Project as Social Action: the Art of Moving the Boundary of the Body

2009 ◽  
pp. 169-187
Author(s):  
Giovanni Maciocco ◽  
Silvano Tagliagambe
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
The Body

The Two Traditions in the Sociology of Emotions

2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (2_suppl) ◽  
pp. 10-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Shilling
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
The Body ◽  
Sociology Of Emotions ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Brief Assessment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Moral Dimensions ◽  
Emotional Issues ◽  
The Relationship

The sociology of emotions is an established specialism within the discipline and its products have become increasingly visible parts of the sociological landscape since the late 1970s. This specialism has also demonstrated, at least to its own satisfaction, the importance of emotions for social action and order, and for those related moral issues concerned with self-determined and other-oriented action. Paradoxically, however, the relationship between the sociology of emotions and mainstream sociology remains relatively cool. Emotional issues are still portrayed in many general accounts of the discipline as a luxurious curiosity that properly resides on the outer reaches of the sociological imagination. Just as unfortunately, certain sociologists of emotions have accused the foundations of the discipline of neglecting emotional issues, and have sometimes excluded classical theorists from their discussions. This chapter argues that emotional phenomena occupy an important place in sociology's heritage which has yet to be explicated fully by the sub-discipline. The subject of emotions, like the closely related subject of the body, may fade from various classical writings. Nevertheless, the major traditions of sociological theory developed particular orientations towards the social and moral dimensions of emotional phenomena. I begin by examining the relevance of emotions to the context out of which the discipline emerged, and then focus on how the major theorists of order (Comte and Durkheim) and (inter)action (Simmel and Weber) conceptualized emotional phenomena. The chapter concludes with a brief assessment of Parsons's contribution, and suggests that his analysis of the religious foundations of instrumental activism provides a provocative account of the relationship between values, emotions and personality that can usefully be built on.

scholarly journals Flesh-and-blood knowing

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo de Souza Bispo ◽  
Silvia Gherardi
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
The Body ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Comprehensive Literature Review ◽  
Practice Based Research ◽  
New Research ◽  
Embodied Practice ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to offer a perspective to interpret qualitative data drawing on the introduction of the notion of “embodied practice-based research”. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on a comprehensive literature review to support a meta-theoretical approach, we developed a theoretical essay. Findings The body is not only a field of studies but a mean of study as well. The embodied practice-based research is an inquiry style to access the tacit texture of social action and cognition. Practical implications Embodied practice-based research may impact qualitative researchers’ education and the way to report methodological proceedings and data report. Originality/value The core contribution of the paper is the introduction of a new research style able to change how researchers’ bodies may be used in qualitative management research.

scholarly journals Action in action research

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulf Melin ◽  
Karin Axelsson
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Social Action ◽  
The Body ◽  
Service Development ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Dynamic Activity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Systems Research

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the concept of action by addressing actions and roles in the practice of action research, illustrated by dilemmas in an action research project on information systems development in public sector. The main ambition with action research is being able to solve organisational problems through intervention and to contribute to scientific knowledge. The main emphasis has so far been on the “research part”. Here the authors focus on the “action part” of action research to generate rigorous research, to solve local problems and to deal with evident dilemmas in action research. Design/methodology/approach This is a qualitative case study. The empirical illustrations of this paper originate from an action research project that focused the two e-service development initiatives analysed below. The analysis is structured using key aspects and phases proposed by Avison et al. (2001). As a result of the analysis, the concept of action is elaborated. The action elements action, actor, motive, space and time are analysed together with different roles. This goes beyond the existing action research literature. Findings The conclusions show that there is a need to understand actions and roles within action research projects – not separating action from research. Research is also seen as action. The practice of action research is also discussed as context-bounded interactive social action: action research as a recurrent, interactive and dynamic activity. It is also identified that the understanding of roles, actions and interaction can help handle dilemmas in action research. Research Limitations/implications The authors contribute to the body of knowledge concerning action research in the information systems research field and in general by exploring the need to study the concept of action (e.g. situations and elements), to be explicit concerning the different phases, roles and responsibilities and management of different dilemmas in action research. A limitation of this study is that the inter-organisational development character in this study adds an extra dimension into the practice of actions research only partially highlighted. Another limitation is focus on public agencies. However, this is not critical for the results on action elements and the action research dilemmas that are studied. Practical Implications The understanding of roles, actions and interaction can solve the dilemmas and challenges linked to the practice of action research in the information systems field, but such understanding can help discover and handle dilemmas in action research. Originality/value The originality in this research is an illustration of and a perspective of action research as a context-bounded interactive social action: action research as a recurrent, interactive and dynamic activity. The value is that this knowledge can help handle dilemmas in action research.

