Playful organisations: Undecidability as a scarce resource

This article explores how organisational play becomes a managerial tool to increase and benefit from undecidability. The article draws on Niklas Luhmann's concept of decision and on Gregory Bateson's theory of play to create a conceptual framework for analysing the relation between decision and undecidability. With an empirical point of departure in Danish public school policy and two concrete examples of games utilised in school development, the article analyses how play is a way for organisations to simultaneously decide and also avoid making a decision, thus keeping flexibility and possibilities intact. In its final sections, the article discusses what happens to conditions of decision-making when organisations do not just see undecidability as a given condition, but as a limited resource indispensable for change and renewal. The article advances discussions of organisational play by exploring the consequences play has for the very conditions of organising and for key concepts in organisation theory.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
James Paul Gee, An Introduction to Discourse Analysis
Alastair Pennycook, English and the Discourses of Colonialism
Allan Bell and Peter Garrett (eds.), Approaches to Media Discourse
Isabella Paoletti, Being an Older Woman: A Study in the Social Production of Identity
Karl Erik Rosengren, Communication: An Introduction     

Using the Internet to Meet Sexual Partners: Research and Practice Implications

ABSTRACT

Recent research studies suggest increasingly widespread use of Internet sexual networking sites to initiate sexual relationships among men who have sex with men. Concerns are growing in regard to use of such sites in promoting participation in higher-risk sexual activities by providing easier access to partners who are willing to participate. One such activity surrounds substance abuse including using crystal methamphetamine and is commonly termed “party and play” (PNP) during sexual encounters, particularly unprotected anal sex. Current studies indicate conflicting results on PNP and the meeting of sexual partners from the Internet. A critical examination of these studies is presented along with recommendations designed to support future scholarly inquiry.     

The Assessment of Elaborated Role‐play in Young Children: Invisible Friends,Personified Objects,and Pretend Identities

Role‐play (i.e., pretending in which children imagine and act out the part of another individual) was assessed with child interviews and parent questionnaires about invisible friends, personified objects, and pretend identities in a sample of 208 young children. Children who engaged in role‐play did not differ from other children in age or vocabulary comprehension. However, they were better able to generate a pretend conversation than other children and were rated by their parents as less shy. The overall pattern of results suggests that the capacity to interact with imaginary others (in and out of the lab) is more closely associated with individual differences in personality than developmental level.     

论长沙电视台电视剧差异化生存策略——以《雍正王朝》《走向共和》《恰同学少年》为例

长沙电视台,一个名不见经传的内陆电视台,在1999、2003、2007三个年度拍出了风靡全国的《雍正王朝》、《走向共和》、《恰同学少年》三部电视剧。追求差异化的生存策略是它取得成功的重要条件,这一策略的关键点就是内容创新、传播途径创新、功能创新和风格创新。     

简练:简约与丰厚的结晶──论鲁迅小说的语言风格

简练是鲁迅小说最显著的语言风格。它言简意丰，显示出作者非凡的语言才能和表现技巧，显示出作品语体涩而有味、深而有力、奇诡峭拔的个性魅力．鲁迅小说语言的简炼，来自于表现力和创造力的语言修辞，来自于独具特色的语言结构，来自于巧用词句的个性发挥，来自于普通词语的艺术处理．     

Children's Media‐referenced Games: The Lived Culture of Consumer Texts on a School Playground

This article analyses empirical data including observations, videos and interviews from an ethnographic study of a multilingual, multiethnic school playground in London, UK. The analysis examines social uses of media references in playground games, drawing on literature in the field of consumer culture. The main argument is that children's consumer culture is constituted on the playground within media‐referenced play through a combination of creating distinctions and building affiliations. The article addresses a gap in the literature in the fields of sociology and anthropology of consumer culture which largely construct children's consumer culture as exceptional to or derived from adult consumer culture.     

“戏”说《申凤梅》——评李佩甫长篇小说《申凤梅》

李佩甫的长篇小说《申凤梅》是小说与传记的结合,艺术与纪实的统一。就形式而言,它引入了戏曲舞台上"场"的概念,以"场"的组合结构情节。就内容而言,它以"戏"为魂,统领全书。"戏"在全书中已经不再是一种娱乐形式,而是一个生存密码,它有着深刻的文化内涵。以"戏"谈人,以人演"戏",作家在史的叙述中彰显了人的品格,文化的精髓。     

燕青故事研究

元杂剧《同乐院燕青搏鱼》中的燕青,是一个平民化的英雄人物,燕青形象更多的表现梁山好汉为民除害的侠士义气。《水浒传》里的燕青,是一个忠心耿耿、机智灵巧、了身达命的贤才,性格比元杂剧里复杂,人物形象更为鲜明。《水浒后传》沿袭《水浒传》里燕青的聪明才智,大胆地将他塑造成一个出谋划策、智勇过人的非凡将士,一个出类拔萃的军师。