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Uses family discourse perspective to analyze social relations in a Work Incentive Program (WIN). Analysis focuses on ways in which WIN staff members oriented to and assessed family as an excuse and extenuating circumstance, instructed clients on the organizationally preferred relationship between WIN and family, and responded to clients whom they assessed as making excuses. (Author/ABL)

An ethnographer's reflections on her discipline are presented. Topics include research of brief psychotherapists, testing the boundary between subject and researcher, highlighting assumptions made through research, and changing the ethnographer's target audience.

The article describes the ethnography of institutional discourse perspective. Institutional discourses are made up of the assumptions, concerns, and vocabularies of members of socially organized settings, and the ways in which they interact. The perspective is an analytic framework and research program that combines ethnographers' concern for in-depth observations of everyday life with aspects of ethnomethodology, conversation analysis, and Foucauldian discourse studies. The perspective focuses on the ways in which setting members use discursive resources in organizing their practical actions, and how members actions are constrained by the resources available in settings. The perspective is developed by considering how institutional discourses and settings are reflexively linked, institutions are organized as situated conventions, and institutional discourses involve talk and interpretation and are dispersed within and across settings.

This article re-examines whether and how emotions are an aspect of solution-focused therapy. A major theme in the article focuses on the usual ways that therapists define and discuss emotions in solution-focused and other therapies. We argue that these discussions are a source of much confusion about emotions and about solution-focused therapy, including the confusing idea that emotions are neglected in solution-focused therapy. The second major theme describes an alternative approach to these issues, one that we believe better fits with the assumptions and concerns of solution-focused therapy. The approach is based on Wittgenstein's writings about language games, private experience, and how emotions are rule-following activities. Viewed from this perspective, solution-focused therapists take account of their clients' emotions by helping clients to create new emotion rules to follow. Fam Proc 39:5-23, 2000

This paper is a reflection on Spector and Kitsuse's claims-making approach to social problems construction, and to the subsequent studies that the approach inspired. Spector and Kitsuse argued that social problems are constructed as putative conditions that justify societal responses designed to manage, if not eliminate, them. Early sections of the paper examine basic themes in the constructionist literature on social problems. Two major themes in this literature focus on how social problems claims-making activities orient to social policy development and institutional interventions. Later sections consider two ways in which the constructionist approach might be expanded to consider additional claims-making contexts and constructionist perspectives. Social problems claims-making in popular culture contexts and Burke's dramatistic perspective are discussed as examples of how constructionist studies of social problems might be expanded upon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is an analysis of the social organization of complaint-making and -negotiation in a Work Incentive Program. In it I treat complaint-making and -negotiation as ongoing interactional procedures for defining and managing ambiguous and contradictory organizational purposes and goals to which staff members are held accountable. These procedures involved accusing other staff members of acting in improper ways. Through negotiations about such complaints, staff members produced short-term and practical understandings of relevant organizational purposes and goals as well as of proper work performance. The negotiations focused on two issues: whether the choices and actions in questions were (1) consistent with general organizational purposes, and (2) determined by written rules and procedure beyond persons' control. The article concludes by considering some of the implications of the findings for the analysis of complaint-making and -negotiation in contemporary organizations.

Studies of applied constructionism are opportunities for scholars to explore how social constructionism is a resource used by claims-makers in describing and justifying their orientations to professional practice. The present paper expands sociological constructionism by analyzing applied constructionism in social problems work in Copenhagen, Denmark. Based on interviews with staff members in narrative drug treatment, we explore two themes: the relationship between dominant and liberating narratives and the position of expert knowledge in narrative therapy. Our guiding framework is Ian Hacking's inquiry into the Social Construction of What? and Kenneth Burke's dialogic approach of comparing statements to counterstatements. The purpose of the paper is to link academic studies of the social construction of realities to applied constructionists' principles in addressing social problems. We do this by describing narrative therapists' critical reflections on their own work, suggesting that these reflections are not only useful when it comes to developing narrative therapy but also for the advancement of academic constructionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LYNCH, MICHAEL and DAVID BOGEN. The Spectacle of History: Speech, Text, and Memory at the Iran-Contra Hearings. Pp. vii, 348. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1996. No price. This book [...]

