Foreword by Jeff Ferrell Introduction: Rediscovering Homelessness ... and Ourselves by Randall Am... more Foreword by Jeff Ferrell Introduction: Rediscovering Homelessness ... and Ourselves by Randall Amster Part 1: Advocacy and Identity Chapter 1: Social Justice, Ethics, and Advocacy in Street Research: A Personal Accounting by Talmadge Wright Chapter 2: The Advocate Researcher by Rob Rosenthal Chapter 3: Homelessness and Drag by Kathleen Arnold Chapter 4: Writing the Streets: Dilemmas of Depiction by Trenna Valado Part 2: Relationships and Ethics Chapter 5: Planning and Managing Ethical Dilemmas in Homelessness Research by Michael Rowe Chapter 6: 'Buddy Researcher'? Prospects, Limitations, and Ethical Considerations in Ethnographic Research on Homeless People in Berlin by Jurgen von Mahs Chapter 7: Ethics and Studying Homelessness: Tales from the Field by Kurt Borchard Chapter 8: Weapons of the Weak, by the Weak, and for the Weak: Negotiating Power Between and Among Homeless Persons and Service Providers by Julie Adkins Part 3: Research and Transformation Chapter 9: Do We Really Need More Research on Homelessness? An Autoethnographic Exploration of Ethics, Advocacy, and Exasperation by Vin Lyon-Callo Chapter 10: Homelessness as 'Internal Displacement': Scholarship and Activism in Post-Katrina New Orleans by Randall Amster Chapter 11: Do (No) Harm: Homelessness and Personal Transformation by David Cook Chapter 12: On the Politics and Ethics of 'Using' 'the Homeless' in Social Justice Research by Don Mitchell and Lynn Staeheli Conclusion: Synthesizing the Personal and Professional by Trenna Valado
Varieties of the Gaming Experience Robert Perinbanayagam New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publisher... more Varieties of the Gaming Experience Robert Perinbanayagam New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2014. Preface, introduction, references, index. 160 pp. $49.95 cloth. ISBN: 9781412854719Following in the tradition of Symbolic Interaction, Perinbanayagam's new book, Varieties of Gaming Experience, blends an analysis of the historical nature of games with their significance for religious mythology as well as secular identities. Divided into chapters titled, "The Pragmatics of Games," "Champions and Renouncers," " The Play of Emotions," "Dramas of Identity," "A Logos in the Text," and "The Endgame," this book works to expand our definition of gaming from one focused on a simple textual reading to one incorporating a historical understanding of religious tradition and its impact on players' game experiences.Borrowing from Jans Joas's concept of a pragmatist theory of action, the work maintains that, following G. H. Mead, the "willful meaning" we bring to game playing helps break the tension between habitual acts and creativity. Games are, in short, "pragmatic machines" that break up the rhythm of everyday mundane activities. Perinbanayagam demonstrates this by examining gaming encounters in boxing and dancing. Following the notion that games are inherently social, the book advocates a pragmatic existentialism in which human agents do not seek meaning through belief but rather through activity and practice: "They systematically undertake various tasks, minor or major ones, understand their problematic dynamics and systematics, and seek to overcome them as well as they may" (p. 13).In the second chapter, the author contrasts sports games in Ancient Greece with those in Mesoamerican culture and Indian religious cultures. He compares Hindu mythology, in which Siva plays dice competitively, to Protestant renunciation of worldly games as sins before the emergence-embodied in rugged sports-of a muscular Christianity during the Victorian period. The question still remains: what do games mean for the players? This leads to chapter 3, "The Play of Emotions."Taking a cue from William Faulkner's choice between pain and nothing, the author asserts that we prefer pain. We desire engagement through games if only to escape from everyday boredom. Since games are understood as dialogic activities, the process of this engagement varies from game to game. Perinbanayagam discusses the social nature of engagement, covering particularly how we become engaged spatially, in the playing of such games as tennis and football. He describes various forms of engagement dialectically by comparing these field games with card games like bridge, whose deceptive engagement remains one of the emotional draws for players (think of the "poker face"). …
Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 2005
