Sexualities, Ahead of Print.
Grandmasters, distinct elite: Taste submitted to discussion from the social conditioning factors of the predilection for chess
International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Ahead of Print.
This study analyzes the relations between the social conditioning factors and the taste for the cultural practice of chess manifested in the discourses of the grandmasters who compose its elite in the Brazilian contemporary context. The theoretical and methodological framework of Pierre Bourdieu was used. For the research method, retrospective semi-structured interviews were carried out personally with each Brazilian chess grandmaster. Thematic Analysis was assigned for the qualitative treatment of the data. The result originated the axis ‘Grandmasters, distinct elite: the naturalness of the cultivation of taste by legitimate heirs’, which mainly analyzes the favoured family origin of these agents and how this affected the success of their high-performance trajectories in this sport. It is concluded that the mechanism of the family cultural heritage acted in the production of a dilettantish taste and lifestyle in relation to chess, characterizing a distanced, liberated and detached attitude towards the practice. This condition is disseminated by its elite and does not include all people who, in Brazil, have different family origins and deal with it from an unequal distribution of opportunities in relation to the practice of this sport.
This study analyzes the relations between the social conditioning factors and the taste for the cultural practice of chess manifested in the discourses of the grandmasters who compose its elite in the Brazilian contemporary context. The theoretical and methodological framework of Pierre Bourdieu was used. For the research method, retrospective semi-structured interviews were carried out personally with each Brazilian chess grandmaster. Thematic Analysis was assigned for the qualitative treatment of the data. The result originated the axis ‘Grandmasters, distinct elite: the naturalness of the cultivation of taste by legitimate heirs’, which mainly analyzes the favoured family origin of these agents and how this affected the success of their high-performance trajectories in this sport. It is concluded that the mechanism of the family cultural heritage acted in the production of a dilettantish taste and lifestyle in relation to chess, characterizing a distanced, liberated and detached attitude towards the practice. This condition is disseminated by its elite and does not include all people who, in Brazil, have different family origins and deal with it from an unequal distribution of opportunities in relation to the practice of this sport.
Promoting mindfulness in education: Scientisation, psychology and epistemic capital
Current Sociology, Ahead of Print.
Mindfulness is increasingly found in many educational settings in the United Kingdom, but existing research has focused primarily on clinical efficacy or implementation issues, rather than sociological interests. This article draws on data from the ‘Mapping Mindfulness in the UK’ study to help explain the successful growth of mindfulness in education, by exploring the discursive strategies through which practitioners construct, promote and solicit support for the practice among policymakers and educational leaders. The analysis highlights the significance of certain authorities or epistemic capitals, and logics of ‘scientisation’, for positioning mindfulness as a credible and legitimate practice for educational contexts, yet also reveals competing discourses and alternative conceptualisations. In doing so, it extends theories of ‘scientisation’ by explicating the role of ‘harder’ and ‘softer’ forms of psychology within these processes. The research makes original contributions to sociological understandings of mindfulness and education, while offering new insights on broader theories concerning science and society.
Mindfulness is increasingly found in many educational settings in the United Kingdom, but existing research has focused primarily on clinical efficacy or implementation issues, rather than sociological interests. This article draws on data from the ‘Mapping Mindfulness in the UK’ study to help explain the successful growth of mindfulness in education, by exploring the discursive strategies through which practitioners construct, promote and solicit support for the practice among policymakers and educational leaders. The analysis highlights the significance of certain authorities or epistemic capitals, and logics of ‘scientisation’, for positioning mindfulness as a credible and legitimate practice for educational contexts, yet also reveals competing discourses and alternative conceptualisations. In doing so, it extends theories of ‘scientisation’ by explicating the role of ‘harder’ and ‘softer’ forms of psychology within these processes. The research makes original contributions to sociological understandings of mindfulness and education, while offering new insights on broader theories concerning science and society.
‘Abstinence is panacea’: Reconstructing the ideal of Chinese masculinity through online community
Sexualities, Ahead of Print.
This article discusses the experience of Chinese young men relating to sexual abstinence through the Abstinence Bar (jiese ba 戒色吧) – an online community, with over six million members, dedicated to preaching the benefits of sexual abstinence – to identify how it represents a problematic strategy of ‘doing gender’ in post-socialist China. Based on a critical discourse analysis of the posts in the Abstinence Bar, we argue that the prosperity of the Abstinence Bar has re-stabilized the hegemony of dominant masculinities through cultural changes which intersect with individualism and nationalism. Consequently, it is essential to advocate evidence-based sexuality education among Chinese young people.
