Politics and the Mass Media:

Studies of the impact of mass media on political attitudes and behavior have generally concluded that the mass media do little more than reinforce prior preferences. These studies have painted a simplistic picture of how the mass media influences the electorate. Using the 1990 Australian National Election as a test case, results show that while the mass media have a significant impact on political attitudes and voting behavior, especially among respondents who viewed the political debates, this effect is specifically restricted to males. Thus, the mass media do have a direct effect on political outcomes, and this process appears to be an exclusively male phenomenon. Several explanations are discussed to account for this finding.     

Darwin-Skeptic Mass Media: Examining Persuasion in the Evolution Wars

Due to the persistence and growth of the so-called Evolution Wars, numerous scholars have attempted to determine exactly why these religion-science skirmishes have somewhat enigmatically become a worldwide phenomenon. This article seeks to help answer this question by uniquely considering Darwin-skeptic mass media. Specifically, it is contended that persuasive mass media is a decisive element of the Evolution Wars controversy, and that its sociological significance is not merely derived from the merits of its communicated arguments, but by the extent of its persuasiveness. This study implements a content analysis of antievolutionist communications produced from 2009 to 2011 by the Institute for Creation Research, Answers in Genesis, and the Center for Science and Culture. The project subsequently gauges the occurrence rates of message variables associated with the Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion within Darwin-skeptic media, and explores how these elements are articulated.     

1973年石油危机与日本中东政策的调整

1973年10月第四次中东战争爆发后,阿拉伯国家限产提价,造成石油危机,对以美国为首的西方国家施加压力。日本石油严重依赖阿拉伯国家的石油,国内立即陷入危机,不得不与美国反复磋商,最后在美国的默许下发表了基本符合阿拉伯要求的声明。日本对中东政策的调整,是在对中东石油的需求和受美国控制的夹缝中进行的。日美关系是战后日本对外政策的基轴,冷战中如此,冷战后亦如此。     

Crisis Communication Strategies in the Media Coverage of Chemical Accidents

Two studies examine media reports of chemical accident crises to explore the extent to which crisis communication strategies are included. Study 1 found that although reputation repair strategies were rarely included, about 1/4 of the reports included some combination of information-giving strategies attributed to organizational spokespersons. First responders were quoted more frequently than organizational representatives. Study 2 examined follow-up stories associated with the initial reports and revealed that, although reputation repair and information giving strategies appeared more frequently than in Study 1, they were only used in 24% and 60% of the cases, respectively. Overall, organizational spokespersons were not featured prominently in the media reports.     

Toward a prediction of third-world immigrants into Canada, 1973-1985

The author examines trends in migratory movements to Canada between 1949 and 1972 in an attempt to determine the statistical regularity of immigration from developing countries and to predict the probable number of third world immigrants to Canada for the period 1973-1985. The effects on migration of political factors and of variables associated with the area of origin are studied (SUMMARY IN FRE, SPA)     

Communication and Attributions in a Crisis: An Experimental Study in Crisis Communication

This study provides a partial test of a symbolic approach to crisis management. The symbolic approach examines the strategies used to respond to crises. The study concentrated on the match between crisis type and crisis response strategy. An experimental design was used to explore how crisis type, organization performance history and crisis response were associated with the image of an organization. Additional analyses explored how causal attributions varied according to crisis type. For the cases tested, the results supported the use of the crisis response strategies recommended by the symbolic approach. The results of the experiment supported the basic assumptions of the approach. The implications and directions for future investigations using the symbolic model are discussed.     

Asian Community Mental Health Services at 35: a pioneering ethnic organization (1973-2008)

Asian Community Mental Health Services is a nonprofit organization that delivers mental health services to primarily Asian and Pacific Islander communities. From its early beginnings and over its 35-year history, the agency has had to overcome numerous challenges, including gaining legitimacy as a culturally specific nonprofit, combating stigma surrounding mental health issues within the Asian Pacific Islander community, building resources to fund service delivery, and developing an educated and culturally sensitive workforce. The history of the organization highlights the multiple challenges and rewards of developing a culturally specific nonprofit in an urban area as well as the important role that internal operations play in relation to nonprofit expansion and growth.     

自媒体时代大学生自我认同困境与化解

在现实身份缺场的自媒体场域中,当代大学生享受信息交互传递所带来的便捷与畅快的同时,自我认同也面临凌空蹈虚的乌托邦险境。自媒体为大学生提供了平等自由表达的平台,又使其难逃表演型自我呈现下片面性、虚假性自我认知的掣肘;为大学生打开了认知社会的新窗口,又以纷繁杂陈的网络乱象使其陷入价值选择的迷思;为大学生开辟了人际交往的新天地,又因其先天弱范性特质引发大学生交际模式的错位。对于自媒体时代大学生自我认同问题的化解,要紧密结合自媒体及当代大学生本身的特点,从培养大学生网络主体意识,以社会主义核心价值观对其进行思想引领及提高大学生自媒体交往资质等方面展开。     

