Outsider's Perspective Research Articles

Retelling U.S. Religious History ed. by Thomas A. Tweed

146BOOK REVIEWS vantages, and the British offered such advantages, the Indians, or the majority, were gone. But I would suggest that it is a faUacy to confuse primary motivation and the Umit of human endurance, neither of which are scientificaUy measurable with a proton magnetometer.This reviewer found particularly helpful the assumptions set forth by RocheUe Marrinan concerning mission architecture (pp. 283-286), and saddening the mortuary evidence presented by Clark Spencer Larsen of the effects on the native population of disease, dietary changes, forced settlement, relocation, forced labor, and general stress (pp. 322-356). Each report is clearly outlined and accompanied by a bibUography Included are ninety figures and forty-six tables.A Ust of contributors indicates theU affiliations and addresses.The volume is weU indexed. Conrad L. Harkins, O.F.M. Franciscan University Steubenville, Ohio Retelling U S. Religious History. Edited byThomas A.Tweed. (Berkeley: University of CaHfornia Press. 1997. Pp. xii, 302. $40.00 clothbound $1395 paperback .) In this creatively provocative set of essays plus an introduction, nine American reUgious historians offer examples of what many of us have longed for and worked at for several decades: narratives about reUgion in America that make use of new topics and new participants, new angles and perspectives, and new ways to think about relationships among multiple reUgious communities in American history. In his introduction.Thomas A.Tweed states the goal ofthe volume as the effort to be "suggestive, not exhaustive," and to demonstrate, as Catherine Albanese does at length Ui the concludUig essay, that the ongoing reality of contact and combination ofreligious groups has fostered a constant and dynamic, not always easy, remaking of reUgious traditions.The related motifs of the volume, saysTweed, are contact, boundary, and exchange. Trie volume is divided mto two sections.The first,"Meanmg and Power at Social Sites," mcludes essays by AnnTaves on sexuality;Tamar Frankiel on ritual; Ann Braude on women in American religious history from the perspective of women's presence rather than men's absence; and Roger FUike on "supply-side" interpretations of church growth and decline."Bodies, laws, and churches," says Tweed, are the prominent social sites of this section. In the second section, "Contact and Exchange at Geographic Sites," Laurie Maffly-Kipp writes a west-to-east religious history from the Pacific Rim. Joel Martin grounds a narrative of contact, colonialization, and combination among the Muskogee Creek Indians and concludes with an outline for a postcolonial narrative ofIndian reUgionsWUUamWestfaU, a Canadian historian, elaborates on BOOK REVIEWS147 insights that can be gained from the Canadian border, a site that both separates and joinstwonationsand makes possible a"paraUel historical discourse"from an outsider's perspective. Catherine Albanese speaks of contact and combination over the course ofAmerican religious history Ui terms of a gift economy; she deemphasizes ideology but does not faU to point out that gift-giving is never free of conflict and the covering over of compUcated interactions and innovations. As interesting as the essays themselves is the background Tweed suppUes about the construction of the volume. It was a coUaborative effort instigated by Tweed that demanded "much more contact with each other than usuaUy is the case" in edited coUections. The enterprise also requUed a seU-consciousness about method that is helpfuUy but not doggedly apparent and a wUlingness to let some disagreements stand about such matters as whether metanarratives are possible or desirable and the extent to which fictional and historical narratives resemble each other. There is a strong presence of the underlying question , "How should we think about these things?"—both history and American reUgious history.There is also evidence in these essays that the writing of history can be highly pleasurable as well as arduous, and I do not consider this a negUgible contribution of the volume. For those of us interested in American Catholic history, Retelling U.S. Religious History demonstrates that Catholicism can be more creatively tategrated tato historical accounts of religion in America than has often been the case Ui the past. AU the essays include references to Roman CathoUcism and its frequent and complex participation in the issues and themes that make up this volume. Mary Farrell Bednarowski United Theological Seminary ofthe...

