Author: gustavo

February 2011 Vol 44, Issue 1 SOCIOLOGICAL FOCUS

Posted on February 27, 2011 by gustavo

February 2011 Vol 44, Issue 1 SOCIOLOGICAL FOCUS

Edited and published at the Department of Sociology & Anthropology, University of Haifa, in association with Paradigm Publishers, Boulder, Colorado ISSN 0038-0237

Editor: Gustavo S. Mesch

The Three Cultures of Postindustrial societies Ralph Schroeder

From Obama to Osama: Image of God and Trust in Muslims among the Highly Religious in the United States Wesley M. Hinze, F. Carson Mencken, & Charles M. Tolbert

Coexistence in the Urban Economy: Native Whites, European Immigrants, and the Retail Trade in the Late-Nineteenth-Century United States Robert L. Boyd

Investigating the Biasing Effect of Identity in Self-Reports of Socially Desirable Behavior Philip S. Brenner

for submissions

http://www.sociologicalfocus.net

Minority status and the use of CMC A test of the Social Diversification hypothesis

Posted on January 5, 2011 by gustavo

http://soc.haifa.ac.il/~gustavo/socialdivesification.pdf

Taking advantage of Israel’s multi-ethnic society, divided along ethnic and immigrant lines, I tested the diversification hypothesis with a large sample of Internet users that resemble the country’s population of Internet users. According to the diversification hypothesis, in socially segregated societies disadvantaged groups have deficits in social capital, particularly bridging social capital. Their use of channels of online communication will be motivated by an attempt to compensate for their disadvantage, and will direct the use of IT to expand their occupational and business ties. From this argument two hypothesis were derived. First, minority and immigrants will be more likely to choose the use of the IT best suited to this task. The findings of the study mostly support this hypothesis. Controlling for socio-demographic and minority status, it was found that people who are motivated to use the Internet to expand business and professional contacts are more likely to use Chat rooms and weblogs. At the same time those motivated to use the Internet to maintain ties with families and friends are more likely to use social networking sites. This finding indicates that each IT application is perceived by users to be suited to a different task.As for the specific hypothesis that minorities and immigrants will be more likely than Israeli Jews to use chat rooms and weblogs to expand their social ties, the results are mixed. Regarding chat rooms, there is only support for immigrants being more likely than Arab Israelis to use chat rooms. Regarding weblogs, the latter proved more likely to use them than immigrants and Israeli Jews. The three groups did not differ from their use of social networking sites.

Second, a more direct test of the diversification hypothesis was conducted. The hypothesis that Arab Israelis and Immigrants have different motivations for the use of IT was tested by means of OLS regression multivariate analysis. The findings here indicated that the main difference was between Israeli Jews and Immigrants on the one hand and Arab Israelis on the other. Immigrants and Israeli Jews proved more likely than Arab Israelis to use IT for maintaining family ties and to sustaining ties with existing friends. At the same time Arab Israelis were shown as more likely to use IT to make new contacts and to expand their business contacts.

Taking the results together the strongest support of the diversification hypothesis seems to apply to the Arab Israeli population than to the immigrants. This difference might be explained through the differences existing between the two groups in society. As shown in the descriptive analysis, the Arab population of Israel is more disadvantaged in human capital than the immigrant population. Furthermore, the Arab population, perceived as part of the Arab world with which Israel is in a constant state of war, faces more discrimination than the new immigrants. This difference in social standing might be reflected in the more consistent pattern of motivations and usage by the Arab population than by the immigrant groups.

Midwest book review on Wired Youth (2010) Mesch & Talmud

Posted on December 13, 2010 by gustavo

Most Helpful Customer Reviews 5.0 out of 5 stars

A work of impressive and painstaking scholarship, September 9, 2010 By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) – .Wired Youth: The Social World of Adolescence in the Information Age (Adolescence and Society Series) (Paperback) The latest addition to the outstanding ‘Adolescence and Society’ series from Routledge, “Wired Youth: The Social World of Adolescence in the Information Age” is the collaborative work of Gustavo S. Mesch (Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Haifa) and Ilan Talmud (Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Haifa). This 184-page compendium presents a seminal introduction and description of the literature on youth sociability and relationship formation in this era of personal electronic communications. Of special interest is the attention paid to the negative and positive consequences of adolescent usage (and contemporary dependence upon) online communication. A work of impressive and painstaking scholarship, enhanced with twenty pages of references and a comprehensive index, “Wired Youth” is a strongly recommended addition to academic library Contemporary Sociology reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Wired Youth (2010) Mesch & Talmud

The Prevention Researcher,
Volume 17, Number 5, 2010, Pages 17
http://www.tpronline.org/book-review.cfm/Wired_Youth

“thought-provoking discussions about the fundamental nature of internet-based social interaction.”

