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In this article, I explore how risk transformed from being understood as a property of groups to being understood as a property of individuals by examining the history of public and private insurance in the United States. Rather than locate changes in how risk is managed in our society in the “great risk shift” that occurred with the emergence of neoliberalism, I suggest the individualization of risk in recent decades is only the latest instantiation of a recurrent conflict between security and freedom that has marked the evolution of capitalism. Seen from this longer historical perspective, the “personal responsibility revolution” appears not as the handiwork of neoliberal policymakers but, rather, as the unintended result of social movements that contested discriminatory practices in insurance markets. Thus, paradoxically, my account suggests that struggles against discrimination seeded the individualization of risk that is now the hallmark of neoliberal capitalism.

Modular treatment designs enable interventionists to adapt intervention content to individual clients, a process referred to as individualization. Little is known about individualization processes and its effects on outcomes in early childhood services. This exploratory study investigated individualization processes undertaken by Early Head Start home visitors as they provided Little Talks, a modularized book-sharing intervention for families. It also examined the effect of individualization on parent involvement in early learning activities. Two indicators of individualization were calculated in this study: (a) the proportion of change in the Little Talks’ lessons sequence and (b) the pace of delivery. Findings showed that most home visitors individualized Little Talks, with the most frequent change being the repetition of lessons. Exploratory regression analysis showed an inverse relationship between home visitors’ individualization behavior and parent involvement, highlighting the need to examine the quality of individualization. Implications for advancing the implementation and study of individualization processes in home visiting are discussed.

This article looks at the impacts of mobility on individuals and their family ties in tourist destination communities, paying attention to the individualization process among the rural, ethnic minority population in contemporary China. Based on my decade-long ethnography in Fenghuang county, Hunan province, I explore how the rapid rise of tourism-induced mobility has brought individual autonomy and collective morality under constant negotiation among previously clan-based people, and what the course and consequences of ongoing individualization are for the non-Han population in China. I argue that individuals’ greater mobility may enhance, rather than diminish, the importance of family, and that this is especially true for the rural, ethnic minority population in China. Their experience of dealing with individualization also reveals that the effect of social structure is to some extent unchanged, representing a case of “embedded individualization.”

With sport becoming increasingly mediatized in the global arena that further criss-crosses with the promotion of globalization and Western discourses surrounding manhood and identities, there has been, in contemporary China, a rise of alternate theorizations of masculinities that deviate from hegemonic masculine practices surrounding ‘wen’ (文) and ‘wu’ (武) as well as Maoist ideologies. While such accounts, focusing on demonstrating individuality and individualization, cultivating entrepreneurial spirit and possessing wealth, career success and conspicuous consumption, advocate for a greater understanding of masculinities that call for the diversity and fluidity of Chinese gender roles and male identities, there has also been a revival of traditional masculine ideologies associated with the Chinese Dream, a doctrine established and conveyed by President Xi Jinping, which seeks to highlight China’s quest for modernization and national power while placing ‘wu’ masculine values and culture at the forefront of its agenda. Against such a backdrop, this article, drawing on interviews with and observations of male badminton athletes from Mainland Chinese provincial professional and university teams, argues that, in contemporary China, both traditional and newly emerged masculine values and endeavours are integral to the theorization of masculinities of Chinese men, which are contended to be multiple, pluralized and individualized. With a dearth of academic literature that focuses on the co-presence of and inter-relationships between traditional and new masculinities which are embodied by modern Chinese men, this paper contributes renewed theoretical insights into how the various forms of masculinities coexist, intermix and, ultimately, negotiate with one another to reconstruct Chinese contemporary masculinities, in line with the gender order and hierarchy so upheld within China.

Although tremendous advances have been made in the development of evidence-based services and strategies to prevent and treat emotional and behavioral disorders (EBDs) in children, often such programs may be necessary but not sufficient to address the circumstances and needs of a specific student. The purpose of this introductory article and this broader special issue on the adaptation and individualization of evidence-based approaches for students with EBD is to consider innovations for tailoring multifactored interventions within tiered systems of support. In this article, we discuss potential ways that current tiered models may be strengthened using information and research strategies from developmental science to more rigorously link intervention to long-term outcomes of youth. We center this discussion on the concepts of developmental cascades and correlated constraints. We then present Tiered Systems of Adaptive Supports (TSAS) as a framework that is developmentally informed to guide individualized intervention. In this model, Tier 1 focuses on adapting general classroom strategies to support the routine daily functioning of all students; Tier 2 focuses on preventing the negative reorganization of a student’s developmental system; and Tier 3 focuses on promoting the positive reorganization of a student’s developmental system.

