Graham Scambler

Originally published in 1984, this book focuses, firstly, on how patients interpret and act in response to symptoms of illness; secondly on how social and psychological factors influence the treatment process; and thirdly, on certain kinds of illness where the psychosocial perspective is of particular importance to the providers of health care – for example, chronic or particularly disabling illnesses. It demonstrates how essential it is to bring an interdisciplinary perspective from the social and behavioural sciences to an understanding and interpretation of behaviour in relation to illness. It will be of central concern to all health professionals in training and in practice and to social scientists interested in health care.

Originally published in 1984, this book focuses, firstly, on how patients interpret and act in response to symptoms of illness; secondly on how social and psychological factors influence the treatment process; and thirdly, on certain kinds of illness where the psychosocial perspective is of particular importance to the providers of health care – for example, chronic or particularly disabling illnesses. It demonstrates how essential it is to bring an interdisciplinary perspective from the social and behavioural sciences to an understanding and interpretation of behaviour in relation to illness. It will be of central concern to all health professionals in training and in practice and to social scientists interested in health care.

Drawing on a wide range of social theory, as well as empirical inputs from studies of work, neighbourhoods, events, meeting places and online self-help groups, this book suggests that communal forms are constructed on the basis of communicative, material, biographic-cultural, practice-based, and situational layers. The concept of community has long provided an important point of departure for the discipline of sociology, with the conflicting conceptions of community before and into modernity embodied in Ferdinand Tönnies’ Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft and in Emile Dürkheim’s Mechanical and Organic Solidarity, providing the focus for debate. Other contributors have maintained an interest in communities as communions, interactional competencies, symbolic identification, tribal connection, and more recently communication. Drawing on such theoretical contributions, as well as empirical inputs, the authors develop a more nuanced concept of community, based on the notion that it is constructed from several different layers. This concept is then presented as a sociological toolbox with which to fuel approaches to examining societal challenges and change. Providing a fresh approach to a core sociological question that also has a wider societal relevance, Communal Forms will be of interest to scholars and students concerned with social issues, and for those with a more general interest in community, society and its development over time.

Margaret Archer’s contribution to the development of sociological theory has been significant and lasting. This volume by Graham Scambler offers both an account of her evolving body of work over time and an appraisal of its salience for contemporary sociological theory and practice. The author demonstrates how Archer’s work drew on Roy Bhaskar’s critical realist philosophy while displaying a strong streak of independence and originality, making a compelling case for why her work warrants wider consideration within the sociological community. The book begins by offering four expository chapters, tracing the evolution of Archer’s thinking from her studies of national education systems conducted in France with Bourdieu’s research team to her later expansive work on aspects of the morphogenetic society. It explores Archer’s commitment to a realist approach throughout her work and traces the inspiration of the critical realist tradition. The second part of the book explores debates, critical responses, and empirical applications of Archer’s work. Accessibly written and clearly elucidating Archer’s work and the debates and applications it has given rise to, it will appeal to scholars and students of Critical Realism, sociological theory, and the philosophy of social science.

Margaret Archer’s contribution to the development of sociological theory has been significant and lasting. This volume by Graham Scambler offers both an account of her evolving body of work over time and an appraisal of its salience for contemporary sociological theory and practice. The author demonstrates how Archer’s work drew on Roy Bhaskar’s critical realist philosophy while displaying a strong streak of independence and originality, making a compelling case for why her work warrants wider consideration within the sociological community. The book begins by offering four expository chapters, tracing the evolution of Archer’s thinking from her studies of national education systems conducted in France with Bourdieu’s research team to her later expansive work on aspects of the morphogenetic society. It explores Archer’s commitment to a realist approach throughout her work and traces the inspiration of the critical realist tradition. The second part of the book explores debates, critical responses, and empirical applications of Archer’s work. Accessibly written and clearly elucidating Archer’s work and the debates and applications it has given rise to, it will appeal to scholars and students of Critical Realism, sociological theory, and the philosophy of social science.

Can society be healthy, and how? Is Britain a ‘healthy society’ in the 21st century? When people ponder health, they usually consider the health of the individual, but individuals co-exist in a social environment so attention should be placed on the health of communities and populations. Re-examining health, healthcare and societal health using the latest data and research, this book provides a clear, accessible account of the current state of play. Addressing definitions of health in individuals, communities and populations, definitions of society itself, changes in health over time and the contribution of healthcare to health and longevity, it also suggests ways of effectively tackling obstacles to improving health and healthcare in 21st century Britain.

