Family Work in Oncology: Trusting the Narrative

The author describes her work with a dying patient, work that extends from the patient to his wife and adult offspring, and has transformative benefits for the family.     

Communal Decline: The Vanishing of High-Moral Servant Leaders and the Decay of Democratic, High-Trust Kibbutz Cultures

What is the connection between leaders’morality and the output performance of organizations? Can their morality explain, through trust, continuity, and change of organizational cultures? Is periodic rotation of managers the right solution for the distrust caused by self‐serving conservatism due to Michels's “Iron Law of Oligarchy”? An anthropological study of kibbutzim, whose innovative and adaptive cultures declined recently, found that past success was dependent on high‐moral servant leaders who backed democracy and promoted high‐trust cultures that engendered innovation by creative officers in some kibbutzim, which others imitated. However, conservatism of continuous leaders as heads of low‐trust kibbutz federative organizations, which were ignored by customary kibbutz research, engendered oligarchization which rotation enhanced rather than prevented. However, creativity deteriorated only after decades of growing oligarchy, with the vanishing of the high‐moral old guard. Thus, the crux of democratic communal culture sustainability is pinpointed in the superiority of trusted, high‐moral leaders. A preliminary idea for achieving that aim, predicated on officers’continuation in office being conditional on periodic tests of trust, is herein presented.     

Digital Dinosaurs and Artificial Life: Exploring the Culture of Nature in Computer and Video Games

Over the last 30 years, the computer and videogame has emerged as a popular recreational pastime. While often associated with the artificial and alien, it is my contention that the modern videogame informs on the subject of “nature” and what we consider to be natural. This article delineates some of the “natures” posited in computer game design. It provides a valuable overview of gaming culture and might serve as an introduction to further research on specific game genres. It argues that virtual worlds are currently serving a dual purpose, of reinforcing traditional stereotypes of the natural world (as “red in tooth” and claw or as a material resource), while gradually moving towards radical, new forms of “virtual” nature to contend with. It suggests that the mimicking of biological systems in computer games expresses both our lingering cultural interest in the “great outdoors” and a need to give familiarity and substance to an electronic medium marked by its failure to fit within traditional notions of space and geography.     

Southern Culture and Aggravated Assault: Exploring the Generality of the Southern Cultural of Violence

Numerous studies have investigated the Southern culture of violence (SCOV). In particular, prior analyses have focused on white argument-based homicide in rural areas, a context in which the SCOV should be most prominent. Initial analyses examined dichotomous regional indicators (South/non-South) and often neglected to control for structural disadvantage. Recent research developed a summary based measure of Southern cultural influence that consolidates regional, ethnic, and religious characteristics. Unfortunately, a lack of available data on the underlying circumstances of different forms of violence has hindered our ability to assess the generality of the Southern cultural tolerance of violence. The current study addresses this limitation by using NIBRS data to assess the influence of a composite measure of Southern culture on variation in white argument-based aggravated assault. Analyses of county-level data support the generalizability of the Southern cultural influence to non-lethal forms of argument-based violence.     

From the Mute God to the Lesser God: disability in Medieval Celtic and Old Norse literature

The oldest Norse and Celtic literature is likely to treat of exceptionalities, including those that we would call disabilities, in a fashion quite unlike that to which we are accustomed to find in modern literature. In the archaic literature, we find mythological motifs about contact with the supernatural and the related notion of a trade-off of a body part for superhuman abilities, and at the same time we notice a general disinterest in impairments as they might affect a character's competence. While there does seem to be some concern for dangers an individual's impairment might pose to society and some desire for cures, there is no evidence for the later disabling notion of daemonic possession, little recognition that impairments might be medical conditions or personal tragedies, and no hint of marginalizing pity or consequent charity.     

When the University Went 'Pop': Exploring Cultural Studies, Sociology of Culture, and the Rising Interest in the Study of Popular Culture

This article examines why the study of popular culture has taken off as a subject of university course offerings and as a topic of scholarly inquiry since the 1980s. Placing the current explorations of popular culture in historical context, the article argues that popular culture's study and studies in the sociology of culture can illuminate many of the classic concerns that animate sociology and related fields, such as the social organization and power of institutions, debates about public life and the formation of public opinion, concerns about the relationship between consumption, social status, and politics of the privileged elite, and the role of media in the development of social movements and in individual and subcultural understandings. The article considers how popular cultural studies are currently shaping the study of social life, and concludes by considering trends that might be encouraged among students and emergent scholars seeking to study in this area.     