This article discusses the experience of Chinese young men relating to sexual abstinence through the Abstinence Bar (jiese ba 戒色吧) – an online community, with over six million members, dedicated to preaching the benefits of sexual abstinence – to identify how it represents a problematic strategy of ‘doing gender’ in post-socialist China. Based on a critical discourse analysis of the posts in the Abstinence Bar, we argue that the prosperity of the Abstinence Bar has re-stabilized the hegemony of dominant masculinities through cultural changes which intersect with individualism and nationalism. Consequently, it is essential to advocate evidence-based sexuality education among Chinese young people.
The unspeakable queerness in Romania’s communist period: Lesbian and queer accounts beyond gay men’s experiences
Sexualities, Ahead of Print.
Informed by interviews with queer women, nonbinary persons, and a trans man, this article aims to fill a major gap in the Southeastern European sexuality studies. It does that by depicting and analyzing several microhistories from communism (1947–1989) and from the early 1990s Romania. The 1990s were also marked by the communist legacy and same-sex relationships continued to be criminalized until 2001. Since gay men’s accounts are much more represented in the public space and in the incipient literature on queerness in Romania, the article offers an alternative view beyond this tendency, by bringing forth the particularities and experiences of cisgender women and trans persons and their day-to-day lives within the patriarchal and homophobic society. The article argues that during communism matters of queerness were known, although rarely discussed, and that the accounts of queer women and trans persons were not absent but neglected. Another objective is to offer explanations for the lack of these marginal (ized) accounts in the incipient gender and queer studies literature on Romania.
Informed by interviews with queer women, nonbinary persons, and a trans man, this article aims to fill a major gap in the Southeastern European sexuality studies. It does that by depicting and analyzing several microhistories from communism (1947–1989) and from the early 1990s Romania. The 1990s were also marked by the communist legacy and same-sex relationships continued to be criminalized until 2001. Since gay men’s accounts are much more represented in the public space and in the incipient literature on queerness in Romania, the article offers an alternative view beyond this tendency, by bringing forth the particularities and experiences of cisgender women and trans persons and their day-to-day lives within the patriarchal and homophobic society. The article argues that during communism matters of queerness were known, although rarely discussed, and that the accounts of queer women and trans persons were not absent but neglected. Another objective is to offer explanations for the lack of these marginal (ized) accounts in the incipient gender and queer studies literature on Romania.
‘I can’t believe I just made history’: A temporal analysis of sports media reporting
International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Ahead of Print.
Professional sport is a central element of our daily entertainment that contributes to shaping us individually and bonding us collectively: it provides us with shared ‘historic’ moments. This article is interested in these moments, and how the field of sports generates them, by asking the following questions: (1) has the frequency of ‘historic moments’ changed over time, and (2) is the way we make sports history consistent throughout the years? We conducted a temporal analysis of newspaper and magazine articles (n = 1062) published in France (Le Monde, l’Équipe) and in the United States (USA Today, Sports Illustrated) during three time periods in the 21st century (2003, 2010, 2019). Our results show that: (1) as time passes, ‘historic’ moments occur more frequently; (2) sporting history is increasingly linked to social dimensions; and (3) statistical performances continue to mark history above all else. Although performance-based achievements are consistently celebrated, sporting history cannot be separated from our collective social existence, and the currents therein. We show that the act of making sports history is also bound to the normative, social, and cultural history of a society.
Professional sport is a central element of our daily entertainment that contributes to shaping us individually and bonding us collectively: it provides us with shared ‘historic’ moments. This article is interested in these moments, and how the field of sports generates them, by asking the following questions: (1) has the frequency of ‘historic moments’ changed over time, and (2) is the way we make sports history consistent throughout the years? We conducted a temporal analysis of newspaper and magazine articles (n = 1062) published in France (Le Monde, l’Équipe) and in the United States (USA Today, Sports Illustrated) during three time periods in the 21st century (2003, 2010, 2019). Our results show that: (1) as time passes, ‘historic’ moments occur more frequently; (2) sporting history is increasingly linked to social dimensions; and (3) statistical performances continue to mark history above all else. Although performance-based achievements are consistently celebrated, sporting history cannot be separated from our collective social existence, and the currents therein. We show that the act of making sports history is also bound to the normative, social, and cultural history of a society.
Women’s transnational migration through football: Possibilities, responsibilities, and respectability in Ghana
International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Ahead of Print.
The growth of girls’ and women's football in Africa, coupled with increased professionalisation in Europe and the United States, has led to rising international migration of African female players. This trend reflects the longer standing culture of independent, transnational migration among African women since the late 1980s and of enlarged possibilities and responsibilities triggered by neoliberal reform across the continent. This article explores how these sporting, cultural and economic transformations have coalesced to influence the aspirations and agency of female youth and young women in Ghana. To do so, we draw on original data from ethnographic fieldwork in Ghana, Sweden and Denmark undertaken between 2015 and 2021. Our findings reveal that for ambitious, talented female footballers, transnational football migration is increasingly viewed as a speculative route to improve ones’ life chances and negotiate intergenerational responsibilities to family. Significantly, the article also illustrates that in seeking to produce this highly prized form of migration, they must carefully navigate gendered social norms and hierarchies related to ‘respectable’ career and life trajectories. The conclusion proposes a critical research agenda to explore the interplay between sporting opportunities, migration aspirations and diverse socioeconomic conditions in Africa.
