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The age-old distinction between schoolchildren and university students is fast losing its meaning. On many campuses, the infantilization of university students has become institutionalized. College administrators treat students as if [...]

Appeals to authority have always played a key role in the construction of social problems. Authority legitimates claims, which is why claim-makers have always sought its validation. An exploration into the historical dimension of the social construction of authority provides insight into changing foundations on which claims about social problems are made. In contrast to the Middle Ages, the modern era has found it difficult to gain consensus on the meaning of authority. This historical shift in the status of authority provides the context for contemporary competitive claims-making about social problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from a 2005 sample of 1,785 working adults in the United States, the authors examine the association between job authority and the exposure to interpersonal conflict in the workplace and potential gender and age contingencies in that association. A positive association was observed between authority and conflict, but that association was more positive among men and younger workers. Moreover, the authors rule out occupation, job sector, roleset multiplicity, and work conditions as alternative explanations for these associations. These observations have implications for theoretical views about social status variations in job authority and its link to interpersonal stress in the workplace. Keywords: job authority; interpersonal conflict; gender; age; role-set

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including view on authority, reformed school order, and transference of leadership.

The author argues that preliminary determinations in the first phase of a U.S. class action lawsuit would not run afoul of parties' jury trial rights as of 2014, focusing on a U.S. court's apparent power to make fact determinations in regards to class certifications under Rule 23 of America's Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Liability and damages in America are mentioned, along with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the 1959 judicial authority case Beacon Theatres Inc. v. Westover.

At the same time many religious organizations are apparently becoming more internally secularized, other non-religious organizations appear to be going through a countervailing process of 'sacralization ' (Demerath). This study explores this development through a case study of a state university hospital that attempted to created a more 'holistic ' corporate culture. Extending research on the declining scope of religious authority (Chaves) and professional systems (Abbott), this study suggests that secular settings may be fertile ground for craft versions of religious authority to develop. Implications of the latter during an age when authority structures and caring tasks in general are being downsized and devolved are discussed.

The pursuit of global democratic governance cannot be confined to global institutions; national state institutions and nation-based citizens need to be part of this project. In this lecture, I want [...]

The article discusses the use of the ancient philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras by Renaissance mathematicians in relation to the cultural significance of mathematics. Topics include the relation of mathematics to philosophy in 16th-century France, the creation of an elite intellectual culture during the early modern era, and the reception of Pythagoras as an authoritative figure.

Using the 1957–2011 data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, I integrate the gender relations theory, a life course perspective, and a biosocial stress perspective to explore the effect of women's job authority in 1975 (at age 36) and 1993 (at age 54) on breast cancer incidence up to 2011. Findings indicate that women with the authority to hire, fire, and influence others' pay had a significantly higher risk of a breast cancer diagnosis over the next thirty years compared to housewives and employed women with no job authority. Because job authority conferred the highest risk of breast cancer for women who also spent more hours dealing with people at work in 1975, I suggest that the assertion of job authority by women in the 1970 s involved stressful interpersonal experiences, such as social isolation and negative social interactions, that may have increased the risk of breast cancer via prolonged dysregulation of the glucocorticoid system and exposure of breast tissue to the adverse effects of chronically elevated cortisol. This study contributes to sociology by emphasizing gendered biosocial pathways through which women's occupational experiences become embodied and drive forward physiological repercussions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A scholarly debate is emerging on how recent regional trends in Latin America and South America have impacted the meanings and practices of sovereignty. This debate pits two groups engaged in regionalist analysis against each other: the optimists and the skeptics. Optimists argue that recent changes in regionalism are having a transformative impact on sovereignty. Skeptics acknowledge that changes in regionalism have occurred, but that they have been accompanied by persistent and traditional sovereignty meanings and practices. The article employs a tripartite conception of sovereignty regime—sovereign, space, and authority—to sketch the parameters of the debate. Given the recent origins of ALBA, CELAC, and UNASUR, as well as the post-hegemonic regionalism which they reflect and promote, this debate can only be resolved through ambitious qualitative empirical research, especially in South America, the regional experience upon which many of the contending claims are made. Such a research agenda on the regionalism-sovereignty nexus has both significant theoretical and practical implications for understanding Latin America's and South America's unique regional, institutional, and sovereignty patterns, as well as the limits and possibilities for regional governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Royal authority in Ryukyu is discussed, with a focus on changes and continuities in religion, ideology, and ceremonies. Topics include interpretation of the 'Omoro soshi' (collection of poem-songs); Sho Shin and the creation of royal ideology; ambiguous boundaries of king, priestess and sun; ambiguous boundaries of Ryukyu, Japan and China; and female officials as technicians.

In Biak, Irian Jaya, in the far east of Indonesia, foreign slogans, narratives, and books are considered a crucial source of authority. In this article, I examine how amber beba (big foreigners), the Biak term for respected leaders, harness the potency attributed to distant lands by presenting their words as translations of an alien text. I explore the implications of this strategy for pursuing authority by examining the worldview expressed in big foreigners' translations of the Bible and other imported works. The case of Biak calls into question scholarly treatments that have taken literacy and Christian conversion as setting the stage for the emergence of postcolonial forms of hegemony. In valorizing the textual aspects of outsiders' words, Biaks reproduce a boundary between local and national structures of meaning, keeping foreign orders at a distance even as they tap them for authority and power. [leadership, literacy, translation, Christianity, intercultural relations, postcolonial societies, modernity]

The essay discusses the ethics of student-teacher relationships, defining friendship broadly in terms of Greek philosopher Aristotle, and concluding that despite the unequal authority teachers should encourage friendship. The author cites philosophers Elizabeth Telfer, Nel Noddings, and David Hawkins. She describes teacher impartiality, how character friendships affect knowledge, and her experiences teaching at an elementary school in Krakow, Poland, where she made friends with a student named Olaf.

