Review Essay: Analyzing Emotions: Prisms,Transferences, Rituals,and Histories

Sociological Forum -     

Participatory Organizational Research: Examining Voice in the Co‐production of Knowledge

This paper advances participatory methods in management research. We propose the term participatory organizational research to describe this adjunct to action research. We illustrate the potential of the method to allow sometimes unheard organizational members to generate alternative perspectives that can offer the potential for the co‐production of new forms of knowledge that are locally relevant. Participatory methods originate from work with marginalized groups and have been used more commonly in community and organizational development. The aim of such research is, generally, to change the social and organizational conditions within which participants operate by using their perspectives as active participants to develop alternative possibilities. As such, this research method has significant potential for management researchers in providing the means for unheard organizational members to voice their perspectives: a central component, we argue, in knowledge co‐production. Based on a participatory study of care quality in elder care institutions, we examine in detail how participatory organizational research can enable voice and explore some of the structural limitations particularly in respect of research ethics.     

CONTEXTUALIZED ASSESSMENT WITH BATTERED WOMEN: STRATEGIC SAFETY PLANNING TO COPE WITH MULTIPLE HARMS

Given the prevalence of domestic violence and the likelihood that many victims will not receive services from specialized domestic violence providers, this article provides a framework for contextualized assessment that can be used by generalist practitioners. Drawing from stress and coping theory, the authors discuss the relevance of assessing appraisals and emotional responses within the context of environmental and individual risk and protective factors. Through an illustrative case assessment, the authors describe the contextualized assessment process and its ramifications for strategic safety planning.     

A Content Analysis of Violence in American War Movies

In a content analysis of movie violence, we randomly selected twelve top-grossing American war films from four decades (1970 to 2002). We coded for implements of violence, length of violence, gore, and violence directed at noncombatants. We hypothesized that recently released war movies would be more violent than those released earlier. We found that films released since 1990 did contain more violence compared to others. Further, the intensity of gore increased in recently released movies.     

Consent as Resistance,Resistance as Consent: Re‐Reading Part‐Time Professionals’ Acceptance of Their Marginal Positions

The part‐time employee has traditionally occupied a marginal position in organizations. The recent increase in the numbers of part‐time professionals, however, has been seen as offering potential for the status of the part‐time employee to improve. Evidence to date suggests that this improvement has not taken place and that the part‐time professional is also marginalized. Interestingly, research suggests that part‐time professionals may not experience their subordinate positions as problematic, often believing that the drawbacks of reduced hours working are a legitimate consequence of their ‘choice’ to work part‐time. Such ‘choices’ are frequently attributed to part‐timers’ prioritization of non‐work activities. In this article, using a Foucauldian approach to identity, we argue that choices need to be understood as both situated in time and space and constituted through discourse. Using these ideas we provide a re‐reading of part‐timers’ consent to their marginalization, arguing that their responses to their positions at work can also be understood as resistance to some of the dominant norms of professionalism. We set out the conditions that might be implicated in translating subjective resistance into more material actions.     

A framework of managerial promotion in a lifetime employment organization: The D bank

From existing formal personnel policies in a Korean bank, a set of internally consistent career system properties are logically inferred for an organization with the strategic human resource objective of lifetime employment. It is argued that the policy emphasis accorded particular functional personnel activities is inherent in the choice of human resource utilization strategy. It is recognized, however, that certain contextual features (e.g., the legal environment, cultural norms) may either constrain or facilitate the choice.     

EVIDENCE ON ELECTORAL ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE U.S. SENATE: ARE UNFAITHFUL AGENTS REALLY PUNISHED?

Many have questioned whether voters are able to hold incumbent officials electorally accountable through a retrospective voting strategy. We examine U.S. Senate elections from 1962 to 1990 in forty-one states, explaining which incumbents ran for reelection and their success in seeking reelection. We find that an incumbent's deviation from her state party platform decreases the probability that she will run for reelection and win if she runs. Furthermore, the electoral mechanism is found to be more efficient when voters are better informed. Finally, we find that our divergent party platform model provides a better fit than the median voter model.     

Physical and mental health outcomes of women in nonviolent, unilaterally violent, and mutually violent relationships

Despite equivocal findings on whether men or women are more violent, the negative impact of violence is greatest for women. To determine how gender asymmetry in perpetration affects women's health status, we conducted a study in two phases with 835 African American, Euro-American, and Mexican American low-income women in Project HOW: Health Outcomes of Women. In Phase 1, we used severity and frequency of women's and male partners' violence to create six groups: nonviolent (NV), uni-directional male (UM) perpetrator, uni-directional female (UF) perpetrator and, when both partners were violent, symmetrical (SYM), male primary perpetrator (MPP), and female primary perpetrator (FPP). The MPP group sustained the most threats, violence, sexual aggression, and psychological abuse. They also reported the most fear. Injury was highest in the MPP and FPP groups. In Phase 2, we examined group differences in women's health status over time for 535 participants, who completed five annual interviews. Surprisingly, women's health in the MPP and FPP violence groups was similar and generally worse than if violence was uni-directional.