Coalition-building and the forging of solidarity across difference and inequality

Diverse coalitions hold great potential for social movements, but they also face tremendous challenges. In this article, I review the literature on diverse alliances with a focus on how trust, commitment, and ultimately, solidarity can be developed and sustained across divides. The article begins by discussing the needs of diverse alliances to build trust and commitment, and the coalitional characteristics deemed vital for doing so, with a focus on shared neutral space, ongoing interaction, and social ties and bridgebuilders. Five coalitional processes and practices are identified and discussed that have been empirically found or theorized to be imperative for cultivating solidarity across difference and inequality. These processes include (a) uniting around shared principles while engaging difference; (b) acknowledging and managing inequalities; (c) making space for each other; (d) attention to managing conflicts; and (e) actions that confirm the shared commitments and negotiated identity. I conclude by evaluating the state of research on developing and sustaining alliances across divides.     

Racial diversity in the suburbs: how race-neutral responses to demographic change perpetuate inequity in suburban school districts

Suburbs across the US are experiencing dramatic demographic shifts, yet there is little research available on how suburban school districts are dealing with these changes. In this article, we examine the discourses surrounding race and demographic change in three suburban school districts that have been undergoing rapid demographic changes and which contain demographically distinct areas within their district boundaries. Utilizing a critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach, we analyze how the policy context (federal and state) frames actors’ discourses and understandings of race, paying particular attention to the political and institutional factors affecting school policy. We illustrate how the discourse, in turn, is related to the actions (or inactions) taken by district and school leaders to respond to demographic change. We conclude the article by discussing policy implications and potential challenges districts may face in the future if efforts to purposively address racial changes continue to be avoided.     

Heterogeneity in treatment effects across diverse populations

Differences in patient characteristics, including age, sex, and race influence the safety and effectiveness of drugs, biologic products, and medical devices. Here we provide a summary of the topics discussed during the opening panel at the 2018 Johns Hopkins Center for Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation symposium on Assessing and Communicating Heterogeneity of Treatment Effects for Patient Subpopulations: Challenges and Opportunities. The goal of this session was to provide a brief overview of FDA-regulated therapeutics, including drugs, biologics and medical devices, and some of the major sources of heterogeneity of treatment effects (HTE) related to patient demographics, such as age, sex and race. The panel discussed the US Food and Drug Administration's role in reviewing and regulating drugs, devices, and biologic products and the challenges associated with ensuring that diverse patient populations benefit from these therapeutics. Ultimately, ensuring diverse demographic inclusion in clinical trials, and designing basic and clinical research studies to account for the intended patient population's age, sex, race, and genetic factors among other characteristics, will lead to better, safer therapies for diverse patient populations.     

Managing diversity: academic’s perspective on culture and teaching

As UK Higher Education institutions continue to accept students from ethnically diverse backgrounds, there is now an onus and an expectation for academics to provide learning environments and experiences that are inclusive, validating and affirming. The aim of this paper is to explore, through the lens of the academic tutor, the pedagogical methods employed towards the implementation of ‘cultural branching’, which we define as helping ethnically diverse students to build bridges between their pre-existing knowledge and what they are expected to learn. To investigate this in more detail, the researchers interviewed 22 academic tutors across three UK Higher Education Institutions in the North of England. The findings suggest that current curriculum structures and pedagogical approaches favour the dominant non-ethnically diverse learner. Our research proposes that additional emphasis needs to be placed on developing a practical and functional approach which embeds cultural branching via technological platforms.     

民汉双语诉讼规则之探索

我国宪法赋予了公民用自己的民族语言文字参加诉讼的权利，目的在于实现民族平等、促进民族团结、禁止民族分裂、保护中华民族语言文化的多样性，进而提高我国的文化软实力。通过调查民族语言文字诉讼司法实务，发现当前存在着少数民族语言文字诉讼程序混乱、不符合诉讼原理等问题，不利于民族语言文字诉讼权利的实现。究其原因，在于该诉讼制度缺乏程序保障。为了确保民族语言文字诉讼权利的有效实现，应设立“民汉双语诉讼规则”，以为司法机关提供统一的操作规范。民汉双语诉讼规则应该明确民汉双语诉讼的概念、类型以及民族语言文字诉讼权利的内容，并且根据不同诉讼类型有针对性地设置审判语言与诉讼语言的适用规则。     

略论近现代阜阳剪纸艺术的风格特征及成因

传统的阜阳剪纸历史悠久,其依附民俗生存,风格融南北之长,＂既有北方的简练和粗壮有力,又有南方的精巧和秀丽多姿＂。随着社会经济的发展,阜阳剪纸艺术历经岁月的磨练而开始有了复苏气象和一些新的风格特征。试从近现代阜阳剪纸作品分析入手,就其风格特征及其变化进行系统梳理和分析,以期从其发展轨迹中认识其形成的原因。     

孔子传播思想研究

孔子的传播理念是"和而不同",即"仁"与"礼"的统一。就人际传播而言,"仁"这一概念的提出为平等传播关系的建立提出了理论依据。孔子的传播思想博大精深,包罗万象,涉及传播符号、传播目的、受众思想、舆论思想、传播环境等诸多方面。其对传播符号的论述涉及传播符号的划分、语言的遮蔽性、语言的工具性、传播符号的规范、语言表达的有限性和无限性、形式与内容等方面;其传播目的论带有很强的实践理性色彩,认为传播的目的在于由"学"而"习",在于"言"和"行"的统一;风草论是孔子受众思想的重要方面,他一方面认为君子对民众的教化恰如风过草偃,效果明显,另一方面又认为传播威力虽然巨大,但也有一定限度,取得理想的传播效果非一日之功,这比"魔弹论"更加客观;历史传播方面,他认识到"载之空言"和"见之于行事"两种传播方式迥异的传播效果,发明了"托古立言"的传播方式;他还强调在舆论与独立思考之间加以平衡,既重视舆论又不盲从。     

The effect of cognitive diversity on the illusion of control bias in strategic decisions: An experimental investigation

By integrating cognitive diversity into debiasing literature, this paper contributes towards opening the black box of executive judgment. Based on information processing theory we investigate the role of cognitive diversity in strategic decision making. We apply a vignette-based experimental research design to examine the effect of cognitive diversity in teams on decision maker's illusion of control. The results of these experiments provide evidence for a positive influence of high cognitive diversity for debiasing judgment while similarly indicating no such effect for groups with low cognitive diversity. These findings suggest that group composition aspects can play an important role for improving judgment in decision making teams and open promising new avenues for studying debiasing in behavioral strategy research.     

Rebuilding Relationships in a Transgender Family: The Stories of Parents of Japanese Transgender Children

This study considers the process by which parents accept their transgender children through an analysis of the stories of parents in Japan. The study also considers how the gender identity of parents is affected by their child and the discourses related to queer identities. The mothers were strongly motivated to understand their child and reconstructed the image and life stories of the child. Through these processes, the mothers came to reconsider their own gender identities in queer ways. In contrast, the fathers had a lack of motivation to understand their child, and their masculinity was not significantly influenced by deessentialism.     

THE PREPARATORY INTERVIEW

An educational approach to preparing clients for group is a widely held concept delineated throughout the literature and research studies on group work practice. The author is suggesting an important additional component as part of any preparation model, focusing on the client's perceptions, expectations, fantasies and concerns about what it means to be a member of an organized group. This client focused process can have a positive impact on each individual's experience within the group as well as accelerating the formation of group cohesion. This is illustrated in forming groups for children of Holocaust survivors.