Twenty‐Five Years After the Fall of Communism: The Cultural Peculiarities of Fighting Corruption and Building Civil Society in Romania

Even when the domestic political system has undergone reform, it sometimes seems unlikely that any outside force can introduce enough of a “carrot and stick” approach to persuade a country to maintain momentum. This article is concerned with understanding the cultural peculiarities of fighting corruption and building civil society in Romania, where despite the tough EU monitoring and domestic anti‐sleaze efforts, corruption, and low trust remain significant problems. Many of the theorists in the post‐communist literature argue that socioeconomic factors and the communist legacy have weakened post‐communist civil society in the region. This article explores the question whether corruption has replaced the legacy of communism as a factor undermining trust in others and government in Romania and presents an examination of the association between corruption and post‐communist civil society. The article argues that future research needs to switch focus from discussing Romanian social, political, and cultural behaviors from a longue durée perspective to evaluating the impact of political corruption on trust and, hence, civil society in Romania.     

Positioning,participation, and possibility: using post-structural concepts for social change in Asia-Pacific youth HIV prevention

This article addresses one of the areas of global concern for Southern youth: HIV rates amongst young people from key communities. In the Asia-Pacific region 95% of all new infections occur amongst those under 25. Furthermore, in this region the nature of the epidemic is concentrated, chiefly affecting people from certain sub-groups such as those who inject drugs, sell sex, participate in male-to-male sex and people who are transgender. In this article we discuss an innovative peer-led leadership and advocacy program for youth which uses post-structural theoretical frames and concepts in an effort to steer against the dominant medicalised and individualising storylines which tend to inform approaches to HIV prevention. We draw on examples and data collected from the NewGen Asia Leadership training program to illustrate the ways post-structural concepts can be used to inform program design as well as analysis and critique of the impact of change efforts. Rather than the traditional focus on transmission of knowledge, skills, and attitudes in prevention efforts, we aim to show how the concepts of positioning, platform, and possibility may be mobilised in strategies used to address the challenge of HIV prevention amongst key youth populations.     

The Convergence Continuum: A Model for Studying Collaboration Between Media Newsrooms

This article offers a conceptual framework for filling a void in the research on convergence and for extending research into gatekeeping and diffusion of innovation. It offers the convergence continuum as a dynamic model that defines news convergence as a series of behavior-based activities illustrating the interaction and cooperation stages of staff members at newspapers, television stations, and Web organizations with news partnerships. The continuum's components provide media professionals with a better understanding of an evolutionary trend in their industry as they develop cross-media alliances. This article makes no attempt to quantify convergence efforts or any of the theories and concepts that inform the efforts; instead, it is an attempt to develop the conceptual and empirical tools needed to conduct such studies.     

The Intersection of Social Process and Social Structure Theories to Address Juvenile Crime: Toward a Collaborative Intervention Model

Juvenile crime has long been a pervasive social problem and the target of various intervention efforts. These efforts are ultimately orchestrated by the theoretical lens through which juvenile crime is viewed. This article illustrates the utility of examining theoretical perspectives to inform interventions by presenting a critical analysis and proposed synthesis of two major theories in this area; social learning theory and social disorganization theory. Results of this analysis suggest that both be considered and merged in developing potential solutions. Removing professional silos and developing interdisciplinary approaches aimed at improving outcomes for youth, their families, and communities are critical.     

Racial Reconciliation or Spiritual Smokescreens?: Blackwashing the Crisis Pregnancy Center Movement

Beginning in the early 2000s, evangelical crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) sought to establish themselves in areas where they perceive Black women, who have disproportionately higher rates of abortion relative to other racial-ethnic groups, will be drawn to their services. These efforts are tied to larger racial reconciliation efforts by white evangelicals. To this end, in this article we explore how the evangelical CPC movement understands Black women’s higher abortion rates, the solutions they seek to offer Black women to persuade them not to abort, the expansion of the movement into minority areas and how the CPC movement justified this encroachment, and the role of Black leaders and symbolic inclusion through “blackwashing” in this expansion. Drawing upon an ethnographic content analysis, we argue that CPC activism in urban areas is not substantially different from its approaches in white and/or suburban areas and inclusion of Black perspectives and activists is limited to a surface-level veneer we refer to as blackwashing. Throughout the paper, we also provide a counter-narrative examining CPC activists’ claims about Black women and abortion and find many of them to be lacking in veracity.     

