Mind the Gap: The Commodification of Corporate Social Responsibility

This article, based on two years of participant observation, in‐depth interviews, and informal exchanges, offers an ethnographic account of a nonprofit organization that promotes the idea of corporate social responsibility. It follows the ways and means by which midlevel corporate executives are initiated into the universe of “corporate citizenship,” learning to deploy terms such as “stakeholders,” “brand loyalty,” “social investment,” and “community empowerment.” Through an analysis of workshops, lectures, and ceremonial events, I show how the idea of social responsibility is transformed into a managerial tool, designed to enhance employee loyalty and to improve brand loyalty. From a constructivist sociological perspective, I also show that the idea of corporate social responsibility, when framed and advocated by a corporate‐friendly organization, fits the neoliberal emphasis on corporate self‐regulation.     

A Collaborative Approach to Service,Learning, and Scholarship

ABSTRACT

This article describes a research course that was a collaborative endeavor between a school of social work and a community organization. This project was guided by learning, service and scholarship goals. Specifically, the participants in this course provided a pro-bono evaluation for a community benefits district. The benefits district solicited assistance from the authors, with the caveat that district members not be involved in the data collection and analysis. The authors situate this project on a continuum of traditional versus participatory research, and propose a “mixed” model for collaborative university-community efforts. The authors suggest ways of engaging students in “real world” research that benefits the community and facilitates their own training as macro social work practitioners. Factors that facilitate and hinder such a project are also discussed.     

Contributions of Qualitative Research in Informing HIV/AIDS Interventions Targeting Black MSM in the United States

This article presents a systematic review of qualitative studies focusing on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) among Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) in the United States. We reviewed studies that were published between 1980 and 2014. Qualitative methods employed in the studies reviewed include in-depth interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and ethnography. We searched several databases (PubMed, PsychINFO, JSTOR, ERIC, Sociological Abstracts, and Google Scholar) for relevant articles using the following broad terms: “Black men” “Black gay/bisexual” or “Black men who have sex with men,” and “qualitative” and/or “ethnography.” We include 70 studies in this review. The key themes observed across studies were (1) heterogeneity, (2) layered stigma and intersectionality, (3) risk behaviors, (4) mental health, (5) resilience, and (6) community engagement. The review suggests that sexual behavior and HIV-status disclosure, sexual risk taking, substance use, and psychological well-being were contextually situated. Interventions occurring at multiple levels and within multiple contexts are needed to reduce stigma within the Black community. Similarly, structural interventions targeting religious groups, schools, and health care systems are needed to improve the health outcomes among BMSM. Community engagement and using community-based participatory research methods may facilitate the development and implementation of culturally appropriate HIV/AIDS interventions targeting BMSM.     

“Building a Bigger Table”: Mobilizing Social Capital to Develop a Community Food Resource Center

Traditional food initiatives often aim to increase food access through market-based, needs-driven models, leaving basic food requirements unmet for many in the current U.S. food system. Employing qualitative community-based participatory methods, we examine the asset-based developmental stages of a local-level Food and Resource Center (FRC) in rural Stillwater, OK. We consider the ways that social capital can be activated as a community asset for development, articulating how social networks are used to identify, mobilize, and galvanize community support. How has the community identified and mobilized a “stock” of social capital to employ an asset-based approach to developing a food resource center? How can the FRC enhance social capital for the community as a whole? We provide insight into how individual, agency, and institutional actors act as pivotal resources for community development, delineating the ways in which community social capital and asset-based development can influence an organization's operational goals. Additionally, we explore strategies used to enhance linking and bonding forms of social capital as well as obstacles to bridging social capital in the broader community.     

媒介形态变迁与网络亚文化社群演进——以钟汉良粉丝社群为例

被寄予“连接一切”的互联网在中国发展的具体时期又有着较大的差别,这种差别深深烙印在因互联网而兴起的众多虚拟社群,作为亚文化代表的粉丝社群也不例外。通过对港台明星钟汉良的粉丝社群的参与式观察及对粉丝的深度访谈,发现从天涯社区、百度贴吧到当下的微博,在媒介形态的变迁之中,粉丝社群大致经历了从“精英”走向“大众”、从深度走向碎片,从中心化走向开放弥散、从“散粉”到紧密的组织再到相对松散的演进。在动态的演进中,流动的粉丝社群在不同媒介形态之间的变迁并非完全互斥,而是存在复活、逆转等演进关系。粉丝社群与不同媒介形态之间的互动也并非简单的抵抗/合作关系,而是存在一个“协商的空间”。     

