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Since the 1990s, the central references of the sociology of cultural practices have been the theoretical frameworks developed by Pierre Bourdieu and Richard A. Peterson around the concepts of distinction and omnivorousness. This article is based on these frameworks; it revises them together with those of Donnat and Lahire and postulates that the terms of cultural classification and especially those of the upper classes (distinguished and omnivorous) require revision. The article also claims that there are diverse socio-cultural profiles due to the fact that there is never a single logic of differentiation of tastes, and that the results of the present research demand a new conceptual framework capable of showing the operation of diverse logics of differentiation and hierarchy. In order to do this, an analysis of the socio-cultural profiles of the cultivated groups in Spanish society is carried out on the data obtained from the Survey of Cultural Habits and Practices in Spain 2018/19. This work proves the existence of three types of cultivated population – classical, modern and syncretic – with notable differences in their cultural interests and practices, as well as in their underlying sociodemographic features and aesthetic logics, and concludes by posing the need to delve into the latter in what it defines as the study of cultural practice regimes.

Der Beitrag diskutiert anhand eines ethnografischen Forschungsprojekts Potenziale und Herausforderungen re-konstruktiver Ungleichheitsforschung. Das zugrundeliegende Projekt befasst sich aus praxistheoretischer Perspektive mit der Frage, wie ethnisch codierte Bildungsungleichheit reproduziert wird. Um von situierten Unterscheidungspraktiken auf einen Ungleichheitszusammenhang schließen zu können, ist das Projekt als längsschnittliche Ethnografie angelegt. Der Beitrag zeichnet sowohl die methodologische Herausforderung des Gegenstands Unterscheidungspraktiken nach, als auch die Erarbeitung des Konzepts von ethnizitätsrelevanten Unterscheidungspraxen. Das Erkenntnispotenzial dieses Zugangs wird über die Analyse eines Datenbasierten Porträts verdeutlicht.

The complete collected works of Georg Simmel are now available. Yet, the standing of Simmel's sociological theory is still a subject of controversy. Is Simmel only a brilliant impressionist, a flâneur in the territories of modernity? Providing an illuminating and coherent presentation of Simmel's sociological theory, The Challenge of Modernity seeks to demonstrate how Simmel contributed a structured sociological theory that fits the criteria of a 'sociological grand theory'. Indeed, starting by the theory of modernity and its dimensions of social differentiation, monetarisation, culture reification and urbanisation; it reconstructs the architecture of Simmel's sociological epistemology. Particular attention is dedicated to the theory of 'qualitative societal differentiation' that Simmel develops within his cultural sociology, with the late work being presented as a double contribution to the foundation of sociological anthropology and to the social ethics of complex societies. Presenting the entirety of Simmel's manifold oeuvre from the viewpoint of its relevance for sociology, this comprehensive volume will appeal to scholars and advanced students who wish to understand Simmel's relevance for socio-political thought and become acquainted with his contribution to sociological theory. It will also be of interest to the wider public who seek a critical assessment of our age in theoretical terms.

Ikke kun i klassisk, men også i moderne sociologi spiller begrebet om "individualisering" en helt central rolle. I nyere sociologi har ikke mindst Ziehe, Beck, Giddens og Bauman gjort individualiseringsbegrebet til et nøglebegreb i deres teorier om sen-, refleksiv og flydende modernitet. Individualiseringssociologiens betoning af frisættelse, valg og social forandring udfordres imidlertid af differentierings- og magtsociologien (Bourdieu, Dean, Rose m.fl.), der i højere grad betoner klasser, magt og social reproduktion. I artiklen søges skismaet mellem forandring og social reproduktion "overvundet" i form af et forsøg på at tænke individualiseringens differentierede former i den refleksive modernitet. Antagelsen er således, at der – afhængigt af besiddelsen af økonomisk, social og kulturel kapital – er forskel på refleksiv moderne menneskers evne til at håndtere individualiseringens krav, hvilket – med fokus på unge – illustreres med en række empiriske eksempler. Afslutningsvis peges der på muligheden af en teoretisk integration af fundamentale indsigter i såvel individualiserings- som differentieringssociologien.


