PERCEIVED IMPACT OF DEFAMATION: AN EXPERIMENT ON THIRD-PERSON EFFECTS

This paper explores the intersection of libel law and communicationtheory that occurs when libel juries assess the effect of adefamatory communication on others. The third-person hypothesissuggests that people often assume others will be more affectedby potentially persuasive communications than they are themselves.An experiment was conducted in which students were exposed toa variety of defamatory newspaper articles. The results confirmedseveral predictions. First, readers estimated that others wouldbe more affected by defamatory messages than the readers themselveswould be. Second, this effect was magnified as the "others"became progressively more distant from these readers. Third,when the defamation was attributed to a negatively biased sourcethe effect was also accentuated: readers themselves discountedthe message, while assuming others would be even more influenced.It is suggested that courtroom assessments of the effects ofdefamatory communications on others may be influenced by suchthird-person perceptions.     

Overcoming Ethnocentrism: The Role of Identity in Contingent Practice of International Public Relations

Based on literature from the contingency theory of public relations and psychocultural conflict theory, this study explored how multinational corporations (MNCs) are practicing public relations in Korea, and what contingency factors impact MNCs' stances in conflict situations. Interviews of leaders in public relations agencies whose major clients are MNCs found that "fear factor" plays a critical role in MNCs taking more accommodative stances in conflict situations. MNCs tend to move toward accommodative stances based on their fear of Korean media and local culture, regardless of the presence of 2-way symmetrical communications with publics. More specifically, accommodation seemed to be enacted through 1-way communication (i.e., local publics' claims) and MNCs' fear of media, local culture, or publics. This finding implies the following: First, 1-way communication may not always result in advocacy as is claimed in Western cultures, but may actually lead to accommodation. Second, indigenous local cultural dimensions should be explored in examining international public relations practices.     

Altruistic and Vicarious Fear of Crime: Fear for Others and Gendered Social Roles

Fear for others as distinct from personal fear is an understudied phenomenon. Relying on qualitative data, this paper explores gender differences in fear for others and identifies differences linked to social roles. For men, a paternal protector role characterized fears expressed mostly for their wives. For women, a maternal caretaker role characterized fears expressed for their children, elderly parents, and siblings. This paper offers a new way to conceptualize fear for others based on making distinctions between the object of fear and active or nonactive responses: kinship-based altruistic fear, kinship-based vicarious fear, general altruistic fear, and general vicarious fear.

Direct Threat Issues in the Employment of Persons with Disabilities

Abstract

In the decade since initial implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the United States, many questions have arisen pertaining to the rights of employers and employees in light of the employment of and services that must be provided to persons with disabilities. One of the most controversial aspects of the legislation is the issue of direct threat. This relates to the concern that workers or clients with disabilities may be a threat to others due to their condition. Integral to this fear is the employer's ability to protect persons within the work environment from such a threat, while remaining in compliance with the ADA. This paper considers the issue of direct threat and its pertinence to the social work profession, and provides recommendations for employers and supervisors in the field.     

Reason and reparation

Conclusion Critical theory is critical because it reflects on the circumstances of its own existence. It is critical too because it takes utopia seriously, which means, in part, never short-circuiting the distance between reality and Utopia. Reparative reason, it has been argued, is no substitute for this philosophical project, but a source of support for it, one better suited to the concerns of the Frankfurt School than eros. What both reparative reason and the reparative impulse require is guidance as to the most deserving objects of our care and concern. Critical theory can provide this guidance.At least two objections to this reformulation of critical theory in light of Klein's insights into love, hate, and reparation are possible. The first would argue that reparation remains insufficiently relational, still selfish, more concerned with the satisfaction of the one who makes reparation than its object. The second objection is almost the opposite of the first, that reparation lacks what makes eros such a powerful oppositional force: not merely its selfish, demanding character, but its teleological orientation. Freed of the distorting effects of social domination, eros requires no guidance. By its very nature it seeks out the truly beautiful and good, much as Plato argued in the Symposium and Phaedrus. Such objections are, I believe, quite mistaken. They do not, however, lack insight into the issues involved.Regarding the first objection, Klein argues that we seek to make reparation out of genuine concern for the object. Reparation is truly an object-related passion, motivated by our relationship to the object, our love for it. Reparation may reduce guilt and anxiety, but this is an effect, not a cause. But, if reparation puts the object first, there is nonetheless an individualistic cast to the Kleinian account missing in Benjamin and Chodorow. For Klein, we care for others not because they are part of us, but because they are different, and we are concerned about them. In a certain limited sense the other remains an object, not in Freud's sense of an object of our drives, whose humanity is unimportant, but as a person who is distinct and separate from ourselves. This does not make reparation selfish. It does make it an expression of individuality, not its denial or transcendence.Regarding the second objection, it is true that reparation is not as autonomous as eros, and perhaps not as inherently oppositional either. But, neither is it as subject to corruption as eros (repressive desublimation), for reparation harnesses not the desire for pleasure, but guilt over the harm we have done to others. But, perhaps it was a mistake all along to try to found critical theory in eros, as though biology (Marcuse calls eros a biological basis for socialism) could take the place of critical consciousness, social opposition, or a revolutionary class. Insofar as it finds a material basis for hope for a better world in apparently transhistorical human attributes (albeit attributes that exist only within particular histories), reparation supports the Utopian project of the Frankfurt School. Reparation is, however, no deus ex machina. Historically situated human beings will have to confront the tragedy of human history on their own, a tragedy that stems, ultimately, from the way in which our fear and aggression constitute a world that requires so much reparation. It is, of course, this insight that keeps reparation from short-circuiting the path to utopia. For not only does reparation not exist apart from particular histories, but it does not exist independently of the hatred and aggression that bring it into being.     