Room for manoeuvre: User participation in water resources management in Burkina Faso

Participation in natural resources management is widely promoted in sub‐Saharan Africa, but faces mounting criticism from social science scholars who rarely engage with it in practice. We use the notion of room for manoeuvre to reflect on a multi‐level participatory approach designed to support the Burkinabè Integrated Water Resources Management policy and propose ways of engaging constructively with local users and policy‐makers. Within an “invited space” of participation, water users’ room for manoeuvre was enhanced through the acquisition of new knowledge on the legal Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) framework. This allowed them to interact with decision‐makers and to extend their networks. Power imbalances were discussed, but this did not lead to modifying existing power structures that hinge on broader societal dynamics.     

Creating Tactile Space during a University Extension Field Day Event: The Case of a Sustainable Agriculture Innovation

Drawing on the concept of “tactile space,” we evaluate the experiential learning environment of a university extension field day event focused on a sustainable agriculture innovation: biodegradable plastic mulch. Introduced by sociologist Michael Carolan, “tactile spaces” are sensuously rich learning environments where participants interact with each other and the environment in an “embodied” and “embedded” manner leading to long‐lasting attitudinal and behavioral change. In our study, farmers, extension professionals, crop consultants, and mulch manufacturers participated in a field day event designed to provide both embodied and embedded experiences in an effort to stimulate interest in biodegradable plastic mulch, an economically and environmentally sustainable alternative to polyethylene mulch. Field day participants engaged in hands‐on demonstrations preceded and followed by focus group sessions. Enhancing the learning environment in these ways improved the success of the field day event by encouraging practice‐based forms of learning, which supplemented and reinforced the claims made about biodegradable plastic mulch. However, the tactile space could have been enriched by providing more opportunities for participants to become embedded within the environment, and by adding elements to overcome the temporal limitations of the field day event. This research contributes to the broader literature on participatory research and extension.     

Engaging Native Hawaiians and Pilipinos in creating supportive and safe violence-free communities for women through a piloted “talkstory” intervention: Implications for program development

In Hawaii, 20% of women have been victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). Although disaggregated data specific to Native Hawaiians or Pilipinos (The official Filipino language recognizes both Filipino (Filipina) and Pilipino (Pilipina) as terms for the citizens of the country. Participants in this study chose to use the terms Pilipino (Pilipina). Retrieved from: www.pilipino-express.com/history-a-culture/in-other-words) are limited, greater than 70% of women murdered in Hawaii as a result of IPV are Pilipino or native Hawaiian. A consortium was formed to assist Native Hawaiian and Pilipino women addressing abuse and strengthening support from the community. A quasi-experimental community-based participatory research study was designed to assess a community “talkstory” intervention for IPV. “Talkstory” refers to informal gatherings considered to be a laid-back conversation involving a “reciprocal exchange of thoughts, ideas, feelings about self, and other issues” (Affonso et al., 1996. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing, 25, 738). This article describes the development of an intervention to address IPV in Hawaii and presents the findings obtained from the pilot studies. Results from the pilot study were used to modify the proposed “talkstory” intervention, revise the data collection tools, and provide the program developers with insights into how the community viewed IPV. The most significant change was an increased perception of their awareness, knowledge, and confidence to address IPV following the intervention.     

Building an ideological fortress: the role of spirituality,encapsulation and sensemaking 1

An ethnography explores the role of religious values and beliefs in building an “ideological fortress”: a worldview that is seemingly impervious to attack. Specifically, this study develops the metaphor of an ideological fortress and how spirituality serves as “bricks”, “wall”, and “mortar” in that fortress. Used in these ways, religious values and beliefs facilitate member sensemaking by helping to socially encapsulate members, and by patching up inconsistencies within the ideology (i.e., “ideological holes”). Implications for the role of spirituality in organizational sensemaking and control are discussed.     

