The Mediation Window: Regulation of Argumentation and Affect in Custody Mediation

High-conflict custody mediation requires working with both the emotional and the factual aspects of the conflict, while balancing unequal power relations between parents. Applying conversation analysis methods to a case of “treatment as usual” high-conflict mediation, this study offers an analysis of the process of establishing a balance point—the mediation window—where both emotional and practical concerns can be discussed efficiently. Communication patterns in the selected case are compared to an extract of the remaining corpus from which it is drawn, consisting of 38 high-conflict mediation cases. Findings are discussed with respect to the practice and ideology of custody mediation, particularly concerning empowerment, self-determination, and mediator control.     

Organizational transformation of a community‐based clinic

This article reports a case study of the planned transformation of a volunteer‐run community crisis‐care center into a community clinic. The data for this study are drawn from organizational records and participant observation. During the transformation, the clinic had to plan an orderly transition from volunteer to paid staff, from paper records to an integrated management information system, from primarily crisis care to chronic care, from primarily (physical) medical care to integrated case management. Along the way, some of the planned activities proved impossible to implement, some of what turned out to be key events were completely unanticipated, and many activities were finally accomplished but in a fashion very different from what was proposed in the plan. Four lessons were drawn from this case. First, as much as the caseload increased, the need for supportive services grew at a much faster rate. Second, the case demonstrates the need to develop productivity benchmarks that are speci.c to the group being served. Third, the case demonstrates the need for .exibility to go “off plan” to accomplish a larger goal. Fourth, the case illustrates how “big money” and rapid growth can threaten the sustainability of an organization. “What we think of as idyllic only looks that way to sightseers from other places, and other times.” —Carolyn Heilbrun, The Last Gift of Time     

Labor organization and class alliance

Conclusion The analysis reported here helps to clarify the dual role played by craft organization in labor movement development. In the United States, as in France, community rather than industry was the more promising ground on which to build an inclusive working-class organization. Craft organization in the community always helped mobilize less-skilled workers, and the effect was strongest during the period when the labor movement was growing most rapidly. In contrast, craft organizations within a local industry may have impeded less-skilled workers' organization during the Knights' early years. Only later, when the Knights found themselves on the defensive - attacked by employers, the press, and the craft unions affiliated with the rival American Federation of Labor - did craft locals provide unambiguous support for the organizational efforts of less-skilled workers in their own industries.This dual role must be reckoned with if we are to understand class formation. Because labor historians and others who study working-class movements often pursue research agendas dictated by the dominant tendencies of a single country, their studies tend to exaggerate each country's peculiarites. This study pursued a different line of inquiry by asking its questions from a comparative framework, and by seeking out local variation. The results suggest that craft workers in all countries probably harbored both exclusive and solidaristic tendencies. We need to undertake other studies that might illuminate the conditions that lead to solidarity or exclusivity. Such information will go a long way toward elucidating the dynamics of labor-movement development, thus explaning how oft-mentioned factors such as state action and the pace of capitalist development had the effects they did.Finally, these findings support recent arguments about American exceptionalism put forward by Ira Katznelson and his collaborators. In two influential books, Katznelson argues that America's unique pattern of working-class formation stems, in large part, from the radical division between the politics of work and the politics of community in the United States. Katznelson believes that the institutional set that supported the divorce of workplace and community system (that is, political parties organized around community concerns and trade unions organized around workplace issues) was largely in place by the 1860s. After that the die was cast, except perhaps in small communities where the two spheres were not yet so radically divided. Based on this study I would argue that community remained the most important arena for labor organization even in large urban areas until 1886. But periodization aside, both the quantitative findings and the Trenton case study suggest that the divorce of the community from the workplace must have had a profound effect not only on working-class politics, but on the growth of the union movement as well.

