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Human variability is an important component of social science datasets. How do social researchers account for this variability when drawing conclusions from data? Describe two situations in which the basis for these conclusions is undermined.

Introduction

The information contained in social science datasets aims to provide an accurate description of the social world (Byrne, 1998, p. 126). However individuals within any society are inherently highly variable due to human nature.
The idea of humanness is something which Haslam et al. (2009, p. 55) suggest is ascribed to members of our species in a manner which is largely taken for granted. The notion of what defines humanness or human nature is somewhat tricky to define (Schein, 2010, p. 143). One way of simplifying human variability is to understand it in terms of its genetic basis. The human genome is constructed of more than 35 000 genes; with the exception of monozygotic twins, these are unlikely to be identical for any two individuals on the planet (Naylor & Chen, 2010, p. 275). However variability is likely to be further exacerbated by the influence of social factors, as human nature is formed as a combination of these biological and social influences (Kundu, 2009, p. 16).

The concept of human nature and its underlying composition therefore opens up the notion of human variability. A general definition of variability would be “striking deviations from…patterns” where patterns are observed within a given population (Gould, 2004, p. 2). However, it would be argued that this very general definition of variability could be insufficient to describe human variability, as the concept of human nature already discussed would indicate that we are all different to one another, making it difficult to ascribe any general patterns (Gould, 2004, p. 5; Cohen, 2007, p. 71). Even within the cultural model of human nature there is wide variability between individuals (Schein, 2010, p. 143). Instead, human variability would therefore be taken to constitute not only differences from the norm, but differences simply from one another.

It is impossible for any research study to adequately sample all of this variability (OECD, 2000, p. 177), although in order to draw meaningful conclusions from studies in social science it is important that human variability is something which is considered by researchers. This essay discusses the approaches taken by social science researchers to account for this variability, then presents two situations in which the basis for these conclusions may be undermined.

Accounting for Variability

It has been suggested that many of the models which social sciences rely on to explain human social phenomena may present a somewhat limited representation due to their not taking adequate account of human variability (Tanner, 2008, p. 2). However, some have gone so far as to argue that the presence of human variability means that there can be no general principles regarding human life and social interactions (Gould, 2004, p. 5; Cohen, 2007, p. 71). This is based on the observation that the human psyche only becomes organized as a result of external influences. This therefore implies that the human being is plastically variable, making it impossible to apply firm general laws to it (Cohen, 2007, p. 71). It has also been supported by the work of the German statistician Wilhelm Lexis, who found that dispersions of human behaviour from statistical models were much greater than predicted by chance (Gould, 2004, p. 5). Despite the possible validity of this argument, it is still desirable to attempt to construct general rules for the purpose of understanding the impact of different actions on the population, for example health care interventions and social policy.

In attempting to construct such models through analysis of social datasets, human variability may present an issue to social science researchers on two accounts. The first is that within any study population there is likely to be a significant level of variability between members of that population at any one point in time. Secondly, since the variability is on-going and continuous, it means that the conclusions drawn from any piece of research may be inextricably linked to the specific circumstances which existed at the point in time at which the research was conducted (Tanner, 2008, p. 2).

One example of the first of these issues is given by Tanner (2008, p. 132), who discusses the reaction of individuals to religious gatherings. The complexity of human nature means that different values and motivations most likely result in every individual experiencing religious practice in a slightly different way. While this in itself often forms the focus of qualitative research, it may be extremely difficult to take account of this variability in quantitative studies. Another example is discussed by Byrne (1998, p. 126), who suggests that quantitative research conducted within one school is unlikely to be directly applicable within another. They argue that the data collected is unlikely to be transferrable as it is likely to be significantly influenced by the school’s social dynamics, which are unlikely to be identical in any other school. A third useful example is in the study of the placebo effect in medicine, where there has been shown to be marked variation among individuals, making it difficult to derive any general trend (Lyby et al., 2011, p. 2405).

From such studies, it is however possible to see how social science researchers attempt to account for variability when deriving conclusions from the datasets.

One approach to this is to limit the scope of the conclusions which are drawn from a study to a specific subsection of the population, as discussed by Byrne et al. (1998, p. 126). This may involve performing primary research within the specific population for which it is to be applied. For example if there is a need to have evidence on which to base school policy, social science researchers may choose to conduct research specifically within that school. Here, however, there is still likely to be variation within the sample, in spite of shared social characteristics, as this would not account for other factors of human nature, such as genetic or personality differences, both of which may have a significant impact on behaviour and academic performance at school (Furnham et al., 2009, p. 769). Therefore the conclusions could be inappropriately applied to those not fitting the original norm.

A similar situation may also arise due to another approach which is to remove outliers from the data, which are those which vary markedly from the mean (Motulsky & Christopoulos, 2004, p. 23). Although this would appear to limit the usefulness of any study in the larger social science context, it may be necessary to be able to derive any meaningful predictive trends from the quantitative data. Many of the statistical testing methods which are used to analyse social science datasets are disrupted by high levels of variance. For example ANOVA attempts to explain variance in respect to one variable within the population according to the presence or absence of other factors. Yet if these other factors are too variable in nature then the results are likely to be disrupted. Additionally, the variable of interest itself must not vary markedly from the normal distribution, or this too will lead to inaccurate conclusions being drawn from the analysis (Richards, 2009, p. 14). This issue may be overcome in many instances by ensuring that a larger sample size is used, so that there is more probability of outliers lying at the extremes of this normal distribution (Gorard, 2003, p. 62).

An alternative approach is to try and instead actively limit the variation in the data analysed, as this may produce results which are more readily generalizable to the study population (Gorard, 2003, p. 61). One way to achieve this is to attempt to strip individuals within any dataset down to shared basic characteristics and then select participants which match the desired set of characteristics. This involves reducing aspects of culture down to common elements (Shore, 2012, p. 148). For example, in the study by Lyby et al. (2011, p. 2405) participants were selected on the basis of certain shared aspects of their medical history and care, so that the conclusions drawn would be targeted towards this specific subset of the population, and would not be applicable to those varying from these characteristics. This approach may be useful when considering individualized medical interventions, but may be less useful when considering wider social initiatives, where the population will invariably stray from tightly shared characteristics.

Neighbourhoods and Communities

One area in which conclusions drawn from social datasets may be undermined is that of studies involving the study of neighbourhoods and communities for the purposes of policy formation. An example of this is the policy a decade ago regarding the introduction of street wardens to the UK. There have been some studies conducted in individual neighbourhoods in which street wardens were introduced, from which the data showed subsequent reductions in crime and other negative outcomes. The conclusions from these studies attempted to account for variability by suggesting that the results be applied on a limited level (University of Leeds, 2005, p. 5; Sin, 2008, p. 389). However, when these conclusions were applied on a wider level, there were very varied results seen across different neighbourhoods (Sin, 2008, p. 389).

This could be due to similar issues as those discussed by Byrne (1998, p. 126) in the context of schools. It is likely that the characteristics of communities present in different areas of the UK are likely to be highly varied due to individual, local social and environmental factors. Therefore these communities are likely to present very different reactions to one social intervention. Here it would be suggested that the usual approaches taken to account for variation in dataset analysis may not be adequate. For example it would be very difficult to take large sample sizes if considering each community as an individual unit. It would also be difficult to remove outliers, as it would be expected that the different communities would vary so markedly that it would be difficult to establish a norm. Even if this were the case, this would then severely limit the applicability of the analysis when considering national policy. One of the best solutions would be instead to consider collection of data from each individual area and tailor policy on a local level according to these findings.

Drinking Patterns

A second example of an area in which social dataset conclusions may be undermined by human variation is in adult alcohol consumption patterns and its effects (Gould, 2004, p. 7). The nature of alcohol consumption is something which is now understood to be determined by a whole multitude of factors, including genetic factors, environmental factors, social circumstances and personality characteristics (Dick et al., 2011, p. 2512; Kendler et al., 2011, p. 1507). This in itself clearly opens this behaviour up to wide variation between individuals due to the complex interaction of these factors, a consequence of human variability as discussed in the introduction. However, this also means that the precise nature of alcohol consumption may be something which is open to change over time. Many of the shared aspects of humanity within any social group could be considered to be evolutionary in nature (Shore, 2012, p. 149). For example environmental and social variables change; however this evolutionary concept would imply that it is also possible that humans change in their very nature over time too (Gould, 2004, p. 7).

This may be further explained taking the example of a research study by Hingson et al. (2009, p. 783) which examined the influence of age of drinking onset on physical injuries, motor vehicle crashes and physical fights after drinking. The study concluded that drinking at an early age was associated with greater odds of each of these consequences and that delaying the age of drinking onset should be promoted to reduce the risk to the individual. Yet human variability could undermine these conclusions in a number of ways.

For example there is evidence that rates of violence have increased in general over time (Eisner, 2008, online). Although this could in itself be attributed to increasing trends in alcohol consumption, this may be unlikely based on data which indicates a decline in drinking patterns in the US (Kerr et al., 2009, p. 27). However, there have been a number of research studies which have indicated that personality traits possibly linked to violent behaviour have changed over the past few decades (Twenge et al., 2008, p. 875). This therefore indicates that risk of violence is something which is linked to variation in human nature over time and could change in the near future, which was not accounted for when discussing the future implications of this research. Therefore it is entirely possible that the suggested interventions could have little impact on risk of violence.

Conclusions

The very nature of humanity means that individuals vary markedly from each other, due to the influence of different genetic, psychological, social and environmental factors. The overwhelming potential for different combinations of these factors means that within any social setting it is likely that significant variability would exist, even though some common factors may be shared by members of that population. Although this is part of the main source of interest in the study of sociology, it may present a challenge when conducting analysis on quantitative social data sets. This variability may be accounted for when drawing conclusions by ensuring that analysis reduces the variability in the data set or by limiting the application of the conclusions outside of the sample from which it was drawn.

References

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This work was produced by one of our professional writers as a learning aid to help you with your studies

Using the crime survey of England and Wales, examine how experience of crime affects citizen’s opinions of the criminal justice system. What demographic factors influence the relationship between experience of crime and rating of the criminal justice system?

Introduction:

In order to answer the question posed, the following analysis is split in to three sections. Firstly, Section 1 presents an initial inspection of the variables in the dataset. A statistical modelling procedure is then proposed in Section 2 in order to address which variables affect citizen’s opinions of the criminal justice system. Appropriate conclusions are then drawn in Section 3.

Section 1: Description of the data
1.1: Variables in the dataset

The crime survey of England and Wales provided data for 35371 individuals. There is a clear problem with missing data in the dataset, which will be investigated in due course and discussed in detail in Section 2. The variables in the dataset can be grouped in to three types for this analysis:

(1) Demographic factors:

Sex: categorical variable

Age: continuous variable

Marital status: categorical variable

Respondent Social Class: categorical variable

Type of area: categorical variable

(2) Variables relating to citizen’s opinions of the criminal justice system, such as:

How confident are you that the Criminal Justice System as a whole is effective?

(4 level ordinal categorical variable ranging from “very confident” to “not at all confident”)

(3) Variable relating to citizen’s experience of crime:

Experience of any crime in the previous 12 months? Categorical variable

1.2: Inspection of the data

As a starting point, some initial inspections of the data were conducted by assessing variables on an individual basis.Of the 35371 individuals, there were 16176 males and 19195 females, as shown in Table 1. Hence there were no missing values for the sex variable.

Table 1: Gender frequencies in the crime survey of England and Wales

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Male

16176

45.7

45.7

45.7

Female

19195

54.3

54.3

100.0

Total

35371

100.0

100.0

For the continuous age variable, ages ranged from 16 to 99. There was a small percentage of individuals who did not give their age (0.33%), thus these responses are missing. See Section 2 for more details on missing values.

Only 61 of the 35371 individuals did not provide their marital status (0.17%). Similar to the age variable, this percentage appears to not be meaningful. Table 2 shows the marital status frequencies in each of the 8 categories. The frequencies in the “same-sex civil partnership and living with partner” category and the bottom two categories in Table 2 (all highlighted in bold) are small in comparison to the others.

For the modelling procedure in Section 2, it is of benefit to have sufficiently large counts in each of the categories and to have a smaller number of categories. Consequently, the categories were combined in a relevant way. The “same-sex civil partnership and living with partner” category was combined with the married category. Similarly, the “SPONTANEOUS ONLY separated but legally in same-sex civil partnership” was combined with the separated category. Finally, the “SPONTANEOUS ONLY surviving civil partner” was combined with the widowed category. In other words, categories that relate to civil partnerships had to be combined with the corresponding same-sex partnerships due to small counts. Table 3 gives frequencies for the new marital status variable. Individuals who are either single or married account for nearly 75% of the dataset. This new marital status variable is used in the modelling procedure of Section 2 and is referred to as “MaritalStatusNew” from now on.

The respondent social class categorical variable had a very large number of categories, therefore making interpretations difficult. Clearly there are too many categories for it to be considered as a categorical variable in a statistical model in Section 2. Although an attempt could be made to try and group the categories in to a much smaller number, this was not deemed sensible. This is because results in Section 2 could potentially differ drastically depending on the groupings chosen. In addition, 1765 individuals did not state their social class (4.99%). Given all these points, this variable was not considered further in Section 2.

The type of area variable had no missing values with 27585 individuals (77.99%) stating that they live in an urban area and 7786 (22.01%) individuals stating that they live in a rural area.

Table 2: Marital status frequencies in the crime survey of England and Wales

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Single

10513

29.7

29.8

29.8

Married and living with husband/wife

15657

44.3

44.3

74.1

In a same-sex civil partnership and living with partner

90

.3

.3

74.4

Separated

1273

3.6

3.6

78.0

Divorced

393611.111.189.1
Widowed381810.810.899.9
Separated but legally in same-sex civil partnership18.1.1100.0
Surviving civil partner5.0.0100.0
Total3531099.8100.0
MissingSystem610.2
Total35371100.0

Table 3: Marital status frequencies (with combined categories) in the crime survey of England and Wales

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Single

10513

29.7

29.8

29.8

Married

15747

44.5

44.6

74.4

Separated

1291

3.6

3.7

78.0

Divorced

3936

11.1

11.1

89.2

Widowed

3823

10.8

10.8

100.0

Total

35310

99.8

100.0

Missing

System

61

.2

Total

35371

100.0

The five variables relating to citizens opinions of the criminal justice system (type 2 in Section 1.1) have large proportions of missing values, as shown in Table 4.

