Suchergebnisse

The order of deaconesses, which survived in western Christianity until the beginning of the eleventh century, was revived in the Church of England in 1862. The role of deaconess has been systematically compounded of anomalies which express the otherness of women and their subordination to men. That deaconesses are subordinate to clergy and dependent on their goodwill is evident from analysis of the formal structures and informal networks within which their respective roles are located. Deaconesses depend on clergy for task allocation, for the settlement of grievances, for participation if any in decision-making, for career development and even for their sense of identity, since it is not other women but clergy who typically serve as role models. During interregna, when a parish lacks an incumbent priest, the restricted nature of the deaconess's role is manifest. Interviews with deaconesses and women lay workers in one English diocese reveal the depth of frustration many of them feel. The recent decision to ordain women not as deaconesses but as deacons will expand their role only slightly, will not resolve their anomalous status and will merely confirm their subordination to the clergy.

The concept of consumerism has multiple meanings, many of which are heavily value-laden; similarly, there are conflicting stereotypes of 'the consumer'. After exploring the key dimensions of debates about consumerism and the consumer, this paper addresses some paradoxical consequences of the discourse of consumer empowerment in the field of health promotion and specifically in the 'new public health' movement.

Over the past 30 years Robert Dingwall has published an influential series of articles on the professions, especially law and medicine. This represents a substantial and coherent body of work in an important sub-discipline of sociology. This volume assembles the best of these writings in one single accessible place.The ten essays are republished in their original form, each bearing the traces of the time and place it was written. In sum, they provide a fascinating account of an academic journey. They are introduced with a foreword from the author, who places the work in context and offers some thoughts about how the work might be used by scholars in developing the field, to evaluate, for example, the effects of the New Labour period on professional autonomy. The essays will be indispensable to sociologists with a general interest in the professions and to scholars of law, medicine and business.