Making our Way through the World: Human Reflexivity and Social Mobility 0521874238, 9780521874236, 9780511290350

Table of contents :
Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Acknowledgements......Page 10
Introduction: reflexivity as the unacknowledged condition of social life......Page 11
Incorporating reflexivity......Page 15
1 The reflexive adoption of projects......Page 16
2 The reflexive mediation of structural and cultural properties......Page 20
3 Reflexivity and the endorsement of different courses of action......Page 25
Part I......Page 33
No reflexivity; no society......Page 35
‘Reflexive modernisation’: a catchy phrase to capture a phase......Page 39
Individual reflexivity: its increasing tasks and burdens......Page 42
Central conflation and its incompatibility with reflexivity......Page 44
The demise of routinisation......Page 47
‘Habitualisation’ and the challenge of change......Page 48
Central conflation and its squeeze on reflexivity......Page 51
The sociologist, the subject and the possibility of reflexivity......Page 54
Exaggerating historical continuity?......Page 56
Traditionalism to modernity......Page 58
Nascent globalisation and the situational logic of ‘opportunity’......Page 62
The ‘reflexive habitus’ – an oxymoron?......Page 65
Meet the new cosmopolitans......Page 68
Conclusion......Page 71
2 Reflexivity in action......Page 72
Internal conversation: what it is and why it matters......Page 73
What is internal conversation?......Page 75
1 The relationship between internal conversation and natural language......Page 76
2 Thought: internal conversation and external language......Page 81
Silence and privacy......Page 83
Ellipsis and the accordion effect......Page 85
Personalisation and uniqueness......Page 89
Context dependency......Page 91
Internal conversation and social mobility......Page 97
Investigating internal conversation......Page 100
3 Reflexivity and working at social positioning......Page 110
Communicative reflexivity and social immobility......Page 111
Joan’s story......Page 114
Autonomous reflexivity and upward social mobility......Page 123
Martin’s story......Page 128
Meta-reflexives and social volatility......Page 137
Bernadette’s story......Page 143
Part II......Page 153
Introduction to Part II: how ‘contexts’ and ‘concerns’ shape internal conversations......Page 155
4 Communicative reflexives: working at staying put......Page 168
In thee I trust......Page 169
Cutting projects down to size......Page 175
Working at social immobility......Page 178
Digging oneself in......Page 182
Sealing social immobility......Page 185
The micro-world of communicative reflexives: in society but not of it......Page 190
Conclusion......Page 200
5 Autonomous reflexives: upward and outward bound......Page 202
Home alone......Page 205
Hands-on satisfaction......Page 211
False starts and lighting up......Page 214
Personal powers: getting it right and getting it wrong......Page 215
Social powers: structural constraints/enablements and personal projects......Page 218
Playing snakes and ladders strategically......Page 224
Keeping the social in its place......Page 233
Minimalist citizens......Page 236
6 Meta-reflexives: moving on......Page 239
Gaining values and giving value......Page 242
Selecting from socialisation......Page 243
Socialisation overridden......Page 246
Defective socialisation......Page 249
Contextual incongruence......Page 253
The dialectics of discontent......Page 262
Politics of a tentative third kind......Page 271
Part III......Page 277
7 Internal conversations and their outworks......Page 279
Interlocution and circumscription......Page 280
Privileging the shared present......Page 283
The dialogical reinforcement of ‘immobility’......Page 285
Tied down by human relations......Page 288
Protection and renunciation......Page 290
The modus vivendi as a micro-world......Page 291
The absent policeman......Page 294
The primacy of practice......Page 297
Getting on the ladder......Page 298
Autonomy and control......Page 300
Strategic mobility......Page 302
Accommodation by subordination......Page 305
Individualists in society......Page 307
Meditating on right action......Page 309
Your ways are not my ways......Page 311
Vocations and their discontents......Page 313
The costs of a calling......Page 315
The demands of the Wertrationalität......Page 319
Elective affnity with the third sector......Page 321
Conclusion: reflexivity’s future......Page 324
From early to high modernity......Page 327
Nascent globalisation......Page 330
The Coventry sample......Page 336
Sample selection......Page 337
Developing the internal conversation indicator (ICONI)......Page 339
Stage 1: Piloting ICONI......Page 340
Stage 3: Finalising ICONI......Page 342
Stage 4:The final ICONI......Page 343
The selection of interviewees......Page 344
Index......Page 347