Sociology of Social Problems

Cet article analyse les dynamiques de globalisation qui affectent le déroulement d'une controverse transnationale. Il étudie trois conflits croisés : les protestations provoquées par la loi anticontrefaçon au Kenya, les manifestations en Inde contre l'accord de libre-échange entre l'Inde et l'Union européenne, et les mouvements de critique de l'Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) au sein de l'Union européenne. À partir d'une analyse de corpus de presse et d'entretiens avec les acteurs de la controverse, il montre dans quelle mesure des conflits initialement distincts convergent. Il présente les dynamiques à travers lesquelles la globalisation de la controverse a lieu : les croisements spatiaux, d'acteurs, de thématiques, de temporalités sont permis par la constitution d'événements en affaires à l'échelle internationale, mais aussi par des opérations de cadrage et de constitution de publics et par des logiques d'organisation du travail militant.

The question of when and how international orders change remains a pertinent issue of International Relations theory. This article develops the model of pragmatic ordering to conceptualise change. The model of pragmatic ordering synthesises recent theoretical arguments for a focus on ordering advanced in-practice theory, pragmatist philosophy, and related approaches. It also integrates evidence from recent global governance research. We propose a five-stage model. According to the model, once a new problem emerges (problematisation), informality allows for experimenting with new practices and developing new knowledge (informalisation and experimentation). Once these experimental practices become codified, and survive contestation, they increasingly settle (codification) and are spread through learning and translation processes (consolidation). We draw on the rise of the maritime security agenda as a paradigmatic case and examine developments in the Western Indian Ocean region to illustrate each of these stages. The article draws attention to the substantial reorganisation of maritime space occurring over the past decade and offers an innovative approach for the study of orders and change.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the social problem of depression from a multi-theoretical perspective. It explores depression through the lens of two psychologically based theories of human behavior, existential theory and cognitive theory, as well as through the vehicle of two sociological theories, Marxist theory and the theory of oppression. By understanding how each of these theories explains depression, social workers may be helped to see the complexity of treating the problem. It is the belief of the authors that social work literature, which is often dominated by reductionist, quantitativelybased research studies, has increasingly ignored theoretical explorations of key social problems such as depression, to the determent of the profession and the disciplines which inform it.

the paper examined the relevance of knowledge management and knowledge sharing in the delivery of primary healthcare services in Nigeria, as an advocacy for the implementation of KM in primary healthcare development agency in Hadejia local government jigawa state, Nigeria. the strategic planning in the implementation of KM is discussed and recommended for effective service delivery.

This paper examined socio-cultural determinants of health care services utilization in northern Nigeria. The
paper argues that, health is bedrock through which a society progresses, and it is cherished by all human
species. Health care services are the instruments through which sufficient health status is achieved and
remained healthy by either preventive or curative services. Therefore, effective healthcare services remain
one of the infrastructural provisions of any responsive government. Health care facilities ranging from
clinics, dispensaries, primary health care, general, specialist and teaching/tertiary hospitals are built across
the northern region aimed at preventing various diseases and treatment of ailments in order to have a
healthy society for socio-economic development. Maternal and child health such as pregnancy
complications, death during delivery, malaria, measles, malnutrition, polio, tuberculosis, hypertension and
the like have become some of the health challenges in the region. Thus, these diseases are preventable
through effective health care services utilization. However, many of these services are not utilized by many
people, and reasons for non utilization may be connected with high level of illiteracy, unequal distribution
of health care facilities, cultural belief on the disease causation, inaccessibility to the services and high
intense of insecurity in the region. The paper utilized secondary data drawn from various sources, and
subjected to content analysis. Thaddeus and Maine’s Three Phases Delays Model of health care utilization
was used as a theoretical frame work to guide the study. The study discovered low health care utilization in
the northern region, as such it recommends intensive sensitization campaign to correct the misconception
embeds in the people’s culture, couple with provision of more accessible health care services to people in
the region.
Key words: Health care, Socio-cultural determinants, Utilization and Northern-Nigeria

This PhD dissertation addresses changes that have taken place in recent years in the People’s Republic of China regarding the image, fate and value of discarded electrical and electronic equipment (DEEE, also known as “e-waste”) and of the people who make a living by trading, transporting, and transforming this type of object. It originates in multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Guangdong Province for a total of eighteen months (2014-2016), during which I paid particular attention to objects’ materiality, recycling technologies, valuation practices, representations of waste/wastefulness, and state-society relations.