Exploring Digital Culture in Virtual Teams: Implications for Leading and Developing Distributed Organisations

Understanding human communication in the technological age is becoming more complex as advances in technology and its use in human exchange are being magnified. New studies show that technology is no longer just a device for human connections; it is an integrated artefact in the human exchange and communication process. As a result, we are witnessing and experiencing new norms and patterns of behaviour, values in human connections, expectations of one another, language, and other symbol systems: a digital culture. This article explores further development of the digital culture model in relation to organisational work culture. Specifically, the dimensions related to digital communication and online group dynamics are further articulated from a literature review. The findings are also presented from a study of e-process teams in a distributed organisation based on data from a digital culture inventory, focus group observations, and participant reflections, which illustrate changes in behaviour, language, group dynamics, and communication exchange between team members working in a distributed organisation. The article aims to contribute new insights which could inform approaches to organisational development that view organisational culture as central to the process.     

The City God Returns: Organised and Contagious Networks at the Xiamen City God Temple

This paper explores the revival and current networks of the Xiamen City God temple in Southeast China. I divide the networks into two forms: the first is organised and composed of systematically and consciously structured networks; the second is contagious, made up of networks that are more unwieldy and impossible to fully map as they are formed through the affective intensity of ritual events. The two forms of networks are mutually dependent: without the donations and participation generated through organised networks, the ritual events would never take place; without the ritual events that generate networks of contagion, there would be no interest or reason to support the temple and the god’s efficacy would be seen in decline.     

Mexican American Parents' Involvement in Adolescents' Peer Relationships: Exploring the Role of Culture and Adolescents' Peer Experiences

This study examined the nature and correlates of Mexican American mothers' and fathers' involvement in adolescents' peer relationships along 4 dimensions: support, restriction, knowledge, and time spent with adolescents and peers. Mexican American adolescents and their parents in 220 families described their family relationships, cultural orientations/values, and experiences with adolescents' peers in home interviews. In addition, time-use data were collected during a series of 7 phone calls to measure parents' time spent with adolescents and peers and parents' knowledge of adolescents' daily experiences with peers. Multilevel models revealed connections between parents' involvement in adolescents' peer relationships and both parents' Mexican and Anglo orientations and familism values and adolescents' peer experiences (e.g., deviant peer affiliations, friends' ethnic orientation). Findings further revealed some evidence that parent and adolescent gender moderated the patterns, with mothers' (but not fathers') restrictions on peer relationships being associated with adolescents' deviant peer affiliations and parents placing greater restrictions on daughters' than on sons' peer relationships when they had more frequent deviant peer affiliations.     

The Role of the Economic Sector in the Provision of Care to Trusting Clients

With implications for senior care as well as child care, this article compares for‐profit and nonprofit dependent‐care facilities in areas of service that are not readily visible to consumers. Findings gleaned from the child‐care industry indicate that nonprofit facilities provide a higher quality of service on professionally identified variables than do their for‐profit counterparts. For‐profit directors were more likely to implement cost efficiencies that were not immediately apparent to clients. Despite this, significantly more of the for‐profits were displeased with their financial situation than were their nonprofit counterparts. The study suggests that professional background and training of directors exercises an influence on management satisfaction and decisions, independent of sector.     

God is Society: the Religious Dimension of Maoism

Maoism as a politico-religious form emerged in a society in the process of disintegration. It became crystallized as a response to the demands of rapid modernization. The Maoist belief system centers around the concept "people," the ultimate sacred reality. Its ethic emphasizes ceaseless service to others, individual asceticism, and intensive practical activity as necessary to the achievement of social salvation and collective immortality. A number of ritual parallels are identified between Maoism and contemporary Christianity: the worship service and ministry, the initiation process, sin and atonement, and various initiative rituals. From an evolutionary perspective, both primitive and ultra-modern elements are identified in Maoism.     

