The Presentation of Self in Philanthropic Life: The Political Negotiations of the Foundation Program Officer

This paper explores the negotiations of foundation program officers who aim to challenge structural inequality across regional geographies of poverty. Beyond the limits to confronting capitalist relationships of production as discussed in critical philanthropy literature, this paper shows how the professional “grantor–grantee” relationship reproduces institutional structures of power. Through the lens of Erving Goffman's “presentation of self” and data from archival and ethnographic research on immigrant and farmworker funding in California's Central Valley and recent interviews with program staff at large foundations in New York City, the paper suggests that Goffman's concepts of performance, idealization, negative idealization, and disruption expand upon a Gramscian theorization of hegemony by highlighting a micro‐sociology of power. Building consensus among greatly unequal actors and managing idealized stories about poverty and philanthropy, the foundation program officer brokers political opportunity for grassroots organizations and yet more commonly generates consent.     

Is Morality Policy Different? Testing Sectoral and Institutional Explanations of Policy Change

We analyze morality policy change from the perspective of punctuated equilibrium theory (PET) to test whether reform dynamics in this policy sector follow a distinct pattern. First, we propose a new measurement scheme capturing changes in the intensity of morality policy output. Second, we demonstrate that morality policy change is strongly punctuated. Finally, and most importantly, we show that the degree of policy punctuations varies between different domains of morality policy, but not according to institutional features operating on the country level, supporting existing PET research, which has discovered similar domain‐specific dynamics in changes of public spending. Specifically, punctuations are particularly pronounced in areas of manifest morality policy, that is, policies characterized by strong value conflicts, whereas punctuations are less pronounced for latent morality policies, that is, policies in which other dimensions of conflict are present next to the value dimension. Significant differences in reform dynamics are neither discerned for countries belonging to the religious or the secular world, nor for countries with majoritarian or consensual democracies. The analysis relies on an original dataset capturing legislative changes in five manifest (abortion, euthanasia, prostitution, pornography, and homosexuality), and three latent morality policies (drugs, gambling, and handguns) in 19 European countries (1960–2010).     

From Blind Spot to Media Spotlight: Propaganda Policy,Media Activism and the Emergence of Protest Events in the Chinese Public Sphere

Abstract

In recent years, popular protest in China has emerged from a state of near-invisibility. Drawing on a diachronic analysis of news media coverage, this paper traces how a number of major protest events gradually entered the Chinese media’s spotlight and came to be portrayed in an increasingly protester-sympathising fashion over the course of the Hu-Wen administration. It argues that these changes were triggered by structural transformations of the Chinese public sphere, but underlines that deliberate policy choices by the political leadership served as a crucial agent of change. Facing proliferating unrest and an increasingly unimpeded flow of information, the central authorities have gradually shifted propaganda policy from a suppressive to a more proactive approach. They have thereby created critical opportunities for Internet users and investigative journalists to push the envelope further towards protester-sympathising accounts. The development is significant as there are good reasons to surmise that increased media coverage has exacerbated the dynamics of popular contention. Theoretically, it deserves to be noted that non-inevitable choices by an authoritarian leadership have led to an outcome in which media coverage of citizens who challenge the state on the streets has become substantially more frequent and positive than before.     

Could Cities in De-Industrialized Regions Become Hot Spots for Attracting Cultural Businesses? The Case of Media Industry in Halle an der Saale (Germany)

Policy-makers from many regions where old industrial structures in the field of manufacturing have collapsed are trying to stimulate entrepreneurial activities of businesses in the cultural industry. The question is whether this strategy could be successful. This article examines the strategy of supporting the sector of media industry (“MI”) by policy-makers in the region of Halle in East Germany, where a strong de-industrialization has taken place after the German reunification. Stimulated by the policy-makers' support measures, there actually was a remarkable development of MI. However, the number of MI firms and their employees did not further increase in recent years, after having reached a certain level. This illustrates the limits of political measures for turning a city's path of industrial development voluntarily.     

Die Europäische Route der Backsteingotik Impulsgeber für die regionale Entwicklung

Abstrakt Den Problemen peripherer Regionen stehen Chancen gegenüber – eine davon kann Tourismus sein. Die Europ?ische Route der Backsteingotik (EuRoB) gibt dem Kulturtourismus rund um die Ostsee Impulse. Sie greift das einmalige hanseatische Kulturerbe auf und vernetzt St?dte und Regionen in sieben Staaten. Damit tr?gt sie dazu bei, einer strukturschwachen Region touristisches Gewicht zu verleihen. Touristische Entwicklung ist wirtschaftliche Entwicklung. Das er?ffnet Perspektiven für die Bev?lkerung, eine Grundvoraussetzung für soziale, ?konomische und demographische Stabilisierung. Für die St?dte wiederum, die sich dadurch weiterentwickeln, ergeben sich Chancen im Wettbewerb, der zunehmend globaler wird und ganze Landstriche abzuh?ngen droht.     

Briefe im 19. Jahrhundert als wissenschaftshistorische Quelle. Dargestellt am Beispiel des Briefwechsels des Apothekers A. P. J. Du Menil (1777–1852)

The aim of this article is to demonstrate the importance of scientific communication of pharmacists in the 19th century. 89 letters were analysed both written received by August Peter Julius Du Menil (1777–1852). In the paper also a summary is given about the importance of extensive activity of the pharmacist Du Menil. He was be in correspondence with 39 scientists, for instance 13 physicans and 12 pharmacists. The letters are an interesting document about scientific community in the 19th century.     

The evolution of strength,elasticity and rupture behaviour of birch tar made with ‘double-pot’ techniques during tar cooking

Birch tar was the first adhesive produced by humans. Its study has consequences for our understanding of human evolution and the development of specialised craftsmanship. One of the better-documented birch tar making methods is the ‘double-pot’ technique, where two containers are used, one containing bark, the other collecting the tar. Birch tar made with double-pots has low viscosity and bad adhesive properties. To obtain a usable adhesive, it must be reduced in volume by cooking. We investigate the evolution of tar’s mechanical properties during cooking. We use lap-shear tests to investigate strength, stiffness and failure behaviour. We found that tar must be cooked for 90 min to acquire adhesive properties. When cooked for longer, strength and stiffness increase over a 30 min lasting time span. Cooking for even longer, beyond this 30 min window, produced a substance that could no longer be used as an adhesive. The implications are that tar cooking requires a high level of skill because specific signs indicating the desired properties must be recognised during the process. Tar cooking constitutes a supplementary investment in time and resources and appears to be associated with a certain degree of risk.     

Mortars in context: An integrated study of mortars and plasters from the so-called Ginnasio in Solunto (Sicily,Italy)

This paper presents a multipronged scientific study of mortars and plasters of the so-called Ginnasio in the Hellenistic–Roman city of Solunto (Sicily, Italy). A selection of 16 well-contextualized samples was collected to represent different functions and building phases of this private house. The results show that a variety of locally available raw materials was used as aggregates and to produce binders. The diversity of raw materials’ sources and production techniques identified in this study reveals the advanced technological knowledge of the builders of Solunto, indicating a complex relationship between the settlement's cityscape and its surrounding landscape.