De-motivating employees’ negative communication behaviors on anonymous social media: The role of public relations

This study focuses on employees’ negative communication behaviors on anonymous social media and explores the effects of organizational antecedents on reducing their motives. Specifically, the effects of organizations’ symmetrical communication and organization-employee relationship (OER) on individuals’ social media usage motives (e.g., vent negative feelings, warn others) and negative behavioral intentions are examined. Results of an online survey of full-time employees in the United States show that the effects of OER on employees’ negative communication behavior intentions are mediated by their social media motives. Symmetrical communication had a large positive effect on OER, which in turn decreased their motives to share negative contents on anonymous social media. Theoretical and practical implications for public relations and employee behaviors are discussed.     

Mediated and moderated effects of political communication on civic participation

Australian scholars and politicians have long been concerned about politically uninformed and inactive young Australians. However, few efforts have been made to explain how the use of traditional and online media may affect youth’s participation in politics. Our research utilises the citizen communication mediation model and extends the expected mediation chain by an additional examination of the possible interactions between news media use and political discussions, as suggested by the differential gains model. Using representative data from Australian 10th graders, we examine whether and how news media usage (newspapers, television, radio, and the Internet) affects expected participation in a range of civic and political activities conditional of discussions about political issues (with family, friends, and online). Path models account for additional mediators (civic knowledge and civic efficacy) and control variables to explain future civic and political participation. The results suggest that news media use stimulates political discussions, although different media exert differential effects. Yet, news exposure hardly influences the second mediators (civic knowledge and civic efficacy) in a direct manner. In fact, civic knowledge and efficacy mediate the relationships between political communication and participation, both directly and sequentially. Moderation analyses clarify that despite the mediating role of political discussions, news media exposure also influences (future) civic participation contingent of students’ engagement in (primarily Internet-based) discussions about political and social issues. We emphasise the significance of these results with reference to previous research, discuss potential directions for future research, and draw conclusions for civics and citizenship education.     

土耳其与伊朗关系演变的内外因素分析

作为中东地区两个主要大国,土耳其和伊朗的关系长期以来因为伊斯兰世界领导权、地缘政治影响、少数民族动乱、政治模式差异等一系列因素,处于一种结构性矛盾之中。近年来,随着中东地区政治环境的变化,再加上其自身内部政治变革、经济困境和政治伊斯兰思潮等因素的作用,两国关系出现了明显改善。土伊关系的改善对于平衡美国势力对中东地区的干预和维护地区和平稳定具有重要的积极作用。但由于结构性矛盾难以克服,两国关系的未来发展依然取决于该地区内外环境的变化。     

Staking the claims of identity: Purism,linguistics and the media in post‐1990 Germany1

The paper examines one of the major metalinguistic debates in post‐war Germany: the debate about the influence of English on German, an issue which was raised in the 1990s in the German media and has dominated media discussions on language ever since. The analysis demonstrates that the debate is deeply embedded in current socio‐political discourses as well as in long‐term discursive traditions concerning, on the one hand, the socio‐political changes following German reunification in 1989/90, which involved a revision of the concepts of nation and nationalism, and, on the other, the genesis of the concept of nation, which is closely bound up with the history of the educated bourgeoisie and the process of standardisation as well as linguistic purism. It is argued that the debate on Anglicisms, as is the case in many other metalinguistic debates, cannot be regarded in isolation from the socio‐political environment and the context of historical usage within which it is embedded.     

From communist control to glasnost and back?: Media freedom and control in the former Soviet Union

The last decade has seen dramatic changes in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union: the end of the Cold War with the West; the loosening of the Soviet Union's hold on part of Germany; movements for independence by regions in the USSR; and the public rejection of Communism by Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland, as well as by key leaders within the Soviet Union. Radical changes in political philosophy have been accompanied by transformations in mass media communication.These changes are inextricably linked to how public relations is practiced in these nations, many of which are attempting, to varying degrees, to adopt a democratic system of government. This article frames the role of public relations in a self-governing society; discusses three environmental factors that affect the practice of socially responsible public relations, reviews the historical media philosophy of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union; and examines examples of media practice that have occurred during the region's transformation and their implications for media freedom and independence, and for the practice of public relations.     

