Spencer E Cahill
Biographic Data
| ID | 141989 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Spencer E Cahill |
| GIVEN NAMES | Spencer E |
| FAMILY NAME | Cahill |
| SIGNATURE | CAHILL S E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Skidmore College |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 35 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 476 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 35 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1980 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Together Alone: Personal Relationships in Public Places
Beastly Bodies in Human Hands, Heads, and Hearts: Reflections on Animal Abuse as Dirty Play
The Two Sexes: Growing Up Apart, Coming Together
Emotional Capital and Professional Socialization: The Case of Mortuary Science Students (and Me)
This article is based on an ethnographic study of an accredited mortuary science progam. It describes a variety of ways in which this program and its students' social lives normalize work with and around the dead. It also draws contrasts between the successful mortuary science students' reactions to the work of funeral direction and those of unsuccessful students (and my own), and explains those contrasts in terms of biographical backgrounds. Dra…
Nothing Happens to Good Girls: Fear of Crime in Women's Lives
Reflections at the Millennium's Editorial Turn
Reflections on Classifying Ethnographic Reflections at the Millennium's Turn
The Boundaries of Professionalization: The Case of North American Funeral Direction
This article examines the relationship between occupational and individual professionalization through the example of funeral direction. It is based upon an ethnographic study of an accredited mortuary science program at a community college. It compares and contrasts the socialization of aspiring funeral directors in that program to previous case studies of socialization into other self‐styled professions. This analysis suggests that the success …
Toward a Sociology of the Person
This paper proposes a sociology of the person that focuses upon the socially defined, publicly visible beings of intersubjective experience. I argue that the sociology of the person proposed by Durkheim and Mauss is more accurately described as a sociology of institutions of the person and neglects both folk or ethnopsychologies of personhood and the interactional production of persons. I draw upon the work of Goffman to develop a sociology of th…
Last Rites: The Work of the Modern Funeral Director
Inside Social Life. Readings in Sociological Psychology and Microsociology
Studies in Symbolic Interaction: Volume 16
Some Rhetorical Directions of Funeral Direction: Historical Entanglements and Contemporary Dilemmas
This article illustrates the importance and significant consequences of occupations' rhetorical work by examining the past and current rhetoric of North American funeral direction. The author reconstructs an occupational genealogy of funeral direction and then examine funeral directors' current rhetorical dilemmas in light of that historical legacy by drawing upon empirical materials collected during participant observation in a mortuary science …
Reconsidering the Stigma of Physical Disability: Wheelchair Use and Public Kindness
This article reexamines the stigma of physical disability using the empirical example of wheelchair users' treatment in public places. It draws upon conversational interviews with wheelchair users, field notes recorded during participant observation in public places while using wheelchairs, and previously published autobiographical accounts. The analysis of these materials primarily focuses upon the many public encounters in which wheelchair user…
Goodness Personified: The Emergence of Gifted Children.Leslie Margolin
Managing Emotions in Public: The Case of Wheelchair Users
The sociology of emotions has concentrated on individuals' socially guided management of their own emotions to the neglect of interpersonal processes of emotion management. This article suggests that the interpersonal management of emotions is socially ubiquitous and significant, and does so with the example of wheelchair users' distinctive public experiences. We draw on our own participant observation while using wheelchairs in public, on conver…
Sociological Studies of Child Development: A Research Annual. Volume 4: Perspectives on and of Children
The Sociology of Childhood at and in an Uncertain Age
Social Representations and The Development of Knowledge
Legal Socialization: A Study of Norms and Rules
I: Legal Socialization Theory.- 1 Studying Legal Socialization.- 2 Comparing Theories of Legal Socialization.- 3 Scope of the Study.- II: Testing Competing Hypotheses.- 4 Changes in Legal Socialization over Time.- 5 Testing Competing Hypotheses.- 6 Effects of the Interaction.- III: Exploring the Interaction.- 7 Legal Reasoning and Behaviors: The Mediating Model.- 8 Offender Status.- 9 A Comparison of Two Rule-Enforcing Experiences.- Conclusion.- …
Dogs and Their People: Pet-Facilitated Interaction in a Public Setting
This article reports a case study of dogs' contributions to interaction and the development of relationships among unacquainted persons. The study examines dynamics of inclusion among dog owners at a public park and is based on participant observation of those processes. That examination reveals that dogs expose their human companions in public places to encounters with strangers, facilitate interaction among the previously unacquainted, and help…
The Inexpressive Male
Childhood and Public Life: Reaffirming Biographical Divisions
This article examines contemporary Americans' collective conceptions of childhood and children by focusing attention on the young's participation in public life. Children's behavior and treatment in public places were observed and recorded in fieldnotes over a two year period. These observations, related findings from previously published studies, contemporary urban legends, newspaper stories and advice columns are analyzed in light of the histor…