Table 4: Frequencies for citizen’s opinions of the criminal justice system

How confident are you that the police are effective at catching criminals?

How confident are you that the Crown Prosecution Service is effective at prosecuting people accused of committing a crime?

How confident are you that prisons are effective at rehabilitating offenders who have been convicted of a crime?

How confident are you that the probation service is effective at preventing criminals from re-offending?

How confident are you that the Criminal Justice System as a whole is effective?

Valid

17727

16892

16145

15193

17452

Missing

17644

18479

19226

20178

17919

Given the nature of the question, attention is focused on the “How confident are you that the Criminal Justice System as a whole is effective?” variable, which will be referred to as “CJSopinion” from now on. This is because interest lies in determining which variables affect citizen’s opinions of the criminal justice system generally rather than any specific aspects of it. A more detailed analysis would also focus on the other four variables. The CJSopinion variable will therefore be the dependent variable in Section 2. The consequences of the 17919 missing values (50.66%) are discussed in detail in Section 2.

Table 5: How confident are you that the Criminal Justice System as a whole is effective (CJSopinion)?

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Very confident

573

1.6

3.3

3.3

Fairly confident

7556

21.4

43.3

46.6

Not very confident

7164

20.3

41.0

87.6

Not at all confident

2159

6.1

12.4

100.0

Total

17452

49.3

100.0

Refusal

2

.0

Don’t know

779

2.2

System

17138

48.5

Total

17919

50.7

Total

35371

100.0

The final variable to consider is the variable relating to individuals experience of crime. This variable had no missing values with 29819 individuals (84.30%) stating that they had not been a victim of crime in the last 12 months. This variable will be referred to as “ExperienceOfCrime” from now on.

Section 2: Modelling the data
2.1: Potential approaches

Based on Section 1.2, CJSopinion is chosen as the dependent variable with sex, age, MaritalStatusNew, type of area and experience of crime as the independent variables. The continuous variable age is mean centered to aid interpretability. There are a number of modelling based methods that one may consider in order to determine which of the independent variables significantly affect citizen’s opinions of the criminal justice system. For example:

(1) Linear regression with CJSopinion as the dependent variable and sex, age, MaritalStatusNew, type of area and experience of crime as the independent variables.

(2) Multinomial logistic regression with CJSopinion as the dependent variable and the same independent variables as (1).

(3) Ordinal logistic regression with CJSopinion as the dependent variable and the same independent variables as (1).

Approach (1) relies upon the assumption that the dependent variable is truly continuous and the intervals between consecutive values are equal, both of which are questionable for this case. Approach (2) is an acceptable approach but it does not exploit the fact that the dependent variable in this case is ordinal. Approach (3) is the preferred approach since it exploits the fact that the dependent variable is truly ordinal. In contrast to traditional logistic regression approaches, the ordinal approach in SPSS is based upon the logit of the cumulative probabilities. SPSS uses the proportional odds form of this model. The reader is referred to Agresti (2013, chapter 8.2) for more details.

2.2 Missing data and checking the adequacy of the model

As detailed in Section 1.2, the dataset contains missing values on both the dependent and the marital status independent variable. The problem is of more concern for the dependent variable since 50.66% of the values were missing. The ordinal regression procedure in SPSS only allows for the listwise deletion method of dealing with missing data. The listwise deletion method deletes all the observations for any individual who has any missing values on either the independent or dependent variables. Despite this, listwise deletion still leaves 17427 individuals who have no missing values on any of the dependent or independent variables. However, listwise deletion is a strong assumption that relies on the missingness being random. The assumption was deemed to be acceptable for this dataset, the details of which are given in Section. More details on missing data are given in Agresti (2013, p. 471) and Little and Rubin (2002).

Prior to running the ordinal regression model in SPSS it is important to make sure that there are no low cell counts for combinations of the dependent variable with each of the categorical independent variables in the dataset (for the individuals with no missing values). Crosstabs of the dependent variable against each of sex, MaritalStatusNew, type of area and experience of crime were assessed. All the counts were sufficiently large, thus the model was deemed acceptable to be run in SPSS.

The proportional odds model also assumes a proportional odds assumption. This means that the model assumes the same regression effects for each cumulative logit (Agresti, 2013). This can be assessed in SPPS, as detailed in Section 2.3.

2.3 Ordinal logistic regression in SPSS

In order to address the first part of the research question: “Examine how experience of crime affects citizen’s opinions of the criminal justice system”, an ordinal logistic regression was run in SPSS with the dependent variable CJSopinion and independent variable experience of crime. For the dependent variable, “not at all confident” is treated as the baseline and for experience of crime, “not a victim of crime” is treated as the baseline. Ordinal logistic regression can be performed in SPSS by selecting the Analyze tab then Regression and then ordinal, as shown below.

CJSopinion is then entered as the dependent variable and experience of crime as the single independent variable in the factor(s) box. In order to test the proportional odds assumption, the test of parallel lines tick box should be checked on the output tab, as shown below:

The key part of the SPSS output is the parameter estimates. These are shown in the table below.

Table 6: Parameter estimates for the proportional odds model (no demographic variables)

Estimate

Std. Error

Wald

df

Sig.

[CJSopinion = very confident=1]

-3.341

.043

6092.466

1

.000

[CJSopinion = fairly confident=2]

-.090

.016

30.468

1

.000

[CJSopinion = not very confident=3]

2.010

.024

6975.842

1

.000

[ExperienceOfCrime=victim of crime=1]

.301

.039

59.541

1

.000

[ExperienceOfCrime = not a victim of crime=0]

0^a..0.

The model has three intercept parameters (one for each cumulative logit) and these are labelled thresholds in the parameter estimates. These parameters are not usually of interest unless interest lies in calculating response probabilities (Agresti, 2013). Attention is therefore focused on the location part of the parameter estimates.

The experience of crime variable is statistically significant since the p value in the Sig column is <0.001. In order to interpret the coefficient, we can say that the odds of being less than or equal to a given value of the dependent variable are exp(0.301)=1.35 times greater for those who have been a victim of crime than those who are not a victim of crime. For example, for the lowest category of the dependent variable, the odds of being very confident in the criminal justice system are 1.35 times greater for those have been a victim of crime than those who have not been a victim of crime.

The proportional odds assumption was found to be satisfied since the p-value in the sig column is not less than 0.05 (at the 5% significance level). The SPSS output is shown below.

Table 7: Test of Parallel Lines^a

Model

-2 Log Likelihood

Chi-Square

df

Sig.

Null Hypothesis

49.120

General

49.032

.087

2

.957

The next stage is to add the demographic variables in to the model. The table below shows the parameter estimates for this case.

Table 8: Parameter estimates for the proportional odds model (with demographic variables)

Estimate

Std. Error

Wald

df

Sig.

[cjsovb1 = 1]

-3.323

.060

3099.016

1

.000

[cjsovb1 = 2]

-.063

.045

1.967

1

.161

[cjsovb1 = 3]

2.051

.048

1808.076

1

.000

AgeMeanCentered

.008

.001

66.790

1

.000

[sex=Male]

-.009

.029

.102

1

.749

[sex=Female]

0^a

.

.

0

.

[Type of area=urban

-.028

.035

.667

1

.414

[Type of area=rural]

0^a

.

.

0

.

[MaritalStatusNew=Widowed]

-.296

.065

20.602

1

.000

[MaritalStatusNew=Divorced]

.230

.054

17.951

1

.000

[MaritalStatusNew=Separated]

.080

.081

.975

1

.323

[MaritalStatusNew=Married]

.110

.038

8.198

1

.004

[MaritalStatusNew=Single]

0^a

.

.

0

.

[ExperienceOfCrime=victim of crime=1]

.357

.040

81.390

1

.000

[ExperienceOfCrime = not a victim of crime=0]

0^a

.

.

0

.

The experience of crime variable remains significant after the inclusion of the demographic variables with similar conclusions to before. The continuous variable age is significant. In order to interpret this variable, we can say that for a one unit increase in age, the odds of being very confident are exp(0.008)=1.008 times greater (holding other variables constant).

For marital status, the odds of being very confident in the criminal justice system are exp(0.296)=1.34 times greater for those who are single than those who are widowed (holding other variables constant). In addition, the odds of being very confident in the criminal justice system are exp(0.230)=1.26 times greater for those who are divorced than those who are single(holding other variables constant). Similarly, the odds of being very confident in the criminal justice system are exp(0.110)=1.12 times greater for those who are married than those who are single (holding other variables constant). Type of area and sex were non-significant.

The proportional odds assumption was found to not be satisfied for this model since the p-value was less than 0.05. Rather than rejecting the model outright, Agresti (2013, page 307) recommends performing separate binary logistic regressions (by collapsing over the levels of the ordinal response) and comparing the parameter estimates obtained to those from the original proportional odds model. For this model, the estimates were not found to differ drastically so the assumption was deemed to be viable.

2.4 Assessing the listwise deletion of missing values

SPSS only allows for listwise deletion of missing values when conducting ordinal regression. However, traditional linear regression techniques in SPSS allow for alternative methods for dealing with missing values. It is acknowledged that the use of traditional regression methods for an ordinal response is more questionable and open to debate. However, the same conclusions with regards to which variables are significant are obtained by treating the response as continuous as opposed to ordinal.

Table 9: Parameter estimates for the linear regression model (with demographic variables)

Parameter

B

Std. Error

t

Sig.

Intercept

2.595

.017

149.591

.000

[sex=Male]

-.003

.011

-.258

.796

[sex=Female]

0^a

.

.

.

[Type of area=urban

-.013

.014

-.933

.351

[Type of area=rural]

0^a

.

.

.

[MaritalStatusNew=Widowed]

-.114

.025

-4.499

.000

[MaritalStatusNew=Divorced]

.092

.021

4.304

.000

[MaritalStatusNew=Separated]

.029

.032

.920

.357

[MaritalStatusNew=Married]

.044

.015

2.958

.003

[MaritalStatusNew=Single]

0^a

.

.

.

[ExperienceOfCrime=victim of crime=1]

.139

.015

8.982

.000

AgeMeanCentered

.003

.000

8.191

.000

The same conclusions were also obtained when alternative methods were chosen for dealing with the missing values (pairwise deletion and mean substitution) thus giving more confidence in the results obtained for the original proportional odds regression model in Table 8.

3 Conclusions

To conclude, the results of Section 2.3 indicate that experience of crime significantly affects citizen’s overall opinion of the criminal justice system. This was true before and after accounting for other relevant demographic variables. After accounting for other variables, the odds of being very confident in the criminal justice system were 1.43 times greater for those who have been a victim of crime than those who had not. Age and marital status were also found to significantly affect citizen’s overall opinions of the criminal justice system. Gender and whether the area was urban or rural were not found to affect citizen’s overall opinion of the criminal justice system.

References:

Agresti, A. (2013). Categorical Data Analysis, 3rd edition. New Jersey : John Wiley and Sons, Inc,

Little, R. J. and Rubin, D.B. (2002). Statistical Analysis with Missing Data, 2^nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

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Since the beginning of civilization, it has been in the nature of humans to compete with one another. In ancient Greece, the citizens trained in gymnasiums or “naked places” perfect their wrestling or boxing technique (Sweet, 1987). “Athletics were more important to the Greeks than us today” according to Sweet, like the current American society, cheating was looked down upon in ancient times. Cheating was looked at as sacrilegious; a disgrace to Zeus (Sweet, 1987).

Today cheating is not looked at as a sacrilegious act to a god, but as a shameful act of cheating. Luckily, (or unluckily whichever side the athlete) there are entities in place that all athletes have the same competitive advantage. The act of managing sport can level a playing field, negotiate a salary, relocate an athlete, advise an organization, run a facility, or teach others the topics in sport management in a college setting.

The modem field of sport management is a fairly young field that is constantly adapting to the demands required. The curriculum of sport management also adheres to the same principles of business, but is even younger than the practice of sport management. Through history, sport and sport management has shown its progressive tendencies, ideals that were ahead of common American society at the time. This leads to the five significant events and the influential minds behind the events in sport management, which are the topic of this paper. They are certainly not all the people and events that had significant contribution, but simply the top five that are deemed worthy for this assignment.

Thoroughbred Racing

Since history is usually placed in chronological order, the trend continues today. Thoroughbred horse racing was a very popular sport in eighteenth century England; along with baseball, cricket, and field hockey (Masteralexis, Barr, & Hums, 2005). Positions of Albert Spalding to Earle Ziegler 3 political and social power were appointed to men with wealth; most of those positions being horse owners, track or club owners, and other various supervision roles.

Each club in the given area had its own set of rules, which were created by the owner; sometimes even to work in his own favour. Complications often arose when a rider from one track would race at another as rules varied (Masteralexis, Barr, & Hums, 2005). And by the 1830’s with the innovation of railroads, horse owners wanted to compete nationally to increase profits, and breed with new horses to create faster horses.

Naturally a new management style was needed but this was only the first complication of two. The second was gambling. Gambling was a very popular event amongst the upper and lower classes at the track. The lower class was then able to wager bets at the track with the upper class because club/track owners did not charge admission to the event. The track was a social setting in which a diverse group of people intermingled for a common purpose here as a member of the upper and lower class would hardly be seen in the same place, sharing a common purpose (Masteralexis, Barr, & Hums, 2005).

The gambling itself took place during the race, which was a four-mile course broken up into three legs. The winner would have to win at least two out of the three races. If the fans of the race suspected the jockey of throwing a race, the jockey would often be physically abused by the fans (Masteralexis, Barr, & Hums, 2005).

It was not very common for unethical behaviour to take place when bets were made, but they did occur and were dealt with promptly. Sometime after the 1830’s, there became a standardized management system in horse racing which forced club/track owners to standardized lengths of the course, forced the track to time the events, and even spawned a new style of horse racing:

Thoroughbred racing with weights added to the horses (Masteralexis, Barr, & Hums,Albert Spalding to Earle Ziegler2005).

In gambling, a standardized system was also adopted as club owners started handicapping the races, ran a sweepstakes race and even started to offer tip sheets to the customers at the events. These strategical changes are viewed as the first managerial changes in club sport; while also being viewed as the successful model for club sports, which ruled the eighteenth century in the forms of boxing, cricket, rugby and soccer (Masteralexis, Barr, & Hums, 2005).