Human Resource Policies and Company Performance: A Quantitative Approach Using Longitudinal Data

The organization of employment is often seen as a means to attain or retain competitive advantage in current product markets. High committment organizations and flexible specialization workplaces are some of the new labels of such modem human resource policies (Osterman 1994), the shaping of which should result in high performance. From an outsider's perspective, for instance that of an investor or a banker, such an assumption raises two important sets of questions:- The first concerns the main features of these supposed high-performance work systems and their true association with economic performance indicators. These questions relate to a better understanding of new human resource management (HRM) models in order to understand the effects of HRM on the performance of the firm.- The second set of questions concerns the ability of outside actors to analyze and truly understand these HRM models, about which they often have only poor and piecemeal information. In the event of a negative answer, investors and other outside actors might well be tempted to ignore or distort HRM issues.The latter set of questions is rarely considered by recent research. It is more often the case that investors and financial markets do not fully consider human resource management issues because of speculation and the short-term pressures which are seen to dictate their decisions. Such pressures surely exist, but the main problem might relate more to analytical and informational problems. In this respect, the paper suggests that the French Company Personnel Report could be a useful document. Its published data may enable investors to understand HRM issues more fully and to evaluate their impacts on the performance of the firm. Empirical results are thus presented which reveal some interesting and significant correlations between profitability or productivity ratios and HRM indicators. The two major conclusions are that (a) training expenses may have some important effects on immediate and future economic performance; and (b) some recovery effects of dismissals can also be identified.

Commitment Processes in Accounts of the Development of Premarital Relationships

CATHERINE A. SURRA The University of Texas at Austin DEBRA K. HUGHES Miami University* We examined the subjective processes by which premarital partners (n = 113) become more or less committed to wed over time. Two commitment processes were identified. In relationshipdriven commitments, commitment evolved smoothly with few reversals. To explain changes in commitment, partners focused on their interaction and activities with one another and with their joint network and on positive beliefs about the relationship and about network members. Eventdriven commitments had more extreme changes in commitment, with sharp downturns alternating with sharp upturns. Partners attributed changes to episodes of self-disclosure and conflict, negative relationship beliefs, separate interaction with network members, and negative network beliefs. On several measures, event-driven partners reported more negative relationship experiences and were less compatible. Yet the two groups did not differ on love or other indicators of involvement. The implications of the two processes for marital decisions are discussed. Key Words: commitment, mate selection, premarital relationships. Whether to wed and whom to wed are among the most consequential decisions that individuals make during their lifetimes. In order to understand fully how individuals make these decisions, two sets of possible influences need to be considered (Surra, Hughes, & Jacquet, in press). The first set is rooted in theories about factors that influence decisions about whom to wed. This set of causes corresponds to an outsider's perspective on mate selection. Research from an outsider's perspective is deductive; investigators make hypotheses about what factors are influential and then test their hypotheses. Most research on mate selection has followed this tradition (see Surra, 1990, for a review). Outsiders' perspectives on mate selection, as evidenced particularly in compatibility theories, generally assume that selecting a mate is approached rationally, with partners taking care to select someone who is a good match (cf. Huston, Surra, Fitzgerald, & Cate, 1981). In this study, we take an insider's perspective, and examine individuals' own explanations for their decisions about marriage. An individual's own reasons for choosing a mate are the subjective causes that influence marital decisions, and they constitute the second set of influences on marital decisions (Surra et al., in press). Subjective causes may or may not resemble those that are influential from an outsider's perspective. The degree to which coupled partners have social networks that overlap, for example, predicts progress toward marriage (cf. Milardo, 1982), but the partners may not be aware of the influence of that social structure. Instead, partners may be more concerned about other features of the network, such as how family members and close friends feel about their dating partner. This study concerns the subjective processes by which premarital partners become more or less committed to wed. What factors do individuals themselves say they weigh when making decisions about marital commitment? Is the decision process as carefully wrought and rooted in tests of homogamy and compatibility as many scholars assume, or is it more capricious and grounded in factors such as love, an auspicious confluence of life events, or personal readiness to wed? More than likely, subjective decisions about marital commitment are based on combinations of different considerations, and the considerations may vary for different people. The goals of this study are to identify the different subjective processes engaged in by different partners. The subjective processes are described in terms of the combinations of causes that individuals say they consider, as well as the nature of their developing commitment (e.g., how unstable it is). DEFINING AND MEASURING MARITAL COMMITMENT In its most general sense, commitment concerns partners' beliefs about whether their relationship is likely to continue over the long run (e. …

