bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sex Differences in Desired Characteristics of Short-Term and Long-Term Relationship Partners
Authors: Stewart Stephanie , Stinnett Heather , Rosenfeld Lawrence B.
Published: March 2007

This investigation compared women's and men's desired characteristics in partners for typical short-term ('dating someone more than once' without an expectation of a short- or long-term relationship) and long-term ('dating someone for a long time' with the possibility, but not certainty, of marriage) relationships. Results indicated that (a) both women and men are more selective when selecting a long-term rather than a short-term relationship partner, and (b) women and men differ in their desired characteristics for short-term relationship partners and long-term relationship partners. The preferred characteristics of each sex support a qualified differential parental investment perspective: men see `reproductive value' (e.g., physical attractiveness) as important for potential female partners, and women look at `resource acquisition ability' (e.g., earning capacity) as important for potential male partners. While there were significant differences between men and women in their desired characteristics in short- and long-term relationship partners, there were many similarities in what they seek, such as the desire for children in long-term partners and an exciting personality in short-term and long-term partners.
Need Fulfillment and Emotional Experience in Interdependent Romantic Relationships
Authors: Le Benjamin , Agnew Christopher R.
Published: March 2007

Drawing from theoretical models of emotion and aspects of interdependence theory, we investigated the association among need fulfillment, relative dependence, and emotional experience within romantic relationships. Daily self-reports of general and relationship-related emotional experience and perceived fulfillment of relationship needs were collected on four consecutive days from participants involved in romantic relationships. Consistent with hypotheses, fulfillment of relationship needs was found to significantly predict emotional experience, with the association at times moderated by the geographic distance of the relationship (local versus long-distance). In addition, participants in relationships characterized by an inequality of dependence experienced less positive and more negative relationship-related emotion than did participants in mutually dependent partnerships.
Stories of Hope: Parental Optimism in Narratives about Adolescent Children
Authors: Pratt Michael W. , Norris Joan E. , van de Hoef Sherri , Arnold Mary Louise
Published: March 2007

This longitudinal study focused on the level of optimism expressed in stories that mothers and fathers told about their adolescent children, and its relations to subsequent parenting practices. The investigation involved 35 families, focusing on adolescents aged 14 at Time 1 and 16 at Time 2, on average. Stories of an incident illustrating how the parent had taught values to the child were scored for two separate indices of optimism, overall tone of the narrative, and a focus on growth rather than control in socialization. As predicted, narrative optimism at Time 1 was generally associated at Time 2 with reports of more autonomy-granting to the child and with less punitiveness. This research provides supportive evidence for a construct of `parent optimism,' and indicates that it is reflected in meaningful ways in the stories that parents tell about family life and relationships.
Social Support Networks and Self-Esteem of Idiocentric and Allocentric Children and Adolescents
Authors: Dayan Joelle , Doyle, Anna-Beth , Markiewicz Dorothy
Published: March 2007

People who have an idiocentric value orientation tend to emphasize their own goals and needs over those of the groups to which they belong, and to be independent and self-reliant. Allocentric individuals tend to be cooperative, interdependent, and to have a stronger need to affiliate with others than idio-centrics. A goal of this study was to investigate how children's social relationships and self-esteem vary as a function of their allocentrism. Participants were 419 children between 9 and 18 years of age from a variety of ethnic backgrounds (French Canadian/Quebecois, Greek, Arabic, and Caribbean). As expected, allocentric children reported more social support from their peers than did idiocentric children. In addition, idiocentrics and allocentrics differed in their reported sources of intimacy and companionship, for example from best friends, mothers, and relatives. Also, the self-esteem of idiocentric children, but not of allocentric children, was predicted by social support from their best friend. Implications are that idiocentric and allocentric individuals seek out different members of their social networks to satisfy various needs, and to strengthen their self-esteem.
Social Competence and Adjustment
Authors: Burns G. Leonard , Farina Amerigo
Published: March 2007

A research programme is described that is concerned with the general issue of adjustment, but focuses more specifically on social competence, viewed as a manageable and measurable component of adjustment. At first, the subjects of the research were psychiatric patients and it was found that better adjusted ones have a larger repertoire of social skills and use these more appropriately than more poorly adjusted patients. Correlations found between the social skill of parent and patient offspring suggest it is the family that is responsible for this component of adjustment. Research then shifted to normal subjects and it was greatly expedited by the development of a self-report scale to measure social competence. Many differences have been found between high and low social-competence people in the way they behave with others and in the impact they have upon them.
Friendship: Bonds and Binds in a Voluntary Relationship
Authors: Wiseman Jacqueline P.
Published: March 2007

