Toward a normative explanation of “old fashioned revivals”

Much of the literature attempting to explain revival phenomena has resorted to psychological explanations to the exclusion of sociological factors. The purpose of this paper is to provide an explanation of revival behavior employing a normative framework. Four propositions are stated, each the prerequisite for the next. First, sinner and the revival culture must interact, and definitions of self and others must be forged. Second, structural facilities must be available for learning the Christian role. Third, opportunity structures must present themselves to afford the expression of appropriate behaviors that are in accord with pre-established patterns. Fourth, the status passage from salvation to sanctification is an orderly one, requiring that a sinner be saved before sanctified. The position taken is that in order to arrive at adequate explanation, revival behavior must be observed as a social process. Therefore, the necessary requisite of the participant observation strategy is noted.     

Seclusion & restraint. Understanding recent changes

1. Seclusion and restraint must be a last resort, emergency response to a crisis situation that appears to present imminent risk of harm to the patient, staff, or others. 2. JCAHO-accredited hospitals billing for Medicare or Medicaid must meet HCFA requirements to maintain compliance. 3. Policy writers and administrators must carefully scrutinize all applicable regulatory standards to ensure all requirements are met.     

Thinking about "culture": some programme pointers

This article exhorts development workers to develop an understanding of their own cultural heritage in order to understand how cultural subjectivity influences their work. While not endorsing "cultural relativism," the authors stress that women must work within their own cultures to develop empowerment and combat culturally legitimized practices which are harmful to women. Cultural constructs must be examined in order to understand such issues as the Northern tendency to encourage personal individualism and the Southern tendency to organize along communal lines. Gender identity is also a social construction which calls for a consideration of each situation (or harmful practice) as uniquely based in a given cultural context. General agreement exists, however, that in order to tackle gender oppression, women must be empowered and their status must be improved. Thus development initiatives should support longterm investment in research and programs, illiteracy rates must be decreased, and educational opportunities must be sought in every program. Women's groups must link up to share resources with each other and with traditional nongovernmental organizations. Governments should 1) integrate a gender component into every Ministry; 2) emphasize literacy for girls and women; 3) support local women's initiatives; 4) provide gender-sensitive training for professionals in critical fields; 5) increase attention to the needs of young women; and 6) offer more women visible official posts in public service.     

RUNNING OFF-TACKLE THROUGH THE LAST BASTION: WOMEN,RESISTANCE, AND PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL

This article discusses the mechanisms that must be in place in order for women to successfully resist institutionalized gender norms. This research draws on over 200 hours of observations of and 20 in-depth interviews with women playing full contact football, a sport traditionally dominated by men and firmly planted in the culture of the U.S. as synonymous with masculinity. Following the work of recent calls by gender scholars to treat gender as a social institution, this research shows that at least four components must be in place for sustained, successful resistance to a social institution. First, resistance must be a conscious activity. Second, any resistance must involve engaging in an abnormal activity. Third, any deviant or abnormal activity must take place in an otherwise legitimate social context. Finally, as the creation and maintenance of a social institution is an inherently social enterprise, so, too, is institutional resistance. This research contributes to scholarship on gender and social institutions by showing some strategies for increasing possibilities for personal expression.     

Demands of the joint committee's standards for educational evaluation

The study examines demands placed on evaluators by the the Joint Committee on Educational Evaluation's standards. Twenty-two experts in evaluation rated the compatibility of implementing pairs of standards or rated individual standards on a series of scales. Multidimensional scaling of the compatibility judgments revealed five demands of ethical practice: evaluators must attend to the contextual and political circumstances of the evaluation; they must exhibit professionalism in their work; they must conduct the evaluation openly and consult widely; evaluators must meet canons of social science practice; and finally, evaluators' research activities must attend to the specific evaluation setting. The demand to attend to the contextual and political circumstances of the evaluation presents the greatest potential for conflict with other demands and is in greatest need of development.     

Will Rural Areas Still Matter in the 21st Century? (or) Can Rural Sociology Remain Relevant?1

Abstract Despite demographic and economic trends away from rural societies and from agriculture, a consideration of rural areas remains important for two reasons. First, a substantial number of people will continue to live and work in rural areas, even as urbanization spreads across the world. Second, social processes have different consequences in urban and rural areas. Rural sociology must make global restructuring a key concern, it must provide information about social and economic processes in rural and urban areas, and its geographical scope must become truly international.     

