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(2010) Class, individualization and late modernity, Dordrecht, Springer.
The theories of reflexivity may be embedded in abstract and generalized statements about the parameters of contemporary Western societies, and in most cases may be far removed from the practical business of social research, but that does not stop them being, like all models purporting to explain human behaviour, amenable to empirical analysis. Having said that, to proceed properly it is essential to translate the sometimes sketchy thoughts into testable themes by, first of all, isolating the core processes and causal mechanisms postulated and then, subsequently, formulating them into logically coherent conjectures. This chapter will deal primarily with the first step, drawing out as many theses open to empirical investigation as possible. In so doing it will separate out the theories of reflexivity into two categories, each comprising two thinkers, in recognition of the fact that while all four may be united by common ideas and declarations on class analysis, they can, like a beam of white light striking a prism, be refracted into varying hues according to their emphasis, explicitness and causal reasoning. Hence Beck and Bauman are herded under the label of individualization, while the two British theorists are depicted as describing "late modern reflexivity".
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Full citation:
Atkinson, W. (2010). Reflexivity and its discontents, in Class, individualization and late modernity, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 17-43.
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