Drawing on scholarship from the sociology of public problems, China studies, political ecology, discard studies, environmental politics and the socio-anthropology of development, my research interrogates China’s state program of “ecological modernization”. In particular, it analyzes the central government’s project of “formalizing e-waste management and treatment” and its implementation on the ground, at the local level. Official discourse in China justifies formalization by the need for improved pollution control and resource efficiency. However, as my research reveals, this explains only a small part of the revolution in material and symbolic approaches to DEEE that unfolded in early twenty-first century China.

In particular, this does not account for the conspicuous absence of self-employed workers, family businesses and small and micro enterprises from China’s new regulatory system and the industrial sub-sector this system gave birth to. These social actors and economic entities, often referred to collectively as the “informal sector”, dominated scrap recycling and object stewardship during the era of “reform and opening”. Some of them engaged in polluting practices, but others contributed in essential ways to object reuse, which is widely acknowledged as extending product lifespans, and thus reducing the overall environmental impact of EEE production and consumption. And yet, in China, the “informal sector” as a whole suffered from stigmatization, exclusion and dispossession.

Based on this observation, I conclude that, in order to understand China’s official solution to the “e-waste problem”, one should understand it as a response to the need for displaying markers of modernity, environmentalism being but one of them. Technological progress, material abundance and a position at the top of the international community, among others, also played a key role in shaping Chinese “e-waste” policies.

Keywords: e-waste, reuse and recycling, modernization, environmentalism, China

ÖZET Bu çalışmanın en temel amacı, psikolojik etkileri olan mobbing davranış türünün sosyolojik olarak ele alınabilirliğini sorgulamakla birlikte, görünen ve bilinen anlamı ile ''psikolojik taciz'' olarak adlandırılan bu davranış türünün; unutulan, sorgulanmayan ve sonuçları itibarı ile sosyolojik olarak değerlendirilmeyen taraflarına dikkat çekmektir. Bu çalışma, sosyal problemler sosyolojisi alanında Herbert Blumer'in sosyal problemleri çözmek için geliştirmiş olduğu aşamalar dikkate alınarak, kurama dayalı bir analiz tekniği ile oluşturulmuştur. Mobbing, psikolojik sonuçları olan bir davranış türüne atıfta bulunsa da, sonuçları itibari ile sosyal etkileri olan, birey ile birlikte grup üzerinde de olumsuz etkiye sahip olan bir kavramdır. Bu anlamıyla bu davranış türü, icra edildiği alanda mağduru yaratan psikolojik bir yapıdayken, mağdur bireyleri yaratacak potansiyeli özünde taşıdığı varsayımından (sonlandırılmayan bir davranış) hareketle sosyal bir yapıya dönüşecektir. Bireyler üzerindeki etkisi ve baskısını artırması neticesinde problemin yönü psikolojik bir boyuttan, sosyal boyuta dönüşecek, mağdur(lar) yaratma anlamında sosyal problem olarak karşımıza çıkacaktır. Buradan hareketle sosyal bir problem olarak kabul ettiğimiz bu davranış türünün-''her problem sosyal problem midir, bir problemin sosyal problem haline dönüşebilmesi için gerekli olan koşullar nelerdir''-soruları ekseninde; mobbing'in nedenleri ve sonuçları, sosyal problemler sosyolojisi bağlamında irdelenmeye çalışılmıştır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Mobbing, Şiddet, Sosyal Problemler To Reconsider The Mobbing in The Context of Sociology of Social Problems ABSTRACT The basic objective of this study is to question the ability to sociologically handle the mobbing behavior type, which has psychological effects, and to attract attention to the forgotten, unquestioned, and sociologically unevaluated aspects of this type of behavior, which is referred to, with its visible and known meaning, as " psychological abuse ". This study was formed by taking into consideration the stages developed by Herbert Blumer, in the area of the sociology of social problems, so as to solve social problems, and with a theory-based analysis technique. Even though it refers to a behavior type with psychological consequences, mobbing is a concept that has social effects with regards to its results, and a negative effect on both the individual and the group. In this sense, this type of behavior will transform into a social structure from a psychological structure that creates the victim in the area it is performed, considering the assumption (an unending behavior) that it substantially carries the potential to create the suffering individuals. As a result of its increasing effect and pressure on the individuals, the aspect of the problem will move to a social dimension from a psychological one, and it will appear as a social problem with regards to creating victim(s). From this point of view, on the axis of the questions of this behavior type – 'Is every problem social? What are the required conditions for a problem to turn into a social one?'-, which we accept as a social problem, the causes and results of mobbing were examined within the scope of the sociology of social problems.