The club sport system still exists today, although it does not thrive as it once did in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. But these clubs set a precedent that would contribute to the next innovator in the sport management profession.

William Hulbert and the National League

As stated in the previous section, club teams were the dominate structure for athletic teams in the nineteenth century. Baseball was no different. Most teams were around and had a small fan base, but most teams were never able to play a whole season. or keep fan interest for a whole season because of lack of funding. It was not uncommon for teams to just quit halfway through the season.

The most popular team of the 1860’s was the Cincinatti Red Stockings who toured the east to play teams and because of their fan base, were able to pay for travel expenses and earn a profit while playing on the road (Masteralexis, Barr, & Hums, 2005). On a road trip at the end of 1870 season the Red Stocking lost the three games of the season, and because of that were no longer considered the champions of baseball.

The fan base for the club fell drastically and the team disbanded before the beginning of the following season (Masteralexis, Barr, & Hums, 2005). In 1871, after such hard times, remaining teams formed a union; a new league called the National Association of Professional Baseball Players. Unfortunately, the beginning results were no different than that of their predecessors in the club system as teams would form, stop playing halfway through the season, and perhaps start operations the next season. After years of trying to gain credibility and reach stability in the league, an entrepreneur by the name of William Hulbert purchased the National League of Professional Baseball Players in 1876 and was often referred to as the Nazl League from then on (Masteralexis, Barr, & Hums, 2005).

Hulbert made sure that all business aspects were in the open and not conducted behind closed doors as to ensure honest means of doing business. He also set guidelines for the eight teams to follow: e was going to make sure that the league would not crumble because of one team’s financial irresponsibility. All teams were accountable for each other, or the league wccl:

fail. Hulbert made many decisions for the league. On one occasion, Hulbert canceie final series between Philadelphia and New York as both teams were struggling and their outcome would not have affected league standings (Crosset & Hums, 20O5jl By doing this, he allowed the teams to shut down the operations so the team would save money for the next season and not hinder future operations.

Ethics and citizenship were staple points in Hulbert’s National League as well, forcing teams to set curfews for the athletes and enforcing strict policies that meant banning players for life if they were gambling, for example. Hulbert’s precedent still stands today, as over 100 years later, Pete Rose was banned from ever stepping foot into a baseball park because of gambling allegations.

He also made sure that the fans were proper citizens as well; raising ticket prices to keep rowdier, lower-class fans out and not allowing alcohol to be sold in the ball park. However, the “revolutionary idea,” according to Crosset and Hums, was the implementation of a pennant race at the end of the season. The two top teams at the end of the season would play a series for the pennant, better known as the National League Championship.

Hulbert also protected teams from losing their players, as players under contract were not allowed to negotiate or be bought out by other teams without both parties being aware of it. The “player’s reservation” system was a precedent in sport management, and is still a foundation in modem sport management. After some success with the league, local newspapers started to cover the games; giving updates on injuries, interviewing players, keeping track of statistics and reporting other coaching strategies to keep the fans interested.

This also opened a new element for sports as fans 11i could not afford to attend games and only followed by word of mouth. The sports coverage allowed fans to follow keep track of the games played and re-enact the game through the written stories. The precedents set by Hulbert were truly astronomical; building foundations that still stand in baseball today.

His demands for class and integrity are considered sacred to the game of baseball and were followed for years; which is why steroids have been such a paramount concern in baseball for the past couple of years. For his actions he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995 as a pioneer of the game.

Albert Spalding

While William Hulbert was a great innovator himself, accomplishing many feats, he was not alone in the formation of the new National League. Albert Spalding was a pitcher for the Boston Red Stockings, who subsequently were members of the National League of Professional Baseball Players. Spalding was a major celebrity of the game, winning 241 games, and losing only 60 between 1871 and 1876 (Lampster, 2006). An innovator himself, Spalding pitched with his own signature designed baseball. After leading the Red Stockings to the first National League Championship in 1876, he decided to create his own company named simply after himself.

That same year, Spalding was the official baseball of the National League, and baseballs were sold to the general public: therefore, becoming the first sporting good company in America (Lampster, 2006). The year 1877 proved to be Spalding’s last season as a professional ballplayer. He then focused solely on managing his company and the Chicago White Stockings as their team president. After managing, he became an international promoter of baseball. spreading the game around the world in 1888.

In 1887, he created and manufactured the first American football. And in 1894, he created the first basketball. Spalding was a We innovator and strived to set precedent like Hulbert. Spalding and Hulbert fed off of each others innovations and cleverly marketed each other through each others company (Lampert, 2006).

Sport Management as an Academic Field

Almost 100 years has passed since the wrinkle in time that was the beginning professional baseball. The time was the 1960’s, Major League Baseball was a prevae: organization, Albert Spalding had already been inducted into the baseball hail of and the “sports industry was thriving’ (Crosset & Hums, 2005 According to Cc sse: and Hums, two men discussed the idea of a sport management curriculum in 1 95 a physical educator from the University of Miami, James G. Mason, and owner of the then Brooklyn Dodgers, George O’Malley.

O’Malley is most recognized as the chief legal counsel for Jacky Robinson when he broke the color barrier in 1947 and for moving the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles The two decided that to keep up with the demand in the sports industry a professional degree needed to be started to accommodate. In 1966, O’Malley and Mason started the first Sport Management graduate program at Ohio

University in Athens, Ohio. The idea of a sport management degree caught on soon thereafter as Biscayne College and St. John’s University founded the first undergraduate programs in the United States (Crosset & Hums, 2005). The University of Massachusetts-Amherst followed in Ohio’s footsteps, offering the second graduate program in the U.S. in 1971. As the field grew, unions of teachers started to form; mos:

of which were short lived. Today’s dominant sport management scholarly union is the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM). Sport Management is one c the most highly sought after degrees by incomi1 freshman (Mahoney, 2008). With massive growth however, teachers are in high demand and there are not enough people: teach the high volume of students and conduct new research to progress the field in a brand new direction. The next paragraph focuses on a man who changed the field of sport management forever. This dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada implemented his own curriculum; his name is Dr. Earle F. Ziegler.

According to the official Earle F. Ziegler website, Ziegler got his start in education at Yale University where he taught physical education and coached football and wrestling from 1943 to 1949. He began working for the University of Western Ontario in 1949 as a part-time German instructor.

Shortly thereafter, he became the department head for Physical, Health, & Recreation for the university. At the University of Michigan, Ziegler began his research for physical education and how to manage it effectively. He then conducted research at the University of Illinois, and then went back to the University of Western Ontario. After years of solely researching in the field of physical education, Ziegler intertwined physical education with other topics such as

Albert Spalding to Earie Z:-philosophy and administrative theory. In 1975, the year Ziegler returned to Western Ontario, he released six publications on various topics branching physical education out. An acquired copy of “Management Competency Development in Sport and Physical Education ” written by Dr. Ziegler in 1983 is an interesting read. Ziegler explains throughout the opening chapter the different types and amounts of research he did to write his book, He opened the book with four chapters about management theories and the emerging field of study.

He then presented a strategic plan on how to implement management into sport. It is hard to comprehend that this had never been done before. Dr. Ziegler was in the field conducting research on different topics and drawing parallels between the two. There were degree programs before this at universities around the country, but Ziegler created an entirely new school of thought with the publications that he wrote; inspiring young professionals to think proactively and engage themselves in theory.

Most of the topics discussed today in sport management courses are based off of his research and those who followed in his footsteps. Ideals that a person would just take for granted now/ere accomplished for the first time 25 years ago by an old man from New York City. Ziegler, in fact, was the first president of NASSM, and because of his contributions to the field was honoured with an award in his name in 1988. This award is given out annually to the educator in the sport management field making positive contributions in research and education sport management. :

Conclusion

As clearly shown throughout the paper, the field of sport management shares a rich history like other fields of academia, even at its young existence. The models of conformity in club horse racing would open the door for the brand new league system created by William Hulbert. And without the newly renovated National League, Spalding would not have marketed his new product, as well with Hulbert.

As the field slowly grew and innovation lay dormant for sometime, that opened the door for O’Mallev and Mason to create a brand new field of study to feed their vision of enhancing the field of sport management. And finally without Earle Ziegler, sport management would not be flourishing the way it is today without his teachings and theories. Again, he opened a new doorway for students to walk through. Teaching his knowledge and inspiring students then, who are the administrators of today.

The interesting thing throughout the paper is the progressiveness of society through sporting events in history: The intermingling of upper and lower classes at horse tracks, the introduction of baseball throughout the world, and O’Malley breaking down the colour barrier by signing Jacky Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Although there may have been some differences between some, athletics has set a standard for breaking down sociological barriers between class and colour. These are the five significant events and the influential minds behind the events in sport management; they are certainly not all the people and events that had significant contribution for today’s sport management, but simply the catalysts for change and progression.

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Is it correct to suggest that young people’s identities today are more ‘Individualised’ than in earlier generations?

How people define themselves in relationship to society is an ongoing concern of sociology. This essay examines the question of whether young people’s identities are more individualised today than they were in earlier generations. The question itself is an interesting one because it implies that identity is discrete and unique. That notion is in itself modern, so it becomes axiomatic to say that identities are more “individualised” because by the framing of the question it is already presumed that identity is individual. However, as all individuals operate within the framework of society it is reasonable to examine how and to what extent the relationship has changed between earlier generations and now. To this end this essay will examine the facets of people’s lives including work, leisure, education, and entertainment, that are associated with creating identity and discuss the ways they lead to greater individualisation, and also the ways in which people create community.

Sociologists and historians are aware of the strong trends that have changed culture since the industrial revolution, and especially since World War II, as traditional divisions of class and solidarity have broken down (Chisholm, 1990, p. 134). This took place in the industrial revolution because it caused a mass movement towards urbanisation, which resulted in the breakdown of older community structures. After World War II improved communications and transport lead to globalisation and individualisation as youth were removed further from national or class-based identification (Livingstone & Bovill, 2001, p. 329). Along with this it is clear to see the lack of religious identification in modern culture, as well as increasing mobility, both of which disrupt older social organisations. Johnson, et al argues that youth culture expanded in the post-war world, to the point of excluding the aged (2005). The main concern of his argument is for the marginalising of the aged, but there is a reverse effect too: the alienation of youth from the support of traditional structures. The freedom to be individuals, and defining youth in opposition to older generations, means that young people cannot rely as much on the support and wisdom of older adults.

The term generation gap is used to discuss this break between older and younger. Generations form a type of social organisation, and Johnson notes they are the organising force behind relationships involving: “children, economic resources, political power, and cultural hegemony… generations are a basic unit of social reproduction and social change” (2005, p. 518). However the influence of generational divides is changing in modern culture as “the individual has become important and influential both in politics and working life” (Leccardi & Ruspini, 2006, p. 63). Whereas before relationships fit into more traditional patterns – parents, children, grandparents – now with the loss of community and the extended family, and with the greater emphasis on personal development rather than fitting in within a group, the result is enhanced individualisation. Young people no longer necessarily see themselves first as children, or members of a clan, but as individuals. This perception can have both positive and negative effects. Warner Weil et al note the importance of “social capital” (2005, p. 206) that is to say, a sense of belonging to a group, that helps individuals cope with the insecurities of daily life. As culture becomes more individualised young people might feel cut off from the support they need. However, other sociologists note that anti-social behaviour can be transmitted from one generation to the next, through association and environment (Lerner & Steinberg, 2009, p. 700). Therefore individualism can be beneficial if it helps youth break out of negative group behaviour patterns, and overcome problems within their family or community.

Part of the change is that individualism is breaking down old class differences, and leading to a more consumer/market orientated economy. While the positive effect is noted in reducing class prejudice, the danger of extreme individualism is that social inequality is re-envisioned not as the result of pre-existing social divisions but as “a consequence of individual failure in coping with societal conditions” (Council of Europe, 2001, p. 25). Individualism raises the notion that young people who fail to thrive are to blame for not adapting to society, which can lead to feelings of failure and low self-esteem. This is not productive, and does not encourage personal growth. The other challenge of integrating individualism and society is that in order to maintain cohesion society may openly or subtly influence individuals (Leccardi & Ruspini, 2006, p. 65). This can be harmless, but it can also be coercive, for example using advertising to promote certain lifestyles as social norms, which can leave some young people feeling left out. For example, our culture is very heterosexual, and the majority of media and advertising focuses on romantic love as between a man and a woman. This excludes gays and lesbians, and anyone who does not identify as totally hoterosexual. Because of individualism these people are able to live as they choose, and create alternative communities, however there is still a powerful message that they are not “normal”. This is one way that through advertising consumption is used to create a social order (Warner Weil, 2005, p. 151).

Modern education plays a key role in individualisation, as from the end of the 18th century it began to construct the notion of youth and “individualisation followed education, and education both followed class lines and attacked them” (Leccardi & Ruspini, 2006, p. 63). Therefore as more people were educated to a roughly equal level there was greater opportunity for social mobility. Education has continued to grow in importance as society has become more technologically sophisticated, with annual debates about the values of A-levels, the importance of university funding, promoting education for low-income children and so forth. Today, education is perceived as the “the most important means for individual success or failure” (Council of Europe, 2001, p. 25) and governments spend a large quantity of time and energy trying to improve and tailor the education system. There is a paradox in the importance of education, however, because the expansion of schooling, education “intended as a means of escape has resulted in the extension of dependence and restrictions on autonomy in youth… it acts as a restraint” (Jones, 2009, p. 165). While young people would have gone out to work much younger, in previous generations, and therefore had the individualising experience of personal responsibility and self-reliance, modern education keeps them closer to their parents, which creates a push-pull where education is teaching them to think for themselves, but they are still dependent on others.

