Patterns Of Authority Research Articles

Paternalism revisited: organisational leadership in mainland China

This study is an attempt to understand the staying power of paternalistic leadership in the context of Chinese society and how it manifests itself in organisations there today. It seeks to understand the roots of this model of leadership in the domain of social-psychological legacies and reveals how it is perpetuated in mainland China. A recent exploratory study demonstrates how this pattern of authority sharing is colouring different facets of organisational life. Moreover, underlying assumptions identified in this investigation – the self-seeking individual, hierarchical social reality and the hostile environment – were found to enhance this form of leadership, which is marked by authoritarianism, arbitrariness, a unique form of dependency that is not nurtured at all, and over-dependent subordinates. Challenges, however, are now being mounted against this leadership mode but whether it can succeed or not is an open question. In the meantime, Chinese managers will have to be mindful of the fact that this leadership style might be well suited for organisations which require a less sophisticated workforce and are maintained by routine skills. However, they are not equipped to compete in a 'knowledge-intensive' industry and that they are hindering organisational learning or continuous improvement implicit in other management models.

The Social and Religious Meaning of Nationalism: The Case of Prussian Conservatism 1815—1871

From the 1830s, Prussian conservatives started to contemplate the meaning of nationalism and national identity. The continuous efforts of liberals to bring about German national unification according to modern criteria, and the constant change in the social and economic structures, required the definition of nationalism on an alternative basis. In order to address the severe difficulties faced by society and to avoid national unification based on revolutionary foundations, Prussian conservatives defined German national identity on the basis of particular social relations and order, and on a unique version of religious devotion and designation. At the same time, however, the conservatives did not assign any political importance to these national peculiarities and continued to adhere to the traditional pattern of state and political authority. Such a definition of national identity was considerably different from the later fascist and racist national ideologies. In this regard, the conservative version of nationalism, as developed until the last quarter of the nineteenth century, cannot act as a precursor to National Socialism, as some historians have argued.

Recalling the Netherlands in 1968: Trendsetter or Follower?

1. IntroductionIn 1966 in Amsterdam the royal wedding between Crown Princess Beatrix and the German prince Claus von Amsberg took place. Amsterdam had been the center of playful street happenings, demonstrations and clashes with the police in the preceding years, in the tentative early stages of a youthful revolt against established patterns of authority. The royal wedding served to provide a focus for the concentrated expression of discontent. Disturbing the peaceful progress of a public eve...

'Now Farewell to the Lawe, too long have I been in thy Subjection': Early Modern Murder, Calvinism and Female Spiritual Authority

A True Discourse of the practices of Elizabeth Caldwell (1604) is a prose murder pamphlet narrating its eponymous ‘heroine's’ attempted murder of her husband and her subsequent trial and execution. Early modern Calvinist theology is used to interpret the narrative and expose interlocking patterns of subjection and authority which invest Elizabeth Caldwell's words (spoken and written) with a spiritual power conventionally denied to women in this period. That such power comes at a lethal price—the articulation of her authority is permissible only as she moves towards the silence of death—is one of the many paradoxes revealed by a close analysis of the pamphlet writer's rhetorical strategies, themselves based on the Calvinist generic narrative framework of early modern prose murder pamphlets. The printed text has, however, overcome the silence imposed by her execution, leaving its articulation of female spiritual authority poised between the imaginative and experiential realms, subject finally to the interplay between writers, readers and genre.