贾希利叶时代阿拉伯人月神考述

在伊斯兰教兴起以前的贾希利亚时期,阿拉伯半岛的北方居民大多囿于原始的万物有灵和神力至上的观念,他们尊奉的主要神祗从语源上考察,与阿卡德语、阿拉米语、希伯来语、阿拉伯语等都相近.这一现象实际上反映了闪米特诸民族内在本质上的一致性.其次,奈巴特人神殿中最重要的女神拉特在罗马时期兼指金星维纳斯是受希腊-罗马神话影响的结果,而公元3世纪帕尔米拉神殿中盛行的三联神体与上古时期的苏美尔-阿卡德神谱一脉相承,则体现了鲜明的西亚星辰崇拜个性.至于阿拉伯人至今仍对新月特别钟情,则包含了一定的月神崇拜痕迹.     

Varieties of Democracy: Interest Groups and Corporatist Committees in Scandinavian Policy Making

Corporatism may be seen as variety of capitalism in which specific structural prerequisites such as unionization, centralization, and strong states combined with bargaining and concertation produce certain economic outputs. Corporatism may also be seen as a variety of democracy in which interest groups are integrated in the preparation and/or implementation of public policies. Departing in the last position, we measure the strength of Scandinavian corporatism by the involvement of interest groups in public committees, councils, and commissions. Corporatism in relation to the preparation of policy has gone down in all three Scandinavian countries whereas corporatism in implementation processes are more varied among the three countries.     

Young and Sexual in Norway and Croatia: Revisiting the Scandinavian Versus Mediterranean Gendered Pattern of Sexual Initiation

ABSTRACT

This article describes and analyzes patterns of first sexual intercourse and contraception use from a bicultural perspective. Study results are based on a 2009–2010 large-scale national probability survey of young adults aged 18 to 24 years in Croatia (n = 1,005) and Norway (n = 871). The findings corroborated the persistence of the dual model of sexual initiation in Europe (Scandinavian vs. Mediterranean), in which Norwegian women and Croatian men reported coital debut at an earlier age than their gender counterparts. Age difference between partners and the prevalence of condom use at first coitus were similar in both countries, with differences in contraceptive choices emerging with time. Young Norwegian men and women switched from using condoms to hormonal contraception when having been coitally active for some time. Interestingly, “the pill” remains rather unpopular among young Croatian women. Controlling for selected variables, using a condom at most recent sexual intercourse was significantly associated with condom use at first intercourse in all groups except Norwegian men, as well as with years of coital activity (except among Croatian men). Additionally, the odds of a condom being used at most recent intercourse were significantly correlated with same-sex sexual experience (only among Norwegian men) and with reporting the most recent intercourse with a casual partner (only among Norwegian participants). Country-specific patterns of contraceptive use are discussed in the context of public health and prevention.     

Deep Roots: Rice Farmers in West Africa and the African Diaspora

An outpouring of historical research has greatly contributed to our understanding of the political, economic, demographic, and business aspects of interregional slave migration in the antebellum period. As yet, however, relatively few studies have examined the assimilation process of slave migrants who were sent to the Lower South. Particularly their adaption to new work patterns and cultivation techniques has eluded the attention of most scholars. What kinds of work did Upper South slave migrants perform upon arrival in the cotton South? How did they adapt to new work? Drawing from a variety of source material, including slave testimonies, this study will very briefly explore cotton cultivation from the perspective of enslaved newcomers from the Upper South. It will especially delve into the abrupt transition with which interstate migrants in the antebellum period were confronted, comparing and contrasting the demands of plantation agriculture in both regions and underscoring the learning curves involved in migrants' assimilation process.     

In the service of God and the parish: Professional ideologies and managerial control in the Church of Sweden

Professional ideologies are not only shared norms, beliefs, and values but also ‘operational philosophies’ – actual practices – that both constitute and regulate a professional community. Professional ideologies may both accommodate and even embrace certain managerial practices and counteract them if they are regarded as a threat to professional jurisdictions and other privileges. A study of ministers of the Church of Sweden, the established church in Sweden, demonstrates that new demands for managerial control, deriving from shrinking financial resources as the church loses members, are, on the one hand, recognized in terms of providing a joint perspective on the activities of the parish while, on the other, there is a significant skepticism toward more elaborate evaluation methods and performance metrics. For ministers, religious services must not be regarded as being like any other market-based activity, and the church, as a faith-based organization, needs to carefully position itself vis-à-vis industry and public administration. The study contributes to the professionalism literature, the accounting literature, and the study of faith-based organizations.