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Lee Papa & Luke Eric Lassiter, The Muncie Race Riots of 1967, Representing Community Memory Through Public Performance, And Collaborative Ethnography Between Faculty, Students, And The Local Community. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 32, No. 2, 147-166 (2003)

Abstract:

In October 1967, a footnote in the larger national struggle over civil rights for African Americans occurred at Southside High School in Muncie, Indiana. On the nineteenth, a fight broke out between about 100 black and white students in the halls of the school, where the football team was named the "Rebels," and a modified Confederate flag flew just in front of the building. In spring 2001, a group of Ball State University faculty and students along with a group of more than thirty consultants from the Muncie community engaged in a collaborative ethnographic project to present the community’s memory of the event as a theatrical performance. This essay details this process as well as its consequences for practicing reciprocal and collaborative representation.

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Daniel D Martin, From Appearance Tales to Oppression Tales: Frame Alignment and Organizational Identity. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 31, No. 2, 158-206 (2002)

Abstract:

Based on participant observation and taped interviews with participants and leaders in Weight Watchers, Overeaters Anonymous, and the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA), this article considers how organizations accomplish frame alignment with their members. All three organizations construct frames of meanings concerning participation, appearance, and food that reflect their own objectives. However, these frames must be aligned with members' own meanings, which, at times, contradict the organizational frame. Frame alignment is accomplished in Weight Watchers by group leaders emphasizing rationality with regards to food, body, and social relationships. Within Overeaters Anonymous, a redemptive frame is constructed that transforms the dieting practices of its members into a spiritual activity. The injustice frame of NAAFA transforms mundane aspects of everyday life, such as eating, into a political activity. As all members adopt the meanings of their respective program, they come to embrace a new personal identity that serves the organization.

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Raymond A Friedman, Interaction Norms as Carriers of Organizational Culture: A Study of Labor Negotiations at International Harvester. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 18, No. 1, 3-29 (1989)

Abstract:

 Too often, practitioners and theorists alike have tended to locate organizational culture in the mottoes and symbolic acts of top managers and to attribute to those leaders the ability to change and manage meaning from visible, yet distant, perches on the organizational chart. By contrast, I propose that the study of organizational culture focus on the networks of social interaction that constitute organizational life, and the rituals that support those interactions. This perspective is derived from an analysis of International Harvester's six-month-long UAW strike in 1979. In this case, management tried to redefine the established labor-relations culture by eliminating those managers who carried and reproduced that culture, but in doing so they also eliminated the company's knowledge of the subtle interaction rituals that had guided and supported labor negotiations. This, I argue, was a major factor contributing to the breakdown of negotiations at IH in 1979.

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Eric Walton, The Persistence of Bureaucracy: A Meta-analysis of Weber’s Model of Bureaucratic Control. Organization Studies, Vol. 26, 569 – 600 (2005)

Abstract:

The model of bureaucratic control is an enduring part of modern organizational theory. This study draws on almost four decades of empirical research in assessing the general validity of the model. Meta-analytical techniques are used for estimating the general relationships among key aspects of bureaucratic control, removing the effects of statistical artifacts and exploring the relative persistence of the model. The results provide substantial support for the model of bureaucratic control. The average correlation among the structural variables is .54. Overall, the paper concludes that there are reasons to see the bureaucratic model of control as generalizable and of continuing relevance to discussions of organizational structures.

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Dominique Martin et al., The Sociology of Globalization. International Sociology, Vol. 21, 499 – 521 (2006)

Abstract:

Although the word ‘globalization’ is widely used, its sociological meaning needs clarification. The aim of this article is to achieve that, while returning to the basic premise that sociology is the primary discipline that charts changes within the world-society. Two typical subjects for the sociology of globalization can be distinguished: defining what is ‘global’ at first sight and the identification of similar changes in (almost) all countries. However, can national-born concepts help to explain these subjects? This is debated by considering the sociology of social movements (Touraine) and the sociology of the elite (Aron and Rocher) to explain power in the study of alterglobalist movements. The authors conclude that in order to understand world metamorphosis, there is an urgency to make available accurate and reliable data and match universally recognized definitions. Both of these suggestions bring us to the broader yet fundamental issue of the specific principles required within the social sciences.

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Kyle Irwin, Tucker Mcgrimmon, and Brent Simpson, Sympathy and Social Order. Social Psychology Quarterly, December 2008; vol. 71, 4: pp. 379-397.

Abstract:

Social order is possible only if individuals forgo the narrow pursuit of self-interest for the greater good. For over a century, social scientists have argued that sympathy mitigates self-interest and recent empirical work supports this claim. Much less is known about why actors experience sympathy in the first place, particularly in fleeting interactions with strangers, where cooperation is especially uncertain. We argue that perceived interdependence increases sympathy towards strangers. Results from our first study, a vignette experiment, support this claim and suggests a situational solution to social dilemmas. Meanwhile, previous work points to two strong individual-level predictors of cooperation: generalized trust and social values. In Study Two we address the intersection of situational and individual-level explanations to ask: does situational sympathy mediate these individual-level predictors of cooperation? Results from the second study, a laboratory experiment, support our hypotheses that sympathy mediates the generalized trust-cooperation link and the relationship between social values and cooperation. The paper concludes with a discussion of limitations of the present work and directions for future research.

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Haase, Dwight, Banking on the poor. Contexts, Feb 2012; vol. 11: pp. 36-41

Abstract:

Sociologist Dwight Haase explores how one man's efforts to help his village neighbors evolved into a global corporate market--with unintended consequences. Haase provides insight into how the microfinance movement turned into an industry.

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Hamilton, Laura, Armstrong, Elizabeth A., The (Mis)Education of Monica and Karen. Contexts, Nov 2012; vol. 11: pp. 22-27

Abstract:

Monica and Karen, two typical in-state students starting college at a mid-tier public university in the Midwest, encounter organizational arrangements best designed to serve affluent, out-of-state partiers who can afford to pay full freight. Sociologists Laura Hamilton and Elizabeth A. Armstrong discuss how Monica and Karen's stories reveal the great mismatch between the needs of most college students and what many four-year residential universities offer.