Autonomy refers to individuals' freedom to choose their own paths and be responsible for their own actions. However, this freedom is subordinated to an authority that institutes regulations meant for protecting the bigger society. Thus, people have to conform to certain organizational ethics which may not be similar to their personal ethics. In order to have autonomy, individuals would just have to resort to choosing a company which holds values similar to their own.

An exchange of articles about the native peoples in the present vicinity of Seattle has failed to consider the significant factors of terrain, of elite families, and of religion as the all-pervasive institution. The fluid structuring of authority among 'sigers' (task leaders) made possible increasingly more complex mobilizations of power within this culture. In all, the overemphasis on individuality in Eurocentric academia needs to integrate the group orientation more prevalent in Native America.

We explore a range of issues concerning the gender gap in workplace authority in seven countries (the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden, Norway, and Japan). There are six main empirical conclusions. First, there is considerable cross-national variation in the gender gap in authority: The gap is lowest in the four English-speaking countries (especially the United States and Australia) and highest in Japan. Second, the gender gap in authority within countries and the pattern of cross-national variation do not appear to be the result of gender differences in personal attributes or employment settings. Third, the self-selection hypothesis (that women choose not to seek authority because of family responsibilities) does not appear to account for much of the gender gap in authority, except perhaps in Canada. Fourth, we find little support for the 'glass-ceiling' hypothesis that barriers to upward promotions for women in authority hierarchies are greater than the barriers they face in getting into hierarchies in the first place. Fifth, in the United States the barriers faced by women already in hierarchies are weaker than in other countries, and probably weaker than the barriers they faced to enter hierarchies in the first place. Finally, we find suggestive evidence that these variations across countries in the gender gap in authority are explained by the interaction between the availability of managerial positions and the capacity of politically organized women's movements to challenge barriers to women gaining authority in the workplace.

Team members' definition and acknowledgement of shared authority is a key element in any cross-functional project team work. This was highlighted in the case study of the drafting of a safety policy by a manufacturing company. In the project, the 'collective and individual voices of team members' were observed to have engaged in a tug-of-war between old concepts of hierarchical authority and the new responsibilities given to team-based organizations.

Gender differences in behavior in organizational settings are often attributed either to socialization processes or differential access to positions of authority. Conversation, an indicator of fundamental gender differences in behavior, is one area where this theoretical question of gender versus position can be addressed. In this paper, I systematically examine the effects of formal legitimate authority and gender socialization on conversational variables in the context of a relationship between parties of unequal status. I created a simulated organization in the laboratory to study conversations in four types of three-person organizational groups: (1) a female manager with female employees, (2) a female manager with male employees, (3) a male manager with male employees, and (4) a male manager with female employees. I examined both verbal and nonverbal behaviors. Because patterns of conversation may vary depending on the sex of the interactants and the norms of the group context, I also considered the effect of the sex composition of the group. Results of the analysis of verbal behaviors clearly indicate that formal authority is more important than gender in understanding conversation patterns, supporting the situational/authority explanation. Subordinates exhibit more conversational support (i.e., have higher rates of back channeling and positive interruptions, and talk less) than formal leaders and are less directive (i.e., have higher rates of qualifiers), regardless of sex. In contrast, sex composition of the group and gender have a complex effect on the two nonverbal behaviors, smiling and laughing, while formal position has little effect. Gender stereotyped expectations may be stronger for these nonverbal behaviors than for verbal behaviors in an authority context.

The traditional theories about a single dominant caste controlling an Indian village or villages have now become outdated. With the integration of village life with the outside world, there has been a gradual change which has reduced the power and impact of the landed-rich groups. This is a dramatic change in Indian agrarian society even if what has replaced it does not cater to the needs of the subordinate groups. Social sciences have been slow in analyzing this de-linking of land and authority.

Sociological research on earnings usually employs models that take account of an individual's position or job. One prominent line of thought and research emphasizes the command and control properties that derive from a job's location in the ownership and domination structure of the workplace. Efforts to conceptualize the relevant job properties and parameterize their effects have yielded a variety of earnings regression specifications. We report statistical tests that compare earnings models based on alternative specifications of an individual's location in the structure of ownership and domination. We focus on a few leading specifications, especially Wright's class typologies. We use a version of the Cox specification test for comparing separate, nonnested models. Wright's class typologies are rejected, as are other specifications used in past research. The results favor a new, easily implemented and intuitively appealing specification of the effects of ownership and authority on earnings.

Anthropologists sometimes suggest that northeastern Athapaskan-speaking Indians have distinctive ideas about tbe relationships among individual autonomy, knowledge, and power. One feature of northeastern Athapaskan culture, as realized among the Bearlake Athapaskans, is the significance attributed to experiential knowledge and primary epistemic reasons in the justification of beliefs. Individual authority is based on and legitimated by primary knowledge. The epistemological and political significance of such knowledge derives from the Bearlake huntergatherer mode of production. [knowledge, authority, hunter-gatherers, Athapaskan]