Combating negative blog posts and a negative incident: A case study of the “Mayday” incident between Juneyao Airlines and Qatar Airways

This case analysis examined the image repair strategies used by Juneyao Airlines after an anonymous blog posted information on a Juneyao flight's refusal to yield to a flight that issued an emergency call. This case revealed that addressing the credibility of the blog post and relying a third-party – Civil Aviation Administration of China – to combat the inaccuracies in the blog post was successful and that Juneyao's final announcement to take responsibility for the incident and to apologize was effective as well.     

Communicate over a network: the blog as a ‘new’ social space

The contribution analyzes from a sociological perspective the development of the blog, passing through the different typologies, to define the relationship that develops in today's society between the network and the individual, through a theoretical comparison of the major scholars who have dealt with the issue of network. From Sherry Turkle to Manuel Castells up to the studies of Barry Wellman, we will define the development of the network as a new social space. The work incorporates some classical theories of Simmel, some by Goffman and Thompson about interaction, of community-society by Töennies and the action-system of Luhmann. The central part of the article focuses on how the space of the network can become, in some cases, a ‘place’ of sharing not only of entertainment topics but also of those that have some importance for public opinion. Then the blog becomes a ‘showcase’ in which to expose the peculiar characteristics of one's identity, but also a point of listening for those who do not have easy access to traditional media. Through the testimony of two young people, we will highlight those aspects that characterize the blog as a communication tool, from the diary to the letter, as well as the role played by these documentary sources in the past in sociology's field. In this way, some salient points arise about the use of the network space, compared to traditional media. The last part of the contribution proposes a comparison between America and Japan about the use of blogs and social networks, no longer in numerical terms, but proposing a reflection that brings out an individual who, as a sociable being, exploits all the possible ways to communicate, feeling in such situations freer to express his emotions, and able build a dialogue that turns out to be an added value to his person and in relationship with others outside.     

Examining concepts of power and agency in research with young people

Concepts of power and agency have become increasingly prominent in the youth studies literatures and related research. A focus of the research to date has been an examination of how a better understanding of young people's lived experiences can reveal possibilities for young people's agency to emerge. Despite increased interest in the term agency, much less has been said about how the concept is defined and recognized in research with young people, including what the concept may entail but crucially, how the term is linked to and underpinned by the related concept of power. This paper seeks to contribute to our understanding of power and agency as utilized in research with young people. The discussion that follows identifies the possible ways in which different theoretical positions shape our understanding of how power and agency are investigated and how these understandings inform the ways we interpret young people's perspectives and actions as holding potential for ‘agency’. Drawing on recent empirical examples, we consider how varying interpretations of power and/or agency shape not only the ways in which young people's agentic experiences are theorized (and the related ontological and epistemological assumptions these positions imply) but also the presumed effects of that agency.     

Fame,Social Media Use,and Ethics

This essay addresses two journalists' very public criticism of a blog that chronicles a woman's fight with cancer. I examine the role of fame in this controversy. Are the expectations for maintaining “privacy” actually stricter for people who are not famous? How do shifting boundaries between private and public (exacerbated by social media, which allow anybody to have a “public” persona) and shifting understandings of what constitutes “fame” affect the traditional understandings of what is appropriate to share?     

Stigma,Secrets, and the Human Condition: Seeking to Remedy Alienation in PostSecret's Digitally Mediated Environment

While digitally mediated environments have altered how human communication takes place, they do not necessarily alter the human condition of alienation. Applying key principles from Goffman's Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity (1963), the popular blog PostSecret offers ways in which anonymous users attempt to remedy the alienations linked with the stigmatic act of secret keeping. Through imaginative, associative, and vicarious conversations, the blog purports to offer the unconditional acceptance necessary to remedy the alienations. Because of the complications of anonymity in the nonreal reality of the internet, the blog can offer only echoes of acceptance. Although some of the stigma literature argues that self‐acceptance or assertions of power are the strongest solutions to stigma's negative effects, this article extends the stigma construct with the suggestion that vulnerability might be a viable option to remedy the attendant alienations correlated with stigma.     

