Sunday Special

A roundup of non-work-related “stuff” that I considered interesting.

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Street Gang: 1907
via Shorpy Historical Photo Archive – Vintage Fine Art Prints by Dave

Circa 1907
“Oak Street, Chattanooga, Tennessee”
8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company
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Bosco Verticale: The World's First Vertical Forest
via Big Think by Big Think Editors

Amid the hustle and bustle of city life in Milan, a vertical forest will arise. The facade of a two-tower apartment complex will be covered with hundreds of trees and thousands of other plants.
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Orchestras in crisis. The problems are many, not least the cynicism and short-sightedness of the managerial class… more

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How Tabasco Sauce is made

via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow
I am a committed Tabasco Sauce fiend. It is neither too hot, nor too mild, nor too vinegary – I put it on pretty much everything. I’d use it for contact lens solution if I could. My life was radically transformed by my discovery of tiny, individual Tabasco sachets that aviation security X-rays don’t identify as liquids, which means I can carry Tabasco with me at all times without worrying about getting stopped at airports for not having a stupid baggie with my liquids in it.
I found this video describing the production of Tabasco absolutely riveting. The fermentation process, the salted barrels, and let us not forget le petit baton rouge.
(Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

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Why are barns red?

via Boing Boing by Maggie Koerth-Baker

If you’ve ever spent much time in American farm country, then you’ve probably noticed that there’s a strong tradition there of coating barns and outbuildings with red paint. Why?
Because nuclear fusion.
Okay, the actual answer is simply because red paint has long been a cheap colour to buy. But, explains Google engineer Yonatan Zunger, there is some really interesting physics lurking in the background of that price point.
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
A science of ourselves. In 1930s Britain, amateur anthropologists researched “beards, armpits, and eyebrows” and the “shouts and gestures of motorists”… more

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Prevent divorce – with science!
via Boing Boing by Maggie Koerth-Baker
Back in 2002, psychologists studying how couples argued found four different behaviours that correlated strongly with future divorce. In fact, in a small sample of 80 couples, the combination of those behaviours could be used to predict who would divorce over the next 14 years with 93% accuracy. The good news: While these behaviours are all things that people probably do sometimes, it’s the frequency of behaviours that matters … and, better yet, they’re all things that you can change.
At PsySociety, Melanie Tannenbaum uses the amazingly spot-on example of Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries to illustrate how unhealthy arguments can lead to relationship collapse.

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“I was almost eaten by a hippo”

via Boing Boing by Maggie Koerth-Baker
Hippopotamuses – big, lumbery, and related to whales – are described as being “mostly herbivorous”. They are also MUCH faster than they look. And they are one of the most aggressive animals you’ll ever meet.
This combination of traits created an incredibly harrowing experience for river guide Paul Templer.

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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
A science of ourselves. In 1930s Britain, amateur anthropologists researched “beards, armpits, and eyebrows” and the “shouts and gestures of motorists”… more

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A little brain training goes a long way

via nature: international weekly journal of science by Alla Katsnelson

A new study tested older adults’ mental acuity by timing how quickly they clicked on images in a “brain training” computer game.
People who use a “brain-workout” program for just 10 hours have a mental edge over their peers even a year later, researchers report today in PLoS ONE.
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Using skills development strategies to tackle poverty and inequality

an article by Chris Goulden (Manager, Poverty Team at Joseph Rowntree Foundation) published in Journal of Urban Regeneration & Renewal Volume 7 Issue 3 (Spring 2014)

Abstract

On the face of it, it seems obvious that enabling people to develop their skills and improve their education would be an important way of decreasing their chances of experiencing poverty. For individuals, this can often be true, but when one looks at the full distribution of families and households in the context of wider changes in both the labour market and tax and benefit systems, the picture becomes much less straightforward.

This paper outlines research to test strategies for developing skills that might be used, and argues that these could worsen levels of poverty and income inequality if some of the interactions and underlying relationships are not better understood.

Too Soft for Economics, Too Rigid for Sociology, or Just Right? The Productive Ambiguities of Sen’s Capability Approach

an article by Milena I. Kremakova (Institute for Employment Research, University of Warwick) published in European Journal of Sociology Volume 54 Issue 3 (December 2013)

Abstract

The capability approach has been developed by Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum and others as a human-centred normative framework for the evaluation of individual and group well-being, quality of life and social justice.

Sen and Nussbaum’s ideas have influenced global, national and local policy and have been further developed in a number of academic disciplines, but so far have remained largely unnoticed in sociology. This article examines recent capability-informed theories and empirical applications in the sociology of human rights and other academic fields adjacent to sociology, focusing on examples of social policy studies in the fields of welfare, the labour market, health and disability, and education.

The article outlines several potential areas in which capability-informed frameworks are relevant for critical social theory, public sociology and global sociology.