Exploring OD in Africa: A response to David Lewis

Organization development (OD) has become an increasingly popular approach among international donors who are eager to improve the impact of their aid to developing countries. Major questions, however, have been raised as to whether this is not another example of “technique peddling” by Western donors and consultants. Many argue that this participatory, imported, Western approach to organizational change relies on cultural assumptions of open discussion that are simply not present in many developing societies. Taking up Lewis's challenge in his article “Organization and Management in the Third Sector: Towards a Cross‐Cultural Research Agenda” (NML 2002), this article explores the veracity of such concerns. Using practitioner experience of implementing OD with African NGOs, this article reveals that many principles of OD are pre‐existing within African cultures and are not a new foreign import. It concludes that, as with any culture, there are aspects that undermine and reinforce particular approaches to management and change. An anthropological perspective can assist in understanding the local culture sufficiently to be able to identify, avoid, or overcome cultural resistance, while at the same time using cultural symbols as levers for change.     

Participation in formal and informal volunteering: Implications for volunteer recruitment

This study examines factors influencing “formal” volunteering (that is, to an organization) and “informal” volunteering (that is, volunteering carried out individually outside of an organizational context) and the relationship between these two activities. We hypothesize that formal and informal volunteering activities are positively interrelated but that they are shaped by different types of personal resources: involvement in social networks increases the likelihood of both types of volunteering, but human capital increases the likelihood of formal volunteering rather than informal. The bivariate probit regression results emanating from the Independent Sector's “Giving and Volunteering in the United States, 2001” survey are generally supportive of the hypotheses. The findings suggest that nonprofit and public organizations that involve volunteers consider the pool of informal volunteers as a fertile ground for recruitment and find ways to better utilize older Americans in formal volunteering. The results also suggest that volunteer recruitment through organizational membership may be an effective strategy.     

“Plan your Burn,Burn your Plan”: How Decentralization,Storytelling, and Communification Can Support Participatory Practices

Research has found that compared with larger groups, small ones had fewer difficulties with retaining their participatory‐democratic practices and values. However, the endurance and expansion of Burning Man, from 20 friends and family in 1986 to a temporary arts community of more than 66,000 persons in 2014, suggests that collectivities can maintain and augment participatory practices over increasing scale. Using an ethnographic study of organizing activities spanning 1998 to 2001 and follow‐up research through 2012, I focus on how the Burning Man organization has sustained its participatory‐democratic principles over dramatic growth. Specifically, I show how the Burning Man organization promoted and sustained authentic voice and engagement by (1) decentralizing agency, (2) contextualizing norms and practices via storytelling and discussion, and (3) “communifying” labor.     

Human waste/wasting humans: dirt,disposable bodies and power relations in Nigerian newspaper reports

Abstract

This study examines four newspaper reports and analyses the ways that “dirt,” “waste” and “garbage” function within a range of intersecting sanitation and social contexts where people and materials figure as disposable objects. My main premise is that when scoop reports in newspapers deal with the issue of “dirt” and sanitation, they often leave undertones that reveal or imply a contest for power in which actual dirt and contamination or their images and vocabularies are employed to justify exclusion from certain social privileges and positions and also to protest such exclusions. I argue and then proceed to show that when “dirt,” “waste” and “garbage” are stretched beyond the domain of health, they can offer a lens with multiple focal positions from which we may view and analyse complex political, social and economic behaviours and make sense of them. I focus on Nigerian urban spaces and analyse the reports to show how the terms have come to mark ways that literal and figurative entropy commingle to reveal the dynamics of power and social relations.     

Pressures towards and against formalization: Regulation and informal employment in Mozambique

The informal economy accounts for the bulk of employment in many emerging economies. Regulation theory suggests that all economic activity is characterized by a complex combination of formal and informal regulation. Looking at the case of Mozambique, this article explores the pressures towards and against formalization, and the forms regulation can take, drawing on qualitative research based on in‐depth elite interviews and observation. The findings highlight how the State's role in promoting formalization of the informal economy is ambivalent; its approach incorporates both “progressive” elements, which focus on the modernization of regulations and institutions, and “conservative” elements, which inhibit this process of change.     

Beyond the “Usual Suspects”? Reimagining Democracy With Participatory Budgeting in Chicago

This article examines whether democratic innovations in the United States attract citizens who are typically underrepresented within existing political institutions. We focus on participatory budgeting, an intervention where residents decide how to allocate a particular pot of public money. Taking “PB Chicago” as our case study, we use survey and interview data to examine whether organizers realized their stated goal of involving residents other than the “usual suspects.” We find that residents who voted in PB Chicago were more often white, college educated, and from higher‐income households relative to both the local population and politically active residents in Chicago. While these residents were not necessarily the most active across other stages of the PB Chicago process, we find little evidence that lower socioeconomic status and minority residents were accessing the civic learning and empowerment gains associated with participatory forms of democracy. Outreach made the process more inclusive but was insufficient to overcome several important structural constraints. Of particular note, the needs and interests of less privileged residents were not met by the narrow capital works focus of PB Chicago. We suggest that when implemented under such conditions, participatory budgeting risks deepening existing political and social inequalities.     