名微博舆情调查及其对青年的影响

名微博具有"裂变式"的传播路径、"去层级"的互动交流、"导向性"的名人舆论场等特点。利用浙江微博平台展开的舆情调查,着重了解名微博的舆论领域、舆论关注度、舆情态度、重要关注点、影响人群结构、舆情触发及传播机制等情况。名微博舆情传播的"涵化效应"推动了青年参与社会舆论,名微博舆情导向的"集聚效应"引导青年扩宽人际圈,名微博言论植入的"微博营销"引导青年改变消费观念。因此,从政府、用户、运营商3个角度完善体制机制、制度保驾护航,加强微博引导,完善平台管理,从而规范对青年的影响。     

Sociological conceptualizations of compassion fatigue: Expanding our understanding

Compassion fatigue has been primarily studied at the micro level and framed as a psychological “personal trouble” that results from one's personality traits, demographic characteristics, or life and work stressors. In addition, compassion fatigue is used to predict other psychological outcomes such as burnout, depersonalization, and stress. This literature on compassion fatigue has been reviewed, in order to illustrate areas where sociologists can contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the phenomenon. In this article we conceptualize compassion fatigue as a sociological concept and overview the potential ways that sociological approaches can enhance our understanding. We draw on the literatures of emotion work, social exchange theory, and macrolevel sociological theories to facilitate the use of compassion fatigue from a sociological perspective. For example, we use concepts such as social integration and anomie to stimulate thinking about rates of compassion fatigue.     

Public diplomacy meets social media: A study of the U.S. Embassy's blogs and micro-blogs

With the evolution of communication technologies, traditional public diplomacy is transforming. This study examines the practice of the U.S. Embassy's public diplomatic communication via social media, namely Chinese mainstream blogging and micro-blogging, sites using Tencent for a case study. This study analyzes the embassy's blog and micro-blog entries and an interview with the embassy's public diplomacy officer. Based on the content analysis and interview, this study discerns the key features of the U.S. Embassy's public diplomatic communication using social media and further suggests that the common values and interests related to the global public as well as experience-sharing and relationship-building might become the focus of new public diplomacy research.     

Social movement as civic education: communication activities and understanding of civil disobedience in the Umbrella Movement

Occupy Central, which would later evolve into the Umbrella Movement, was conceived as a civil disobedience campaign when it was first proposed in early 2013. Although the history of civil disobedience in Hong Kong arguably spans decades, the concept was seldom discussed in the public arena, and the practice was not well established in the society's repertoire of contentious actions. The years 2013 and 2014 thus constituted a “critical discourse moment” in which the concept of civil disobedience was intensively discussed and debated. This study seeks to determine whether the Occupy Central campaign and the Umbrella Movement had an educational function that led to increased levels of the public's understanding of civil disobedience. The analysis of the responses to two surveys conducted in September 2013 and October 2014 showed that the public's understanding of civil disobedience increased substantially over the year. After the Umbrella Movement started, attitudinal support for and actual participation in the movement, the political use of social media, and discussions with disagreeing others significantly predicted the understanding of civil disobedience. The theoretical and social implications of the findings are discussed.     

Reflective Practice Online—Exploring the Ways Social Workers Used an Online Blog for Reflection

Social workers are increasingly using social media for networking, peer support, reflection, and fun. Social media presents exciting opportunities for social work practice; however, social workers and employers of social workers need to understand the challenges and conflicts that can occur. This study explored the experiences of social workers who used an online blog for reflection, describing different levels of engagement with reflection and the development of an online community of practice to support isolated social workers. This study is significant because although there are many studies that describe the experiences of students using a blog for reflection, the author has been unable to identify another study that focuses on the ways social workers engaged with a blog for reflection.     

