Alle Publikationen
2017
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(2017): Risky business. When humor increases and decreases status. In: Journal of personality and social psychology 112 (3), S. 431-455. DOI: 10.1037/pspi0000079
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27831701 Abstract: Across 8 experiments, we demonstrate that humor can influence status, but attempting to use humor is risky. The successful use of humor can increase status in both new and existing relationships, but unsuccessful humor attempts (e.g., inappropriate jokes) can harm status. The relationship between the successful use of humor and status is mediated by perceptions of confidence and competence. The successful use of humor signals confidence and competence, which in turn increases the joke teller's status. Interestingly, telling both appropriate and inappropriate jokes, regardless of the outcome, signals confidence. Although signaling confidence typically increases status and power, telling inappropriate jokes signals low competence and the combined effect of high confidence and low competence harms status. Rather than conceptualizing humor as a frivolous or ancillary behavior, we argue that humor plays a fundamental role in shaping interpersonal perceptions and hierarchies within groups.
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(2017): Normative engagement across difference. In: Philosophy & Social Criticism 44 (3), S. 302-325. DOI: 10.1177/0191453717723190
Abstract: This article addresses the problem of inter-normative engagement, of constructing dialogical interaction across substantive normative difference. Focusing on how this affects democratic and pluralistic contexts, it argues that a social-practice-based approach to normativity and reasoning offers unique resources to understand and frame such encounters. It specifically draws on pragmatism and the work of Richard Rorty to reframe normativity, authority, identity, and reason, linking these understandings to recent trends to deliberative political inclusivism in democratic theory. The upshot is that framing inter-normative engagement as calls to responsive engagement between diverse systems of normative authority offers real insights for constructing and maintaining ongoing democratic engagements in a non-hierarchical manner. This, the article argues, extends emerging methodological trends in the broader literature while overcoming the morass between conflict- and consensus-oriented approaches in democratic theory.
Keywords: hierarchy, Natur & Genese von Normen -
(2017): Fight and flight. A multilevel analysis of facework strategies in intercultural face-threatening acts. In: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS 58, S. 69-81. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijintrel.2017.04.008
Abstract: This study investigates facework strategies of managing face-threatening acts in intercultural interactions where communicators' cultural backgrounds are different from each other. Based on a pre-study with U.S. (n = 89) and Chinese (n = 76) college students, four scenarios featuring intercultural face-threatening acts were developed, where a Chinese student communicated politely and appropriately according to the Chinese culture, but the exact same act was considered otherwise in U.S. culture. In the main study, U.S. college students (N = 217) were given these scenarios and asked to report the general level of face needs, perceived face threats, and facework strategies in each scenario. Multilevel analyses (i.e., Hierarchical Linear Modeling) were employed to parse out the different levels of influence in order to understand both separate and joint impacts of situational face threats and individual face needs on facework strategies. Results showed that: 1) intercultural communicators use both mitigating (i.e., fleeing) and aggravating (i.e., fighting) facework strategies, and a slight preference is given to mitigating strategies; 2) facework strategies are more sensitive to particular situational conditions than to individual dispositions; and 3) individuals' value for others' face moderates the relationship between situational conditions and facework strategies. The current study provides empirical evidence of challenges in establishing meaningful intercultural relationships by identifying the multiple levels of impact on facework strategies in intercultural communication. Further discussion and implications of the findings are also included.
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(2017): Choice predicts the feedback negativity. In: Psychophysiology 54 (12), S. 1800-1811. DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12961
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28752549 Abstract: Choosing the appropriate response given the circumstance is integral to all aspects of human behavior. One way of elucidating the mechanisms of choice is to relate behavior to neural correlates. Electrophysiological evidence implicates the ERP feedback-negativity (FN) and the P300 as promising neural correlates of reward processing, an integral component of learning. However, prior research has not adequately addressed how the development of a preference to select one option over another (choice preference) relates to the FN and the P300. We assessed whether variation in choice preference predicted the FN and P300 amplitude within subjects. We used a discrete-trials two-alternative choice procedure, where the reinforcer rate for each option was dependently scheduled by a concurrent variable interval. The reinforcer ratio for selecting each option was varied between sessions. Choice was quantified using both the generalized matching law sensitivity and the log odds of staying on the same versus switching to the other alternative (stay preference). The relationship between stay preference, FN, and P300 amplitudes was assessed using the innovative application of hierarchical Bayesian linear regression. The results demonstrate that stay preference was controlled by the reinforcer ratios and credibly predicted the FN amplitude but not P300 amplitude. The findings are consistent with the view that reinforcers may guide behavior by what they signal about future reinforcement, with the FN related to such a process.
