Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie
This article examines the relationship between information consumption and mental health during t... more This article examines the relationship between information consumption and mental health during the early stages of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Adopting a qualitative approach, we interviewed 39 people in British Columbia, Canada between October and December 2020. Interestingly, half of the participants did not want to seek out new information on COVID‐19, making their early insights and initial confusion salient. While some individuals did desire up‐to‐date information on outbreaks and new risks, many expressed confusion over what was perceived to be an evolving landscape of public health policy and practice. Overall, our research found that capacity issues, information overload/fatigue, politics, distrust, and competing sources of news all contributed to a culture of confusion towards public health information. As a consequence, this confusion resulted in knowledge uncertainty about the virus, vaccinations, and the pandemic itself. Our findings highlight the need for a host of future p...
Using a 60-day daily e-diary tool, 117 women undergraduate students reported sexual harassment on... more Using a 60-day daily e-diary tool, 117 women undergraduate students reported sexual harassment on a Canadian university campus (4,283 diary surveys, collectively). Participants reported 181 incidents of both ambient sexual harassment ( witnessing 40 incidents , hearing 106 unwelcomed sexual jokes/remarks) and targeted personal experiences of non-physical sexual harassment (35 incidents). Qualitative data document students’ descriptions of these encounters and contextualize how these are part of everyday student life. Findings show that students experience this harassment almost daily—in an ongoing, persistent, and normalized way—and that university can be a hostile environment where the possibility of daily unwanted sexual experiences is a lived, endemic reality.
In the context of controversial sex education curriculum, this research uncovers complexities of ... more In the context of controversial sex education curriculum, this research uncovers complexities of teaching sex education in Ontario, Canada. Based on ethnographic observations of four public school sex education classes and interviews with teachers, I show that these sex-ed teachers tend to engage several strategies or key dimensions of "progressiveness" in order to navigate the dif cult work of teaching this curriculum. Tey use facts, teach choice, and promote diversity. I also show how systems of gender, sexual, class, racial, and ethnic inequalities are reproduced alongside their progressive ef orts. Tis research highlights educators' strategies for teaching this content as well as the taken-for-granted inequalities that persist in education, despite best intentions.
When critical realists consider epistemology they typically start from "epistemological relativis... more When critical realists consider epistemology they typically start from "epistemological relativism." We find this position necessary, but we also find it insufficient because it lacks a critique of the highly unequal social relations among observers themselves-relations that shape the very production of knowledge. While it is indeed the case that all knowledge is fallible, it is also the case that all knowledge is positioned, with a particular standpoint. What is more, the social power relations between standpoints organize the production of truth in ways that produce systematic distortions. In this paper, we propose a critical realist social episte-mology. We introduce feminist standpoint theory and postcolonial theory as our suggested interventions into critical realism and we use two case studies of existing work to highlight i) the social production of truth and the real, and ii) what is at stake for radicalizing epistemology in critical realism. In so doing, our paper emphasizes the epistemic complexities that continuously shape ontology, a commitment to subaltern voices or experiences, and a thorough interrogation of the relations between positions of knowledge production.
K E Y W O R D S critical realism, epistemology, ontology, postcolonial theory, standpoint theory
With the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine positioned as the "right tool" to protect girls' heal... more With the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine positioned as the "right tool" to protect girls' health and sexual health, public discourse positions parents as "responsible" if they vaccinate, "irresponsible" if they do not. The problem with this binary, however, is that it cannot account for the full spectrum of responsibilities and social norms that parents enact in vaccine decisions. In this paper, and in the context of low HPV vaccination rates, I confront this binary and encourage a fuller view of adolescent health and sexual health. Using data from qualitative semi-structured interviews with 28 Canadian mothers tasked with consenting to the HPV vaccine, I examine the complexity of this responsibility. I find HPV vaccine-consenting mothers have normative conceptualisations of responsibility aligned with dominant interpretations of public health. Rather than expressing irresponsibility, some non-HPV vaccine-consenting mothers articulated alternate responsibilities, aligned with broad efforts to manage their teens' sexual health and sexuality. They extend responsibility beyond cancer protection visa -vis vaccines to a general responsibility for daughters' sexual health and self-esteem. In conclusion, I recommend the need for a broader public health approach to HPV, which includes, and goes beyond vaccination. Moreover, I suggest that some of these alternate responsibilities be viewed as complementary to vaccination.
