The role of technology in reconfiguring volunteer management in nonprofits in Hong Kong: Benefits and discontents

There is plenty of evidence demonstrating that volunteering generates benefits for individuals and society at large. However, the role of technology used in recruiting, managing, and retaining volunteers in nonprofits is underexplored in East Asia. Drawing from in‐depth interviews with representatives of eight nonprofits, we examine how technology reconfigured volunteer management in nonprofits, identify its limitations and shortcomings, and discuss strategies in which technology can be utilized to enhance the effectiveness of volunteer management. We found, through this study, that the use of technology reconfigured key aspects of volunteer management: improving recruitment by enlarging and diversifying the volunteer pool; enhancing precision and speed of volunteer matching; improving nonprofits’ ability to recruit professionals; and reducing overall administrative burden of volunteer management within these nonprofits. However, challenges in volunteer management resulting from technology uptake were also observed, including resistance among frontline staff to adopt technology, and volunteer accountability and quality assurance. Specifically, it was found through this study that the extent to which nonprofits are able to effectively utilize technology in volunteer management is contingent on how well volunteer managers are able to actualize the notion of capacity optimization, create a friendly volunteer environment, and build rapport with volunteers. Implications for enhancing organizational capacity in volunteer management vis‐à‐vis the role of technology in the third sector are further discussed.     

The local and global structure of knowledge production in an emergent research field: An exponential random graph analysis

Previous research has characterized knowledge networks by diffuse connectivity and/or clusters and the absence of centrality. In contrast, exponential random graph models used in this article demonstrate that the uncertainty and centralized influence typical of an emerging area of research leads to the creation of a densely interconnecting core that acts to cohere the network. Moreover, eclecticism and innovativeness, also characteristic of a developing area, lead to a diffusely connected structure. The data, comprising 2200 authors and 76 papers have been manually coded from articles on the feminization of the labor force in Asia.     

Service robotics: an emergent technology field at the interface between industry and services

The paper at hand analyzes the economic implications of service robots as expected important future technology. The considerations are embedded into global trends, focusing on the interdependencies between services and industry not only in the context of the provision of services but already starting at the level of the innovation process. It is argued that due to the various interdependencies combined with heterogenous application fields, the resulting implications need to be contextualized. Concerning the net labor market effects, it is reasonable to assume that the field of service robotics will generate overall job creation that goes along with increasing skill requirements demanded from involved employees. It is analyzed which challenges arise in evaluating and further developing the new technology field and some policy recommendations are given.     

The quality of employment in the nonprofit sector: An update on employee attitudes in nonprofits versus business and government

Results from a survey of a national sample of 1,190 working adults update findings collected in 1977 (Mirvis and Hackett, 1983) on the characteristics and attitudes of people working in nonprofits. As in the earlier survey, it shows that people employed in the private nonprofit sector gain more satisfaction from their jobs than their counterparts in business and government and have more trust in their management. still, people working in nonprofits are just as concerned that their employers will “take advantage” of them and, in contrast to the 1977 survey, are no more psychologically committed to their organizations than are people in the other sectors.     

An other space: between and beyond lesbian-normativity and trans-normativity

What happens when sectors of a lesbian community advocate for a space free of trans women? How do the responses to those types of policies, from within MTF trans communities, impact upon MTF trans women as a whole? How do these types of conflicts impact upon lesbians whose relationship to the term 'born female' is not straightforward? What does the focus upon these instances of conflict in the mainstream media mean and what effect does this focus have upon broader understandings about lesbians, lesbian communities and the complex intersections between lesbian and trans?     

Fathers as ‘core business’ in child welfare practice and research: An interdisciplinary review

This literature review draws from a wide array of interdisciplinary research to argue that fathers need to be included in child welfare practice and research to the same extent as mothers. Social work and child maltreatment literature highlight that fathers are often overlooked and viewed more negatively than mothers in child welfare practice. There are noteworthy theoretical and practical reasons for this poor engagement of fathers in practice. However, advances in attachment theory and recent research findings from developmental and fathering literature indicate that fathers influence their children independently from mothers and equally strongly. Further research demonstrates that fathers and father figures can be both potential risk factors and protective factors in the lives of vulnerable children. Therefore, children are placed at increased risk if dangerous fathers are not engaged, and are also significantly disadvantaged if supportive fathers are not engaged. The review concludes with practical implications for child welfare practice and research.     

