Showing papers in "Annals of The American Academy of Political and Social Science in 1999"
TL;DR: In this paper, a method to accelerate the diffusion of innova- tions using opinion leaders is presented. But the authors focus on interpersonal communica- tion networks and do not consider how to collect information on interpersonal communication networks.
Abstract: Theory on the diffusion of innovations has been used to study the spread of new ideas and practices for over 50 years in a wide variety of settings. Most studies have been retrospective, and most have neglected to collect information on interpersonal communica- tion networks. In addition, few have attempted to use the lessons from diffusion research to accelerate the diffusion of innovations. This article outlines a method to accelerate the diffusion of innova- tions using opinion leaders. The authors present their optimal matching procedure and report on computer simulations that show how much faster diffusion occurs when initiated by opinion leaders. Limitations and extensions of the model are discussed.
656 citations
TL;DR: Opinion leaders are more precisely opinion brokers who carry information across the social boundaries between groups as discussed by the authors, and they are not people at the top of things so much as people on the edge of things, not leaders within groups, but brokers between groups.
Abstract: Opinion leaders are more precisely opinion brokers who carry information across the social boundaries between groups. They are not people at the top of things so much as people at the edge of things, not leaders within groups so much as brokers between groups. The familiar two-step flow of communication is a compound of two very different network mechanisms: contagion by cohesion through opinion leaders gets information into a group, and contagion by equivalence generates adoptions within the group. Opinion leaders as brokers bear a striking resemblance to network entrepreneurs in social capital research. The complementary content of diffusion and social capital research makes the analogy productive. Diffusion research describes how opinion leaders play their role of brokering information between groups, and social capital research describes the benefits that accrue to brokers.
475 citations
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TL;DR: The fact that people feel queasy about putting a price on something as sacred as care limits the pay offered--as paradoxical as it is to pay less for something when it is seen as infinitely valuable!
Abstract: Caring work involves providing a face-to-face service to recipients in jobs such as child care, teaching, therapy, and nursing. Such jobs offer low pay relative to their requirements for education and skill. What explains the penalty for doing caring work? Because caring labor is associated with women, cultural sexism militates against recognizing the value of the work. Also, the intrinsic reward people receive from helping others may allow employers to fill the jobs for lower pay. Caring labor creates public goods--widespread benefits that accrue even to those who pay nothing. For example, if children learn skills and discipline from teachers, the children's future employers benefit, with no market mechanism to make the pay given to care workers reflect these benefits. Even when the public or not-for-profit sectors do step in to hire people to provide such services for those too poor to pay, the pay is limited by how much decision makers really care about the poor. Finally, the fact that people feel quea...
416 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the role of gender in shaping occupational and organizational norms for emotional labor in policing, and identify variations in the norms regulating emotional labor across policing assignments, interactional situations, and the gender of both the officers and the citizens in an encounter.
Abstract: Police work involves substantial emotional labor by officers, who must control their own emotional displays and those of citizens, who often are encountered at their worst—injured, upset, or angry. Although policing often is viewed as masculine work that focuses on fighting crime, it also requires that officers maintain order and provide diverse services, which officers tend to disdain as feminine activities. This article explores the varieties of emotional labor, the rules regulating emotional displays in policing, and the role of gender in shaping these occupational and organizational norms. It identifies variations in the norms regulating emotional labor across policing assignments, interactional situations, and the gender of both the officers and the citizens in an encounter. It also reviews coping mechanisms for regulating emotions—including socialization, organizational rituals, humor, and off-duty social activities—and the dilemmas that norms related to emotional labor pose for women officers.
301 citations
TL;DR: The phrase "emotional labor" was coined by sociologist Arlie Hochschild in 1983 in her classic book, The Managed Heart as discussed by the authors, which assesses the current multi-and interdisciplinary literature on emotional labor.