The American West’s longest large mammal migration: clarifying and securing the common interest

Over the last 10 years, conflict has grown over a 170-mile pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana) migration between Grand Teton National Park and the Upper Green River Basin in western Wyoming. Resolving conflict in the common interest is proving difficult. This movement is the longest mammal migration in the lower 48 states, spanning the jurisdiction of three federal agencies, three Wyoming counties, and over 40 private landowners. In addition, there are over ten non-governmental conservation organizations, two major state agencies, Wyoming’s executive office, and many citizens involved in the issue. There are three major problem definitions serving the beliefs of participants: the ecological-scientific (conservation biologists, environmentalists), local rights (local control, property rights), and cultural value (historic, western heritage) definitions. These definitions challenge the social and decision making processes of regional communities and government agencies. Underlying the problem of securing the common interest is the highly fragmented patterns of authority and control, misorganized arena(s), and parochial perspectives of many participants. Options promoted by participants can be loosely classified as top-down (government, expert driven) versus bottom-up (local, practice-based) approaches and reflect preferences for the distribution and uses of power and other values. Given the social and decision making context of this case, the bottom-up, practiced-based approach would likely best secure a common interest outcome.

Ethnicity in the Process of Acculturation of Korean Australians: Focused on Family Life Patterns

This article examines Korean immigrants' family life in terms of sex role and authority patterns. Many Korean families in Sydney and Melbourne have adhered to the traditional ideology regardless of their social and economic backgrounds. The male-dominant family life is often strengthened and justified by the ideology of the ethnic community. On the other hand, others have pursued an egalitarian family life due to women's economic participation and the influence of the new culture. This was more true for young Korean immigrant families. Different family lifestyles of Korean immigrants reveal the change and continuity of their traditional culture. Korean ethnicity waxes and wanes by different individuals, generations and sexes. Their ethnicity has negative meanings for some, whereas it has positive meanings for the others. Nevertheless, their common ethnicity has become a reference point, which enables them to interact with one another and to interpret old and new cultural settings. There is little doubt that, with the progress of acculturation, Korean Australians will experience more changes in family life. However, it is also clear that Korean ethnicity will continue to play an important role as a reference point which affects their family life.

Parenting behaviors and preschool children's social and emotional skills: A question of the consequential validity of traditional parenting constructs for low-income African Americans

Abstract Few researchers have questioned the validity of traditional parenting dimensions (based largely on Baumrind's [Baumrind, D. (1967). Child care practices anteceding three patterns of preschool behavior. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 75, 43–88; Baumrind, D. (1971). Current patterns of parental authority. Developmental Psychology, 4, 1–103] work) with economically and ethnically diverse groups, despite the fact that evidence for the utility of these dimensions for predicting child and youth outcomes is equivocal. In this paper, we report on the findings from two independent studies by which we examined the relationship of traditional parenting constructs to children's social–emotional competencies among low-income, urban-residing African American preschool families with measures validated specifically for use with this population. In Study 1, 184 children and their families participated, whereas 210 children and their families participated in Study 2. Contrary to our hypotheses, across these two studies, findings failed to indicate significant relationships between constructs of parenting and children's social and emotional skills. Findings call into question the consequential validity of these constructs for this group and highlight inconsistencies among the larger body of parenting work. Implications for future theory-building and parenting research are discussed.

Patterns of regional authority

Patterns of regional authority

When values of different cultures conflict: Ethical decision making in a multicultural context.

