Search

This article applies adaptive structuration theory (AST) to Google technologies. AST describes the ways in which information technologies change organizations. The theory seeks to identify diverse sources of structuration between technologies, social structures and human interactions in organizations. Google technologies refers to a variety of Google internet-based applications, such as Google Calendar, Gmail, Google Docs and Google Sites. The objective of this article, then, is to understand the ways in which Google has changed organizations and attitudes among virtual teams. For example, a major finding is that, based on four dimensions (i.e., leadership, efficiency, conflict management and atmosphere), Google technologies allows for a more consensus-based rational decision-making process and equal participation by all members rather than domination by a few. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we propose a methodological tool that seeks to contribute to the empirical study of practices in organization studies. There is a need for innovating and improving analytical tactics for theorizing about practice, particularly for helping connect localized social interactions to broader contexts. We propose the "temporal bracketing of discourses" tool and provide a detailed example that empirically illustrates its application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a common assumption that information communication technology (ICT) enables employees to work together and to be virtually co-present, regardless of time and place. However, previous studies of social networking sites (e.g. Facebook and social enterprise media in work settings) show a consistent tendency among users to reconnect and communicate online almost exclusively with people they already know. The paper at hand examines in depth what role shared places have in knowledge work and in creating a virtual or online co-presence among knowledge professionals. The findings of the present study show that the tendency of communicating with known others in online spaces is also at play in the offline workplace, as professionals approach those whom they already know when in need of work-related help. One of the conclusions is that the geographical workplace plays a key role in creating a common ground for communication and social integration among employees, since a core dimension in knowledge work is social interaction. The paper uses insights from a qualitative and longitudinal case study (2010–2013) of a multinational consultancy company.

The article talks about the structuration theory in library collaboration studies and discusses how structuration theory informed a study of collaborative relationships between academics and librarians in two universities of Vietnam and Australia. It mentions that the research in library and information science, knowledge management and education has been increasingly informed by structuration theory. It informs about discursive knowledge in understanding the nature of human interaction.

Technology implementation is complex and often unpredictable. Although previous research describes mechanisms related to the social construction of technology and technology use in organizations, researchers have focused little on the inputs to these models. In this article the author attempts to fill this void by examining triggers for initial user sensemaking. The prediction of sensemaking should enhance the application of theories, such as adaptive structuration, and inform the management of technology through greater anticipation of user understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on organizational structures. The article cites "The Structuring of Organizational Structures (1980)," by Stewart Ranson, Bob Hinings, Royston Greenwood, which aims at generating a more satisfactory framework for the analysis of organizational structure. In the article the authors give the example of how demographic changes must inevitably have some impact upon school roles with attendant reprucssions for structural arrangements. The article is critical of the research conducted by Ranson, Hinings, and Greenwood. It is suggested that the work by Anthony Giddens on organizational structure could have aided the researchers.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of organization levels upon organization performance. The methodology involved the establishment of experimental organizations of four, three, and two levels, and these were evaluated in terms of profitability, communication speed and accuracy, and individual member attitudes. The results of the experiment provide support for the hypothesis that the number of levels in an organization will affect organization performance. It provided limited support for the hypothesis that the fewer the number of levels the better the performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although two decades of militarization have normalized the presence of armed forces in eastern DR Congo, civilians continue to resist their power and practices, engaging in heterogeneous repertoires of contentious action. Focusing on resistance against the national army, this article analyzes the forms and effects of these contentious repertoires as well as the factors that shape them. The latter include the intimate and multi-faceted entanglement of civilian and military lives and the high fluidity of dynamics of conflict, insecurity and protection. These factors foster an orientation towards both the socially immediate and the socially imagined. Accordingly, it is appropriate to analyze civilian resistance in eastern DR Congo through the lens of “social navigation,” a term used to conceptualize social practice in volatile settings. Yet, social navigation’s focus on fluidity and flexibility does not allow for fully comprehending civilians’ contentious practices vis-à-vis the military. Following the theory of structuration, these practices are also shaped by relatively durable social structures, such as economic scarcity and deeply rooted socio-political imaginaries and modes of action relating to “stateness,” patronage, and social belonging. The imprint of these structures on social practice renders civilian resistance fleeting, incoherent, and personalized, thereby reducing its potential to undermine the military’s dominance. These observations indicate that even in highly volatile settings, the analysis of durable social structures remains crucial to understanding social practice, including resistance, and its effects on the social order. The analytical approach of social navigation must therefore be complemented by the theory of structuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that the appearance of real-world laboratories (RwLs) is the step among many that trace the evolution of scientific approaches seeking to acquire scientific knowledge and changing behaviours of people. The RwL concept is new and in a finding phase; thus, several detailed methodological and conceptual points remain open.