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(2017): Servant Leadership and the Effect of the Interaction Between Humility, Action, and Hierarchical Power on Follower Engagement. In: Journal of Business Ethics 141 (1), S. 13-25. DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2725-y
Abstract: Servant leadership has been theorized as a model where the moral virtue of humility co-exists with action-driven behavior. This article provides an empirical study that tests how these two apparently paradoxical aspects of servant leadership interact in generating follower engagement, while considering the hierarchical power of the leader as a contingency variable. Through a three-way moderation model, a study was conducted based on a sample of 232 people working in a diverse range of companies. The first finding is that humble leaders showed the highest impact on follower engagement regardless of their hierarchical position. Less humble leaders in lower hierarchical positions seem to be able to compensate for that through a strong action-oriented leadership style. Most notably for leaders in high hierarchical positions, the moral virtue of humility seems to strengthen the impact of their action-oriented leadership the most. These findings provide empirical support and a better understanding of the interplay between the moral virtue of humility and the action-oriented behaviors of servant leadership.
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(2017): Bewertungsspiele. Von der Handlungs- zur Koordinationstheorie. In: KOLNER ZEITSCHRIFT FUR SOZIOLOGIE UND SOZIALPSYCHOLOGIE 69 (1), S. 1-26. DOI: 10.1007/s11577-016-0401-6
Abstract: Unsolved problems in the theory of action spread at the level of the coordination social activities. If action theories work with shortened "models of man" also the answers to questions about the possibility of social order, of hierarchie and of the cooperation on the market fall short of requirements. Goal attainment and social recognition are two widely disparate theoretical cornerstones on which hitherto separate theoretical buildings were raised. By contrast, a concept of the social game, which should be introduce here, connects the both moments: Games are goal-oriented interactions in which people recognize themselves mutually. The game player can recognize each other only in the sense that the game is normative regulated. The goal-orientation is thus normative broken. The social recognition is, however, relateled to and relativized by the game success. The theorem of the social game offers solutions to the problem of action coordination in the hierarchy and on the market.
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(2017): Making sense of words. A robotic model for language abstraction. In: Autonomous Robots 41 (2), S. 367-383. DOI: 10.1007/s10514-016-9587-8
Abstract: Building robots capable of acting independently in unstructured environments is still a challenging task for roboticists. The capability to comprehend and produce language in a 'human-like' manner represents a powerful tool for the autonomous interaction of robots with human beings, for better understanding situations and exchanging information during the execution of tasks that require cooperation. In this work, we present a robotic model for grounding abstract action words (i.e. USE, MAKE) through the hierarchical organization of terms directly linked to perceptual and motor skills of a humanoid robot. Experimental results have shown that the robot, in response to linguistic commands, is capable of performing the appropriate behaviors on objects. Results obtained in case of inconsistency between the perceptual and linguistic inputs have shown that the robot executes the actions elicited by the seen object.
2016
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(2016): `Space - The Final Frontier'. In: Sociology 33 (3), S. 535-553. DOI: 10.1177/S0038038599000346
Abstract: For too long the built working environment has been excluded from the analysis of work organisations. Buildings, like other cultural artefacts, encapsulate social and economic priorities and values, and represent prevailing power structures. Work buildings, such as offices and factories, both make possible the organisation of the labour process and also serve as structures of non-verbal communication, providing cues on hierarchy, status and appropriate behaviour. Control over the working environment can be seen as a constituent part of the control of the labour process, displaying similar cyclical movements. Human resource management and information technology are currently combining to encourage a reappraisal of the working environment, but one that is not without its own contradictions.