ENGELSK ABSTRACT:

Klaus Rasborg: Individualization and Social Differentiation in Reflexive Modernity

The concept of "individualization" plays a central role in both classic and modern sociology. In modern sociology writers such as Ziehe, Beck, Giddens and Bauman made the concept of individualization a key concept in their theories of "late", "reflexive" and "liquid modernity". However, the emphasis which the sociology of individualization puts on "liberation", choice and social change is challenged by the sociology of differentiation and power (Bourdieu, Dean, Rose and others) with its greater emphasis on class, power and social reproduction. This article seeks to "overcome" this schism between social change and social reproduction in the form of an attempt to think the differentiated forms of individualization in reflexive modernity. The assumption is that there is a differentiation in reflexive modern people's ability to deal with the requirements of individualization, depending on their possession of economic, social and cultural capital. This is argued by means of a theoretical "reconstruction" of the insights and deficiencies of the sociology of individualization, and demonstrated – with a focus on young people – by a number of empirical examples. In conclusion, the article discusses the possibility of a theoretical integration of the fundamental insights of both the sociology of individualization and the sociology of differentiation.

Key words: Individualization, social differentiation, young people, risk, reflexive habitus.

The present article analyzes the current development stage of higher education sociology in the north, with emphasis on the United States and Europe, and the degree of its establishment in Spanish speaking Latin America, in particular. It reviews its academic institutionalization, professionalization of research and disciplinary production in the central countries and its later evolution through geographical diffusion, inclusion of new subjects, interdisciplinary emphases, differentiation and specialization of approaches and through an increasing comparative focus in the study of national systems. It also attests to the weaknesses of those institutionalization, professionalization and production processes in Latin America, in contrast with the region's contribution in terms of some analytical perspective and distinctive topics, such as the proclamation of a idiosyncratic ' Latin American university model', its political content and relationship with the civil society, the role of student movements, the impact of authoritarian regimes on higher education and the cultivation of a critical approach (critical and alienated at the same time) towards the globalization, marketization and increasing privatization of the region's higher education. Finally, in the way of a brief case study, a short analysis of the weak and still embryonic institutionalization of the higher education research filed in Chile is offered, as well as of the types of research personnel that work within it. A quantification and characterization of the production of these different groups is presented, and their involvement in public policy debates, relative localism and lack of theoretical ambition are explored. ; El presente artículo analiza el estadio de desarrollo en que se encuentra la sociología de la educación superior en los países del norte, con énfasis en los Estados Unidos y Europa, y su grado de implantación en América Latina de habla hispana y en Chile, en particular. Revisa los procesos de institucionalización académica, profesionalización de la investigación y producción disciplinaria en los países centrales y su posterior evolución por difusión geográfica, inclusión de nuevos temas, énfasis interdisciplinarios, diferenciación y especialización de enfoques y por efecto de un creciente foco comparativo en el estudio de los sistemas nacionales. Muestra enseguida la debilidad de esos mismos procesos de institucionalización profesionalización y producción en América Latina, en contraste con la contribución realizada por esta región en términos de algunas perspectivas y tópicos de estudio característicos, tales como los enunciados en torno a un 'modelo latinoamericano' de universidad, su vínculo con la política y la sociedad civil, el rol de los movimientos estudiantiles, el impacto de los regímenes autoritarios sobre la educación superior y el cultivo de un enfoque crítico (o crítico y alienado a la vez) frente a los procesos de globalización, mercadización y progresivo privatismo que envuelven a la educación superior de la región. Finalmente, a la manera de un breve estudio de caso, se analiza la incipiente y aún precaria institucionalización de un campo de investigación disciplinaria de la educación superior en Chile y los tipos de investigadores que a él concurren. Se cuantifica y caracteriza la producción de los distintos grupos de investigadores mostrando su incipiente desarrollo, su vínculo con los debates de política pública del sector y su inclinación localista y falta de ambición teórica.

Cover -- Half Title -- Series -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Dedication -- Preface: The Dismal Science of Human Nature -- Part 1 The Problem with Sociology and its Solution -- 1 What's Wrong with Sociology? -- 2 The Basics for an Evolutionary Sociology -- 3 Why and How Are Humans Social? -- 4 Morality in a Biosocial Context -- Part 2 Basic Categories of Human Differentiation -- 5 The Sex Difference in Homo sapiens -- 6 Stratification, Status, and Inequality in Homo sapiens -- 7 Racial Identity and Difference in Homo sapiens -- 8 Culture in Homo sapiens -- Epilogue: The Evolutionary End of Sociology? -- Index.

Abstract The relative importance of social class differences (social differentiation) and stages of the family development cycle (demographic differentiation) on income inequalities in rural Rwanda are discussed and compared using survey data from 1,019 households. Both forms of differentiation are conceptualized as dynamic processes that intersect through their mutual inclusion of landholding—land being fundamental to our understanding of social class in the Third World and likewise closely tied to the timing of the developmental stages of the family cycle. Findings demonstrate that both forms of differentiation are vitally important, in roughly equal proportions, to household income generation in Rwanda. Emphasis is placed on the direct effects of the social class variables and on the indirect effects of the demographic differentiation process. The importance of the impact of contextual variables, such as land scarcity and the absence of alternative nonfarm employment, on income inequality are assessed.