scholarly journals Sport as Culture: Social class, styles of cultural consumption, and sports engagement in Canada

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Gemar
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Sex Differentiation ◽  
Sports Participation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Sports Consumption ◽  
The Relationship

The consumption of culture has often been ascribed the power to reflect and reproduce social inequalities. However, most work in this area has focused upon music and the arts. Sport is an important element of culture that can and should be studied in a similar fashion as others (Bourdieu, 1978). This thesis thus seeks to bring the theoretical frameworks and analytical tools of sociologies of culture further into the realm of sport. Substantively, this thesis provides an updated and comprehensive re-examining of the relationship between direct sports participation and social stratification in the relatively unexplored national context of Canada. I also innovatively provide an examination of the relationship between social stratification and professional sports consumption. Finally, this thesis fills a gap in the literature by analysing where the consumption of sport fits within broader cultural lifestyles. For these investigations, I use large-scale survey data and various statistical methods to test the foundational theories of Pierre Bourdieu, the ‘omnivore’ thesis, and individualisation arguments of social action to explain these patterns. The findings show direct sports participation relying primarily on dispositions towards the body which are stratified by education and income, especially for the most elite sports. They also show the two most selective omnivorous profiles for professional sport, rather than the most omnivorous, with the highest levels of education and income. This thesis thus sheds doubt on the omnivore thesis within sport, while also showing elements of individualisation regarding age and sex differentiation in consumption. Sports consumption in Canada thus cuts across all three theories of the relation between socio-economic position and sport. These more delimitated consumption profiles contrast with the general adherence to the omnivore thesis within broader cultural lifestyles. This therefore suggests that sport may be a cultural domain where general omnivores practise more distinctive consumption.

scholarly journals When the Body Belies the Words: Embodied Agency With darf/kann ich? (“May/Can I?”) in German

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnulf Deppermann ◽  
Alexandra Gubina
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Multimodal Interaction ◽  
The Body ◽  
Perceptual Salience ◽  
Temporal Relationships ◽  
Sequential Organization ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
Embodied Action ◽  
Embodied Agency

Research on multimodal interaction has shown that simultaneity of embodied behavior and talk is constitutive for social action. In this study, we demonstrate different temporal relationships between verbal and embodied actions. We focus on uses of German darf/kann ich? (“may/can I?”) in which speakers initiate, or even complete the embodied action that is addressed by the turn before the recipient's response. We argue that through such embodied conduct, the speaker bodily enacts high agency, which is at odds with the low deontic stance they express through their darf/kann ich?-TCUs. In doing so, speakers presuppose that the intersubjective permissibility of the action is highly probable or even certain. Moreover, we demonstrate how the speaker's embodied action, joint perceptual salience of referents, and the projectability of the action addressed with darf/kann ich? allow for a lean syntactic design of darf/kann ich?-TCUs (i.e., pronominalization, object omission, and main verb omission). Our findings underscore the reflexive relationship between lean syntax, sequential organization and multimodal conduct.

From Inscribed Bodies to Distributed Persons: Contextualizing Tairona Figural Images in Performance

2003 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew G. Looper
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
The Body ◽  
Sacred Spaces ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Art And Architecture ◽  
Ceremonial Architecture

Following trends in anthropology, the human body has recently become an important topic of discourse in archaeology. While some anthropologists consider the body as a social metaphor or site of symbolic inscription, others have questioned the validity of approaches based on the dichotomization and hierarchization of the mind and body. Semasiology, in particular, offers an epistemologically sound basis for interpreting the body, by grounding agency in the socially-structured actions that constitute corporeal space. This article applies the semasiological concept of the action-sign to archaeological problems through an examination of the interrelationship between Tairona anthropomorphic imagery and remains of ceremonial architecture at Pueblito, an archaeological site in Colombia. In both cases, physical remains constitute the traces of the actions through which agential persons created sacred spaces, and the meanings of these spaces may be more fully reconstructed by comparing diverse modes of embodiment. Tairona figural art and architecture constitute a creative technology, serving as an indexically-bound nexus of embodied social action.