Communication integration: An analysis of context and conditions

Integrated communication has been discussed as both a process and a concept. On the one hand it is mechanical, through message and image matching, channel management, and measurement. On the other hand, it is also conceptual, based on a unique organizing philosophy that underscores communication mechanics. The latter, which can be termed “the spirit” of integration, has received little attention in the literature in spite of its influence on communication. This article proposes contextual variables that underscore and facilitate integration, including flexibility, adaptation, an open social system, and other informal processes. The article concludes by illustrating these contextual variables in the integrated communication efforts at a nationally-ranked hospital.     

‘Away with the fairies?’ Disability within primary‐age children's literature

This article outlines the findings of a new study that explores the portrayal of disability within a sample of the primary‐age children's literature most readily available to UK schools. The kind of literature to which children are exposed is likely to influence their general perceptions of social life. How disability is handled by authors is therefore important from the standpoint of disability equality. Findings suggest that whilst there are some good examples of inclusive literature ‘out there’, discriminatory language and/or negative stereotypes about disability continue to be present in a range of more contemporary children's books. Clearly, more still needs to be done to ensure that schools and teachers are provided with information relating to the best examples of inclusion literature and efforts must continue to be made to inform authors, publishers and illustrators about how to approach the issue of disability.     

Embarking on self-directed support in Scotland: a focused scoping review of the literature

This article presents findings from a focused scoping review of the published literature on self-directed support (SDS), the term adopted by the Scottish Government to refer to its policy to improve social care outcomes and choices for people using publicly funded services and to distinguish it from personalisation, the term more commonly used in England, and from consumer-directed-care and cash for counselling. The review was undertaken to inform an evaluation of the early adopters of SDS, funded by the Scottish Government 2009–2011, and was updated with later literature. It focused on the evidence base available to inform the Test Sites' (pilot local authorities) efforts to reduce bureaucracy or ‘red tape’ for people choosing their own social care and support; the available evidence about leadership and training to support these changes and about the use of specific transitional funding to ease the process of implementation. The findings of the literature review around these three themes are presented and discussed. The article concludes with a discussion of the potential for such focused literature reviews to inform policy-makers, researchers, and social work practitioners across Europe of the options available when seeking to combine rapid yet rigorous approaches to evidence.     

The History of Child Sexual Abuse Prevention: A Practitioner's Perspective

ABSTRACT

This article examines the history and current condition of child sexual abuse prevention efforts in the United States, emphasizing the perspective of those engaged in developing and working in such programs. The author argues that child sexual abuse prevention programs had built-in challenges given the topical area as well as the rapid growth of such programs combined with a paucity of resources and, initially, research, to support and inform its growth. Common criticisms of child sexual abuse prevention programs are examined and alternative explanations are postulated to explain certain weaknesses of programs. Finally, the author challenges researchers to broaden their research of sexual abuse prevention efforts beyond single population, single variable (such as knowledge gain) designs to understand more fully what is currently being done nationally to prevent the sexual abuse of children. Additionally, clear broad-based support for prevention in the wider field of child abuse is encouraged to build on the successes of prevention efforts.     

Navigating the Shifting Sands of Social Work Terrain: Social Work Practice in Postmodern Conditions

In an effort to inform social work education, this article reports on part of a study examining the factors that hinder or facilitate involvement in social justice efforts. Based on a case example of Canadian international development nongovernmental organizations, the article presents the findings of an analysis of organizational documents. I argue that international development organizations' conceptions of involvement reproduce inequitable North-South power relations through a perpetuation of colonial discourses of the South. This perpetuation of inequitable power relations is evident in three main themes: the tragic South; the hero/victim binary; and the ideal of one world. The implications of these findings for social work education are outlined.     