Work stress is first analyzed as a socio-cultural device to make sense of and respond to problems at work. Then, a number of factors are examined that will significantly affect the future of faculty work and the stress that will be associated with this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay places the issue of faculty stress within the larger context of workplace stress. We compare and contrast aspects of faculty stress with studies of stress in diverse nonacademic settings. We begin by reviewing the literature concerned with defining workplace stress. We then consider how concern for stress directs attention to the health implications of work. The literature in this area identifies factors that increase and inhibit feelings of stress among workers. The third section deals with the close connection between the concepts of stress and coping. We discuss studies of how workers experience stress and the social conditions associated with some workers' successful efforts to cope with stressful work. We conclude by briefly summarizing the studies that make up the rest of this volume. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the authors posit that therapists (beginning and experienced) have a propensity for being self-deprecating and critical. Following Bandura's (1977, 1986) theory of perceived self-efficacy, when this becomes reinforced by a supervisor, therapists lose their sense of self-efficacy as a therapist, and their competence suffers accordingly. In an effort to foster improved perceived self-efficacy, the authors apply solution-focused and constructive methods of therapy to the context of clinical supervision. Several case illustrations are presented compromising goal construction and the development of the supervisory relationship, co-constructing competence and confidence, circumventing impasses, the role of teaching and education in supervision, and the potential paradox of evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One continuing issue in mediation is the degree to which mediation and therapy can and should overlap. This article, which draws upon the empirical work of Dingwall and colleagues, looks at an area in which overlap may be beneficial. The authors review the concept and techniques of brief therapy and indicate appropriateness for family mediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes how organizational disputes emerge within, and are shaped by, dispute domains. We analyze dispute domains as the fundamental assumptions, vocabularies, orientations, concerns, and constraints that circumscribe conflictual interaction in particular organizational settings. Organizational disputes are transformed as they move from one dispute domain to another. We examine such dispute transformations in the context of staff-client dispute processing in a welfare-to-work program, and conclude by discussing the implications for analyzing organizations as interrelated dispute domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explores developmental trends in the relation between `standardized' measures of students' achievement and teacher ratings of student school adjustment for K-2 students in mixed-age classrooms. Achievement and school adjustment in mixed-age classrooms; Age and gender differences in achievement and school adjustment; Prediction of school adjustment.

The symbolic interpretation of work as a part of the legitimating process found in alternative communities is explored. This is done through a critique of Kanter's (1972) structural functional approach and the development of a dialectical perspective within which legitimacy is treated as a product of the efforts of community members to ritualistically reconcile contradictions between their public claims about themselves and the practical problems found in daily life. Central to this process is the rise of ritual structures through which seemingly mundane features of everyday life are given symbolic meaning. The implications of this perspective for analyzing time conventions and legitimation crises are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses intellectual craftsmanship in teaching sociology. Sociology is characterized by at least five major styles: sociology as craft; sociology as business; sociology as technique, sociology as discipleship and sociology as militance. Each involves a somewhat different conceptualization of teaching and research. Sociology as craft is an approach that seeks to integrate all facets of sociologist's life within one's work. A second style of doing contemporary sociology is the sociology as business. This style is not easily seen in the activities of the empire builder. This sociologist is primarily concerned with building a powerful fortress within the university; although the nature of fortress is variable based on the opportunities available in the organization. The third style is sociology as technique and it is characterized by an exclusive concern for the use and development of a particular methodological technique. Although the pursuit of technique may take these sociologists outside the formal, substantive domain of sociology, the object of their activities remains focused on the technical aspects of their research and teaching. In sociology as discipleship, the primary loyalty is to a theorist or a school or thought rather than to a methodological technique. This is not to say that all who hold to a single theoretical perspective are disciples; rather, the disciple is distinguished by his or her solitary concern for disseminating the true meaning of the master's world. Finally, there is the style that conceptualizes sociology as militance. From this point of view, the primary object of sociological work is to create dramatic social change. This concern is reflected in the sociologist's primary concern for doing research in areas that are deemed in need of change and in a classroom emphasis on moving students to action.