Abstract: The phrase "emotional labor" was coined by sociologist Arlie Hochschild in 1983 in her classic book, The Managed Heart. Jobs requiring emotional labor typically necessitate contact with other people external to or within the organization, usually involving face-to-face or voice-to-voice contact, especially in service work. In this article, the authors summarize Hochschild's pathbreaking work and assess the state of the current multi- and interdisciplinary literature on emotional labor. They distinguish between two interrelated areas of research on emotional labor. The first area involves predominantly, though not exclusively, qualitative case studies of employees at workplaces in the service sector. A second set of studies, primarily quantitative, investigates the link between emotional labor at home, in different jobs, or in nurturing activities (a specific form of emotional labor) and its consequences for individual employees' job satisfaction, productivity, and pay.
289 citations
TL;DR: This article found that women spend more time in teaching, research, service, and administration than men, and that research and administration are associated with traits culturally defined as masculine, while teaching and service are associated as feminine.
Abstract: Most professors divide their time between teaching, research, service, and, for some, administration. As in the nonacademic labor market, there is a gendered reward structure in academia. Teaching and service are most closely aligned with characteristics and behaviors culturally defined as feminine, and, in the aggregate, women spend more time in these activities than men. Teaching and service clearly involve substantial amounts of emotional labor, but this labor is generally not seen as involving valued skills and is conse quently poorly rewarded. In contrast, research and administration are associated with traits culturally defined as masculine, and, on average, men spend more time in these activities. Although research and administration also involve emotional labor, their emotional aspects are largely ignored, while intellectual, technical, or leadership skills are emphasized and highly compensated. Aside from differences in the propensity of women and men to engage in different activities and the gen...
256 citations
TL;DR: The Internet has been widely credited with sparking a revolution in consumer shopping habits and the management of stock portfolios to the practice of popular democracy, and it is also leaving its mark on the dynamics of popular contention as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The Internet has been widely credited with sparking a revolution in everything from consumer shopping habits and the management of stock portfolios to the practice of popular democracy. It is also leaving its mark on the dynamics of popular contention. Political protest traditionally relied heavily on claims makers' gathering in the streets to contest power holders. The Internet is altering this dynamic by electronically promoting the diffusion of protest ideas and tactics efficiently and quickly across the globe. Less concerned with such constraints as time and geographic space, it has caught policymakers off guard with its ease of public accessibility and immediacy of impact. This cyber-diffusion, however, has a cautionary side: while significantly enhancing the potential for disparate individuals and groups to collectively pool resources and strategy, the Internet also holds the power to turn unreliable and unverifiable information into a global electronic riot.
250 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a management technique for directing and monitoring interactive service workers that extends managerial control to aspects of workers' selves usually considered outside of the scope of employer intervention.
Abstract: Emotional labor is crucial to the performance of interac tive service work, jobs that involve direct interaction with customers or clients. In such jobs, employers frequently try to manage the emotions of their workers, while workers try to control the emotional responses of service recipients. Management techniques for directing and monitoring interactive service workers extend managerial control to aspects of workers' selves usually considered outside of the scope of employer intervention. Bureaucratic controls are also extended beyond the boundaries of the organization through the management of customer behavior. While workers and consumers derive some benefits from the routinization of service interactions, its instrumental approach to human personality and social interaction raises troubling moral issues.
250 citations
TL;DR: The psychological consequences of emotional labour for workers have been an ongoing project among students of emotional labor as discussed by the authors, drawing on Hochschild's pathbreaking work in this area, five major streams of qualitative and quantitative research have emerged, including the experiences of workers who perform emotional labor, comparisons between performers and nonperformers, conditions under which emotional labor may be positive or negative, variations between workers that condition their responses to emotional labour, and consequences of emotionally labor at work for workers' private lives.
Abstract: Understanding the psychological consequences of emotional labor for workers has been an ongoing project among students of emotional labor Drawing on Hochschild's pathbreaking work in this area, five major streams of qualitative and quantitative research have emerged, including (1) the experiences of workers who perform emotional labor; (2) comparisons between performers and nonperformers of emotional labor; (3) the conditions under which emotional labor may be positive or negative; (4) variations between workers that condition their responses to emotional labor; and (5) consequences of emotional labor at work for workers' private lives This article reviews each area and concludes with suggestions for future research on the psychological consequences of emotional labor
237 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a meta-analysis technique was used to synthesize the large body of empirical research on the effects of rehabilitative programs in community and institutional settings, and the results showed that well-designed rehabilitative strategies do reduce recidivism for such offenders and cannot be dismissed on the grounds that they are ineffective.
