Air canada vs. canadi>n: competition and merger in the framing of airline culture ∗

This paper is concerned with airlines, metaphors and organizational cultures. Specifically the paper seeks to answer the question, ‘why, when so many political and economic commentators are agreed that Canada has only room for one viable airline, has it proven impossible to merge the country's two main commercial airlines?’ To answer the question we draw upon Jenkin's (1994) critical historiographic approach, focusing on the development of the organizational cultures and associated discourses of each airline over time. In the process the paper traces the metaphorical use of the concept of competition in the development of the commercial airline business in Canada. We conclude that the culture of an organization may not, of itself, be enough to explain certain organizational outcomes (e.g., a failure to form a merger or alliance) - particularly organizations that are, in large part, dependent on broad policy concerns, but that broader social discourses (e.g., government policy), mediated by specific organizational cultures, may be the major influence.     

Male‐male sexual contact in the U.S.A.: Findings from five sample surveys, 1970–1990

Estimates of the prevalence of male‐male sexual contact are derived using data from five probability surveys conducted between 1970 and 1990. Estimated minimums of 5 to 7 percent of U.S. men report some same‐gender sexual contact during adulthood. Because of the likelihood of underreporting, these estimates might be considered lower bounds on the actual prevalence of such contact. Estimates show relatively little variation across social and demographic subgroups with the major exception that higher prevalence is reported among never‐married men, particularly those 35 and older. Some lesser variations are also found by service in the military, current residence, and current religious affiliation. Fragmentary evidence from these surveys suggests that some men may have episodic male‐male contact in adulthood while other men may have a relatively consistent and exclusive pattern of same‐gender contacts. Only one‐quarter to one‐half of the U.S. men who report male‐male contacts in adulthood also report having had such contacts during the preceding 12 months. In addition, the majority of men reporting same‐gender contacts in adulthood also report some male‐female contacts. Among men reporting same‐gender contacts in the preceding 12 months, however, the majority report exclusively male sexual contacts throughout adulthood. Potential implications of these findings for HIV prevention and research are discussed.     

Changes in sex practices and beliefs of male college students: Over 30 years∗

Abstract

Replication of an earlier survey, using the same questionnaire in the same college course, reveals an increase in proportion of male students with premarital heterosexual experience, from 45 per cent in 1943–44 to 61.8 per cent in 1967–68 and 74.9 per cent in 1969–73. While the mean number of episodes is also greatly increased, the tendency is toward reducing the number of partners. Since the proportion condoning premarital intercourse has risen to over 90 per cent, still further increments in activity may be anticipated. The number reporting homosexual behavior (most often limited to the pre‐ and early‐adolescent years) has declined from 27 per cent to 13.7 per cent, but the amount of activity during the college years has increased. Students having experienced a particular sexual activity impute that activity to a higher proportion of the general population than do the inexperienced.     

Subtle images of antigypsyism: An analysis of the visual perception of “Roma”

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses the powerful stereotypical media discourse that shapes and reproduces a certain racialised and prejudiced perception of people identified as “Roma” in Germany. Using a close analysis of a single picture – appearing as harmless at first glance – and through the reconstruction of its various interpretational contexts and semantics the paper identifies mechanisms used in stereotypical media coverage of “Roma”. This qualitative analysis draws on media analysis of antigypsyism as well as on research of photographic construction of the “gypsy” in order to analyse the contemporary visual regime of “Roma” in Germany. As it portrays “the Roma” as a fundamentally different and socially deviant group, this visual stereotyping is shown to be an integral element of the persistent antigypsyist ideology, deeply embedded in German society.     

Testing the reactance vs. the reciprocity of politeness explanations for the effectiveness of the “but you are free” compliance-gaining technique

Two studies were conducted to assess whether reactance or politeness offers a better explanation of the effectiveness of the “but you are free” (BYAF) technique of gaining compliance. The first was conducted with an online survey in the US (N = 131) and found that the BYAF was associated with lower perceived freedom threat than a control or polite request. The second was a field study and collected data in France (N = 372), Norway (N = 360), and the US (N = 108) to test a 3 (direct request, polite request, or BYAF) × 2 (requester benefits or 3rd party group benefits) design. The BYAF was associated with higher compliance than the other two messages.     

