Interagency Collaboration with High-Risk Gang Youth

This study examines the process of collaboration between agencies working with high-risk gang youth. Using semi-structured interviews with direct practitioners and observations of a collaborative event at a juvenile prison, this theory-generating study examined the strengths of and barriers to collaboration between adolescent-serving agencies. Practitioners indicated the importance of communication and cooperation as elements of a successful collaboration. In practice, however, these elements were often replaced by premature termination of collaborative arrangements, blaming other agencies for failure of youth, and diffusion of responsibility (passing the buck). This study proposes agency fear as a factor separating desired from actual practice, and proposes potential causes and outcomes of agency fear.     

College Age Lesbianism as a Developmental Phenomenon

Abstract

Based on clinical work with lesbian college students, this paper discusses a relationship between their lesbianism and the development of autonomy and intimacy. Three subgroups among the students are described, oriented respectively to: ideology, personal development, and interpersonal feelings. It is suggested that for these students lesbian orientation be understood in terms of ongoing ego development more than arrested psychosexual development. The students oriented to ideology and personal development seem to be experiencing a shift from authority and sense of identity located externally, in others' expectations, to a more autonomous, self-governing self. The interpersonally-oriented students seem more focally involved with issues of intimacy than of autonomy. The cultural context is seen as crucial to the lesbianism of these students, particularly traditional cultural assumptions of male dominance and more recent changes in womens' attitudes toward themselves. It is assumed that homosexuality may have many styles, origins and meanings, and that this paper does not elucidate the experience of all lesbians or even all lesbian college students.     

Developmental Dynamics in Nonprofit-Sector Federations

This article explores developmental processes in community-based issue domains and the effects of such processes on the federated referent organizations (FROs) that emerge to address problematic issues. Such organizations mobilize resources and serve as focal points for collective strategies. FROs encounter developmental tensions as they oscillate between adaptation to their environments and construction of new contexts. The way these tensions are resolved suggests three possible response scenarios: reorientation, replacement, or demise. Likely conditions for each scenario are explored. A case study of a federation of over 200 nonprofit organizations in a metropolitan region in the United States is used to illustrate the argument, and implications for similar types of organizations are indicated.     

An Emergent Phenomenon of American Indian Secondary Students’ Career Development Process

Nine single‐race American Indian secondary students’ career development experiences were examined through a phenomenological methodology. All 9 participants were in the transition period starting in late secondary school (age 18). Data sources included individual interviews and journal analysis. The phenomenon of American Indian secondary students’ career development process comprised 7 themes, which were integrated into 3 interacting dimensions: introspective, relational, and contextual. Findings reveal unique career development processes for American Indian secondary students living in tribal settings, including career decision process, career options, outcome expectations, and self‐efficacy. Implications for school counselors and counselor educators are discussed.     

Hezbollah as a Group Phenomenon: Differential Association Theory

This article examines Hezbollah through the lens of differential association theory. The theory posits that violent behavior is cultivated in group interaction. One does not simply act alone but must learn from the tricks, successes, and failures of those who belong to one's group. In this analysis, the theory explains how Hezbollah has successfully managed to recruit new members and convince them to perpetrate terrorist attacks. The essence of any terrorist endeavor is communication among group members. As such, by interacting with one another, Hezbollah terrorists develop their combat skills and learn new tactics. Of particular importance in this analysis is the role of symbolism that forges a bond among group members. Whether it is through the Ashura procession (an annual Shi'ite commemorative ceremony), matams (religious sanctuaries that now serve as political and social gatherings), or calendar events such as World Jerusalem Day, potential Hezbollah members get to learn violent behavior by cultivating evil in groups.     

Bridgework: Diversity and Collaboration in an Undergraduate Preengineering Course

In this article, we draw on ethnographic findings to examine the meaning of “diversity” and “collaboration” within the context of an undergraduate preengineering course at a large Hispanic-serving institution located on the U.S.–Mexico border. Using bridgework, a new theoretical concept, we analyze interactions and interactivity that occurred within and among jigsaw groups attempting to solve mathematical problems as part of a precalculus review. Our use of bridgework, contributes to cultural-historical activity theory to demonstrate how contradictions and multivoicedness among interacting activity systems can work to change patterns of activity, thus providing a complex view of diversity and collaboration.     

Collaboration as a strategy to accelerate change

Abstract

As a strategy, collaboration is increasingly recognized by governments and by library partnerships as a critical component in achieving next generation change, particularly where it leads to trust in shared infrastructure, collections and expertise. Collaboration reduces the risks to the library industry. These risks stem from the capability of libraries to respond rapidly to changing technology and user needs, and to drive an increase in the digitization of collections and ensure the preservation of digital content. The ten National, State and Territory Libraries of Australia and New Zealand have committed to collaboration to accelerate change in their libraries and to new principles of open and easy access to information. The challenge is to bring these elements together as a transformed and implemented service.     

Enhancing Information Literacy in an Interdisciplinary Collaboration

ABSTRACT

The study examined the impact of an interdisciplinary collaborative on the information literacy of its participants by using legitimate peripheral participation (Lave & Wenger, 1991) as a conceptual framework. The objectives of this exploratory study were to document participants' qualitative gains in information technology knowledge and uses, and to analyze expert involvement in supporting learning by novices. Data were gathered by using a participation observation approach, interviews, and survey. Participants cited more frequently the non-technical aspects of information literacy as being more beneficial than gains in technical know-how. Varying degrees of expert involvement ranging from enabling to instructing were identified. The implications in terms of convening and managing communities of practice and the development of legitimate peripheral participation theory are discussed.     

