The Co-production of a Community: Engaging Citizens in Derelict Neighbourhoods

In order to deal with “wicked problems” like inequality and social exclusion, one needs the support of committed citizens (Brandsen et al. in Manufactured civil society: practices, principles and effects, Palgrave, London, 2014). A promising setting to examine to what extent this is the case is that of community development projects in derelict neighbourhoods where the largest representation of ‘marginalised’ citizens can often be found (Head in Community development: theory and method of planned change, Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi, 1979; Needham in Personal co-production, 2009). In this article, we examine to what extent citizens are actually involved in local co-productive community development projects (in the city of Ghent, Belgium), and how professional field workers influence this engagement. We focus on three different potential effects of co-productive community development (inclusion and empowerment of citizen co-producers and the equity in the benefits they receive), and whether professional support can influence these effects. We find that co-production in community development projects may lead to more inclusion, empowerment and equity. Moreover, it is posited that the presence of professionals in their different roles does have a positive impact on co-productive community development.     

Larregue’s Critique of Cofnas et al. (2017): A Rejoinder

Data from the General Social Survey indicate that conservatives’ self-reported trust in scientists has steadily decreased since 1974. In Cofnas et al. (The American Sociologist, 2017), we suggested that this trend may have been partly driven by the increasing tendency of scientific institutions, and the representatives of such institutions, to distort social science for the sake of liberal activism. Larregue (The American Sociologist, 2017) makes three opposing arguments: (1) It is “very hard” to establish the charge of bias, especially since we did “not state what [we] mean by ‘bias.’” (2) We did not establish a causal relationship between scientists’ (alleged) liberal activism and conservatives’ distrust of science, and we ignored activism by conservative scientists. (3) We were wrong to advocate “affirmative action” for conservatives in academia. We address these arguments in turn: (1) Larregue does not engage with our main arguments that liberal bias exists in social science. (2) In recent years, prominent scientific organizations have, with great publicity, intervened in policy debates, always supporting the liberal side without exception. It is not unreasonable to assume that this would diminish conservatives’ trust in these organizations. Contra Larregue, in Cofnas et al. (The American Sociologist, 2017) we explicitly acknowledged that conservative scientists can also be biased. (3) We never advocated “affirmative action” for conservatives, and in fact we object to such a proposal.     

Capital mobility and spatial inequalities in income and industrial location

This paper considers how imperfect capital mobility affects spatial inequalities in income and industrial location. The framework of Takahashi et al. (2013) is applied to investigate the effects of integrating the capital market. Several new findings are obtained. First, the inequality in nominal income displays a bell-shaped relationship with falling trade costs if capital mobility is not too low. Second, keeping the trade costs fixed, the inequalities in nominal income and industrial location behave differently when the capital market is integrated. Finally, integration of the product market and integration of the capital market have different impacts on inequality in real income. This explains why empirical findings on spatial inequalities are mixed.     

Using ordinal variables to measure multidimensional poverty in Egypt and Jordan

This paper examines the empirical relevance of recent methodological refinements to the “counting approach” to multidimensional poverty measurement. It provides an empirical illustration based on data available in the Demographic and Health Surveys of Egypt and Jordan. The paper relies on the general framework proposed by Silber and Yalonetzky (2013) to compare multidimensional poverty measures, such as the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) and others that are sensitive to the distribution of deprivation counts among individuals. It thus computes the measures introduced by Chakravarty and D’Ambrosio, 2006 and Rippin (2010) as well as indices based on the extension of the Aaberge and Peluso (2012), suggested by Silber and Yalonetzky (2013). It appears that it is useful to consider several multidimensional poverty measures when analyzing national poverty trends and when making a distinction between urban and rural areas.     

