Bonding and bridging : transition to school and social capital formation among a community of Indigenous Australian children

This study reports on an intervention program designed to facilitate transition to school of a whole community of Indigenous Australian children who had previously not been attending. The children were from families displaced from their traditional lands and experienced on-going social marginalisation and transience. A social capital framework was employed to track change in the children’s social inclusion and family-school engagement for two years, from school entry. Sociometric measurement and interview techniques were applied to assess the children’s social connectedness and peer relationship quality. Using these data, analyses examined whether bonding within the group supported or inhibited formation of new social relationships. Although transience disrupted attendance, there was a group trend towards increased social inclusion with some evidence that group bonds supported bridging to new social relationships. Change in family-school engagement was tracked using multi-informant interviews. Limited engagement between school and families presented an on-going challenge to sustained educational engagement.

The construction of social identity in new nuclear operators : a longitudinal study

Countless studies have stressed the importance of social identity, particularly its role in various organizational outcomes, yet questions remain as to how identities initially develop, shift and change based on the configuration of multiple, pluralistic relationships grounded in an organizational setting. The interactive model of social identity formation has been proposed recently to explain the internalization of shared norms and values – critical in identity formation – has not received empirical examination. We analyzed multiple sources of data from nine nuclear professionals over three years to understand the construction of social identity in new entrants entering an organization. Informed by our data analyses, we found support for the interactive model and that age and level of experience influenced whether they undertook an inductive or deductive route of the group norm and value internalization. This study represents an important contribution to the study of social identity and the process by which identities are formed, particularly under conditions of duress or significant organizational disruption.

The construction of social identity in newly recruited nuclear engineering staff : a longitudinal study

This study examines the process by which newly recruited nuclear engineering and technical staff came to understand, define, think, feel and behave within a distinct group that has a direct contribution to the organization's overall emphasis on a culture of reliability and system safety. In the field of organizational behavior the interactive model of social identity formation has been recently proposed to explain the process by which the internalization of shared norms and values occurs, an element critical in identity formation. Using this rich model of organizational behavior we analyzed multiple sources of data from nine new hires over a period of three years. This was done from the time they were employed to investigate the construction of social identity by new entrants entering into a complex organizational setting reflected in the context of a nuclear facility. Informed by our data analyses, we found support for the interactive model of social identity development and report the unexpected finding that a newly appointed member's age and level of experience appears to influence the manner in which they adapt, and assimilate into their surroundings. This study represents an important contribution to the safety and reliability literature as it provides a rich insight into the way newly recruited employees enact the process by which their identities are formed and hence act, particularly under conditions of duress or significant organizational disruption in complex organizational settings.

Social capital and neighbourhood centres in Queensland : qualitative case studies of three neighbourhood centres

This research paper examines the potential of neighbourhood centres to generate and enhance social capital through their programs, activities, membership associations and community engagement. Social capital is a complex concept involving elements of norms, networks, and trust and is generally seen as enhancing community cohesion and the ability to attain common goals (outlined in more detail in Section 3). The aim of this research project is to describe the nature of social capital formation in terms of development and change in norms, networks and trust within the context of the operations of neighbourhood centres in three Queensland locations (i.e., Sherwood, Kingston/Slacks Creek, and Maleny). The study was prompted by surprisingly little research into how neighbourhood centres and their clients contribute to the development of social capital. Considering the large volume of research on the role of community organisations in building social capital, it is remarkable that perhaps the most obvious organisation with 'social capitalist' intentions has received so little attention (apart from Bullen and Onyx, 2005). Indeed, ostensibly, neighbourhood centres are all about social capital.

Are the offences in the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) legitimate and effective? : an analysis based in harm and social norms theory

This thesis examines the effectiveness of offences in the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) in the online environment. The application of social norm theories suggests that the offences will be ineffective in creating an effective deterrent to non-commercial copyright infringement.

Are academics messy? Testing the broken windows theory with a field experiment in the work environment

We test the broken windows theory using a field experiment in a shared area of an academic workplace(the department common room). More specifically, we explore academics’ and postgraduate students’ behavior under an order condition (a clean environment) and a disorder condition (a messy environment). We find strong evidence that signs of disorderly behavior trigger littering: In 59% of the cases, subjects litter in the disorder treatment as compared to 18% in the order condition. These results remain robust in a multivariate analysis even when controlling for a large set of factors not directly examined by previous studies. Overall, when academic staff and postgraduate students observe that others have violated the social norm of keeping the common room clean, all else being equal, the probability of littering increases by around 40%.