This paper develops an approach to the understanding of cultural problems in the friendship bond. Utilizing depth interview field data from respondents of both sexes aged eighteen to eighty, plus self-reports of friendship problems by college students and applicable theories of relationship behaviour, two important aspects of friendship culture are probed: (1) the desirable personality traits of friends and the expectation that these will not change; (2) the assumption of an unwritten contract between friends concerning the provision of aid and the repayment of kindnesses. The two major characteristics of the friendship bond that make it both unique in human group life and attractive - freedom and intimacy - also set in motion an internal dialectic which can be the basis of problems between friends or the eventual demise of the relationship. The voluntary aspect of friendship means that it has little of the societal support that other relationships enjoy and that behaviour between friends is freely selected; the intimacy aspect is in direct contradiction to this in that it suggests that the behaviour between friends should fulfil certain expectations which they individually develop. These contradictory pressures also make prior discussion of continuance of attractive traits and expectations almost impossible. Thus, the friendship bond is exceedingly fragile when compared with other, more institutionalized relationships such as marriage. Analytic points for this study are illustrated by descriptions of problematic situations from actual friendships in which the exigencies of life trigger (almost inevitably) the contradictory aspects of the friendship bond.
Self-Disclosure with Friends Across the Life Cycles
Authors: Dickson-Markman Fran
Published: March 2007

This study is concerned with self-disclosure to close friends among various age groups, using a multi-dimensional approach. The study indicated that amount, depth and valence of self-disclosure differentiated four age groups (19-25; 26-40; 41-60; 61-91). However, when length of friendship was taken into-consideration, only valence of self-disclosure differentiated the groups. The findings were discussed in terms of different stages of relationship development and similarity of self-disclosure, even though value systems may be very different. This study also highlights the need for longitudinal studies that explore age differences.
Synthetic Benevolence and Malevolence as Strategies of Relational Compliance-Gaining
Authors: Fung Samuel S.K. , Kipnis David , Rosnow Ralph L.
Published: March 2007

A questionnaire study was conducted in which subjects described, and rated on several scales, incidents they recalled in which they had been either `synthetically benevolent' or `malevolent' when trying to influence others. `Synthetic benevolence' is a positive or prosocial act that is not what it appears to be, whilst `synthetic malevolence' is a negative or antisocial act that is not what it appears to be. As hypothesized, synthetic benevolence tended to be targeted to higher status, more powerful others while synthetic malevolence tended to be directed against lower status, less powerful others. Synthetic benevolence generally involved flattery, modelling and pretending, whereas synthetic malevolence involved threat, refusal and denial to a greater extent. The use of these two forms of concealment, synthetic benevolence and malevolence, as strategies of compliance-gaining influence and the implications for interpersonal relationships are discussed.
Self-Presentation in Personal Advertisements: The Influence of Implicit Notions of Attraction and Role Expectations
Authors: Koestner Richard , Wheeler Ladd
Published: March 2007

Heterosexual personal advertisements from two geographically separated, local, weekly newspapers were content-analyzed. Three significant patterns of findings emerged which shed light on gender differences in self-presentational style. First, women were found to be relatively more likely to offer instrumental or `male-valued' traits in their ads and to seek expressive or `female-valued' ones, while men showed the reverse pattern. This paradoxical finding was interpreted to reflect the influence of implicit notions of attraction and role expectations. Second, women were relatively more likely to offer weight and to seek height, while men were relatively more likely to offer height and to seek weight. This pattern was interpreted to reflect the influence of the `male-taller-norm' in mate selection as well as a societal bias toward thinness in women. Finally, as in previous studies of this sort, women were found to be relatively more likely to offer physical attractiveness and to seek professional status, while men were relatively more likely to offer professional status and to seek attractiveness. This pattern was interpreted to be consistent with traditional sex-role expectations wherein appearance is stressed for women and status for men. Overall, the findings show that advertisers exhibit an understanding of implicit theories of attraction: men and women tend to offer precisely those attributes which are sought by the opposite sex.
Academic Performance and Social Behavior
Authors: Neziek John B. , Wheeler Ladd , Reis Harry
Published: March 2007

This study investigated the relationship between the academic performance and social behavior of a sample of college students. In support of the primary hypothesis, for males, academic performance was negatively correlated with both the quality and quantity of their social interactions. For females, academic performance and social interaction were not correlated. This was true when both same and opposite sex social interactions were examined.
Derogation of Competitors
Authors: Buss David M. , Dedden Lisa A.
Published: March 2007

