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There is a growing awareness that the condition of the built environment has a substantial impact on health. Systematic housing conditions surveys are a method for developing information about the physical condition of housing. This paper introduces the Center for Economic Information's (CEI) Neighborhood Housing Conditions Survey (NHCS). We discuss the history and implementation of the NHCS in light of other academic and civic housing conditions surveys. The paper also reviews the history and method of the NHCS. We find that housing conditions surveys are generally designed from scratch for each new research program, translating survey results into policy remains underdeveloped in the scholarly literature, and heterogeneity between surveys reduces the ability to compare observations across space and time. The NHCS may address some of these issues, suitable as an "off the shelf" template, adjustable to suit programmatic needs, and providing a baseline consistency across space and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary reflects on the strengths of the paper by Warde et al. entitled "Situated drinking: the association between eating and alcohol consumption in Great Britain". It suggests that practice-theoretical approaches towards studying contemporary connections between foods, food events and alcoholic drinks provides an excellent basis for overcoming the analytical limits of fields such as food studies, drinks studies, alcohol studies and related areas. This is especially so if Warde et al.'s quantitative methodology were to be yoked to two further sources of inspiration, namely Mary Douglas's structuralist analysis of food combinations within food events and Stephen Mennell's utilisation of the concepts and concerns of Norbert Elias to produce a systematic historical sociology of food. An extended inter-paradigmatic approach to the study of how alcoholic drinks relate to foods and eating practices emerges as a result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Merton proposed middle range theories, not as ends in themselves, but as bases for a consolidation to explain broader phenomenon. More than a half century has passed since Merton's consolidation proposal and in that time a number of experimentally tested middle range theories have been developed. Certainly, the next step should be a consolidation. Yet, to our knowledge, no one has previously offered a consolidation of experimentally tested theories and applied it for explanation. This paper offers a consolidation of middle range theories formulated to explain the rise of the pristine state. Two theories of this consolidation, Status Characteristics Theory and Elementary Theory, form the core of what Analytic Sociologists have called a toolbox of theories. Our toolbox forms an integrated consolidation in two ways. First, the social structures modeled by the theories form a path-dependent process of increasing benefits gained by the elites of the structures. Second, the end conditions of each step of the process are the initial conditions of the next. Whereas the theories in our toolbox have previously been seen as applying exclusively to microstructures, we have encountered no difficulties in scaling them up to apply to macrostructures. While we hope the consolidation has validity in explaining the occurrence of pristine states, this paper's significance lies in its demonstration that today social theories can be consolidated and applied for explanation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to comprehensively examine the effects of societal and individual characteristics on work-related attitudes, specifically work commitment and work orientations, using a single dataset and comparable models. It also seeks to relate these attitudes to classic theories and understand how societal factors shape work-related attitudes. The analysis is based on data collected by the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) in its work orientations survey. Data is analyzed using factor analyses, correspondence analyses, and multilevel regressions. The paper provides an overview of work-related attitudes at the country level and a detailed analysis of societal and individual variables that shape these attitudes. The results indicate that individual attitudes reflect large societal trends and developments, which are discussed with reference to current studies and classic theories. This paper contributes to understanding work-related attitudes by offering a comprehensive analysis of the effects of societal and individual characteristics, using a single dataset and comparable models. It also relates these attitudes to classic theories and discusses how societal factors shape work-related attitudes. The findings also have policy implications, particularly in the recruitment and retention of highly qualified and motivated workers in different countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many contradictions in previous studies of the status of depressive symptoms among Chinese migrant children, the number of which in the compulsory education stage is about 13.9 million. This systematic review and meta-analysis were designed to compare depressive symptoms among migrant children and their urban children. Around 2,710 papers were retrieved from PubMed, OVID, the Web of Knowledge, CNKI, Wan Fang, Chongqing VIP, and Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index on January 27, 2020. Thirty-Two studies met study criteria with 14,906 migrant children and 10,792 urban children. Migrant children scored significantly higher for depressive symptoms score (SMD = 0.307, 95% CI [0.222, 0.393]). Region significantly influenced the difference of depressive symptoms between migrant children and urban children. Large effect sizes came from studies using scales that focus on depressive mood while studies using scales that focus on depressive behavioural symptoms had small effect sizes. Future research should focus on treatments to decrease depressive mood of migrant children. Future studies can add information about the length of their current stay in the urban location to improve the quality of study. PROSPERO registry: Systematic review registration no. CRD42018090676. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to an increasingly complex mixture of different types of public spaces and their functions in cities, the role of public spaces can be enhanced to serve users under certain circumstances. This paper examines Carmona's classification of urban spaces in Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia. Carmona introduces a classification that uses aspects of function, perception, and ownership to distinguish between space types. Twenty urban space types are recognized in four groups, representing a variety from clearly public to private space. The classifications of public spaces will be discussed to arrive at classifications for public spaces based on how public spaces are managed. The article builds an understanding of how such classifications relate to how real public spaces are provided today. In this case study, a Geographic Information System (GIS) map is created for Al-Baha Central District and includes the resulting classifications. From the 119 urban spaces selected to represent this study equally distributed across the study area, there are 12 types that public spaces match Carmona's classification. The classification of urban spaces for this case study revealed the complexity of public spaces' nature and the difficulty of distinguishing what is public. Public spaces tend to change and develop over time through other uses and activities. However, the classification of public spaces is a valuable tool that policymakers and planners can use to set comprehensive development plan programs and plan open space strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this theoretical paper we investigate how domination has adapted to the new social settings of a flexible and pluralist economy. Building on French pragmatic sociology, we propose an understanding of organizational domination whereby workers are enabled and encouraged to overtly express critique, yet work is nevertheless effectively obtained from dominated actors. Domination is here mainly understood as a system through which workers are engaged in action despite critiquing that action. We propose the concept of elusive domination as a combination of three mechanisms that undermine critique's capacity to influence organizational power arrangements. First, ideological plasticity allows elusive domination to disarm critique by depriving it of its argument. Next, a combination of fast-changing rules and sacrosanct conventions prevents critique from settling, and thus deprives it of its object. Finally, emotions displayed in the workplace are filtered. The encouragement of positive and constructive critique coupled with the repression of uncomfortable feelings deprives critique of its source of indignation. The consequences of such developments for current debates on organizational domination are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extant theory posits that ethno-racial diversity promotes entrepreneurship by increasing the novelty of information and perspectives available for recombination in a region. This view presupposes the flow of novel information among potential entrepreneurs. Yet, we know comparatively little about how regional social structures (e.g., collective social capital) that affect information flows condition this relationship. We build on the sociological literature to theorize how the interplay between collective social capital and residential segregation moderates the relationship between ethno-racial diversity and entrepreneurship. We test, and find empirical support for, our hypotheses among all registered new ventures started in the United States between 1990 and 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active transportation modes such as walking and biking are gaining popularity for their extensive health and environmental benefits, yet scholars know little about how place-based accessibility varies by area sociodemographic composition. This study is among the first to examine sociodemographic disparities (by both race and socioeconomic status) in bikeability while allowing for heterogeneity in disparities. Consideration of bikeability disparities is particularly critical within the framework of urban planning concepts that promote equitable accessibility and reduced dependency on automobiles, such as the 15-minute city. Geographically Weighted Regressions examined associations between census tract-level bikeability (using an index that combines five components), socioeconomic status, and percentage non-White residents (controlling for age of structures in tracts). Findings showed that the strength and directionality of associations between bikeability and race/socioeconomic status varied throughout the county, providing targeted information on where greater concentrations of low socioeconomic status and non-White residents were associated with lower bikeability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical management studies (CMS) has pervaded the field of management studies, claiming to be based on the Frankfurt School of critical theory. This paper examines that claim. It starts with a brief outline of management studies vs. CMS, and of some of CMS’s goals: micro-emancipation, the production of better managers, good management, and fairer organisations. The aim is to provide an overview of current literature, to outline critical theory’s epistemological theory, and to deliver an assessment of CMS in the light of that. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The term ‘resilience’ has grown in its usage across a range of disciplines and practices. The US military and the British armed forces have typified this increasing use of ‘resilience’ in recent years within such initiatives as Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) and throughout British Army Doctrine. However by unpacking what being ‘resilient’ for soldiers might mean we explore the interaction between their personal ‘masculine’ characteristics, the structural environment within which they operate, and the civilian life they return to. In doing so this paper offers a critical sociological analysis combining the agency of the soldiers’ body with the structure of the military as a [total institution] to problematize issues of masculinity, stigma and resilience within the military setting. As such, we question if the fostering of ‘resilience’ in military personnel is something that may be productive during service, but counter-productive thereafter when service personnel return to civilian life as veterans. