Science and Struggle

Author(s):  
Catherine Bliss

Analysis of the activism of experts has ignored the way that scientists form their own overt field-based political struggles to effect change on issues such as race. This article analyzes genomic activism around race, drawing on in-depth interviews with thirty-six leading genomic scientists and discourse analysis of 732 scientific articles. I demonstrate how science activists can fashion themselves as social advocates, by using tactics common to popular politics. These tactics can diverge and detract from popular activism and reify deterministic notions of race. I discuss important theoretical and practical implications for science, social movements, and professions.

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malin Joleby ◽  
Carolina Lunde ◽  
Sara Landström ◽  
Linda S. Jonsson

The aim of the present study was to gain a first-person perspective on the experiences of technology-assisted child sexual abuse (TA-CSA), and a deeper understanding of the way it may affect its victims. Seven young women (aged 17–24) with experience of TA-CSA before the age of 18 participated in individual in-depth interviews. The interviews were teller-focused with the aim of capturing the interviewee’s own story about how they made sense of their experiences over time, and what impact the victimization had on them in the short and long terms. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed a broad range of abusive experiences that had profoundly impacted the individuals’ lives, health and self-concepts. Three dominant themes emerged from the analysis – From thrilling to abusive, Negative effect on health and wellbeing, and A new self after the abuse. From thrilling to abusive captures the wide range of experiences described, starting from the child’s own sexual curiosity to descriptions of having been manipulated or threatened into engaging in sexual activity, as well as the sometimes long and complex process of understanding the severity of one’s experiences. Negative effect on health and wellbeing describes the victimization’s comprehensive impact on the life and health of the participants, how they blamed themselves for what had happened, and the struggle of having to live with the constant fear of pictures from the abuse resurfacing. A new self after the abuse depicts how the victimization impacted the way participants viewed and thought about themselves in relation to others, and distorted their views of their bodies. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research on both offline CSA and TA-CSA, as well as theoretical and practical implications.


2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Linden ◽  
Bert Klandermans

This article discusses repression and stigmatization of movement activists. Building on recent discussions of repression and mobilization of social movements, a distinction is made between hard and soft repression. These forms of repression are further differentiated into state repression, confrontation with countermovements, and exclusion from the political and social environment. It is argued that all of these forms of repression work simultaneously. Furthermore, it is argued that a climate of soft repression facilitates hard repression. This reasoning is evidenced by material from in-depth interviews with thirty-six activists from the extreme-right movement in the Netherlands. Indeed, all forms of repression are experienced by the interviewees. The way they cope with repression depends on their pathway into activism. Disengagement from the movement appears to be unrelated to repression, but rather due to the daily hassles, interpersonal conflicts, and petty complaints as part of movement activism.


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 740-757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Hennekam ◽  
Subramaniam Ananthram ◽  
Steve McKenna

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how individuals perceive and react to the involuntary demotion of a co-worker in their organisation. Design/methodology/approach The authors draw on 46 semi-structured in-depth interviews (23 dyads) with co-workers of demoted individuals. Findings The findings suggest that an individual’s observation of the demotion of a co-worker has three stages: their perception of fairness, their emotional reaction and their behavioural reaction. The perception of fairness concerned issues of distributive, procedural, interpersonal and informational justice. The emotional responses identified were feelings of disappointment/disillusion, uncertainty, vulnerability and anger. Finally, the behavioural reactions triggered by their emotional responses included expressions of voice, loyalty, exit and adaptation. Originality/value Perceptions of (in)justice perpetrated on others stimulate emotional and behavioural responses, which impacts organisational functioning. Managers should therefore pay attention to the way a demotion is perceived, not only by those directly concerned, but also by co-workers as observers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-471
Author(s):  
Jorge Cruz-Cárdenas ◽  
Jorge Guadalupe-Lanas ◽  
Ekaterina Zabelina ◽  
Andrés Palacio-Fierro ◽  
Margarita Velín-Fárez ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand in-depth how consumers create value in their lives using WhatsApp, the leading mobile instant messaging (MIM) application. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts the perspective of customer-dominant logic (CDL) and uses a qualitative multimethod design involving 3 focus groups and 25 subsequent in-depth interviews. The research setting was Ecuador, a Latin American country. Findings Analysis and interpretation of the participants’ stories made it possible to identify and understand the creation of four types of value: maintaining and strengthening relationships; improving role performance; emotional support; and entertainment and fun. In addition, the present study proposes a conceptual model of consumer value creation as it applies to MIM. Practical implications Understanding the way consumers create value in their lives using MIM is important not only for organizations that offer MIM applications, but also for those companies that develop other applications for mobile phones or for those who wish to use MIM as an electronic word-of-mouth vehicle. Originality/value The current study is one of the first to address the topic of consumer behavior in the use of technologies from the perspective of CDL; this perspective enables an integrated qualitative vision of value creation in which the consumer is the protagonist.


