Are Women Really More ”Ameteur” in Politics Than Men?

This paper examines political style among male and female party elites. Previous research primarily from convention delegates to the 1972 nominating conventions has indicated that women tend to be more "amateur" in style than men, while studies drawn from other years have produced null findings. We attempt to reconcile this literature by examining data from party elites in office in 1980 and comparing two alternative explanations of a more amateur style among women. No consistent differences were found in amateur and professional styles, suggesting that the 1972 findings were a function of the particular circumstances of that year.     

Concept mapping—An effective method for identifying diversity and congruity in cognitive style

This paper investigates the effects of cognitive style for decision making on the behaviour of participants in different phases of the group concept mapping process (GCM). It is argued that cognitive style should be included directly in the coordination of the GCM process and not simply considered as yet another demographic variable. The cognitive styles were identified using the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory, which locates each person’s style on a continuum ranging from very adaptive to very innovative. Cognitive style could explain diversity in the participants’ behaviour in different phases of the GCM process. At the same time, the concept map as a group’s common cognitive construct can consolidate individual differences and serves as a tool for managing diversity in groups of participants. Some of the results were that: (a) the more adaptive participants generated ideas that fit to a particular, well-established and consensually agreed paradigm, frame of reference, theory or practice; (b) the more innovative participants produced ideas that were more general in scope and required changing a settled structure (paradigm, frame of reference, theory or practice); and (c) the empirical comparison of the map configurations through Procrustes analysis indicated a strong dissimilarity between cognitive styles.     

Lebensstile und Wohnstandortwahl

Life style research and various disciplines dealing with regional studies argue that life styles are explanatory relevant for decisions in different behavioral areas, in particular for residential choices. However, the results of previous research are rather mixed. To specify the conditions for the explanatory relevance of life style based preferences for locational choices, this article ties in with a parsimonious decision theoretic model, which has been applied both in the sociology of the city and in life style research. Based on this theoretical framework an empirical study is presented, which tests the explanatory relevance of life styles for residential choices. The study is based on neighborhood survey data from Leipzig, representing a context, in which a strong impact of life styles may be expected. However, even in this context the empirical study shows rather limited explanatory power of life style based preferences for residential choices, whereas household arrangements and economic resource endowments of persons show much more explanatory power.     

In the Mind of the Beholder: Evaluation of Coping Styles of Immigrant Parents

The issue of coping with cultural transition, as in the case of immigration, has been the focus of extensive investigation in many domains. There is some diversity among scholars as to the relationship between change, stress, risk and well-being. Children, in particular, are regarded at risk since they experience parental stress and are exposed to two sometimes conflicting socializing systems. Consequently, parental modes of coping with “acculturation stress” are considered major factors in predicting immigrant children’s well-being. This article challenges existing views of a linear relation between parental coping and child well-being, suggesting that there is a great complexity and many variables that affect both parental coping strategies related to immigration and the definition of risk. We suggest that child development is affected by parental values and ideologies which form the “Adaptive Adult” image of the culture in which the children are raised. Immigrant parents confronted with a foreign Adaptive Adult image held by the socializing agents of the host culture may adopt one of the several different copying styles. The article describes three most common coping styles labelled by metaphores from the animal world: the traditional “uni-cultural” style which promotes conservation is represented by the Kangaroo strategy; the “culturally-disoriented” style which calls for rapid assimilation of children is represented by the Cuckoo metaphor; and the “bi-cultural” style, based on a meditative approach, is illustrated by the Chameleon’s ability to change its colour to blend in with the environment. Representatives of four professional sectors who are in daily contact with immigrant families, including educators, social workers, educational psychologists and paediatricians, were presented with three typical coping strategies and were asked to express their opinions regarding the adaptive and risk values of each coping style. By applying a qualitative research approach, results indicate that there are variations in the way the various stakeholders (parents and socializing agents) perceive basic concepts such as adaptation, risk and well-being. Consequently, their evaluations of the different parental coping styles vary, suggesting that it is all "in the mind of the beholder".     

