States that in addition to reflecting the social and power relationships between the writer and the reader, politeness strategies in administrative writing reflect the values of the organization. Offers a context-based approach to analyzing administrative writing, an approach that can be used to uncover discourse strategies in other organizational…

Describes the difference between systemic and systematic as they relate to school reform and instructional design. Highlights include a history of systems theory; systems engineering; instructional systems design; systemic versus reductionist thinking; social systems; and systemic change in education, including power relationships. (LRW)

Empowerment for disadvantaged communities is complex; issues involved are defining community, conflicts of interest, equating populism with empowerment, and viewing it as zero-sum. Given these impediments and the nature of disadvantage, community development should conduct rational analyses of need, continue dialog with community interests, and…

Argues that design, despite frequently well-intentioned ethical starting-points, has become generalized and rudimentary in its substantive and instrumental choices, and naive in its thinking about its own public role. Argues for a "mental ecology," for a multidimensional realistic reflexivity, which makes possible the recuperation of a…

Discusses conceptual model highlighting renegotiation of relationships and redefinition of boundaries in divorced family system. Considers issues of intimacy and power boundary redefinition between parents and children and between former spouses regarding grief and self-efficacy. Suggests boundaries should be formal, distant, and rigid. (CRR)

Compares the documentary film on Harlem drag and "voguing" balls, "Paris Is Burning," to the ritual drama of dominant and subordinate (headlining academic conservatives) being staged on elite university campuses. Points out the flat refusal of the anti-PC campaign to acknowledge the existence and significance of power relations…

Responds to J. Sprague's 1992 criticisms of the program of research known as Power in the Classroom. Argues that both the covering law and the critical approach to studying power in the classroom are useful because they provide scholars and teachers with answers to distinct research questions. Identifies ways in which both epistemologies are…

Responds to an article in the same issue. Discusses four levels of scrutiny of the language of a research program: vocabulary choices; transformation of terms with the research process; style, syntax, tone, and organization of research reports; and translation of findings into recommendations and policy. Advocates productive dialogue in the…

Describes power tactics that can be used by administrators. Personal power tactics include developing self-knowledge, stimulating need for power, and cumulating expertise. Interpersonal power tactics are applications of referent power, reward power, and coercive power. Situational power tactics include use of legitimate power, power as information…

The effects of rumor contents on rumor transmission were investigated among college students, and, as predicted, a dread rumor was heard and passed by more individuals than a wish rumor. Dread rumors may arouse anxiety because they forecast unpleasant outcomes for persons of lower social power or limited control capacities. (22 references) (LB)

Discusses "Researching Language," a full-length study dealing with questions about power and method in a range of social science disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, and sociolinguistics. The discussion asks whether the balance of power between researchers and research subjects can be altered. (VWL)

Comments on a previous article that deals with questions on researching language, and suggests that the assumption driving the arguments contained in that article is that social scientists typically possess a power-advantage over their research subjects. It is argued that such an assumption is implausible. (VWL)

Responds to an article dealing with issues of method in researching language, and addresses the question "what is research and why are linguists doing research?" (VWL)

Comments to a previous article focusing on power and method in linguistic research. It is suggested that the research approach highlighted in the article has indisputable merit, but that the blueprint is vague and difficult to know when to put into practice. (VWL)

Comments to a previous article focusing on power and method in linguistic research. It is suggested that the previous article does not succeed in bridging the gap between moral and metasocial considerations concerning the use of knowledge and similar considerations concerning mode of acquisition. (VWL)