Communication without sender or receiver? On virtualisation in the information process

A communication process can be described in terms of a sender transmitting information to a receiver. What happens if one of the two subject roles in this process is virtualised, i.e. substituted by a machine? Is it still appropriate to refer to this as an information transfer even if its source or target is missing? Can information originate from an unknown sender or be transmitted to a (completely) unknown receiver? Before examining these questions and answering them, one has to clarify what is understood by information. As it turns out, different interpretations of this term lead to considerably different answers to the initially raised questions. We consider these questions particularly important since the continuing dissemination of so called information and virtualisation technologies changes the human communication processes fundamentally. These changes are part of the ongoing formation of an information society and may eventually lead to the formation of a new image of man.     

Building a Social Movement for America's Children

Americans are concerned with the conditions of children and young people, and this concern has proven to be pervasive, intense, and enduring. But it has also largely proven to be politically anemic. Beyond the consensus that children's well-being is threatened, there is little public agreement over who bears responsibility for these problems or what we should do about them. As a result, public unease has failed to translate into a coherent and widespread demand for political change. What explains this gap between public concern and political action when it comes to children's well-being? This paper addresses four aspects of this question: First, in what ways is the public concerned for the well-being of children? Second, why has this concern failed to lead to political mobilization? Third, what factors helped to translate public concern with children in earlier eras into political movements, and why were those movements able to contribute to the policy-making process? Fourth, what might contemporary children's advocacy—reconfigured in light of these insights—look like? Answering these questions sheds light on how collective public will develops and how and when it translates into collective political action benefiting children.     

Science and social work: a sketch

While recognizing that understanding of ‘science’ varies across time and countries, there are strands of a shared albeit diverse inheritance. Failures to see where we are located within this inheritance make the social work community vulnerable to simplistic claims regarding what, for example, ‘doing science’ is like. This in turn makes it difficult to deal adequately with questions such as in what ways can or should we distinguish social work science from other kinds of knowledge? Is science in some recognizable way a unified form of knowledge? How ought we to deal with disputes and disagreements in social work science? What kinds of consequences might we envisage from social work science? I deal in turn with each of these questions.     

Expanding Statistical Frontiers in Sexual Science: Taxometric,Invariance, and Equivalence Testing

Sexual scientists must choose from among myriad methodological and analytical approaches when investigating their research questions. How can scholars learn whether sexualities are discrete or continuous? How is sexuality constructed? And to what extent are sexuality-related groups similar to or different from one another? Though commonplace, quantitative attempts at addressing these research questions require users to possess an increasingly deep repertoire of statistical knowledge and programming skills. Recently developed open-source software offers powerful yet accessible capacity to researchers wishing to perform strong quantitative tests. Taking advantage of these new statistical opportunities will require sexual scientists to become familiar with new analyses, including taxometric analysis, tests of measurement variability and differential item functioning, and equivalence testing. In the current article, I discuss each of these analyses, providing conceptual and historical overviews. I also address common misunderstandings for each analysis that may discourage researchers from implementing them. Finally, I describe current best practices when using each analysis, providing reproducible coding examples and interpretations along the way, in an attempt to reduce barriers to the uptake of these analyses. By aspiring to explore these new statistical frontiers in sexual science, sexuality researchers will be better positioned to test their substantive theories of interest.     

Should we expect commitment?

And I, who felt my head surrounded by horrors, Said: Master, what then is it that I am hearing? And what people are these, so crushed by pain?     

Social theory and the de-escalation of international conflict*

Are we like the mothers and fathers at Jonestown, with the cyanide in place, rehearsing for suicide-murder? Daniel Ellsberg (1981) observes that the marchers protesting nuclear weapons are doing what the mothers and fathers in Jonestown waited too long to say ‘No! Not our children! This is craziness; we won't be part of it.’ He writes that ‘It is none too soon to be saying this to the President/Prime Minister/Chairman Jim Jones's of the world; nor is it, yet, too late.’ How did we get into a place that even resembles Jonestown: And more importantly, how do we get out of it? Social theory should help provide answers to such questions, but does not obviously do so. In the first part of this paper I discuss an emerging theoretical paradigm that has particular relevance for understanding how international conflicts increase and decrease in intensity. Then I apply that paradigm to instances of international conflict de-escalation, focusing on declines in tension and hostility between the Soviet and American governments and the Israeli and Egyptian governments. Finally, I will point to some implications of the discussion for social theory and for international policy.     

