Showing papers in "American Behavioral Scientist in 2015"
TL;DR: The authors highlights the critical role of social capital and networks in disaster survival and recovery and lays out recent literature and evidence on the topic, concluding with concrete policy recommendations for disaster managers, government decision makers, and no...
Abstract: Despite the ubiquity of disaster and the increasing toll in human lives and financial costs, much research and policy remain focused on physical infrastructure–centered approaches to such events. Governmental organizations such as the Department of Homeland Security, United States Federal Emergency Management Agency, United States Agency for International Development, and United Kingdom’s Department for International Development continue to spend heavily on hardening levees, raising existing homes, and repairing damaged facilities despite evidence that social, not physical, infrastructure drives resilience. This article highlights the critical role of social capital and networks in disaster survival and recovery and lays out recent literature and evidence on the topic. We look at definitions of social capital, measurement and proxies, types of social capital, and mechanisms and application. The article concludes with concrete policy recommendations for disaster managers, government decision makers, and no...
1,096 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the potential of enterprise social network sites (ESNSs) for supporting knowledge sharing in large multinational organizations is considered. But, the authors consider their potential for support knowledge-sharing practice is limited.
Abstract: Enterprise social network sites (ESNSs) are increasingly being introduced into large multinational organizations. In this article, we consider their potential for supporting knowledge-sharing pract...
320 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that the new racism, or the set of mostly subtle, institutional, and seemingly non-racial mechanisms and practices that comprise the racial regime of post-racial America, has all but replaced the old Jim Crow order.
Abstract: In this article, I describe the racial order of America in the post–Civil Rights era. First, I discuss what racism is all about and emphasize the centrality of conceiving the phenomenon in a structural way. Second, I argue that the “new racism,” or the set of mostly subtle, institutional, and seemingly nonracial mechanisms and practices that comprise the racial regime of “post-racial” America, has all but replaced the old Jim Crow order. Third, I describe the racial ideology of color-blind racism and its component parts (i.e., frames, style, and racial stories) and contend that, like the racial order, this new ideology is slippery and has a “beyond race” character. Fourth, I explain that the Obama moment is part of the new racism, color-blind period and justify my claim empirically. I conclude this essay pondering if people of color will wake up and realize that the new, more “civil” way of maintaining and justifying racial things is a more formidable way of maintaining racial domination.
314 citations
TL;DR: The Rural Resilience Index (RRI) as discussed by the authors is an applied disaster resilience assessment index for use in rural and remote communities, which is designed as a user-friendly, process-based, qualitative resilience assessment tool.
Abstract: This article describes the development and field testing of the Rural Resilience Index (RRI), an applied disaster resilience assessment index for use in rural and remote communities. The index was generated as part of the Rural Disaster Resilience Project. This community-centered action research project was designed to respond to the global emphasis on increasing the capacity of all communities, large and small, to meet the growing challenge of disasters, climate change, and other threats. The goals of the project were to produce resilience assessment and planning tools that could be used by communities to generate locally relevant data on their current resilience and be able to monitor and enhance their resilience over time. This article describes the development and field testing of the RRI, which is designed as a user-friendly, process-based, qualitative resilience assessment tool. The RRI emphasizes the value of citizen engagement in resilience planning and a whole-of-community approach to resilience ...
124 citations
TL;DR: This article conceptualized disaster resilience as a collective surge in science, policy, and practice, and the strength of the resilience surge is based on the concept's usefulness as a boundary object and in particular its resonance with the discourses and practices of neoliberalization, in which the role of the state is diminished and superseded by private-public partnerships and contracts.
Abstract: Like sustainable development, disaster resilience can be conceptualized as a collective surge in science, policy, and practice. The strength of the resilience surge is based on the concept’s usefulness as a boundary object and in particular its resonance with the discourses and practices of neoliberalization, in which the role of the state is diminished and superseded by private–public partnerships and contracts. Current U.S. resilience approaches support particular types of state–society relationships, construct particular kinds of at-risk subjects, and privilege technocratic solutions to disaster vulnerability. Neoliberal disaster risk reduction strategies and their outcomes had a profound impact on post-Katrina recovery in New Orleans.