Abstract: Much contemporary discussion of the future of the juvenile court revolves around the balance between rehabilitation and punishment, especially with regard to the most serious juvenile offenders. Political forces increasingly press in the direction of punitive approaches, while the historical orientation of the court has been rehabilitative. This article addresses the question of whether rehabilitative treatment can be effective for the most serious offenders. Meta-analysis techniques were used to synthesize the large body of empirical research on the effects of rehabilitative programs in community and institutional settings. The results show that well-designed rehabilitative strategies do reduce recidivism for such offenders and cannot be dismissed on the grounds that they are ineffective.
189 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the relationship between religious involvement and civic engagement in a comparative, cross-cultural perspective using data from a 1996 survey of 3000 Canadians and 3000 Americans, and found that both religious tradition and, more important, church attendance play an important role in fostering involvement in civil society in both countries, even after controlling for the effects of other factors generally associated with fostering civic activity among members of society.
Abstract: This study examines the relationship between religious involvement and civic engagement in a comparative, cross-cultural perspective. Using data from a 1996 survey of 3000 Canadians and 3000 Americans, the study assesses religion's relative contribution to civic engagement in the two settings. The study reveals that both religious tradition and, more important, church attendance play an important role in fostering involvement in civil society in both countries, even after controlling for the effects of other factors generally associated with fostering civic activity among members of society.
TL;DR: In this paper, a coupled-careers model is proposed to address the multiple interfaces between work and family and between men and women as they unfold over time, and the results show the asymmetry between husbands and wives in their distinctive work-family interfaces over the life course.
Abstract: Given the fundamental changes in the institutions of both work and family, the need to focus on the work-family interface is greater than ever. Most studies, however, examine this interface in terms of individuals and at only one point in time. The authors propose a coupled-careers model, based on a life course perspective, directly addressing the multiple interfaces between work and family and between men and women as they unfold over time. This approach challenges implicit assumptions and stereotypes about work, careers, and gender that are increasingly outdated. Analysis of the data collected in the Cornell Retirement and Well-Being Study consistently shows the asymmetry between husbands and wives in their distinctive work-family interfaces over the life course. The evidence from our data leads us to believe that what is required are new, more open, and more flexible institutional arrangements for structuring the work-family interface for both men and women at all life course and career stages.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine not only such caregiving and support activities but also several other forms of emotion work that become visible when we consider families whose lives diverge from this privileged ideal.
Abstract: Though family life is typically associated with emotion rather than work, the concept of emotion work reveals the effort behind family feeling. Existing literature on family emotion work emphasizes caregiving and interpersonal support—activities associated with the housewife ideal of the industrial age. This article examines not only such caregiving and support activities but also several other forms of emotion work that become visible when we consider families whose lives diverge from this privileged ideal.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluate dimensions of emotional labor in the content of work performed by registered nurses, police officers, and managers, and find that the emotional labor required of police officers and registered nurses is comparable despite the cultural ideology that portrays these jobs as requiring gender-specific skills.
Abstract: Using qualitative and quantitative evidence from studies of several occupations in the public sector, the authors evaluate dimensions of emotional labor in the content of work performed by registered nurses, police officers, and managers. Two indexes are constructed to measure a range of emotional skills and demands found in these historically female and male jobs. The authors find that the emotional labor required of police officers and registered nurses is comparable despite the cultural ideology that portrays these jobs as requiring gender-specific skills. The authors demonstrate the utility and increased accuracy of using an augmented conceptualization of emotional labor to measure what employees actually do in performing their jobs. It is proposed that those studying emotional labor abandon their reliance on preconceived stereotypes of femininity when studying emotional labor, especially in service sector jobs.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that this stagnation is due to well-entrenched but out-of-date assumptions about men and women, work and family, and that the challenge for the new century is to break the hold of these assumptions and find fresh approaches to work-life issues.