Who Needs the Nation? Interrogating ‘British’ History

This paper pursues the question ‘who needs the nation?’ which was first posed by Kobena Mercer, the Black British cultural critic, in Welcome to the Jungle (1994). It interrogates not just the proposition of who needs the nation as a fixed referent, but who can afford to be content to be contained by its disciplinary boundaries. These are questions of interest to practitioners committed to understanding what the ramifications are for national histories in the wake of postcolonial studies and work around diasporic communities and subjects. Who writes—who even sees—the histories of subjects exiled from the ‘national body’, those refugees (deliberate or otherwise) from national history and its disciplinary regimes—before the 20th century, in the European context? Who questions the apparent naturalness of the nation as an analytical framework in western histories? And, finally, what does this question mean for the sovereignty of Greater Britain, whose historiography has traditionally been one of the technologies of the national state and which is in the process of being challenged and refigured through the analytics of culture, postcolonialism and feminism?     

Parent loss and childhood bereavement: some theoretical considerations

This paper attempts to review critically the major psychoanalytic positions on the impact of parent loss during childhood. An effort is made to review systematically the issues of the loss of a parent as a love object, the loss of a parent as a narcissistic injury, children's cognitive understanding of death, and the relationship between loss and trauma. Two questions are raised by our efforts to understand the impact of the loss of a parent through death on children under ten years of age. First, what psychological tasks do children confront and what modes of coping do they use to deal with such an event? And, second, does such an event invariably lead to some pathological result for the child, or may its effects be normalized in the course of time? Although these questions may be seen as empirical questions needing to be answered through the collection of data that would confirm or negate the hypotheses generated, the questions are always posed within the context of a theoretical framework that colors how data is collected and which data is collected. By reviewing the theoretical positions, we come to the conclusion that no single approach is sufficient to explain the complexity of the impact of the death of a parent on a child. We propose that since no integrated conceptual framework presently encompasses all that needs to be explained, it is necessary to use a multivariant approach. Such an approach may be helpful in generating hypotheses and in beginning the task of systematic data collection.     

THE ROLE OF PARENTAL RELIGIOSITY IN HIGH SCHOOL COMPLETION

Scientists have produced a modest literature documenting the associations between individual religious behaviors and educational outcomes. Most scholars hypothesize that religion provides a context of social capital in which students reap educational benefit (or detriment) from the adults in the religious community. Despite the intergenerational influence inherent in the various social capital explanations, few studies have directly examined the role of parental religiosity in the educational outcomes of adolescents. In this study, I begin to address this gap by investigating whether and how parental religiosity is associated with a student's chances of graduating from high school. I seek to answer three questions related to parental religiosity and students’ high school graduation. First, does parental religiosity affect a student's chances of graduating from high school? Second, if parental religiosity is associated with high school graduation, does it operate primarily through the student's own religiosity or is there an independent effect? Third, if parental religiosity is independently associated with a student's high school graduation, what are the mechanisms by which it is associated? Using data from the first and third waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), I find that students whose parents attend religious services more often have greater odds of completing high school, and students who attend religious services with parents are almost 40% more likely to finish high school, net of a number of other religious and sociodemographic factors.     

What’s Your Reality? Evaluating Sources and Addressing “Fake News”

It is important to know where the 2020 presidential candidates stand on today’s issues, but it’s also critical to know how they mobilize evidence to arrive at these opinions. What are their media diets? How do they decide what’s news? And how do they evaluate what news is true? What forms of expertise do they privilege in making decisions about reality? Sociologists, as experts ourselves, hold a particular stake in the answers to these questions. But when it comes to deciding what’s real, we also occupy a somewhat precarious position. We simultaneously privilege empiricism while recognizing the precarity and contingency of all knowledge.     