120 citations
TL;DR: Knowledge stickiness often impedes knowledge transfer as discussed by the authors, when knowledge is complex and the knowledge seeker lacks intimacy with the knowledge source, knowledge sticks in its point of origin because t...
Abstract: Knowledge stickiness often impedes knowledge transfer. When knowledge is complex and the knowledge seeker lacks intimacy with the knowledge source, knowledge sticks in its point of origin because t...
116 citations
TL;DR: This article identifies social, spatial, and temporal explanatory frameworks for housing and population recovery and uses them to review research findings on mobility—both evacuation and migration—after Hurricane Katrina and reveals a need for a comprehensive social, temporal, and spatial framework for explaining inequality in population displacement and recovery.
Abstract: Hurricane Katrina created a catastrophe in the city of New Orleans when the storm surge caused the levee system to fail on August 29, 2005. The destruction of housing displaced hundreds of thousands of residents for varying lengths of time, often permanently. It also revealed gaps in our knowledge of how population is recovered after a disaster causes widespread destruction of urban infrastructure, housing and workplaces, and how mechanisms driving housing recovery often produce unequal social, spatial and temporal population recovery. In this article, I assemble social, spatial and temporal explanatory frameworks for housing and population recovery and then review research on mobility - both evacuation and migration - after Hurricane Katrina. The review reveals a need for a comprehensive social, spatial and temporal framework for explaining inequality in population recovery and displacement. It also shows how little is known about in-migrants and permanent out-migrants after a disaster.
109 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors employ media and communication perspectives (communication ecology, public relations, and strategic communication) to review the community resilience literature and propose a revised community resilience model including four components: communication systems and resources, community relationships, strategic communication processes, and community attributes.
Abstract: A community is resilient if it is able to “bounce forward” after an adverse event. Community resilience is generally considered a process that is indicated by community adaptation following a disaster or crisis. In this article, we employ media and communication perspectives (communication ecology, public relations, and strategic communication) to review the community resilience literature and propose a revised community resilience model. Our proposed model includes four components: communication systems and resources, community relationships, strategic communication processes, and community attributes. Each of these components includes several elements that are described. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
92 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of social movement organizations (SMOs) in Internet activism is examined and it is argued that SMOs do not necessarily offer strong returns on investment for forms of protest in which participation occurs online or in which entire movements are organized online.
Abstract: This article examines the role of social movement organizations (SMOs) in Internet activism. While SMOs may still play a vital role in offline protest that is facilitated online, I argue that SMOs do not necessarily offer strong returns on investment for forms of protest in which participation occurs online or in which entire movements are organized online. Specifically, I argue that several critical functions for SMOs in offline social movements are not as applicable online, rendering SMOs less necessary for online participation and/or organizing. However, that SMOs may no longer be prerequisites for online protest does not imply their extinction for several reasons. First, noninstrumental motives may drive SMO formation and maintenance. Second, other situations remain, such as facilitating offline protest using the Internet, in which SMOs are still likely to provide significant returns on investment. Third, SMOs may be important to healthy movement ecologies such that entire social movements that are de...
83 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe an application of the Communities Advancing Resilience Toolkit Assessment Survey using a sample of affiliated volunteer responders, and present an application for the CAST assessment survey.
Abstract: This article describes an application of the Communities Advancing Resilience Toolkit Assessment Survey using a sample of affiliated volunteer responders. The Communities Advancing Resilience Toolk...
71 citations
TL;DR: It is found that innovation, operationalized as publishing in a new scientific discipline, benefits from both homophily and diversity, while diversity in knowledge enables the recombinant knowledge required for innovation.
