Exercise Of Control Research Articles

Overcoming Greed: An Eastern Christian Perspective

Overcoming Greed:An Eastern Christian Perspective1 Valerie A. Karras As an Eastern Orthodox Christian, I have chosen to approach the topic of "overcoming greed" from an Eastern Christian perspective, relying particularly on the writings of some of the early theologians of the Greek East. It is not coincidental either that laissez-faire capitalism arose in the Western Christian world, or that the first strongholds of communism developed in Eastern European, traditionally Orthodox, countries. Both phenomena speak to an intrinsic difference in the way in which human beings are conceived as relating to the world and to each other, both personally and communally.The traditional Eastern Christian model of the human person as not simply caretaker of creation, but fundamentally as a mediator uniting all aspects of creation in humanity's own nature,2 has led historically to a general lack of interest in exploiting creation (in fact, the worst environmental problems in the Orthodox world occurred in countries after they came under totalitarian communist domination). Similarly, the Eastern Orthodox emphasis on the relational, and even communal, nature of salvation created an environment hostile to the individualist, exploitative model upon which modern Western economics has been founded (this has been rapidly changing in post-communist Eastern European countries and Russia, however). The Eastern Church identifies this phenomenon of exploitative and abusive relationships toward nature and other persons as a consequence of the fallen condition of humanity, that is, humanity as it currently exists, in a state where our natural communion with God has been ruptured. In this context, Christianity in general and Eastern Christianity in particular recognize greed as one of the passions (equivalent to what Buddhism describes as "cravings") that are part of our fallen human nature, a consequence of our separation from God. Some of the passions are primarily physical in nature, others emotional or psychic, but in fact virtually all passions are a combination of the two. Greed, a passion of both soul and body that is endemic to our current existence, is typical of this understanding. There are two aspects to the vice of greed: (1) the emotional or spiritual dimension, that is, the acquisitive lust that usually betokens either a deep-seated insecurity or, worse, a desire for power and control; and (2) the [End Page 47] external, physical manifestations of greed in the actual acquisition of things, often to the detriment or exploitation of others. Eastern Christian writings attempt to work on both dimensions of the passion of greed, especially the spiritual, while often distinguishing between greed (a moral vice) and wealth (an amoral condition). This article will focus on two early church theologians, Clement of Alexandria and John Chrysostom. In particular, it will focus on their biblical exegeses of two pertinent New Testament passages: Jesus' conversation with a young righteous scholar of the Mosaic Law and the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, respectively. Finally, I will suggest that, for Orthodox Christians, an important key to overcoming greed is disciplined asceticism, to be practiced by all persons and not simply by monks and nuns. Asceticism—the exercise of control over the passions through fasting, prayer, chastity (understood differently for married and unmarried persons), and almsgiving—is the vehicle by which to cultivate an attitude of apatheia or passionlessness, the Christian equivalent of the Buddhist ideal of detachment. Clement was a philosopher-theologian who headed the great Christian catechetical school in Alexandria in the late second century C.E. In his treatise Who IstheRich ManWhoWill Be Saved? 3 Clement mused on the spiritual and soteriological dimensions of greed by reflecting on Jesus' encounter with the wealthy young "lawyer," that is, scholar of the Mosaic Law, who questioned Jesus on how to acquire eternal life. In his response, the young man showed himself righteous in his adherence to the demands of the law, but ultimately unwilling to commit all of himself by giving away his property, even though Jesus said that it was the price to inherit eternal life. Clement pondered whether it were therefore possible for anyone wealthy to be saved, given Jesus' declaration that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man...

