Re-forming the SSSP: Questions of “praxis”

The Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) emerged from a social movement of sociologists who wanted to apply their social science knowledge to a society riddled by cruel inequities. Recently the distinctive mission of SSSP has come under scrutiny. The organization must make some structural innovations to generate fresh and critical approaches to contemporary social problems. These innovations would include: restructuring annual meetings to reflect the urgency of social problems; being reflexive about forms of knowledge; increasing the interdisciplinary emphasis of research; promoting activism within society and the social sciences; experimenting with alternative formats of meetings.     

Preserving the unpreservable: docile and unruly objects at MoMA

The aim of this article is to theorize how materials can play an active, constitutive, and causally effective role in the production and sustenance of cultural forms and meanings. It does so through an empirical exploration of the Museum of Modern Art of New York (MoMA). The article describes the museum as an “objectification machine” that endeavors to transform and to stabilize artworks as meaningful “objects” that can be exhibited, classified, and circulated. The article explains how the extent to which the museum succeeds in this process of stabilization ultimately depends on the material properties of artworks and, more specially, on whether these behave as “docile” or “unruly” objects. Drawing on different empirical examples, the article explores how docile and unruly objects shape organizational dynamics within the museum and, through them, the wider processes of institutional and cultural reproduction. The article uses this empirical example to highlight the importance of developing a new “material sensibility” that restores heuristic dignity to the material within cultural sociology.     

Outcomes of family centered meetings for families referred to Child Protective Services

In order to address the number of children entering the foster care system each year and to promote the family's participation in the decision-making process, family-centered meetings have been widely adopted throughout the United States as well as in other countries. Since 1989, Family Group Conferencing, Family Group Decision Making, and Family Team Meetings have all been introduced into public child welfare systems. This paper will refer to all three approaches as family-centered meetings. However, little empirical research has been done to test the impact of these meetings on families referred to Child Protective Services (CPS). This paper examines literature on the impact of family-centered meetings with families referred to CPS on child and family functioning outcomes. The results suggest that more research is needed to examine fidelity models and specific types of interventions being implemented. However, all of these three appear to increase kinship care placements. More research is needed, specifically regarding the contexts where family-centered interventions could be appropriate. Implications for practice are also discussed, with special consideration of integrating family-centered interventions with other interventions to promote both family participation and child safety.     

An interdisciplinary approach to the development of professional identity through digital storytelling in health and social care and teacher education

The present article presents a study based on an interdisciplinary approach to research into reflection on identity construction. This multiple case study explores the narrative of professional identities in digital artefacts. It is aimed at exploring in what way digital storytelling can be used as a suitable pedagogical strategy for the construction of professional identity. The students involved in the innovative learning activity comprise two groups of Health and Social Care students in the UK, two groups of Primary Education student-teachers and one group of Secondary Education student-teachers in Spain. Thematic analysis is used to identify the topics addressed by students in exploring their professional identities, including values and the process of learning itself. Finally, the lessons learned from this interdisciplinary approach to reflection on identity and the implications these have not only for teaching and learning design but also for future collaborative research projects are set out in the discussion and conclusions.     

Demographic research on infant mortality

I present an overview of the current status and recent trends in social-demographic research on infant mortality in the United States. Following from a fundamental interest in social differentials, recent research has come to emphasize the diverse linkages between social inequality and mortality. Research increasingly uses multilevel perspectives, combining background as well as proximate variables. Coupled with the availability of new individual-level data sets linking information from diverse sources, researchers are able to give increasing attention to the study of cause of death from interdisciplinary perspectives. The analysis of racial/ethnic infant mortality differentials is an example of these trends.This is a revised version of a paper presented in the session, U.S. Infant Mortality from Different Perspectives, of the 1987 annual meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, February 11–15, Boston, MA.     