“With Whom no White Scholar can Compare”: Academic Interpretations of the Relationship between W.E.B. Du Bois and Max Weber

Max Weber (1864–1920) is considered one of the canonical founders of sociology, while W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963), author of The Philadelphia Negro (1899), The Souls of Black Folk (1903), and Black Reconstruction (1935), has only recently been included in the sociological canon. We provide a historical review of what we know of their relationship in order to first ask, what did Du Bois say about Weber, and second, what did Weber say about Du Bois? We then analyze the extant scholarly discourse of published English-language academic journal articles that substantively mention both Weber and Du Bois in order to address a third question: what did other scholars say about their relationship? We provide an analysis of the variation of scholars’ perceptions on the relationship between Du Bois and Weber to illumine the dominant assumptions about founding figures and the origin story of American sociology writ large. We argue that three mechanisms of white group interests configured the marginalization of Du Bois from both mainstream and sub-disciplinary sociological theory: (1) reduction or “knowing that we do no know and not caring to know” (when knowledge is perceived as irrelevant to white group interests), (2) deportation or “not wanting to know” (when knowledge is systematically exiled), and (3) appropriation or “not knowing that we do not know”) (when dominant knowledge usurps or assimilates challenges to that knowledge).     

Devil in the Details: A Critical Review of “Theoretical Loss”

In their review of Internet gambling studies, Auer and Griffiths (J Gambl Stud 30(4), 879–887, 2014) question the validity of using bet size as an indicator of gambling intensity. Instead, in that review and in a response (Auer and Griffiths, J Gambl Stud 31(3), 921–931, 2015) to a previous comment (Braverman et al., J Gambl Stud 31(2), 359–366, 2015), Auer and Griffiths suggested using “theoretical loss” as a preferable measure of gambling intensity. This comment extends and advances the discussion about measures of gambling intensity. In this paper, we describe previously identified problems that Auer and Griffiths need to address to sustain theoretical loss as a viable measure of gambling intensity and add details to the discussion that demonstrate difficulties associated with the use of theoretical loss with certain gambling games.     

Exploring the Adaptive Capacities of Shared Jewish–Arab Organizations in Israel

Nonprofits have unique strategic concerns, including their dependence on external resources, the management of multiple stakeholders, perceptions about their organizational legitimacy as well as their primary focus on the social value of their organizational mission (Stone and Brush 1996). For shared Jewish–Arab organizations in Israel that are seeking to promote a ‘shared society,’ the obstacles in navigating these various challenges are particularly pronounced and require a very unique kind of adaptive capacity (see Letts et al. 1999; Connolly and York 2003; Strichman et al. 2007). Often operating outside of the general consensus, these organizations are faced with the significant challenge of promoting values of partnership, equality and mutual interests among two populations that are often at odds. This research seeks to shed light on how shared Arab–Jewish nonprofits are continually working to strengthen organizational capacities to more effectively carry out their particular organizational mission, given the myriad of challenges they face.     

Doing Sociology in the Age of ‘Evidence-Based Research’: Scientific Epistemology versus Political Dominance

Social science history from its beginnings has witnessed periods of confrontation between – generally speaking – qualitative and quantitative paradigms, even talking of ‘war’, ‘wrestlers’ and ‘warriors’. And, again from the very beginnings, our discipline has been forced to relate with funding agencies. Sometimes, the two paths – the scientific one and the financial one – cross: we may think at the role of the private foundations in financing a certain type of investigation, notably surveys against case studies or qualitative research. Nowadays, we see an increased attention by federal agencies and private foundations on a particular sector of research, randomized controlled trials (RCTs), focusing on techniques seen intrinsically superior from the methodological and epistemological point of view. This article will analyze the recent increase of the randomized controlled trials as the new “gold standard” for social research; the call for the “experimenting society” (Campbell American Psychologist, 24(4), 409–429, 1969), willing to import the randomized controlled trials approach into the field of social policy and planning, is not new, if we think that yet in 1963 Campbell and Stanley wrote that “a wave of enthusiasm for experimentation dominated the field of education in the Thorndike era, perhaps reaching its apex in the 1920s” (Campbell and Stanley 1963/1966: 2). Many problems of validity with RCTs soon came to be recognized – even by Campbell, who stated that he has “held off advocating an experimenting society until they can be solved” (Campbell Evaluation Practice, 15(3), 291–298, 1994: 294). In the following years a different set of evaluation strategies were developed, but today there’s a new effort to re-introduce the experimental approach in the academic arena. What is the difference? As we will see, the scientifically-based research is now established and codified by law, funding is linked to a particular way of doing research, and the consequences on scientists work are yet to be explored.     

