Regular Readers Research Articles

NLRB Again Defies Common Sense

As regular readers are aware, in recent years, the National Labor Relations Board has become critical of workplace rules or policies that employees might allegedly interpret as dissuading them from exercising their rights to advance their mutual aid or protection. From the employer's perspective, one recent case exemplifies how the Board has stretched this proposition too far.

"Lack of Popularity of Newspapers in Lakshadweep "

We live in an information age where the media has transformed the world into a global village. However it would come as a surprise to many that even in this twenty first century there are isolated pockets in India such as Lakshadweep without adequate newspaper reach, lacking timely newspaper coverage of local issues. The social implications of such glaring inequalities are striking.This study seeks to shed new light on a hitherto sidelined issue which has a lot of significance. The specific objectives of the study are to analyse the lack of popularity of newspapers in Lakshadweep, to study the media habits and media preferences of the islanders and to study the coverage given to local Lakshadweep issues in newspapers.The survey method was utilized to collect data required for the study. It was conducted only in the Kavaratti islands, the capital of Lakshadweep The following reasons are noted for the lack of popularity of newspapers in Lakshadweep. Delay in getting newspaper in time, Lakshadweep local news do not get adequate coverage in newspapers, Regular newspaper readers are less in number, subscribers of newspaper are less in number, few people depend on newspaper for breaking news, After the arrival of electronic media, the natives gradually shifted to electronic media for news. Very few people (4%) prefer newspapers for information purposes, while the vast majority depend on Television. In a region populated by scheduled tribes there is a pressing need to enhance their public awareness, to strengthen democracy at the grassroots and gain a better understanding of media habits in such isolated areas. This exploratory study has thrown fresh light on media coverage and media habits of such marginalised communities. The study is confined to only one island Kavaratti, the capital of Lakshadweep. Perhaps in future more detailed studies on such topics need to be undertaken keeping in mind their social relevance.

…From the Editor

Whether on the road or at a desk, the feeling of having no viable options, no matter which way we turn, can be exasperating. Faced with organizational gridlock, business leaders commonly seek an outside perspective to open up a fresh avenue of thought or approach. As Bart Tkaczyk details on page 6, the most productive engagements with an external consultant are carefully planned to balance sound research with creative application. Hitting the “refresh” button on organizational challenges entails asking hard questions. But that alone is not enough. On page 17, James B. Rieley outlines a thorough method for not only uncovering the essential elements in a decision-making scenario, but also for testing the likely consequences of any proposed solution so that crucial resources are not squandered. At a leading Malaysian retailer, satisfying customers with in-store promotions without incurring additional costs called for mapping out key processes. In so doing, note Kuang Siew Lee and Cheng Ling Tan on page 24, store managers were able to identify underlying supply chain issues that could hamper on-shelf availability and to address such crucial variables as proper staff training. The value of e-training in the Nigerian civil service led Bello Zainab, Muhammad Awais Bhatti, and Faizuniah Pangil to examine the factors that affect its adoption. As they explain on page 33, their poll of 450 department heads underscored the need for effective technical support to bolster workers’ adoption of e-training as a new way to acquire essential skills. And in their study of 365 bank managers in Bangladesh, on page 43, Nadia Newaz Rimi, Mohd.Yusoff Yusliza, Tim Walters, and Mohammad Rabiul Basher Rubel show that effective delegation—in this case, of human resource responsibilities to branch leaders—can also enhance service quality. The recent proliferation of living labs highlights the importance of collaboration in spurring research and testing innovative products and processes. In his analysis on page 52, Frits D.J. Grotenhuis concludes that to get the most from these dynamic partnerships, better coordination is needed between the experimental facilities and the organizations they serve. Regular readers of Global Business and Organizational Excellence will notice the journal's new look, inaugurated with this issue. The hope is that in both design and content, the pages that follow will inspire a fresh outlook of your own.

