Showing papers on "Social change published in 2007"

Putting the S back in corporate social responsibility: A multilevel theory of social change in organizations

Abstract: We provide a multilevel theoretical model to understand why business organizations are increasingly engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and thereby exhibiting the potential to exert positive social change. Our model integrates theories of organizational justice, corporate governance, and varieties of capitalism to argue that organizations are pressured to engage in CSR by many different actors, each driven by instrumental, relational, and moral motives. We conclude by highlighting empirical questions for future research and discussing some managerial implications. Economic progress, through a fair and open world trading system is essential to tackle poverty and ensure a safer more secure world for everyone now and for future generations. The challenges remain of ensuring that the benefits of that progress reach all sectors in all countries and are not at the expense of the environment (Sir Stephen Timms, U.K. Minister for CSR, Royal In

The Life Course and Human Development.

Abstract: The life course paradigm has replaced child-based, growth-oriented (“ontogenetic”) accounts of the person with models that emphasize the timing, social context, and organization of lives from birth to death. The chapter begins with a story of this intellectual change from the thematic precursors of life course studies to the present. The next section identifies heuristic concepts that capture the dynamic properties of settings and contextualize the individual, including social pathways, the cumulation of experiences, trajectories and transitions, and turning points. The life course paradigm also offers core principles that link social change and developmental trajectories, including those of life-span development, human agency, timing, linked lives, and historical time and place. In combination, these principles represent key contributions to the study of human development. They establish development as a life-long phenomenon that includes aging into late adulthood; to highlight the agentic nature of people as they create and shape their settings within limits; view development as the confluence of age, the generations, and history; and situate each person's trajectory in terms of family, neighborhood, community, and society. Life course insights have been especially revealing in research on health, and offer great promise in the study of biology, experience, and adjustment. Keywords: social pathways; birth cohorts; contexts of human development; developmental and social trajectories; historical change; transitions

Social evaluation by preverbal infants

Abstract: The key to successful social interactions is the ability to assess others' intentions — be they friend or foe. A new study in 6- and 10-month-old infants shows that humans engage in social evaluations even earlier than was thought, before they can use language. The infants could evaluate actors on the basis of their social acts — they were drawn towards an individual who helps an unrelated third party to achieve his or her goal, and they avoided an individual who hinders a third party's efforts to achieve a goal. The findings support the claim that precursors to adult-like social evaluation are present even in babies. This skill could be a biological adaptation that may also serve as the foundation for moral thought and action later in life. The key to successful social interactions is the ability to accurately assess others' intentions, be they friend or foe. In humans, this ability is present very early on in life, as is shown here when preverbal infants evaluate individuals based on their actions towards others, preferring helpers to neutral or hindering individuals. The capacity to evaluate other people is essential for navigating the social world. Humans must be able to assess the actions and intentions of the people around them, and make accurate decisions about who is friend and who is foe, who is an appropriate social partner and who is not. Indeed, all social animals benefit from the capacity to identify individual conspecifics that may help them, and to distinguish these individuals from others that may harm them. Human adults evaluate people rapidly and automatically on the basis of both behaviour and physical features1,2,3,4,5,6, but the ontogenetic origins and development of this capacity are not well understood. Here we show that 6- and 10-month-old infants take into account an individual’s actions towards others in evaluating that individual as appealing or aversive: infants prefer an individual who helps another to one who hinders another, prefer a helping individual to a neutral individual, and prefer a neutral individual to a hindering individual. These findings constitute evidence that preverbal infants assess individuals on the basis of their behaviour towards others. This capacity may serve as the foundation for moral thought and action, and its early developmental emergence supports the view that social evaluation is a biological adaptation.

