Positions Of Authority Research Articles

The expendable male hypothesis.

Matriliny is a system of kinship in which descent and inheritance are conferred along the female line. The theoretically influential concept of the matrilineal puzzle posits that matriliny poses special problems for understanding men's roles in matrilineal societies. Ethnographic work describes the puzzle as the tension experienced by men between the desire to exert control over their natal kin (i.e. the lineage to which they belong) and over their affinal kin (i.e. their spouses and their biological children). Evolutionary work frames the paradox as one resulting from a man investing in his nieces and nephews at the expense of his own biological offspring. In both cases, the rationale for the puzzle rests on two fundamental assumptions: (i) that men are in positions of authority over women and over resources; and (ii) that men are interested in the outcomes of parenting. In this paper, we posit a novel hypothesis that suggests that certain ecological conditions render men expendable within local kinship configurations, nullifying the above assumptions. This arises when (i) women, without significant assistance from men, are capable of meeting the subsistence needs of their families; and (ii) men have little to gain from parental investment in children. We conclude that the expendable male hypothesis may explain the evolution of matriliny in numerous cases, and by noting that female-centred approaches that call into doubt assumptions inherent to male-centred models of kinship are justified in evolutionary perspective. This article is part of the theme issue 'The evolution of female-biased kinship in humans and other mammals'.

Innovating “Traditional” Women’s Roles: Byzantine Insights for Orthodox Christian Gender Discourse

AbstractSome contemporary hierarchically endorsed statements about gender within Orthodox Christianity appeal to “traditional roles” for women. Byzantine hagiographies about women, however, often confound the stability suggested by such rhetoric, and offer a more open “tradition” of Orthodox Christians celebrating diverse and boundary‐breaking forms of women’s sanctity (even if via negation of their womanhood). Although these texts betray an unabashedly historical patriarchal perspective, they also can be read as using gender, via an almost apophatic dialectic, to convey theological values that challenge essentialist associations between specific vocations, authoritative positions, and particular sexes. As hagiography is an influential genre for Orthodox beliefs and practices, the ways hagiographers negotiate and depict gender should inform understandings of gender in Orthodox “tradition.”

Cárcere da mente: algumas experiências de homens internados no hospital de alienados de Pernambuco no Estado Novo

Muito se tem escrito sobre a História da Loucura e das Instituições Psiquiátricas, porém pouco são os estudos que tentam desvendar os labirintos da loucura, trazendo à tona - mesmo que sutis e fragmentados - aspectos da vida dos considerados “loucos”, apresentando dados sobre histórias de vida dentro e fora dos muros dos hospícios. Nosso objetivo é resgatar dados importantes sobre a história de alguns homens em situação de sofrimento psíquico, no período em que passaram pelo Pavilhão de Observação e, posteriormente, internados no Hospital de Alienados, espaço que não era apenas destinado à prática médica, mas que estava implantado em uma rede de poder e de saber no campo da psiquiatria institucional. São os prontuários que nos fornece pistas significativas para reconstituição da trajetória dos internos no Hospital de Alienados. Como fonte imprescindível, utilizamos alguns livros dos prontuários masculino correspondentes ao período do Estado Novo, marcado por posições autoritárias de seu interventor Agamenon Magalhães.

Division I Athletic Director Trends and Perceptions of Requisite Professional Skills

Abstract The focus of this study was to understand perceptions of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I athletic director (ADs) skills and experiences and their relative importance to their current position. Division I ADs hold the highest position of authority in intercollegiate athletic departments at the highest level of competition in the NCAA (Swift, 2011). What once was seen as a job for retired coaches, has now transformed into a role that attracts some of the top executives both in and outside the sports industry (Belzer, 2015). Indeed, universities have begun to resemble a corporate culture, with ADs frequently considered to be CEOs of their department and the universities they serve (Hardin, Cooper & Huffman, 2013). Since much of the research on AD career paths has employed a content analysis methodology, examining biographies of ADs to establish patterns, (e.g., Fitzgerald, Sagaria, & Nelson, 1994; Hardin et al., 2013; Lumpkin, Achen & Hyland, 2015), the current study sought to understand ADs perceptions of requisite skills and experiences by directly surveying the group. Results indicate current ADs place a high emphasis on developing skills relative to revenue generation, fundraising and development, while considering internal experiences such as working with academic services and life skills not nearly as important.