The Prevention Researcher is a quarterly journal that uses a straightforward and easy-to-read approach to present the most current research and developments in adolescent behavioral research.

Reviewed by John de Miranda, Ed.M.
Part of the series “Adolescence and Society” published by Routledge, Wired Youth: The Social World of Adolescence in the Information Age is aimed at undergraduates in education and the social sciences, as well as professionals in the same fields. The reviewer, John de Miranda, found that the authors (Gustavo Mesch and Ilan Talmud) present “thought-provoking discussions about the fundamental nature of internet-based social interaction.”

Contemporary Sociology, March 2011 Issue

Wired Youth: The Social World of Adolescence in the Information Age

Wired Youth: The Social World of Adolescence in the Information Age, by Gustavo S. Mesch, Ilan Talmud . New York, NY: Routledge, 2010. $34.95 paper. 176pp. ISBN: 9780415459945.

This book provides a broad interdisciplinary review of literature on youth involvement with digital social technologies. The authors consider research and theory from the perspectives of technological determinism and social constructivism. Although drawing conclusions from both, they ultimately take a sociological approach, viewing digital socializing as an embedded feature of the social structure. They are optimistic about the effects on young people of digital social technologies such as the Internet and cell phones, noting that online social networks tend to increase friendship networks for both introverted and extroverted youth. The highest Internet users tend to be the most social, even when off the Internet. The authors also consider the dangers, including findings that connect Internet use and decreased well-being for introverted youth. Cyberbullying, the act of bullying through online communications such as Instant Messengers, or social networking sites such as Facebook, is on the rise and appears to be magnifying traditional instances of bullying within schools. They also report that youth who use the Internet for socializing tend to spend less time with their families and more time with peer groups. This suggests new technologies may be giving peer groups more influence over youth, which may be a concern for some parents. The authors cover a lot of ground, making this a valuable resource for those interested in examining the prevailing research into digital social technologies and their effect on youth culture. ֲ© American Sociologi cal Association 2011

New Book Wright, Kevin B. / Webb, Lynne M. (eds.)Computer-Mediated Communication in Personal Relationships

Posted on December 10, 2010 by gustavo

This collection of readings analyze communication issues of ongoing importance in relationships including deception, disclosure, identity, influence, perception, privacy, sexual fidelity, and social support. The book examines subjects that attract intense student interest – including online performance of gender, online dating, and using computer-mediated communication to achieve family/work life balance – and will inspire further research and course development in the area of computer-mediated communication in personal relationships. Because it provides a synthesis of ideas at the nexus of interpersonal communication theory and computer-mediated communication theory, the book can serve as a textbook for advanced undergraduate as well as graduate courses.

CONTENTS

Preface. Kevin B. Wright & Lynne M. Webb

PART 1: The Influence of Technology on How Relational PartnersCommunicate Online

1. A Functional Approach to Social Networking Sites 3

Erin M. Bryant, Jennifer Marmo, & Artemio Ramirez, Jr.

Jeffrey T. Child & Sandra Petronio

3. A New Twist on Love’s Labor: Self-Presentation in Online Dating Profiles 41

Catalina L. Toma & Jeffrey T. Hancock

4. Microchannels and CMC: Short Paths to Developing, 56

Maintaining, and Dissolving Relationships

Deborah Ballard-Reisch, Bobby Rozzell, Lou Heldman, & David Kamerer

PART 2: Processes and Goals in Computer-Mediated Communication

in Personal Relationships

in Online and Face-to-face Relationships

W. Scott Sanders & Patricia Amason

6. Relational Maintenance and CMC 98

Stephanie Tom Tong & Joseph B. Walther

7. Locating Computer-Mediated Social Support 119

Within Online Communication Environments

Andrew C. High & Denise H. Solomon

8. Personal Relationships and Computer-Mediated Support Groups 137

Kevin B. Wright & Ahlam Muhtaseb

9. Online Self-Disclosure: A Review of Research 156

Jinsuk Kim & Kathryn Dindia

10. Multicommunicating and Episodic Presence: 181

Developing New Constructs for Studying New Phenomena

Jeanine Warisse Turner & N. Lamar Reinsch, Jr

.11. The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same:

