What do participants learn at Group Relations conferences? A report on a conference series on the theme of authority, power, and justice

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Tracy Wallach
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Evaluation Research ◽  
Group Relations ◽  
Conference Series ◽  
Boston College ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Leadership For Change

This article reports findings from evaluation research conducted from three conferences in the Authority, Power, and Justice: Leadership for Change series, convened annually from 2014 to 2016 at Boston College. The conferences have had similar structures and themes, with some slight variations. The highly diversified staff and membership has highlighted the themes of social identity, power, and justice in the conferences. Findings were consistent with prior research that participants do indeed learn at conferences. For both experienced and inexperienced conference members, the process of learning and meaning making is complex, relational, and evolves over time beyond the conference boundaries, and is idiosyncratic and variable. Learning can also occur at a steep cost. Recommendations are offered for enhancing learning and mitigating some of the factors that may interfere with learning. Suggestions involve re-thinking our notions of conference boundaries and the consulting stance, better integration of conference themes into conference structure, and integration of evaluation processes into conferences.

What do participants learn at Group Relations conferences? A report on a conference series on the theme of authority, power, and justice

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Tracy Wallach
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Evaluation Research ◽  
Group Relations ◽  
Conference Series ◽  
Boston College ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Leadership For Change

This article reports findings from evaluation research conducted from three conferences in the Authority, Power, and Justice: Leadership for Change series, convened annually from 2014 to 2016 at Boston College. The conferences have had similar structures and themes, with some slight variations. The highly diversified staff and membership has highlighted the themes of social identity, power, and justice in the conferences. Findings were consistent with prior research that participants do indeed learn at conferences. For both experienced and inexperienced conference members, the process of learning and meaning making is complex, relational, and evolves over time beyond the conference boundaries, and is idiosyncratic and variable. Learning can also occur at a steep cost. Recommendations are offered for enhancing learning and mitigating some of the factors that may interfere with learning. Suggestions involve re-thinking our notions of conference boundaries and the consulting stance, better integration of conference themes into conference structure, and integration of evaluation processes into conferences.

Return to the ancestral land: The semiotic map of the Mapuche people

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-269
Author(s):  
Camila Pérez ◽  
Giuseppina Marsico
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
The Other ◽  
Indigenous Group ◽  
History Of ◽  
Territorial Claim ◽  
Mapuche People ◽  
Territorial Claims ◽  
Von Uexküll ◽  
Over Time

Indigenous territorial claims are a long-standing concern in the history of Latin America. Land and nature have profound meaning in indigenous thinking, which is neither totally understood nor legitimized by the rest of society. This article is aimed at shedding light on this matter by examining the meanings at stake in the territorial claims of the Mapuche people. The Mapuche are an indigenous group in Chile, who are striving to recover their ancestral land. This analysis will be based on the concept of Umwelt, coined by von Uexküll to refer to the way in which species interpret their world in connection with the meaning-making process. Considering the applications of Umwelt to the human being, the significance assigned to land and nature by the Mapuche people emerges as a system of meaning that persists over time and promotes interdependence between people and the environment. On the other hand, the territorial claim of the Mapuche movement challenges the fragmentation between individuals and their space, echoing proposals from human geography that emphasize the role of people in the constitution of places.

IS JAPAN BACK? MEASURING NATIONALISM AND MILITARY ASSERTIVENESS IN ASIA'S OTHER GREAT POWER

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-35
Author(s):  
Jennifer Lind ◽  
Chikako Kawakatsu Ueki
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Social Identity Theory ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Identity Theory ◽  
Great Power ◽  
Institutional Constraints ◽  
The Past ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Observers of East Asia frequently claim that Japanese nationalism is on the rise, and that Tokyo is abandoning its longtime military restraint. To determine whether these trends are indeed occurring, we define and measure Japan's nationalism and military assertiveness; we measure whether they are rising relative to Japan in the past, and relative to seven other countries. Drawing from social identity theory, we distinguish between “nationalism” and a more benign “patriotism.” We find in Japan (1) strong patriotism that is stable over time, and no evidence of rising nationalism. Furthermore we find that (2) military assertiveness remains generally low, but it has risen in terms of decreased institutional constraints and peacekeeping activities. Our findings have important implications for academic debates about nationalism and Japanese security policy, and for policy debates about a nascent balancing effort against China.

