Section News Newsletter Features •Theory Section Mini-Conference •Critical Discourse Analysis •Newsletter Editor Change •Post-Structurationist Potential •Election Results •Theory Development

THE ASA July 2003r THEORY SECTION NEWSLETTER Perspectives VOLUME 26, NUMBER 3r Section Officers Theory Section Activities at the CHAIR Atlanta Meetings Linda D. Molm Linda D. Molm, University of Arizona CHAIR-ELECT he 2003 Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association will take Michèle Lamont place on August 16-19 in Atlanta, Georgia. Monday, August 18 is Theory PAST CHAIR TSection Day. Most Section activities are scheduled on that day, with one session — the open submission paper session — scheduled the following morning. Gary Alan Fine All Section activities will be held at the Atlanta Hilton. Below is the full schedule of SECRETARY-TREASURER sessions and other Section activities. Please plan to attend as many of these events as possible! Patricia Madoo Lengermann

COUNCIL Monday, August 18, Theory Section Day: Kevin Anderson 8:30-10:15 8:30 Theory Section Refereed Roundtables and Council Meeting (1 hr.) 9:30 Theory Section Business Meeting Robert J. Antonio Mathieu Deflem 10:30-12:15 Theory Section Mini-conference. “The Value of Theory: Classical Edward J. Lawler Theory” Cecilia L. Ridgeway See ATLANTA on page 6 Robin Stryker Editorial Change: SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY EDITOR Neil Gross Will Edit Perspectives Jonathan Turner J. David Knottnerus & Jean Van Delinder, Oklahoma State University PERSPECTIVES EDITORS his summer’s publication of Perspectives will be the final issue managed by the J. David Knottnerus & current editors. We would like to thank the ASA Theory Section for the op- Jean Van Delinder Tportunity to serve in this role for the last three years. Our tenure as editors has been a very rewarding and productive one. The main reason it has been such a positive experience is because of the contributions that you, the members of the Submit news and commentary to the theory section, have made to the newsletter. We hope that all of you have also found incoming editor: reading the newsletter to be of value. Neil Gross We would like to express our deepest appreciation to Deborah Sweet who has Department of Sociology handled all of the production of the newsletters for the past three years. Her work University of Southern California on the newsletter greatly contributed to its timely and, we believe, high quality pre- Los Angeles, CA 90089-2539 sentation. Ph: (213) 821-2331 Fax: (213) 740-3535 And we would like to thank the Department of Sociology at Oklahoma State Uni- Email: [email protected] See CHANGE on page 8 Page 2 Perspectives

What is Critical Discourse Analysis? and then passed on through teaching, univer- sity research now appears to be closely bound Sharon Harvey, Auckland University of Technology up with technological innovation for private and national economic development. The he ‘cultural turn’ in sociology has raised terests are served. It is the questions per- lexicalisation of ‘research’ in such texts brack- the question of language, text and dis- taining to interests that relate discourse ets out humanities and social science knowl- Tcourse and their instantiations in soci- to relations of power. How is the text edge, focussing instead on the creation of ety as important foci for sociologists. An im- positioned or positioning? Whose in- techno-scientific knowledge (Lyotard 1979). portant methodological approach for engag- terests are served by this positioning? ing with verbal, written and visual language/ Whose interests are negated? What are 2. Patterns of transitivity: transitivity patterns texts is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). the consequences of this positioning? explain the ‘goings on’ of constructions of CDA has developed over the last two decades Where analysis seeks to understand how reality: the doing, saying, sensing, being, be- primarily from within the disciplines of lin- discourse is implicated in relations of having and existing or happening. These ‘go- guistics, applied linguistics, and general lan- power it is called critical discourse analy- ings on’ are expressed through the grammar guage studies. It has spread widely as a re- sis. of the clause and particularly the verb. In her search method in the latter half of the nine- analysis of the transitivity patterns of an ad- ties to a range of social science and humanities Within this understanding, CDA works inter- vertisement for a retirement plan for domestic disciplines (Chouliaraki and Fairclough 1999). actively over three levels of analysis to yield a workers in post apartheid South Africa, Janks description, interpretation and explanation of (1997) is able to show the very subtle ways in CDA is most commonly associated with the social conditions and practices. Firstly, it works which the racist and paternalistic discourse of work of Norman Fairclough (see, for example, at the level of the text (this may be a verbal/ apartheid continues to work through texts 1995, 2003) whose conceptualisation of CDA written text, visual text or a mixture of both) which at first glance appear to be socially and grew out of what he terms Critical Language where the analytical tools of systemic func- racially ‘enlightened’. In this particular example, Awareness (CLA) (Fairclough 1999). The work tional linguistics (SFL) (Halliday 1985) are em- white employers are asked to consider provid- of CLA was founded around a conviction that ployed to dissect/deconstruct the text, under- ing their black workers with retirement funds with everyday life increasingly mediated and stand how it hangs together and explore how through a plan being offered by the ‘Standard organised through language it was of the ut- it might be related to the other two levels of Bank’. In order to do this, though, the black most importance that people, and especially analysis: the processes of production and in- domestic worker is constructed through pre- children, were taught how to engage critically terpretation (discourse practices) and the so- dominantly mental and relational processes with language in order to become active citi- ciocultural conditions including the situational, while the employer is constructed through zens in a democratic society. Fairclough soon institutional and societal. While there are a mainly material and verbal processes. Thus, shifted his emphasis to the more encompass- number of complicated aspects to SFL, it is the black worker says nothing and appears ing term ‘discourse’ (although CLA remains possible to perform an insightful and com- only to gain agency through her employer, in circulation) in recognition of the multi petent analysis working with the following while the employer acts and speaks indepen- semiotic nature of contemporary society, par- checklist (Janks 1997). The intention here is to dently throughout the text. Through transi- ticularly the increasing prevalence of images give readers a very introductory idea of the tivity and other devices the worker is (Kress & Van Leeuwen 1996). kind of insights CDA can provide: discoursally constructed as a child who needs to be looked after. Doing Analysis 1. Lexicalisation: this refers to the way in which Hilary Janks, in an article entitled Critical Dis- ‘content’ words and word groups, rather than 3. The use of active and passive voice: a fre- course Analysis as a Research Tool (1997), offers ‘grammar’ words such as ‘and’, ‘to’, ‘is’ etc., quently mentioned example of the effect of an explanation of the way in which CDA works are patterned throughout the text1. For ex- ‘voice’ choices is Tony Trew’s (1979, cited in to provide a potentially complex and nuanced ample lexical items such as research, science, in- Mills (1997:148)) analysis of the following analysis. Janks (1997: 329) writes: novation, developing commercial products, knowledge headline: are often chained as interchangeable synonyms Critical Discourse analysis stems from a in science and tertiary education policy docu- Rioting Blacks Shot Dead by Police as critical theory of language which sees the ments. This kind of patterning begins to ANC Leaders Meet. (The Times, 1975, use of language as a form of social prac- change understandings and practices around cited in Trew 1979: 94) tice. All social practices are tied to spe- what research is (particularly academic research). cific historical contexts and are the means Originally conceived as necessary for the devel- Trew (1979) points out that the use of the by which existing social relations are re- opment of disciplinary knowledge and as the passive voice in this instance has the effect of produced or contested and different in- flip side to teaching, i.e. knowledge is created See CDA on page 4 Perspectives is the newsletter of the Theory Section of the American Sociological Association. It is published quarterly in January, April, July, and October. The deadline for all submissions is the fifth day of the month before publication. We welcome news and commentary as well as announcements about conferences, journal information, calls for papers, position openings, and any other information of interest to section members. Perspectives Page 3

Technical Advances in General Sociological Theory: The Potential Contribution of Post-Structurationist Sociology

Charles Crothers, Auckland University of Technology

s there theoretical life in sociology after In addition to their concerns to further de- way of analytical tools to examine the variabil- Bourdieu, Giddens, and Habermas: not velop theoretical positions, the work of Ar- ity of practices. Ito mention Luhmann, Elias and an array cher (eg 1995, 1998), Mouzelis (1995) and Sewell of other recent theorists? (1992) has been particularly fueled by their si- Structurationist theorists are also concerned multaneous interest in the historical analysis with both a ‘theory of society’, which depicts A fairly standard imagery of the development of structural changes: Archer in relation to edu- in particular the key features of modernity, and of sociological theory holds that much theo- cation systems, Mouzelis in relation to the de- also with explanations of the unfolding of retical wisdom was laid down (often only partly velopment trajectory of semi-peripheral historical sequences (most notably Elias). explicitly) in the works of the various Found- Greece, and Sewell in relation to the French However, their history tends to be ‘smooth’ ing Fathers. However flawed Parsons’s exer- Revolution. In addition (and I think this is and surprise-free, unfolding without much in cise in ‘convergence’ which endeavored to com- particularly important since few sociological the way of human intervention, let alone so- bine the key insights of the founding fathers, theorists since Weber and Merton have been cial struggle. As for Weber, Giddens’ histori- it at least laid a foundation (or rather a spring- concerned with this central topic) Mouzelis has cal sociology and his theory seem almost un- board) for the more systematic development written on organizational sociology. (This con- related. Moreover, structurationists often seem of sociological theory. However, the structural- cern with the meso-level social units and social committed to a model of action in which the functional paradigm within which this theo- activities is echoed in the work of Archer and imperious present so overwhelms the pos- retical work was embedded, and which charac- Sewell.) sible rational guidance of their activities that terized the ‘golden age’ of sociology, broke people tend to continually roll-out their stan- apart in the 1960s and 1970s into a spectrum While the work of the post-structurationists dard, habitual behaviour, or perhaps behavior of macro- and micro-sociological positions. is in part in dialogue with the Founding Fa- guided by their