Currently in society work is the greatest single factor in individualisation. Since the industrial revolution the labour market has been the principle cause of individualisation, through competition and occupational and geographic mobility (Chisholm, 1990, p. 135). People often spend more time at work than at home, and Jones notes the two are now separated (2009). Work even becomes the dominant way of forming peer groups, with work colleagues becoming friends and romantic partners. Individualisation through work has some liberating effects, with people being defined by their skills and abilities, rather than by origin or class status, as they would have been in previous generations. However, the danger is that the dominance of work rather than the personal, and the emphasis on individual achievement can lead to alienation when youth do not have an opportunity to exercise their skills. Because work is important as a basis for identity, because it forms a primary part of a person’s role in society, it is noted that: “when young people do not have a job that suits their education and skills, or an adequate salary, there are always social and psychological disorders” (Council of Europe, 2001, p. 126). The many possibilities of working life pose a major challenge too – it is no longer enough to be good at doing a job, people have to be able to navigate a wide range of possibilities and social situations, and constantly adjust to a changing labour market, and this can “paralyse the search for work as a source of meaning” (Warner Weil, et al, 2005, p. 106)

Since work is not a complete, or always satisfactory, source of identity, most young people focus on leisure activities such as music as a way to demonstrate power and form a discrete social identity (Jones, 2009, p. 46). Jones notes there is a dual role to the dynamic of individualisation through leisure, though. Young people’s increased leisure opportunities can actually keep them in their parents’ house because they spend their money on entertainment, rather than setting up an independent home (2009, p. 107). This is a situation that has only been possible since the end of World War II, with changes in technology and increased opportunities for leisure. The creation of pop culture – music, movies, fashion, television – was possible because of mass communication, and it gives young people a way to create individual identities and have a social life based on leisure and consumption that relates to their sub-cultural identities (Leccardi & Ruspini, 2006, p. 57). This is easy to see in any school, or group of young people, where they identify themselves by their clothing and accessories, as being into hip hop, or indie rock, or skateboarding, or sport.

It is a dry run for adulthood, only instead of work, leisure is the focus. Adults identify based on their jobs, but for many young people who they are is what they do for fun. Therefore entertainment is very important in allowing individualisation. Chisholm notes that thanks to technology and housing arrangements more youth can choose their own entertainment, e.g. TVs, games consoles, DVD players, and enjoy them separately from the rest of the family (1990). Johnson argues that youth culture started “to acquire a history with the inauguration of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” (Johnson, et al, 2005, p. 158). Entertainment allows individualisation outside of the traditional class, family or generational groupings. It also encourages social identification between individuals to form new kinds of groups. Livingstone and Bovill note that young people pursue their interests across multiple media, creating global subcultures (2001, p. 329), which has the effect of enhancing individualisation within their immediate community but opens the possibility of wider networks. Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, and the hundreds of thousands of sites devoted to every imaginable interest from sport, to music, to fashion, to hobbies, show that there is a definite impulse to form communities, even if the basis is individualism. Because of this entertainment plays a “key role in young people’s identity formation” (Livingstone & Bovill, 2001, p. 8).

This association between entertainment, leisure and individualism is promoted by capitalism, and used to encourage individualism through consumption. Individual image becomes important, as seen by the huge celebrity culture in the UK, and bodies and looks become part of young people’s identity and how they present themselves (Council of Europe, 2001, p. 23). The importance of not just being an individual but looking like an individual has made people more aware of, and dependent on how they look (Council of Europe, 2001, p. 25). This causes a paradox situation though, because it is individualism based on able-bodiedness. As noted previously society uses powerful images to help maintain coherence in spite of individualism, and the emphasis on certain bodies and behaviours as normal raises the danger of alienating and excluding young people. In the past, within traditional communities, disabled young people would have likely been cared for by family and integrated into the community, but it is much harder to integrate into an individualised society. Despite this risk of exclusion, and the loss of group support, people want more control over their lives – not less – and education and work are increasingly focused on competition and individual success (Chisholm, 1990, p. 135). There is no doubt, examining these facets of modern society, that young people have far more “individual” identities than they did in the past.

Politically, this is identified as freedom, and Western culture defines freedom as “individual choice and responsibility” (Johnson et al, 2005, p. 159). The drive towards greater individualism is seen over the past few decades, especially with Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, where welfare institutions were broken down and the message was that everyone should be self-sufficient. Today, it is generally accepted that children are “born as individuals with individual rights” and they are entitled to be treated as such from birth (Leccardi & Ruspini, 2006, p. 65). This lays the groundwork for individualisation from a very early age. Balancing this, however, is the fact that individuals are not free from the influence of their families or social groups. This can be relatively benign, as with young people identifying through music or taste in movies, or it can be negative, as noted by Lerner & Steinberg who say the risk of developing depression or other pathologies is related to parenting, and environment (2009, p. 562).

The conclusion is that it is clear young people’s lives are more individualised than in previous generations, thanks in large part to mass communication and developments in technology. The primary force for change has been education, leading to work as a focus for creating identity. However, young people also identify heavily based on entertainment and leisure activities. Despite all the opportunities for individualism there is still a fundamental need for social cohesion and inclusion. Unfortunately some of the ways society tries to promote cohesion, such as through messages in advertising and defining normal behaviour, actually serve to exclude individuals who do not fit the stereotype. Against this trend, however, the self-selection into groups by young people with common interests, or needs, is possible through the internet, which creates a new form of social grouping based on – rather than opposed to – individualisation. It seems certain that as humanity and technology evolve there will continue to be enhancements in individualism, as well as new types of social organisation to compensate for the loss of traditional social structures based on class identity, geographical location or extended family.

Bibliography

Chisholm, L., (1990) Childhood, Youth and Social Change: A Comparative Perspective, London: RoutledgeFalmer

Council of Europe (ed.), (2001) Youth Research in Europe: the next generation, Strasbourg: Council of Europe,

Johnson, M. L., Bengtson, V. L., Coleman, P. G., & Kirkwood, T. B. L., (2005) The Cambridge Handbook of Age and Aging, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Jones, G., (2009) Youth, Cambridge: Polity Press

Leccardi, C., & Ruspini, E., (2006) A New Youth? Young People, Generations and Family Live, Aldershot: Ashgate

Lerner, R. M., & Steinberg, L. (2009) Handbook of Adolescent Psychology: Individual Basis of Adolescent Development, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons

Livingstone, S. M., & Bovill, M. (2001), Children and their Changing Media Environment a European Comparative Study, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates

Warner Weil, S., Wildemeersch, D., & Jansen, T., (2005) Unemployed Youth and Social Exclusion in Europe: Learning for Inclusion?, Aldershot: Ashgate

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Do the urban and rural spheres remain socially distinct in any ways? Discuss with relevant ideas from urban and rural sociology.

Sharma (1997 p. 74) states that rural and urban communities form the ‘end points in the continuum of development of human habitats’. However, it has also been suggested that the social, cultural and technological developments in the United Kingdom (UK) have resulted in a country wide urban society, with limited sociological distinctions between the two geographical locations, through a process of urbanisation. The remit of this assignment is to discuss this further, and will refer to various theoretical contributions to support or contradict this argument. Furthermore, specific reference will be made to the concept of communities and the essay will also explore social relations from both the urban and rural perspective.

If sociology is the study of society and its social problems, rural sociology focuses predominantly upon the existence of these within rural environments, often focusing on the countryside (Karalay 2005 p. 3). Peggs (2012 p. 89) proposes that in Britain we often perceive the countryside as being a ‘rural idyll’, a view which is premised upon the lower crime rates, perceived continued existence of community and kinship ties and a lower population density. However, Pugh and Cheers (2010 p. viii) suggest that such perceptions often result in clear generalisations and a failure to acknowledge the diversity amongst villages, suggesting that the definition of rurality itself is often flawed due to its presumption that each area holds homogenous characteristics. This stereotypical view of rural society being harmonious has also resulted in a failure to recognise the impact of industrialisation upon the sociology of agriculture, and the isolation often experienced by adults in remote rural areas (Scott 2014 p. 656). The former refers to the impact that technological advancements have had upon the practice of agriculture, or the Agricultural Revolution. Whilst this has significantly increased the abilities of farmers to support a larger number of people and created a surplus of the availability of food, specifically in Western areas, it has also impacted upon climate change and employment rates in rural areas (Volti 2011 p. 6).

Whereas, urban sociology is mostly associated with the structure of a city or town as well as the social interaction between the people that live there (Peggs 2012 p. 90) and it has been suggested that cities are the ‘physical embodiment of political and economic relationships; thus, an exponential focus has been placed upon urban societies by sociologists and the government (Flanagan 2010 p. 3). Browne (2005 p. 389) defines urbanization as the ‘process of the movement’ of people from rural areas across to urban areas with cities becoming the major centres of population. Whilst it is often associated with being exemplary of the modern world post the Industrial Revolution, Wagner (2008 p. 6) notes that is has also caused a number of ‘new’ problems; including pollution and the negative impact that it has had upon the environment, health issues particularly within lower socio-economic groups, and country wide inequality. Although urban communities are fundamentally developed from rural habitats, there is a number of ‘glaring differences in every aspect of life’ (Sharma 1997 p. 74). For example, the distinctive characteristics of an urban society is noted as being the ‘substitution of secondary for primary contacts’; the weakening of kinship; decline in the role of the family; lack of neighbourhood and community; and an ‘undermining of the traditional basis of social solidarity’ (Lin and Mele 2012 p. 39). For example, Flanagan (2010 p. 175) argues that one of the main reasons for migration to rural areas has always been, and remains to be, economic incentive and Sharma (1997 p. 76) proposes that urban societies have become more meritocratic, offering its citizens the chance to reach their full potential, suggesting that rural areas are premised upon a traditional value system which offers little room for change.

Louis Wirth (1938) perceived the defining characteristics of a city as being population size and density as well as social diversity; proposing that the combination of thus have resulted in a ‘distinctive urban way of life’ (Fulcher and Scott 2011 p. 475). Wirth’s theory has been noted to be a seminal piece discussing urbanisation, proposing that he perceived this to be something which would spread to all areas; fearing that it was a ‘socially disruptive’ process, a threat to the moral values of citizens, that would result in a lack of community and ‘underlying consensus’ (Slattery 2002 p. 303). Additionally, he perceived urbanism as being separate from accounts of capitalism, industrialism or modernity and failed to acknowledge how such concepts are intertwined and dependent of each other (Magnusson 2013 p. 55).

Tonnie’s (1957) analysis of the impact of the industrial revolution suggested that the disruption caused by people moving to the city led to an increase in ‘large-scale, impersonal, calculative and contractual relationships’; at the expense of community (Hillyard 2007 p. 7). His theory consisted of a comparison between gemeinschaftlich, communal solidarity, and gesellschaftlich including relations of calculative and contractual natures, and is often critiqued due to his depiction of historical communities to be romantic and ideal (Scott 2007 p. 780). Similarly, Simmel (1903) proposed that there were significant differences within human interaction in city life in comparison to rural areas, suggesting that people are more likely to be emotionally reserved and individualistic, proposing that the development of such skills allows them to ‘cope with the multiple demands of urban life’ (Stolley 2005 p. 169). He suggested that urban life leaves citizens ‘bombarded’ with ‘images, impressions, sensations and activities’ resulted in them becoming blase and disinterested with others, exacerbating the emotional distance between themselves and others (Giddens 2006 p. 896). This is further discussed by Furedi (2013 p. 319) that the ‘veiled hatred and contempt’ for the modern industrial society resulted in Tonnies work often being disputed due to its generalised nature.

This change in the socially cohesive nature of pre-industrial society was also discussed by Emilie Durkheim (1897), however, his work was not solely from a pessimistic perspective and he argued that this was just a change in the social bonds and relationships (Hillyard 2007 p.10). He argued that urban-adults are more likely to become less tied to the ‘common concern’ and develop an interdependence premised upon an organic solidarity; in which, ‘social ties are based on differences’ (Stolley 2005 p. 169). He felt that modern society was based upon ‘the ideals of modern individualism’, with concerns as to whether this could provide a sufficient foundation for society, however, felt that communities could be re-established on different grounds (Challenger 1994 p. 211).

Community is a multi-dimensional term that may refer to a physical place in which people live together but also to ‘groups of people whose interaction is not based on physical proximity but shared interests’ (Robinson and Green 2011 p. 13). The concept of community is often compared within the urban-rural continuum, with Mann (2003 p. 190) supporting the theoretical perspective that urbanisation has resulted in a loss of community, and the values that are associated with it. Furthermore, Fulcher and Scott (2011 p. 475) proposed that the weakening of relationships in city life is one of the key reasons why urban-adults are significantly more likely to have mental health issues, commit suicide or become victims of crime. Yet Browne (2005 p. 393) argues that the close knit community in rural areas can actually be very ‘narrow minded and oppressive’; proposing that people who are different to the majority, or even do not have family ties with the area, are likely to be excluded. This is further supported by Lister (2010 p. 203) who notes that whilst any community can provide security for some, this is often done so on the basis of the exclusion of others; reiterating that it cannot be viewed as an ‘organic homogenous entity’. However, Abrahamson (2013 p. 55) argues that one of the key reasons for the focus upon urban development is community planning, attempting to alleviate the issues associated with the lack of community in urban areas by attempting to adjust the structure, provision and resources to enforce these.

Lin and Mele (2012 p. 39) state that the adult urban population are significantly less likely to be unemployed due to the number of jobs available, also suggesting that city life itself ‘discourages’ unemployment due to the lack of support and focus upon individualism. Yet Ferrante (2013 p. 252) argues that problems with the rural areas of a country are often under exaggerated or ignored: for example, she notes that a large percentage of children that live in poverty live in rural areas; noting the effects of economic restructuring, decline of farming and traditional industries and the lack of sufficient support in these areas. This is further discussed by Pugh and Cheers (2010 p. xvi) who note that assumptions premised upon the idealised nature of the rural lead to a ‘comparative invisibility’ of some of the social issues which are just as likely to occur here as in urban societies, such as poverty, domestic violence and substance misuse; proposing that often the needs of rural-adults are largely ignored by state provision. Additionally, Betti and Lemmi (2013 p. 36) argue that whilst statistical evidence may indicate that rates of poverty are significantly higher in cities and towns, they explain this by the significantly higher population density, a higher cost of living in such areas, and the exponential costs of owning or renting accommodation in the centre of a city. Furthermore, whilst poverty is often perceived as being an inner city problem, it is found widely in rural areas with farm workers being amongst the lowest paid in society with a loss of their job also potentially resulting in homelessness and eviction (Browne 2005 p. 393).