从公众特性上思考博物馆建筑设计

博物馆是城市历史文化的栖息地,是保存人类文明和城市记忆的场所。博物馆为社会公众服务,除了体现在陈列展示、科学研究、社会教育服务等方面,也包括博物馆的建筑设计。为公众服务的博物馆建筑设计,不仅要考虑外部公共空间的设计,更要考虑内部公共活动区域的各种人性化设置,使博物馆为公众服务落在实处。     

Posing the Question: Visitor Posing as Embodied Interpretation in an Art Museum

This article identifies and explores posing by visitors to an art gallery as a unique meaning making activity. Conducted as a design experiment in partnership with a national art museum, this study builds on theoretical perspectives related to gesture and embodiment. Empirical findings suggest that particular posing activities function simultaneously to mediate internally and externally oriented processes of interpretation in encounters with art. Accordingly, these complex posing practices may be viewed as an integrated part of visitors’ meaning making experiences. Implications for this research include expanding our understanding of the roles of the body in visitor’s museum experiences.     

Interdisciplinarity and innovation dynamics. On convergence of research, technology, economy, and society

In the age of globalization, economic growth and the welfare of nations decisively depend on basic innovations. Therefore, education and knowledge is an important advantage of competition in highly developed countries with high standards of salaries, but raw material shortage. In the twenty-first century, innovations will arise from problem-oriented research, crossing over traditional faculties and disciplines. Therefore, we need platforms of interdisciplinary dialogue to choose transdisciplinary problems (e.g., environment, energy, information, health, welfare) and to cluster new portfolios of technologies. The clusters of research during the excellence initiative at German universities are examples of converging sciences. The integration of natural and engineering sciences as well as medicine can only be realized if the research training programs (e.g., graduate schools) generate a considerable added value in terms of multidisciplinary experience, international networking, scientific and entrepreneurial know-how, and personality development. The Carl von Linde-Academy is presented as an example of an interdisciplinary center of research and teaching at the Technical University of Munich.     

A framework of operating models for interdisciplinary research programs in clinical service organizations

A framework of operating models for interdisciplinary research programs in clinical service organizations is presented, consisting of a "clinician-researcher" skill development model, a program evaluation model, a researcher-led knowledge generation model, and a knowledge conduit model. Together, these models comprise a tailored, collaborative approach to enhancing research-informed practice in community-based clinical service organizations. The models place different degrees of emphasis on the development of research-related skills in practitioners, the generation of knowledge tailored to clinical practice, and knowledge sharing. The nature, philosophical basis, roles of research staff members, outputs and impacts, and strengths and limitations of each model are described, in the context of a long-standing, interdisciplinary research program in a children's rehabilitation service organization. The use of the model framework as a tool for the design of interdisciplinary, community-based research programs is discussed.     

G. Stanley Hall: Neither Psychology Alone Nor Basic Research is Sufficient

In his monumental work, Adolescence, G. Stanley Hall showed the value of interdisciplinary scholarship and respect for research, which had a policy orientation. Over the course of the 20th century these two characteristics faded in adolescent studies as psychology took dominance and basic research was given priority over policy considerations. An argument is made that there is value in revisiting Hall's approach as studies of adolescence can be enriched through interdisciplinary efforts and research which brings policy to the forefront.     

The Quality of Recent Pacific Sociological Association (PSA) Meetings: Location,Session Quality and Institutional Change

Employing data (n?=?734) collected from those having attended the Pacific Sociological Association (PSA) annual meetings held in San Diego, California (2012) and Reno, Nevada (2013), we test whether session quality and host-city satisfaction are positively associated with how respondents rated the overall quality of the meetings. A majority (54 %) of respondents reported the quality of the meetings highly (“Above Average” or “Excellent”), and suggestive of the importance of conference location, this declined from 64 % in 2012 to 41 % in 2013. Controlling for individual characteristics and institutional affiliation, regression results intimate that both host-city satisfaction and session quality are positively associated with how respondents rated the overall quality of the meetings. And they suggest that the former is somewhat more important than the latter for explaining variation in meeting quality. A final stage of our analysis (n?=?205) finds that attendees’ evaluations of changes in how the 2013 PSA meetings were developed and organized are positively associated with meeting quality without diminishing the independent effects of session or location quality. We discuss implications of these results for future PSA meetings, as well as for research investigating how to improve the quality of regional academic conferences more generally.     