Representational Roles of Nonprofit Advocacy Organizations in the United States

This research explores what roles nonprofits play in political representation by applying the concept of the representational role to nonprofits. The representational role consists of representational focus and style. Representational focus shows those whom nonprofits aim to serve: members, constituents, or the general public. Representational style denotes the ways nonprofits advocate for their focal groups: the delegation, trusteeship, and education styles. The survey and regression analysis results demonstrate that nonprofits serving their members are most likely to convey their members’ voices directly to policy makers: the delegation style. In contrast, nonprofits advocating for their constituents are likely to pursue what they independently identify as their constituents’ interests: the trusteeship style. Finally, nonprofits speaking for the general public are most likely to work toward educating the general public: the education style. These results suggest that nonprofits play different roles in political representation, depending on the types of their focal groups.     

Leadership and Gender in Public Relations: Perceived Effectiveness of Transformational and Transactional Leadership Styles

This study used a quantitative survey and qualitative focus groups to examine perceptions of leadership styles, sex differences in these perceptions, and opinions about the gendered nature of leadership in public relations. In summary, the focus group data supported survey results that indicated a strong preference for transformational leadership style over transactional leadership. However, there was also strong evidence for a preference for situational leadership. Findings are interpreted within the frameworks of public relations theory and gender theory.     

Alternative and Conventional Agricultural Paradigms: Evidence From Farming in Southwest Saskatchewan*

Abstract Agricultural analysts have suggested that the emergence of an alternative agriculture system represents more than changes in practices; it is also thought to represent a shift in environmental beliefs, values, attitudes, and norms. This means that conventional and alternative systems of agriculture represent distinct paradigms which are informed by two contradictory worldviews. Insofar as this claim is correct, it is possible to delineate, target, and promote one paradigm, depending on the system of agriculture that policy makers wish to encourage. In this paper we seek to clarify the practical application of the two agricultural paradigms by examining the practices, beliefs, values, norms, and attitudes of farmers in southwest Saskatchewan, part of the semi‐arid section of the North American Great Plains. Findings support the view that different farming systems correspond to different worldviews. Strong confidence in the market, however, is not limited to conventional farmers, as suggested by the literature.     

Multiple Ways of Coordinating Volunteers With Differing Styles of Service

Volunteerism is changing, and traditional ways of coordinating volunteers need re-examination in order for human service programs to survive. Our practitioner/academician team has been using well-known frameworks to reveal deep-seated assumptions about how people volunteer at the dawn of the 21st century and how changes in volunteering influence the organization and coordination of those efforts. The different styles of volunteering demand that coordinators' engagement strategies vary when different worldviews are held. In this article, four types of volunteer programs are identified: traditional, social change, serendipity, and entrepreneurial. Examples of each program type are provided, along with guidelines for their oversight. We conclude with a call for research that examines the important differences in how to appropriately use the talents of increasingly diverse types of volunteers in community practice.     

ANT and Politics: Working in and on the World

While it is possible to define ANT in a series of abstract bullet points to do so is to miss most of the point. Instead it explores and theorises the world through rich case studies. This means that, like symbolic interactionism, for ANT words are never enough: you need to practice it. In this paper we work empirically, drawing on an ANT-inflected ethnography of Norwegian salmon farming, and also dialogically. We do this because we want to show that for ANT theory is created, recreated, explored and tinkered with in particular research practices. Indeed, ANT is probably best understood as a sensibility, a set of empirical interferences in the world, a worldly practice, or a lively craft that cherishes the slow processes of knowing rather than immediately seeking results or closure. In particular it is sensible to materiality, relationality, heterogeneity, and process. At its best it understands itself as working in the world to create analytical contexts; but also on the world, to articulate and press particular contexts and their politics. As a part of this it explores the contingencies of power, generating tools to undo the inevitability of that power, while working on the assumption that other and better worlds are possible.     

Parenting Style and Dimensions Questionnaire: A Review of Reliability and Validity

Increasing interest in measuring parenting styles, especially with the Parenting Style and Dimensions Questionnaire, has emerged in the last 17 years. However, a critical review of studies using this instrument to assess parenting styles has not been done. The present article proposes an extensive review of studies that applied the instrument, focusing in particular on the different uses of the scale, its psychometric properties, and its association with other constructs. A discussion about the applicability, measurement reliability and validity of the instrument is provided.     