This article argues why core classical sociological notions that are still extremely influential in global sociological thinking need to be reviewed and reconceptualized, as well as to present an example of how this might be done. The discussion is in two parts. First, the article outlines what the author suggests is a major problem of social and sociological theory: the common articulation between modernity, social theory and sociological research, and its negative effects for the production of knowledge in other regions, such as Latin America. The author considers some of the contemporary strategies devised to deal with the difficulties arising from this articulation and proposes a complementary way of overcoming the problem posed. Second, the author backs her argument with a critical analysis of the concept of individualization, one of the earliest and central notions of social theory, based on the results of three empirical studies carried out in Chile over the past decade.

This article offers an ethnographically informed discussion of the hybrid discourse of authenticity of two New Age Judaism (NAJ) communities that were active in Israel in the beginning of the millennium. The article argues that the discourse of authenticity of the two communities was a hybrid discourse which interweaved two overlapping understandings of expressive authenticity: genealogical or historical (origin) and identity or correspondence (expressive content). The members of the communities aspired for self-realization and fulfillment by discovering their authentic self and at the same time articulated and legitimized their mission of renewal by referring to earlier, allegedly more spiritual time periods in Jewish history. This discourse is understood in terms of the “inward turn” and the “turn to tradition” of contemporary Jewish life as well as the penetration of consumer logic into Jewish forms of spirituality. As such it showcases the complexities of Jewish individualization whereby the focus on the self and self-authenticity is tightly linked to the cultivation of identity and communal belonging.

Self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) is an effective instructional approach used to teach academic strategies for skills such as writing and reading comprehension. Included in SRSD are direct strategy instruction and explicit procedures for teaching self-regulation skills, a method that has been effective at improving academic skills of students with disabilities, including those with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). However, due to pre-existing deficits in self-regulation skills, students with EBD may benefit from intensifying the four self-regulation skills already present in SRSD. This article provides practical examples for intensifying goal setting, self-monitoring, self-instructions, and self-reinforcement within the existing SRSD instructional approach.

The position that visualization is an intimate part of human existence and associated with the human species is advanced in this work: visualization abounds delimited by the space of individuality across human history. Visualization involves two complementary aspects of the uniqueness deemed of individuals: individualization reflects individuals’ capabilities and personalization reflects designs that seek compatibility with individuals’ capabilities. This has a number of implications upon the design and evaluation of visualizations. For one, a suitable visualization model that expresses individualization and personalization is needed: a brief survey of models is presented. For another, addressing intellectual uniqueness requires deep analysis and selective objective balance due to the potentially humongous number of unique ideas that support visualization design and viewer experiences. The Engineering Insightful Serviceable Visualizations model is selected as a guide for a comprehensive visualization evaluation of Albrecht Dürer’s 1515 celestial charts. Motivating this choice of visualization is its significance as the first notable and influential European star chart intended for scientific use and mass viewership, and as a blending of science and art. In addition, there is a lack of discussion concerning this particular visualization in the visualization literature. Concluding remarks suggest the significance of approaching visualization from this point-of-view.

Data-based individualization (DBI) is a process of collecting and analyzing data on students’ response to intervention and then making intervention adaptations accordingly. Although this process can lead to better student outcomes, very few teachers are trained in the components of DBI, particularly in relation to behavior. Improving practice requires not only ongoing professional development but also understanding about how teachers’ experiences in training can lead to better outcomes. Within the context of implementing a behavior intervention, the purpose of this study was to evaluate how participating in ongoing professional development on DBI affects teachers’ perceptions of themselves in relation to the DBI framework over time. Using a convergent, parallel mixed-methods research design, we evaluated the conceptual understanding, self-efficacy, and perceptions associated with DBI before, during, and after professional development of 16 general and special education teachers. Data analysis indicated teachers reported significant improvements in all three areas over time. Qualitative data indicated active practice and collaboration with other professionals contributed to these improvements. Key findings, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Students receiving behavioral supports in the third tier of the schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS) framework are often identified as having emotional and behavior disabilities. Although educators implement evidence-based practices with fidelity, these practices are not always effective in supporting students with emotional and behavior disabilities to improve their behavior. This article provides an overview of the process of data-based individualization (DBI) to intensify behavioral interventions for students identified as having emotional and behavior disabilities receiving Tier 3 supports. The steps of the DBI process are explained, with a focus on using data to intensify interventions. These practices are examined as components of the broader SWPBIS Tier 3 framework.

