流言的流变:SARS舆情的传播学分析

无论是对于传媒管理、还是对于社会与政治变革而言,SARS危机事件中的流言传播现象都是一个难得的研究样本。舆论的进程及相关的跨学科调查表明:流言生成于主流传媒的缺位,平息于民众信息权力的恢复;在流言的最初阶段,存在着属于中产阶层的敏感人群,这意味着传播管理有可能采取更有针对性的对策;流言传播对于“道听途说”的明显的信道依赖,表明了流言在信息封锁之中更可能演变为谣言和谎言,更为重要的趋势是,新媒介在流言传播中的作用已日益显著。     

Gossip as strategy: The management of talk about others on reality TV show 'Big Brother'

In this paper we examine the nature of gossip talk as an activity type in the context of the TV game show 'Big Brother'. Using a detailed analytic approach to the situated nature of gossip sequences, we show how participants in the show manage gossip talk strategically to establish social relationships within the house, as well as to present themselves in a positive way to the viewing (and voting) audience. We argue that there is a contextual double framing for talk in the Big Brother (BB) house which participants are orienting to, both as members of a social group, and as players in a TV game show. The paper thus contributes to existing work on the social function of gossip, as well as exploring its strategic function in this particular interactional context, calling into question the nature of 'natural' discourse.     

Dishing the dirt: gossiping in organizations

In an exercise in social theory, rather than an empirical investigation, we concentrate on the role of gossip – spreading ‘news about the affairs of another’ – in relation to the dynamics of power in organizations. Gossip has often been seen in functional terms, as both positive and negative for the organization. In this paper we challenge this functionalist approach. Gossip can be associated with what Freud called the narcissism of minor differences: the gossipers tend not to be too dissimilar from those gossiped about in terms of proximity. Propinquity may increase the animosity of gossip. We see formal organization as a self‐regulating system that constantly refines its boundaries, and gossip is the dirt that trickles in and out of these boundaries, illegitimate, formally disdained and often destructive. The writer who has done most to encourage and clarify thinking about the nature of dirt is Mary Douglas, the anthropologist, especially her notion of expressive pollution. The paper concludes with some implications for ethics in practice viewed through power relations.     

The use of celebrity scandals and sensational news for identity negotiations: analyzing gossip among the queers within Taiwanese families

Since the late 1990s, Taiwanese celebrity scandals and sensational news stories have addressed how the families of gay children understand the latters' idiosyncratic sexual identity. Conducting studies on audience reception and searching for divergent readings were once useful means of understanding resistance and resilience among marginalized groups. This study of the interactive interpretive practices among viewers in a family further contextualizes the dialectical formation of queer1^1. In this study, I use the term queer to refer to the larger lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning (LGBTQ) community in Taiwan. However, since the usage of gay and lesbian is more common than that of queer in Taiwanese everyday conversations, I use gay and lesbian when referring to the context of family conversations. Since the early 1990s, Tóng-zhì (vernacular for queer) has become the most common name for the younger generation in the LGBT community in the Greater Chinese area. According to Chou Wah-Shan (2000 Chou, W. (2000). Tongzhi: Politics of same-sex eroticism in Chinese societies. New York: Haworth Press. [Google Scholar], p. 2), Tóng-zhì was coined as a means of signifying “politics beyond the homo-hetero duality” and “integrating the sexual into the social”. Specifically, the social networks I am referring to here are the Taiwan Tong-Zhi Hotline Foundation and the Persons with HIV/AIDS Rights Advocacy Association. In the former Tong-Zhi Hotline, I worked as a volunteer and an advisor; in the latter, I am a member of the steering committee, and I serve on the advisory board. subjectivities in Taiwan, a society that emphasizes the performance of an appropriate self in social relations and maintaining family harmony. Over a three-year period of fieldwork in Taipei, this study employed ethnographic methods to interview 16 gay men and lesbians and their mothers in order to clarify how celebrity scandals and sensational news function as a site for identity negotiation within families with gay children. This study argues that vernacular interpretive practices within families produce resources of resistance, accommodation and even pleasure, which can be used to understand the nascent Taiwanese gay identity in relation to significant others.     

Beyond Home: Forging the Domestic in Shared Housing

ABSTRACT

This article examines how connections between intimacy and the realm of the domestic are propelled by conditions of shared residence. Informed by research among low-income families in Buenos Aires who organize to attain collectively owned housing, I depict how the propinquity provided by common social activism and co-residence creates both a political and an affective community. The groups in question organize their cohabitation and everyday life according to a set of explicit and collectively sanctioned rules and regulations concerning distribution and uses of space, maintenance, etc. However, living together also implies embracing a myriad of norms regarding aspects of intimacy and the body—particularly those related to sexuality—which, although alluded to by written rules, can only gain voice in the more nuanced, semi-public idioms of gossip and rumor. The article explores these assertions by considering several instances where rules and gossip intersected in deliberations about (im)proper attire in common areas, and the making of decisions about kinship and care. I describe the emotional undertones that emerge around these issues—such as jealousy, modesty, or suspicion—in order to examine how they articulate a domestic domain.