What sustaining heritage really does

<p>Increasingly across the globe, heritage agencies have taken on board the critique of heritage management enshrined in Smith’s (2006) argument about the dominance of an ‘authorised heritage discourse’ and the way this has been developed by other writers in the field. To this end, they are increasingly engaged in extending their work towards working with communities. This is highly commendable and contributes towards the sustainability of heritage as a category.</p><p>What gets lost in the debates about community engagement and involvement, however, is any consideration of the nature or role of the heritage agency as a type of institution; and yet an understanding of the role of these institutions in the process is essential if we are truly to break away from limited, top-down, highly managerial conceptions of what heritage is for. It is not just a matter of organisations doing what they do in a more inclusive manner; it is more than them moving from positions of authority to acting as facilitators. There needs to be a clear understanding by all involved in the heritage process – including those who work for institutions – of how institutions function in relation to the object of their attention and others who have an interest in that object.</p>

Shifting feminisms

PurposeThe paper aims to shed light on how a group of feminist managers/leaders, in education and social studies departments, a notably under-explored and under-theorised group, “do power” in the increasingly corporatized education marketplace.Design/methodology/approachThe research draws on the narratives of a small group of feminist women who hold authority positions at middle or senior levels. It draws on data from ethnographic interviews and participant observation carried out as part of an in-depth narrative inquiry (Andrews et al., 2008), carried out at three higher education institutions in the UK.FindingsFrom a small sample such as this, any findings are necessarily tentative. Nonetheless, findings suggest that, whilst taking account of individual differences in styles, there has been a shift, over time, in the ways that the management role is approached by some feminist women. Analysis of the data also reveals that gendered expectations remain for those who carry the “feminist” label and asks whether these expectations are realistic.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample group is small which raises questions about what can and cannot be claimed. However, along with Maguire (2008), the author’s purpose is not with generalizability but seeks to explore issues and open up further areas of study.Originality/valueThis paper is an original empirical research which explores an under-researched group of women, namely, feminist managers and leaders who operate within the education marketplace. As they negotiate the challenges of working within the neoliberal academy, these women try, to varying degrees, to remain true to their feminist values and beliefs.

Women in the Zulu state

The cult of personality of Shaka Zulu and the conception of masculinity that characterises it, has today become a symbol of the patriarchal nature of pre-colonial states in Southern Africa. These states were supposedly constructed in a way that enslaved women through the system of polygamous marriage, with a form of reverse-dowry known as Lobola, acting as payment for the bride-to-be. However, this narrative relies on two questionable premises. Firstly, that the concept of marriage as defined by the European Christian church is the comparative through which polygamy should be linguistically and culturally translated. And secondly, that the institution of polygamy only placed men in a position of authority and power. This essay aims to explore these premises through questioning the way in which the narrative of Zulu masculinity has allowed for the construction of a historiography that has ignored the political and economic structures of polygamy. Furthermore, I will explore the idea of all-female polygamous unions, and what their role within the centralised state structure of the Zulu state might tell us about the role of women - even prior to Shaka Zulu’s consolidation of power. My aim is to allow for an informed reflection on cause and affect of gender-based inequality and the role of masculinity within post-colonial societies through investigating the pre-colonial past.

Toward Comprehensive Patient-Centric Care by Integrating Digital Health Technology With Direct Clinical Contact in Australia.

