The Classic American Pragmatists As Forerunners To Symbolic Interactionism*

Although it is generally known that symbolic interactionism is historically and philosophically linked to American pragmatism, relatively little attention has been given to assessing the separate influences of Peirce, James, Dewey, and Mead upon its development. This paper contends that there were two opposing branches of American pragmatism: (1) the social realism of Peirce's pragmatism, and (2) the social nominalism of James's pragmatism. The writings of Dewey and Mead reflect the influences of both of these branches. Dewey, however, was more closely aligned with James while Mead's work is more consistent with Peirce's principles. Blumerian symbolic interactionism is essentially a continuation of the nominalistic James/Dewey branch of American pragmatism, notwithstanding the popular notion that, among the classic American pragmatists, Mead was the principal precursor of symbolic interactionism.     

Pragmatism and the Scientific Validation of Professional Practices in American Special Education

A number of American special educators have recently stated that new professional practices should undergo a process of 'scientific validation' whereby researchers decide the effectiveness or value of the practice. This essay critiques this position by way of the philosophical framework of pragmatism, an American philosophy spanning from the works of Peirce, James and Dewey to the current writings of neo-pragmatists Richard Rorty and Cornel West. Rorty's critique of the representational use of language is explained. Emphasis is placed on the importance of an equal, democratic dialogue in decision-making processes involving professionals, served individuals and families. The essay concludes with a brief illustration of a pragmatist's approach to inclusive education.     

Mindful leadership: mindfulness as a new antecedent of destructive and transformational leadership behavior

Purpose: While previous research has well-examined the stress reducing effects of mindfulness, much less is known, evidentially, about the impact that it might have on working behavior, particularly in the context of leadership. Against this background, the goal of our study was to examine whether mindfulness influences leadership behavior.Design: To answer this question, we used a two-source survey study consisting of 60 teams, examining trait mindfulness of leaders via self-evaluation and their leadership behavior through the eyes of their subordinates. To analyze the given data, we conducted regression analyses.Results: Our findings confirmed the hypothesized relationships. We found a negative relationship between leaders’ mindfulness and destructive leadership, as well as a positive one between leaders’ mindfulness and transformational leadership.Implications: The results of our study underline the importance of mindfulness as a potential tool to optimize leadership quality. In order to prevent destructive and promote transformational leadership, organizations should help to develop leaders’ mindfulness capacities.     

Milieus and Mixed Methods

In the literature on religion and secularity, scholars often use mono-method strategies, either quantitative or qualitative, in order to identify broad social groups – “milieus” or “social aggregates” and thus gain better understanding of the great diversity of religious beliefs and practices in a given population. This paper identifies different validity problems of such studies and claims that mixed methods may be used in order to better address these problems. By combining representative surveys with semi-standardized interviews, large scale groups (e.?g. milieus) can be described and some of their inner workings explained in a more valid way. The article shows the steps of such a mixed methods research strategy, arguing for (a) a common central question in a realist philosophical framework (b) nested qualitative and quantitative samples with relatively large n on the qualitative side, (c) an integrated data collection on the level of items and leading questions, (d) abductive-iterative data analysis, and (e) an addressing of validity issues with the help of mixed methods. Two nested mixed methods studies are used to exemplify these research strategies: one on religion and spirituality in Switzerland and one on the “evangelical milieu” in Switzerland.     

Wer profitiert von alternativen Bildungswegen? Alles eine Frage des Blickwinkels!

Only a few studies have addressed the role of alternative paths in German secondary education. These paths were introduced to reduce social inequalities. However, there is much controversy regarding whether alternative paths actually do reduce inequalities. Schindler most recently discussed in the Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie that this controversy is due in part to different understandings of how empirical studies assess the effect of social origin. This article adopts and critically extends this point by arguing that, from a social inequality point of view, alternative paths can only be understood adequately if research reconstructs the effect of social origin systematically and as holistically as possible. Additionally, we raise the question whether the measure that is traditionally used by educational research to assess social inequalities (Odds Ratios) is really the most adequate one to understand how alternative paths impact on inequalities in educational attainment. Instead we suggest the estimation of Average Marginal Effects.     

Sozioökonomischer Status,Deprivation und die Affinität zur <Emphasis Type="Italic">AfD</Emphasis> – Eine Forschungsnotiz

Using three recent data sets (ALLBUS 2016, GLES 2016, ESS 2016), we show that the affinity for the AfD is a socially stratified phenomenon. Actors with minimal education and low income, the unemployed, workers, and actors who feel deprived in socioeconomic terms have a stronger tendency towards supporting the AfD than those actors with a higher socioeconomic status. This finding contrasts with previous research, which describes the rise of right-wing populism in Germany as the result of some kind of clash of idealistic cultures lacking any foundation in the economic basis of society.     