Cet article aborde une norme très peu analysée dans la littérature sur la protection sociale, largement dominée par les analyses sur l’activation ou sur les contreparties. Cette norme est celle de l’inconditionnalité, qui stipule une absence de ciblage autre que le besoin déclaré et une absence de contrepartie en échange du bénéfice de l’aide. Il montre comment cette norme s’est institutionnalisée dans le droit de l’urgence sociale en France depuis la fin des années 1990. Il tente ensuite de montrer quelques conditions culturelles et sociales qui ont favorisé son institutionnalisation : la médicalisation des conséquences du vagabondage, l’élargissement des critères d’accueil dans les hébergements sociaux, le rôle d’entrepreneur joué par des médecins comme Xavier Emmanuelli. Il se termine par un constat sur les limites de l’inconditionnalité dans la pratique et la proposition de deux de leurs causes : la restriction du nombre de places par l’administration d’État redoutant un trop grand afflux de demandes de la part des migrants et des « mal-logés » (la crainte de "'l'appel d'air"), et la sélection à l'entrée des hébergements opérée par leurs gestionnaires d’hébergements appréhendant une présence trop importante de publics qu'ils estiment particulièrement difficiles à prendre en charge (addiction, souffrance psychique, sans-papiers).

Reviews the literature and states that appropriate research describing initial use of illicit drugs suggests that disruption of normal child-parent relationships, lack of involvement in organized groups, and few effective peer relationships may have been predisposing factors in some individuals initiating use of illicit drugs. Research also suggests that socialization to nontraditional norms, parental modeling of licit and illicit drug use, involvement with drug-using peers, and positive experiences with drugs may have been important factors in initial use for other individuals. It is concluded that both theory and research need a clear distinction between the several paths leading to initial drug abuse, particularly since separate statistical analyses may be necessary for people in each path.

This study documents the child welfare experiences of youth who are LGBTQ and their perspectives on how these experiences influenced their housing instability and homelessness. Youth detailed incidents of gender segregation, stigmatization, isolation, and institutionalization in child welfare systems that they linked to their gender expression and sexuality, which often intersected with being a youth of color. The youth described these incidents as contributing to multiple placements and shaping why they experienced homelessness.

Child Labour is a social evil that is persistent in the society for a very long time. Children under the age of 14 are employed to work under hazardous conditions in various industries and businesses. Firstly, this research paper deals with the Involvement and role of mass media on abolishing child labour across India. Secondly, it is too see whether the role of the mass media has reached the people of small cities like Vellore, India. Finally, to see how the Government and various NGOs use mass media to reach as many as they can, regarding this social evil in India.

Presentation. Simone Bonnafous et Malika Temmar 1 I. l'analyse du discours en Europe, Johannes Angcrmüller 9 II. Analyse du discours et sciences de l'information et de la communication. Au-delà des corpus et des méthodes, Claire Oger. 23 III. Analyse du discours et sociologie comprehensive. Retour critique sur une pratique de recherche transdisciplinaire, Claire Oger et Caroline Olivier-Yaniv 39 IV. Travailler les discours dans la pluridisciplinarité. Exemples d'une * maniere de foire » en analyse du discours, Alice Kricg-Planque 57 V. L'analyse du discours politique : analyse du contenu, statistique lexicale, approche sémantico-énonciative, Pierre Fiala..73 VI. Analyser une controverse. Les apports de l'étude argumentative à la science politique, Juliette Rennes 91 VII. L'analyse du discours et l'étude de ¡a littérature, Dominique Maingueneau 109 VIII. Analyse du discours et histoire. Rencontres et oublis, Marie-Anne Paveau 121 CHAPITRE VI

Despite presenting similar records in terms of HDI and general state caacity  by the HIV epidemic outburst, Brazil was far superior to South Africa until a decade ago (it is still the case, to some extent) in responding
effectively to the HIV/AIDS epidemic by implementing a nation‐wide comprehensive program of prevention, treatment
and care. It is then suggested that this was partly due to a consistent use of social‐science knowledge that helped the
state to go beyond the concept of risk‐groups.  
Based on these premises, it is here suggested that social scientists played a significant role in Brazil’s National AIDS
Program by infusing politics with the concept of social vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. This means that interventions need to
go beyond risk‐groups and information‐based strategies (that characterized the initial HIV/AIDS studies and programs),
as demonstrated by the global debate on the locus of behavioural change in HIV/AIDS studies and interventions.
Following the shift of approaches from individual and information‐based strategies to structural factors and holistic
approaches (the latter being in vogue since the 1990s globally), social scientists in Brazil suggested that it was necessary
to improve people’s social, cultural and economic circumstances in order to create healthy supporting contexts."