Employee Communication Programs

As regular readers know, poor communication from management to workers or from workers to management often sows the seeds of dissatisfaction a union may be able to exploit. There are many types of communication that may be useful. Here is a list readers can use to evaluate whether they believe they are doing all they can to facilitate two‐way communication.

C&RL Spotlight

The C&RL Spotlight column offers an opportunity to step outside of the current issue of C&RL and consider how it might be received not just by the current readership of C&RL but to contemplate what the broader intended audience of ACRL members or academic librarians might want to know. This venue is a chance for C&RL to reach out to those who may not be regular readers and demonstrate that the journal has something for almost every library perspective.

Memories of Two Generations: A Yiddish Life in Russia and Texas by Alexander Z. Gurwitz

Reviewed by: Memories of Two Generations: A Yiddish Life in Russia and Texasby Alexander Z. Gurwitz Joshua J. Furman Memories of Two Generations: A Yiddish Life in Russia and Texas. By Alexander Z. Gurwitz. Edited by Bryan Edward Stone. Translated by Amram Prero. Jews and Judaism: History and Culture. ( Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2016. Pp. xxiv, 416. $59.95, ISBN 978-0-8173-1903-8.) In August 1910, when he was fifty-one years old, Alexander Z. Gurwitz set out from a Ukrainian town in czarist Russia along with his wife and four children. A month later, the Gurwitz family boarded the ship in Bremen, Germany, that eventually brought them to Galveston, Texas, and a new life in San Antonio. Twenty-five years later, in his seventies, Gurwitz composed a Yiddish-language memoir about his traditional religious upbringing in eastern Europe and his experiences as an immigrant and member of the San Antonio Jewish community in the early twentieth century. Thanks to an older English translation by Rabbi Amram Prero and a new scholarly introduction and footnotes by historian Bryan Edward Stone, both scholars and laypeople will find Memories of Two Generations: A Yiddish Life in Russia and Texasa treasure trove of information about Jewish life spanning two eras and two continents. The first 240 pages of the memoir offer an intimate account of eastern European Jewish life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Gurwitz narrates in detail the rhythms of his family's religious observances, the particulars of his yeshiva education, and the vicissitudes of his life as a married man, kosher butcher, and teacher who spent twenty years of his adult life in eastern Ukraine. Regular readers of this journal will be drawn to the final sixty pages of Gurwitz's book, which describe his immigration journey and his impressions of America and Texas. [End Page 728] From the standpoint of southern Jewish historical scholarship, the memoir is particularly notable on two counts. First, it offers a rare full account from an individual who participated in the "Galveston Immigration Movement," the coordinated effort on the part of Jewish community leaders to redirect eastern European immigrants away from the East Coast in the decade before World War I (p. 4). Second, Gurwitz's memoir sheds valuable light on the inner workings of a small but viable Orthodox Jewish community in early-twentieth-century San Antonio, helping reframe the way scholars think about immigrant Jewish life in pockets of settlement far from the major urban centers of the East Coast and Midwest. Gurwitz himself offers a somewhat unusual portrait of an eastern European Jewish immigrant, as editor Bryan Edward Stone notes. Poverty did not drive him and his family away from Russia; unlike the majority of his contemporaries, Gurwitz enjoyed relative economic stability at the time he made the decision to emigrate. By leaving for America, Gurwitz hoped to protect his family from a cholera outbreak raging in their town, and from the ever-present threats of anti-Semitic violence and czarist persecution. "Thus," Stone writes, "Gurwitz reversed the conventional narrative in which Russia was the site of traditional Jewish worship and America of assimilation and secularism. He came to America believing it was a better place for an Orthodox Jew to lead a traditional life than Russia was" (p. 2). Notwithstanding a few minor errors in the book's glossary of foreign terms, Stone is to be commended for shepherding this valuable new edition of Gurwitz's memoir into our hands. Joshua J. Furman Rice University Copyright © 2017 The Southern Historical Association

Which Future for Decorative Arts Libraries?