Shareholder Oppression & Dividend Policy in the Close Corporation

The receipt of a dividend is perhaps the most basic method by which a shareholder earns a return on its investment in a corporation. Because of the dividend's importance, scholars have long focused their attention on the fundamental question of when judicial intervention into a company's dividend policy is warranted. Significantly, however, this academic focus has concentrated almost exclusively on the publicly-held corporation. In that context, a number of authorities have argued that there is little need for the judiciary to involve itself in compelling the payment of dividends, primarily because of the disciplinary effect of a well-established market. In the close corporation setting, however, this market-based rationale is wholly inapplicable. A close corporation, by definition, lacks a market for its stock. When close corporation dividend policy is at issue, therefore, a hands-off attitude by the judiciary makes considerably less sense. Although other scholars have previously made this observation, the academic discussion has not proceeded substantially beyond the observation itself. It is important, therefore, to return to the fundamental question and to consider it in the close corporation setting - i.e., when is judicial intervention into a close corporation's dividend policy warranted? To some extent, a consideration of this question has been aided by the development of the shareholder oppression doctrine. The doctrine of shareholder oppression attempts to safeguard the close corporation minority investor from the improper exercise of majority control. By identifying and protecting the of close corporation shareholders, including the expectation of dividends, the oppression doctrine combats majority shareholder efforts to exclude a minority investor from the company's financial and participatory benefits. Although the doctrine usefully acknowledges that close corporation shareholders can have expectations of dividends, the doctrine provides no guidance on whether an asserted expectation is reasonable, and thus enforceable, in the particular circumstances before a court. One could argue, therefore, that the shareholder oppression doctrine has simply rephrased the fundamental question. Asking whether judicial intervention into a close corporation's dividend policy is warranted, in other words, is functionally equivalent to asking whether a shareholder's expectation of dividends is reasonable in the circumstances. This article squarely addresses the issue of close corporation dividend policy and the question of when judicial intervention is warranted. More specifically, this article analyzes close corporation dividend disputes through the lens of the shareholder oppression doctrine. By examining when a shareholder's expectation of dividends is and enforceable, this article moves beyond the mere observation that close corporations require greater judicial scrutiny. Indeed, the article discusses the basic types of dividend disputes that arise in close corporations and provides guidance to courts for resolving such disputes.

The Intifada and the Aid Industry: The Impact of the New Liberal Agenda on the Palestinian NGOs

The outbreak of the second intifada in September 2000 marks a return for the Palestinians to a period of direct anti-colonial struggle against the Israeli occupation. As the intifada attempts to figure conditions of possibility for Palestinian independence, it poses practical and theoretical challenges to researchers and practitioners alike. The intifada directly addresses Palestinian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) as well as their international non-governmental organization (INGO) and donor counterparts. The uprising beckons these organizations to intervene and respond to the humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and Gaza; to act as a witness in the face of Israel’s massive military offensive against the Palestinian population; and to support the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. In making this invocation, the Palestinian uprising provides the occasion, which unequivocally exposes the previously latent, manifold contradictions, and reveals the tensions in their relationship with the donors. The intifada exposes a disconnection between NGOs and popular movements in Palestine. It reveals Palestinian NGO activists as not able to articulate between their own aspirations for Palestinian freedom and independence and the overarching national agenda. This in turn raises complicated questions: how does one conceptualize and explain the relationship between NGOs, INGOs and donors, and what are the most important structural relations and historically contingent factors that have shaped and constituted this relationship? This article will attempt to shed some light about the paradoxes illuminated by the uprising. Based on empirical research and interviews conducted before the outbreak of the second intifada and during it, we analyze in the first section the role of the NGOs during this intifada and the impact of the aid industry in shaping this role. More broadly the role of NGOs cannot be understood without unraveling the nature of the relationship between Palestinian NGOs (PNGOs), INGOs and donors, as set within and shaped by processes internal to Palestinian society, as well as mechanisms and structural relations within the aid industry. This will be developed in the second section. I. The Intifada and the Problematic Modes of Action of the Palestinian NGOs The outbreak of the second intifada is nothing short of a collective act of resistance against Israel’s occupation and its colonial system of control. During seven years of the Oslo, Israel’s exercise of control over the Palestinians not only deepened, but metamorphosed into an apartheid regime of checkpoints, permit system, bypass roads, and settlements, encircling and besieging Palestinian cantons of ‘territoriality.’ 1 By 2003, however, as the Palestinian uprising enters its third year, a palpable sense of crisis is evident. Not only has Israel’s siege on Palestinian towns, its military invasions and its reoccupation of the West Bank, exacted a heavy humanitarian, social and economic toll, but disquiet looms over the achievements of the uprising. Behind closed doors questions are being raised about the capacity of the intifada to realize Palestinian political aspirations, given the variance in tactics and strategies espoused by different factions and the difficulties of harmonizing societal energies and harnessing them into a single end. This is not to mention the colonial stratagems of the Sharon government’s and its use of armed provocations, particularly its assassinations of Palestinian leaders, not only as a way to escalate the conflict, but also to create havoc within Palestinian internal politics, in an attempt to thwart Palestinian national unity. There are three separate challenges facing Palestinian society today. A consideration of each will delineate the disjunctures and antagonisms within the NGO sphere that are have a bearing on the current crisis, as well as illustrate the overarching issues framing NGO, INGO and donor relations in Palestine.