enterprise system (ES) software is often supplemented independently by end users who develop personal solutions that establish connections between the required business practices and the ES. One solution is a type of information and communications technology workaround, a feral information system (FIS) - defined as a workaround designed to achieve certain requirements by using any information technology tool that an end user uses in conjunction with, or instead of, the mandated information system. To explore this, we conducted a case study at a large utility company. We conclude that feral information systems are not a behavioural deviance. FISs are by-products of end users seeking operational efficiency, namely, to nullify additional transactional costs imposed by the ES. Our findings suggest that end users of ES will fall into one of four modes of operation: mode 1, where end users submit to the ES; mode 2, where they dismiss the ES; mode 3, where they develop an FIS that remains hidden from the ES proponents; and mode 4, where they operate the FIS in open defiance of the ES proponents. In this research, we deliberately take the practitioner view and, therefore, outline how different pressures help to create an FIS as a response to a poorly mandated ES. We also make a theoretical contribution by exploring issues that lead to workarounds and suggest that future research into these modes of operation can be theorized in future proposed studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses knowledge professionals’ experiences of being in and using social enterprise media, which is characterized by a social, people-centric, dynamic and non-hierarchical information architecture. Rather than studying the social enterprise media from a typical STS-perspective in terms of ‘scripts’, ‘antiprogram’, or as ‘configuring design processes based on the user’, the paper direct its analytical lens to the users’ experiences, practices and routines when they are making sense of the virtual space in social enterprise media. As theoretical framework, unexplored corners of structuration theory where Giddens (1979, 1984) discusses spatiality (place) and temporality (time), where Giddens is inspired by the philosopher Wittgenstein (1972), the micro-sociologist Goffman (1959), and the time-geographer Hägerstrand (1975, 1978) are employed. With this approach, dynamic social processes are included in our studies of technology. Qualitative insights from a comprehensive and longitudinal case study of a multinational organization with entities in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East were used in order to get an in-depth understanding of how people experienced using virtual and social architectural spaces. The findings show that the social architecture and people-centric model in the virtual space in social enterprise media does not provide an intuitive spatial sense, nor does it provide logics that correspond with known and familiar logics or established communication and interaction practices among employees. Key features in social enterprise media (e.g., transparency) collide with how space is constructed in the physical world and with the logics at play in offline conversations and social interactions (e.g. turn-taking in conversations or the opportunity to withdraw from conversations).