Street Traffic,Social Integration,and Fear of Crime*

Drawing on the work of Jacobs, Newman, and Gardiner, among others, this paper investigates fear of crime by urban residents as a consequence of two interrelated characteristics of neighborhoods: 1) the perceived volume of street usage and 2) the degree of residents' social integration into the neighborhood. Secondary analysis of a 1975 survey shows that, counter to previous hypotheses, perception of increased street traffic leads to greater fear. However, when controlling for social integration, we find that for those who are socially integrated perceived volume of street traffic has no relationship to fear, while for those not socially integrated the greater the perceived street usage the greater the fear. Three mechanisms by which social integration may reduce fear of people on the streets are considered: 1) reducing the proportion of strangers versus acquaintances on the street; 2) providing networks of potential assistance; and 3) reducing the strangeness of the streets' daily rhythms and routines. We conclude that both physical design and social factors must be interrelated in attempts to understand fear of crime and in designing ameliorative programs.     

From transfer to social service: a new emphasis on social policies for the aged in Japan

The Gold Plan, the central government's attempt to build a nationwide network of care service provision for the aged, seems partly because of its patchwork character and partly because of its stress on the low-cost strategy to be running into two problems: (1) It is adding new institutional ambiguities and functional confusion to the old fragmentation, instead of producing a well-integrated system; and (2) the response to the central policy varies much across the municipalities (its carriers) so a disparity among them in the level of service provided is emerging. A "public care service insurance" scheme, in the planning stages since April 1994, will offer a solution to the first problem. However, it will leave the second problem unsolved and may introduce a market factor into the field of social service. As it is, the service provision itself is overwhelmingly entrusted to private organizations.     

FEAR IN THE NEWS

Fear pervades popular culture and the news media. Whether used as a noun, verb, adverb, or adjective, an ongoing study finds that the word "fear'pervades news reports across all sections of newspapers, and is shown to move or "travel'from one topic to another. The use of fear and the thematic emphases spawned by entertainment formats are consistent with a "discourse of fear,'or the pervasive communication, symbolic awareness and expectation that danger and risk are a central feature of the effective environment. A qualitative content analysis of a decade of news coverage in The Arizona Republic and several other major American news media (e.g., the Los Angeles Times , and ABC News) reveals that the word "fear'appears more often than it did several years ago, particularly in headlines, where its use has more than doubled. Comparative materials obtained through the Lexis/Nexis information base also reveals that certain themes are associated with a shifting focus of fear over the years (e.g., violence, drugs, AIDS), with the most recent increases associated with reports about children. Analysis suggests that this use of fear is consistent with popular culture oriented to pursuing a "problem frame'and entertainment formats, which also have social implications for social policy and reliance on formal agents of social control.     

Children and the Discourse of Fear

The news media, a dominant source of information about social issues, use entertainment formats to organize reports that audiences will understand. Part of this organized effort is the use of a discourse of fear, or the pervasive communication, symbolic awareness, and expectation that danger and risk are central features of everyday life. Reliant on formal agents of social control as news sources about fear, news reports tend to repeat certain words, themes, and perspectives that support more social control. Although associated with crime, the discourse of fear includes other topics and concerns as well. A qualitative content analysis approach, “tracking discourse,” permits a mapping of discourse over time and across various topics. Analysis of the use of fear in three major newspapers during 1987–1996 shows that it has increased; that a large part of the discourse of fear includes children and the spaces they occupy (e.g., schools and neighborhoods); and that it changed from a focus on specific events in the 1980s to a more generalized, pervasive perspective in the 1990s, peaking in about 1994. It is argued that this is important for making claims about “necessary” social action to protect children, as well as protect us from children. Fear is the path to the dark side. —Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace     

From Transfer to Social Service

The Gold Plan, the central government's attempt to build a nationwide network of care service provision for the aged, seems partly because of its patchwork character and partly because of its stress on the low-cost strategy to be running into two problems: (1) It is adding new institutional ambiguities and functional confusion to the old fragmentation, instead of producing a well-integrated system; and (2) the response to the central policy varies much across the municipalities (its carriers) so a disparity among them in the level of service provided is emerging. A "public care service insurance" scheme, in the planning stages since April 1994, will offer a solution to the fust problem. However, it will leave the second problem unsolved and may introduce a market factor into the field of social service. As it is, the service provision itself is overwhelmingly entrusted to private organizations.     

