Editing the project of the self: sustained Facebook use and growing up online

Now in operation for 12 years, Facebook comes to serve as a digital record of life for young people. With significant parts of their lives played out on the site, users are able to turn to these profiles to reflect on how their use of Facebook has come to constitute a life narrative. In this paper, we report on findings from qualitative research into sustained use of Facebook by young people in their twenties in Australia and the UK. We focus on the ‘editing’ or re-ordering of narratives that our participants engage in while they scroll back through their years of disclosures – and the disclosures of others – that make up their Facebook Timelines. We present our analysis through three arenas (employment, family life and romantic relationships) subject to what we argue is a reflexive re-ordering of life narratives. We argue that Facebook profiles represent visual manifestations of Giddens [1991. Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press] reflexive project of the self, that serve not only to communicate a sense of self to others, but that also act as texts of personal reflection and of growing up, subject to ongoing revision.     

How dimensions of internationalization shape the MNE's renewal capability: Multidimensional and multilevel considerations

We investigate the theoretical and empirical implications of internationalization as a multidimensional and multilevel construct and its relationship to the renewal capability of the firm. Theoretically, internationalization describes a diverse range of cross-border activities by the multinational enterprise (MNE), and thus carries with it multiple dimensions of depth, breadth, and speed. Empirically, internationalization contains both within- and between-MNE variance, each with potentially different effects on the MNE's renewal capability. Using a unique, longitudinal dataset of 94 MNEs, we find support that each dimension and level of internationalization relates differently to the renewal capability of the MNE. At the within-level, the MNE internationalization breadth is negatively related to the its renewal capability, yet internationalization speed is positively related to renewal. At the between-level, the depth of internationalization is positively related to the MNE's renewal capability. In concert, our results suggest that the effects of internationalization on important outcomes cannot be simplified into general relationships. Rather, attention to the nuances of internationalization, especially as related to the MNE's capabilities, is needed.     

Substance use disorders and COVID-19: the role of telehealth in treatment and research

ABSTRACT

Telehealth, or the use of telecommunications and virtual technology to deliver health care and engage with patients outside of traditional health-care facilities, can play an important role in addressing the treatment and study of substance use disorders (SUDs) during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. COVID-19 and related safety restrictions have thrust healthcare workers and researchers into a new reality of healthcare that relies heavily, or even exclusively, on telehealth methods. These changes have forced treatment providers and researchers to be agile in adopting these methods in order to maintain continuity of patient care and data collection. There are unique considerations that should be taken into account as telehealth practices continue to augment SUD care and research, even when restrictions have been lifted. Overall, we propose that telehealth can support innovation in treatment and research focused on SUDs and should be an integral part of our work, beyond COVID-19.     

Body image,self-esteem,and behavioral risk for chronic disease among college students: Additional evidence for integrated prevention

Abstract

Objective: To examine associations between two body image constructs (body appreciation and body satisfaction) and five health behaviors (diet, physical activity, weight management, tobacco exposure, and alcohol intake) associated with risk for chronic disease, controlling for self-esteem. Participants: Three hundred and forty-four college students enrolled at a large, public university in the southeastern US. Methods: Students completed an online survey composed of measures of body appreciation, body satisfaction, self-esteem, and frequency of engagement in preventive health behaviors. Hierarchical linear regression models were used to assess relationships between constructs. Results: Body appreciation, but not body satisfaction or self-esteem, significantly and positively predicted engagement in diet-, physical activity-, and weight-related health behaviors. No associations were found for substance use outcomes. Conclusions: Results illuminate health risks among college students and provide additional evidence to support the development of holistic preventive interventions that simultaneously address aspects of mental and physical health among college students.     

“Spokes in the wheel” and how policy gains can diversify a social movement

ABSTRACT

Activists often use their resources to pursue protective legislation, like anti-discrimination or environmental protection laws, and the results are often compromised versions of what they wanted. This process of political institutionalization requires ongoing and robust mobilization to strengthen these resulting policies or prevent them from being rescinded all together. Therefore, to understand the pros and cons of political institutionalization we must understand the recursive effects between policy reform and consequent mobilization. Quantitative and qualitative data on the animal advocacy movement, a movement existing for over a century, are used to explore the effects of policy gains on consequent mobilization and explore whether policy gains were followed by de-escalation of protest forms. The findings indicate that policy gains for animal welfare do not de-escalate mobilization, both in terms of the use of disruptive collective action and proliferation of organizations. The article explores the ways that infighting over the terms of policy reform may be an important factor in diversifying the movement.     

Party to inequality: Right party power and income inequality in affluent Western democracies

Much social science suggests that income inequality is a product of economic and demographic factors and recent work highlights the influence of Leftist politics in affluent Western democracies. But, prior research has neglected rightist politics. We examine the impact of cumulative right party power on three measures of income inequality in an unbalanced panel of 16 affluent Western democracies from 1969 to 2000. We find that cumulative right party power significantly increases inequality with effects comparable to other established causes. Left party power has less influence than the right on the Gini coefficient and the 90/50 ratio but a larger influence on the 90/10 ratio. Union density is insignificant after controlling for right party power. Right party power partly channels through and partly combines with government expenditures to affect inequality. Temporal interactions show that right parties became more influential after 1989 while left parties became less effective. Supplementary analyses suggest that a component of right party power's effects occurs through labor market inequality prior to taxes and transfers. Sensitivity analyses reveal that the results are robust to a wide variety of alternative specifications and operationalizations and do not depend on the inclusion of the U.S. in the sample. Our results inform debates about the sources of inequality and related sociological theories regarding class, politics, the state and the economy.     

A Collaborative Approach to Infant Research: Promoting Reproducibility,Best Practices,and Theory‐Building

The ideal of scientific progress is that we accumulate measurements and integrate these into theory, but recent discussion of replicability issues has cast doubt on whether psychological research conforms to this model. Developmental research—especially with infant participants—also has discipline‐specific replicability challenges, including small samples and limited measurement methods. Inspired by collaborative replication efforts in cognitive and social psychology, we describe a proposal for assessing and promoting replicability in infancy research: large‐scale, multi‐laboratory replication efforts aiming for a more precise understanding of key developmental phenomena. The ManyBabies project, our instantiation of this proposal, will not only help us estimate how robust and replicable these phenomena are, but also gain new theoretical insights into how they vary across ages, linguistic communities, and measurement methods. This project has the potential for a variety of positive outcomes, including less‐biased estimates of theoretically important effects, estimates of variability that can be used for later study planning, and a series of best‐practices blueprints for future infancy research.     

COMMUNICATING THREAT: The Canadian State and Terrorism

Canada's position vis‐à‐vis September 11 differs substantially from the United States’ in both circumstance and rhetoric. Although Canada was not the target of the terrorist attack, the United States is Canada's closest neighbor. In the words of the Prime Minister in the weeks following September 11, the United States is “more like family than friends.” Given this, how has the terrorist threat been interpreted for and communicated to the public by the Canadian state? Through ethnographic content analyses of the documents (speeches and press releases) found on the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Web site, we consider the communications by the Canadian state with respect to the events of September 11. We analyze this information within the overarching frameworks of risk and trust. In terms of risk, we examine the Prime Minister's communications and the framing of this communication as it relates to the discourse of probable harm and/or benefit. As for trust, we consider the emphasis on reputation and how this affects the information provided and its delivery. These risk/trust underpinnings speak to the Canadian state's construction of security, security threats, and the construction of the Canadian state more generally.