Abstract: With the coming of the new century, talk of change and new beginnings is everywhere—the new family, the new workforce, the new corporation, the new employee-employer contract. In the midst of all this talk of change, however, policies and practices in the work-life area remain surprisingly the same. No innovative ways of framing the issues have captured the imagination of policymakers; no dramatically new approaches have been embraced to meet the needs of changed constituencies. The author argues that this stagnation is due to well-entrenched but out-of-date assumptions about men and women, work and family. These assumptions have served to severely limit the development of creative approaches to corporate work-family policies. The challenge for the new century is to break the hold of these assumptions and find fresh approaches to work-life issues. The aim of this article is to articulate one such fresh approach.
TL;DR: A call for volunteers to stand on the shoulders of Gabriel Tarde and Pitirim Sorokin who dared to theorize the process of diffusion over a wide variety of disciplines is made in this paper.
Abstract: This article is a call for volunteers to stand on the shoulders of Gabriel Tarde and Pitirim Sorokin, who dared to theorize the process of diffusion over a wide variety of disciplines. While all of the social sciences and humanities regularly produce case studies of diffusion, theorizing seems paralyzed. This paralysis stems from the ostensible incommensurability of diffusing items; their refusal to hold still in transit; the complexity of their interactions with the cultures, social structures, and media systems in which potential adopters are embedded; the difficulty of reconciling voluntary action and external imposition; and the lack of a disciplinary home.
TL;DR: In the United States, there is a definition of quality of early care and education (ECE) programs that is widely accepted in the early childhood profession as mentioned in this paper, which emphasizes a child-centered approach to raising children, with caring adults who are kind and gentle rather than restrictive and harsh and who protect children's health and safety, while providing a wealth of experiences that lead to learning through play.
Abstract: In the United States, there is a definition of quality of early care and education (ECE) programs that is widely accepted in the early childhood profession. It emphasizes a child-centered approach to raising children, with caring adults who are kind and gentle rather than restrictive and harsh and who protect children's health and safety, while providing a wealth of experiences that lead to learning through play. According to the definition, individuality and creativity are encouraged rather than conformity. This definition is often criticized by those with differing perspectives, but in general, it appears to be valid for those who value the aspects of development that are associated with success in the current mainstream American educational system and society. In this article, the content, rationale, and criticisms of that definition of quality are presented. Methods used in its assessment, and information regarding its validity, are explained.
TL;DR: This paper explored how structural changes in the labor market for professional and managerial employees might be changing the nature of emotional labor required in these occupations, drawing on ethnographic data in a firm noted for stable long-term employment to illustrate how efforts to create a corporate culture focus on shaping employees' emotional labor toward displays of loyalty and commitment to their employer.
Abstract: In this article, the authors explore how structural changes in the labor market for professional and managerial employees might be changing the nature of emotional labor required in these occupations. They first draw on ethnographic data in a firm noted for stable long-term employment to illustrate how efforts to create a corporate culture focus on shaping employees' emotional labor toward displays of loyalty and commitment to their employer. This is followed by a speculative analysis of how the current shift toward market-based forms of employment and an entrepreneurial work ethic is changing both the substance and the style of emotional labor.
TL;DR: In this article, the relevance of top-down as compared to bottom-up models of diffusion for fashion is assessed, and it is shown that fashion designers in several countries create designs for small publics in global markets, but their organizations make their profits from luxury products other than clothing.
Abstract: Large-scale diffusion processes such as those affecting fashionable clothing are difficult to study systematically. This article assesses the relevance of top-down as compared to bottom-up models of diffusion for fashion. Changes in the relationships between fashion organizations and their publics have affected what is diffused, how it is diffused, and to whom. Originally, fashion design was centered in Paris; designers created clothes for local clients, but styles were diffused to many other countries. This highly centralized system has been replaced by a system in which fashion designers in several countries create designs for small publics in global markets, but their organizations make their profits from luxury products other than clothing. Trends are set by fashion forecasters, fashion editors, and department store buyers. Industrial manufacturers are consumer driven, and market trends originate in many types of social groups, including adolescent urban subcultures. Consequently, fashion emanates fro...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors review the literature from the fields of work and family, public policy, and organizational sociology about the special challenges that confront lower-wage workers as they combine work and families responsibilities.
