Recalibrating Management: Feminist Activism to Achieve Equality in an Evolving University

In this paper we examine the process of incorporating gender equality into a higher education institution as it evolves into a managerial university. The case illustrates the ongoing processes between structure, activism and features of gender equality, and provides insights into how activists adapt to changes in governance and influence managerial responses to equality. Tracing the interaction of employee activism with new managerialism over nearly two decades, four phases of change are identified. These provide a basis for generating two concepts – managerial recalibration and individual activism – while challenging the social abeyance hypothesis of social movements.     

Are They Family or Friends? Social Support Instrument Reliability in Studying Older Lesbians

We know little about the support needs and health of older lesbians because participant sexual identity has typically not been identified in aging studies. The Lubben Social Network Scale, Revised (LSNS-R) is found widely reliable for testing perceived social support among elders but has never been tested with an exclusively lesbian population. This pilot tested the instrument with an exclusively lesbian population in the Midwest. Our analysis suggests it may not be reliable with this population, even with minor modifications that were made. Further examination adding a category for “family of choice” is warranted and supported by the originator of the tool.     

Attributions and Institutional Processing: How Focal Concerns Guide Decision-Making in the Juvenile Court

This paper investigates institutional decision-making processes and identify mechanisms that link case processing with subsequent outcomes. Using a sample of juvenile court cases containing probation officers’ narratives, this study investigated court actors’ focal concerns and how such priorities shape attributions about youth. This paper adds to existing sociological work on institutional decision-making by (1) illustrating court actors’ focal concerns that are used to process juvenile cases, (2) identifying decision-making mechanisms that link norms and values to case assessments and outcomes, and (3) theorizing about the ways in which individual and case characteristics can influence institutional decision-making.     

Are Instructors Who Have “Practical Experience” Necessarily Superior to Those Who Don’t?

Personal or practical experience is often touted as a uniquely valuable source of knowledge in academia, as in everyday life. Assumptions about the necessity, superiority, or insightfulness of “first-hand familiarity” with a phenomenon (such as working as a police officer or suffering discrimination) can shape hiring decisions, influence how faculty members present themselves, and guide the developmental trajectory of departments. These assumptions can be superficial, however. This article questions the universal appeal of personal experience by arguing that it is not without limitations; not always possible, desirable, or relevant; sometimes not dramatically distinct from other ways of knowing; and sometimes inferior to other ways of knowing. Prior experience can have benefits, but is not an unassailable source of knowledge and should not be treated as an unqualified “good.”