Les stratégies juridiques des sociétés transnationales :

SUMMARY LEGAL STRATEGIES OF TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS : THE EXAMPLE OF TRANSFER PRICING Transnational Corporations (TNC) use legal strategies, which directly or indirectly, impact on the normative power of States. Transfer pricing, which basically is a simple economic technique, presents a topical example. It produces normative effects in a general sense in that States cannot avoid recognising and legitimising them. Due to the complexity of transfer pricing, its control by State authorities is bound to remain approximative. In addition, transfer pricing may also produce normative effects in a stricter sense in that eventual recoveries of taxes foregone frequently will be a matter of negotiation between States and the TNC concerned. The outcome of these negotiations is largely predetermined by the TNC themselves as they hold all the necessary information. In the context of globalisation, this negotiated « regulation » is not even irregular. Indeed, international law, in particular as shaped by OECD, is concerned with the attractiveness of national regulation for market participants, notably for TNC, as regulation should set incentives for attracting industrial and commercial activities. Of course, there will always be some exercise of control, but it remains embedded in the overall regulatory policy. In particular, the increasing number of agreements of transfer pricing shows the way for reconciling the policy objectives of setting incentives and exercising control. TNC effectively played their role of « norm-influencing » actors in this process. By circumventing national tax law they managed to help create new standards of transfer pricing control.

Staying Sober in Mexico City

* Acknowledgments * Introduction * Chapter One. Moral Support in Mexico City * Chapter Two. Religious Adaptations in Alcoholics Anonymous * Chapter Three. Meeting and Moving * Chapter Four. Storytelling * Chapter Five. Gender and the Construction of Manhood * Chapter Six. Blurred Boundaries and the Exercise of Social Control * Chapter Seven. Illness and Recovery * Chapter Eight. Sobriety and Survival * Appendix A. The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous/Los Doce Pasos de Alcoholicos Anonimos * Appendix B. The Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous/Las Doce Tradiciones de Alcoholicos Anonimos * Notes * References Cited * Index

Power and Control Dynamics in Prestalking and Stalking Situations

Power and control have often been addressed in the domestic violence literature (e.g. [Babcock, J. C., Waltz, J., Jacobson, N. S., & Gottman, J. M. (1993). Cassidy, M. A. (1995). Ehrensaft, M. K., Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J., Heyman, R. E., O'Leary, K. D., & Lawrence, E. (1999). Gondolf, E. W. (1995). Tang, C. S. (1999). Umberson, D. Anderson, K. Glick, J., & Shapiro, A. (1998). This exploratory study adds to the extant literature by examining the role of power and control in stalking situations and in the prior relationship between the stalker and victim. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 187 women stalked by former intimate partners. Content analysis of the interview transcripts revealed the exercise of control financially, psychologically/emotionally, socially, and physically in many of the prior relationships and stalking situations. A greater number of victims reported social and physical control than psychological, financial, and sexual control during the prior relationship. Psychological control during the stalking was reported by nearly all victims, and social control during stalking was reported by over two thirds. Fewer than half of the victims reported physical assault during the stalking, and just over a quarter reported financially controlling behaviors.