The Cairns abortion trial : deviance, stigma and the spoiled identity

In 2010 a couple in Cairns were charged, and later found not guilty, of illegally obtaining a medical abortion through the use of medication imported from overseas. The court case reignited the contentious debate surrounding the illegality and social acceptance of abortion in Queensland, Australia. Based on a critical discourse analysis of 150 online news media articles covering the Cairns trial, this paper argues that the media shapes perceptions of deviance and stigma in relation to abortion through the use of language. In this case, the Cairns couple were positioned as deviant for pursuing abortion on the basis that they were rejecting the social norm of motherhood. This paper identifies three key themes evident in the articles analysed which contribute to shaping the construction of deviance – the humanising of the foetus, the stereotyping of the traditional female role of mother, and the demonising of women who choose abortion. This paper argues that the use of specific language in media coverage of abortion has the power to disrespect and invalidate the experiences, rights, and health of women who choose to terminate pregnancies.

The game of clones and the Australia tax : divergent views about copyright business models and the willingness of Australian consumers to infringe

It is often said that Australia is a world leader in rates of copyright infringement for entertainment goods. In 2012, the hit television show, Game of Thrones, was the most downloaded television show over bitorrent, and estimates suggest that Australians accounted for a plurality of nearly 10% of the 3-4 million downloads each week. The season finale of 2013 was downloaded over a million times within 24 hours of its release, and again Australians were the largest block of illicit downloaders over BitTorrent, despite our relatively small population. This trend has led the former US Ambassador to Australia to implore Australians to stop 'stealing' digital content, and rightsholders to push for increasing sanctions on copyright infringers. The Australian Government is looking to respond by requiring Internet Service Providers to issue warnings and potentially punish consumers who are alleged by industry groups to have infringed copyright. This is the logical next step in deterring infringement, given that the operators of infringing networks (like The Pirate Bay, for example) are out of regulatory reach. This steady ratcheting up of the strength of copyright, however, comes at a significant cost to user privacy and autonomy, and while the decentralisation of enforcement reduces costs, it also reduces the due process safeguards provided by the judicial process. This article presents qualitative evidence that substantiates a common intuition: one of the major reasons that Australians seek out illicit downloads of content like Game of Thrones in such numbers is that it is more difficult to access legitimately in Australia. The geographically segmented way in which copyright is exploited at an international level has given rise to a ‘tyranny of digital distance’, where Australians have less access to copyright goods than consumers in other countries. Compared to consumers in the US and the EU, Australians pay more for digital goods, have less choice in distribution channels, are exposed to substantial delays in access, and are sometimes denied access completely. In this article we focus our analysis on premium film and television offerings, like Game of Thrones, and through semi-structured interviews, explore how choices in distribution impact on the willingness of Australian consumers to seek out infringing copies of copyright material. Game of Thrones provides an excellent case study through which to frame this analysis: it is both one of the least legally accessible television offerings and one of the most downloaded through filesharing networks of recent times. Our analysis shows that at the same time as rightsholder groups, particularly in the film and television industries, are lobbying for stronger laws to counter illicit distribution, the business practices of their member organisations are counter-productively increasing incentives for consumers to infringe. The lack of accessibility and high prices of copyright goods in Australia leads to substantial economic waste. The unmet consumer demand means that Australian consumers are harmed by lower access to information and entertainment goods than consumers in other jurisdictions. The higher rates of infringement that fulfils some of this unmet demand increases enforcement costs for copyright owners and imposes burdens either on our judicial system or on private entities – like ISPs – who may be tasked with enforcing the rights of third parties. Most worryingly, the lack of convenient and cheap legitimate digital distribution channels risks undermining public support for copyright law. Our research shows that consumers blame rightsholders for failing to meet market demand, and this encourages a social norm that infringing copyright, while illegal, is not morally wrongful. The implications are as simple as they are profound: Australia should not take steps to increase the strength of copyright law at this time. The interests of the public and those of rightsholders align better when there is effective competition in distribution channels and consumers can legitimately get access to content. While foreign rightsholders are seeking enhanced protection for their interests, increasing enforcement is likely to increase their ability to engage in lucrative geographical price-discrimination, particularly for premium content. This is only likely to increase the degree to which Australian consumers feel that their interests are not being met and, consequently, to further undermine the legitimacy of copyright law. If consumers are to respect copyright law, increasing sanctions for infringement without enhancing access and competition in legitimate distribution channels could be dangerously counter-productive. We suggest that rightsholders’ best strategy for addressing infringement in Australia at this time is to ensure that Australians can access copyright goods in a timely, affordable, convenient, and fair lawful manner.

