ion, of course, presupposes conceptualization, and analytical foci usually revolve around ‘‘sensitizing’’ concepts that ‘‘suggest directions along which to look’’ thus providing ‘‘a general sense of relevance and guidance in approaching empirical instances’’ (Blumer, 1954:7). ‘‘Every science,’’ notes Simmel ([1908] 1959:313; [1917] 1950:11, 21), ‘‘rests upon an abstraction inasmuch as it consid...

Subjective Well-being(SWB), which refers to how people experience the quality of their lives, is of great use to public policy-makers as well as economic, sociological research, etc. Traditionally, the measurement of SWB relies on time-consuming and costly self-report questionnaires. Nowadays, people are motivated to share their experiences and feelings on social media, so we propose to sense S...

This comment reflects on the recent row over Woodrow Wilson's legacy, which has focussed on his undeniable racism. This was in pursuit of a 'Progressive' agenda which paved the way for the United States to become the geopolitical force that it continues to be today. Without necessarily approving of Wilson's particular judgements, I argue that he operated with a 'world-historic' sense of moralit...

Future work will be more or less telework and telecooperation. These teleprocesses have to be managed, to overcome huge technological, economic and sociological problems. The new task facing management in its daily work lies in drastic reduction of face-to-face contacs between supervisors and workers. Thus person-oriented management patterns have to be rounded out by suitable task-oriented tech...

by Juliet Berry Rout ledge and Kegan Paul (library of Social Work), 90p Getting through this book is like getting along a public footpath which has become overgrown with brambles; you've got a vague idea where you're going, but the spikes keep catching in the sleeves of your woolly. Let's have a quote to see if we can catch the stylistic flavour: 'When the care of an immigrant toddler is distri...

Abstract Based on the case of Swiss disability insurance (DI), article questions impact activation (non-)take-up social policies. It investigates aim and content policies (as found in official texts discourses) their subjective perception among recipients. Inspired by Kerr’s model Hobson’s notion “sense entitlement”, analysis reveals paradoxical outcomes DI reforms. underlines importance dimens...

We present a two-assignment series that developed students’ sociological imaginations and could be done in face-to-face or online course. The used the Sociological Images blog own visual images (e.g., photographs) to meet course learning goals: (1) link theories concepts social events/trends, (2) apply these ideas real life by identifying sociologically relevant daily life, (3) communicate anal...

Although rational choice theory has made considerable advances in other social sciences, its progress in sociology has been limited. Some sociologists’ reservations about rational choice arise from a misunderstanding of the theory. The first part of this essay therefore introduces rational choice as a general theoretical perspective, or family of theories, which explains social outcomes by cons...