Abstract
Since C Wright Mills’s writings of a half-century ago, the social world has become more complex and globalized as opposed to the dichotomous world dominated by two global powers and the tensions between the two major classes within Fordist capitalism of his era. Connell’s book is not presented as an update of Mills – but it might serve as such. Similarly reflective (a sort of sociology of sociology), she develops a gentler, more evidence-based and complex attempt to understand some contemporary social issues.
Connell begins by drawing attention to global climate change, the Gulf of Mexico and Niger River Delta oil spills and the HIV/AIDS epidemic (although none are consequently revisited) as issues requiring understanding of large-scale processes. She follows this with the point that many groups attempting to deal with problems require reliable knowledge about how these problems arise. To emphasize this Connell argues for public sociology moved by the conviction that ‘social science is a necessity for the public’ (p. 6). Poor guidance is provided by sociology’s competitors such as ‘free market’ ideologists, pressure-group-inflected knowledge and ‘pop sociology’.
Instead, social knowledge grows slowly and needs to be grounded through engagement. In this collection Connell assembles many of the fruits of her own recent work which emphasizes small- and medium-scale studies using interviews across several organizational sites. These field studies are supplemented by occasional reference to quantitative information and more importantly a nicely developed far-flung network of references (a meta-analysis ‘light’) from across the world, with particular attention to the developing world. Three chapters report field studies on gender equity in the public sector, school education and intellectual labour. Two chapters summarize documentary studies: on changing ideas about good teachers, and the global history of sociology. Two chapters try to synthesize a research field: on men’s involvement with gender equity, and parent–child relations under neoliberalism. Two chapters examine remarkable contemporary thinkers: Paulin Hountondji and Antonio Negri (pp. 3–4). Although the data drawn on are Australian, they are supplemented with information from South Africa, and arguably these studies resonate across a considerably wider swathe of countries. The methodological approach allows for (indeed calls for) the development of grounded theory (although this methodological terminology is not invoked) as evidence-based ways of developing theoretical understandings and diagnoses which are not ‘legislated away’ by narrow strictures of ‘Northern theory’.
In subject-matter terms the book falls neatly into three parts of three essays each. Earlier chapters focus on gender regimes; the second part focuses on what might be termed the semi-professions and their social environments; while the third combines reflection on theory with a sociology of sociology. With a final flourish, the concluding chapter sketches political implications. In each chapter a nuanced analysis combines attention to the situation of the people studied and how they interact with their wider social environments.
A major theme running through the book is introduced (perhaps a little late) at the beginning of Chapter 3. This is the key issue concerning the implications of neoliberalism (which is seen as the macro-feature of the contemporary world) for smaller-scale social formations. The author’s key point is that the effects are complex despite the presentation of neoliberalism as gender-neutral (and in fact more generally neutral in terms of all personal characteristics). It is also suggested that neoliberal institutions do not merely reproduce earlier formations but are new. But perhaps a closer examination would show very strong threads of continuity. Neoliberalism in practice is also buffeted in the interaction between society and institutions, such as the impact on families of longer working hours, heightened job insecurity and lowered wages.
The final part of the book turns to case studies of theory development combined with sociology of knowledge/sociology of sociology perspectives, drawing on the work of two intellectuals who have developed comprehensive perspectives. On first reading they do not seem to fit in with the thematic of the remainder of the book. If they are conceived as parallel theorists assaying the analytical work Connell attempts in a far more grounded and careful way, they can perhaps be seen as partly convergent, partly divergent models.
When it comes to political ideology the broad image common to the book as a whole is developed. There is a progressive chipping away at complexity. The post-Mills social world requires people to hard slog in the trenches, not just of fieldwork but of sustained and smart social activism. But interesting social viewpoints are enunciated elsewhere in the book: for example, the opening chapter presents a slightly jarring shift in one’s frame of reference when it is convincingly argued that ‘Men’s lib’ can be a stratagem which is a win-win for both men and women – and besides has some fun stuff going on. Although it might be a bit disconcerting for some readers to begin with gender issues when the traditionally somewhat larger issues beckon in subsequent chapters, this reviewer found beginning this way to be salutary.
This book is well worth reading by a wide range of sociologists who wish to connect up their technical work with wider currents of society and who might wish to see this approach to sociology as an explicitly justified model. The book is well written although it might have gained from astute editing that would have tightened it up. But as with the tone of the book, it pays to be humble in the face of the complexities of the social world.