Can society be healthy, and how? Is Britain a ‘healthy society’ in the 21st century? When people ponder health, they usually consider the health of the individual, but individuals co-exist in a social environment so attention should be placed on the health of communities and populations. Re-examining health, healthcare and societal health using the latest data and research, this book provides a clear, accessible account of the current state of play. Addressing definitions of health in individuals, communities and populations, definitions of society itself, changes in health over time and the contribution of healthcare to health and longevity, it also suggests ways of effectively tackling obstacles to improving health and healthcare in 21st century Britain.

This book argues that sport in the era of global or financialised capitalism has undergone a process of fracturing, which requires a re-assessment of longstanding and consensual accounts of traditional-to-modern sporting activity. Considering rival concepts of sport, it presents detailed, illustrative studies of various types of sporting or athletic activity – including soccer, cricket, rugby and track and field – to advance an alternative sociological understanding of sport rooted in the philosophies and theories of critical realism and critical theory. As such, A Critical Realist Theory of Sport will appeal to scholars of sociology and social theory with interests in sport, research methods and critical realist thought.

This book argues that sport in the era of global or financialised capitalism has undergone a process of fracturing, which requires a re-assessment of longstanding and consensual accounts of traditional-to-modern sporting activity. Considering rival concepts of sport, it presents detailed, illustrative studies of various types of sporting or athletic activity – including soccer, cricket, rugby and track and field – to advance an alternative sociological understanding of sport rooted in the philosophies and theories of critical realism and critical theory. As such, A Critical Realist Theory of Sport will appeal to scholars of sociology and social theory with interests in sport, research methods and critical realist thought.

Professor Margaret Archer is a leading critical realist and major contemporary social theorist. This edited collection seeks to celebrate the scope and accomplishments of her work, distilling her theoretical and empirical contributions into four sections which capture the essence and trajectory of her research over almost four decades. Long fascinated with the problem of structure and agency, Archer’s work has constituted a decade-long engagement with this perennial issue of social thought. However, in spite of the deep interconnections that unify her body of work, it is rarely treated as a coherent whole. This is doubtless in part due to the unforgiving rigour of her arguments and prose, but also a byproduct of sociology’s ongoing compartmentalisation. This edited collection seeks to address this relative neglect by collating a selection of papers, spanning Archer’s career, which collectively elucidate both the development of her thought and the value that can be found in it as a systematic whole. This book illustrates the empirical origins of her social ontology in her early work on the sociology of education, as well as foregrounding the diverse range of influences that have conditioned her intellectual trajectory: the systems theory of Walter Buckley, the neo-Weberian analysis of Lockwood, the critical realist philosophy of Roy Bhaskar and, more recently, her engagement with American pragmatism and the Italian school of relational sociology. What emerges is a series of important contributions to our understanding of the relationship between structure, culture and agency. Acting to introduce and guide readers through these contributions, this book carries the potential to inform exciting and innovative sociological research.

Drawing on a wide range of social theory, as well as empirical inputs from studies of work, neighbourhoods, events, meeting places and online self-help groups, this book suggests that communal forms are constructed on the basis of communicative, material, biographic-cultural, practice-based, and situational layers. The concept of community has long provided an important point of departure for the discipline of sociology, with the conflicting conceptions of community before and into modernity embodied in Ferdinand Tönnies’ Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft and in Emile Dürkheim’s Mechanical and Organic Solidarity, providing the focus for debate. Other contributors have maintained an interest in communities as communions, interactional competencies, symbolic identification, tribal connection, and more recently communication. Drawing on such theoretical contributions, as well as empirical inputs, the authors develop a more nuanced concept of community, based on the notion that it is constructed from several different layers. This concept is then presented as a sociological toolbox with which to fuel approaches to examining societal challenges and change. Providing a fresh approach to a core sociological question that also has a wider societal relevance, Communal Forms will be of interest to scholars and students concerned with social issues, and for those with a more general interest in community, society and its development over time.

This book presents a novel approach to framing the concept of stigma, and understanding why and how it functions. Graham Scambler extends his analysis beyond common social interactionist understandings of stigma by linking experiences to the larger social structure—the political economy. A Sociology of Shame and Blame contends that stigma is being ‘weaponised’ as part of a calculated political strategy favouring capital accumulation over justice, and addresses how the shame associated with stigma has taken on the additional dimension of blame through micro-interactions. The unique Insider-Outsider approach that Scambler harnesses draws on micro and macro social theory to identify links between the prevalence of stigma and agency, culture and structure, and will be an original and key reference point for students and scholars across the social and behavioural sciences, including, but not limited to, sociology, anthropology, psychology, public health and social policy.