Summary Psychologists need to respect the cultural values of their pa-tients. However, patients from diverse cultural backgrounds maypresent goals and values that appear to conflict with Westernvalues. When this occurs, psychologists should try to engage in arespectful dialogue in which they clarify the values, appreciate thatsome cultures may express a value in a manner different from howit is expressed in Western cultures, and seek a therapeutic solutionthat satisfies both their own professional values and the values oftheir patients. However, if there is a serious threat to a fundamentalvalue, such as a threat to the safety of a child or vulnerable adult,and no acceptable solution can be found, it may be appropriate toallow Western notions of beneficence to temporarily trump respectfor autonomy. References Alcohol at a glance. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2006, from http://www.methodist.org/uk/static/factsheets/fs_alcohol.htmAmerican Psychological Association. (2002). Ethical principles of psy-chologists and code of conduct. American Psychologist, 57, 1060–1073.American Psychological Association. (2003). Guidelines on multiculturaleducation training, research, practice, and organizational change forpsychologists. American Psychologist, 58, 377–402.Baumrind, D. (1971). Current patterns of parental authority. Developmen-tal Psychology Monographs, 4 (1, Pt. 2).Beauchamp, T., & Childress, J. (2001). Principles of biomedical ethics.New York: Oxford University Press.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2005). Behavioral risk factorsurveillance system. Retrieved December 6, 2006, from http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss/list.asp?cat AC&yr 2005&qkey 4411&state AllChen, S. W., & Davenport, D. (2005). Cognitive behavior therapy withChinese American clients: Cautions and modifications. Psychotherapy:Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 42, 101–115.Chin, J. L. (1994). Cultural preferences and children’s needs. Ethics andBehavior, 4, 81–82.Council for the Parliament of the World’s Religions. (2003). Toward adeclaration of a global ethic. Retrieved July 14, 2003, from http://www.conjure.com/CTS/ethic.htmlCulture and sex role expectation. (1994). Ethics and Behavior, 4, 75–76.Dube, S., Anda, R., Whitfield, C., Brown, D., Felitti, V., Dong, M., &Giles, W. (2005). Long-term consequences of childhood sexual abuse bygender of victim. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 28, 430–438.Fowers, B. (2005). Virtue and psychology: Pursuing excellence in ordinarypractices. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Fowers, B., & Davidov, B. (2006). The virtue of multiculturalism: Personaltransformation, character and openness to the other. American Psychol-ogist, 61, 581–594.Haberman, D. (1998). Confucianism: The way of the sages. In L. Steven-son & D. Haberman (Eds.), Ten theories of human nature (pp. 25–44).New York: Oxford University Press.Harper, M. (2006). Ethical multiculturalism: An evolutionary conceptanalysis [Electronic version]. Advances in Nursing Science, 29, 110–124.Huang, C. (1997). Introduction. In The Analects of Confucius (C. Huang,Trans.) (pp. 3–13). New York: Oxford University Press.Jenkins, A. (2005). Hamlet, theoretical psychology, and “the view frommanywheres.” Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 25,133–152.Knapp, S., & VandeCreek, L. (2004). A principle-based analysis of theMULTICULTURALISM AND ETHICAL DECISION MAKING

Ticking Boxes and Changing the Social World: Data Collection and the New UK General Practice Contract

Abstract The new General Medical Services contract was introduced into general practice in the UK in 2004, and it links pay to performance far more than in the past. As a result, accurate data collection about patients and the care that they receive is now not only important for good patient care but also to prove that targets are being met. The use of electronic records and information technology has thus become much more sophisticated. This article reports the results from an ethnographic study of the early stages of the new contract in two general practices. As expected, electronic data collection had increased in importance in both practices, with consequences both for clinician–patient interactions and for the structures and processes in the practices, as uniform data collection instruments are put in place that privilege ‘hard’ biomedical data that can be easily coded above ‘softer’, more patient‐centred information. Roles and responsibilities had been changed to reflect the needs of the new systems, and new software applications allowed increased surveillance of both doctors’ and nurses’ performance; both of these had an impact on patterns of authority in our study practices. Furthermore, the structural changes that were found acted to embed the new ways of working, ensuring their reproduction in the future. In spite of these effects, we found little opposition to or critical reflection on the changes, and the doctors in our study continued to view their improved computer systems as neutral recording devices. The implication of these findings is discussed.

