Pub Date : 2023-06-02DOI: 10.1177/13607804231174061
J. Davies
There is growing evidence that London’s disadvantaged youth have a better chance at progressing to elite universities than their counterparts outside the capital. Drawing on case study research in a disadvantaged East London locality, this article suggests that a convergence of structural factors that favour elite university progression may help explain this high progression. These factors include local schools’ valorisation of elite universities and their associated prioritisation of resources and strong framing of university choices to privilege Russell Group progression. Students’ apparent advantageous access to the widening participation provision of elite universities and to internship and networking opportunities arising from London’s corporate philanthropy also appear to play important roles. The article advocates for greater strategic planning by the regulator and further partnerships across all sectors of the economy to enable a fairer distribution of widening participation opportunities nationwide. It concludes with a call to reflect on the wisdom of privileging elite university progression at all costs and asks whether we should really be championing such a narrow vision of social mobility in the first place.
{"title":"A Convergence of Opportunities: Understanding the High Elite University Progression of Disadvantaged Youth in an East London Locality","authors":"J. Davies","doi":"10.1177/13607804231174061","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13607804231174061","url":null,"abstract":"There is growing evidence that London’s disadvantaged youth have a better chance at progressing to elite universities than their counterparts outside the capital. Drawing on case study research in a disadvantaged East London locality, this article suggests that a convergence of structural factors that favour elite university progression may help explain this high progression. These factors include local schools’ valorisation of elite universities and their associated prioritisation of resources and strong framing of university choices to privilege Russell Group progression. Students’ apparent advantageous access to the widening participation provision of elite universities and to internship and networking opportunities arising from London’s corporate philanthropy also appear to play important roles. The article advocates for greater strategic planning by the regulator and further partnerships across all sectors of the economy to enable a fairer distribution of widening participation opportunities nationwide. It concludes with a call to reflect on the wisdom of privileging elite university progression at all costs and asks whether we should really be championing such a narrow vision of social mobility in the first place.","PeriodicalId":47694,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Research Online","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44982513","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-02DOI: 10.1177/13607804231173778
Linna Sai
{"title":"Book Review: The Flexibility Paradox: Why Flexible Working Leads to (Self-)Exploitation","authors":"Linna Sai","doi":"10.1177/13607804231173778","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13607804231173778","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47694,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Research Online","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42528088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-02DOI: 10.1177/13607804231174283
Antonio Camorrino
This article aims to highlight some peculiar aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to the theoretical tools of Cultural Theory and Cultural Sociology. For this purpose, first of all, I introduce the issue of the pandemic from a cultural perspective. In the second section, I analyze the phenomenon of the COVID-19 pandemic through the concept of ‘pollution’: in symbolic terms, the dimension of contagion is very close to that of ‘contamination’. From this particular theoretical perspective, however, ‘contamination’ is not understood only in its material but also in its symbolic meaning. The third section focuses on the different forms of ‘blaming’ that have been activated during the pandemic time: to protect and strengthen the social bond threatened by the anguish of contagion, different targets have been identified on which to ‘blame’ the spread of the virus. In the conclusions, I summarize the reasoning developed in the article in an overall way, trying to briefly show how Cultural Theory and Cultural Sociology can offer a useful contribution to the analysis of the pandemic catastrophe.
{"title":"‘Pollution’ and ‘Blaming’: A Sociological Analysis of the COVID-19 Time Through Cultural Perspective","authors":"Antonio Camorrino","doi":"10.1177/13607804231174283","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13607804231174283","url":null,"abstract":"This article aims to highlight some peculiar aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to the theoretical tools of Cultural Theory and Cultural Sociology. For this purpose, first of all, I introduce the issue of the pandemic from a cultural perspective. In the second section, I analyze the phenomenon of the COVID-19 pandemic through the concept of ‘pollution’: in symbolic terms, the dimension of contagion is very close to that of ‘contamination’. From this particular theoretical perspective, however, ‘contamination’ is not understood only in its material but also in its symbolic meaning. The third section focuses on the different forms of ‘blaming’ that have been activated during the pandemic time: to protect and strengthen the social bond threatened by the anguish of contagion, different targets have been identified on which to ‘blame’ the spread of the virus. In the conclusions, I summarize the reasoning developed in the article in an overall way, trying to briefly show how Cultural Theory and Cultural Sociology can offer a useful contribution to the analysis of the pandemic catastrophe.","PeriodicalId":47694,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Research Online","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47709710","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-02DOI: 10.1177/13607804231173776
Kevin McCaffree, Anondah Saide, M. Shermer
While political scientists have investigated political non-affiliation and religious scholars have investigated religious non-affiliation, no work has yet examined the correlates of those identifying as both religiously and politically non-affiliated. Across two separate studies, we investigate the personality, social network, and cultural engagement correlates of political and religious non-affiliates. Some statistically significant effects found in Study 1 fail to replicate in Study 2, though replicated findings provide interesting avenues for future work. Notably, compared to those who report being both politically and religiously affiliated, we find that dual non-affiliates are more socially liberal, more fiscally conservative, far less likely to vote, and less religious across several attitudinal and behavioral measures. Crucially, we find no consistent evidence that dual non-affiliates suffer from social isolation or a lack of social support.