Watching The Daily Show in Kenya

Global distribution of a popular American television programme – Jon Stewart's Daily Show – offers a rare opportunity to examine transnational contingencies of meaning in political satire. Drawing on focus group discussions in Kenya, this analysis shows how some East Africans appropriated and reinterpreted – indeed unexpectedly subverted – The Daily Show's political content, deriving from it insights that Stewart himself might have found surprising. Kenyan viewers perceived in The Daily Show gaps between the rhetoric and reality of empire and pointed to limitations of Stewart's dissident satire as they rejected its depictions of non-wealthy nations and marginalized peoples. They reconfigured Daily Show episodes as commentaries on global power relations; reflected critically on Kenyan politics, media and their own political subjectivities; and revised their own earlier assumptions about the gap between Africa and supposedly ‘mature’ democracies such as the United States. Thus, American political satire such as The Daily Show can activate in foreign audiences new perceptions of differences between the ‘West’ and the rest and new forms of political imagination.     

Resistance to the political representation of alien populations: the European paradox

This article addresses the issue of the resistance of European nations to granting unnaturalized citizens the right to vote in local, regional, and national elections. It argues that this political inflexibility contrasts with the economic flexibility these nations demonstrated when they made a call for labor to overseas populations, former colonies, and other countries, and which they exhibit now as they work to modernize production systems in their industries. Because of this lack of political representation, local authorities have proven disinterested in migrants' concerns and migrants have become subjects of the labor market, rather than of the law. Overall "political underdevelopment" will only intensify the turbulence projected for Europe's economy.     

The impact of organized labor on public employment: A comparative analysis

This paper examines the political economy of public employment, specifically the impact of labor unions on public employment across 20 OECD nations during the 1965–1983 period. A theoretical paradigm based on exchange theory is used to explain the rationale for organized labor’s role in public employment. A model is then presented and tested to explain variation in public employment levels across the 20 nations. The results of the analyses support the central hypothesis that labor union power is positively correlated with public employment. Following the data analysis, the conclusions and implications of the findings are discussed as they pertain to the political economy in advanced industrial democracies.     

Mobile (in)security? Exploring the realities of mobile phone use in conflict areas

Across disciplines, scholars extol the revolutionary potential of mobile technologies in developing nations. Mobile phones in particular may facilitate economic and social development. However, our understanding of mobile phone’s interaction with a developing country’s society is limited by two factors: first, development is often accompanied by social and political conflict; and second, scholars often provide a broad overview on the use of these technologies. We address these limitations through the use of data collected from ethnographic interviews conducted in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. We highlight the everyday use of mobile technologies in developing nations that experience political conflict. We conclude that while mobile technologies have some potential of mitigating social inequality, political conflict, and safety concerns, these opportunities for meaningful use are hampered by limitations associated with daily life in developing countries such as irregular access to electricity and network coverage boundaries.     

土耳其与伊朗关系演变的内外因素分析

几个世纪以来,土耳其与伊审之间关系始终处于一种“区域结构性敌对状态”。这种状态的形成,主要是双方在系统和次系统层面上所处的地位造成的。在此结构性矛盾背景下,土耳其采伊朗多年来一直保持着长期冲突与暂时合作的不平静关系,1979年伊朗爆发伊斯兰革命以后,土耳其衣伊朗之间的关系在各种内外因素的影响下,出现了一种努力克服敌意和不失时机建立合作的倾向。在伊朗伊斯兰革命后的30年中,两国关系经历了1979～1988年之间的经贸往来扩大,1988～2002年之间敌意和冲突加强,再到2002年至今的全面政治和解与建立密切经济合作的过程。本文分析表明,土耳其和伊朗之间的关系虽然从长期来说充满敌意,但在某些国内外因素出现的情况下,这两个中东地区的主要大国依然有可能进行和解并建立密切的合作关系。     