Public libraries in museums stand at a cross road, both figuratively and literally. Within a museum most of the flow of regular readers comes from the museum staff and art historians, while the general visitor looks on, uncertain whether they are welcome. Changing displays around the threshold, in the lobby and on landings, share the treasures and so tempt museum visitors to enrol as readers, but it can be a shy courtship on both sides. In the digital age, that sense of a museum’s library as a closed club room is less intimidating as potential readers may have visited already, on line in the museum’s web site. But even there the sense of two institutions under one roof may continue, with two databases, one for the museum collections and one for the library, one fed by curators, the other by librarians. For museum directors reaching out to the widest public, running an art library as well is not the most obvious priority.

Citizen journalism 3.0: Participatory journalism at the Twin Cities Daily Planet

Abstract Among participatory journalism news sites with patterns of short life spans and few regular readers, the Twin Cities Daily Planet stands out as an exception. In its ninth year in 2014, it had an average monthly readership of more than 150,000 unique viewers and a diverse group of approximately 100 non-professional contributors. Given the evolving nature of participatory journalism, this site is significant not only because of its longevity but also because of other success factors that include community engagement-based fundraising strategies, coverage of areas neglected by the mainstream media and its utilization of technological innovations. In addition, this study argues that unlike many well-known studies of participatory journalism, in the case of this nonprofit site the persistence of professional gatekeeping is not an obstacle to amateur participation but an assurance of journalistic standards. This article also highlights new roles for professionals as educator-mentors, moderators, aggregator-curators, and community conveners.

Editor's Introduction

Editor's Introduction

Impaired Oculomotor Behavior of Children with Developmental Dyslexia in Antisaccades and Predictive Saccades Tasks.

Analysis of eye movement patterns during tracking tasks represents a potential way to identify differences in the cognitive processing and motor mechanisms underlying reading in dyslexic children before the occurrence of school failure. The current study aimed to evaluate the pattern of eye movements in antisaccades, predictive saccades and visually guided saccades in typical readers and readers with developmental dyslexia. The study included 30 children (age M = 11; SD = 1.67), 15 diagnosed with developmental dyslexia (DG) and 15 regular readers (CG), matched by age, gender and school grade. Cognitive assessment was performed prior to the eye-tracking task during which both eyes were registered using the Tobii® 1750 eye-tracking device. The results demonstrated a lower correct antisaccades rate in dyslexic children compared to the controls (p < 0.001, DG = 25%, CC = 37%). Dyslexic children also made fewer saccades in predictive latency (p < 0.001, DG = 34%, CG = 46%, predictive latency within −300–120 ms with target as 0 point). No between-group difference was found for visually guided saccades. In this task, both groups showed shorter latency for right-side targets. The results indicated altered oculomotor behavior in dyslexic children, which has been reported in previous studies. We extend these findings by demonstrating impaired implicit learning of target's time/position patterns in dyslexic children.

We Are General Internists

The Canadian Society of Internal Medicine (CSIM) achieved a key milestone in December 2010: Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) recognition of general internal medicine (GIM) as a distinct subspecialty. Much more work has been done since then, such as developing objectives of training for a new 2-year GIM training program, and additional challenges remain, for example, upgrading training programs across the country, developing a GIM examination for the new RCPSC Certificate in GIM, and attracting the best and brightest into careers in GIM. But it is clear that GIM in Canada has entered an exciting new era. Regular readers of this journal will appreciate that these successes have been through the tireless efforts of many general internists over many years.

Las marcas de oralidad en la novela gráfica "Arrugas" (análisis de su traducción al italiano)

As everyone knows, Arrugas has achieved a surprising success in Spain. Critics and the general public alike have applauded the work and it has become popular amongst both regular and non-regular readers of comics. Through a series of examples taken from the novel, the current article analyzes the solutions which Alessandra Papa, the Italian translator, adopted in order to solve the difficulties this hybrid communicative situation poses in the target language.

