bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Changing diagnoses in Valkenberg Asylum, Cape Colony, 1891-1920: a longitudinal view
Authors: Swartz Sally
Published: March 2007

This paper will examine changes made to diagnoses of patients admitted to Valkenberg Asylum, Cape Colony, during the period 1891-1920, in order to illustrate the ambiguous and shifting relationship between psychiatric theory and practice, in this colonial setting. The diagnostic profiles of Valkenberg patients make clear that the distinction between manic-depression and dementia praecox, established in theory by the end of the first decade of this century, was by no means clearly perceived by asylum practitioners. Racial attitudes affected diagnostic practice; these will be outlined. Valkenberg's case records will be used to illustrate interactions between the patient's history, race and gender, classi ficatory changes, and ambiguous presentation of symptoms. These records add an important diachronic perspective to the synchronic perspective contained in annual reports and lunacy registers. The implications of diagnostic changes for research which attempts retrospective diagnosis will be explored.
Logos or Mythos: (De) Legitimation Strategies in Confrontational Discourses of Sociocultural Ethos
Authors: YAĞCIOĞLU SEMIR AMIS , CEM-DEĞER AYŞEN
Published: March 2007

Within the broader framework of critical discourse analysis this article incorporates Bourdieu's (1991) concept of `field' and `habitus' into Bernstein's (1990) concept of `voice' to show how the shifting articulation of agents and habituses correlates with confrontational coding orientations in oped articles that appeared in two Turkish newspapers with diametrically opposed ideological orientations at a moment of legitimacy crisis. In order to specify how the boundaries between the voices, which we label as logos and mythos, are created, maintained and reproduced, this article studies the discursive formulation of the op-ed articles as instances of legitimation discourse at three levels: (i) pragmatic, various strategies of (de)legitimation of controversial actions; (ii) semantic, the way discourse processes the representation of events in the experiential world into ideological packages congruent with the audience demand; and (iii) sociocultural and political, the way each newspaper self-legitimates its orientation to the world and delegitimates alternative discourses. Taking rationality as a reference point in understanding the difference between the coding orientations, a detailed examination of discursive structures is also presented in order to test the newspapers' compliance with the critical standard of reasonableness.
Critique and Analysis in Media Studies: Media Criticism as Practical Action
Authors: Jalbert Paul L.
Published: March 2007

Practitioners in media studies have generated varying styles of research: critiques, analyses, polemics, etc., each of which is a different form of discourse. In the course of evaluating such research, sometimes what passes for analysis is really a polemic and what is genuinely an analysis is criticized for being a polemic. Analysis should explicate possible meanings which inhere in texts, not instruct us as to which meaning(s) should be taken up. If certain critical formulations become part of this explication, they need not be seen as a departure from analysis. Such a `critical edge' is itself a part of the achievement of the analysis and does not make the analyst `complicit' with one or another particular version of the text being analyzed. The paper proposes an analytical strategy to guide the analysis through the `matrix of criticality'. The debate over what is to count as analysis and what may be deemed a polemic can be settled when analysis can elucidate a particular position ( P) on a topic, with respect to particular background ( B) commitments, through the explication of the actual text ( T). A case study on the topic of the Lebanon War, 1982, is offered to illustrate these structural components of analysis.
The Crisis of Sobornost': Parliamentary Discourse in Present-Day Russia
Authors: Biryukov Nikolai , Gleisner Jeffrey , Sergeyev Victor
Published: March 2007

Russian political culture has always rejected parliamentarianism. Following the collapse of the Soviet regime, this culture is now in crisis. Is it likely to be more favorable to parliamentarianism after the crisis is over? The paper seeks to answer this question by analysing recent trends in the mentality of the Russian political elite. These are identified through the use of `pseudo-agencies' as characteristic of the traditional Russian/Soviet political discourse. Special semantic methods are employed to distinguish between `authentic political agencies' and `pseudo-agencies' in the verbatim records of the Ninth Congress of People's Deputies (March 1993) which constitute the empirical base of the study. The findings are used to range the various political forces according to the degree of deviation from the traditional ontological patterns.
`You Punched Him, didn't You?': Versions of Violence in Accusatory Interviews
Authors: Auburn Timothy , Drake Sue , Willig Carla
Published: March 2007

This paper explores the management in police-suspect interviews of accusations of violent involvement. Eleven officially taperecorded interviews between police and suspects were transcribed and analysed and a basic grammar of violent accusations was identified. Different ways in which accusations are warranted and contested are discussed and instantiated. It is suggested that the interview participants use two discourses of violence: disorderly and justificatory. The paper explores their localized deployment and raises issues concerning their wider ideological implications.
Image-Building Through Modality: The Case of Political Interviews
Authors: Simon-Vandenbergen Anne-Marie
Published: March 2007

