Similarities in body image in sisters: the role of sociocultural internalization and social comparison

The sociocultural theory of body image disturbance states that Western women experience pressure from sources such as parents, peers, and the media to maintain thinness. Social comparison theory emphasises the role of comparing one's appearance to others. Body image disturbance; awareness and Internalization of sociocultural messages regarding thinness; and sibling social comparisons were examined in 41 closest-in-age sisters through self-report questionnaires. Sisters showed similar levels of body image disturbance and sociocultural awareness and internalization. Sibling comparisons were negative for younger sisters but neutral or positive for older sisters. Sociocultural internalization predicted body dissatisfaction in both sisters, and body size distortion in younger sisters. Negative sibling comparisons during teenage years predicted body size distortion and body dissatisfaction in younger sisters, and preference for thinness in older sisters.

Teaching organisational theory in undergraduate management programmes: an exercise in facilitated theory testing for active experimentation

This paper argues that there is an opportunity to improve the way that social science theory is taught by introducing an exercise in facilitated theory testing through active experimentation. This paper describes a learning experience that enables students to discover the dynamic nature of theoretical discoveries. This idea is grounded in the notion that students will gain much from learning about and testing theory experientially using real world data. A data based exercise is outlined and illustrated to reveal a learning experience that provides an opportunity to improve the way social science is taught by linking theory to empirical data. We argue that this provides an opportunity to offer a more holistic learning experience for theory teaching. The paper will be of special interest to those teaching theory in management, commerce, business and organisational studies courses. It will also be of interest to a more general audience because it provides a framework that can be modified whenever forging a connection between theory and 'the real world' is a primary learning objective.

Individual, social and home environment determinants of change in children's television viewing: the Switch-Play intervention

Understanding potential determinants of change in television (TV) viewing among children may enhance the effectiveness of programs targeting this behaviour. This study aimed to investigate the contribution of individual, social and home environment factors among 10-year-old Australian children to change in TV viewing over a 21-month period. A total of 164 children (49% boys) completed a 19-lesson (9-month) intervention program to reduce TV viewing time. Children completed self-administered surveys four times over 21 months (pre- and post-intervention, 6- and 12-month follow-up). Baseline factors associated with change in TV viewing during the intervention and follow-up periods were: ‘asking parents ≥once/week to switch off the TV and play with them’ (21.6 min/day more than those reporting <once/week, p = 0.007); being able to ‘watch just 1 h of TV per day’ (26.1 min/day less than those who could not, p = 0.010); ‘watching TV no matter what was on’ (36.6 min/day more than those who did not, p < 0.001); and ‘continuing to watch TV after their program was over’ (33.0 min/day more than those who did not, p = 0.006). With every unit increase in baseline frequency of TV viewing with family and friends, children spent on average 4.0 min/day more watching TV over the 21-month period (p = 0.047). Baseline number and placement of TVs at home did not predict change in children's TV viewing over the 21 months. Greater understanding of the family dynamics and circumstances, as well as the individual and social determinants of TV viewing, will be required if we are to develop effective strategies for reducing TV viewing in children.

What can we learn about social work assessment from the textbooks?

Summary: Although often criticized for inadequacies, textbooks are both highly influential and a readily available source of information about contemporary thinking in social work theory and practice. As part of a series of studies about facilitating learning and teaching about assessment in social work, the authors have been conducting a review of how this professional task is presented in textbooks which are currently known to be used in programmes of social work education in the UK. Relevant chapters of each of the selected textbooks were subjected to an in-depth analysis in order to determine how assessment was understood, assessment processes, relevance to the UK practice context and evidence bases.

Findings: What are considered the key issues in, and skills required for, social work assessment are contested, with considerable variety between textbooks as to the extent of detail and topics covered in relation to assessment. Some issues which are prominent in the policy context, such as the need to ensure the involvement of service user and carer perspectives, and multidisciplinary assessment, were hardly mentioned. Changes in emphasis over time and differences in emphasis between textbooks published in the UK and North America were found.

Applications: Given the many differences in emphasis and depth of content between textbooks ostensibly outlining the same aspects of practice, it is essential that educators have a clear rationale for recommending particular textbooks.

Measuring human well-being in Thailand : a normative social choice approach

Numerous methods exist within the literature to measure human well-being. A limitation of some approaches however is that they fail to explicitly consider society's views, choices and preferences on how human well-being should be defined. It is possible though to explicitly incorporate society's value judgements in defining and measuring human well-being through normative social choice theory. Normative social choice theory reflects the views, opinions and perspectives of societies of differing economic and social circumstances so that measures of human well-being retain their relevance for public policy makers in those countries. This paper reviews two indicators based on this theory for Thailand over the 25 year period, 1975-1999. The first indicator focuses on certain hierarchical needs and the second is a measure of adjusted national income. It is concluded that both measures provide important insights.