Abstract: Changes in both social policy and business conditions make this a critical as well as an opportune time to extend a work family perspective to lower-wage workers and to organizations in the community that, in addition to the workplace, affect the well-being of low-income families. Drawing on literature from the fields of work and family, public policy, and organizational sociology, the author reviews what current research tells us about the special challenges that confront lower-wage workers as they combine work and family responsibilities. Integrating knowledge from these fields leads to concerns about current welfare-to-work efforts and opens up new avenues for improving the prospects of lower-wage workers and their families.
TL;DR: The authors examined current work-family practice and scholarship in light of recent demographic shifts that make employees without children under age 18 the predominant group in the workforce and found that one consequence of this change is a controversy over the fundamental issue of what is fair.
Abstract: This article examines current work-family practice and scholarship in light of recent demographic shifts that make employees without children under age 18 the predominant group in the workforce. One consequence of this change is work-family backlash, a controversy over the fundamental issue of what is fair. Organizational justice theory helps illuminate the deep assumptions that underlie both corporate work-life policies and employees' perceptions of their fairness, as data from a qualitative study of work-life issues show. Organizational justice theory can also make a significant contribution to work-family research.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the emotional labor required of paralegals serves to reproduce the sex-segregated structure of law firms. But they do not consider the psychological well-being of paralese.
Abstract: Despite the invisibility of emotional labor among paralegals, this dimension of work has significant consequences for the reproduction of the labor process in the large bureaucratic firm and for the psychological well-being of paralegals. These legal workers function to support and maintain the emotional stability of the lawyers for whom they work through deferential treatment and caretaking. By affirming the status of lawyers, paralegals also reproduce gender relations in the law firm. Most attorneys who receive caretaking and support are men, and the majority of the legal assistants who provide these emotional services are women. In this way, the emotional labor required of paralegals serves to reproduce the sex-segregated structure of law firms.
TL;DR: This paper examined the diffusion of an unsuccessful protest tactic used during the student divestment movement: the shantytown, and found that the media construction of the tactic as successful led students to adopt it without attaining information about its effectiveness at actually forcing university divestment.
Abstract: It is often assumed that only successful or effective innovations diffuse. This article examines the diffusion of an unsuccessful protest tactic used during the student divestment movement: the shantytown. Two factors led student activists to adopt it. The first factor was the media construction of the tactic as successful. The second factor was how this tactic fit with an existing student tactical repertoire and resonated with students' perceptions of South Africa. These factors led students to adopt it without attaining information about its effectiveness at actually forcing university divestment.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report on findings from interviews with fledgling entrepreneurs in four former Soviet republics (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine) and find that trust is one of the prime requisites for success.
Abstract: This article reports on findings from interviews with fledgling entrepreneurs in four former Soviet republics (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine). Analysis of the interviews was conducted against a backdrop of concepts from the literature of civil society, social capital, and entrepreneurship as applied to small business development. The main finding of the study was the unanimous claim by the entrepreneurs that trust was one of two prime requisites for success, and this in societies that had been culturally depraved for many years. From this finding, two models were developed incorporating civil society, social capital, and trust to more fully depict the entrepreneurial environment.
TL;DR: The authors showed that the likelihood of job displacement differs according to marital status, the presence or absence of young children, and single-parenthood, even after controlling for employees' age, sex, race, education, industry, occupation, and other pertinent factors.