FEAR OF CRIME AMONG THE ELDERLY AS PERSON/ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION*

Despite lower victimization, older people express greater fear of crime. The causes and consequences of such fear are investigated for a 1980 sample of 1,185 persons aged 60+. Fear of crime is a response to both personal vulnerability and locational cues. Fear reduces subjective well-being, but has little relation to activity patterns. While social resources have little bearing on fear of crime and its consequences, variations by sex and personal competence are apparent. These reflect the role of coping resources and environmental docility.     

Social fabric and fear of crime: Considering spatial location and time of day

Criminologists have long noted that social networks play a role in influencing residents' fear of crime, but findings vis a vis the exact nature of that role have been mixed. More social ties may be associated with less fear of crime through their role in collective action, trust, and emotional support, but also with more fear of crime because of their role in the diffusion of information on local crime patterns. In what follows, we suggest temporal and spatial distinctions in how social ties matter for fear of crime with respect to these different mechanisms. Analysis of data from a large scale egocentric network study in Southern California provides evidence for these claims.     

Coordinating psychosocial nursing care across treatment settings

A criticism sometimes made of nurse practitioners is that they want to be or think they are doctors. Who has not heard a nurse administrator accused of having lost her nursing identity, or of a faculty person who no longer knows nursing? Before BSN degrees were common, there were stories of 4-year nurses who believed they were above providing direct care and identified only with the administrative roles on the unit. These criticisms have been made by nurses. It is only recently that nurses are recognizing that fragmentation of the profession along these and other lines disempowers us and may result in non-nurses delineating what our practice will be. Perhaps stimulated by the nursing shortage and an increased awareness of our collective power, nurses are more vocal and we are owning our identity as nurses. Psychosocial nurses, perhaps because of conflicts related to professional territory with psychiatry, psychology, and social work, or because of the ramifications of third party payments, are less likely to assume the generic title of "therapist" than in the past. More often, there seems to be a coming together of psychosocial nurses with each other and with the nursing community as a whole. This coming together enhances the potential for nurse-to-nurse communication and sets the stage to allow nursing to become the bridge needed by consumers of mental health services. I am hopeful that psychosocial nursing will meet this challenge.     

Divine relations, social relations, and well-being

The social support literature focuses on the effects of networks composed of "real" or concrete individuals on psychological well-being. Persons interact in imagination, however, with a wide range of others who may or may not actually exist. In modern societies as in traditional societies, persons experience, interact with, and appeal to spiritual or divine beings. Using data from the NORC General Social Survey, this study examines the extent to which relationships with "divine others" affect psychological well-being. Regression analysis reveals that divine relationships have a significant effect on several measures of well-being (controlling for sociodemographic background variables and church attendance). Hypotheses regarding the impact of stress, social relationships, cognitive resources, and images of the divine on the effect of divine relationships are also considered.     

Electronic monitoring,an alternative way of preventing aggression and helping social rehabilitation

Abstract

It has been said that Criminal Law is violence not only because of what it punishes, but also because of the way it does it. Violence is present in all human relationships, and as such, it is consubstantial to every system of social control. Despite this, the failure of imprisonment has not been its severity, but its inefficiency regarding social rehabilitation. This lack of efficiency can be palliated through the use of alternative systems of electronic monitoring in the penitentiary context. These alternative systems will not only enable an effective solution to the problem of overcrowded prisons, but will also mitigate the harmful effects of prison. Moreover, these alternative systems represent a good method to prevent future aggressions as well as to facilitate the offender's social rehabilitation. From this point of view, we will first explain the programs of electronic monitoring in Spain and second we will evaluate them in terms of social rehabilitation, cost-benefit analysis, human rights restrictions, privatization and overcrowding in prisons.     

Effects of Social Anxiety on Emotional Mimicry and Contagion: Feeling Negative,but Smiling Politely

Socially anxiety may be related to a different pattern of facial mimicry and contagion of others’ emotions. We report two studies in which participants with different levels of social anxiety reacted to others’ emotional displays, either shown on a computer screen (Study 1) or in an actual social interaction (Study 2). Study 1 examined facial mimicry and emotional contagion in response to displays of happiness, anger, fear, and contempt. Participants mimicked negative and positive emotions to some extent, but we found no relation between mimicry and the social anxiety level of the participants. Furthermore, socially anxious individuals were more prone to experience negative emotions and felt more irritated in response to negative emotion displays. In Study 2, we found that social anxiety was related to enhanced mimicry of smiling, but this was only the case for polite smiles and not for enjoyment smiles. These results suggest that socially anxious individuals tend to catch negative emotions from others, but suppress their expression by mimicking positive displays. This may be explained by the tendency of socially anxious individuals to avoid conflict or rejection.     

