Issuing and Responding to Unusual Questions: A Conversation Analytic Account of Tom Andersen's Therapeutic Practice

Tom Andersen is considered one of the key contributors to the development of postmodern practice. Little is known, however, about the ways in which his ideas and practices are routinely carried out in situ. We used Conversation Analysis (CA) to investigate a session of couple therapy facilitated by Andersen. We show how Andersen and client participants oriented to and addressed problems of understanding that occurred between them. The source of this trouble was Andersen's use of unusual question formulations. We offer preliminary evidence that such unusual formulations served particular interactional and institutional (i.e., therapeutic) functions in their local contexts of use. We conclude by considering some implications of this analysis—and of conversation analytic inquiry more generally—for the practice of family therapy.     

The relationship between reputation,employer branding and corporate social responsibility

Reputation management requires coordination between internal understanding and external expectations (Cornelissen, 2011). The focus of this study were external expectations of potential employees. The main goal of the study was to contribute to the understanding of corporate reputation and its connections with perceived corporate social responsibility and employer brands. All three concepts were investigated amongst 550 senior college business students. The units of analysis were top twenty national organizations, rated according to a syndicated study on employer attractiveness. The results show that students assign good reputation to those organizations that are perceived as socially responsible and with a good employer brand. Reputation, at least according to our results, seems to be the umbrella concept that encompasses both perceived corporate social responsibility and perceived employer brands. Organizations that develop different strategies, policies and practices with regards to socially responsible behavior and nurturing employer brands have higher levels of perceived reputation among students. Additionally, students' perceptions and position on the list of the most attractive employers is consistent.     

Profile of the Present Slovak Society and its Regional Differences

The article is the first attempt in assessment of the development and the present situation of social structure and stratification in Slovakia. Its principal aim is to develop the profile of the present society in Slovakia, which reflects the pace and complexity of the transformation process and its impact on society. Processing of Micro census data from 2003 led to creation of the profile of society in Slovakia at the national level based on income distribution but also knowledge on regional societies and differences between them were obtained. It was found out that the present profile of the society in Slovakia is pear-shaped which means strong representation of lower strata and weaker representation of higher middle and high strata. The profile disclosed some specific features and inconsistencies in the present society of Slovakia, which were, and still are determined by many non standard past and present phenomena and processes often disguised by reforms. The information drawn in regions has facilitated identification of the basic nature and structure of regional societies, some of their specific features and negative elements and to demonstrate their highly differentiated character.

The importance of being mature: the effect of demographic maturation on global per capita GDP

Given that savings behaviour and worker productivity have strong life-cycle components and given that demographic profiles vary across countries, population age structure should be linked to differences in levels of economic development. In this paper, we measure the economic importance of age structure variation for the global economy. We find that demographic maturation has been associated with nearly half of the evolution of global per capita GDP since 1960. We also find that age structure differences can account for just over half of the variation in worldwide per capita GDP (i.e. the lack of sigma convergence) observed since 1960.

Getting to know reality and breaking stereotypes: the experience of two generations of working disabled women

This paper sets out the results of a Spanish study of the experience and meaning of work among disabled women of two generations, with three types of disability (physical, visual and hearing). Performing a socially recognised activity such as a job is a source of emotional welfare and self‐esteem. Moreover, it confers a certain social status. For the participants in this study the kind of work involved, whether productive, paid and ‘extra‐domestic’ or ‘reproductive’, unpaid and done at home, acquires different meanings, since for disabled women, sexist stereotypes – already more or less accentuated in the culture – social attitudes towards disability and personal factors introduce relevant differences, while leading to conflicts and dilemmas that these women have to solve. At any rate, their sense of responsibility in performing all types of work should be emphasised as evidence of their sense of independence and personal competence, forming a keystone in their construction of a sense of identity and social integration.     

Staff Reactions Toward Lesbian,Gay, or Bisexual (LGB) People Living in Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) Who Actively Disclose Their Sexual Orientation

Fifty-three staff members currently working in residential aged care facilities located in Barcelona, Spain, were asked about the way they would react if a resident told them that he or she felt sexually attracted and had maintained sexual relationships with another resident of the same gender. Acceptance of non-heterosexual sexual orientation was a frequent answer, and around one in four professionals stated that they would try helping the resident in question, by offering a private space or giving some emotional support. However, some reactions were not consistent with a respectful approach toward sexual diversity, as, for instance, informing the resident’s family or advising the resident to keep his or her sexual orientation hidden. We highlight the importance of developing formal policies and offering formal training to staff in order to address the specific needs of older LGB people living in RACFs.     

Landscape urbanization threatens plant phylogenetic diversity in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Urbanization causes species loss around the world, but its effects on phylogenetic diversity are poorly known in tropical forests. Using a patch-landscape approach in an urbanizing region of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, we tested whether the increase in landscape urbanization reduces plant species density, phylogenetic richness and divergence, and increases the relatedness among co-occurring individuals and species. We assessed plant responses to urbanization in adult (diameter at breast height?>?10 cm) and sapling communities (2.5–10 cm diameter) separately, as saplings are proxies of the future flora. We sampled 2860 woody plants belonging to 155 species in nine circular landscapes with urbanization level varying from 0% to 45%, and estimated the relatedness among the species that have increased and decreased in relative abundance in more urbanized landscapes (winner and losers, respectively). As expected, species density and phylogenetic richness decreased with the increase in urbanization. These responses were consistent for adult and sapling communities, suggesting a persistent loss of species and lineages in more urbanized landscapes. Contrary to our expectations, phylogenetic divergence and structure did not respond to urbanization, indicating that the more urbanized landscapes still retain much evolutionary history. However, because the relatedness among winners was greater than among losers, it is likely that the phylogenetic divergence gradually reduces and the relatedness increases, resulting in impoverished forests with uncertain ability to provide ecosystem services such as carbon storage and pest control. This environmental cost should be taken into account to align urban sprawl with biodiversity conservation.     

Improving and measuring transparency in NGOs: A disclosure index for activities and projects

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are established not with the aim of making profits but rather to provide social values by implementing different projects and activities. Transmitting complete information about these projects to society is a key element of transparency, as they operate within an atmosphere of public trust. Although there is a large body of literature on transparency in NGOs from a global perspective, very little research has been conducted on transparency within the area of projects and activities. This study takes a deeper look at this line and contributes to the literature on transparency in NGOs by proposing an index to measure the information transparency of the projects implemented by these organizations. The index captures three dimensions of the information about the projects (technical, financial, and scope) and makes it possible to: analyze the level of transparency of the portfolio of projects, detect the specific aspects that could be improved in each organization, and carry out comparisons among organizations.