In the context of recent critiques of urban ethnography, Young’s deliberate representation of poo... more In the context of recent critiques of urban ethnography, Young’s deliberate representation of poor black men as social thinkers, along with his call for a new cultural analysis, is quite provocative. In his effort to make his case for a paradigm shift, however, Young tends toward overgeneralization in his critique of ethnographic representations of poor black men (as he qualifies in several footnotes throughout the text). In fact, it is just the sort of complexity that Young desires that the most rigorous ethnographic projects aim to represent through the direct engagement with everyday life. These types of ethnographic projects, including Anderson’s 1999 Code of the Street, which Young critiques in the first part of the book, highlight how individuals define, consider, and respond to a variety of social situations as well as the structural settings in which individuals act. It is through their extensive engagement with/in the field that ethnographers are able to render truthful representations of what is really going on. Young’s representation of poor black men would only be strengthened by an ethnographic engagement with the variety of social actors (spouses, friends, business owners) and social spaces (the corner, the block, stores, etc.) that make up the social life of Westside residents. Ultimately, The Minds of Marginalized Black Men is a call for all sociologists to do better in our examination of the “crisis of the black male”: “The quest for a new cultural framework concerning the crisis of poor black men is ultimately a plea for a more complex understanding of their plight” (p. 20). That Young has successfully adopted such an approach in his own work is evidence that poor black men can be represented as complex human beings in a way that illuminates not only the culture of Chicago’s Westside but also American culture. W. E. B. DuBois made a similar plea in his examination of “the Negro problem” during the early part of the twentieth century (DuBois [1899] 1996). That any part of Young’s call is “new” then, is a statement on a discipline that bears both the burden and the privilege of detailing the problems facing Americans in general, and African Americans in particular, at the turn of the twenty-first century. Reference DuBois, W. E. B. [1899] 1996. The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Computer game play has been criticized for disrupting family life by some who claim digital fanta... more Computer game play has been criticized for disrupting family life by some who claim digital fantasy play alienates individuals from everyday interactions, even as others hold that such play increases sociability among players and their families. The authors argue that the truth about game play is more complex. They draw on research using participant observations and interviews with players about a well-known massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft and examine the struggle within families about time spent playing, family responsibilities, enhanced family dynamics, and the distances created by game playing.
I KSIDENTIAL TOWERS.' DVODDBTr TOWEL ♦ FOR THE g] BUT A CLOSED FoR THE Homeless Mobilization... more I KSIDENTIAL TOWERS.' DVODDBTr TOWEL ♦ FOR THE g] BUT A CLOSED FoR THE Homeless Mobilizations, Subcities, and Contested Landscapes Talmadge Wright Page 2. ... Out of place : homeless mobilizations, subcities, and contested landscapes / Talmadge Wright. ...
Critiquing and expanding Huizinga’s theory of play in Homo Ludens, the author argues for play as ... more Critiquing and expanding Huizinga’s theory of play in Homo Ludens, the author argues for play as a means to access what is real and introduces a new model of play he calls the containment play expression (CPE) to challenge traditional notions about the opposition between play and work. This model, he contends, bridges this gap between phenomenological and Marxian perspectives that view both play and work as accomplishments within a capitalist economic and political context. He then applies his new unitary model of play to computer games and discusses how players negotiate their relationships online in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs).
International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 1989
ABSTRACT For the past ten years the United States has experienced intensive industrial restructur... more ABSTRACT For the past ten years the United States has experienced intensive industrial restructuring as the economy moved from one based on heavy manufacturing to one of services (Bluestone & Harrison 1982; Kuttner 1983; Thurow 1984). This national transformation has had clear implications for housing, employment, and transportation. Economic growth has not been uniform but has focussed on both the East (Shank 1985) and the West Coast leaving the Midwest sweltering in a sharp recession (Rennert 1986). Massive intervention in the economy through high levels of military spending has produced a boom in such areas as Southern California and the Northeast.