The Role of ICTs in Work and Family Connections 194

Paige P. Edley & Renée Houston PART 3: Influences of CMC on Relational Contexts

12. CMC and the Conceptualization of “Friendship”:

How Friendships Have Changed with the Advent

of New Methods of Interpersonal Communication 225

Amy Janan Johnson & Jennifer A. H. Becker

13. A Cross-Contextual Examination of Technologically Mediated

Communication and Social Presence in Long-Distance Relationships 244

Katheryn C. Maguire & Stacey L. Connaughton

14. Healthcare Provider-Recipient Interactions:

Is “Online” Interaction the Next Best Thing to Being There? 266

Theodore A. Avtgis, E. Phillips Polack, Sydney M. Staggers,

& Susan M. Wieczorek

PART 4: The Dark Side of Computer-Mediated Communication

in Personal Relationships

15. Family Imbalance and Adjustment to Information 285

16. Online Performances of Gender: Blogs, Gender-Bending,

and Cybersex as Relational Exemplars 302

Mark L. Hans, Brittney D. Selvidge, Katie A. Tinker, & Lynne M. Webb

17. Digital Deception in Personal Relationships 324

Norah E. Dunbar & Matthew Jensen

18. Speculating about Spying on MySpace and Beyond:

Social Network Surveillance and Obsessive Relational Intrusion 344

Makenzie Phillips & Brian H. Spitzberg

19. Problematic Youth Interactions Online:

Solicitation, Harassment, and Cyberbullying 368

Andrew R. Schrock & danah boyd

Kevin B. Wright (PhD, University of Oklahoma) is Professor in Communication at the University of Oklahoma. His research examines interpersonal communication, social support related to health outcomes, and computer-mediated relationships. He coauthored Health Communication in the 21st Century, and his research appears in over 45 book chapters and journal articles, including the Journal of Communication, Communication Monographs, the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Communication Quarterly, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Health Communication, and the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication.
Lynne M. Webb (PhD, University of Oregon) is Professor in Communication at the University of Arkansas. She previously served as a tenured faculty member at the Universities of Florida and Memphis. Her research examines young adults’ interpersonal communication in romantic and family contexts. Her research appears in over 50 essays published in scholarly journals and edited volumes, including Computers in Human Behavior, Communication Education, Health Communication, and Journal of Family Communication.

2. Unpacking the Paradoxes of Privacy in CMC Relationships

Human Communication Research TOC October 2010 Good Internet studies

Posted on September 21, 2010 by gustavo

Human Communication Research

? 2010 International Communication Association

Volume 36, Issue 4 Page 469 – 634

The latest issue of Human Communication Research is available on Wiley Online Library

ORIGINAL ARTICLES

The Influence of Online Comments on Perceptions of Antimarijuana Public Service Announcements on YouTube (pages 469?492)
Joseph B. Walther, David DeAndrea, Jinsuk Kim and James C. Anthony
Article first published online: 16 SEP 2010 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01384.x

Influence of Self-Affirmation on Responses to Gain- Versus Loss-Framed Antismoking Messages (pages 493?511)
Xiaoquan Zhao and Xiaoli Nan
Article first published online: 16 SEP 2010 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01385.x

An Evaluation of Two Characterizations of the Relationships Between Problematic Internet Use, Time Spent Using the Internet, and Psychosocial Problems (pages 512?545)
Robert S. Tokunaga and Stephen A. Rains
Article first published online: 16 SEP 2010 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01386.x

Bridging Social Capital in Online Communities: Heterogeneity and Social Tolerance of Online Game Players in Japan (pages 546?569)
Tetsuro Kobayashi
Article first published online: 16 SEP 2010 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01388.x

Are Norms of Disclosure of Online and Offline Personal Information Associated with the Disclosure of Personal Information Online? (pages 570?592)
Gustavo S. Mesch and Guy Beker
Article first published online: 16 SEP 2010 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01389.x

Dimensions of Leadership and Social Influence in Online Communities (pages 593?617)
David Huffaker
Article first published online: 16 SEP 2010 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01390.x

Testing Error Management Theory: Exploring the Commitment Skepticism Bias and the Sexual Overperception Bias (pages 618?634)
David Dryden Henningsen and Mary Lynn Miller Henningsen
Article first published online: 16 SEP 2010 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01391.x

Is online trust and trust in social institutions associated with online disclosure of identifiable personal information online?

Posted on July 28, 2010 by gustavo

Is online trust and trust in social institutions associated with online disclosure of identifiable personal information online?

By Gustavo S. Mesch

In recent years there is an increase in public concern regarding privacy and privacy related issues . The Internet has changed the way in which user’s information is gathered, stored and exchanged. The growth in Internet deployment and use, and the creation of cost-effective, large-volume information-storage devices have made storing, merging, analyzing and using digital information a convenient option for governmental and commercial organizations alike . Furthermore, some Internet users are disclosing and making available personal and identifiable information making it available for search, analysis, distribution and use. The distribution and potential abuse of this information can create serious repercussions for many Internet users, which may not be immediately noticeable and whose source may be hard to locate.

Disclosing identifiable information is linked to the concept of trust. Trust refers to a “general expectancy held by an individual that the word, promise, oral or written statement of another individual or group can be relied upon . In other words is a belief that in general individuals and groups can be trusted . Trust ameliorates the perceived risks of disclosing identifiable information ).

