Doing hot and ‘dirty’ work: Masculinities and occupational identity in firefighting

Within industrial societies, firefighters are often sexualized, celebrated and elevated as respectable working‐class heroes. Drawing from fieldwork and interviews with 33 men currently employed in an Australian metropolitan fire service, I explore the making of masculinities across four stations. Utilizing Beverly Skeggs’ social exchange theory and Mary Douglas’ theory of risk and analysis of pollution, this article argues that men attempt to construct respectable masculinities, in an effort to protect their self‐image as the heroes of contemporary society. Exploring issues surrounding morality and physicality, the findings suggest that firefighters consciously distance themselves from potential sites of pollution, which include avoiding stigmatized stations. This article extends gender theory by showing how working‐class men distinguish from each other through intra‐age distinction in order to construct respectable working‐class masculinities.     

Appreciative inquiry for community engagement in Indonesia rural communities

This article highlights three main issues that challenge the ideal concept of engagement, which are the domination of instrumental perspectives; the lack of global inclusiveness due to ethnocentricity and western orientation of engagement studies; and the domination of post-positivistic paradigm and quantitative research approach. The development of micro-hydro power in Kulon Progo Regency, Indonesia, is chosen as the case study. This study applies an exploratory case study design, involving three hamlets with different level of micro-hydro power development. Through an analysis of the implementation of appreciative inquiry technique for community engagement, this article offers social constructionism and qualitative approach towards studies of engagement. This article also offers public-centric and non-western experiences as a response to the criticism towards organic-centric and western approach of engagement studies.     

“Comments are disabled for this video”: A technological affordances approach to understanding source credibility assessment of CSR information on YouTube

Scarce research has focused on the technological aspects of social media in CSR communication. Many public relations practitioners are reluctant to interact online although social media platforms such as YouTube provide two-way communication interface. Using the MAIN model, this study explored how bandwagon cues (more likes/dislikes) and interaction cues (enable/disable commenting) influence the perceived source credibility assessment (trustworthiness, goodwill, and competence) of CSR information on YouTube. Through a 2 × 2 factorial experiment (N = 204), no interaction effects were found in general; but a main effect of the enabling comment interface existed toward the perceived trustworthiness of the company regardless of likes/dislikes received on the CSR video, which further leads to individual’s attitudes toward the company’s CSR efforts. The finding paves a way for an explanation of the effectiveness of enabling the commenting function of using YouTube to enhance CSR communication.     

Strategizing for social change in nonprofit contexts: A typology of communication approaches in public communication campaigns

Public communication campaigns aim to create social change by influencing audiences’ behaviors and thus help nonprofit organizations fulfill their mission. These campaigns, however, often fail to deliver their anticipated impact. Using public relations research as a theoretical lens, this paper's contribution is twofold: first, we develop a typology that classifies the different communication approaches used in public communication campaigns. Based on one of the most prominent public relations theories, the Four Models of Public Relations, we differentiate communication approaches along the dimensions of communication purpose and communication style. Combining these two dimensions in a typology, we identify the following communication approaches: directing, platforming, mobilizing, and involving. We provide numerous real‐life examples of public campaigns for each one. Second, we formulate propositions about these communication approaches’ effectiveness relying on a key concept of public relations research: namely, audience segmentation. Using the transtheoretical model, we show that audiences can be segmented along five “stages of readiness to adopt a promoted behavior.” Conceptualizing behavior change as an iterative, dynamic process that entails stage progresses as well as backdrops, we derive how audiences’ “stage of readiness” relates to the effectiveness of the identified communication approaches.     

The perfect storm? How to explain the rise of intergovernmental conflicts in Spain? (1984–2014)

As in other federal-like countries, intergovernmental relations in Spain are characterised by a series of conflicts between central and regional governments. But, which factors explain this dynamic of contention? This investigation operationalises intergovernmental conflicts through a specific dataset constituted by the volume of contestations between regional and central executives (and vice versa) in Spain before the Constitutional Court. This research demonstrates that from 1984 to 2014 the periods of absolute majority at the Congress and the victory of peripheral nationalist parties at the head of autonomous communities increased the level of intergovernmental contestations.     

眺望权的法理学界定

随着住房条件的改善,人们对居住环境的要求也日益提高,对眺望权的主张也日益增多。文章从法理学的角度入手,分析眺望权的功能和价值,研究其基本法律问题,并通过分析其在国内外法律中的地位与适用,探索其立法原则。