Hierarchy of Gambling Choices: A Framework for Examining EGM Gambling Environment Preferences

This paper presents the Hierarchy of Gambling Choices (HGC), which is a consumer-oriented framework for understanding the key environmental and contextual features that influence peoples’ selections of online and venue-based electronic gaming machines (EGMs). The HGC framework proposes that EGM gamblers make choices in selection of EGM gambling experiences utilising Tversky’s (Psychol Rev 79(4):281–299, 1972). Elimination-by-Aspects model, and organise their choice in a hierarchical manner by virtue of EGMs being an “experience good” (Nelson in J Polit Econ 78(2):311–329, 1970). EGM features are divided into three levels: the platform—including, online, mobile or land-based; the provider or specific venue in which the gambling occurs; and the game or machine characteristics, such as graphical themes and bonus features. This framework will contribute to the gambling field by providing a manner in which to systematically explore the environment surrounding EGM gambling and how it affects behaviour.     

Religiöse Diversität und Sozialintegration im internationalen Vergleich

Following Robert D. Putnams (2007) thesis that ethnic diversity weakens social cohesion, this study addresses the social consequences of religious diversity. Instead of contrasting social-psychological mechanisms it takes a macro-sociological perspective that focuses on different structural forms of religious diversity and relates them to the trust relations within a population. The empirical results based on a cross-national comparison of 41 European and Non-European societies show that religious macro-structures are indeed related to social trust. But contrary to Putnam’s “hunkering down” thesis religious diversity does not lead to social anomia and isolation but has different effects on social trust toward religious in- and out-groups. Key is the result that different macro-structural forms of religious diversity have different consequences for social cohesion. The question, whether religious diversity poses a threat or opportunity for the social integration of society, therefore crucially depends on its concrete form.     

Simple adjustments of observed distributions for missing income and missing people

Correcting household survey distribution data for missing income or for undersampling may give an idea of the extent of possible biases in measuring inequality, especially when there are reasons to expect the missing income and people to belong to the top of the distribution. There are simple ways to do so when only an aggregate estimate of how much is missing is available. Atkinson had provided a formula to correct the Gini coefficient for the missing income, which was later generalized by Alvaredo (Econ. Lett. 110(3), 274–277 2011). This paper concentrates on the whole distribution and explores various alternative adjustment methods based on three key parameters: how much income, how many people are missing and on what range of income the correction should bear.     

Driving in a dead-end street: critical remarks on Andrew Abbott’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">Processual Sociology</Emphasis>

In his book Processual Sociology (2016), Andrew Abbott proposes a radically new theoretical perspective for sociology. This review essay discusses the strengths and weaknesses of his “processual” approach, in comparison with other dynamic perspectives in sociology such as, in particular, Norbert Elias’s “process sociology.” It critically questions central ideas and arguments advanced in this book: the reduction of social processes to “events,” the focus on stability as the central explanandum of sociological theory, the implicit separation of individual and social processes, the proposition that the social world changes faster than the individual, the idea that “excess” rather than “scarcity” is the central problematic of human affairs, the strong emphasis on the inherent normativity of sociological concepts, the focus on values as the core of human social life, the neglect of human interdependence, power, coercion, and violence, and the distinction between “moral facts” and “empirical facts.” Detailed criticisms of the arguments in various chapters are given, and alternative viewpoints are proposed. The conclusion is that Processual Sociology fails to provide a fruitful approach for understanding and explaining social processes, and that it even represents, in several respects, theoretical regression rather than progress.     