Paddison (2001 p. 12) argues that there has become a decentralisation, with the intertwining of town and country, resulting in a country wide urban society and a rural sociology becoming less relevant in modern times. This is further maintained by Fulcher and Scott (2011 p. 471) who note that the differences between the two communities have ‘largely disappeared’ due to both of them now being ‘shaped by the dynamics of consumer capitalism’. Although Browne (2005 p. 389) argues that since the 1960’s the UK has reversed some of the changes made during the industrial period, with increasing numbers of people choosing to live in the countryside. This is particularly relevant within areas which are within commutable distance to major cities, due to high costs of living in the cities as well as the perception that rural areas are significantly better for raising children. Furthermore, Pugh and Cheers (2010 p. 6) argue that technological advancements, such as the internet, have further perpetuated the decentralisation of urban life, with communication significantly improving in even the most remote areas; allowing people to have ‘easier and more reliable access to information and services’. However, Flanagan (2010 p. 176) reports that there has been a failure to develop rural areas sufficiently, causing high urbanization rates resulting in unemployment and housing shortages in large cities; questioning whether the rate of urbanization has been ‘beneficial or detrimental to economic growth’.

The lack of community life in urban environments is often cited as being one of the key distinctions between rural and urban sociology, and would denounce the claim that that rurality lacks relevance in a post-modern society. However, technological advancements, including information communication technology and transport amongst others, have led to more people choosing to live in rural environments and commuting to their employment on a daily basis. This assignment has discussed both sides of the argument, with reference to a number of theoretical contributions, including Wirth, Durkheim, Tonnies, and Simmel; each of which focus on the impact upon social relations in the city. However, it has also highlighted a number of the social problems which are indiscriminately impacted upon by location. The assignment has clearly supported the perception that there has been a decline in the relevance of rural sociology since the Industrial Revolution, however, it has yet to lose all credibility regardless of the developments made in a postmodern society.

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For instance, do the plethora of ways of finding and reporting news, through online forums, blogs, YouTube, etc., available to the average citizen undermine the hegemonic role of traditional news media in this regard? Discuss from a functionalist, Marxist or other sociological perspective.

Introduction

The mass media plays a major role in today’s society. Functionalism emphasises its strength, but warns of the danger of having its power controlled by a few individuals or organisations. That hegemony was threatened with the creation of the World Wide Web. Twenty-first century internet technology now offers any citizen the potential to reach an audience of millions.

The key sociological concepts for analysing the impact of the media are long-established, and later commentators often reinterpret existing theories rather than offering new perspectives. Two macro-theories, both viewing society as a system shaping human behaviour, dominate discussions: the functionalist stance and the Marxist-oriented conflict perspectives. This essay will draw on Parsons, Merton, and Wright to present the classic functionalist viewpoint. Conflict theory offers several interpretations of Marxism, which serves as a critique.

This essay will detail the popularity of the most frequently-accessed mainstream websites and consider social media’s role in news-gathering and dissemination. Examples of traditional and modern media coverage will illustrate changing attitudes and societal mores and the capacity of social media to precipitate change, before using a functional analysis to assess if the sociological function of the mass media has been affected by modern technological developments.

Social theory and the media

Functionalism, a ‘structural’ perspective and a leading sociological stance of the 1940s and 1950s, regards society as an interdependent system that can only be understood by examining how separate structural parts relate to each other and to society as a whole. The traditional mass media, principally newspapers and cinema, reached their zenith during this era so it is unsurprising that sociologists used functionalism to analyse the media and society. Functionalism makes certain assumptions, including the need for stability, and examines ‘the origin and maintenance of order and stability in society’ (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004: xv). Functionalism suggests that the mass media’s common perspective and shared common experience bind society together.

Parsons (1964) argued that societal behaviour is governed by shared values that become societal norms, a value-consensus which enables society to function effectively. Functionalism being value-neutral, disruptive activities are dysfunctional rather than intrinsically bad; defunct values become extinct. Merton (1968), remaining within the functionalist tradition, felt that functional unity was unlikely in complex societies and that all functions, whether of religion, social stratification or even the family itself, could be met elsewhere within society. He distinguished between manifest (intended) and latent (hidden/unintended) functions of the media. A manifest function could be the need to sell goods for profit. The latent functions included supporting the status quo by reinforcing values. (Merton, 1968).

Charles Wright developed what became known as the classic four functions of the media. He stated that media theorists ‘noted three activities of communication specialists: (1) surveillance of the environment, (2) correlation of the parts of society in responding to the environment, and (3) transmission of the social heritage from one generation to the next (Wright, 1959:16). He also identified a fourth element -entertainment – and distinguished between the intended purpose of the mass media and its consequences.

Whereas functionalists believe that societal norms govern human behaviour, Marxists argue that the controlling factor is the economic system. They offer a conflict perspective where the mass media legitimises the status quo, enabling hegemonic control over the dissemination of information. Marx argued that members of the elite produced the dominant societal ideas to conceal exploitation of the working class while the mass media manipulated information to normalise inequality (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004). Functionalism has also been critiqued on the grounds that the value-sets presumed to characterise Western society have never been conclusively demonstrated, and the ‘content of values rather than value-consensus as such can be seen as the crucial factor with respect to social order’ (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004:943).

Old and New Mass media

The time lag between reporting and printing left newspapers a day behind in publishing events; the visual impact of television was immediate. The Vietnam War was the first ‘televised’ conflict. The iconic image of nine-year-old Kim Phuc running naked down a road outside Saigon following a napalm attack helped to turn public opinion against continued American involvement (Newton and Patterson, 2015).

In the world of the traditional media, the internet’s potential impact was underestimated by commentators such as Clifford Stoll. Writing in Newsweek he said: ‘The truth is no online database will replace your daily newspaper [and] no computer network will change the way government works’ (Stoll, 1995). He was quite clearly wrong on both counts, but at that time few people had access to the new form of media that had been developed by enthusiastic amateurs, academics and students. (Rheingold, 1994). According to Pew Research (2015), Yahoo – the world’s biggest on-line news service – attracted 127,995,000 unique visitors in January 2015. A Google search of the traditional media reveals that the BBC warrants an impressive 793,000,000 Google listings while The Times newspaper has 398,000,000. However, these numbers are dwarfed by social media listings. YouTube has 7,540,000,000 entries, Twitter has 11,350,000,000 and Facebook tops the poll with 15,050,000,000 (Information retrieved 27.8.2015). Furthermore, on Monday 24th August 2015, it was reported that one billion people – one seventh of the world’s population – logged into their Facebook accounts (Zuckerberg, 2015).

Digital communication normalises rapid dissemination of information. Anyone with a smart phone can potentially break a major news story; the first images of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001 came from mobile phone footage. ‘Micro-blogging’ is event-driven; Twitter provides users with a regular feed of news and trivia. Stories which are re-tweeted or commented on frequently are said to be ‘trending’. However, with a limit of 140 characters per ‘tweet’, brevity still rules occasionally, just as it did when news of the Crimean War was transmitted to Britain via telegraph.

Discussion

Historically, a comparatively small group of people working for an even smaller and more exclusive group of newspaper, film and broadcasting organisations gathered information. They determined what should be made public and how it should be presented. Deciding what to omit was probably as important as deciding what should be included; stories presenting the establishment in a negative light were often suppressed.

Certain reports, decades apart but linked by a common thread, bridge the gap between traditional media and the digital age and illustrate changing attitudes in Britain. During the 1936 Abdication Crisis, despite it being widely disseminated elsewhere, British media initially ignored the affair between Edward VIII and Mrs. Simpson out of deference to King George V (Rubenstein, 2003:199). However, less deference was shown to Princess Margaret; MP Willie Hamilton, who regularly raised the issue of the royal finances in the House of Commons, described her as ‘a floosie….. a monstrous charge on the public purse.’ (Davies, 2002, np). The rise of celebrity culture also gave rise to the ‘paparazzi’, an independent cohort of photojournalists, who followed and photographed members of the royal family at every opportunity. Earl Spencer’s passionate oration at the funeral of his sister, Princess Diana, blamed the paparazzi for her death, describing Diana as ‘the most hunted person of the modern age’ (Princess Diana 97, 1997). More recently, compromising pictures of Prince Harry on a trip to Las Vegas were circulated on-line by US celebrity website TMZ.com (TMZ, 2012). What used to be news is now entertainment.

There are a number of potential dangers in the functions of the media. Analysis accompanying factual reporting influences public opinion, but unchallenged norms and values can perpetuate injustice; one only has to recall the portrayal of racial minorities in 1950s media. Entertainment may double as propaganda, as in the jingoistic films released during WWII. Nevertheless, deciding what information goes into the public arena may still have hegemonic undertones, as demonstrated by a BBC Newsnight investigation into Jimmy Savile. This was ‘pulled’ shortly before a tribute programme to the late celebrity, believed to have abused hundreds of children, was due for broadcast. Members of the investigation team were sidelined amid allegations of a management cover-up (Jackson, 2015).

Wright’s observation distinguishing between intended and unintended consequences of the media is particularly relevant to the new social media. In late 2010, mass demonstrations against political repression, poverty and corruption swept the Middle East during the short-lived ‘Arab Spring’ uprising. The authorities were unable to suppress the outflow of information via social media. The Tunisian government was the first to fall. The hegemony of their state-approved news agencies had been completely undermined. However, organisations such as ISIS also use social media to spread their message, recruit followers and boast of their horrific accomplishments (Ajbaili, 2014). From the value-neutral functionalist stance (Wright, 1974) this is not ‘evil’ but merely dysfunctional when viewed from the paradigm of Western culture; ISIS is communicating, commenting and sharing its value system to gain wider acceptance of its fundamentalist values.

Contrary to Stoll’s predictions (Stoll, 1995) internet usage proliferated. Some functions of the new media, such as gathering and disseminating information, clearly descend from their traditional forbearers, but news is a globalised and a 24/7 product which has given rise to a cult of celebrity (Hollander, 2010). Gatekeepers cannot determine what constitutes news when a story may ‘go viral’ without warning, although unedited on-line content can be disturbing. Recently, the world was appalled by the murders on live television of a reporter and cameraman, in an attack filmed by the gunman and later circulated by him on social media. Such incidents bring into question the wisdom of facilitating unmediated access to what was once ‘the airwaves’. However, that particular discussion is beyond the scope of this essay.

Social media has been proven to instigate social change. The viral impact of the YouTube video ‘Kodaikanal Won’t’ forced Unilever to clear mercury waste from its disused factory in Tamil Nadu (Kasmin, 2015). Social movements such as anti-globalisation campaigners use social media very effectively to spread their message. Charities and NGOs regularly harness its power and it is said that U.S. President Barack Obama owed his election success to his team’s mastery of social media. Only this week, the image of a lifeless Aylan Kurdi, the three-year old Syrian refugee washed up on a Turkish beach, galvanised public opinion worldwide, although one fears that effective political action to resolve the refugee crisis may take rather longer.

Mainstream broadcasters have embraced social media, routinely incorporating audience participation by inviting comment via Twitter, text or e-mail. They have websites, Twitter feeds, and Facebook pages, as do organisations or individuals wishing to raise their public profile. Printed media struggles with falling sales, but on-line services stream news, opinion and entertainment directly into the family home, traditionally seen as the location for the transmission of cultural values. Mesch cautions that: ‘The introduction of new technologies such as the internet into the household can potentially change the quality of family relationships’ (Mesch, 2006:119, cited in McGrath, 2012:9). This impact is particularly strong on children growing up with digital media, quite literally, at their fingertips, and a trend towards individualisation within households is “undermining natural family interaction” (Buckingham 2000:43). Discussion of the functions fulfilled by family life is beyond the scope of this essay, but the issue highlights concerns over whether communications via the new social media have become a substitute for face-to-face interaction and whether social media can in fact, sustain the social fabric of traditional family life – and, by implication, society as we know it – across the generations. Although one would sincerely hope otherwise, Merton’s (1968) analysis suggesting the possible extinction of functional family life could be prophetic.

Conclusion

Functionalists have been criticised for seeing social order in terms of value-consensus on the grounds that consensus is presumed, not proven, to exist. Critics also note that research has not demonstrated widespread commitment to the value-sets assumed to underpin Western society, and suggest that value-content is the crucial factor (Haralambos and Holborn, 2004). Marxism argues that functionalism does not explain social conflict, and sees the mass media as another tool used by the elite to maintain their power and privilege.

Social media news content is clearly not controlled in the conventional sense and posts can disturb the status quo, influencing political and social change. This strength has diminished hegemony, although organisations such as the BBC still exert editorial control over the ‘old’ media. Ideologically-driven campaigns of the ‘left’ such as the anti-globalisation movement have been able to use social media to publicise their activities as never before. The differences between opposing sets of cultural values are brought into sharp focus as social media follows events in the Middle East and elsewhere, bringing our unstable, i.e. dysfunctional world into our homes. McGrath (2012) cautions that social media could have far-reaching impacts on family life; Merton (1968) posited that any function, including that of the family unit itself, was dispensable and that society would always find an alternative. These issues cannot be discussed here but they clearly warrant investigation.

On reflection, news may be trivial or disturbing, the message may travel faster and further and the values transmitted may be radically different from those of previous generations, but despite social media’s impact, its functions – gathering and disseminating news, transmitting culture and entertaining – have remained consistent. It is the changing value-content which is disconcerting, but functional analysis necessitates a distinction between functions and effects so it cannot offer a value judgement.

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Introduction

This paper explores the relationship between two apparently different themes – the essentially postmodern, 20th century “established and outsider” social philosophy expounded by Norbert Elias (Elias and Scotson, 1994) and the distinctly 21st century and essentially economic programme encapsulated in the Post-Washington, Post-Beijing Consensus (PWBC) (Peerenboom, 2014). Every policy, however, has social consequences, and this paper examines the social consequences of the PWBC in an Eliasian context.

This paper begins by explicating Elias’ established and outsider philosophy before moving on to describe the PWBC. The social consequences of the PWBC shall then be analysed within the Eliasian context in order to achieve a deep understanding of what these social consequences are and what they could mean for the people of China should the PWBC come to full fruition.

The paper ends by drawing together the findings in a conclusion that while the PWBC comprehensively addresses China’s economic dilemma, its narrow focus and elision of the need for a free media and democratic representation indicates that social consequences go unaddressed, and that China faces social unrest and dislocation as a result.

Norbert Elias’ established and insider concept

Elias’ research as far as this paper is concerned relates to the distinctions between the established – those who comprise the official establishment and unofficial, socially mediated cliques – and the outsiders – those lacking in connections or social advantage – who are excluded from the power, economic and knowledge structures of the society in which they live (Elias and Scotson, 1994).