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: This study aims to answer the following questions: (1) Why have attempts to transplant Western vocational education models failed? (2) Is there anything we can learn from the experiences of Eastern Asian countries when developing their own vocational education models? Design/Approach/Methods: This study reviews the history of transplanting Western skill formation schemes into developing countries, an often-failed die-hard practice supported by both bilateral and multilateral donors. Findings: Our findings suggest that developing countries should design their technical and vocational education and training systems based on their unique cultural, sociological, and economic contexts. It offers two alternative pathways based on the experiences of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Korea. Originality/Value: These East Asian examples could broaden the perspectives of policymakers in developing countries aspiring to develop functional skill formation schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimate the returns (measured by hourly earnings) to education, experience, and social networking in India using individual-level panel data from the India Human Development Surveys. We combined the two latest waves of this survey using individual-level identifiers to generate a balanced panel and merged it with various household characteristics. We provide estimates of private returns for an additional year of education and experience by consumption quintiles, gender, caste, and religion in a fixed-effects Heckman model that controls for selection bias. This methodology improves upon estimates of all earlier studies on earnings in India, as most of the literature has relied on cross-section data or pseudo-panel data. We also examine the impact of social networking on earnings, which is under-explored in nationwide studies in India. We find that education significantly and positively affects earnings for all consumption quintiles, gender, caste (except schedule castes), and religious groups. Among economic groups, the highest returns are observed for the third quintile above the poverty line. Returns to females for an additional year of education are nearly double that of males but the difference in starting earnings keeps earnings of males higher for long periods. Among the castes, scheduled castes have the highest returns to education and other minorities among religious groups. Social networking positively impacts males, Hindus, and the quintile just above the poverty line. Experience positively impacts women's earnings, general caste and scheduled caste, Hindus and Other minorities and two consumption quintiles (two and five) above the poverty line. Plain Language Summary: Impact of Education, Experience, and Social Networks Impact Earnings in India by Class, Gender, Caste and Religion Purpose: Enhancing human capital is critical for India's development. It would help overcome existing labor market hierarchies based on economic class, gender, religion, and caste. We study the impact on private earnings of (a) an additional year of education and experience, and (b) social networking. Methods: We use an individual level panel dataset assembled from the two latest rounds of the Indian Human Development Survey (I&II). Our Heckman type earnings equation controls for selection bias. Results: An additional year of education increased earnings between (a) 2.4% and 8.8% among different consumption quintiles (b) 3.7% for males to 5.2% for females, (c) 1.5% (STs), to 5.9% (SCs), and (d) 2.3% (Muslims), to 9.9% (Other Minorities). Experience increased earnings of two economic groups, females, the General and Scheduled castes, and of Hindus and Other Minorities. Social networking increased earnings of males, Hindus, and one economic quintile. Conclusions: Higher marginal returns to education for females justifies greater investment in women's education. Lower returns on education among STs and Muslims indicate the need for affirmative action for these groups. The positive returns to education for the poor suggests that anti-poverty programs in combination with educational opportunities for the less privileged would meet the goals of social justice. Implications Better education (SDG4) would help achieve gender equality (SDG5), and social justice for marginalized (economic, caste and religious) groups (SDG1, SDG10). Limitations: We were unable to account for ability bias. Stratification by state and sector would provide better estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the Finnish Labour Force Surveys merged with register-based follow-up data, we analyzed how different characteristics of part-time work predict employees' and entrepreneurs' employment trajectories in an 8-year follow-up. We analyzed careers by the length of weekly working hours and the reason for part-time work, that is, childcare, studies, health, part-time pension, other voluntary choice, or if full-time work was not available (involuntary part-time). We applied sequence analysis to define work career clusters based on the continuum of spells spent in different labor market statuses, that is, in upper and lower white-collar, manual, or entrepreneurial employment, unemployment, studying, pensioned, or inactivity. According to the results, involuntary part-timers have a significantly higher probability of entering the unemployment trajectory than full-time workers. Those working part-time hours due to care responsibilities were also more likely to face frequent periods of unemployment, whereas part-time work combined with studies was associated with stable white-collar trajectories. Our results also show that weakened labor outcomes following marginal part-time jobs associate with disability retirement instead of unemployment later in time, most probably determined by ill health. Therefore, we suggest further studies to consider marginal part-time workers' health as the determinant of weakening career outcomes. Overall, our results highlight the need to improve part-time working conditions, a concern that organizations like the OECD have also raised. This improvement could reduce the risk of unemployment, promote health, extend work careers, and consequently increase the employment rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term "childless" is highly problematic. Attempts to split it into "voluntary" and "involuntary" may appear to give more detail on context, but the differentiation can be misleading. The condition of "-less" has negative connotations and implies "missing" something; possibly something which is "natural." The term "childfree" has been employed as an alternative expression which denotes active choice, freedom, and emancipation. Few studies, however, have explored how individuals refer to themselves, or how they interpret—or even care—about these distinctions. Such existing studies only explore the use of these English expressions among speakers of English as their primary language. This exploratory qualitative study explores how women without children define themselves in their native language in an Asian setting—Cantonese in Hong Kong. It also explores how such women interpret the various terms developed in English to describe their circumstances. Respondents refer to themselves in