Suchergebnisse

In this paper, we explore how white Catholic men talk about the indirect dilemma of non-intervention for black ethnic outgroups. We illustrate how they mobilise global categorisation (all humanity) and use various forms of denial to deal with their non-involvement. Having analyzed representative fragments of their prejudice avoidance talk, we conclude with some observation about the strategic deployment of categories and denial forms as part of identity management talk. In contrast to quantitative research that oversimplifies the ingroup-outgroup distinction, we show how the status and outgroupness levels of the needy appear to be both flexible and intricate, which depends on the often-ignored intersecting cultural factors, like the respondents' and victims' ethnic, racial and religious identities.

Drawing on research in urban sociology, cultural geography, and social psychology, this paper explores some of the moral rules that govern social relations in public places. In particular, we consider how certain practices become classified as everyday incivilities—infractions of the moral order that sustains public life. In order to develop this notion, we draw illustrations from an ongoing research project that is investigating social attitudes towards "street drinking," an activity that has led to the creation of "alcohol‐free zones" in over 100 British cities during the past decade. As an emergent theme, this research has suggested that the classification of street drinking as either acceptable or unacceptable conduct is contingent upon the social construction of public space that users invoke. This theme is discussed in the context of wider struggles over citizenship and social control in the public domain—struggles manifest within "ideological dilemmas" (Billig et al., 1988) over the limits of free conduct, the tension between open and closed public spaces, and the attempt to distinguish "admissible" from "inadmissible" publics.

Economic Psychology extends the study of psychology and, in this case, the investigation of the socialization process in the economic realm. Thirty children, ten each aged 6, 9, and 12, took part in a "play economy" which consisted of four adjoining rooms, representing opportunities to save (one room was a "bank") or temptation to spend, e.g., another room contained a sweet shop with real sweets. Children were given 90 tokens over the period of the game and had to save 70 in order to purchase a desired toy which had been chosen at the outset. This study was designed as an extension of an earlier one which used a more restricted environment (a board game). The results took two forms: (1) a simple analysis of the "success" rates of children in terms of their saving, and (2) the recording of children's own constructions of the play economy and of savings behavior, based on their verbal accounts and explanations. While the results showed a predictable pattern of increased understanding of savings (especially institutional saving) and improved savings "success" rates with increasing age, the information gathered from the accounts showed that younger children developed "rational" strategies which were not necessarily inferior when viewed in a wider social context.

This article presents several patterns of partisan competition suggested by an interplay of long-term and short-term forces in the political system. By applying constraints to the forces, one can note the effects on the temporal properties of party competition. Each pattern has an analogue in the political parties literature and a statistical procedure for its identification. Four patterns of party competition are considered: (1) a noncompetitive pattern, (2) a trend pattern, (3) a cyclic pattern, and (4) a Poisson pattern. Using time series data on the occurrence of partisan change events for the U.S. presidency and state governorships, the authors note several expectations of the patterns.

In recent yrs the role & function of popular music has drawn attention. D. Reisman & J. Barzun have portrayed it as all pervasive 'background' noise. Others have viewed it as 'a weapon,' 'a brainwashing' device. The study attempted to analyze the impact of a popular 'protest' song, the 'Eve of Destruction' upon a Con audience. The R's were asked to interpret the meaning of the song. Based on the authors' interpretation of the song, 3 coders were used to sort the responses. In the case of the 'Eve of Destruction' 14% gave 'totally correct' answers with 44.8% providing 'partially correct' replies. This suggested that Top 40 exposure did reach the public. To further test this, the students were asked about a song, 'Universal Soldier,' which had received a minimum amount of exposure. Unlike 'Eve' they were provided with no information about it. Here the responses were fewer with a majority not understanding the sentiment of the song. It was concluded that while Top 40 play does provide exposure for pol'al sentiments, it does not necessarily support the notion of 'brainwashing.' On the other hand, it is not total 'background' noise either. AA.

AbstractMany violence prevention programs include a focus on the role of bystanders and third parties in violence prevention training. Central to this work has been the classic social psychological research on the "bystander effect". However, recent research on bystander behavior shows that the bystander effect does not hold in violent or dangerous emergencies. Meta‐analyses of the literature show that the presence of others can facilitate as well as inhibit intervention in emergencies. Studies of real‐life bystander behavior captured on CCTV cameras shows that some bystander intervention is the norm and that the likelihood of bystanders being victimized is low. One reason for the limited effectiveness of violence reduction programs may be their approach to bystanders. We argue that violence reduction programs should: recognize that some intervention is likely (although it may not always be successful); see the group as a route to successful intervention rather than a threat to the likelihood of any single individual becoming an intervener; inform bystanders of the real risks of victimization; utilize the power of social relations between bystanders, victims, and perpetrators to enhance successful intervention; seek to deliver bystander intervention training in situ, rather than away from the context of the aggression or violence.

Social media is used for political influence, but do digital advertisements have the power to shape how users interpret the sociopolitical messages that are shared through social media? In 2 experiments (ns = 86 and 225), we tested whether digital advertisements have the capacity to act as identity signals, affecting the degree to which the source of a sociopolitical message is perceived as an outgroup—rather than ingroup—member. We also examined whether these perceptions predict one form of sociopolitical behavior: solidarity-based collective action. Participants viewed an online blog that asked them to take collective action to support an outgroup. Simultaneously, ostensibly incidental banner advertisements were presented alongside the blog. In Study 1, these adverts related to either the outgroup, superordinate category, or neither category: Compared with control, digital advertisements relating to the outgroup led to a greater likelihood that the message source would be categorized as an outgroup member. In Study 2, the adverts related to either the outgroup, ingroup, or neither: Adverts relating to the ingroup led to reduced likelihood that the source would be categorized as an outgroup member, relative to adverts relating to the outgroup. In Study 1, social categorization of the message source, in turn, predicted solidarity-based collective action, moderated by social identification with the outgroup; however, there was no such association in Study 2. Our findings contribute to debates about the impact of social media on democracy, and the importance of transparency and accountability in how social media environments are curated.