Training Family Therapists: Creating a Learning Experience

This article describes the structure of a Three Day Residential Workshop for experienced therapists. We were concerned that workshops for family therapists often failed to provide a sense of continuity and movement from one interview to the next. We also felt that workshops, through their process, imply an expectation of uniformity in style that may inhibit the creativity and spontaneity of the therapists. We therefore chose the Growth Model of family therapy as we experimented with a format that: (a) used sequential interviews which broke some well established rules of role-playing, (b) utilized a team approach as a useful tool in furthering the learning experience, and (c) exposed the participants to a variety of therapy styles. In this article we seek to Illustrate those components of the workshop that proved successful and those areas which needed to be changed in order to make it a more effective learning experience. We conclude with specific recommendations regarding the structuring of such workshops.     

Media Diet Homogeneity in a Fragmented Media Landscape

This study assesses the nature of selective exposure and avoidance behaviors among political liberals and conservatives using a survey of 351 American citizens obtained through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Analyses of a new “homogeneity of media diet” measure suggest that although liberals and conservatives consume a comparable total number of media sources, the homogeneity of those media sources is higher among liberals than it is among conservatives. In the sample examined here, liberals were significantly more likely than conservatives to selectively attend to ideologically onsonant media sources and were significantly more likely than conservatives to selectively avoid ideologically discrepant media sources. Analyses include a validity test of the self-reported selective exposure used by Pew and others, as well as an examination of partisan perceptions of the ideological leanings of various media sources. Results indicate that conservatives are more likely than liberals to rate neutral media sources (e.g., CNN, USA Today, and network news broadcasts) as ideologically biased. Meanwhile, liberals are more likely than conservatives to perceive the bias in their ideologically consonant media sources. Implications for future studies of selective exposure and avoidance—and democratic theory in general—are discussed.     

Creating Community: Latina Nannies in a West Los Angeles Park

Drawing on 1 year of ethnographic fieldwork in Los Angeles, this article examines how Latina nannies create workplace solidarity in a public park. This article reveals how nannies use public spaces in the neighborhoods in which they work to establish ties similar to co-worker relations in other settings. This paper demonstrates how nannies create a community at the park by incorporating park staff into their activities, reinforcing group values such as sharing and reciprocity, and distinguishing themselves from their employers. Adding to previous research which highlights the atomization and stigmatization that comes with domestic employment, this article shows how nannies create co-worker relationships that are buffers against unfavorable job conditions such as solitary work settings and unappreciative employers.

Schooling and violence in South Africa: Creating a safer school

The legacy of the brutality of apartheid in South Africa is a violent social context characterized by high levels of unemployment, extremes of wealth and poverty, continuing racism, the easy availability of guns and patriarchal values and behaviours. Violent crime is widespread in South Africa and schools in disadvantaged areas suffer from serious problems of gang-related crime. This article discusses a pilot project with a cluster of three schools in Durban which investigated whether intervention and training coupled with mutual support between cooperating schools, and between schools and the police, can reduce incidents of crime and violence. The idea behind the project was to see whether a small-scale, simple and inexpensive intervention could help to improve security in a relatively short time span. The article describes the nature of the project, evaluates its outcomes and discusses emergent issues for South African education. The overall conclusion stemming from the project is that South African schools are not helpless in the face of an onslaught of crime and violence. While there is no complete and foolproof solution to the problem, schools can nevertheless be helped to find simple, relatively cheap and practical measures to reduce crime and violence.     

Population change in Burma: a comparison of the 1973 and 1983 censuses

"A comparison of the 1973 and 1983 censuses provides ample evidence of a decline in fertility in Burma [Myanmar]. The proportion of children in the population fell substantially in the ten-year period accompanied by a significant increase in the mean age at marriage as indicated by the higher female...mean age at marriage. An analysis of the regional variations in population density indicates inter-regional movement of population. While there is marked success in the literacy programmes as indicated by the sharp reduction in the prevalence of illiteracy, especially among the females, changes in the industrial and occupational structure of the labour force suggest worsening economic conditions. Under these circumstances, it is surmised that the fall in fertility, without any concerted government policy for inducing such a decline, may be a first-level and benign response of a more literate and hence more informed population to rising aspirations and the inability of the economy to accommodate these aspirations."     

Developing a Crisis Management Index: Applications in South Korea

The purpose of this study is to develop a crisis management index that can gauge a corporation's integrated crisis management capabilities. Although most crisis management models have been devised in Western countries, no full-scale crisis management index has been developed outside the Western hemisphere. This study deploys multiple research stages that reflect the characteristics of crisis management. First, the study validates index items through an extensive literature review, in-depth interviews, and professional audits. The dimensions of the index items are evaluated through an exploratory factor analysis and verified with construct validity through a confirmatory factor analysis. The final index dimensions—the organizational strategy, the organization system and culture, and the execution and communication—were applied to the case of South Korean corporations, and the implications based on their index scores are discussed.