The faces of local TV news in America: youth,whiteness, and gender disparities in station publicity photos

TV news is a visual medium that requires its on-air journalists to look good, but a history of lawsuits and survey research suggests that this burden is spread unevenly. Critics charge that women are expected to look younger and sexier, and minority broadcasters are held to a White standard of beauty. This project investigated the reality behind those complaints by examining the faces of on-air journalists working for local stations in the US according to race, gender, and attractiveness. The resulting content analysis of more than 400 online publicity photos suggests that a certain look dominates for men and for women and that the range of appearance standards is wider for men than women.     

The impact of gender and disability on the economic well‐being of disabled women in the United Kingdom: A longitudinal study between 2009 and 2014

The present study examined the economic well‐being of disabled and nondisabled men and women in the United Kingdom. Using the 2009–2014 Life Opportunities Survey (N = 6,159 adults), the study is the first longitudinal study to empirically compare the economic well‐being of disabled women in contrast to disabled men and nondisabled men and women. Hierarchical linear modelling and hierarchical linear logistic modelling were used to estimate the longitudinal changes. Findings indicate that, overall, disabled women's economic well‐being improved significantly between 2009 and 2014 even after controlling for other demographic characteristics. However, the improvements were not substantial enough to significantly narrow the economic disparities between disabled women and disabled men and nondisabled men and women. Disabled women remained worse off than disabled men and nondisabled men and women in 2014 as they did in 2009. The findings indicate that intersectional discrimination against disabled women exist in the United Kingdom. Findings from this study provide empirical evidence to support policies that enhance the economic security of disabled women.     

Towards more confidence: about the roles of social scientists in participatory policy making

From June 26 to 27, the workshop “Ironists, Reformers, or Rebels? The Role of the Social Sciences in Participatory Policy Making” took place at the Collegium Helveticum of the UZH/ETH in Zurich. The organisers’ motivation was the apparently missing involvement of social scientists in public engagement processes. This impression persists because, while social scientists often observe public debates or develop participatory methods for public policy-making, they rarely take part in those processes themselves. A closer look at ethics commissions, expert committees or public hearings concerned with science and technology issues shows natural scientists, physicians, lawyers and the occasional philosopher. Sociologists, anthropologists and other social scientists, on the other hand, are often not involved. Because of this imbalance, the organisers’ aim was to bring together scholars and researchers from different areas of the social sciences to consider the role of their disciplines in public policy making. This article will focus on some of the ideas about specific roles of social scientists in participatory policy-making, discussed at the workshop, and their implications and give a commentary on some future prospects of the social sciences.     

Is Mothers’ Work Related to Childhood Weight Changes in the United States?

Taking family structure, father’s work intensity, and children’s developmental stages into consideration, this study examined the effect of a mother’s previous and contemporaneous work (employment and weekly work hours) on their children’s weight and their likelihood of having weight problems such as obesity, overweight, and underweight. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999 (ECLS-K), this study adopted a fixed effect model and found that for 3rd to 5th graders, an increase in mothers’ previous work hours among two-parent families below the federal poverty level (FPL) increased the risk of the child being obese, while the current employment of single mothers below the FPL reduced the risk of the child being obese. Surprisingly, the employment of single mothers below the FPL increased the risk of the child being underweight, especially for 1st to 3rd graders.     

Embedded expertise: a conceptual framework for reconstructing knowledge orders,their transformation and local specificities

The role of science in modern democracies has long been a topic of heated debate. Recent scholarship has increasingly focused on the social construction of the science–policy–politics nexus. For understanding both the local specificity of concrete configurations and general trends much is to be gained from an analytical framework. In a first introductory section we describe already existing categorizations and typologies, identifying a research gap: a framework for reconstructing the discursive forces shaping the science–policy–politics interface based on both mutually exclusive and exhaustive categories. Our answer is the concept of knowledge orders. Building on already existing scholarship in this field, we define knowledge orders as discursive orders structuring the production of expertise. We distinguish between three levels of knowledge orders: the generation and communication of science-based expertise, the regulation of these processes, and reflexive discourses in which the epistemic authority and the political relevance of science-based expertise are (de)legitimized and renegotiated and the regulation of the science–policy–politics nexus debated. Each level can be analyzed in terms of the criteria based on which competence is attributed (social dimension) and at when political or scientific criteria of relevance and validity are to be applied (procedural dimension). The framework is illustrated by referring to both well-known examples in science studies and our own research on science–policy–politics arrangements in the field of food safety and employment policy.     

Testing the Linkages Among the Organization–Public Relationship and Attitude and Behavioral Intentions

Abstract

This research tested a model that posits the linkages among perceptions of the organization–public relationships, attitudes, and behavioral intentions toward an organization among members of a key public. Among the 6 relationship indexes proposed by Hon and J. E. Grunig (1999), perceptions of satisfaction and control mutuality were the best predictors of a positive attitude toward the organization. In this study we also found that positive attitude was a precursor to supportive behavioral intentions toward the organization.     

An Empirical Analysis on Determinants of Aid Allocation by South Korean Civil Society Organizations

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - This paper examines whether three sets of factors—humanitarianism, the South Korean government’s official aid,...