Mehr Kinderlose oder weniger Kinderreiche?Increasing childlessness or fewer families with many children?

The decline of fertility in the course of the Second Demographic Transition is mainly caused by both an increase in childlessness and a decline of large families (three or more births). Which of these effects are stronger in Germany has been contested for a long time. An exact quantification of the particular effects is still missing. In this paper we develop a decomposition method which allows calculating the effects of the particular parity changes between cohort total fertility rates (CTFR) of different cohorts. This method is applied in order to compare German CTFRs for the cohorts the fertility decline occurred in, namely the cohorts between 1933 and 1968. The analyses are differentiated by regions and periods. The CTFR decline can be separated into four components: increasing childlessness, decreasing shares of higher order births (3+), a combined effect and a changing relation of first and second births. In Germany, the effect of the increasing childlessness accounts for 25.9 per cent of the CTFR decline, the decreasing higher order births for 68.0 per cent and the combined effect for 6.1 per cent. The relation of first and second births changed only marginally. Remarkably, these figures are based on two entirely different periods: The CTFR decline between the cohorts of 1933 and 1947 is solely based on the decline of women with three or more children. However, two thirds of the CTFR decline since 1947 is caused by an increasing childlessness. The results are relevant for fertility theories because increasing childlessness and decreasing higher order births have different reasons.     

Die <Emphasis Type="Italic">AfD </Emphasis>und die unteren Statuslagen. Eine Forschungsnotiz zu Holger Lengfelds Studie <Emphasis Type="Italic">Die „Alternative für Deutschland“: eine Partei für Modernisierungsverlierer?</Emphasis>

In the June 2017 issue of this Journal, Holger Lengfeld showed empirically that “losers of societal modernisation” do not have a stronger intention to vote for AfD than others. His analyses are based on survey data collected by infratest dimap in November 2016. The mass media reported extensively on the results of this study, however, without mentioning that the survey used by Lengfeld has some specific features. In the present research note, I investigate the intention to vote for AfD on the basis of data of the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS), which were collected between April and September 2016. This survey is better suited to study the intention to vote for AfD. On the basis of this survey, I can show that “losers of societal modernisation” have a stronger intention to vote for AfD than people of higher/the high social strata.     

Nicht nur Gesundheit! Zusammenhänge zwischen psychischen Belastungen und Mitarbeiterbindung

Aim: Psychological risk assessments at work serve to identify psychological risk factors and their relation to health and well-being outcomes. Objective of the present study is to investigate which work characteristics predict commitment and turnover intentions of employees.Design: Based on the guidelines of the GDA (Joint German Occupational Safety and Health Strategy), a questionnaire was developed that captures psychological risk factors at work. Additionally, people were asked to indicate their commitment and their turnover intentions. Based on the guidelines of the Joint German Occupational Safety and Health Strategy we assessed four domains of psychological job demands (job content, work organization, social relationships and environmental demands) as well as affective commitment and turnover intention in a sample of 453 full-time employees. Using hierarchical regression analyses, we tested the predictive power of the psychological demands for the different indicators of employee retention.Results: Work content and social relationships were found to be significant predictors for commitment and turnover intentions, whereas work organisation and work context did not predict the outcomes. A detailed analysis of the single risk factors identified autonomy as the strongest predictor for both commitment and turnover intentions.Limitations: The single predictors are not independent and the cross sectional design does not allow for causality interpretations.Practical implications: Based on the assessment of critical psychological risk factors, it is possible to take individual and structural measures to promote commitment and to reduce turnover intentions.     

„Gekommen,um zu bleiben“ – eine Analyse des Zusammenhangs zwischen personen- und kontextbezogenen Faktoren und Studienerfolg in Studiengängen der öffentlichen Verwaltung

The present study aims to investigate impact factors on study success and turnover intentions for students from different fields of public administration and management. The empirical analysis focuses on interrelations between individual (e.?g., personality, achievement satisfaction, self-efficacy) and contextual factors (procedural justice, social integration) and general study satisfaction and the intention to leave the university. The sample consisted of N?=?147 students from police and general public administration. The results indicated that there is an empirical evidence for the relevance of realistic academic and job expectations, individal personality facets, as well as for perceived justice and social integration of the students related to the discipline. Regression models showed that the expected person-job-fit predicted aspects of study satisfaction and turnover intention. In addition, individual and contextual factors moderated the interrelation, however, differently for the evaluated disciplines. Implications for students and for the design of different study programs as well as for a target group oriented communication are discussed.     