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The Routinization of Social Movement Organizations: China as a Deviant Case*

This paper has two purposes: (1) to show how previous work in complex organizations, social movements and political development converges to predict routinization of successful social movement organizations, and (2) to explore the Chinese experiment in organization as a deviant case for the “law” of routinization. First, theories from three substantive areas are shown to predict routinization of social movement organizations. Next, an alternative model of organization, the Maoist model, is presented. Then, recent social history of China is examined to see if the model has been implemented. Lastly, several generalizations about the routinization process are drawn from the Chinese case.     

The ‘New Institutionalism’ in Organization Theory: Bringing Society and Culture Back In

This investigation will discuss the emergence of an economistical perspective among the dominant approaches of organization theory in the United States since the inception of “organization studies” as an academic discipline. It maintains that Contingency theory, Resource Dependency theory, Population Ecology theory, and Transaction Cost theory analyze predominantly for-profit organizations within the context of the current economic environment. It further holds that the political and cultural environments, as well as the role of communities, are widely neglected by the economistical perspective. The New Institutionalism departs from this line of thinking and offers an implicit critique. With this focus, this article addresses a sociology of knowledge theme and aims to account for this theoretical limitation by drawing on social developments in the American economy, in American politics, and in the academy. Finally, this study argues that the economization of organization studies is strongly supported by the increasing proliferation of American business schools. Here the science of organization studies has found its new institutional home.     

Alaskan villagers' views on problem drinking: "those who forget"

Statewide statistics suggest that problems relating to alcohol abuse represent a major public health problem for Native Alaskans but very little is known about alcohol use on a community level, due to deficient reporting mechanisms and a lack of relevant research. The research reported here was designed to begin to fill this stated need. Alcohol use patterns, the extent of drinking, and associated problems as perceived by residents of two Alaskan Eskimo villages are documented. The structure and effects of alcohol programs in the villages, which represent local attempts to manage alcohol, are also examined. The research demonstrates that it cannot be assumed that all Native Alaskan communities have the same scale of drinking and consequent problems. Differential response to alcohol programs, which have essentially the same structure, is demonstrated and related to the recent development of contrasting levels of community organization in the two villages, which share a common cultural tradition. The utility of a comparative case study approach in examining alcohol problems in Native American communities and the need for expanded research for informed alcohol program planning and implementation are emphasized.     

Growing Pains: The Transformative Journey from a Nascent to a Formal Not-For-Profit Venture

This article examines how a social venture transitions from nascent to formal status and argues that the transformation of the organization set in motion by establishing formal boundaries is a deeply profound one. Drawing from the nonprofit and social entrepreneurship literature on what prompts and energizes individuals to initiate new not-for-profit ventures, and linking it to a notion of revolutionary crisis as organizations emerge and develop, we seek to illuminate and explore the tension, and its consequences, between nonprofit entrepreneurs and the organization they create as the new venture transitions from nascent to formal. We do this by presenting the results from an in-depth case study examining the gestation and boundary-forming phases of Robert’s Place Cooperative, a plucky start-up cooperative in a midsize Midwestern city.     

Minutewomen,Victims, and Parasites: The Discursive and Performative Construction of Women by The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps

This study uses data from 40 interviews and 80 hours of participant observation to examine the discursive and performative (embodied, enacted, and nonverbal) position of women in twenty‐first‐century militia–nativist organizations, using the case study of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC). The case of the MCDC demonstrates that the organization produces competing narratives for understanding the role of white and migrant women in U.S. society. White American women are constructed as victims of immigration, while white women within the organization are viewed as capable colleagues. Migrant women are produced as both parasites on American society and victims of Mexican male sexuality. As this article shows, women's demands for agency, their political drives, their ascribed race, and their intentions shape their discursive production.     

Evaluating complex interventions in real context: Logic analysis of a case management program for frequent users of healthcare services

Case management programs for frequent users of healthcare services are complex interventions which implementation and application are challenging to evaluate. The aim of this article was to conduct a logic analysis to evaluate a case management program for frequent users of healthcare services. The study proceeded in three phases: 1) establishing causal links between the program’s components by the construction of a logic model, 2) developing an integrated framework from a realistic synthesis, and 3) making a new reading of the case management program in regard of the integrated framework. The study demonstrated, on one hand, strengths and weaknesses of the actual case management program, and, on the other hand, how logic analysis can create a constructive dialogue between theory and practice. The evaluative process with decision-makers, clinicians and patients has helped to make connexions between theory, practice, experience and services organization.     