Elias’ philosophy found expression in his significant research into the lives of the people of “Winston Parva”; Elias’ Winston Parva was a long-established community, the members of which viewed themselves within structural confines – a quantitatively ordered, dimensional and objectively classified concept (Hofstede, 2001) – something that offended Elias’ postmodern tendencies, where the objective is not to seek prima facie classification, but to search for depth and understanding (McSweeney, 2002). The initial research in Winston Parva was conducted by John Scotson, who was a member of the community and was therefore able to establish the validity of his research that long-term immersion endows (Christians, 1997). Elias took Scotson’s initial research and rewrote it, adding the insight of the philosopher to its original observational validity.

The post-war history of Winston Parva rendered it particularly suitable for sociological enquiry. Pre-1945, Winston Parva had been a community divided on class and economic lines. The powerful “established” included businessmen, officials and professionals (Elias and Scotson, 1994). The disempowered established consisted of the community’s unskilled labour, skilled artisans and shopworkers; these count among the established because they were bonded through family, occupation and society, and found particular identification in these aspects of their lives (Elias and Scotson, 1994). Post-1945, however, a new influx of people arrived in Winston Parva. These comprised primarily people from various large cities, seeking homes to replace those lost as a result of wartime bombing (Elias and Scotson, 1994). These outsiders had little in common with each other, there were few extended familial ties and no social ties to bond them into a community; also, for them, work was often hard to find as their skills were not transferrable (Elias and Scotson, 1994). This influx became the outsiders, viewed by the established as “the minority of the worst” (Elias and Scotson, 1994: 7).

Elias’ concept of the established, characterised by cohesion, self-support, self-praise and self-affirmation and the outsiders, characterised by lack of cohesion, lack of economic power and subject to the blame of others (Elias and Scotson, 1994), is transferrable to many other social settings. It is by this process that the social conditions for people in China undergoing the upheaval of the PWBC shall now be examined.

The Post-Washington, Post-Beijing Consensus within the Eliasian context

China has seen remarkable economic growth in recent decades, although growth that was typically in double figures until 2009 has slowed since then to a still-impressive but markedly reduced level of 7 per cent per annum for 2015 (The Economist, 2015). China’s economy has been predicated upon exporting manufactured goods and high levels of investment from government-controlled financial institutions (Peerenboom, 2014). China’s home-grown variety of post-Mao socialism has facilitated this and has unintentionally led to wide economic disparities among the population; as Chinese former premier Deng Xiaoping said, “let a portion of the population get rich first” (Hilton, 2012: n.p.).

At first sight it appears that post-Mao China has little in common with the Winston Parva of Elias and Scotson (1994). It is important, however, to appreciate that China’s growth has been macro-economic; much has been achieved in terms of headline data, although for the Chinese equivalent of the newcomers to Winston Parva – the migrants to Chinese cities – the situation is markedly similar. As Hilton (2012) explains, the established of China are the main beneficiaries of Chinese economic growth, whereas the outsiders, while achieving the greater economic stability that comes with industrial employment, experience geographical and social dislocation. This bears comparison with the outsiders of Winston Parva; they too experienced geographical and social dislocation (Elias and Scotson, 1994). While the political and economic histories and macro-economic situations of Winston Parva and the Chinese cities may differ, the social experiences of their outsiders are significantly comparable. The question remains, however, whether the history and macro-economic situations of these outsiders is influential in their social condition. With one important qualification it appears not, as contemporaneous literature for both countries suggests that the vision of outsiders is preoccupied by their present and their future, not reflecting on their past (Levitt and Jaworsky, 2007). The present is the situation described in this paper; the past for China is the Cultural Revolution, and the past for Winston Parva is the Second World War. The important qualification relates to an aspect of China’s past and present that, while interesting, remains outside the remit of this paper – China’s inaccurately named One-Child Policy (Cai, 2010). As China’s migrants to the cities are mostly young and single, the effects of the One-Child Policy can be presently discounted, although this may change as the migrant population matures.

Presently, however, China faces the dilemma of being caught in what is called the middle-income trap – the situation where development stalls due to an inability to adapt its economic model to enable the leap from middle-income to high-income status (Ginsburg, 2014). To enable this leap to high-income status, China needs to radically change its economic model from that of exporting cheaply manufactured goods to one of exporting fewer but more expensive premium products and building a comprehensive and sophisticated service sector – a feature that all high-income countries share.

Other developing countries have followed the Washington Consensus paradigm for economic growth, comprising focus on markets and international co-operation (Williamson, 1989), with limited success (Fofack, 2014). China, however, followed its own path, known as the Beijing Consensus or China Model, comprising the export-led, high-investment programme described above (Peerenboom, 2014). While this may bear little comparison with today’s Britain, it exhibits startling similarities to the investment-led post-war British drive for exports that was underway in the late-1950s when Scotson conducted his initial research (Elias and Scotson, 1994). Unlike British government policy of the 1950s and beyond, however, there is no immediate provision for representative democracy or media freedom within the PWBC (Banerjee and Duflo, 2008). The success of the Beijing Consensus has been remarkable, but with significant adverse social consequences including income disparity, particularly noticeable between rural and urban areas, and a lack of urban social provision and infrastructure (He and Su, 2013). Like Elias’ Winston Parva (Elias and Scotson, 1994), Chinese cities have seen mass inward migration from diverse rural areas; these arrivals are recent and socially diverse, and have little in the way of local familial connections or social power. These are the outsiders who come for employment in the burgeoning Chinese private sector, set in contrast against a largely state-employed long-standing urban establishment. As such they correspond significantly to Elias’ outsiders. Where they differ, however, is that unlike Elias’ outsiders in Winston Parva, they are almost wholly in employment and so have a degree of economic power. Their economic power is, however, at present limited by the middle-income exigency of China’s export-led, high-investment economy, predicated upon mass exports at low production cost (Peerenboom, 2014) – a significant component of which is low remuneration rates. As such, they bear comparison with the outsiders of Winston Parva who also experience economic want due to unemployment (Elias and Scotson, 2014).

The PWBC advocates a combination of the free-market approach of the Washington Consensus and the authoritarianism of the Beijing Consensus (Peerenboom, 2014). It is motivated by the need for China to escape the middle-income trap. Income and social status are interlinked as the outsiders in Winston Parva illustrate, although this is not the only relevant factor. In order for communities to be built – the means by which outsiders can achieve established status – it is necessary for social and material infrastructure to be built (Tanaka, 2015). The PWBC recognises the need for material infrastructure – housing, transport, hospitals and schools – as it is clear that as the migrant population matures, these facilities will be necessary; however the position regarding social infrastructure is less clear. Similarly, Elias and Scotson’s (1994) Winston Parva possessed the necessary material infrastructure. As has been explained, the economic situation of the Chinese cities and Winston Parva bears comparison through, in the Chinese cities’ case, low remuneration rates and, in Winston Parva’s case, unemployment. This, however, is where the similarity ends; while the economic outcomes for each location may be similar, the social effects of low pay and unemployment are very different (Stewart, 2005), although amelioration is possibly in sight through the income-raising measures of the PWBC in China and local training and employment measures in Winston Parva.

The Chinese government appears to be either unclear about or unwilling to address the social infrastructure issue. The migrant population in Chinese cities currently works hard to support families in rural areas but, as the migrant population matures, its priorities and needs will change, and the question to be addressed is whether top-down, unrepresentative government will be able to identify that population’s social needs and adequately address them. The lessons from Winston Parva suggest not; in Winston Parva, building an estate and filling it with unconnected people from disparate backgrounds and locations did not build a community, and while the outsiders of Winston Parva were poor and largely despised by the established, they at least had the benefit of representation at national and local levels. They also had the benefit of a free media, so their voices could be heard.

It appears that the social effects of low pay/unemployment and the presence/absence of representation and a free media crucially distinguish the cities of China from the community of Winston Parva. The established-outsider tension in Winston Parva implicit in the praise and blame associated with unemployment and other facets of social status was maintained from within by the self-supporting established (Scotson and Elias, 1994); however, viewed from outside, such self-affirming practices are regarded as illegitimate, as was the case highlighted in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, whereby outsiders’ plight was identified by the media and subsequently resolved through the power of their democratic representatives (Katrina 10, 2015).

Concerning the presence/absence of democratic representation and a free media, in China, unlike in Winston Parva, the voices of the outsiders cannot be heard and, without democratically accountable representation, their social needs cannot be adequately addressed. China faces a social dilemma as serious as its economic one, but one that cannot be mediated due to the lack of representation and media access, and while the PWBC may address the economic problems faced by China, it seems unable to provide any solutions to its incipient social ones.

Conclusion

This paper set out to out to address how, using Norbert Elias’ concept of the established and the outsiders, the social consequences of China’s move towards the PWBC may be explained.

Elias’ established-outsider concept was explained using the illustrative example of Winston Parva – the site of Scotson’s and later Elias’ research. Significant parallels were found between the situations of outsiders in Winston Parva and those in Chinese cities; in both situations, the outsiders were new arrivals from disparate origins, who had no familial or occupational ties to the area or each other. Neither group of outsiders had the means of building a community. There were, however, differences; the Chinese outsiders have a limited degree of economic power whereas their Winston Parva counterparts did not and, while the economic differences are negligible, the social consequences are not, although amelioration in both locations is in prospect; also, the Winston Parva outsiders had access to a free media and democratic representation, whereas the Chinese outsiders do not. The PWBC crucially lacks dimensions in these latter regards, and this is why the social needs of the Chinese outsiders are unlikely to be met by it, and their social future looks bleak and resolvable only through social unrest and dislocation.

Elias’ established-outsider concept was explained using the illustrative example of Winston Parva – the site of Scotson’s and later Elias’ research. Significant parallels were found between the situations of outsiders in Winston Parva and those in Chinese cities; in both situations, the outsiders were new arrivals from disparate origins, who had no familial or occupational ties to the area or each other. Neither group of outsiders had the means of building a community. There were, however, differences; the Chinese outsiders have a limited degree of economic power whereas their Winston Parva counterparts did not and, while the economic differences are negligible, the social consequences are not, although amelioration in both locations is in prospect; also, the Winston Parva outsiders had access to a free media and democratic representation, whereas the Chinese outsiders do not. The PWBC crucially lacks dimensions in these latter regards, and this is why the social needs of the Chinese outsiders are unlikely to be met by it, and their social future looks bleak and resolvable only through social unrest and dislocation.

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Consider recent instances of ‘webcam suicide’ and other cases in which modern digital technology is involved.

By the 1850s, suicide was a growing social problem in Europe. Many people felt that it was related to the huge industrial changes taking place at that time. For Emile Durkheim, studying this phenomenon – which is generally seen to be one of the most private and personal acts – provided the perfect opportunity to show the power of the new science of sociology (Ritzer, 2008). Durkheim developed a theory around four types of suicide which will be outlined below. The affect that Durkheim’s book Le Suicide (1897) has had on the suicide research that came after it will be discussed, including issues with empirical evidence to back up his claims around his four types of suicide and their causes. The need for methodological developments from those used by Durkheim is addressed in order for sociological research on suicide to stay relevant. Finally, the introduction of new dimensions to the issue of suicide with the growth of the internet is discussed.

Emile Durkheim was not the first to study suicide rates in the nineteenth century. However, his contribution to the study of suicide in sociology is without doubt the most influential. Quetelet and Morselli, two moral statisticians who attempted to inductively analyse a large body of suicide statistics, were enthralled by the stability of yearly suicide rates, as well as the overall rise in the rates in the modern era (Quetelet and Morselli, in Wray et al, 2011). Masaryk (in Wray et al, 2011) actually proceeded Durkheim in looking to explain the rise in rates by the forces of modernisation. Tarde disputed these statisticians’ theories by postulating that imitation behaviour could account for geographical and temporal clustering of suicide behaviour (Tarde, in Wray et al, 2011). Durkheim, who outright rejected Tarde’s imitation theory and went to great lengths to discredit it (Ritzer, 2008), wanted to approach the view that modernisation was the root cause of the suicide rate increase in a more analytical way than his contemporaries (Wray et al, 2011). To this end, he formulated a social theory of suicide in which the causes of suicide lie within a framework of society rather than at an individual’s psychological state (Morrison, 1995). What Durkheim was interested in was suicide rates rather than individual causes, in order to explain why one group had a higher rate than another (Ritzer, 2008).

Durkheim’s theory on suicide is based on the two continua of social integration and social regulation, at the ends of which are four independent theories of suicide (Breault, 2001). These four theories are egoistic, altruistic, anomic and fatalistic suicide. For Durkheim, ‘egoistic suicide’ occurs in societies or groups where the individual has a low level of integration into the larger social unit, making them feel as if they are not part of society and likewise, society is not part of them (Ritzer, 2008: 91). According to Durkheim, society is where the best parts of being human come from; our morality, values and sense of purpose. Without these, as well as the general moral support that gets us through our daily troubles, ‘individuals are liable to commit suicide at the smallest frustration’ (Ritzer, 2008: 91). The main protectors against egoistic suicide are, according to Durkheim, membership in well integrated religious groups (for example the Roman Catholic Church), well integrated family units and political or national units. ‘Altruistic suicide’, on the other hand, results when social integration in a society or group is too strong, for example amongst the military or mass suicides following the death of a leader (Davies and Neal, 2000: 38). Suicide in the group is for the greater good or because those who commit suicide this way believe it is their duty to do so (Ritzer, 2008).

The other continuum on which Durkheim bases his theory is that of social regulation. Too little social regulation, results in what he calls ‘anomic suicide’ (Tomasi, 2000: 16). The term anomie can be defined, in simple terms, as the decline in the regulatory powers of society due to the process of industrialisation (Morrison, 1995). It is likely that individuals will be left feeling dissatisfied and frustrated with life as there is little control over their social wants and needs due to these disruptions. Morrison explains how Durkheim believed that this frustration can only happen when:

…individuals constantly aspire to reach ends or goals that are beyond their capacity to obtain. It is important to keep in mind that motives leading individuals to strive for goals which they cannot realistically obtain are due to the failure of the powers of society to set limits and regulate social wants (1995: 184).

