Family Participation in Challenger Baseball: Critical Theory Perspectives

1999 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 372-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lupe Castañ ◽  
Claudine Sherrill

The purpose was to analyze the social construction of Challenger baseball opportunities in a selected community. Participants were 10 boys and 6 girls with mental and/or physical disabilities (ages 7 to 16 years, M = 11.31), their families, and the head coach. Data were collected through interviews in the homes with all family members, participant observation at practices and games, and field notes. The research design was qualitative, and critical theory guided interpretation. Analytical induction revealed five outcomes that were particularly meaningful as families and coach socially constructed Challenger baseball: (a) fun and enjoyment, (b) positive affect related to equal opportunity and feelings of “normalcy,” (c) social networking/emotional support for families, (d) baseball knowledge and skills, and (e) social interactions with peers.

Author(s):  
Marilyn Fernandez

Does the burgeoning Indian Information Technology (IT) sector represent a deviation from the historical arc of caste inequality or has it become yet another site of discrimination? Those who claim that the sector is caste-free believe that IT is an equal opportunity employer, and that the small Dalit footprint is due to the want of merit. But they fail to consider how caste inequality sneaks in by being layered on socially constructed ‘pure merit’, which favours upper castes and other privileged segments, but handicaps Dalits and other disadvantaged groups. In this book, Fernandez describes how the practice of pure and holistic merit are deeply embedded in the social, cultural, and economic privileges of the dominant castes and classes, and how caste filtering has led to the reproduction of caste hierarchies and consequently the small Dalit footprint in Indian IT.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 744-762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Nicholas Edwards ◽  
Robyn L Jones

The primary purpose of this article was to investigate the use and manifestation of humour within sports coaching. This was particularly in light of the social significance of humour as a critical component in cultural creation and negotiation. Data were gathered from a 10-month ethnographic study that tracked the players and coaches of Senghenydd City Football Club (a pseudonym) over the course of a full season. Precise methods of data collection included participant observation, reflective personal field notes, and ethnographic film. The results demonstrated the dominating presence of both ‘inclusionary putdowns’ and ‘disciplinary humour’, particularly in relation to how they contributed to the production and maintenance of the social order. Finally, a reflective conclusion discusses the temporal nature of the collective understanding evident among the group at Senghenydd, and its effect on the humour evident. In doing so, the work contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the social role of humour within sports coaching.


2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-192
Author(s):  
Sofie Boldsen

Abstract Autistic difficulties with social interaction have primarily been understood as expressions of underlying impairment of the ability to ‘mindread.’ Although this understanding of autism and social interaction has raised controversy in the phenomenological community for decades, the phenomenological criticism remains largely on a philosophical level. This article helps fill this gap by discussing how phenomenology can contribute to empirical methodologies for studying social interaction in autism. By drawing on the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and qualitative data from an ongoing study on social interaction in autism, I discuss how qualitative interviews and participant observation can yield phenomenologically salient data on social interaction. Both, I argue, enjoy their phenomenological promise through facilitating attention to the social-spatial-material fields in and through which social interactions and experiences arise. By developing phenomenologically sound approaches to studying social interaction, this article helps resolve the deficiency of knowledge concerning experiential dimensions of social interaction in autism.


Author(s):  
Marko Siitonen

This chapter discusses participant observation as a method of data collection for studying social interaction in online multiplayer games and the communities within them. Participant observation has its roots in the social sciences, and especially in the field of anthropology. True to a natural inquiry approach, studies utilizing participant observation try to understand the actual habitat or “lifeworld” of those participating in the study. This chapter looks at various practical issues connected to conducting participant observation in online multiplayer communities. Examples of data collection are presented, including saving log files, capturing images and video, and writing field notes. Participant observation seems well suited for studying online communities since it can respond well to the challenges of the ever-changing technology and social situations, the need to take into account multiple channels of communication, and the complex and sometimes hidden nature of computer-mediated social interaction.


1995 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Williams ◽  
Pamela Roberts

This study explores the social interactions and friendships that exist among cognitively impaired adult day care participants. A five month participant observation of an adult day care center was conducted, involving fifty-three clients ranging in age from sixty-six to ninety-three. Findings indicate that the clients engage in a variety of social interactions and friendships, enabling them to maintain a sense of self as well as to adjust to the norms of the group. Specific areas to be discussed are: general socializing, enduring friendships, helping relationships and client integration. A descriptive approach such as this provides the opportunity to examine the complexity of social interactions, including the positive relationships available to the cognitively impaired elderly.