"Cover" -- "Half Title" -- "Book Title" -- "Copyright" -- "Table of Contents" -- "List of figures" -- "Notes about the contributors" -- "Acknowledgements" -- "Sensory urbanities: excursions in the city" -- "Introduction" -- "Sensory antecedents" -- "Structure of the book" -- "References" -- "Part I" -- "Sensory inequalities" -- "1 Climatic environmental bubbles and social inequalities" -- "Introduction" -- "Heat as a sensory experience" -- "Literature review" -- "The climatic environmental bubble" -- "Climate modification in Bangkok metropolis" -- "Climatic bubbles and social class in Bangkok" -- "Discussion: climatic bubbles and macro-socialcategories" -- "Conclusion: from structure to practices in micro-climatic modification" -- "Acknowledgement" -- "References" -- "2 The politics of sensible milieu: sense, deception and charisma in urban India" -- "Perception and deception" -- "Scenes of deception" -- "Deceptive encounters" -- "Charismatic figures" -- "Charismatic figures as aesthetic subjects" -- "Conclusion" -- "References" -- "Perception and deception" -- "3 Senses of distinction: social differentiation, metro-mobilities and daily life in Ho Chi Minh City" -- "The feel of Ho Chi Minh City" -- "Mobilities, dispositions and transport sensescapes" -- "New transport sensescapes of automobility in HCMC" -- "Differentiation and commingling in transport sensescapes" -- "New metro-mobilitiesand multiplying of sensory experiences" -- "Dulling, distinction and demarcation of sensory experiences in metro-mobilities" -- "Conclusion" -- "References" -- "Part II" -- "Sensing urban space through movement" -- "4 Walking to the beat: (re)producing locality through Walking Days" -- "Walking days" -- "Embodied commemorations" -- "Walking to the beat" -- "(Re)creating community" -- "Conclusion" -- "References

The last two decades have been marked in many developed and emerging countries by major educational reforms, around special themes: decentralization, the differentiation of courses and school content and the free choice of school. These three education policies, which aim to differentiate and diversify the educational offer, call into question the traditional organization of modern educational systems. This study seeks to evaluate the effects of these reforms on the performance of education systems, thanks to an econometric analysis based, on the one hand, on the results of the PISA 2000 international evaluation and, on the other, on a a fine description of the institutional characteristics of countries in relation to the three policies studied. Thirty-nine states and political communities are thus included in this study. In addition to an analytical description of the three education policies, studied through both the legal frameworks of the national systems and their reality in interaction with the behavior of the actors, the analysis shows that the effects of these reforms are not univocal. Indeed, behind common names, these three policies make it possible, according to the countries, to develop variable institutional arrangements that meet different receptions, this combination producing in turn divergent effects on the performance of education systems. ; Les deux dernières décennies ont été marquées dans de nombreux pays développés et émergents par des réformes éducatives d'envergure, autour de thématiques privilégiées : la décentralisation, la différenciation des parcours et des contenus scolaires ainsi que le libre choix de l'école. Ces trois politiques d'éducation qui visent à différencier et diversifier l'offre éducative remettent en cause l'organisation traditionnelle des systèmes éducatifs modernes. Cette étude s'attache à évaluer les effets de ces réformes sur les performances des systèmes éducatifs, grâce à une analyse économétrique fondée, d'un côté, sur les résultats de l'évaluation internationale ...

