Professor
Stephen Leacock Building, Room 816
855 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2T7
Tel.: 514-398-6846
Email: axel.vandenberg [at] mcgill.ca
Office hours: By appointment
Research Areas
Economic sociology; welfare states and labour markets; the relation between sociology and economics; contemporary sociological theory
Biography
(PhD, 海角社区, 1985)
Professor, at 海角社区 since 1984. He has taught at the University of Alberta (1982-1984) and been visiting research fellow at the Swedish Institute for Social Research (1988-1990 and 1991-1992) and the Amsterdam School of Social Science Research (1997-1998), visiting professor at the Vienna Institute for Advanced Studies (2001), European Union Marie Curie Incoming International Fellow at SISWO/ Social Policy Research and the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) (2004-2005), Visiting Professor at the Centre de l鈥櫭ヽonomie de la Sorbonne, Paris, (2009) and at the Department of Sociology of the Universitat Aut貌noma de Barcelona (2012-2013).
Since the late 1980s Professor van den Berg has been involved in a series of collaborative research projects comparing labour market and social policies in Canada with those in the US and Europe. Most recently he co-directed two research projects with the late Professor Paul Bernard of the Universit茅 de Montr茅al, funded by the SSHRC and the Minist猫re du d茅veloppement 茅conomique, de l鈥檌nnovation et de l鈥檈xportation du Qu茅bec (MDEIE), associated with a large International Collaborative Research Project funded by the European Commission鈥檚 7th Framework Program. These have produced a number of articles and a book, Combatting Poverty: Quebec鈥檚 Pursuit of a Distinctive Welfare State, written with a group of van den Berg鈥檚 and Bernard鈥檚 graduate students, published in 2017 by the University of Toronto Press.
Professor van den Berg鈥檚 recent work in sociological theory has dealt with the debates about the uses of rational choice theory in the social sciences, the uses and abuses of sociological grand theory and the relation between politics, values and social science. Together with Professor Hudson Meadwell (Political Science) he has edited Rationality and the Social Sciences (Transaction, 2004) and with Professor Andr茅 Blais (Political Science, Universit茅 de Montr茅al) a special issue of Sociologie et soci茅t茅s entitled La th茅orie du choix rationnel contre les sciences sociales? Bilan des d茅bats contemporains (Vol.XXXIV, No. 1, Spring 2002). He has published a couple of articles criticizing Michael Burawoy鈥檚 call for a (politicized) 鈥榩ublic sociology鈥�. In his chapter, 鈥淚s Sociological Theory Too Grand for Social Mechanisms?鈥� in Social Mechanisms, edited by Peter Hedstr枚m and Richard Swedberg, van den Berg aligns himself theoretically with the emerging school of 鈥榓nalytical鈥� sociologists. His earlier book on the Marxist theory of the state, The Immanent Utopia: From Marxism on the State to the State of Marxism, was re-published in 2003, with a new Introduction (Transaction).
Together with Professors David Pariser (Concordia University) and Anna Kindler (University of British Columbia) Professor van den Berg has done SSHRC-funded research on the differences in the criteria of aesthetic judgment applied to amateur and professional art in different cultures. The results of their multi-country, multi-generational comparative research project strongly suggest one should be sceptical about the universalist pretentions of the 鈥榤odernist鈥� aesthetic that is taken for granted and taught at Western institutions of art education.
Professor van den Berg continues to write on a range of topics in sociological theory, from debates about the value neutrality of (social) science to the implications of social constructionism for knowledge claims, to the ongoing confusions about the relation between 鈥榓gency鈥� and 鈥榮tructure.鈥�
Professor van den Berg is interested in supervising graduate work on topics in political economy, the welfare state, labour markets and industrial sociology, the sociology of the economy, and the problematic status of sociology as "science." He has worked with graduate students on wide range of topics, including the new Russian business class and liberal democracy; the movement to Canadianize sociology; physical attractiveness and earnings; the sociology of US Supreme Court decisions; implementation of the single-currency regime in the EU; press coverage of controversies about the environment; the 2008 financial crisis and bank bailouts; the sociology of road safety policy. Professor van den Berg teaches courses on contemporary sociological theory, sociology of the welfare state and economic sociology.