The constituencies authorize particular forms of ethnographic practice, define the intellectual agendas of their members, and ethical standards to which they may be held accountable. One of the important contributions of some recent commentators on ethnography is their interest in the social side of ethnographers' work. Observation, interviewing, writing, and all of the other activities through which ethnographies are produced necessarily involve social linkages between ethnographers and others. The linkages include both face to face encounters, and more distant and impersonal relationships. This article also focuses on the socially grounded aspects of ethnography by emphasizing how ethnographers' work is located and organized within ethnographic constituencies to which ethnographers are accountable. The ethnographic ethic defines the purposes of ethnographic work, practices through which it is done, and responsibilities associated with it.

The early stages of Meniere's disease may consist only of vestibular symptoms. These patients with vertigo alone may be incapacitated by this condition. A great many of these patients are unresponsive to medical therapy and tend to progress to cochleovestibular disease. Early surgery on such individuals may decrease vertigo and give the added benefit of preserving hearing This paper reports the results of endolymphatic mastoid shunts performed on 24 patients with normal hearing who had medically uncontrolled vestibular Meniere's disease. The patients underwent surgery between 1978 and 1981, and each has been followed for at least 1 year. Vertigo was decreased or abolished in 21 of 24 patients (87%). Hearing remained unchanged in 19 of the 24 patients (79%) and was mildly impaired postoperatively in 4 (16.7%). Only 1 patient had moderate postoperative hearing loss. Of the 5 patients with reduced hearing, 4 had improvement of vertigo. There were no cases of surgically-induced deafness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During exploratory tympanotomy for conductive deafness, the surgeon is occasionally perplexed to find no apparent cause for the air-bone gap. This unexplained deafness has been called 'inner ear conductive hearing loss' because of the apparent absence of pathology in the middle ear. The incudostapedial joint was studied in 68 vertically sectioned temporal bones and the anatomy is presented. Varying amounts of laxity is observed in the normal joint capsule at the time of surgery. A theory is suggested in which an elongated capsule allows incus motion without energy transmission to the stapes. It is proposed that hypermobility of the incudostapedial joint may exist and explain conductive hearing loss of undetermined etiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuning fork tests are used routinely by many otologists. A different group of otologists find the tests inconsistent and unreliable. This controversy has probably developed because the audiometer has replaced the tuning fork in hearing measurement. As a result, the art of use of the tuning fork is poorly learned. This study examines decay, one of the physical parameters of tuning forks. Measurements of acoustic (sound wave) and vibration (stem movement) decay were made. Alteration in decay due to pressure changes on the fork stem were studied. Acoustic signals were generated in an anechoic chamber. Vibration measurements were obtained using an artificial mastoid. Analysis of the signals was accomplished by a system of amplifiers, filters, tape recorders, and a graphic recorder. Tuning fork sound decay is a property of the instrument which occurs every time the fork is struck. The decay is a constant in decibels per second. The acoustic mode and the vibration mode decay at similar rates for the same fork. The strike frequency (a higher frequency than the fundamental produced when the fork is struck) also has a constant decay rate in decibels per second, and it is reported here for the first time. Force of 800 gm. and less applied to the bottom of the stem in vibration measurement caused minimal decay constant changes. When the physical parameters of the tuning fork (including this information on damping) are fully studied, tuning fork testing should become more of a science and less of an art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tumors involving the base of the skull are often occult and may become quite large before detection is possible. Symptomology varies depending upon the nature of the tumor and its placement. These neoplasms have frequently been considered inoperable simply because of their location, but in recent years microsurgical technique and high speed air drills have allowed the modern temporal bone surgeon to gain improved access to the skull base. A wide variety of surgical approaches to tumors in this area have been described in the past 20 years: translabyrinthine, middle fossa, transcochlear, retrolabyrinthine, retrosigmoid, transpalatal-transclival, and through the jugular bulb. The purpose of this paper is to review the indications, complications, and results of each of these procedures in relation to specific tumors involving the skull base. Case reports illustrate the diagnosis and surgical management of a variety of unusual neoplasms, including an extradural meningioma of the temporal bone and clivus, a low grade squamous cell carcinoma on the tegmen in a radical cavity, a large primary cholesteatoma, an osteoblastoma of the temporal and occipital bones, an XIth nerve neuroma in the jugular bulb area, and an osseous hemangioma involving the facial nerve at the geniculate ganglion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of individuals with Ménière's Disease can be successfully managed by medical means; however, there are some patients who become refractory to