Data-based individualization (DBI) is a framework that allows educators to make timely and informed decisions about student progress in academics or behavior. In this article, we focus on the DBI framework as applied to math intervention within a tiered support model for students experiencing math difficulty. We review how DBI starts with an instructional platform paired with progress monitoring. Then, we discuss decision making within a DBI framework and highlight how diagnostic data informs instructional adaptations. Finally, we emphasize the on-going use of DBI to determine the best set of instructional practices in math for each student.

Firms have increasingly used flexibility policies to facilitate work–life balance, yet existing research shows that employees are stigmatized for using these seemingly beneficial policies. In this article, the authors identify perceived control, that is, the sense of control employees feel they have over managing their work–life conflicts, as a key factor in their avoidance of flexibility policies. Through 50 in-depth interviews with management consultants from five firms, the authors find that employees frame managing their work–life conflicts as a test of their professional skills, emphasize their “natural” suitability for the consulting industry, use choice rhetoric to reframe oppressive work demands as personal choices, and accentuate their ability to exit the consulting industry if they are unable to manage their work–life balance independently. Empirically, this study provides a fuller explanation for the pervasive avoidance of flexibility policies and expands on prior explanations that focus on flexibility stigma.

The increase in one-person households is regarded as a manifestation of the process of social individualization that strengthens individuals’ ability to make lifestyle choices to the detriment of certain social institutions. However, the background circumstances to solo living can vary widely and often stem from structural determinants, such as gender inequalities, within the framework of a highly competitive society. This article analyses the nature and social significance of solo-living in Spain through a case study of young adult women (25–45 years of age) residing in an urban environment (Barcelona and Jaen). The analyses focus on aspects connected with the theory of social individualization (e.g. the demands of working life and expectations regarding life partners, motherhood and social relations). Four different profiles of women can be distinguished in the results: ‘cosmopolitans’, ‘unconditionals’, ‘empowered’, and ‘temporaries’. In broad terms, the interviewees’ narratives bear witness to the process of individualization (self-realization with which to engage in a personal life project), although tensions come into play between personal expectations and the demands of working life, especially in the spheres of sexual partnership and motherhood.

China’s social changes have altered the family structure of rural villagers, leading to increasing numbers of rural left-behind elderly (RLBE). RLBE are considered victims of social changes, abandoned by their migrant children. However, this ethnographic work from two villages in southern China showed that the problems of RLBE are not related to being left behind but stem from institutional deficiencies faced by rural families. RLBE have been adapting to social changes and showed some signs of individualization; with improved economic status, they will have more opportunities to make personal choices. Nevertheless, migration is a family project; familism is still the core, yet descending. Descending familism was a re-embedment to regain a safety net when institutions were deficient. However, familism is not enough to cope with great risks. New ways to develop rural areas are key to solving the problems of RLBE and their families.

The life course of Chilean women has experienced profound transformations in the past decades. It has been argued that transitions to marriage and motherhood are being postponed as they are experienced by women at an older age and are becoming events that characterize an increasingly smaller part of the female population. These changes have been often interpreted as part of a process of individualization that would have reconfigured the cultural norms and social practices regarding gender roles and family formation in Chilean society. Nevertheless, the prevalence and diversification of the practices and norms that shape the transitions to marriage and motherhood at an empirical level remain unexplored. This article aims to assess the individualization of the life course of women in Chile by empirically analysing the destandardization of the practices and norms that shape the transitions to marriage and motherhood. By analysing data from the Encuesta Nacional Bicentenario Universidad Católica – Adimark (2009), it demonstrates that changes in the prevalence of the transitions to marriage and motherhood and the diversification of the practices and norms that shape their timing are ambivalent regarding destandardization. These results suggest that the life course of women in Chile is becoming individualized to some extent, but that this trend of cultural and social change is not consistent and uniform, but rather partial and fragmented, non-linear, and significantly conditioned by the social structure.

Individualization remains the most prominent theoretical explanation for the shifts in European demographic trends since the 1960s, including decreasing marriage and fertility rates and increasing divorce rates. Demographic theorists suggest that a shift from traditional to individualized values, such as autonomy and self-realization, has been driving these trends. However, conceptualizing individualization as a set of values cannot account for why Swedish marriage rates have increased since 1998, despite highly individualized values. This article suggests re-thinking individualization as a form of internally referring attributions in causal and moral reasoning about human behavior, emphasizing agency and internal causes over structure or context. As such, individualization shapes peoples’ perceptions and understandings of the world, including their expectations of marriage and close relationships. Data from focus groups support this conceptualization and show how participants individualize risks, while perceiving marriage itself as inconsequential. In line with previous research, individualized reasoning obfuscated assumptions that were less individualized and implicit.