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(2016): Response Inhibition Is Facilitated by a Change to Red Over Green in the Stop Signal Paradigm. In: Frontiers in human neuroscience 10. DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00655
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28101011 Abstract: Actions are informed by the complex interactions of response execution and inhibition networks. These networks integrate sensory information with internal states and behavioral goals to produce an appropriate action or to update an ongoing action. Recent investigations have shown that, behaviorally, attention is captured through a hierarchy of colors. These studies showed how the color hierarchy affected visual processing. To determine whether the color hierarchy can be extended to higher level executive functions such as response execution and inhibition, we conducted several experiments using the stop-signal task (SST). In the first experiment, we modified the classic paradigm so that the go signals could vary in task-irrelevant color, with an auditory stop signal. We found that the task-irrelevant color of the go signals did not differentially affect response times. In the second experiment we determined that making the color of the go signal relevant for response selection still did not affect reaction times(RTs) and, thus, execution. In the third experiment, we modified the paradigm so that the stop signal was a task relevant change in color of the go signal. The mean RT to the red stop signal was approximately 25 ms faster than to the green stop signal. In other words, red stop signals facilitated response inhibition more than green stop signals, however, there was no comparative facilitation of response execution. These findings suggest that response inhibition, but not execution, networks are sensitive to differences in color salience. They also suggest that the color hierarchy is based on attentional networks and not simply on early sensory processing.
Keywords: Aufmerksamkeit, hierarchy -
(2016): ‘Right Taste, Wrong Place’. Local Food Cultures, (Dis)identification and the Formation of Classed Identity. In: Sociology 50 (6), S. 1089-1105. DOI: 10.1177/0038038515593033
Abstract: This article investigates how culinary taste contributes to the formation of middle class identity in a working class context in the UK. We explore practices of food consumption among a group of individuals working at a UK university located in a working class city. We find a rather limited and discrepant cosmopolitanism, in which culinary practices are evaluated in terms of those worth engaging in, and those not worth engaging in, based on their user friendliness' for cosmopolitan middle class dispositions. Depictions of the local food culture as lacking are also dominant, used as a negative ground against which these dispositions are hierarchically formulated. Here middle class culinary tastes seem to be driven by disengagement with the wrong sort of place and a relatively closed alignment with the proper' and the safe' rather than by any open creative individuality.
Keywords: hierarchy, Soziale Klasse / Schicht -
(2016): Interactive Human Intention Reading by Learning Hierarchical Behavior Knowledge Networks for Human-Robot Interaction. In: ETRI Journal 38 (6), S. 1229-1239. DOI: 10.4218/etrij.16.0116.0106
Abstract: For efficient interaction between humans and robots, robots should be able to understand the meaning and intention of human behaviors as well as recognize them. This paper proposes an interactive human intention reading method in which a robot develops its own knowledge about the human intention for an object. A robot needs to understand different human behavior structures for different objects. To this end, this paper proposes a hierarchical behavior knowledge network that consists of behavior nodes and directional edges between them. In addition, a human intention reading algorithm that incorporates reinforcement learning is proposed to interactively learn the hierarchical behavior knowledge networks based on context information and human feedback through human behaviors. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through play-based experiments between a human and a virtual teddy bear robot with two virtual objects. Experiments with multiple participants are also conducted.
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(2016): Behavior Hierarchy-Based Affordance Map for Recognition of Human Intention and Its Application to Human–Robot Interaction. In: IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems 46 (5), S. 708-722. DOI: 10.1109/THMS.2016.2558539
Abstract: To prepare for the anticipated age of human-robot symbiosis, robots should be able to interact and cooperate with humans effectively by understanding the meaning and intention of human behavior. In this paper, we define human intention as "desired behavior of the human using objects." To infer the defined human intention, a robot should learn the object affordance along with a behavior hierarchy structure. Thus, in this paper, we propose a behavior hierarchy-based affordance network (BHAN) and a behavior hierarchy-based affordance map (BHAM) to represent the object affordance, behavior hierarchy structure, and object hierarchy structure, simultaneously. Autonomous and interactive BHAN/BHAM learning algorithms are also proposed to make a robot develop the BHAN and BHAM by itself, as well as by interacting with a human. Based on the newly developed BHANs and BHAM, a robot could infer the human intention from information observed in context and from human behavior. The effectiveness of the proposed method was demonstrated through experiments on human-robot interaction with building blocks using a simulated differential wheel robot and a real human-sized humanoid robot.
