The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) has reoriented research into social forms, structuration and processes of meaning construction and reality formation; doing so by linking social constructivist and pragmatist approaches with post-structuralist thinking in order to study discourses and create epistemological space for analysing processes of world-making in culturally diverse environments. SKAD is anchored in interpretive traditions of inquiry and allows for broadening – and possibly overcoming – of the epistemological biases and restrictions still common in theories and approaches of Western- and Northern-centric social sciences. An innovative volume, this book is exactly attentive to these empirically based, globally diverse further developments of approach, with a clear focus on the methodology and its implementation. Thus, The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse presents itself as a research program and locates the approach within the context of interpretive social sciences, followed by eleven chapters on different cases from around the world that highlight certain theoretical questions and methodological challenges. Presenting outstanding applications of the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse across a wide variety of substantive projects and regional contexts, this text will appeal to postgraduate students and researchers interested in fields such as Discourse Studies, Sociology, Cultural Studies and Qualitative Methodology and Methods.

Sociology of Discourse takes the perspective that collective actors like social movements are capable of creating social change from below by creating new institutions through alternative discourses. Institutionalization becomes a process of moving away from existing institutions towards creating new ones. While discourses entail openness and enable the questioning of what is instituted, institutions offer continuity and stability to social mobilizations. This dual movement of openness and stabilization explains how social struggles ensure their continuity, without completely assuming the logic of the dominant order. The book proposes an analytical model of social change, which is unfolded through three intertwined areas: discourse, communication, and institution. Collective experiences of social change, from the anti-globalization movement to Occupy, illustrate the main theoretical points and concepts. Through the example of the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages, the book concludes by analyzing how social change from below is possible.

Moving beyond the traditional boundaries of sociological investigation, Thomas J. Scheff brings together the study of communication and the social psychology of emotions to explore the microworld of thoughts, feelings, and moods. Drawing on strikingly diverse and rich sources—the findings of artificial intelligence and cognitive science, and examples from literary dialogues and psychiatric interviews—Scheff provides an inventive account of the nature of social life and a theory of motivation that brilliantly accounts for the immense complexity involved in understanding even the most routine conversation. "A major contribution to some central debates in social theory at the present time. . . . What Thomas Scheff seeks to develop is essentially a quite novel account of the nature of social life, its relation to language and human reflexivity, in which he insists upon the importance of a theory of emotion. . . . A work of true originality and jolting impact. . . . Microsociology is of exceptional interest, which bears witness to the very creativity which it puts at the center of human social contact." —Anthony Giddens, from the Foreword "Scheff provides a rich theory that can easily generate further exploration. And he drives home the message that sociological work on interaction, social bonds, and society cannot ignore human emotionality."—Candace Clark, American Journal of Sociology "This outstanding and ground-breaking little volume contains a wealth of original ideas that bring together many insights concerning the relationship of emotion to motivation in a wide variety of social settings. It is strongly recommended to all serious students of emotion, of society, and of human nature."—Melvin R. Lansky, American Journal of Psychiatry

This student textbook, originally published in 1991, tackles the traditional problems of the sociology of knowledge from a new perspective. Drawing on recent developments in social theory, Tim Dant explores crucial questions such as the roles of power and knowledge, the status of rational knowledge, and the empirical analysis of knowledge. He argues that, from a sociological perspective, knowledge, ideology and discourse are different aspects of the same phenomenon, and reasserts the central thesis of the sociology - that knowledge is socially determined.

Clinical sociology, career coaching and somatic learning / Kathryn Goldman Schuyler -- Applied social survey methodology: telephone surveys and the importance of introduction / Robyn Driskell -- When a stranger calls: the impact of caller ID on telephone surveys / Kathy Krey and Jodien Matos -- Globalization, growth and poverty reduction: myths and realities / Ray Kiely -- Applied version of rural poverty: a case study / Samir Dasgupta and Kaushik Chattopadhyay -- Social justice vs 'financial apartheid': microcredit and banking with the poor without collateral / Muhammad Yunus -- Global technology and local reality among child street labourers in Guatemala City / Thomas A. Offit -- Social politics and policy in an era of globalization: critical reflections / Nicola Yeates -- Theoretical claims and ethnic identity formation: interpretations from a Slovenian--American community / Elaine F. Hocever and Ernest M. De Zolt -- Gender and immigrant religious practices: an applied sociology perspective / Sarah Stohlman -- Applied sociology and demography / Vijayan K. Pillai and Rashmi Gupta.

Just what is a generation? And why, if at all, does it matter? This book asks what generation means to ordinary people, arguing that generation is real and it matters, but not in the ways that we think. Generations are not groups of people who can be categorized and attributed with static, immutable and universal characteristics, nor are they reducible to cohorts, as is the tendency in much social research. Rather, the book reveals generation to be a social phenomenon and a mechanism of social change - as a constellation of ideas and discourses that explains what happens when ideas and ideals collide, and why some discourses flourish and take hold at particular times.

The author makes use of epistemological, theoretical and methodological advances. He explores constructivism, synthesizes Habermas and Foucault to arrive at a new theory of discourse, and applies a finely elaborated frame and discourse analysis.

Now available in paperback, this book is a critical introduction to discourse analysis as it is practised in a variety of different disciplines today, from linguistics and sociolinguistics to sociology and cultural studies. The author shows how concern with the analysis of discourse can be combined, in a systematic and fruitful way, with an interest in broader problems of social analysis and social change. Fairclough provides a concise and critical review of the methods and results of discourse analysis, discussing the descriptive work of linguists and conversation analysts as well as the more historically and theoretically oriented work of Michel Foucault. He develops an original framework for discourse analysis which firmly situates discourse in a broader context of social relations bringing together text analysis, the analysis of processes of text production and interpretation, and the social analysis of discourse events.

This book provides an introduction to the basic principles of discourse research, offering practical research strategies for doing discourse analyses in the social sciences. The book includes guidance on developing a research question, selecting data and analyzing it, and presenting the results. The author has extensive practical experience in the field of discourse research and shows, throughout, how the methods suggested are compatible with numerous research questions and problems in sociology, cultural, political and social studies and related disciplines.

This book proposes a fresh approach to sociological analysis and, in particular, to the analysis of scientific culture. It moves away from previous studies, which have tended to focus on scientists' actions and beliefs to show that analysis of scientific discourse can be productive and revealing. The book demonstrates that scientists produce varying accounts of their actions and beliefs in different social situations. Rather than attempting to extract one coherent interpretation from these diverse accounts, the study identifies two basic scientific repertoires and shows how scientists use them to create their discourse. This provides a point of departure for more complex analytical topics. Discourse analysis is applied to show how different degrees of 'consensus' can be ascribed to the same group of scientists at a given moment in time through the application of standard interpretive techniques. Finally, discourse analysis is used to explore scientists' humour, a neglected topic that is shown to provide important insights into the normally hidden interpretive regularities which underlie the cultural diversity of science.