Foreword by Jeff Ferrell Introduction: Rediscovering Homelessness ... and Ourselves by Randall Am... more Foreword by Jeff Ferrell Introduction: Rediscovering Homelessness ... and Ourselves by Randall Amster Part 1: Advocacy and Identity Chapter 1: Social Justice, Ethics, and Advocacy in Street Research: A Personal Accounting by Talmadge Wright Chapter 2: The Advocate Researcher by Rob Rosenthal Chapter 3: Homelessness and Drag by Kathleen Arnold Chapter 4: Writing the Streets: Dilemmas of Depiction by Trenna Valado Part 2: Relationships and Ethics Chapter 5: Planning and Managing Ethical Dilemmas in Homelessness Research by Michael Rowe Chapter 6: 'Buddy Researcher'? Prospects, Limitations, and Ethical Considerations in Ethnographic Research on Homeless People in Berlin by Jurgen von Mahs Chapter 7: Ethics and Studying Homelessness: Tales from the Field by Kurt Borchard Chapter 8: Weapons of the Weak, by the Weak, and for the Weak: Negotiating Power Between and Among Homeless Persons and Service Providers by Julie Adkins Part 3: Research and Transformation Chapter 9: Do We Really Need More Research on Homelessness? An Autoethnographic Exploration of Ethics, Advocacy, and Exasperation by Vin Lyon-Callo Chapter 10: Homelessness as 'Internal Displacement': Scholarship and Activism in Post-Katrina New Orleans by Randall Amster Chapter 11: Do (No) Harm: Homelessness and Personal Transformation by David Cook Chapter 12: On the Politics and Ethics of 'Using' 'the Homeless' in Social Justice Research by Don Mitchell and Lynn Staeheli Conclusion: Synthesizing the Personal and Professional by Trenna Valado
Varieties of the Gaming Experience Robert Perinbanayagam New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publisher... more Varieties of the Gaming Experience Robert Perinbanayagam New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2014. Preface, introduction, references, index. 160 pp. $49.95 cloth. ISBN: 9781412854719Following in the tradition of Symbolic Interaction, Perinbanayagam's new book, Varieties of Gaming Experience, blends an analysis of the historical nature of games with their significance for religious mythology as well as secular identities. Divided into chapters titled, "The Pragmatics of Games," "Champions and Renouncers," " The Play of Emotions," "Dramas of Identity," "A Logos in the Text," and "The Endgame," this book works to expand our definition of gaming from one focused on a simple textual reading to one incorporating a historical understanding of religious tradition and its impact on players' game experiences.Borrowing from Jans Joas's concept of a pragmatist theory of action, the work maintains that, following G. H. Mead, the "willful meaning" we bring to game playing helps break the tension between habitual acts and creativity. Games are, in short, "pragmatic machines" that break up the rhythm of everyday mundane activities. Perinbanayagam demonstrates this by examining gaming encounters in boxing and dancing. Following the notion that games are inherently social, the book advocates a pragmatic existentialism in which human agents do not seek meaning through belief but rather through activity and practice: "They systematically undertake various tasks, minor or major ones, understand their problematic dynamics and systematics, and seek to overcome them as well as they may" (p. 13).In the second chapter, the author contrasts sports games in Ancient Greece with those in Mesoamerican culture and Indian religious cultures. He compares Hindu mythology, in which Siva plays dice competitively, to Protestant renunciation of worldly games as sins before the emergence-embodied in rugged sports-of a muscular Christianity during the Victorian period. The question still remains: what do games mean for the players? This leads to chapter 3, "The Play of Emotions."Taking a cue from William Faulkner's choice between pain and nothing, the author asserts that we prefer pain. We desire engagement through games if only to escape from everyday boredom. Since games are understood as dialogic activities, the process of this engagement varies from game to game. Perinbanayagam discusses the social nature of engagement, covering particularly how we become engaged spatially, in the playing of such games as tennis and football. He describes various forms of engagement dialectically by comparing these field games with card games like bridge, whose deceptive engagement remains one of the emotional draws for players (think of the "poker face"). …
Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 2005