Extending social marketing to emergency services organisations

Social marketing theory is examined in relation to an organisational context which has received little attention. This paper examines the development of an integrated social marketing campaign for a State Emergency Service, and focusses on a particularly serious scenario where the penalty for miscommunication may be death, widespead injury or substantial property damage. The researchers take an action research approach, identifying community perceptions of risk to determine appropriate communication message development. The study identifies the factors contributing to risk perception beyond traditional concepts of involvement which are common in studies of consumer behaviour. Additionally, this paper provides an investigation of some of the issues that affect communication effectiveness, such as the influence of stakeholders, the poor performance of traditional communications methods, the utility of social marketing principles, and segmentation requirements, as well as influential ideas from the general risk communication literature.

Global social justice at the WTO? The role of NGOs in constructing global social contracts

Over the past decade, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been contesting the neo-liberal economic order in international politics by campaigning for normative conditions to bring about what Richard Falk calls 'humane governance'. However, the degree to which NGOs have contributed to the formation of global social contracts remains controversial. While NGO activists and various scholars advocate the establishment of such contracts, empirical testing of this normative argument is underdeveloped. Drawing upon this lack of empirical support, critics dismiss the global social contract concept and question the roles played by NGOs in international politics. This article addresses the controversy through a review, refinement and application of global social contract theory and an empirical study of two prominent international NGO campaigns directed at the World Trade Organization (WTO), an institution that represents a 'hard test case'. It explores the ways in which NGOs and their networks are challenging the neo-liberal basis of WTO agreements and contributing to the emergence of global social contracts. The article concludes that in some circumstances, NGOs have the capacity to inject social justice into international economic contracts and there is some basis for optimism regarding the formation of global social contracts involving NGOs, nation-states and international organizations.

Investigating social marketing, benchmarking and public policy development in environmental management

This paper discusses, an application of social marketing relating to pro-environmental awareness and social change. The integration of consumer behaviour theory into social marketing has been highlighted in the literature as requiring greater attention. Social marketing campaigns, like all marketing activities, rely on an understanding of stakeholders' attitudes and motivations in regard to the issue of concern, as well as towards the desired modified behaviour or lack of behaviour. The study highlights the marketing paradigms of benchmarking and social marketing in a not for profit governmental environment. Serrated Tussock has been designated as a weed of national significance and therefore the program has national implications (Thorp 2000). Even though issues associated with introduced species are less publicised than other environmental issues on the world stage, the associated environmental problems are no less severe than those caused by production and consumption activities. Weed control is a widespread problem facing individuals, communities and governments at all levels. A triangulatory approach, involving three distinct phases and incorporating both qualitative and quantitative tools, was used for the research design. The qualitative phase involved focus groups and in depth interviews with landholders, focus groups with professionals in the field and a focus group of key stakeholders. The mail survey resulted in a representative sample of 608 usable responses from the infestation area. The research conducted in this study illustrates how the various stages in the social marketing process were achieved and recommendations consistent with social marketing theory were generated.

What can Arendt's theorising add to critical social workers empowerment practice?

Empowerment is one of the most frequently invoked concepts in critical social work theory and practice. Critical social work theory tends to privilege the concept of “power” as the central concept in em-power-ment. However over the last two decades postmodern and poststructural thought has discredited how power was understood in critical social work. Some leading critical social workers have re-thought the notion of “power” with Foucault’s early and middle work. One of the key problems raised by leading social workers is about how to re-think “allowance for difference” in empowerment practice (Fook 2002; Healy 2000). I argue that to re-think power in relation specifically to problems with “allowance for difference” using Foucault’s early and middle work is not possible because he is still conflating power with domination. Hence I turn to Hannah Arendt’s theorising on power. For Arendt power is understood as the capacity of people to “act in concert” and to create something new. Arendt’s concepts of “plurality”, “natality” and “publicness”, I argue can add a much to critical social work empowerment practice by re-thinking the notion of “allowance for difference” in critical empowerment social work.

Policy in the knowledge economy social network : a social capital redux

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to suggest how enabling policy should be focused in a knowledge economy by developing the concept of a knowledge economy social network (KESN).

Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs an interdisciplinary approach in developing the KESN by drawing on concepts and methodology from economics, political science and social network theory.