Driving complementarity in interdisciplinary research: a reflection

ABSTRACT

The value of interdisciplinary research is increasingly recognised by the research community. Funding bodies are nowadays specifically encouraging that research they fund is interdisciplinary in nature. However, what is often branded as interdisciplinary research is in fact a network of researchers working to deliver a research output. In this research note, we share our experience of what we think can be labelled “truly interdisciplinary”. We share some best practice tips for those who are interested to go through a similar metamorphosis as we did as a team, learning from each other’s ways of working. Overall, it has been a very positive experience and a revelation that has had a big impact on each author’s view on how to conduct research as an integrated multidisciplinary team, as it has shifted our mental models and broadened our thinking, capacity to reflect, and critical analysis. We hope that our research note clearly shows the benefits of truly interdisciplinary research and motivates other researchers to follow our pathway of transformation.     

Dressing and Undressing the House

Based on anthropological fieldwork within a museum collection, this article discusses the changing nature of the rural household in central Romania. Through a detailed examination of its interiors, it provides an understanding of local perspectives on traditional households. Tracing the historical process of undressing and remaking this space, the article highlights the shifting local attitudes toward domesticity and different sentiments toward the house voiced by source communities and museum professionals. It aims to illuminate the contrasting time-spaces in which rural households are embedded and to provide a context for rethinking this material in the museum setting.     

Recruiting ethnic minority groups to evidence-based parent training. Who will come and how?

Recruiting ethnic minority groups into research is an international priority and could lead to increased knowledge of evidence-based interventions. Three different strategies for recruiting ethnic minority mothers to participate in research on the effects of parent training were compared. The strategies were recruitment via: 1) professionals from regular public services, 2) community information meetings, and 3) staff from the recruitment team. During the four-month recruitment period, 96 mothers with Somali or Pakistani origin signed up for the study. The results show that the information meetings were the most cost-effective strategy and that the highest proportion of the sample was recruited via these meetings. The three recruitment strategies were all suitable to recruit eligible families with regard to the levels of maternal parenting practices and child conduct problems required. While ethnic minority families are generally difficult to recruit for research, it seems that proactive strategies can pay off.     

The art museum in Africa – a utopia desired?

In this paper, I argue that museums in general are utopias, “no-places” in which categorisations of objects can be opened up for destabilisation. Following a discussion of the ways in which the categories “material culture” and “art” are reflected in museums, I argue that once the museum is transposed to Africa, its function as a space in which heritage is maintained through the conservation and preservation is thrown into disarray. I argue further that this is particularly the case with the most utopian of museums, the art museum. I argue that most African nation states do not have national art museums, and offer an argument about why they have museums of “arts and cultures” instead. I end with an analysis of the history and situation of art museums in South Africa and possibilities for alternative ways of conceiving the art museum as an inclusive rather than exclusive space.     

Mathematician's call for interdisciplinary research effort

The article addresses the necessity of increasing the role of mathematics in the psychological intervention in problem gambling, including cognitive therapies. It also calls for interdisciplinary research with the direct contribution of mathematics. The current contributions and limitations of the role of mathematics are analysed with an eye toward the professional profiles of the researchers. An enhanced collaboration between these two disciplines is suggested and predicted.     

Academic economists behaving badly? A survey on three areas of unethical behavior

This article measures the degree to which academic economists have engaged in unethical behavior and the degree to which academic economists believe the profession as a whole engages in unethical behavior. Three main types of unethical behavior are examined: (1) falsification of research; (2) expropriation of graduate student research or including an undeserving co-author on a research paper; and (3) exchange of grades for gifts, money, or sex. Using a unique data set gathered at the 1998 American Economic Association (AEA) meetings, we find that there is a significant amount of misconduct, particularly in the second category.     

Community Readiness Assessment: The Scoring Process Revisited

The Community Readiness Model is an innovative and widely embraced approach to determining a community's stage of readiness to address a particular community issue and match that stage with an appropriate intervention. The current study used this approach in five communities experiencing cancer health disparities. In each community, leaders were interviewed and their qualitative data scored to determine the community's stage of readiness. Two methods of triangulation, investigator and interdisciplinary, were used to increase the scoring process's rigor. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the consensus portion of the scoring process, these meetings were content analyzed. The results have important implications for scoring team composition, provide insight into consensus reaching strategies, and offer recommendations for addressing potential challenges.