Suchergebnisse

"This collection of works by critical sociologists of various nationalities focuses on cutting-edge approaches to conflict-driven social change. By emphasizing the role played by contemporary social movements such as environmentalists, migrant organizations, world social forum activists and others, these studies grapple with diverse forms of organized resistance in the 21st century. From homeless peoples displaced by Hurricane Katrina to young Muslim women refusing to shun their veils in French schools, the logic of a new generation of protest is deciphered with an eye to learning from as well as informing new social forces demanding progressive change. The result is an affirmation of the continuing relevance of critical sociology in analyzing key social contradictions in the United States, Mexico, and beyond"--P. [4] of cover

Introduction -- What are practices? -- Knowledge -- Retroactive redescription -- Identification and context -- Specificity and generalisation -- Possibility and capacities -- Constitutive relations and constitutive theory -- Conclusion -- Culture and action in the social sciences -- Some benefits of studying practices -- Works cited

It is argued that the striking differences across Europe in the labor force participation rates of women with children cannot be explained by differences in social policy or welfare system alone. This volume, resulting from research conducted 1998-2001 by the European Commission, explores the interaction of individual motivations & sociopolitical factors that prompt some mothers to enter the workforce & other to remain at home, highlighting the intersection of social policies & practices across different welfare regimes. The current work situation of mothers -- & all women -- is considered against the backdrop of gender-equality policies developed since the late 1950s, along with treaties that have provided the legal basis for such policies; laws against sexual discrimination, guarantees of "equal pay for equal work," & provision of childcare services are highlighted. The continued "gender coding" of certain activities, eg, child care & household maintenance, as "women's work" is discussed & sociopolitical factors in individual EU member states that impact gender-equality policies are considered. K. Hyatt Stewart

The process of socialization continues throughout person's life, but at different stages of development, individuals give preference to different social practices. With age, the importance of various types of practices changes. In a postindustrial society, there are significant changes in the criteria for choosing and configuring social practices by people of the "third age".The article presents the original structure of social practices for analyzing the aging of the population in modern conditions. The authors identified three types of social practices: procreation practices, production and labor practices, as well as supra-natural practices. They can complement or substitute each other, as well as overlap each other. In different historical conditions and cultural contexts, these relationships between these practices change significantly.With regard to individuals, the authors propose to use the short names of the three types of social practices — family, work and leisure. The most obvious way of replacing and complementing these social practices is manifested at different stages of an individual's life - in childhood, adulthood, and old age. Until recently, reaching the retirement age presupposed the termination of labor practices. Today, more and more retirees can, should and/or want to continue working. This basic change has had a significant impact on the interrelation of social practices in the "third age". At the intersection of work and leisure practices, educational programs for pensioners began to actively develop, which until recently was perceived as an "exotic". Family practices are also changing for working pensioners: they are increasingly able to provide financial assistance to children.In the postindustrial society, the leisure practices of pensioners have become extremely diverse. Along with those which have already taken their place in the life of older people for a relatively long time (attending various kinds of cultural events, sports and travel), practices related to active participation in social and political life, as well as a healthy lifestyle, began to develop.The triad of social practices proposed by the authors makes possible not only to identify peculiarities of modern pensioners' life strategies, but also to determine the dimensions in social work with them that require improvement.

This article provides an overview of a research program developed over the past 20 years to explore relations between everyday practices and technology design and use. The studies highlighted reflect three interrelated lines of inquiry: (a) critical analyses of technical discourses and practices, (b) ethnographies of work and technologies-in-use, and (c) design interventions. Starting from the premise that technologies can be assessed only in their relations to the sites of their production and use, the authors reconstruct technologies as social practice. A central problem for the design of artifacts then becomes their relation to the environments of their intended use. Through ethnographies of the social world, the analyses focus on just how social/material specificities are assembled together to comprise our everyday experience.

This article represents a search for a different analytical language through which anthropology can engage with human rights. This effort is intended to contribute to what is an expanding range of ways in which anthropologists conceptualize, advocate for, and critique contemporary human rights. Its central argument is that current ethnographic studies of human rights practices can be used as the basis for making innovative claims within human rights debates that take place outside of anthropology itself. To do this, ethnographic description that captures the contradictions and contingencies at the heart of human rights practices is not enough. What is needed is a different understanding of how the idea of human rights comes to be formed in context. In this article, I suggest several possible ways that an anthropological philosophy of human rights can accomplish this. I conclude by locating this approach in relation to a longer history of anthropological skepticism toward universalist discourses.