There is a commonsense assumption that 'teenage pregnancy' constitutes some sort of a social problem. A neglected aspect of this social construction is explored. It is suggested that ideologies of reproduction go only so far in convincingly accounting for ambiguities contained in social constructions of teenage pregnancy and that appreciation of contemporary ideologies of childhood is also needed. Expressions of teenage pregnancy as a problem may then be understood as a matter of social pollution, located at the intersection of ideologies of reproduction on one hand and ideologies of childhood on the other.

Gefängnisse sind Institutionen, denen ungewöhnlich restriktive Handlungs- und Lebensbedingungen zu eigen sind: Neben der Bewältigung diverser (im-)materieller Entbehrungen sind Inhaftierte mit der Aufgabe konfrontiert, sich in hierarchische Macht- und Kommunikationsbeziehungen einzufügen. Unter solchen Bedingungen stellt sich für Gefangene alltäglich die Frage, ob die erfahrene Behandlung als legitim oder ungerecht einzuordnen ist. Auf der Basis von umfangreichem Interviewmaterial spürt die Studie aus einer biographischen Untersuchungsperspektive der Erfahrungsgebundenheit dieser Deutung nach.

In recent years we have witnessed public opinions are formed on general assumptions rather than any critical engagement. This has phenomenally affected the quality of open debates in the public sphere. Opinions and consents are “manufactured” on crucial social and political issues on media and social networking sites. This has raised serious concerns over the nature of knowledge being imparted through the education system. Certain forms of knowledge are promoted by neo-liberal educational policies which help in the knowledge economy by the cost of other knowledge forms. This has led to the creation of two kinds knowledge systems. First, knowledge of a market which is driven by the logic of demand and supply and is largely dictated by techno-centric education. Second, knowledge for critical learning which is imaginative, sensitive, in-depth and, socially responsible but less popular, and is advocated by humanities and social science education. These two streams of knowledge systems are derived from different academic cultures. Practitioners of the scientific knowledge system lack humanitarian sympathies. On the other hand, humanities develop an apathetic attitude towards scientists. It is assumed that scientists, although pragmatic and optimistic, have no concern for the humanities. Scientists believe that literary intellectuals totally lack foresight and are not forthcoming towards their fellow men in terms of social commitments (Snow, 1959).

«Se la gente è in grado di definire condizioni inesistenti
come problemi sociali, ne consegue necessariamente che
può definire anche qualunque condizione esistente come
un problema sociale. […]. Se una qualunque serie di condizioni
oggettive, persino quelle inesistenti, può essere definita
come un problema sociale, è chiaro che le condizioni
di per sé né producono il problema né costituiscono un loro
componente necessario. Perché allora dovremmo includerle
nella nostra concezione dei problemi sociali? Le includiamo
perché le definizioni della maggior parte dei problemi sociali
si riferiscono ad aree della vita sociale che esistono in
termini oggettivi e in maniera verificabile»
Howard S. Becker (1928) è uno dei più grandi sociologi viventi
ed è autore di una serie di lavori divenuti ormai pietre
miliari nel campo della sociologia della devianza, delle arti
e della riflessione metodologica.

Recent research has called upon scholars to develop pedagogical interventions to address issues of media literacy. This teaching note answers that call by describing a media literacy project designed for use in social problems classes. The project acquaints students to the constructionist approach to social problems and the method of content analysis. Guided by the principles of scaffolding, the note discusses how students are guided through a series of readings, assignments, and activities that enables them to analyze how social problems are portrayed in news media. Analysis of student papers and comments reveals an increased understanding of the rhetorical strategies that are commonplace in media coverage of social problems. While designed for social problems, the project can be adjusted and modified for use in other sociology courses.

Con base en dos entrevistas biográficamente orientadas, este trabajo investiga una de las dimensiones más criminalizadas y despolitizadas del consumo, cultivo, regulación y comercialización del cannabis: la perspectiva de los consumidores recreativos, los “marihuaneros”. La investigación resalta un aspecto particular del conflicto sociopolítico en torno al cannabis, el consumo y cultivo de cannabis como una acción que desincentiva el acceso a redes de tráfico ilegal de drogas por parte de los consumidores recreativos en Quito. Se enfoca la discusión sobre las diversas emociones y las experiencias de dichos actores sociales y en las motivaciones que propician una lucha política tanto por parte de militantes de organizaciones cannábicas como de no militantes de organizaciones cannábicas.

"Résumé

L’expertise psychiatrique est un instrument d’évaluation devenu indispensable dans le champ judiciaire tout en étant régulièrement contesté. Comment comprendre ce paradoxe apparent ? En décrivant, répond l’article, comment le droit formalise une partie de la morale autour de la catégorie de personne. A partir d’une étude de cas fondée sur une observation des usages de l’expertise dans une chambre correctionnelle, la première partie montre comment les acteurs de la justice évaluent l’instrument d’évaluation ; la seconde partie se penche sur la construction d’une altérite déviante.

