondents the roots of disaffiliation lie in disagreement with specific JW practices and the freedom and hedonistic attractions offered by the secular world. It shows how disaffiliation was staged as a dynamic struggle for self as the ex-JWs swung between the secular attractions of freedom and hedonism, and the certainty and comfort of the religious community. Further, the article suggests that parental socialisation and the differences between those born into such movements and converts are important factors in understanding reasons for disaffiliation.

Informal carers of cancer patients have high rates of burden, stress, anxiety and unmet needs; yet, some describe caregiving as fulfilling. Building on the work of Thomas and colleagues, this study takes a sociology of emotions approach to understanding variations in carers of cancer patients’ emotional experiences, using interview data with 32 carers of a spouse with cancer. Analysis indicates that a clearly terminal (negative) prognosis facilitates clear priorities, unambiguous emotion management and improved social bonds. A more ambiguous (positive) prognosis, that includes a greater chance of survival, fosters role conflict, clashing feeling rules and ongoing guilt within spousal carers. This study highlights the importance of a prognosis to emotion management, underscoring a phenomenon that is likely to grow as survival rates continue to improve and explaining some of the variation in carers’ experiences.

This article addresses debates within theories of reflexive modernisation about the meaning of reflexivity for understanding contemporary subjectivities. The article demonstrates that the contribution that this concept could make to theories of modern subjectivity has been limited by the problematic assumption that reflexivity describes a form of critical rationality leading to emancipation from social constraint and the sovereign self-fashioning of identity. Both critiqued and defended on these grounds, debate about reflexivity and reflexive modernisation has been limited by a sociologically unsustainable vision of modern subjectivity, and has left theories of reflexive modernisation open to the accusation that they are blind to the relationship between subjectivity and social structure. In response, this article constructs a theory of reflexivity as a social practice which reflects the contradictions and insecurities intrinsic to modern social structures. Conceived as a social practice, reflexivity is a concept that combines the macro and the micro, the structural and the personal. Capturing historically specific forms of structural organisation, as well as the practices through which these structures are made into biographies, the concept of reflexive subjectivity can make a significant theoretical contribution to understandings of modern identities.

Drawing on qualitative interview data, this article observes the current structure of the Melbourne-based male sex industry, taking into account the unpopularity of traditional sex work ‘venues’ such as the street, print advertising, brothels and agencies. In recent years, the internet has arisen as a viable alternative to these sites. Motivations for the pursuit of internet-based work are numerous and include perceptions of greater ease, convenience and accessibility; anonymity, autonomy and safety, but, above all, the potential for more lucrative returns. The article also highlights the seemingly large numbers of men using dating websites who are casually propositioned online and may consent to such proposals, suggesting further research is required to ascertain the characteristics and experiences of those involved in informal sex work activity.

Taking into account the social conflicts and the many forces present in the domain of health occupations and professions, the authors propose a critical reflection on the role played by the state in the promotion of public interest and the delegation of this role to professional bodies, using a study of an occupational group in the health sector that was carried out in Portugal. The discussion is developed within the domain of the social conditions of sociological research that either uses public funding approved within a public tender and submitted to scientific evaluation, or uses private funding and is commissioned by the private sector, as is the case with one professional group.

Prior research finds young people are less satisfied with police than their older counterparts. Despite this, our understanding of youth attitudes to police is limited, as most research has focused on adult attitudes to police. This study adds to our understanding by examining the influence of parent–child dynamics on youth attitudes to police. We predict that youth attitudes to police will be influenced by their parents’ attitudes. A survey of 540 school students in South East Queensland reveals that perceived parental attitudes to police are associated with youth attitudes to police. However, this effect is partially mediated by maternal, but not paternal attachment. These findings suggest that youth attitudes to police are not simply influenced by contact with police and delinquency, but that familial context is important. Consequently, our theoretical understanding of youth attitudes to police must move beyond a focus upon police contact and delinquency.