This paper looks at the way in which politicians use radio interviews to present an image of themselves as fully committed to their cause. In previous research the focus has been on strategies of evasion which are developed by interviewees in response to face-threatening questions. In this article I aim to complement the picture of the hedging politician by concentrating on the equally important linguistic devices employed for conveying intellectual power. The desirable image is created through the use of expressions emphasizing cognitive certainty as well as emotional and social commitment. The investigation is based on a corpus of radio interviews with British politicians recorded between 1985 and 1990.
Language and Politics: Indirectness in Political Discourse
Authors: Obeng Samuel Gyasi
Published: March 2007

Politicians, in talking about potential face-threatening acts or politically risky topics, avoid the obvious and communicate indirectly in order to protect and further their own careers and to gain both political and interactional advantage over their political opponents. The indirectness may also be motivated by politeness. This obliqueness in communication may be expressed through evasion, circumlocution, innuendoes, metaphors, etc. Language as well as varying social conventions of the relevant culture as well as differing degree of personal danger inherent in the sociopolitical situation in which politicians operate may also affect the degree of indirectness as well as the kind(s) of obliqueness employed.
German `Cultural Scripts': Public Signs as a Key to Social Attitudes and Cultural Values
Authors: Wierzbicka Anna
Published: March 2007

This paper is based on the following set of assumptions: (1) Ways of speaking characteristic of a given speech-community constitute a manifestation of a tacit system of `cultural rules', or, as the author calls them, `cultural scripts'; (2) to understand a society's ways of speaking, we have to identify and articulate its implicit `cultural scripts'; (3) to be able to do this without ethnocentric bias we need a universal, language-independent perspective; and (4) this can be attained if the `rules' in question are stated in terms of lexical universals, that is, universal human concepts lexicalized in all languages of the world. In various earlier publications Anna Wierzbicka tried to show how cultural scripts can be set out and justified with reference, in particular, to Japanese, Chinese, Polish, (White) Anglo-American, Black American and Anglo-Australian cultural norms. In this paper she applies the `cultural script' approach to German and compares German norms with `Anglo' norms (that is, norms prevailing in English-specking societies). Wierzbicka notes that in recent decades great changes have undoubtedly occurred in German ways of speaking and, it can be presumed, in underlying cultural values. For example, the dramatic spread of the use of the `familiar' form of address ( du, as opposed to Sie), and the decline in the use of titles (e.g. Herr Müller instead of Prof. Müller) point to significant changes in interpersonal relations, in the direction of more egalitarian informality. At the same time, she shows that evidence of contemporary public signs which are discussed here suggests that some traditional German values, like the value of social discipline and of Ordnung (order) based on legitimate authority, are far from obsolete. She also shows that in studying such values we can rely on concepts more precise and more illuminating than `authoritarianism' or `authoritarian personality', often used in the past in analyses of German culture and society, and that the `cultural scripts' approach offers a rigorous and efficient tool for studying change and variation, as well as continuity, in social attitudes and cultural values. Above all, the author argues that rather than perpetuating stereotypes based on prejudice and lack of understanding `cultural scripts' help outsiders grasp the `cultural logic' underlying unfamiliar ways of speaking which may otherwise look like a strange collection of idiosyncracies—or worse.
Winning the Battle in Private Discourse: Rhetorical—Logical Operations in Storytelling
Authors: CARRANZA ISOLDA E.
Published: March 2007

Argumentation is examined in its intersection with narrative in natural, situated, oral discourse in two-party interactions. This study examines the arguments of members of a minority group who are targets of prejudice by other minority groups. In the everyday practice of arguing in and through storytelling, speakers contextualize and rationalize conflicts, including conflicts in intergroup relations. The focus is on operations that establish relations between propositions: consequence, explanation, and analogy. The formal elaborations that take place in face-to-face storytelling include the intense exploitation of negation, parallelism and reported discourse, and reinforce the argumentative position being defended. The interviewees' motivation to make their discourse reasonable and persuasive was to transform negative socially shared opinions that eventually justify unfair treatment of their group.
Grounded Theory Methodology as Methodical Hermeneutics
Authors: Rennie David L.
Published: March 2007

In this article it is argued that the realism-relativism duality addressed by the grounded theory approach to qualitative research is best accounted for when the method is understood to be an inductive approach to hermeneutics. Phenomenology, C.S. Peirce's theory of inference, philosophical hermeneutics, pragmatism and the new rhetoric are drawn upon in support of this argument. It is also held that this formulation of the grounded theory method opens the possibility that the method improves on earlier approaches to methodical hermeneutics. As an outcome of this formulation, the debate on the validity and reliability of returns from the grounded theory approach is cast in a new light. The new methodical hermeneutics is discussed in terms of prior attempts to relate hermeneutics to method.
Explanation vs Pseudo-Elucidation in Psychology
Authors: Wetherick N. E.
Published: March 2007