well-entrenched thought-pat- thers, with Parsons, and with those theorists terns: habitus, practical reason or the uncon- In the next stage of the trajectory of develop- who were active in commenting on Parsons – scious. ment of sociological theory the ‘structuration- especially Lockwood’s famous distinction be- ists’ developed various attempts to pull socio- tween social and systems integration (a later Despite a basic commonality, there are also logical theory together and to reintegrate differ- development of his earlier work is Lockwood considerable differences in the emphasis of ent strands of theorising, but they, in turn, 1992). But the most immediate concern of various structurationists on agency as opposed each ran into insurmountable difficulties which the post-structurationists is to rework the flaw- to structure. For Giddens, each agential mo- have yet to be entirely identified let alone re- ed efforts of Bourdieu and Giddens and oth- ment is fragile and fateful, with the choice of solved. There is a large secondary literature on ers of that generation. structural reproduction almost always clung Bourdieu, Giddens and other theorists of this to in the face of the desperation invoked by generation but rather too much of this is main- The key thrust of many theorists of the sec- threats to a persons’s ontological security. On ly descriptive commentary and exegesis which ond ‘post-Parsons’, structurationist, genera- the other hand, Bourdieu tends to see action does not necessarily directly advance general tion has been to deal more explicitly with the as almost entirely rolled-out as a result of struc- sociological theory. But it is also within this various dichotomous choices which confront tural forces, which are then endlessly repro- literature that more technical analytical work sociological theorizing, especially concerning duced. None of the structurationists can pro- has been developed, particularly in British so- action v structure and micro v macro. Bourdieu vide an analytical account which carefully dis- ciology, and this has begun to put together a and Giddens are the main theorists of this sects unfolding situations and depicts the struc- post-structurational sociology of considerable theory generation. (The key theoretical work tural and agential features which shape the power. Here I trace through the development of Giddens remains 1984 and for Bourdieu types of response which are made. By too of these strands of technical commentary and 1998.) Besides these two key theorists there quickly foreclosing the theoretical issues try to point to ways in which it might be re- are major refractions of their approach in the around the interaction between agency and worked into a more user-friendly theoretical work of others such as Habermas and Elias. structure the structurationists fail to provide a program. The ‘structurationists’ clamped action and useful handling of this antimony: despite their structure together in a notion of ‘practice’ or loud protests that they have succeeded. Parker (2000) provides a useful overview. In ‘practises’. Practises intertwine these two lev- this paper I will extend his treatment to a wider els in the continuing reproduction of struc- The post-structurationists are engaged in de- range of concerns and to at least point to the ture through agency. veloping both the form and content of a more need to consider, both other structurationist adequate sociological theory that can address theorists (e.g. Habermas, Elias) and post- However, beyond providing a generalized pic- the important theoretical issues. They share a structurationist theorists (e.g. Sewell, Alex- ture of what is involved with practices neither commitment to the need for understanding ander). Giddens nor Bourdieu provide much in the social life as relatively open-ended and emer- See TECHNICAL on page 6 Page 4 Perspectives

CDA from page 2 modern equipment” (Tertiary Education Ad- pronominalisation, ellipsis and various types drawing attention away from the police who visory Commission [TEAC] 2001: 21). How- of conjunctions. did the shooting. By describing the Blacks as ever, this obligation is substantially hedged in rioting and placing them in initial position, the next sentence so that the government is Janks (1997) suggests working through these Trew (1979) argues that a value judgement is not overwhelmed with demands to fund ac- points systematically and this is good advice made over who is responsible for the trouble. cess to the latest information and modern to researchers who are not familiar with the The use of the active voice has a very different equipment: different components of critical discourse effect on the reader: Police Shoot Blacks. In analysis. More practised researchers, however, this case the police clearly appear as the guilty While it may not be necessary for them to may choose to use the checklist more as a party. have access to cutting-edge technology, prompt for ideas. Often particularly salient dis- they must have resources that enable cursive devices will be obvious to the practiced 4. The use of nominalisation: this refers to them to undertake investigations at a researcher. the process of ‘pushing’ potentially lengthy level comparable to most overseas research- and complex processes into noun phrases in ers. (TEAC 2001: 21) Linking the levels order to communicate meaning as efficiently A second level of analysis is the context of as possible. Heavy nominalisation is associ- 7. The thematic structure of the text: in En- production and reception of the text: how, ated with writing rather than speaking and is glish, the theme is considered to be the most where, when, why and by whom was this text frequently found in scientific texts but is also important information and is realised through generated? What other texts is it related to, characteristic of a wide range of other formal first position at the level of the clause and at what effects did it