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(2016): The Development of Korean Children’s and Adolescents’ Concepts of Social Convention. In: Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 47 (7), S. 918-928. DOI: 10.1177/0022022116655775
Abstract: Previous research in the United States has revealed that children's and adolescents' understandings of social convention go through a developmental trajectory that includes an early adolescent phase negating the importance of convention. This study examined whether this developmental pattern would generalize to children and adolescents from the more traditional East Asian culture of Korea. Specifically, among U.S. samples, children in middle childhood have an understanding of conventions based on a concrete understanding of social hierarchy; early adolescents negate their prior understandings and view conventions as merely the dictates of authority; and in middle adolescence, U.S. samples establish an affirmation of convention as constituent elements of a social system structured by shared norms. Our hypotheses were that Korean children would not exhibit the negation phase associated with early adolescence and might develop an understanding of the societal function of convention earlier than U.S. samples. To examine this, interviews were conducted using culturally appropriate situations with 64 Korean children and adolescents in three age groups of 10 to 11 years (M-age = 10.1 years), 12 to 13 years (M-age = 13.2 years), and 15 to 16 years (M-age = 15.8 years). Findings revealed that, contrary to our expectations, Korean children go through the same developmental sequence of concepts about convention as observed with children in the United States. This implies that the developmental trajectories of understandings of the functions of social convention can be generalized to children in traditional East Asian cultural settings.
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(2016): Corruption: instrumental conceptualisation. In: SOTSIOLOGICHESKIE ISSLEDOVANIYA (5)
Abstract: The paper is devoted to instrumental conceptualization of corruption, including classification of its forms and definition of institutional mechanism. It proposes an analysis of conceptual approaches to corruption and demonstrates major aspects of normative approach: value judgment of corruption as an unambiguously negative phenomenon; associating corruption with contempt of law or violation of moral and ethical standards; consideration of corruption as deviant behavior. Author emphasizes challenging issues and ambiguities of this approach. A rationalist approach to corruption, including economic approach, does not address value judgments or norms and standards, but describes in terms of functional assessment its symptoms and consequences. The paper counters the claim that corruption fulfils positive functions such as deregulation and overcoming bureaucratic barriers. The paper reveals a generalized mechanism of corruption: exceeding authority and violating official powers and duties regulations, including code of conduct and ethical standards, and (or) social behavioral, moral, and ethical norms, an official or an administrative organization illegitimately distributes and uses resources of the organization to gain personal or group benefits, not to implement the functions and objectives of the organization. The author proposes a new definition of "political corruption" and describes hierarchy system of types of political and economic corruption, where the "state capture" is at the top. The author also determins institutional mechanism of corruption in the sphere of public power, the essence of which lies in the various types of abuse of its resources. While conceptualizing corruption in public policy in an instrumental way, it is defined as an abuse, misuse of public power resources by a public official not for implementing functions of the state or providing social progress, but for obtaining undue preferences or deriving tangible or intangible personal or group benefits, including gaining advantages in favor of third parties.
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(2016): Social Dominance Orientation and the Legitimization of Inequality Across Cultures. In: Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 31 (3), S. 369-409. DOI: 10.1177/0022022100031003005
Abstract: The authors tested three hypotheses from social dominance theory in four cultures: (a) that individual differences in social dominance orientation (SDO), or the preference for group-based inequality, can be reliably measured in societies that are group-based hegemonies; (b) that SDO correlates positively with attitudes supporting hegemonic groups and correlates negatively with attitudes supporting oppressed groups; and (c) that men are higher on SDO than women. For the most part, the results confirmed the hypotheses. SDO scales were internally reliable and were administered in English, Chinese, and Hebrew. SDO scores correlated with sexism, measured in culturally appropriate ways, in every culture, and with ethnic prejudice and other attitudes concerning the local hegemony except in China. Men were higher on SDO than women in most samples. Findings are discussed in terms of ideological and psychological facilitators of group dominance.