New Ethnographies
Generally, reviews of new ethnographies or methods texts are solicited and compiled by the New Ethnographies editor. The preferred form, unless specified otherwise, is an 800 to 1,000 word critical essay addressing theoretical, methodological, and/or substantive contributions of recently published materials relevant to ethnographic inquiry. Unsolicited reviews are welcome, but without the assurance of publication. Abstracts of Ph.D. dissertations…
Fashioning Males and Females: Appearance Management and the Social Reproduction of Gender
The author examines the part played by appearance management in both the intergenerational and everyday reproduction of gendered identities in contemporary American society. The author empirically explores the contributions of appearance management to young children's gender socialization by drawing upon observation in preschools, informal interviews with children's parents, as well as others' observations and findings. That analysis indicates th…
Emotional Capital and Professional Socialization: The Case of Mortuary Science Students (and Me)
This article is based on an ethnographic study of an accredited mortuary science progam. It describes a variety of ways in which this program and its students' social lives normalize work with and around the dead. It also draws contrasts between the successful mortuary science students' reactions to the work of funeral direction and those of unsuccessful students (and my own), and explains those contrasts in terms of biographical backgrounds. Dra…
The Social Construction of Deviance: Experts on Battered Women
Contemporary experts on battered women have concentrated on asking why women stay with mates who beat them. This paper looks at how this question, and the way experts answer it, has created a new category of deviance and, by implication, a new clientele for the services of experts. We look at the quality of the evidence which the experts offer in support of their theories and suggest an alternative vocabulary for assessing the motives of battered…
Toward a Sociology of the Person
This paper proposes a sociology of the person that focuses upon the socially defined, publicly visible beings of intersubjective experience. I argue that the sociology of the person proposed by Durkheim and Mauss is more accurately described as a sociology of institutions of the person and neglects both folk or ethnopsychologies of personhood and the interactional production of persons. I draw upon the work of Goffman to develop a sociology of th…
Managing Emotions in Public: The Case of Wheelchair Users
The sociology of emotions has concentrated on individuals' socially guided management of their own emotions to the neglect of interpersonal processes of emotion management. This article suggests that the interpersonal management of emotions is socially ubiquitous and significant, and does so with the example of wheelchair users' distinctive public experiences. We draw on our own participant observation while using wheelchairs in public, on conver…
Childhood and Public Life: Reaffirming Biographical Divisions
This article examines contemporary Americans' collective conceptions of childhood and children by focusing attention on the young's participation in public life. Children's behavior and treatment in public places were observed and recorded in fieldnotes over a two year period. These observations, related findings from previously published studies, contemporary urban legends, newspaper stories and advice columns are analyzed in light of the histor…
Dogs and Their People: Pet-Facilitated Interaction in a Public Setting
This article reports a case study of dogs' contributions to interaction and the development of relationships among unacquainted persons. The study examines dynamics of inclusion among dog owners at a public park and is based on participant observation of those processes. That examination reveals that dogs expose their human companions in public places to encounters with strangers, facilitate interaction among the previously unacquainted, and help…
Fashioning Males and Females: Appearance Management and the Social Reproduction of Gender
The author examines the part played by appearance management in both the intergenerational and everyday reproduction of gendered identities in contemporary American society. The author empirically explores the contributions of appearance management to young children's gender socialization by drawing upon observation in preschools, informal interviews with children's parents, as well as others' observations and findings. That analysis indicates th…
Children and Civility: Ceremonial Deviance and the Acquisition of Ritual Competence
Goffinan's analyses of the ritual elements of everyday interaction indicate that our contemporary civil society is characterized by a kind of religion of civility. Based on observations of children in public settings, this article empirically analyzes some of the ways in which children are socialized to civility. That analysis indicates that children's disruptive and otherwise offensive acts are essential elements of that socialization process in…
Language Practices and Self Definition: The Case of Gender Identity Acquisition
This article empirically explores possible relationships between language practices and the acquisition of gender identity. I propose a framework for analyzing the language of social identification underlying the usage of identifying categorical terms and then use this framework to analyze segments of interaction recorded in two preschools. On the basis of this analysis, I propose a distinctively sociological theory of gender identity acquisition…
Reconsidering the Stigma of Physical Disability: Wheelchair Use and Public Kindness
