Legitimizing Security in the Ivory Tower: Canadian University Corporate Security Services’ Public Quest for Legitimacy

This article examines how university corporate security (UCS) services engage in legitimation work in their attempts to make their university communities (i.e., faculty, staff, students) and political masters (i.e., university administrators, boards of governors, senators) believe that they are honest, trustworthy, and caring and have authority that should be deferred to. This is accomplished through the analysis of interview and observational data collected as part of a research project exploring UCS services at five Canadian universities and an examination of how UCS services at 14 Canadian universities communicate using the social media service Twitter. These UCS services were found to primarily use Twitter for the purposes of soliciting or requesting information and for networking. In communicating through Twitter, UCS services engage in public legitimation work in which they make claims about and attempt to demonstrate their expertise, authority, and accountability. This article argues that both UCS services’ particular legitimacy problem (i.e., their possession of both private and public attributes) and the interactive nature of public legitimation work create tensions that may serve to disrupt UCS services’ ability to attain legitimacy. Cet article examine la manière dont les services de sécurité d'entreprise à l'université (SEU) s'engagent à légitimer leurs tentatives de persuader leurs communautés universitaires (c'est‐à‐dire le corps professoral, le personnel et les étudiants) ainsi que la haute administration (c'est‐à‐dire les administrateurs de l'université, le conseil des gouverneurs et les sénateurs) qu'ils sont honnêtes, attentifs, dignes de confiance, et qu'ils possèdent un niveau d'autorité auquel quiconque devrait se référer. Ceci sera accompli en analysant un corpus d'entrevues et d'observations dans le cadre d'un projet de recherche examinant les services de type SEU dans cinq universités canadiennes, ainsi qu'une étude sur la manière dont les services de SEU dans quatorze universités canadiennes gèrent leurs communications sur le réseau de médias sociaux Twitter. Il a été établi que ces services de SEU utilisent principalement Twitter pour la sollicitation ou la demande d'informations, et pour le réseautage. En communiquant par Twitter, les services de SEU s'engagent dans un processus de légitimation par lequel ils revendiquent et tentent de démontrer leur expertise, autorité, transparence et responsabilité. Cet article propose l'argument suivant: la question de la légitimité particulière des services de SEU (c'est‐à‐dire leur possession d'attributs à la fois privés et publics) combinée avec la nature interactive du processus de légitimation publique crée des tensions qui peuvent en fin de compte perturber la capacité des services de SEU à atteindre réellement cette légitimité.     

Using the Dual Control Model to Investigate the Relationship Between Mood,Genital, and Self-Reported Sexual Arousal in Men and Women

Recent findings suggest that there is considerable interindividual variability in how mood affects sexual arousal and that the dual control model may be helpful in explaining this variation. The current research investigated whether mood interacted with sexual excitation and inhibition proneness to predict subjective and genital arousal. In this study, 33 participants (18 men; 15 women), ages 18 to 45, attended three laboratory sessions where they completed questionnaires assessing preexisting mood and propensity for sexual excitation and inhibition, then watched a series of neutral and sexually explicit films. Subjective sexual arousal was continuously indicated during each film, while genital temperature was measured using thermographic imaging. Sexual excitation and inhibition interacted with various mood scores to significantly predict both subjective and genital arousal in men and women. Several gender differences were found. For example, vigor scores interacted with sexual excitation proneness to significantly predict genital but not subjective arousal in women, while the same interaction significantly predicted subjective but not genital arousal in men. The findings supported the hypothesis that the dual control model is an important framework in understanding how mood influences both subjective and genital sexual arousal.     