The effect on the suicide rate is to be seen in both times of positive disruption (economic boom) and negative disruption (economic depression). These changes put people in ‘new situations in which the old norms no longer apply but new ones have yet to develop’ (Ritzer, 2008: 93). One the other end of this continuum is what Durkheim calls ‘fatalistic suicide’ (Ritzer, 2008: 94). This is the least developed of his theories and in fact, was only discussed as a footnote in his book Le Suicide (1897). Fatalistic suicide is as a result of too much regulation within a society or group. The example that Durkheim cites in support of this is the suicide of slaves who, he argues, take their own lives due to the hopelessness caused by the oppressive regulation over their lives (Ritzer, 2008).

These theories on suicide have influenced many pieces of research on suicide to the present day, but are they still relevant to modern society and the study of suicide? Breault argues, in a critical survey of the empirical literature on Le Suicide, that the hypothesis with the most empirical research to date is that of egoistic suicide. He believes that, although the other theories may seem plausible, it is impossible to say whether Durkheim was right or not in the absence of empirical research on altruistic, anomic and fatalistic suicide (Breault, 2001).

According to Breault (2001), there is a wealth of evidence and empirical research in support of egoistic suicide. However, the issue as he sees it, is whether this research is meaningful. In the research which he cites in his analysis, investigators have controlled for variables such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, demographic variables, economic variables and socioeconomic variables, but not one single psychological variable. However, he believes that Durkheim’s argument against psychological explanations would be considered primitive in the present day in light of considerable research showing that affective disorders, schizophrenia, substance abuse, to name but a few, are consistently related to suicide (Breault,2001). So Breault (2001) questions, what would be the relationship between social integration and suicide controlling for depression? The fundamental issue is that Durkheim omitted psychological factors in part as he believed that there were no psychological regularities in suicide as consistent psychological correlates had yet to be identified in his day. In light of this, Breault notes:

Today, Durkheim would not be satisfied with our failure to control for empirically supported psychological variables. Even though he advocated a sharp division between sociology and psychology, his methodological approach would have precluded the exclusion of psychological explanations if such explanations had been empirically demonstrated (2001: 61).

Wray et al (2011) suggest that in order for sociology to stay relevant in the area of suicide research, which is evolving as a multi-disciplinary investigation of suicide as a social problem, three avenues need to be pursued simultaneously. Firstly, they believe there is a need to reconsider the micro-macro dilemma, both theoretically and methodologically. This should include a consideration of how to assemble a data set complex enough to provide rigorous empirical research on suicide (Wray et al, 2011). Second, Wray et al (2011) suggest, there is a need to incorporate the insights from other disciplines into the multiple factors which affect suicide in individuals and society. Finally, sociologists need to move forward with real-life efforts to reduce suicide through demonstrating and evaluation the usefulness of the robust research in this area Wray et al (2011).

The importance of the inclusion of individual level data in studies of suicide, and not just the suicide rates or aggregate data, as well as the need to incorporate findings from other disciplines, can be demonstrated through the discussion of suicide involving the internet and other digital media. Although Shah (2010) found that the prevalence of internet users was correlated with general population suicide rates, he cautioned against causal relationship attribution due to the ecological study design. In other words, the use of aggregate data rather than individual data when looking for a causal relationship between internet use and suicide (Shah, 2010). Other studies have taken an individual level approach to investigate the association between internet use and suicide. Indeed, Messias et al (2011) analysed a nationally representative survey from the US (Youth Risk Behaviour Survey) and found that teens who reported five hours or more of video games/internet use daily had a significantly higher risk for sadness, suicidal ideation and suicide planning. Furthermore, a study of Taiwan teens aged 12-18 found that web communication is a risk factor in self-injurious thoughts and behaviour in boys but not in girls (Tseng and Yang, 2015). They also found that family support is a protective factor in both genders (Tseng and Yang, 2015). Although these findings do not in any way negate Durkheim’s theories on suicide – and in fact may actually support his claim that egoistic suicide is caused by social isolation – these findings would not have been possible using the methods employed by Durkheim. In essence, just looking at suicide rates, without consideration for individual level data.

The digital age has introduced a new dimension to the study of suicide. Never before have people had access to the range of suicide information as they do now. As Mishara and Weisstub (2007) explain, there are numerous reports of suicides allegedly related to the internet. Examples include the son of a Danish journalist who was encouraged to end his life on a website which gave him information that he used to kill himself (Weisstub, 2007). Moreover, reports of young people who have resorted to suicide after a barrage of cyberbullying and online abuse, and a number of suicides which have taken place live on web cam while others watched, some of whom reportedly egged them on. Furthermore, there is the issue of internet suicide pacts, which are a rising concern in Japan and South Korea. Traditionally, suicide pacts were made between people who knew each other. However, in the internet age, these pacts are formed between complete strangers who meet online (Luxton et al, 2012). The issue at the core of this piece is to assess whether classical sociological theory can explain these newly developing phenomenon? If the person is committing suicide as they no longer feel part of society and society is no longer part of them, then why broadcast it live over the internet for an audience to watch? Is this egoistic suicide or is it a new ‘type’ of suicide unlike those described by Durkheim?

One area that Durkheim outright rejected in his theories on suicide was that of imitation (Thorlindsson and Bjarnason, 1998). However, there are strong arguments against this omission as Abrutyn and Mueller (2014) found that suicides, like other social behaviours, can in fact spread through social relationships. They found that social ties can be conduits of social support in the positive sense, but also anti-social behaviours such as suicide as well. Luxton et al (2012) address this issue of imitation or contagion through the media. These scholars explain how the media’s influence on suicidal behaviour, especially in relation to method used, has been well documented:

A recent study by Dunlop et al. specifically examined possible contagion effects on suicidal behavior via the Internet and social media. Of 719 individuals aged 14 to 24 years, 79% reported being exposed to suicide-related content through family, friends, and traditional news media such as newspapers, and 59% found such content through Internet sources. Additional analysis revealed no link between social networking sites (e.g., Facebook) and suicidal ideation, but it did find a connection between suicidal ideation and suicide-related content found on online forums (Luxton 2012: Para 12).

Indeed, Luxton et al (2012) go on to discuss how social media platforms, for example, chat rooms and discussion forums, may also influence decisions to die by suicide for some vulnerable groups. They argue that these online interactions may foster peer pressure to die by suicide, encourage their user to idolise those who have already completed their suicide or facilitate the making of suicide pacts (Luxton et al, 2012). In the end, these interactions may reduce any doubts or fears of people who are undecided about suicide and thus, act as another social force contributing to the causes of suicide in modern times.

Society is very different today from that at the time of Durkheim’s seminal book Le Suicide (1897). However, suicide is still considered a serious social problem, just as it was in the 1850s. Durkheim believed that suicide could be explained by looking at societal factors and their effect on the suicide rates of particular groups. Yet, this essay has shown that suicide cannot be understood simply as Durkheim theorised it. Although his theory of egoistic suicide has for the most part been supported by empirical research, for sociological research to advance in this area, a methodological and theoretical rethink on the study of suicide is necessary. For example, the inclusion of psychological variables, individual level studies and the relationship between the internet and suicide.

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This essay will attempt to demonstrate how sociological concepts can be used to explain the rise of extremist groups. There are many publications and research papers into the various dimensions of extremism, addressing causation, the process of radicalisation, and consequences. These studies use varying definitions, approaches, epistemologies and theoretical concepts to address the issue of extremism. From this collection of differing studies, two approaches will be examined in this essay to use as examples of how sociology has added to the accumulated knowledge in this area. Conflict theory, or more specifically Collins’ work (1975) on interaction rituals, will be outlined to illustrate how groups form – both those groups in the mainstream and outside it – as well as addressing the way in which these groups can turn violent. Social Movement Theory will provide the second example, looking closely at Framing Theory as a means of understanding the process of radicalisation of individuals into an extremist group. It is important, however, to firstly define what the term ‘extremism’ actually means.

Extremism as a concept is not the easiest to define. It is a subjective term, in that, what is considered extreme by one group or society, may not be considered so by another (Wintrobe, 2006). However, an extremist is generally viewed as ‘someone whose views are outside the mainstream on some issue or dimension’ (Wintrobe, 2006: 6). Extremists are often people on the extreme left or the extreme right of the political spectrum, or hold radical views in relation to nationalism, religion or any other politically important dimension (Wintrobe, 2006). According to Scrunton, political extremism refers to:

…taking a political idea to its limits, regardless of unfortunate repercussions, impracticalities, arguments, and feelings to the contrary, and with the intention not only to confront, but to eliminate opposition…Intolerance towards all views other than one’s own (1982: 164).

Martin (2013: 10-11) explains how both the ‘content’ of a person’s beliefs and the ‘style’ in which one expresses them are the basic elements for defining extremism. Wilcox summed this up by explaining that style is more important than content when it comes to extremism, as many people can hold views that would be considered radical or unorthodox yet still entertain them in a reasonable, rational manner. In contrast, there are other people who have views a lot closer to the political mainstream but present them in a ‘shrill, uncompromising, bullying, and distinctly authoritarian manner (Wilcox, 1996: 54). As well as those with extremist views, the term ‘extremist’ can also refer to a person or group that uses extremist methods, for example resorting to violence or terrorism to achieve its goals (Wintrobe, 2006). It worth noting not all extremists are violent or terrorists. However, Martin (2013) argues that behind every act of terrorist violence is a deeply held belief system, which at its core is extremist and characterised by intolerance. In light of this, one must question how is it that these groups form and garner support when their views are so far outside the mainstream?

Conflict theory can provide a useful theoretical approach that can help to gain insight into how different groups develop, how they grow, and how some groups can turn violent. Conflict theory developed, at least in part, as a reaction against structural functionalism, and has many influences such as Marixism, Weberian theory and Simmel’s work on social conflict (Ritzer, 2008: 264). Elements of conflict theory can be used to explain the formation of groups – for example, extremist groups – as well as the reasons why these groups can turn violent. This theoretical approach seeks to explain scientifically, the general delineations of conflict in society; that is, how conflict starts and varies, and the effect of conflict. At the core of conflict theory are the unequal distribution of power and scarce resources. Where power is situated and who uses it – or does not – are fundamental (Allan, 2006). Randal Collins work on conflict theory ‘represents the most systematic effort undertaken to scientifically explain conflict’ (Allan, 2006: 233). In his book Conflict Society, Collins (1975) advocates forcefully for a sociology grounded in face-to-face interaction. He argues that micro level encounters among individuals ultimately create and sustain macro-level phenomenon. Or, as Turner (2013: 239) describes it, ‘large and long-term social structures are built from interaction rituals that have been strung together over time’.

More recently, Collins has refined and extended his original hypothesis of interaction rituals and used this newer view to develop an explanation of interpersonal violence (Turner, 2013). Turner (2013) explains Collins’ analytical scheme as such: as interaction rituals unfold they build up emotional energy, which acts as the driving force of interaction. Social solidarity increases when positive emotional energy builds up across chains on interaction rituals, leading to the production and reproduction of social structures. The more ecological barriers exist to separate persons from others, the more the individuals will feel co-present; and the more individuals are engaged in common actions or tasks, the more likely they are to have a mutual focus of attention. This makes them more likely to emit stereotypical greeting rituals which generate positive emotions and begin to shape a shared mood, ‘which, in turn increases the common mutual focus of attention’ (Turner, 2013: 250). Individuals fall into ‘rhythmic synchronisation’ as interactions progress, which makes them more likely to become emotionally involved in the group (Turner, 2013: 252). As positive emotions are stimulated, the level of group solidarity increases, likewise, the greater the sense of solidarity the more positive emotions are evoked in subsequent interactions. As the level of solidarity increases, they become more likely to have a need to symbolise the group somehow, for example through words, physical objects or certain behaviours. According to Turner:

As these chains of interaction continue, members develop particularistic capital, or experiences only shared among group members, and this capital can be used in subsequent interactions to reinforce group symbols and the sense of solidarity (2013: 252).

This interaction ritual theory can explain how groups, including extremist groups form and grow. However, Collins goes further to explain how these groups can cross the line into violent behaviour. He explains how violence is not easy for people as it ‘goes against the natural propensity of humans to fall into the phases of interaction rituals that arouse positive emotions’ (Turner, 2013: 254). Most potentially violent situations actually fail to become violent in the end; posturing and threats of violent are more common. Indeed, Collins provides an important explanation of how individuals as a group overcome this propensity to avoid violence and get involved in collective violent behaviour. For this to happen, interaction rituals are actually used as a force to mobilise individuals to commit violent acts:

…the stages of the ritual are unleashed so that individuals gain positive emotional entrainment, effervescence, positive emotional energy, solidarity, group symbols, and particularized culture by engaging in concerted violence against another group’ (Turner, 2013).

Turk (2008) provides a good example of this when he outlines Islamic fundamentalism, which appears to rely on radicalisation through education consisting of religious indoctrination. According to Turk, potential recruits to Islamic extremist groups are sought in Madrassas across the world, through drilling in the most extreme interpretations of Sunni theology, which emphasises the duty of Muslims to engage in Jihad (holy war) against all enemies of true Islam. He notes that The Taliban are a product of this group formation within Madrassas (Turk, 2008).

Another theoretical framework which can be applied to the understanding of radicalisation and violent extremism is Social Movements Theory (SMT). SMT began in the 1940s with the idea that movements arose as a result of ‘irrational processes of collective behaviour occurring under strained environmental conditions’ (Strain Theory), producing a mass feeling of discontent (Borum, 2011: 17). According to this theory, individuals would join a movement because of a passive submission to these overwhelming social forces. However, contemporary SMT has shown that more rational and strategic processes are operating than the SMT understanding of the 1940s (Borum, 2011).

The primary task of any organisation or social movement is its own survival. Therefore, to grow it must form mobilization potential; form and motivate recruitment networks; arouse motivation to participate; and remove barriers to participation (Borum, 2011). Members of the movement operate as ‘rational prospectors’ when they seek to recruit others. So that they are efficient and effective, they look to identify those most likely to agree to act effectively to further the cause. To them, the recruitment process has two stages. Firstly, the ‘rational prospectors’ use information to find likely targets and secondly, once located, recruiters offer information on participatory opportunities, as well as deploying incentives to persuade recruits to say ‘yes’ (Borum, 2001:17).

According to Borum (2011:17):

The strength of social bonds and relationships are central to both tasks, and understanding relationships among potential prospects is therefore, critical to understanding recruitment networks.