‘We are All in This Together’? The Hidden Costs of Poverty, Recession and Austerity Policies on Britain's Poorest Children

an article by Tess Ridge (University of Bath, Bath, UK) published in Children & Society Volume 27 Issue 5 (September 2013)

Abstract

In 2010, in the UK a new Coalition government inherited an ailing economy at a time of economic uncertainty and recession. Their response was to institute a fundamental revision and retrenchment of government spending accompanied by unprecedented cuts in welfare services and social security provision.

This article explores the nature and meaning of these changes from a child-centred perspective, to understand how and in what ways policy change and welfare retrenchment may uniquely impinge on low-income children's lives. It reveals that recent cuts and welfare changes have threatened to overlook their needs and exacerbate their deepest concerns.

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Towards an understanding of identity and technology in the workplace

an article by Mari-Klara Stein, Robert D Galliers and M Lynne Markus (Bentley University, Waltham, MA, USA) published in Journal of Information Technology Volume 28 Issue 3 (September 2013)

Abstract

Despite the ubiquitous presence of information technology (IT) in the workplace and the continued computerisation of all kinds of work practices, investigations into how IT artefacts play a role in professional identity construction remain rare. Existing studies tend to emphasise sense-making and discourses around IT.

This study attempts to fill some of this gap by offering an empirical investigation of how IT artefacts play a role in professional identity enactment at a back office of a Big 4 accounting firm. Building on the socio-technical school of thought and the concept of self as storied, the paper offers a complementary perspective to existing views on the role of IT in identity formation.

Our findings reveal that IT artefacts become part of professional identity performances by acting as landmarks in individuals’ self-narratives around which the self and others are positioned and a preferred professional identity is enacted. The findings also indicate that different types of preferred selves may be expressed in specific patterns of technology use. As such, our study contributes to a better understanding of professional identity construction, workplace behaviour and ongoing use or non-use of IT at work.

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High-Performance Work Systems and Job Control: Consequences for Anxiety, Role Overload, and Turnover Intentions

an article by Jaclyn M Jensen (George Washington University), Pankaj C Patel (Ball State University)and Jake G Messersmith (University of Nebraska-Kearney) published in Journal of Management Volume 39 Number 6 (September 2013)

Abstract

This study examines relationships among high-performance work systems (HPWS), job control, employee anxiety, role overload, and turnover intentions.

Building on theory that challenges the rhetoric versus reality of HPWS, the authors explore a potential “dark side” of HPWS that suggests that HPWS, which are aimed at creating a competitive advantage for organisations, do so at the expense of workers, thus resulting in negative consequences for individual employees. However, the authors argue that these consequences may be tempered when HPWS are also implemented with a sufficient amount of job control, or discretion given to employees in determining how to implement job responsibilities.

The authors draw on job demands–control theory and the stress literatures to hypothesise moderated-mediation relationships relating the interaction of HPWS utilisation and job control to anxiety and role overload, with subsequent effects on turnover intentions. The authors examine these relationships in a multilevel sample of 1,592 government workers nested in 87 departments from the country of Wales.

Results support their hypotheses, which highlight several negative consequences when HPWS are implemented with low levels of job control. They discuss their findings in light of the critique in the literature toward the utilization of HPWS in organizations and offer suggestions for future research directions.

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Non-financial employment commitment: some correlates and a cross-national comparison

an article by Raphael Snir, (School of Management and Economics, The Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Tel-Aviv, Israel) published in Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal Volume 21 Issue 1 (2014)

Abstract

Purpose
To further explore the nature of non-monetary motivation for working, this study aims to present correlates of non-financial employment commitment (NFEC) and a cross-national comparison.

Design/methodology/approach
Data gathered from representative national samples of the adult population (i.e. employed and unemployed individuals) in 31 countries (n=43,440), among them Nordic (e.g. Sweden and Norway), Western-European (e.g. Spain and France), Anglo-Saxon (e.g. the USA and Britain), former Communist (e.g. Russia and Hungary), Asian (e.g. Japan and South Korea), Latin-American (Mexico and the Dominican Republic), and African (South Africa). The source of the data is the 2005 International Social Survey Programme module on work orientation.

Findings
NFEC proves positively correlated with intrinsic job characteristics, education level, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Administrators, managers, and professionals have higher NFEC than blue-collar workers, clerks, service workers, and sales workers. Respondents currently working for pay have higher NFEC than those currently not working for pay. Respondents trying to improve job skills during the previous 12 months have higher NFEC than those not trying to do so. NFEC is higher in member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development than in non-member countries. NFEC is also higher in countries where self-expression values are important than in countries where survival values are important.

Practical implications
By assessing NFEC decision makers may be assisted in their selection and advancement decisions.

Originality/value
This study conducts the most comprehensive cross-national comparison of NFEC to date, and its findings have high external validity. It is unlikely that the findings are biased by social desirability.

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