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"Social Constructionism: Sources and Stirrings in Theory and Practice offers an introduction to the different theorists and schools of thought that have contributed to the development of contemporary social constructionist ideas, charting a course through the ideas that underpin the discipline. From the New Science of Vico in the eighteenth century, through to Marxist writers, ethnomethodologists and Wittgenstein, ideas as to how socio-cultural processes provide the resources that make us human are traced to the present day. Despite constructionists often being criticized as 'relativists', 'activists' and 'anti-establishment' and for making no concrete contributions, their ideas are now being adopted by practically oriented disciplines such as management consultancy, advertising, therapy, education and nursing. Andy Lock and Tom Strong aim to provoke a wider grasp of an alternative history and tradition that has developed alongside the one emphasized in traditional histories of the social sciences."--Jacket

Social Constructionism: Sources and Stirrings in Theory and Practice offers an introduction to the different theorists and schools of thought that have contributed to the development of contemporary social constructionist ideas, charting a course through the ideas that underpin the discipline. From the New Science of Vico in the 18th century, through to Marxist writers, ethnomethodologists and Wittgenstein, ideas as to how socio-cultural processes provide the resources that make us human are traced to the present day. Despite constructionists often being criticised as 'relativists', 'activists' and 'anti-establishment' and for making no concrete contributions, their ideas are now being adopted by practically-oriented disciplines such as management consultancy, advertising, therapy, education and nursing. Andy Lock and Tom Strong aim to provoke a wider grasp of an alternative history and tradition that has developed alongside the one emphasised in traditional histories of the social sciences

AbstractThere has been growing academic and public interest in corporate political lobbying in both the UK and EU in recent years. In Britain, links between politicians and commercial interests have been one of the areas examined by the Committee on Standards in Public Life ('the Nolan Committee' and now 'the Neill Committee'). A visible but under‐researched aspect of political lobbying by firms and other groups is the range of activities that take place at annual party conferences. An exhaustive study of these activities at the three main British party conferences between 1994–97 is reported, covering the period from Tony Blair's first appearance as party leader to the aftermath of the 1997 General Election. There is clear growth of visible lobbying, particularly at the Labour conferences, over the period leading up to the election, and a dropping off in 1997; particularly at the Conservative conference. The implications of the results for organisations, and particularly for public affairs practitioners, are considered. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications

This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note that the online publication date for this handbook is the date that the first article in the title was published online.

Although images of the relationship between marketing science and practice have been dominant features of past and contemporary marketing thought, surprisingly little research has been conducted on the subject, particularly at the level of the marketing practitioner. This article provides a framework for characterizing and better understanding the ways in which practitioners value and use academic theory, and defines a set of propositions for guiding research into this area. The exercise is intended to urge fellow researchers to refine, test and augment the working hypotheses suggested herein in order to achieve a better understanding of the ways in which marketing practitioners attend to, value and use marketing scientific theories. Managerial implications of this research are discussed.

In our dominant discourses, anorexia and bulimia are identified with those persons suffering from their effects. Thus a person is anorexic or bulimic. By contrast, narrative therapists conceive of anorexia and bulimia as separate from the person. Consequently the problem, and the person's relationship with it, rather than the person themselves, can be recognised as "the problem". Anorexia and bulimia may then be regarded as having "voices" of their own, which act as discursive parasites that draw a deal of their sustenance from the dominant discourses in society that are subscribed to by those they attack. Once the problem is divorced from the person, then those attacked by these parasites can, through therapeutic conversations, be helped to find alternative discourse resources that assist them in gaining power to resist these parasitic voices. (Narrative Therapy, Anorexia, Bulimia, Counter-Narratives, Discourse Resources)

The article examines how metaphors are developed and selected within organizational theorizing and research. The issue addressed is not whether metaphors exist and play a part in organizational theorizing – as this is now widely accepted – but to draw out how metaphors are actually used and are of conceptual value, particularly as such insights may aid organizational researchers in a better use of them.Working from this position, the article reviews the extant theoretical literature on metaphor, surveys the organizational literature to document past and contemporary metaphors-in-use (1993–2003), and identifies the heuristics (i.e. judgmental rules) that have been used by organizational researchers in developing and selecting these metaphors. The identified heuristics are the integration, relational, connection, availability, distance and concreteness heuristics. On the basis of these identified heuristics, and the biases and errors associated with them, the article also posits a number of governing rules that can guide organizational researchers in their continued development and selection of metaphors in the organizational field.