Reasoning With Case Studies: Issues Of An Aging Workforce

Case studies are an ideal research approach to generate in-depth and contextualized data. Many specific data collection approaches can be incorporated to gather data through a case study, but the information so gathered is interpreted in terms of a single case. When a set of case studies is conducted on a particular research theme, the question arises as to what kinds of inferences can be made with a small number of cases. Problems of inference are increased when the cases have been selected opportunistically or haphazardly and when the universe of all potential cases cannot readily be defined. Charles Ragin has distinguished between the logic of multivariate analysis and the logic of comparative case analysis. Drawing on this distinction, this article will describe the ways in which inferences can be drawn, and the nature of such inferences, from a multiple case study approach. Reasoning from multiple case studies is an inductive process that uses comparisons to generate hypotheses and to provide limited tests through the principle of falsification. This approach was used in developing a synthesizing report based on seven large case studies from the project, “Issues of an Aging Workforce.” Five Canadian and two American case studies were conducted in corporate settings in different economic sectors. The case studies used qualitative methods (focus groups and key informant interviews) and survey data from employees and managers. Thus, the logic of multivariate analysis was used, along with inductive reasoning with qualitative data, within cases, and a logic of comparative case analysis when seeking to make and test generalizations based on the set of seven cases.     

A Case Study of Adaptation in a Nonprofit Human Service Organization

This paper demonstrates the applicability of political economy theory to understanding adaptation of human service organizations. Through the use of a case study, the paper demonstrates the adaptation that occurred over twenty years in a family service agency. The findings show an organization selecting a particular service niche in which to operate. The findings further demonstrate a specialized clientele, a diversified program style, marked stability in the organization's financial strategy, and a diversified financial style. The major tier of revenue groups was dominated by Purchase of Service Contracts (POSC) which demonstrated volatility in response to changes in the external environment. Implications are drawn from education and practice.     

Leadership in Voluntary Associations: The Case of the “International Association of Women”

Three models of leadership in voluntary associations have been proposed in the literature: democratic leadership, oligarchy, and leadership by default. Through an intensive case study of leadership structure, differences in the attitudes of members and leaders at three hierarchical levels, and differences between the attitudes and behaviors of aspirants and nonaspirants to leadership in a women's service association, this article examines the degree of fit between these models and a specific organization. Data is drawn from questionnaires, annual reports, and interviews. The results fail to conform to any of the existing models, suggesting instead a fourth model, leadership for self-development—in which leaders are motivated primarily by a desire to develop administrative and interpersonal skills.     

The inherently political nature of program evaluators and evaluation research

This paper discusses the importance of addressing the political dynamics inherent in any evaluation research process. The theoretical orientation contributing to the denial and avoidance of politics is articulated and contrasted with one which posits politics as normative and useful. A connection is drawn between stakeholder and case study approaches to evaluation. It is argued that both are effective routes to evaluations which facilitate decision making. A case example of a study of Community Development Block Grant agencies is used to detail problems accompanying avoidance of politics. Guidelines for effectively addressing and using politics are offered.     

Say,Whatever Became of Maurice Parmelee,Anyway?*

This paper outlines the career of Maurice F. Parmelee, sociologist, government official, nudist, and author of thirteen books, including the first American criminology text (1918). The contents of the latter are examined and contrasts with contemporary textbooks are noted. Parmelee's career is an anomoly, for although he published abundantly, he faded into sociological obscurity. Some conjecture is offered about scholarly career paths generally, drawn out of the Parmelee case. Finally, the paper argues that historical accounts of the development of American criminology are incomplete, for they fail to mention a number of early figures, including Parmelee.     

