Scambler, GN;
(2013)
Resistance in unjust times: Archer, structured agency and the sociology of health inequalities.
Sociology
, 47
(1)
pp. 142-156.
10.1177/0038038512455878.
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Abstract
Few sociologists dissent from the notion that the mid- to late 1970s witnessed a shift in capitalism’s modus operandi. Its association with a rapid increase of social and material inequality is beyond dispute. This article opens with a brief summation of contemporary British trends in economic inequalities, and finds an echo of these trends in health inequalities. It is suggested that the sociology of health inequalities in Britain lacks an analysis of agency, and that such an analysis is crucial. A case is made that the recent critical realist contribution of Margaret Archer on ‘internal conversations’ lends itself to an understanding of agency that is salient here. The article develops her typology of internal conversations to present characterizations of the ‘focused autonomous reflexives’ whose mind-sets are causally efficacious for producing and reproducing inequalities, and the ‘dedicated meta-reflexives’ whose casts of mind might yet predispose them to mobilize resistance to inequalities.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Resistance in unjust times: Archer, structured agency and the sociology of health inequalities |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1177/0038038512455878 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0038038512455878 |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s) 2012. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page(http://www.uk.sagepub.com/aboutus/openaccess.htm). |
| Keywords: | Archer on internal conversations critical realism dedicated meta-reflexives; focused autonomous reflexives; health inequalities; mobilizing for resistance; neoliberalism; social and material inequalities; |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health > Infection and Population Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1332175 |
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