BackgroundThere is an escalating crisis in health care, locally and internationally. The current health care model is unable to meet the increasing health care demands.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to reconceptualize the provision of health care to produce better outcomes at no greater cost, by placing individuals in the position of authority to direct their own care, in a personalized, integrated health care system.MethodsIn this study, we used the Australian health care system as a model. We reviewed the current landscape of digital health in Australia and discussed how electronic medical records (EMRs) can be further developed into a personalized, integrated health care system.ResultsSome components of an EMR and digital health system are already being used in Australia, but the systems are not linked. A personalized, integrated health care model that is responsive to consumer needs requires not just a passive repository of medical information; it would require a team approach, including the government, health care funders, industries, consumers and advocacy groups, health care professionals, community groups, and universities.ConclusionsImplementation of a personalized, integrated health care system can result in reduced pressure on the current health care system, and it can result in the delivery of best-practice health care, regardless of location. Importantly, a personalized, integrated health care system could serve as an education platform, “upskilling” not only clinicians but also, more importantly, patients and carers by providing them with accurate information about their condition, treatment options, medications, and management strategies. By proposing personalized, integrated health care, we offer an intelligent model of health care that is ubiquitous, efficient, and continuously improving.

After the Visit: Re-learning Our Past

After the Visit: Re-learning Our Past Stephen Collins There is a general consensus that the visit of Pope Francis to Ireland last summer failed to make any serious impact on the country. In the face of continuing controversy over abuse, general hostility from the media and a poor turnout of the faithful for the Mass in the Phoenix Park, it is hard to argue that the visit made an enduring mark. Yet history shows that great public events which are hailed as a triumph can often with time turn out to be hollow. The opposite can sometimes be true; events that appear to have little impact can, with hindsight, come to be regarded as significant milestones. Remember the acclaim and excitement generated by the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1979 and the rapturous reception he received from the highest to the lowest in the land. Millions of people turned out to see him, the media coverage was gushing and those in positions of authority in the Irish Church felt confident that the future looked rosy. Yet the apparent success of that visit masked a range of serious problems already well advanced. They included the failure to recognise and deal with the problem of abuse in the Church, the collapse in vocations and the inexorable drift towards a secular society. All of these were already eating into the foundations of the Church’s position in Irish society but the Pope’s visit not only encouraged the hierarchy to ignore them but to continue to behave as if it still had the power to impose its will on the political system. The exercise of that power in a range of controversies during the 1980s, including the pro-life referendum, the debate over contraception and active involvement in the divorce referendum were all serious misjudgements, which did lasting damage to the credibility of the institutional Church and in the long run produced the very outcomes they were designed to thwart. It can be argued that the success of the Pope’s visit in 1979 encouraged the Church to take the wrong path in the years that followed. The question today is whether the disappointing reaction to the visit of Pope Francis will prompt an honest assessment of the problems facing the After the Visit: Re-learning Our Past Studies • volume 108 • number 430 195 Church and promote a programme of renewal that will enable it to survive in an increasingly hostile environment. Reasons for failure The reasons why the visit last August turned out to be a damp squib are many and varied. One was the misjudgement by the authorities of both Church and state of the likely turnout for the Mass in the Phoenix Park. Preparations were put in place for a congregation of a million people when there was never the remotest prospect of such a crowd. In fact the health and safety arrangements put in place for a crowd of that size ensured that many people who would have liked to attend the Mass did not do so. The ludicrously early arrival times and the long walks involved in getting to the venue meant that tens of thousands of older people decided against attending. And it should have been no secret that the age profile of those who wanted to hear the Pope’s Mass was always going to be at the upper end of the scale. Of course, there were deeper reasons for the failure of the visit to ignite the kind of response that greeted John Paul II in 1979. The shocking litany of abuse cases which have dominated the headlines for the past two decades has shaken the faith of so many people and undermined respect for the Church in the wider community. The media framed the entire visit around the abuse saga, but it was naive to expect anything else. The media has an inbuilt tendency to focus on the negative and in this case it had plenty of material to exploit. As the British politician Enoch Powell famously remarked, ‘The politician who complains about the media is like the sea captain who complains about the sea’. In the current climate the Catholic...