Verbal signals are sometimes used to manipulate the impressions that people form about oneself and others. For the goal of self-enhancement, one can manipulate impressions either by elevating oneself or by derogating others. Five hypotheses about derogation of same-sex competitors were generated from an evolutionary model of human-mate competition. These hypotheses focused on sex differences in the importance that humans attach to external resources, rank, achievements, physical prowess, reproductive value and fidelity. Four studies were conducted to test these hypotheses. In a preliminary study (N = 80), subjects nominated intrasexual derogation tactics they had previously observed. Study 1 (N = 120) examined estimates of the likelihood that men and women would perform each tactic. Study 2 (N = 101) identified the perceived effectiveness of each derogation tactic for men and women. Study 3 (N = 100) used act reports based on self-recording and observer-recording to identify the likelihood of specific persons performing each derogation tactic. Although there were variations across studies and several anomalies, results generally supported the hypotheses based on an evolutionary model of human intrasexual mate competition. Discussion focuses on the importance of discourse and impression manipulation in the evolution of human competition.
A Re-Examination of Rusbult's `Responses to Dissatisfaction' Typology
Authors: Goodwin Robin
Published: March 2007

Rusbult's typology has been widely employed but has rarely been subjected to critical empirical examination. The model was evaluated in three phases, using data from 166 randomly selected married respondents: (1) the four proposed responses to dissatisfaction were correlated with four measures of relationship quality and relationship alternatives, with the correlations lending support to Rusbult's matrix, (2) an oblique factor analysis successfully distinguished among the four dissatisfaction responses, (3) three of these responses (Exit, Voice and Neglect) were clearly identifiable in multidimensional scaling. The results thus largely support Rusbult's typology, although the Loyalty response and the validity of Rusbult's `active/passive' distinction, require further investigation.
Virtue and Attraction: Validation of a Measure of Love
Authors: Jeffries Vincent
Published: March 2007

This study presents data to validate a measure of love, the Virtue-Attraction Scale (VAS). Love is conceptualized as two basic dimensions: virtue and attraction. Virtue is love which is directed toward furthering the welfare of another, while attraction is love based upon gratifications which are received from the relationship. The study measures 712 subjects' self-reported love for their mothers and fathers (during their teenage years), and subjects' perceived love of their parents for them. Factor analyses indicate that virtue and attraction are separate dimensions of love. They are also related to parental support, the Davis-Todd Relationship Rating Form, self-esteem and faith in people in a theoretically consistent manner, show discriminant validity when related to need fulfillment, religiosity and altruism and criterion-related validity when related to parental divorce. Additional evidence of validity from previous studies is presented. A preliminary theory of love is considered and the relationship between virtue-attraction and passion is discussed.
Determinants of Marital Satisfaction: A Comparison of the United States and Japan
Authors: Kamo Yoshinori
Published: March 2007

Past literature, mostly based on US data, indicates that satisfaction with marriage is determined by each spouse's rewards from marital interactions but not by socioeconomic characteristics. To examine the differences and similarities between American and Japanese spouses in the determinants of marital satisfaction, comparative survey data are analyzed in this study. It was expected that expressive (interaction) aspects of marriage are more important in the United States and instrumental (socioeconomic) aspects more in Japan. Results indicate that determinants are similar between husbands and wives within each country and somewhat different between the two countries, largely in the expected way. The husband's income is important for Japanese spouses but not for the American. Age has a negative relationship to marital satisfaction in the United States but not in Japan. Rewards from marital interactions are equally important in these two countries, contrary to the expectation. Different ideals and conceptions about marriage in each country partly explain these differences.
Emotional Expression, Ambivalence Over Expression, and Marital Satisfaction
Authors: King Laura A.
Published: March 2007

This study examined the relations among emotional expression, ambivalence over expression and marital satisfaction. Fifty married couples completed two mail-in surveys containing the Emotional Expressiveness Questionnaire and the Ambivalence Over Emotional Expression Questionnaire as well as measures of marital satisfaction. Subjects also rated their spouses' emotional expressiveness. Emotional expressiveness was positively correlated with marital satisfaction. Spouses' ratings of each other's expressiveness correlated with marital satisfaction, independent of spouses' self-reported expressiveness. Only husbands' ambivalence over expression was negatively correlated with wives' satisfaction. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of emotional expressiveness to close interpersonal relationships, particularly for men, and the relation between intrapsychic inhibitory processes and social relationships.
The Parental Stress Scale: Initial Psychometric Evidence
Authors: Berry Judy O. , Jones Warren H.
Published: March 2007