A Quick Guide to Research Methods

In a hurry to understand that piece of research? Can't remember your undergraduate statistics lectures? Don't worry! Refer to this handy‐dandy quick reference for making sense of research design! Seriously. Too often when I am reading a research paper, terms are used which are either unfamiliar or ring only faint bells of recognition. I would like to have the capacity to remember everything I was taught, but apart from having a very bad memory, I am also beginning to suspect that it is actually better practice to check terms out even if I think that I remember what they mean.     

Host National Identification of Immigrants in the Netherlands

This study examines immigrants' identification with the host country. We use survey data of more than 1,700 Turkish and Moroccan immigrants and more than 2,200 natives in the Netherlands. We answer four main questions in this study. First, do immigrants have lower national identification than natives? Second, does the level of national identification differ between immigrant groups? Third, do economic and social integration similarly affect national identification among immigrants and natives? And fourth, what are important additional determinants of national identification among immigrants? The results show that, compared to Dutch natives, Turkish but not Moroccan immigrants have lower national identification. Being employed and socially integrated is associated with higher national identification among immigrants as well as natives, but only among immigrants is higher occupational status associated with higher national identification. For immigrants, Dutch language proficiency, perceived discrimination, and contact with natives proved to be important conditions for national identification.     

An opera house for the “Paris of South America”: pathways to the institutionalization of high culture

Who has the power to institutionalize culture? How is it that cultural forms become legitimated and appropriated by certain groups? And what are the organizational forms that guarantee the continuity of the interlocks among classifications, etiquette, and resources in the long run? This article explores these questions by observing the struggle over the institutionalization of opera as high culture during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century in Buenos Aires, a region of the world understudied by cultural sociologists. It contends that to answer these questions we need to observe the contested dynamics though which the process of institutionalization happens. It also shows how this contestation affects, in the long-term, the processes of evaluation and legitimation of the classification upheld, and the consequences it has in terms of audience stratification. In the Discussion section, I present a novel framework for the study of pathways to high culture institutionalization that highlights how the role of the state and competing stakeholders can introduce variable relationships among the elites, the arts, and social closure.     

Nonprofit social services in Moscow: Leadership and administrative issues

This article presents the findings of a study of nonprofit human services organizations in Moscow, Russia, in the early stages of development of the nonprofit sector. It addresses the following issues of relevance to social welfare in particular and nonprofits in general. First, what is the legal status of nonprofits? Second, what leadership and governance mechanisms have evolved? Third, how are resources, both financial and human, obtained? And, finally, how can Western consultants be useful in addressing the unique and specific needs of nonprofits in Russia as they bring their expertise into this setting?     

'Nihonjin no yoo to omoimashita' (I think I'm like a Japanese): Additional Language Learning and the Development of Multiple Selves

This paper addresses the questions of how and what kinds of multiple self-presentations may inhabit the same narrative space. I draw on two types of data, both of which highlight changes that have occurred to individuals who have learned another language. By foregrounding the topical life histories of two Anglo-Celt Australians who have learned Japanese as an additional language after the age of 11 years, it was possible to investigate: (i) the extent to which multiple self-presentations are 'scaffolded' by the ability to make meaning in Japanese as an additional language; and (ii) the process of 'identity slippage' as part of the social semiotic construction of a bilingual self. In this paper, I challenge how 'Asian', and more specifically, 'Japanese' identities have been traditionally described.     

Transnational migration: taking stock and future directions

Increasing numbers of sending states are systematically offering social and political membership to migrants residing outside their territories. The proliferation of these dual memberships contradicts conventional notions about immigrant incorporation, their impact on sending countries, and the relationship between migration and development in both contexts. But how do ordinary individuals actually live their lives across borders? Is assimilation incompatible with transnational membership? How does economic and social development change when it takes place across borders? This article takes stock of what is known about everyday transnational practices and the institutional actors that facilitate or impede them and outlines questions for future research. In it, I define what I mean by transnational practices and describe the institutions that create and are created by these activities. I discuss the ways in which they distribute migrants’ resources and energies across borders, based primarily on studies of migration to the United States.     