Mots clés : Evaluation, économies morale, justice, expertise, psychiatrie, personne

Abstract

How to evaluate a person? The psychiatric report and its moral uses

The psychiatric report is an assessment tool that has become indispensable in the judicial field while, at the same time, being regularly challenged. How to understand this seeming paradox? In response the article answers that the law formalizes a part of the morality of the category of person. From a case study based on observation of how psychiatric reports is used in criminal courts, the first part shows judicial actors evaluating the assessment tool ; the second part focuses on the construction, during a trial, of a deviant alterity.

Key words : Assessment, moral economies, justice, expertise, psychiatry, person"

On:e of the many challenges W.E.B. Du Bois faced in the study of African Americans was the pervasive racism that affected
how social scientists acquired data on people of African descent.
Moreover, the historical reality in which such data were gathered
was one in which there were indications of genocidal aims on the part
of the dominant population. Du Bois needed to show that African
Americans should receive rigorous study and that rigorous study was
a part of the struggle for African American upliftment. In his effort to
address both challenges, Du Bois, in effect, developed several bases
for rigorous human study that included the importance of recognizing
the humanity of the subjects under study. He touched upon several
central concerns in the philosophy of the human sciences including
the viability of studying metastable subjects; the relationship
between epistemological and ontological categories in the cultural
sphere  and the lived reality of action in the face of behavioral imposition.

The welfare state refers to a concept of a state that focuses on ensuring that a broad range of social rights is provided for all citizens by acting on the social mechanisms and consequences of the market economy. In such a state government plays a vital role in balancing social inequalities by providing or subsidizing social benefits and services. This activity is called social policy. Individual countries are characterized by different welfare state models, goals, values, and groups of beneficiaries. Such a state usually supports a recovery from the difficult situation of the population, which is not, itself, able to take care of their basic needs.

Abstract
Media often report about circumcision of girls, or ‘female genital mutilation’ (FGM), in ways that present this practice as a burning social problem, albeit secretively performed among African immigrants in Europe. In this paper we discuss the construction of FGM as a widespread social problem in Europe. We contrast the public discourse on FGM with empirical data on FGM criminal court cases in Europe in order to see to what extent the public discourse agrees with evidence. We conclude that there is a discrepancy between public discourse and media representations, on one hand, and empirical evidence, on the other. We suggest that the scarcity of criminal court cases in Europe to a large extent can be explained by processes of cultural change after migration. Further, we emphasise the importance of access to context-specific knowledge during court proceedings in FGM cases.

Key words
Female circumcision, female genital mutilation, social problem, court cases, media stereotypes, risk estimates

The present article analyzes potential and limits of crowdsourcing software (mobile and web applications) as tools for civic participation. Based on an empiric study of six Russian and French civic applications, developed in response to a particular public problem (corruption, electoral falsifications, police violence and urban problems), the article proposes to address the problem of digital asymmetry from the perspective of pragmatism, STS and software studies The author focuses on the phase of design, coding and testing, and analyzes the procedures of standardization and classification necessary for developing the interfaces. While standardization seems inevitable from the technical point of view, it produces a particular form of asymmetry between the lived experience of a " trouble " and the categorical grid. Developing a civic application, coders propose a certain definition of a public problem and rectify it in the interface. The article argues that an active participation of users in the improvement of the application may help to overcome the limits and asymmetries.

Abstract
HIV/AIDS continues to be a major global public health issue. In 2015, an estimated 36.7 million people were living with HIV/AIDS virus. An estimate of more than 25.5 million people living with HIV lives in Sub-SaharanAfrica. According to the 2012 Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) report on the state of the HIV epidemic globally, Nigeria is among the 12 countries that experienced a stable rate of HIV infection within the decade 2001-2010. Today Nigeria remains the second country with highest HIV virus prevalence in the world after South Africa as for December 2016.Based on this background this paper tries to explore the historical antecedence and secrecy behind HIV/AIDS virusand its pandemic effects. Base on this it was gathered that there are secrecies surrounding the origin of the virus and justifiably the Chimpanzee and Green Monkeys’ theories are no longer the true explanations of AIDS virus. This paper used conspiracy theory as its theoretical framework and explained the Small Pox Vaccine and other related programs used against humanity by the few most powerful people in this world. Adescriptive study was carried out using secondary sources of data and the paper is built based on conspiracy theory analysis as the basis under which all the explanations revealing secrecy surrounding HIV/AIDS virus. The paper also captured other information on HIV/AIDS virus such as the mode of transmission and its prevalence in Nigeria.