Controlling Information Systems Development Projects: The View from the Client

Increasingly, business clients are actively leading information systems (IS) projects, often in collaboration with IS professionals, and they are exercising a greater degree of project control. Control is defined as all attempts to motivate individuals to achieve desired objectives, and it can be exercised via formal and informal modes. Much of the previous research investigating the choice of control mode has focused on direct reporting relationships between IS project leaders and their superiors in a hierarchical setting. However, the client-IS relationships may take on a variety of forms, including both hierarchical and lateral settings. Moreover, prior research has found that the knowledge of the systems development process is a key antecedent of control, yet clients are unlikely to be as knowledgeable as IS professionals about this process. It is therefore unclear whether prior findings will generalize to the client-IS pair, and the goal of this research is to examine the exercise of control across this relationship. Data were gathered from a questionnaire survey of 69 pairs of clients and IS project leaders. The results are largely consistent with prior research on the antecedents of formal control modes, but they shed new insight on the choice of informal control modes.

Cancer Heroics: A Study of News Reports with Particular Reference to Gender

Media portrayals of women with cancer emphasize women's emotionality in the face of life-threatening disease. For some sociological commentators, this weakens women in an exercise of patriarchal control by medicine and the media. The present study, of news reports of people with cancer in the media of several anglophone countries, compares portrayals of men and women. Media representations of the emotions of people with cancer are found to emphasize women's skills in the emotional labour of self-transformation, something which is particularly prevalent in reports of breast cancer activism. In men, cancer is more commonly portrayed as a test of pre-existing character. Both sexes, in these representations, are offered paths to the common goal of a self-willed victory over cancer and the limitations of the body. This media-orchestrated fantasy about human powers resonates with broader analyses of heroic projects of self-identity in late modernity, in which women's advertised expertise in the management of emotions plays an important part. The imagined superpowers of people with cancer also involve a denial of disappointment that parallels the supposed efficacy of prayer and religious observance in traditional societies.

Shareholder Oppression and Reasonable Expectations: Of Change, Gifts, and Inheritances in Close Corporation Disputes

By identifying and protecting the of close corporation stockholders, the doctrine of shareholder oppression attempts to safeguard the close corporation minority investor from the improper exercise of majority control. The leading formulation of the reasonable expectations inquiry focuses on the shareholder's expectations at the he decided to invest in the business. For the disputes that characterize most of the published oppression decisions, this time of focus is suitable, as the aggrieved shareholder is usually complaining about expectations that were established around the of the shareholder's actual commitment of capital to the business. In certain significant contexts, however, a of focus is problematic. First, a strict of standard seems to ignore the possibility that post-investment expectations may arise. Focusing on one point in - the of - to measure the shareholder's expectations fails to capture potentially valid and reasonable expectations that may develop well after a shareholder commits capital to the venture. Second, a strict of framework fails to account for close corporation who have made no at all in the company. This group of shareholders includes, among others, stockholders who receive their shares as gifts or inheritances. Because these have committed no capital themselves, there is, literally-speaking, no time of peculiar to them. For this group, therefore, an assessment of reasonable expectations at the of may lead to a conclusion that no specific reasonable expectations exist at all. This Article analyzes whether and how the reasonable expectations inquiry could be applied to these changing expectations and non-investing shareholder cases. By conceiving of oppression as a doctrine that protects the fair value of the shareholder's investment, this Article provides a context for thinking about the purpose of the shareholder oppression doctrine and its accompanying reasonable expectations inquiry. Using this investment of oppression as a guide, the Article argues that the law should view a reasonable expectation as a bargain struck between majority and minority over a specific entitlement the minority is to receive in return for its in the company. Because majority and minority may strike these investment throughout their participation in a close corporation, the Article contends that the oppression doctrine should look for evidence of such bargains during the entirety of the shareholders' relationship, rather than merely at the narrower of investment. The reasonable expectations inquiry, therefore, should reflect this broader perspective. Moreover, although non-investing stockholders do not, by definition, commit any of their own capital to the company, they too may reach mutual understandings with the majority that, if proven, should be protected as bargains. Part I of this Article discusses the nature of the close corporation and explains the development of the doctrine of shareholder oppression. Part II describes the model of oppression and the special nature of the close corporation shareholder's investment. While a of focus for measuring reasonable expectations is not well-suited to disputes involving changing expectations or non-investing shareholders, this Part explains that a of inquiry is nevertheless consistent with the theory of the model. Building on this analysis, Part III discusses the problems presented by shareholder expectations that change over time. Because corporate law seeks to prevent freeze-out conduct, this Part argues that the law should protect post-investment expectations. Moreover, by drawing from relational contract theory, this Part provides an additional basis for validating and enforcing post-investment expectations, even when the minority has provided no additional consideration. Part IV explores the puzzle of the non-investing shareholder and the various positions that the oppression doctrine could take towards these parties. After discussing whether non-investing should have (1) no specific reasonable expectations at all, (2) only the specific reasonable expectations of their investing transferors, or (3) any specific reasonable expectations that can be proven, this Part concludes that the third alternative promotes fairness and provides consistency with the model of oppression. Finally, Part V considers the role of the transferor's intent in single-founder cases. Rather than serving to bind successor shareholders, this Part suggests that the founder's intent should serve merely as an evidentiary factor in the reasonable expectations analysis.