Conservative Protestantism and Tolerance toward Homosexuals: An Examination of Potential Mechanisms*

A number of studies over the years have reported that members of conservative Protestant churches tend to be less tolerant—that is, reluctant to extend civil liberties—vis‐à‐vis homosexuals. This paper explores several possible explanations for this pattern. In particular, we identify key aspects of conservative Protestant religious values and worldviews that may contribute to this pattern, and relevant hypotheses are tested using data from the 1988 General Social Survey. Results highlight the role of biblical literalism, as well as specific beliefs about the public nature of morality and the implications of perceived immoral conduct for collective well‐being. We discuss the implications of these findings for the understanding of contemporary conservative Protestantism, as well as for future research on the nexus of religion, politics, and democratic citizenship.     

Reasoning With Case Studies: Issues Of An Aging Workforce

Case studies are an ideal research approach to generate in-depth and contextualized data. Many specific data collection approaches can be incorporated to gather data through a case study, but the information so gathered is interpreted in terms of a single case. When a set of case studies is conducted on a particular research theme, the question arises as to what kinds of inferences can be made with a small number of cases. Problems of inference are increased when the cases have been selected opportunistically or haphazardly and when the universe of all potential cases cannot readily be defined. Charles Ragin has distinguished between the logic of multivariate analysis and the logic of comparative case analysis. Drawing on this distinction, this article will describe the ways in which inferences can be drawn, and the nature of such inferences, from a multiple case study approach. Reasoning from multiple case studies is an inductive process that uses comparisons to generate hypotheses and to provide limited tests through the principle of falsification. This approach was used in developing a synthesizing report based on seven large case studies from the project, “Issues of an Aging Workforce.” Five Canadian and two American case studies were conducted in corporate settings in different economic sectors. The case studies used qualitative methods (focus groups and key informant interviews) and survey data from employees and managers. Thus, the logic of multivariate analysis was used, along with inductive reasoning with qualitative data, within cases, and a logic of comparative case analysis when seeking to make and test generalizations based on the set of seven cases.     

Ambicultural blending between Eastern and Western paradigms: Fresh perspectives for international management research

East and Southeast Asian worldviews are distinctly different from those of the West. Westerners and Asians construct their environments differently, not least because they construct the notion of ‘self’ very differently. This paper describes and exemplifies distinctions in cognitive and linguistic styles between the East and the West and outlines the implications of these styles for environmental perspectives and research paradigms. Examples from Thailand illustrate the philosophical roots and practical implications of an indigenous Eastern perspective for local business interactions. We explore the privilege afforded in Western, Cartesian paradigms in (Asian) management research and stimulate debate on the benefits of promoting alternative Asian indigenous perspectives for both management research and management practice. We support the idea that Asian management discourse needs more self-confidence and deserves a more prominent place in international research, not least because international management research will greatly benefit from freshly ‘blended’ perspectives that incorporate Eastern and Western perspectives.     

Decision‐Making Styles,Career Decision Self‐Efficacy,and Career Adaptability Among High School Students

We investigated the relationships between decision‐making styles, career decision self‐efficacy, and career adaptability among high school students. We also sought to determine whether gender moderates the relationships among these three constructs. A total of 216 Serbian final‐year high school students responded to career adaptability and decision‐making measures. Results of structural equation modeling showed that career decision self‐efficacy mediates a positive relationship between the rational and intuitive styles and a negative relationship between the dependent style and career adaptability. The rational style only had a direct effect on career adaptability. Gender moderated one path—a regression weight of self‐efficacy on career adaptability. For male students, self‐efficacy was not a significant predictor of career adaptability. The results suggest that career counselors might approach students differently depending on students' gender and that the role of gender in career decision‐making and adaptability processes should be investigated further.     