Urban Social Movements and the Right to the City: An Introduction to the Special Issue on Urban Mobilization

This paper introduces the special issue and explains the diversity as well as common features of mobilization practices present in cities around the world. The paper starts with presenting the specificity and history of urban movements worldwide, as well as the development of ‘right to the city’ frame. Drawing on the existing literature, it focuses on presenting different forms of urban activism and interpretations of ‘right to the city’ slogan. This paper strives to fuse the framework of social movements as networks (Diani, in: Diani, McAdam (eds) Social movements and networks, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 299–318, 2003) of challengers (Gamson in The strategy of social protest, Wadsworth Publishing, Belmont, 1990) with the concepts of diffusion and translation of ideas, borrowed from Finnemore and Sikkink (Int Org 52(4):887–917, 1998). It also illustrates the application of the theoretical concepts of incumbents and challengers (Gamson 1990), organizational platform and norm life cycle (Finnemore and Sikkink 1998) as well as the development on movement networks within and between localities (Diani in The cement of civil society: studying networks in localities, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2015). The theoretical model helps to explain the rapid global spread of the notion of the ‘right to the city.’ The paper concludes with a discussion of the urban context, both ‘glocal’ and global, as an arena of social mobilization around different aspects of the ‘right to the city.’     

The Meaning of Culture and the Culture of Empiricism in American Sociology

This paper is a commentary on Christian Smith’s “The Conceptual Incoherence of ‘Culture’ in American Cultural Sociology.” This paper accepts Smith’s finding of conceptual incoherence at the disciplinary level and argues that it is a symptom of empiricism in American sociology. The paper suggests we employ conceptual analysis as practiced by analytical philosophy and proceeds to show how the use of that methodology can resolve the problem regarding the meaning of culture. In the end, the paper defends a conception of culture along the lines of Archer’s (1996) intelligibilia, interpreted as action and its products bearing social reasoning.     

Stabilisierung als Führungsaufgabe in Organisationsentwicklungsprozessen

The notion of continuous change in organizations assumes that change has no stipulated transitional stages but is a process of perpetual flow. The process of change has come to be seen as a never ending demand on the competence and talents of organizations and persons. In order to be capable of meeting the continuous challenge on their flexibility “organizations” need, more than ever before, to have stable and socially integrated structures. Managers must therefore – in the sense of Lewins dictum “to transform passive participants into active participants” (Fatzer 2002,S:136) – and in order to successfully bring about the processes of change, increasingly occupy themselves with the themes of stabilization and institutionalization. Stabilizing structures, individual roles and management learn and development processes,and the method of evolving them, are critical factors towards the success of every organisational developmental process.     

The Blurring Hypothesis Reconsidered: How Sector Still Matters to Practitioners

This article asks: Is sector still a useful concept for social science research on nonprofit organizations and related fields, such as social entrepreneurship? We answer that it is relevant to practitioners for whom sector boundaries remain an important orienting feature of their organizational worldviews. This observation is at odds with the recent scholarship on “blurring” sector boundaries, much of which suggests that sector is increasingly an outdated concept. Data from one uniquely blended space—the fair trade industry—coupled with insights from Scott’s (Institutions and organizations: ideas, interests, and identities, 2014) theory about the three pillars of institutions suggest that sector remains meaningful despite developments that appear to render it obsolete.     