Selected Publications
Books
Equality versus Liberty?听 Radical and Reformist Theories of Capitalist Democracy. Amsterdam: Sociologisch Instituut van de Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1981.听听
The Immanent Utopia: From Marxism on the State to the State of Marxism. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1988. Republished, with a new introduction, by Transaction Publishers, Brunswick, NJ, 2003.
The Sociology of Labour Markets: Efficiency, Equity, Security, Toronto: Prentice-Hall Canada, 1997. Axel van den Berg and Joseph Smucker, eds.
Labour market Regimes and Patterns of Flexibility: A Sweden-Canada Comparison, Lund: Arkiv. 1997. Axel van den Berg, Bengt Fur氓ker and Leif Johansson.
La th茅orie du choix rationnel contre les sciences sociales? Bilan des d茅bats contemporains听, special theme issue of Sociologie et soci茅t茅s, Vol.XXXIV, No. 1, Spring 2002. Axel van den Berg and Andr茅 Blais, eds.
The Social Sciences and Rationality: Promise, Limits and Problems, New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 2004. Axel van den Berg and Hudson Meadwell, eds.
Managing Social Risks through Transitional Labour Markets: towards an enriched European Employment Strategy, Erik de Gier and Axel van den Berg, Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis/Transaction Publishers, 2006.
Combatting Poverty: Quebec鈥檚 Pursuit of a Distinctive Welfare State, Axel van den Berg, Charles Plante, Hicham Ra茂q, Christine Proulx and Samuel Faustmann, University of Toronto Press, 2017.
Articles and Chapters
鈥淐ritical Theory: Is There Still Hope?,鈥� American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 86, No. 3, Nov. 1980, pp. 449-78.听
鈥淗abermas and Modernity: A Critique of the Theory of Communicative Action鈥�, Current Perspectives in Sociological Theory, Vol. 10, 1990, pp. 161-193.
鈥淐reeping Embourgeoisement? Some Comments on the Marxist Discovery of the New Middle Class,鈥� Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, Volume 12, 1993, pp. 295-328.
鈥淪weden: Still the Model?,鈥� in Avi Gottlieb, Ephraim Yuchtman-Yaar, Burkhard Str眉mpel, eds., Socioeconomic Change and Individual Adaptation: Comparing East and West, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1994, pp. 159-192. Axel van den Berg and Ryszard Szulkin.
鈥淓xternal Flexibility in Sweden and Canada: A Three Industry Comparison,鈥� Work, Employment and Society, Vol.9, No.4, 1995, pp. 689-718. Michael R. Smith, Anthony C. Masi, Axel van den Berg and Joseph Smucker.
鈥淲hatever Happened to the Legitimation Crisis? Some Reflections on the Evolution of the Qu茅bec Welfare State,鈥� Qu茅bec Studies, Vol. 19, 1995, (Fall-Winter), pp. 41-58.
鈥淟iberalism Without Reason?,鈥� Contemporary Sociology, Vol.25, No.1, January 1996, pp.19-25.
鈥淚nsecurity, Labour Relations, and Flexibility in Two Process Industries: A Canada/Sweden Comparison,鈥� Canadian Journal of Sociology, Vol. 22 (1997): 31-64. Michael R. Smith, Anthony C. Masi, Axel van den Berg and Joseph Smucker.
鈥淭he Mind of the Beholder: Some Provisional Doubts About the U-Curved Aesthetic Development Thesis,鈥� Studies in Art Education, Vol. 38, Issue 3, Spring 1997: 158-178. David Pariser and Axel van den Berg.
鈥淏eholder Beware: A Reply to Jessica Davis,鈥� Studies in Art Education, Vol. 38, Issue 3, Spring 1997: 186-191. David Pariser and Axel van den Berg.
鈥淭o Cut or Not to Cut: A Cross-National Comparison of Attitudes toward Wage Flexibility,鈥� Work and Occupations, Vol. 25, No.1, February 1998: 49-73. Axel van den Berg, Anthony C. Masi, Michael R. Smith and Joseph Smucker.
Reprinted in Cornfield, Daniel B., Campbell, Karen E. and McCannon, Holly J., eds. 2001. Working in Restructured Workplaces: Challenges and New Directions for the Sociology of Work, Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Ch. 18 (pp. 349-366).
鈥淟abour Deployment within Plants in Canada and Sweden: A Three-Industry Comparison,鈥� Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations, vol. 53, no.3, Summer 1998: 430-457. Joseph Smucker, Axel van den Berg, Anthony C. Masi and Michael R. Smith.
