Books vs. articles: Two ways of publishing sociology

Sociologists tend to publish either in the form of articles in scholarly journals or in the form of books. This paper attempts to show that not only do specific university departments have scholarly cultures emphasizing one or the other, but that structural and demographic factors — such as location, public or private status, and size — are correlated with each. Book departments tend to be found at exclusive private universities in or near big cities on both coasts, while article-producing departments tend to be in land grant universities in the South and Midwest. Recognizing that such publication decisions are not purely scientific in nature but are also partially socially constructed ought to allow us to have more diversity in how departments structure their scholarly cultures.     

Having it both ways: White denial of racial salience while claiming oppression

This work will examine literature on white ideologies concerning the denial of the significance of race, the denial of white privilege, and increasingly popular claims of ‘anti‐white bias’ and white victimhood. Variant literatures on white attitudes and interracial practices recently emerged regarding racism; this review will examine how they are inextricably linked to one another. In reviewing the recent literature on colorblindness, the denial of white privilege, and white victimhood, I will show how these (sometimes contradictory) beliefs work in concert to perpetuate racial inequalities. I argue that volatile racist tactics obscure accountability, sustain denial, and ultimately create a protective barrier to directly addressing white supremacy in the United States.     

Robert Kagan and Noam Chomsky Two ways of being a political intellectual

Abstract

This article analyses various modes of being an intellectual and thinking about the nation-state in the USA, by focusing closely on the work of two emblems: Robert Kagan and Noam Chomsky. They embody very different conceptions of society and two different ways of understanding the link between thought and deed. They serve here as two ideal types: the mandarin speaking with the powers that be and operating within the Machiavellian tradition of being advisor to the Prince; and the libertarian dissident whose conception of truth-seeking transcends any group or ideological affiliation.     

Book reviews: Nobody wants to talk about it

Abstract

Refugee Women's Mental Health Edited by Barbara Ferguson & Eileen Piitaway (1999) Transcultural Mental Health Centre Monograph Series, Culture and Mental Health Soft Cover, $25 RRP     

The Two Faces of Counseling: Or is it Three?

The nature of career counseling, counseling, and psychotherapy is considered, as is the use of the terms counseling and psychotherapy in the works of Carl Rogers as illustration of the cause of confusion in our terminology. It is suggested here that there are two kinds of counseling, situational and personal, and that these are not dichotomous but rather a continuum.     

Pierre Bourdieu and intercultural education: it is not just about lack of knowledge about others

In response to the current intersection of pluralism, globalization, the histories and persistence of inequality in society and schools, and in response to well intended but potentially dangerous tendency toward the romantic versions of everyone’s points of views are valid and let us respect each other’s viewpoints in intercultural education, some intercultural educators are adamantly arguing that the goal of intercultural education must be to work against inequality and inhumanity linked to the system of domination and to foreground social justice. Joining the commitment of such intercultural educators within the framework of anti oppressive intercultural education, this essay shows how Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological theoretical framework can help to problematize the psychologically based intercultural education that mainly focuses on benign differences. Using Bourdieu’s framework, the author demonstrates that the barrier to intercultural education is not just lack of knowledge about others, illuminates the process of intercultural exchange by at least partially unpacking the processes involved in representations and interpretations of differences in intercultural education, and suggests implications for anti oppressive intercultural education.     

The need to do it all: Exploring the ways in which treatment foster parents enact their complex role

Treatment foster care (TFC) is an appealing approach for treating youth with emotional and behavioral disorders because it combines the potential for intensive interventions with opportunities for growth and development in a family-based setting. To accomplish this, TFC requires treatment foster parents to simultaneously play roles of both substitute caregiver/parent and front-line professional. This requires that treatment foster parents excel at both the behaviorally focused elements of an interventionist while simultaneously enacting the more relationally-based aspects of a parent. To date there has been little in the literature to explore the extent to which practicing treatment foster parents actually utilize both behavioral and relational approaches in their work with youth. This paper uses baseline data from a randomized trial (n = 247) to explore eight potential approaches that treatment foster parents might use (including: monitoring/supervision, approaches to discipline, consistency of responses to behaviors, time together, adult-child conflict, positive affect towards the child, perspective taking/empathy building, and communication) as well as a measure of their own assessment of their role. Results show that treatment foster parents recognize the complexities of their role, and most view themselves more as parents than as treatment providers. Substantial variation was evident on all examined dimensions of the treatment parent role (except supervision/monitoring). Variations in treatment parent approaches were most significantly related to child's age and their own view of their role. The paper concludes with discussion of implications and directions for future research.     