Women's fear of crime: the role of fear for the well-being of significant others

A number of explanations have been suggested in the literature for the finding that women consistently report higher levels of fear of crime than males. The "shadow" hypothesis argues that fear of crime among females reflects fear of sexual assault. The "intimate" hypothesis argues that women's fear of crime is the result of exposure to intimate violence. Females' fear of crime is expected to be explained by their fear of partners' violence. The main argument of this article is that women's fear of crime might be the result of traditional family gender roles. When asked, women might express fear not only for their own well-being but for that of their children. A survey of a representative sample of women in the third largest city of Israel was used to test this assumption. Women's fear of crime was found to be affected by fear of sexual assault and fear of violent partners. In addition, consistent with the argument of this study, women's fear of violent and sexual victimization of their children had a significant effect on their perception of fear. Future directions for research are suggested.     

A rights-based conceptual framework for the social inclusion of children and young persons with an intellectual disability

There is a basic principle that all children and young persons with intellectual disabilities should be able to enjoy citizenship on an equal basis with others. This includes enjoying personal dignity and exercising choice, control and freedom in social, community and cultural life, in keeping with their individual lifestyle preferences and aspirations. There is a need for a stronger human rights narrative to achieve this. This article identifies a conceptual framework for a rights-based approach to the integration of children and young persons with disabilities. Seven components of such a framework are identified: citizenship and social inclusion; recognition; agency; voice; capabilities; equality; and self-realisation. This framework was developed as part of an Irish case study involving consultation with young persons with intellectual disabilities, their parents or guardians and professional staff delivering support services. The rights of children/young persons with intellectual disabilities are essentially those of children generally. While this principle may be obvious in many respects, its implementation presents significant challenges. The need for a transformative narrative and its components are outlined.     

Toward an assessment of the social role of rural midwives and its implication for the family planning program: an Iranian case study

An axiom of family planning programming is the importance of culturally-appropriate communicators and motivators. Traditional midwives seem ideal for this task but few studies have been done to verify this assumption by analyzing the midwife's social role as perceived by the community. 325 married women and 81 unmarried girls from a "model village" near Shiraz were interviewed by female undergraduates. 82.5% of the women are of childbearing age; 66% married before 14 years; 33% use contraception, mostly the pill, but most want large families because they expect high child mortality rates. Most of the older women are able to assist in childbirth but none, except the village's one recognized midwife, who is considered to have divine backing, will do so except in an emergency. The midwife's activities cause her to be held in low esteem by the community because 1) she has contact with a woman's sexual parts and this fact is public; 2) she has contact with vaginal excretia which are, in Islam, polluting; and 3) she is paid for her services, which labels her as a woman "without shame". The midwife is, however, widely used since women and their husbands fear the trip to the hospital and treatment by a male doctor much more than a midwife-supervised birth. The midwife in the study village had been there only 2 years and feels that she is not fully trusted. She is not consulted on birth control at all, because women expect the pill to be dispensed by doctors and consider other methods as a matter strictly between husband and wife. The midwife's role seems to complement that of the government health authorities rather than compete. The midwife's low status and circumscribed sphere of activity, the weak respect in which her advice is held and the pattern of having only 1 recognized midwife in a village at a time make the midwife a poor agent for family planning services. Her effectiveness as an agent of social change could be improved by training her in hygienic practices of childbirth and by redefining her role-relationship with the community. Studies should be done to identify the areas where traditional birth attendants are the best family planning communicators and those where that role is best left to others.     

Internet architecture,freedom of expression and social responsibility: critical realism and proposals for a better future

The article opens by explaining the architecture of the Internet. Given its present raison d'être, a free highway allowing maximum freedom, one may argue that the bounds of free expression are broader in scope on the Net compared with the bounds of legitimate speech allowed on other forms of communication. Contesting this assertion, it is argued that legally speaking, there is no difference between electronic communication and other forms of communication. I probe some problematic forms of expression: terrorism, criminal activity, and cyberbullying, arguing that freedom of expression is important but so is social responsibility. The article concludes by offering a new paradigm Internet for the future called CleaNet©. CleaNet© will be sensitive to prevailing cultural norms of each and every society and will be clean of content that the society deems to be dangerous and antisocial. No cyberbullying, child pornography, hateful bigotry, criminal activity, and terrorist material will be available on the new Net. Netusers, with the cooperation of ISPs and web-hosting companies, will together decide which content will be considered illegitimate and unworthy to be excluded from CleaNet©.