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The article explores the relation between academic disciplines and of disciplines to their social context. Even those sociologists who are aware of the once closer relations between sociology/social anthropology and Folklore tend to assume that current distant relations are due to the evaporation of folklore itself from urban-industrial society. Sociologists with an interest in folklore are most likely to be found working in fields which emphasize the comparative analysis of "underdeveloped" and "developed" societies, and there has been a strong tendency for them to eliminates folklore. The almost moribund state of folklore studies in Great Britain might seem to confirm their assumption were it not for the fact that the few studies carried out on folklore in urban Britain show that it is far from dead or dying. And in the United States of America, the flourishing academic discipline of Folklore has no difficulty in discovering a flourishing crop of urban folklore.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that there is a division of opinion about the British contribution to the sociology of religion. Whilst no one disputes the scholarly quality of the best work in this field, there is less agreement about whether the bulk of the work has much relevance to understanding contemporary social developments or to mainstream sociology. Critics have argued that an excessive focus on secularization and sects has meant that British sociologists of religion have marginalized their subject-matter. This tendency has combined with an exaggerated disdain for theoretical developments in sociology, which has further marginalized the sub-discipline. All of this is in marked contrast with the central position that the sociology of religion occupied in classical sociology, as exemplified by Durkheim. A reassessment of Durkheim's sociology of the sacred and of morals might be one way of re-directing British sociology of religion into the mainstream of sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article makes a case for the sociology of religion to give a more central position to issues concerning ideology. It uses the example of recent public controversies in Britain over criticisms made by bishops of the Church of England against the Thatcher government's policies. It also contrasts this situation with the influence of the new Christian right in America. The theoretical framework adopted is neo-Durkheimian, focusing on dilemmas involving the boundary between the sacred and the profane, and disputes about individualism and community. The discussion is based on research drawing on data supplied by the Church's Press Office and letters from the public to the most controversial episcopal critic, the Bishop of Durham. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assuming office as UK Foreign Secretary in 2010, William Hague asserted a desire to pursue an 'activist foreign policy'. Despite studies into Hague's period in office, the significance of this phrase and its implications for Hague's diplomacy have been overlooked. This article plugs that gap. It suggests 'activist foreign policy' merges two separate and potentially conflicting practices, namely, activism and diplomacy. Using insights from the practice turn, we examine two policies of Hague's tenure: his promotion of the Prevention of Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI), 2012–2014 and his diplomatic response to the Syria conflict, 2011–2014. Exploring these cases highlights the creative potential of merging practices, but also the extent to which they can conflict in ways that provoke resistance from other participants. The article concludes that policymakers looking to merge practices need to be aware of the underlying logic of behaviours and actions within each practice to transpose them successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article highlights the symposium which is derived from the mid-term conference of the ISA Research Committee 16, Sociological Theory on "New Sources of Critical Theory," held at Cambridge University in Great Britain, in September 2000. The articles in the symposium tackle issues such as the possibilities for developing critical social theory that is utopian in spirit, but not totalizing; the assessment of potentialities in critical cultural theories for making a more useful contribution to the solution of practical problems of cultural policy-making and governance; the need for a critical theory of globalization that shows an awareness of plurality and accepts the challenge to eliminate Eurocentrism.

Background: Clinicians and their employers, concerned with privacy and liability, are often hesitant to support the recording of clinical encounters. However, many people wish to record encounters with healthcare professionals. It is therefore important to understand how existing law applies to situations where an individual requests to record a clinical encounter. Methods: We searched for and reviewed relevant legal documents that could apply to recording clinical encounters. We limited the scope by purposefully examining relevant law in nine countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States. We analyzed legal texts for consents needed to record a conversation, whether laws applied to remote or face-to-face conversations and penalties for violations. Findings: Most jurisdictions have case law or statutes, derived from a constitutional right to privacy, or a wiretapping or eavesdropping statute, governing the recording of private conversations. However, little to no guidance exists on how to translate constitutional principles and case law into advice for people seeking to record their medical encounters. Interpretation: The law has not kept pace with people's wish to record clinical interactions, which has been enabled by the arrival of mobile technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the author discusses national identity, historical events and national disasters in Great Britain as depicted in horror films. Among the movies are "The Curse of Frankenstein," "The Horror of Dracula," "The Mummy," and "The Curse of the Werewolf." Also cited are the films produced by Hammer Studios, and the 1973 book "A Heritage of Horror" by David Pirie.