Relative Efficacy of a Pregnancy,Sexually Transmitted Infection,or Human Immunodeficiency Virus Prevention–Focused Intervention on Changing Sexual Risk Behavior Among Young Adults

Abstract

Objectives: Despite findings suggesting that young adults are more concerned about experiencing an unplanned pregnancy or contracting a sexually transmitted infection (STI) than becoming human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected, no empirical work has investigated whether the specific focus of an intervention may be more or less efficacious at changing sexual behavior. Participants: Participants were 198 college students randomized to 1 of 4 conditions: pregnancy intervention, STI intervention, HIV intervention, or a control condition during 2008–2009. Methods: The authors compared the efficacy of 3 theory-based, sexual risk–reduction interventions that were exactly the same except for an exclusive focus on preventing pregnancy, STI, or HIV. Condom use and risky sexual behavior were assessed at baseline and 4-week and 8-week follow-up. Results: Participants exposed to the pregnancy or STI interventions reported greater condom use and less risky sexual behavior than those exposed to the HIV intervention. Conclusions: The focus of sexual risk–reduction interventions may lead to differential behavior change among young adults.     

Application of the Precautionary Principle by Senior Policy Officials: Results of a Canadian Survey

Though use of the controversial precautionary principle in risk management has increasingly been recommended as a guide for the construction of public policy in Canada and elsewhere, there are few data available characterizing its use in risk management by senior public policymakers. Using established survey methodology we sought to investigate the perceptions and terms of application of the precautionary principle in this important subset of individuals. A total of 240 surveys were sent out to seven departments or agencies in the Canadian government. The overall survey response rate was 26.6%, and our findings need to be interpreted in the context of possible responder bias. Of respondents, the overwhelming majority perceived the precautionary principle and the management of risk as complementary, and endorsed a role for the precautionary principle as a general guideline for all risk management decisions. However, 25% of respondents responded that the lack of clarity of the definition of the principle was a limitation to its effective use. The majority of respondents viewed their own level of understanding of the precautionary principle as moderate. Risk managers appeared to favor an interpretation of the precautionary principle that was based on the seriousness and irreversibility of the threat of damage, and did not endorse as strongly the need for cost effectiveness in the measures taken as a precaution against such threats. In contrast with its perceived role as a general guideline, the application of the precautionary principle by respondents was highly variable, with >60% of respondents reporting using the precautionary principle in one-quarter or less of all risk management decisions. Several factors influenced whether the precautionary principle was applied with the perceived seriousness of the threat being considered the most influential factor. The overwhelming majority of risk managers felt that "preponderance of evidence" was the level of evidence required for precautionary action to be instituted against a serious negative event. Overall, the majority of respondents viewed the precautionary principle as having a significant and positive impact on risk management decisions. Importantly, respondents endorsed a net result of more good than harm to society when the precautionary principle was applied to the management of risk.     

Racist attitudes,out‐groups and the Australian experience

Australia today is a culturally diverse nation with people from over 190 different countries claiming 300 different ancestries. But despite an official commitment to diversity, contemporary Australian society continues to experience tensions between multicultural policies and a legacy of Anglo privilege and cultural dominance. To assess this, the Challenging Racism Project conducted a national survey, commissioned by the Special Broadcasting Service, to gauge the nature and extent of racist attitudes and experience of racism across Australia during July–August 2015 and November 2015. Results show that sociodemographic characteristics show little contemporary relationship to racist attitudes. Age, once associated with “old” racist attitudes, is no longer significant. On the other hand, Anglo privilege is empirically linked to racism through notions of social dominance. We conclude that it is to the media, and to public discourse generally, to which future research attention, using critical discourse analysis, should turn in efforts to make Australia a fairer, more tolerant, multicultural society.     

Approaches to caring, essential elements for a quality service and cost-effectiveness in South Africa

By 2010 there will be close to two million orphans in South Africa, mainly as a result of HIV/AIDS. This paper assesses different approaches to the care and support of children orphaned by AIDS and other vulnerable children, as well as the cost-effectiveness of each approach. Using a typology of care and essential elements of care, six approaches are evaluated: informal, non-statutory foster care; community-based support; home-based care; unregistered residential care; statutory adoption and fostering; and statutory residential care. A cost-effectiveness analysis assessed actual programs and the costs of providing a minimum standard of care for the six approaches. High costs are associated with formal models of care. Informal approaches may lack the resources to meet children's rights. Resources should be largely allocated to the more cost-effective, informal, community-based structures, but formal models will still be needed for those children who cannot be placed elsewhere.