THE PROBLEM OF CHANGE IN EMOTIONS RESEARCH: NEW STANDARDS FOR ANGER IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICAN CHILDREARING

A considerable body of historical work has recently been devoted to the study of emotion. Particular attention has been drawn to major changes during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Western emotional standards, and probably in emotional experience as well, as West European and American society moved toward more commercial, secular bases and as intense community ties diminished. This article summarizes and evaluates this literature, assessing the importance of dealing with change, and the causation and impact of change, in emotions research. Although change is not uniform in the history of the study of emotion, such that the early modern transformation of love, anger, grief, and other emotions stands out, important shifts have developed in more recent decades as well. The second half of the article offers a case study of one such shift, as childrearing standards toward anger moved from an emphasis on channeling the emotion toward useful ends to an effort to repress or defuse anger through talking-out. This change, with interesting echoes in American adult perceptions, can be explained by new behavioral science emphases (on aggression) but particularly by the shift toward a service, and thus customer-pleasing, economy.     

探究西部中小城市文化强市路径：以泸州市为例

本文以酒城泸州为研究案例，总结了泸州文化建设的现状、问题、机遇和挑战，提出了文化强市的指导思想、战略定位、发展目标，从文化产业、文化事业、公共文化服务、市民素质、文化人才、文化品牌、城市营销等领域提出发展路径，为西部其他中小城市文化建设提供借鉴。     

THE NATURE AND SOCIAL BASES OF PROGRESSIVE SOCIAL MOVEMENT IDEOLOGY: Examining Public Opinion toward Social Movements

Social movement scholars argue that movements within the same social movement family represent an ideologically coherent social force driven by an overarching master frame. Yet this claim has thus far been poorly documented. Analyzing public opinion data from a nationally representative April 2000 Gallup Poll, we find substantial evidence of a progressive social movement ideology centered around the extension of rights within the American public, as support for individual movements within this family is highly interrelated. Adherents to this progressive social movement ideology are drawn from self‐identified political Liberals and Democrats, the more highly educated, women, younger, and less religious adults. We argue that public opinion research should be seen as a valuable complement to existing case‐based social movement scholarship.     

A social capital approach to improving public relations’ efficacy: Diagnosing internal constraints on external communication

This article extends Heath's (2006) concept of fully functioning society theory (FFS) and argues that public relations can be used as a force to enhance collective social capital in communities. To serve this purpose, however, the effectiveness of an organization to serve its external publics is often dependent on the status and relationships the public relations function has developed within the organization. This paper provides a network analysis of a government agency in Jordan that illustrates the relationship between internal organizational social capital and the potential problems for establishing external relationships with publics. Implications for public relations research methods and theory are also discussed.     

Regulating rural change: Property rights,economy and environment — a case study from Cumbria,U.K.

A new set of priorities increasingly determines the development of the British countryside. It is encouraging a more economically and socially differentiated countryside in which spatial patterns of development will be less predictable and environmental concerns more evident. New means of examining these complex processes of change are urgently required. In particular, they must engage with and adequately reflect the significance of local circumstances. Drawing upon Clark's notion of ‘real’ regulation, with its focus upon administrative processes, a framework is presented which re-directs our understanding of regulation as a focus for examining the relations between the market, the state and civil society. The framework is operationalized through an examination of the redefinition and redistribution of real property rights. Changes to property rights provide a means of establishing altered priorities. These priorities are reflected in the nature and outcomes of the rural land development process which, it is argued, continues to afford a particularly powerful ‘window’ on the nature of rural change. The field enquiries are based upon a detailed, case study approach using an ‘actor-in-context’ methodology. A case study drawn from Allerdale in Cumbria, England, which examines the debates and outcomes surrounding the Lostrigg open-cast coal site, is used to illustrate the methodology, to indicate the growing political substance of environmental as opposed to employment concerns in the countryside, and to demonstrate the effectiveness of local resistance to established norms of land development.