These reflections are based on extended interviews. In order to preserve my informants' anonymity I used pseudonyms in all cases.     

论《易经》的“一分为三”思想

《易经》是中华文化的源泉。探讨《易经》由太极而阴阳四象,由四象加一画而成八卦与由太极而阴阳直接化生八卦,再由八卦迭加成六十四卦的逻辑演变道路,以及揭示其中"道立于二,以阴阳为本;物成于三,以三极为用;三生万物,以变易为动"的"一分为三"思想。     

Cougars or kittens? The representation of celebrity cougars and their toyboys in gossip media

Abstract

Relationships involving a woman who is much older than her male partner have become increasingly visible in popular culture. These women are referred to as “cougars” and their partners as “toyboys.” This type of relationship has the potential to undermine elements of heteronormativity and intersectional gender/age performances, as women who are past their forties are not expected to engage in sexual relationships with (younger) men. The present study discusses the discourse found in Dutch gossip media (n = 138) on the relationships of preselected celebrity “cougars:” Demi Moore, Madonna, Patricia Paay, and Heleen van Royen. A qualitative content analysis reveals that certain aspects of heteronormativity are challenged: these women are depicted as financially and sexually empowered, whereas their partners are seen as interchangeable male suitors who are dependent on the female partner’s (financial/career) achievements. Yet, traditional understandings of intersectional performances (i.e., gender/age) are also found: a wise, caring mother, and a handsome, boyish, adventurous partner. Overall, these women are seen as both maintaining and challenging traditional roles that are typically associated with older women.     

Rumors and gossip as tools of social undermining and social dominance in workplace bullying and mobbing practices: A closer look at perceived perpetrator motives

The impact of ‘bully bosses’ on organizations is well studied and research has established a number of antecedents, correlates, moderators and mediators of workplace bullying and mobbing as well as the impact of the practices on the targets, bystanders, perpetrators and the employing organizations. The current study focuses on rumors and gossip as ‘tools’ used by perpetrators of workplace bullying and mobbing. This study is important because while researchers have generally agreed that rumors and gossip can contribute to a better understanding of different areas of interest to organizational behaviorists and researchers; the role played by the two social processes (i.e., rumors and gossip) have not been adequately interrogated by scholars or practitioners studying organizations. To address this gap in research, the main objective of the current study was to use collaborative and analytic autoethnography (CAAE) in exploring and presenting qualitative empirical inquiry on the dynamics of workplace bullying as perpetrated by ‘bully bosses’ and as characterized by rumors and gossip. The findings and extant literature suggests that depending on: contents, functions, and the situational and motivational contexts, perpetrators of bullying and mobbing may use rumors and gossip: 1) for maintenance of oppression and social dominance; 2) as an expression of envy and social undermining; 3) as a weapon to humiliate subordinates by corporate/organizational psychopaths; and/or 4) as a psychological attempt to close or widen the power gap.     

Can subordinates benefit from Manager’s gossip?

Every story has two sides, so does gossip. Unlike prior studies that condemn gossip, our research analyzes whether managers’ gossip benefits subordinates. Gossip is informal conversation about other people who are absent at the scene, and gossip may be positive or negative. Positive gossip contains positiveness and appreciation, whereas negative gossip encloses negativeness and depreciation. We propose that managers’ positive gossip acts as commitment facilitator, implying a sense of recognition to subordinates. We also propose that subordinates appreciate such recognition by showing commitment toward managers. Research data are gathered from anonymous questionnaires that are distributed to 117 managers and 201 subordinates from five industries in Taiwan. Bootstrapping and structural equation modeling techniques are used to analyze the data. Managers’ positive gossip is found to be correlated with subordinates’ commitment toward managers, which also mediates subordinates’ perception of well-being, team empowerment, and job embeddedness. Yet, manager’s negative gossip is not correlated with any research variables. Our research is the first of its kind to explain why managers’ gossip has potential to be a commitment facilitator, and has brought news insights into gossip literature. Implications of the research findings also help reduce the bias associated with workplace gossip.     

小词语,大文章——帕特里夏·斯帕克斯思想述评

帕特里夏·斯帕克斯是美国杰出的女性文学评论家,对文学评论的贡献主要有两点。一是指出社会主流文化推崇的女性形象与真实女性不符,剖析女性人生面临的种种问题,为女性的自由发展拓宽空间;二是对"漫谈"、"无聊"、"独处"等社会文化中充满贬抑色彩的高频词语进行历史性研究,正本清源,批驳词语误读催生出的消极文化,劝谏人们树立正确积极的人生观。斯帕克斯从小词语入手做出大文章的研究方法,值得学者借鉴。