鈥淥ut of Habit: Notes Toward a General Theory of Deliberate Action,鈥� Amsterdams Sociologisch Tijdschrift, Vol. 25, No.3, October 1998: 429-463.
鈥淚s Sociological Theory Too Grand for Social Mechanisms?鈥� in Peter Hedstr枚m and Richard Swedberg, eds., Social Mechanisms: An Analytical Approach to Social Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 204-237.
鈥淢anufacturing Change: A Two-Country, Three-Industry Comparison,鈥� Acta Sociologica, Vol. 43, No. 2 (June), 2000: 139-156. Axel van den Berg, Anthony C. Masi, Joseph Smucker and Michael Smith.
鈥淭eaching Art Versus Teaching Taste: What Art Teachers Can Learn from Looking at a Cross-Cultural Evaluation of Children鈥檚 Art,鈥� Poetics, 29, 2001, pp. 331-350. David Pariser and Axel van den Berg
鈥淰isions of Eden: The Differential Effects of Skill on Adults鈥� Judgements of Children鈥檚 Drawings: Two Cross-Cultural Studies,鈥� Anna Kindler, David Pariser, Axel van den Berg and Wan-Chen Liu, Canadian Review of Art Education, 28 (2), 2001, pp. 35-63.
鈥淐an Security Enhance Efficiency? Testing a Little-Noted Assumption of the Rehn-Meidner Model,鈥滳hapter 6 (pp. 101-116) in Henry Milner and Eskil Wadensj枚, eds., G枚sta Rehn, the Swedish Model and Labour Market Policies, International and National Perspectives, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001.
鈥淎esthetic Modernism, the First Among Equals? A Look At Aesthetic Value Systems in Cross-cultural, Age and Visual Arts Educated and Non-visual Arts Educated Judging Cohorts,鈥滱nna Kindler, David Pariser, Axel van den Berg, Wan-Chen Liu and Belidson Dias, The International Journal of Cultural Policy, Vol.8, No.2, 2002, pp. 135-152.
鈥淎 Cultural Perspective on Graphic Development: Aesthetic Assessment of Local and Foreign Drawings in Taiwan,鈥� (in Chinese) Anna Kindler, Wan-Chen Liu, David Pariser and Axel van den Berg, Research in Arts Education, Vol. 5, May 2003, pp. 23-47.
鈥淏lindfolded Visions: The Creeping Hegemony of Avant Garde Aesthetics,鈥� Anna M. Kindler, David A. Pariser, Axel van den Berg, Wan Chen Liu and Belidson Dias, International Journal of the Humanities, Vol. 1, 2003, pp. 1541-1557.
鈥淧olitics versus Markets: A Note on the Uses of Double Standards,鈥� Chapter 9 (pp. 139-152) in Raymond Breton and Jeffrey Reitz, eds., Globalization and Society: Processes of Differentiation Examined, Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003.
鈥淧ublic Choice, the Public Sector and the Market: The Sound of One Hand Clapping?鈥� Chapter 2 (pp. 13-25) in Pauline Dibben, Geoffrey Wood and Ian Roper, eds., Contesting Public Sector Reforms: Critical Perspectives; International Debates, Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2004.
鈥淩esponses to Down-Sizing under Different Adjustment Regimes: A Two-Country Comparison,鈥� Chapter 9 (pp. 155-186) in Job Insecurity, Union Involvement and Union Activism, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005, Hans de Witte, ed., Axel van den Berg and Anthony C. Masi.
鈥淐onflict Theories in Political Sociology,鈥� Chapter 3 (pp. 72-95) in Thomas Janoski, Robert Alford, Alexander M. Hicks and Mildred A. Schwartz, eds. The Handbook of Political Sociology: States, Civil Societies and Globalization, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, Axel van den Berg and Thomas Janoski.听
鈥淒rawing and Aesthetic Judgments Across Cultures: Diverse Pathways to Graphic Development,鈥� Ch. 13 (pp. 293-317) in Constance Milbrath and Hanns M. Trautner, eds., 2007, Children鈥檚 Understanding and Production of Pictures, Drawing, and Art: Theoretical and Empirical Approaches, G枚ttingen: Hogrefe & Huber Publishers, David Pariser, Anna Kindler and Axel van den Berg.