This article reexamines the stigma of physical disability using the empirical example of wheelchair users' treatment in public places. It draws upon conversational interviews with wheelchair users, field notes recorded during participant observation in public places while using wheelchairs, and previously published autobiographical accounts. The analysis of these materials primarily focuses upon the many public encounters in which wheelchair user…
Meanwhile Backstage: Public Bathrooms and the Interaction Order
This article, based on observational research, provides a microsociological analysis of the behavior that routinely occurs in public bathrooms. Our findings indicate that occupants of public bathrooms routinely perform a number of interpersonal rituals and engage in a variety of backstage behaviors. Analysis of these routine bathroom behaviors reveals the degree to which members of this society are oriented to certain shared values and behavioral…
The Boundaries of Professionalization: The Case of North American Funeral Direction
This article examines the relationship between occupational and individual professionalization through the example of funeral direction. It is based upon an ethnographic study of an accredited mortuary science program at a community college. It compares and contrasts the socialization of aspiring funeral directors in that program to previous case studies of socialization into other self‐styled professions. This analysis suggests that the success …
Actors in Search of a Character: Student Social Workers' Quest for Professional Identity
This article presents a case study of the professional socialization of neophyte social workers. Drawing primarily upon interviews of the 14 members of a senior class in an accredited social work program, the article presents an analysis of student interns' attempts to dramatically realize the occupational identity of social worker. Contrasts between their experiences and the experiences of student doctors are stressed in order to illustrate the …
Reexamining the acquisition of sex roles: A social interactionist approach
Directions For An Interactionist Study Of Gender Development
Harold Garfinkel and Erving Goffman have demonstrated the utility of the interactionist approach for the study of sex and gender. This paper proposes some hypotheses and research strategies for complementary interactionist studies of the gender development process. A review of previous research and clinical data concerning feminized boys that patterns of caregiver-infant interaction and caregivers' use of sex-designating verbal labels provide the…
Some Rhetorical Directions of Funeral Direction: Historical Entanglements and Contemporary Dilemmas
This article illustrates the importance and significant consequences of occupations' rhetorical work by examining the past and current rhetoric of North American funeral direction. The author reconstructs an occupational genealogy of funeral direction and then examine funeral directors' current rhetorical dilemmas in light of that historical legacy by drawing upon empirical materials collected during participant observation in a mortuary science …
Together Alone: Personal Relationships in Public Places
The Two Sexes: Growing Up Apart, Coming Together
Reflections on Classifying Ethnographic Reflections at the Millennium's Turn
The Sociology of Childhood at and in an Uncertain Age
Beastly Bodies in Human Hands, Heads, and Hearts: Reflections on Animal Abuse as Dirty Play
Directions For An Interactionist Study Of Gender Development
Harold Garfinkel and Erving Goffman have demonstrated the utility of the interactionist approach for the study of sex and gender. This paper proposes some hypotheses and research strategies for complementary interactionist studies of the gender development process. A review of previous research and clinical data concerning feminized boys that patterns of caregiver-infant interaction and caregivers' use of sex-designating verbal labels provide the…
Family Decision-Making: A Developmental Sex Role Model
The authors present a new model of the process of decision-making that takes into account the importance of sex roles. They use a series of couples as examples that illustrate the model at various stages of the life cycle. They also consider how decision-making is changing. A major contribution to the study of sexual politics and bargaining within relationships. 'The authors are to be commended for their attempt to bring order to the complexities…
Reexamining the acquisition of sex roles: A social interactionist approach
The Social Construction of Deviance: Experts on Battered Women
Contemporary experts on battered women have concentrated on asking why women stay with mates who beat them. This paper looks at how this question, and the way experts answer it, has created a new category of deviance and, by implication, a new clientele for the services of experts. We look at the quality of the evidence which the experts offer in support of their theories and suggest an alternative vocabulary for assessing the motives of battered…
Meanwhile Backstage: Public Bathrooms and the Interaction Order
This article, based on observational research, provides a microsociological analysis of the behavior that routinely occurs in public bathrooms. Our findings indicate that occupants of public bathrooms routinely perform a number of interpersonal rituals and engage in a variety of backstage behaviors. Analysis of these routine bathroom behaviors reveals the degree to which members of this society are oriented to certain shared values and behavioral…
Actors in Search of a Character: Student Social Workers' Quest for Professional Identity
This article presents a case study of the professional socialization of neophyte social workers. Drawing primarily upon interviews of the 14 members of a senior class in an accredited social work program, the article presents an analysis of student interns' attempts to dramatically realize the occupational identity of social worker. Contrasts between their experiences and the experiences of student doctors are stressed in order to illustrate the …
