The Evolution (or Devolution) of Privacy

This paper explores changes in the meaning of privacy. Because individuals understandings and experiences of privacy vary by sociohistorical contexts, privacy is difficult to define and even more challenging to measure. Avoiding common obstacles to privacy research, I examine privacy from the standpoint of its invasion. I develop a typology of privacy invasions and use it to analyze discussions of invasions of privacy in U.S. newspapers. I show that the nature of invasions discussed in the news is increasingly covert and continuous and find empirical support for the often-made claim that the concept of privacy is evolving in meaningful ways.     

The myth of modernity in popular african art: Symbolic representations in popular carving and painting

The contemporary artists of Lusaka, Zambia are engaged in an image-making process. They present idyllic portraits of an Africa “as it was” to an audience of tourists and outsiders and play upon a unique blending of traditional and contemporary symbols for an African audience. The latter symbolic forms are representations of modernity and depict both the positive aspects of social change (e.g., material improvements) and its negative dimensions (the gradual destruction of tradition). This paper examines images of modernity in the representations of the natural world, men, and women by contemporary African artists. These images are living myths in the making and are expressive cultural responses to a diverse audience of consumers in a rapidly changing cultural milieu.     

The uninterpreted rage: Protecting the therapeutic alliance in the treatment of borderline patients

After reviewing differing approaches to the treatment of the borderline patient, this paper describes the treatment of a patient whose negative transferences are not interpreted by the therapist; rather, the focus is on maintaining the therapeutic alliance via the awareness of the kinship selfobject function of the therapist and merger with the idealized selfobject.There is no end unless the bottom of the trough has been reached, unless the thing feared has been experienced. (Winnicott in Casement, 1991, pp. 129–130). As a matter of fact in these cases it is of decisive importance for the psychotherapist to remain clearly differentiated from the core of psychopathology—if he cannot achieve this separation and becomes drawn into the patient's delusions, he loses his tie to the healthy remainder of the patient's psyche and thus his therapeutic leverage. The maintenance of a realistic, friendly relationship with the psychotherapist is thus of crucial importance in the treatment of the psychoses and borderline states ... (Kohut, 1971, p. 30).     

The antiabortion movement and symbolic crusades: Reappraisal of a popular theory

The purpose of this paper is threefold: to shed empirical light on the nature and dynamics of the antiabortion movement, to extend or refine the theory of status movements or symbolic crusades, and to thereby contribute to our understanding of the genre of movements that seek disinterested reform. Three propositions central to the status politics/symbolic crusade thesis are examined: first, that “disinterested” reform movements or moral crusades are the outgrowth of conflict between the divergent lifestyles of antithetical cultural groups; second, that participants in such movements are status discontents seeking to defend the prestige of their lifestyle; and third, that the orientation and activity of such movements are primarily symbolic rather than instrumental. Data are derived from telephone interviews with leaders of the antiabortion movement, from participant observation, and from a variety of documents and secondary sources. The findings provide only partial support for the status politics/symbolic crusade thesis. It is concluded that disinterested reform movements, such as the antiabortion movement, can be best understood not so much as attempts to recoup lost prestige or status but as collective action aimed at controlling the nature and production of culture.     

The Status of Intrapersonal (or P-) Variables in the Recent Collective Behavior Literature

This paper examines the causal and explanatory role assigned to intrapersonal (or P-) variables in the recent sociological literature on collective behavior. In Part I emphasis is on the use–or nonuse–of P-variables as factors mediating between collective behavior episodes and their antecedent social and situational determinants. It is suggested that P-variables have been (1) excluded on methodological grounds in favor of more directly observable and/or manipulable behavior, (2) analyzed as dependent variables, defined by and contingent on antecedent social and situational considerations, or (3) introduced as independent variables and therefore significantly figuring in any explanatory account of collective behavior. Part II deals with the conceptually deeper issue concerning the terminology and metaphors employed in the literature regarding collective behavior and its causal antecedents.     