Endangering one’s health to improve performance?

Background: Companies are increasingly applying both goal- and performance-oriented leadership practices. For employees, such indirect control practices make higher self-regulatory demands: They become responsible for their work outcomes and have to bear the consequences of failure just like the self-employed. The current study focuses on the concept of “self-endangering work behaviors” as representing a possible negative effect of indirect control and a possible mediator between work demands and negative outcomes. Method: An online survey was conducted with 607 employees, who reported to work in an indirect control setting. It assessed extension of working hours, intensification of working hours, sickness presenteeism, and faking as possible self-endangering work behaviors together with exhaustion as a subjective well-being measure. The lavaan package was used to test the mediation hypothesis with a structural equation model. Results: Results supported the assumption that self-endangering work behaviors might partly explain the association between work demands and exhaustion. A mediation effect was found for extension of working hours, intensification of working hours, and for faking. However, sickness presenteeism delivered no statistically significant mediation effect in the association between work demands and exhaustion. Discussion: As a mechanism for coping with high work demands, the new concept of self-endangering work behaviors offers one possible explanation for the negative association between high work demands and both subjective well-being and health. The concept needs to be addressed in occupational health prevention initiatives. Such interventions should balance the negative and positive effects of indirect control and take self-endangering work behavior into account.     

Givers,takers and matchers – Reciprocity styles and their contribution to organizational behaviour

This article in the journal “Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation (GIO)” bridges Adam Grant’s popular concept of givers, takers and matchers to state-of-the-art theories and research of prosocial organizational behavior such as Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB). By proposing a three-dimensional framework of social orientation, the authors provide an approach allowing the reconciliation of inter-individual differences of social motives and situational factors, enabling cooperative behavior in the workplace. The practical implications of encouraging cooperative behaviour and collegial support are indicated for individual (personnel selection and development), team (team design and values) and organizational (organizational culture development) levels.     

Konfundierungen in Vignettenanalysen mit einzelnen d‑effizienten Vignettenstichproben

This research note deals with a design of vignette studies which is based on a single d-efficient vignette sample. To this end, we first discuss the underlying assumption of negligble interaction effects between vignette characteristics. A subsequent simulation demonstrates potential consequences of the violation of this assumption for our vignette study “Who is welcome in Germany?” (KZfSS 2016, 2).     

An experimental evaluation of foraging decisions in urban and natural forest populations of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Anolis</Emphasis> lizards

Foraging decisions reflect a trade-off between the benefits of acquiring food and the costs of movement. Changes in the biotic and abiotic environment associated with urbanization can alter this trade-off and modify foraging decisions. We experimentally manipulated foraging opportunities for two Anolis lizard species – the brown anole (A. sagrei) in Florida and the crested anole (A. cristatellus) in Puerto Rico – to assess whether foraging behavior differs between habitats varying in their degree of urbanization. In both urban and natural forest habitats, we measured the latency of perched anoles to feed from an experimental feeding tray. We manipulated perch availability and predator presence, while also taking into account population (e.g., conspecific density) and individual-level factors (e.g., body temperature) to evaluate whether and how these contribute to between-habitat differences in foraging behavior. In both species, urban anoles had longer latencies to feed and lower overall response rates compared to lizards from forests. Urban anoles were also larger (i.e., snout-vent length and mass) in both species and urban A. sagrei were in better body condition than the natural forest population. We postulate that the observed patterns in foraging behavior are driven by differences in perceived predation risk, foraging motivation, or neophobia. Although we are unable to identify the mechanism(s) driving these differences, the substantial differences in urban versus forest anole foraging behavior emphasizes the importance of understanding how urbanization influences animal populations and their persistence in anthropogenically-modified environments.     

Park pruning prompts a competitive reversal of an exotic tree, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ligustrum lucidum</Emphasis>, in urban forests of Japan

Ligustrum lucidum, a tree native to China has naturalized in Japan where it is often planted in parks and along roads. Naturalized individuals in urban woodlands have uncertain competitiveness against native species, particular in light of the frequent pruning undertaken in these woodlands. We compared fitness-related traits of Ligustrum against two co-occurring native species: a pioneer tree (Mallotus japonicus) and an understory tree (Eurya japonica) under pruned and un-pruned settings. A growth experiments where we assessed the leaf and whole plant characteristics of the 3 species under two environments simulating forest edge and forest interior, and two pruning treatments (with or without) was conducted. Under simulated forest edge without pruning, Ligustrum had lower stem growth and A_max (maximum photosynthetic rate) than Mallotus, suggesting that native species can competitively suppress invasive expansion. With pruning, however, Ligustrum resprouted vigorously in both spring and summer with significantly higher apical growth and total shoots than Mallotus and Eurya in forest edge and interior, respectively. Also, with similar A_max between resprouts of Ligustrum and Mallotus, we see a reversal of competitive advantage in favor of Ligustrum in forest edge. In the forest interior, Ligustrum exhibited shade tolerant properties (i.e., A_max, chlorophyll a/b, and leaf density) similar to Eurya but had more resprout shoots, suggesting that the invader also maintains an advantage under low light. The competitiveness of Ligustrum clearly increased with human disturbance in the form of park pruning. Such management practice can inadvertently enhance the invasiveness of exotic species in urban settings.     