neutral, factual terms—literally "without children." Others make an explicit link between being unmarried and childless status. While respondents find the English expression of "childfree" positive, they do not express a strong need to either deploy it in English, nor "develop" a Cantonese equivalent. The study provides further evidence that "labels" generated and applied by academics in one context and in one language may not be universally applicable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to share a Canadian model called Developing a Compassionate Community (DCC) in which aging, dying, caregiving, and grieving are everyone's responsibility. The model provides a research-informed practice guide for people who choose to adopt a community capacity development approach to developing a compassioante community. Based on 30 years of Canadian research by the author in rural, urban, First Nations communities, and long-term care homes, the DCC model offers a practice theory and practical tool. The model incorporates the principles of community capacity development which are as follows: change is incremental and in phases, but nonlinear and dynamic; the change process takes time; development is essentially about developing people; development builds on existing resources (assets); development cannot be imposed from the outside; and development is ongoing (never-ending). Community capacity development starts with citizens who want to make positive changes in their lives and their community. They become empowered by gaining the knowledge, skills, and resources they need. The community mobilizes around finding solutions rather than discussing problems. Passion propels their action and commitment drives the process. The strategy for change is engaging, empowering, and educating community members to act on their own behalf. It requires mobilizing networks of families, friends, and neighbors across the community, wherever people live, work, or play. Community networks are encouraged to prepare for later life, and for giving and getting help among themselves. This Canadian model offers communities one approach to developing a compassionate community and is a resource for implementing a public health approach to end-of-life care in Canada. The model is also available to be evaluated for its applicability beyond Canada and is designed to be adapted to new contexts if desired. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immunization is considered one of the most cost-effective public health interventions for reducing childhood morbidity, mortality, and disability globally. However, while global achievement of over 70% coverage rates was sustained in 1990s, wide variations exist between and within countries. In some developing countries, immunization rates increased substantially, but in sub-Saharan Africa, immunization rates plummeted, leaving millions of children vulnerable to life-threatening diseases. In Nigeria, coverage rates for routine immunization for all antigens still fall below 50%. The study examined the overall influence of household vulnerability dimensions, maternal health practices on childhood immunization status in Nigeria. The study used secondary data from 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Surveys (NDHS). The analytical weighted sample size was 5,824women of reproductive ages (15-49 years) with a live birth in the past 3 years, whose children were within age 12 to 23 months at the time of the survey. The data was analyzed using frequency distribution, chi-square test, and binary logistic regression. The results showed a decreasing regional variation in the proportion of fully immunized children from high of 23.6% in South-West, to a low of 9.1% in North-East. The overall household vulnerability status showed that children in more and most vulnerable households were 62% (OR = 0.38; p<.001; CI [0.32-0.46]) and 89%less likely (OR = 0.11; p <.001; CI [0.08-0.14]) to receive full vaccination compared with their counterpart in non-vulnerable households. The study revealed significant relationship between mothers': (i) number of antenatal visits (OR = 1.66; p<.05; CI [0.25-1.77]); (ii) quality of antenatal care (OR = 2.61; p<.05; CI [1.45-4.67]); (iii) place of delivery (OR = 0.62; p<.05; CI [0.45-0.86]); (iv) assistance during delivery (OR = 0.41; p<.001; CI [0.28-0.57]); (v) time of postnatal check (OR = 1.81; p<.001; CI [1.49-2.19]) and full childhood immunization status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are interested in examining the process of scandal creation through the lens of the audience. Extant work tends to address either the effects of organizational scandal, or the role of the media and social control agents in scandal creation, neglecting the audience. To address this gap, we draw on the sociological concept of the relational public to explore how individual or small group assessments become widely held social evaluations among scandal audiences. We develop a threestage model of organizational scandal creation: first, scandal entrepreneurs and the media frame an organization's behavior as transgressive to media consumers who react within the relational publics they constitute; next, members of those relational publics judge the act in light of their values; finally, as relational publics spread their judgment to adjacent groups, they aggregate and assemble into a scandal audience, activating the scandal. Our model adds to media-centered theories of scandal construction by highlighting the role of heterogeneous audiences and their values, building a nuanced understanding of the process of social evaluation in scandal creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1990, Simon Clarke inaugurated two decades of research of the former Soviet Union through an international collaboration with Russian sociologists that examined a society in the throes of transformation. Along with his colleague Peter Fairbrother, Simon developed a network of Russian researchers in the Institute of Comparative Labour Relations Research. Together they produced a corpus of work that meticulously analysed the impact of economic reform on workplaces and households and the response of workers and their organisations. This piece is an extended version of a published interview with Simon conducted by two of his former students, Sarah Ashwin and Valery Yakubovich. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the analysis of 24 in-depth, semi-structured interviews, this study explored the process through which disability affects veterans' experiences in the university classroom and their social relations with traditional students. Using inductive-exploratory qualitative methods, this study builds upon the sociological understanding of veterans' experiences in higher education. Findings from this study tentatively suggest that while disability related fear/hypervigilance, stigma, and anxiety significantly impact veterans' comfort levels when engaging with traditional students, veterans also externalize the impact of their disability as a social artifact of their military service. More research is needed to determine if the interaction of disability and artifacts of service decreases veterans' ability to integrate well with traditional students in classroom settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, a debate has arisen concerning the history and philosophy of hospice and palliative care. This critical essay extends this debate by linking the analysis of Dame Cicely Saunders' writings with the concept of worldview, exploring the modern hospice movement vis-à-vis Saunders' approach to terminal care. Worldviews as cultural classifications of reality provide groups and individuals with meaning to navigate everyday and liminal situations. Using this concept in connection to the discipline of the sociology of knowledge, it is possible to grasp how the origins and principles of modern hospice care, from which current palliative care practices evolved, relate to the sociocultural environment of the postwar era in the West. The analysis focuses on a selected body of Saunders' writings, mainly written in the 1960s and 1970s, and discusses different components and functions of her revolutionary care paradigm. In this essay, I show that Saunders' vision of hospice care entails much more than a set of health care practices; it is a complex construct of knowledge and ideas that offers distinct procedures to shelter the dying from pain and loss of meaning. Her vision builds on medical advances and incorporates norms and attitudes related to secularised Protestant and New Age culture, which fostered privatised types of religion and individualistic ideologies and theodicies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is for marketers who use semiotics. It argues that semiotic analysis is not complete until signs and symbols are meaningfully connected to society, culture, and ideology. The unique qualities of top-down semiotics are explained. The implications for semiotics of structuralism and post-structuralism are discussed. Research questions are suggested and various kinds of analysis are demonstrated: diachronic, synchronic, and ideological analysis. Key concepts in analysis are explored such as power, simulation, and reading against the grain. Readers are directed to Foucault, Baudrillard, and Derrida as leaders in postmodern and post-structuralist thought. Theory is applied to examples likely to be of interest to marketers such as celebrity merchandise, smartphone accessories, and the TV advertising of a British department store. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the contribution of the pragmatic sociology of critical capacities to the understanding of environmental conflicts. In the field of 'environmental valuation', nowadays colonised by economics, the approach of plural modes (or 'regimes') of engagement provides a sociological understanding of the unequal power of conflicting 'languages of valuation'. This frame entails a shift from 'values' to 'modes of valuation', and links modes of valuation to modes of practical engagement and coordination with the surrounding environment. Different social sources of incommensurability are thus detected and reframed as critical tension within and among modes of human coordination with the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solicited journal entries are a qualitative research method with a fairly strong tradition in sociological research and particularly in qualitative health research. However, the practices and strengths associated with solicited journal entries have not been explored as frequently or comprehensively as more conventional qualitative research methods, such as interviews. During the COVID-19 pandemic we carried out two online studies employing solicited written journal entries and photos. One study focused on pregnancy and health care experiences during the pandemic and the other on everyday life while working from home due to public health restrictions. Here, we discuss solicited online journal entries as a qualitative method and reflect on the strengths and challenges we encountered, including those related to using the online survey tool LimeSurvey for a qualitative diary-based study. The richness of data and the ability to solicit participants' contemporaneous reflections over the course of a set length of time, the ability to reach people across time zones and in multiple places, and the ability to adapt prompts in a quickly changing research context are major strengths of online journaling. The level of commitment required by participants, the potential for attrition, the need for literacy and technology access, and the large amount of data from each participant are potential limitations for researchers to consider. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid-2000s, French military telecommunications have been partially outsourced to private companies. This was justified by an intent for budgetary savings and efficiency. However, an interview survey conducted among military technicians shows that this transfer weighs upon their work and expectations. Outsourcing damages the profession's appeal, deprives staff of strategic resources, and places their time under the control of private providers. This represents a symbolic cost for the personnel committed to the institution but also grants symbolic benefits to officers who are hostile to the process. Although they were not designed for this purpose, market procedures closely regulate the activity of frontline military technicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reexamines and develops the analytical metaphor of "Reserve Soldiers as Transmigrants" in three directions. First, we advance the notion of transmigration by linking it to the explicit and implicit "contracts" or agreements struck between the military and individuals and groups within and outside of it. Second, we show that the "management" model of reserve forces is not just an administrative matter but that "negotiating" with reservists involves wider issues that include managing identity, commitment, and the meaning attached to military service. Third, we examine the institutional and political meaning of the reserves at the macro sociological level. The juxtaposition and interplay of two models—transmigration and multiple contracts—allows us to introduce structural elements into the movement of soldiers between the military and civilian society, and add a dynamic dimension to the contents of the implicit contracts that organize reservists' relations with the state and military. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutional change is typically studied at the organizational field level; we leverage political culture to examine how the context in which these fields are embedded influence processes of institutional change within such fields. Specifically, we look at the effect of conservative political culture on legitimation and adoption of crowdfunding in the United States. We find that crowdfunding is less popular and more slowly legitimated in conservative regions. However, we also find that crowdfunding's legitimacy is more important in these regions and that once a legitimacy threshold is reached, the adoption of crowdfunding in conservative regions surpasses that in liberal regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. Military institutionalized diversity management to ensure equality of treatment and opportunity for members while eliminating discrimination in all its forms. But progress toward diversity goals has been inconsistent. For example, the U.S. Military's implementation of the repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law was less successful in integrating transgender soldiers. Meanwhile, recent sexual harassment scandals show that progress is similarly fleeting in gender relations. In this article, we argue that while the aims of diversity management are important, they need an accompanying vision of what the future looks like after achieving those aims. The postdiversity vision includes more than the elimination of discriminatory behaviors; it describes what the defense establishment looks like and how it functions when diversity management is no longer required. Expressing this vision allows for more reliable and durable measures of performance and effectiveness of inclusion efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the institution and military community, civilian wives of service members occupy complicated roles. On the one hand, wives are undisputedly crucial to the functioning of their service member husbands. However, wives are simultaneously considered subordinate to their husbands within the military and extended community. Indicative of this attitude are the divisive stereotypes of military wives that range from lazy and irresponsible, to overly rank-conscious and entitled. Based on combined in-depth interviews from two samples of military wives, this article investigates how the women navigate the military spouse role within the institutional, community-oriented context of the military. Specifically, we ask, how do these women construct gender and exercise agency when drawing on the stereotypes of wives within the community? By utilizing such mechanisms as symbolic boundary work, gender policing, and stereotyping, women both reify stereotypes of the military spouse and exert agency in creating the military spouse identity for themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses a comprehensive descriptive analysis to examine the determinants of racial intermarriage for native-born men and women using the 2012 American Community Survey. A comparison between military and civilian samples is the main focus of the article. We improve upon the existing literature by identifying the proximity of the respondent's current residence to a military base and including an analysis of anti-miscegenation laws by state. Further, we provide a cohort analysis to parse out generational differences. We find that military members are more likely to intermarry, regardless of cohort, and that non-White military members have higher rates of education than their civilian counterparts. Black females in the military are more educated and have a significantly higher rate of intermarriage than their civilian counterparts. Additionally, the difference in intermarriage rates between civilian and military members is 31 percentage points higher for Black women than Black men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses student records from a nonselective public institution to assess whether student veterans' academic performance and preparation differed before and after the post–9/11 GI Bill. We find equivalent ACT scores between cohorts who were and were not eligible for this new funding source, suggesting similar academic preparation. Grade point averages are also invariant across cohorts. We identify a large decline in the probability that student veterans eligible for post–9/11 GI Bill funding pursue degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines. These results suggest that increased access to college funding had no effects on academic performance and distributed student veterans more broadly across the university curriculum, suggesting an important policy strategy to help recent veterans successfully transition to the civilian labor market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past decade has witnessed a surge of research interest in social entrepreneurship (SE). This has resulted in important insights concerning the role of SE in fostering inclusive growth and institutional change. However, the rapid growth of SE research, the emerging nature of the literature, and the fact that SE builds on different disciplines and fields (e.g., entrepreneurship, sociology, economics, ethics) have led to a rather fragmented literature without dominant frameworks. This situation risks leading to a duplication of efforts and hampers cumulative knowledge growth. Drawing on 395 peer-reviewed articles on SE, we (1) identify gaps in SE research on three levels of analysis (i.e., individual, organizational, institutional), (2) proffer an integrative multistage, multilevel framework, and (3) discuss promising avenues for further research on SE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the effects of patronage networks on cohesion in the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It shows that while patronage networks provide support to individual military personnel, they undermine both peer and commander–subordinate bonding. They promote unequal service conditions and statuses and link these to extra-unit and extra-military forms of social identification, which are further reinforced by soldiers’ living and generating revenue among civilians. Furthermore, they impair meritocracy and frustrate the extent to which commanders live up to their subordinates’ expectations. As they fuel internal conflicts, often around revenue generation, and foster bad service conditions and distrust toward the political and military leadership, patronage