Search results

Draws on data from the General Household Survey (GHS) on household incomes in GB & London between 1979 & 1993 to examine the existence of social polarization & inequality. It is noted that polarization in America is usually defined as shrinkage of the middle classes & growth at both the top & bottom of the occupational & earnings spectrum. Conversely, polarization in GB emphasizes a growing divide between a "comfortable middle mass of households with two or more earners & a residualized group with no earners." Analysis of GHS data at the household income level showed little evidence for the American model of polarization in GB but revealed a significant increase in income inequality between 1979-1993 in GB as a whole, & even more so in London, with most of the transfer occurring from the middle to the top end of the household income distribution. Dual income professional/managerial households were shown to be the most affluent. The negative effect of gender & ethnicity on differences in the median household income is discussed. 19 Tables. J. Lindroth

Discusses the historical & current relationship between the social sciences, the scientific method, & postmodern theory. Drawing on the methodology & conclusions of Galileo, modern science has attempted to reduce the distance between science & reality through objective methodology & heightened rationality. It is argued here that the scientific method relies more on the choice of appropriate language & vocabulary than on actual correspondence between methodology & fact. Social scientists have traditionally adopted this skewed approach to life through the scientific method, which blurs rather than reveals reality. The boundaries between explanation & understanding, or nature & humanity, have little meaning in the real world, & it is suggested that the social sciences must be seen as continuous with literature, history, anthropology, politics, etc. Both Thomas Dewey & Michel Foucault advocate rejection of traditional notions of rationality, objectivity, method, & truth. However, it is concluded that Dewey's vocabulary allows more room for hope & solidarity within the social sciences. T. Sevier

"Gatekeeping, Technology, and Polarization" published on by Oxford University Press.