Cognitive and Behavioral Predictors of Communication in Clinic-Referred and Nonclinical Mother-Adolescent Dyads

JANET S. REED Missouri Institute of Mental Health ERIC F. DuBow Bowling Green State University* This study examines the relation between mothers' and adolescents' perceptions of one another's behavior and their actual communication behavior during a problem-solving task. Forty mother-adolescent dyads completed self-report and observational measures of conflict and negative beliefs regarding the other. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that adolescents' negative beliefs about their mothers significantly contributed unique variance in predicting adolescent negative communication, beyond the effects of maternal communication behavior. Thus, treatment of parent-adolescent conflict should address adolescents' and parents' perceptions of one another, as well as their problemsolving behavior. Key Words: adolescence, cognitions, communication, observational measures, parent-child relations. An estimated 15% to 20% of adolescents aged 12 through 17 years experience significant levels of parent-adolescent communication problems, to the point that they may feel distressed enough to seek professional help (Montemayor, 1983). Researchers associate poor parent-adolescent communication with schizophrenia, aggression, low academic achievement, problems in social competence, difficulties with individuation, suicidal behavior, depressive symptomatology, and low self-esteem (Demo, Small, & Savin-Williams, 1987; Isberg et al., 1989; Tesser, Forehand, Brody, & Long, 1989). Only a few investigators (Alexander, Barton, Waldron, & Mas, 1989; Vincent Roehling & Robin, 1986) have examined the role of perceptions or interpretations of the other's behavior in relation to parent-adolescent communication. This type of investigation, which forms the basis for our study, is important because individuals' cognitions are increasingly cited as potential determinants of behavior. From the social learning perspective, psychological functioning is determined by the environment, by the behavior of the individual, and by factors associated with the person (Robinson & Jacobson, 1987, p. 122). PARENT AND ADOLESCENT COMMUNICATION BEHAVIOR Both self-report and observational measures of parent-adolescent communication have been associated with adolescent adjustment indices such as self-esteem (Demo et al., 1987; Isberg et al., 1989), grade point average, cognitive competence, social competence, acting-out behavior, and depressive symptoms (Alexander 1973a, 1973b; Prinz, Foster, Kent, & O'Leary, 1979; Tesser et al., 1989). These associations were generally stronger among male adolescents than among female adolescents. Researchers have employed observational methods to examine the bidirectional nature of parent and adolescent communication behavior or reciprocity as defined in the family systems literature (Alexander 1973a, 1973b). Alexander found that observed negative communication between parents and their delinquent adolescents was moderately to highly correlated, as was positive communication among parents and their nondelinquent adolescents. Both self-report and observational measures of parent and adolescent communication behaviors are important assessment methods. Although selfreport methods assess the insider's perspective of events, direct observation yields the outsider's perspective (Robin, Koepke, & Nayar, 1986). Self-report methods provide information about an individual's perceptions but may be subject to significant social desirability effects (Smith & Forehand, 1986). Observational methods, on the other hand, provide information about an individual's behaviors during interactions but are based on a limited amount of interaction time. ROLE OF PARENT AND ADOLESCENT COGNITIONS Parents' and adolescents' cognitions (e.g., family belief systems, expectations, and attributions of another) may be related to the behaviors that parents and adolescents exhibit toward one another, as well as to adolescent adjustment. …

Studies in Modern Albanian Literature and Culture

This text examines contemporary Albanian literature and culture from an outsider's perspective, bringing major Albanian literary works to a wide audience.