The concept of “individualization” plays a central role in both classic and modern sociology. In modern sociology writers such as Beck, Giddens, and Bauman made the concept of individualization a key one in their theories of “late”, “reflexive”, and “liquid modernity”. However, the emphasis which the sociology of individualization puts on “liberation”, choice and social change is challenged by the sociology of stratification and power (Bourdieu, Dean, and others) with its greater emphasis on class, power and social reproduction. This paper seeks to “overcome” this schism between social change and social reproduction in the form of an attempt to think the differentiated (stratified) forms of individualization in reflexive modernity. The assumption is that there is a differentiation in reflexive modern people’s ability to deal with the requirements of individualization, depending on their possession of economic, social and cultural capital. This is argued by means of a theoretical “reconstruction” of the insights and deficiencies of the sociology of individualization, and demonstrated—with a focus on young people—by a number of empirical examples. In conclusion, the paper discusses the possibility of a theoretical integration of the fundamental insights of both the sociology of individualization and the sociology of stratification.

Although “community conversations” are a promising approach to address employment outcomes for young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs), little research has addressed ho...

The article critically examines the application of the individualization thesis to China. Factors presented in support of the case for Chinese individualization are shown to be either ambiguous or, on examination, counter-indicators. Family transformations from the Mao period to the present maintain family obligation. Labour migration, rather than leading to individualization expresses family commitment. Rights awareness similarly provides no clear evidence of individualization while rural and labour struggles around collective rights do not support the thesis.