produce, how did people or official texts. Nominalisation is more likely higher levels of text organisation, e.g. often in react to it, what action was taken, what other to exclude readers outside the immediate dis- opening paragraphs, first sentences of para- texts were generated, how and in what way course group because it is more difficult to graphs. What comes after the theme is called did it change social practices? Threadgold (in understand. J.R. Martin (1993), for example, the rheme. Theme selection will indicate the Kamler 1997) makes a case for a much more contrasts the nominalisation of a discussion structure of a text as well as the subjects con- intensive understanding of the situational topic: Innovative Fisheries Management with how sidered important by the writer. In the most context through detailed ethnographic analy- it might be expressed using spoken grammar: recent New Zealand Tertiary Education Strat- sis. egy 2002/2007 (Ministry of Education 2002) …the speakers are going to talk to us the authors constantly thematise economic de- The third level of analysis is at the socio-po- about what people are doing in various velopment, whereas some might argue that litical level where salient features of a particular parts of the country to stop people the emphasis in an educational policy docu- text or texts are linked with large-scale shifts in catching too many fish and to help fish ment should be educational and social. society. In New Zealand, for example, the de- reproduce better so that some day there velopment of a new public policy lexicon fol- are lots and we can catch more. (Martin 8. The information focus: this refers to how lowed the election of successive neoliberal gov- 1993:130) information is structured within the text to ernments from 1984 –1999. Certain words achieve specific goals. For example, Terry became available to describe activity in the public 5. Choices of mood: this refers to the three Threadgold (in Kamler 1997: 439) describes sector that had not previously been used in grammatical moods of English: interrogative, research by one of her postgraduate students. that context. ‘Contestability’ was such a word. declarative and imperative. Fairclough (2000) The research showed that Under the influence of Public Choice Theory has pointed out how systematic preferences (see, for example, Olssen 2000) the construc- can be significant. For example, official docu- …in the rape narratives that women tell, tion of markets where they had never formerly ments which are supposed to be consultative they are always the goal, the affected par- existed (tertiary education, health, public sci- can be overwhelmingly declarative in their ticipant, but the minute the narrative is ence) and the concomitant decoupling of mood, thus telling rather than asking readers translated into a courtroom setting what policy advice and policy implementation de- how things are or should be. happens is that it becomes an ergative manded new modes of organisation. Rather story, and the woman is transformed than being funded for a particular work 6. Choices of modality and polarity: this refers grammatically and rhetorically into the programme, institutions were required to com- to degrees of certainty and uncertainty in the medium, the cause, the source of the petitively bid for funding in contestable text. Fairclough (2000) explains that there are violence… ‘rounds’. Contestability and its new public two sides to modality: truth and obligation. policy meanings as well as other related terms Commitment to the truth can be unqualified 9. Cohesion: textual cohesion refers to links such as outputs, transparency, accountability, and definite or hedged to various degrees. across discourse beyond the level of the sen- consumers (previously students and patients) tence and sometimes the text itself. This is became so prevalent that it was difficult to re- In a document arguing for change in the New realised through a number of different de- member the language and words used prior Zealand tertiary education system (and vices, including lexicalisation (the way words to 1984. Jane Kelsey (1997) in her book docu- emphasising the need for high technological relate to each other either through reiteration menting New Zealand’s structural readjust- capability) the obligation modality is categori- or metonymy through a text) and theme/ ments wrote an appendix entitled: ‘A Manual cal to begin with: “It is vital that researchers are rheme relations. Texts also cohere through a for Counter-technopols’. One of the points able to access the latest information and use number of grammatical features, for example, See CDA on page 7 Perspectives Page 5

New Science and Old Method: Institutionaliz- Theories have excess empirical content (Pop- per 1958). In that sense, they often imply pre- ing Theory Development in Sociology viously unobserved phenomena and can sug- gest how to observe them.5 In that regard, by Henry A. Walker, University of Arizona theories cannot solve the problem of percep- tual incapacity but they can resolve some ques- “Theories are nets cast to catch what we call ‘the world’ . . . We endeavor to make the mesh ever finer tions it raises. Chaotic phenomena present dif- and finer.” (K. Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery, 1958[1934]) ferent challenges. How can theorists classify such phenomena? Is the failure to discern a heories are the lifeblood of science. They express general understandings of patterned pattern a matter of perceptual incapacity? Is relations and are dynamic. They are revised and refined continuously. Sociology is an the failure to devise rules that generate chaotic Texciting and vibrant discipline. Members of our profession collect and analyze moun- phenomena evidence of computational irre- tains of data and produce thousands of article-length manuscripts annually. Despite its pro- ducibility? At what point do theorists declare ductivity, informed observers claim that sociology is not a high-consensus, rapidly-developing computational irreducibility? How many un- science (Collins 1994). A principal criticism is that sociological theory is underdeveloped. As a successful “theories” are required before a dec- consequence, our findings do not cohere; sociological knowledge is episodic rather than cumu- laration is made? Standard theoretical meth- lative (Davis 1994). I will not use this essay to revisit recent debates about the state of theory ods do not resolve this problem either but development.1 Instead, I focus on the importance of institutionalizing a strategy for theory they do offer a way around it. development. Institutionalizing a Strategy for Theory Science Without Consensus or Cumulation? Development Many theorists assume that the complexity of theoretical explanations varies with the complex- I have discussed a strategy for theory develop- ity of the phenomena they explain. The assumption underlies the claim that social behavior is ment elsewhere and will offer only a brief too complex, mutable, and chaotic to permit explanation by general, ahistorical theories (Cole sketch here (Walker 2002). Theorists typically 1994; Gergen 1973). Stephen Wolfram’s (2002) most recent work shows that the claim is false. begin theoretical work by analyzing narrowly constrained situations. Theorists “push” their Wolfram’s A New Kind of Science (NKS) is remarkable for several reasons including its length.2 theories by relaxing scope restrictions, employ- Critics have praised and panned NKS but it makes several points that ought to inspire sociolo- ing more precise predicates, and analyzing gist-theorists and bolster a discipline whose status as a theoretical science is insecure. For ex- more complex settings after they develop ample, NKS systematically documents a key insight from studies of chaotic phenomena: Suc- good understandings of simple situations. 3 cessive application of simple rules can generate chaotic behavior. NKS’s documentation of the As an example, network exchange theorists capacity of simple rules to generate complex phenomena contravenes the complex-phenom- initially studied exchanges in exclusively-con- ena-require-complex-explanations hypothesis. The observation ought to make optimists of nected triads (Willer 1999). In subsequent pessimists who doubt the capacity of sociology to explain complex social phenomena. studies they looked at networks with more exchange partners, new types of network con- Wolfram’s claim to have “discovered” a new kind of science rests on an important innovation. nections, and combinations of connections. NKS uses very simple computer programs rather than more complex mathematical statements to express the rules that generate both patterned and chaotic phenomena. The book is full of Theory programs that generate a succession compelling examples of simple programs that replace more complex systems of equations. of arguments that apply to situations with Sociologists should welcome this innovation. It promises to make theoretical work easier for increasingly broad scope, greater complexity, those of us who have difficulty translating complex, natural-language arguments into math- and more precise relational operators eventu- 4 ematical equations. ally imply extremely complex, perhaps chaotic, phenomena. That is the experience of research New Science and an Old Method in the physical sciences where, for example, the NKS is not all good news. Wolfram points to two problems associated with very complex and standard physical model encounters more chaotic behavior. First, some patterns are too complex for humans or their measuring instru- anomalies as analysis approaches either the ments to detect. I label this the problem of perceptual incapacity. Second, Wolfram speculated “big bang” or the “big crunch.” However, in that some complex behavior present problems of computational irreducibility. Some phenomena such cases, the conditions under which chaos are so complex, so chaotic, that any set of arguments (i.e., a theory), that might explain them occurs are known. The phenomena can be re- would be as complex as the phenomena. Consequently, theoretical analysis would prove un- produced. fruitful; it would fail to provide computational advantage. My simple description of theoretical method Unobserved patterns and unpatterned phenomena raise a crucial methodological question: represents a very different strategy than ob- What method can theorists use to explain either unpatterned behavior or unobservable behav- serving complex or apparently chaotic behav- ior patterns? Wolfram’s new science fails to discuss methods that might resolve the issue. ior and trying to devise rules to explain it. So- NKS’s ommission is as important its principal themes. I claim that Wolfram does not discuss ciology cannot implement a progressive theory- new methods because theory is the method of basic science and the mature sciences have institutionalized a strategy of theory development. See NEW SCIENCE on page 7 Page 6 Perspectives

TECHNICAL from page 3 tion and which can be altered by action). Her reformulated to become less concerned with main concern is to indicate how institutional exegesis and more with providing useful ad- gent. The task of theory, accordingly, is one of structures (such as educational systems) emerge vice to theorists and theoretically-sophisticated providing a variety of conceptual tools – in- as the result of long chains of socially shaped analysts. deed a tool-kit- which can be combined in vari- individual choices which get built into institu- ous (structured as opposed to eclectic) ways in tional frames, which in turn shape those My concern with these comments has been to order to generate adequate analyses of particu- choices which result in further institutional use very broad brush-strokes to draw the at- lar social situations. evolution. tention of a (mainly American) audience to a