Suchergebnisse

Points out the irony in claims of poststructuralist theories of identity construction that omit a comparable genealogy of construction theories specifically conceptualized as white identity. This leads to a cultural studies proposition that, while gender & race of the Other are discursive constructions, whiteness is not. A similar void surrounding construction of white identity is noted in the work of critical feminists & postcolonial poststructuralists. Mutually reinforcing categories of Otherness & whiteness are drawn from the works of Franz Fanon (1967) & Toni Morrison (1989) to develop a different theoretical framework for studying whiteness, arguing that both white & Other are able to author the construction of whiteness. This framework is applied to three popular culture films that reflect whiteness in relation to Others in different cultural political contexts: David Lean's Passage to India; Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing; & Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves. How these films construct whiteness in the modalities of dialectics, synchronous, & syncretic identities is examined. 29 References. J. Lindroth

Reflects on the process of becoming a Marxifying, if not a Marxist, sociologist, drawing on personal experience. Although it is common to proclaim that Marxism is dead today, Karl Marx's basic ontological belief remains salient: over time, inequalities between individuals grow, & in any society, there will always be a conflict between those who possess resources & those who do not. The coming to awareness of the value of this belief in the life of one sociologist is described. Formative intellectual influences in the 1940s-1960s came from Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, & Talcott Parsons, from whom the notions of normativity, rationality, & materiality were inherited. In the 1960s, this framework was mixed with everyday observations of racism, discrimination, & class inequality. Since that time, themes of power, ideology, class consciousness, & dialectical historical materialism have been integrated into this framework. While this process has not converted the author into a wholly Marxist sociologist, it has raised Marxist concepts & modes of thought to the forefront of his thinking. 18 References. D. Ryfe

Considers the nature of the modern academic environment for female scholars who are simultaneously members of an outside profession, drawing on personal experience as a black female, legal scholar. It is shown that a variety of aspects in the academy, eg, the club-like nature of departments & the inability to raise issues of racism, made the university an inhospitable environment. While men mysteriously advanced or received favorable treatment, women on the faculty routinely had a difficult time. Knowledge of this oppressive environment only served to further alienate women by labeling them as difficult or problematic. Eventually, the uncomfortability of the university pushed the author to pursue career interests outside the academy. However, the university still remains attractive, because it is the only site in which extensive research in the field of criminal justice is possible. For this institution to become more hospitable to women, particularly black women, it is concluded that the situation will have to be reformed so as to dismantle the atmosphere that fosters gender & racial hierarchy. 9 References. D. M. Ryfe

Discusses political struggles of black activists in the UK, drawing on an analysis of several campaigns of the Southall Black Sisters (SBS) & its sister organization, Brent Asian Women's Refuge. It is suggested that these campaigns were motivated by a simple black/white dichotomy, which, while creating solidarity, also rested on inappropriate essentialisms. Personal recognition of the ambiguity & contradictions in dominant & subordinate groups was attained when Indian Hindu nationalists began to oppress Christians during the early 1990s. As a Hindu, the author at that time became both part of a subordinate group fighting for justice, & part of an oppressive group that denied justice to others. This experience pointed the way to a new kind of political strategizing that depended less on essentialisms than on an embrace of difference. Women against Fundamentalism, a women's group dedicated to fighting religious fundamentalism in the UK, is identified as a form of coalitional politics that draws its strength from diversity rather than homogeneity. 3 References. D. Ryfe

Reflects on the personal experience of growing up in the UK as a person of mixed parentage, & how this experience compared to that of a female cousin who immigrated from Guyana to the UK. Because the cousin was an immigrant, she suffered many abuses & prejudices. While the author steered clear of these abuses as a young person, she began to feel a sense of displacement as she became older. If the nation is expressed in a particular culture, then the status of a native-born immigrant is necessarily one of displacement & homelessness while not belonging to the colonial culture of her cousin, neither did she belongs to the nation of the UK. The answer to this quandary is not the desire for a national home, which is considered a masculinist move typical of the hegemonic ideology of nationalism. Rather, the answer is to become comfortable living in a space of contingency, a postmodern space in which one's marginality might be embraced. 26 References. D. Ryfe

"Asylum policy making in the industrialised world is often described as a typical collective action problem. According to the common adage, states have an incentive to implement unilateral deterrence measures against refugees. The Prisoner's Dilemma analogy is, however, of limited analytical value and cannot account for restrictive, tough co-operative endeavours like the Schengen agreement that most member states of the European Union have signed. A non-cooperative asylum game tries to close the gap between theory and reality and shows that neighbouring states have a joint interest in establishing an exclusive asylum regime. Panel regressions support some of the hypotheses that are derived from the political economy framework. The statistical tests establish that asylum policies have converged to a considerable extent over the past decade. This is especially the case for Western Europe where economic factors such as unemployment and inflation rather than political variables seem to be the driving forces of the exclusionary policy. The statistical analysis is based on a new data set on immigration policies in the OECD area from 1980 to 1995." (author¿s abstract)

"The author argues that differences among European societies with regard to the participation of women in the labour market can not be adequately explained only by differences in the institutional frameworks established by their respective welfare states. The comparison of the development of women's employment participation in the Netherlands, West Germany and Finland has shown that it is necessary to revise the common understanding of the relation between welfare state policy and female labour participation. It is not the institutions per se that result in the employment behaviour of women. It is rather the interplay of gender culture, gender order and the behaviour of women within the framework of gender arrangements. Differences between countries in the development of the labour force participation of women and of the proportion of women working part-time can be primarily explained by differences in the cultural traditions between countries. It is moreover important to look at how the policies of the state, companies and collective actors relate to cultural change, for the degree and speed of actual change in social practice is to an important degree dependent on these policies." (author's abstract)

"The author argues that differences among European societies with regard to the participation of women in the labour market can not be adequately explained only by differences in the institutional frameworks established by their respective welfare states. The comparison of the development of women's employment participation in the Netherlands, West Germany and Finland has shown that it is necessary to revise the common understanding of the relation between welfare state policy and female labour participation. It is not the institutions per se that result in the employment behaviour of women. It is rather the interplay of gender culture, gender order and the behaviour of women within the framework of gender arrangements. Differences between countries in the development of the labour force participation of women and of the proportion of women working part-time can be primarily explained by differences in the cultural traditions between countries. It is moreover important to look at how the policies of the state, companies and collective actors relate to cultural change, for the degree and speed of actual change in social practice is to an important degree dependent on these policies." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Reflects on the relationship a black woman can establish between being a sociologist & being a person, drawing on personal experience. As a black female sociologist, the author is often asked to speak at conferences on racial issues. However, when she moves from the register of the sociologist to that of a black person with racialized experiences, she is routinely dismissed as being overly subjective. Thus, while she is asked to be black, she is not allowed to express the experience of being that kind of person. This experience is taken to be paradigmatic of the black experience in Western culture generally, where racialized knowledges produced by the dominant community are always imposed on black bodies. The task set before black academics is to produce a sociology of the black experience in the UK that does not make private black experiences available for cooptation by white knowledge structures. Involved in this task is the necessity of reinserting bodies into the process of theorizing in such a way that blacks are able to name themselves in the context of a wider white social hegemony. 25 References. D. Ryfe