Abstract StephenTurner’srichandinformativehistorynavigatesthecomplexandchang- ing landscape of Am... more Abstract StephenTurner’srichandinformativehistorynavigatesthecomplexandchang- ing landscape of American Sociology. He discusses how political, social, and academic conditions enabled varying forms of sociology and what epistemological and methodolog- ical impacts these conditions had on different schools of sociology. Turner’s book asks readers to reflect on what sociology is and what place elite and nonelite sociology should have in the discipline. Turner emphasizes the role of feminist sociology and “activist scholarship,” arguing that current sociology is one where we have in part returned to our early 20th century reformist roots. This paper expands Turner’s conversation about the contributions of feminist sociology. I offer this critique to function as an entry point through which to contemplate what elite sociology is, and how it relates to feminist sociology. I argue that Turner under-explores the contributions of feminist sociology by reducing its contributions to advocacy-based scholarship. By placing feminist sociology in opposition to elite sociology, he simplifies the important discussion of elite sociology, and loses sight of feminist sociology’s theoretical and methodological strengths. Highlighting aspects of intersectional theory and institutional ethnography, I argue that new elites have emerged in opposition, contrast, and conjunction to the elite that Turner describes, and I hope to further a dialogue on what constitutes “elite” sociology.
In 2009, Canadian social science research funding underwent a transition. Social science health-r... more In 2009, Canadian social science research funding underwent a transition. Social science health-research was shifted from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR), an agency previously dominated by natural and medical science. This paper examines the role of health-research funding structures in legitimizing and/or delimiting what counts as ‘good’ social science health research. Engaging Gieryn’s (1983) notion of ‘boundary-work’ and interviews with qualitative social science graduate students, it investigates how applicants developed proposals for CIHR. Findings show that despite claiming to be interdisciplinary, the practical mechanisms through which CIHR funding is distributed reinforce rigid boundaries of what counts as legitimate health research. These boundaries are reinforced by applicants who felt pressure to prioritize what they perceived was what funders wanted (accommodating natural-science research culture), resulting in erased, elided, and disguised social science theories and methods common for ‘good social science.’
Résumé. En 2009, le financement de la recherche sociale au Canada a subi une période de transition au niveau de sa structure. Dorénavant, la recherche sociale en santé, qui auparavant était éligible au financement du Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines (CRSH), est admissible qu’au financement des Instituts en recherche en santé du Canada (IRSC), un organisme initialement dominé par les sciences naturelles et médicales. Cette recherche explore le rôle des structures de financement des recherches en santé dans la légitimation et/ou la délimitation de ce qui est considéré comme de la ‘bonne’ recherche en sciences sociales. Me basant sur la notion de ‘boundary-work’, formulé par Gieryn (1983), et sur des entrevues réalisées auprès d’étudiants en recherche qualitative des cycles supérieurs en sciences sociales, j’examine la manière dont les candidats ont développé leur projet de recherche pour les IRSC. Les résultats démontrent que bien qu’ils se présentent comme interdisciplinaires, les mécanismes pratiques à travers lesquels les IRSC distribuent leur financement renforcent la délimitation de ce qui est considéré comme de la recherche légitime en sciences sociales. Cette délimitation est renforcée par les candidats qui se sentaient obligés de prioriser ce qui leur paraissait être les demandes des bailleurs de fonds (répondre à la culture de recherche en sciences naturelles), se traduisant par l’effacement, l’omission, et le déguisement des théories et méthodes en sciences sociales courants dans de ‘bonnes recherches en sciences sociales.’
Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie
This article examines the relationship between information consumption and mental health during t... more This article examines the relationship between information consumption and mental health during the early stages of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Adopting a qualitative approach, we interviewed 39 people in British Columbia, Canada between October and December 2020. Interestingly, half of the participants did not want to seek out new information on COVID‐19, making their early insights and initial confusion salient. While some individuals did desire up‐to‐date information on outbreaks and new risks, many expressed confusion over what was perceived to be an evolving landscape of public health policy and practice. Overall, our research found that capacity issues, information overload/fatigue, politics, distrust, and competing sources of news all contributed to a culture of confusion towards public health information. As a consequence, this confusion resulted in knowledge uncertainty about the virus, vaccinations, and the pandemic itself. Our findings highlight the need for a host of future p...
Using a 60-day daily e-diary tool, 117 women undergraduate students reported sexual harassment on... more Using a 60-day daily e-diary tool, 117 women undergraduate students reported sexual harassment on a Canadian university campus (4,283 diary surveys, collectively). Participants reported 181 incidents of both ambient sexual harassment ( witnessing 40 incidents , hearing 106 unwelcomed sexual jokes/remarks) and targeted personal experiences of non-physical sexual harassment (35 incidents). Qualitative data document students’ descriptions of these encounters and contextualize how these are part of everyday student life. Findings show that students experience this harassment almost daily—in an ongoing, persistent, and normalized way—and that university can be a hostile environment where the possibility of daily unwanted sexual experiences is a lived, endemic reality.