Gender and Supportive Co‐Worker Relations in the Medical Profession

Women's growing numerical representation in the professions has not necessarily translated into women being truly integrated in these occupations. Questionnaire data are used to examine whether female physicians are socially integrated in the male‐dominated profession of medicine in terms of the support they receive from their medical colleagues compared to male physicians. The literature on tokenism and homophily suggests that women in male‐dominated professions receive less support than their male colleagues, whereas the social support literature predicts that women typically receive more emotional support than men but less informational and instrumental support. The results of this study shed light on the complex and multi‐layered ways in which gender is relevant to our understanding of the extent to which co‐workers provide empathy, information and assistance to one another.     

Motherhood as a Gendered Entitlement: Intentionality, “Othering,” and Homosociality in the Online Infertility Community

La maternité est un des plus grands rites de passage vers la féminité adulte chez les femmes. Cependant, toutes les femmes n'ont pas accès à cette maternité. Dans cet article, j'explore la communauté des personnes infertiles en ligne, dans lesquelles les femmes traient de leur exclusion et expriment leur incrédulité face à la perspective d'avoir un enfant biologique. Les femmes considèrent leur infertilité comme une injustice, ce qui les mène à revendiquer cette maternité. Je soutiens que la façon dont les femmes revendiquent la maternité change notre compréhension de la maternité comme norme du genre féminin. La maternité est plus que la poursuite d'une identité du genre féminin; c'est également un droit de la femme. Cette recherche pousse en avant les conceptualisations analytiques de la maternité, tout en enrichissant de façon empirique nos connaissances face à l'homosocialité des femmes. Motherhood is one of the most enduring rites of passage to adult femininity for women. However, not all women have access to motherhood. In this paper, I explore the online infertility community wherein women blog to process their exclusion, expressing incredulity about the prospect of never having a biological child of their own. Women understand their infertility as an injustice, leading them to lay claim to motherhood. I argue that how women lay claim to motherhood changes our understanding of motherhood as a gendered norm. Motherhood is more than a pursuit of a gender identity; it is also a gendered entitlement. This research pushes analytic conceptualizations of motherhood forward, while also empirically enriching our knowledge about women's homosociality.     

Understanding Persistence in the Resistance

Since Donald Trump's inauguration, large‐scale protest events have taken place around the United States, with many of the biggest events being held in Washington, DC. The streets of the nation's capital have been flooded with people marching about a diversity of progressive issues, including women's rights, climate change, and gun violence. Although research has found that these events have mobilized a high proportion of repeat participants who come out again and again, limited research has focused on understanding differential participation in protest, especially during one cycle of contention. This article, accordingly, explores the patterns among the protest participants to understand differential participation and what we refer to as “persistence in the Resistance.” In it, we analyze a unique data set collected from surveys conducted with a field approximation of a random sample of protest participants at the largest protest events in Washington, DC, since the Resistance began at the 2017 Women's March. Our findings provide insights into repeat protesters during this cycle of contention. The article concludes by discussing how our findings contribute to the research on differential participation.     

Hours,Scheduling and Flexibility for Women in the US Low‐Wage Labour Force

Research on women's experiences with work schedules and flexibility tends to focus on professional women in high‐paying careers, despite women's far greater prevalence in low‐wage jobs. This paper seeks to contribute to our understanding of the work‐hours problems faced by women precariously employed in low‐wage jobs by addressing how work‐on‐demand scheduling and other features of part‐time labour in the neoliberal economy limit women's ability to make ends meet. Using data from 17 in‐depth interviews, we identify four themes — unpredictable schedules, inadequate hours, time theft and punishment‐and‐control via hours‐reduction — and the problems they present. Results suggest that much‐championed flexible work policies that seek to encourage women's career advancement may have little bearing on the work‐hours dilemmas faced by low‐wage women workers. We conclude that social change efforts need to encompass work policies geared to low‐wage workers, such as guaranteed minimum hours and increases in the minimum wage.     

