Jennifer Platt

The affluent worker in the class structure

Preface 1. Introduction: the debate on the working class 2. The design of the research 3. The world of work 4. The pattern of sociability 5. Aspirations and social perspectives 6. Conclusion: the affluent worker in the class structure Appendixes References Index.

A history of sociological research methods in America, 1920-1960

This is the first book on the general history of US sociological research. It provides systematic archival, documentary, and interview data which question conventional views on research methods, developing our understanding of both the history of social thought, and the settings in which social research is produced.

The affluent worker : political attitudes and behaviour

Preface 1. Introduction 2. Party choice and political orientations 3. The politics of affluence 4. Politics and group affiliations 5. Conclusions Appendixes References Index.

EVIDENCE AND PROOF IN DOCUMENTARY RESEARCH: 1: SOME SPECIFIC PROBLEMS OF DOCUMENTARY RESEARCH

‘D ocumentary research‘ is not a clearcut and well-recognized category, like survey research or panticipant observation, in sociological method. It can hardly be regarded as constituting a method, since to say that one will use documents is to say nothing about how one will use them. It is possible, however, that the mere fact of using documents as a data source does pose distinctive problems; the extent to which this is so is one of the themes of this paper. Discussions d the use of documents in the standard methodological literature are sparse and patchy. In 18 general textbooks on research methods’ only 7 devote a significant amount of space to anything to do wirh the use d documents, and these often either conflate it with other points (e.g. under the general heading d ‘unobtrusive measures’ or ‘availilable data’) or concentrate on only one type of use. Where there are discussions, they tend to be about what types of document exist and what problems they bear on rather than about how to use them;’ the tacit assumption is made that later chapters, with titles such as ‘Analysis of Data’ or ‘Tests of Hypotheses’, deal with that, although their contents usually imply survey-type quantitative data that would only be likely to approximated by content analysis from the main types of documentary research. In the sociological literature there are also very f&w more specialized monographic discussions of problems of documentary research; indeed I have been unable to identify any since the

The Chicago school and firsthand data

It is generally recognized that the ’Chicago school’ of sociology was of crucial historical importance in the 1920s and 1930s.’ Its importance has encouraged an element of myth-making in the treatment of its contribution, and also a secondary industry of debunking the myths (see, for example, Bulmer, 1984; Deegan, 1988; Harvey, 1987). This article is part of that industry in that it questions common interpretations, but not part of it in the sense that it argues that different accounts may be appropriate to their own terms of reference (even if such accounts are often inappropriately read without consideration of what those terms of reference were). The main focus is on the research methods used, and especially on the extent to which the data deployed can be regarded as ’firsthand’. Many of the Chicago data were collected by other people, whose contribution has been played down. Were ’firsthand’ data as important to the Chicago sociologists as later writers have suggested ?2 Indeed, were the Chicago sociologists as innovative in other respects as is commonly assumed? The

The Women's Movement and British Journal Articles, 1950—2004

Feminist discussion has suggested that women have been discriminated against in journal publication, and has advocated the study of women and feminist topics by women, and the use of qualitative methods. Using data on all relevant articles, this article explores the extent to which the pattern of articles by British authors in the main general British sociology journals suggests that the womens movement has made a difference on these points since 1950.

Functionalism and the survey: the relation of theory and method*

Many writers hold that research method is necessarily determined by theory, and it is common to suggest the relationship between functionalism and survey method in post-war US sociology as an example of this. This paper questions the extent to which that method and that theory were in reality meaningfully associated, and argues against the position that theory and method are in general invariably connected in the way suggested.

The United States Reception of Durkheim's The Rules of Sociological Method

Durkheim has not always been treated by U.S. sociology as obviously important, as the career of The Rules shows. Initially, its social realism was strongly criticized. Gradually, however, more specialized study of Durkheim was done, which led to more contextualized understandings of his work. As U.S. sociology became more empirical the character of interest in The Rules shifted; by the 1960s, it was read in the light of Suicide, then newly translated, and interpreted as an ancestor of functionalism. The meanings imputed to key ideas such as the treatment of social facts as things also shifted. It is argued that his, then newly won, status as a founding father promoted more favorable interpretation of his meanings and that various factors in the social structure of the discipline also contributed to this change.

Making them count: How effective has official encouragement of quantitative methods been in British sociology?

Britain’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has striven to increase the levels of quantitative work in British social science, but with little success shown in sociology journal articles. Why is this? A number of historical factors have contributed to this result: rapid recruitment in the 1960s of young faculty with little training, a tradition of doctorates without coursework, and the historical emergence of political and feminist critiques of quantification. It is evident that considerable persuasive and coercive resources were not sufficient to overcome intellectual resistance at the disciplinary and departmental level.

“Acting as a switchboard”: Mrs. Ethel Sturges Dummer’s role in sociology

Mrs. Ethel Sturges Dummer played a significant role in sociology in the interwar period, although this has been largely forgotten; that is probably due to our lack of a name for what she did, combined with the fact that despite a high level of “professional” activity she never held a paid job. Although she was an exceptional individual, consideration of her case draws attention to the need to take into account, in writing the history of sociology, the important contributions sometimes made by people who did not bear the job title “sociologist.”