Exploring student engagement with supervisor feedback on master’s thesis: Insights from a case study

ABSTRACTThis case study shows how three Master’s students engage affectively, behaviourally and cognitively with supervisor feedback on thesis drafts. The data sources are students’ drafts, supervisor’s oral and written feedback, and student interviews. Six themes of student engagement are identified in the data, namely (1) gaining reassurance from the supervisor’s compliments, (2) trusting the supervisor’s feedback due to his position of authority, (3) following the supervisor’s advice selectively, (4) engaging with academia by incorporating more citations, (5) not fully understanding the feedback and (6) ‘letting it go and moving on’.

VOTING IN DEMOCRACY: AN INSTRUMENT OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Democracy has been described as the system government through which people of a given society manage their political, economic, environmental and social affairs whether directly or indirectly. It is a form of government where people have opportunity of directly getting involved in making decisions that affects their lives or indirectly through elected representatives. Central to democracy is election where people are usually elected to occupy positions of authority in order to represent and protect the interest of those who elected them. This election normally takes place through voting which is a formal way of choosing and expressing ones’ interest in a particular candidate who stands in for election. It follows that democracy is about elections and elections is about voting, as such voting is a pillar upon which both democracy and elections rest. At the same time the level or extent of societal development depends on the nature, type or characteristics of its elected leaders. This paper therefore discusses the importance of voting in an election in the development of a society. It highlights issues such as voting systems, concepts of development, voting in democracy and development as well as implications of not voting in an election. Article visualizations:

French private sector shows huge divergence of attitudes to religious diversity

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to find out whether French companies in the private sector were willing to make allowances to help religious minorities to integrate and express themselves. They also wanted to analyze if the accommodations caused resentment among other staff.Design/methodology/approachThe authors carried out 28 semi-structured interviews with individuals in positions of authority at private sector companies.FindingsThey found three common strategies. The first was “flexibility within the rules,” meaning managers made allowances for religious practices. The second was the “separation strategy,” insisting on the strong adherence to rules and refusing to make allowances. The third common approach was a “common ground strategy” that found common points of interest between all workers.Originality/valueClashes between managers and religious workers are becoming more common in Europe as religiosity is on the rise. The results help managers to formulate effective strategies to deal with the issues.

Reconsidering Palmer v Thompson

Reconsidering Palmer <scp>v</scp> Thompson

Rationalizing injustice: The reinforcement of legal hegemony in South Africa

The legal system in South Africa holds a legitimate and authoritative position in the country’s constitutional democracy and political order, despite the commonplace experiences of injustice that take place at the hands of the criminal justice system. This article looks at how the legal consciousness of community activists, student activists and migrants is shaped by experiences of arrest and detention, and focuses particularly on how their perceptions of the law reinforce the legitimacy and hegemonic status enjoyed by the criminal justice system and broader legal system in South Africa. The article draws on original interviews with community activists, student activists and migrants, who recounted their experiences of arrest and detention. Using a socio-legal framework of legal consciousness, the article unpacks how these groups reinforce legal hegemony through the ways in which they understand and rationalise their experiences of punishment. Despite the reasonable expectation that those who have experienced a miscarriage of justice would be most sceptical and pessimistic about the law’s legitimacy, this article finds that they continue to maintain their faith in the law. The article presents an analysis of interviews conducted with members of these groups, and shares evidence that begins to explore some of the ways in which South Africa’s criminal justice system is able to sustain its legitimacy, despite the gaps between what the law ought to be and what the law actually is.

