The re-enchantment of social institutions: Max Weber and public relations

The German sociologist Max Weber is rarely referred to in public relations theory and research. In this article it is argued that his concepts of legitimacy and legitimation are relevant for understanding and analyzing public relations activities. Legitimacy, i.e. having sufficient external support to continue to exist, is seen as the ultimate purpose of public relations, and legitimation is seen as the efforts which are aimed at acquiring organizational legitimacy. The article discusses both theoretical and practical implications of these ideas for the field of public relations.     

律师调查令正当性的法理思考

因现行法律限制,律师调查权受到极大制约,妨碍司法正义和当事人合法权益的实现,各地法院试行的"律师调查令制度"均缺乏法律依据,处于实践先行的尴尬境地.现阶段律师不可能享有强制调查权,但律师因客观情况不能调查取证时可以申请调查令.法院委托律师调查是合理的,律师是承担调查取证责任的合适人选.其他国家先进的立法经验可供我们借鉴.     

论新时期思想政治工作的合法性基础

担当现代政治系统合法性基础的是能够体现现代民主政治理念的制度规则。非公有制经济组织思想政治工作的一些特征反映了传统思想政治工作模式遭遇的合法性危机,这些危机植根于我国社会结构的多元化变迁及公共权力运行中的崭新变化。新时期思想政治工作的合法性基础应当建立在“执政为民、依法执政”的基本理念上,在价值目标、制度创新和职能边界方面重新安排思想政治工作的合法性基础。     

Learning,signaling, and convincing: The role of experimentation in the business modeling process

This study examines experimentation in the business modeling process, unpacking three different roles of experimentation: learning, signaling, and convincing. Learning is an inherent role of experimentation, as managers typically experiment to engage with the environment and to obtain knowledge. This study uncovers another set of roles, which have a symbolic nature. These roles show that experimentation is not just a learning process, but also a strategic legitimation process, aimed at enacting the environment. Experimentation serves the purpose of signaling to potential customers and other stakeholders, and of convincing them to embrace the business model. Furthermore, this study shows that experimentation takes two forms—purposeful interactions and experimental projects—and that these forms can support the different roles of experimentation.     

关于建立我国行政诉讼简易程序的思考

简易程序是一种相对于普通程序而言较简便易行的审判程序,其因自身的内外部正当性而成为平衡诉讼中公平与效率的一种捷径。而长期以来,我国行政诉讼中却排斥简易程序的适用。我们应当在简易程序正当性的基础上构建适宜的行政诉讼简易程序。     

Weapons of Mass Distraction: Magicianship,Misdirection, and the Dark Side of Legitimation1

Most discussions of legitimation focus on factors that are expected to contribute to it, such as tradition, expertise, or prosperity. Less attention has been paid to “the dark side” of legitimation, which depends heavily on evading attention. A potentially informative approach is to learn from professionals with special expertise in evading attention while making things “disappear”—magicians. Rather than seeking overt control over the audience, they perform in plain view, largely by using well‐timed distractions, or “misdirection.” Preliminary evidence suggests that similar techniques may be widely used in political contexts, with some of the most effective forms of misdirection involving diversionary reframing—diverting attention away from any questions about existing distributions of privilege, not by brute force, but by changing the subject, especially by raising questions about the legitimacy of critics. These and related techniques clearly deserve to be the focus of additional research.     

Educating the “Variant,” Educating the Public: Gender and the Rhetoric of Legitimation in The Ladder Magazine for Lesbians

This article explores the rhetorical strategies used within The Ladder magazine to legitimate its producers, and by extension all lesbians, as participants in the public dialogue regarding the problem of homosexuality. The Ladder was the first lesbian-produced, nationally distributed magazine in the United States, publishing continuously from 1956 through 1972. Unlike early publications by male homophile groups, the producers of The Ladder had two delegitimating statuses to overcome in order to establish legitimacy–their stigmatized sexuality and their delegitimated gender. This article examines the ways that gender expectations experienced by women during the magazine's early years of publication shaped and constrained the discursive practices within The Ladder in its quest for legitimation. Three rhetorical strategies are analyzed: normalization (constructing the lesbian as heterosexual woman), status elevation (the lesbian as man), and emphatic individualism (the lesbian as idealized citizen).     

A theory of “popular political legitimation”: A dual-process model approach to legitimation and political socialization

How do everyday people—or actors who do not occupy positions of political authority—legitimate political systems? Responding to this question, I use work from sociology, political science, and cognitive science to build a theory of “Popular Political Legitimation” (PPL)—defined as everyday people's legitimation of a political system. To answer how PPL happens, we must answer two sub-questions that address legitimacy as a normative phenomenon: 1) What are the processes of socialization through which individuals learn the norms, widely held beliefs, and values that legitimate a political system? 2) How do individuals subsequently use these norms, widely held beliefs, and/or values in their own legitimations of a political system? Thus, we see that a model of socialization is central to understanding how PPL happens. I proceed in four steps. First, I review the literature on political legitimation. Next, I review the literature on political socialization. Third, to address gaps in the two aforementioned literatures concerning a model of socialization that explains legitimation, I turn to neuroscience (for reviews see Greene, 2017; Cushman, 2020) and psychology to review models of socialization and rationalization. Finally, I synthesize these literatures to develop a theory of political socialization and how it generates PPL.     

Civil criticism and the welfare state

This article is a report on a Finnish survey on criticism of the welfare state. The research questions are: 1) How commonly do people see the negative sides of the welfare state? 2) What background variables correlate with critical attitudes? Data for the study were gathered in a representative Finnish mail survey (N=2, 949). The main results show that criticism against the welfare state is rather widespread in Finland. The most critical people are those who support the Rightist parties. However, different socio-economic groups express diverging forms of criticism. People with a lower position in stratification hierarchies are critical of the alleged bureaucracy of the welfare state. The middle classes are more critical about the redistributive effects of the welfare state. However, the widespread criticism cannot be interpreted as a sign of a legitimation crisis. People both support and criticize the welfare state at the same time.     

论新闻媒体监督司法审判的正当性

新闻媒体监督司法审判是公民和媒体新闻自由的直接要求 ,是人民主权、权利制约权力原则的本质体现 ,是实现审判公开的重要手段 ,有利于司法公正的实现和司法权威的树立。必须充分肯定新闻媒体对司法审判活动的有效监督