Participatory Action Research Approaches and Methods: Connecting People, Participation and Place

Abstract: Participatory Action Research (PAR) approaches and methods have seen an explosion of recent interest in the social and environmental sciences. PAR involves collaborative research, education and action which is oriented towards social change, representing a major epistemological challenge to mainstream research traditions. It has recently been the subject of heated critique and debate and rapid theoretical and methodological development. This book captures these developments, exploring the justification, theorisation, practice and implications of PAR. It offers a critical introduction to understanding and working with PAR in different social, spatial and institutional contexts. The authors engage with PAR’s radical potential, while maintaining a critical awareness of its challenges and dangers. The book is divided into three parts. The first part explores the intellectual, ethical and pragmatic contexts of PAR; the development and diversity of approaches to PAR; recent poststructuralist perspectives on PAR as a form of power; the ethic of participation; and issues of safety and well-being. Part two is a critical exploration of the politics, places and practices of PAR. Contributors draw on diverse research experiences with differently situated groups and issues including environmentally sustainable practices, family livelihoods, sexual health, gendered experiences of employment, and specific communities such as people with disabilities, migrant groups, and young people. The principles, dilemmas and strategies associated with participatory approaches and methods including diagramming, cartographies, art, theatre, photovoice, video and geographical information systems are also discussed. Part three reflects on how effective PAR is, including the analysis of its products and processes, participatory learning, representation and dissemination, institutional benefits and challenges, and working between research, action, activism and change. The authors find that a spatial perspective and an attention to scale offer helpful means of negotiating the potentials and paradoxes of PAR. This approach responds to critiques of PAR by highlighting how the spatial politics of practising participation can be mobilised to create more effective and just research processes and outcomes. The book adds significant weight to the recent critical reappraisal of PAR, suggesting why, when, where and how we might take forward PAR’s commitment to enabling collaborative social transformation. It will be particularly useful to researchers and students of Human Geography, Development Studies and Sociology.

Involvement in traditional and electronic bullying among adolescents.

Abstract: The increasing availability of Internet and cell phones has provided new avenues through which adolescents can bully. Electronic bullying is a new form of bullying that may threaten adolescent social and emotional development. In this study the relation between involvement in electronic and traditional bullying was examined. Eighty-four adolescents completed questionnaires regarding their involvement in traditional and electronic bullying. Results show that students' roles in traditional bullying predicted the same role in electronic bullying. Also, being a victim of bullying on the Internet or via text messages was related to being a bully at school. Traditional victims were not found to be electronic bullies. Perceptions of the effects of and motivations for electronic bullying are discussed.

Socialization in the Family: Ethnic and Ecological Perspectives

Abstract: This chapter reviews advances in our understanding of socialization of children in the family context. Both historical and contemporary perspectives on socialization are outlined. The chapter is guided by a family systems approach to socialization which recognizes the parent-child subsystem, the co-parental, marital and sibling subsystems as well as the family unit as contributors to children's socialization. The effects of each of these subsystems on children's socialization are explored. Next, a variety of determinants of family socialization strategies are discussed, including child characteristics, parental personal resources, community-based social capital and socioeconomic status. In another section, the impact of social change on family socialization practices is considered. Changes in women's and men's employment patterns and job characteristics as well as job loss and unemployment are used as illustrations of how social changes alter socialization strategies. The importance of considering how multiple social changes act together in achieving their effects on socialization is stressed. Another major determinant of socialization patterns is the ethnicity and cultural background of the family. The chapter discusses variations in socialization practices among Latinos, African-American, American Indians, and Asian-American families and the importance of immigration and acculturation in determining socialization patterns. In a final section, a variety of issues that require more attention, including variations in family forms, monitoring of secular changes, the influence of social and physical contexts on socialization, and the importance of locating families in a network of socializations influenced are considered. Keywords: co-parenting; culture; ethnicity; family systems; family-work links; fathers; marital relationships; mothers; siblings; social capital; social class; socialization

Social skills development in children with autism spectrum disorders: a review of the intervention research

Abstract: Social reciprocity deficits are a core feature of the autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This review summarizes the state of research in group-based social skills training programs for school-age children and adolescents with ASD. All published studies of group social skills interventions between 1985 and 2006 were reviewed, as well as dissertations examining group-based social skills intervention programs. To assess the state of the science, a template developed by an NIMH work group was applied to 14 identified studies. Based on this review, the empirical support for this approach is incomplete, but promising intervention strategies were identified. Recommendations for the design of future treatment trials to guide clinical practice are offered.