Effect of group formation on performance, task management and social loafing

Engineering graduates of today are required to adapt to a rapidly changing work environment. In particular, they are expected to demonstrate enhanced capabilities in both mono-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary teamwork environments. Engineering education needs, as a result, to further focus on developing group work capabilities amongst engineering graduates. Over the last two years, the authors trialed various group work strategies across two engineering disciplines. In particular, the effect of group formation on students' performance, task management, and social loafing was analyzed. A recently developed online teamwork management tool, Teamworker, was used to collect students' experience of the group work. Analysis showed that students who were allowed to freely allocate to any group were less likely to report loafing from other team members, than students who were pre-allocated to a group. It also showed that performance was more affected by the presence or absence of a leader in pre-allocated rather than free-allocated groups.

Do positional concerns destroy social capital : evidence from 26 countries

Research on the effects of positional concerns on individuals' attitudes and behavior is sorely lacking. To address this deficiency, we use the International Social Survey Programme 1998 data on 25,000 individuals from 26 countries to investigate the impact of relative income position on three facets of social capital: horizontal and vertical trust as well as norm compliance. Testing relative deprivation theory, we identify a deleterious positional income effect for persons below the reference income, particularly for their social trust and confidence in secular institutions. Also often a social capital-lowering effect of relative income advantage occurs, while a rise in absolute income almost always contributes positively. These results indicate that a rise in income inequality in a society too large is rather detrimental to the formation of social capital. (JEL Z130, I300, D310)

Emotional experiences of preservice science teachers in online learning : the formation, disruption and maintenance of social bonds

The enactment of learning to become a science teacher in online mode is an emotionally charged experience. We attend to the formation, maintenance and disruption of social bonds experienced by online preservice science teachers as they shared their emotional online learning experiences through blogs, or e-motion diaries, in reaction to videos of face-to-face lessons. A multi-theoretic framework drawing on microsociological perspectives of emotion informed our hermeneutic interpretations of students’ first-person accounts reported through an e-motion diary. These accounts were analyzed through our own database of emotion labels constructed from the synthesis of existing literature on emotion across a range of fields of inquiry. Preservice science teachers felt included in the face-to-face group as they watched videos of classroom transactions. The strength of these feelings of social solidarity were dependent on the quality of the video recording. E-motion diaries provided a resource for interactions focused on shared emotional experiences leading to formation of social bonds and the alleviation of feelings of fear, trepidation and anxiety about becoming science teachers. We offer implications to inform practitioners who wish to improve feelings of inclusion amongst their online learners in science education.

Decision making in social neurobiological systems modeled as transitions in dynamic pattern formation

Extant models of decision making in social neurobiological systems have typically explained task dynamics as characterized by transitions between two attractors. In this paper, we model a three-attractor task exemplified in a team sport context. The model showed that an attacker–defender dyadic system can be described by the angle x between a vector connecting the participants and the try line. This variable was proposed as an order parameter of the system and could be dynamically expressed by integrating a potential function. Empirical evidence has revealed that this kind of system has three stable attractors, with a potential function of the form V(x)=−k1x+k2ax2/2−bx4/4+x6/6, where k1 and k2 are two control parameters. Random fluctuations were also observed in system behavior, modeled as white noise εt, leading to the motion equation dx/dt = −dV/dx+Q0.5εt, where Q is the noise variance. The model successfully mirrored the behavioral dynamics of agents in a social neurobiological system, exemplified by interactions of players in a team sport.