Sharrock and Coulter (1999) complain that I have ignored their arguments. They rely more on assertion and appeal to authority than on argument but make clear here (what was before uncertain) that, in their view, there is no place at all for empirical psychology; no gap needing to be filled between natural language and neurophysiology. I consider the views of the authorities cited (Ryle and Wittgenstein) and suggest that neither will serve their purpose. There is a place for psychology, though its achievements have so far been unimpressive. Help is required from philosophy-Husserl and Polanyi are the most likely sources.
Language, Practices and the Construction of Personhood
Authors: Budwig Nancy
Published: March 2007

This paper argues for the central role of language practices in children's construction of personhood. It aims to connect prior theorizing that recognized language as central to developmental issues, with more recent discussions about personhood stemming from discursive psychology and linguistic anthropology. Drawing upon longitudinal observations of caregivers and their preschoolers from three language communities, a case is made that the developmental process is more complex than current theorizing suggests. Although caregivers' discourse provides children with a powerful resource for person construction, children's systems do not immediately match those used by their caregivers and undergo significant developments over time.
Pluralism and Heuristic Identification
Authors: Schouten Maurice K.D. , de Jong Huib Looren
Published: March 2007

In this paper, two recent interpretations of current work in behavioral genetics are rejected. Genetic reductionism, the view according to which genetic properties are causally sufficient for phenotypic traits, is dismissed because it ignores the fact that there are not only causal pathways from DNA to phenotype but also pathways that feed back from, for instance, the cytoplasm or the outside world to the genetic material. The complexity of development is acknowledged in the view known as developmentalism, which claims that a complex causal network of genetic and non-genetic factors is responsible for phenotypic outcomes. However, genetic explanations, at least in some contexts, do seem to have a privileged status. Heuristic identity theory appears to offer a more adequate interpretation for behavioral genetics. It is in many cases very illuminating to hypothetically identify phenotypic traits with genetic properties. We claim that McCauley and Bechtel's proposal calls for at least two constraints to avoid a wild proliferation of implausible identities. First, more emphasis should be placed on explanatory failures. Second, the most interesting identifications are those that make `qualitative leaps', that is, they must apply across distinct levels of analysis.
The Dialogical Self as a Society of Mind
Authors: Hermans Hubert J.M.
Published: March 2007

The dialogical self works as a society with oppositions, conflicts, negotiations, cooperation and coalitions between positions. As society becomes more heterogeneous, more relatively autonomous spatial domains emerge in the self. Like a society, the self is based on two principles: intersubjective exchange and social domination. The article briefly discusses the different contributions in the light of the developing theory.
Where Otters Exist as Utters
Authors: Bluhm Carla
Published: March 2007

Electronic and print media coverage of the 1989 Alaskan oil spill flooded the public with stark images of a ravaged environment. Scenes of oil-choked otters, dying birds and polluted coastlines captured the violence of a major ecological disaster. This essay looks beneath the surfaces of such disturbing images into how the images themselves effect the unconscious. The theories of Saussure, Lacan and Derrida are employed in interpreting how the signifying forces of postmodernism work upon our being and contribute-to other-and self-knowledge. The essay is critical of pedagogical systems, particularly those based in Piagetian theory, that dismiss the visceral essence inherent in the world of images and unconscious desires. Suggestions for a new form of pedagogy are offered.
Efficiency and Welfare
Authors: Hollway Wendy
Published: March 2007

This paper examines the case of the appointment of the first psychologist to a British industrial company, Rowntree's Cocoa Works, in 1922. Before this date, industrial psychologists did several pieces of work for Rowntree's. Events concerning the appointment of the psychologist and the subsequent activities of the Psychological Department demonstrate the dual reliance of early British industrial psychology on the principles of welfare and efficiency. The sensitivity of psychological practices for industrial relations at Rowntree's shows the potential contradictions in the application of these principles.
Infinity: A Cognitive Challenge
Authors: Falk Ruma
Published: March 2007

Dealing with infinity, an inherently abstract concept which defies concrete representation, involves distinct cognitive difficulties. I first review the research on the development of children's understanding of the endlessness of numbers and of the infinite gap between a large finite set and an infinite set. Second, I consider the contradictions with which mathematicians and philosophers have to cope when attempting to manipulate infinity concepts in a coherent way. These difficulties are highlighted by analyzing one perplexing paradox. Finally, I discuss the intellect's puzzling ability to transcend the limits of our finitely based intuitions, as manifested in science and higher mathematics, and the need to thoroughly explore the emergence of that kind of human capability.
How Can there be Personal Agency without an Ontology of the Individual?
Authors: Ansoff Rick
Published: March 2007

