Scholarly Articles
In the current section of my academic portfolio, you will find a curated collection of my peer-reviewed publications, showcasing the breadth and depth of my research endeavors.
2024 Articles
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Athens Journal of Social Sciences- Volume 11, Issue 2, April 2024 – Pages 65-94
Abstract: The study of interpersonal aggression has been carried out for the most part in separate spheres by experts from an array of academic disciplines. To advance a deeper understanding of these issues, however, requires a more conciliatory and interdisciplinary approach. The article offers just such an integrated approach, using a multi-level heuristic framework that has direct parallels with ecological modeling. In addition, the approach expands the analytic focus to reflect different aspects of complex human behavior, which include: 1) the behavioral investment framework, or the bio-psychological reality of the human animal; 2) the socialization framework, or the social psychological aspects of human learning and development; 3) the justification framework, or the language, knowledge, and meaning systems that one acquires to facilitate interpersonal communication and to justify one’s actions; 4) the social location framework, or the social interactional dynamics of interpersonal relationships that animate one’s daily life as a member of various groups and social networks; and 5) the societal context framework, or the broader institutional forms and sociocultural conditions within which individuals and groups are situated. The current approach bridges human neurophysiology and psychology with sociology in a developmental, ecological context that examines each dimension of human behavior. While the five dimensions can be separated analytically, in practice these overlap to exert multiple influences. Such a conciliatory framing permits a more comprehensive analysis of human social animals as situated within their natural environments. The paper outlines how each of the five levels contributes to expressions of interpersonal aggression by elaborating on key mechanisms that operate across the different levels of informational complexity. Several examples of empirical research are cited to illustrate the core principles that operate within and across the five complementary frameworks.
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Theory and Society, Springer
Abstract: The article develops an explanation of corporal punishment (CP) as an expression of family violence by developing a multi-level, conciliatory model of human behavior. The synthesis builds upon a review of the relevant analytic approaches and empirical evidence spanning multiple levels of human behavior to include five interrelated frameworks: (1) behavioral investment; (2) socialization; (3) cultural justification; (4) social location; and (5) societal context. The analytic levels highlight the various explanatory principles that address questions relevant mainly to investigators who study behavior in terms of different levels of informational complexity. The paper outlines the most important factors that shape the use and non-use of CP within family settings. The model identifies key ontogenetic and biophysiological factors linked to the fitness of parents’ offspring, along with primary socialization processes and cultural justification mechanisms that increase the probability of the intergenerational transmission of violence. In addition, the model identifies the sociological dimensions of family relationships and the importance of social locational variables in shaping parental usage of CP, as well as the importance of communities and institutions as situated within sociocultural contexts. The main conclusion suggests that to understand and explain more fully why human beings use violence in the context of familial relationships—including corporal punishment practices—analysts must consider the different influences and possible impacts of factors across all five levels.
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Criminal Law Quarterly - Volume 72, Issue 4 2024 - Pages 373–400
By: Brenda Kobayashi and Joseph H. Michalski
Description: The concept of accountability is central to Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), as reflected in its preamble and principles. This study analyzes judicial interpretations of accountability over the past decade, particularly after the 2012 amendments. The analysis focuses on two questions: the extent to which courts have equated accountability with retribution, referencing the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision in R. v. O. (A.), and the impact of specific deterrence and denunciation introduced under section 38(2)(f) on accountability. The paper also examines the evolution of accountability's meaning since the YCJA's enactment in 2003. The Act emphasizes fair and proportionate accountability through just sanctions and meaningful consequences, aiming to rehabilitate and reintegrate young offenders while protecting the public. Key provisions, such as section 72, allow for adult sentencing when youth sentences are deemed insufficient to hold young persons accountable, highlighting the Act's focus on balancing justice and public safety.
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Chapter 2 from A Research Handbook on Hate Crime and Society - Pages 15-35 - 2024
Description: This chapter examines the complexities of defining and studying hate crimes, highlighting the lack of consensus among scholars, legal frameworks, and jurisdictions. Hate crimes are identified as criminal acts motivated by bias or prejudice against specific social groups, but definitional ambiguity persists, especially regarding the motivations and scope of protected groups. Methodological challenges arise in gathering reliable data, with official statistics often underreporting incidents due to inconsistent police practices and victim reluctance. Alternative approaches, such as victimization surveys, reveal higher prevalence rates but also face limitations. These issues underscore the need for nuanced methodologies and clearer definitions to advance the study and prevention of hate crimes.