Respect and Protection:A Review of the Implementation of the Law of the P.R.C. on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women

JIANG Zemin, President of the People's Republic of China, once said: "Respecting women and protecting women is an important sign of social progress. It should become a civilized society's legal provision and moral concept." On October 1, 1992 the Law of the P.R.C. on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women was put into effect, which was considered a major accomplishment for China and Chinese women. More than two years have passed since the implementation of the law. How well has the law been     

Educate or serve: the paradox of “professional service” and the image of the west in legitimacy battles of post-socialist advertising

This article investigates a puzzle in the rapidly evolving profession of advertising in post-socialist Hungary: young professionals who came of age during the shift to market-driven practices want to produce advertising that is uncompromised by clients and consumers, and to educate others about western modernity. It is their older colleagues—trained during customer-hostile socialism—who emphasize that good professionals serve their clients’ needs. These unexpected generational positions show that 1) professions are more than groups expanding their jurisdiction. They are fields structured by two conflicting demands: autonomy of expertise and dependence on clients. We can explain the puzzle by noting that actors are positioning themselves on one or the other side based on their trajectory or movement in the field relative to other actors. Old and new groups vie for power in the transforming post-socialist professional field, responding to each other’s claims and vulnerabilities, exploiting the professional field’s contradictory demands on its actors. 2) The struggle is not between those who are oriented to the west and those that are not. Rather, the west is both the means and the stake of the struggle over historical continuity and professional power. Imposing a definition of the west is almost the same as imposing a definition of the profession on the field. In this historical case, “field” appears less as a stable structure based on actors’ equipment with capital, than as dynamic relations moved forward by contestation of the field’s relevant capital.     

Unpacking the “Pleasures” and “Pains” of Heterosexual Casual Sex: Beyond Singular Understandings

Discussions of heterosexual casual sex are often imbued with (gendered) assumptions regarding the motives for, and drawbacks of, such a practice. The pulls of casual sex are often depicted as sexual gratification and the drawbacks relayed in terms of physical risk, for example, sexually transmitted infections (STIs)/human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission. Most of the research in this area has largely focused on undergraduate university students or “emerging adults” in North America, using primarily quantitative methodologies. We build on this work and a small but growing amount of qualitative research to unpack the complex psychoemotional and experiential dimensions of casual sex. We report on a critical thematic analysis of interviews with 30 ethnically diverse women and men (aged 18 to 46) in New Zealand about their experiences of heterosexual casual sex to achieve two things. First, we demonstrate the complexity with which women and men discussed their casual sex experiences, highlighting how the practice was varied, contradictory, and multifaceted, and played in a localized way during the conversation. Second, we illustrate how this talk was governed by contemporary Western discourses of intimate relationships and the shape of (gendered) heterosexuality. We conclude that casual sex research must always consider the broader sociocultural context, as well as the interpersonal context, within which any sexual relating is situated.     

Parents and peers: Socialization agents in the coital behavior of young adults∗

Investigation of intellectual capacity by means of Raven's test was performed in groups of 17 non‐feminine and 24 feminine homosexual patients, 24 genetically male transsexuals, 20 adult hypogonadotropic eunuchoids and 100 men from sterile marriages with normospermia in ejaculate. In 3 out of 4 pathological groups the IQ was higher than 110 in more than 60% of subjects; in the group of male transsexuals 50% of subjects exhibited an IQ above the average. Taking into account also the findings of other authors, we are putting forward a hypothesis that disorders in the supply of steroid hormones acting in the formative period of hypothalamus disturb, on one hand, the sexual development and, on the other hand, have a tendency to increase the mental level of these subjects.     

Working with the “smart” machine: computerization and the discourse of anthropomorphism in organizations ∗

Computers are routinely anthropomorphized in contemporary societies. Yet, few studies seriously examine the personification of computers at the workplace. This paper focuses on the discourse of anthropomorphism and work computerization. Based on the findings of an ethnographic study that looked at the computerization of administrative processes in a Health Maintenance Organization, the paper demonstrates how the discourse of anthropomorphism simultaneously reflects attitudes towards the computer, and structures relationships with the technology in the workplace. Three themes emerged within the discourse of anthropomorphism in the organization. They were (1) the intelligent & cerebral computer, (2) the human computer, and (3) the computer as superior life form. These themes also performed certain ideological functions by glamorizing the computer and thereby legitimizing it in the organization. At the same time, employees discursively resisted the ideology of the ‘smart’ machine by interpreting it in ways that were contrary to managerial expectations. Overall, the paper presents a complex picture of human-machine relationships revolving around the personification of computers at the workplace.     