Remaking Israeli Judaism (review)

Reviewed by: Remaking Israeli Judaism Shlomo Deshen Remaking Israeli Judaism: The Challenge of Shas, by David LehmannBatia Siebzehner. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. 289 pp. $65.00. The growing research literature on the Israeli Shas phenomenon has been moving over the years from a predominantly political perspective to one focused on it as a socio-religious movement. This volume is part of that wave. The authors do not only address their subject from a broad sociological perspective, but also bring with them expertise in research on Latin American Catholicism and Pentecostalism, and they seek to illuminate the Israeli phenomenon through that experience. The book has an informal ethnographic dimension: over a period of three years the authors visited unspecified numbers of Shas-linked schools, yeshivas, synagogues, study groups, etc., and spoke to activists upon whom they came by “networking.” On the basis of this fieldwork and their reading of the pertinent literature, the authors offer a portrait of Shas which emphasizes its being akin to Evangelist movements, in Jewish terms a “teshuva” movement, of a kind with Habad hasidism. The Shas teshuva movement is linked to ethnic and social resentment. But though both secular and orthodox Ashkenazim have discriminated against Sephardim, the resentment of Shas is focused harshly only upon the secular sector. The reason, the authors suggest, interestingly, is that since relatively few Sephardim in the early decades of the State had personal experience [End Page 245] with orthodox Ashkenazim, they remain to this day relatively unaware of the discrimination practiced in that sector. An interesting finding of the book is that some of the Shas schools, despite the vehement anti-intellectualism of the movement, have modern quality programs in secular subjects such as physical education and science. Also, the authors find, the Shas movement is moderate and gradual in the religious demands it poses to new recruits. Further, in contrast to the situation among Ashkenazic haredim, in Shas returnees are acceptable for positions of prominence and leadership. The authors explain this openness as due to the overall expansiveness of Shas and its consequent need for skilled professionals to man administrative and technical positions (such as in the radio stations affiliated with Shas, and in government positions they command). Similarly, in the area of women’s rights, Shas women, while encouraged to high fertility, are invited to be publicly active for the movement, and also to engage in professional work. The movement is involved in private college-level training facilities (separate for men and women). The book offers many arresting theses based on insights on the Israeli situation, supported by Latin American findings. In both cases, Shas and Latin America, the authors claim, the new religious movements entail the recruits’ joining a new community, eventually severing ties with their community of origin, and in time, becoming heavily dependent on the new community. One aspect of this is marriage at a young age (with the support of the religious community) and concomitant parental disempowerment and attrition of kinship. Another thesis is that new religious recruits will be particularly enthusiastic and committed devotees, because of their dependence on their new community. A further thesis is that in common with evangelical movements world-wide, Shas has a marked hierarchical pattern of authority and a centralized system for the interpretation of religious codes. All these assertions are reasonable in theory, but they invite presentation of rigorous evidence, and that we are not offered in this book. The most sweeping thesis of the study is that “conversion-based movements reshape religion everywhere, including evangelical Christianity, Pentecostalism and Islamic renewal. (p. 3). The universal element of this statement need not concern us, but does it apply to the local Israeli scene, and to Shas in particular? In entitling their book “Remaking Israeli Judaism” and subtitling it “The Challenge of Shas,” the authors demonstrate their conviction that the role of Shas in religious change is indeed pivotal. But the issue might have been explored in greater depth. Granting the force of Shas in Israeli religion and politics, the book exaggerates some points and glosses over many reservations. One, the overall Sephardic proportion of Israeli Jews is probably not [End Page 246] much over one-third...

"We Are Your Books": Augustine, the Bible, and the Practice of Authority

Although Augustine's posthumous influence on Christianity is immense and wide ranging, the authority he exercises among his contemporaries is far more modest and contextual. Subsequent generations overestimate Augustine's actual authority largely because we approach him as readers of a written, monological corpus that has consolidated his power. In his own context, however, Augustine's authority as preacher and bishop lay in complex social dynamics that are dialogical, mutually responsive, and limiting. Although we can no longer hear Augustine as those in his congregation did, we can work to develop hermeneutical practices that retrieve differences in the way written and spoken words generate distinct patterns of authority. Not only is Augustine aware of such differences, but in his practice of exegesis and preaching, the authority of scripture itself functions variously within a range of written and verbal registers. His treatment of the psalms especially emphasizes their status as a living voice inviting the hearer into dialogue with the divine other. An amplified sense of how authority operates in Augustine's work: (1) contributes to historical studies that argue the exercise of episcopal power in the late fourth, early fifth centuries was in fact quite restricted; (2) coheres with theoretical studies that insist the nature of religious power is constituted by multidirectional social and symbolic relations; and (3) comports with theological studies that regard divine revelation as lying not solely in the biblical text but also in the very communicative processes where that text comes to life.