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Chapter 6 from A Research Handbook on Hate Crime and Society - Pages 101-124 - 2024
This chapter explores the prevalence and causes of anti-Muslim hate crimes in North America, contextualized by historical discrimination, demographic shifts, and the "minority-group threat" thesis. It highlights the role of visibility, such as racial and cultural markers, in amplifying vulnerability to hate crimes. Official statistics reveal spikes in anti-Muslim incidents during pivotal events, while victimization surveys confirm significant underreporting. The chapter also examines the impact of media portrayals and political rhetoric in perpetuating stereotypes and hostility toward Muslims. Together, these factors shape the persistent patterns of Islamophobia and bias-motivated violence in both the United States and Canada.
2023 Articles
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Chapter 6 from Canadian Families Today: New Perspectives 4th ed
By: Joseph H. Michalski and Don Kerr
Learning Objectives: This section aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the historical and legal evolution of Canadian divorce laws, with a particular focus on divorce trends since the 1968 Divorce Act. It examines the sociocultural and demographic factors contributing to separation and divorce and explores the consequences for those involved. Additionally, it highlights the emergence of alternative family arrangements and demonstrates how these new family forms necessitate a range of novel adjustments.
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Chapter 10 from Canadian Families Today: New Perspectives 4th ed
By: Joseph H. Michalski and Don Kerr
Learning Objectives: This section aims to provide an understanding of the nature and extent of family poverty in Canada, recognizing the demographic characteristics of low-income families and how the face of family poverty has changed over time. It identifies the main factors contributing to the dynamics of family poverty, including socio-demographic, economic, and political influences. Additionally, it develops an appreciation for the coping strategies that low-income families use to manage their limited disposable income and identifies the most important consequences of family poverty.
2022 Articles
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Athens Journal of Social Sciences- Volume 11, Issue 2, April 2024 – Pages 65-94
Abstract: Science is an ethical community whose practitioners aim to discover information about the natural world and to explain discernible patterns that might be detected. Those who pursue science generally embrace certain epistemic values that help establish the moral boundaries of the community, while the twin pillars of rationality and empiricism serve as the foundations upon which scientists establish their truth claims. Yet however robust the assertions might appear, they nevertheless are the by-products of an exclusively human endeavour directly impacted by those sociological forces that apply throughout the social universe, including the scientist’s social location and the importance of enhancing one’s reputation. The current paper identifies key sociological factors that help shape scientific bias and the nature of the justifications used to defend truth claims. A case study of one community committed to a sociological paradigm demonstrates the utility of the explanatory framework advanced. A more self-conscious awareness of the forces at play that create such biases can help mitigate their deleterious impacts that subvert the quest for explanatory knowledge and valid truth claims about observable phenomena.
2021 Articles
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Can Rev Sociol. 2021;58:399–418
Abstract: This paper offers an integrated theoretical framework
to explain interpersonal, moralistic conflict that combines the logic of the “pure sociology” approach with a social psychological framework that highlights the importance of the human capacity for language, evaluation, and justification. While violations of normative expectations are the root causes of moralistic conflict, the paper argues that one can only determine the emergence of such conflict by assessing the nature of the behavior in question in relation to the social locations of the participants in combination with the justifications invoked. The central question that the theory addresses can be distilled as follows: What explains the emergence of interpersonal, moralistic conflict? The paper specifies three core assumptions, followed by a delineation of a series of propositions designed to explicate the conditions under which moralistic conflicts emerge. The theory identifies the combination of the social geometry of interpersonal encounters along with the mechanisms that typically are used to justify the grievances that individuals express toward one another
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Scholars recognize that the body represents “an enormous vessel of meaning of utmost significance to both personhood and society” (Waskul and Vannini 2006:3). Chris Shilling (2012) argues that to advance the study of the relationship between embodiment and society requires that key areas be investigated further, including the study of (1) socially located bodies subject to prevailing norms and values; (2) the emergent properties of bodies that facilitate human action across environmental landscapes, mediated by neurological and physiological processes; and (3) the mutual impact of interactions between embodied subjects and their environments that lead to both physical and social changes. This chapter considers the first issue, or the importance of the body, as constituting “a location for the transmission of societally sponsored and socially approved norms, habits, identities, techniques and symbolic systems” (Shilling 2012:241).