The implementation of electronic health records (EHRs) is a major transformation in health care organizations. This study uses adaptive structuration theory to build and test an organizational change appropriation model. We tested this model in a health care organization that had recently implemented an EHR system. We find that social interaction with coworkers has a negative direct effect on employees’ change attitudes, perceived change success, and perceived change communication quality. While these findings suggest that interacting with coworkers can actually increase negative perceptions of EHR implementation, the direction of these relationships is inverted when change appropriation is included in the model as a mediating variable. As health care workers adapt this particular technology system to meet their needs, they perceive the EHR implementation more positively and have more positive attitudes toward the change. Implications and future directions are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although structuration theory (ST) has endured a considerable influence in communication research across various domains, there remains a paucity of quantitative empirical research using ST as a viable framework. The purpose of this article is to develop an adapted structurational framework to explain the emergence of communication networks. The adapted framework distinguishes between relational states/events and internal/external structural rules. For analysis, we introduce multipanel relational event modeling, a technique using processual inference that can empirically demonstrate the recursive nature of system and structure. As an introductory example of both the framework and method, we examined communication, using cell-phone data, of students living in the same dormitory from September 2008 through February 2009. Our results demonstrated how different structures (i.e., perceived social relations and internal/external structural rules) are reproduced and transformed over time. Our research has implications for communication research dealing with recursivity, event-driven network analysis, the changing nature of the phone call, and the promise of computational communication science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a common assumption that information communication technology (ICT) enables employees to work together and to be virtually co-present, regardless of time and place. However, previous studies of social networking sites (e.g. Facebook and social enterprise media in work settings) show a consistent tendency among users to reconnect and communicate online almost exclusively with people they already know. The paper at hand examines in depth what role shared places have in knowledge work and in creating a virtual or online co-presence among knowledge professionals. The findings of the present study show that the tendency of communicating with known others in online spaces is also at play in the offline workplace, as professionals approach those whom they already know when in need of workrelated help. One of the conclusions is that the geographical workplace plays a key role in creating a common ground for communication and social integration among employees, since a core dimension in knowledge work is social interaction. The paper uses insights from a qualitative and longitudinal case study (2010-2013) of a multinational consultancy company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze the main propositions of Anthony Giddens's theory of structuration, to think about the proposed synthesis between structure and action. It is considered that this study allows to discuss some of the key topics of contemporary social theory of which this author is one of its principal exponents. The multiple sources from which this theory feeds unleashed various discussions about whether this theory could be a synthesis of the classical conceptions, or whether it was only a formulation of theoretical concepts clipped together. Taking this question as a starting point, it is suggested the thesis that despite the radical nature of the critique of structuralism, Giddens concentrates more on a redefinition of the concept of structure than in a reworking of a sociological theory of the actor and the social action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will focus on telecommunication healthcare in Alaska as an institutional category of Gidden's theory of reconceptualizing institutions. Over the past fifty years, considerable advancements of Alaska Native health have occurred in which the Alaska Federal Health Care Access Network (AFHCAN) managed by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) has played a critical role. We began the discussion by defining telemedicine/telehealth as an institution of medicine and healthcare. Next, Gidden's theory of reconceptualizing institutions is examined, because it is a crucial frame of reference for examining the institution of telemedicine/telehealth in Alaska. Following the discussion of Gidden's theory, the AFHCAN telehealth system is discussed and explored to understand the basis for social interactions within the AFHCAN telehealth system and how healthcare is distributed. This telemedicine healthcare institution has resulted in rapid alteration in the overall mode of interactions between the patient, healthcare professionals, and the healthcare organization. As a result, it has had a direct influence on the medical establishment in rural and remote areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Research on social innovation has gained momentum over the last decade, spurred notably by the growing interest in social issues related to management, entrepreneurship, and public management. Nevertheless, the boundaries of social innovation processes have not yet been completely defined, leaving considerable space for contributions to both theory and practice. To date, research on social innovation has been polarized between agentic and structuralist approaches. Building on institutional and structuration theories, this article proposes bringing these two approaches together and presents a new conceptual framework to investigate social innovation as a driver of social change. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Kin-enriched morphosyntax has emerged many times in distantly related Australian languages. An examination of language use in conversation reveals that this emergence can be explained in terms of convergent evolutionary pressures. All Australian Aboriginal societies have classificatory kinship, and all have taboos limiting the use of personal names. A conversational preference for avoiding restricted names (Levinson 2007) and preferences for achieving recognition and being succinct (Sacks & Schegloff 1979, Schegloff 1996) provide selection principles that assist speak-ers in choosing the most suitable expressions for the given occasions of reference. Because kin-based expressions are not names, but are nevertheless useful for securing recipients' recognition of referents, they are regularly selected when names are unsuitable. Through repeated selection in conversation, the same preferences ultimately drive the diachronic development of kin-based mor-phosyntax. The Murrinh-Patha case study in this article presents the development of kin-based morphology through reanalysis. It then draws on fragments of face-to-face conversation exempli-fying how conversational pressures bias the selection of kin-based structures. Finally, the micro-and macrocausal domains are linked through an 'invisible hand' explanation (Keller 1994). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Giddens' theory of structurational interaction. It states that communicative processes have been the focus Giddens' concept of structuration and his views on the role of distanciation, interaction, and sociohistoricity in structural observation. It mentions that Giddens' structuration has been merged into Goffman's model of human interaction.