EMC Legacy I and Legacy II projects

The regular readers of this History Column know that a year ago we distributed Legacy I collateral that consisted of memory sticks and DVDs containing the Symposium Records from IEEE International Symposiums on EMC from 2000 to 2014. They were distributed at the 2015 IEEE EMC Symposiums in Santa Clara (California - USA) and Dresden (Germany). They were also offered free to members of the Society through the EMC Chapters and via an offer to individuals highlighted in the History Column of this Magazine. Also, we distributed 800 additional Legacy I pieces to the attendees at the 2016 IEEE International Symposium on EMC in Ottawa, Canada in late July.

The Jumbo issue

Regular readers of the Journal may be surprised by this issue: if not for anything, at least for its size. In a way, it can be considered a metaphor for the burgeoning burden of diabetes in developing countries. Diabetes is rolling over as a juggernaut; research is keeping pace; and it is being documented in diabetes journals worldwide. IJDDC has been no exception in this journey. Over the past few years, the number of accepted articles has far outstripped its slim issues coming out regularly. The longwait appears to be a universal occurrence [1]. To deal with the long list of online first manuscripts, the editorial team and the Society decided to bring them out in print. Future readers may still go online to access them, but a print journal has an obligation to print the accepted articles. Hence this tome; expect a couple more shortly, the latter covering specific themes. The prevalence of diabetes is high in developing countries and increasing; reports from nationwide studies, both urban and rural, from independent endocrine centers and among specific groups including police personnel have shown a uniform pattern [2–6]. Contributing factors particularly in the northern states include westernization of lifestyle and urban migration [7]. In this issue, a study from Kabul documents the prevalence of diabetes; hypertension was reported to be common as well [8]. Among other Asian countries, treatment patterns and outcomes from Korea are presented in this issue. Being a silent disease, often undiagnosed, apparently benign until symptomatic, awareness about the condition is important for early identification and lifestyle changes needed for management. Reports have suggested that knowledge improves compliance and reduces complications [9]. Currently, awareness and knowledge are both inadequate in rural as well as urban areas of India [10, 11]. The situation is particularly worrisome in the rural parts of the country. Screening methods such as validated diabetes scores are available, which can be cost-effectively employed along with point of testing methods [12, 13]. A risk score has been evaluated in the current issue of the Journal. Rural to urban migration is an ongoing and major contributor to increasing prevalence of obesity and diabetes mellitus [14]. Gender differences in access to medical care exist both in India and other developing countries [15, 16]. While men had better dietary compliance [15], women were reported to have low self-efficacy and time to take care of their diabetes [16]. In addition, differences exist also among components of metabolic syndrome [17], concentrations of plasma total homocysteine [18], and in peripheral neuropathy [19]. In addition, aging populations face peculiar constraints in the management of non-communicable diseases, as reported in this issue. Diabetes was a substantial burden among the elderly in both urban [20] and rural communities [21]. In addition to psychosocial and economic aspects, the risk of hypoglycemia is an important concern: owing to co-existent renal compromise. One must choose and adjust the dose of antidiabetic medications carefully [22, 23]. Commonly encountered but uncommonly documented associations with diabetes include impaired hearing and periarthritis of the shoulder; these are also presented in the current issue. Diabetes can involve the musculoskeletal system in the form of adhesive capsulitis which causes pain and restricted movement, particularly for external rotation. Frozen shoulder is a more severe form of movement restriction, having a worse outcome [24]. In addition to the pain and discomfort, adhesive capsulitis, in association with limited joint * G. R. Sridhar sridharvizag@gmail.com

In search of methods enhancing fluency in reading: An examination of the relations between time constraints and processes of reading in readers of German