Current health systems do not effectively address all aspects of chronic care. For better self-management of disease, kidney patients have identified the need for improved health care information, interaction with health care providers, and individualization of care.The Triple I study examined challenges to exchange ofWe employed a sequential mixed methods approach with 3 phases:1. A qualitative study with focus groups and interviews (Apr 2017 to Aug 2018);2. A cross-sectional national ranking survey (Jan 2019 to May 2019);3. A prioritization workshop using a modified James Lind Alliance process (June 2019).In-center hemodialysis units in 7 academic centers across Canada: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal, and Halifax.Individuals receiving in-center hemodialysis, their caregivers, and health care providers working in in-center hemodialysis participated in each of the 3 phases.In Phase 1, we collected qualitative data through (1) focus groups and interviews with hemodialysis patients and their caregivers and (2) individual interviews with health care providers and decision makers. Participants identified challenges to in-center hemodialysis care and potential solutions to these challenges. In Phase 2, we administered a pan-Canadian cross-sectional ranking survey. The survey asked respondents to prioritize the challenges to in-center hemodialysis care identified in Phase 1 by ranking their top 5 topics/challenges in each of the 3 "I" categories. In Phase 3, we undertook a face-to-face priority setting workshop which followed a modified version of the James Lind Alliance priority setting workshop process. The workshop employed an iterative process incorporating small and large group sessions during which participants identified, ranked, and voted on the top challenges and innovations to hemodialysis care. Four patient partners contributed to study design, implementation, analysis, and interpretation.Across the 5 participating centers, we conducted 8 focus groups and 44 interviews, in which 113 participants identified 45 distinct challenges to in-center hemodialysis care. Subsequently, completion of a national ranking survey (n = 323) of these challenges resulted in a short-list of the top 30 challenges. Finally, using small and large group sessions to develop consensus during the prioritizing workshop, 38 stakeholders used this short-list to identify the top 10 challenges to in-center hemodialysis care. These included individualization of dialysis-related education; improved information in specific topic areas (transplant status, dialysis modalities, dialysis-related complications, and other health risks); more flexibility in hemodialysis scheduling; better communication and continuity of care within the health care team; and increased availability of transportation, financial, and social support programs.Participants were from urban centers and were predominately English-speaking. Survey response rate of 31.5% in Phase 2 may have led to selection bias. We collected limited information on social determinants of health, which could confound our results.Overall, the challenges we identified demonstrate that individualized care and information that improves interaction with health care providers is important to patients receiving in-center hemodialysis. In future stages of this project, we will aim to address these challenges by trialing innovative patient-centered solutions.Not applicable.Les systèmes de santé actuels ne traitent pas efficacement tous les aspects des soins aux malades chroniques. Pour mieux autogérer la maladie, les patients atteints de néphropathies expriment un besoin de personnalisation des soins et d’informations de santé facilitant les interactions avec leurs soignants.L’étude Triple I s’est penchée sur l’échange d’Nous avons procédé en trois phases selon une approche séquentielle à méthodes mixtes:1. étude qualitative avec groupes échantillons et entretiens individuels (avril 2017 à août 2018);2. sondage de classement transversal au niveau national (janvier à mai 2019);3. atelier consacré à la définition des priorités utilisant une version modifiée duLes unités d’hémodialyse de sept centres hospitaliers universitaires à travers le Canada (Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montréal et Halifax).Des patients hémodialysés en centre, leurs soignants et des fournisseurs de soins travaillant dans les unités d’hémodialyse ont participé à chacune des trois phases.Au cours de la phase 1, nous avons recueilli des données qualitatives par l’entremise 1) de groupes échantillons et d’entretiens avec des patients hémodialysés et leurs soignants, et 2) d’entretiens individuels avec des fournisseurs de soins et des décideurs. Les participants ont mis en évidence les défis liés aux soins d’hémodialyse en centre et les possibles solutions à ceux-ci. Pour la phase 2, nous avons procédé à un sondage de classement transversal pancanadien où les répondants devaient classer par ordre de priorité les difficultés recensées au cours de la phase 1. Les répondants devaient classer leurs cinq principaux défis dans chacune des trois catégories établies lors de la phase 1. La phase 3 a consisté en un atelier d’établissement des priorités selon une version modifiée du processus de laDans les cinq sites ayant participé à la phase 1, nous avons mené 8 groupes de discussion et 44 interviews au cours desquels 113 participants ont mentionné 45 défis distincts liés aux soins d’HD en centre. Par la suite (phase 2), la complétion d’un sondage de classement national (n=323) de ces défis a mené à une liste restreinte de 30 difficultés. Puis, lors de l’atelier visant le dégagement d’un consensus (phase 3), 38 intervenants ont utilisé cette courte liste lors de séances en petits et grands groupes pour s’entendre sur les 10 principaux défis des soins d’hémodialyse en centre. Cette courte liste incluait notamment des besoins pour i) une éducation personnalisée sur la dialyse; ii) des informations de meilleure qualité sur certains sujets précis (transplantation, modalités de dialyse, complications liées à la dialyse et autres risques pour la santé); iii) plus de flexibilité dans les horaires de dialyse; iv) une meilleure communication et continuité dans les soins au sein des équipes soignantes; et v) une plus grande disponibilité des programmes de transport, de soutien financier et de soutien social.La majorité des participants provenait de centres urbains et s’exprimait en anglais. Le taux de réponse au sondage de la phase 2 était de 31,5 %, ce qui pourrait avoir entraîné des biais de sélection. Nous avons recueilli peu d’information sur les déterminants sociaux de santé, ce qui pourrait brouiller nos résultats.Dans l’ensemble, les enjeux soulevés démontrent que l’individualisation des soins et l’échange d’informations facilitant les interactions avec les fournisseurs de soins sont importants pour les patients hémodialysés en centre. Pour la suite de ce projet, nous tenterons de surmonter ces défis par l’expérimentation de solutions innovantes axées sur les patients.

LAT (Living Apart Together) relationships involve two people in a long-term intimate relationship who choose to live in separate households. Due to their tendency to lack structural commitments and rely on emotional bonds, LAT relationships can be viewed as a manifestation of individualization. Despite the increasing social acceptability of non-traditional partnerships, in many ways LAT relationships are still seen as deviant (and lacking commitment) by outsiders. This article draws on interpretive analyses of interviews with 28 LAT couples in two Canadian cities to explore how participants exercise agency and construct a sense of commitment in their relationships under these conditions (e.g. responding to generalized and particular others). In general, the LAT couples in this study described their commitments as strong, and as rooted in sexual fidelity, mutual exchanges of support, affection, with a long-term orientation, a willingness to work through difficulties and a shared history. Some ambivalence in discussing commitment can be explained with reference to participants’ strong desire to maintain independence within the relationship. This study represents one of the first in-depth examinations of LAT relationships undertaken in Canada.

In this article we propose the notion of collaborative individualization (henceforth, C.I.) as a means of characterizing young people’s attempts to define their identities as simultaneously self-reliant and in need of support and collaboration. Our arguments are based on the findings of a transnational case study: a recent Council of Europe policy project called Edgeryders, an online platform whose participants were invited to discuss their experience of attempting to achieve ‘fully independent adulthood’. In light of findings which suggest that individualization amongst the young might take forms which are more collaborative than self-focused, we argue that youth scholars ought to rethink the assumptions made about the nature of individualization in youth transitions. We propose that such theorizations should embrace the potential described by C.I. in order to provide constructive responses to young people’s changing socio-economic needs, and refocus attention on young people’s situatedness within the communities many are demonstrably committed to working with and for.

