Social inclusion, social movements, and the characteristics of late modernity

In discussing the ideology of social inclusion, this paper demonstrates that the composition of community groups in a period of late modernity is worthy of consideration. Although it would appear, on the surface at least, that previously stable community institutions, such as family, organised religion, trade unions, occupation and residential stability, and so on, are being challenged by a broad rejection of the once powerful tool of tradition, society's attachment to a belief in the symbolic value of community remains strong. In an environment however, in which the interaction and interdependence of human activity is subject to continual re-evaluation as the current processes of industrialisation and globalisation unfold, the template of what constitutes 'community' may need to be re-defined. It is to this end that the present paper is concerned, in that it seeks to identify new community formations. Of particular interest, is the rise and reach of modern day 'social movements', and why, when analysing the subject from a macro-sociological perspective, they have come to assume such a pivotal role in occupying community spaces left vacant by the demise of traditional social institutions. The paper is exploratory in its focus, using relevant literature to posit some broad theoretical themes, with the aim of presenting such themes to encourage a shift in community debates away from traditional concerns about 'who' and 'how many', towards questions of why new community forms are emerging.

Learning from history : social movements, arts and crafts and anti-consumption

Contemplating the lCAR Agenda, I wondered what value was to be found in history and is historical research an appropriate methodology for this contemporary discussion? I reviewed articles from social sciences and marketing literature that discuss history as a research methodology and present some of the criticisms and benefits. Social movements like the Arts and Crafts contain themes and agendas that resonate today, including protest and boycott, sustainable solutions, and technophobia that can be found in contemporary crafts movements like Stitch'nBitch. Researchers, heeding some cautions, can use history to build agendas that contribute directly to the study of anti consumption

Social-movement unionism in theory and in Sweden

Many union leaders and observers of unionism in industrially advanced countries have recently argued for stronger links between unions and social movements but their arguments leave the nature of social movements underspecified. This article reviews the literature on social movements and argues in favour of a minimalist theory of the social actor rather than choose between American and European approaches to studying social movements. Both Melucci's European approach and McAdam, Tarrow, and Tilly's American approach to integrating the European and American schools of thought on social movements are inadequate to the task of specifying social-movement unionism. Hindess's minimalist theory of the social actor and articulated arenas of conflict offers a stronger approach to understanding social-movement unionism and appreciating its strategic pertinence in particular times and places. Two episodes of contention in Sweden illustrate the advantages of a minimalist theory of articulated social-movement unionism.

Social movement unionism and networked technology

From a European perspective, the wide-ranging social, economic, and political effects of networked computers have generated tensions between 'new' social movements and the 'old' labour movement. From an American perspective on social movements, there is no such tension between old and new social movements. A study of social-movement unionism in Sweden offers a interesting means of testing this emerging American perspective against the European perspective because the labour movement has long been particularly effective and networked technology has been embraced whole-heartedly throughout all aspects of the society, the economy, and the polity. The paper introduces the contrasting European and American perspectives on social movements and presents examples of the practice of social-movement unionism among Swedish social democrats, unionists, and diverse local activists. These examples support conclusions that eschew utopian theories of 'cyberunionism' in favour of developing a theory of articulated unionism in which local unions branches articulate vertically with national and global union bodies, and articulate horizontally with social movements in other arenas of conflict.

Speaking up : changing social relations in south-west Victorian grassroots activism

This research of three grassroots activist communication campaigns makes a significant contribution to knowledge in socio-political and communicative fields. It demonstrates how to conduct effective, ethical and sustained communication campaigns that lead to wider social benefits and provides new perspectives about public relations and its role in contemporary society.

Disability and critical sociology: expanding the boundaries of critical social inquiry

Disability in the 21st century constitutes a legitimate and growing area of study in the academy. Interdisciplinary by nature, the origins of disability studies can be traced directly to social movements of disabled people organizing to define disability as a social rather than a medical problem. In the US, disabled sociologists such as Irv Zola, a leader in the American Sociology Association, were key figures in the field’s formative years. In Britain, sociologists such as Mike Oliver (1990) and Colin Barnes, both founding members of the British Council of Organisations of Disabled People (BCODP) used the social model to bridge the divide between disability studies and sociology (Barnes et al., 1999). Disability studies is now a growth area in the social sciences, the humanities and a host of other disciplines operating across the North/South divide.

The Left in Australia: time for a new renewal?

For the purpose of the article the author takes as a starting point the approach taken by the Italian writer, Norberto Bobbio, who identifies the Left with egalitarianism and distinguishes left leaning positions which support equality, from right wing ones which support inequality. Thus, in its broadest form, the term `Left' refers to ideas and philosophies, people, groups and political and social movements whose normative base is embedded in a commitment to an egalitarian society. However, the term 'equality,' like the term 'Left,' is not always straightforward.

Deconstructing diversity discourses in the fields of educationnal management and leadership

Discourses of diversity have supplanted those of equal opportunity or social justice in many Western democratic societies. While the notion of diversity is seemingly empowering through its recognition of cultural, religious, racial and gender difference within nation states, the emergence of this discourse during the 1990s has been in the context of neoliberal managerialist discourses that assume social action is fully explicable through theories of maximizing self interest. Thus notions of diversity, while originating in collective demands of social movements of feminism, anti racism and multiculturalism of the 1970s and 1980s, have in recent times privileged learning and leadership as an individual accomplishment and not a collective practice. Thus the dominant discourse of diversity is more in alignment with the deregulatory aspects of the increasingly managerial and market orientation of schooling, decentring earlier discourses of more transformatory notions premised upon reducing inequality and discrimination and developing ‘inclusivity’ in and through schooling. This paper provides a contextual and conceptual framework through which to explore the intersections and divergences of discourses of diversity in schools and their practical application.

