Suchergebnisse

"Sociology of unintended consequences is commonly depicted as a framework for understanding the outcomes that run counter to the initial intentions of social actors because of factors such as ignorance, error and complexity. This conventional approach, however, is now undergoing change under the influence of more encompassing shifts in framing in social sciences. Indeed, in the last few years, the study of the unintended has evidently moved from the question "What are the sources of the unintended?" to the inquiry "What is it that makes the unintended possible?" or "What risks, but also opportunities, do the unintended entail?" Explaining this puzzle in relation to the internal dynamics of sociology of unintended consequences, Adriana Mica makes an erudite journey in relation to its three main analytical frameworks, their semantic shifts, setbacks and theoretical revivals. Certainly, through the examination of the use of protective headgear in boxing, this volume renders explicitly the possibilistic turn not only in the specific research of the unintended, but in sociology more generally. Presenting the contributions of leading sociology theorists in a new light, Sociology as Analysis of the Unintended will appeal to graduate students and researchers interested in fields such as theoretical sociology, sociology of substantive issues and sociology of sport"--

In this paper the evolution of specific types of scandals within the field of transitional justice in Romania is shown. Furthermore, the study makes an inquiry into the reactions of different actors, socio-professional categories and organizations to the implementation of the disclosure law in Romania and to the flourishing of several legislative proposals on lustration and decommunization in the years following the 1989 anti-communist revolution. The actors under scrutiny are main political parties and the Romanian Orthodox Church respectively. The cases under review indicate that scandal is a quite versatile institution, and that the outcome of the disclosure scandals might as well be the advancement of disclosure and lustration measures, as well as also the hampering of such initiatives. ; Adriana Mica

The way sociology frames the relation between formality and informality is not only complex and multifaceted, but has also evolved over time. This volume offers contributions by international authors that illustrate distinct types of theoretical framings and present various sites of inquiry. It proposes a typology comprising: the sociology of informally embedded formality, the sociology of formally embedded informality, the sociology of the interaction between formality and informality and the sociology of the emergence and transformation of formality and informality

Who gets to benefit from failure is a hot topic in recent research on science and innovation. This article articulates the phenomenon of failure privilege on the terrain of public policy, that is, circumstantial and institutionally ingrained dispositions to use policy downfalls, derailments, and crises as resources of policy action, tools of integration, and dynamism. Building on analyses of policy failures, the article advances a typology of three forms of privilege: exploitation, (in)visibilization, and projection of policy futures. It brings illustrations from abortion policymaking in Poland. Here, failure privilege interacts with a bio-political and culturally polarized setting that further blends neoliberal mechanisms of failing with post-Communist transformation of cultures of failure. This leads to the argument that exploitation and controversial interventions in public policy demand legitimacy that is today constructed by advancing imaginaries and models of failure that allow actors to both visibilize new futures and advance a policy stalemate. Failure is a powerful resource of integration and even surveillance, as well as a factor furthering the politics of waiting. Redefining it is a crucial policy win and entails complex and implicit mechanisms impacting policy agendas.

Our goal is to analyze the disability policy making process in Poland on the example of implementing the assumptions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The key tool we use is the model of the five streams of the public policy process: problem, solutions, politics, process and program. In particular, we look at the role played by the movement of people with disabilities in this process. We claim that the weakness of the movements and the origins of activism of people with disabilities other than in Western countries makes the implementation of the Convention in Poland difficult and often ends in failure.