Competition for popular support: a valence model of elections in Turkey

Models of elections tend to predict that parties will maximize votes by converging to an electoral center. There is no empirical support for this prediction. In order to account for the phenomenon of political divergence, this paper offers a stochastic electoral model where party leaders or candidates are differentiated by differing valences??the electoral perception of the quality of the party leader. If valence is simply intrinsic, then it can be shown that there is a ??convergence coefficient??, defined in terms of the empirical parameters, that must be bounded above by the dimension of the space, in order for the electoral mean to be a Nash equilibrium. This model is applied to elections in Turkey in 1999 and 2002. The idea of valence is then extended to include the possibility that activist groups contribute resources to their favored parties in response to policy concessions from the parties. The equilibrium result is that parties, in order to maximize vote share, must balance a centripetal electoral force against a centrifugal activist effect. We estimate pure spatial models and models with sociodemographic valences, and use simulations to compare the equilibrium predictions with the estimated party positions.     

Give a dog a bone: representations of Scotland in the popular genre cinema of Neil Marshall

The best-known and most influential cinematic image of Scotland is that which constructs the country as the civilised modern world’s northern boundary and ideological antithesis. This historically venerable representational tradition incorporates Brigadoon (d. Vincente Minnelli, USA, 1954), Brave (d. Mark Andrews/Brenda Chapman/Steve Purcell, USA, 2012) and much else in between. The following essay examines what is perhaps the most explicit and extended twenty-first century manifestation to date of Scotland’s classic celluloid stereotype: the oeuvre of British popular genre filmmaker Neil Marshall. Analysis of this director’s Scottish trilogy – Dog Soldiers (GB/Lux/USA, 2002), Doomsday (GB/USA/SA/Ger, 2008), and Centurion (GB/Fr, 2010) – suggests not simply the historical persistence of a particular cultural representation of a particular national culture and identity, but also the varied, and often non-nationally specific, thematic uses to which Scottish cinematic stereotypes can be and are put. That conclusion suggests a number of possible future directions for Scottish cinema criticism more generally. First, the need for a more inclusive critical engagement with popular genre cinema, a hitherto under-examined area with the study of Scotland’s relationship with the moving image. Second, the extent to which critics might usefully approach Scottish-set and -themed cinema in a more multifaceted manner than has frequently been the case in historical terms. Neil Marshall’s oeuvre exemplifies the complex interplay of nationally and non-nationally specific images and ideas that exist within many popular filmic representations of Scotland.     

Religion as a means of cultural reproduction: popular rituals in a Yunnan Chinese village in northern Thailand

This article discusses how popular rituals are used to achieve cultural reproduction in Banmai, a Yunnan Chinese village in northern Thailand where I conducted empirical fieldwork between 2002 and 2007. Most Banmai villagers were local militias originally associated with the Chinese Nationalist Party in western Yunnan Province. They went into exile on the Burmese side of the Golden Triangle in or shortly after 1949 when the People's Liberation Army swept through this region, and they ultimately settled in northern Thailand's hill regions in early 1960s. As the self-proclaimed preservers of authentic Chinese culture, Banmai villagers vigorously instituted many traditional practices, following the imagined Confucian orthodoxy, to build a reified community that represents an idealized Chinese spiritual world. Through their participation in popular rituals, we see clearly how villagers have been able to attain the cultural unification that has played a crucial role in meeting their spiritual needs at various levels: the individual, the family, the kin group, and the community.     

The (Cuban) Voice of the (Curaçaoan) People: The Making (And Taking) of a Collective Memory

At the turn of the 20^th century, Afro-Curaçaoans developed an affinity for Cuban culture that influenced the manner to which they came to define their own collective memory. Cuba was raised to mythological status, appropriated and adapted to fit Curaçaoan daily life, enabling a new and inventive sense of belonging. This essay speaks to the intricacies involved in memory-making , with the Cuban-inspired memory of memories on Curaçao introduced as a relative category. It points to the variegated and tenuous nature of memory, showing how the past, when negotiated with the present, can shape group goals and demarcate membership.     