An “Outsider's Perspective” on Social Education

An “Outsider's Perspective” on Social Education

Roman Jakobson and the phonetics-phonology dichotomy

If one is to mention the one scholar who over the second half of this century has had the greatest impact on the way we talk about the relationship between phonetics and phonology, there is no doubt that the name is Roman Jakobson. His name in the context of phonology is, above all, coupled to the theory of distinctive features, but his linguistic thinking is even more strongly tied with the general dichotomy of invariance versus variation. I shall deal to some extent with both issues in this paper, but I wish to emphasize from the start that this is not a biographically or bibliographically balanced account of Jakobson's achievements. It is just an essay in which I look from an outsider's perspective at some live issues in phonetics and phonology for which Jakobson's thinking has been highly significant. I discuss these issues from the point of view of present challenges, rather than in the context of Jakobson's own linguistic milieu. It is the heritage and its importance for linguistics and phonetics today, rather than the history of science, that I am commenting on. In doing that, I may fail to do justice to Jakobson's views and achievements.

Boundary management in action reflection learning™ research: Taking the role of a sophisticated barbarian

AbstractBoundary management is a challenge in all forms of participant observation. Here the authors explore considerations that they believe are unique to participant observation research within Action Reflection Learning™ (ARL™) programs. The authors hypothesize that field researchers' efforts to manage boundaries bear some similarities to a key phenomenon of the program itself, that is, learning takes place as a result of reflection informed by an outsider's perspective. The researcher's role is given the label of sophisticated barbarian because researchers have some specialized knowledge and can thus ask some sophisticated questions. Yet, because they maintain some distance from the existing group's culture and mindset, they may ask some questions that seem barbaric to insiders.

Economic Liberalisation and Financial Reforms in India: An Outsider's Perspective

Economic Liberalisation and Financial Reforms in India: An Outsider's Perspective

Four Measures of Partner Violence: Construct Similarity and Classification Differences

Although measures of physical are commonly used to classify individuals as sustained violence or having sustained violence, little is known about the interrelationships among measures and whether variation across measures is random or systematic. In this study, 224 female undergraduates completed four different measures. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a one-factor model best fit the data, but that the measures did not represent the construct equally well (i.e., the congeneric model was significantly better than tau-equivalent and parallel measurement models). Frequency measures were more strongly associated with the latent construct, partner violence than were severity measures. Some variation across measures appears to be systematic; participants reporting milder and more infrequent were classified most inconsistently. Single measures may classify individuals unreliably. Physical between partners has been measured in many different ways. Although most measures rely, to some degree, on the reports o victims or perpetrators, differences among kit of reports may lead to variations in what is identified as a physical assault (cf. Koss et al., 1994; Straus, 1990; Walker, 1984). For example, there has been considerable discussion of the merits and liabilities of using a predetermined set of violent acts when asking respondents about in their relationships (e.g., Straus, 1990). In addition to asking respondents about a set of behaviors. other common strategies include asking them to make a summary judgment about their total experience of (e.g., Bergman, 1992; Leonard & Blane, 1992) and asking for detailed descriptions of specific incidents (e.g., Dobash & Dobash, 1984; Frieze & McHugh, 1992; Walker, 1984). Major reviews of the field (e.g., Browne, 1993; Hotaling & Sugarman, 1986; Koss et al., 1994) often discuss methodological issues but accept the premise that each of the varying approaches to measuring refers to the same underlying construct (although not necessarily equally well). Olson (1977) has provided a framework that helps to highlight same of the differences found in measures. His framework has two dimensions, frame of reference (insider or outsider) and type of data (subjective or objective). Insider reports are self-reports, and one of the advantages of his model is that he identifies two types of these. The Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS) and similar measures (e.g., Hudson & McIntosh, 1991; Shepard & Campbell, 1992), which focus respondents' attention on a specific set of behaviors, fall into Olson's insider category. These types of behavioral self-reports have been the subject of both praise and criticism in the family literature (cf. Straus, 1990). Another common approach involves asking about the overall aggregate frequency of violence. These self-reports typically allow respondents to determine what acts constitute violence. Critics of behavioral self-reports believe this approach, called subjective insider by Olson, will be more inclusive because unusual kinds of can be measured, but some loss of specificity occurs. Pure outsider reports, of course, are difficult, if not impossible, to obtain in research on because of the practical and ethical problems related to observing such acts directly, especially in any systematic manner. Thus, most measures that try to adopt more of an outsider's perspective are typically hybrids consisting of an outsider's judgment of participants' descriptions of violent episodes provided in interviews or questionnaires. In the literature, these judgments have typically been codified in some way (e.g., Frieze & McHugh, 1992) and, thus, belong on the objective side of the continuum. The most important advantages of outsider approaches to research are an increase in the amount of contextual information obtained from respondents and an attempt to reduce some of the potential biases of pure self-reports. …