Culture and Suicide Acceptability: A Cross‐National,Multilevel Analysis

Cultural perspectives on suicidality have been largely marked by work explaining variability in suicide acceptability in the United States using structural variables including marital status and demographics, and limited symbolic or values orientations such as feminism, political liberalism, and civil liberties. The present article applies recent developments in comparative cultural sociology to the problem of suicidality. The central hypothesis is that cultural approval of suicide is related to a general cultural axis of nations (self‐expressionism) encompassing several values orientations such as tolerance and post‐materialism. Data are from Wave 4 of the World Values Surveys and refer to 53,275 individuals nested in 56 nations. Controls are incorporated from previous studies and include structural and demographic constructs. A hierarchical linear regression model determined that the degree of individual‐level adherence to the values of self‐expressionism predicted suicide acceptability (SA), independent of controls including ones interpretable from Durkheimian perspectives. Furthermore, persons high in individual‐level self‐expressionism nested in like‐minded nations were relatively high in SA. The analysis of the subject is expanded to 56 nations representing all major culture zones and varied levels of economic/political development. It determined that SA is shaped by a new, broad cultural construct, self‐expressionism whose impact is independent of Durkheimian familial and religious integration.     

Sex scandals: A cross-cultural analysis of image repair strategies in the cases of Bill Clinton and Silvio Berlusconi

The former President of the United States, Bill Clinton, and the current Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, do not have many things in common save one: both have been involved in highly publicized sex-related scandals during their respective mandates. And yet in both cases, from the beginning, each safeguarded his position and managed to keep a significant percentage of the public opinion on his side. This paper argues that although the image restoration strategies of Berlusconi and Clinton were substantially different in content and form, they were both appropiate in their cultural contexts. A cross-cultural examination of the cultural dynamics of these two distinct nations shows that the effectiveness of image restoration strategies can vary greatly according to cultural, political and media variables of each country.     

Parents' Perceptions of Their Children in a Context of Shared Political Uncertainty: The Case of Jewish Settlers in the West Bank Before and After the Oslo Peace Agreement

This study describes the effect of a politically uncertain situation on the parents' experience and on the way they appraise their children's experience. The study focuses on Israeli families living in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) during two periods: the Intifada (the indigenous Arab population's civil uprising) and the years following the Oslo peace agreements. The results of this study indicate the importance of the specific political situation and the particular context that is created for those who experience it. The supportive context of the Israeli population created by the right-wing government affected the parents' ability to withhold their feelings during the Intifada, while the lack of support of the left-wing government increased the expression of emergency feelings by parents. The children, according to the parents' appraisal, expressed more emergency feelings than their parents did during the Intifada. The number of feelings and their intensity diminished after the Oslo Agreements. The discussion focuses on the effect of family role and its interaction with the political uncertainty on the psychological well-being of parents and children.     

Feeling Europe: political emotion,knowledge, and support for the European Union

Theories of political emotion suggest that feelings towards an issue or candidate are often better predictors for support than attitudes or preferences. We investigate whether this conjecture also holds for more abstract political entities, such as the European Union (EU), and test whether EU citizens’ feelings toward the EU are significant predictors of their EU support. We first review existing research and provide theory-driven propositions of how positive and negative emotion may influence EU-related attitudes. Second, using multilevel regression models fitted to Eurobarometer data, we estimate how feelings toward the EU are associated with support for the EU. In line with our hypotheses, analyses show that positive emotions are positively associated with EU-support, while negative affect is negatively associated with it. Contrary to some theoretical predictions, however, these effects are not mediated by individuals’ use of EU-related information.     

Revolution in the making? Social media effects across the globe

Social networking sites are popular tools to engage citizens in political campaigns, social movements, and civic life. However, are the effects of social media on civic and political participation revolutionary? How do these effects differ across political contexts? Using 133 cross-sectional studies with 631 estimated coefficients, I examine the relationship between social media use and engagement in civic and political life. The effects of social media use on participation are larger for political expression and smaller for informational uses, but the magnitude of these effects depends on political context. The effects of informational uses of social media on participation are smaller in countries like the United States, with a free and independent press. If there is a social media revolution, it relates to the expression of political views on social networking sites, where the average effect size is comparable to the effects of education on participation.     