Transition to parenthood: it does not get easier the next time. Exploring ways to support well-being among parents with newborns

Investing in parents is important because their well-being is positively related to the development and well-being of their children. This study investigated which factors predict two types of parents’ well-being: individual well-being and parenting-related well-being. Participants were 416 parents (90 fathers, 326 mothers) of a baby (younger than age 1 year old), both first-time parents and not-first-time parents. Relationship quality, life skills, parenting skills, and social support were taken into account. Results show that both types of well-being have different main predictors. Self-esteem, self-management, and interpersonal relationship skills contribute to both types of well-being, suggesting that interventions aimed at improving these skills could be very beneficial for parents in their transition to parenthood. Fathers and mothers differ significantly on several predictors—for example, self-esteem, self-management, parenting behavior, and empathy—suggesting they might have different needs for support in the transition to parenthood. Finally, results show that, though parents get better at providing basic care for their children, regarding well-being and relationship quality, not-first-time parents are not better off then first-time parents. Therefore, interventions aimed at easing the transition to parenthood should not only be aimed at first time parents, they might be more effective for parents who already have children.     

解读海岸带规划的理念、方法与经验——兼谈天津海岸带规划

一、海岸带规划概述 天津海岸带地区发展战略规划范围由陆域和海域两部分组成,其中陆域部分面积1877.31平方公里,除海河下游工业区以外,包括滨海新区的主要组成部分;海域部分即天津所辖3000平方公里海域.     

Less tangible ways of reading

Using the Internet, people realize the identity of their offline selves alongside establishing the nature of online simulacra, screen content. Drawing on European philosophy, responding to Asian audiences, the authors argue here for a theory of these processes as seriously ludic (or 'ludenic'). Asserting the 'primacy of play' in human-computer interaction (HCI), 'epistemological Calvinism' (Stone 1995, p. 9) is critiqued. Internet users' plural personalities switch between enabling roles in mundane material and mediated virtual worlds: they alternate aspects of the self, with the hermeneutic goal of constructing from hypertext menus online narratives of the read and hence (explicitly or implicitly) of the reader. The authors' hypothetical account of multicultural media appropriation as fundamentally (if not entirely) ludic is tested against the recorded evidence of Chinese and Malays talking in Malaysian focus groups about their experience of reading three online versions of newspapers. The virtual journalism accessed here was located on websites for the Australian (Melbourne) Age, UK (London) Times, and US (New York) Times. The Internet genre of e-journalism provides its readers with ludic gratification. Engaging with online news narratives can be an enjoyable escape from the daily round. Dutiful Internet use with a worldly purpose is more constrained in its capacity to liberate. As instrumental (with an extrinsic goal), it is therefore less than entirely playful but more materially functional. Nevertheless, the authors seek to show that such obligatory activity on the Web remains liminally ludic.     

Is it all about human nature? Ethical challenges of converging technologies beyond a polarized debate

This article seeks a better understanding of the debate on the ethical challenges posed by converging technologies in the two versions offered by the United States (NBIC) and Europe (CTEKS) and plans to achieve three things. First, I want to show that the reduction of the ethical challenges posed by these technologies to the question of human nature, creating a polarization of positions, has generated a sort of impasse from which it is difficult to escape. This has already been partly referred to by other authors. Second, I want to show that the European conception of CTEKS proposes a different way of framing the ethical questions surrounding converging technologies. Third, I want to provide a reason why we should follow the route indicated by the European approach and move away from the questions around human nature, being at the same time aware that this approach is only in its initial phase.     

‘It is so unfair here…it is so biased’: Negotiating the politics of ethnic identification in ways of being Malaysian schoolgirls

In this paper, the notion of Malaysian identity is conceptualised within a framework of identity and difference, drawing on contemporary theorisations of ethnicity linked to the notion of difference. The notion of Malaysian is problematised as being linked to the interplay between nationalistic official and essentialistic labelling, present and historical social and political events, and experiences of daily living in Malaysia. The author draws on the narratives of 16-year-old Malaysian schoolgirls to illustrate the discourses of ethnicity these girls negotiate in their ways of being and knowing. Being Malaysian and more importantly being Malay, Chinese, Indian or Other is not a simple matter of government-imposed labelling. It is more complicated and negotiated. Ways of being and knowing in Malaysia are multiple, shifting and contradictory as each Malaysian has to negotiate with these labels in their daily lives. The author argues that the politics of ethnic identification in Malaysia are intertwined with the politics of difference, which in turn is linked to power and inequality.     

The Supervision of Two Isolated Practitioners: It's supervision,Jim, but not as you know it

A supervisory format used over a four year period for two isolated family therapists is discussed. After an initial face to face meeting, in-person supervision took place quarterly. Between these meetings, supervision was by a combination of audiotapes and letters. Supervisees recorded their questions, comments and news on cassette tapes, often sending as well the tape of a client session, and the supervisor responded by letter. The particular difficulties and advantages of this format are discussed, and some attention is given to the special needs of isolated practitioners.