Complaining Our Way to Quality: Complaints, Contracts and the Voluntary Sector

The research on which this paper is based is part of a wider study of quality assurance and the voluntary sector. The focus of this paper is on complaints procedures, as part of quality assurance mechanisms, where voluntary agencies are the contracted service providers. The authors argue that, with the introduction of contracting and particularly with its further development, the way in which complaints mechanisms currently operate will need to be revised if they are to be an effective part of the quality assurance process.     

The importance of survival units for Norbert Elias's figurational perspective

In this paper, we argue that Norbert Elias's concept of survival unit is a distinctive part of the development of his figurational sociology and one of the most consistent contributions to relational thinking. The survival unit is a particular form of figuration which provides security and the material foundations for life such as food and shelter. Every human being is born into a survival unit. This unit is a relational concept which cannot be conceived outside a relationship with other survival units.
By introducing the concept of survival unit Elias overcomes one of the key problems in relational sociology: how to demarcate primary social relations. Elias argues that human societies from very early on have been divided into survival units. These survival units are demarcated and constituted in their relationship to other survival units. Consequently, their boundaries are generated in a confrontation with other survival units.
This relationship can be peaceful or conflict ridden but in the last resort it can end with violent confrontation. Only the survival unit with the ability to defend a domain of sovereignty will survive. This observation places Elias among the few sociologists with an understanding of the role of warfare in social relationships.     

“Memory: Lewis and Clark in Yellowstone,circa 2004”

Drawing on Walter Benjamin's concept of history as literary montage, “Memory: Lewis and Clark in Yellowstone, circa 2004” interrogates the place of memory in the bicentennial celebrations of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804–06. Quoting from historical documents, I attempt to crack the racist facade that surrounds Lewis and Clark and the place of their project in our national imagination.     

Effects of segmentation patterns on the perception of deception

Subjects viewed videotapes of truthful and deceptive messages. Channels presented were either face or body with or without speech. Subjects were instructed to segment each message into either large, medium, or small units; following the segmentation of a message, subjects rated its truthfulness. Results showed that subjects who organized the behavior into small units perceived the messages as more truthful than those who organized the behavior into either medium or large units. In addition, when speech was available, accuracy of lie detection was highest when the behavior was segmented into medium units; when speech was not available, accuracy of lie detection was highest when the behavior was segmented into small units. The effects of observation set on the perception of deception were discussed.