In her assessment of Ansoff (1993), Kenwood (1996) argues that there is room for personal volition and agency in social constructionism. This assertion is examined in light of the social constructionist doctrine of ontological mutism enunciated by Gergen, according to which any ontological commitment is refused and `whatever is, simply is'. An ontology of the individual-as-agent is considered, and the consequences of ontological mutism are explored. It is argued that a clear commitment to the grounding assumptions of some settled ontology is a prerequisite for coherent considerations of agency or even volition, because without such a commitment it is impossible to decide what exists and if it moves.
The Future of Psychology's History is not its Past: A Reply to Rappard
Authors: Danziger Kurt
Published: March 2007

Contrary to Rappard's (1997) reading of my paper (Danziger, 1994), I did not advocate that the history of psychology be left to historians. However, that does not mean we can afford to ignore historians' criticisms of insider history. Underlying our disagreement there are different conceptions of the role of history in the natural and social sciences and of the position of psychology among these.
Replication-A Step in the Right Direction
Authors: Falk Ruma
Published: March 2007

The role of statistical significance (SS) and replicability in research is discussed with reference to Sohn's (1998) exposition. I agree with Sohn's view that SS has no contribution and it is widely misinterpreted. Two interrelated criteria for evaluating research are mentioned: confidence in the hypothesis and replicability of the effect. Science is conceived as progressing continuously via attempted replications. Each successful repetition enhances our confidence in the hypothesis, as can be shown by Bayesian analysis. This, in turn, increases the chances of future replicability.
Ideology, False Consciousness and Psychology
Authors: Augoustinos Martha
Published: March 2007

Marxist social theory and, in particular, Marxist notions of ideology have never been popular within psychology. Recently, however, the Marxist notion of false consciousness has begun to make appearances in mainstream psychological journals. In this paper I argue that this notion has been misappropriated by those who construct it simply as a psychological-cognitive phenomenon located in individuals' heads, rather than as a socially emergent product of a capitalist society. A cognitive construction of false consciousness by social psychologists is no surprise given the dominance of social cognition as a research tradition within psychology: a tradition which has always emphasized the limited and faulty cognitive capacities of the individual and one which sits comfortably with a highly individualized and psychological account of false consciousness. The inherent epistemological difficulties in maintaining the notion of false consciousness within contemporary social theory are discussed. Despite these difficulties, it is argued that the notion of false consciousness remains a useful theoretical construct, not as a psychological and cognitive affliction suffered by the `less enlightened', but as a phenomenon grounded in social reality itself: in particular, the material reality of late capitalism and postmodern culture.
On Psychology, Ideology and Individuals' Societal Nature
Authors: Osterkamp Ute
Published: March 2007

This paper attempts to show the relevance of a subject-orientated understanding of ideology as it has been developed by Critical Psychology, an approach closely associated with the name of Klaus Holz-kamp. Ideology, in this view, is understood as a one-sided world view from the perspective of the dominant classes; it doesn't need to be imposed but is `voluntarily' sustained by subordinated classes since it appears to embody a proven method of coming to terms with life under given power relations. One of ideology's essential functions is to explain away or justify the asocial consequences of suppression and one's own unavoidable participation in it. Contrary to the common-sense view, participation doesn't alleviate our own suppression but rather aggrevates it. To understand this fully, we need to examine the prevailing dichotomy of individual and society and to critically review both the ideology of people's natural asociality and the `progressive' inclination to avoid the issue of `human nature' altogether.
Recent Survey Evidence on Participation in Europe: Towards a European Model?
Authors: Gill Colin , Krieger Hubert
Published: March 2007

This article draws on empirical data from the EPOC survey of employee participation in Europe and other data sources to examine cross-nationally the extent of four main forms of participation: collective bargaining, direct participation, indirect (or representative) participation and financial participation. It has been argued that these, taken together, constitute the four `pillars' of a European model. The article concludes by considering whether such a European model of participation already exists in practice in the European Union; or if not, whether there is a trend towards such a model.
Industrial Sociology and the Challenge of Employment
Authors: Maruani Margaret
Published: March 2007