This doctoral dissertation deals with the transformation of academic work in British higher education, in a context of rising human resource management and dissemination of "quasimarket" mechanisms following New Public Management policy requests. Taking cues from empirical data gathered in two British universities, the dissertation deploys a mixed-method analysis with a focus on statistical Sequence Analysis, biographical interviews and archival work. The study sheds light on the extensive "organisational work" performed in both universities that has led to the formalisation of professional control and to increased organisational embededdness of individual careers. These new patterns of bureaucratic control over academic work and careers have fostered professional differentiation and gave rise to new forms of functional and contractual flexibility. As an occupational group, academics have nonetheless retained a monopolistic power over key operations, such as peer judgement and faculty selection. Yet, this power is exercised within the limits defined by the institution's employment policy. The bureaucratic regulation of academic careers therefore did not replace, but did reframe, professional self-regulation. These outcomes lead to reconsidering the sociological meaning of professional control. It does not only deal with one's authority over the fulfillment, the division and the evaluation of tasks, but also points to one's capacity to define the economy of work in which these tasks are carried out. A last dimension relates to the way the expansion of universities' personnel services is legitimised by modernising discourses that identify the differentiation of academic staff as major challenge for human resource management. The fact that this differentiation is not an exogenous process but rather a product of bureaucratic control raises questions about the meaning of these discourses. What is at stake then? Managing an increasingly differentiated profession, or differentiating a profession in order to better manage it? ; En considérant le cas britannique, cette thèse étudie les mutations du travail universitaire dans un contexte marqué par la montée en puissance des pratiques de gestion du personnel et l'instauration de mécanismes de " quasi-marchés " par des politiques inspirées du New Public Management. À partir d'une enquête dans deux universités britanniques croisant entretiens biographiques, analyse de séquences des mobilités académiques et dépouillement d'archives, cette thèse révèle un important " travail d'organisation " effectué au sein des établissements qui a conduit à un encastrement organisationnel des carrières académiques et à une formalisation du contrôle professionnel. Cette " mise en gestion " du travail et des carrières s'est traduite par une différenciation professionnelle accrue et par l'émergence de nouvelles formes de flexibilité fonctionnelle, salariale et contractuelle. Pour autant, la profession académique n'a rien perdu de son monopole sur les opérations de jugement des pairs et de reproduction du corps. Toutefois, l'exercice de ce pouvoir est encadré par les prescriptions formelles des politiques de gestion du personnel. La gestion bureaucratique des carrières, si elle ne supplante pas la gestion paritaire, construit en revanche les cadres dans lesquels elle s'effectue. Cette thèse invite ainsi à réinterroger le concept de contrôle professionnel en le considérant non pas uniquement comme contrôle de la réalisation, de la division et de l'évaluation des tâches, mais également comme capacité à définir l'économie du travail dans laquelle ces tâches sont effectuées. Enfin, l'expansion des services du personnel des universités et leur légitimité reposent sur un discours modernisateur qui présente la différenciation des universitaires comme un défi majeur pour la gestion des universités. Le fait que cette différenciation résulte en réalité de la " mise en gestion " du travail et des carrières académiques conduit à s'interroger sur le sens de ce discours : s'agit-il de manager une profession de plus en plus diversifiée, ou de différencier une profession pour mieux la manager ?

The last two decades have been marked in many developed and emerging countries by major educational reforms, around special themes: decentralization, the differentiation of courses and school content and the free choice of school. These three education policies, which aim to differentiate and diversify the educational offer, call into question the traditional organization of modern educational systems. This study seeks to evaluate the effects of these reforms on the performance of education systems, thanks to an econometric analysis based, on the one hand, on the results of the PISA 2000 international evaluation and, on the other, on a a fine description of the institutional characteristics of countries in relation to the three policies studied. Thirty-nine states and political communities are thus included in this study. In addition to an analytical description of the three education policies, studied through both the legal frameworks of the national systems and their reality in interaction with the behavior of the actors, the analysis shows that the effects of these reforms are not univocal. Indeed, behind common names, these three policies make it possible, according to the countries, to develop variable institutional arrangements that meet different receptions, this combination producing in turn divergent effects on the performance of education systems. ; Les deux dernières décennies ont été marquées dans de nombreux pays développés et émergents par des réformes éducatives d'envergure, autour de thématiques privilégiées : la décentralisation, la différenciation des parcours et des contenus scolaires ainsi que le libre choix de l'école. Ces trois politiques d'éducation qui visent à différencier et diversifier l'offre éducative remettent en cause l'organisation traditionnelle des systèmes éducatifs modernes. Cette étude s'attache à évaluer les effets de ces réformes sur les performances des systèmes éducatifs, grâce à une analyse économétrique fondée, d'un côté, sur les résultats de l'évaluation internationale PISA 2000 et, de l'autre, sur une description fine des caractéristiques institutionnelles des pays en liaison avec les trois politiques étudiées. Trente-neuf états et communautés politiques sont ainsi intégrés dans cette étude. Outre une description analytique des trois politiques d'éducation, étudiées à travers à la fois les cadres juridiques des dispositifs nationaux et leur réalité en interaction avec les comportements des acteurs, l'analyse montre que les effets de ces réformes ne sont pas univoques. En effet, derrière des appellations communes, ces trois politiques permettent, selon les pays, de développer des dispositifs institutionnels variables qui rencontrent des accueils différents, cette combinaison produisant à son tour des effets divergents sur les performances des systèmes éducatifs.