Neoliberalism and education

Abstract: The discourses and practices of neoliberalism, including government policies for education and training, public debates regarding standards and changed funding regimes, have been at work on and in schools in capitalist societies since at least the 1980s. Yet we have been hard pressed to say what neoliberalism is, where it comes from and how it works on us and through us to establish the new moral order of schools and schooling, and to produce the new student/subject who is appropriate to (and appropriated by) the neoliberal economy. Beck (1997) refers to the current social order as the ‘new modernities’ and he characterizes the changes bringing about the present forms of society as having been both surreptitious and unplanned, that is, as being invisible and difficult to make sense of. In eschewing a theory in which anyone or any group may have been planning and benefiting from the changes, he falls back on the idea of natural and inevitable development, and optimistically describes the changes of the las...

Ideologically motivated activism: How activist groups influence corporate social change activities

Abstract: Using insights from the social movement literature and institutional change theory, we explore how activism influences corporate social change activities. As the responsibility for addressing a variety of social issues is transferred from the state to the private sector, activist groups increasingly challenge firms to take up such issues, seeking to influence the nature and level of corporate social change activities. Eventually, they aim to bring about field-level change. We argue that ideological differences among activist groups motivate them to choose different influence tactics to support their claims.

Sustainability science: a room of its own.

Abstract: Sustainability science has emerged over the last two decades as a vibrant field of research and innovation. Today, the field has developed a core research agenda, an increasing flow of results, and a growing number of universities committed to teaching its methods and findings. Like “agricultural science” and “health science,” sustainability science is a field defined by the problems it addresses rather than by the disciplines it employs. In particular, the field seeks to facilitate what the National Research Council has called a “transition toward sustainability,” improving society's capacity to use the earth in ways that simultaneously “meet the needs of a much larger but stabilizing human population, … sustain the life support systems of the planet, and … substantially reduce hunger and poverty” (1). In early 2005, Bruce Alberts and Ralph Cicerone, in their respective roles as outgoing and incoming presidents of the National Academy of Sciences, proposed that the maturing field of sustainability science might be ready for a “room of its own” in PNAS. After a committee study and extended discussion, the PNAS Editorial Board approved a new section on Sustainability Science, which now shares the masthead with other long-term residents such as Physics, Genetics, and Cell Biology. This editorial constitutes a progress report on the field itself and on the role of PNAS in fostering its development. Research relevant to the goals of sustainable development has long been pursued from bases as diverse as geography and geochemistry, ecology and economics, or physics and political science. Increasingly, however, a core sustainability science research program has begun to take shape that transcends the concerns of its foundational disciplines and focuses instead on understanding the complex dynamics that arise from interactions between human and environmental systems. Central questions (2) include the following. How can those dynamic interactions be …

The Oxford handbook of political behavior

Abstract: PART I INTRODUCTION PART II MASS BELIEF SYSTEMS AND COMMUNICATION PART III MODERNIZATION AND SOCIAL CHANGE PART IV POLITICAL VALUES PART V NEW DEBATES IN POLITICAL BEHAVIOR PART VI POLITICAL PARTICIPATION PART VII DOES PUBLIC OPINION MATTER? PART VIII THE METHODOLOGY OF COMPARATIVE POLITICAL BEHAVIOR RESEARCH

The Importance of Different Forms of Social Capital for Health

Abstract: The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the concept of social capital and to distinguish its different forms, focusing on their potential effects on health. According to many scholars, social capital comprises social networks, norms of reciprocity or social support and social trust. In this article the core element, the social network, has been further distinguished by the direction of ties and levels of formality, strength and diversity. In the past few years there has been increased interest in social capital in the health field and a great deal of research has suggested that social capital is generally positively related to health. However, little research has been conducted into how different forms of social capital or social networks influence health. What is the difference, for instance, between bonding and bridging social capital in terms of health outcomes? It is important to distinguish the different forms because they imply different resources, support and obligations. More research needs to be conducted into the different forms of social capital and their effects on health. A special focus should be placed on the health impacts of cross-cutting - or bridging and linking - forms of social capital.

