Linda Quirke

Rogue Resistance: Sidestepping Isomorphic Pressures in a Patchy Institutional Field

My research suggests that organizational fields are patchy and uneven. This patchiness allows organizations at the margins of fields to sidestep pressures for conformity. As a case study, this paper examines the private school field in Toronto, Canada. Data come from interviews and site visits at 60 Toronto private schools. My findings suggest that Toronto’s private school field is segmented, incorporating diverse private school forms, including elite, religious, and ‘rogue’ (non-elite, non-religious) schools. Within one subfield – small rogue private schools – a high degree of heterogeneity exists. These findings suggest a nuanced conception of institutional fields, with more attention to organizational agency, multiple field logics and diversity among organizational forms. This paper examines how organizations at the margins of fields are able to evade pressures for conformity, and how a heterogeneous organizational field can also be comprised of clusters of homogeneity.

The Impact of Sector on School Organizations: Institutional and Market Logics

Drawing on new institutional and market theories, this article derives three hypotheses for the effects of markets on educational organizations: They (1) weaken formal structures, (2) reverse tendencies toward isomorphism, and (3) force schools to recouple and compete via performance indicators. These ideas are investigated with data on private and public schools in Toronto, which, the authors argue, is a strategic research site. The findings vary by market sector. Newer, nonelite private schools seek niches, avoid performance indicators, and dilute formal structures, while older elite schools do the opposite. Thus, market effects on school organizations vary by sector. In conclusion, the authors argue that the impact of markets on schools is mitigated by local institutional conditions. Specifically, the presumed impact of markets on educational quality may be contingent upon certain institutional conditions that, when absent, channel market forces in more consumerist directions.

Providing for the Priceless Student: Ideologies of Choice in an Emerging Educational Market

The growing popularity of school choice is typically linked to the spread of neoliberal ideology. Identifying four components of this ideology, we examine the rationales of providers in an emerging private school market. Data come from interviews and site visits at 45 “third‐sector” private schools in Toronto, Canada. We find that only one of the four components has a strong resonance among these educators. Few private school operators sharply criticize public schools, compete via quantitative performance indicators, or are strongly business oriented. However, they voice a philosophy of matching their personal talents to the needs of “unique” children. Overall, rather than being influenced by neoliberalism, these providers are more directly driven by personalized rationales that prize tailored education in specialized niches. We draw two conclusions from these findings. First, they demonstrate how ideologies of choice are shaped by their market setting, in this case, small proprietorship, in contrast to a corporate environment. Second, they highlight how providers can be motivated by new cultures of consumerism and intensive child rearing when working in highly uncertain conditions. We recommend that theories of choice recognize the range of educational markets and the specific motives of their providers.

Legitimacy through alternate means: schools without professionals in the private sector

The new institutionalism predicts that professionalism is a key element of organizations’ ability to be seen as legitimate. Emphasizing the professionalism and formal credentials of its members lends legitimacy to the organization, protecting it from scrutiny. What happens when this norm of professionalism is absent? How do schools legitimate themselves, if not through professionalism? This paper examines a population of small, secular non‐elite private schools that overwhelmingly hire uncertified teachers. Using data from 60 private school principals in Toronto, Canada, I examine the ways in which private schools tap into alternate means of legitimacy. This study finds that small, secular ‘rogue’ private schools fail to invoke norms of professionalism as a means to garner constituent support and legitimacy. I argue that these schools substitute an innovative, unconventional ‘caring consumer ethos’ in place of teacher professionalism.

Alternative pathways to legitimacy: promotional practices in the Ontario for-profit college sector

ABSTRACT This study empirically examines how for-profit career colleges in Ontario, Canada market themselves to prospective students. It uses a mixed-methods approach to review the content of 489 online promotional profiles representing 375 unique for-profit colleges. It finds that for-profit colleges adopt several distinct marketing strategies, including (1) emphasizing their expedient provision of modern, practical skills and (2) the convenience afforded by the location of their campuses. We interpret these findings through the lens of the new institutionalist theoretical perspective, highlighting how these organizations draw upon alternative strategies to legitimate their chosen forms.