It is now accepted that many of the determinants of health and health care are social. This volume offers a philosophical and theoretical frame within which the nature and extent of this might be optimally examined. The analysis is rooted in Roy Bhaskar’s basic and dialectical critical realism, although it draws also on the critical theory of Jurgen Habermas. It purports to provide an ontologically and epistemologically grounded comparative sociology of contemporary health and health care in the twenty-first century. Carrying a fourfold agenda, the volume sets out a dialectical critical realist frame for a comparative sociology of health and health care; it clarifies sociology’s potential and limitations; it suggests a research programme and a series of questions for investigation; and it offers an argument for an action sociology embedded in a dialectical theory of transformative action. This volume will be of interest to students and scholars in the areas of philosophy, sociology and critical realism, as well as those working in health and social care.

It is now accepted that many of the determinants of health and health care are social. This volume offers a philosophical and theoretical frame within which the nature and extent of this might be optimally examined. The analysis is rooted in Roy Bhaskar’s basic and dialectical critical realism, although it draws also on the critical theory of Jurgen Habermas. It purports to provide an ontologically and epistemologically grounded comparative sociology of contemporary health and health care in the twenty-first century. Carrying a fourfold agenda, the volume sets out a dialectical critical realist frame for a comparative sociology of health and health care; it clarifies sociology’s potential and limitations; it suggests a research programme and a series of questions for investigation; and it offers an argument for an action sociology embedded in a dialectical theory of transformative action. This volume will be of interest to students and scholars in the areas of philosophy, sociology and critical realism, as well as those working in health and social care.

Professor Margaret Archer is a leading critical realist and major contemporary social theorist. This edited collection seeks to celebrate the scope and accomplishments of her work, distilling her theoretical and empirical contributions into four sections which capture the essence and trajectory of her research over almost four decades. Long fascinated with the problem of structure and agency, Archer’s work has constituted a decade-long engagement with this perennial issue of social thought. However, in spite of the deep interconnections that unify her body of work, it is rarely treated as a coherent whole. This is doubtless in part due to the unforgiving rigour of her arguments and prose, but also a byproduct of sociology’s ongoing compartmentalisation. This edited collection seeks to address this relative neglect by collating a selection of papers, spanning Archer’s career, which collectively elucidate both the development of her thought and the value that can be found in it as a systematic whole. This book illustrates the empirical origins of her social ontology in her early work on the sociology of education, as well as foregrounding the diverse range of influences that have conditioned her intellectual trajectory: the systems theory of Walter Buckley, the neo-Weberian analysis of Lockwood, the critical realist philosophy of Roy Bhaskar and, more recently, her engagement with American pragmatism and the Italian school of relational sociology. What emerges is a series of important contributions to our understanding of the relationship between structure, culture and agency. Acting to introduce and guide readers through these contributions, this book carries the potential to inform exciting and innovative sociological research.

This is a succinct and comprehensive account of the contemporary sociology of sport. It starts by tracing the key ‘moments’ in the transition from pre-modern to modern sport, giving detailed accounts of the athletic competition in the ancient games at Olympia; the genesis of modern track-and-field athletics in nineteenth-century England; and the reconstruction by de Coubertin and unfolding of the Olympic movement through the twentieth century. The second section analyses features of sport in detail:The links between exercise, sport and health, including a look at growing rates of obesity and of the role of drug use in society and sportThe hyper-commodification of football in the 1990sRepresentations of sport in the mediaSports iconography, with sociological portraits of Muhammad Ali and David BeckhamThe re-emergence of violence in sportThe third section critically analyses the various theoretical approaches adopted by sociologists, and presents a distinctive new theoretical framework for understanding the changing role of sport in society in the era of global disorganized capitalism. This is key reading for students and researchers in sociology of sport and leisure, sport science and health.

What does modern medical science know about menstruation? Less than is commonly assumed, according to Annette and Graham Scambler. In this thought-provoking book, they challenge orthodox thinking on menstruation and disorders associated with it. Based on women's own experience and accounts of menstruation and menstrual disorders, their study will prompt health workers to rethink their approaches to menstrual phenomena. It shows how women are conditioned to regard menstruation as problematic, highlights the disadvantages as well as the advantages of progressive medicalization of menstrual phenomena, and discuss how menstruation is perceived within male culture.

In examining the social and psychological aspects of epilepsy, the author takes not only the perspectives of individuals and their families, but also popular conceptions of the disorder. The result is an illuminating account of the social reality of epilepsy that demonstrates the distinctive contribution that the social sciences can play in understanding illness.