Public Sociology on Twitter: a Space for Public Pedagogy?

Research has examined various elements of Twitter; however, no scholarship has explored how sociologists currently use the platform. This empirically driven paper explores how individuals that self-identify as sociologists on Twitter use the popular micro-blogging social media site. A total of 152,977 tweets from Twitter profiles of 130 sociologists were collected and examined using qualitative media analysis. The potential use of Twitter allows the sociologist to become both the generator and interlocutor of dialogue with publics. We frame our data analysis and discussion around the core theme of expertise - namely, the role that expertise plays in the use of Twitter by sociologists. Our findings indicate that when sociologists used Twitter as sociologists (i.e., drawing upon their stated research expertise) little direct engagement with publics occurred. Thus, while sociologists appear to be using Twitter as a space for public sociology, the use of this interactive platform is mostly limited to the generation of content, a finding consistent with Burawoy’s traditional form of public sociology. Suggestions for future research are noted.     

Pragmatism and Ethnomethodology

Three features of pragmatist thought remain empirically underdeveloped or insufficiently explored: its call for a return to experience or recovery of concrete practices; its idea that obstacles in experience give rise to efforts at creative problem-solving; and its understanding of language in use, including conversational interaction, as an order of empirical practices in and through which problem-solving efforts are undertaken and social order ongoingly and collaboratively accomplished. Our aim in this article is to show that there exists a long-standing, theoretically informed, and empirically rich research tradition in which these pragmatist themes are further developed, albeit in ways the originators might have foreseen only in dimly programmatic form. This research tradition is ethnomethodology. We present in bold strokes the classical pragmatist ideas of Peirce, James, Mead, Dewey, plus Addams, focusing on the three themes mentioned above. We show how Garfinkel’s work surpasses even that of the pragmatists in developing the larger implications and promise of those themes. We demonstrate how ethnomethodological studies of work and science and conversation analysis, respectively, continue as well to develop the original pragmatist impulse in unsuspected ways. Finally, we step back from this account to ponder the broader significance of the connections we have explored between pragmatism and ethnomethodology.     

Modernisierungsverlierer,Cultural Backlash,Postdemokratie

In the debate about the causes for the rise of right-wing populism three central hypotheses can be identified: the losers of modernization hypothesis, the cultural backlash hypothesis and the post-democratization hypothesis. In his article (Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 69:209–232) Holger Lengfeld analyses if losers of the modernization process tend to vote for the party AfD (Alternative für Deutschland). Lengfeld found no empirical evidence for his assumption. The empirical data basis of his study is small and he also tests no alternative explanations. In the here presented paper we overcome these shortcomings using Allbus-Data from 1996, 2006 and 2016 to test two alternative hypotheses: the cultural backlash hypothesis and the post-democratization hypothesis. In addition we analyze also the question if the middle class shows a higher predisposition than other social classes. The cultural backlash hypothesis proves to be the strongest predictor for the intention to vote for AfD, nevertheless the two other aspects show significant influence. We found no evidence for a particular radicalization of the middle class.     

Medicine as practical wisdom (<Emphasis Type="Italic">phronesis</Emphasis>)

Modern medicine faces fundamental challenges that various approaches to the philosophy of medicine have tried to address. One of these approaches is based on the ancient concept of phronesis. This paper investigates whether this concept can be used as a moral basis for the challenges facing modern medicine and, in particular, analyses phronesis as it is applied in the works of Pellegrino and Thomasma. It scrutinises some difficulties with a phronesis-based theory, specifically, how it presupposes a moral community of professionals. It is argued that Pellegrino and Thomasma's concept of phronesis corresponds to a Hippocratic concept of téchnê, and that this latter concept seems to address many of the challenging issues Pellegrino and Thomasma also address. Thus, if modern medicine is to find its philosophical model in ancient concepts, it appears that the Hippocratic téchnê is closer to the ancient concept of medicine than the Aristotelian phronesis, and that it might avoid many of the pitfalls of a phronesis-based approach.