Professors and politics: Noam Chomsky’s contested reputation in the United States and Canada

There is an extensive literature comparing the politics, sociology and economics of the United States and Canada, but very little work comparing the role that public intellectuals play in the space of public opinion and how their ideas are received in both nations simultaneously. Noam Chomsky provides a theoretically useful example of an established academic and public intellectual whose reputation is deeply contested in both countries. Our comparative case study offers leverage to contribute to debates on the sociology of knowledge, reputations, intellectuals, and the politics of professors using data from six major Canadian and American newspapers from 1995–2009 and an innovative coding of media portrayal. Earlier work has demonstrated that Chomsky is discussed as a public intellectual more prominently in Canada than in the United States (McLaughlin and Townsley in Canadian Review of Sociology, 48(4):341–368, 2011). Here we examine the comparative construction of a “public intellectual” reputation in the context of significant political change. We document small differences between the Canadian and American receptions of Chomsky, show change in the patterns of portrayal and number of publications over time, and offer an analysis of differences between political attacks and consecrations. We demonstrate more engagement with Chomsky’s political view in Canada than in the United States, a rise in Chomsky’s fame post 9/11, and illustrate clear political patterns in attempts to marginalize him.     

Protocol journalism as a framework for understanding public relations–media relationships in Kosovo

There is growing interest about the ways in which the public relations field can contribute to democratization and civil society initiatives. Some scholars see enormous potential for public relations by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to help get important social issues on the public agenda in transitional nations while other scholars have critiqued the practice of public relations in newly formed nations as a form of hegemony that privileges Western ideas, values, and standards of practice. One thing is certain: more scholarly attention is required if the field of public relations is to truly understand its evolving role in civil society. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the public relations–media relationship contributes to civil society development in Kosovo. The researcher interviewed media professionals, public relations/organizational spokespersons, and civil society experts about the opportunities and challenges of the public relations function in building civil society in Kosovo. The findings suggest that “protocol journalism” is the guiding metaphor for explaining and critiquing the public relations–media relationship in Kosovo. The implications of protocol journalism for media development and public relations credibility are discussed.     

基于智能网络的党外青年知识分子政治引领策略

从政治认同感、政治信任感、政治效能感、社会主义核心价值观、宗教信仰等方面对党外青年知识分子的政治思想和网络政治引领状况进行的调查发现,党外青年知识分子思想观念和价值倾向呈现鲜明的实用性,引领对象组织复杂致其政治思想意识呈现较大的不平衡性,教育背景不同致其政治理念呈现多元化和差异化,网络政治公共服务和产品供给不足,协同教化机制缺乏。新时代应明晰党委领导责任机制,构建新媒体、融媒体等多维媒体矩阵平台,发挥技术优势,建章立制,发挥其政治引领功能。     

Economic Dependency,Repression, and Deforestation: A Quantitative,Cross‐National Analysis*

This research builds upon previous cross‐national studies of deforestation. In doing so, I examine how various world‐systems indicators interact with political conditions within a nation. I test the hypothesis that repressive nations create a “good business climate” for multinational capital, which, in turn, affects deforestation. This “good business climate” consists of economic incentives (e.g., tax holidays), regulatory concessions (e.g., environmental law exemptions), and imposed political stability (e.g., outlawing strikes, protests, and unions). The results indicate that export partner concentration, commodity concentration, multinational corporate penetration, and International Monetary Fund conditionality increase deforestation more at higher rather than at lower levels of repression. I also confirm previous findings that gross domestic product per capita decreases deforestation, indicating that richer nations are able to externalize their environmental costs onto poorer nations. I conclude with the theoretical implications of this research, policy implications, and possible directions for future research.