scholarly journals Evolution of Cultural Identity Terms in Lay and Academic Sources: Implications for Research and Public Policy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roxanne Moadel-Attie ◽  
Sheri R. Levy ◽  
Bonita London ◽  
Rami Al-Rfou
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Computational Techniques ◽  
Psychosocial Experiences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
Google Books ◽  
Over Time

Increasingly, individuals identify as bicultural and multicultural, yet are sometimes externally misclassified, contributing to experiences of invisibility within U.S. society. Using computational techniques, we examined the transmission of cultural identity terms through time, providing some evidence for the changing representation of social identity. We examined the usage patterns of cultural identity terms with the prefixes (mono-, bi-, multi-), modifying the social identity terms: culture, ethnicity, and race (e.g., comparing monocultural, monoethnic and monoracial). For bicultural and multicultural terms, those with -racial suffixes were the earliest used terms, while those with -cultural and -ethnic suffixes gained more popularity recently. We examined the evolution of the higher frequency social identity terms in lay sources (NY Times, Reddit), and found that interracial and multicultural were the most popular over time, peaking recently. We examined the potential time lag in the sequence of identity terms amongst academic (PsycINFO, NIH and NSF Databases), lay (NY Times) and mixed sources (Google Books N-Grams), supporting our hypothesis that newer terms (e.g., multicultural) are first used and gain prevalence in lay sources, then mixed sources, and eventually academic sources. The implications of these findings for research, public policy and psychosocial experiences of individuals are discussed.

scholarly journals Stem Cell Transplantation Patients and Situational Meaning: A Prospective and Longitudinal View

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Blosser ◽  
Roy Sabo ◽  
Kathryn Candler ◽  
Karen Mullin ◽  
Amir Toor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cell ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Illness Perception ◽  
Patient Characteristics ◽  
Cell Transplant ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal Study ◽  
Illness Perception Questionnaire ◽  
Virginia Commonwealth University ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal ◽  
Over Time

ABSTRACTBackgroundThough there is thorough examination of psychosocial issues in SCT, there are few longitudinal studies examining the meaning SCT patients attribute to their treatment.ObjectiveThe object of this study was to examine change in situational appraisal over time, and to explore potential modifiers of that change.MethodsA prospective, longitudinal study of 146 autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplant (SCT) patients at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) was conducted to measure situational appraisal over time as per the meaning making model of Park and Folkman (1997) utilizing the Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised (IPQ-R; Moss-Morris et al., 2002). Participants were administered the instrument prior to transplant, at one, three and six months, and at one-year post-transplant.ResultsChange over time was seen in different diagnoses, donor types, reduced intensity and standard pre-transplant preparative regimens, and between the two major ethnic groups (Caucasian and African American) studied. Many of the patient subgroups had statistically significant findings in measures of illness attribution.ConclusionThe appraisals SCT patients made of their situation in treatment revealed a complex process of appraisal affected by illness, treatment and patient characteristics including disease type, donor type, race, and pre-transplant regimen.

Trends in Media Coverage and Information Diffusion Over Time: The Case of the American Earth Systems Research Centre Biosphere 2

2021 ◽  
pp. 097325862110561
Author(s):  
Catherine Francis Brooks ◽  
Brigitte Juanals ◽  
Jean-Luc Minel
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Information Diffusion ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Biosphere 2 ◽  
Earth Systems ◽  
Systems Research ◽  
Public Media ◽  
Scientific Institutions ◽  
Over Time

This study examined research centre Biosphere 2 (B2) coverage by US newspapers between 1984 (as stories of conception before construction emerged) and 2019 (at the time this research was conducted) in order to uncover news diffusion relative to B2 in public media across historic eras and amid shifts in stakeholders over time. The analysis focussed on how a scientific institution and its innovative activities implied values, impacted the meaning-making of its project, as well as influenced the amount of information shared across sources (i.e., regional, metropole or elite) and media scale (i.e., local, regional, national outlets). This analysis identified nine eras delimited by scientific or organisational events. The findings emerging from this study can inform understandings of media behaviour around other scientific institutions and experiments.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Karen Mossberger ◽  
Eric W. Welch ◽  
Yonghong Wu
Keyword(s):  
Internet Use ◽  
User Behavior ◽  
Evaluation Research ◽  
Black Box ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
Broadband Internet ◽  
Transformative Potential ◽  
Over Time

