For sale - sex in the country: The benefits of sex work as an occupational choice in rural NSW Australia

Drawing upon sociology of work, feminist theory and past sex worker research, we present the first study to explore the sex work industry in rural Australia. Using qualitative data from interviews conducted December 2004 - February 2005 with 20 sex industry workers in New South Wales, we question existing assumptions and generalizations surrounding contemporary sex work to explore how industry workers perceive their career experiences. Specifically, we explore workers’ motivations for entering and continuing to be involved in the industry, the profession benefits and historical changes. In contrast to radical feminist theory’s equation of sex work with victimization, these narratives by rural sex workers portray experiences of sexual empowerment, economic advancement, job flexibility, achievement and examples of positive social interaction. In conclusion, our findings provide contrasting data to the sex politics surrounding “prostitution” put forth by radical feminists as we reaffirm the sex industry to be a legitimate career option in rural Australia and challenge the determinism used to labelled sex work as definitively degrading and deleterious to women.

Across the divide - Criminology as other: Observations on the construction of the field

In 1978 Donald Cressey commented on an emerging division in the study of crime with some scholars concentrating on the development of a “crime fi ghting coalition” and others concerned with the processes associated with “making laws, breaking laws, and the reaction to the breaking of laws” (1978: 175). Since Cressey’s paper, many others have refl ected on the distinction between criminology and the sociology of crime and deviance (Akers, 1992; Garland, 1999; Garland & Sparks, 2000; Konty, 2007). But does such a distinction actually exist? Adopting a pragmatic position, the immediate answer is yes, if we assume that these categories have substance on the basis that they are grounded in everyday beliefs, institutional preferences and research practice (Konty, 2007). Moreover, these are viable categories in that some people studying crime label themselves criminologists (or are given this label by others) while others prefer or are given the label sociologist. Of course, there are further labels that may apply to persons studying crime, which include psychologist, penologist, biologist, chemist, and so on. One could argue that such labels are unimportant, however, it remains that these categories have a practical character. For criminology and the sociology of crime in particular, scholarly discourse frames these categories as oppositional (Bader et al., 1996.; Bendle, 1989; Laub & Sampson, 1991; Sibley, 2002) and to the extent that this has occurred, the categories have social relevance.

Reason of state and a new notion of fortune : Historicising the risk society

Since the 1980s the concept of risk has produced a large and diverse volume of sociological research. Ulrich Beck’s groundbreaking risk society thesis provides a particularly engaging contribution, since it seems that nearly every sociological account of risk engages with this work. For Beck, we are living in second modernity – a new epoch that breaks with pre-modernity and industrial society due to the centrality, incalculability and reflexivity of globalised risk. While Beck’s theory is compelling, a reading of other theorists such as Foucault (2007[1978]) and Hacking (1975,1990) suggests that a difficulty with Beck’s work is that in attempting to explain what is novel about risk in contemporary times, he too quickly passes over the complexities and ruptures of historical change that impact on the history and contingency of risk. This paper begins by presenting a brief analysis of the present state of risk by introducing Beck’s historical narrative of risk from pre-modernity to the risk society; it then outlines the challenges with the “risk as epoch” argument by considering a range of literature, which suggests risk has a more complex history than proposed by Beck; and finally it highlights the value in examining strategies of statecraft in early modern Europe, specifically Machiavelli’s The Prince (2008[1513]) and Giovanni Botero’s political treatise, Della Ragion di Stato (1956[1589]) – as a means of more thoroughly understanding how our current concept of risk emerges. In doing so, this paper seeks to open up new trajectories in the historicisation of risk for other interested scholars.

Visual narratives and counter-narratives in aged care : Centring the participant as photographer in social science research

As detailed by a number of scholars (Emmison & Smith, 2000, 2012; Harrison, 1996, 2002, 2004), photographs and the process of photographing can provide fertile ground for sociological investigation. Examining the production of photography can tell us much about inclusion/omission and power/knowledge in a variety of social settings. Recently, some researchers have begun to utilise the participatory action research methodology, PhotoVoice, where people take and share photographs as a means of communicating and advocating on a specific topic. While medical sociologists have used PhotoVoice to communicate the impacts of disease in vulnerable populations (eg Burles, 2010), little social research has been done that combines PhotoVoice and older persons. This is interesting given the world’s population is ageing and the general lack of research that examines what daily life is like for older people living in aged care (Timonen & O’Dwyer, 2009). In response, a recent project tracked 10 participants who recently transitioned into living in residential aged care (RAC). The project combined the use of PhotoVoice methodology with repeated in-depth interviews. Residents were asked to orally and visually describe the positives and negative aspects of their daily lives. In the first instance, they shared the use of a RAC owned camera and later had the opportunity to access a camera for their sole use. Photographic analysis emphasised the value of centring the participant as an autonomous photographer in social research. In the photographs captured on a shared use camera, the photographs tended to depict predominately positive life stories (e.g. weekly morning tea outings, social activities). In comparison, the photographs captured on the sole use camera also described intimate but everyday activities, spaces, objects and people that frequented in their daily lives. Shifting the responsibility of the camera and photography solely to the participants resulted in the residents disrupting conventions of ‘suitable’ subject matter to photograph (Harrison, 2004) and in doing so, provided a much richer insight into what daily life is like in aged care.