This article considers the part played by typologies in analysing career transition. It identifies three strands of typological thinking in seeking to understand this phenomenon. These are typologies as method, as a method–theory bridge, and as a theoretical mode of sociological thinking. The discussion explores ways in which each of these approaches to career transition may contribute insights or may simply complicate analysis. Positive and negative examples of career transition typologies are used to illustrate typology creation and usage. The argument presented is that while each strand can contribute sociological insights, it is the theoretical use of typologies that is paradigmatic, not method-driven typologies, for contemporary career transition inquiry.

This study examines how members of pro-anorexia (PA) and fat acceptance (FA) cybercommunities manage their ascribed ‘offline’ socially marginalised identity in an ‘online’ environment. While much of the sociological literature continues to focus on the corporeal or face-to-face practices of socially marginalised groups, we use online non-participant observation to explore how members of these sites use the internet to manage their marginalised identities. We find that cybercommunities provide a safe place for identity management where members come together to understand, negotiate and, at times, reject the marginalised identity ascribed to them in their offline environment. From the accounts of the PA and FA members we studied, we find that online and offline identities are mutually reinforcing and collectively inform and shape identity. However, the online environment provides an anonymised space for identity work, emotional support and an acceptance of their body, whatever their shape or size.

The form of institutional linkages between schools and employers changed during the decade-long economic recession in Japan. This article explores why institutional linkages between women’s colleges and large Japanese firms in the secondary labor market have survived, despite a long-term restraining of labor demand. From a network theory perspective, employers value information about applicants’ residency status, as it is conducive to reducing personnel management costs; information can be reliably obtained via these institutional linkages. Employers expect schools to use such information to select nominees. By using the data from the school’s applicant pool, the results from logistic regression analysis showed that schools tend to nominate candidates who are living with their parents, and no candidates who lived without parents were hired. Additionally, a candidate’s academic performance and personality evaluation, which can also be obtained through the linkages, as well as more formal recruitment processes, did not have a significant impact on employee selection.

Education has become increasingly driven by economic forces and it is now seen as a way to advance economic growth and prosperity. This article starts by describing the traditional educational vision and Bauman’s liquid modernity. Later, the higher education scenario in Malaysia will be presented. The objective of this research is to investigate the factors influencing Malaysian students’ university degree choice, and their perspectives on basic science as well as basic social science degree courses in universities. Our findings show the primacy of economic considerations when students make a choice about their education. An examination of the relevance of Bauman’s liquid modernity is also applied here. Moreover, the discrepancies in the research results will be discussed. The article concludes that while liquid modernity promises opportunities and advancement, awareness of the current dynamics in the education sector is also needed.

Academic–industry collaborations are seen as a way to improve the translation and uptake of social science research. The ideal model is that of knowledge co-production, which regards effective collaboration as a reciprocal process between academic researchers and industry partners that is underpinned by jointly produced research outcomes. However academic–industry research partnerships can be inherently problematic, with poor collaborations impeding the translation and uptake of academic research. This article sets out to explore the realities of academic–industry collaborations in the social sciences through a study of Australian Research Council Linkage projects. Based on interviews with academic chief investigators and industry partners (n = 54) the article examines factors that influence the dynamics of research collaborations. Findings indicate that collaborations are inhibited and enhanced by particular individual and organisational factors and that the benefits of academic–industry collaborations go beyond simply improving the uptake of social science research.

Pro-social activities are intended to benefit someone or something other than oneself. There is little known about the pro-social activities students valorize or why students differ in the value they place on different activities. The study seeks to present an understanding about both these matters. Informed by the critical theorist Jürgen Habermas we first constructed a conceptual model to analyse the desirability and feasibility of pro-social activity among our sample. Using data from an online survey with students involved and not involved in a pro-social activity, we found a significant moderator effect of this engagement. Moreover, students differed in the way they valued different activities, with the engaged group devoting time to educational pro-social activities, while the others were more attracted to alleviating hunger and poverty as pro-social activities.

This article examines the global human rights activism of young Muslims through their participation in hip-hop culture. The increased awareness of their Muslim identity in the post-September 11 era inadvertently influences and permeates the consumption of popular youth culture. The article contends that there is an attempt by the hip-hop ummah to draw from the struggles of the African American experience to articulate the human rights concerns facing respective communities. The right to appropriate hip-hop as a means to express their predicaments also brings its young practitioners into conflict with moral entrepreneurs who act as gatekeepers to the religion. However, the human rights activism of young Muslims is bridging the seemingly irreconcilable gap between hip-hop and piety, serving not only as an important framework of social identity but also providing the space to forge generational and transnational solidarities.