Broadband internet use is often heralded for its transformative potential in a broad range of policy areas, but there is scarce evidence on whether this is so, and how it can be utilized most effectively by organizations and communities. While the attribution of change to programmatic efforts is a familiar challenge in evaluation research, broadband technologies present some particular issues for evaluation: the “black box” problem of understanding user behavior, the complexity of theorizing about the interaction between technology and policy-specific processes, and understanding change over time. How can we better address both the challenges and the opportunities for evaluating broadband initiatives? This chapter introduces the plan of the volume in the context of answering these questions.

Understanding and Reducing Homophobic Harassment and Victimization in Schools

2016 ◽  
pp. 15-38
Author(s):  
V. Paul Poteat
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Heterosexual Youth ◽  
Homophobic Harassment ◽  
Over Time

Bias-based harassment, or harassment based on one’s actual or perceived social identity, such as sexual orientation, remains a prominent concern in many schools. Homophobic harassment is one form of bias-based harassment evident in schools. Not only is homophobic harassment common compared to non–bias-based victimization, it also carries distinct and elevated consequences for those who experience it. Given the seriousness of homophobic harassment and the consequences of experiencing it, this chapter addresses three key issues. First, it provides a review of individual and contextual factors that underlie homophobic behavior and its perpetuation over time. Second, the chapter describes the various processes by which homophobic victimization predicts health and academic concerns for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and heterosexual youth. Finally, the chapter covers several factors that may promote resilience among youth who experience this form of victimization. Each section notes implications for research, practice, and policy.

Player Agency, Team Responsibility, and Self-Initiated Change

2021 ◽  
pp. 103-126
Author(s):  
Fredrik Rusk ◽  
Matilda Ståhl ◽  
Kenneth Silseth
Keyword(s):  
Educational Research ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
The Other ◽  
Educational Context ◽  
Learning Trajectories ◽  
Dialogic Approach ◽  
Inherent Part ◽  
Over Time

An important aspect of what constitutes beginning gamers' learning trajectories is guidance from experienced players. However, there is little educational research on these processes within a competitive gaming scene. In this chapter, the authors analyse the mentor-apprentice relationship in a team in the multiplayer FPS CS:GO within an esports and educational context. By assuming a dialogic approach to agency and meaning making, they analyse how the team orients towards the apprentice's agency and how the apprentice responds to these orientations. The other players' orientations towards the apprentice's decisions indicate that support diminishes, and responsibility and expectations grow over time. Communication and collaboration appear to be an inherent part of functioning as a team and teaching others in the team, and all players are expected to develop agency and reach a level of independence. In the chapter, they show and discuss how this happens.

Caregiver–adolescent co-reminiscing and adolescents’ individual recollections of a devastating tornado: Associations with enduring posttraumatic stress symptoms

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle L. Hendrickson ◽  
Madelaine R. Abel ◽  
Eric M. Vernberg ◽  
Kristina L. McDonald ◽  
John E. Lochman
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Emotion Socialization ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms ◽  
Personal Impact ◽  
Stress Symptoms ◽  
Tornado Event ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Disaster Exposure

AbstractAlthough disaster-related posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) typically decrease in intensity over time, some youth continue to report elevated levels of PTSS many years after the disaster. The current study examines two processes that may help to explain the link between disaster exposure and enduring PTSS: caregiver emotion socialization and youth recollection qualities. One hundred and twenty-two youth (ages 12 to 17) and their female caregivers who experienced an EF-4 tornado co-reminisced about the event, and adolescents provided independent recollections between 3 and 4 years after the tornado. Adolescent individual transcripts were coded for coherence and negative personal impact, qualities that have been found to contribute to meaning making. Parent–adolescent conversations were coded for caregiver egocentrism, a construct derived from the emotion socialization literature to reflect the extent to which the caregiver centered the conversation on her own emotions and experiences. Egocentrism predicted higher youth PTSS, and this association was mediated by the coherence of adolescents’ narratives. The association between coherence and PTSS was stronger for youth who focused more on the negative personal impacts of the tornado event during their recollections. Results suggest that enduring tornado-related PTSS may be influenced in part by the interplay of caregiver emotion socialization practices and youth recollection qualities.

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