More social movements or fewer? Beyond political opportunity structures to relational fields

If social movements are an attempt by “outsiders” to gain leverage within politics, then one might expect the global spread of democracy to reduce social movement activity. This article argues the reverse. Granted, many past social movements, such as women's rights and civil rights, were efforts to empower the disenfranchised. However, this is not typical. Rather, social movements and protest tactics are more often part of a portfolio of efforts by politically active leaders and groups to influence politics. Indeed, as representative governance spreads, with the conviction by all parties that governments should respond to popular choice, then social movements and protest will also spread, as a normal element of democratic politics. Social movements should therefore not be seen as simply a matter of repressed forces fighting states; instead they need to be situated in a dynamic relational field in which the ongoing actions and interests of state actors, allied and counter-movement groups, and the public at large all influence social movement emergence, activity, and outcomes.     

Public relations tactics and methods in early 1800s America: An examination of an American anti-slavery movement

Traditional public relations histories begin in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This study expands public relations history to the early 1800s by analyzing the use of public relations methods and tactics in an American anti-slavery movement, The American Colonization Society. In focusing on the American Colonization Society and backlash against it from abolitionist groups, this paper finds the use of newspapers to promote a cause, promotion of high profile endorsements, attempts to persuade a key public, creation of publications, efforts to lobby legislatures, and hired agents to found auxiliaries, all beginning in the early 1800s.     

Models for theory-based M.A. and Ph.D. programs

In response to growing demand for advanced public relations education, this article suggests integrated models of outcomes, curriculum, pedagogy and assessment for theory-based M.A. and Ph.D. programs. Because public relations has commonly been approached as a professional rather than theoretical subject, this article begins with a short explanation of why theoretical education is becoming an increasingly important part of public relations education. It then reports the integration team's recommendations for a flexible educational framework allowing for practical constraints and providing for institutional individuality at both the M.A. and Ph.D. levels. Assumptions underlying efforts of the team are outlined and specifics that might be included in M.A. and Ph.D. programs are presented with rationales for each.     

Understanding Influence on Corporate Reputation: An Examination of Public Relations Efforts,Media Coverage,Public Opinion,and Financial Performance From an Agenda-Building and Agenda-Setting Perspective

Seeking to extend research on public relations evaluation, this study investigates the influence of public relations efforts and media coverage on corporate reputation and financial performance through the theoretical grounding of first- and second-level agenda-building and agenda-setting. A triangulation of research methods compared public relations content, news media coverage, public opinion, and corporate financial performance for 28 U.S. companies from the annual Harris Interactive (2005) Reputation Quotient. Evidence for agenda-building and agenda-setting propositions was found, which work to inform strategies of public relations practitioners. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

Evaluation research,policy, and politics

This article discusses the role of politics in the Juvenile Justice Educational Enhancement Program's effort to use evaluation research data to inform Florida's juvenile justice education policies and practices. Through consideration of the Juvenile Justice Education Enhancement Program's experiences with privatization and the tough love and economy of scale rationales for larger and more custodial juvenile institutions, the variable role of politics is examined. Although the two examples are different, the discussion demonstrates that by maintaining an overriding commitment to its evaluation research purpose, the Juvenile Justice Educational Enhancement Program has been able to continue its data-driven policy efforts despite operating in a politically charged environment.     