Exploring Traditional Leadership

Pinky Kunene explores the role of women in traditional Zulu culture and explains how certain traditions and power relations are changing due to white cultural influences. She believes that rural women are no more oppressed than women in general and warns against interpreting their oppression from an outsider's perspective and imposing foreign viewpoints on them

The Word of Islam

Anthologies have been known to string together mangled piecesof writing in ways reminiscent of a tanner's drying rack or a horrorfilm studio's collection of gory rubber limbs and masks. But thereseems to be little disparity, disjunction, or morbidity in Professor Williams'sbook, his second major attempt to "let Islam speak for itself."The first was the seminal Islam, which came out in 1961 and brokenew ground as well as a few fetters. The new endeavor sets out tooffer the faith (and the culture associated with it) a better-tuned mikeat a time when the dominant world media is busy blackening its nameand reputation. Of course, even with the best of intentions, the task ofintroducing Islam in capsule form, its own essential simplicitynotwithstanding, is both impossible and unfair. The editor, however,is alive to the predicament and recognizes that Islam, like "every greatreligion," is akin to an "ocean, with many bays, inlets, and unplumbedareas." In essence, "we can only come to it, smell it, taste it,touch it, observe what thrives there, and listen to its many moods."The sentiment may betray an outsider's perspective, but it isrefreshingly honest and respectful. Moreover, it is the product of along engagement with and pondering over such pedagogic issues as"how one may most effectively and practically study Islam." Noshort-cut, not even a good anthology, is recommended. Rather,read the texts which convey its tradition in as wide a range asone can. An original text is worth more than many words ofexplanation. Go to the sources and listen to voices that haverung with authority for generations, that Muslims have recognized,and use only enough introductory material to set thevoice in its context.Some may argue whether presenting translated extracts from thebasic Islamic canon to a modern and arguably hostile or misinformedaudience requires ample commentary. But the editor, in addition tohis main concern of presenting that canon in meaningful digest form,takes care to demarcate the territory between ancient and modem. Bethat as it may, to a large degree he succeeds in choosing (and translating)highly pertinent and interrelated excerpts as well as in introducingthem with conciseness and clarity, erudition and sympathy ...

A Cross-Cultural Cosmographic Interpretation of Some Korean Geomancy Maps

This paper provides a cosmographic interpretation for examples of some old Korean geomancy maps from Cheju Island. While it would be easy to dismiss geomancy maps from an outsider's cultural perspective as inscrutable, occult, Oriental oddities, or as examples of naive depictions of 'reality,' a cosmographic interpretation yields something more profound. The maps are presented as evidence of the idea that natural law governs the principles of self-organization in physical space: centrality, connectivity, hierarchy, symmetry (proportion), periodicity, similarity at different scales, and completeness. The mapmaker is the medium through which nature has revealed, in map symbolism, its 'hidden knowledge.' One implication of cosmographic interpretation is the idea that sustainable human productivity can only be attained by obeying laws of space that are also laws of nature. East Asian cultural perspectives, as revealed in maps, also have community design applications, and might help inform the search being conducted by Western scientists and scholars for a grand unified theory of ecological systems. Cet article offre une interprétation cosmographique d'exemples d'anciennes cartes coréennes de géomancie de l'île de Cheju. Alors qu'il serait facile d'écarter les cartes de géomancie en les qualifiant, selon la perspective culturelle d'un étranger, d'impénétrables, d'occultes, d'étrangetés orientales ou d'exemples de représentation naïve de la réalité, une interprétation cosmographique laisse filtrer une substance plus profonde. On y présente les cartes comme une évidence de l'idée que la loi naturelle gouverne les principes de l'auto-organisation dans l'espace physique: centralisme, connectivité, hiérarchie, symétrie et proportion, périodicité, similarité à différentes échelles et état complet. Le cartographe est le médium par lequel la nature a révélé, dans le symbolisme de la carte, son savoir caché. L'interprétation cosmographique implique, entre autres, l'idée qu'on ne peut atteindre une productivité humaine soutenue qu'en obéissant aux lois de l'espace, qui sont aussi des lois de la nature. Les perspectives culturelles d'Asie de l'est, telles que révélées sur les cartes, ont aussi des applications dans la conception de communautés et peuvent contribuer à la recherche menée par les scientifiques occidentaux sur la grande thérie unifiée des écosystèmes.