世界城市的生态建设及北京的选择

生态问题是世界城市建设的制约因素之一。全球公认的三大世界城市在生态建设方面各有特色,效果显著。建设世界城市过程中的北京可以借鉴三大世界城市的相关经验,并结合自身的生态问题,积极寻求解决问题的途径。运用博弈理论,提出北京要解决生态问题,为建设世界城市扫清障碍,需要从都市圈整体的角度思考问题,即要进行区域生态合作建设,具体的对策是改变思想观念、强化政府作用和建设相关机制。     

Nonbiologic Objects as Actors

We generally understand interactions between human actors and nonbiologic objects (NBOs) as being indirect, with the human actor acting for the NBO and using the NBO as a “thing.” Under certain circumstances, however, human actors enter into direct interaction with NBOs and take on extra work in this process. Actors must “do mind” for the nonbiologic other to perceive “another” with whom it is possible to interact. The fiction that mind can exist where thought cannot be present is counterintuitive, making this process tenuous and heavily dependent upon the circumstances at hand. Four successive contingencies must be present to make possible the perceptual shift from object to actor. First, the actor must perceive the object in question as capable of independent action, whether or not the human actor initiates said action. Second, this separate and active status must become apparent through actions that threaten the human actor's desired goals. Third, these goals must be of sufficient urgency to warrant continuing in direct interaction with the object rather than reverting to nonanthropomorphized normal interaction. Finally, the object at hand must be necessary for completing the desired task.     

Structural Discontinuity and the Development of Anorexia Nervosa

Abstract

Anorexia nervosa is a complex disorder in which emotional, physiological, and interpersonal processes are altered. Various studies have indicated that the disorder occurs disproportionately among females, with adolescents and young women particularly vulnerable. While explanations for this distribution have traditionally focused on medical or psychological phenomena, it is my contention that anorexia nervosa can only be understood in a sociocultural context. It is suggested that the following conditions are necessary for the disorder to occur: (1) individuals must be biologically predisposed; (2) they must be exposed to cultural pressures for slimness; (3) they must lack meaningful peer attachments; and (4) they must be embedded in a social structure regulated by universalism and achievement. The position taken here is that the co-occurrence of these variables is a relatively recent historical development and may account for the disorder's apparent increase during the past 15 to 20 years.     

Lessons for successful nonprofit governance

Boards of nonprofit organizations malfunction as often as they function effectively. As the best-managed nonprofit organizations demonstrate, both the board and the executive are essential to the proper functioning of a nonprofit organization. These administrative organs must work as equal members of a team rather than one subordinate to the other. Moreover, the work of the executive and the board does not divide neatly into policy-making versus execution of policy. Boards and executives must be involved in both functions and must coordinate their work accordingly. In a well-functioning nonprofit organization, the executive will take responsibility for assuring that the governance function is properly organized and maintained.     

DRAMATIC SELF CHANGE

Dramatic self-change is a long, arduous process that occurs over five stages. First, people must witness firsthand the splintering of their own selves during the fragmentation stage. In the second or provisionality stage, they must desperately struggle at assembling new, unified selves to replace the former ones that split apart. If this challenge is not enough, they must then somehow summon the courage and conviction to subject their newly unified selves to the "test of experience" during the praxis stage. Should their newly unified selves withstand this test, then people must patiently await the social repercussions that they hope will follow in wake of their feat in order to generate the psychological momentum needed for them to embrace fully their new unified selves during the consolidation stage. Finally, during the social segregation stage, people must invariably gravitate toward groups in which they will be most comfortable and away from groups in which they will be least comfortable expressing their new selves. Thus, once started, dramatic self-change may never be completed.     

An interview with bill scales

The mission of a mutual benefit association is so inexorably intertwined with its membership that a change in one cannot succeed without a corresponding change in the other. Two case studies of United Ways' state associations' “remissioning” initiatives give details on the dynamic interplay of mission and membership in mutual benefit associations, a fundamental characteristic that distinguishes them from public benefit nonprofits. To anticipate change, association managers must focus on the shifting demands from their members' stakeholders. They also must clearly understand the nature of their membership and who represent their members when members are organizations, and they must be ready to engage in intra-association politics to effect a change in mission.     