Identity: Sociological Perspectives

Abstract: Questions about who we are, who we can be, and who is like and unlike us underpin a vast range of contemporary social issues. What makes our families so important to us? Why do we attach such significance to being ourselves? Why do so many television programmes promise to revolutionise our lives? Who are we really? In this highly readable new book, Steph Lawler examines a range of important debates about identity. Taking a sociological perspective, she shows how identity is produced and embedded in social relationships, and worked out in the practice of peoples everyday lives. She challenges the perception of identity as belonging within the person, arguing instead that it is produced and negotiated between persons. Chapter-by-chapter her book carefully explores topics such as the relationships between lives and life-stories, the continuing significance of kinship in the face of social change, and how taste works to define identity. For Lawler, without understanding identity, we can't adequately begin to understand the social world. This book will be essential reading on upper-level courses across the social sciences that focus on the compelling issues surrounding identity.

Creating a climate for change : communicating climate change and facilitating social change

Abstract: 1 p. abstract. Print (xxv, 549 p.) available for circulation at the University of Oregon's John E. Jaqua Law Library under the call number: QC981.8.C5 C767 2007. For more information, visit the publisher's web site at: http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521869234#contributors

Learning for a Change: Exploring the Relationship Between Education and Sustainable Development

Abstract: Whether we view sustainable development as our greatest challenge or a subversive litany, every phase of education is now being urged to declare its support for education for sustainable developmen...

The Impact of After-School Programs that Promote Personal and Social Skills.

Abstract: A meta-analysis of after-school programs (ASPs) that seek to enhance the personal and social development of children and adolescents indicated that youth improved in three general areas: feelings and attitudes, indicators of behavioral adjustment, and school performance. More specifically, significant increases occurred in youths’ self-perceptions and bonding to school, their positive social behaviors, and in their school grades and level of academic achievement. At the same time, significant reductions occurred in problem behaviors and drug use. Substantial differences emerged between programs that used evidence-based approaches for skill training and those that did not. The former programs consistently produced significant improvements among participants in all of the above outcome areas (mean effect sizes ranged from 0.24 to 0.35), whereas the latter programs did not produce significant results in any outcome category. Our findings have two important implications for future research, practice and policy. The first is that ASPs should contain components to foster the personal and social skills of youth, because participants can benefit in multiple ways if these components are offered. The second is that such components are effective only if they use evidence-based approaches. When it comes to enhancing personal and social skills, successful programs are SAFE— sequenced, active, focused and explicit. The Impact of After-School Programs That Promote Personal and Social Skills 9 When it comes to enhancing personal and social skills, successful programs are SAFE— sequenced, active, focused and explicit.

Immigration, social cohesion and social capital: A critical review

Abstract: In recent years, there has been an intense public and policy debate about ethnic diversity, community cohesion, and immigration in Britain and other societies worldwide. In addition, there has been a growing preoccupation with the possible dangers to social cohesion represented by growing immigration flows and ethnic diversity. This paper proposes a critical framework for assessing the links between immigration, social cohesion, and social capital. It argues that the concept of social capital is episodic, socially constructed and value-based, depending on the prevailing ideological climate. Considerations of social capital as a public policy tool to achieve social cohesion need to incorporate an appreciation of alternative conceptions of social capital rooted in a textured under-standing of immigrant processes and migration contexts.

Contemplating Cycling to Work: Attitudes and Perceptions in Different Stages of Change

Abstract: In 1996 the UK government introduced the National Cycle Strategy which aimed to double the number of cycling trips by the end of 2002 and double them again by 2012. So far, however, these targets have not been met. The House of Commons ascribes this to 'a fundamental lack of commitment to cycling on an individual, regional and national level'. This paper addresses the individual level by examining the views of commuters in different stages of change as distinguished by Prochaska's model [Prochaska, J.O., DiClemente, C.C., 1984. The Transtheoretical Approach: Crossing Traditional Boundaries of Change. Dow Jones/Irwin, Homewood IL]. This model views behaviour change as a process rather than an event. Two studies were conducted amongst university staff and students: a survey study and an action study. The studies showed that as people progress front precontemplation to action their attitudes towards cycling become more positive and their perceptions of various personal and external barriers change. This suggests that different strategies are necessary to move people in different stages of change to action and maintenance. At the moment, it seems that regular cyclists form a very small minority of people who will cycle under most circumstances simply because they like cycling. The majority of people have never contemplated cycling. There is, however, also a group of people who would like to cycle and could be persuaded to cycle under the right circumstances. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Governance and the Commons in a Multi-Level World