The development of a measure of parental stress, the Parental Stress Scale, is presented. All participants (total N = 1276) completed the Parental Stress Scale and some also completed the Parenting Stress Index, a generic measure of stress called the Perceived Stress Scale, relevant measures of emotions and role satisfaction (e.g. loneliness, marital satisfaction, guilt, etc.), and one group completed the Parental Stress Scale twice. Analyses suggested that the Parental Stress Scale is highly reliable, both internally and over time, and related to the general measure of stress. Also, results were consistent across parents of differing parental characteristics, suggesting the stability of scale characteristics. The validity of Parental Stress Scale scores was supported by predicted correlations with measures of relevant emotions and role satisfaction and significant discrimination between mothers of children in treatment for emotional/behavioral problems and developmental disabilities vs mothers of children not receiving treatment. Finally, a factor analysis suggested that a 4-factor structure underlies responses to the Parental Stress Scale, despite its high internal reliability.
Two Different Worlds: Acculturation Stress and Adaptation among Cuban and Nicaraguan Families
Authors: Gil Andres G. , Vega William A.
Published: March 2007

This is a study of acculturation and acculturation stress among Cuban and Nicaraguan adolescent males and their parents. The sample consisted of 674 Cuban-American and 211 Nicaraguan-American 6th and 7th grade adolescents and one of their parents. Hypotheses predicting group differences in acculturation stress were tested. Analyses were bivariate and multivariate, using parent and adolescent data. Findings indicated important differences in acculturation stress for different cohorts of immigrants within the two ethnic groups as well as differences between the subsamples. Important differences were also found between adolescent and parental acculturation stress, with more recent immigrants among the adolescents experiencing more language conflicts, while parents reported more long-term language conflicts. Adolescent and parental acculturation-related stressors and acculturation levels were strongly associated with lower levels of family cohesion, increased parent/child acculturation conflicts, adolescent self-esteem and adolescent perceived teacher derogation. The differences and similarities found between the Cuban and Nicaraguan groups, parents and adolescents, are discussed with a focus on the importance of the family as a coping source for the stresses associated with immigrant adaptation.
An Overview (and Underview) of Research and Theory within the Attraction Paradigm
Authors: Byrne Donn
Published: March 2007

The initiation and subsequent development of what I once immodestly labeled `the attraction paradigm' are described. Though an after-the-fact reconstruction of a given program of research and theory may appear to result from planful, rational, insightful, and even prescient actions, the actual process is more often a combination of multiple personal motives, semi-random input from a wide variety of sources, sheer luck, and semi-delusional tenacity. In any event, some highlights and landmarks of over 35 years of attraction research are summarized. The story includes the initial decision to investigate the effect of attitude similarity-dissimilarity on attraction, the gradual development of the linear function that specifies the relationship between seemingly diverse stimulus events and evaluative responses such as attraction, and the construction of a theoretical model that began with a focus on conditioning but was eventually expanded as `the behaviour sequence', incorporating cognitive constructs in order to deal with such interpersonal complexities as love. As a postscript, I describe our current efforts to place the components of adult attachment patterns within this model in an effort to predict more precisely various aspects of interpersonal relationships.
Systems and Bidirectional Influences in Families
Authors: O'Connor Thomas G. , Hetherington E. Mavis , Clingempeel W. Glenn
Published: March 2007

Family systems theory and bidirectionality are two models that seek to explain the nature of relationship influences on children's and adults' development. Points of convergence and divergence between the models are discussed and empirically examined in a sample of 72 nondivorced and 56 stepfather families. A multirater, multimethod design was used to model effects of family relationships on adolescent social competence, cognitive agency, and externalizing behavior. The major findings were that (a) adolescent → parent behavior was as robust as parent → adolescent behavior in predicting adolescent adjustment; (b) family relations were less coherent or connected in stepfamilies compared to nondivorced; and (c) the configuration of family relationships moderated the effect of a specific relationship on adolescent adjustment. We discuss the implications for how family systems theory qualifies and extends bidirectional models and how contextual influences, especially family type, modify bidirectional and systems models of relationships.
Age Preferences in Personal Advertisements: Two Life History Strategies or One Matching Tactic?
Authors: Rasmussen Jeffrey Lee , Rajecki D.W. , Ebert Anita A. , Lagler Kathy , Brewer Candice , Cochran Elizabeth
Published: March 2007

