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Nº 55
November, 1999
Price: 8 €
Em
Português
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- Telmo Caria
- Reflexivity and
objectification of
the sociological perspective in ethnographic research
The aims
of this paper are the following: (1) to discuss the current interest in
issues concerning the theorization of social relations in research
(SRR) and the social use of scientific knowledge (USK) within the
context of the epistemological studies carried out in Portugal in the
area of Sociology; (2) by means of a methodological analysis of the
strategies used in ethnographic research (SER), to illustrate the way
in which knowledge can be constructed, by theorizing the structure of,
and the performance in SRR, without ruling out the possibility that
theory may evolve into common sense.
The two questions under examination are approached from a point of view
which considers the objectification of the sociological perspective as
a research action that takes into account the social actors' and the
researcher's reflexivity in field work, in order to minimize the risks
of ethnocentric, realist and interventionist reductionism in the
analyses.
To conclude, a model of interpretation of ethnographic action is put
forward, making it possible to outline a theorization of the SRR in the
context of the SER which aims to include common sense in the production
of further knowledge about reality.
- João Freire
- Technical-methodological
problems in
sociology surveys: on questions of values and orientations of subjects
in socio-economic matters
Two reliable public surveys,
representative of the Portuguese population of the Continent, were
conducted consecutively at the end of 1997 and the beginning of 1998,
in which questions about work, employment and leisure were asked.
This paper analyses certain aspects of the interpretation of some of
the survey results and the internal coherence (or lack thereof)
supporting them. It aims to discuss critically the methodology used. It
does not attempt to question the underlying theoretical formulations.
This essay deals specifically with questions pertaining to
discrepancies in results obtained from the same survey, technical
problems in the scaling of answers, the coherence of the formulation of
specific sets of questions and, lastly, the perception of equity and
difference in socio-economic matters.
- Manuel
Couret Pereira Branco
- On democracy and development:
four
theses and one synthesis
Confronted with the relative
failure of most development policies in diverse scenarios, many experts
have pointed to the absence of democracy as the principle cause for
this failure. Nevertheless, can the explanation of persistent
underdevelopment be that simple? Reviewing the most relevant literature
on this question enables us to single out four theses on the relation
between democracy and development: democracy favours development;
democracy hinders development; development is necessary for the
consolidation of the democratic process; an excessive concern with the
acquisition of wealth contributes to the erosion of the democratic
idea. This review leads, in the end, to a synthesis which aims to
highlight that this debate is impaired by an instrumental reason as
much as by a scientific one, both of which are indifferent to the
central objective of the development process: the human being, all
human beings.
- Elísio
Estanque
- Collective action, community
and
social movements: towards a study of of public protest movements
This
text seeks to lay the foundations for a sociological approach to the
forms of public protest that have been emerging in our society,
specifically since the eighties, and whose main characteristics appear
to be the following: their heterogeneous nature; their localized,
scattered and ephemeral character, and their context in the community;
the radicalism and the spectacular nature of the actions; the absence
of programmatic ideologies; their leaning towards media exposure. To
what extent can these forms of collective action be considered social
movements? What is "new" or "old" about them? What is "conservative" or
"emancipatory" about them? These are some of the questions that guide
the discussion. The paper puts forward some thoughts on social
movements - old and new - and it ends with a proposal for a program of
sociological research devoted to the study of protest movements
throughout the last decade.
- Lino João de
Oliveira Neves
- Juridification of the process
of
border demarcation of indigenous lands in Brasil or Anthropology/Law:
great expectations or dangerous allies in the social regulation of the
indigenous peoples' movement in Brasil?
In the same way that
inter-ethnic relations are essencially political, the border
demarcation of indigenous lands is a political process of assertion of
rights. However, with the juridification of the process of border
demarcation, initiated in January 1996, the indigenous peoples'
struggle for land rights has been violently deprived of its political
dimension.
This paper does not question the value and advantages of the judicial
acknowledgement of the indigenous peoples' rights. Instead, it stresses
the political character of the process of border demarcation. In other
words, it acknowledges the juridical as one of the aspects of this
process, but without confusing it with the process itself; it claims
the political nature of the indigenous peoples' right of vindication,
which cannot be reduced to its juridical aspect. This text also
reflects on the role that Anthropology and Law, as fields of knowledge,
can play as great expectations or dangerous allies in the process of
social emancipation of the indigenous peoples' movement in Brasil.
- João Pedroso
e Graça Fonseca
- Juvenile justice between risk
and
crime: what lies beyond it?
We present a synthesis of the
research carried out on matters of juvenile justice in Portugal, within
the scope of the Permanent Observatory of Portuguese Justice. We start
with an analysis of the evolution of the litigation and the tutelary
intervention of the Juvenile Court throughout nearly half a century
(1942-1996); we then draw a profile of the subjects of the tutelary
intervention, adopting a threefold perspective based on the following:
the national statistics of justice; a case study carried out in the
Juvenile Court of Lisbon, relating to the years 1989 and 1996; a second
case study, again carried out in this court, concerning a group of
young people who, having been tried in the Juvenile Court of Lisbon,
continued, after attaining majority, to perpetrate crimes and have
therefore been submitted to criminal justice.
- Helena
Cristina Ferreira Machado
- "Vaca que anda no monte não
tem boi
certo": a study of the judicial practice of normalization of women's
sexual and reproductive behaviour
The interaction between
law and forensic biology, present in the judicial practice of paternity
testing, calls for a reflection on some scenarios that derive from the
institutional use of genetic data. Based on a case study and starting
from the hypothesis that the current receptivity of the judicial system
to genetic testing for the determination of paternity constitutes a
complex interrelation between the system of patriarchy, judicial power
and scientific power, this paper shows how this development has
contributed to the establishment of new parameters for a "politics of
reproduction" addressed to women. Two major conclusions are reached: on
the one hand, this intersection between law and forensic biology has
resulted in the (re)creation of binary oppositions between men and
women; on the other hand, since genetic tests enable a "secure"
determination of paternity, they have increased the power of the courts
to control those forms of women's sexual and reproductive behaviour
that do not fit the conventional patterns of fidelity to a single
sexual partner.
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