The Quality of Manhood: Masculinity and Embodiment in the Sociological Tradition

2003 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Witz ◽  
Barbara L. Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
The Body ◽  
Social Agency ◽  
Social Agents ◽  
Sociological Tradition ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ontological Foundation ◽  
Classical Sociology

This paper argues for the need to revisit classical sociological texts with a view to excavating the masculinity that inheres in these texts and saturates the concept of the social. Primarily through an examination of Durkheim and Simmel, it explores the strategies whereby masculine individuals could be released from corporeality and granted the sort of embodiment that allowed them to transcend their particularity and become social agents. It is argued that male embodiment is deeply sedimented in the sociological imaginary as the very condition of social action and the constituent of social agency. Thinking through the conceptual lenses of corporeality, embodiment and agency exposes some of the ways in which the analytical scaffolding of ‘the social’ rests on a deeply gendered ontological foundation. While the sociological tradition may indeed have continued salience for contemporary sociologies of the body, a relatively unreflexive recuperation of these texts is problematic. This paper challenges those who seek to rehabilitate the classics in the service of an embodied sociology to produce a much fuller accounting of the truncated corporeal terrain upon which classical sociology developed, and one which explicitly recognizes its gender.

scholarly journals Facial Signals and Social Actions in Multimodal Face-to-Face Interaction

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1017
Author(s):  
Naomi Nota ◽  
James P. Trujillo ◽  
Judith Holler
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
The Body ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Social Actions ◽  
Timely Response ◽  
Asking Questions

In a conversation, recognising the speaker’s social action (e.g., a request) early may help the potential following speakers understand the intended message quickly, and plan a timely response. Human language is multimodal, and several studies have demonstrated the contribution of the body to communication. However, comparatively few studies have investigated (non-emotional) conversational facial signals and very little is known about how they contribute to the communication of social actions. Therefore, we investigated how facial signals map onto the expressions of two fundamental social actions in conversations: asking questions and providing responses. We studied the distribution and timing of 12 facial signals across 6778 questions and 4553 responses, annotated holistically in a corpus of 34 dyadic face-to-face Dutch conversations. Moreover, we analysed facial signal clustering to find out whether there are specific combinations of facial signals within questions or responses. Results showed a high proportion of facial signals, with a qualitatively different distribution in questions versus responses. Additionally, clusters of facial signals were identified. Most facial signals occurred early in the utterance, and had earlier onsets in questions. Thus, facial signals may critically contribute to the communication of social actions in conversation by providing social action-specific visual information.

scholarly journals Concepts of the body and personhood in the Mesolithic-Neolithic Danube Gorges: interpreting animal remains from human burials

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Živaljević
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Red Deer ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Natural Phenomena ◽  
Animal Body ◽  
Animal Remains ◽  
The World ◽  
Human Burials ◽  
Choice Of Species

In recent years, humanities have brought forward the idea of non-human agency; either in the form of meanings bestowed upon objects, animals and natural phenomena, or through deconstruction of ontological differences between ‘people’ and ‘things’. In case of the former, it has been argued that non-human agents have the power to act as ‘participants’ in social action (e.g. the agentive power of material properties of things, or of animal behaviour). In this paper, I discuss the practice of placing animal body parts alongside human bodies in the Mesolithic-Neolithic Danube Gorges, by using the concept of perspectivism as a theoretical framework. The choice of species and their body parts varied, but was by no means accidental. Rather, it reflected certain culturally specific taxonomies, which were based on animal properties: how they look, move, feel or what they do. Common examples include red deer antlers, which have the power to ‘regenerate’ each year, or dog mandibles (physical remains of ‘mouths’) which have the power to ‘communicate’ (i.e. bark). The aim of the paper is to explore how various aspects of animal corporeality, associated with certain ways of seeing and experiencing the world, could be ‘borrowed’ by humans utilizing animal body parts.

scholarly journals Who is being taught? Weaving academic spaces and teaching bodies

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rozmin Jaffer
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
The Body ◽  
Space And Place ◽  
Body Studies ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Ecological Theories

The notion of embodiment, arising out of Body studies and complex ecological theories, situate the body as central to all social action, experience, learning, and research.  Spatiality duly problematizes “space” and “place” suggesting that the sites which our bodies inhabit are culturally constructed and constructing.  In light of the above, I show how the “teaching” body, as a particular kind of “institutional” body, is enacted, defined, viewed, and treated by others in specific sites.  Furthermore, how is the teaching body--at once rendered racialized and gendered--inscribed, marked, bureaucratized, and regulated in institutional settings?

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