The Social Life of the Senses: Charting Directions

Sensory scholarship in the fields of sociology, anthropology, history and geography, among others, has proliferated in the last few decades. Sensory works in these disciplines argue for the senses as social, highlighting important insights that further our comprehension of selfhood, culture, and social relations. In this paper, I delineate five interrelated sections that inform how sensory works have developed over time. In the first section, I provide an adumbrated background with regard to the hierarchy of the senses, and call attention to the need to move beyond the hegemony of vision. The second section offers a discussion on how Sociology has contributed to sensory studies, addressed alongside other disciplines. Building upon these two sections, both theoretical directions and methodological issues will be deliberated in the third and fourth sections respectively. The last section locates the development of sensory research in organizational terms, by elucidating upon the various institutional efforts that have been pursued towards organizing sensory research and scholarly publications through different avenues. The article then concludes by putting forward the concept of sensory transnationalism as a suggestion for the next step forward towards broadening sensory research.     

Contemporary options for longitudinal follow-up: lessons learned from a cohort of urban adolescents

This study reports efforts to locate and survey participants in Project Northland Chicago (PNC), a longitudinal, group-randomized trial of an alcohol preventive intervention for racial/ethnic minority, urban, early-adolescents, 3-4 years following the end of the intervention. Data were collected annually among students from 6th-8th grade and then at age 17-18. Tracking procedures were used to maintain contact with participants and data collection consisted of three phases: (1) Internet- and mail-based surveys; (2) in-school survey administration; and (3) courier service delivery. Contact was lost with 11% of this urban cohort from the end of the PNC intervention activities through these longterm follow-up efforts, as indicated by returned locating postcards. Fifty-three percent of the cohort responded to the survey, the majority completing in Phase 1 of our data collection. Additional school-based and courier-delivery efforts increased our response rate by 11.5%. Costs per completed survey were $118 in Phase 1, $166 in Phase 2, and $440 in Phase 3. This study illustrates that it is possible to track and follow-up a high-risk cohort as they progress through adolescence, even with minimal efforts in intervening years. Lessons learned from this study may inform future efforts to track and collect longitudinal data among high-risk populations.     

Exploring Digital Culture in Virtual Teams: Implications for Leading and Developing Distributed Organisations

Understanding human communication in the technological age is becoming more complex as advances in technology and its use in human exchange are being magnified. New studies show that technology is no longer just a device for human connections; it is an integrated artefact in the human exchange and communication process. As a result, we are witnessing and experiencing new norms and patterns of behaviour, values in human connections, expectations of one another, language, and other symbol systems: a digital culture. This article explores further development of the digital culture model in relation to organisational work culture. Specifically, the dimensions related to digital communication and online group dynamics are further articulated from a literature review. The findings are also presented from a study of e-process teams in a distributed organisation based on data from a digital culture inventory, focus group observations, and participant reflections, which illustrate changes in behaviour, language, group dynamics, and communication exchange between team members working in a distributed organisation. The article aims to contribute new insights which could inform approaches to organisational development that view organisational culture as central to the process.     

Disclosing Special Interests: Constitutional Restrictions on Front Groups

Front groups are controversial public relations techniques used by organizations to influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of undisclosed special interests. This article examines historical and contemporary uses of such third-party efforts and considers constitutionally permissible restrictions on front group practices. We address the specific issue of whether governments may compel organizations to reveal their participation in grassroots lobbying initiatives without violating the First Amendment. We then consider the implications of front groups for public relations ethics and the potential for heightened legal regulation spawned by unethical public relations practices perceived to interfere with the efficient functioning of government.     

The death of bin Laden: How Russian and U.S. media frame counterterrorism

This study explored how Russian and U.S. newspapers covered the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011 through the lens of framing theory. Results reflect significant disparity in how media in different countries covered the same event, suggesting that terrorism events were framed as national concerns rather than global issues, thus potentially limiting governments and the media from building a shared understanding with international audiences. The findings also indicate that more robust media relations efforts are needed to counter simplistic media counterterrorism frames. Finally, the study identified new frames for counterterrorism including secrecy and humanizing terrorists. These new frames suggest the need to expand the framing literature to provide a better understanding of how the media cover counterterrorism, which may impact the U.S. government's public diplomacy and counterterrorism efforts.