The analysis concentrates on the importance of the body as an important source of status and popularity among adolescents, and this status has a gendered component in the United States and Canada. The focus on adolescents’ corporeal presence stems from the thesis that perhaps no other issue preoccupies young people more than their social ranking or status in the eyes of their peers, which derives in part from physical appearance. While the ideas of peer pressure and “fitting in” with one’s contemporaries resonate across a range of social groups and cliques, these social processes assume a special significance in the lives of adolescents. Building on Murray Milner Jr.’s (1994, 2004, 2015) theoretical approach, this chapter offers a novel explanation for teenagers’ fixation with their status.1 The argument explains as well why the physical body and largely inherited components, such as “athletic prowess” and “good looks,” serve as key sources of status for males and females, respectively, in a consumer culture that equates physical appearances with health, wealth, and self-esteem.2
2020 Articles
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Integr Psych Behav (2020) 54:328–353
Abstract: Even though the concept of behavior is central to modern psychology, there is no consensus regarding what the term behavior means. The current paper focuses on disentangling two separate conceptions of the term that have added to the confusion. One meaning of the term behavior pertains to natural scientific epistemology, specifically the requirements of empirical methodology and its reliance on data that are measurable and available to public observation. The second meaning pertains to ontology and relates to the fact that at a descriptive level there are different kinds of behavioral patterns in the universe. Put simply, inanimate material objects behave differently from living organisms, which behave differently from animals, which behave differently from people. This paper introduces a “Periodic Table of Behavior” derived from Henriques’, Review of General Psychology, 7, 150–182, (2003, 2011) Tree of Knowledge System to map the different kinds of behaviors that are described and examined by different sciences. It concludes by using the formulation to clarify the relationship between the methodological and ontological description of behavior and argues how the basic science of psychology can be
effectively defined as the science of mental behavior going forward.
2019 Articles
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The British Journal of Sociology 2019 Volume 70 Issue 5
Abstract: The current paper examines terrorism as a special form of moralistic violence, with several key features that distinguish such behaviour from other types of violence. The theory of lethal moralism highlights the importance of social polarization, characterized by vast differences in social space and inequality between adversaries as crucial to explaining deadly terrorist attacks. Where the differences are more permanent or chronic – and the groups in question define and justify their existence specifically in contradistinction to ‘other’ groups – then the polarization intensifies and attacks tend to be more lethal. In contrast, groups that appeal to broader audiences or the general public as potential allies more often use non-lethal terrorism to their strategic advantage. The study examines the United States and the United Kingdom to classify each of more than 8,000 attacks between 1970 and 2017 in terms of their ideological orientations. The evidence highlights the arc of terrorism in relation to different types of groups, as well as confirms the more lethal nature of terrorism linked especially to radical Islam, right-wing religious extremists, hate groups, ethno-nationalist sectarian violence, and anti-government anarchists. Yet apart from the extensive use of terrorism associated with ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland, the majority of terrorist attacks in the US and the UK have not produced deaths. Most terrorism instead has been perpetrated by groups aiming to rally support for a general cause and has been far less deadly on balance. The implications of these findings are discussed with a view toward developing more powerful explanatory models that focus on the socio-cultural contexts and justification frameworks that inspire extremism and the use of lethal moralism to settle disputes.
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The Howard Journal Vol 58 No 1. March 2019 ISSN 2059-1098, pp. 65–85
Abstract: While some advocate the use of arts programmes to help improve inmates’ lives and reduce recidivism, the process of how such programmes can have therapeutic and practical value in prison’s hostile environs requires further study. This project investigates how one prison arts instructor approaches the task of developing the inmates’ creative potential and unleashing their ‘inner artist’. The article describes the pedagogical approach aimed at helping prison inmates redefine themselves as artists via art classroom rituals. The imprisoned self as the artist, however, emerges mainly as a temporary identity that must be submerged upon return to the daily routines of hypermasculine prison environments. Thus inmates experience a profound duality of their identities, split between ‘artist’ and ‘inmate’, which constrains the long-term therapeutic and rehabilitative value of the intervention.