stream of technical advancement in social But they differ in the specificities of how they Sewell’s contribution is briefer and more pro- theory (mainly from British theory commen- go about advancing theory. grammatic, seeking to breathe more analytical tators). Clearly, the host of necessary qualifica- strength into Giddens’s schema. He suggests tions would have bogged me down, but just Mouzelis abjures sociological theory from be- in particular that conceptual structures (culture) as importantly these need to be added into coming further entangled in the thickets of and resources are (almost always) inter-locked the discussion. I do hope, though, that oth- philosophical issues: what the nature of social and that collective actors must be invoked to ers will see the potential in this line of work. reality is should concern sociologists less than animate any sociological understanding. the variations in its character. His approach is References to take a series of theoretical issues (arising in A further, but less direct, link lies with the Archer, MS. 1995. Realist Social Theory: A Mor- the work of an array of predecessors includ- neo-functionalist thinking of Alexander et al, phological Approach Cams: CUP. ing Marx, Parsons, Giddens and Bourdieu), which has also attempted to show various of Archer, MS (1988) Culture and Agency Cams: CUP. the ways in which culture and social structure Bourdieu, P. 1998. Practical Reason. Cams: Polity. and for each, after delineating the opposing Crothers, C. 1997. Social Structure. Lons: inter-relate and the ways in which social actors viewpoints, to nicely articulate a mediated ver- Routledge. sion which begins to sort out some of the and groupings shape institutional develop- Giddens, A. 1984. The Constitution of Society. Cams: conceptual confusion. Archer more bravely ment and are in turn shaped by these develop- Polity. engages with broader philosophical writings ments. Lockwood, D. 1992. Solidarity and Schism: ‘The and attempts to delineate more acute onto- Problem of Disorder’ in Durkheimian and Marx- logical distinctions within the array of social The work of the post-structurationists has ist Sociology. Oxford: Clarendon Press. reality. Her approach is highly deductive, work- been useful in reinforcing that there is still work Mouzelis, N. 1995. Sociological Theory: What Went ing her way (rather laboriously it must be ad- to do in general sociological theory and that Wrong? Lons: Routledge. Parker, J. 2000. Structuration. Buckingham: Open mitted) through a cascade of distinctions. sustained and detailed attention can yield tech- nical advances in better solving some of the University Press. Sewell, W. Jr. 1992. A Theory of Structure: dual- central issues which continue to plague theo- For Mouzelis, any sociological analysis must ity, agency, and transformation” American Jour- retical discussions in sociology. However, this separately, but simultaneously, deal with sev- nal of Sociology 98: 1-29. eral levels of social activity (briefly the macro, literature is widely scattered and needs to be meso and micro). At each level there are vari- ATLANTA from page 1 ous actors who engage with each other (in the general manner indicated by Bourdieu) in so- Organizers: Ira J. Cohen and Linda D. Molm cial games (played out over real-time, shaped Panelists: Margaret Somers, Charles Tilly, Bryan Turner, Eviatar Zerubavel in large part by part events, and with emergent Commentators: Cecilia L. Ridgeway and Charles Lemert effects) which revolve around the production and distribution of various forms of capital. 2:30-4:30 Theory Section Mini-conference. “The Value of Theory: Formal Theory” Different fields are autonomous and operate Organizers: Cecilia L. Ridgeway and Linda D. Molm differently although they can be analyzed in Panelists: Lynn Smith-Lovin, Michael Hechter, Michael Macy, Joseph Berger similar ways. At all levels, actors can operate Commentators: Dorothy Smith and Ira J. Cohen within the framing pre-provided by the exist- ing system, or can operate reflexively, outside 4:30-6:15 Theory Section Mini-conference. “The Value of Theory: Critical Theory” of the immediate shaping of the rules. Organizers: Charles Lemert and Dorothy Smith Panelists: Charles Lemert, Audrey Sprenger, Shana Cohen, Douglas Sadao Aoki, Jonathan Archer’s schema are far more abstract and com- Cutler, Sharon Rosenberg plex. Her main thrust is to analytically separate Commentators: Ira J. Cohen and Cecilia L. Ridgeway social actitivities into endless temporal cycles in which structure predisposes action, but in 6:30 p.m. Theory Section Reception (joint with the Sociology of Culture Section) which action then either reproduces or elabo- rates either social or cultural structure or both. Tuesday, August 19: She provides a careful analysis of the char- 8:30 a.m. Theory Section Paper Session: “Recent Advances in Theory” acteristics of persons and also of structures Organizer: Jane Sell (which are essentially anything which exists Presenters: Blane DaSilva, David Willer, Guillermina Jasso, Carl W. Roberts, Yong Wang, before action, has the potential to shape ac- Anne W. Esacove, Aaron M. Beim Perspectives Page 7