Remaining State Control Over Privatised German Enterprises

In recent years numerous German state enterprises have been (partially) privatised. This process has been achieved through the establishment of a variety of types of hybrid enterprises. The legal classification of these hybrid enterprises presents some difficulties, as does the question of how to oblige privatised companies or enterprises with a hybrid character to serve the public interest and to secure a continued high standard in the provision of public services at affordable prices. Where privatised firms have been introduced to the stock exchange, their legal status and the extent of remaining state control are of interest to potential investors. This paper examines various privatisation structures that have been employed in Germany, and identifies problems that can arise in relation to the exercise of state control over mixed public—private enterprises.

Control and Belbin’s team roles

Consideration of Belbin’s team role model led to the view that some of the roles proposed might require the exercise of control, but others much less so. A hypothesis which indicated which roles might be expected to manifest expressed and wanted control was developed and then tested using Schutz’s FIRO‐B questionnaire. A mixture of graduates in employment and undergraduates still at university were utilised as subjects for the investigation. After consideration of the validity of Schutz’s constructs, the data obtained were construed as supporting the hypothesis and adding weight to the claims for the validity of the Belbin team role model.

Labouring under an illusion? The labour process of software development in the Australian information industry

In this paper a case study of a small firm engaged in producing packaged software in the Australian ’information industry’ is conducted in order to shed light on the nature of control over the labour process of software development. It is shown that the interplay of human agency and structural forces means employees are largely unaware of the exercise of control over their work.

Control with Limited Information

A long-standing open conceptual problem has been the following: How does “information” interact with control of a system, in particular feedback control, and what is the value of “information” in achieving performance objectives for the system through the exercise of control? In answering this question we have to remember that in contrast to a variety of communication settings, the issue of time-delay is of primary importance for control problems, especially control of systems which are unstable. We discuss various issues arising from these fundamental questions.