Abstract: Rates of involuntary job loss (from plant closures, downsizing, and so on) have been increasing in the United States during the past 15 years. Using several cross-sectional surveys from the Current Population Survey, and longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this article demonstrates that the likelihood of job displacement differs according to marital status, the presence or absence of young children, and single-parenthood, even after controlling for employees' age, sex, race, education, industry, occupation, and other pertinent factors. Divorce is associated with the subsequent loss of their jobs. Conversely, job displacement also raises the risk of subsequent marital breakdown. Thus the waves of job displacement have not been neutral with regard to family structure. These findings are discussed in terms of theories of work-family conflicts.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors emphasize collective struggles over the distribution of the costs of children and argue that the production of children's capabilities creates a public good that cannot be priced in the market, and individuals can free ride on the efforts of parents in general and mothers in particular.
Abstract: This article emphasizes collective struggles over the distribution of the costs of children. Because the production of children's capabilities creates a public good that cannot be priced in the market, individuals can free ride on the efforts of parents in general and mothers in particular. We need to redesign the social contract in ways that encourage more sustainable forms of intergenerational altruism and reciprocity.
TL;DR: Much of this literature indicates that children who experience better-quality care tend to display more optimal cognitive and social development thanChildren who experience lower- quality care, although the associations tend to be modest.
Abstract: Regular nonparental care during the first five years of life has become the norm, rather than the exception, during the past 30 years in the United States. Parents and professionals have expressed concerns about the impact of such care on children's development. Initially, much of the research focused on whether, when, and how much nonparental care the child received, suggesting that early and extensive care might negatively affect children's social and cognitive development. More sophisticated studies followed in which child care quality and family characteristics known to be related to both quality of care and child outcomes were also examined. Much of this literature indicates that children who experience better-quality care tend to display more optimal cognitive and social development than children who experience lower-quality care, although the associations tend to be modest. Implications for public policy are discussed.
TL;DR: In this article, four dimensions of emotional labor are discussed: human relations skills, communication skills, emotional effort, and responsibility for client well-being, and the most detailed measurement of the components of emotional labour available and represent a starting point for refinement of this increasingly important type of work.
Abstract: Few client-oriented organizations compensate those who perform emotional labor. Traditional job evaluation systems, used by employers to construct a wage hierarchy, fail to recognize the value of emotional labor. Through the pay equity movement, this bias was identified. This article offers a technical attempt to design a new job content questionnaire and evaluation framework that measure the actual tasks, activities, and situations in which incumbents of differentially female jobs perform emotional labor. Four general dimensions of emotional labor are discussed: human relations skills, communication skills, emotional effort, and responsibility for client well-being. These instruments offer the most detailed measurement of the components of emotional labor available and represent a starting point for refinement of this increasingly important type of work.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors develop and test three reinvention hypotheses reflecting distinct roles for learning and conclude that, when possible, policymakers make morality policy in their usual way, by incremental steps and learning from previous adoptions.
Abstract: How does morality policy change as it diffuses? Social learning theory holds that later adopters learn from earlier adoptions to modify, or reinvent, a policy to fit their needs better. But because of its technical simplicity, saliency, and conflicts of basic values, morality policy may not be amenable to policy learning. We develop and test three reinvention hypotheses reflecting distinct roles for learning. Our analysis of U.S. state death penalty policy supports each hypothesis but under different political conditions. We conclude that, when possible, policymakers make morality policy in their usual way, by incremental steps and learning from previous adoptions. But when basic moral conflicts surface, considerations other than policy learning drive reinvention.
TL;DR: This article provided an overview of child care employment, identifying its key characteristics and issues impeding the development of a skilled and stable workforce to meet the need for quality early care and education services.
Abstract: This article provides an overview of child care employment, identifying its key characteristics and issues impeding the development of a skilled and stable workforce to meet the need for quality early care and education services. Characteristics of child care jobs are summarized, including information about poverty-level earnings, poor benefits, unequal opportunity, and high turnover. Market pressures that depress wages in this sector are explored with particular attention to the impact of welfare reform. Also reviewed are institutional barriers to improving child care jobs, such as insufficient funding, lack of organizational representation, a stark resistance to national program standards, and unsupportive reimbursement and funding policies. The article concludes with highlights of current initiatives to improve child care jobs, including the North Carolina scholarship program, the U.S. Army Child Development Services' Caregiver Personnel Pay Plan, Head Start quality improvement efforts, mentoring and a...