Theory and Practice: A Matter of Words. Language, Knowledge and Professional Community in Social Work

The relation between theory and practice in social work has always been controversial. Recently, many have underlined how language is crucial in order to capture how knowledge is used in practice. This article introduces a language perspective to the issue, rooted in the ‘strong programme’ in the sociology of knowledge and in Wittgenstein’s late work. According to this perspective, the meaning of categories and concepts corresponds to the use that concrete actors make of them as a result of on-going negotiation processes in specific contexts. Meanings may vary dramatically across social groups moved by different interests and holding different cultures. Accordingly, we may reformulate the issue of theory and practice in terms of the connections between different language games and power relationship between segments of the professional community. In this view, the point is anyway to look at how theoretical language relates to practitioners’ broader frames, and how it is transformed while providing words for making sense of experience.

On the Role of Copyright Protection in the Information Society

In January 2012, Poland witnessed massive protests, both in the streets and on the Internet, opposing ratification of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which triggered a wave of strong anti-ACTA movements across Europe. In Poland, these protests had further far-reaching consequences, as they not only changed the initial position of the government on the controversial treaty but also actually started a public debate on the role of copyright law in the information society. Moreover, as a result of these events the Polish Ministry for Administration and Digitisation launched a round table, gathering various stakeholders to negotiate a potential compromise with regard to copyright law that would satisfy conflicting interests of various actors. This contribution will focus on a description of this massive resentment towards ACTA and a discussion of its potential reasons. Furthermore, the mechanisms that led to the extraordinary influence of the anti-ACTA movement on the governmental decisions in Poland will be analysed through the application of models and theories stemming from the social sciences. The importance of procedural justice in the copyright legislation process, especially its influence on the image of copyright law and obedience of its norms, will also be emphasised.

The role of specialisation in the promotion of young football talents: A person-oriented study

This paper investigates the controversial question whether it is more effective to promote specialisation in a specific sport at the beginning of a career or whether to encourage a broad range of sports when promoting competitive sports talents in order for them to achieve a high level of performance in adulthood. The issue of promoting talents depends on human developmental processes and therefore raises developmental scientific questions. Based on recent, dynamic-interactionist concepts of development, we assume a person-oriented approach focussing on the person as a whole rather than individual features. Theoretical considerations lead to four interacting factors being summarised to form a subsystem: childhood training. The relative weights of these factors lead to patterns. By relating these to a performance criterion at the age of peak performance, particularly promising developmental patterns may be identified. One hundred fifty-nine former Swiss football talents were retrospectively interviewed about their career and the data analysed using the LICUR method. Two early career patterns were identified as having a favourable influence on adult performance. Both are characterised by an above-average amount of in-club training. One pattern also exhibits an above-average amount of informal football played outside the club, the other above-average scores for activity in other sports. Hence, comprehensive training and practice inside and outside the club form the basis for subsequent football expertise.

The impact of the achievement motive on athletic performance in adolescent football players

Researchers largely agree that there is a positive relationship between achievement motivation and athletic performance, which is why the achievement motive is viewed as a potential criterion for talent. However, the underlying mechanism behind this relationship remains unclear. In talent and performance models, main effect, mediator and moderator models have been suggested. A longitudinal study was carried out among 140 13-year-old football talents, using structural equation modelling to determine which model best explains how hope for success (HS) and fear of failure (FF), which are the aspects of the achievement motive, motor skills and abilities that affect performance. Over a period of half a year, HS can to some extent explain athletic performance, but this relationship is not mediated by the volume of training, sport-specific skills or abilities, nor is the achievement motive a moderating variable. Contrary to expectations, FF does not explain any part of performance. Aside from HS, however, motor abilities and in particular skills also predict a significant part of performance. The study confirms the widespread assumption that the development of athletic performance in football depends on multiple factors, and in particular that HS is worth watching in the medium term as a predictor of talent.

Information Integration Theory and the Construction of Individually Perceived Group Efficacy

According to Bandura (1997) efficacy beliefs are a primary determinant of motivation. Still, very little is known about the processes through which people integrate situational factors to form efficacy beliefs (Myers & Feltz, 2007). The aim of this study was to gain insight into the cognitive construction of subjective group-efficacy beliefs. Only with a sound understanding of those processes is there a sufficient base to derive psychological interventions aimed at group-efficacy beliefs. According to cognitive theories (e.g., Miller, Galanter, & Pribram, 1973) individual group-efficacy beliefs can be seen as the result of a comparison between the demands of a group task and the resources of the performing group. At the center of this comparison are internally represented structures of the group task and plans to perform it. The empirical plausibility of this notion was tested using functional measurement theory (Anderson, 1981). Twenty-three students (M = 23.30 years; SD = 3.39; 35 % females) of the University of Bern repeatedly judged the efficacy of groups in different group tasks. The groups consisted of the subjects and another one to two fictive group members. The latter were manipulated by their value (low, medium, high) in task-relevant abilities. Data obtained from multiple full factorial designs were structured with individuals as second level units and analyzed using mixed linear models. The task-relevant abilities of group members, specified as fixed factors, all had highly significant effects on subjects’ group-efficacy judgments. The effect sizes of the ability factors showed to be dependent on the respective abilities’ importance in a given task. In additive tasks (Steiner, 1972) group resources were integrated in a linear fashion whereas significant interaction between factors was obtained in interdependent tasks. The results also showed that people take into account other group members’ efficacy beliefs when forming their own group-efficacy beliefs. The results support the notion that personal group-efficacy beliefs are obtained by comparing the demands of a task with the performing groups’ resources. Psychological factors such as other team members’ efficacy beliefs are thereby being considered task relevant resources and affect subjective group-efficacy beliefs. This latter finding underlines the adequacy of multidimensional measures. While the validity of collective efficacy measures is usually estimated by how well they predict performances, the results of this study allow for a somewhat internal validity criterion. It is concluded that Information Integration Theory holds potential to further help understand people’s cognitive functioning in sport relevant situations.