sociology frenzy

Japan's hikikomori and Manchester's gay village

The Japanese education system is single track, rigidly organised and highly pressured. There are few second chances or alternative routes. In many western societies, however, there are frequently second chances and alternative routes. A process of drift is socially acceptable and can occur without long-term damage, whereas in Japan it is a process that is often viewed with suspicion. (Andy Furlong, "The Japanese hikikomori phenomenon: acute social withdrawal among young people," The Sociological Review, Vol. 56, Issue 2, May 2008, pp. 309–325.)

To be cosmopolitan is to be educated or sophisticated; to be a cosmopolitan one has to have access to a particular form of knowledge, able to appropriate and know the other and generate authority from this knowing; thus cosmopolitanism is conceived as a particular attitude towards difference. (Jon Binnie and Beverley Skeggs, "Cosmopolitan knowledge and the production and consumption of sexualized space: Manchester's gay village," The Sociological Review, Vol. 52, Issue 1, February 2004, pp. 39–61.)

Elite frenzy

John Scott, "Modes of power and the re-conceptualization of elites," The Sociological Review, Volume 56, Issue Supplement s1: Remembering Elites, May 2008, pp. 27-43.

Michael Moran, "Representing the corporate elite in Britain: capitalist solidarity and capitalist legitimacy," The Sociological Review, Volume 56, Issue Supplement s1: Remembering Elites, May 2008, pp. 54-79.

Paul du Gay, "Keyser Süze elites: market populism and the politics of institutional change," The Sociological Review, Volume 56, Issue Supplement s1: Remembering Elites, May 2008, pp.80–102. the rise of market populism, elite of anti-elitists, elitist denial, and irresponsibility.

Charles Harvey and Mairi Maclean, "Capital theory and the dynamics of elite business networks in Britain and France," The Sociological Review, Volume 56, Issue Supplement s1:Remembering Elites, May 2008, pp. 105-120. interesting.

Dave Griffiths, Andrew Miles and Mike Savage, "The end of the English cultural elite?" The Sociological Review, Volume 56, Issue Supplement s1: Remembering Elites, May 2008, pp. 189-209.

Alan Warde and Tony Bennett, "A culture in common: the cultural consumption of the UK managerial elite," The Sociological Review, Volume 56, Issue Supplement s1: Remembering Elites, May 2008, pp. 240-259.

Shinobu Majima and Alan Warde, "Elite consumption in Britain, 1961-2004: results of a preliminary investigation," The Sociological Review, Volume 56, Issue Supplement s1: Remembering Elites, May 2008, pp. 210-239.