Democratization and State Capacity in East and Southeast Asia

This essay surveys the development of democracy in seven East and Southeast Asian states and its impacts on state capacity. The states covered are: South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore. In the first five of these states, democratic structures have been introduced only over the last two decades. In the last two, they remain profoundly constrained. The essay considers the impacts of this development on state capacity. State capacity is a complex variable. It can be subdivided into three primary components: political, policy, and organizational capacities. Within each of these components, specific elements that have been affected by, or that potentially gain new significance from, democratization are examined. Political capacity involves political culture, political parties, the formation of executives, and executive-legislative relations. Policy capacity entails the assimilation of new policy strategies. Administrative capacity involves bureaucratic politicization and interest aggregation. The essay concludes that state capacity in all seven countries draws mostly on old foundations. Democracy has introduced new forms and new dynamic elements. However, its consolidation is a work in progress. For the moment, democratic forms constitute primarily a varnish, beneath which older patterns of power and authority continue to flourish.

Glass Ceilings or Gendered Institutions? Mapping the Gender Regimes of Public Sector Worksites

The “glass ceiling” model of gender equity has its weaknesses. Therefore, a multiple-dimensions approach to gender is proposed. This essay reports on a field study of organizational gender arrangements in 10 public sector worksites in New South Wales, Australia. Despite equal opportunity measures, gender divisions of labor persist in several forms. Processes that sustain and undermine these divisions are identified. Authority patterns are being reconfigured, with restructuring and rising numbers of women in management resulting in local turbulence in gender relations. Emotions of gender transition are identified, with considerable diversity in reactions among men. An emerging pattern, the “depolarized workplace,” is described. A cultural trend toward workplace gender neutrality is observable. Proposals are made for better practice in gender equity work, including richer ways for public organizations to study their own gender regimes.

Entrepreneurial IT Governance

Governance is traditionally viewed as a formal authority structure. Information Technology (IT) governance parallels this in that it refers to the patterns of authority over IT. However, traditional control theories of governance, particularly those applied to IT, may not apply in rural healthcare settings. Healthcare has significantly underinvested in IT. Even today, the vast majority of healthcare transactions occur via telephone, fax, paper, and EDI; much data is not captured, is captured incorrectly or inefficiently, and is difficult to retrieve and use. Employing an established IT governance framework, and working from the fundamental assumption that IT is a vital tool in the capture and use of healthcare data, the authors explore the appropriateness of the traditional IT governance framework within a rural healthcare setting. We present an innovative, non authoritative, relationship-oriented approach for those seeking successful adoption of IT as a means of improving healthcare in rural settings.

Policymaking in the Age of Internet: Is the Internet Tending to Make Policy Networks More or Less Inclusive?

Although many policy and political scientists have studied the Internet's role in electoral and organizational processes, there is little work that examines the Internet's effect on policy processes. Has the Internet tended to make policy deliberations more inclusive? Has it affected patterns of influence reputation among network participants? Has the Internet helped to bring new organizations into policy debates? This study provides preliminary answers to these questions. Treating policy networks as a type of interorganizational network, a “socialized” resource dependence framework is developed. Deployment of the Internet is conceptualized as an exogenous shock, where the shock alters the material resource base of a policy network and allows actors inside and outside the network to challenge structural power holders. Structural power holders attempt to “mold” use of the Internet to protect their position and its perquisites. To test this framework data were collected from two policy networks in “Newstatia”—one focused on adult basic education policy and the other on mental health policy. Both policy networks appear to have become more exclusive since the deployment of the Internet. Electronic central discussion networks (or “cores”) were primarily populated by actors who were already entrenched in positions of structural power within the network and possessed very high influence ratings. Most Internet communication occurs between members of the electronic core. At least preliminarily, the Internet appears to reinforce existing patterns of authority and influence.