A more recent development in this area comes from Framing Theory, which focuses on how meanings are constructed, produced and disseminated by movements and social collectives (Borum, 2011). Unlike the structural theories which focus on socio-demographics and their effect on radicalisation, Framing Theory focuses on the process of radicalisation. Based on the work of Erving Goffman, the concept of a ‘frame’ ‘refers to an individual’s worldview or “schemata of interpretation”, consisting of values (notions about right and wrong) and beliefs (assumptions about the world, attributes of things, and mechanisms of causation). This scheme helps an individual make sense of and organize his or her experience, and guide his or her action’ (Dalgaard-Nielsen, 2008: 6). The success of a movement therefore, is related to its ability to create and disseminate frames which will attract devotees, Central to its success in mobilising participants, is whether the movement’s version of ‘reality’ resonates with potential supporters or whether they can manipulate the values and beliefs of potential supporters to a smaller or larger extent (Dalgaard-Nielsen, 2011). Using this theory then, how is it that activists evolve into terrorists?:

Framing Theory would emphasize how social and intersubjective processes create the motivation. In other words, Framing Theory would seek to explain violent radicalisation and terrorism through the distinct constructed reality, shared by members of violent groups – a constructed reality or world view, which frames problems as not just misfortunes, but injustices, attributes responsibility for these “injustices”, and constructs an argument for the efficacy and/or moral justification of using violence against civilians to right the perceived wrong’ (Dalgaard-Nielsen, 2011: 9).

Although Critical Theory and Social Movements Theory provide useful frameworks for examining the reasons why extremist groups form and grow, it is important to note that they are only two of a number of theoretical approaches within sociology that can be used to conceptualise this phenomenon. Other approaches include, but are in no way limited to, Gurr’s (1970) publication Why Men Rebel, in which he outlines his hypothesis that it is feelings of deprivation and frustration that motivate an individual to engage in collective action; Veugelers research into the rise of right wing extremist groups in France, to test Postmaterialist Theorists assertion that ‘conflict over non-economic values are transforming the political sociology of advanced industrial societies’ (2000: 19); and a study by Gelfand and LaFree (2013) examining cultural factors and their relationship to prevalence and severity of extremist violence. The study of extremism crosses not only within-discipline parameters, but has been widely studied across other disciplines as well such as international relations, politics and psychology. For these reasons, Cable et al feel that (1988: 966):

Rather than seek some single model of activist recruitment and commitment, consisting of structural and/or social psychology variables…analysts should assume that there are multiple models and then get on with the more useful work of specifying the conditions under which one or more is appropriate.

This essay has outlined some ways in which sociological concepts can be used to explain the rise of extremist groups. Extremist groups were taken to mean groups which have views that are considered outside the mainstream of society on particular issues or dimensions. There are many sociological concepts which have been applied to the study of extremism. However, this essay looked at two examples; Conflict Theory, namely Collin’s (1975) work on interaction rituals and violence, and Social Movements Theory. Collin’s research has shown how groups form and are given symbolic meaning, which in turn strengthens the group (1975). In applying this to extremism, it sheds some light on how groups of individuals with extremist views become bound together, as well as explaining how these groups can become violent despite the human propensity to avoid violence. Social Movements Theory was used as an example to illustrate how extremist movements grow, as well as outlining the process of radicalisation. In order for movements to survive, they must form mobilisation potential and recruitment networks, motivate participation, and remove any barriers to participation. The strength of social bonds and relationships within the group is key. The process of radicalisation is explained through the ‘constructed reality’ or world-view shared by members of extremist groups which, justifies the use of violence as a means to right a perceived wrong. Although these frameworks are useful for examining extremism, they only provide a marginal assessment of the sociological work that has been undertaken on the rise of extremist groups to date.

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Turner, J. H. (2013) Contemporary Sociological Theory. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.

Veugelers, J.W.P. (2000) ‘Right-Wing Extremism in Contemporary France: A “Silent Counterrevolution”?’. The Sociological Quarterly 41(1), pp. 19-40.

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Wilcox, Laird (1996) ‘What is extremism? Style and Tactics Matter More than Goals’ in George, J. and Wilcox, L (Eds.) American Extremists: Militias, Supremacists, Klansmen, Communists, & Others. Amherst, NY: Prometheus.

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Critically discuss this statement

Throughout time there has been a fascination with constructing the ‘perfect’ human form. In Ancient Greece, the perfect muscular body was associated with an individual being a hero, a warrior and an athlete and was symbolic of one’s sense of arete or ‘full potential’ (Chaline, 2015). Within the Renaissance period, as demonstrated by Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, emphasis centred on physical beauty and symmetry as signifiers as the embodiment of purity, virtue and morality. The rise of imperialism in Western Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries increased the importance of the fit and healthy body has as a reflection of a nation’s power and military preparedness. As Synnott (1993) elucidates therefore, the body has long been seen as the “prime symbol of the self” and how ‘it’ is thought of is historically, socially, sensually, politically and ideologically constructed:

[The body may be seen as]…a tomb of the soul, a temple, a machine, and the self and much more; it has also been treated accordingly. Bodies may be caressed or indeed killed, they may be loved or hated, and thought beautiful or ugly, scared or profane (p.7-8).

In late or post modern society, there are multiple pressures for creating and maintaining a sense of physical perfectionism with contemporary cultures relentlessly promoting the body beautiful (Thomas, 2007). We are constantly presented with images of perfectly formed models, celebrities, athletes and film and television stars (e.g. Grogan, 2008; Orbach, 2010) and social media forums such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are saturated with visions of individuals finely tuned bodies and versions of themselves they wish to present. For men, current ideals of physical perfectionism are best understood as ‘muscularity in moderation’ where muscle size and visibility as signs of health, independence and athleticism are paramount but within given parameters of normalcy. For example, the hyper-muscled body that competitive male bodybuilders develop is deemed ‘freakish’ (Fussell, 1991; Klein, 1993; Monaghan, 2001). For women, the ‘perfect’ body is more complex to distinguish and is further oppressed by patriarchal ideologies. Feminist scholars have addressed how women’s perceptions of their bodies and what is deemed attractive or imperfect are often informed by the male gaze for the purposes of gaining pleasure (e.g. Shildrick, 2002; Garland- Thomson, 2009). Certain forms of embodiment such as being slender, toned, petite and sexy are idealised in contemporary Western culture, but how a woman manages her sense of being in a body is problematic. As Markula (2001: 237) highlights, women are presented with the task of managing a host of contradictory continuums which dictates the female body should be “firm but shapely, fit but sexy, strong but thin”. This negotiation is made more problematic as women have historically been more defined by their bodies, and as a result, objectified in a number of ways. For example, female athletes are often infantilised or sexualised based on their physical appearance regardless of their sporting accomplishments (Hargreaves, 1994).

For both men and women therefore, the body is not only viewed as a sign of physical capability allowing us to perform our everyday roles and routines, but is increasingly associated with, and symbolic of, our attractiveness, successfulness and virility (Bauman, 1990). According to Bourdieu (1991), developing a body that relates well amongst contemporary ideologies of physical perfectionism imbues the owner with ‘physical capital’ which in turn can be transferred into ‘cultural’ and ‘economic’ capital enhancing one’s status and distinction in a given ‘social field’ (i.e. sets of localised social relations):

The production of physical capital refers to the development of bodies in ways which are recognised as possessing value in social fields, while the conversion of physical capital refers to the translation of bodily participation in work, leisure and other fields into different forms of capital. Physical capital is most usually converted into economic capital (money, goods and services), cultural capital (for example, education) and social capital (social networks which enable reciprocal calls to be made on the goods and services of its members) (p.127).

As a result, inhabiting a typically gendered, young, muscular, athletic, virile and able body is valued and brings rewards in a society that values perfectionism. For example, Monaghan (2002) explores how his muscled body assisted in him in gaining a position as a nightclub doorman which in turn opened up avenues of (hetero)sexual experience. These norms of perfectionism are now so engrained in Western society that the term “body fascism” has arisen in popular culture to express “the oppressiveness inherent in the narrowing of norms about the ideal body” (Hughes, 1999: 155). These strict bodily boundaries limit how the body may be imagined and experienced at the expense of alternative expressions of embodiment. According to Pronger (2002) the ubiquity of the fit, slender, muscular body creates a ‘panoptic effect’ as individuals watch over themselves for any deviations from these norms. Non-normative or less valued bodies such as ‘old’, ‘fat’, ‘disabled’, ‘short’, ‘tall’ bodies or bodies that transgress accepted norms (e.g. female bodybuilders who transgress traditional ideals of femininity) are therefore oppressed or excluded altogether. As Sparkes (1997: 88) iterates “some constructions (of embodiment) come to be more equal than others, some come to be more legitimate than others, and some get to be promoted over others”. Indeed, as Hughes (1999) points out some bodies, for example the disabled body, is placed as a binary opposite to fascist ideologies of body perfectionism and is used for the very construction of the ‘perfect’ body.

As pressure exists to live up to certain levels of perfectionism there is increasing awareness that the body itself is perfectible through various bodily regimens and modifications. This has resulted in the body being increasingly seen as an object of consumption creating further pressures for individuals to work on their bodies as part of a “self-reflexive project” (Giddens, 1991; Shilling, 1993; 2003). According to Shilling (2003), engaging in body projects allows people to make strong, public and personal statements about who and what they are within a multitude of social contexts:

In the affluent West, there is a tendency for the body to be seen as an entity which is in the process of becoming; a project which should be worked at and accomplished as part of an individual’s self-identity. Body projects still vary along social lines, especially in the case of gender, but there has in recent years been a proliferation of the ways in which both women and men have developed their bodies. Recognising that the body has become a project for many modern persons entails accepting that its appearance, size, shape and even its contents, are potentially open to reconstruction in line with the designs of its owner (p.4; emphasis added).

Modifying one’s body in line with socially and culturally constructed norms therefore promises control and security and creates space for an individual to situate oneself in the world. As Shilling (2003) suggests, not only can individuals create their own identity through altering the appearance of the body amongst an array of choices but it is their responsibility to do so through engaging in modifications and everyday bodily maintenance as a demonstration of diligence and labour. People may therefore choose, and indeed feel pressured, to undertake bodily modifications such as committing to regimes of physical training, disciplining nutritional intake, undertaking plastic surgery and botox, having teeth whitened or piercing, tattooing and scarifying the skin at the body’s surface (e.g. Featherstone, 2000). These modifications are supplemented by daily routines of bodily maintenance such as washing and cleaning, adorning the body with clothing, brushing our teeth, applying makeup and moisturisers, having our haircut in particular ways and undertaking techniques that remove hair from certain body parts.

Such pressures perhaps contribute to the continual obsession with gym culture in contemporary society. The gym offers a space where physical labour (which is constantly declining in an increasingly technological world) is reproduced promising the construction of a strong, powerful, functional, independent, desirable body and offering potential for the transformation of the self. As Fussell (1994) observes, the built body in contemporary, capitalist, visual, aesthetic society has more symbolic and cultural importance than it is has usefulness in the production of labour:

The bodybuilder is a perversion of puritanism, and utilitarianism. He doesn’t use his muscles to build bridges, but to raise eyebrows. They are at once functionless, yet highly functional (p.45).

Gyms are thus important social spaces where individuals are encouraged to work their bodies like a project through which they can transform or maintain their body-self identities. As Fussell (1994: 57) continues of bodybuilders “the muscular body, the picture of eternal adolescence, is their dominant dream, and the gym their nightly launching pad”.

In affluent Western society of course individuals are presented with an ever increasing choice of health and fitness regimes, diets, and bodily practices which they may engage in. However, it is important to critique the ‘freedom’ to which individuals are really afforded in these practices. For Foucault (1981), there is less choice of what we do with our bodies than we are conscious of as we are placed under multiple cultural confines and constructs of perfectionism and normalcy. Engaging in a ‘body project’ is therefore not exclusively an expression of individual agency, but is policed through the adherence, or docility as Foucault called it, to dominant cultural discourses. As Bourdieu (1990: 63) asserts, there is a causal relationship between the social and the corporeal, and so accordingly we must see “society written into the body, into the biological individual” and vice versa.

The increasing pressures to conform to and commit to achieving the ‘perfect’ body have been highlighted as contributory factors to compulsory and obsessive behavioural disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia and most recently the phenomena of ‘bigorexia’ amongst men (Ahmad, Rotherham & Talwar, 2015). Increased consciousness of the body and perceived inability to embody ideals of perfectionism has also been linked with self-dissatisfaction, anxiety, depression and negative wellbeing (Grogan, 2008). There is also increasing suggestion that people are taking more risks to achieve ‘perfect’ bodies including taking supplements, steroids and dietary pharmaceuticals (Monaghan, 2001). Embarking on a body project as an attempt to transform the self into socially and culturally constructed visions of perfectionism therefore problematic. Furthermore, as Shilling (2003: 5) reminds us, bodies are doomed to fail as they inevitably age and decay, become sick and injured, and are not always malleable in the ways that we desire – “bodies are limited not only in the sense that they ultimately die, but in their frequent refusal to be moulded in accordance with our intentions”.

Offering some reflections, it is evident that within late or post modern society that is “aggressively aestheticised” (Featherstone, 1991) the vision of the ‘perfect’ body takes centre stage. As a result, pressures exist for people to embody perfected physical forms. Although there are plenty of examples of people who reject these norms and take measures to differentiate or individualise themselves in alternative ways (e.g. through non-normative tattoos) in general there are demands for us to present and perform our bodies in particular ways. The ‘perfect’ body is of course mythical. Participants in numerous studies in a variety of contexts have reported how they are never happy with their bodies no matter how much work they undertake on them (e.g. Monaghan, 1999). Bodily perfectionism should therefore be better conceptualised as a socially constructed ideology dependent on time, culture, space and an individual’s biography and subjectivities and is ultimately impossible to ‘achieve’. Perhaps promoting this understanding and how the ‘perfect’ body does not exist in a fixed, essentialist, homogeneous way but rather is better seen as fluid, constructed and heterogeneous could offer a number of benefits and ways to ease the pressures that people experience with regards to anxiety with their bodies. For example, recognising the impossibilities and constructions of physical perfectionism may allow people real freedom to create unique self-reflexive body projects where multiple versions of perfectionism may be imagined. Promoting these ‘variable body projects’ (Monaghan, 2001) promises more fulfilling body-self relationships, less risky bodily practices, opportunity for empowerment and increases in overall embodied wellbeing.

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