Looking for Work The Coverage of Work in Canadian Introductory Sociology Textbooks

This paper examines the textual coverage of the topic of work in Canadian English–language introductory sociology textbooks. Our findings are based on a content analysis of 21 Canadian texts published between 2008 and 2012. We found that only 12 of 21 textbooks included a chapter on work, suggesting that work occupies a peripheral position in Canadian sociology texts. Most chapters on work discussed economic systems, economic sectors (e.g., secondary and service), and major transitions in the world of work over the past two generations. However, topics such as service sector work were given a disproportionate share of attention, while others (e.g., work-life conflict, workplace physical injury) were given short shrift. Textbook portrayals of content such as manufacturing work were frequently characterized by a lack of nuance. These findings highlight a gap between current research in the sociology of work and the “sociology of work” in many Canadian introductory sociology textbooks.

Crafting Legitimate Identities: Promotional Strategies in the Ontario Non-Elite Private School Sector

Conventional wisdom within the sociology of education and organizations posits that schools achieve legitimacy by conforming to institutionalized norms and mimicking the actions of successful peers. Recent work on non-elite private schools (NEPS) shows that this institutional type may serve as an exception to this logic, generally adopting what can be perceived as illegitimate forms and practices. We conduct a mixed-methods analysis of the promotional profiles of 204 NEPS located within Ontario, Canada. We ask: How does this unorthodox organizational population carve a space for itself within a fiercely competitive and centuries-old market? Our findings illustrate that these schools engage in niche-seeking behavior, specifically catering to changing parental preferences for a caring consumer ethos with more holistic forms of child development. More broadly, they employ rhetorical strategies (e.g., fostering confidence and global-mindedness) that render their efficiency beyond the scope of verification by potential consumers. We interpret these empirical findings through the lens of contemporary theorizing within organizational sociology.

“Fat-proof your child”: Parenting advice and “child obesity”

ABSTRACT How are fat children represented in media parenting advice? I examine how fat children and “childhood obesity” are depicted in popular media, using dominant cultural models of child fatness and the “obesity epidemic,” as presented in two flagship parenting magazines over the past three decades. Profiling the specific life experiences of individual children and their parents, parenting magazines offer “expert” advice and everyday tips for managing children’s weight. I examine the advice dispensed by two parenting magazines: one from the United States (Parents) and one from Canada (Today’s Parent). I perform a content analysis of 104 articles (52 from each publication) that appeared in print between 1983 and 2014. This longitudinal approach allows for analysis of both historical and current characterizations of fat children as a social problem. This analysis finds that parenting magazines present the “obesity epidemic” as fact, as they characterize fat as a serious health problem, offering ways to intervene and more recently, to prevent “child obesity.” Articles consistently and fearfully detail numerous negative health consequences that may befall fat children. In recent years all children are cast as passive and at risk for becoming fat. Individual parents, generally mothers, are presented as singularly responsible for children’s health, in contrast with earlier years, when children were seen as largely responsible for their own fatness. Fat is depicted as a medical problem to be solved through diligent, early intervention. Keeping children ignorant of the stigma associated with fatness is lauded. Ultimately, these media representations of “child obesity” endorse a gendered and classed, intensive model of parenting that assumes that parents should closely oversee and manage susceptible children.

What's the Harm? The Coverage of Ethics and Harm Avoidance in Research Methods Textbooks.