Tools of political management in the New Central Asian Republics1

This paper examines the challenge faced by the governments of the newly independent Central Asian republics to incorporate societies composed of disparate, mostly Muslim, nationalities into centralized secular states that were consolidated largely by external geopolitical forces. This objective has been constrained by a limited ability to extract revenues through taxation and a weak tradition of representative politics. Post-Soviet national leaderships have thus been afforded two principal tools of political management: elite control over natural resource endowments that provide a major source of budgetary capital, and the presence of informal organizations based upon kinship ties or local authority patterns that organize and structure political associations. These are utilized as a means of forging a bond between formal institutional arrangements and indigenous populations. However, there is some variation in the degree to which these factors have allowed leaders to establish strong state–society linkages across countries in the region. A comparative study of these activities in the Kazakh, Uzbek, and Turkmen polities indicates that while the first has been most successful at establishing a concrete national identity, the second recurrently resorts to repression, while the third relies on a newly invented nationalism that may prove difficult to sustain in the long term.

Syncretism and subversion in AIDS governance: how locals cope with global demands

This article attempts to lay out a set of broad theoretical questions illustrated with material from two visits to sub-Saharan Africa including interviews with government officials and international organization representatives in Botswana and Malawi about 70 interviews with staff from AIDS NGOs across sub-Saharan Africa and an initial effort at mapping the universe of organizations responding to Africas AIDS pandemic. The article focuses on four issues: (1) the nature of the organizations responding to AIDS in Africa; (2) the relation of AIDS governance to existing patterns of African governance including the possibilities of syncretism and conversely a stand-off between the organizational models created by AIDS NGOs and existing patterns of authority and cooperation in African societies; (3) the problems and possibilities of cultural match between existing repertoires of collective action schemas and those proffered by NGOs and international organizations;1 and (4) the slippery matter of the play of power money and identity in a field of power with very unequal players. (excerpt)

And Ever the Twain Shall Meet: The Holiness Missionary Movement and the Birth of World Pentecostalism, 1870–1920

AbstractPentecostalism first appeared as a global movement, built with both modern and antimodern materials provided by the American holiness missionary movement. On the anti-modern side, radical holiness spirituality and theology infused the worldviews of its advocates with supernaturalism, primitivism, and an apocalyptic eschatology. It resisted modern trends toward systematization, bureaucratization, and centralized control. Furthermore, radical holiness minimized the significance of modern categories of nation, ethnicity, race, and civilization. On the other side, radical holiness depended on the modern disintegration of traditional religious deference, used modern techniques for promoting audiencedriven or democratized patterns of authority, and effectively equipped its followers for the pragmatic methodologies of modernity by skillfully making use of transportation networks, fund-raising techniques, and mass media to reach large audiences.American holiness missionaries carried these characteristics overseas, where non-American advocates adapted them to their particular circumstances. Both American and non-American adherents promoted radical holiness in ways that confounded reigning categories of identity, power relations, and conceptions of East and West. Radical holiness granted religious authority to Chinese men, Indian girls, spirit-filled Zulus, working-class Chileans, female evangelists, and African-American leaders, as well as white American males, without consciously mobilizing its followers along lines of national, ethnic, gendered, racial, or class identity. It demanded that its followers leave "heathenism," but it did so without utilizing the imperialist era discourse of civilization that upheld western cultural superiority and non-western cultural inferiority. In terms of its national or racial characteristics, then, early leaders from diverse backgrounds used tools from the American holiness movement to bring a non-American movement, world Pentecostalism, into existence.

Editorial Vol-1-Issue-2-2005

Editorial Vol-1-Issue-2-2005