Contagion and its Guises: Inequalities and Disease among Tibetan Exiles in India

The paper outlines the trajectories of Tibetan refugees afflicted by tuberculosis (TB) within the exile community of Dharamsala (H‐P). These stories reveal the political nature of TB status disclosure, highlighting the often conflicting ways in which the disease is perceived among different Tibetan exile regional and generational groups. On the basis of these case studies, I aim to show that differentiated experiences of treatment and stigma within “intermediary” host communities such as Dharamsala partially determine the ways in which Tibetans deal with the risk of TB in their “onward” journeys further afield, in Europe, Canada and the United States. With the now well‐established connection between migration‐related stresses and the onset or reappearance of TB symptoms, we may need to consider that, in some cases, it is the compounding of attitudes to disease in “intermediary” diasporic communities with the stigmatising label of “migrant menace” in the second stages of migration that impedes the care of migrants and even precipitates illness. With this premise the paper proposes that investigations of disease in diasporic communities should explore the totality of migration “stages” and their impact on health.     

Uneasy sanctuary: Homeless campers living on rural public lands*

An ethnographically informed, illustrated discussion based on research conducted by the author. From 1990 through August 1996 the author had informal discussions with over 300 homeless “non‐recreational” campers who were staying on public lands in the Pacific Northwest. The author applies an original preliminary grounded topology generated from these interviews to compare and contrast the ways in which homeless campers describe their lives and represent their personal choices regarding using public lands, and utilizes photographs to illustrate her research findings. The author has identified three major categories of homeless campers: “voluntarily nomadic, “ “economic refugees, “ and “separatists.”     

Community Media Studies: An Overview

This essay provides an overview of the field of community media studies. Like the study of “alternative media,” “citizens' media,” “independent,” and “radical” media – to mention but a few of the terms applied to participatory communication projects – academic inquiry into the structures, forms, and practices of community media has surged in recent years. While scholars often use these labels interchangeably, this essay focuses on academic and practitioner perspectives that explicitly and purposefully employ the term “community media.” The overview identifies and briefly considers three prominent conceptual frameworks – media democratization, civil society, and the symbolic construction of community – which shape and inform this vibrant field of study. This overview concludes with some thoughts on the limits and possibilities of community media theory, and practice, in the new millennium.     

Patterns of Informal Job Matching across the Life Course: Entry‐Level,Reentry‐Level,and Elite Non‐Searching*

The character and outcomes of informal job matching vary at different stages during people's lives. This is illustrated through an examination of non‐searchers—people who get their jobs without searching thanks to receiving unsolicited information about job openings. Examining data from the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, I identify three distinct patterns of non‐searching. Early in the work career, “entry‐level” non‐searchers acquire their first few jobs often while still in school. During the mid‐career, “reentry‐level” non‐searchers tend to be women with little work experience who have been out of the labor market taking care of family responsibilities. Finally, “elite” non‐searchers tend to be male, highly experienced in their field, with very short gaps between employment. All three lack an economic urgency to get a job, but only the elite non‐searchers match prevailing assumptions of non‐searchers as the best connected and most advantaged workers. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating a life course perspective into the study of informal job matching.     

Contesting Community Online: Virtual Imagery among Dutch Orthodox Protestant Homosexuals

Whereas substantial scholarly attention has been paid to the online presentation of self, symbolic interactionist approaches are largely absent in the literature on virtual communities. Instead, recurrent questions are whether communities can exist online and whether specific online venues qualify as communities. This article aims to move beyond these dichotomous questions by studying how different meanings attached to an online venue can be understood from offline experiences. In a case study of a Dutch forum for orthodox Protestant homosexuals, two types of understanding of online community emerged from an analysis of fifteen in‐depth interviews. Users struggling with stigmatization in offline life seek empathic support and have an encompassing sense of online community—the forum as “refuge.” For users dealing with practical everyday questions, online contacts are part of so‐called personal communities and help ameliorate offline life—the forum as “springboard.” Apart from demonstrating that online forums can serve as Goffmanian backstages in two distinct ways, these results indicate it is fruitful to take a symbolic interactionist approach to uncover relationships between offline and online social life.