Abstract: Multi-level governance may facilitate learning and adaptation in complex social-ecological circumstances. Such arrangements should connect community-based management with regional/national government-level management, link scientific management and traditional management systems, encourage the sharing of knowledge and information, and promote collaboration and dialogue around goals and outcomes. Governance innovations of this type can thus build capacity to adapt to change and manage for resilience. However, critical reflection on the emergence of adaptive, multi-level governance for the commons is warranted. Drawing on examples from the North and South, the purpose of this review is to connect three complementary bodies of scholarship with insights for commons governance in a multi-level world: common property theory, resilience thinking and political ecology. From the commons and resilience literature, normative principles of adaptive, multi-level governance are synthesized (e.g., participation, accountability, leadership, knowledge pluralism, learning and trust). Political ecological interpretations, however, help to reveal the challenge of actualizing these principles and the contextual forces that make entrenched, top-down management systems resilient to change. These forces include the role of power, scale and levels of organization, knowledge valuation, the positioning of social actors and social constructions of nature. Also addressed are the policy narratives that shape governance, and the dialectic relationship among ecological systems and social change. tekst

The Institutionalization of the Life Course: Looking Back to Look Ahead

Abstract: In this article, I review the issues posed 20 years ago in my model of the historical institutionalization of the life course. I (a) recapitulate the claim that the life course has become one of the major institutions of contemporary societies; (b) discuss what has been learned in the meantime, both with respect to the dynamics of social change and to how the sociology of the life course is able to conceptualize them; (c) examine current trends toward an erosion of the institutionalized life course and the structural anchors that keep it in place; and (d) focus on life course politics and their effects on the future of the life course.

Human Motivation and Social Cooperation: Experimental and Analytical Foundations

Abstract: Since Durkheim, sociological explanations of social cooperation have emphasized the internalization of values that induce norm compliance. Since Adam Smith, economic explanations of social cooperation have emphasized incentives that induce selfish individuals to cooperate. Here, we develop a general approach—the Beliefs, Preferences, and Constraints approach—showing that each of the above models is a special case. Our approach is based on evidence indicating that pure Homo Sociologicus and pure Homo Economicus views are wrong. We show that self-regarding and norm-regarding actors coexist and that the available action opportunities determine which of these actor types dominates the aggregate level of social cooperation. Our approach contributes to the solution of long-standing problems, including the problems of social order and collective action, the determinants and consequences of social exchanges, the microfoundations of emergent aggregate patterns of social interactions, and the measurement of...

Social Outcomes in Childhood Brain Disorder: A Heuristic Integration of Social Neuroscience and Developmental Psychology

Abstract: The authors propose a heuristic model of the social outcomes of childhood brain disorder that draws on models and methods from both the emerging field of social cognitive neuroscience and the study of social competence in developmental psychology/psychopathology. The heuristic model characterizes the relationships between social adjustment, peer interactions and relationships, social problem solving and communication, social-affective and cognitive-executive processes, and their neural substrates. The model is illustrated by research on a specific form of childhood brain disorder, traumatic brain injury. The heuristic model may promote research regarding the neural and cognitive-affective substrates of children’s social development. It also may engender more precise methods of measuring impairments and disabilities in children with brain disorder and suggest ways to promote their social adaptation.

From the Margins to the Mainstream? Disaster Research at the Crossroads

Abstract: The sociology of disasters has developed in ways that have weakened its ties with mainstream sociology. It has remained remarkably resistant to changes in the broader sociological landscape, and its strong applied focus has been a barrier to theoretical innovation. This situation is changing, as indicated by critiques of traditional ways of conceptualizing and explaining disasters; greater acceptance of constructivist formulations; willingness to acknowledge that disasters are accompanied by both social solidarity and social conflict; and recognition of the significance of the interaction of disasters and risk with gender, class, and other axes of inequality. However, the field is unlikely to overcome its marginal status without significant efforts to link the sociology of disasters with the related fields of risk and environmental sociology and, more broadly, to focus on core sociological concerns, such as social inequality, diversity, and social change.

