Effects of Dynamic Attributes of Smiles in Human and Synthetic Faces: A Simulated Job Interview Setting

We examined the effects of the temporal quality of smile displays on impressions and decisions made in a simulated job interview. We also investigated whether similar judgments were made in response to synthetic (Study 1) and human facial stimuli (Study 2). Participants viewed short video excerpts of female interviewees exhibiting dynamic authentic smiles, dynamic fake smiles, or neutral expressions, and rated them with respect to a number of attributes. In both studies, perceivers’ judgments and employment decisions were significantly shaped by the temporal quality of smiles, with dynamic authentic smiles generally leading to more favorable job, person, and expression ratings than dynamic fake smiles or neutral expressions. Furthermore, authentically smiling interviewees were judged to be more suitable and were more likely to be short-listed and selected for the job. The findings show a high degree of correspondence in the effects created by synthetic and human facial stimuli, suggesting that temporal features of smiles similarly influence perceivers’ judgments and decisions across the two types of stimulus.

The history of social work in Australia: A critical literature review

Historical knowledge plays an important role in the development of social work identity. Yet there has been little analysis of the historical literature on social work and social workers in Australia. Attention is drawn here to both the strengths in the existing literature, and also to the major gaps in our knowledge of social work practice, education, activism and professional organisations. Arguments are considered for a greater prioritising of historical research within the social work profession.     

The ethics of deception in social research: A case study

Using data from a study on courtship through personal advertisements, I argue that Kai Erikson's classic case against disguised observation is flawed. Certain kinds of deception are necessary to gather certain data in certain settings. I placed bogus ads in a personal column to obtain and analyze responses. The data would have remained inaccessible—indeed, many of the responses would not have existed in the first place—without some measure of deception. While deception was used, no risk whatsoever was posed to respondents. I further argue that several of Erikson's criteria of risk do not separate ethical from empirical questions; informants use very different criteria in evaluating the risk of harm to them posed by social research that sociologists use. The question of exploitation is more complex, since it has to be weighed against how much of an effort my respondents made and hence, what it is exactly that I took from them. A “panel of judges” decided that most of my male (but not my female) respondents would not have gotten dates with my hypothetical ad placers, and that the research method I used was not especially unethical.     

特大城市社会管理的难点和对策——以上海市为例

本文考察了在以信访案件急剧上升为标志的社会矛盾凸显期中,大城市特别是特大城市社会管理中存在的难点,通过对难点的考察和分析,提出了相应的对策和思路。     

The Sliding Scale of Snitching: A Qualitative Examination of Snitching in Three Philadelphia Communities

We conducted an in‐depth interview study with 77 young men in three moderate to high‐crime neighborhoods in Philadelphia to hear their stories about community violence and relations with police. In this article, we have analyzed how Latino, African‐American, and white young men experience policing and how they discuss the guidelines around cooperation with the police and what they view as snitching. Contrary to popular perception, talking to the police is not always banned in poor or high‐crime neighborhoods. Instead, the respondents present a variety of personal rules that they use to assess when cooperation is called for. We argue that the policing they experience within disadvantaged neighborhoods shapes their frame of legal cynicism, which in turn makes decisions not to cooperate with the police more likely.     

The Erickson Life Study: A Five-Year Examination of a Screening Tool in a Continuing Care Retirement Community

Continuing care retirement communities are an increasingly popular housing choice for older adults. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the validity of an entrance tool to predict transitions over a 5-year time period. A sample of 261 participants was recruited. A discriminant analysis revealed that baseline scores correctly classified the Year 5 status of 71.3% of the cases, with 69.6% of those who experienced a change in status classified correctly. The use of the tool potentially provides the staff an objective means for pinpointing the areas where services may be required for the residents’ well-being.     

The Structure of Intergenerational Relations in Rural China: A Latent Class Analysis

Most existing typology studies of intergenerational relations have used samples in North America and Europe. The present study expands on previous research by determining whether similar family relation typologies could be found using a sample of Chinese rural elders. The data were derived from a survey of 1,224 older adults in China's rural Anhui province in 2009. Latent class analysis revealed 5 types of intergenerational relations in rural Chinese families: (a) tight‐knit, (b) nearby but discordant, (c) distant discordant, (d) distant reciprocal, and (e) distant ascending. The authors argue that the distant ascending ties reflect the strong filial obligations that Chinese adult children have toward their parents and that the distant reciprocal ties reflect collaborative and mutually beneficial parent–child relations in rural China in the context of massive rural‐to‐urban migration. The findings of this study demonstrate how family relations in contemporary China are shaped by the larger economic, geographic, and cultural contexts.     

The Practical Realities of Implementing Progressive Social Work: A Case Example in Parenting Education

What actually happens when an agency sets out to implement progressive social work by shifting power and decision making from agency personnel to people with particular needs? Both staff and participants are thrust into roles different from those they occupy in traditional settings. Interpersonal dynamics change. New ways of making decisions evolve. Tensions arise as new ways of doing things and relating replace usual practices. This article explores what happened when an agency set out to implement progressive social work in the context of developing and implementing a parent education program in which parents designed and taught a parenting program. Results explore decision-making processes, group dynamics, inclusion, team building, program administration, and the impact of participation. Seven lessons learned are described.     

The Sociology of Adolescence and Youth in the 1990s: A Critical Commentary

The 1990s saw considerable advances in the state of research on adolescence and youth. This article provides a critical commentary on a subset of this research, focusing on the causes and consequences of the lengthened period in which the transition to adulthood occurs. It provides a brief history of adolescence research, identifying a select set of topics, themes, and research problems that will guide research on adolescence and youth over the next decade. These research foci, which include peer group relations, biological influences on adolescence, employment experiences, increased autonomy, and racial and gender differences, are described as representing either continuities or advances in adolescence research. The strengths and shortcomings of this research are detailed. The paper concludes by suggesting promising areas for future research and by providing guidelines for undertaking such research.     

