Wandel von Arbeit — Wandel von Männlichkeiten

Whereas the current public interest in the relation of transformation of paid work and gender is focused a lot on men and masculinities, sociological analysis is mostly focused on women and feminity. Few studies on work and masculinity suggest that with the erosion of industrial working conditions traditional constructions of masculinity are challenged to the core. It is our thesis that three mechanisms are working in stabilizing the relationship between paid work and masculinity: reconfigured standard employment relationship, entrepreneurial self, and hegemonic masculinity. Supposably, the new adjusted social order opens a range between two poles: the adherence to traditional patterns of masculinity on the one hand, which tends do enforce insecurity, and a pattern of hegemonic masculinity on the other side, which is characterized by a proactive and positive attitudes of dealing with present tendencies of uncertainty, seeing change as chance of creating.     

The type I distribution of the ratio of independent “Weibullized” generalized beta-prime variables

In this paper we introduce the distribution of , with c >  0, where X _i , i =  1, 2, are independent generalized beta-prime-distributed random variables, and establish a closed form expression of its density. This distribution has as its limiting case the generalized beta type I distribution recently introduced by Nadarajah and Kotz (2004). Due to the presence of several parameters the density can take a wide variety of shapes.      

The description of South African corporate communication practitioners that contribute to organisational performance

Public relations are a function that contributes to the greater good of society and the performance of an organisation (0115 and 0125). However, many times the practitioner fails to accomplish this undertaking (0125, 0325 and 0335).     

The Effects of Contingent Caregiver Imitation of Infant Vocalizations: a Comparison of Multiple Caregivers

The present study replicated and extended the Pelaez et al. (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 44:33–40, 2011) study, which examined the reinforcing effects of mothers’ contingent imitation of their infants’ vocalizations. Three infants aged 7–12 months who could vocalize sounds but not words participated with two caregivers for each infant (i.e., triads). During the intervention phase, the caregivers were asked to immediately imitate all vocalizations emitted by the child for a 3-min period. During the yoked control phase, the caregivers listened to an audio recording from the preceding condition and provided vocalizations non-contingently on the infants’ responses. The procedures yielded different results across participants; one infant emitted a higher frequency of vocalizations during the contingent imitation phases over the control phases, and the other two infants showed higher rates of responding during the control phases. However, all infants emitted more imitative return vocalizations during contingent reinforcement conditions compared with the yoked control condition.     

‘Widening cross-disciplinary research for mental health’: what is missing from the Research Councils UK mental health agenda?

This current issues article is a brief critical examination of the recent Research Councils UK agenda and call for cross-disciplinary research in mental health. Our argument is based on the fact that patient and public involvement (PPI) is the only involvement and influencing strategy for service users and survivors in the agenda. Service user and survivor research as a discipline in itself remains unacknowledged. We conclude that service user and survivor research is distinct and is different to PPI, and should be recognised in any mental health research agenda.     

Pathological Gambling and Couple: Towards an Integrative Systemic Model

This article is a critical literature review of pathological gambling focused in the family factors, particularly in the couple dynamics. Its main goal is to develop an explicative integrative systemic model of pathological gambling, based in these couple dynamics. To achieve that aim, a bibliography search was made, using on-line data bases (e.g., EBSCO Host) and recognized books in pathological gambling subject, as well as in the systemic approach in general. This process privileged the recent works (about 70 % of the reviewed literature was published in the last decade), however, also considered some classic works (the oldest one dates back to 1970). The guiding focus of this literature search evolves according to the following steps: (1) search of general comprehension of pathological gambling (19 references), (2) search specification to the subject “pathological gambling and family” (24 references), (3) search specification to the subject “pathological gambling and couple”(11 references), (4) search of systemic information which integrates the evidence resulted in the previous steps (4 references). The developed model is constituted by different levels of systemic complexity (social context, family of origin, couple and individual) and explains the problem as a signal of perturbation in the marital subsystem vital functions (e.g., power and control) though the regularities of marital dynamics of pathological gamblers. Furthermore, it gives theoretical evidence of the systemic familiar intervention in the pathological gambling.     

Performance and politics

The introduction to the issue ‘Performance Politics: spectacular productions of culture in contemporary Latin America’ looks at how performance practices shape contemporary debates and determine political outcomes in Latin America in the post-dictatorial present.     

Discursive Struggles Animating Individuals’ Talk About Their Parents’ Coming Out as Lesbian or Gay

The goal in the present study was to understand the discourses that animate children’s talk about having a parent come out and how these discourses interplay to create meaning. Data were gathered through 20 in-depth interviews with adults who remembered a parent coming out to them as lesbian or gay. One discursive struggle animated the participants’ talk about their parents’ coming out: the discourse of lesbian and gay identity as wrong vs. the discourse of lesbian and gay identity as acceptable. Analysis of participants’ talk about their familial identities revealed a range of avenues for resisting the negative discourses regarding lesbian and gay identities. The findings highlight discursive power in participants’ talk about their familial identities and how participants organize the conflicting messages they receive in their culture and in relationships regarding family identities.     

Silent privatisation of customary land in Zambia: opportunities for a few,challenges for many

The conversion of customary land into leasehold tenure has sparked intense debates in Zambia and beyond. Growing interest in land in the last decade and half has led to a spike in demand for land across Africa, especially land adjacent to major cities, towns and developed infrastructure. This growing demand for land is gradually being directed at customary land, which well-resourced urban and local elites, as well as foreign investors, are converting from customary to private tenure, raising serious questions about the future of customary land in Africa. This paper discusses the emerging dynamics around customary land conversion drawing from a case study conducted in Chongwe and Chibombo districts in Zambia. Evidence gathered in this study suggest that while the conversion of customary land to leasehold tenure is generating opportunities for the urban elite, a few traditional leaders and international investors, it is, at the same time, creating serious challenges for the majority of the people in the local communities.