Breaking Walls,Building Bridges: Expanding the Presence and Relevance of Rural Sociology*

Abstract Rural areas continue to face a series of challenges; many are likely to have profound impacts on the vitality of these places over the long term. Of central concern is whether the rural sociological enterprise, a potentially vital source of information and guidance on such diverse issues, will be able to effectively respond to such challenges. The author argues that in order to strengthen its relevance and viability in coming years, the rural sociological profession must embrace three important shifts. First, it must modify the manner in which it engages in the production of new knowledge by pursuing a more balanced portfolio of investments in disciplinary and transdisciplinary research. Second, it must take a bold step to build bridges to new entities whose missions, goals, and values closely align with those of the Rural Sociological Society. And third, it must take a more proactive role in generating quality, scientifically sound information that is aligned with the needs of federal and state policy communities, particularly information that can better articulate how policies are likely to impact rural people and places.     

Complexity of process and role in the evaluation of an interdisciplinary mental health education program: The deacon's masterpiece

Research and literature on program evaluation must attend to problems of application, which can have major effect on the outcome. Increasing numbers of innovative, multifaceted programs operating in complex settings are presenting for evaluation. Evaluation process must become flexible, creative, and multifaceted in order to produce valid and comprehensive results, and to meet the needs of this field. Evaluators and evaluation, the evaluated program, and the environment become a mutually interacting system in the process of evaluation. Evaluation goals and roles must be conceptualized, agreed upon, sanctioned, and appropriately implemented or conflict and ineffectiveness will result. Three models of evaluation emerge: objective and independent, objective but serving one interest, and pseudo-scientific public relations. Evaluation of an interdisciplinary mental health education program illustrates these issues. Evaluation technology, process, and roles must all be attended to or the weak link undermines the rest.     

大学生社会实践长效性机制构建的探索

通过调查分析了大学生社会实践活动取得的成果和存在的问题;结合国外大学生社会实践的经验,提出构建大学生社会实践长效性体系的构想:领导重视,形成制度,突出实效;转变学生社会实践观念,满足学生需求;多方联系,寻求社会支持;建立网络实践平台,全程推进社会实践活动;为学生社会实践提供实践教师指导,为学生提供全程服务。     

The future of PR education: Some recommendations

This article contends that public relations is a professional occupation that has become more than a subset or specialization of other disciplinary areas. Perspectives of professional and disciplinary areas that have had a strong influence on public relations education must be reevaluated.The integrity of public relations professional education must take precedence over academic unit perspectives and biases; furthermore, public relations as a professional occupation is ideological—with its own set of professional values and beliefs. The new Commission on Public Relations Education must recognize public relations is an occupation that requires its own identity as well as clearly defined professional parameters.     

Reflections

Two key lessons learned over the seven years of Hope's existence are examined—that foster and adopted children must be looked at through a different lens, and that vulnerable children, caught between bureaucratic systems and family systems, must be buffered and provided with hope.     

Collaborative research in child welfare: a rationale for rigorous participatory evaluation designs to promote sustained systems change

Expansion of the child welfare evidence base is a major challenge. The field must establish how organizational systems and practice techniques yield outcomes for children and families. Needed research must be grounded in practice and must engage practitioners and administrators via participatory evaluation. The extent to which successful practices are transferable is also challenged by the diversity of child welfare systems. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Children's Bureau funded Quality Improvement Centers (QICs) that were designed to promote collaborative, multisite research that would address these evaluation needs. This article, based on the findings of a regional and a national QIC, describes the challenges facing research collaboration and the strategies for achieving success.     

A Social Work Perspective on Using Social Return on Investment (SROI) in Humanistic Social Care

Service administrators and social workers are increasingly adopting business terminology in practice, including such terms as “social impact”, “social capital”, “social investing”, “social accounting”, “social benefits”, and “social return on investment” (SROI). These concepts, especially SROI, must be examined for inconsistency with social work values. Clients must not be stigmatised, and their voices must be heard when this controversial measurement tool is used. A prudent mentality must accompany the application of business ideas to humanistic social care.     

A Monte Carlo study of alternative responses to intraclass correlation in community trials. Is it ever possible to avoid Cornfield's penalties?

Strategies to avoid the penalties of extra variation and reduced degrees of freedom in community trials were compared in Monte Carlo simulations. Three conditions were found necessary to ensure nominal Type I and II error rates: (a) Condition variation must be assessed against assignment unit variation, (b) the critical value for the test statistic must be based on the assignment unit degrees of freedom, and (c) estimation of negative intraclass correlations must be allowed in the analysis. Using other test statistics and other degrees of freedom, and fixing negative intraclass correlations at zero often gave Type I and II error rates far from their nominal levels.