How Can Three Questions on Modernity Be Answered? The World-System Theory and Japanese Experiences

This article addresses three questions on modernity. Can “the premodern” and “the modern” be differentiated in the historical process? If they can, what is the relationship between “the premodern” and “the modern”? And what will become of these relationships in the future? This article attempts to answer these questions by criticizing the world-system theory and considering some of the experiences of the modernization process in Japan. The world-system theory has tried to relativize social theories from advanced societies in the global perspective. However, the world-system, born during the long 16th century, was defined from the start as modern and capitalist. Therefore, logically this theory cannot adequately grasp the modernization process. To overcome this challenge, this article first accepts the differentiation between “the premodern” and “the modern” and defines modern society as one in which “the modern” is not exclusive but dominant. Second, this article turns to some of the Japanese experiences of “modernization”, particularly in industrial relations. This article asserts that a Japanese-style society tends to keep “the premodern” over a longer term and to replace “modern” relations with “the premodern” ones in management. The author defined this process as informalization. Third, this article stresses that since the late 1990s with globalization, informalization is no longer derived from original “premodern” relations, which are nowadays reproduced by capital. An example of this is the “black company.” This article notes, finally, that capitalism is likely to reproduce premodern forms for its duration.     

Struggling to do the right thing: stories from people living with Alzheimer's disease

The information presented in this article is meant not to provide answers, but rather to provoke thought about questions related to ethical decision making in people with Alzheimer's disease. Post (1995) suggested that: among the several most urgent questions of our time is whether human beings have in place the moral and ethical signposts that can point toward a future in which those who are so forgetful will be treated with dignity. (p. 1) Because American society places a high value on rationality and productivity, the life of people with Alzheimer's disease may be equated with hopelessness and uselessness. Thus, health care professionals have a moral obligation to rethink the assumptions that underlie their definitions of quality of life. We cannot know what should be done unless we learn to listen to the life stories of our patients and their families. Perhaps Sherry's comment best reflects how, even with devastating changes in a loved one's sense of identity, one can find ways to respect a new level of relationship: I still feel that he's [Sherry's husband] a human being, and I've tried to ensure that he has a quality of life. When I go visit him, sometimes he slips in and out of being normal. I would always hope that he's still treated with the dignity that he should have as a human being.... I guess what I'm saying is that, even though it seems weird,...there's still a human being in there sometimes, I guess there really is, and it's important to remember that. I can enjoy my husband a lot more now [that he's being cared for in a facility] than I could when I had him 24 hours a day. That was a nerve-wracking experience, especially when there were behavior problems.... He's still the love of my life.     

Routinising research: academic skills in analogue and digital worlds

This paper explores research routines which are so mundane that they are rarely noticed and may be hard to even verbalise. How does one acquire the bodily dexterity of rifling through a filing cabinet, skimming Google lists or judging a book by holding in it one’s hands? Drawing on interviews with and observations among scholars of both the analogue and digital generations, mainly in the social and cultural sciences, I look at how such routines are established, naturalised and transformed. They may be seen as methods slowly turning into inconspicuous habits. To what extent do such practices, which are often seen as intensely personal, actually mirror norms and cultural conventions of specific academic settings? With a focus on materialities and sensibilities, I discuss three arenas of everyday academic activities: writing, reading and handling information.     

Debating US Contemporary Feminism

The US women's movement has challenged societal norms, policies, laws, and culture since its inception. However, at the same time, it has inspired debates about its goals, ideology, tactics, and outcomes. These debates emerge from two main sources: the mainstream media as it reflects dominant culture and among feminist activists and/or scholars. I elaborate on three of the most contentious aspects of contemporary feminism through a series of questions: Is the movement still in existence? What is the relationship between generations of feminists? And finally, how have feminists addressed diversity, privilege, and inclusion in the movement, particularly around issues of race‐ethnicity? I conclude that while the movement still exists, feminists continue to struggle with generational relations, and contemporary activists have not created an inclusive and diverse movement. However, I argue that these debates and struggles are evidence of a vibrant movement that continues into the 21st century.