Rationalizing injustice: The reinforcement of legal hegemony in South Africa

The legal system in South Africa holds a legitimate and authoritative position in the country’s constitutional democracy and political order, despite the commonplace experiences of injustice that take place at the hands of the criminal justice system. This article looks at how the legal consciousness of community activists, student activists and migrants is shaped by experiences of arrest and detention, and focuses particularly on how their perceptions of the law reinforce the legitimacy and hegemonic status enjoyed by the criminal justice system and broader legal system in South Africa. The article draws on original interviews with community activists, student activists and migrants, who recounted their experiences of arrest and detention. Using a socio-legal framework of legal consciousness, the article unpacks how these groups reinforce legal hegemony through the ways in which they understand and rationalise their experiences of punishment. Despite the reasonable expectation that those who have experienced a miscarriage of justice would be most sceptical and pessimistic about the law’s legitimacy, this article finds that they continue to maintain their faith in the law. The article presents an analysis of interviews conducted with members of these groups, and shares evidence that begins to explore some of the ways in which South Africa’s criminal justice system is able to sustain its legitimacy, despite the gaps between what the law ought to be and what the law actually is.

Valence, Elections, and Legislative Institutions

AbstractTo the degree that voters care about competence, expertise, and other valence characteristics of their representatives and political parties care about winning elections, parties have an incentive to signal that their legislators have such characteristics. We construct a model of parties, motivated by both reelection and by policy, that attempt to signal individual incumbents' valences to voters through the assignment of these members to positions of authority. The model illustrates how electorally motivated party leaders will have an incentive to promote less competent incumbents than they would if voters did not make inferences from promotion decisions. We derive the model's empirical implications and test them with original data on the careers of Chilean senators serving between 1998 and 2013. In support of the model's insights, we find that promotion to a leadership position is an effective signal to voters only if the promoted incumbent has extreme views relative to the party.

The act that shaped the gender of industrial mining: Unintended impacts of the British mines act of 1842 on women’s status in the industry

In the 19th century, public outrage over poor working conditions of children in underground coal mines in the UK led to the enactment of the Mines and Collieries Act 1842. It prohibited boys under the age of ten and all females from laboring in underground mines. This Act wiped out the long and impressive history of women’s labor in the mining industry, and pushed women into more insecure areas of work. Later, during the 1920s and 1930s, this Act became the model for the International Labour Organization (ILO) to adopt protective legislation around women’s labor in the mining industry. Although unintended, the Act established ideals for decent work for women as per the Victorian norm and eventually led to the contemporary global context of hypermasculinity of the mining industry. The paper shows how women’s labor in mines—within a strict sex-based division of tasks—was, and remains, subject to gender ideologies that are not only propagated at home, but assume an authoritative position when adopted by the state.

More than Mothers: Juries of Matrons and Pleas of the Belly in Medieval England

Common law was an all-male system, with one glaring exception: juries of matrons. If a convicted felon requested a reprieve from execution on the grounds of pregnancy, it was the responsibility of a group of twelve matrons to perform an inspection in order to determine if she was in fact pregnant. Matrons were in a position of great authority. Their verdicts were definitive: if they decided a woman was pregnant, then she was sent back to prison. Despite the significance of their role, little is known about medieval matrons and what qualified them to sit on a jury. Were they mothers? Honorable wives? Midwives? The goal of this paper is to argue that matrons had training in obstetrics. This was particularly important for medieval matrons because the quickening (that is ensoulment, signaled by the first fetal movements) did not become the focal point of the matrons' assessment until at least 1348. Before this, the diagnosis was much more medically challenging as matrons had to determine whether a felon had conceived. Overall, the medieval records demonstrate great confidence in medieval matrons and their obstetrical expertise.

Mortuary ritual and social identities during the late Dawenkou period in China

Abstract

Agency, Authority, and Epideictic Rhetoric: A Case Study of Bottom-Up Organizational Change

By analyzing a case study of organizational decision making at a large research university, this article argues that the agency to make a difference within organizations—to effect organizational change—is not exclusive to those in positions of authority. This case study demonstrates how subordinate members of a university affected management’s decision-making process through their use of rhetorical identification. Specifically, these organizational members gained this agency by reproducing certain values and identities through epideictic rhetoric in order to encourage collective action and effect organizational change from the bottom up.