With increasing product personalization and open innovation, the manufacturing paradigm has been transforming to a more decentralized and socialized one. Social manufacturing was proposed as a new paradigm for industry. It extends the crowdsourcing idea to the manufacturing area. By establishing cyber–physical–social connection via decentralized social media, various communities can be formed as complex, dynamic autonomous systems to co-create customized and personalized products and services. This article presents the concept and characteristics of social manufacturing including distributed, adaptive, and self-organization. It also addresses social intelligence in proactive decision-making for organization of socialized resources and producers in the life-cycle of product.

In sociological transnationalization research, it is conventional wisdom that the upper strata are more involved in cross-border activities than the lower ones. However, proponents of the individualization/death-of-class thesis have argued that the significance of class (and of inequalities in general) for people’s actions is declining in affluent societies. Using these theories as a point of departure, this article investigates the influence of class and inequalities, more generally, on transnational activity. Using Eurobarometer 73.3 data from 27 European countries, this article examines (a) the extent to which class determines, by itself, in conjunction with other inequalities, and relative to heterogeneities, transnational practices within countries; and (b) how much the social gradient of transnational activity produced by class and inequalities varies across countries, and whether socioeconomic development tends to decrease or increase this gradient. The findings show that, in most countries, heterogeneities explain more variance in transnational activity than class, but not more variance than inequalities as more generally conceived. Further, social gradients in transnational activity are systematically larger in more affluent European countries.

This article employs empirical analysis on working life coaching in order to offer a complimentary perspective on debates concerning individualization and class. Instead of viewing individualization as a process which erodes or radically shapes structures of class, this article interrogates individualization as a process which individualizes the relation between capital and labour in such a way that it appears in an individualized form. Examining practices of working life coaching sheds light on the ways in which the antagonism of capital and labour is experienced, articulated in an individual form and offered solutions for, and also on the ways in which such practices actually silence and cement the antagonism they are supposed to solve.

Research in Quebec by a team that I direct indicates that religious collectivities still have very important roles to play despite the individualization of religion and the changing relations between individuals and religious institutions. The analysis focuses on the smaller, more marginal spiritualities that attract native-born Québécois, who often maintain some ties with the Catholic Church. Here we find abundant evidence of individualized, hybrid spiritualities but we also see that religious sociality remains essential for maximizing the effectiveness of religious (spiritual) practice, providing a framework for religious apprenticeship, supporting those in ritually produced altered states of consciousness, and validating religious authenticity of the practices and beliefs of participants. While collectivities remain important in more mainstream religious congregations (Catholics and Pentecostals, for example), the specifically religious elements of communality in these groups are sometimes obscured. By examining more marginal currents, we try to show the enduring power of religious sociality.

This article revisits the individualization debate in the context of Polish migration to the UK. Drawing on empirical research with young Polish migrants in Scotland and Poland, I argue that as new opportunities for migration have shaped Polish family life, the family plays ideological, affective and practical roles in shaping and supporting young people’s mobilities. The pursuit of an apparently individualistic, mobile life in the context of post-accession Polish mobility is confounded by the persistence of family structures and relations that underpin and shape individual decisions and mobility pathways. I discuss three ‘ruptures’ to the individualization thesis (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 2001) that relate to the process of migration over the lifecourse: ‘moving out’, ‘keeping in touch’, and ‘coming back’. Through these discussions I argue that individual mobility is a relational process and one that can, and should, be analysed alongside family structures rather than separate from it.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women worldwide. The incidence rates are such that one in nine Canadian women will be diagnosed in her lifetime. While social science research has demonstrated the influence of social, political, economic and environmental factors on health outcomes, many still emphasize the role of traditional risk factors for breast cancer, such as family history or diet. However, these factors are unable to account for the increased incidence of the disease in industrialized countries. Thus, there is a call for more attention to environmental links to breast cancer, and as a result, it has become necessary to consider the ‘everyday exposures' that we experience in our daily lives, which often include mammary carcinogens and endocrine disrupting chemicals through exposure to industrial chemicals and toxic substances in consumer products. In this article, the author explores and critiques two breast cancer education campaigns which are promoted by the Canadian federal government and by mainstream breast cancer organizations. Both the responsibilization paradigm and the promotion of precautionary consumption practices engage with issues of risk and responsibility at the level of the individual. This focus on modifiable behaviours and lifestyle factors is highly problematic as it does not adequately account for other determinants of health, particularly those outside one's control, such as environmental contaminants. Only a truly precautionary approach can be effective in protecting women's health.