Abstract: This study examines the influence of different types of diversity, both observable and unobservable, on the creation of innovative ideas. Our framework draws upon theory and research on information processing, social categorization, coordination, and homophily to posit the influence of cognitive, gender, and country diversity on innovation. Our longitudinal model is based on a unique dataset of 1,354 researchers who helped create the new scientific field of Oncofertility, by collaborating on 469 publications over a four-year period. We capture the differences among researchers along cognitive, country and gender dimensions, as well as examine how the resulting diversity or homophily influences the formation of collaborative innovation networks. We find that innovation, operationalized as publishing in a new scientific discipline, benefits from both homophily and diversity. Homophily in country of residence and working with prior collaborators help reduce uncertainty in the interactions associated with innovation, while diversity in knowledge enables the recombinant knowledge required for innovation.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared six interventions to enhance community resilience using a multihazard approach relevant to the local context, utilizing community assessment, focus on community engagement, adhere to bioethical principles, emphasize both assets and needs, and encourage skill development.
Abstract: This article compares six interventions to enhance community resilience. In this review, underlying principles for community resilience interventions are (a) use a multihazard approach relevant to the local context, (b) utilize community assessment, (c) focus on community engagement, (d) adhere to bioethical principles, (e) emphasize both assets and needs, and (f) encourage skill development. The interventions are compared with respect to parameters that address their foundation, methodology, and implementation.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine three interconnected notions about color-blind racism and the Internet, including the fantasy that the Internet as a technology is colour-blind with regard to race.
Abstract: In this article, I examine three interconnected notions about color-blind racism and the Internet. The first is the fantasy that the Internet as a technology is color-blind with regard to race; the...
TL;DR: The widely held view that rapid urbanization is occurring across much of Sub-Saharan Africa has been questioned recently, and an alternative perspective has drawn attention to conditions of counter-urbanization as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The widely held view that rapid urbanization is occurring across much of Sub-Saharan Africa has been questioned recently, and an alternative perspective has drawn attention to conditions of counter...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors empirically assess the introduction of an enterprise social media application and the degree to which it promotes cross-boundary communication (across geographical and hierarchical lines), through analysis of server log data and in-depth interviews.
Abstract: Collaborating across boundaries is important for organizational innovation, but it poses a key challenge for large, distributed organizations. New technologies such as enterprise social media (ESM) are often heralded for their open infrastructure, democratic nature, and ability to break down traditional hierarchies and barriers to communication; thus, such tools may be expected to play a role in facilitating cross-boundary interaction. Usage patterns are likely to be shaped by existing cultural factors within the organizational and national contexts, however. Drawing on a case study of a large Russian telecommunications company, we empirically assess the introduction of an ESM application and the degree to which it promotes cross-boundary communication (across geographical and hierarchical lines), through analysis of server log data and in-depth interviews. Our findings demonstrate that ESM promotes cross-boundary communication, although there are distinct patterns for hierarchical and regional boundaries...
TL;DR: In this article, African cities are receiving increased attention from corporate interests, investors, and property developers, and urban scholars and planners are beginning to reflect what kinds of cities are in t...
Abstract: African cities are receiving increased attention from corporate interests, investors, and property developers, and urban scholars and planners are beginning to reflect what kinds of cities are in t...
TL;DR: This paper analyzed quoted sources and issue frames in U.S., French, and Norwegian news coverage of unauthorized immigration during 2011 and 2012 and found that most quotes do not contain any substantial arguments addressing the problems, causes, or solutions associated with immigration.
Abstract: Determining the speakers and arguments that dominate the news has long been a core task of media sociology. Yet systematic evidence linking the two—who says what or nothing at all—is lacking in news analysis, especially on the important issue of immigration. In this article, we analyze quoted sources and issue frames in U.S., French, and Norwegian news coverage of unauthorized immigration during 2011 and 2012. Supporting claims of transnational media homogenization, we find most quotes are “frameless,” that is, do not contain any substantial arguments addressing the problems, causes, or solutions associated with immigration. Of those quotes that do offer frames, problem frames are far more common than causes and solutions. Across nations and media types, government sources dominate the news, focusing on problems for society, while pro-immigration associations and unaffiliated individuals help account for overall greater attention to problems for immigrants. On the other hand, providing limited support for...