Methods textbooks play a role in socializing a new generation of researchers about ethical research. How do undergraduate social research methods textbooks portray harm, its prevalence, and ways to mitigate harm to participants? We conducted a content analysis of ethics chapters in the 18 highest-selling undergraduate textbooks used in sociology research methods courses in the United States and Canada in 2013. We found that experiments are portrayed as the research design most likely to harm participants. Textbooks overwhelmingly referred to high-profile, well-known examples of harmful research. Chapters primarily characterize participants as at risk for psychological and physical harm. Textbooks engage in detailed discussions of how to avoid harm; informed consent figures prominently as an essential way to mitigate risk of harm. We conclude that textbooks promote a procedural rather than nuanced approach to ethics and that content in ethics chapters is out of step with scholarly research in research ethics.

Co-Sleeping: Parents, Children, and Musical BedsCo-Sleeping: Parents, Children, and Musical Beds, by StewartSusan D.Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017. 174 pp.

In Co-Sleeping: Parents, Children, and Musical Beds, author Susan Stewart explores a part of day-to-day family life that has previously remained hidden: how American families configure sleeping arrangements with their babies, young children, and older children. While many readers may associate ‘‘cosleeping’’ with infants, Stewart’s book reveals children’s preference for sharing beds with their parents. Stewart describes the nightly emotional and physical labor that mothers, primarily, take up in the hopes of accomplishing a good night’s sleep. Stewart interviewed a ‘‘largely white, college-educated, and middle-class’’ sample of 51 parents: 38 mothers and 13 fathers (p. 129). Co-Sleeping provides a detailed review of co-sleeping across numerous countries, ultimately positioning the United States as a unique case. Stewart provides a comprehensive overview; for readers who are interested in co-sleeping, this book is a treasure trove of information. The book offers a well-designed exploratory qualitative study. It covers an impressive literature related to co-sleeping and is accessible, wellorganized, and well-researched. It would be a good companion for an undergraduate course that explores family life. The book adroitly highlights the gap between intended and actual behavior. While co-sleeping is often characterized as a conscious, deliberate choice, Stewart’s data suggest otherwise. She found two groups of parents: intentional and reactive co-sleepers. Those who intentionally opted to co-sleep were in the minority. Most parents ‘‘fell into’’ co-sleeping after being unable to coax their children to sleep in their own beds. Most saw co-sleeping as temporary and wanted it to cease but did not have a clear plan to stop it. Parents reported feeling a great deal of ambivalence. They saw co-sleeping’s benefits: cuddling, quality time, security, and comfort. However, they worried about their children’s physical safety and their social and emotional health. They saw cosleeping as both adding to and detracting from ‘‘couple closeness’’ (p. 98). Ultimately, the two most interesting tensions in the book lie with 1) parents’ ambivalence toward co-sleeping, and 2) how they manage the disapproval of others. First, the prevalence of parents who reluctantly co-sleep uncovers a fascinating tension. The notion that parents raise children via deliberate decisions, consistently enacting a coherent parenting philosophy, is contradicted by this book. Stewart highlights the unintentional, reactive dynamics of family life, where parenting decisions may not stem from a well-planned, consistent agenda. Co-Sleeping throws into sharp relief parents’ ambivalence as they reluctantly concede to their children; some parents who co-slept were philosophically opposed to it. The book illuminates how families adopt or slide into new routines. It outlines the conflict that arises when frustrated spouses manage strained relationships and disagree about sleeping arrangements. It compellingly displays demoralized parents’ nightly struggles with poor sleep, as they wrestle with the conviction that they are undermining their own best parenting efforts by capitulating in a weak moment. A strength of this book is its ability to illuminate not only the patterns of co-sleeping, but the weight of parents’ ambivalence about it and how they navigate this difficulty. The book’s analytical tension comes from the dilemma of parents who did not choose cosleeping as natural but instead wished everyone would sleep in their own beds. While individual parents may feel ambivalent about co-sleeping, this takes place in a larger socio-cultural environment that largely condemns it. A second important tension is parents’ management of others’ disapproval. In Chapter Five, Stewart moves beyond the families themselves, examining how they ‘‘navigate social relationships within a cultural context largely disapproving of this practice’’ (p. 102). All 51 parents received negative remarks about co-sleeping from others, 630 Reviews