Transition from Foster Care to Independent Living: Ecological Predictors Associated with Outcomes

Nationally, the outcomes for youth aging out of foster care are dismal. Most children leaving foster care do not have the financial, medical, or social support tools necessary to bridge this transition successfully, placing a significant burden on youth leaving care (Courtney, Piliavin, Grogan, & Nesmith in Child Welfare 80:685–717, 2001; Kools & Kennedy in Pediatric Nursing 29(1):39–45, 2003; Simms, Dubowitz, & Szilagyi in Pediatrics 106:909–918, 2000). Given the poor outcomes for youth aging out of foster care, and the small body of literature on what works to improve outcomes, the purpose of this study was twofold. First to examine youth characteristics associated with better outcomes, and secondly to explore what program characteristics were correlated with outcomes. A causal comparative research design was used, employing pre-existing data. Records were collected from an agency in a large urban/suburban area in the State of Texas. Data was collected from both the Transition Resource Action Center (TRAC) and Children’s Protective Services databases. To determine outcomes, both TRAC’s Self-Sufficiency Matrix and case records were used. TRAC’s Self-Sufficiency Matrix has five domains: Education, Employment, Employability, Financial Literacy, and Shelter. t tests were used to examine differences in outcomes between youth who received TRAC services before and after leaving care. t tests were also used to examine changes in overall Self-Sufficiency Matrix scores. Furthermore, linear and stepwise regressions were conducted to determine which variables were predictive of scores on the Self-Sufficiency Matrix. The results of this study indicate that TRAC is having a positive influence on the youth receiving services. Youth show significant improvement across four of the five identified domains and maintained on the fifth domain, employment. Implications for research practice and policy are presented.     

The Pragmatic Case Study in Psychotherapy: A Mixed Methods Approach Informed by Psychology’s Striving for Methodological Quality

At least as far back as Plato and Aristotle, psychology began as a stepchild of philosophy. The establishment by Wilhelm Wundt in 1879 of the first formal psychological laboratory focused on studying psychophysiological phenomena was psychology’s declaration of independence as a discipline. By positioning itself as the application of natural-science-based, empirical methods involving quantitative, group-based approaches to psychological topics, the discipline consolidated its independence and its societal status and clout. This paper first summarizes these developments, to highlight the causes of psychology’s historical resistance to qualitative case studies, and to qualitative research generally. I then briefly review three movements that have stimulated psychology to slowly but surely embrace qualitative case study research, with the addition of complementary, quantitative data: the rise of postmodern philosophy, the related “cognitive revolution” in psychology, and the “mixed methods” model of research in the social sciences that synergistically combines qualitative and quantitative methods. The result of this embrace, in the context of psychology’s established science-oriented identity, has been for psychology to add quality-of-knowledge guidelines for elevating the yield of case study knowledge. This result is illustrated by three examples: Kazdin’s (J Consult Clin Psychol 49:183–192, 1981) strategies for reducing threats to the validity of conclusions from case studies; Elliott, Fischer, and Rennie’s (Br J Clin Psychol 38:215–229, 1999) development of methodological standards for both quantitative and qualitative research; and my own work in developing the Pragmatic Case Study (PCS), which particularly reflects three of the recent trends in psychology: pluralism, pragmatism, and the mixed methods approach. Comparisons between organized social work’s and organized psychology’s approach to psychotherapy training and research is noted, with the two fields starting off in opposite directions and recently coming together.     

Mann,war, and cyberspace: dualities of infrastructural power in America

Not long after the completion of Michael Mann’s “quadrilogy” on The Sources of Social Power (1986–2012), social scientists began to interrogate the meaning of his concepts of “despotic” and “infrastructural” power. While we know that the former is the most evident sign of danger in times of war, less well understood is the role of infrastructural power in state/civil society relations. Most important is the ambiguous relationship between the two types of power and the possibility that—especially in times of war—infrastructural power can become the vehicle for despotic ends. But infrastructural power is also reciprocal, offering firms and civil society groups channels with which to contest the state’s projects. In this article, I first explicate the different meanings that Mann gave to his concept of infrastructural power. In the second section, I turn to how the concept has been “received” in political science and historical sociology. In the third part, I argue that the main danger to American democracy in wartime lies not in its becoming a despotic state, but in the use of the state’s infrastructural channels for the exercise of despotic ends. The fourth part illustrates the complexities of infrastructural power in business/government/civil society relations in cybersecurity, which Mann—for understandable reasons—did not examine in his encompassing work.