In the courtroom legal authority must be performed by the presiding judicial officer. It is also a social situation where information and emotions must be managed in face-to-face interactions. This paper investigates how magistrates perform their authority in the delivery of decisions in open court. An observational study of criminal cases in Australian lower courts shows that magistrates communicate sentencing decisions in a distinct manner. Magistrates frequently look and speak directly to the person being sentenced (the defendant), in line with everyday conversational conventions, and preface their decision with explanations, which allow for some engagement with the defendant. When delivering other kinds of decisions (in criminal cases), such as adjournments, magistrates display less engagement with the defendant. These findings underscore the important ways in which the embodied presence of the defendant and the interactional dimensions of the courtroom can impact on the legal process and the legitimacy of judicial authority.

Reliance on grandparents for children’s informal care is very popular in Australia. Yet little is known about the gendered dynamics of grandparental care. This study, based on 3000 grandparents taking part in Wave 7 of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics Survey (HILDA) and 14 in-depth interviews with grandparents, reveals that gendered inequalities associated with providing childcare significantly influence the lives of older Australians, particularly grandmothers. Grandmothers doing grandchildcare experience greater dissatisfaction with free time and more than their fair share of domestic labour compared to grandfathers. Gendered meanings and practices of grandchildcare evident in interviews position grandmothers as nurturing, coordinators of care. Grandfathers are somewhat influenced by notions of ‘involved fathering’ as they are emotionally engaged in children’s recreational activities, yet are relatively free to opt in and out of caring labour. We conclude that the gendered organisation of grandchildcare is consistent with a dominant maternalist culture in Australia.

Effective intervention into educational inequalities is dependent on having an accurate understanding of the factors which predict it. Research on the educational attainment gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth in Australia has typically focused on closing the academic achievement gap in the hope that this will resolve the issue. However, recent research is beginning to find that Indigenous youth also have significantly different choice behaviours and resources. Using the work of Boudon, the current research used a Bayesian logistic regression model to explore the extent to which differences in university entry rates are due to achievement differentials (primary effects) versus differences in choice behaviours and resources (secondary effects) for Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth in Australia. This was applied to 10,000 Australian youth, followed over eight years. Results suggest that primary effects were predominant, however, a moderate proportion of the Indigenous university entrance rate gap is due to secondary effects.

Very little empirical work examines female sex workers’ experiences in sociological detail, particularly within an Australian context. Drawing from a small-scale sample of female sex workers in South Australia, our findings suggest that sex workers’ ongoing negotiations within private relationships represent ‘emotion work’, as described by Hochschild, which was understood as limiting the effect of stigma. Taking the lead from social scripts associated with women’s traditional roles and associated ‘feeling rules’, participants mediated their personal lives as distinct from their professional lives to navigate their way through the complex interplay between identities. This emotion work was manifest in the negotiation of intimacy. Other factors such as partner jealousy, which emerge from dual engagement in intimate and work-related sexual behaviours, were also mediated. These findings point to a broader appreciation of emotion work as dually agential and structured and undertaken by sex workers in both their home and work spheres.

Ulrich Beck was one of the most influential sociologists of recent decades. Concepts he developed – including risk society, individualization, cosmopolitanization, subpolitics and the democratization of science – are among the most cited, used and contested in contemporary sociology. In the wake of Beck’s recent death, this review article revisits his key contributions and legacy. He proposed that a momentous shift to a new modernity has begun and challenged sociologists as to whether the concepts they use are up to the task of tracing this emerging dynamic. Provocatively, Beck asked whether concepts like the nation-state, family and class are functioning as ‘zombie categories’, continuing on in sociology but no longer relevant to social experience. We argue that Beck was not denying the significance of such social factors, but setting a challenge to the discipline to show how the key concepts of sociology can be reimagined in the face of social change.