Male gamblers – suicide victims and living controls: comparison of adversity over the life course

The objective of this research is to investigate the possible difference in accumulation of adversity over the life course among decedent gamblers and living control gamblers in the province of Quebec, Canada. A sample of 90 adult men, 41 living participants and 49 suicide decedents, met the criteria for at-risk and problem gambling over the last five years. Data were obtained from informants in the case of suicide and directly from living controls during semi-structured face-to-face interviews using SCID I and II, SOGS, Module K and a recount of life trajectories methodology. The results showed a high level of adversity throughout the life trajectories of both groups. However, the living gamblers faced more difficulties during their lifespan than the suicide victims. In the last six months before their death, suicide victims had a significantly higher number of mental health disorders, especially co-morbid mental health disorders and anxiety, compared to the living controls. We also observed a rapid escalation of difficulties, more life events and more psychological distress in the last six months of their lives among the suicide decedents. Suicidal behaviour needs to be carefully investigated by medical staff and mental health practitioners, especially when gamblers demonstrate evidence of mental health disorders or financial difficulties.     

Reshaping Southern history: Studies in the development of Agrarian capitalism in the nineteenth‐century South∗

The Reshaping of Plantation Society: The Natchez District, 1860–1880. Michael Wayne. Baton Rouge, La: Louisiana State University Press. 1983. xiv, 226 pp. £22.95.

White Land, Black Labor: Caste and Class in Late Nineteenth‐Century Georgia. Charles L. Flynn, Jr. Baton Rouge, La.: Louisiana State University Press. 1983. xiv, 196 pp. £17.90.     

“Freud,Male Homosexuality,and the Americans” Revisited: A Brief Contribution to the History of Psychoanalysis

Henry Abelove summarizes the main arguments of “Freud, Male Homosexuality, and the Americans,” a paper he wrote in the early 1980s. He also says that in writing it he aimed chiefly to challenge American moralism, which then was, and still is, both destructive and immensely influential.     

A Review of: “Handbook of the Evolution of Human Sexuality. Edited by Michael Kauth.”

This study explores the role of the hostess club culture in the creation and maintenance of masculinity in Taiwan. The article focuses on flower drinking (the consumption of alcohol in bars, often integrated with prostitution), which is a common practice in Taiwan. Data were obtained from 58 in-depth interviews with men from a variety of occupations and social backgrounds (mean age = 38.50, SD = 11.00) and 73 questionnaires administered to soldiers (mean age = 21.00, SD = 1.10). Findings indicated that demonstration of skill at flower drinking and facility with the related social etiquette are important channels for male bonding that were central to the mid- to upper-class participants' professional development. Flower drinking also provided a method of discriminating men from other men through their choices of why and where to go and how to behave while there. Specific ways that Taiwanese masculinity differs from Western and from Japanese masculinity, and support for the continuing relevance of the traditional Confucian ideal of masculinity, wen-wu, are discussed.     

Απόλιδας: an analysis of the international legal framework in the field of statelessness and the U.N.H.C.R.’s communication campaign

In her The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt described the condition of apolidia (statelessness) – through words that still resonate today – as that of persons who have lost their rights because they have fled their homeland. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (U.N.H.C.R.), there are about 10 million stateless persons worldwide, 600,000 of whom live in the European Union (E.U.). It seems impossible to imagine the concept of statelessness, which although it has a very specific definition in international law, remains a vague notion for the intellect and common sense. This paper will firstly focus on the historical evolution of the concept of nationality under international law. Secondly, it will deal with the international legal framework, and in particular the 1954 and 1961 Conventions on the improvement of the conditions of stateless persons and the prevention of statelessness. It will then turn to the U.N.H.C.R.’s mandate in relation to statelessness, and how this organization contributes to the promotion of an effective right to nationality. Finally, U.N.H.C.R.'s communication campaigns to end statelessness will be analyzed, in order to stress the positive impact of an effective communication strategy.     

The first two centuries of colonial agriculture in the cape colony: A historiographical review∗

Over the last fifteen years radical historiography has demolished the unstated presumption that South African history began in 1652. However, in emphasising the centrality of the mineral revolution, it encouraged a tendency to see South African history as really beginning in 1870. Many recent liberal works have done the same. This article argues that, no matter how much new was brought into South African society by the great transformation of the late nineteenth century, industrial capitalism was able to build on historical processes within pre‐industrial colonial society to a degree that is far greater than is frequently realised. The article develops five main propositions: (i) as a colony, the Cape can only be understood within the context of the Dutch and British empires (ii) a necessary condition for the establishment of colonial agriculture was the generally forcible dispossession of the African population from the land (iii) colonial agriculture relied to a very large degree on forced labour systems, whether the labourers were legally slave or free (iv) almost all colonial farmers were linked to the urban, and so to the world, market, both to sell their produce and to raise credit and (v) the farming community was never homogeneous, but exhibited continual and various degrees of stratification. Focussing on colonial agriculture, the article concludes that capital accumulation by one class to the exclusion of others and with the help of the state had begun long before the mineral revolution, setting the pattern for modern South Africa.