Key Words: HIV/AIDS, Conspiracy, Virus, depopulation, Genocide, and Biological Warfare

В статье представлены результаты исследования риторики Федеральной службы по контролю за оборотом наркотиков России (ФСКН). Конструкционистские работы показывают, что силовые ведомства занимаются тонкой риторической игрой, одновременно демонстрируя как непреходящее значение «своей» проблемы, так и успешность ведомственных действий. В статье раскрывается, каким образом данная «двойная задача» решается ФСКН, как служба совмещает демонстрацию тяжести ситуации с потреблением наркотиков, которой она занимается, и собственной эффективности. В фокусе внимания находятся выступления и интервью директора ФСКН Виктора Иванова с января 2013 по декабрь 2014 г. Выявленные на основе конструкционистской исследовательской программы Питера Ибарры и Джона Китсьюза черты риторики ведомства – характерная терминология, формирующая образ катастрофы, и представление наркотиков как мегапроблемы, порождающей преступность, экстремизм, терроризм, пиратство и др., – позволяют утверждать, что федеральная служба использует риторическую идиому бедствия. ФСКН создала особый словарь, конструирующий катастрофический характер ситуации с потреблением наркотиков: «синтетическое наркоцунами», «амфетаминовое цунами», «героиновое цунами», «нарковулкан», «героиновый вулкан», «губительная наркотическая лава», «наркомонстр», «угроза номер один для Российской Федерации», «героиновая агрессия против населения России», «гигантская армия наркопотребителей», «планетарный наркофеномен», «10-балльный шторм синтетических наркотиков», «маковое нашествие» и так далее. При этом ФСКН использует образы как природных бедствий (цунами, извержение вулкана, наводнение), так и техногенных (применение оружия массового поражения – химического и ядерного). Однако необходимость демонстрации собственной эффективности способствует трансформации данной идиомы в риторику «контролируемого бедствия». Постоянным приемом, используемым директором ФСКН, является информирование об успехах службы непосредственно до или после заявлений о «надвигающейся опасности», «нарастающем масштабе», «крайней напряженности», «тяжести», «крайней остроте» ситуации. Для выступлений и интервью главы ведомства характерен также акцент на необходимости финансирования, связываемой со значимостью проблемы. При этом продвигаемые службой мегапроекты предполагают не только значительные масштабы финансирования, но и полный контроль ФСКН за сферой реабилитации людей, зависимых от наркотиков. Риторика контролируемого бедствия, представляющая ситуацию как катастрофическую и в то же время успешно удерживаемую под контролем, служит основанием для притязаний на расширение полномочий и финансирования.

Yasaveyev I. (2016) Ritorika kontroliruemogo bedstviya: spetsifika konstruirovaniya FSKN problemy potrebleniya narkotikov [The Rhetoric of Controlled Calamity: The Constructing of Drug Use Problem by Russian Federal Drug Control Service]. The Journal of Social Policy Studies, 1(14): 7-22 (in Russian).

The article presents the results of a constructionist study into the rhetoric used by the Federal Drug Control Service of Russia (FDCS) in their efforts to control the flow of illegal drugs. Interactionist and constructionist studies of social problems demonstrate that the leaders and press-services of law enforcement organizations usually engage in a subtle rhetorical game, highlighting both the gravity of "their" problem, and, simultaneously, the success of their actions. This research considers the question of how the FDCS takes on the challenge of this "double task", which it does through various rhetorical devices. Also under consideration is how the service combines a demonstration of the grave seriousness, with reminders of their efficacy as an agency. This study analyzed over 70 speeches delivered by head of the FDCS, Viktor Ivanov, from January, 2013 till December, 2014. The use of a strict constructionist approach from the school of Peter Ibarra and John Kitsuse revealed the key features of agency’s rhetoric: including metaphorical parallels with natural disasters, playing around with big numbers and presenting drugs as a "mega-problem" breeding crime, terrorism, extremism and piracy. These features correspond to the rhetoric of calamity. FDCS has created a special vocabulary which underlines the catastrophic character of the problem. Phrases such as "narco-tsunami", "narco volcano", "heroin volcano", "number one threat for Russia" and "a giant army of drug users" give an indication of the style employed. However, the necessity to demonstrate the efficacy of the federal service demands the transformation of this rhetorical idiom into the one of "controlled calamity" which presents the situation as catastrophic but at the same time successfully kept under control. This rhetoric constitutes the basis for the demands to increase financing and authority of the FDCS, encouraging an expansion of their funding and influence into areas such as drugs rehabilitation programmes.

The article discusses the intellectual biography of sociologist Howard S. Becker taking into account his contribution to the sociological study of social problems. Becker believes in the possibility of an objective study of the properties of social problems. However he admits that the objective properties of a phenomenon are neither sufficient nor necessary to define something as a "social problem".