The attainment of fluency in reading is a major difficulty for reading-disabled people. Manipulations applied on the presentation of texts, leading to “on-line” effects on reading (i.e., while texts are manipulated), are one direction of examinations in search of methods affecting reading. The imposing of time constraints, by deleting one letter after the other from texts presented on a computer screen, has been established as such a method. In an attempt to further understand its nature, we tested the relations between time constraints and processes of reading: phonological decoding of small orthogrpahic units and the addressing of orthographic representations from the mental lexicon. We also examined whether the type of orthogrpahic unit deleted (lexical, sublexical, or nonlexical unit) has any additional effect. Participants were German fifth graders with (n=29) or without (n=34) reading disability. Time constraints enhanced fluency in reading in both groups, and to a similar extent, across conditions. Comprehension was unimpaired. These results place the very principle of time constraints, regardless of the orthographic unit manipulated, as a critical factor affecting fluency in reading. However, phonological decoding explained a significant amount of variance in fluency in reading across all conditions in reading-disabled children, whereas the addressing of orthographic representations was the consistent predictor of fluency in reading in regular readers. These results indicate a qualitative difference in the processes explaining the variance in fluency in reading in regular and reading-disabled readers and suggest that time constraints might not have an effect on the relations between these processes and reading performance.

The Punch Historical Archive, 1841–1992 : A Sustainable Brand for the Digital Age

The Punch Historical Archive, 1841–1992:A Sustainable Brand for the Digital Age Seth Cayley (bio) and Clare Horrocks (bio) Punch is one of the most enduring symbols of the Victorian age. It surpassed other Victorian weekly satirical magazines in popularity due in part to its awareness of the importance of branding. This extended beyond the weekly magazine to include almanacks, seasonal supplements, pocket books, and volume editions of popular serials. These additional publications provided supplemental income that ensured the magazine’s continued survival. Punch’s sustainability as a brand continues today with the release of the beta site for the Punch Historical Archive, 1841–1992; an enhanced edition, complete with author attributions and improved metadata, is scheduled for release in April 2015. This site, produced by Cengage Learning, is the most complete online collection of Punch available, in part due to the fact that it incorporates both regular issues and seasonal supplements.1 First published in 1841, Punch entered into a vibrant and competitive market for popular periodicals. Outliving many of its contemporaries, it endured until the end of the twentieth century. Punch is a particularly rich source for studying mid-Victorian life and urban change, with its full-page main cuts providing striking visual representations of current news and events. Its enduring importance is confirmed by the fact that for decades scholars have used full-page cartoons from Punch in a wide variety of scholarly publications. However, the main cuts are only a small percentage of the total contents of the magazine. By taking these images out of context, scholars have overlooked important recurrent motifs and tropes in the magazine as a whole. Drawing on a wide variety of popular interests, Punch developed a form and style that was accessible to a broad spectrum [End Page 238] of readers. Imitating its predecessors, Punch married its textual content to visual representations by emphasizing shared motifs and emblems. Textual and visual metaphors produced a common language through which readers could begin to imagine and debate social and cultural change. Knowing how this textual/visual relationship evolved is crucial for understanding Punch’s enduring popularity. The launch of the Punch Historical Archive provides a unique opportunity to examine the satirical narratives that remain comparatively unstudied but were central to Punch’s success. By investigating this archive using keyword searches, students and scholars will be able to study the text and language of Punch in depth rather than just focusing on its fabulous cartoons. Punch was initially started as a private venture between Henry Mayhew, Mark Lemon, Joseph Stirling Coyne, Ebenezer Landells, and Joseph Last. However, as with many of its predecessors, it soon found itself in financial difficulties. Competition drove a wedge between the five men as they disputed who would have controlling power of the magazine. As a result, Punch was initially a rather fractured organisation. Although Mark Lemon wrote short plays to finance the magazine, after a few months it was clear that it needed other sources of revenue. Consequently, at the close of 1841, the Punch Almanack for 1842 was introduced as a supplementary number. The sale of the additional number boosted the magazine’s circulation figures significantly and became a permanent offering every Christmas. All of these almanacks are available for the first time in searchable form as part of the Punch Historical Archive. The availability of these materials will no doubt inspire exciting new research on the popularity and appeal of supplementary publications. The astrologer’s almanack was one of the most popular types of advertising in the eighteenth century, a genre that would have been familiar to readers of Punch. In the 1842 Punch almanacks, the traditional dated format was replaced by a more dominant visual iconography associated with the weekly magazine, thus drawing on cultural reference points the reader would have immediately recognised. Such intertextual references added to the rich complexity of the magazine, and the repetition of form and symbol enhanced the reader’s experience of the text. This was especially true for regular readers; it is more difficult to chart the experience of the occasional reader. As a supplement to the magazine, the Punch almanacks are vital resources for investigating the traditions...