Language Practices and Self Definition: The Case of Gender Identity Acquisition
This article empirically explores possible relationships between language practices and the acquisition of gender identity. I propose a framework for analyzing the language of social identification underlying the usage of identifying categorical terms and then use this framework to analyze segments of interaction recorded in two preschools. On the basis of this analysis, I propose a distinctively sociological theory of gender identity acquisition…
Children and Civility: Ceremonial Deviance and the Acquisition of Ritual Competence
Goffinan's analyses of the ritual elements of everyday interaction indicate that our contemporary civil society is characterized by a kind of religion of civility. Based on observations of children in public settings, this article empirically analyzes some of the ways in which children are socialized to civility. That analysis indicates that children's disruptive and otherwise offensive acts are essential elements of that socialization process in…
Shall the Twain Ever Meet
Men and Marriage
New Ethnographies
Generally, reviews of new ethnographies or methods texts are solicited and compiled by the New Ethnographies editor. The preferred form, unless specified otherwise, is an 800 to 1,000 word critical essay addressing theoretical, methodological, and/or substantive contributions of recently published materials relevant to ethnographic inquiry. Unsolicited reviews are welcome, but without the assurance of publication. Abstracts of Ph.D. dissertations…
Fashioning Males and Females: Appearance Management and the Social Reproduction of Gender
The author examines the part played by appearance management in both the intergenerational and everyday reproduction of gendered identities in contemporary American society. The author empirically explores the contributions of appearance management to young children's gender socialization by drawing upon observation in preschools, informal interviews with children's parents, as well as others' observations and findings. That analysis indicates th…
The Inexpressive Male
Childhood and Public Life: Reaffirming Biographical Divisions
This article examines contemporary Americans' collective conceptions of childhood and children by focusing attention on the young's participation in public life. Children's behavior and treatment in public places were observed and recorded in fieldnotes over a two year period. These observations, related findings from previously published studies, contemporary urban legends, newspaper stories and advice columns are analyzed in light of the histor…
Social Representations and The Development of Knowledge
Legal Socialization: A Study of Norms and Rules
I: Legal Socialization Theory.- 1 Studying Legal Socialization.- 2 Comparing Theories of Legal Socialization.- 3 Scope of the Study.- II: Testing Competing Hypotheses.- 4 Changes in Legal Socialization over Time.- 5 Testing Competing Hypotheses.- 6 Effects of the Interaction.- III: Exploring the Interaction.- 7 Legal Reasoning and Behaviors: The Mediating Model.- 8 Offender Status.- 9 A Comparison of Two Rule-Enforcing Experiences.- Conclusion.- …
Dogs and Their People: Pet-Facilitated Interaction in a Public Setting
This article reports a case study of dogs' contributions to interaction and the development of relationships among unacquainted persons. The study examines dynamics of inclusion among dog owners at a public park and is based on participant observation of those processes. That examination reveals that dogs expose their human companions in public places to encounters with strangers, facilitate interaction among the previously unacquainted, and help…
Sociological Studies of Child Development: A Research Annual. Volume 4: Perspectives on and of Children
The Sociology of Childhood at and in an Uncertain Age
Managing Emotions in Public: The Case of Wheelchair Users
The sociology of emotions has concentrated on individuals' socially guided management of their own emotions to the neglect of interpersonal processes of emotion management. This article suggests that the interpersonal management of emotions is socially ubiquitous and significant, and does so with the example of wheelchair users' distinctive public experiences. We draw on our own participant observation while using wheelchairs in public, on conver…
Studies in Symbolic Interaction: Volume 16
Some Rhetorical Directions of Funeral Direction: Historical Entanglements and Contemporary Dilemmas
This article illustrates the importance and significant consequences of occupations' rhetorical work by examining the past and current rhetoric of North American funeral direction. The author reconstructs an occupational genealogy of funeral direction and then examine funeral directors' current rhetorical dilemmas in light of that historical legacy by drawing upon empirical materials collected during participant observation in a mortuary science …
Reconsidering the Stigma of Physical Disability: Wheelchair Use and Public Kindness
This article reexamines the stigma of physical disability using the empirical example of wheelchair users' treatment in public places. It draws upon conversational interviews with wheelchair users, field notes recorded during participant observation in public places while using wheelchairs, and previously published autobiographical accounts. The analysis of these materials primarily focuses upon the many public encounters in which wheelchair user…
Goodness Personified: The Emergence of Gifted Children.Leslie Margolin
Inside Social Life. Readings in Sociological Psychology and Microsociology
Sociology (27 works) · Psychology (22 works) · Social Psychology (16 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Social science (11 works) · Political science (9 works) · Epistemology (8 works) · Gender Studies (8 works) · Social Psychology (7 works) · History (6 works)