In the context of recent critiques of urban ethnography, Young’s deliberate representation of poo... more In the context of recent critiques of urban ethnography, Young’s deliberate representation of poor black men as social thinkers, along with his call for a new cultural analysis, is quite provocative. In his effort to make his case for a paradigm shift, however, Young tends toward overgeneralization in his critique of ethnographic representations of poor black men (as he qualifies in several footnotes throughout the text). In fact, it is just the sort of complexity that Young desires that the most rigorous ethnographic projects aim to represent through the direct engagement with everyday life. These types of ethnographic projects, including Anderson’s 1999 Code of the Street, which Young critiques in the first part of the book, highlight how individuals define, consider, and respond to a variety of social situations as well as the structural settings in which individuals act. It is through their extensive engagement with/in the field that ethnographers are able to render truthful representations of what is really going on. Young’s representation of poor black men would only be strengthened by an ethnographic engagement with the variety of social actors (spouses, friends, business owners) and social spaces (the corner, the block, stores, etc.) that make up the social life of Westside residents. Ultimately, The Minds of Marginalized Black Men is a call for all sociologists to do better in our examination of the “crisis of the black male”: “The quest for a new cultural framework concerning the crisis of poor black men is ultimately a plea for a more complex understanding of their plight” (p. 20). That Young has successfully adopted such an approach in his own work is evidence that poor black men can be represented as complex human beings in a way that illuminates not only the culture of Chicago’s Westside but also American culture. W. E. B. DuBois made a similar plea in his examination of “the Negro problem” during the early part of the twentieth century (DuBois [1899] 1996). That any part of Young’s call is “new” then, is a statement on a discipline that bears both the burden and the privilege of detailing the problems facing Americans in general, and African Americans in particular, at the turn of the twenty-first century. Reference DuBois, W. E. B. [1899] 1996. The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Computer game play has been criticized for disrupting family life by some who claim digital fanta... more Computer game play has been criticized for disrupting family life by some who claim digital fantasy play alienates individuals from everyday interactions, even as others hold that such play increases sociability among players and their families. The authors argue that the truth about game play is more complex. They draw on research using participant observations and interviews with players about a well-known massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft and examine the struggle within families about time spent playing, family responsibilities, enhanced family dynamics, and the distances created by game playing.
I KSIDENTIAL TOWERS.' DVODDBTr TOWEL ♦ FOR THE g] BUT A CLOSED FoR THE Homeless Mobilization... more I KSIDENTIAL TOWERS.' DVODDBTr TOWEL ♦ FOR THE g] BUT A CLOSED FoR THE Homeless Mobilizations, Subcities, and Contested Landscapes Talmadge Wright Page 2. ... Out of place : homeless mobilizations, subcities, and contested landscapes / Talmadge Wright. ...
Critiquing and expanding Huizinga’s theory of play in Homo Ludens, the author argues for play as ... more Critiquing and expanding Huizinga’s theory of play in Homo Ludens, the author argues for play as a means to access what is real and introduces a new model of play he calls the containment play expression (CPE) to challenge traditional notions about the opposition between play and work. This model, he contends, bridges this gap between phenomenological and Marxian perspectives that view both play and work as accomplishments within a capitalist economic and political context. He then applies his new unitary model of play to computer games and discusses how players negotiate their relationships online in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs).
International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 1989
ABSTRACT For the past ten years the United States has experienced intensive industrial restructur... more ABSTRACT For the past ten years the United States has experienced intensive industrial restructuring as the economy moved from one based on heavy manufacturing to one of services (Bluestone & Harrison 1982; Kuttner 1983; Thurow 1984). This national transformation has had clear implications for housing, employment, and transportation. Economic growth has not been uniform but has focussed on both the East (Shank 1985) and the West Coast leaving the Midwest sweltering in a sharp recession (Rennert 1986). Massive intervention in the economy through high levels of military spending has produced a boom in such areas as Southern California and the Northeast.
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