The Courage to Challenge: A New Measure of Hardiness in LGBT Adults

Even with society's increasing acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) persons, negative stereotypes persist. Despite these depictions, most LGBT people manage to cope with adversity, thrive, and develop increased self-efficacy along with personal resilience. This paper describes the process of developing and validating a rapid assessment instrument aimed at identifying personal hardiness, a central component of resilience in LGBT persons. Incorporating the conceptual intersection of three primary social constructs — stress/coping, self-efficacy, and social stigma — the Courage to Challenge Scale offers practitioners a more culturally relevant understanding of LGBT client populations. The implications are described; in particular, opportunities for more comprehensive assessment and utilization of client strengths. Implications for future research are identified.     

The Changing Culture of Fatherhood in Comic‐Strip Families: A Six‐Decade Analysis

A content analysis of 490 Father's Day and Mother's Day comic strips published from 1940 to 1999 indicates that the culture of fatherhood has fluctuated since World War II. “Incompetent” fathers appeared frequently in the late 1940s, early 1950s, and late 1960s but were rarer in the late 1950s, early and late 1970s, early 1980s, and early 1990s. Fathers who were mocked were especially common in the early and late 1960s and early 1980s but were less common in the late 1940s, early and late 1950s, and early and late 1970s. Fathers who were nurturant and supportive toward children were most evident in the late 1940s, early 1950s, and early and late 1990s, with the longitudinal pattern resembling a U‐shaped curve. Differences between fathers and mothers also oscillated from one decade to the next.     

The Role of Managers in Critical Incident Stress Management Programmes: A Qualitative Study of New Zealand Social Workers

This paper reports part of a larger exploratory research study of social workers' preferred models of critical incident stress management and experiences of critical incident stress debriefing. Social workers were invited to contribute to the research through an advertisement in the national association's newsletter for Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers. Using a qualitative methodology involving in-depth interviews with 13 social workers, participants were asked about their experiences of critical events encountered within their workplaces over the last five years. Interviews were recorded by audiotape with consent and analysed using thematic analysis. Four main themes emerged: the importance of preparation for critical incidents, the role of relationship between line managers and social workers, specifically the line manager's support immediately after the critical incident, and the availability of peer/colleague networks. An unexpected finding was that social workers interviewed noted that the pre-existing relationship with the line manager influenced their experience of the debriefing process itself. The more engaged and emotionally aware the manager was seen, the more the social worker claimed the debriefing process had been successful from their perspectives. The implications for social workers and their employing agencies are discussed.     

A feminist revisiting of the insider/outsider debate: The “outsider phenomenon” in rural Iowa

This article draws upon findings from an ethnographic study of two towns in rural Iowa to examine the adequacy of the insider/outsider distinction as a guideline for evaluating and conducting ethnographic research. Utilizing feminist standpoint and materialist feminist theories, I start with the assumption that, rather than one “insider” or “outsider” position, we all begin our work with different relationships to shifting aspects of social life and to particular knowers in the community and this contributes to numerous dimensions through which we can relate to residents in various communities. “Outsiderness” and “insiderness” are not fixed or static positions, rather they are ever-shifting and permeable social locations illustrated in this case study by the “outsider phenomenon.” Community processes that reorganize and resituate race-ethnicity, gender and class relations form some of the most salient aspects of the “outsider phenomenon.” These dynamic processes shaped our relationships with residents as ethnographic identities were repositioned by shifts in constructions of “community” that accompanied ongoing social, demographic, and political changes.     

A Mother's Value Lies in Her Sexuality: The Simpsons,Family Guy,and South Park and the Preservation of Traditional Sex Roles

This article examines the relationship between being a sexual woman and a good mother in The Simpsons, Family Guy, and South Park. Considering the sexual criticisms of women in the “Mommy Wars” which continue to be fought across the United States, we find that these three programs reproduce conservative assumptions about women's sexuality and motherhood. Through critical constructionist theories of humor and motherhood, mothers from each program are analyzed and the relationship between their sexuality and motherliness is examined in detail. We conclude with a discussion of the social constrictions of reality that humorous popular culture both exposes and reproduces.     

The importance of networking in development co‐operation: A social network analysis‐based evaluation of an international development programme

This article aims to demonstrate that networking activities, if properly planned, applied and monitored, can help increase the long‐term impact of development co‐operation actions. We demonstrate the added value of networking within development actions, focusing on dynamics of trust and reciprocity and on the rationales beyond different collaboration patterns, demonstrating the impact of networking on program effectiveness, intercultural learning and sustainability. Using social network analysis coupled with participant observation, it was possible to trace the development of a large multi‐stakeholder development programme and to understand a number of dynamics not considered by the donor when evaluating the action, thereby reaching a better understanding of the challenges and success of the programme.     

Defending the Family,Defending the Faith: An Analysis of The Family: A Proclamation to the World,Religious Identity,and the Politics of Same-Sex Marriage in a Mormon Community

In this article, we apply Peter Berger's theory of religion as a social construct to learn how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon Church) advances a heteronormative view of family relationships in the United States using a document titled The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Furthermore, applying cultural studies theory, we examine how believing Mormons negotiate the tension that arises when their secular values compete with those expressed by Church leaders. We argue that, although the Proclamation addresses a number of issues, the Church offers a closed text that emphasizes war narratives in which same-sex marriage is portrayed as a threat to LDS identity and the heteronormative family. This closed text is further legitimized by emphasis on the authority of Church leaders as oracles of God. The study participants largely accept the dominant narrative, and those who reject it, do so with some trepidation.