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Journal of Big History Volume III Number 4 2019
Abstract: This article summarizes the Tree of Knowledge (ToK) System (Henriques, 2003; 2011), and compares and contrasts its depiction of cosmic evolution as four “dimensions of existence” (i.e., Matter, Life, Mind and Culture) with Big History’s eight thresholds of complexity. Both systems share the concern with the current fragmentation in academic knowledge and advocate for a more consilient and integrative vision that places the disciplines in coherent relationship to each other, and both views argue that such efforts are needed to advance wise decision making in the context of the accelerating rate of change. The major differences between the two perspectives are found in how the ToK conceptualizes the different dimensions of existence. Following Matter, the dimensions of Life, Mind and Culture are seen as emerging as a function of different semiotic or information processing systems that give rise to strongly emergent properties. In addition, given its emphasis on psychology and the mental dimension of existence, the ToK highlights some aspects of cosmic evolution that have not been featured prominently in most models of BH. The article ultimately suggests that there is potential for a fruitful synergy between the historical emphasis of BH with the more psychological focus of the ToK System.
2018 Articles
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Introduction from Sociological Theory, Methods, and Perspectives
Abstract: The introduction describes the problem of the “post-truth predicament,” or the challenge of establishing valid truth claims in a world subject to deconstruction on all fronts, but especially in the social sciences. Rather than assume that sociological claims can no longer be defended, more innovative approaches to knowledge-building can help identify multiple pathways to acquiring and extending human understandings of social phenomena. The pluralistic nature of sociological knowledge can be viewed as a strength that encourages complementary approaches to enrich collective knowledge, as per Henriques (2011) Tree of Knowledge. The authors of the chapters in this monograph,despite touting diverse theoretical and epistemological frameworks, nevertheless share a belief that we are not simply resigned to a dystopian, “post-truth” future. Each contributor proposes instead more credible and rigorous means for establishing valid truth claims about the human condition.
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Chapter 1 from Sociological Theory, Methods, and Perspectives
Abstract: Sociology continues to be not just “the littlest science,” but arguably at times even an indolent science. As a discipline, most practitioners mainly work more narrowly within their own paradigmatic traditions. Several structural and institutional factors are discussed that have undermined the quest for sociological consilience. These factors have combined to create an intellectual malaise in the form of the single greatest obstacle to sociological progress: indolence. Thus the quest for an integrated sociology – and social science in general – remains elusive, but some possible pathways for a brighter and more energetic future are considered.
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Chapter 5 from Sociological Theory, Methods, and Perspectives
By: Jennifer Reynolds and Joseph H. Michalski
Abstract: Different theories yield distinct hypotheses regarding the gendered nature of violent victimization. We discuss these theories to help clarify competing predictions with respect to gender and victimization. The focus then shifts to the question of methodology as we examine the analytic results from the 2014 Canadian General Social Survey. The exemplar demonstrates the strengths and key limitations of relying upon national survey data to evaluate competing hypotheses deduced from different theoretical frameworks. We conclude by offering suggestions for enhancing the measurement and evaluation of gender-based violence by moving beyond the limitations of traditional survey research to consider strategies that account much more directly for the social contexts within which violent interactions occur.
2017 Articles
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European Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 2017, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1-16
Abstract: The paper examines the antecedents of criminal behavior through the process of retrospective family and life course histories in which incarcerated male inmates and male university students are compared. The main focus is on early childhood experiences and parental behaviors. The study data derive from intensive, face-to-face interviews with 38 men incarcerated for violent offences and a matched group of 66 men attending university at the same time. The interviews focus on the relative importance of adverse childhood experiences and linkages with adolescence. The interviews demonstrated that nearly four-fifths of the inmates experienced toxic family environments by the time they reached adolescence, as compared with only two of the university students. Qualitative analyses flesh out the major themes, experiences, and “risk factors” that helped shape the trajectories of both groups of men. The socially toxic family environments and sub-optimal parenting practices that most inmates endured produced long-term, adverse effects in reducing their capacities for resilience, forging healthy relationships with their peers, and remaining in school.