Not one of the guys: The female researcher in a male-dominated setting

An important, but frequently overlooked, issue in qualitative research is how the status characteristics of the researcher affect the process of gaining access to, establishing, and maintaining rapport with respondents or informants in a setting. Some researchers may never succeed in achieving more than superficial acceptance from their respondents because of the status each researcher occupies. Female researchers studying male-dominated groups frequently find themselves in just such a position or do not attempt to gain entry in certain male-dominated settings. Sex-role expectations may hamper women's work in the field. Until recently, little attention was given to these issues.This paper discusses the dilemmas faced by female researchers in male-dominated settings. It begins by examining how the instructional fieldwork literature addresses this issue and finds that it generally does not. In addition, the literature's advice to novice fieldworkers, while perhaps appropriate for males, may be inappropriate for females, given stereotypical sex-role expectations. Novice female researchers must turn to accounts of experienced female researchers for discussions of problems they may encounter in field settings. The paper then turns to my study of a prosecutor's office. Similarities between my experiences and those of other female researchers are noted, and suggestions are made about how women in the field can manage and even overcome these problems.     

Parents' Partnership Decision Making After Divorce or Widowhood: The Role of (Step)Children

Using data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Surveys, this study investigated divorced and widowed parents' (N = 350) decision making about living arrangements after repartnering: Twenty‐eight percent lived apart together (LAT) and others lived together (remarried or cohabiting). The focus was on determinants of LAT: Women, older respondents, residents of larger cities, and parents of 2 or more children are more apt to LAT. On the basis of additional qualitative interviews with LAT respondents (n = 25), the reasons for LAT were investigated. Data showed that many children are involved in pure boundary work in an effort to guarantee the continuation of their family. Other (step)children use the sabotage or refusal types of boundary work, not accepting the new partner or excluding a parent from contact, especially with grandchildren. Many of these efforts are successful. To preserve the ties with their children, parents often adapt their decision making about the living arrangements with a new partner accordingly.     

Countertransference issues for the consultant when a colleague is critically ill (or dying)

This report illustrates how countertransference issues emerged for a consultant therapist whose guidance about practice was sought by an ill and dying colleague. The detechment necessary for consultation was difficult to maintain. Denial, avoidance, and isolation operated for both. Ambivalence about directive behavior developed. Unexpressed grief, shock, feelings of inadequacy, and identification with the colleague intruted but were managed. The occurrence of such countertransference phenomena can be anticipated and understood in a consultation process that represents one valuable, underutilized, and important means of encouraging quality clinical practice under extremely painful circumstances.     

The role of attachments in female adolescent development

Traditional theories of normal adolescent development have incorrectly underscored the importance of the individuation as the psychological goal. This paper will discuss how adolescent girls use their relationships to clarify their identity and differentiate themselves from their families of origin. Girls use friends, as journals, to achieve self differentiation in the context of their relationships. The clinical implications of this newer model, with its emphasis on attachments rather than on separation, will be considered, and group therapy recommended as the treatment of choice for adolescent girls.She is also in private practice in individual and group therapy.     

The victim-bind dilemma of black female sociologists in academe

In this article, the author argues that black female academicians, in particular sociologists, are in a “victim-bind,” which indicates their paradoxical ambivalence and produces stereotypical perceptions. This article examines the purpose and functions of stereotypic perceptions of black females in various phases of graduate school and early career development. It draws on the limited literature as well as the experiences and observations of the author and points out how the political culture and institutional structures of academic communities and departments shape images and career patterns of black women being professionalized as sociologists and social scientists in general. It concludes that stereotypic perceptions of black females are tied into the institutional systems of gender, race and power relations which represent in microcosm, the society at large. Her research areas are social psychological consequence of underemployment, racial/gender differences in social comparison processes, racial/gender inequality in academe, and racial/gender differences in perceptions of labor unions.