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(2016): Group Membership Salience and the Movement of Conflict. In: Group & Organization Management 28 (1), S. 18-44. DOI: 10.1177/1059601102250014
Abstract: Conflict in and among groups often erupts in surprising and unexpected ways. Building upon extant theory regarding the movement of conflict, the authors posit that conflict gets enacted in distinct ways when individuals and groups are heterogeneous. The relative impermeability of identity group boundaries fundamentally changes the patterns of interaction required to achieve a state of balance in three-party interactions. The authors present two cases that explore the movement and transformation of conflict among employees in a large financial institution. The intricate dynamics suggest that organization and identity group memberships spawn layers of interaction that generate, escalate, resolve, and/or conceal conflict among organizational participants.
2015
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(2015): The Cultural Significance of a Smile. In: YOUNG 23 (2), S. 154-170. DOI: 10.1177/1103308815569388
Abstract: This article explores meaning-making in Norwegian youth sport. More specifically, how sport media becomes a tool in the instruction of youth athletes. Throughout the 2011-12 season I observed how coaches used portrayals of elite women handballers to educate their 13-year-old girl athletes. Depictions of smiling women were used in contextual attempts to convey the pragmatic benefits of smiling girls. I apply cultural sociology to investigate the processes where coaches mobilize and mould media depictions to inform youth's sport praxis. The account shows why and how the smile's pragmatics is shaped by and shape broad conceptions of youth, sport and gender. Analysis reveals that the smile encourages what the coaches perceive as appropriate strategies towards success. The cultural significance of the smile resides within its capacities to better the performance, to resolve tensions in team hierarchies and allow appropriate displays of aggression in girl handball.
2013
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(2013): Analyzing Communication Interaction Networks (CINs) in enterprises and inferring hierarchies. In: Computer Networks 57 (10), S. 2147-2158. DOI: 10.1016/j.comnet.2012.11.028
Abstract: With the proliferation of electronic modes of communication (e.g., e-mails, short messages), employees inside an enterprise can form several distinct Communication Interaction Networks, or CINs for short. A CIN is essentially a graph representation of "who talks to whom" among a group of individuals. In this paper, we conduct an empirical study of two modern enterprises and focus on three main questions: (Q1) How CINs from the two enterprises look; (Q2) How employees use the different available communication modes within an enterprise; and (Q3) By only using CINs, how much information we can extract regarding the hierarchy in the enterprise. We address these questions using empirical CINs from the Enron Corporation and a communication provider, using information from the exchange of e-mails, phone-calls, and short messages (SMS). For Q1, we reveal the following key structural properties that are shared by all the CINs in our study: they have high edge density, high clustering coefficient, and close to zero assortativity coefficient. For Q2, we observe that employees have differences in how they use the various communication modes. This suggests that different CINs capture different behavioral properties within an enterprise. For Q3, we propose HumanRank, a method of ranking individuals based on their importance (e.g., CEOs having higher rank than ordinary employees) using only the interactions between them. Next, using HumanRank, we introduce an unsupervised and parameter-free algorithm that identifies hierarchies by separating managers from ordinary employees. Our algorithm achieves above 70% accuracy and outperforms the state-of-the-art 123].