Self,other and world: Discourses of nationalism and cosmopolitanism 1

Abstract

Cosmopolitanism has been understood as a postnational identity. This conflates the distinction between nation and nationalism. Most accounts of cosmopolitanism emphasise its legal form (e.g. Habermas’ constitutional patriotism) or its cultural dimension (transnational communities) or its political (e.g. democratic cosmopolitanism). This paper argues for a civic dimension to cosmopolitanism, conceived of in terms of discourses of self, other and world. This is tied to a notion of nations without nationalism.     

Sharing economy as a field: Revisiting debates and introducing new research avenues

This article offers a state-of-art review of previous research in the field of sharing economy. It explores the definitional dilemma and presents the research field of sharing economy as a contested one. In an attempt to contribute to the numerous efforts of ordering, summarizing and characterizing sharing economy, the article further unpacks the debates driving the emergent sharing economy field. First, it is a debate on the role and place of ICT and platform technologies in sharing economy. Second, the article explores the role and place of economic interest in sharing economy, placing the empirical reality of sharing economy along a broad spectrum from for-profit enterprises to non-profit community sharing projects. Third, the paper analyses the question of ownership and its transfer in sharing economy, exploring its positioning vis-à-vis gift economy, and short-term renting and lending. It further analyses relationships between stakeholders (private individuals and business actors) participating in sharing economy, presents the overview of literature on the three transactional models in sharing economy, Business to Consumer (B2C), Business to Business (B2B), and Peer to Peer (P2P). Finally, the paper suggests future research avenues. This study highlights the lack of research looking at sharing outside of the purview of market exchange. It is suggested that the definition of sharing economy and research in the field should focus on P2P activities. Furthermore, it is suggested that the configuration of the sharing economy should be understood from a field perspective. Field-level studies of issues that bring together various actors in debates on sharing economy should allow for understanding further development of sharing economy.     

Values and Vegetarianism: An Exploratory Analysis1

The American diet has changed substantially over the last few decades. These changes provide a test for social theory and have substantial effects on the demand for various food products, thus impacting U.S. agriculture. In this paper a rapidly growing dietary choice—vegetarianism—is explored. Prevalence of various forms of vegetarianism is estimated in a representative sample of a suburban population and factors that influence choice of a vegetarian diet are examined. About 7 percent of the sample report they are vegetarians. The prevalence of vegetarianism is not influenced by age, gender, or education, but individuals holding traditional values are less likely to be vegetarian than others. There also is some evidence mat individuals holding altruistic values are more likely than others to be vegetarians.     

An immense and unexpected field of action: Webcams,surveillance and everyday life

The essay uses a quotation from Walter Benjamin to ask what ‘immense and unexpected field of action’ is revealed through the numerous web-cameras connected to the internet. The essay considers the subject of the webcam gaze to be that of everyday life in a society of surveillance and control. Drawing on Mark Andrejevic’s concept of digital enclosures and Michael H. Goldhaber’s argument that the Internet is an attention economy, the essay considers webcams and other means of online expression in the context of Gilles Deleuze’s notion of a society of control. In the end, the essay considers the webcam to reveal aspects of everyday life through senses of thisness, durée, awareness, embodiment and care, as everyday life is caught up in and constituted by intertwined networks of care and control.     

In other words: Language mixing,identity representations,and third space1

This paper analyzes the use of Hindi in English newspapers in India to argue that code‐switching creates a discursive space – a third space ( Bhabha 1994 ) – where two systems of identity representation converge in response to global‐local tensions on the one hand, and dialogically constituted identities, formed through resistance and appropriation, on the other. The results of the analysis of data show that code‐switching: (1) reflects a new socio‐ideological consciousness; (2) yields a new way to negotiate and navigate between a global identity and local practices; and (3) offers a new linguistic diacritic for class‐based expressions of cultural identity. Based on these results, I conclude that code‐switching, as linguistic hybridity, is a third space where social actors (re‐)position themselves with regard to new community‐practices of speaking, reading, and writing. It is in this space that actors are presumed to have the capacity to synthesize, to transform: code‐switching serves as a visible marker of this transformation.     