This is a review article of the substantial sociological literature on individualization. It is especially concerned with empirical research that questions the largely theoretical claims of Zygmunt Bauman, Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens. I argue that this literature can be split into three camps: Modernist, Interactionist, Discourse. Although all three perspectives come to different conclusions, and use different methods to get there, a synthesis of their conclusions can give us a more empirically informed conception of individualization. This includes an increased focus on: inequality, collective identification and the political nature of individualization. The review concludes by suggesting that we can differentiate between a form of ‘disembedded’ individualization, which lacks empirical backing, and an ‘embedded’ conception, which does not.

This article considers cultural hierarchies that may shape practices of dating and partner choice among young women and men in contemporary Beijing. Our research is mainly based on 43 in-depth interviews conducted in Beijing over the past six years. The distinction between Beijingers and waidiren (lit., outsiders) here serves as a framework to examine the cultural and socioeconomic differentiation of dating practices. We further complicate this framework by highlighting the internal heterogeneity of waidiren, including four groups: college students, New Beijingers, young professionals without Beijing hukou, and rural migrant laborers. We argue that our participants’ narratives reflect a desire for autonomous partner choice and fulfilling love relationships; we also demonstrate how the hukou system, competition in the neoliberal market place, differential access to education, and the rural-urban division may interact to create opportunities and obstacles for young people’s personal choices. Drawing on recent work by Yan Yunxiang (2009, 2010), our analysis further substantiates arguments about the individualization of contemporary Chinese society.

Sentencing issues are discussed at length in common law systems, but discussions infrequently include civil law systems. In an attempt to remedy this oversight somewhat, the article analyses the sentencing system in Slovenia, a fairly typical civil law country. The basis of the sentencing system is the concept of individualization of punishment, where proportionality is of the utmost importance and is set first by legislation determining sentencing ranges for specific offences and then by the judiciary aiming to narrow the ranges to an appropriate sentence in individual cases. The system is far from perfect, especially on the procedural side, but it offers a valid alternative to other sentencing solutions.

Taking the contemporary political activism of ‘the Global Justice Movement’ as an illustrative case, this article scrutinizes some influential theoretical ideas about the consequences of ‘individualization’ for collective political action. Quite often, this process is seen as implying a new politics of individual life style – ‘life politics’ – which is associated with new social movements and claimed to have gained importance since the 1960s, on the expense of the collective ‘emancipatory politics’ being associated with ‘old social movements’ such as the Labor Movement. In the light of the article’s empirical findings, this alleged division between life politics and emancipatory politics is questioned, and it is argued that these two kinds of politics should be understood as intertwined practices. The article’s theoretically grounded analysis is based on quantitative data from a survey of participants at the fifth European Social Forum. These data are interpreted and further explored using qualitative interviews with activists.

Whilst theories of individualization are usually perceived as posing a severe challenge to the oft-disputed concept of class, the recent work of postmodernist-turned-liquid-modernist Zygmunt Bauman in this vein has generally escaped the attention of faithful class analysts keen to defend their object of study. Indeed, in places Bauman has been mobilised to critique the cognate ideas of Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens, despite the fact that the intellectual affinity between the three is patent and has been rightly flagged by others. This paper seeks to remedy the treatment of Bauman thus far by tracing his precise views on class as they have developed over his extended career and clarifying his current position on its decline in the face of the sweeping individualization brought by liquid modernity. It then provides a critique of his views by pulling out the contradictions and errors besetting them and, in the process, attempts to render less credible his claim that class is no longer a significant sociological tool.

This article offers a critical appraisal of Ulrich Beck’s A God of One’s Own. Connecting the trajectory of the book with the conceptual anchors set down in preceding work on reflexive modernization and cosmopolitanism, areas of empirical imprecision are identified and obstacles to the widespread adoption of personalized forms of faith are considered. Concentrating on issues around configurations of power, the formation of identity and filters of cultural difference, points of critique are developed and areas ripe for future investigation are suggested.