We explore the role of liminality, an anthropological and sociological concept, in the context of organisations. We argue that this transition-like condition of being in between is an outcome of organising, which emerges from an ongoing process of structuration. Through the identification of rites and community-like instances in the different processes that compose the act of organising we are able to retrieve what we call liminal elements. We conclude by describing in detail these liminal elements in order to provide a basis for generalisation beyond the examples covered in the paper to include any process that occurs in the context of organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an analysis of social organizations' structuration in China, in which related textbooks are reviewed. It states that social organizations' structuration originates from an inclusive and open social governance structure. It says that cooperation among the organizations and between the organizations and government will become the social governance's norm. It notes that lasting sustainable development of social organizations depends on the nurturing support and institutional design of the government.

Philosophers in China and other East-Asian cultures have been familiar to the popular adage of Lao Zi (Lao Tzu): "Myriad things carry yin and embrace yang, interplaying to generate chi (qi) to reach harmony." Communication studies in the past decade have shed light on the role of communication in the yin-yang interaction, and vice versa. But exactly how opposites interact to generate chi (qi, ki) still remains to be explored. This essay reports a survey on how yin and yang components in certain interpersonal and organizational communication contexts interact to create energy flow, which, in turn, generates vital force. The impacts of mass communication on some of the interplays are also discussed. Introduced as contexts for explanation are some Western communication theories, such as concepts of relational control, nonverbal equilibrium, and conflict in interpersonal communication. In the organizational communication contexts, introduced are socio-emotion vs. task in message typologies, and creativity vs. constraints in structuration theory. The conclusion highlights the unique chi perspectives of viewing communication theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate how interorganizational networks and interpersonal networks interact over time. We present a retrospective longitudinal case study of the network system that developed a novel aircraft material and analyze change episodes from a structurationist perspective. We identify five types of episodes in which interpersonal and interorganizational networks interact (persistence, prospecting, consolidation, reconfiguration, and dissolution) and analyze conditions for these episodes and sequences among them. Our findings advance a cross-level perspective on embeddedness and show how individuals may draw on relational and structural embeddedness as distributed resources. The multiple levels of embeddedness impact network dynamics by introducing converging and diverging dialectics, thereby limiting path dependence and proactive network orchestration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Despite considerable interest in the role of social interactions and social context on transportation, there have been very few attempts to explore specific cases of social interaction influencing transportation systems. This paper explores the social practice of slugging, an informal system of carpooling in the Washington, DC area. Slugging emerged in response to the establishment of Virginia’s High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes in the early 1970s, as single drivers picked up riders alongside the road (slugs) in order to meet the requirements for driving in the less congested HOV lanes. Drawing on the work of sociologist Anthony Giddens, as well as the sociological insights of Georg Simmel and Stanley Milgram, we suggest that the practice of slugging highlights the processes of institutionalization and structuration. This paper details how the region’s mass transportation policies and urban culture have combined to result in an institutionalized practice with particular norms and logics of behavior. We conclude that looking at specific cases where social context has affected transportation, like slugging, could provide useful insights on the impact of social context on transportation policies and systems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

ording to service-dominant logic (S-D logic), all providers are service providers, and service is the fundamental basis of exchange. Value is co-created with customers and assessed on the basis of value-in-context. However, the extensive literature on S-D logic could benefit from paying explicit attention to the fact that both service exchange and value co-creation are influenced by social forces. The aim of this study is to expand understanding of service exchange and value co-creation by complementing these central aspects of S-D logic with key concepts from social construction theories (social structures, social systems, roles, positions, interactions, and reproduction of social structures). The study develops and describes a new framework for understanding how the concepts of service exchange and value co-creation are affected by recognizing that they are embedded in social systems. The study contends that value should be understood as value-in-social-context and that value is a social construction. Value co-creation is shaped by social forces, is reproduced in social structures, and can be asymmetric for the actors involved. Service exchanges are dynamic, and actors learn and change their roles within dynamic service systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital media offer countless options that compete for a limited supply of public attention. The patterns of use that emerge in this environment have important social implications, yet the factors that shape attendance are not well integrated