This article builds on Hillcoat-Nallétamby and Phillips' (2011) conceptualization of sociological ambivalence within the relational framework to examine a particular consumption practice, the funeral. We develop understanding of social, cultural and relational issues that arise from the experience associated with funeral-arranging. This is not a voluntary behaviour but one engaged with through ...

In this paper we seek to offer an essentially sociological explanation of paranoia by way of a detailed examination of the case of an unmarried, ex-school-teacher who for the past 30 years has clung stubbornly to the belief that she is the victim of an ill-defined group of conspirators with the power to control her thoughts and actions. Taking as our starting point Lemert's seminal 1962 paper, ...

Despite remarkable advances in basic biomedical science that have led to improved patient care, there is a wide and persistent gap in the abilities of researchers and clinicians to understand and appreciate each other. In this Editorial, the authors, a scientist and a clinician, discuss the rift between practitioners of laboratory research and clinical medicine. Using their first-hand experienc...

This article utilises the south Wales coalfield in the interwar period as a case study to illustrate the applicability of two sociological theories - family systems theory and the social ecology of the family - to impairment in the past. It demonstrates that a theoretically-informed approach can help to situate impairment in its particular contexts, most especially the family and the community,...

The aim of this paper is to substitute sociologically more pertinent explanations for the popular sociology notions of "interaction" and "hybrid society". The scope and implications of these notions are discussed from a perspective of microsociology as applied to distributed artifical intelligence. The authors argue that only a precise use of the terms in specific disciplinary contexts is condu...

The proliferation of ever more sophisticated means, channels and strategies of communication is a meaningful indicator of the centrality of this process, and, at the same time, a driving force in the field. This process of proliferation is matched by the increasing number of perspectives: anthropological, sociological, psychological, neurological, semiotic, linguistic, cybernetic, and so on by ...

Shopping centers present a rich and heterogeneous environment, where IT systems can be implemented in order to support the needs of its actors. However, due to the environment complexity, several feasibility issues emerge when designing both the logical and physical architecture of such systems. Additionally, the system must be able to cope with the individual needs of each actor, and provide s...

During the past fifteen years of his career, John Furlong’s research and writing has focused – in part on digital technologies and people’s everyday experiences of education. While hardly a technology expert, John’s work has shown an acute awareness of the significance of computers, the internet and mobile telephony in making sociological sense of education. This paper contrasts the limited vis...

This paper begins with the “knowledge–ignorance paradox”—the process by which the growth of specialized knowledge results in a simultaneous increase in ignorance. It then outlines the roles of personal and social motivations, institutional decisions, the public culture, and technology in establishing consensual guidelines for ignorance. The upshot is a sociological model of how the “knowledge s...