{"title":"The New Nones: An Empirical Study of Dual Religious and Political Non-affiliation","authors":"Kevin McCaffree, Anondah Saide, M. Shermer","doi":"10.1177/13607804231173776","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13607804231173776","url":null,"abstract":"While political scientists have investigated political non-affiliation and religious scholars have investigated religious non-affiliation, no work has yet examined the correlates of those identifying as both religiously and politically non-affiliated. Across two separate studies, we investigate the personality, social network, and cultural engagement correlates of political and religious non-affiliates. Some statistically significant effects found in Study 1 fail to replicate in Study 2, though replicated findings provide interesting avenues for future work. Notably, compared to those who report being both politically and religiously affiliated, we find that dual non-affiliates are more socially liberal, more fiscally conservative, far less likely to vote, and less religious across several attitudinal and behavioral measures. Crucially, we find no consistent evidence that dual non-affiliates suffer from social isolation or a lack of social support.","PeriodicalId":47694,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Research Online","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42102491","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-02DOI: 10.1177/13607804231170508
Louisa VB Horne
{"title":"Book Review: Advanced Introduction to Social Capital","authors":"Louisa VB Horne","doi":"10.1177/13607804231170508","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13607804231170508","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47694,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Research Online","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49482908","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-25DOI: 10.1177/13607804231172035
Wanyoung Lee, Yoonso Choi
This research analyzes Korean professional soccer stadiums using Relph’s concept of placelessness to understand why Korean professional soccer has rapidly declined in popularity and become a minority fan sport. Qualitative research methods were used to conduct a narrative analysis. The interview content was analyzed, and four problems were identified. The findings show that these stadiums are (1) a uniform space that excludes local culture, (2) used as a profit-generating tool for large corporations, (3) spaces controlled by the state, and (4) maximizing economic efficiency. Therefore, they have been used as a uniform space for social, cultural, political, and economic purposes. The Korean national soccer team’s performance in international competitions seems to be satisfactory. However, the domestic professional soccer league is in a vulnerable condition. Thus, these stadiums should be established as true places by removing the element of placelessness in order to recover the popularity of Korean professional soccer.
{"title":"Critical Interpretation of Spatiality in Professional Korean Football Stadiums: Relph’s Theory of Placeness","authors":"Wanyoung Lee, Yoonso Choi","doi":"10.1177/13607804231172035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13607804231172035","url":null,"abstract":"This research analyzes Korean professional soccer stadiums using Relph’s concept of placelessness to understand why Korean professional soccer has rapidly declined in popularity and become a minority fan sport. Qualitative research methods were used to conduct a narrative analysis. The interview content was analyzed, and four problems were identified. The findings show that these stadiums are (1) a uniform space that excludes local culture, (2) used as a profit-generating tool for large corporations, (3) spaces controlled by the state, and (4) maximizing economic efficiency. Therefore, they have been used as a uniform space for social, cultural, political, and economic purposes. The Korean national soccer team’s performance in international competitions seems to be satisfactory. However, the domestic professional soccer league is in a vulnerable condition. Thus, these stadiums should be established as true places by removing the element of placelessness in order to recover the popularity of Korean professional soccer.","PeriodicalId":47694,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Research Online","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44166606","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-17DOI: 10.1177/13607804231172845
Abier Hamidi
{"title":"Book Review: The I.B. Tauris Handbook of Sociology and The Middle East","authors":"Abier Hamidi","doi":"10.1177/13607804231172845","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13607804231172845","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47694,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Research Online","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49207396","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-12DOI: 10.1177/13607804231168249
Radka Dudová, A. Křížková
Using an intersectional approach, we explore how parents in the Czech Republic coped with the increased demands of childcare and how their perceptions of childcare changed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on Nancy Fraser’s theory of the social contradiction of capitalism, we address the question of whether the pandemic situation can be viewed as an opportunity to increase recognition of care. Qualitative interviews with parents from various socioeconomic backgrounds conducted from spring 2020 to summer 2021 demonstrate ambivalent experiences of care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first school closure in spring 2020 was perceived as a rather positive interruption to everyday affairs. As the pandemic became protracted, the long-term negative effects of care under lockdown arose, especially among mothers, which included weakening labour market position, deteriorating economic situation, and growing dependence on a male breadwinner or social welfare. Our research shows the temporality of the COVID-19 care crisis. In the first stage of the pandemic, care was (also) assessed as an opportunity, a source of purpose, and a new value. In the next period, the experiences and expectations were rather negative. Over time, gender inequality at home increased as women took on most of the increased care burden and the social inequalities deepened, with some using their resources to compensate for the risks associated with the care crisis and others facing further exhaustion and income losses. Overall, parental care did not win greater societal recognition during the pandemic.
{"title":"Czech Parents Under Lockdown: Different Positions, Different Temporalities","authors":"Radka Dudová, A. Křížková","doi":"10.1177/13607804231168249","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13607804231168249","url":null,"abstract":"Using an intersectional approach, we explore how parents in the Czech Republic coped with the increased demands of childcare and how their perceptions of childcare changed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on Nancy Fraser’s theory of the social contradiction of capitalism, we address the question of whether the pandemic situation can be viewed as an opportunity to increase recognition of care. Qualitative interviews with parents from various socioeconomic backgrounds conducted from spring 2020 to summer 2021 demonstrate ambivalent experiences of care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first school closure in spring 2020 was perceived as a rather positive interruption to everyday affairs. As the pandemic became protracted, the long-term negative effects of care under lockdown arose, especially among mothers, which included weakening labour market position, deteriorating economic situation, and growing dependence on a male breadwinner or social welfare. Our research shows the temporality of the COVID-19 care crisis. In the first stage of the pandemic, care was (also) assessed as an opportunity, a source of purpose, and a new value. In the next period, the experiences and expectations were rather negative. Over time, gender inequality at home increased as women took on most of the increased care burden and the social inequalities deepened, with some using their resources to compensate for the risks associated with the care crisis and others facing further exhaustion and income losses. Overall, parental care did not win greater societal recognition during the pandemic.","PeriodicalId":47694,"journal":{"name":"Sociological Research Online","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47806412","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}