Findings – The KESN's social capital is defined. As such, maintaining accountability, increasing cohesion and connections among knowledge actors are suggested as relevant guidelines for policy in the KESN.

Research limitations/implications – The knowledge economy should ideally be seen as having unique needs compared to the traditional economy in devising policy.

Practical implications – The paper suggests using the KESN as a basis for devising policy for a knowledge economy.

Originality/value – The paper uses an interdisciplinary approach to studying the knowledge economy and introduces the KESN.

Critical social work : an introduction to theories and practices

A comprehensive introduction to the most widely used approach to social work theory and practice. It offers a systematic overview of core theories and practice issues in challenging domination and oppression.

Helping business leverage web 2.0 to generate social capital

Businesses large and small are keen to leverage Web 2.0 applications to interact with customers, suppliers and other stakeholders. Whilst some have achieved success, others are still struggling to understand the opportunities and threats associated with using Web 2.0 in business. This paper discusses the development of a conceptual framework to help businesses understand how they could leverage Web 2.0 applications to generate social capital. The proposed framework helps businesses (i) identify opportunities to leverage the strengths and features of various Web 2.0 applications, and (ii) develop business strategies for Web 2.0. As a positional paper, it contributes to theory by proposing a systematic and structured approach for understanding how social capital is created, captured, distributed, and consumed online.

Paper 4 : Schooling, identity and social connectivity

This paper will report on the progress of a large three year Australian Research Council (ARC) grant awarded to a multidisciplinary team of researchers in Victoria, Australia. The research, A multi-disciplinary investigation of how trauma and chronic illness impact on schooling, identity and social connectivity commenced in 2007 and is known as Keeping Connected (2007). The research is a collaborative grant in partnership with the Royal Children’s Hospital Education Institute, in association with the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne and the Centre for Adolescent Health, Royal Children’s Hospital. The research aims to investigate qualitatively, longitudinally and through multiple perspectives how young people construct/reconstruct identity and relationships with schooling following disruption associated with chronic illness. Using a mixed methodology, but with a central focus on longitudinal qualitative studies from the perspective of the young people, the study aims to identify key elements of disruption or continued connection, and will illuminate identity issues of people facing this disruption at different age and schooling points. The research outcomes will support education and health practices and provide a differently focused empirical contribution to the literature on education and social connection. The paper works at mixing methods qualitatively, rather than focusing on the overall mixed method design of the study. Assemblages of social capital theory and sociomateriality may be a useful standpoint for the development of our empirical contribution.

A further development in social marketing application of the MOA framework and behavioral implications

This social marketing study discusses the application of Rothschild’s MOA framework (Motivation, Opportunity, and Ability) in a land-use management context. The authors hypothesize that landholders with higher levels of MOA are positively associated with behavior that would result in the effective control of a vertebrate pest (the European rabbit). A random sample of 566 land managers in southeastern Australia was obtained. The development of scales associated with this study were the result of intensive qualitative research, including focus groups, in-depth interviews, and a thorough review of secondary resources. The scales were developed through a factor analytic process and were piloted and pre-tested before being used.

From the study it is ascertained that about one-third of land managers fall into the highest level of effective behavior, and for the remainder, social marketing interventions, using marketing, education, and the law, could be applied to changebehavior. The study provides evidence that Rothschild’s theoretical MOA framework can be applied to a social market and thus provides guidance on the types of interventions that may be effective in altering behavior. The MOA framework also provides a mechanism for segmentation that can be used to describe various markets and gives direction to the interventions that may be effective in altering behavior.

Reigniting the fire : a contemporary research agenda for social, political and nonprofit marketing

The paper reports on the core challenges faced by the nonprofit, political and social marketing disciplinary areas and suggests a series of research agendas to develop theory and practice to meet these challenges.

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Social marketing's research agenda involves the continued adaptation of the new developments in commercial marketing, whilst building a base of social marketing theory and best practice benchmarks that can be used to identify, clarify and classify the boundaries of social marketing against social change techniques.
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Nonprofit marketing is pursuing the dual research agenda of developing the theory and practice of social entrepreneurship whilst seeking deeper consumer-based research to understand motivations for charitable behaviour and gift giving.
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Political Marketing's research agenda looks for an increase in the level of background research, core data and market research to use as a basis for developing more advanced theoretical and practical models. In addition, as political marketing is being transferred internationally between a range of political and electoral systems, there is a need for comparative research into both the relevance and effectiveness of these techniques to isolate nation independent and nation dependent political marketing strategies and campaigns.