In the context of controversial sex education curriculum, this research uncovers complexities of ... more In the context of controversial sex education curriculum, this research uncovers complexities of teaching sex education in Ontario, Canada. Based on ethnographic observations of four public school sex education classes and interviews with teachers, I show that these sex-ed teachers tend to engage several strategies or key dimensions of "progressiveness" in order to navigate the dif cult work of teaching this curriculum. Tey use facts, teach choice, and promote diversity. I also show how systems of gender, sexual, class, racial, and ethnic inequalities are reproduced alongside their progressive ef orts. Tis research highlights educators' strategies for teaching this content as well as the taken-for-granted inequalities that persist in education, despite best intentions.
When critical realists consider epistemology they typically start from "epistemological relativis... more When critical realists consider epistemology they typically start from "epistemological relativism." We find this position necessary, but we also find it insufficient because it lacks a critique of the highly unequal social relations among observers themselves-relations that shape the very production of knowledge. While it is indeed the case that all knowledge is fallible, it is also the case that all knowledge is positioned, with a particular standpoint. What is more, the social power relations between standpoints organize the production of truth in ways that produce systematic distortions. In this paper, we propose a critical realist social episte-mology. We introduce feminist standpoint theory and postcolonial theory as our suggested interventions into critical realism and we use two case studies of existing work to highlight i) the social production of truth and the real, and ii) what is at stake for radicalizing epistemology in critical realism. In so doing, our paper emphasizes the epistemic complexities that continuously shape ontology, a commitment to subaltern voices or experiences, and a thorough interrogation of the relations between positions of knowledge production.
K E Y W O R D S critical realism, epistemology, ontology, postcolonial theory, standpoint theory
With the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine positioned as the "right tool" to protect girls' heal... more With the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine positioned as the "right tool" to protect girls' health and sexual health, public discourse positions parents as "responsible" if they vaccinate, "irresponsible" if they do not. The problem with this binary, however, is that it cannot account for the full spectrum of responsibilities and social norms that parents enact in vaccine decisions. In this paper, and in the context of low HPV vaccination rates, I confront this binary and encourage a fuller view of adolescent health and sexual health. Using data from qualitative semi-structured interviews with 28 Canadian mothers tasked with consenting to the HPV vaccine, I examine the complexity of this responsibility. I find HPV vaccine-consenting mothers have normative conceptualisations of responsibility aligned with dominant interpretations of public health. Rather than expressing irresponsibility, some non-HPV vaccine-consenting mothers articulated alternate responsibilities, aligned with broad efforts to manage their teens' sexual health and sexuality. They extend responsibility beyond cancer protection visa -vis vaccines to a general responsibility for daughters' sexual health and self-esteem. In conclusion, I recommend the need for a broader public health approach to HPV, which includes, and goes beyond vaccination. Moreover, I suggest that some of these alternate responsibilities be viewed as complementary to vaccination.
Abstract StephenTurner’srichandinformativehistorynavigatesthecomplexandchang- ing landscape of Am... more Abstract StephenTurner’srichandinformativehistorynavigatesthecomplexandchang- ing landscape of American Sociology. He discusses how political, social, and academic conditions enabled varying forms of sociology and what epistemological and methodolog- ical impacts these conditions had on different schools of sociology. Turner’s book asks readers to reflect on what sociology is and what place elite and nonelite sociology should have in the discipline. Turner emphasizes the role of feminist sociology and “activist scholarship,” arguing that current sociology is one where we have in part returned to our early 20th century reformist roots. This paper expands Turner’s conversation about the contributions of feminist sociology. I offer this critique to function as an entry point through which to contemplate what elite sociology is, and how it relates to feminist sociology. I argue that Turner under-explores the contributions of feminist sociology by reducing its contributions to advocacy-based scholarship. By placing feminist sociology in opposition to elite sociology, he simplifies the important discussion of elite sociology, and loses sight of feminist sociology’s theoretical and methodological strengths. Highlighting aspects of intersectional theory and institutional ethnography, I argue that new elites have emerged in opposition, contrast, and conjunction to the elite that Turner describes, and I hope to further a dialogue on what constitutes “elite” sociology.
In 2009, Canadian social science research funding underwent a transition. Social science health-r... more In 2009, Canadian social science research funding underwent a transition. Social science health-research was shifted from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR), an agency previously dominated by natural and medical science. This paper examines the role of health-research funding structures in legitimizing and/or delimiting what counts as ‘good’ social science health research. Engaging Gieryn’s (1983) notion of ‘boundary-work’ and interviews with qualitative social science graduate students, it investigates how applicants developed proposals for CIHR. Findings show that despite claiming to be interdisciplinary, the practical mechanisms through which CIHR funding is distributed reinforce rigid boundaries of what counts as legitimate health research. These boundaries are reinforced by applicants who felt pressure to prioritize what they perceived was what funders wanted (accommodating natural-science research culture), resulting in erased, elided, and disguised social science theories and methods common for ‘good social science.’