The growth of girls’ and women's football in Africa, coupled with increased professionalisation in Europe and the United States, has led to rising international migration of African female players. This trend reflects the longer standing culture of independent, transnational migration among African women since the late 1980s and of enlarged possibilities and responsibilities triggered by neoliberal reform across the continent. This article explores how these sporting, cultural and economic transformations have coalesced to influence the aspirations and agency of female youth and young women in Ghana. To do so, we draw on original data from ethnographic fieldwork in Ghana, Sweden and Denmark undertaken between 2015 and 2021. Our findings reveal that for ambitious, talented female footballers, transnational football migration is increasingly viewed as a speculative route to improve ones’ life chances and negotiate intergenerational responsibilities to family. Significantly, the article also illustrates that in seeking to produce this highly prized form of migration, they must carefully navigate gendered social norms and hierarchies related to ‘respectable’ career and life trajectories. The conclusion proposes a critical research agenda to explore the interplay between sporting opportunities, migration aspirations and diverse socioeconomic conditions in Africa.
Conflicting demands and emotional labour: Balancing and swapping at the front line of the welfare state
Current Sociology, Ahead of Print.
This article combines insights from the sociology of emotional labour with works on conflicting demands facing employees to analyse how frontline staff conduct emotional labour in contexts marked by multifaceted demands facing them. It demonstrates the usefulness of this combination through an analysis of group interviews with frontline staff within Danish job centres, who are currently explicitly instructed to display sincere belief in the job prospects of clients, while also representing a disciplining activation system marked by conditionality. The article contributes to existing literature through an elaboration of two concepts – ‘balancing’ and ‘swapping’ – describing forms of emotional labour conducted by frontline staff in a work setting characterized by conflicting demands. The former is about striking a balance between the wants of the client and the wants of the system while sustaining clients’ feelings of motivation. The latter is about enabling oneself to encounter clients in ways which are personalized and informal, within the contours of a system marked by bureaucratic logics and language.
This article combines insights from the sociology of emotional labour with works on conflicting demands facing employees to analyse how frontline staff conduct emotional labour in contexts marked by multifaceted demands facing them. It demonstrates the usefulness of this combination through an analysis of group interviews with frontline staff within Danish job centres, who are currently explicitly instructed to display sincere belief in the job prospects of clients, while also representing a disciplining activation system marked by conditionality. The article contributes to existing literature through an elaboration of two concepts – ‘balancing’ and ‘swapping’ – describing forms of emotional labour conducted by frontline staff in a work setting characterized by conflicting demands. The former is about striking a balance between the wants of the client and the wants of the system while sustaining clients’ feelings of motivation. The latter is about enabling oneself to encounter clients in ways which are personalized and informal, within the contours of a system marked by bureaucratic logics and language.
Giving and receiving: Gendered service work in academia
Current Sociology, Ahead of Print.
Deploying the perspective of ‘relational work’, this article investigates the mechanisms behind the gender-unequal distribution of academic service. The concept of relational work is used to analyse how men and women in academia balance collective against individual interests when agreeing or disagreeing on service tasks. Four types of relational work are identified: compliance, evasiveness, barter and investment, with compliance being more common among women, evasiveness and barter being more common among men and investment being tied to temporality in a gendered pattern. The article shows that men are more successful in pursuing individual interests against service demands and how this depends on their relational work as well as organisational role expectations, reducing women’s prospects of ‘saying no’. The study is based on qualitative interviews with 163 associate and full professors in the social sciences and CV data on their service contributions.
Deploying the perspective of ‘relational work’, this article investigates the mechanisms behind the gender-unequal distribution of academic service. The concept of relational work is used to analyse how men and women in academia balance collective against individual interests when agreeing or disagreeing on service tasks. Four types of relational work are identified: compliance, evasiveness, barter and investment, with compliance being more common among women, evasiveness and barter being more common among men and investment being tied to temporality in a gendered pattern. The article shows that men are more successful in pursuing individual interests against service demands and how this depends on their relational work as well as organisational role expectations, reducing women’s prospects of ‘saying no’. The study is based on qualitative interviews with 163 associate and full professors in the social sciences and CV data on their service contributions.
Book Review: Decoding the Egalitarianism of the Qur’an: Retrieving Lost Voices on Gender
Sexualities, Ahead of Print.