networks also undermine institutional cohesion. The article concludes that cohesion formation in the FARDC follows different patterns than in well-institutionalized and well-resourced militaries. Given that cohesion impacts combat performance and norm enforcement, these findings are relevant for defense reform efforts and military cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For organizational ethnography we argue that traditional philosophies of onto-epistemological realism be supplanted by interpretive and reflexive thinking to provide fresh theoretical assumptions and new methodological proposals for film- and video-based research. The argument is developed in three phases: First, to establish analytical context, we explore the historical evolution of the ethnographic organizational documentary and discuss habitual problems – methodological, philosophical and technical – that filmmakers have faced when claiming qualities of directness and objectivity in their work, that is, through the style of ‘film-truth’. Second, to advance new conceptual logic for video-based organizational research, we supplant the objectivist and realist philosophy underpinning traditional documentary filmmaking with sociologically interpretive and reflexive arguments for undertaking ethnography in organizations, a subjective process which importantly yields greater understanding of affect and embodiment. Finally, to define new methodological opportunities, these interpretive and reflexive arguments are marshalled to underpin a strategy of participatory thinking in video-based organizational ethnography – a ‘withness’ approach facilitating a greater sense of affect and embodiment as well as polyvocal interpretation of visual data; a practice which sees filmmakers, social theorists, participants and viewers alike united in analytical space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers engaged in studies about ‘hidden social groups’ are likely to face several ethical challenges. Using a study with undocumented Chinese migrants in the UK, challenges involved in obtaining approval by a university research ethics committee are explored. General guidance about how to resolve potential research ethics issues, with particular reference to ‘hidden social groups’, prior to submission to a research ethics committee is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media increasingly plays a role in conflict and contentious politics. Politicians, leaders, insurgents, and protestors all have used it as a tool for communication. At the same time, scholars have turned to social media as a source of new data on conflict. I provide a framework for understanding social media’s influence on conflict through four interrelated points: (1) social media reduces the costs of communication, (2) it increases the speed and dissemination of information, (3) scholars should focus on the strategic interaction and competitive adaption of actors in response to communication technology changes, and (4) the new data that social media provides are not only an important resource, but also fundamentally change the information available to conflict actors, thereby shaping the conflict itself. In sum, social media’s influence on conflict defies simplistic explanations that argue that it privileges incumbents or challengers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we review decades of research on state repression and nonviolent resistance. We argue that these two research programs have converged around six consensus findings. We also highlight several areas of divergence, where greater synthesis between the research on state repression and nonviolent resistance might prove useful. We draw attention to remaining controversies surrounding the association between state repression and nonviolent resistance—particularly regarding different theoretical assumptions about structure, agency, and strategic choice; measurement challenges for both repression and dissent; methodological challenges regarding endogeneity, multicausality, and equifinality; and moral hazards associated with the study of nonviolent resistance and the effectiveness of repression. We conclude by highlighting some productive ways forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In 2011, the Australian Defence Force Academy became embroiled in a sex scandal when a cadet made public, claims of abuse. Her claims led to a number of inquiries, which unveiled many other historical abuse claims. As such, this case revealed some of the potential problems associated with the containment of such disputes. To explore this further, a brief review of workplace changes (1930–present) was conducted, which highlighted the development of current containment measures. This was followed by a two-pronged case analysis of the 2011 Australian Defence Force Academy Skype sex scandal. Boltanski’s process theory was used in conjunction with Bourdieu’s field theory to study the containment of the case. Combined, these analyses revealed that, while a focus on the central players and their relations as psychologized/personal is a main strategy for containment, this approach can deflect attention from other factors that play important roles, resulting in more significant, far-reaching problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2001, CEO and owner of Black Entertainment Television (BET) Bob Johnson, sold majority ownership to Viacom with much controversy. Many people in the black community questioned the appropriateness of a network that claimed to represent black life being under the defacto control of a white dominated corporation. This study seeks to assess the impact of the change in ownership upon the way African Americans are represented in BET's programming. The study begins by placing black popular cultures roots in the minstrel show and shows how that form of media continues to plague American popular culture, and indeed, BET, today. The study then undertakes an interpretive textual analysis to show that BET shows and programming, under the ownership of a white corporation is used as a mechanism of white imperialistic ideological domination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the conceptual system developed by Pierre Bourdieu has been sporadically employed within the context of life history research, the complexity of this task has often not been appreciated. This article offers a provisional attempt to explore how Bourdieusian sociology might approach life history material, focusing specifically on conceptual interpretation rather than data collection or the practicalities of data analysis. This article is self-consciously not forwarded as a coherent or finalized "Bourdieusian