2012
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(2012): Formulaic Language in Language Socialization. In: Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 32, S. 173-188. DOI: 10.1017/S0267190512000049
Abstract: This article reviews recent research on the roles of formulaic language in language socialization theory and research from the point of view that formulaic language is a chunk of language (e.g., one word, string of several words) repeatedly used in verbal routines and other contexts. Although the notion of formulaic language is not always explicitly discussed in the literature of language socialization, previous research suggests that formulaic language is indeed an important notion within the theory of language socialization, for it often plays a crucial role in socializing novices to social dimensions such as politeness, hierarchy, and social identities including social roles and statuses, and relationships. This article first provides a brief introduction of language socialization theory, its research methods, and recent developments. It then reviews recent language socialization research on formulaic language in first and second language (L1, L2) and heritage language environments, including how novices are socialized to use formulaic language, how they are socialized through its use, and how they actually use it in normative and novel ways in participating in social interaction with experts and/or peers. Finally, the major findings of recent studies are summarized, and the article concludes by suggesting several directions for further research on formulaic language in language socialization.
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(2012): Human hierarchies. A general theory. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publ
Abstract: Human beings are hierarchical animals. Always and everywhere, people have developed social ranking systems. These differ dramatically in how they are organized, but the underlying causal mechanisms that create and sustain them are the same. Whether they are on the top or bottom of the heap, people attempt to be superior to some other persons or group. This is the root of Melvyn L. Fein’s thesis presented in Human Hierarchies: A General Theory. Fein traces the development of changes from hunter-gatherer times to our own techno-commercial society. In moving from small to large communities, humans went from face-to-face contests for superiority to more anonymous and symbolic ones. Societies evolved from hunting bands where the parties knew each other through big-men societies, chieftainships, agrarian empires, patronage chains, caste societies, estate systems, and market-oriented democracies. Where once small groupings were organized primarily by strong forces such as personal relationships, the now standard large groupings are more dependent on weaker forces such as those provided by social roles. Bureaucracies and professional roles have become prominent. Bureaucracies allow large-scale organizations to maintain control of people by limiting the potential destructiveness of unregulated tests of strength and by clarifying chains of command. Their rigidity and unresponsiveness requires that they be supplemented by professional roles. At the same time, a proliferation of self-motivated experts delegate authority downward, thereby introducing a more flexible decentralization. This analysis is a unique and significant advance in both the sociology and anthropology of stratification among humans.
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(2012): Interplay of oxytocin, vasopressin, and sex hormones in the regulation of social recognition. In: Behavioral neuroscience 126 (1), S. 97-109. DOI: 10.1037/a0026464
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22141469 Abstract: Social Recognition is a fundamental skill that forms the basis of behaviors essential to the proper functioning of pair or group living in most social species. We review here various neurobiological and genetic studies that point to an interplay of oxytocin (OT), arginine-vasopressin (AVP), and the gonadal hormones, estrogens and testosterone, in the mediation of social recognition. Results of a number of studies have shown that OT and its actions at the medial amygdala seem to be essential for social recognition in both sexes. Estrogens facilitate social recognition, possibly by regulating OT production in the hypothalamus and the OT receptors at the medial amygdala. Estrogens also affect social recognition on a rapid time scale, likely through nongenomic actions. The mechanisms of these rapid effects are currently unknown but available evidence points at the hippocampus as the possible site of action. Male rodents seem to be more dependent on AVP acting at the level of the lateral septum for social recognition than female rodents. Results of various studies suggest that testosterone and its metabolites (including estradiol) influence social recognition in males primarily through the AVP V1a receptor. Overall, it appears that gonadal hormone modulation of OT and AVP regulates and fine tunes social recognition and those behaviors that depend upon it (e.g., social bonds, social hierarchies) in a sex specific manner. This points at an important role for these neuroendocrine systems in the regulation of the sex differences that are evident in social behavior and of sociality as a whole.
