Search

This article introduces various strands of neoinstitutionalism, with the focus on sociological institutionalism, particularly ‘Stanford School’ sociological institutionalism and discursive institutionalism. The article points out that in opposing individualist rational choice theory, sociological institutionalism takes a strong structuralist stance in which actors are depicted as agents constituted by the scripts of rationalist world culture, mindlessly enacting worldwide models. In contrast, discursive institutionalist scholarship focuses on research about the actual practices through which global ideas are incorporated in local contexts, as well as on the discourses that motivate actors in the modern world to behave so uniformly in several ways, even though the culture of modernity specifically celebrates individualism and sovereignty and denounces mindless compliance. These studies have highlighted the key role of local actors in the local-global interaction. Yet these orientations must not be seen as separate schools of thought, but rather as developments within neoinstitutionalist sociology. In other words, recent years have witnessed an increased interest in the forms of local-global interaction. Case analyses have shown that synchronization of national policies seems to be a side effect of local actors utilizing broadly shared ideas and values in justifying their political objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the development of social research in advanced economies and relates the rise of qualitative research to social changes. The paper suggests that partly, qualitative research emerged because some of the articles formerly classified as 'non-empirical' or 'theoretical' gave way to an increasing share of articles classified as qualitative. In addition, the rise of qualitative inquiry meant that the everyday reality which produces statistical relationships between the variables of quantitative analysis is given more attention. Since the rise of qualitative research has primarily taken place at the expense of non-empirical or theoretical rather than quantitative articles, one can argue that it has contributed to an overall systematization of social research. Overall, qualitative inquiry simply carries on one aspect of social science, the mission to study 'the social body,' the practices that make up social institutions and produce the regularities reflected in statistical relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sosiologia is the property of Westermarck Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article investigates the role the local pub plays in the suburb-dweller's way of life. Suburban pubs were regarded as an appropriate focus of study, because many developments in the post-war history of Finland are crystallized in the emergence of suburbs and changes in drinking practices. The most important factor in these developments has been the profound change in the structure of production, which brought about changes in the living conditions and a period of flux in the Finnish culture. The meanings of the use of alcohol are important that people in different cultures of alcohol consumption even become intoxicated in different ways. Opposed to the concept of effect, meaning is a product of the human mind. It is the ideal label that human praxis presses on natural substance. Analytically, the aspects of the concept of meaning can be distinguished. Firstly, the form of the alcoholic effect on human metabolism, when transformed into contents of consciousness, depends on the distinctions that human praxis has made on the continuum of sensory experience. Secondly, there is the inability to adequately understand drinking if considered as mere ingestion of alcohol, regardless of the position and meaning drinking has in the practices of everyday life.

This article discusses cultural studies as a social construct, and especially how it emerged in Finland. The ‘discovery’ of cultural studies in Finland in the early 1980s was made in a situation within Finnish sociology where some scholars began to adopt an orientation which resembled the Birmingham orientation, but the influences to it stemmed from several sources. It was only then that the Birmingham School was founded, and certain people identified themselves with cultural studies. Yet within the local field of paradigms, Finnish ‘cultural studies’ was and remains a highly distinctive discursive construct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]