Employment today is central to the construction of social relations and the determination of social status, but it remains a marginal concern within the field of sociology. The crisis in employment has forced sociology to confront its own limitations. As a field traditionally focusing on the enterprise, workshop or occupation, and concerned with the analysis of workplace groups, communities and relations, it now faces difficulties in extending its scope to the study of the transformations under way within the labour market. This article begins with an overview of the issue of women's employment, and builds on the findings of recent empirical research to substantiate the proposition that even analysis restricted to the `classic' themes of work must today incorporate the sociology of employment.
The Complex Reality of Convergence and Diversification in European Industrial Relations Systems: A Review of the 1996 IREC Conference
Authors: Hansen Lise Lotte , Madsen Jørgen Steen , Jensen Carsten Strøby
Published: March 2007

The central theme for discussion at the IREC (Industrial Relations in the European Community network) Conference held in Copenhagen in September 1996 was `Industrial Relations in Europe: Convergence or Diversification?'. This article - by three of the organizers - presents a comparative assessment of three of the sub-themes treated at the conference, weighing their significance in relation to the overall pattern of convergence and divergence in European industrial relations.
The Idea of Social Time in Norbert Elias
Authors: Tabboni Simonetta
Published: March 2007

This article reviews the relevance of Norbert Elias's contribution to the study of social time, concentrating on how the theme of time is currently at the core of social theory. Elias's definition of time enables us to understand that dominant time, which varies historically according to different kinds of society, expresses the need for an organization of work and reflects above all each society's privileged values. Social time always results from a choice; it is therefore qualitative even when, for instance, it has been formulated in strictly quantitative and mathematical terms. But time is also a norm, perhaps the most pervasive among social norms. If one adopts a temporal viewpoint, it becomes easier to rid oneself of the conceptual dichotomies - nature and culture, individual and society - which constitute the main dilemma that contemporary sociological thought has inherited from its `founding fathers'. Furthermore, the time discipline to which people willingly submit indicates the level of self-restraint, the taming of impulse, and therefore the level of `civilization' they have reached.
Time Allocation and Marketing
Authors: Davies Gary , Omer Omer
Published: March 2007

Marketing as a discipline is concerned with understanding exchange processes, normally those of goods and services for money. However, individuals also trade in time and the current marketing paradigm contains a number of tenets about time. Our objective is to identify the marketing paradigm by constructing a framework describing the process of individual time allocation. The paradigm has a number of weaknesses, particularly in its concern with the issue of how and why time is allocated by the individual. It is argued that future research could benefit by drawing on concepts of time from other academic disciplines so as to improve our understanding of the time allocation process and of personality factors in it. Alternatively, marketing theory may benefit from the development of a new paradigm where time is redefined as a more complex entity.
Psychological Time: The Case of Time and Consumer Behaviour
Authors: Hornik Jacob , Zakay Dan
Published: March 2007

Psychological time is one of the most important dimensions for understanding human behaviour. Short durations, in particular, have a special role in everyday life and their perception is a factor which explains important aspects of behaviour. These arguments are demonstrated in this article via one of the most important domains of modern life: consumer behaviour. Based on the extant literature, a conceptual framework is developed and then applied to show how time is linked to consumer behaviour in various ways. It is argued that temporal behaviour is a product of dynamic interactions among personality, situational, cognitive and social determinants. An agenda for future research is also presented.
Innovation and Territory
Authors: Santos Domingos
Published: March 2007

The first part of this article examines the concept of regional innovation systems against the background of modern theories of innovation and regional policies. It is argued that the role of localized learning is of strategic importance in the promotion of endogenous regional development. With reference to current research on regional policy, the author also argues that sustainable regional strength is built on a continuously upgraded knowledge base, rather than on general factor endowment. By stimulating localized learning, the regional innovation systems have an important role to play and offer possibilities of producing regional competitive advantage. The author then suggests how regional innovation systems can be organized in order to increase innovation at various levels. Finally, some sketches are provided of various innovation strategies operating at the regional level from which lessons of direct policy relevance may be learned and adapted to the Portuguese context.
Building ‘Euro-Regions’
Authors: Brenner Neil
Published: March 2007