Keywords: Amygdala, Animals, behaviour, Biologische Marker, Erinnerung, Erkennen von Personen und Situationen, Female, Gonadal Steroid Hormones, hierarchy, Hormone, Hormonhaushalt, Male, Metabolism, Neurobiologie, Neuroscientific social cognition, Oxytocin, physiology, RECOGNITION, Social Behavior, Social recognition, Sozialpsychologie, Status, Vasopressins, Wiedererkennen 2011
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(2011): Do We Know When Our Impressions of Others Are Valid?. Evidence for Realistic Accuracy Awareness in First Impressions of Personality. In: Social Psychological and Personality Science 2 (5), S. 452-459. DOI: 10.1177/1948550610397211
Abstract: Do people have insight into the validity of their first impressions or accuracy awareness? Across two large interactive round-robins, those who reported having formed a more accurate impression of a specific target had (a) a more distinctive realistically accurate impression, accurately perceiving the target's unique personality characteristics as described by the target's self-, parent-, and peer-reports, and (b) a more normatively accurate impression, perceiving the target to be similar to what people generally tend to be like. Specifically, if a perceiver reported forming a more valid impression of a specific target, he or she had in fact formed a more realistically accurate impression of that target for all but the highest impression validity levels. In contrast, people who generally reported more valid impressions were not actually more accurate in general. In sum, people are aware of when and for whom their first impressions are more realistically accurate.
Keywords: hierarchy, Selbstwahrnehmung, "Erster Eindruck" -
(2011): Managing confrontational situations. Japanese male superiors’ interactional styles in directive discourse in the workplace. In: Journal of Pragmatics 43 (6), S. 1689-1706. DOI: 10.1016/j.pragma.2010.11.008
Abstract: Much of the previous research on directive usage of Japanese individuals in leadership positions at work largely suggests gender differences in language use that are closely related to gender stereotypes. Conversely, Western scholarship on this topic maintains that regardless of gender, superiors in an institutional hierarchy draw on both normatively masculine and feminine interactional styles. This study will further explore this topic, and will contribute to the development of Japanese language and gender scholarship, by focusing on Japanese male superiors' interactional styles in confrontational situations in directive discourse. Contrary to the outcomes of previous research on Japanese directive use in workplaces, this study reveals that male superiors adopt linguistic resources that are associated with both stereotypical masculine and feminine interactional styles and strategically manipulate them so as to persuade subordinates to achieve institutional objectives, as well as to maintain good workplace relationships. Hence, this study, confirming claims made in Western research on language and gender, suggests that (1) myriad contextual parameters powerfully influence the speaker's choice of language in a given context; the gender of the speaker is not the only component that determines linguistic practices; and therefore, (2) actual practices do not necessarily or exclusively conform to gender stereotypes.
2008
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(2008): Social Ontology as Convention. In: Topoi 27 (1-2), S. 139-149. DOI: 10.1007/s11245-008-9036-1
Abstract: I will argue that social ontology is constituted as hierarchical and interlocking conventions of multifarious kinds. Convention, in turn, is modeled in a manner derived from that of David K. Lewis. Convention is usually held to be inadequate for models of social ontologies, with one primary reason being that there seems to be no place for normativity. I argue that two related changes are required in the basic modeling framework in order to address this (and other) issue( s): (1) a shift to an intentional model - among other reasons, in order to account for normativity - and (2) moving away from the belief- desire, propositional attitude, framework for understanding the intentional realm toward an interactive, pragmatic model of intentionality. These shifts provide natural approaches to: (1) understanding the normativities of social realities; (2) the sense in which social ontology is often constituted in implicit relations among the participants rather than elaborated and iterated explicit beliefs and desires; (3) and language.
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(2008): Behind the Blue Wall of Silence. In: Men and Masculinities 12 (2), S. 250-257. DOI: 10.1177/1097184X09334700
Abstract: Much has been reported in the media and depicted in the popular culture that purports to describe the so-called "Blue Wall of Silence," a phenomenon that suggests that the police engage in a pervasive pattern of deception and withholding of the truth in ritual cover-up for their brethren. This writing suggests that there exists within the subculture of policing an idiosyncratic construct of masculinity that privileges tacit conspiracies of silence. This cult of masculinity validates normative heterosexuality, hierarchical regimentation, homosocial bonding, homophobia, and paternalistic misogyny. Silences are maintained, supported, and endorsed in a reflexive and unspoken means of obstructing evaluation of officer conduct by interlopers who (the subculture suggests) have little appreciation for or understanding of the danger, adversity, and peril that consume the working lives of the police. The essay attempts to articulate the underlying aspects of this idiosyncratic subculture that countenance bonding and subsequent silences.