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Comparative Sociology, 2017, Vol. 16, 248-283
Abstract: Punishment exists universally as a form of social control, spanning a continuum from the physically inconsequential to lethality. What explains observable variations in punishment, or lethal punishment as a form of social control? This paper builds upon Black’s pure sociology framework and Milner’s theory of status relations to argue that lethal punishment occurs mainly under conditions of marginalization, disruptions of the previous social geometries, and social polarization that characterize interpersonal encounters or inter-group relationships. These conditions facilitate the status degradation processes that lead to the dehumanization of the “other.” By the same token, such conditions do not often prevail in familial settings and hence lethal punishments are far less common than the lethality associated with other forms of moralistic violence and state-sanctioned punishments
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Diversity Challenge in Canada, 2017, 66-89
Abstract: With the shifting demographics of societies such as the United States and Canada, access to higher education presents a variety of challenges to ensure that universities are able to meet the challenges associated with increased student diversity on campus. The current paper reviews first the literature on the linkages between social inequality and education, before turning to an examination of Canadian data with respect to access issues and the possible barriers to increasing diversity among postsecondary institutions. The evidence reveals that first-generation students and those whose parents did not attend university, Aboriginal peoples, and students with disabilities (among others) continue to be underrepresented in postsecondary education. At the same time, the paper argues that while institutions of higher learning can facilitate improved access, they must commit to developing support services and a more welcoming and inclusive environment in order to ensure student retention and success among an increasingly diverse student population. The paper concludes with a discussion of “best practices” from the perspective of a predominantly undergraduate, liberal arts institution in southern Ontario.
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CRS/RCS, 2017, Vol. 54, No. 2, 147-173
Abstract: The article applies D. Black’s pure sociology paradigm to examine the degree to which scientific evidence supports ideas deduced from the perspective. The main argument suggests that the empirical support for pure sociology varies inversely with the social distance separating scholars in social space. Moreover, the nature of the evidence adduced and the use of qualitative or quantitative methodologies predictably vary with social distance as well, increasing the likelihood of finding confirming or disconfirming evidence. The study tests these ideas by examining the full range of refereed journal articles (n = 191) published from 1976 to 2015 with pure sociology as the main focus.
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Contemporary Justice Review, 2017 VOL. 20, NO. 1, 2–25
Abstract: The critics assert that a significant proportion of incarcerated individuals suffers from mental health issues, i.e. ‘the criminalization hypothesis.’ The current paper reviews the scholarly literature to address five interrelated questions: (1) What are the risks of those classified as mentally ill for committing crimes and, in particular, violent crimes? (2) As the gatekeepers to the criminal justice system, what happens during ‘first encounters’ between the police with those who have mental illnesses? (3) What community-based services are available for effective diversions as an alternative to incarceration for those with mental illnesses? (4) What are the impacts of treatment options upon those experiencing mental illnesses while incarcerated, including the impact upon recidivism? (5) What types of pre-release planning and community responses have the most positive effects to help reduce recidivism and assist offenders in coping with mental health issues in the Canadian context? After summarizing key evidence pertaining to these questions, the paper presents case studies as exemplars of ‘best practices’ to illustrate promising directions conducive to integrated, holistic, and effective responses at the intersection of the criminal justice and mental health systems.
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BRIT. J. CRIMINOL, 2017, Vol. 57, 40–60
Abstract: The current paper examines the extent to which the pursuit of status, the social construction of masculinity and violence are linked. The main argument suggests that in a world where inmates have only the most limited forms of economic and political power, social status as a resource assumes far greater significance. The acquisition of status, though, depends upon the ability to navigate successfully the competition linked to securing one’s reputation as a ‘real man’. Milner’s (1994; 2004) theory of status relations within a resource structuralism framework offers an innovative explanatory strategy for understanding prison violence in the context of hegemonic masculinity. The paper offers exemplars from the comparative literature on prison violence to help illustrate the logic of the approach. The final section identifies a series of theoretical propositions derived from the general theory that purport to explain prison violence cross-culturally.
2016 Articles
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Theory in Action, Vol. 9, No. 1, January ( 2016)
Abstract: The following paper draws upon Milner’s theory of social status to explain why nonhuman animals generally are not accorded equal status or the same level of compassion as human beings. The inexpansible nature of status means that one’s position in a status hierarchy depends upon how one fares relative to everyone else. Acquiring status requires the ability to excel in terms of collective expectations, or the ability to conform appropriately to extant group norms. Moreover, social associations with high-status individuals usually further enhance one’s relative status. Animals are disadvantaged along each of these aspects of status systems in most cases. Moreover, their relational and cultural distance from human beings reinforces their inferior position, reducing the likelihood of human beings defining them as “innocent victims” or otherwise according them full and equal rights. Yet animal rights activists who are aware of these sociological realities will be in a better position to advocate more effectively on behalf of at least selected nonhuman species.