into a single theoretical model. This article posits such a theory using Giddens's notion of structuration as an overarching framework. It identifies public measures that distill and report user information as a pivotal mechanism that coordinates and directs the behaviors of both media providers and media users, thus promoting the duality of media. The theory is then used to understand evolving patterns of public attention in the digital media environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deploys Jacques Derrida's meditations upon the writings of Aristotle in order to suggest a direct relationship between the traditional concept of friendship in European civilization and the Western notions of politics and democracy. It thereby proposes the dependence of the democratic ideal upon the ideal of friendship. Through interviews with researchers and staff at Facebook, and through an empirical experiment which employs a dummy account to monitor the establishment of social relationships through Facebook, the paper suggests that the world's most popular social networking site is redefining the popular concept of friendship and thereby changing the ideal of friendship upon which the concept of political democracy has traditionally been based. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study examines how globally-oriented career actors engage with the opportunities and constraints of organizational career development. Drawing theoretically on career structuration, we study how individuals develop their global careers with reference to their employment setting and the global economy. Our findings indicate that managers intentionally engage in career practices that act upon those elements of the organizational career script which they experience as constraints for developing a career in the global economy. In addition, our findings suggest that tight organizational career scripts provoke explicit individual career actions whereas loose scripts initiate reflection and pondering. We discuss the theoretical implications of this study in terms of the interaction between multiple contexts and individual career actions, and the meaning of global careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the communicative construction of policy knowledge within and across groups. Participants were 100 professionals and parents involved in special education and the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Structurating activity theory guided the interpretive analysis of communication and contradictions as participants developed policy knowledge over time. Results indicate that contradictions emerged as both generative mechanisms for knowledge construction and as hindrances to system transformations that would put that constructed knowledge into practice. Contradictions emerged and were managed in three knowledge construction frames: orientation, amplification, and implementation. The frames occurred in varying sequences that led to different outcomes across groups and issues. Implications are offered for theory, research, and practice regarding policy communication across related groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the conceptual and methodological origins of the Conversational Argument Coding Scheme (CACS). The article first reviews the impulse for development of this content analysis scheme as part of structuration theory work in communication during the late 1970s and early 1980s, especially within the structuration approach to argument in group deliberations. We also position those conceptual efforts in the context of other scholarship at that time on argument in varied forms of social interaction. We next treat three theoretical perspectives on argument that undergird the CACS, including why and how they are integrated in it. Moreover, we note operational developments that occurred after initial formulation of the CACS and outcomes that are offered in the other articles in this issue. More precisely, we discuss and elaborate on various argument structures (i.e., different forms of completed arguments) and argument sequences (i.e., act-to-act patterns of argument behaviors). Finally, we conclude with observations regarding the origins, development, and possible future development of the CACS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a wide swathe, and indeed long history, of UK literature featuring attempts to theorise differentials in housing position and shifting spatial settlement patterns in relation to ethnicity and 'race' (and also, more recently, faith group). Most of the earlier accounts were based on simplified versions of the structure-agency dualism or one or other variant of rational choice theory. Responding to criticisms that these relied too heavily on overly static notions of 'choice' and 'constraint', a few then turned to a form of theorisation that deployed a modified version of Giddens' structuration theory. This paper seeks to take the debate further by developing a model that retains much of the essence of structuration yet embodies a more dynamic and theoretically nuanced interpretation of both structure and agency. Structure, normally seen predominantly as a form of social regulation, will be seen as multi-layered and multi-dimensional and also, importantly, as subject to often unpredictable exogenous factors. The concept of social agency will also be subjected to a radical re-conceptualisation that reflects, amongst other things, recent shifts in social capital theory interpreted in the light of rapid demographic change (influenced by geo-political factors), ongoing social inequality, racism, and heightened inter- and intra-communal tensions in some areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carey's call for a uniquely American form of cultural studies challenged the dominant paradigm of media effects research in the late 1970s. Even today, his work cannot be easily categorized. How then can we replicate his method in order to teach his way of doing scholarship? The discipline of communication has the potential to reveal how the structures of