The Equity and Legitimacy of Markets for Ecosystem Services

Abstract: Markets for ecosystem services are being promoted across the developing world, amidst claims that the provision of economic incentives is vital to bring about resource conservation. This article argues that equity and legitimacy are also critical dimensions in the design and implementation of such markets, if social development goals beyond economic gains are to be achieved. The article examines this issue by focusing on two communities involved in a project for carbon sequestration services of forests in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. The perceived legitimacy of the activities and the distribution of economic outcomes and project-related information are found to be mediated by organizational allegiances and the history of social relations regarding access to property and forest resources. Political affiliation determines the project's legitimacy, while the poorest farmers and women have been excluded from project design and implementation. The authors argue that pitfalls such as these contribute to reinforcing existing power structures, inequities and vulnerabilities, and suggest that this is a product of the nature of emerging markets. Markets for ecosystem services are, in effect, limited in promoting more legitimate forms of decision making and a more equitable distribution of their outcomes.

Creating a Climate for Change: Communicating Climate Change and Facilitating Social Change

Abstract: 545 comparison of patterns of divergence among species, sexual selection and the sex chromosomes, and the population genetics of transposable elements are included in the population genomics part. The interesting section on human population genetics deals, for instance, with human polymorphism and how it could be assessed using Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and information obtained from the HapMap project (the international initiative aiming to identify and record genetic variability in humans) and how such data are integrated in research on human diseases and into our evolutionary history. The books still covers the basic theoretical principles of population genetics and the genetics of quantitative traits, since all other chapters contain mainly restructured information that was part of the previous version. Chapter 1 includes basic notions of phenotypic variation (discrete versus continuous) and concisely presents the available methods for quantifying amounts and structure of genetic variation in natural populations. Chapter 2 goes in details on the organization of genetic variation at either the allele or genotype levels, namely through the implications of random mating and linkage disequilibrium. Then the four next chapters present the main evolutionary forces. Chapter 3 deals with random genetic drift and presents the classical Wright-Fisher model. It discusses random drift in subdivided population, the fluctuation in population size and unequal sex ratio on the effective population size and the coalescent approaches. Mutations are integrated into the models of drift in Chapter 4, where an introduction to the neutral theory of molecular evolution is also provided. Selection is then covered in Chapter 5, namely through a treatment of selection in haploid and diploid organisms and brief sections on “so-called” more complex types of selection such as: frequency-dependent, density-dependent, diversifying, sexual and kin selection. Chapter 6 then covers inbreeding, population subdivision and their often-similar effects on genetic variation, as well as the migration-adaptation (genetic divergence) battle. It is also in this chapter that F statistics are detailed. Chapter 7 deals with molecular population genetics with further developments on the neutral theory and also includes applications of coalescent theory such as molecular phylogenetics. Evolutionary quantitative genetics is then covered in Chapter 8, from explanations of what is a quantitative trait and the concept of heritability to the evolution of correlated traits and mapping of quantitative traits loci (QTLs). Most topics are supported by good figures and tables and by numerous examples of related problems and their solutions, which will nicely help beginners in the field to assimilate the basic notions. Each chapter ends with a very good summary of the main points covered and also includes between 14 and 28 additional problems, always relevant and often challenging, for students to further integrate the theory. Answers to each problem are provided at the end of the book. Another feature that should make this book attractive as a teaching aid is that while the theory is presented with a good amount of details, the level of mathematical complexity is kept relatively low, thus making it accessible to most. As for possible critics, there are few. Yet, some might be annoyed by the fact that many examples come from the Drosophila’s literature, which is not very surprising given the authors’ background and research interests. In fact, using such examples is pretty efficient given their availability and the often clear-cut support they provide to the concepts explained. However, examples from non-model species are also available to back the theoretical concepts presented in many instances and including more of them would help putting population genetics processes in ecologically relevant scenarios. Some might also criticize the fact that conservation genetics is mostly ignored here. However, because conservation genetics is a vast field of research, which is not likely be treated appropriately in a brief section or even in a chapter, such omission might be forgivable. Instead, for detailed applications of population genetics concepts and tools to conservation, one should look for the new book by Allendorf & Luikart (2007) that does just that and includes excellent examples. Another topic that might be a little underrepresented in Hartl & Clark’s book is phenotypic evolution, but again this topic is covered in depth in many other textbooks (see DeWitt & Scheiner, 2004 and Mousseau et al., 2000 for examples). Overall, this book will be of great use for students at the undergraduate and graduate levels and, together with Hedrick’s (2005) book, should remain the top-supporting textbook for population genetics courses.