TL;DR: A jaundiced optimism has surfaced in the past few years for a number of cities across the African continent as mentioned in this paper, and there is optimism for the moment in cities from Dakar to Nairobi, Cairo to Cape Town, Ma...
Abstract: A jaundiced optimism has surfaced in the past few years for a number of cities across the African continent. There is optimism for the moment in cities from Dakar to Nairobi, Cairo to Cape Town, Ma...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the use of human interest stories in the coverage of irregular immigration and found that about half of the news stories studied have a human face or example.
Abstract: Based on a quantitative, comparative analysis of U.S., French, and Norwegian news media, this article examines the use of human interest stories in the coverage of irregular immigration. In an innovative design, it systematically analyzes how human interest framing is related to the frequency and complexity of dominant arguments and perspectives (issue-specific frames). In contrast to the extant literature, arguing that news on immigration reduces immigrants to dangerous and anonymous threats, the article finds that about half the news stories studied have a human face or example. Moreover, these human interest articles tend to frame the issue from the immigrants’ perspective, describing their personal stories and struggle. This result nuances the commonly held assumption that human interest frames signal declining news quality, as the number and range of arguments presented are not significantly reduced when human narratives are employed. The prevalence of human interest frames is highest in Norway, wher...
TL;DR: In this paper, a characterization of guanxi in terms of its cultural and institutional attributes is provided, paralleling accounts emphasizing respectively its expressive power and cultural diversity, and a variant network form is described.
Abstract: Guanxi possesses a variant network form. A characterization of guanxi in terms of its cultural and institutional attributes is provided, paralleling accounts emphasizing respectively its expressive...
TL;DR: In a day when many are fatigued with discourse on racism, discrimination, and inequality, others face a socially and politically trenchant White backlash against the gains of the civil rights movement as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In a day when many are fatigued with discourse on racism, discrimination, and inequality but others face a socially and politically trenchant White backlash against the gains of the civil rights mo...
TL;DR: The Community and Regional Resilience Institute (CRRI) as discussed by the authors has conducted a number of projects and case studies examining the nature and characteristics of community resilience in order to identify processes, tools, and resources that could assist communities in strengthening their resilient capacities.
Abstract: The Community and Regional Resilience Institute has conducted a number of projects and case studies examining the nature and characteristics of community resilience in order to identify processes, tools, and resources that could assist communities in strengthening their resilient capacities. This article begins by describing a theoretical framework for community resilience developed from literature review and community practice. The authors review the Community and Regional Resilience Institute’s practical work to assist selected communities in understanding and improving their resilience through two rounds of case studies and provide summaries of community outcomes and implications of the community work. The article also briefly describes the collaborative development process used to build a web-enabled system of tools, resources, and resilience knowledge that can be used by all communities to build and strengthen resilience. Finally, the article presents key observations arising from the community and c...
TL;DR: This article argued that the appeal of multiculturalism as a public policy has suffered considerable political damage and pointed out that the turn to “civic measures and discourses in many European states has led to "civic" measures and discourse.
Abstract: There is a widely shared view that the appeal of multiculturalism as a public policy has suffered considerable political damage. In many European states the turn to “civic” measures and discourses ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the plan may exacerbate the racialized spatial injustices produced in Detroit by 20th-century exclusionary metropolitan growth, ineffective governance, and decades-long flawed approaches to economic development.
Abstract: This article critiques the Detroit Future City (DFC) strategic framework concerning municipal service provision and land use over the next few decades. Relying on policy and media documents, we show that the DFC exhibits narrow, market-oriented logics characteristic of the pervasive hegemony of neoliberal urbanism in American city governance. We address the corporate orientation of the Detroit Works Project, the public–private partnership behind DFC, and argue that the plan may exacerbate the racialized spatial injustices produced in Detroit by 20th-century exclusionary metropolitan growth, ineffective governance, and decades-long flawed approaches to economic development. Furthermore, DFC not only advances previous planned-shrinkage attempts but also seeks to repurpose major areas of the city for global investment, reversing their zoning for agriculture and green space. Our analysis of census data shows that Detroit’s most disadvantaged residents disproportionately reside in areas designated as future “i...