The pet factor - Companion animals as a conduit for getting to know people, friendship formation and social support

BACKGROUND: While companion animals have been previously identified as a direct source of companionship and support to their owners, their role as a catalyst for friendship formation or social support networks among humans has received little attention. This study investigated the indirect role of pets as facilitators for three dimensions of social relatedness; getting to know people, friendship formation and social support networks. METHODS: A telephone survey of randomly selected residents in four cities, one in Australia (Perth; n = 704) and three in the U.S. (San Diego, n = 690; Portland, n = 634; Nashville, n = 664) was conducted. All participants were asked about getting to know people within their neighborhood. Pet owners were asked additional questions about the type/s of pet/s they owned, whether they had formed friendships as a result of their pet, and if they had received any of four different types of social support from the people they met through their pet. RESULTS: Pet owners were significantly more likely to get to know people in their neighborhood than non-pet owners (OR 1.61; 95%CI: 1.30, 1.99). When analyzed by site, this relationship was significant for Perth, San Diego and Nashville. Among pet owners, dog owners in the three U.S. cities (but not Perth) were significantly more likely than owners of other types of pets to regard people whom they met through their pet as a friend (OR 2.59; 95%CI: 1.94, 3.46). Around 40% of pet owners reported receiving one or more types of social support (i.e. emotional, informational, appraisal, instrumental) via people they met through their pet. CONCLUSION: This research suggests companion animals can be a catalyst for several dimensions of human social relationships in neighborhood settings, ranging from incidental social interaction and getting to know people, through to formation of new friendships. For many pet owners, their pets also facilitated relationships from which they derived tangible forms of social support, both of a practical and emotionally supportive nature. Given growing evidence for social isolation as a risk factor for mental health, and, conversely, friendships and social support as protective factors for individual and community well-being, pets may be an important factor in developing healthy neighborhoods.

Theorising the impacts of digitally mediated social interaction on diasporic identity formation: A case of Chinese diaspora in Australia

With the scope of Chinese diaspora in Australia, this paper theorises the impacts of digitally mediated social interaction on diasporic identity formation in the new media landscape. People’s identity is the outcome of their social interactions with other individuals. In the new media landscape, digital media technologies are changing the way in which people communicate with others. On one hand, space and time are unprecedentedly compressed by media technologies so people can maintain more frequent and instant connections with others than before. On the other hand, the digital media technologies have constructed a virtual social space that might withdraw people from their physical social interactions. As we witness today, our social interactions are increasing digitally mediated, in the forms of posts and comments in social network sites, as well as the messages in social apps. As to the diasporic groups, this new media landscape is presenting a challenge to their identity formation. They physically live in the host countries but still keep close social and cultural connections with their homelands. Facilitated by digital media technologies, they are facing two platforms in which they can practice different identity performances: one is the digitally mediated social network; the other is the physical social network. In the case of Chinese diaspora, the situation is more complex due to the language factor and media censorship in Mainland China, which will be articulated in the main text. This paper aims to fill a gap between media studies and diaspora research. Most of existing research on the relationship between diasporic identity and media primarily focuses on the development of ethnic media institutions, and the production and consumption of ethnic media in the pre-digital media context. However, the process of globalisation and digital media technologies are increasing the homogeneity and hybridity of media content worldwide. In this new context, attributing the formation of different identities to the consumption of media content is arguable to some extent. Therefore, the overlapped area of new media studies and diaspora research still has space deserves further investigation.

Rationality, governmentality, natio(norm)ality: Shaping social science, scientific objects, and the invisible

The discipline of education in Anglophone-dominant contexts has always grappled with a kind of status anxiety relative to other disciplines. This is in part due to the ways in which evidence has been thought about in the theoretico-experimental sciences relative to the ethico-redemptive ones. By examining that which was considered to fall to the side of science, even of social science, this paper complexifies contemporary debates over educational science and research, including debates over evidence-based education or assumed divisions between the quantitative/qualitative and empirical/conceptual. It reapproaches historical vagaries in discourses of vision that underscore the arbitrariness of approaches to social scientific research and its objects. A less-considered set of spatializations and regionalisms in social scientific conceptions of rationality especially are exposed through a close reading of the Harvard University philosopher William James' more marginalized texts.