2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 293-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hila J. Spear

This ethnographic study, a component of another study that examined the lived experiences of a small group of pregnant teenagers, focused on the social and learning environment of an alternative school program for pregnant and parenting female adolescents, aged 13 to 19. Field notes, participant observation, group discussion, and informal conversational data were gathered over a 16-week period. Analysis of the data revealed four major themes: nurture and positive regard, sisterhood and belonging, mentoring and sense of family, and proactive learning environment and academic pride. The girls who attended the program developed close relationships with their peers and teachers. Many of them experienced academic success for the first time and reported that pregnancy and impending motherhood motivated them to do better in school. Recommendations for a more comprehensive school-based approach to meeting the needs of pregnant and parenting teens are made, particularly after the babies are born.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noor Elahi

This research attempts to focus on the changing dynamics of livelihoods practices among gender, and how conflict and flood crises (2005-2010) effected the various needs of livelihoods of the social classes in Swat valley of northwest Pakistan. Qualitative methods; formal/informal interviews, focus groups discussion, key informant interviews and participant observation, were used to explore the dynamics of changes in occupations, household dependency and those factors which influenced the changes accessing livelihood resources. The paper revealed that those households depending agriculture, small business and labour in market have been highly affected during conflict and flood crises in comparison to those households who were depending on remittances, public and private jobs and skilled works. The study found that the livelihood dependency of the households in all villages was based on agricultural and natural resources, which has changed to market and jobs based oriented resources. The factors like economic development, migration, conflict and displacement, and post conflict development have created diverse opportunities of livelihood resources for men and women, which brought social and cultural changes in the livelihood practices between genders at household level. The research emphasizes on the long-term livelihoods strategies and gendered equal opportunity policies by government and NGOs after the crises, which may improve the social statuses of the men and women.


1997 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 327-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine M. Blinde ◽  
Lisa R. McClung

The impact of participation in recreational activities on perceptions of the physical and social selves of individuals with physical disabilities was explored. Eleven women (ages 19 to 54) and 12 men (ages 20 to 36) participated in individualized recreational programs including horseback riding, swimming, fitness, weightlifting, racquetball, bowling, tennis, fishing, walking, and tai chi. Tape-recorded interviews were conducted with these individuals following participation. Content analyses of the interview responses indicated that participation impacted four aspects of the physical self: (a) experiencing the body in new ways, (b) enhancing perceptions of physical attributes, (c) redefining physical capabilities, and (d) increasing perceived confidence to pursue new physical activities. Modifications in respondents’ perceptions of the social self were reflected in two themes: (a) expanding social interactions and experiences, and (b) initiating social activities in other contexts. The gains discussed by respondents suggest that individuals developed an enhanced sense of control in both their physical and social lives.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Russell Solomon

Interpreting human rights statutes through their objectives encourages their description as empowering instruments with their hortatory language emphasising the potential of each instrument to protect and promote rights. This article examines Victoria’s Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) and Charter of Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) through a different lens and argues that a focus on their limitations and derogations offers a better understanding of the nature and extent of the human rights protection that each purports to provide.These limitations are no mere peripheral encumbrances and help shape the rights protecting functions of each statute. This article adopts a social constructivist approach to explain how, as socially constructed instruments, the operation of the limitations reveals an ambivalent role for each statute. The design and functionality of each statute, with their self-limiting provisions, means that each acts to sustain as well as challenge the existing power relationships and social arrangements.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Kateřina Mildnerová

This paper, based on the analysis of archive documents, biographical interviews and participant observation, focuses on the social and narrative construction of collective cultural identity of so-called Namibian Czechs living in Namibia. These represent a group of originally fifty-six Namibian child war refugees who received asylum and were educated in Czechoslovakia between 1985 and 1991. In order to understand their complex identity special attention has been paid to the dual education of the children in Czechoslovakia, to the role of the Czech language and the symbolical narratives in the construction of their collective cultural identity and to diverse discursive and social practices through which they shape, maintain, and reproduce their Czechness – both situationally in social interactions and narratively in a form of communicative memory.


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