Social life in Japan has been historically orientated towards hierarchical networks of social integration starting in the family home and extending to the neighborhood, company, and nation. In the postwar period, households and life courses were largely fixed, mediated by company society, a standard breadwinner family model and an ascent up an owner-occupied housing ladder. The bursting of the economic bubble two decades ago, and the subsequent ‘lost decade’, disrupted established flows into employment, family life, and owner-occupation. We examine recent restructuring of life courses around the home which has become characteristic of social changes and a medium of individualization. The home, once ingrained with notions of the eternal Japanese family, has become a conduit of atomization for younger generations who have experienced radical shifts in social and economic conditions. Since the 1990s numbers of single-only and couple-only households have ballooned while marriage and fertility rates have declined. Although homeownership norms have persisted, new patterns of renting and single living in the city, or remaining in the family home as a ‘parasite single’, are increasing. We consider how the reconstitution of ‘home’ under more insecure housing and employment conditions is embedded with the reshaping of life courses, housing pathways, and patterns of urban space and living.

Les etudes des processus d'individuation au sein des populations musulmanes en Europe developpent deux theses opposees. Certains affirment que l'individualisation religieuse et la fragmentation de l'autorite religieuse liee a celle-ci entrainent "la liberalisation et la modernisation de l'islam ", ainsi que l'emergence d'un "islam progressif" en Europe. D'autres considerent que, malgre l'individualisation et de la diversification des structures d'autorite, la situation actuelle se caracterise par une relative stabilite des dogmes islamiques et certainement pas par une liberalisation de l'islam. L'observation attentive des processus qui se deroulent au sein des communautes musulmanes en Europe semble suggerer que les deux theses sont, en fait, fondees jusqu'a un certain point. L'auteur contribue au debat en eclairant les points de vue des nouvelles elites musulmanes sur l'apostasie et sur le mariage en dehors de la communaute musulmane dans le cas des femmes musulmanes. Il prouve que, malgre la composante individualiste marquee de l'experience religieuse des musulmans en Europe, les dimensions composantes de cette experience ne sont pas necessairement individualisant.

No longer hidden in the home as a private problem, care and the human services are increasingly important public concerns in advanced societies. Care is also emerging as a significant field of social theory and enquiry with considerable importance for the field of sociology. However, it remains a specialist topic rather than a central concern of the discipline. This article considers these developments and discusses the significance that recognizing the central place of care in social life might have for sociology. To understand what contemporary sociology might offer the study of care, in turn, I draw on the work of a number of leading contemporary theorists to identify four themes that have particular significance for the study of care: the body; individualization; risk; and the new organizational logics. The potential application of these four themes to the study of care is identified and a number of contemporary developments and future options considered.

German sociologist Ulrich Beck maintains that economic, technological and environmental transitions have radically reshaped employment relations in Western Europe. Whilst theories of employment transformation are historically ubiquitous, Beck's contribution is rather unique. Utilising risk as a lens through which subterranean shifts in employment, the economy and society can be visualised, Beck's work has been heralded as a significant theoretical landmark. The risk society perspective emphasizes the diffusion of two interlinked macro-social processes. Firstly, Beck identifies a sweeping process of individualization which recursively generates personal insecurity and reflexive decision-making. Secondly, changes in the relationship between capital and labour are said to have facilitated an underlying shift in the pattern of social distribution. This paper scrutinises Beck's understanding of these two processes, as a means of developing a broader critique of the risk society perspective. Theoretically, it will be argued that Beck deploys unsophisticated and artificial categories, amalgamates disparate forms of risk and compacts together diverse employment experiences. Empirically, the paper demonstrates that – far from being directed by a universal axis of risk – labour market inequalities follow the grooves etched by traditional forms of stratification.

Some feminist writings have claimed that `bureaucracy' is inherently `patriarchal'. This article challenges this argument by comparing the experience of women in Ireland in a state sector organization and in a cluster of software firms. While the bureaucratic state company has been reformed to incorporate equal opportunities, in the individualized or `marketized' software companies women's progress is at the whim of individual managers and motherhood and a career are largely incompatible. If bureaucratic organizations can be reformed in this way, it cannot be claimed that there is any inherent link between bureaucracy and patriarchy. Instead organizations can be either bureaucratic or marketized, and either patriarchal or woman-friendly. These are two separate dimensions which change independently of each other. On this basis the article suggests that the contemporary `remasculinization' of management occurs because earlier reforms in bureaucratic organizations are now being eroded.

This article explores how power can individualize, rendering us isolated and fearful, but also how power can be wielded to challenge such conditions. It is argued that subjectivity should not be confused with individualism, for although we are all individualized, and understand ourselves as individuals, subjectivity is constituted through social relations, that give rise to collective meaning, sentiments and affiliations. These issues are considered in the context of an automobile manufacturing company, where there was an attempt to constitute individualistic employees through anti-unionism and, paradoxically, teamworking. The article elucidates the polarity within the Labour Process debate, arguing that much of the controversy and confusion stems from a dualistic reading of the issues involved.