The Social Profitability Index in Communication (IRSCOM): Measuring for change

This article presents the construction of Social Profitability Index in Communication (IRSCOM), which aims to collect values linked to the operation of the media, rejecting the mercantilist vision and enhancing citizen participation and transparency in its management. This indicator is a proposal that seeks to correct deficiencies in the social profitability of the media to consolidate models that respond to logic focused on building democracy, the strength of plurality and diversity.

Latina Super-heroines: Hot Tamales in Tights vs. Women Warriors, Wrestlers and Guerrilla Fighters of La Raza

The year 1977 saw the making of the first Latino superhero by a Latino artist. From the 1980s onwards it is also possible to find Latina super-heroines, whose number and complexity has kept increasing ever since. Yet, the representations of spandexed Latinas are still few. For that reason, the goal of this paper is, firstly, to gather a great number of Latina super-heroines and, secondly, to analyze the role that they have played in the history of American literature and art. More specifically, it aims at comparing the spandexed Latinas created by non-Latino/a artists and mainstream comic enterprises with the Latina super-heroines devised by Latino/a artists. The conclusion is that whereas the former tend to conceive heroines within the constraints of the logic of Girl Power, the latter choose to imbue their works with a more daring political content and to align their heroines with the ideologies of Feminism and Postcolonialism.

From labelling to social aid for immigrants in the 21st Century

Migration is as old as humanity, but since the 1990s migration flows in Western Europe have led to societies that are not just multicultural but so-called «super-diverse». As a result, Western towns now have very complex social structures, with amongst others large amounts of small immigrant communities that are in constant change. In this paper we argue that for social workers to be able to offer adequate professional help to non-native residents in town, they will need balanced view of ‘culture’ and of the role culture plays in social aid. Culture is never static, but is continually changing. By teaching social workers about how to look at cultural backgrounds of immigrant groups and about the limitations of then role that culture plays in communication, they will be better equipped to provide adequate aid and will contribute to making various groups grow towards each other and to avoid people thinking in terms of ‘out-group-homogeneity’. Nowadays, inclusion is a priority in social work that almost every social worker supports. Social workers should have an open attitude to allow them to approach every individual as a unique person. They will see the other person as the person they are, and not as a part of a specific cultural group. Knowledge about the others makes them see the cultural heterogeneity in every group. The social sector, though, must be aware not to fall into the trap of the ‘inclusion mania’! This will cause the social deprivation of a particular group to be forgotten. An inclusive policy requires an inclusive society. Otherwise, this could result in even more deprivation of other groups, already discriminated against. Emancipation of deprived people demands a certain target-group policymaking. Categorized aid will raise efficiency of working with immigrants and of acknowledging the cultural identity of the non-natives group. It will also create the possibility to work on fighting social deprivation, in which most immigrants can be found.

El humor gráfico español ante el referéndum escocés del 18 de septiembre de 2014 ¿Dibujando la independencia de Cataluña?

El presente artículo analiza el discurso que los principales diarios españoles dieron al referéndum por la independencia de Escocia, celebrado el 18 de septiembre de 2014, a través del humor gráfico. Mediante el Análisis Textual, el objetivo primordial de este estudio es examinar el tratamiento informativo que realizaron El País, El Mundo, ABC, La Razón, La Vanguardia y El Periódico por medio de sus viñetas de opinión. Esta investigación presenta un campo novedoso de análisis tanto en el tema, abriendo nuevas áreas de trabajo sobre el nacionalismo y el papel de los medios, como en la metodología, pues el examen del humor gráfico continúa siendo una asignatura pendiente en los estudios de comunicación.

Aportación científica de los congresos de la AE-IC (2008-2014): reseña histórica y estado actual de la investigación en Comunicación

Esta investigación analiza la producción científica presentada en los congresos de la Asociación Española de Investigación de la Comunicación con el fin de comprender su desarrollo y su estado actual. Para ello, se han analizado 715 comunicaciones con veintidós variables, entre las que se encuentran: el autor, el género, la vinculación institucional, la nacionalidad, el tipo de comunicación, la metodología empleada, la réplica de contenidos, la tipología descriptiva y la finalidad de las comunicaciones. Entre otros hallazgos, los resultados muestran una mayoría femenina en la contribución académica, pero no entre los cargos académicos de mayor rango; la preferencia de los objetos de estudio empresariales, pero no profesionales o laborales; una tendencia hacia la mayor participación de doctorandos; y una elevada concentración de la producción científica en cuanto a la temática y la distribución territorial.

El lenguaje taurino metafórico de uso coloquial

Este trabajo ofrece una muestra del lenguaje taurino de uso común y metafórico en la comunicación cotidiana, detectado en prensa escrita, radio y televisión. Se incluye el total de expresiones recogidas y se señalan rasgos globales de este uso comunicativo, tales como los ámbitos y quiénes los usan; además se han clasificado los términos y expresiones más frecuentes, así como reconocido los significados de estas expresiones metafórico-taurinas. Igualmente, se extraen algunas implicaciones didácticas para su empleo en la enseñanza, como recurso valioso en el área de lengua. Finalmente, destacamos en las conclusiones el valor socio-cultural compartido del lenguaje taurino y su interés para la comprensión en el aprendizaje dado su valor metafórico en la comunicación.

Questioning the merits and demerits of electronic communication in Social Work

This paper examines the social dynamics of electronic exchanges in the human services, particularly in social work. It focuses on the observable effects that email and texting have on the linguistic, relational and clinical rather than managerial aspects of the profession. It highlights how electronic communication is affecting professionals in their practice and learners as they become acculturated to social work. What are the gains and losses of the broad use of electronic devices in daily lay and professional, verbal and non-verbal communication? Will our current situation be seriously detrimental to the demeanor of future practitioners, their use of language, and their ability to establish close personal relationships? The paper analyzes social work linguistic and behavioral changes in light of the growth of electronic communication and offers a summary of merits and demerits viewed through a prism emerging from Baron’s (2000) analysis of human communication.