Online trust (e.g. trust in web sites, online news, social networking sites providers) has been extensively studied . From this studies we learned that the formation of online trust is a difficult process but when it is created it serves to mitigate the perceptions of risk, uncertainty and vulnerability that are associated with the disclosure of personal and identifiable information. Yet, one important limitation of these studies is that have not compared online and face to face(ftf) trust. In other words, we do not know if trust in individuals and social institutions are associated with online trust and if there is a differential effect of trust in individuals, social institutions and online trust on the disclosure of identifiable information. The purpose of this study was to fill this gap in the literature and to investigate factors associated with the disclosure of identifiable information. In doing this, the association of various forms of trust and perception of risks on the disclosure of identifiable information was investigated.

Main findings:

* Participants: A sample of Internet users (n=1692)

* Sample description

On average the respondents were 51.49 years old and 58 percent were women and 42 percent men. As to education, 37.4 percent had a partial or completed high school education, 27 percent had completed a technical degree, 24 percent had completed college and 12 percent graduate school.

It was found that 27.7 percent had posted comments and information online using their real names, 31.4 percent had posted online using a screename that others can identify and 11.3 percent had posted comments online anonymously.

Regarding trust, 39 percent of the sample expressed a positive response on the item that measured generalized trust. The average trust in social institutions was higher (M=4.66, SD=1.60) than trust online (M=3.47, SD=1.57) that were both measured in a scale of 1 to 10.

*Attitudes to online privacy, it was found that 24.6 percent of the sample express concern over the amount of information that is available on them online and 53 percent agree with the statement that they are concerned that people think is normal to search for information about others online.

* Is trust offline associated with trust online?

The correlation of general trust and online trust is positive and statistically significant (r=.18 p<.01) and there is a medium size and statistically significant correlation between online trust and trust in social institutions (r=.42, p<.01). At the same time, the measure of general trust in people was associated with trust in institutions (r=.22 p<.01).

* Which trust is associated with disclosure of identifiable information online?

Trust in individuals is not associated with posting identifiable information online or with posting using a screename or anonymously. In addition, trust in social institutions was also found not statistically significant as a predictor of the likelihood to posting information with identifiable name, using a screname or anonymously.

Online trust has a positive effect on the likelihood of posting information online using an identifiable name.

Preliminary conclusions:

Trust online and trust offline are not completely separate entities. Online trust is affected by our trust in individuals and social institutions.

Yet, trust online has also other sources beyond offline trust that need to be identified.

Trust online, and not trust offline is a predictor of our online behavior. Similar to the results of the previous study on the effect of online and offline norms on online behavior, it appears that in the online environment there are emergent norms and trust that can only be partially accounted by offline socialization.

More will come when I finish writing the paper.

Sociological Focus Feb 2010 available online

Posted on July 21, 2010 by gustavo

The February 2010 issue of Sociological Focus is available online

http://www.paradigmpublishers.com/journals/sf/SocFoc43-1Sample.pdf

Consider submitting a paper for review.

Sociological Focus is the official publication of the North Central Sociological
Association (NCSA). Published continuously since 1968, the quarterly journal is international in scope, covering a full range of topics of current interest to sociology and related social science disciplines. The journal is peer rhttp://www.sociologicalfocus.net/index.php/sf/about/submissionseviewed and committed to publishing high quality research on substantive issues of importance to the study of society. The journal’s mission is broad in scope, encompassing empirical works (both
quantitative and qualitative in nature), as well as manuscripts presenting up to date literature review of any field of sociology.

Information for authors is available at

http://www.sociologicalfocus.net/index.php/sf/about/submissions

Editor, Gustavo S. Mesch

Sociological Focus, May 2010, Table of Contents

Posted on July 17, 2010 by gustavo

SOCIOLOGICAL FOCUS

Edited and published at

the Department of Sociology & Anthropology,

University of Haifa, in association with

Paradigm Publishers, Boulder, Colorado

Volume 43 May 2010

Number 2 ISSN 0038-0237

Editor: Gustavo S. Mesch

The Organizational Practice of Gendered Employment:

Disparate Impact and Gender Segregation in the

Japanese Entry-Level Labor Market

Kayo Fujimoto

Explaining the Gender Gap in Professors’

Intentions to Leave

Vicki L. Dryfhout and Sarah Beth Estes

Diversity, Macrosociology, and Religious

Belonging: Using Mixed-Level Models

in Examining Spatial Variation and the

Closed Community Thesis

Jeremy R. Porter

Identity Consequences of Religious

Changing: Effects of Motivation for

Change on Identity Outcomes

Robert M. Carrothers