We draw on 120 years of biographical data (N = 120,764) contained within Who’s Who—a unique catalogue of the British elite—to explore the changing relationship between elite schools and elite recruitment. We find that the propulsive power of Britain’s public schools has diminished significantly over time. This is driven in part by the wane of military and religious elites, and the rise of women in the labor force. However, the most dramatic declines followed key educational reforms that increased access to the credentials needed to access elite trajectories, while also standardizing and differentiating them. Notwithstanding these changes, public schools remain extraordinarily powerful channels of elite formation. Even today, the alumni of the nine Clarendon schools are 94 times more likely to reach the British elite than are those who attended any other school. Alumni of elite schools also retain a striking capacity to enter the elite even without passing through other prestigious institutions, such as Oxford, Cambridge, or private members clubs. Our analysis not only points to the dogged persistence of the “old boy,” but also underlines the theoretical importance of reviving and refining the study of elite recruitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to address and interrogate cultural regulation in the context of the complex gender identity of the late, great David Bowie as a figure who has persistently and obstinately operated outside societal norms. In the 70s, his emergence into British popular culture at such a specifically revolutionary moment in time, locates him within the circuit of culture in a unique way, where his very being is nuanced by the processes of representation, identity, production, consumption. Through placement of his diverse personae into their cultural and socio-political contexts, it is possible to understand the cultural forces being brought to bear upon his identity; as an artist; as a musician; as a performer and as a gender-bender. The concept of regulation as part of the circuit of culture is particularly pertinent and by viewing Bowie through this lens it is possible to not only demonstrate his significance as a central figure that influenced the notion of gender as fluid rather than fixed, but also to understand how the system of cultural regulation operates to question, contain and ultimately assimilate all transgression, so as to reassert order and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper will highlight attitudes to British colonialism among some middle-class Indian Christian communities and will use as a case study the anti-colonial discourse within the Methodist Church. It will illustrate how diverse shades of political resistance existed among this Church community despite fears of state retribution. Discourses such as Dravidian Nationalism, Eastern Nationalism, and even the Methodist Church itself were influential in creating oppositional space and fostering intellectual freedom at a time when such expressions were frowned upon. This study thus challenges the perception that middle-class Indian communities were so pro-British that others often derogatorily referred to them as "Black Europeans". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1965 and 1968, gangs 'reappeared' in Glasgow. Perceived as younger, more violent and more dangerous to the public than their interwar predecessors, concern quickly grew in the media, police force, local and national government and the public domain more generally. This article uses the sociological concept of 'moral panics' to explore 'the New Wave of Glasgow Hooliganism'. It demonstrates the social construction of 'deviance' in practice, placing escalating concerns and debates over solutions to 'the gang problem' in the wider context of fears about increasing levels of youth violence in the 1960s Britain. In Glasgow, popular perceptions and 'folk-lore' about gangs affected opinions and responses, and often conflicted with empirical evidence conducted at the time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Ladettes’ are argued to be a sign, and product, of contemporary development and change; their fortunes are presented as inextricably related to the conditions of late modernity. Using the past to shed light on the present, this paper considers whether fears and claims about the behaviour of some contemporary young women in Britain are exclusive to the present. Two data sets inform the discussion: first, representations of ladettes in national and local newspapers from 1995 to 2005; second, materials relating to the ‘modern girl’ published in the popular print media between 1918 and 1928. Although there have been important changes in the conditions of girlhood since the 1920s, this historical comparison highlights continuities in the representation of ‘troublesome’ youthful femininities. We explore similarities and differences in the characteristics attributed to the modern girls of the twenties and the ladettes of recent years, and the dominant discourses that underpin popular constructions of troublesome young women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the murder of an eight-year-old girl in July 2000, a British newspaper, the News of the World , campaigned to change the law on paedophile crimes. Most of its demands were eventually met. The narrative has four episodes: the initial campaign, popular vigilantism, political response and further debate and action following the murderer's conviction. A moral panic framework is shown to be applicable but ultimately an inadequate explanatory framework, having too rigid a conception of the state, primary definers and the control culture. Supplementary approaches from agenda setting and discourse analysis are needed. The distortion of the issues of child abuse and murder suggests a need for reconceptualisation of moral panics in terms of three dimensions: processes, discourses and normative affirmation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses several books on morality. The concept of moral panic dates back to the Easter Day in 1964 in Great Britain. As a real-world phenomenon, moral panics reside in the overlap of four territories: deviance, social problems, collective behavior, and social movements. In "Moral Panics," Kenneth Thompson offers a brief, readable, introductory account of the moral panics concept, focusing primarily on the British scene. His main interest resides in the role the media play in publicizing and conveying the moral panic. In "Random Violence," Joel Best examines "how we talk about new crimes and new victims." A floodlight of media attention is trained on a tiny number of episodes of "random" violence; "incidents" are turned into "instances" of a substantial trend. In "The Culture of Fear," Barry Glassner attempts an answer to why Americans "are afraid of the wrong things." Why do "public panics" erupt over supposed threats that actually harm very few-or no-people, while concern remains disproportionately low about genuinely harmful threats?