Educational organizations and gender in times of uncertainty

In this chapter I identify and elaborate, from a feminist perspective, upon the theoretical shifts and key concepts that inform sociological analyses of gender and educational organizations. Gender inequalities are embedded in the multi-dimensional structure of relationships between women and men, which, as the modern sociology of gender shows, operates at every level of experience, from economic arrangements, culture and the state to interpersonal relationships and individual emotions. (Connell, 2005: 1801) Even naming this a sociology of gender and organizations is problematic. Many sociologists consider gender as a key sociological concept, but not necessarily from a feminist perspective. Feminism is a multidisciplinary, transnational movement that 'focuses on the relationship between social movements, political action and social inequalities' (Arnot, 2002: 3) and on the everyday experiences of women and girls and how they translate into social and structural 'ruling relations' (Smith, 1988). Feminism takes on multiple trajectories and imperatives in different cultural contexts, although with familial resemblances, most particularly the shared objective of equality for women and girls. Education as a primary institution of individual and collective mobility and social change, but also social and economic reproduction, has long been a focus of feminist theory and activism. So a feminist sociology needs to address this complexity of feminist sociological 'encounters' with gender and organizations.

Addressing the contradiction between discourse and practice in health promotion

The main theme of this thesis is the contradiction between discourse and practice in health promotion. Many health promoters continue to exert power-over the community through top-down programming whilst at the same time using an emancipatory discourse. The thesis has addressed this contradiction in three parts. The first part determines how the emancipatroty discourse has evolved and eplores the role of social movements in the development of contemporary health discourses and their influence on the legitimisation of empowerment. Central to this discourse is the empowerment of communities. To understand the role of this concept the thesis provides an interpretation of the different meanings of power and community, and the different levels of analysis of empowerment in the context of health promotion programming. The second part identifies the nature of health programming and the dominance of top-down, and to a much lesser extent, bottom-up approaches. The thesis argues that these two approaches are not, and do not have to be, mutually exclusive. To address this issue the thesis presents a new methodology is situated within a framework developed for the accomodation of empowerment goals within health promotion programmes. The study also identifies the organisational areas of influence on the processs of community empowerment and it is these which are used for the assessment of this concept. Both the framework and the methodology address the contradiction in health promotion by making community empowerment operational within a programme context. The third part of the thesis supports the rationale for the design of the methodology with field work in rural Fijian communities. The findings are presented as a composite case study to highlight the experiences of implementing the methodolgy and the main themes that emerged during the field work. the final chapter of the thesis brings together the central themes of the study and draws from these and 'emergent agenda' as a way forward for health promotion research and practice.

澳大利亚的民主和公民权

With the granting of the franchise to white men and women in 1902, Australia became one of the first mass electoral democracies. When the early federal governments passed innovative social and economic legislation, Australia also laid claim to being, or at least becoming, a social democracy. Nonetheless, these achievements built upon an earlier record of political, social, and economic reform in the Australian colonies. This paper offers a brief history of the evolution of Australian democracy that takes account of the interactions between institutional change and political struggles for citizenship rights. The process of democratisation has not been uniform, either in its evolution or scope, and the outcomes for citizens have been uneven. Where liberal and social democratic principles generally predominate, these remain in constant tension with more authoritarian tendencies, which then become a focus for resistance from individual citizens, organised labour, and social movements. Democratisation in Australia, as in many countries, is a process that inevitably involves conflict, not only over the character of its political and legal institutions, but also over who is to be included or excluded as citizens, and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

Democratizing health : consumer groups in the policy process

This timely book examines the role of consumer organisations in the health policy process. In an age of shifting boundaries between state and civil society, consumer groups are potentially drivers of democratisation in the health domain. Their activities bring new dynamics to relations between service providers, the medical profession, government agencies, and other policy actors. This book is unique in comprehensively exploring the opportunities and dilemmas of this type of activism, including sometimes ambiguous partnerships between consumer groups and stakeholders such as the pharmaceutical industry. These themes are explored within an internationally comparative frameThis book examines the important role of consumer activism within health policy in different national contexts. In an age of shifting boundaries between state and civil society, consumer groups are potentially drivers of democratization in the health domain. The expert contributors explore how their activities bring new dynamics to relations between service providers, the medical profession, government agencies, and other policy actors. This book is unique in comprehensively analysing the opportunities and dilemmas of this type of activism, including ambiguous partnerships between consumer groups and stakeholders such as the pharmaceutical industry. These themes are explored within an internationally comparative framework, with case studies from various countries. work, with case studies from many countries.

Introduction : consumer groups and the democratization of health policy

This book examines the important role of consumer activism within health policy in different national contexts. In an age of shifting boundaries between state and civil society, consumer groups are potentially drivers of democratization in the health domain. The expert contributors explore how their activities bring new dynamics to relations between service providers, the medical profession, government agencies, and other policy actors. This book is unique in comprehensively analysing the opportunities and dilemmas of this type of activism, including ambiguous partnerships between consumer groups and stakeholders such as the pharmaceutical industry. These themes are explored within an internationally comparative framework, with case studies from various countries. Students and researchers in the fields of health policy and sociology, public policy and social movements will find this relevant and path-breaking book enlightening. It will also prove invaluable for participants and activists in patient and health consumer organizations.