Organizational Symbolism as a Social Construction: A Perspective from the Sociology of Knowledge

This article describes organizational symbolismfrom a sociology of knowledge perspective and considersboth the theoretical and extra-theoretical bases of thesymbolic approach. It illustrates the distinctive principles of the symbolic approach withrespect to other methods used in the study oforganizations, the concepts on which it is based, andthe organizational issues on which it has shedsignificant light. Symbolist studies of organizations haverefocused scholarly attention on the multidisciplinaryunderstanding of the logos, ethos, and pathos oforganizational life. They have done so by stressing the production of knowledge tout court, rather thanconcerning themselves with the applicability of theorganizational knowledge acquired by this approach formanagerial purposes. Organizational symbolism is described in the article as a fluctuatingand emerging social construction whose growth and spreadhas been fostered by support within academia.     

Geometries of ‘global’ evangelicalism

In this article, I explore the power dynamics at play in religious place‐making. I critically discuss the uneven co‐configurations of imaginaries of the ‘local’ and ‘global’ within global evangelicalism. Specifically, I analyse the recent recording of a live album by the famous charismatic Australian band Hillsong United (of Hillsong Church) at various locations in Israel‐Palestine, which was followed by a concert tour in Israel. Palestinian evangelical Christians were critical of this endeavour, for they felt that it marginalized and excluded them from their global evangelical faith family. The frictions between the Palestinian evangelical community and Hillsong United illustrate how dominant evangelical actors create an imagination of the ‘local’, which enters the imaginary of global evangelicalism (and bears material consequences). In the article, I thus argue that privileged financial and cultural resources and travel regimes lead to specific notions of geometries of power in global evangelicalism.     

‘Bringing coals to Newcastle’? Human rights,civil rights and social movements in New York City

In this article we examine the encounter between global human rights ideas and domestic discourses of civil rights and social justice, focusing on processes of translation and adaptation of women's human rights in two ethnographic sites in New York City. The first site is a citywide coalition working for the adoption of a New York City human rights ordinance. The second site is an advocacy organization working on domestic violence issues. We find that the local adoption of human rights in New York City – the ‘domestication’ of human rights – takes place in two central sites: law and social movement. We further find that the process of translation takes place unevenly in the two sites, and it is driven primarily by the actors, mechanisms and technologies in the social movement arena. Overall, we witness the emergence of a domestic human rights movement as a new counter‐hegemonic space, characterized by multiplicity in meanings, ideological heterogeneity and ambivalence from those engaged in its construction.     

Affects of unease: mother–infant separation among professional Indonesian women working in Singapore

The extent of systemic forms of mother–child separation has received insufficient attention in research on migrant families. In this article, I explore the little‐studied phenomenon of mother–infant separation among professional women migrants. I draw from in‐depth interviews with Indonesian professional women working in Singapore who have lived apart from their infant children to pursue work and education. Narratives of separation illustrate a complex transnational network of care built around an availability of support offered by spouses or extended kin. Women experience unease about separation, which emerges in how they talk about their absent infants. Mothers articulate ambivalence about the potential cost of their decisions, positing infants as able to pass judgement on them, with potential rejection and disengagement causing them potent concerns. The unease of these mothers moderates claims that transnational separation is readily managed and highlights the ambiguity embedded in an increasingly common form of transnational mother–child separation.     

Transnational parenting and the well‐being of Angolan migrant parents in Europe

Studies on the transnational family highlight the emotional difficulties of migrant parents separated from their children through international migration. This article consists of a large‐scale quantitative investigation into the insights of transnational family literature by examining the well‐being of transnational parents compared with that of parents who live with their children in the destination country. Furthermore, through a survey of Angolan migrant parents in both the Netherlands and Portugal, we compare the contexts of two receiving country. Our study shows transnational parents are worse off than their non‐transnational counterparts in terms of four measures of well‐being – health, life satisfaction, happiness, and emotional well‐being. Although studies on migrant well‐being tend to focus exclusively on the characteristics of the receiving countries, our findings suggest that, to understand migrant parents' well‐being, a transnational perspective should also consider the existence of children in the migrant sending country. Finally, comparing the same population in two countries revealed that the receiving country effects the way in which transnational parenting is associated with migrant well‐being.     

