Between Scylla and Charybdis: Designing,Implementing, and Assessing Innovations in the Annual PSA Meetings

For the 2013 meeting cycle, the Pacific Sociological Association (PSA) implemented subtle but important changes in the processes by which the program is constituted – centralizing the processes of review and assignment, and making distinctions between presentation types. Those changes, the product of several years of discussions, were designed to address member concerns about the uneven quality of presentations, as well as shifts in membership composition which had led to a predominance of student members and a shrinking proportion of faculty members from doctoral-granting institutions. The changes were intended to increase the overall quality of presentations (and reestablish PSA’s reputation as a venue for disciplinary leading research) while retaining the programmatic diversity and culture of inclusion so valued by PSA members. Assessment of annual member survey data suggests that members across all membership components evaluated the changes positively. Specific patterns suggest that while the creation of research-in-progress sessions was seen as an inclusionary change, the centralization of program development processes was seen as exclusionary. We discuss the implications of the data for considering the contemporary role of regional sociological associations.     

The Quality of Recent Pacific Sociological Association (PSA) Meetings: Location,Session Quality and Institutional Change

Employing data (n?=?734) collected from those having attended the Pacific Sociological Association (PSA) annual meetings held in San Diego, California (2012) and Reno, Nevada (2013), we test whether session quality and host-city satisfaction are positively associated with how respondents rated the overall quality of the meetings. A majority (54 %) of respondents reported the quality of the meetings highly (“Above Average” or “Excellent”), and suggestive of the importance of conference location, this declined from 64 % in 2012 to 41 % in 2013. Controlling for individual characteristics and institutional affiliation, regression results intimate that both host-city satisfaction and session quality are positively associated with how respondents rated the overall quality of the meetings. And they suggest that the former is somewhat more important than the latter for explaining variation in meeting quality. A final stage of our analysis (n?=?205) finds that attendees’ evaluations of changes in how the 2013 PSA meetings were developed and organized are positively associated with meeting quality without diminishing the independent effects of session or location quality. We discuss implications of these results for future PSA meetings, as well as for research investigating how to improve the quality of regional academic conferences more generally.     

挑战与精彩同在(英文)

For each person in the world,there are challenges --either against him/herself or others--throughout his/her life.In fact,life is like a sporting event.The spectators,who are fond of watching the fierce,but fascinating,competitions between the rivals may also enjoy the"games"during their lives.     

Restructuring capital,reorganizing consent: Gramsci,political economy,and Canada*

Lu en tant qu'économiste politique, les écrits d'Antonio Gramsci nous munient d'un vocabulaire qui permet de restructurer d'une façon productive les questions qui inspirent à l'étude du capitalisme canadien. Cet article fait le compte-rendu des termes de référence d'une problématique Gramscienne, examine cinq études récentes sur la crise contemporaine globale qui signale un tournant analytique vers la pensée Gramscienne, et finalement incorpore ces perspectives dans le but de mettre à jour la situation canadienne. Pour les académiques canadiens, le défi posé par Gramsci est de réévaluer, en vue des développements historiques mondiaux, les formes spécifiques avec lesquelles les institutions canadiennes ont structuré le capital et organisé le consensus au Canada, de sonder les transformations présentes et récentes de ces formes, et d'évaluer les aspects positifs ainsi que les dangers que ces changements présentent pour les mouvements émancipatoires. Read as a political economist, Antonio Gramsci provides a vocabulary in terms of which the questions animating studies of Canadian capitalism can be fruitfully re-framed. This paper first reviews the terms of reference for a Gramscian problematic, then examines five recent studies of the contemporary global crisis which signal an analytic turn toward Gramsci, and finally brings these perspectives to bear upon the case of Canada. For Canadian scholars, the challenge posed by Gramsci is to unravel, in view of world historical developments, the specific institutional forms in which capital has been structured and consent organized within Canada, to probe the recent and ongoing practical transformations in those forms, and to appraise the opportunities and dangers that these changes present for emancipatory movements.     