2007 ◽  
Vol 49 (03) ◽  
pp. 97-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sujatha Fernandes

Abstract Since President Hugo Chávez came to power in Venezuela in 1998, ordinary women from the barrios, or shantytowns, of Caracas have become more engaged in grassroots politics; but most of the community leaders still are men. Chávez's programs are controlled by male-dominated bureaucracies, and many women activists still look to the president himself as the main source of direction. Nevertheless, this article argues, women's increasing local activism has created forms of popular participation that challenge gender roles, collectivize private tasks, and create alternatives to male-centric politics. Women's experiences of shared struggle from previous decades, along with their use of democratic methods of popular control, help prevent the state from appropriating women's labor. But these spaces coexist with more vertical, populist notions of politics characteristic of official sectors of Chavismo. Understanding such gendered dimensions of popular participation is crucial to analyzing urban social movements.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 359-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ylva Fältholm ◽  
Cathrine Norberg

Purpose The purpose of this study is to gain increased knowledge about gender diversity and innovation in mining by analyzing how women are discursively represented in relation to these two concepts, and in doing so establish how diversity management is received and communicated in the industry. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on analysis of texts including references to gender diversity and innovation in mining found on the web. The tool used to retrieve the data has been WebCorpLive, a tool designed for linguistic analysis of web material. Findings Although increased female representation is communicated as a key component in the diversity management discourse, based on the idea that diversity increases innovation and creativity, closer analysis of texts on diversity and innovation in mining shows that what women are expected to contribute with has little explicit connection with innovation. Research limitations/implications The study contributes with increased knowledge about diversity management by providing an example of how it is received in a traditionally male-dominated industry. Practical implications The findings indicate that for diversity management to have a real effect in mining, it needs to be based on gender equality and social justice motives, rather than on a business case rationale – the principal motive today. To enable this change, stereotypical gender patterns, as shown in this study, need to be made visible and problematized among policy makers, practitioners and actors on all levels of the industry. Originality value The study contributes with new knowledge about gender in the mining industry previously not attended to by using a method which so far has been sparsely used in discourse analysis, although pointed out as promising.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 645-668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lore Van Gorp ◽  
Smaranda Boroş ◽  
Piet Bracke ◽  
Peter A.J. Stevens

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how repatriates’ emotional support network affects their experience of re-entry. Design/methodology/approach This inductive, qualitative study is based on 27 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with Belgian organizational repatriates. Findings The analyses suggest that expatriation empathy is a key attribute of organizational repatriates’ main emotional support providers. In addition, the results show that although partners are a main source of emotional support on re-entry, they are also important potential causes of distress. Lastly, the results suggest that the cultural diversity of a repatriate’s emotional support network is linked with characteristics of the assignment and that it affects the experience of repatriation. Research limitations/implications The results provide empirical evidence that the expatriation empathy of repatriates’ support providers is a more informative characteristic to consider compared with whether they have personal experience of expatriation. In addition, the results suggest that research should also take into account the negative side of social support, and, for example, consider the influence of crossover distress of partners who experience relocation difficulties themselves. Practical implications This study points to the possible benefits of organizing social activities or training for repatriates and their partner and any children, as well as the advantages of encouraging expatriates to invite home-country friends to visit. Originality/value Although most scholars agree on the importance of support for expatriates’ well-being, the sources of relevant emotional support have received little research attention so far, as has how this influences the repatriation experience.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Junita Junita ◽  
Zainuddin Zainuddin ◽  
Ibnu Hajar ◽  
Rahma Muti’ah ◽  
Marlina Siregar

This study aims to obtain a concrete picture of the effectiveness of the application of the principles of teacher Islamic communication in fostering the character of tenth grade students of Madrasah Aliyah Negeri Rantauprapat. The communication process in education is not only understood as a one-way knowledge transfer process, however, there must be a serious effort on the part of the educator / teacher, as a communicator, to be able to provide good role models. Qualitative research methods try to understand a phenomenon as the understanding of the respondents studied, with an emphasis on the subjective aspects of one's behavior. Qualitative research provides an opportunity for researchers to understand the way respondents describe the world around them based on the way they think. The researcher tries to enter the conceptual world of the subject under study to capture what and how things happen. Data collection techniques used in this study were interviews in this study researchers used a semi-structured interview (semitructure interview), namely: interviews in the category of in-depth interviews. Data about the application of teacher Islamic communication and the communication character of tenth grade students, data analysis used in this study during the field using the Miles and Huberman Model, namely the activities in qualitative data analysis are carried out interactively and continue continuously until completion, so that the data is already saturated.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlene S. Neill ◽  
Shannon A. Bowen

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to identify new challenges to organizational listening posed by a global pandemic and how organizations are overcoming those barriers.Design/methodology/approachThe researchers conducted 30 in-depth interviews with US communication management professionals.FindingsCommunication management professionals value listening, but do not always make it the priority that it merits. They listed lack of desire of senior management, time, and trust of employees as barriers to effective organizational listening. The global COVID pandemic has made it more challenging to connect to employees working remotely and to observe nonverbal cues that are essential in communication. Organizations are adapting by using more frequent pulse surveys, video conferencing technology and mobile applications. Most importantly, this pandemic has enhanced moral sensitivity and empathy leading organizations to make decisions based on ethical considerations.Research limitations/implicationsThe researchers examined organizational listening applying employee-organization relationships (EOR) theory and found that trust is essential. Trust can be enhanced through building relationships with employees, ethical listening and closing the feedback loop by communicating how employers are using the feedback received by employees to make a positive change.Practical implicationsCommunication managers need to place a higher priority on listening to employees. Their listening efforts need to be authentic, morally autonomous or open-minded, and empathetic to respect the genuine concerns of employees and how organizational decisions will affect them. Listening is essential to serving as an ethical and effective strategic counselor.Originality/valueThe study examines organizational listening in the context of a global pandemic.


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