Previous interpretations of human age preferences in mates posited two sex-linked `life history strategies' said to involve the parental investment potential of the other as revealed by that other's age. In contrast with a dual strategy, our study of 722 heterosexual personal advertisements written by persons aged 20 to 59 found overall patterns of correlations (r.81 to .95) between own and stipulated ages that were common to both men and women. For both sexes, reliable own/other correlations were generally found within age decades as well. Further, an analysis of 133 homosexual personal advertisements revealed a similar pattern of reliably correlated own/other ages. These findings point to a conclusion that regardless of sex or sexual orientation-it may not be the age of the other but the age of the self that is the key factor in a single `matching tactic' for stipulating age preferences in mates or partners.
Affect Regulation as a Stylistic Process within Adult Attachment
Authors: Fuendeling James M.
Published: March 2007

The literature on adult attachment indicates consistent differences in the emotional experiences of individuals according to their attachment styles. With the idea that these differences in experience are accompanied by systematic differences in the ways people with different attachment styles regulate their affect, a broad range of findings are reviewed and reorganized according to a process-level explanation of affect regulation, including specific mechanisms by which affect is regulated. This reexamination of findings does suggest consistent, or stylistic, ways of regulating affect that are particular to each attachment style. Variation is particularly evident in the management of attention, appraisal styles and the ability to interact with others as agents of affect regulation. Implications for future research are discussed.
Predicting Intentions to Engage in Casual Sex
Authors: Herold Edward S. , Maticka-Tyndale Eleanor , Mewhinney Dawn
Published: March 2007

The objective of this study was to test the usefulness of the Triandis model of interpersonal behavior for explaining the formation of intentions to engage in casual sex (i.e. the likelihood that the respondent would, when they were out to have a good time, have sex with someone he or she had just met). Data were collected from 305 university students (243 female, 62 male). The Triandis model explained 44 percent of the variance in casual sex intentions. The strongest influences on intentions to engage in casual sex were personal standards, situational expectations and previous casual sex experience. Also, peer endorsement of casual sex was significant for men. The results indicate that the Triandis multivariate model is very effective in explaining sexual intentions. Hopefully, this study will encourage other researchers to investigate the under-explored topic of casual sex.
Consistency in Perceptions of the Step-Parent Role among Step-Parents, Parents and Stepchildren
Authors: Fine Mark A. , Coleman Marilyn , Ganong Lawrence H.
Published: March 2007

The purposes of this study were to determine the degree of consistency in stepfamily members' perceptions of the step-parent role, to examine the relation between the degree of consistency in role perceptions and adjustment in stepfamilies, and to determine the extent to which clarity pertaining to the step-parent role was related to adjustment. Step-parents, parents and stepchildren from 40 stepfamilies completed a series of self-report questionnaires pertaining to their perceptions of the step-parent role and multiple levels of adjustment in their stepfamilies. Step-parents and parents perceived that the step-parent should and does play an active parental role, stepchildren were more likely to perceive that the step-parent should assume the less active role of `friend', and consistency in role perceptions was moderately strongly related to the interpersonal dimensions of adjustment in stepfamilies. The findings suggest that stepchildren have differing perceptions of the step-parent role than do their parents and step-parents.
Friendship, Marriage and Self-Esteem
Authors: Voss Kirsten , Markiewicz Dorothy , Doyle Anna Beth
Published: March 2007

This study compares best same-sex friendship and friendship within marriage for men and women and investigates links between relationship quality and self-esteem. Partners in 219 couples completed measures of friendship quality, marital adjustment and self-esteem. Results indicate that men and women see their spousal friendships more similarly than their best friendships. Men make greater distinctions between spouses and friends than do women. These findings suggest that women perceive similar provisions from their spouses and friends, whereas men may not. Marital adjustment and friendship quality are significantly related to self-esteem for both sexes. Although women appear more sensitive to disagreements in their marriages, the detrimental effect of conflict on self-esteem was similar for men and women.
The Implicit Structure of Influence Strategies and Social Relationships
Authors: Poppe Matthijs , van der Kloot Willem , Valkenberg Huib
Published: March 2007

Research on the implicit structure of influence strategies and research on the implicit structure of relationships were combined. Forty respondents rated how (un)common each of 26 influence strategies was in each of 24 relationships. By means of multiple correspondence analysis the implicit structure of relationships and the implicit structure of influence strategies were established simultaneously. A three-dimensional structure was found with the dimensions of cooperation versus competition, more powerful versus less powerful, and social-emotional versus task-oriented. It is concluded that relationships and influence strategies are aspects of the same cognitive schema of social influence.
Interpersonal Expectations as a Function of Self-Esteem and Sex
Authors: Baldwin Mark W. , Keelan John Patrick Richard
Published: March 2007