Résumé. En 2009, le financement de la recherche sociale au Canada a subi une période de transition au niveau de sa structure. Dorénavant, la recherche sociale en santé, qui auparavant était éligible au financement du Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines (CRSH), est admissible qu’au financement des Instituts en recherche en santé du Canada (IRSC), un organisme initialement dominé par les sciences naturelles et médicales. Cette recherche explore le rôle des structures de financement des recherches en santé dans la légitimation et/ou la délimitation de ce qui est considéré comme de la ‘bonne’ recherche en sciences sociales. Me basant sur la notion de ‘boundary-work’, formulé par Gieryn (1983), et sur des entrevues réalisées auprès d’étudiants en recherche qualitative des cycles supérieurs en sciences sociales, j’examine la manière dont les candidats ont développé leur projet de recherche pour les IRSC. Les résultats démontrent que bien qu’ils se présentent comme interdisciplinaires, les mécanismes pratiques à travers lesquels les IRSC distribuent leur financement renforcent la délimitation de ce qui est considéré comme de la recherche légitime en sciences sociales. Cette délimitation est renforcée par les candidats qui se sentaient obligés de prioriser ce qui leur paraissait être les demandes des bailleurs de fonds (répondre à la culture de recherche en sciences naturelles), se traduisant par l’effacement, l’omission, et le déguisement des théories et méthodes en sciences sociales courants dans de ‘bonnes recherches en sciences sociales.’
Uploads
Papers by Katelin Albert
K E Y W O R D S critical realism, epistemology, ontology, postcolonial theory, standpoint theory
Résumé. En 2009, le financement de la recherche sociale au Canada a subi une période de transition au niveau de sa structure. Dorénavant, la recherche sociale en santé, qui auparavant était éligible au financement du Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines (CRSH), est admissible qu’au financement des Instituts en recherche en santé du Canada (IRSC), un organisme initialement dominé par les sciences naturelles et médicales. Cette recherche explore le rôle des structures de financement des recherches en santé dans la légitimation et/ou la délimitation de ce qui est considéré comme de la ‘bonne’ recherche en sciences sociales. Me basant sur la notion de ‘boundary-work’, formulé par Gieryn (1983), et sur des entrevues réalisées auprès d’étudiants en recherche qualitative des cycles supérieurs en sciences sociales, j’examine la manière dont les candidats ont développé leur projet de recherche pour les IRSC. Les résultats démontrent que bien qu’ils se présentent comme interdisciplinaires, les mécanismes pratiques à travers lesquels les IRSC distribuent leur financement renforcent la délimitation de ce qui est considéré comme de la recherche légitime en sciences sociales. Cette délimitation est renforcée par les candidats qui se sentaient obligés de prioriser ce qui leur paraissait être les demandes des bailleurs de fonds (répondre à la culture de recherche en sciences naturelles), se traduisant par l’effacement, l’omission, et le déguisement des théories et méthodes en sciences sociales courants dans de ‘bonnes recherches en sciences sociales.’
K E Y W O R D S critical realism, epistemology, ontology, postcolonial theory, standpoint theory
Résumé. En 2009, le financement de la recherche sociale au Canada a subi une période de transition au niveau de sa structure. Dorénavant, la recherche sociale en santé, qui auparavant était éligible au financement du Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines (CRSH), est admissible qu’au financement des Instituts en recherche en santé du Canada (IRSC), un organisme initialement dominé par les sciences naturelles et médicales. Cette recherche explore le rôle des structures de financement des recherches en santé dans la légitimation et/ou la délimitation de ce qui est considéré comme de la ‘bonne’ recherche en sciences sociales. Me basant sur la notion de ‘boundary-work’, formulé par Gieryn (1983), et sur des entrevues réalisées auprès d’étudiants en recherche qualitative des cycles supérieurs en sciences sociales, j’examine la manière dont les candidats ont développé leur projet de recherche pour les IRSC. Les résultats démontrent que bien qu’ils se présentent comme interdisciplinaires, les mécanismes pratiques à travers lesquels les IRSC distribuent leur financement renforcent la délimitation de ce qui est considéré comme de la recherche légitime en sciences sociales. Cette délimitation est renforcée par les candidats qui se sentaient obligés de prioriser ce qui leur paraissait être les demandes des bailleurs de fonds (répondre à la culture de recherche en sciences naturelles), se traduisant par l’effacement, l’omission, et le déguisement des théories et méthodes en sciences sociales courants dans de ‘bonnes recherches en sciences sociales.’