Il volume presenta per la prima volta al pubblico italiano la teoria socio-logica radicale di John I. Kitsuse. Tra i primi fondatori della prospettiva della reazione sociale, Kitsuse propone una delle riflessioni più originali dell'etichettamento che guarda in particolare al controllo sociale come-modalità produttiva di definizioni e tipi sociali e principale forza di dif-ferenziazione di status. Per la prima volta disponibili in lingua italiana, i saggi compresi nel volume danno conto del vasto ventaglio di tematiche affrontate nell'intera produzione dell'autore. Dalla costruzione dei tipi "devianti" alle istituzioni educative come meccanismi selettivi, dall'analisi della costruzione dei problemi sociali allo studio delle procedure e delle attività organizzative che presiedono la produzione delle statistiche cri-minali, dalla trasformazione morale dello status dei detenuti alla mobili-tazione collettiva dei devianti e la contestazione dello stigma. Un volume imprescindibile per chi voglia comprendere quanto la realtà sociale sia dipendente dal modo in cui le istituzioni "producono" eventi, problemi e persone e ne influenzano costitutivamente il carattere morale.


John I. Kitsuse (1923-2003), tra i fondatori della prospettiva dell'eti-chettamento e figura di spicco della sociologia americana, ha insegnato nell'Università della California, sedi di Los Angeles e Santa Cruz.

Cirus Rinaldi insegna materie sociologiche presso il Dipartimento Culture e Società dell'Università di Palermo. Si occupa di teoria della devianza, con un particolare focus su interazionismo e costruzionismo (www.ciru-srinaldi.it).

The present demographic scenario of the country shows the increasing trend of mature population. According to census 2011, there are 60.3% people belonging to 15 to 59 years of age group and the percentage of people above 60+ ages is 8.6%. Our country fails to provide due respect, care, affection, security and health related facilities, which elderly people utmost require. A number of cases of adult abuses are reported in newspapers as these people are easy victims of violence and criminal activities. The society comes to know about only those problems, which are reported, the incalculable cases of disrespect and neglect are not given any consideration. The situation becomes almost worst when perpetrators are very near relatives and in some cases blood relatives also. This increasing insensitiveness is a threat to our society. Sincere efforts are needed to tackle this alarming problem. The present paper describes the problems of elderly parents who are facing such problems from their drug addict siblings.
Keywords: Drug Addicts, Elderly Abuse, Violent Offenders, Bullying against Elders.

مسائل اجتماعي عبارت از فاصله پديد آمده بين استانداردها و واقعيتهاي اجتماعي كه با واكنش آحاد جامعه  روبرو شده مي باشد. اين واكنش تحت تاثير زياد ساختار اجتماعي و فرهنگي جامعه قرار دارد، مي باشد. مسائل اجتماعي از دو بعد قابل ملاحظه مي باشند: يكي شرايط عيني اجتماعي و ديگري تفسير ذهني از آن شرايط اجتماعي كه بصورت دغدغه ها و نگرانيهاي اجتماعي متجلي مي شود. در پيمايش ملي ارزشها و نگرشها با مورد توجه قرار گرفتن بعد ذهني مسائل اجتماعي يعني اهميت آنها براي مردم، سيزده واقعيت مسئله اي در معرض قضاوت پاسخگويان قرار گرفته تا مشخص شود مسئله بودن آنها چقدر به سطح آگاهي عمومي رسيده است. اهميت مسائل مذكور براي ايرانيان موضوعي است كه در هر دو موج پيمايش در سالهاي 1378 و 1382 بدان پرداخته شده است.

One of the many challenges W.E.B. Du Bois faced in the study of African Americans was the pervasive racism that affected how social scientists acquired data on people of African descent. Moreover, the historical reality in which such data were gathered was one in which there were indications of genocidal aims on the part of the dominant population. Du Bois

The concept of vandalism is analyzed as a symbolic act. An analysis of vandalism
from a situational-positivistic, or a motivational-psychological, approach hardly gives
an understanding of vandalism as a meaningful individual and social act. A humanistic
and cultural perspective can supply ways to understand a nonprescribed behavior
such as vandalism. The original meaning of vandalism is plundering and laying
waste of a civilization's symbols and environment. This appropriation of physical environment
also occurs in the industrialized societies' urban environment and then
often is perceived as motiveless. "Free zones" develop in societies where norms
and obligations are neutralized. Vandalism is nonprescribed in that it appears in
these free zones where norms, obligations, utility, and common sense are switched
off. The environment is "marked" by damaging or destroying objects to change the
message of the physical milieu. Vandalism is a gesture of "negative honor," which
reflects a complex of feelings. Vandalism comprises two sides of an autonomy problem:
to be isolated from an unwanted membership (juvenile vandalism) and to be
free of an unwanted outside position (adult vandalism). An essential question is
which methodological and theoretical concepts a researcher in the social sciences
should use to discover the rationality of vandalism and to make it comprehensible.

