Page 75 - The ISA Handbook in Contemporary Sociology

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46 THE ISA HANDBOOK IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY

3 Sociology has no institutionalized tradition for In 1991, Jan M. Fritz defined ‘clinical soci-
offering advice and consultancy. ology’ as:
4 Sociological associations have no tradition of
generating diagnostics and guidelines for social the creation of new systems as well as the inter-
intervention. vention in existing systems for purposes of assess-
ment and/or change. Clinical sociologists are
humanistic scientists who are multidisciplinary
A paradox of sociology is that, on the one in approach. They engage in planned social
hand, most students have little ambition to change efforts by focusing on one system level
(e.g., interpersonal, community, international) but
pursue careers in scientific research, while,
integrate levels of focus in their work and do so from
on the other hand, the applied branches of the a sociological frame of reference (Fritz, 1991: 18).
discipline were never firmly established.
Psychology, for example, did much better in The distinction between clinical sociology
this respect. and sociological practice was not that clear.
Two explanations have been advanced The term clinical sociology was first used in
(Jacobs, 2004). One explanation is that the the 1920s to label a kind of practical medical
association of the label ‘sociology’ with left sociology (Fritz, 1991: 18) and though the
wing politics may have hindered the accept- concept was soon used outside the medical
ance of the field of ‘applied sociology’. The domain, it still bears connotations linked to
reality is, however, that concepts and meth- the concept of social pathology. It is cur-
ods that originate in sociology did see a wide rently used as a label for sociological inter-
application. One example is the use of focus vention in social problems, conflicts and
groups in market research. The second expla- interaction on a personal level. Examples of
nation is that members of academic sociology such interventions are work with delinquent
departments were, for a long time, preoccupied youths (Bility, 1999), victims of sexual abuse
with establishing the scientific respectability (Disch, 2001), self-help groups (Williams,
of their discipline, and were not very inter- 2000), as well as work related to family inter-
ested in applying sociological insights to, action and conflict mediation on an individ-
for example, business or administrative prob- ual and even on a national level (Fritz, 2002).
lems. Instead, this tended to become the The broader term ‘Sociological Practice’
province of applied disciplines such as busi- is used for sociological support to social
ness studies and public administration. development at an organizational, local and
Nevertheless, sociological practitioners national level.
have a lot to offer. They bring a strong sensi-
tivity to social context. They are versed in
both quantitative and qualitative methods and
can use a variety of theoretical frameworks to GOVERNMENTALITY OF
approach practical problems from different SOCIOTECHNICS
angles. And, when drawing on the ethno-
graphic tradition, they have access to subtle, Sociotechnics can be seen as part of a wider
often taken-for-granted, micro-processes that conceptual field of social intervention. This
are frequently overlooked but can have field can be captured by the term ‘govern-
macro-consequences (Jacobs, 2004). mentality’. Foucault (1978) coined this term
By establishing a link between sociotech- to denote a new form of government, the
nics, clinical sociology and sociological prac- origin of which he dated in the eighteenth
tice, the Research Committee became the century. This new form of government
host of intensive discussions linking practical involves ‘the continual definition and redefi-
sociological interventions at micro, meso and nition of what is within the competence of
macro levels to the continued development of the state and what is not’ (Foucault, 1978:
sociological concepts and theories. 103). In other words, governmentality means