Negotiating Imitation: Examining the Interactions of Consultants and Clients to Understand Institutionalization as Translation

Organizational scholars increasingly view institutionalization as a process through which actors adapt or translate seemingly successful practices in a field to create variations that are specific to their own organization. Yet little is known about how outsiders who seek to diffuse ‘best practice’ affect translation. We examined interactions between management consultants and their clients in two different consulting projects, which focused on embedding the practice of ‘lean’ in one and the practice of a quality improvement framework in the other. Our findings provide insights into the processes of translation through which promoters and adopters iterate at different stages to reach a compromise, illuminating how the evolution of an imported practice signals the outcome of a negotiation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that management practices are not translated in isolation but enveloped by peripheral practices that are adopted by association. We highlight how the peripheral practice of benchmarking, in both cases, was rarely contested or negotiated and thus proved more resistant to translation. Our analysis allows us to unpack the agency inherent within translation‐as‐negotiation and integrate research on diffusion and translation.     

Poverty and deprivation among children in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Although there is now a large body of literature on poverty in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, there remains a dearth of comparative analysis of child poverty and wellbeing. This article uses household survey microdata for the period 2001–2003 to compare absolute poverty, relative poverty, material deprivation and participation in schooling among children in five countries: Albania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Russia and Tajikistan. The analysis shows that low absolute levels of household consumption are associated with other deprivation indicators and with children's participation in schooling. The article also highlights the usefulness of relative poverty measures that effectively identify children at risk of exclusion in even the poorest countries in the region. The article concludes by arguing that household consumption is a good indicator of child poverty and deprivation in the region, and that relative poverty measures should be more widely used in monitoring global targets for poverty reduction.     

地方治理研究:范式、理论与启示

20世纪90年代早期以来治理理论的兴起,可以看作是对当前世界各国在回应新的治理挑战中所采纳的不同于传统公共行政的公共管理方式的总结.治理理论的支撑性论点和概念包括:网络管理理论,即将治理的核心任务看成是管理网络;授权理论,认为有效治理的关键是恰当的授权机制;社会解释理论,以人们理解和解释世界的差异为研究起点并认为这种差异是治理所面临的最大挑战;侧重于合作如何达成的伙伴关系概念和社会资本概念.治理理论的启示在于:首先,治理要求扩大地方决策的范围并重新定义地方政府的角色;其次,面对新的挑战,公共管理者需要掌握新的管理技能;最后,治理理论及其对应的管理方式提供了全球比较的框架.     

Class Position and Musical Tastes: A Sing‐Off between the Cultural Omnivorism and Bourdieusian Homology Frameworks

The longstanding debate between the homology and omnivorism approaches to the class bases of cultural tastes and practices rages on in cultural sociology. The homology thesis claims that class positions throughout the class hierarchy are accompanied by specified cultural tastes and specialized modes of appreciating them while the cultural omnivorism thesis contends that elites are (increasingly) characterized by a breadth of cultural tastes of any and all kinds. This study tests the applicability of these theses to musical tastes in Canada through the application of multiple correspondence analysis, latent class analysis, and logistic regression modeling to original telephone survey data (n = 1,595) from Toronto and Vancouver. I find that musical omnivorism, an appreciation for diverse musical styles, is not dispersed along class lines. Instead I find a homology between class position and musical tastes that designates blues, choral, classical, jazz, musical theater, opera, pop, reggae, rock, and world/international as relatively highbrow and country, disco, easy listening, golden oldies, heavy metal, and rap as relatively lowbrow. Of the highbrow tastes, all but jazz are disliked by lower class people, and of the lowbrow tastes, country, easy listening, and golden oldies are concurrently disliked by higher class people. Consistent with the homology thesis, it appears that class position is aligned with specific musical likes and dislikes. Le vieux débat entre les approches de l'homologie et de l'omnivorisme aux bases des classes des goûts et des pratiques culturels fait rage dans la sociologie culturelle. La thèse de l'homologie prétend que les positions des classes à travers la hiérarchie des classes sont accompagnées par des goûts culturels spécifiés et des modes spécialisés permettant leur appréciation. La thèse de l'omnivorisme culturel, en revanche, soutient que les élites sont (de plus en plus) caractérisées par un éventail de goûts culturels de toutes sortes. Cette étude expérimente l'applicabilité de ces thèses aux goûts musicaux au Canada à travers l'application de l'analyse des correspondances multiples, de l'analyse des classes latentes et du modèle de régression logistique aux données d'origine de l'étude collectées par téléphone (n = 1,595) de Toronto et de Vancouver. Je me rends compte que l'omnivorisme musical, une appréciation de styles musicaux divers, n'est pas dispersé le long des classes sociales. Bien au contraire, je trouve qu'il existe une homologie entre la position des classes et les goûts musicaux qui désigne les blues, la chorale, la musique classique, le jazz, le théâtre musical, l'opéra, la pop, le reggae, le rock et la musique du monde/internationale comme des styles des classes au niveau intellectuel relativement élevé. Cette homologie désigne la country, la disco, la musique d'ambiance, les anciens succès, le heavy metal et le rap comme des styles des classes au niveau intellectuel relativement bas. Des goûts des classes au niveau intellectuel élevé, tous les styles à l'exception du jazz ne sont pas appréciés de la basse classe. De même, des goûts des classes au niveau intellectuel bas, le country, la musique d'ambiance et les anciens succès ne sont pas appréciés de la haute classe. Selon la thèse de l'homologie, il apparaît que la position des classes est fonction des préférences et des aversions musicales spécifiques.     

Mark My Words! Service User and Carer Involvement in Social Work Academic Assessment

This paper discusses the involvement of service users in academic assessment as part of a second year module for social work undergraduate students at Canterbury Christ Church University in the UK. The three main tasks undertaken in partnership are detailed: designing an assessment form, assessment of student group presentations and assessment of a written reflective essay. The paper starts by identifying key questions raised by the assessor team before providing a critical commentary on the process, and identifying challenges and learning points. The experience emphasises the need for a more critical and searching approach towards service user involvement in social work education in academic assessment. Moreover, the team's experience suggests that such work is best achieved in the context of collaborative working relationships based on trust, with opportunities for team reflection and supported by training in academic assessment.     

Revisiting property crime and economic conditions: An exploratory study to identify predictive indicators beyond unemployment rates

Numerous researchers have questioned the use of the unemployment rate as an explanatory factor in econometric studies which address the relationship between the economy and crime. This paper presents the findings from an exploratory study which sought to test the efficacy of the unemployment rate for predicting reported property crime rates and to identify other economic indicators which may also prove to be useful for predicting crimes with economic under tones or motives. Specifically, larceny-theft, burglary, motor vehicle theft, robbery, fraud and embezzlement. Given the exploratory nature of the study seven stepwise regressions were computed with unemployment emerging as a significant predictor for only one of the criminal offenses. Findings identified other useful economic variables, such as average wage and salary disbursements, supplemental security income receipts, the consumer price index and per capita personal income which should be considered in lieu of unemployment rates.     

Meeting the Needs of Vulnerable Young Men: A Study of Service Provider Views

This article uses a qualitative approach to elicit the views of 31 professionals who provide services to vulnerable young men. The findings reveal six key themes following focus group interviews: (i) the importance of masculinity in explaining problematic behaviour; (ii) the misuse of alcohol and drugs; (iii) alienation and social isolation; (iv) concerns about suicide and self‐harm; (v) the quality of existing services; and (vi) recommendations for changes to services. Service providers generally acknowledged the social context in explaining these behaviours and argued for enhanced services and a more developed skills base in working with vulnerable young men.