THE INFLUENCE OF HOLISTIC AND ANALYTIC COGNITIVE STYLES ON ONLINE INFORMATION DESIGN: Toward a communication theory of cultural cognitive design

Although studies have linked culture to online user preferences and performance, few communication researchers have recognized the impact of culture on online information design and usability. It is important to ask if people are better able to use and prefer Web sites created by designers from their own culture. We propose that to improve computer-mediated communication, Web site design should accommodate culturally diverse user groups. First, a body of research is presented that aligns East Asian cultures with more holistic cognitive styles and Western cultures with more analytical cognitive styles. Building on this contrast, a theory of cultural cognitive design is proposed as a means of understanding how cognitive styles that develop under the influence of culture lead to different ways of designing and organizing information for the Web.     

Worldviews or Social Groups as the Source of Moral Value Attitudes: Implications for the Culture Wars Thesis

Individual moral value attitudes are typically explained by reference to social experiences as indicated by social group variables. Contrary to this view, the emergent culture wars perspective claims that two worldviews that transcend social groups are ultimately and fundamentally responsible for moral value attitudes. Although this relationship has been claimed for the general population, it has not been investigated with national representative data. This paper contrasts the worldview and social group explanations by examining the relative importance of the worldviews implicated in the culture wars literature and the social groups found to be important in previous research. I find social groups to be more important than worldviews, but that worldviews also have explanatory power. I conclude with a discussion about possible clarifications of the culture wars thesis.     

The Adoption of Integrated Pest Management Practices Among Texas Cotton Growers1

Abstract Agricultural technologies are becoming increasingly complex requiring farmers to bundle selected technologies. Technology bundling results in a variety of different farming systems. Features of diffusion and farming systems theories are combined to define an analytical model, which assesses background, diffusion, and technology belief factors' influence on growers' adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) practices and cotton yields. We selected a proportionate random sample of growers (n = 722) from 14 cotton-producing counties in Texas. A telephone survey was conducted in 1985 resulting in a response rate of 76 percent. Findings demonstrated the importance of different sources of IPM information to particular status groups of growers. Information sources produced positive effects on growers' beliefs about IPM benefits and growers' adoption of three IPM practices. IPM adoption resulted in higher yields of upland and pima cotton per acre.     

Sex With Chinese Characteristics: Sexuality Research in/on 21st-Century China

This article examines the changing contours of Chinese sexuality studies by locating recent research in historical context. Our aim is to use the literature we review to construct a picture of the sexual landscape in China and the sociocultural and political conditions that have shaped it, enabling readers unfamiliar with China to understand its sexual culture and practices. In particular, we focus on the consequences of recent changes under the Xi regime for individuals’ sexual lives and for research into sexuality. While discussing the social and political regulation of sexuality, we also attend to the emergence of new forms of gendered and sexual subjectivity in postsocialist China. We argue throughout that sexuality in China is interwoven with the political system in a variety of ways, in particular through the tension between neoliberal and authoritarian styles of governance. We explore normative and dissident sexualities as well as forms of sexual conduct that are officially “deviant” but nonetheless tolerated or even tacitly enabled by the party-state. In particular, we highlight the dilemmas and contradictions faced by China’s citizens as they negotiate their sexual lives under “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”     

Parent-child aggression: association with child abuse potential and parenting styles

The present investigation predicted that greater use of corporal punishment as well as physical maltreatment would be associated with child abuse potential and selected parenting styles. Three independent studies were examined, two with community samples and a third with a clinical at-risk sample of parents. Parents across all studies anonymously completed the Child Abuse Potential Inventory, the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale to assess physical discipline and maltreatment, as well as the Parenting Scale to measure dysfunctional parenting styles. Findings support that overall parent-child aggression, as well as physical maltreatment behaviors specifically, were associated with child abuse potential. Parent-child aggression was also related to dysfunctional parenting styles, particularly an overreactive, authoritarian parenting style. Permissive parenting was also identified as potentially associated with physical maltreatment, although the findings regarding such lax parenting styles are less clear. Intriguing findings emerged regarding the connection of psychological aggression to both child abuse potential and dysfunctional parenting style. Child abuse potential was also associated with dysfunctional parenting style, particularly harsh, overreactive approaches. Recommendations for future study with at-risk samples and additional research on permissive parenting and psychological aggression are discussed.