The Collaboration as Empowerment Claim: The Case of Visual Social Research

This article uses the case of visually based collaborative social science research to explore the problem of inequality between researchers and research subjects in social science research. This dilemma is ever present for social scientists researching topics where the research subject represents a group experiencing social exclusion. The paper uses the claim of those social scientists that argue that collaboration between researchers and research subjects can diminish the inequality problem by empowering research subjects. Through this interrogation of the “collaboration as empowerment claim,” as an ideal type construction the paper argues that (i) it pays insufficient attention to the knowledge frameworks and incentive structures around which research projects are carried out and disseminated, (ii) it does not interrogate the fact that the claim of empowerment as outcome is made by those in the researcher role, and (iii) it does not explicitly document the research subject's own assessment of a collaboration/empowerment link. The paper moves beyond the insights drawn from the visual case to point to their implications for other areas in which collaboration research is claimed as a means to empower research subjects and by implication to diminish researcher/research subject inequalities.     

Muir,Roosevelt, and Yosemite National Park as an Emergent Sacred Symbol: An Interaction Ritual Analysis of a Camping Trip

We argue that interaction ritual (IR) theory provides a temporal and interactional point of origin from which to trace an influential IR chain that became a deciding factor in the unification of Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove under federal control within present‐day Yosemite National Park. The emotions generated by the rituals of Roosevelt's and Muir's camping trip in May, 1903 in the short term, however, failed to result in a lasting consensus on ideology. This is a point that Roosevelt's lack of support for Muir in the subsequent controversy over the damming of the Hetch Hetchy Valley clearly documents. A video abstract is available at http://tinyurl.com/myv74yd     

Disability as a Phenomenon: a discourse of social and biological understanding

This paper addresses conceptualisations of disability and what it constitutes as a category in a social security system. It argues that the conceptualisation of disability involves a discourse about definitions. This means it is an ongoing debate about principles or which determinators to use presenting the 'correct' understanding of disability as a phenomenon. The disability discourse involves a contest between a biological and social understanding of disability. This paper discusses which domains of interest are produced by each of these understandings. They are based on empirical findings when analysing rights of entitlement to a disability programme in the Swedish social security system. The study followed documentation of the public debates for a period of 25 years and extracted what was communicated as constituting disability in these debates. Which definition to give disability by this social security programme appeared as being a continuous contest between medical and social understanding. The paper argues that, rather than approaching the biological understanding as representing an antiquated concept to disability and the social model as a modern conceptualisation, these understandings are competitive. This makes disability into a flexible and heterogeneous concept, a term difficult to give a specified and limited meaning.     

Reconceptualizing the Self Phenomenon: Toward an Emic Conception of the Self

In sociology, the self has been conceptualized as either self‐concept or the process of self‐reflectivity. Both notions of the self have been traced to the early thinkers—William James, Charles H. Cooley, and George H. Mead—who laid the foundation for the scientific study of the self phenomenon. In this article, I propose a revised conception of the self based on a re‐reading of the classics. I argue that the self is related to but not the same as self‐concept or the process of self‐reflectivity. The self is an emic object, that is, the entity that one takes oneself to be. More specifically, the self is the empirical existence of an individual perceived by the individual to be his or her own. As the identity the individual finds in his or her existence in a world shared with others, the self is a product of both self‐reflection and self‐enactment. Implications of this reconceptualization for some broad issues related to the self phenomenon are also discussed.     

Contemporary NGO–Journalist Relations: Reviewing and Evaluating an Emergent Area of Research

Long recognized as key players in international politics, non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) increasingly assume important roles in the provision of news. By hiring photographers, staffing online departments and funding reporting trips, NGOs act in ways that overlap with the actions of professional journalists. This article reviews and evaluates an emerging area of research – the study of NGO–journalist relations – that analyzes these developments. It proceeds in four parts: First, it overviews changes in the NGO and journalism sectors that drive growing scholarly interest in the topic. Second, it summarizes the findings of the available research. Third, it suggests some of the ways in which this research connects with concerns in the sociology of media and communication. Fourth, it evaluates the findings in light of various normative frameworks of public discourse. It concludes by suggesting that NGO–journalism scholarship can benefit from further attention by sociologists working in the areas of media and communication.     

Entrepreneurial Processes in an Emergent Resource Industry: Community Embeddedness in Maine's Sea Urchin Industry*

Abstract The impact of economic changes on communities is not a new subject for rural sociology. However, a growing literature examines the impact of communal relations on economic action and organization. This paper contributes to this literature with an examination of entrepreneur‐ship in an emergent resource industry—the northwest Atlantic sea urchin industry. Based on fieldwork conducted from July 1996 to April 1998, the analysis finds two different types of entrepreneurs emerge: those embedded in local fishing communities and those from outside those communities. Although they share similar challenges, entrepreneurs' differing relationships with the local community lead to diverse strategies, which have important implications for the development of new industries.     

Collaboration: leveraging resources and expertise

Successful collaboration is an art form but can be developed through several smart practices. The authors discuss the meaning of collaboration, stakeholder perceptions of collaborative partnerships, and the experience of Summer Scholars, a nonprofit community organization that successfully uses collaboration to accomplish its mission. Further, they offer strategies for successful collaborative efforts.