Against the background of recent debates on state spatial restructuring in the European Union (EU), this article elaborates a critical geographical interpretation of the contemporary debate on locational competitiveness ( Standortdebatte) in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). On the one hand, the current debate on Standort Deutschland (Germany as an investment location) represents the growing instability of the ‘Rhine model’ of capitalism under conditions of accelerating globalization and European integration. In this aspect, the contemporary locational debate has served to justify various forms of deregulation and institutional erosion at each level within the German political system. On the other hand, the contemporary locational debate has also entailed the delineation of new subnational geographical targets for major socio-economic policies. The protection and enhancement of nationally specific competitive advantages within an integrated European economy is increasingly seen to hinge upon the construction of ‘Euro-regions’ associated with territorially specific conditions of production, socio-economic assets and institutional forms at subnational scales.The politics of deregulation in post-unification Germany have therefore been closely intertwined with a broader reterritorialization and re-scaling of state power in which new subnational institutional spaces are being mobilized as the geographical spearheads for renewed economic growth. These arguments are illustrated with reference to two major realms of debate on locational competitiveness in the post-unification era, each of which has entailed a distinctive scalar articulation of neoliberal political agendas: the regionalization of national spatial planning policies ( Raumordnungspolitik); and the debate on ‘competition federalism’ ( Wettbewerbs-föderalismus) and fiscal equalization ( Finanzausgleich) among the German Länder. However, against essentializing interpretations of subnational regions as privileged geographical loci for neocorporatist social compromises or for post-Fordist spatial fixes, contemporary regionalization processes in the FRG are conceptualized here as an institutional medium through which the German state is engaging in strategies of crisis-management.
Urbanization in Poland: Tendencies and Transformation
Authors: Szymańska Daniela , Matczak Andrzej
Published: March 2007

This paper examines urbanization in Poland after the Second World War. Particular attention is paid to urban dynamics in respect of the distribution of urban settlements, and changes in the urban population size distribution. The authors highlight the particular role of industrialization in shaping urbanization in the postwar period, and the consequences for urban economies after 1989. Urbanization has consistently lagged behind industrialization, with significant consequences for standards of living, infrastructure provision and levels of commuting.
Polish Socio-Economic Transformation: Winners and Losers at the Local Level
Authors: Parysek Jerzy J. , Wdowicka Magdalena
Published: March 2007

In 1989 Poland began a deep political, social and economic transformation. This meant the adoption of democratic rules, the organization of local government, and the introduction of a market economy. The changes in Poland in the intervening years have been revolutionary in nature, and their outcome is no longer determined by central allocation of tasks and resources, but by the rules of economic and social development in a liberal market economy. The impact of these new conditions on socio-economic development has been territorially uneven. This paper focuses on the Greater Poznań communes, exploring their socio-economic development, and how they have used their privileged geographical location and growth conditions.
Problems of Cross-Border Regional Integration
Authors: Kratke Stefan
Published: March 2007

In the framework of European integration there is a growing interest in the development of border re gions in East Central Europe. This article deals with the problems of regional integration in the German- Polish border region, following an approach that emphasizes the regions' economic organization, in stitutional fabric and sociocultural environment. New economic links between Western European and East-Central European firms do not necessarily lead to a revaluation of the border region or to the formation of transborder integrated economic regions. Instead, there is a tendency towards the de velopment of new economic links which overlook the border region. Up to now, cooperation between regional firms is weak within the border region. The region's sociocultural environment in terms of a 'low trust environment' and a specifically shaped social distance between the neighbouring regions are a fur ther hindrance to regional integration. These findings are being related to strategic options of re gional development policy in the border region.
Reviving the Valleys of South Wales
Authors: Brooksbank David , Pickernell David , Morse Leighton
Published: March 2007

This commentary presents case-study evidence on aspects of the incidence of low pay in the European region of Wales. The interesting finding is that it appears to be firms relocating to Wales from elsewhere in the UK who pay lower wages for the same work. This has important implications for the perpetuation of low pay in subregions of Wales, and we find the potential for a mismatch in the employment-creation objectives of the current Welsh Development Agency (WDA). In addition, we suggest that the new Welsh assembly should play a vital role in ensuring that necessary higher-level employment forms part of future economic development.
‘The Learning Economy, the Learning Firm and the Learning Region’
Authors: Hudson Ray
Published: March 2007

The recent growing interest in ‘learning’ and ‘knowledge’ as a - maybe the (only) - route to corporate and regional economic success is one facet of the engagement between economic geographers and regional analysts on the one hand and evolutionary and institutional economists on the other. This focus on knowledge is often presented as a dramatic breakthrough, promising radical theoretical reappraisal and opening up exciting new possibilities for the conception, implementation and practise of policy. Recognizing the importance of innovation and knowledge creation to economic success is hardly novel, however. The paper first summarizes the claims made by the proponents of ‘learning’, and some links are drawn between the pre-eminent emphasis that they place upon knowledge and learning and other literatures that analyse ongoing changes in the organization of production and work in contemporary capitalism and which have different emphases. The aim is to situate and contextualize claims about the significance of ‘learning’. These claims are then placed within the context of continuities and changes within capitalism, and the ways in which these have been understood, as a further step in this process of contextualization and situation. Finally, some conclusions are briefly drawn around the limits to learning, and questions of learning by whom, and for what purpose, in the context of the politics and policies of social, economic and territorial development.
Cross-cultural Psychology: Where Next?
Authors: Smith Peter B.
Published: March 2007