CDA from page 4 NEW SCIENCE from page 5 Walker, Henry A. 2002. “Three Faces of Ex- referred to this increasing colonisation of the building strategy instantly but it can achieve planation: A Strategy for Building Cumu- language. Her advice was: the ideal by following a series of steps. First, lative Knowledge.” Chapter 2 in Jacek sociologists must decide that “theory” cannot Szmatka, Michael Lovaglia & Kinga Resist market-speak – maintain control of be whatever we choose it to be. Classical writ- Wysienska (eds.), The Growth of Social Knowl- the language, challenge its capture, and ings can include theoretical statements but not edge: Theory, Simulation, and Empirical Re- refuse to convert your discourse to all classical writing is theoretical. The same is search in Group Processes. Westport, CT: theirs…. (Kelsey 1997 p. 396) true of other “approaches” to theory and we Praeger. must not hesitate to say so. Second, more so- Willer, David. 1996. “The Prominence of For- Theoretical Underpinnings ciologists must learn to create theoretical ex- mal Theory in Sociology.” Sociological Fo- Theoretically, CDA is most closely associated planations and we must routinize the “meth- rum 11:319-331. with the work of Michel Foucault. Sara Mills od” employed in more successful sciences. We ______. 1999. Network Exchange Theory. (1997: 150) writes: must test and revise or replace inadequate for- Westport CT: Praeger. mulations. Third, we must understand why Wolfram, Stephen. 2002. A New Kind of Sci- Fairclough argues that Foucault’s work earlier attempts at theory building have been ence. Champaign, IL: Wolfram Media. on discourse can be usefully drawn on unsuccessful. We cannot begin with theories Zelditch, Morris & Henry A. Walker. Forth- by linguists for two main insights: ‘1. of chaotic behavior. We have tried to create coming. “The Legitimacy of Regimes.” To the constitutive nature of discourse – general theories of the buzzing, blooming appear in Shane Thye & Edward J. Lawler discourse constitutes the social, includ- confusion of social life from whole cloth. Our (eds.), Advances in Group Processes, Vol. 20. ing ‘objects’ and social subjects; 2. the critics point correctly to those failures. The first Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. primacy of interdiscursivity and inter- theory nets are, of necessity, coarsely woven Zhao, Shanyang. 1996. “The Beginning of the textuality – any discursive practice is de- and limited in scope. Finally, we must institu- End or the End of the Beginning? The fined by its relations with others, and tionalize the strategy employed by mature sci- Theory Construction Movement Revis- draws upon others in complex ways. ences and reward those who use it. We institu- ited.” Sociological Forum 11:305-318. tionalize the strategy by showing how theory In a more recent publication: Discourse in Late does more than create knowledge. We can show Endnotes Modernity: Rethinking Critical Discourse Analy- how developments in basic science can inform 1. See recent exchanges in Hage (1994), a spe- sis (Chouliaraki & Fairclough 1999), CDA is work in related applied and engineering fields.6 cial issue of Sociological Forum (June 1994) attributed a wide range of theoretical influ- and the Zhao-Willer exchange (Willer ences. The authors advocate a transdisciplinary Institutionalizing the idea that theory is the 1996; Zhao 1996). research agenda where these different theoreti- method of science and making theory devel- 2. The book runs more than twelve hundred cal approaches remain in dialogue without one opment common practice has benefits beyond pages of text, illustrations, notes and ref- dominating over the other. For example, a Bor- scientific understanding. It will relieve sociolo- erences. dieuean ‘constructivist structuralism’ approach gists of a duty that our comrades in the physi- 3. Space limitations lead me to make a gross to understanding social life is favoured as: cal sciences have escaped. We will no longer oversimplification: Chaotic behavior is char- take or teach theory courses or write essays on acterized by its apparent randomness and …a way of seeing and researching social theoretical methods. seeming unpredictability. life as both constrained by social struc- 4. Wolfram used a finely-tuned publicity cam- tures, and an active process of pro- References paign to promote his (self-published) book duction which transforms social struc- Cole, Stephen. 1994. “Why Sociology Doesn’t and the proposals it contains. Most assur- tures. (Chouliaraki & Fairclough 1999:1) Make Progress Like the Natural Sciences.” edly some criticism of his work is tied to Sociological Forum 9:133-154. his self promotion. His immodesty aside, This is set against the work of Giddens (1994) Collins, Randall. 1994. “Why the Social Sci- the proposal to replace mathematical state- and others theorising globalisation and social ences Won’t Become High-Consensus, ments with computer programs is revolu- change in late modernity. Bell’s (1978) work Rapid-Discovery Science.” Sociological Forum tionary and revolutions are rarely led by on postindustrialism is significant as is Lash 9:155-177. modest individuals. Widespread adoption and Urry (1994), Bernstein (1990, 1996), Davis, James A. 1994. “What’s Wrong with of his proposal might turn out to be as Lyotard (1979), and centrally, the SFL work of Sociology?” Sociological Forum 9: 179-197. important to scientific practice as the earlier Michael Halliday (1985). Gergen, Kenneth J. 1973. “Social Psychology shift from natural language to mathemati- as History.” Journal of Personality and Social cal statements. Fairclough’s CDA has been labelled by some Psychology 26:309-20. 5. Consider relativity theory’s prediction of as postmodern (Threadgold in Kamler 1997) Hage, Jerald. 1994. Formal Theory in Sociology: shifts in the perihelion of Mercury. and many of his theoretical references suggest Opportunity or Pitfall? Albany, NY: SUNY 6. The legitimacy of practices and procedures this orientation. Alistair Pennycook (2001) has Press. is enhanced by demonstrations of their observed, however, that the work of Fair- Popper, Karl R. 1958[1934]. The Logic of Sci- efficiency and effectiveness (Zelditch and clough and other CDA researchers is funda- entific Discovery. New York: Basic Books. Walker forthcoming). mentally modernist in its approach. That is, it See CDA on page 8 Page 8 Perspectives

