Matt Dawson

Reviewing the critique of individualization The disembedded and embedded theses

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.

Negotiating the boundaries of intimacy: the personal lives of asexual people

This paper uses findings from research diaries to explore the use of practices of intimacy among asexual people. While much of the literature to date has focused on the supposedly transformative and political nature of uniquely asexual practices of intimacy, our findings suggest something different. Rather than seeking to transform the nature of intimate relationships, asexual people make pragmatic adjustments and engage in negotiations to achieve the forms of physical and emotional intimacy they seek. We discuss this in relation to three areas: friendships, sex as a practice of intimacy, and exclusion from intimacy. Our findings suggest the importance of not only considering the social context in which asexual people practise intimacy, but also how the practices in which they engage may be shared with non-asexual people.

Against the Big Society: a Durkheimian socialist critique

This paper is an attempt to take a critical sociological look at the UK government’s flagship ‘Big Society’ policy. To do this I utilize the political sociology of Émile Durkheim, specifically what I call his ‘socialist theory’. This overlooked aspect of Durkheim’s sociology contains a strong normative critique and alternative project concerning the role of the State, private property, economic regulation and inequality. By applying this to the Big Society it is argued that the latter will result in: increased moral fragmentation, the furthering of economic inequality and the development of a ‘postcode lottery’. Instead, Durkheim’s advocacy of functional representation in the form of the ‘corporations’ seems to hold some contemporary relevance.

Bauman, Beck, Giddens and our understanding of politics in late modernity

This article considers the political sociology of three prominent thinkers who describe a phase of ‘late modernity’: Zygmunt Bauman, Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens. It is argued in the case of Giddens and Beck that these ideas are faulty since they do not provide full conceptual space for agency, which they argue in their sociological work is central to understanding late modernity. Baumans work does not suffer this problem. Nevertheless, his political framework is incomplete due, most notably, to his wish not to legislate. It is suggested that one common problem for all three is an inadequate or incomplete conception of power. This article also suggests problems with favouring a ‘disembedded’ over an ‘embedded’ definition of individualization for theories of late modernity.

Rethinking asexuality: A Symbolic Interactionist account

This article aims to contribute a Symbolic Interactionist approach to the study of asexuality. Previous research in psychology, sexology and sociology has had an individualized focus, which has downplayed the interactive and relational dimensions of asexual identities. In order to capture such elements we demonstrate the relevance of some key Symbolic Interactionist concepts: meaning, negotiation, social selfhood and trajectory. In doing so, we suggest it is possible to see asexual identity as a process of becoming within the context of negotiation with intimate others.

Optimism and agency in the sociology of Zygmunt Bauman

Zygmunt Bauman’s sociology has often been seen as a bleak worldview; he has been called the ‘sociologist of misery’. This article argues that assigning pessimism and misery to Bauman’s work relies on a reading which does not fully consider his sociology of morality. When this is accounted for, Bauman can be seen to have a very optimistic worldview. The significance of such an observation rests on where Bauman’s optimism lies—namely in the hands of inevitably moral individuals who can acquiesce to, reject or modify the demands of liquid modernity. This article argues, with reference to G.H. Mead’s concept of the ‘genius’, that this is where the potential for agency lies in Bauman’s conception of liquid modernity. This is given a political dimension by both Mead and Bauman’s advocacy of democratic forms to help realise this agency. Democracy operates as a ‘societal’ form of morality which builds upon Bauman’s ‘pre-societal’ discussion.

Beyond capitalism and liberal democracy: On the relevance of GDH Cole’s sociological critique and alternative

This article argues for a return to the social thought of the often ignored early 20th-century English thinker GDH Cole. The authors contend that Cole combined a sociological critique of capitalism and liberal democracy with a well-developed alternative in his work on guild socialism bearing particular relevance to advanced capitalist societies. Both of these, with their focus on the limitations on ‘free communal service’ in associations and the inability of capitalism to yield emancipation in either production or consumption, are relevant to social theorists looking to understand, critique and contribute to the subversion of neoliberalism. Therefore, the authors suggest that Cole’s associational sociology, and the invitation it provides to think of formations beyond capitalism and liberal democracy, is a timely and valuable resource which should be returned to.

‘Autonomous Functions of All Countries, Unite! You Have Nothing to Lose but Your Economic Anomie!’ Emile Durkheim’s Libertarian Socialist Critique

Scholars analysing Durkheim’s relation to socialism have generally focused on whether Durkheim was personally a socialist and/or his discussion of socialism as a ‘social fact’. This article focuses on whether Durkheim had a socialist theory. I will highlight how Durkheim’s normative and socialist political sociology aimed its critique at: the dominance of the market economy; economic polarization; class conflict; the ‘capitalist state’; and the impossibility of universal individual realization without radical economic change. From here Durkheim’s framework for an alternative political society will be outlined. This alternative, with its advocacy of political organization in ‘corporations’, can be located within a tradition of ‘libertarian’ socialism found most prominently in the work of the early 20th-century English social theorist, G.D.H. Cole. It will be argued Durkheim offers a powerful explanation for the continued dominance of neoliberal ideas ‘after the crash’ and the resulting ‘Occupy’ protests.

The Political Sociology of Late Modernity: Political Individualization

The form of neoliberal capitalism outlined in the Introduction both exists under and gives shape to the condition of late modernity. These two are not intended to be synonyms; late modernity encompasses the logic of social processes while neoliberalism classifies a type of capitalist economy. Since both focus upon claims of globalization and individualism, it may seem plausible that there is an ‘elective affinity’ between them. However, as this chapter suggests, this relies upon a myopic reading of late modernity. Here I will outline the challenges that the emergence of late modernity has posed for sociology — more specifically, political sociology. The three ‘representatives’ of this argument will be Zygmunt Bauman, Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens. This discussion will discuss the centrality given to individualization by all three in both their analytical theory and their normative alternatives. This has been, in various ways, problematic in each case, so I will also outline a way of rethinking individualization based upon empirical research in the field.

Note on recruitment as an ethical question: lessons from a project on asexuality

Abstract This short piece considers how participant recruitment can have ethical elements. With reference to a qualitative research project on asexuality we explore the challenges associated with recruiting from an emerging, and politically charged, identity group. In our attempt to broaden the representation of asexual stories we sought to recruit people who may not fully identify with the emerging term ‘asexual’ as a sexual orientation while also not equating this with a lifestyle choice of abstinence. This was attempted through crafting suitable recruitment materials via the use of the Mass Observation archive and expanded sampling criteria. Our efforts met with mixed success, on which we reflect. We conclude by suggesting how such ethical questions related to recruitment will remain ‘gaps’ in ethical regulation, calling for a greater reflexive approach from researchers about sampling criteria.