http://www.socresonline.org.uk Sociological Research Online: High quality applied sociology, focusing on theoretical, empirical and methodological discussions which engage with current political, cultural and intellectual topics and debates en-GB Copyright Sociological Research Online 2008-06-09 epress@soc.surrey.ac.uk yearly 6 2008-06-09 http://www.epress.ac.uk/SRO/SRO_75x30.gif http://www.socresonline.org.uk c.r.phillipson@vco.keele.ac.uk (Chris Phillipson, Rebecca Leach, Annemarie Money and Simon Biggs) Article http://www.socresonline.org.uk/13/3/5.html Sat, 31 May 2008 12:00:00 +0100 Chris Phillipson, Rebecca Leach, Annemarie Money and Simon Biggs: This paper examines social and cultural constructions of first wave baby boomers, those born in the period 1945-1954. Boomers are depicted, variously, as bringing new lifestyles and attitudes to ageing and retirement; or heralding economic disaster; or placing fresh burdens on health and social care services. The paper seeks to explore narratives about the boomer generation, drawing on sociological studies, the mass media and cultural and social histories of the post-war period. The article provides a critical analysis of the construction of boomers as a 'problem generation', exploring this from the perspective of demography, consumption and politics. The paper concludes with a research agenda for further work around the boomer generation. Nelya.koteyko@nottingham.ac.uk (Brigitte Nerlich and Nelya Koteyko) Article http://www.socresonline.org.uk/13/3/1.html Sat, 31 May 2008 12:00:00 +0100 Brigitte Nerlich and Nelya Koteyko: The 1980s and 1990s were marked by a series of food crisis, environmental disasters and the emergence of so-called 'superbugs'. At the same time, social scientists, such as Ulrich Beck, began to study the rise of a modern 'risk society'. The late 1990s and early years of this new millennium have been marked by increasing consumer interest in organic and natural foods but also in novel food products, such as probiotics or friendly bacteria which, as supplements or added to yoghurts, promise to help fight various effects of 'modernity', from stress to superbugs. Using thematic analysis and corpus linguistic tools, this article charts the rise of probiotics from 1985 to 2006 and asks: How did this rise in popularity come about? How did science and the media contribute to it? And: How were these bacteria enlisted as agents of attitudinal change? Analysing the construction of certain food benefits in the context of a heightened state of anxiety about food risk might shed light on aspects of 'risk society' that have so far been overlooked. barry.cooper@durham.ac.uk (Barry Cooper and Judith Glaesser) Article http://www.socresonline.org.uk/13/3/2.html Sat, 31 May 2008 12:00:00 +0100 Barry Cooper and Judith Glaesser: This paper, whose purpose is both substantive and methodological, focuses on changes over a nine year period, drawing on data from two British birth cohorts (individuals born in 1958 and 1970), and, substantively, employs set theoretic methods to explore the extent to which an upward shift in qualifications achieved led to any reduction in the roles class and gender played in the achievement of professional, managerial and technical (PMT) social class destinations in early adulthood. Our methodological purpose is to illustrate how a counterfactual modelling approach can be used together with Ragin's set theoretic methods to provide an alternative way of analysing relationships in this area. We draw on earlier work exploring the extent to which educational achievement was 'meritocratic' with respect to ability for these cohorts (Author1, 2005, 2006). Our configurational account of the causal pathways to various class destinations is set against the background of a simple model of 'meritocracy' (allocation to available class positions by qualifications alone taking account of the empirical marginal distributions). This model allows us to specify, counterfactually, what qualifications would have represented necessary and sufficient conditions in our modelled meritocracy for reaching the PMT class. By comparison of these conditions with the empirically derived necessary and sufficient conditions for achieving these outcomes (using Ragin et al's fs/QCA software) we show that while allocation processes were far from meritocratic in both cohorts, there were some changes in the way both class and gender combined with qualifications as conditions for destinations. We also show that Ragin's configurational methods, focussing on holistically-conceived cases and conjunctural causation rather than on the net effects of