The use of structuration theory to conceptualize alternative practice in education: the case of private school outreach in India

This paper contributes to arguments for the potential of Giddens’ structuration theory in educational research. It illustrates how ‘conceptual schemes’ from structuration theory were applied to the author’s empirical research on a type of alternative educational practice in India, ‘private school outreach’. It shows how Giddens’ concepts of ‘social system’, ‘structure’ and ‘agency’ helped to conceptualize private school outreach, and how ‘constraint’ and ‘ontological security’ offered explanations of apparent contradictions in private school outreach practice within the context of the reasons and motivations of actors. It also argues that when schools attempt to do things differently, contradictions may occur because the same ‘rules and resources’ that are drawn on in the production of alternative practice are drawn on in the reproduction of practice. Finally, acknowledging the debates around structuration theory, some of its key criticisms are addressed in relation to the empirical application.     

Interpreting the Cultural Revolution politically

Abstract

This essay reviews the recent work of three sociologists, Andrew Walder, Alessandro Russo, and Joel Andreas, on factionalism in the Chinese Cultural Revolution (CR). To varying degrees, all three authors under review question the dominant sociological interpretation of CR factionalism, which directly links factional allegiance to objective class position, and they each attempt to develop a political interpretation instead. Politics, however, is understood differently by the authors. Walder argues that, through attending to the ‘event sequence’ of the CR in which factionalism emerged, factional politics can be de‐linked from the sociological base to which it is usually tied. Russo, influenced by the work of Alain Badiou and Sylvain Lazarus, argues that the factionalism of the CR should be linked to the emergence of a subjective ‘political sequence’ and not to the pre‐existing structural organization of Chinese socialism. Unlike Walder, for whom mass politics seems to be firmly identified with elite intra‐party power struggle, for Russo a space between elite power struggles and the pluralization of mass political organizations allowed a genuine subjective politics to emerge. Joel Andreas employs Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of political and cultural capital in order to study the development of CR factions in the Qinghua Attached Middle School and Qinghua University, painting a complex political and sociological understanding of factionalization. These works not only offer reinterpretations of the CR itself, but also help to generate interesting questions about the political relationship between the present and the 1960s, both in China and globally.     

Increased toe-flexor muscle strength does not alter metatarsophalangeal and ankle joint mechanics or running economy

ABSTRACT

The intrinsic foot musculature (IFM) supports the arches of the foot and controls metatarsophalangeal joint (MTPJ) motion. Stronger IFM can increase the effective foot length, potentially altering lower-extremity gearing similar to that of using carbon-fibre-plated footwear. The purpose of this study was to investigate if strengthening of the IFM can alter gait mechanics and improve running economy. Eleven participants were randomly assigned into an experimental group and nine into a control group. The experimental group performed IFM strengthening exercises for ten weeks. Toe-flexor strength, gait mechanics, and running economy were assessed at baseline, five weeks, and ten weeks; using a custom strength testing apparatus, motion capture and force-instrumented treadmill, and indirect calorimetry. Toe-flexor strength increased in the experimental group (p = .006); however, MTPJ and ankle mechanics and running economy did not change. The dearth of changes in mechanics may be due to a lack of mechanical advantage of the IFM, runners staying within their preferred movement path, a need for MTPJ dorsiflexion to facilitate the windlass mechanism, or the primary function of the IFM being to support the longitudinal arch of the foot as opposed to modulating MTPJ mechanics.     

Students’ Attitudes Toward Gene Technology: Deconstructing a Construct

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Emergent technologies are commonly characterized as involving cutting-edge developments while lacking wide-scale public implementation. Although...