Contradictions in Agrarian Ideology: Restructuring Gender,Race-Ethnicity,and Class1

Abstract Contradictions in agrarian ideology are revealed through an analysis of social dimensions of economic restructuring in rural Iowa. Data are culled from field observations and in-depth interviews with white European American residents. How rural residents cope with and make sense of the changes within their communities are two interrelated dimensions of social restructuring. The research highlights a perception of sharpening social and economic divisions within two small communities. The social and economic changes challenged residents' self-definitions, perspectives on rural community life, and previously taken-for-granted notions of gender, racial-ethnic, and class relations. Analysis of field data demonstrates contradictory ways that discourses on agrarianism and gemeinschaft serve as resources as well as impediments to social support and community development.     

Same Profession,Different People: Stratification,Structure, and Physicians' Employment Choices

Professions such as medicine are in the midst of profound change. This paper explores how recent stratifying forces within the medical profession relate to the trend toward salaried employment for physicians. Specifically, growing segments of female, black and Hispanic, and lower and middle class doctors are focused upon in the analysis. Several important structural forces related to managed care and the nature of medical work are discussed and examined as well. The results suggests that it is useful to consider factors internal to professions in explaining large-scale professional change. This does not mean forgetting about the role played by structure in this change. Instead, it supports incorporating stratification perspectives into studies of professionals and of considering micro levels of analysis which acknowledge and investigate the effects of intraprofessional diversity.     

Farming Patterns,Rural Restructuring,and Poverty: A Comparative Regional Analysis1

Abstract This study examines the contentions of two recent perspectives on rural economic organization and their implications for poverty. Building from (1) agrarian political economy and (2) the rural restructuring literatures, we present a comparative regional analysis of how farming patterns and other aspects of economic organization differentially affect poverty in rural areas. Data are based on 2,349 nonmetropolitan U.S. counties for the 1970–1980 period. Nonhired labor-dependent, family-operated farming (smaller and larger family farming) has relatively similar cross-regional effects on rural poverty. The effects of industrialized farming are more spatially variant, suggesting that this type of farming is integrated into regional political economies in different ways than are simple commodity units. However, farming patterns have only a small effect on rural poverty relative to other factors, such as the local employment structure, characteristics of the population, and geographic location. The results of this study highlight the need to move beyond the farm sector to understand both the dynamics of this sector and the socioeconomic consequences of rural restructuring. More broadly, the study underscores the importance of testing general sociological relationships under different spatial (e.g., regional) contexts.     

When Baby Brings the Blues: Family Therapy and Postnatal Depression

Postnatal depression impacts on a significant number of women and their families. As a topic it is attracting much interest from researchers as we become clearer about its impact on the long‐term mental health of both women and their partners, as well as on the couple's relationship and their children's mental health. This article will provide a brief overview of postnatal depression and the current research associated with it, and consider the usefulness of systemic family therapy interventions. Examples of these are included along with a clinical vignette.     

Joining forces,fortunes, and futures: Restructuring and adaptation in nonprofit hospice organizations

Nonprofit organizations operate in tumultuous times characterized by constrained funding, increased competition, and greater demand for social services. Existing bases of intangible and tangible assets often are insufficient to fulfill service missions. These organizations appear to be responding by joining forces and restructuring to better accommodate diminished resources. Relatively little is known about the reorganization strategies being employed. The study described in this chapter examined the phenomenon of organizational restructuring among nonprofit hospice organizations. In particular, it identified the factors that propel nonprofits to pursue restructuring as a strategic solution, the elements that impede such restructuring efforts, and how organizations that pursue and implement restructuring differ from those that do not. The study found that an organization's relative placement along a continuum of political and economic strength is determinative in the outcome of its restructuring efforts. Those that take affirmative steps operate from a position of economic strength and exhibit independence in governance and decision making; those that do not are impeded by internal political factors.     