Reading in Arabic Orthography: The influence of Short Vowels on Reading Accuracy and Comprehension of Poor and Normal Arabic Readers

Research conducted on strategies aimed at improving reading skills and comprehension among Arabic readers (Abu Rabia, 1997, 1998) reported on the contribution, of the addition of short vowels to Arabic texts, to both the acquisition of proper reading skills during early childhood, and to better reading comprehension among all ages. The findings were considered controversial. Such a determination can have important implications for both local and national educational policies seeking the improvement of reading skills and comprehension among Arabic readers of all ages. In this study, 60 native Arabic speakers, 12 years old were sampled from school in northern Israel. They were divided into two equal groups of 30 normal and 30 poor readers, based on their average grade point average in the Arabic Language subject. The results indicated that the vocalization of Arabic texts significantly improved both reading accuracy and comprehension among all participants, whether normal or weaker readers. Further, despite the very noticeable difference between reading abilities among the two groups (regular and weak readers) at the outset, on the average we found that the addition of short vowels helped both groups acquire basic reading skills. The findings indicated that the use of vocalized texts helps readers achieve higher reading comprehension levels among all types of readers.

VSEPR Theory: A closer look at chlorine trifluoride, ClF3.

Valence shell electron pair repulsion theory is a simple way of rationalising the shapes of many compounds in which a main group element is surrounded by ligands. ClF3 is a good illustration of this theory. The standard application of VSEPR theory to this molecule is as follows: Central atom: chlorine Valence electrons on central atom: 7 Three fluorine atoms contribute: 1 each Total: 10 = five electron pairs. The highest repulsion is between any two “lone electron pairs”, resulting in these moving apart as far as possible the next highest is between one lone pair and a bond pair the lowest is between two bond pairs. As applied to chlorine trifluoride, it results in a trigonal bipyramidal geometry for the shape-determining five electron pairs. One of the trigonal positions is occupied by the pair deriving from a Cl-F bond (F=white, Cl=red below). The other two trigonal positions are occupied by two sets of electron lone pairs (yellow below) at ≥ 120° (rule 5, but much more and the repulsions between the lone pair and the trigonal Cl-F bond would become too great, rule 6 above). The remaining two Cl-F bond pairs occupy the di-axial positions (rule 7 above). The above at least is the standard “text-book” picture. Regular readers of this blog may have noted that I often like to question the text books. So here goes. My issue is with the above explanation, of five electron pairs all associated in some way with the central atom. An expanded octet in other words. Well, if you take a look at earlier blogs, you may have observed that this expanded octet is not real (IMHO). If it’s not real, then we cannot be dealing with five electron pairs. Can VSEPR work with only eight electrons in this instance? And what are the coordinates of the so-called two “lone pairs”: is the angle subtended at the Cl by them really trigonal (~120)? I start with computing an accurate wavefunction, using the DFT-based ωB97XD/6-311++G(d,p)[1]. The electron count and the coordinates of the localised basins will be obtained using ELF (Electron localisation function). Click for 3D The electron basins are shown here as red spheres; 8 and 9 are the “lone pairs”, as it happens a very reasonable description since the populations for these are 2.07e. The 8-2-9 angle of 154° results from rule 5 above; lone pairs repel greatly. Indeed, one might almost describe 8 and 9 as being di-axial. In which case, the geometry is not that of a trigonal bipyramid but is closer to that of a square pyramid. Basin 7 is a Cl-F bond, with a population of 0.87e, rather less than a “pair” (the Wiberg bond index is 0.82). Basins 11+19 and 10+15 (similar basin splitting is observed for F2[2]) each total 0.91e; again less than a pair (Wiberg index 0.63). So the three Cl-F bonds are Other features include eg the orientation of the “lone pairs” on fluorines 3 and 4, in which e.g. 16 is oriented anti-periplanar to the 2-1 bond. This is in fact an anomeric effect! An NBO analysis reveals E(2) between Lp16 and σ*2-1 to be 6.3 kcal/mol, a relatively weak but still a real anomeric interaction. The total electron count for the ELF basins surrounding the central Cl is 6.84, not 10 as was implied in the simple argument set out above. VSEPR theory is a highly simplified way of looking at the geometric origins of this odd little molecule; an ELF analysis likewise paints only a partial picture. Indeed, it seems doubtful that any simple way of regarding this species can ever be entirely adequate. But we should be mindful that the “EP” (electron pair) of VSEPR might itself be rather misleading in perpetuating the idea that such main group elements contain expanded octets. But the geometry of chlorine trifluoride makes sense without imposing 10 valence electrons on the chlorine after all! References Henry S. Rzepa., "Gaussian Job Archive for ClF3", 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.757728 S. Shaik, D. Danovich, B. Silvi, D.L. Lauvergnat, and P.C. Hiberty, "Charge-Shift Bonding—A Class of Electron-Pair Bonds That Emerges from Valence Bond Theory and Is Supported by the Electron Localization Function Approach", Chemistry - A European Journal, vol. 11, pp. 6358-6371, 2005. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chem.200500265

