Nordic Sociology

2006

The genesis of Norwegian sociology* a story of failures and success

Acta Sociologica, 2018

This qualitative study explores how sociology is legitimated among established Finnish and Swedish sociology professors, who are conceived as a scientific elite. Drawing upon a Bourdieusian framework, the analysis traces the discourses that define legitimate sociology in these two national contexts, and the relations between those discourses. While the scientific elite of Finnish and Swedish sociology share four discourses-the Excellence, Humboldtian, Emancipatory and Policy discourses-the relative value of each differs between the different national contexts. The Excellence discourse dominates in the Finnish data, while the Humboldtian discourse is dominant in the Swedish data. The emphases on the other two discourses also vary: in Finnish interviews, the Policy discourse holds a strong position, while the Emancipatory discourse is articulated only with nostalgia; in Swedish interviews, the Emancipatory discourse is strong and the Policy discourse weak. The results show that different national contexts produce variations in sociology's internal dynamics.

2010

Sociology in Denmark has a peculiar history, involving a late institutionalisation and the closure of the two main departments in the 1980s. As a consequence of these historical events, Danish sociology is today mainly conducted at trans-disciplinary department level and in mode-2 like settings. Drawing on Bourdieu’s notion of field, this paper analyses how the field of sociological research in Denmark is constituted. In the paper, using multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), I construct two homological spaces to show how objective positions and ways of practising sociology are related. In other words, I look into how different sociological practices (choice of method and subject and view on cognitive properties of sociology, modes of publication etc.) are related to specific research institutions (university departments, governmental research institutions etc.) and other social properties. I show how different sociological forms of practice have different functions, both in regard...

Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences , 2017

s series Sociology Transformed is noteworthy for making national historical narratives of less well-known sociologies available to an English-speaking audience. Besides providing great contextual detail, these little books offer an excellent opportunity for comparing the different roles sociology has played in a variety of societies. As presented, many of these short national histories of sociology expose highly interesting, complex, and often troubled trajectories. Kristoffer Kropp's history of Danish sociology is a good case in point, as the subtitle reveals.

1999

2013

Journal of Aesthetics & Culture, 2016

1995

2009

2016

In an international perspective, Norway has for a long time held an exceptionally high level of volunteering and participation in voluntary organizations. Voluntary organiza-tions in Norway have traditionally recruited broadly, and have been more socially inclu-sive than what is the case in many other countries, especially in the Anglo-Saxon world. The classical Norwegian (and Scandinavian) model of voluntary organizations has been characterized by expressive, rather than service organizational aims, by the emphasis placed on membership as the main bond between the participant and the organization and by extensive volunteering as a main resource for the associations. In recent years several processes of overall societal change have impacted on individual participation in civil society, some of which are part of international trends. In this paper we ask whether such processes have led to thoroughgoing changes in the Norwegian model of participation; in terms of level and forms of pa...