The Dilemma of Social Work Education: Restructuring the Curriculum

The roles of social work libraries are reexamined in light of recent trends in library information science The implementation of special services is advocated in the following areas: Information Retrieval and Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI) programs, computer-produced subject bibliographies, regional and national union catalogues in book format, cooperative acquisition plans, and improved interlibrary loan services. Local, regional, and national consortia social work libraries are seen as a possible approach, utilizing existing and future data bank networks.     

Seeing the Same Thing Differently: Program Director,Faculty, and Student Perceptions of MSW LGBT Competence

ABSTRACT

This exploratory study examined MSW education’s organizational-level lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) competence. Data were gathered from a sample of MSW program directors, faculty members, and students (N=1385) from 34 MSW programs in the United States. Hierarchical linear modeling analyzed differences in perceptions of organizational LGBT competence between MSW programs and among participants in the same program. Results showed organizational LGBT competence varied significantly among MSW programs and indicated program directors, faculty members, and students had different perceptions of the competence of their shared program. Specifically, directors rated the LGBT competence of their program higher than faculty, and faculty rated their program higher than students did. Implications for research and suggestions for social work education are discussed.     

The Baby as Subject: The Hospitalised Infant and the Family Therapist

This article is concerned with the experience of infants who endure long hospitalisations. It explores the concept of the baby as subject; that is, infants as active, psychic participants in their earliest relationships. It explores therapeutic possibilities with hospitalised infants from an infant mental health perspective. It advocates for family therapists to equip themselves for infant—parent therapeutic work.     

Restructuring for growth in urban China: Transitional institutions,urban development,and spatial transformation

This research examines government policies and urban transformation in China through a study of Hangzhou City, which is undergoing dramatic growth and restructuring. As the southern center of the Yangtze River Delta, an emerging global city region of China, Hangzhou has been restlessly searching for strategies to promote economic growth and survive the competition with Shanghai. This paper analyzes Hangzhou’s development strategies, including globalization, tourism, industrial development, and urban development, in the context of shifting macro conditions and local responses. We hold that urban policies in China are situated in the broad economic restructuring and the gradual, experiential national reform and are therefore transitional. The paper suggests that China’s urban policies are state institution-directed, growth-oriented, and land-based, imposing unprecedented challenges to sustainability and livability. Land development and spatial restructuring are central to urban policies in China. Last, while Hangzhou’s development strategies and policies to some extent reflect policy convergence across cities in China, local/spatial contexts, including local settings, territorial rescaling and land conditions, are underlying the functioning of development/entrepreneurial states.     

Topiramate Combined with Cognitive Restructuring for the Treatment of Gambling Disorder: A Two-Center,Randomized, Double-Blind Clinical Trial

Gambling disorder (GD) is a prevalent condition for which no pharmacological treatment has yet been approved, although there is evidence that topiramate can reduce impulsivity in GD and craving in various addictive behaviors. The goal of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of topiramate combined with cognitive restructuring for GD in a two-center, randomized, double-blind clinical trial. Participants were individuals seeking outpatient treatment for GD (n = 30), treated with either topiramate or placebo combined with a brief cognitive intervention, over a 12-week period, the dose of topiramate being tapered up during the first 8 weeks. The main outcome measures were gambling craving, behavior, and cognitive distortions; impulsivity; depression and social adjustment. Topiramate proved superior to placebo in reducing gambling craving (P = 0.017); time and money spent gambling (P = 0.007 and P = 0.047, respectively); cognitive distortions related to gambling (P = 0.003); and social adjustment (P = 0.040). We found no significant effects on impulsivity or depression. These findings are in contrast with data from a previous clinical trial with topiramate for GD. In the current study, we found that topiramate affects features specifically related to gambling addiction and had no significant effect on associated phenomena such as impulsiveness and depression. We believe that this response could be due to synergistic interaction between topiramate and the cognitive intervention.