Domestic Violence,Children's Agency and Mother–Child Relationships: Towards a More Advanced Model

Although domestic violence research increasingly recognises children's agency, this awareness has not extended to our understanding of children's relationships with their abused mothers. Findings suggesting that some children actively support their mother, and encourage her to leave the perpetrator, have been consistently under‐discussed. This article argues that the model of parent–child relationships used by most domestic violence research sees children as passive and contributes to mother‐blaming discourses. Analysing key quantitative and qualitative research, I suggest that a more sophisticated model of parent–child relationships is needed to understand how children's agency affects them, their mothers and the domestic violence situation.     

Social class and approaches to shaping educational expectations

Scholars have recognized young people's educational expectations as a key factor in predicting educational outcomes, but few studies have attempted a comprehensive classification of how young people's educational expectations are shaped. In this article, I outline a typology of how young people from different social class origins shape their educational expectations. Drawing on 100 interviews with 15-year-olds, I find two underlying dimensions in young people's accounts of their educational expectations: how risk aware they are and how goal oriented they are. These dimensions translate into a heuristic model for understanding the structure of young people's educational expectations. I identify four major approaches to shaping educational expectations - the confident, the determined, the explorative, and the anxious - and show how these approaches connect to the young people's class origin. The typology of approaches offers a conceptual framework for understanding the mechanisms that lead young people to shape their expectations in qualitatively different ways.     

Virus interruptus: An Arendtian exploration of political world‐building in pandemic times

Building upon a series of blog posts and conversations, two feminist scholars explore how political community, trust, responsibility and solidarity are affected by the COVID‐19 pandemic. We explore the ways in which we can engage in political world‐building during pandemic times through the work of Hannah Arendt. Following Arendt’s notion of the world as the space for human togetherness, we ask: how can we respond to COVID‐19’s interruptions to the familiarity of daily life and our relationship to public space? By extending relational accounts of public health and organizational ethics, we critique a narrow view of solidarity that focuses on individual compliance with public health directives. Instead, we argue that solidarity involves addressing structural inequities, both within public health and our wider community. Finally, we suggest possibilities for political world‐building by considering how new forms of human togetherness might emerge as we forge a collective ‘new normal’.     

Why the paradigm of work–family conflict is no longer sustainable: Towards more empowering social imaginaries to understand women's identities

The paradigm of work–family conflict is challenged by the fluid realities of the actual world. Through an innovative phenomenographic study of women's understanding of their lives, we show that the social imaginary of work–family conflict assumes that vulnerability is a constitutive reality for women. Consequently, with respect to the perspectives through which women are invited to make sense of their lives, the metaphor of conflict enforces a worldview based on traditional gender roles. Organizational policies that rely heavily on a social imaginary of work–family conflict may prove ineffective. On the one hand, they ignore the diversity of morphologies and vocabularies used by women today to understand themselves in relation to their family and workplace. On the other, work–family conflict arises as a product of policy measures and bureaucratic practices rather than as an experiential reality. Policy statements on work–family conflict have a performative character: they communicate a message about women's social status and identity. Therefore, effective organizational policies should integrate vocabularies and assumptions that make women aware of themselves in a confident manner by relying on social imaginaries that encourage agency and empowered participation in the world.     

After the March: Using Instagram to Perform and Sustain the Women's March

The January 2017 Women's March was an example of the paradigmatic March on Washington, part of the repertoire of collective action used by social movements in the United States for decades. Similar marches were held on its first and second anniversary, in January 2018 and January 2019, respectively. One did not need to travel to the nation's capital to participate in these marches, however; activists also organized hundreds of “sister marches” across the United States and internationally. Yet, a sole focus on these one‐day, physical events misses a great deal of activity. In this article, we examine social media activity related to the Women's March on the platform Instagram that was posted well after the 2017 march was over but before the 2018 march was fully planned. We do so to gain purchase on how individuals and organizations use social media to maintain movements between large events. We analyze a systematic sample of Instagram posts from two sources: (1) individual Instagram users’ public posts with the hashtag #womensmarch and (2) posts from the official Instagram account of the Women's March. Conceptualizing these posts as political performances, we use our findings to draw implications for the study of contemporary protest.