Keywords: Vandalism, symbolic, free zone, negative honor, autonomy, history,
humanistic perspective.

The social map of Ro.maJJia is delineated in terms of cultural and historical cultural ·areas. These are more meBIJ.ingful rmits of analysis than bistorics.J regions. The grouping of cou:nties by cultural areas is generated function of three latent dimBDsion: soci.a1 modernity. stage of tbs demographic tnmsitiOJJ and a complez fautor called "plain cultural complex". SevereiJe811 of the local social problem.s 14 REVISTA DE CERCETARI SOCIALE 1 1 1 / 1995

In this paper, I explore how knowledge about Canada’s health care system was constructed by both opponents and proponents of American health care reform, and how this knowledge was subsequently used. I use a constructivist social problems theoretical framework in order to guide a qualitative content analysis of articles from top-circulating American newspapers. Constructivist social problems theory is relevant to this study, because different knowledges about Canada emerged out of the problematization of American health care. Proponents of American health care reform grounded their claims in a knowledge that praised Canada, while opponents of American health care reform grounded their claims in a knowledge that was critical of Canada.

The article attempts to apply the Ibarra-Kitsuse constructionist model of rhetorical idioms, counterrhetorics, motifs and claims-making styles to the LiveJournal posts about police brutality in Russia. The analysis of the blog posts evoked by the death of detainee Sergei Nazarov after rape tortures in Dalny police station (city of Kazan) in March, 2012 reveals that Nazarov’s case is considered by bloggers in the context of violence by the Russian police as a whole, that police brutality is interpreted by the blogosphere as a wide-spread phenomenon and that Nazarov’s death was the catalyst for the mainstreaming of latent tension. The main rhetorical idioms used by bloggers are the rhetoric of endangerment (danger to citizens by the police), the rhetoric of entitlement (concerning ex-prisoners) and the rhetoric of calamity (concerning Vladimir Putin’s presidency).

В статье предпринимается попытка применить конструкционистскую концепцию социальных проблем Питера Ибарры и Джона Китсьюза к записям в Интернет-блогах («Живом журнале») на тему насилия над задержанными в российской полиции. Рассмотрение записей в блогах, сделанных в течение месяца после смерти Сергея Назарова в казанском отделе полиции «Дальний», в четырех дискурсивных измерениях Ибарры и Китсьюза (риторические идиомы, контрриторические стратегии, лейтмотивы и стили конструирования социальной проблемы) позволило установить в записях о полицейском насилии наличие таких риторических форматов, как риторика опасности (гражданам со стороны полиции), риторика наделения правом (по отношению к людям, имеющим судимости) и риторика бедствия (по отношению к президентству Владимира Путина). На основе полученных результатов авторы формулируют ряд вопросов, которые могут способствовать развитию общей конструкционистской теории социальных проблем.

This qualitative study examines the role of clients in petty corruption by analyzing actual corrupt exchanges between ordinary citizens and low level public and private employees in post-communist Hungary. Using a grounded theory approach, interviews reveal how clients from different social strata deal with low-level agents in corrupt situations. Findings suggest two contrasting forms of low-level corruption: transactions where the client and the agent do not have a prior relationship and where external factors dominate the relationship; and cases with stronger social ties between the actors, where the client has more freedom to structure the transaction. However, a client's social background frequently determines the form of corrupt transaction and the form of resources illegally exchanged in the deal.

The undeniable fact is that the various social sciences and other disciplines constitute the research perspective, which relates to the practice of multidimensional phenomenon. The welfare state is an excellent example of such one, which in its nature unifies many theoretical and practical positions. It seems, however, that the economic and political dimensions of the welfare state (as conceptual or pro-social proposals) are disproportionately exposed both on the basis of scientific reflection and pragmatic approaches used by the institutions of the state. This tendency to think in economic and political terms, which incidentally is maintained for several decades, represents: (a) only one side of a complex social welfare, and (b) a significant reductionism, leading to the elimination of sociological, cultural, educational, psychological consequences of the functioning of the welfare state. This article is designed to reverse the trend of the dominant perception of the construct of the welfare state in economic and political terms, and replace it with the highlight of the mainly sociological dimension of this phenomenon (the welfare state sociology). But, it does not mean abandonment of the economic and political dimensions in general, as they are an integral part of the issue.