independent variables, provide a useful analytic technique for capturing relationships in this field. ecdutton@hotmail.com (Ed Dutton) Article http://www.socresonline.org.uk/13/3/3.html Sat, 31 May 2008 12:00:00 +0100 Ed Dutton: The aim of this article is to examine the successfulness of death metaphors in the contemporary debate over the Secularisation Theory. Through doing so, the article will propose criteria by which the success of a metaphor – in the sociology of religion and in social science more broadly – can be assessed. It will examine metaphors employed by Stark, Bruce and Callum Brown. It will firstly discuss the nature of the Secularisation debate, metaphor and metaphor in sociology and science more broadly. Then, drawing upon previous research in this area, it will discuss the use of metaphor and analogy in academic discourse and examine criteria by which the success of scientific metaphors might be assessed. Thereafter, it will look at the successfulness of the main recent metaphors employed by proponents and critics of secularisation in terms of these criteria. Rachel.westfall@gov.yk.ca (Rachel Westfall and Cecilia Benoit) Article http://www.socresonline.org.uk/13/3/4.html Sat, 31 May 2008 12:00:00 +0100 Rachel Westfall and Cecilia Benoit: The dominant discourse of 'risk' underlies the medical surveillance of pregnant women. This article draws upon interview data from a purposeful sample of twenty-seven childbearing women, focusing on the tensions and negotiations that take place for these women between the informal, everyday experiences of childbearing and the formal boundaries of organized medical/midwifery care. Through such techniques as narrative reconstruction, rationalization, and resistance and compromise, our respondents were active agents in interpreting and shaping their reproductive experiences. Yet, their experiences were invariably framed within the dominant discourse of medicine, pointing to its relevance even for women choosing alternative models of maternity care. andy.pilkington@northampton.ac.uk (Andrew Pilkington) Article http://www.socresonline.org.uk/13/3/6.html Sat, 31 May 2008 12:00:00 +0100 Andrew Pilkington: It is imperative that an appropriate balance is reached between three key principles: equality, diversity and social cohesion. In many countries across the world, however, there is a discernible move away from a concern for equality and diversity as the problem of order looms larger. I shall focus here on Britain in presenting my central thesis that there is a very real danger that a new nationalist discourse centred on community cohesion and integration is trouncing any duties on us to promote racial equality and respect cultural diversity. The paper comprises three sections. I shall firstly identify a radical hour when there was for the first time official recognition that institutional racism existed in British society and some urgency that this needed to be combated. I shall secondly highlight the fragility of such progressiveness and identify threats from the changing nature of racial discourse since 2001. Here, I shall highlight in particular how the prominence given to institutional racism, with the publication of the Macpherson report, was remarkably short lived and how multiculturalism has come under increasing attack, not least because of its purported threat to social cohesion. I shall finally offer some tentative proposals for a more positive way forward. hogne.sataoen@rokkan.uib.no (Hogne Satařen) Article http://www.socresonline.org.uk/13/3/7.html Sat, 31 May 2008 12:00:00 +0100 Hogne Satařen: This paper focuses on the visions incorporated by the Hydrogen Road in Norway (HyNor) project. This is a large-scale project that aims to demonstrate real life implementation of hydrogen in the transport sector in Norway. The starting point of the analysis is that visions play an important role in technological projects. Visions carry, communicate and construct valid practices and meanings in technology. Consequently, visions in technological projects should be a matter of analysis. The following paper discusses both the meaning of technological visions and the kinds of visions that have been deployed in the HyNor project. This discussion shows that HyNor's visions are numerous, flexible and dynamic. Furthermore the ambivalence and tension in the project's visions represent a challenge that needs to be dealt with. Ivano.Bruno@port.ac.uk (Ivano Bruno) Review Review of: Using Software in Qualitative Research: a Step-By-Step Guide by Lewins, Ann and Silver, Christina, reviewed by Ivano Bruno http://www.socresonline.org.uk/13/3/reviews/bruno.html