Environmental Politics

The problem that confronts scholars who intend to engage in organizing issuesassociated with the environment in a manner that is logical and coherent is thatmany of those issues are conceptually overlapping, territorially interrelated, andacademically multidisciplinary. Added to this are the submerged and not so submergedtensions between environmentalism on the one hand, which restrains thefrontier exercise of human power and control over natural resources, and neoliberali.smon the other, which ordinarily considers such limitations oddities. Manyof the scholars who have been successful in this endeavor have tried to focus onrelated environmental mediums, issues, or regions.Despite its wider scope, Environmental Politics: Domestic and Global Dimensions,which is in its third edition, weaves through the maze of topics it covers using aprocess perspective. The book focuses on formal and informal institutions andprocesses in trying to develop an understanding about how global environmentalpolicies are developed in the United States. It is essential to note from the outsetthat the domestic and global dimensions of the book basically focus on the UnitedStates' responses to those challenges and, accordingly, a foreign reader may readinto the title: The US. Environmental Politicr: Domestic and Global Dimensions.The author, Dr. Jacqueline V. Switzer, does not waste any time in letting thereader know that the approach to the book is through the process model, a processwhereby the Congress, the president and his executive branch, and the judiciaryjostle for influence in formulating, implementing or redirecting environmentalpolicies (p. viii). An associate professor of political science at Northern ArizonaUniversity, the author deploys her understanding of the history, process, and conflictinginterests that have shaped the United States' environmental policies bothat home and at the international plane, to organize the complex issues covered inthe book. The third edition is remarkable for carefully updating a book that isreputed to be an information powerhouse regarding environmental policy, actors,disputes, and processes, up through the final years of the Clinton administration.It also incorporates, in each chapter, a global dimension of the main topic of thechapter, and it revises the "Another View, Another Voice" boxes of each chapter ...

"Shall I Fetter Her Will?": Literary Americans Confront Feminine Submission, 1820-1860

The shrinking violet, one of most enduring symbols of Victorian femininity, imagines woman who neither thought nor acted for herself but turned to her father, husband, or clergyman for guidance and direction. She was hostage in home, constrained by excessive childbirths, masses of restrictive clothing, and an ideology that condemned her to silence and self-abnegation. While men were the movers, doers, [and] actors, women were the passive, submissive responders, an order fixed in Heaven.1 The ongoing appearance of books and articles espousing these interpretations testifies to this issue's vigor and appeal. In past, many scholars universalized notion of feminine behavior intended to apply only to white, privileged women and that was, furthermore, regarded merely as an ideal toward which women should strive but that few women actually attained. Gradually, alternative interpretations surfaced. Benefitting in part from those who demonstrated that many women were not fully trapped by passive, domestic role, small but influential group of historians and literary critics concluded that what Americans read was not passive, domestic ideal either. In her analysis of over 200 novels, stories, and essays written by leading women authors of nineteenth century, Mary Kelley discovered that most writers crafted strong, active and female characters. The stories they told constituted ultimate exercise of control and freedom. Helen Papashvily termed domestic novels handbooks of feminine revolt whose tales and encouraged pattern of feminine behavior so quietly ruthless, so subtly vicious that by comparison ladies of Seneca Falls appear angels of innocence. Nina Baym suggested that nineteenth-century women's fiction reflected a moderate, or limited, or pragmatic feminism, in which development of self-assured and distinctly individualistic heroine was common theme.2 Despite these challenges, scores of studies continue to defend and uphold belief that was perhaps most feminine virtue expected of women-3 Intrigued by their persistence, I conducted systematic analyses of 104 bestselling novels and stories published between 1820 and 1860.4 The sample was equally divided between male and female authors. Both computer and textual analyses demonstrated that obedient and dependent women were not ideal in either men's or women's fiction. When content analysis, for example, tested women characters' submission to all forms of authority, 68.4 percent of those sketched by male authors were depicted as not submissive compared to 73.1 percent created by women. Passive and dependent women represented mere 5.6 percent of sample (Table 1). A slightly larger number were described as submissive to men, with male authors depicting 15.8 percent of their characters in this fashion compared to 10 percent of those fashioned by women; yet both male and female writers (54.8 percent and 52.6 percent, respectively) described women who were not submissive to men (Table 2). Most noteworthy is consensus shared by writers of both sexes. This agreement is further supported by other questions that touched upon feminine dependence. Literary men and women crafted independent and self-reliant women (72.7 percent male authors/74.2 percent female authors) as well as strong-willed women (81.1 percent/82.3 percent) with resounding frequency (Tables 3 and 4). They celebrated ingenuity and resourcefulness in their heroines, pitied overly-submissive woman, chastened domineering man, and carefully delineated tragic consequences of boundless subjection. In Mabel Vaughan (1857), for example, author Maria Cummins insists Sabiah Vaughan's to her earthly parents was mistake that would lead to years of unhappiness as well as fate of ending her days as faded spinster. In her youth, Sabiah loved poor farmer's son who was studying for ministry, but her mother and father demanded she break her engagement to man with such lowly prospects. …

Substitute decision-making and personal control: implications for self-determination.