鈥淒oes Practice Make Perfect? Children鈥檚 and Adults鈥� Constructions of Graphic Merit and Development: A Cross-Cultural Study,鈥� David A. Pariser, Anna Kindler, Axel van den Berg, Belidson Diaz and Wan Chen Liu Visual Arts Research, Vol. 33, Issue 65, 2007, pp. 96-114.
鈥淔rom Unemployment to Employment Insurance: Towards Transitional Labour Markets in Canada?鈥�, Ch. 12 (pp. 307-341) in Ruud Muffels, ed., 2008. Flexibility and Work Security in Europe: Labour Markets in Transition, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, Axel van den Berg, Claus-Henning von Restorff, Daniel Parent and Anthony C. Masi.
听鈥淲hat Do Public Sociologists Do? A Critique of Burawoy,鈥� Avi Goldberg and Axel van den Berg, Canadian Journal of Sociology/Cahiers canadiens de sociologie, Vol. 34, No. 3, 2009, pp. 765-802.
鈥淔lexicurity: What Can We Learn from the Scandinavian Experience?鈥�, European Journal of Social Security, Vol. 11, No. 3, September 2009, pp. 245-270.
听鈥淩esearch in Transitional Labour Markets: Implications for the European Employment Strategy,鈥� Ch. 3 (pp. 63-106) in Ralph Rogowski, ed., 2009. The European Social Model and Transitional Labour Markets: Law and Policy, Ashgate, Axel van den Berg and Erik de Gier.
鈥淎dolescent Preferences and Drawing Performance,鈥� David Pariser, Anna Kindler and Axel van den Berg, Actes du colloque sur la recherche en enseignement des arts visuels, Anne-Marie 脡mond, Alain Savoie, Francine Gagnon-Bourget and Pierre Gosselin, eds., 2010, pp. 69-80.
鈥淧ublic Sociology, Professional Sociology and Democracy,鈥� Ch. 2, pp. 53-73, in Ariane Hanemaayer and Christopher J. Schneider, eds., Public Sociology and Ethics: Premise, Profession, Pedagogy, 2014, Vancouver: UBC Press.
鈥淟es familles, in茅galement prot茅g茅es par la redistribution鈥�, Chapter 4 (pp. 79-90) in Miriam Fahmy and Alain No毛l, eds., Miser sur l鈥櫭ゞalit茅, 2014, Montreal: Fides, Axel van den Berg and Hicham Ra茂q.
鈥淟a lutte contre la pauvret茅 au Qu茅bec听: Vers une social-d茅mocratie nordique?,鈥� Ch. 15 (pp. 337-354) in St茅phane Paquin and Pier-Luc L茅vesque, eds., Social-d茅mocratie 2.0听: Le Qu茅bec compar茅 aux pays scandinaves, 2014, Montreal听: Presses de l鈥橴niversit茅 de Montr茅al, Hicham Ra茂q and Axel van den Berg.
鈥淎 Tale of Two Federalisms: Social Policy in Canada and the European Union,鈥� Ch. 3 (pp. 103-132) in Arnaud Lechevalier and Jan Wielgohs, eds., Social Europe: A Dead End. What the Eurozone Crisis is Doing to Europe鈥檚 Social Dimension, 2015, Copenhagen, DJ脴F Forlag, Axel van den Berg and Jason Jensen.
鈥淎 Canadian Immigration Model for Europe? Labour Market Uncertainty and Migration Policy in Canada, Germany and Spain,鈥� Comparative Social Research, Vol 32, pp. 81-106, 2016, Guglielmo Meardi, Antonio Mart矛n Artiles, and Axel van den Berg.
鈥淥f Babies and Bath Water,鈥� Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie, Vol 55, No.2, pp. 319-321, 2018, .
鈥淐utting Off the Branch on Which We Are Sitting? On Postpositivism, Value Neutrality, and the 鈥淏ias Paradox鈥濃��, Axel van den Berg and Tay Jeong, Society, Vol. 59, Issue 6 (December 2022), pp. 631-647.
鈥淎dventures of a Chronic Meanderer,鈥� Ch. 2 (pp. 49-77) in Stephen Harold Riggins and Neil McLaughlin, eds., Canadian Sociologists in the First Person, 2021, Montreal & Kingston: 海角社区-Queen鈥檚 University Press.
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Courses Taught
Undergraduate Courses:
SOCI-304 Sociology of the Welfare State
SOCI 470 Topics in Economis Sociology
Graduate Seminar:
SOCI 652 Current Sociological Theory