Social Science Information

Analytical sociology is a set of rules for the construction of causal explanations in the social sciences. In this article, I critically assess the value and evolution of this ‘syntax’ for explanation and the concept of social mechanisms on which it relies. I also offer a proposal on how to reform and expand the ideal-typical analytical research path. In short, my proposal is characterized by (a) a generative conception of explanation; (b) a conception of social mechanisms as causal chains of micro-level (that is, individual) events; (c) a denial of downward and upward causation; and (d) a focus on testing the generative sufficiency and describing the generative processes of empirically calibrated agent-based models.

‘Everyday life’ is a sphere of social relations that has gained increasing attention. The rediscovery of the ‘ordinary’, stimulated by the so-called ‘sociologies of everyday life’ during the 1960s–1990s, has reshaped the subject matter itself of the discipline. This article reviews the intellectual experience represented by the 1960s–1990s sociologies of everyday life. Through comparison with the normative structuralism of Durkheim and Parsons, the most influential sociological version of structuralism in the period immediately after the Second World War, the intention is to pursue two main goals. First, to establish the ‘scientific attitude’ and ‘research program’ developed by such sociologies. Second, to explain why the time has come for the sociologies of everyday life to begin a new phase – in particular given that the present technologization of everyday cultures has changed the order itself of interaction through the advent of a ‘mass knowledge society’.

The idea of unintended consequences of social action constitutes one of the core meta-assumptions of new economic sociology. Yet neither its US nor its European branch seem to make a direct statement about this. This state of affairs appears to be the result of various cumulative circumstances, such as the role played by the competition from other meta-assumptions which address similar or related issues and the rather general treatment of the unintended consequences within the field. This article takes a closer look and tries to establish whether the approach to the unintended in the US and European new economic sociologies is indeed so general. It concludes that the source of the low visibility of the unintended consequences as a fundamental problem for new economic sociology is not the fact that this is not granted proper systematization. The problem rather lies in the lack of awareness and cumulative knowledge about the unintended consequences as a main sociological problem that was already taken up in sociology.

The rise of the radical populist right has been linked to fundamental socioeconomic changes fueled by globalization and economic deregulation. Yet, socioeconomic factors can hardly fully explain the rise of the new right. We suggest that emotional processes that affect people’s identities provide an additional explanation for the current popularity of the new radical right, not only among low- and medium-skilled workers, but also among the middle classes whose insecurities manifest as fears of not being able to live up to salient social identities and their constitutive values, and as shame about this actual or anticipated inability. This link between fear and shame is particularly salient in contemporary capitalist societies where responsibility for success and failure is increasingly individualized, and failure is stigmatized through unemployment, receiving welfare benefits, or labor migration. Under these conditions, we identify two psychological mechanisms behind the rise of the new populist right. The first mechanism of ressentiment explains how negative emotions – fear and insecurity, in particular – transform through repressed shame into anger, resentment and hatred towards perceived ‘enemies’ of the self and associated social groups, such as refugees, immigrants, the long-term unemployed, political and cultural elites, and the ‘mainstream’ media. The second mechanism relates to the emotional distancing from social identities that inflict shame and other negative emotions, and instead promotes seeking meaning and self-esteem from aspects of identity perceived to be stable and to some extent exclusive, such as nationality, ethnicity, religion, language and traditional gender roles.

With the increasing use of social networks, particularly Facebook, a large amount of data is made available. Such extensive and intensive disclosure of public and private matter aspects of individuals’ lives leads to theoretical and conceptual challenges. To answer some of these challenges, it is intended in this article, through the use of a qualitative methodology, to analyse the perceptions that Facebook users have of the surveillance they are subjected to, as well as the identification of prevention strategies that can be adopted. The interaction of these analysis dimensions has enabled the creation of a user typology that it is important, given the very recent nature of the object of this study, to confront and develop through new research.

Since the 1990s, a growing number of social science researchers collaborate in the creation of areas of research such as neurolaw, neuroeducation, neuroeconomy or neuromarketing. Sometimes referred to as ‘neurodisciplines’, these areas of research share a common postulate: the measure and analysis of the nervous system’s activity offers the possibility of discovering new ways of explaining human behaviour. Neuromarketing first appeared in the early 2000s and has developped in both university laboratories and private ones. Neuromarketers aim to understand consumer behaviour by applying neuroscientific theories and methods of measuring neurobiological activity to marketing questions. As a controversial topic, neuromarketing is critized in both the public space and academia. Some members of the media, some consumer associations and some neuromarketers see neuromarketing as having a more or less realistic power of persuasion (Lindstrom, 2009) while most neuroscientists qualify it as a scam or publicity stunt (Nature, 2004). Starting from bibliometric analysis of neuromarketing publications, we define the shifting boundaries of this area of research whose subject itself is still opened to debate. Building on Pierre Bourdieu’s work on the scientific field, we highlight the forces that shape this speciality both in and out of the academic field. Based on semidirective interviews, we demonstrate that neuromarketers have to develop discursive strategies to distance themselves from the controversial image of neuromarketing and adopt publication strategies in order to disseminate the results of their research in the scientific field.

In recent years, university patents have been substantially developed mainly because topics on the industrialization of university research outputs have received considerable attention. Previous studies on university patents have mostly focused on factors influencing the production of those patents, but have not yet distinguished between industrialized university patents and unindustrialized university patents. In addition, previous studies have not clearly recognized university patents with commercial value, technological networks, or key technologies that promoted industrialization. Moreover, a few studies have focused on the national dimension attached to university patent technological networks. In this study we incorporate several countries into our model and identify the technological niche positions of those countries. Here, Japan and the United States are playing critical roles in the worldwide technology network of university patents. The results of our study can serve as a reference point for universities worldwide in their allocation of resources and promotion of novel technologies.