Bilingualism as Ideology and Practice

Abstract: Bilingualism is today as much a topic of academic research and public debate as it has ever been in the period since the end of World War II, as globalization and the new economy, migration and the expanded and rapid circulation of information, keep the question at the forefront of economic, political, social and educational concerns. The purpose of this book is to explore one particular set of approaches to the topic which seems particularly useful for understanding what bilingualism might mean today, in this context of social change, and how new understandings of it, as ideology and practice, also contribute to linguistic and social theory. In particular, the book aims to move the field of bilingualism studies away from a ‘common-sense’, but in fact highly ideologized, view of bilingualism as the coexistence of two linguistic systems, and to develop a critical perspective which allows for a better grasp on the ways in which language practices are socially and politically embedded. The aim is to move discussions of bilingualism away from a focus on the whole bounded units of code and community, and towards a more processual and materialist approach which privileges language as social practice, speakers as social actors and boundaries as products of social action.

Patterns of formal and informal social capital in Europe

Abstract: Studies of social capital have concentrated upon either formal associative behaviour or informal social relations (networks). This article looks at the relationship between these two ty‘pes of social capital by examining social networks, social and family support (informal social capital) on the one hand and associational behaviour along with social trust (formal social capital) on the other. Using the Eurobarometer 62.2 covering a representative sample of 27 countries the analysis found that with this approach, regions in Europe can be grouped according to the two dimensions, whether they are high on both forms of social capital (complementarity) or whether informal social capital substitutes for formal social capital (substitution). The Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands had the highest levels of all forms of social capital. In the South and East of Europe informal social capital was more important, but whilst in the South this was mainly in the form of family support, in the East informal support outside the family was also important. Thus, we can speak of ‘social capital regimes’ to better understand the various cultures of participation and cohesion across Europe. Social capital is often assumed to be a universal concept, although it originated in the United States and Western Europe. However, since social capital refers to the way in which people participate in their society and the forms of social bonding that take place, we might expect that these are necessarily relative to the nature of the society or culture in which they are embedded (Delhey and Newton, 2005). In a broader sense, social capital is a measure of social cohesion. In this article, we explore the way in which different kinds of social capital relate to one another, taking into account 27 European countries. This exploratory analysis uses a ‘bottom up’ approach based upon survey analysis to construct ‘social capital regimes’ rather than trying to squeeze these forms of social cohesion into regional categories developed for other purposes such as that of ‘old’ or ‘new’ EU states or welfare typologies.

Linking Diversity with the Educational and Civic Missions of Higher Education.

Abstract: In this address, I will lay out the practical, theoretical, and empirical rationale for linking diversity with the central educational and civic mission of higher education. While these links may be obvious to some, oftentimes diversity and race issues are conspicuously absent from discussions about learning and civic education. In fact, the diversity initiatives and civic initiatives inhabit distinct physical, social, and administrative spaces. Much of the empirical work that links diversity and learning and democratic outcomes emerged from the developing area of research, now termed “the educational benefits of diversity” because of its role in the University of Michigan affirmative action cases. I address the aims of this research and critics who have claimed we have abandoned research on inequality or social justice issues for the sake of legal arguments. Transcending the affirmative action debate,

Hertzian Tales: Electronic Products, Aesthetic Experience, and Critical Design

Abstract: Anthony Dunne’s Hertzian Tales is an exploration of the aesthetic and conceptual aspects of industrial design and its potential to bring about social change for the users of electronic objects. It is a provoking and – to first-time readers – positively alarming social commentary on the interrelationship between electronic product design and culture, and the powerful but largely under-explored potential of electronic innovation to trigger social awareness. Hertzian Tales proposes an innovative approach to critical design and therefore serves as a reflection on and a critique of the commercial design practices at large. In this second edition, Dunne reiterates the original rationale for his project: a concern that the majority of industrial designers have unwittingly joined a treadmill culture of post-industrial mass-production – turning out electronic goods that have long simply met the brief of an optimally functioning and eagerly consumable technology.