Theoretical models of the interpersonal roots of self-esteem emphasize people's expectations about whether they can anticipate acceptance and affiliation in significant relationships. Men and women (n = 182), of high and low self-esteem, were compared in terms of their if-then expectations regarding interactions with significant others. Participants completed the Interpersonal Schema Questionnaire (Hill & Safran, 1994), which assesses the degree of affiliation and dominance that people expect from others. Overall, participants expected response complementarity, with their own friendliness leading to affiliation from others, and submission leading to dominance. Consistent with interpersonal models of self-esteem, high self-esteem individuals reported greater confidence that being friendly would draw affiliative responses from others. Compared with men, women expected more affiliative responses to their friendly overtures, and also expected affiliative responses to submissiveness.
Internationalization of Small Firms
Authors: Manolova Tatiana S. , Brush Candida G. , Edelman Linda F. , Greene Patricia G.
Published: March 2007

Literature from export development and international entrepreneurship argues that personal factors, or the owner/founder's human capital, strongly influence the choice and degree of internationalization in small firms. Personal factors include a wide array of dimensions, including achieved attributes, environmental perceptions and business skills, yet most studies bundle these dimensions with other internationalization factors. Consequently, the relative importance of human capital factors in internationalization is unclear. This article examines the differences in personal factors between internationalized and non-internationalized small firms. We compare the relative importance of four dimensions of human capital: international business skills, international orientation, perceptions of the environment, and demographic characteristics, and analyze these based on the industrial technology sector (i.e. primary, secondary and tertiary). Results show that neither traditional demographic measures nor international orientation distinguishes between internationalized and non-internationalized firms, but that environmental perceptions and selfassessed strengths in international business skills are significant. The combination of personal factors varies significantly by technology sector, with the primary and tertiary sectors showing minimal differences except in perceptions of the environment. International business skills, international orientation and perceptions of the environment differ for small firms in the secondary sector. Implications and future research directions are included.
Business management indexing services: a buyers guide
Authors: Foster Pamela
Published: March 2007

Reviews four of the major abstracting and indexing services for business management: Business Periodicals Index, SCIMP, ANBAR and Management and Marketing Abstracts. Analyses sources covered, criteria for inclusion, indexing practice, cumulation policy, currency, price and online availability. Concludes with overall evaluation of the services.
Marketing Information Review
Authors: Walters Tricia
Published: March 2007

In this issue we look at the rapid rise to fame of Verdict, already well established as a specialist producer of reports on the UK retail sector, despite only having been in operation for four and a half years. An outstanding feature of the company's success story is its apparent acceptance as an influential force in the marketplace, by the powerful forces in the City. When Verdict speaks, "people who matter" listen. How have they achieved this enviable position, one which most longer-established market report publishers would love to emulate? I spoke to their marketing manager, Deborah Grant, in order to obtain an insight into the company's history and development.
Abstracts for Decision: The Parsimonious Elements of Personal Choice in Public Controversy
Authors: Missika Jean-Louis
Published: March 2007

In most decisions of everyday life, whether it be buying a car or electing an official representative, individuals use simple and synthetic operational means which take the form of statements summarizing a criterion for selecting information. These statements are called `abstracts for decision' and often take the form ` x is true' and ` x must be present'. This article analyses the way these statements circulate in communications networks as well as the importance they have in public opinion, and, in doing so, distinguishes three different phases in any public controversy. A simple model then describes the way in which these statements are selected, and adopted or rejected. Abstracts for decision can usefully complement an agenda-setting approach in an analysis of public controversy. It can be used to move from the notion of theme to that of problem, and thus to perceive the direction which any public debate is taking.
Patterns of Involvement in Television Fiction: A Comparative Analysis
Authors: Liebes Tamar , Katz Elihu
Published: March 2007

This article analyses discussions of an episode of Dallas by focus groups of different ethnic origins in Israel and the United States. It identifies four rhetorical mechanisms by which viewers may `involve' themselves in or `distance' themselves from the story: referential v. critical framings; real v. play keyings; collective or universal v. personal referents; and normative v. value-free evaluations. Use of these mechanisms varied across the groups, and when the cultures were arrayed along a multidimensional involvement scale overseas viewers appeared to be more involved in the programme than Americans. Possible roles for involvement in the process of viewer susceptibility to programme messages are then discussed.
Media Policy in Britain: Now You See It, Now You Don't
Authors: Seymour-Ure Colin
Published: March 2007

This article analyses the disparity between the culturally based belief that the media are not a government policy area and the fact that British governments have made policies about all aspects of media at one time or another. Nine features of British policy making are identified, stressing especially its unco-ordinated character and the many inconsistencies and paradoxes that have resulted. Several underlying sources of such policy patchiness and invisibility are traced, including the lack of a coherent notion of `media' itself. The article concludes by asking whether the situation is changing: Will British media policy become more co-ordinated and coherent in the future?
Communication Research and Textual Analysis: Prospects and Problems of Theoretical Convergence
Authors: Wolf Mauro
Published: March 2007