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Canadian Journal of Sociology/Cahiers canadiens de sociologie 41(4) 2016
Abstract: The current paper presents the results of a national survey of 190 full-time members of Canadian sociology departments to examine the state of the discipline in 2014-15. The paper focuses on the extent of epistemological diversity in an effort to answer two key questions. First, what intellectual perspectives prevail among Canadian sociologists and, along these lines, does any particular perspective hold greater prominence? Second, what might explain the variation in the epistemological stances most commonly endorsed? The evidence reveals a preponderance of critical and feminist scholars, which can be explained in large measure by considering the social locations of sociological practitioners. The results of a logistic regression model confirm that gender, generation, geography, and disciplinary genre are significant predictors of critical and critical-feminist orientations. A discussion of qualitative responses fleshes out the dominant themes that Canadian scholars expressed in their survey responses.
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Am Soc (2016) 47:319–343
Abstract: The term “pure sociology” reflects some of the most important disciplinary concerns that have helped shape the intellectual development of sociology in the United States, particularly in the effort to establish disciplinary boundaries and achieve academic legitimacy. To flesh out the thesis, the current paper recounts briefly the early discussions associated with pure sociology before examining the various usages in the U.S. since the establishment of the discipline. While selected classical theorists employed the concept in framing their discussions, pure sociology represents a distinctively American idiom. The etymological history coincides with the institutionalization of sociology in U.S. universities, while informing key debates about the nature of sociological analysis throughout the past 120 years. Drawing upon an electronic search of multiple databases, a content analysis highlights the prevalence of the different that mainly U.S. social scientists have attached to the concept. The paper then traces the varying trajectories of the many different usages over time, concluding with a discussion of the ascendance of Donald Black’s theoretical paradigm that has appropriated the term with considerable success.
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CRS/RCS, 2017, Vol. 54, No. 2, 147-173
Abstract: The current article examines rape as a form of sexual violence, drawing upon comparative research to describe and then proffer a tentative explanation of one specific type, referred to as ritualistic rape. Several cross-cultural examples and selected national data are referenced to examine three different forms of ritualistic rape: forced marriages or abductions, ritual defloration, and wife-lending. The evidence indicates that such “normative” or socially condoned rapes appear quite commonly in one form or another in nearly every society. The last section offers a general theory of ritualistic rape rooted in D. Black’s pure sociology perspective by identifying the confluence of several underlying structural features that purport to explain the conditions under which ritualistic rapes tend to thrive.
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Chapter 7 from What to Expect and How to Respond: Distress and Success in Academia
Synopsis: This chapter explores the concept of the "tyranny of the majority," as discussed by Alexis de Tocqueville, and its relevance to academia. It highlights how majority rule can marginalize minority voices and emphasizes the potential for hegemonic control within academic institutions. Despite efforts to address historic inequities, intellectual hegemony remains a critical issue, particularly in multiple-paradigm disciplines like sociology. The chapter argues that academic departments often reinforce specific intellectual paradigms through their hiring practices, leading to the exclusion of diverse perspectives. This intellectual control is compared to traditional forms of hiring exclusion based on social class, gender, race/ethnicity, and age, though these are less prominent in academia today. The chapter's thesis is supported by a case study of exclusionary practices in the Department of Sociology at a Canadian university, demonstrating how dominant discourses influence hiring decisions and perpetuate new forms of exclusion.
2015 Articles
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Comparative Sociology 14 (2015) 751–789
Abstract: Rape represents one form of sexual violence and may be defined as “forced sexual violation.” The following paper builds upon that definition to differentiate among three distinct types of rapes to create an analytic typology that specifies the conditions under which these are more likely to occur. By drawing upon Black’s theoretical approach of “pure sociology” and by examining the cross-cultural literature, the paper presents the different social fields or “social geometries” associated with variations in predatory, moralistic, and ritualistic rape. The paper also explains the social conditions most likely to ensure a relative absence of rape. The paper thus offers an innovative strategy for re-thinking the sociological nature of rape, including implications for new approaches to measure and evaluate the likelihood of rape occurring.
2014 Articles
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The Open Social Science Journal, 2014, 6, 1-7
Abstract: Donald Black’s The Behavior of Law contains the most powerful sociological theory of legal variation ever produced. Despite the critical reactions of some analysts, the generality, testability, originality, and validity of the theory have been well-established. The one area where the theory can be improved, however, involves the criterion of “parsimony.” The following paper demonstrates that roughly two dozen of Black’s original propositions actually reduce to four primary propositions, characterized in terms of status locations along the different vectors of social space. Each of the original propositions can be deduced from these four general propositions without losing any explanatory value or the capacity to order existing “facts” in regard to legal variation.