CDA from page 7 ages: The Grammar of Visual Design. London: Pennycook, A. 2001. Critical Applied Linguistics: Routledge. A Critical Introduction. London: Lawrence claims a scientific objectivity for its analyses Lash, S. & J. Urry. 1994. Economics of Signs and Erlbaum Associates. which precludes its claims to postmodernity. Spaces. London: Sage. Tertiary Education Advisory Commission. 2001. For example, Ruth Wodak (1996:20, cited in Lyotard, J. F. 1979. The Postmodern Condition: A Shaping the Funding Strategy: Fourth Report of the Pennycook 2001:36) writes that CDA is: “a Report on Knowledge. Translated by Geoff Tertiary Education Advisory Comission. socially committed scientific paradigm. CDA Bennington and Brian Massumi, 1984. Min- Wellington: Tertiary Education Advisory Com- is not less ‘scientific’ than other linguistic ap- neapolis: University of Minnesota. mission. Martin, J.R. 1993. ‘A Contextual Theory of Lan- Trew, T. 1979. ‘Theory and ideology at work’. proaches.” CDA claims that it can prove, guage’. Pp 116-136 in B. Cope & M. Kalantzis Pp. 94-116 in R. Fowler et al. Language and through analysis, what the text is ‘really do- (eds) The Powers of Literacy: A Genre Approach Control, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. ing’, whose dominant ideology is being to Teaching Writing. London and Washington: Wodak, R. 1996. Disorders of Discourse. London: brought to bear and in what way. Moreover, The Falmer Press. Longman. the CDA theorists consistently infer the exist- Mills, S. 1997. Discourse. London & New York: ence of an ideal space outside ideology; that Routledge. Footnotes “…power distorts real communication” Ministry of Education. 2002. Tertiary Education 1 Some words fall between these two extremes (Pennycook 2001:87). Pennycook (2001) takes Strategy 2002/2007, Wellington: New Zealand and perform both functions. Michael a postmodern position that there is no inno- Ministry of Education. McCarthy (1991) describes discourse Olssen, M. 2000. The Neoliberal appropriation cent space for discourse outside questions of organising or signalling words which perform of tertiary education policy: accountability, both grammar and content functions e.g. in a power. In his view, critical discourse analysis research and academic freedom. ACCESS: needs rather to be seen as a situated political problem-solution text words such as problem, Critical Perspectives on Cultural and Policy Studies responses, crisis, dilemma and solution may give practice which generates complex and subtle in Education. Vol.19, No.2, 9 - 70. indications of larger text patterns. interpretations and readings, none of which are ‘true’ but which may nonetheless prove useful and compelling in their own right. ASA ELECTION RESULTS

References Bell, D. 1978. The Cultural Contradictions of Capi- Chair-Elect: Murray Webster talism. NY: Free Press. Council Members: J. David Knottnerus, Uta Gerhardt Bernstein, B. 1990. The Structuring of Pedagogic Discourse: Class Codes and Control. vol. IV, Lon- CHANGE from page 1 don: Routledge. ______. 1996. Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Iden- versity and its Head, Charles Edgley, for their support of Perspectives. Without the department’s tity. London: Taylor & Francis. help, especially that of Chuck Edgley’s, editing the newsletter would have been a much more Chouliaraki, L. & N. Fairclough. 1999. Discourse difficult and time-consuming task. in Late Modernity: Rethinking Critical Discourse Analysis. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Finally, the Publications Committee of the ASA Theory Section has selected Neil Gross, Uni- Press. versity of Southern California, as incoming editor of the section newsletter. We congratulate Fairclough, N. 1992. Discourse and Social Change. London: Polity. Neil and wish him the best of luck. We are certain that he will do an excellent job in his tenure ______. 1995. Critical Discourse Analysis: The as editor and urge all of you to contact him with your contributions, announcements, sugges- Critical Study of Language. London: Longmans. tions, etc. ______. 1999. Global capitalism and critical awareness of language Language Awareness. We close with a brief biographical statement and contact information for Neil. Vol. 8, No. 2, 71–83. ______. 2000. New Labour, New Language? Lon- Neil Gross (Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2002) is an assistant professor of sociol- don & New York: Routledge. ogy at the University of Southern California. He is currently writing a book about love and ______. 2003. Analyzing Discourse: Textual Analy- intimacy in late modernity. He is co-editor and co-translator (with Robert Alun Jones) of an sis for Social Research. NY: Routledge. Giddens, A. 1994. Beyond Left and Right. Cam- English translation of Emile Durkheim’s recently discovered 1883-4 lycee lecture course on bridge: Polity Press. philosophy, to be published in 2004 by Cambridge University Press. Recent publications Halliday, M. 1985. An Introduction to Functional include: “Richard Rorty’s Pragmatism: A Case Study in the Sociology of Ideas” (Theory & Grammar. London: Edward Arnold. Society 2003 32:93-148); “Becoming a Pragmatist Philosopher: Status, Self-Concept, and Intel- Janks, H. 1997. Critical discourse analysis as a lectual Choice” (American Sociological Review 2002 67:52-76); “Intimacy as a Double-Edged Phe- research tool. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural nomenon? An Empirical Test of Giddens” (Social Forces 2002 81:531-555, with Solon Simmons); Politics of Education Vol. 18, No. 3, 329–341. “The New Sociology of Ideas” (pp. 236-249 in the Blackwell Companion to Sociology 2001, J. Blau, Kamler, B. 1997. Interview with Terry editor, with Charles Camic); and “Contemporary Developments in Sociological Theory: Cur- Threadgold. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural rent Projects and Conditions of Possibility” (Annual Review of Sociology 1998 24:453-476, with Politics of Education. Vol.18, No. 3, 437-451. Kelsey, J. 1997. The New Zealand Experiment: A Charles Camic). World Model for Structural Adjustment? Auckland: Auckland University Press. Neil Gross, Department of Sociology, University of Southern California, Los Kress, G. & T. van Leeuwen. 1996. Reading Im- Angeles CA 90089-2539