Levels of personal control exercised by 76 adults with mental retardation were contrasted by substitute decision-making status. Individuals with no guardian or conservator exercised more personal control than did those with a conservator, who exerted more personal control than did participants with a guardian. Similar group differences in self-determination competencies were also observed. When self-determination competencies were controlled statistically, significant group differences in exercise of personal control remained. Restrictive substitute decision-making status, inappropriate to current competencies, may have constrained individuals' levels of personal control. Reviewing substitute decision-making status on a regular basis and limiting or removing guardianship/conservatorship when it is not appropriate, may enhance personal control.

SYMBOLIC INTERESTS AND MEANINGFUL PURPOSES

Rational choice theory and cultural sociology have often seemed to be radically at odds with one another. As the two traditions become more sophisticated, however, points of convergence are beginning to appear. It now seems possible to create a partial synthesis. Although rational choice theory has had very little to say about culture, we can conceive of symbolic process and structure through the framework of purposive action. Borrowing core concepts from James Coleman's Foundations of Social Theory, we can think of actors' interpretation and intention of meaning as the exercise of control over symbolic resources. Actors have means- and ends-interests in symbolism. From the intersection of this interested control emerge cultural structures that are real conditions of interaction. Identifying these cultural structures and tracing the process of their emergence is one way to conceive the project of cultural sociology. In addition to conceptual clarity such a synthesis provides the orienting principle of a social optimum.

The Influence of the Group with Elderly Exercisers

This study examined the relationship of group cohesion to attitude and control beliefs toward exercise in a sample of older adults within the broader framework of the theory of planned behavior (N = 179, 27% male, average age = 67 years, SD = 7.77). Perceptions of task and social cohesion were assessed as well as attitude toward exercise, perceptions of control over attendance, and exercise intention. Following the assessment of the cognitive variables, exercise attendance was monitored for 4 weeks. Results revealed that task cohesion was related to perceptions of control (p < .05), whereas social cohesion was related to attitude toward exercise (p < .05). In turn, perceptions of control were related to intention to exercise (p < .01), and intention to exercise and perceptions of control were related to exercise class attendance (p < .01). Contrary to predictions, task cohesion did add to the prediction of attitude, but attitude was not related to exercise intentions.

“Free from all vicious habits”: Archaeological perspectives on class conflict and the rhetoric of temperance

American temperance organizations of the mid-19th century stressed total abstinence from alcohol and tobacco, attributing to these substances an array of physically and morally damaging effects. These reformers deployed a rhetoric which was deeply rooted in middle-class American ideology, focusing their efforts on freeing impoverished, working-class, and immigrant groups from the bonds of addiction, demanding nothing less than total abstinence. Yet many middle-class partakers continued to smoke and drink in “moderate” amounts. The temperance movement became a locus for the exercise of class-based social control and opposition. Cultural, religious, and political agendas also animated the temperance debate and informed the philosophies of reformist institutions. The responses of diverse social groups to temperance reform are explored through an analysis of period documents and archaeological material from New York City and Lowell, Massachusetts, in order to explore the interplay of class formation, cultural and “racial” conflict, and religious ideology underlying reformist social movements.

Investment and control in international joint ventures: the case of China

In this study, we explore several factors affecting the amount of control that foreign companies have over their joint ventures in China. Managers working in sixty-seven international joint ventures were asked to report the share of equity held by the Chinese and foreign partners; the extent to which each partner had contributed important non-capital resources; the ratio of IJV board members appointed by each partner; the nationality of managers holding key executive positions in the IJVs; and the amount of strategic and operational control that each partner enjoyed. Results showed that equity share is the major lever for the exercise of strategic control and also influences operational control through its effects on the appointment of board members and appointments to key executive positions. Results also showed that providing non-capital resources has a direct effect on operational control in addition to its indirect effect through appointments to key executive positions.