University websites and dialogic features for building relationships with potential students

Using Kent and Taylor's dialogic principles, a content analysis of 232 university websites was conducted. Results indicate that liberal arts institutions tend to use more dialogic web features than national doctoral universities. Tier 3 institutions have a more significant number of dialogic website features than Tier 4 institutions. Finally, a small correlation was found between the use of dialogic features on the websites and higher rates of student retention and alumni giving.     

Exploring Underlying Dimensions of Social Connectedness in the Experiences of Suspended Young People from Ethnically Diverse Populations in the USA

In the USA, out‐of‐school suspension leaves numerous young people in transition, caught between the school and their communities. A limited body of literature neither documents the experiences of suspended young people from ethnically diverse populations nor provides insight into the spaces they occupy. This study used an exploratory mixed methods design to identify psychological, social and spatial dimensions of social connectedness in the experiences of suspended young people participating in a community intervention. The study aimed to explicate social connectedness as a protective factor and how underlying dimensions of social connectedness construct sites of recovery for suspended young people.     

From Coalition to Constraint: Modes of Thought in Contemporary American Conservatism

We advocate a relational approach to understanding contemporary conservatism in the United States. Our approach suggests that conservatism provides a cultural repertoire for adherents to use in adapting to new or changed political situations. We provide evidence based on public opinion data that conservatism is neither a single, monolithic ideology nor a mere coalition of convenience among disparate interest groups. Instead, conservatism should be understood as an amalgam of overlapping but distinct styles of thought, held together through a cultural identification with conservative identity.     

Sociological Stratification: Change and Continuity in the Distribution of Departmental Prestige, 1965–2007

Previous research has found that there is a good deal of stability in departmental prestige, but has not considered its long-term dynamics. This paper investigates a hypothesis implied by some accounts in the sociology of science and organizational theory: that there will be a permanent component of prestige associated with the department or university. The data are the ratings of graduate departments of sociology between 1965 and 2007 using a measure of prestige constructed from hiring patterns. There is no evidence of a permanent component for individual departments, but there is evidence of a permanent difference between departments in “elite” universities and those in other universities. Despite change in rankings within each group, the difference between the groups remained constant over the period. That is, there appear to be enduring barriers that limit the mobility of individual departments.     

‘Some Good Clean Fun’: Humour,Control and Subversion in an Advertising Agency

This article explores the relation between humour and control, drawing on participant observation in an organization in which humour was central to daily life. Keys is a leading advertising agency whose staff spent an unusually large amount of time sending humorous e‐mails. Examining these e‐mails in some depth, we unpack the role of humour in subverting various forms of control, including gender norms and managerial authority. We find the relation between humour, control and subversion to be ambiguous. Building upon current debates in organization studies, we develop the concept of humour based on our observations at Keys. Specifically, we argue that humour is always in excess of both control and subversion, a ‘nicely impossible’ object that cannot be captured. This article thus contributes to theoretical approaches on organizational humour, conceptualizing the concept of ‘newness’ through Judith Butler's re‐reading of Derridean différance and the Lacanian Real. In addition, we contribute a novel empirical account of the study of e‐mail list humour in a contemporary advertising firm.     

Measuring Multi-group Polarization,Segmentation and Ambiguity: Increasingly Unequal Yet Similar Constituent Canadian Income Distributions

Social Indicators Research - The Canadian income distribution is a mixture of Aboriginal, Non-Aboriginal, Urban, Rural and Gender based constituency distributions which Social Justice imperatives...     

The Adoption and Use of the Hirschman–Herfindahl Index in Nonprofit Research: Does Revenue Diversification Measurement Matter?

Since its introduction by Tuckman and Chang (Nonprofit Volunt Sector Q 20(4):445–460, 1991), the Hirschman–Herfindahl Index (HHI) has been widely adopted into the nonprofit literature as a precise measure of revenue concentration. This widespread adoption has been characterized by diverse composition, with the HHI’s calculation being largely determined by the nature of the available data and the degree to which it contained disaggregated measures of revenue. Using the NCCS 990 Digitized Data, we perform an acid test on whether different HHI measures yield significantly different results. Four measures of revenue concentration—an aggregated measure based on three revenue streams, an aggregated measure separating government grants from other contributions, a more nuanced measure based on seven revenue streams, and a fully disaggregated measure based on thirteen revenue streams—are used to predict two dominant nonprofit financial health dimensions: financial volatility and financial capacity. Overall, our results show that aggregation in HHI measurement matters; aggregation often downplays relationships by influencing the significance levels and magnitudes of estimates in a non-trivial way.     

Strengthening American Indian Couples' Relationship Quality to Improve Parenting

Using Fragile Families data, this study examined the impact that relationship quality has on American Indian parenting and its consequences on children. Results indicated that the more support American Indian parents received from one another, the more positive interactions they had with their child. Additionally, while engagement increased and spanking decreased with more support received for unmarried American Indian mothers, support from the father impacted their engagement more so than those who were married. Therefore, implementation of culturally appropriate relationship enhancing and premarital programs could be beneficial to strengthening American Indian families and have a positive impact on parenting.