cities, of print, of voice, of digital media, as well as the structure of our ideas all privilege certain experiences over others. His configured style was a methodological choice that indicated by implication what had been relatively invisible within our discipline. What we can know through the progression of a linear argument and what one can discern through an emergent configural pattern will differ. These two approaches illustrate different ways of knowing. The challenge is to learn to recognize this crucial difference, as it relates to our choice of methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 30 years, social theorists have increasingly emphasized the importance of space. However, in empirical research, the dialectical relationship between social interaction and the physical environment is still a largely neglected issue. Using the theory of structuration, I provide a concrete example of why and how space matters in the cultural analysis of an urban social world. I argue that bike messengers—individuals who deliver time-sensitive materials in downtown cores of major cities—cannot be understood outside an analysis of space. Specifically, I connect the cultural significance of messenger practices to the emplacement of those practices inside the urban environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios Sociológicos is the property of El Colegio de Mexico AC and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper draws on qualitative data from an Australian longitudinal study begun in 1997 and completed in 2005. It identifies the ordinary, everyday, relational, 'little things' that teachers do to nurture and promote their students' resilience at school. It briefly uses Giddens' structuration theory to justify the study of micro-level relationships between teachers and students. It uses the voices of students to show how everyday life at school is the source of significant resilience promoting influences. In doing so, this paper demonstrates why local activities and relationships matter - because they have the potential to reinforce traditional school structures and processes, or to transform them to better support student resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a participatory action knowledge translation (PAKT) framework for creating a learning organization to implement and sustain evidence-based practice in health services. Developed and piloted in the home care sector in Ontario, Canada, the PAKT framework inextricably intertwines organizational, team and individual effort in a never-ending cyclical process of refining evidence-based practice, overcoming fragmented, hierarchical bureaucratic functioning by evolving as a learning organization. The process reflects Giddens' (1982, 1984, 1991) structuration theory. Participants combine bottom-up pull in decision-making, organizational leader push toward evidence-based practice and social interaction to create knowledge that integrates research evidence with tacit understanding and experience, thereby refining evidence-based practice. The PAKT approach makes organizational commitment to knowledge translation visible, undoes bureaucratized hierarchical relationships, fragmented work effort and entrenched work patterns, and creates an opportunity for all involved to question the status quo and move toward more evidence-based practice. Managers are positioned to influence the accommodation of externally imposed policies and system trends, as well as internal cultural and structural attributes, resource considerations, policies and priorities. The costs of knowledge translation are accounted as a 'need to have' part of service delivery, rather than 'added-on' staff education. The approach, however, requires time, effort and belief in service providers' ability and willingness to integrate their experiential and tacit knowledge and judgement with research evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the early 1930s through the 1960s, the mainstream press in Tennessee relied on the narrative of anti-communism to oppose the labor and desegregation movements. But by 1965, The Knoxville Journal remained as the only newspaper of eight in the state to continue to prosecute the social changes promised by the Civil Rights Movement in those terms. This study applies James Carey's principle of combining mainstream and journalism history to interpret the social meanings of the news. By focusing coverage of the state legislature's last attempt to investigate alleged communist activity at the locally based Highlander Research and Education Center, this textual analysis of the Journal's coverage from 1965 to 1967 shows how the movement's changes were already inscribed on the state's dominant institutions a year before the movement ended in Memphis. The analysis interprets the negotiation of social change in terms of Anthony Giddens's theory of structuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discipline of Sociology has generated great contributions to scholarship and research about American race relations. Much of the theorizing on American race relations in America is expressed in binary terms of black and white. Historically, the study of American race relations typically problematizes the "othered" status, that is, the non-white status in America's racial hierarchy. However, the sociology of race relations has historically failed to take into account both sides of the black/white binary paradigm when addressing racial inequality. In other words, in the case of race, it becomes difficult to see the forest for the trees. Thus, in Sociology, we find less scholarship about the role "whiteness as the norm" plays in sustaining social privilege beyond that which is accorded marginalized others. In order to examine the historical black/white binary paradigm of race in America, it is important to understand its structuration. This article extends the applicability of sociologies of knowledge (Thomas Theorem, social constructionism) and Gidden's structuration theory to inform a postmodern analysis of America's binary racial paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Data from a prospective British birth cohort study showed that women who were childless, lone mothers or full-time homemakers between the ages of 26 and 53 were more likely to report poor health at age 54 than women who occupied multiple roles between these ages. To explain this finding we developed and tested a theory of role quality based on the concept of agency by drawing on Giddens’ theory of structuration and Doyal and Gough''s theory of human needs. According to our theory, the patriarchal structuration (drawing on Giddens’ term) of work and family roles provides both limitation and opportunity for the expression of agency. Doyal and Gough''s theory of human needs was then used to identify the restriction of agency as a possible influence on health. This theory of role quality was operationalised using a measure of work (paid and unpaid) quality at age 36 and a measure of work and family stress between ages 48 and 54. The relatively poor subjective health in mid-life of lone mothers was explained by work and family stress and adult social class. In contrast, the poor health in mid-life of long-term homemakers and childless women was less easily explained. Homemaker''s excess risk of reporting poor health at age 54 remained strong and significant even after adjusting for role quality and socioeconomic indicators, and childless women were at an increased risk of reporting poor health despite the social advantage inherent in attaining educational qualifications and occupying professional or managerial occupations. This study highlights the need to develop measures of role quality specifically designed to capture agency aspects of social roles. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this paper we explore the contributions of Structuration Theory to the understanding of how technology is used in organizations. Based on literature analysis we decide to take a practice-oriented approach. In contrast with previous research we focus not on the behavioral aspect but on the interpretive aspect (emergences of meanings) of technology use in context. Moreover, we are interested in exploring the relationship between a practice-oriented approach to technology use and organizational discourse. Our findings bring contributions to several concepts related to ST by extending them: relevant groups, interpretive flexibility of technology and power. External environment emerges as an important aspect which influence the way technology is used in organization. We propose a combination between ST and institutional theories in order to account for this influence. Our findings have also relevance for organizational discourse field in at least two aspects: managers' discourse in relation to the use of technology and technology as a carrier for intra- and inter-organizational symbolic communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Merging the climate and politics literatures, this study evaluates whether organizations have a singular, shared political climate or whether sub-climates, “pockets of politics,” exist. Sub-climate formation is investigated by utilizing both political and climate explanations to determine the level of formation. The sample consisted of 891 employees of a retail services firm and the results of the study indicate that political climates do exist and may be best distinguished by defining the employee’s interactional patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthony Giddens’ theory of structuration is a theory of social action, which claims that society should be understood in terms of action and structure; a duality rather than two separate entities. This paper introduces some of the central characteristics of structuration theory, presenting a conceptual framework that helps to explore how people produce the systems and structures that shape their practice. By understanding how people produce and reproduce structures, then there is the potential for changing them. Criticisms that have been raised about the theory are introduced, followed by examples of how the theory might be useful to nursing research. Structuration theory can be employed to explore how nurses produce, reproduce, and transform nursing practice through social interaction across time and space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines similarities and differences between structuration theory, habitus and complexity theory, as theories of social change. The paper suggests that structuration theory and habitus can theorize change, but that complexity theory offers a more complete theory of change because it focuses on social production rather than reproduction. Although there are elective affinities between structuration theory, habitus and complexity theory, nevertheless there are important differences between them. Complexity theory, being at heart a theory of change and development, differentiation and open systems, is more than merely a reformulation of structuration theory and habitus, and offers a more complete theory of social change than these two. Implications and agendas are drawn for the sociology of education from a complexity perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this article is the patterns of interaction that arise within work groups, and how organizational and institutional factors play a role in shaping these patterns. Based on an ethnographic study of groups across three national contexts, we describe the variation in patterns of interaction that we observed. We further suggest how different patterns of interaction form mutually reinforcing systems with aspects of the organizational context. In addition, we suggest how these mutually reinforcing systems are perpetuated by aspects of the broader institutional context. Our findings point toward a nested theory of structuration, expanding structuration theory to multiple levels simultaneously. In turn our findings have theoretical and practical implications for better understanding and managing interaction patterns among group members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]