Recent developments in communication theory, particularly the emphasis on media constructions of reality, have created possibilities of convergence between previously unrelated approaches—on the one hand long-standing communication research traditions and on the other, varieties of semiotic and discourse analysis that have challenged conventional methods of content analysis. The article reviews both the prospects for their integration and the difficulties to be faced. Much centres on how relations between the `model reader' and the `empirical reader' of texts is concerned. Ultimately, the goal is to refresh the perennial concern of communication research to understand the processes of mass media effects.
Uses and Gratifications of `Return to Eden' for Polish Viewers
Authors: Dohnalik Jacek
Published: March 2007

This article reports the results of survey research, from a representative sample of the Polish population, that was designed to examine the utility of the uses and gratifications approach to audience reception as applied to `Return to Eden', a popular television series. The survey succeeded in isolating six styles of reception, each consisting of a complex cluster of related motivations and experiences, namely: escape; ritualistic viewing; confirmation of one's proper place in society; suppression of comparisons; entertainment without involvement; and limited identification. Certain audience gratifications that are emphasized in the literature, and that were considered in this study as hypothetical, have not been confirmed. It was also found that broadcasters' fears that the series could provoke frustration amongst viewers, as a result of confrontation between the reality depicted in the series (e.g. a world of multimillionaires) and experienced reality (e.g. society's deep economic crisis), were largely groundless, since such a confrontation was involved in only two of the reception styles.
Order and Interpretation: A Narrative Perspective on Journalistic Discourse
Authors: Kunelius Risto
Published: March 2007

I take as my starting point John Dewey's often quoted notion that society exists not only ` by communication' but also ` in transmission, in communication' (Dewey, 1916: 5). From this James Carey (1975) created a definition of communication as a form of society, `a process whereby reality is created, shared, modified and preserved'. Here we have a definition of communication that articulates and combines the historical experiences of rapidly developing western societies and their expansive means of communication. Journalism has for a long time enjoyed a special status in this continuous `recreation' of society. This article attempts to build a model to analyse the manner in which contemporary journalism `creates' society, how it `modifies' our perspective of the world in a manner that enables us to `share' some crucial meanings about reality. The model is based on the analysis of different sorts of narrative voices. It aims to capture some of the order of the contemporary discourse of journalism and to discuss both the synchronic and diachronic features of journalism.1
Race, Gender and Broadcast Comedy: The Case of the BBC's Kentucky Minstrels
Authors: Pickering Michael
Published: March 2007

From 1933 to 1950 the BBC ran a variety series, The Kentucky Minstrels, which was built on the tradition of blackface minstrelsy. This hugely popular tradition of entertainment, which dates back to the 1830s in Britain and was later taken up by BBC television in the 1950s and 1960s in an equally long-running series, The Black and White Minstrel Show, has been largely ignored by social, theatrical and media historians alike. This article focuses in particular on the dimension of comedy in the show. The history of media comedy and the dynamics of particular comic forms have also been ignored within media studies, although recently some interesting work has begun to emerge. In making a modest contribution to that history, this article tackles the questions of racism and sexism in popular humour. The cultural transmission of prejudice in comic discourse and the analytical difficulties of dealing with offensive values within such discourse, have not, surprisingly, been subject to much critical scrutiny. This article tries, therefore, to make good this academic neglect and so contribute to the study of the development of popular cultural perspectives on questions of ethnicity and gender, and the cultural analysis of specifically comic forms of discourse.
Background to French Language Policy and its Impact on the Media
Authors: Machill Marcel
Published: March 2007

The aim of this article is to present the background and the strategies of French language policy and its impact on the media. The high point to date of language-protectionist efforts, Law 94-668 of August 1994 (loi Toubon), must be seen within the context of a series of developments whose roots have their origins in a time predating the French Revolution. Today, language policy also interferes with the language used on radio and TV — as per decree, lists of specialist French words designed as a replacement for Anglicisms are drawn up. More far-reaching aims originally intended by the loi Toubon, which were targeted specifically at the media, had to be abandoned after a complaint about infringement of the Constitution. Language policy and media policy are inextricably linked in France. This is also apparent from the political strategies employed to elevate French interests to a European plane. Analysing this process offers a theoretically based insight into French media policy in general.
Miracles with a System
Authors: Holzer Boris
Published: March 2007