Researching an-'other' minority ethnic community: Reflections of a black female researcher on the intersections of race,gender and other power positions on the research process

There is a dearth of discussion on the methodological dilemmas faced by minority ethnic researchers who research minority ethnic communities of which they are not a part. The paper explores the political and ethical issues involved in a black woman researching South Asian women's lives, analysing the research process, and focusing on issues of choice of research group, access and placing. This paper represents a reflexive account of the research relationships developed in longitudinal qualitative doctoral research between a black (of African descent) postgraduate student and sample of 19 South Asian female student teachers in England and draws on literature of women interviewing women and ethnic or 'race' matched research. The methods employed were documentary analysis, observing meetings, a focus group, two student questionnaires, one-to-one interviews with staff and group and one-to-one interviews with South Asian female student teachers. It is argued that whilst social characteristics such as gender, language, religion and culture are important in determining notions of commonality and difference, a shared experience of racism between the researched and the researcher may affect the research relationship most significantly.     

The making of the global gambling industry: An application and extension of field theory

The past two decades have seen a global convergence from gambling prohibition to legalization, but also a divergence regarding how new gambling industries are structured and regulated. This article compares two cases of casino legalization exhibiting different and, given conventional understandings of the two countries, unexpected outcomes. In the United States, ethnic entrepreneurs (Indian tribes) were granted a monopoly on casinos in California; in South Africa, the new ANC government legalized a competitive, corporate casino industry. Through explaining these disparate industry structurings, two arguments are advanced. First, Bourdieu's field theory best describes the interests and strategies of industry “players” as they attempted to shape policy. Second, Bourdieu neglects the independent role of institutions in mediating between field-level dynamics and concrete regulatory outcomes. In California, Tribes converted economic into political capital through a public election. In South Africa, the ANC used a centralized commission to implement corporate gambling over public opposition, in essence converting political into economic capital. By viewing policy domains as “dramaturgical prisms” whose sign–production tools and audiences facilitate certain but not other capital conversion projects, I both explain unexpected regulatory outcomes and synthesize field and political process theories. Jeffrey J. Sallaz received his Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley and is currently Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Arizona. In addition to examining the struggles surrounding gambling legalization, he has studied ethnographically the experience of service work in the global casino industry and the politics of deindustrialization in the US rust belt. He is currently conducting research for a project analyzing the uneven diffusion of Pierre Bourdieu’s ideas into the field of American sociology over the past three decades.     

Not either/or but both/and: An Academic/field partnership in practice

Abstract

The relationship between academia and the field and between theory and practice is often characterised in both the literature and the everyday practice of social work as either one or the other. In this paper, the author argues for a constructive integration of both/and rather than either/or. The paper reports on a constructive organisational partnership between academia and a field of practice that supports a both/and view.     

The Regulation of Marriage and Family Therapy1: An Update

Regulations concerning the practice of marriage and family therapy are reviewed. The current status of efforts to license and certify are presented, based on data from AAMFT state and multi-state division Presidents. Materials should be of significance to individuals and organizations attempting to modify current or promote new legislation.     

It's a rave new world: estimating the prevalence and perceived harm of ecstasy and other drug use among club rave attendees

The use of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or "ecstasy") appears to be increasing worldwide, with "rave" attendees being one high-risk population. To date, however, only one study has collected ecstasy use information from rave attendees in the United States. To address this limitation, we collected self-report drug use information from 70 adult "club rave" attendees within the Baltimore-Washington corridor in April and May 2002. Data collection was scheduled between 12 A.M. and 5 A.M. Participation rates were high, with 85 percent of the club rave attendees completing the interview. Eighty-six percent of the respondents reported lifetime ecstasy use, 51 percent reported 30-day use, and 30 percent reported using ecstasy within the two days preceding the interview. While past-year ecstasy users were comparable to non-users with respect to a host of demographic and drug use variables, non-ecstasy users were significantly more likely than past-year users to perceive risks associated with the regular use of alcohol and ecstasy. Not surprisingly, non-ecstasy users were significantly more likely than past-year users to perceive harmful long-term physical and psychological effects associated with ecstasy ingestion. These findings suggest that rave attendees may be an important population for ecstasy-related prevention efforts.     

Graphic Family Therapy: An Affective Alternative to Structure and Strategy1

A self-discovery hypothesis regarding changing family dysfunctioning is suggested. From this hypothesis a method for treatment called Graphic Family Therapy has been developed. The four stages of this design—Analysis, Motivation, Evaluation and Research—are discussed. Specific graphic exercises for eight categories of family dysfunction are described. Two illustrative cases, one long-term and one short-term, are presented. Conclusions regarding results, future research, training and other clinical applications are offered.