"This Handbook examines the study of failure in social sciences, its manifestations in the contemporary world, and the modalities of dealing with it - both in theory and in practice. It draws together a comprehensive approach to failing, and invisible forms of cancelling out and denial of future perspectives. Underlining critical mechanisms for challenging and reimagining norms of success in contemporary society, it allows readers to understand how contemporary regimes of failure are being formed and institutionalized in relation to policy and economic models, such as neo-liberalism. While capturing the diversity of approaches in framing failure, it assesses the conflations and shifts which have occurred in the study of failure over time. Intended for scholars who research processes of inequality and invisibility, this Handbook aims to formulate a critical manifesto and activism agenda for contemporary society. Presenting an integrated view about failure the Handbook will be an essential reading for students in sociology, social theory, anthropology, international relations and development research, organization theory, public policy, management studies, queer theory, disability studies, sports and performance research"--

The chapter outlines the scope and structure of the Routledge International Handbook of Failure. It makes a point about the tendency in recent works on failure to advance critical rhetoric and provides a genealogical scrutiny that goes beyond the episodic materialization of failure, that is, failure as an event. This analysis further aims to reveal the complexity of relations, institutions and understandings that constitute regimes and cultures of failure. The chapter signals the main dimensions targeted and unraveled in this new research on failure: inequality, invisibility, power, the future, re-imagining of neoliberal logics of success, and failure alternatives. It also allows readers to grasp the critical and analytical synergy in critical failure studies, both ongoing and planned, which approach the subject from a variety of disciplines, such as sociology, anthropology, International Relations and development research, public policy, organization and management studies, Science, Technology and Society (STS), queer theory, disability studies, performance studies, narrative analysis and cultural theory.

Introduction -- Ignorance, unexpected events and crises -- Change in the regimes of ignorance -- Crisis and ignorance -- The European refugee crisis and the ignorance of framing -- Projecting the European refugee crisis: Polish, Hungarian and Romanian media -- From categories to seeing like public policy: ignorance and change in Poland, Hungary and Romania -- Conclusions.

The article addresses the issue of the so-called refugee crisis in Europe from the perspective of ignorance studies and seeks to establish the mechanisms whereby ignorance is created through categorizations. We depart from the proposal of Proctor and view ignorance as either "native state," "lost realm," or "strategic ploy." In all three, ignorance is an unalienable part of social action. The case of Polish academic research on refugees before and after 2015 is explored in order to establish who ignores what, when, and why, when categorizing, and to analyze the relationship between ignorance and social action. In the Polish refugee field, the crisis of 2015 was the moment when the refugee issue stepped out of the shadows and attracted the attention of the public and policymakers. The analysis of the category "refugee" in Polish scholarship before 2015 demonstrates that the category was based on culturalization and idealization; thus, the socio-political and pragmatic aspects of the group's characteristics and actions were systematically ignored, and the ignorance worked as a "lost realm." After 2015, a new body of scholarship emerges in which the category "refugee" acquires negative connotations with security threat or fakeness. In the new scholarship, ignorance is a strategic framing that sets the category of "refugee" outside the humanitarian issues. We claim that the new categorizations follow the logic of culturalization and moralization typical of the previous period. Strategic ignorance inherent in the categorizations that dichotomize "good" and "bad" refugees, or "refugees" and "migrants," unlocks the potential for political action.

The article addresses the issue of the so-called refugee crisis in Europe from the perspective of ignorance studies and seeks to establish the mechanisms whereby ignorance is created through categorizations. We depart from the proposal of Proctor and view ignorance as either "native state," "lost realm," or "strategic ploy." In all three, ignorance is an unalienable part of social action. The case of Polish academic research on refugees before and after 2015 is explored in order to establish who ignores what, when, and why, when categorizing, and to analyze the relationship between ignorance and social action. In the Polish refugee field, the crisis of 2015 was the moment when the refugee issue stepped out of the shadows and attracted the attention of the public and policymakers. The analysis of the category "refugee" in Polish scholarship before 2015 demonstrates that the category was based on culturalization and idealization; thus, the socio-political and pragmatic aspects of the group's characteristics and actions were systematically ignored, and the ignorance worked as a "lost realm." After 2015, a new body of scholarship emerges in which the category "refugee" acquires negative connotations with security threat or fakeness. In the new scholarship, ignorance is a strategic framing that sets the category of "refugee" outside the humanitarian issues. We claim that the new categorizations follow the logic of culturalization and moralization typical of the previous period. Strategic ignorance inherent in the categorizations that dichotomize "good" and "bad" refugees, or "refugees" and "migrants," unlocks the potential for political action.