The economic rise of a number of East Asian countries, notably the `four little tigers' - Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan - has been addressed by various approaches. They have attributed the successful development to a variety of factors, e.g. economic, political-institutional and cultural ones. The article seeks to synthesize these various approaches and to demonstrate how they complement one another. The development of the tiger countries must be seen against the backdrop of a historically specific world-economic and geopolitical situation. Domestic structures and cultural factors served as catalysts, which enabled the tiger countries to seize upon the opportunities of development.
The Civilizational Dimension of Modernity
Authors: Eisenstadt Shmuel N.
Published: March 2007

The view of modernity as a distinct civilization implies that modernity has to be seen as a new type of civilization - not unlike the formation and expansion of the Great Religions. According to this view, the core of modernity is the crystallization and development of mode or modes of interpretation of the world, or of a distinct social imaginaire, indeed of the ontological vision, of a distinct cultural programme, combined with the development of a set or sets of new institutional formations - the central core of both being an unprecedented 'openness' and uncertainty. This civilization, the distinct cultural programme with its institutional implications, crystallized first in Western Europe and then expanded to other parts of Europe, to the Americas and later on throughout the world, giving rise to continually changing cultural and institutional patterns which constituted, as it were, different responses to the challenges and possibilities inherent in the core characteristics of the distinct civilizational premises of modernity. The continual changeability of the institutional and ideological patterns of modernity indicate that the history of modernity is best seen as a story of continual development and formation, constitution and reconstitution of a multiplicity of cultural programmes of modernity and of distinctively modern institutional patterns, and of different self-conceptions of societies as modern - of multiple modernities.
THE ECONOMIC ETHICS OF RUSSIAN-ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY: PART I
Authors: Buss Andreas
Published: March 2007

The paper, which follows Max Weber's `The Economic Ethics of World Religions' in form and spirit, tries to depict the motivations of economic activity in prerevolutionary Russia. This first part of the paper analyses, on the one hand, the patrimonial-bureaucratic Muscovite state with its system of liturgies and, on the other hand, the Russian-Orthodox Church which, in contrast to the Western development, became integrated in the patrimonial state, and finally the Russian-Orthodox religion which can be characterised by its three aspects as magical-traditional, ritual and mystical. It led to an attitude of world indifference rather than world domination and did not produce independent powers to break open the patrimonial state.
JEALOUSY AS A CLASS PHENOMENON: THE PETITE BOURGEOISIE AND SOCIAL SECURITY
Authors: de Swaan Abram
Published: March 2007

People may resent the fact that others have achieved or acquired something which they have not. This sentiment is called envy or `upward jealousy'. But they may also worry that other people will acquire or achieve what they have or are already, even if it causes no loss to them. This may be called `downward jealousy'. Such jealousy creates `zero-sum' situations, since someone's gain is always felt as a loss by somebody else. Jealousy, downward or upward, not only occurs among individuals, but also between groups - under such jealous group relations, the emotions are made to refer to a collectivity and are collectively articulated and experienced.

The lower middle classes around the turn of the century tended to be concerned that workers might achieve a position of security and prestige equal to their own: national insurance seemed to provide workers with a social security equal to the protection for which the self-employed had worked so hard and saved so assiduously. This resistance on the part of the petty bourgeoisie, inspired in part by downward jealousy, much delayed the advent of the modern welfare state.
Coloniality of Power and Eurocentrism in Latin America
Authors: Quijano Aníbal
Published: March 2007

The globalization of the world is, in the first place, the culmination of a process that began with the constitution of America and world capitalism as a Euro-centered colonial/modern world power. One of the foundations of that pattern of power was the social classification of the world population upon the base of the idea of race, a mental construct that expresses colonial experience and that pervades the most important dimensions of world power, including its specific rationality: Eurocentrism. This article discusses some implications of that coloniality of power in Latin American history.
Globalization, Development Politics and Local Knowledge
Authors: Diawara Mamadou
Published: March 2007

This article analyzes the poststructuralist criticism of development and insists on the implication of integrated local knowledge and not only indigenous technical knowledge (IK). The article underlines the cultural dimension and the political dimension that touch age and gender of implicated groups. The poststructuralist criticism of development is justifiably stinging. But it has a nihilism that does not bring anything constructive. By making development specialists the focus of their concern, the small farmer - whom they seem to support - paradoxically disappears from sight. Once all the other players are eliminated from consideration except the World Bank and other big players, the reality of development becomes a homogeneous playing field. To block out this sterile theoretical excess, we must take into consideration the different actors in society and consider how each one takes on its own reality of development, which is also present in western agencies simultaneously at work in villages of the Malian Sahara.