TL;DR: The authors reexamine the cohort replacement hypothesis focusing on young Whites' racial attitudes and whether change is in substance or form, and develop a theoretical argument about the shifting nature of young Whites’ racial attitudes in the post-civil rights era.
Abstract: A key finding from previous research on trends in Whites’ racial attitudes is that much of the decline in the expression of racial prejudice over the past seven decades can be attributed to the replacement of older, less tolerant White cohorts by younger, more tolerant cohorts of Whites in the U.S. population (i.e., cohort replacement). An implicit assumption of much of this work is that cohort replacement will continue to produce unidirectional liberalizing trends in Whites’ racial attitudes because of the more tolerant attitudes of each younger cohort. In this article, we reexamine the cohort replacement hypothesis focusing on young Whites’ racial attitudes and whether change is in substance or form. We develop a theoretical argument about the shifting nature of young Whites’ racial attitudes and understandings in the post–civil rights era by building on Forman’s concept of racial apathy and the expanding literature on color-blind racism, which posits that during the post–civil rights era, subtle forms ...
TL;DR: The authors conducted life history interviews with 34 former white supremacists, one of the oldest types of hate groups in the United States, to examine the process of exit from these groups and found that exiting is a multifaceted process with a variety of factors that influence a person's decision to leave.
Abstract: The topic of hate group membership and radicalization toward extremist ideologies has received substantial attention in recent years; however, relatively less is known about the process of disengagement and deradicalization. This is troubling because the number of hate groups in the United States has increased and some are known to engage in a variety of violent and criminal behavior. This exploratory study relies on life history interviews with 34 former white supremacists, one of the oldest types of hate groups in the United States, to examine the process of exit from these groups. Findings suggest that exiting is a multifaceted process with a variety of factors that influence a person’s decision to leave. The results also highlight a number of difficulties associated with exiting such as ongoing emotions of guilt, ideological relapse, and maintaining social ties with current members of the white supremacist movement.
TL;DR: In this paper, the author's accepted manuscript has been published by Sage in American Behavioral Scientist here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0002764214540508.
Abstract: This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final version is published by Sage in American Behavioral Scientist here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0002764214540508.
TL;DR: A wave of interest in community resilience by the U.S. federal government has been followed by waves of community resilience theory building and community resilience assessment and intervention as mentioned in this paper, which has led to the development of a variety of resilience models.
Abstract: Initial interest in community resilience by the U.S. federal government has been followed by waves of community resilience theory building and of community resilience assessment and intervention de...
TL;DR: In this paper, the role and impact of the mass media on the current climate, opinions, and policies related to irregular immigration in three different Western countries is investigated based on comparative and multimethod data sets.
Abstract: The media coverage of irregular immigration has the power to influence public opinion, fuel the formation of popular movements, and mold the political climate related to immigration. Based on comparative and multimethod data sets, this special issue of American Behavioral Scientist contributes to a renewed understanding of the role and impact of the mass media on the current climate, opinions, and policies related to irregular immigration in three different Western countries. Analysis of source strategies and ethnographic methods is combined with large-scale quantitative content analysis of news and surveys measuring the reception of this news coverage by audiences in the United States, France, and Norway. The research design pursued in this special issue of American Behavioral Scientist identifies (a) the dominant voices, narratives, and arguments in the mainstream media coverage of irregular immigration; (b) how stakeholders work strategically to promote their messages in the media; and (c) what attitud...
TL;DR: In the past decade, researchers and political commentators have observed an apparent retracing of the trends of migration and ethnic minority integration in numerous European countries as mentioned in this paper, and they have pointed out the apparent retrace of these trends.
Abstract: Migration and ethnic minority integration remain heavily contested issues in numerous European countries. Over the past decade, researchers and political commentators have observed an apparent retr...