Men and the modern workplace

Regular readers of this journal will know that we take a very broad view of diversity and equality issues: we are interested in gender, learning disability, living with long-term conditions such as poor mental health, race, ethnicity and inequalities in care. However, a recent leader in The Economist (Berkeley 2015) suggests that there is yet another kid on the block and a highly neglected one at that: working class men. The reactions have been, predictably, both vitriolic and patronising, for example, blaming women for working outside the home and blaming the American people for their failure to elect Senator George Wallace as President in 1968. At first glance it is difficult to see what the problem is. Men, especially white men, occupy the majority of positions of privilege throughout the world. Most political leaders are male: at the beginning of this year there were only ten female heads of state and fourteen governments led by women (UN Women http://www.unwomen.org). Men also dominate business: of the top 500 US companies listed by Fortune magazine, only 25 have female CEOs (Gallagher 2015). Only 20% of FTSE 100 companies have female CEOs (Groom 2015). Men also dominate all the major world religions as well as the sciences, legal systems and the arts. In every society patriarchy still flourishes and is still considered by many to be normal. It is “so universal, it cannot be the product of some vicious circle that was kick-started by a chance occurrence. .....It is far more likely that even though the precise definition of ‘man’ and ‘woman’ varies between cultures, there is some universal biological reason why almost all cultures valued manhood over womanhood. We do not know what this reason is” (Hariri 2011:153-4).

Football and its continuity as a classless mass phenomenon in Germany and England: rethinking the bourgeoisification of football crowds

Considering football’s popular notion of a working-class sport in England and Germany – at least in the 1950s – the shift towards present classless fandom in football is mainly explained by the genesis of a middle-class fan culture induced by the process of football’s accumulating (hyper-) commodification. However, this so-called ‘bourgeoisification thesis’ cannot be verified on the basis of empirical data – neither on the basis of the employment status of people attending football matches in the stadia of the top league clubs in England and Germany between 1977 and 2009 nor on the basis of representative data pertaining to the social-class profile of regular readers of German football magazines carried out in 1954. It is demonstrated that football has enjoyed continuous popularity among all social classes. Hence, the bourgeoisification of football fandom can basically be ascribed to the inter- and intra-generational upward mobility in postmodern societies induced by socio-structural change.