Working with the Oglala Lakota: An Outsider's Perspective

Working with the Oglala Lakota: An Outsider's Perspective

Initial Development of an Emic Methodology for Classification of Stressful Work Situations

Research on stress in the workplace has generally focused on situations which the investigator a priori perceives to be stressful for people at work. In the current study, an emic (insider) approach to identification of what constitutes a stressful work event is described as a complement to the outsider's perspective. Using content analysis, two broad categories of work-related stressful events were used to classify situations which the employee perceived to be stressful. Recommendations for research using the methodology are provided.

Muslims as minorities: an outsider's perspective

(1991). Muslims as minorities: an outsider's perspective. Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs. Journal: Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 1-22.

Recent Developments in Primary Initial Teacher Training in Wales: an outsider's perspective

ABSTRACT The (British) Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (CATE) criteria have now been in operation for five years. They have required substantial changes for many initial teacher training (ITT) institutions. The initial questionnaires and follow‐up, in‐depth interviews provided a wealth of data about the achievements and problems experienced by a group of ITT institutions in implementing the CA TE criteria, over the last five years. Major problems for institutions have included financial burdens resulting from the CATE criteria, impediments to the effective working of local committees, problems in providing recent and relevant teaching experience for tutors, and difficulties in reallocating time for the equivalent of two years’ subject study. These notwithstanding, there was considerable support for the improvements which have occurred overall as a result of the CATE criteria.

Book reviews : Hong-Key Yoon 1986: Maori mind, Maori land: essays on the cultural geography of the Maori people from an outsider's perspective. Berne: Peter Lang. 138 pp

Book reviews : Hong-Key Yoon 1986: Maori mind, Maori land: essays on the cultural geography of the Maori people from an outsider's perspective. Berne: Peter Lang. 138 pp

The Business of Feminism: Issues in London Feminist Publishing

What happens when feminism and publishing meet? Women in London have been answering this question in exciting and important ways. London supports a remarkable community of feminist presses, now in its second decade. These presses-Virago, the Women's Press, Pandora, Sheba, and Onlywomen -offer a fascinating example of the of feminism, in all the suggestive meanings of this phrase. First, how did feminism get into the business of publishing in London? How does it function as a business? And will it manage to stay in business? To be more specific, how has London come to support this feminist publishing community, in the midst of a conservative political climate and a competitive publishing industry? After a brief description of each of London's five feminist presses, I'll begin to answer my own questions by situating this feminist community in two of its institutional contexts, academia and the mainstream publishing industry. I'll argue that, while the publishing world has afforded feminist presses a congenial and fruitful business niche, the threats of mainstream cooptation and corporate paternalism continue to hover, and institutional survival for these presses remains a challenge. Second, how does a successful feminist community go about its business? Is the business of radical politics in tune with the business of the marketplace-or, if we look closely, do we see that the political price of business success is too high? Here, I'll look at the internal dynamics of the feminist publishing community, focusing both on its exciting, diverse strengths, and on some underlying tensions within it. Why am I making the business of feminist publishing my business in this essay? What follows draws on a year of fulltime research, from mid-1986 to mid-1987, into feminist publishing in London. During this time, I worked part time for two feminist presses in London and interviewed feminist presses elsewhere in the United Kingdom, in Ireland, and in Europe. In tackling the issues I've set out above, I'm aware that I have only one particular outsider's perspective on a complex situation. My aim throughout is to offer a sympathetic critique of these presses, showing what emerges when feminism puts itself in action, in writing, and in the money.

An Outsider's Perspective on Pharmacy Education

An Outsider's Perspective on Pharmacy Education