Social embeddedness in a harmonized Europe: the social networks of European migrants with a native partner in Belgium and the Netherlands

Although intra‐European migration is often considered relatively easy to realize given European citizens' right to freedom of movement, settlement in another European country can still be experienced as socially disruptive. Insights in the insertion processes of European migrants, nevertheless, remain rather scarce. In this study, we analyse the social networks of European nationals with a native partner in Belgium and the Netherlands. The analysis is based on survey data from the EUMARR project (n = 576). First, we study the size and composition of European migrants' local family and friendship networks, and the frequency of contact with these networks. Second, we connect intra‐EU movers' insertion routes to investments in transnational networks in their home country. The results reveal how size, composition and contact with the local and transnational network change over time. Children help to maintain contact with both the local and transnational family network and form a bridge for parents to meet own friends in the host country. Moreover, having own friends and own family around matters for contact frequency with the local networks.     

Reframing transnational engagement: a relational analysis of Afghan diasporic groups

In recent years, there have been repeated calls to refocus studies of diasporic engagements, especially their conceptual underpinnings, underlying assumptions and units of analysis. Based on a qualitative case study of Afghan diasporic groups in Britain and Germany, I propose a refined approach to such engagements. I combine the distinction between different spheres of engagement with key concepts from relational sociology. Afghans in both countries participate in a plethora of transnational engagements, which vary according to the extent of their orientation towards the public or private sphere. At the same time, clearly delineated groups of people undertake engagements observed in different spheres, which different aims and objectives drive. Although informants' attachments to their home country are important, they are not the only basis on which they act. My conceptual angle seeks to inspire critical, nuanced and theoretically rich research on diasporas as social actors and transnational civic engagement in a wider sense.     

Naming the Beast: Defining and Classifying Service Innovations in Social Policy

Over the last decade, the search for innovationhas become a core component of much social policyformulation and implementation. This search, however,has often been undertaken with little attempt to define the actual nature of innovation or to classifyits different modes. This paper reports recent researchwhich has developed a typologyof organizational changewithin which to situate and analyze innovation in social policy. It argues that thistypologyis an essential tool both for socialpolicymakers and for those concerned with itsanalysis.     

The social field of the European corporate elite: a network analysis of interlocking directorates among Europe's largest corporate boards

In this article I investigate the emerging patterns of the European corporate elite network as an example of a European social field, as described by Fligstein. The findings confirm that interlocking directorates form a European corporate network. However, the intercorporate network rests on a very small group of European corporate elite members: it remains the playground of a select few pan‐European ‘big linkers’. Although financial institutions and bankers appear in the upper echelons of the network, they do not occupy crucial positions. Rather, (former) CEOs of Europe's largest big non‐financial businesses knit together the network of interlocking directorates. The network rests on a coalescence of finance and industry, rather than on the dominance of the one over the other. Although the project of European unification has been quite successful in organizing the formal institutional structures, it has not yet led to reproduction of a European business community reminiscent of the national communities.     

The Escalator: A Conveyor of Hong Kong's Culture

People believe that escalators provide a moreattractive, convenient, and physically less-demandingpedestrian access from one place to another. However, itdoes not mean all of us have to like them. Escalators do not only affect our perception of speed, butthe most important concern is that this urban objectalso influences our social relationships and humancommunication. Under the transmission of this urban object, we are treated as components (a what),rather than human beings (a who). Thus, this articlediscusses how modernist thinking affects how we see thisobject and ourselves, and examines the relative worth of it, in relation to the social lossincurred in the present or future. This article alsodiscusses how its presence in many of the daily settingsof urban life affects the culture, meaning and quality of life.Requests for reprints should be addressed SIU Kin Wai Michael, School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hunghom, Kowloon, Hong Kong.