This article identifies problems limiting the value of studies reported by cross-cultural psychologists over the past two decades. These include the assumption of homogeneity of national cultures, excessive focus upon sampling a small number of economically- developed nations, and confusion between individual- and culture-level analysis. Ways are suggested to increase indigenisation of the field, whilst retaining a comparative focus. It is suggested that a study of role behaviours would complement the attention currently given to values as a source of conceptualisation.
Looking for the Silver Lining: Integrative Potentials in International Project Negotiation
Authors: Bhawuk Dharm P.S.
Published: March 2007

Foreign aid plays a critical role in the increasingly interdependent global economy, but research on foreign aid project negotiation has received little attention. It is posited that the successful implementation of foreign aid projects requires managing the nego tiation process as much as technical matters like technology and international finance. Major issues related to the conflicting expectations of donors and recipients and vari ous hurdles to effective foreign aid project negotiation and implementation are identi fied and discussed. A suspension bridge metaphor of project negotiation is presented, which may provide a fresh perspective, it is hoped, on how to successfully negotiate and implement foreign aid projects.
Coping with Boundaries: The Quality of Daily Experience of Rom Nomads in Europe
Authors: delle Fave Antonella , Bassi Marta , Massimini Fausto
Published: March 2007

In the globalisation process, the social organisation of sedentary cultures represents the uni versal model. Few nomadic communities resist this trend, facing difficulties in survival and intercultural relations. To analyse the daily life and future expectations of these populations from the individual perspective, 60 Rom people living in Italy were administered Flow Questionnaire and Life Theme Questionnaire. These instruments investigate the quality of experience in daily life, particularly focusing on optimal experiences, characterised by engage ment, intrinsic motivation, and skill development. The joint family emerged as the main source of optimal experiences in daily life of Rom participants. The constraints of semi- sedentary lifestyle, and the integration problems due to cultural differences were also high ligbted. Results suggested that the experience associated with daily contexts should be taken into account in projects with minority communities, to design programmes promoting the perception of opportunities for optimal experiences and development in a foreign environ ment.
Self-Renewal of Adult Education Programmes Through Evaluation : A Case Study
Authors: Rao T.V.
Published: March 2007

The continuous appraisal or evaluation of adult education programmes by external agencies has been an integral part of the design of this programme since the time the Ministry of Education stepped up adult education in the late seventies. Several faculty members of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) have partici pated in these evaluations since 1979. The State of Rajasthan was assigned for such an evaluation by the IIMA faculty. In the first five evaluation studies conducted, attempts were made to continuously improve the methodology of evaluation from study to study. This article is an attempt to present the evaluation methodologies used in these studies. This presentation is followed by a critical examination of the extent to which such evaluation studies will help in the self-renewal of adult education programmes. Finally some suggestions are made for using the evaluation studies of these programmes for self-renewal and development.
Charisma: Exploring New Dimensions of Leadership Behaviour
Authors: Kanungo Rabindra N. , Conger Jay A.
Published: March 2007

The paper explores charismatic leadership as a new dimension. A three stage model to understand the charismatic leader's influence process in organisations is proposed. Stage 1 is that of evaluation of status quo, Stage 2 that of formulation of organisational goals, and Stage 3 is the means of achieving these goals. In all stages, the essential and distinctive characteristics of this leadership is articulated. The conclusion is that the mystique of charisma need to be unveiled in order to understand how leadership operates in organisations.
Resource Collaboration: A Model of Psychology Derived From Cross-cultural/ Cross-disciplinary Projects
Authors: Tyler Forrest B.
Published: March 2007

It is clear that the different approaches used in psychology are limited and can benefit from the inclusion of other perspectives. Challenging the formulation of a general paradigm of psychology, this paper urges psychologists to give up the stance of being superior and invulnerable vis-à-vis other disctplines and colleagues and to evolve a science of human conduct which would include notions of freedom, inherent unpredictability and subjective bias. This general paradigm can be constructed from a representative number of psychologies from a representative set of cultures. The need to focus on the nested relationship of culture, psychological theory, people and the practices of science is emphasised. The strengths of Western scientific psychology are outlined and the paper illustrates how inputs from different disciplines and cultures can be used to develop a multi-culturally useful general paradigm.
Child-rearing in Bi-Cultural Settings: A Culture-Ecological Approach
Authors: Eldering Lotty
Published: March 2007