this form of therapy. It is this group of patients who are candidates f or some type of surgical procedure. This paper reviews 109 patients who underwent 112 endolymphatic subarachnoid shunt procedures for the control of their Ménière's Disease. Medical therapy, indications for surgery, surgical technique, results, and complications are covered in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The triad of fluctuating hearing loss, tinnitus, and episodic attacks of vertigo known as Meniere's disease can be a frustrating therapeutic problem. While most patients respond to a medical regime consisting of a low salt diet, diuretics, diazepam, and propantheline bromide, there is a significant group who remain refractory to conservative management. These individuals either continue to experience their distressing symptoms or undergo some type of surgical procedure in an attempt to seek relief. There are a multitude of such techniques available to the otologic surgeon and he must make the decision as- to which procedure is best for any given individual. The authors' employ three surgical approaches for the management of Meniere's disease. These are the translabyrinthine laby-rinthectomy, the endolymphatic subarachnoid shunt, and the middle fossa vestibular nerve section. In this paper the indications for surgery, technique, results and complications are covered in detail. Thirty-one patients are reviewed who have been followed from one to four years postoperatively. Seventeen had total and 14 had superior vestibular nerve sections. The results were much better in the total group, as 94 percent had complete relief of vertigo and 76 percent were able to maintain their preoperative hearing level. The authors feel the middle fossa vestibular nerve section is a valuable addition to the otologist's armamentarium in the treatment of the patient who is refractory to medical management [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an early case of cochlear hydrops, the symptoms of a mild pressure sensation or fullness in the involved ear may be mistaken for a blocked eustachian tube. More severe cases demonstrate a true sensori-neural hearing loss that fluctuates. Tinnitis is usually present during the attack and will often subside when the hearing returns to normal. The neurotologic evaluation is negative and attempts to establish an etiology are seldom fruitful. The treatment is usually medical, and empirically, these individuals are treated with diuretics, low salt diet, and vasodilators. It is felt by most investigators that cochlear hydrops is an early form of Meniere's disease, and over a long period of time these individuals may develop vertigo as a complaint. The purpose of this paper is to discuss this interesting form of Meniere's disease in detail concerning etiology, physiology, diagnosis, and treatment. A small series of patients who have undergone the subarachnoid endolymphatic sac procedure will be reported according to the guidelines set forth by the Committee on Hearing and Equilibrium of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology. Based on the result in these patients, it would appear that this procedure should be considered in those individuals who are refractory to medical management. There is convincing evidence that the shunt does stabilize the hearing in many instances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are presently two schools of thought on the proper surgical management of cholesteatoma associated with chronic ear disease: one feels that the ear should be exteriorized and left "open"; the other takes the position that the disease can be removed, and the ear left in its normal anatomical and functional state. The latter group are known to favor a "closed" or more conservative procedure. The purpose of this paper is to review a series of patients who have had cholesteatoma managed by an intact canal wall procedure that prevents a postoperative cavity. Out of a series of 590 chronic ear surgeries performed between January 1, 1970, and December 31, 1974, there were 179 done for cholesteatoma (30 percent). There were 153 patients, 26 of whom had bilateral disease. Twenty-three patients were lost to follow-up, giving an overall total of 154 surgeries with from one to five-year information. The overall follow-up rate was 85 percent. Recurrent cholesteatoma was the most bothersome complication and occurred in 14 percent of the series. Residual cholesteatoma was managed by doing all procedures in two stages. The authors feel that the intact canal wall tympanoplasty is a procedure that will gain acceptance and will be more widely used in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article treats attitude as a folk concept used by staff members in a Work Incentive Program (WIN) to account for and predict the behavior of their clients. Because the staff are unable to observe whether their clients are actually looking for jobs, they use client attitude (as reflected in their demeanor in the office) as an indicator of the clients' probable behavior outside the office. Based on their assessments of client attitude, the staff make and justify decisions having important consequences for their clients' lives. Most of the staff's concern is with detecting and responding to clients with “bad” attitudes who, based either on human weakness or self-interested calculation, are treated as unlikely to fulfill their WIN assignments, particularly looking for jobs. The tests may be used to confirm the staff's initial assessments of client attitude or to develop new ones as well as to identify “appropriate” programs to assign clients. The article concludes by considering the organizational factors associated with the WIN staff's concern for client attitude. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]