theory of the life history"; rather, I offer a series of fragmented insights that may be useful to future scholars working in this context. In particular, I note the importance of methodological eclecticism to Bourdieu, the concept of the "social trajectory," the consideration of self-narrative as strategy, the interrogation of habituated assumptions, the role of symbolic violence, and the notion of the "cleft habitus." I conclude by contending for the importance of capturing the complexity of life history material using multiple, overlapping, and potentially conflicting heuristic paradigms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AIMS-The principles of free trade and free circulation of services within the European Union have created pressures to make the strictly controlled European gambling markets more open. According to the Court of Justice of the European Union, restrictions on gambling are only allowed if they are justified in admissible terms of consumer protection, prevention of criminal activity and protection of public order. This study compares the gambling laws of two European societies, France and Finland, to analyse how their legal frames of gambling have been adjusted to these principles. DESIGN-The data consists of up-to-date legislation on gambling in Finland and France. A qualitative analysis was conducted to study whether new ways of justifying have been included in legislative texts and if these are substantiated by measures related to consumer protection or crime prevention. RESULTS-France has mainly justified its restrictive policies on gambling in terms of preventing criminal activities while the Finnish legislation highlights the charitable causes funded by gambling proceeds, a claim not accepted by the Court of Justice of the European Union. Consumer protection is increasingly stressed in both countries, and the range of rationales has also grown notably since 2007. CONCLUSION-While the vocabularies of justification accepted by the CJEU have expanded since 2007, these have not been substantiated by many new legislative measures. This is not attributed to political ill will but rather to the difficulty of changing existing legislative traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examined spatial bridging ties that develop between members of a subdivision, and the relationship of such ties to different aspects of the built environment. We suggest that spatial bridging ties are important to the development of social capital within a community, as they help to overcome a tendency for ties to be spatially proximate (the propinquity effect). Using ego-based network data, we examined the formation of spatial bridging ties within a new urbanist subdivision (NUS) and also identified specific design features of the NUS that were associated with such ties. We found an association between spatial bridging ties and the use of mixed-use amenities, suggesting that mixed-use amenities (e.g., local shops and restaurants) may be facilitating spatial bridging ties between residents in NUS communities. The results also provide some evidence of a positive relationship between spatial bridging ties and social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a methodological reflection on recent developments in qualitative research. It discusses the methodology of critical arts-based qualitative inquiry (CAI).Since the 1980s and in postmodern, poststructural or postpositivist approaches CAI is seen as a renewal of qualitative research. Though, apart from special discourses in Cultural Studies, CAI seems to be ignored by German sociology. I will focus on the theoretical-methodological fundamentals of these approaches with respect to a politics of interpretation, and discuss these basics from the perspective of German qualitative-reconstructive research traditions. Although CAI can be a source of productive irritations, the differences suggest contrasting concepts of a "sociological enlightenment." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociologists have long been interested in understanding the emergence of new social kinds. We argue that sociologists’ formation stories have been mischaracterized as noncausal, descriptive, or interpretive. Traditional “forcing-cause” accounts describe regularized relations between fixed entities with specific properties. The three dominant approaches to causality—variable causality, treatments and manipulations, and mechanisms—all refer to forcing causes. But formation stories do not fit the forcing-causes framework because accounts of formation violate the assumptions that ground forcing-cause accounts and instead emphasize eventfulness, assemblage, and self-representation. Yet these accounts are, we argue, fundamentally causal. In particular, formation stories provide the historical, empirical boundaries for the functioning of forcing-cause accounts. We catalog the breadth of formation stories in sociology and use examples from diverse literatures to highlight how thinking of formation stories as causal accounts can improve our understanding of the relationship of history and culture to causal analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background. Vitamin A deficiency is prevalent among infants, primarily in undeveloped communities, compromising immune system competence and raising morbidity and mortality rates. Understanding the risk factors associated with vitamin A deficiency is essential to create informed health policies. Objective. To identify and quantify risk factors for vitamin A deficiency in a probabilistic sample of children under 2 years of age participating in a national survey in Brazil and to provide a comprehensive risk factor model to inform health strategies and policies. Methods. We analyzed data from a cross-sectional study of 1,436 children from the 2006 Brazilian National Survey on Demography and the Health of Women and Children. Vitamin A deficiency was defined as retinol levels below 0.70 µg/dL. Results. The prevalence of vitamin A deficiency was estimated at 16.1% (95% CI, 12.7 to 20.2). The Poisson regression model identified three risk factors for vitamin A deficiency: urban residence (prevalence ratio [PR] = 1.47, p = .023), no consumption of animal meat within the past week (PR = 1.41, p = .031), and a mother older than 25 years (PR = 1.31, p = .048). Conclusions. Strategies to control infant vitamin A deficiency should include health promotion and nutrition education for families from all socioeconomic levels. Improvements in lifestyle quality, based on adequate food consumption by all infants, must be achieved by communities, especially in urban areas and for older mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]