North WestEuropean countries have experienced massive immigration from developing countries since World War II. These immigrant populations differ in several respects from the mainstream society. They generally have a low socio-economic status in society and they frequently are culturally different. Many immigrant children grow up in bi-cultural settings. In this article a theoretical model for studying child-rearing in bi-cultural settings will be presented. The model combines Bronfenbrenner's socio- ecological approach, which has mostly been used for research in mono-cultural settings, with Harkness and Super's framework of the developmental niche, which has often been used for cross-cultural comparisons. These models have not so far been applied systematically in studies of child-rearing in bi-cultural settings. The article concludes with a particular case of migration: the Hindustanis who migrated from India to Surinam about a century ago, and then to the Netherlands in the 1970s.
Mass Media and Health Promotion in Indian Villages
Authors: Agarwal Adesh
Published: March 2007

This paper discusses some of the issues in the use of mass media for health promotion, prevention of disease, and recognition of symptoms in the light of a field study conducted on 720 villagers in 28 villages of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh. The role of mass media and other psychosocial factors in the formation of intentions to acquire health-related information and promotion of actual health behaviours was examined. Results show that beliefs and attitudes towards health care, along with some information-related needs ofpeople, contribute in the formation of intentions. Morespecifically, the tendency to treat media as asourceofstimulation and direction, learning, information, tension-reduction along with positive attitudes explain 44% of variance in intention. Furthermore, variance in actual health promotion behaviours and use of media for health-related information is explained by general impact of media in conjunction with other social factors like social participation in community, anticipating changes in lifesituations, and taking initiative by acceptors. Although attitude, intention and behaviour are related, the link between them is not direct but is mediated by other social factors. In order for mass media to be effective, reinforcement through interpersonal communication as well as change in environment is essential. Excessive reliance on mass media without the coordinated support of formal and informal systems in the community may not besuitablefor thepromotion of health behaviours in rural India.
Learning and Motivation: An Asian Perspective
Authors: Salili Farideh
Published: March 2007

The paper examines the learning style and achievement orientation of Asian people focusing on the role of social and cultural factors including attitudes totuards learning and education. The strong collectivistic orientation of Asian people influences their achievement behaviour and success is defined in terms of recog nition and smooth social relationships. Asian students are socialised to value education and consider it a filial duty. The learning context in Asian countries is characterised as being highly authoritarian, teaching methods are expository and praise is seldom used. McClelland's achievement motivation approach was found to be ethnocentric, as it ignored situational and contextual factors. Studies are presented that reveal that the meaning of success is different for Asian people and is mediated by affiliative concerns. Achieuement attributions are different in that Asian students attribute both success and failure to more internal and controllable factors. The paper concludes that the attribution style of Asian students and cooperative reward structure encourages task orientation and a deep approach to learning.
Expatriates' Ethnicity and their Effectiveness: "Similarity Attraction" or "Inverse Resonance"?
Authors: Carr Stuart C. , Ehiobuche Ihfanyi , Rugimbana Robert , Munro Don
Published: March 2007

Studies of expatriate effectiveness have tended to restrict themselves to Westerners sojourning in non-Western countries or to non-Westerners studying in the West, thereby overlooking non-Western expatriates working in Third World countries. Reconstituting diverse principles from social comparison and identity theories, attribution research, the similarity-attraction literature, psychotherapy, psychody namics, and experimental social psychology, we predict that the relationship between (a) perceived ethnic similarity to host and (b) acceptance by that host may often differ considerably in Western versus non-Western contexts. While acceptance by Western hosts may be affected by "similarity attraction reactions in some developing nations may be influenced instead by "inverse resonance", wherein collectivist hosts are comparatively unreceptive to expatriates who are ethnically similar rather than dissimilar. We discuss the potential relevance of such inverse resonance to the predeparture training of expatriates and to their inter- cultural effectiveness in the field.
The Bleeding Edge: Resistance as Strength and Paralysis
Authors: Basu Srimati
Published: March 2007

The study of feminism as a mark of feminist agency is examined across a range of feminist schol arship, followed by reflections on the concluding scene of Ashapurna Devi's novel in Bangla, Pratham Pratisruti, and ends with some conclusions based upon ethnographic work on Indian women and inheritance. The explorations of different sites of fiction and ethnography indicate that individual acts of women's resistance should be kept separate from the systemic changes that organised movements seek to effect.
Researching Language and Gender: A Critical Review
Authors: Vasanta D.
Published: March 2007

This article provides a review of some of the major language and gender studies reported pri marily in the English-speaking world during the past three decades. After pointing to the inade quacies of formal linguistic and sociocultural approaches in examining the complex ways in which gender interacts with language use, an alternative theoretical paradigm that gives impor tance to the sociohistorical and political forces residing in the meanings of the resources as well as social identity of the speaker who aims to use those meanings is described. The implications of this shiff from sociocultural to sociohistorical approaches in researching language and gender in the Indian context are discussed in this article.