Abstract This article explores the role of organized crime groups in persistent theft and shop theft. It is based on an analysis of police data using exploratory analytical techniques assessing the extent of connectivity between acquisitive offenders. The research also draws on qualitative data collected from interviews. The findings suggest that shop theft was predominantly committed by UK nationals; although foreign nationals were proportionately more likely to be involved in organized crime, there is some evidence that they may themselves be being exploited. The findings are discussed and suggestions for further research are made.
Japan, unlike most Western countries, has not experienced several components of the second demographic transition, including cohabitation, widespread use of childcare centers, unmarried childbearing, and nonmarriage. Yet there is evidence that Japan is ripe for change in such family behaviors. This article examines a set of innovative questions related to knowing individuals who have engaged in these behaviors by type of relationship (sibling, other relative, friend, and coworker) respondent has to such individuals. We find that a large proportion of the Japanese population knows someone who has cohabited, used childcare, had a nonmarital birth, or plans to remain unmarried. This knowledge is patterned by both relationship domain and social structural variables. There is a strong positive association between knowing someone who has engaged in one of these behaviors and attitudes toward nontraditional family behavior, suggesting pathways by which micro-level interpersonal interactions may be linked to macro-level social change.
Homophily can put minority groups at a disadvantage by restricting their ability to establish links with a majority group or to access novel information. Here, we show how this phenomenon can influence the ranking of minorities in examples of real-world networks with various levels of heterophily and homophily ranging from sexual contacts, dating contacts, scientific collaborations, and scientific citations. We devise a social network model with tunable homophily and group sizes, and demonstrate how the degree ranking of nodes from the minority group in a network is a function of (i) relative group sizes and (ii) the presence or absence of homophilic behaviour. We provide analytical insights on how the ranking of the minority can be improved to ensure the representativeness of the group and correct for potential biases. Our work presents a foundation for assessing the impact of homophilic and heterophilic behaviour on minorities in social networks.
Many social exchange approaches to interpersonal stratification parallel closely the "functionalist" theory of stratification at the macro-societal level. Such approaches have been criticized by conflict theorists for overemphasizing value consensus, freedom of choice, and social integration. A social exchange approach to bargaining networks is discussed which does not neglect the conflictful aspects of micro-stratification. This formulation asserts that power is a direct function of the centrality of the position occupied by a person in an exchange network. The formation of pre-normative status hierarchies in bargaining networks is explained. An experiment is reported which uses an interpersonal bargaining task and a manipulation of the centrality of the exchange network position occupied by subjects. The following hypotheses linking positional power in bargaining networks to evaluations of self and others were supported: persons located in central exchange network positions will evaluate themselves as feeling (a) more pleasant and (b) more exhilarated than persons located in peripheral positions; and central persons will impute (a) lower status and (b) higher positive evaluations ("pleasantness") to peripheral positions than the latter" will impute to central persons.
open ; Il lavoro affronta il tema della costruzione identitaria all'interno dei social network sites, e intende leggere le attività di pubblicazione di contenuti personali sui social network in continuità con la tradizione di ricerca su identità e narrazione di sé, indagando come questi ambienti online possano "rimediare" dispositivi classici della narrazione personale all'interno delle dinamiche caratteristiche dei networked publics e interrogandosi sul potenziale in termini riflessivi delle tracce lasciate sul web dagli utenti. La ricerca si concentra in particolare su Facebook, sia per il livello di penetrazione del servizio, sia per il fatto che, rispetto ad altri SNS, è quello che maggiormente si basa sul paradigma della condivisione personale. Un'attenzione particolare è dedicata alla recente trasformazione dell'interfaccia utente nel cosiddetto "diario personale": l'introduzione della timeline ha infatti reso più immediata la navigazione temporale all'interno del profilo, andando ad incidere sulle strategie di gestione e revisione dei contenuti, con possibili ricadute in termini di riflessività personale. La ricerca si concentra sulle coorti giovanili di utenti italiani (fasce 13-18, 19-24 e 25-30 anni) comprendendo così sia coloro che nel nostro paese sono stati gli early-adopters di Facebook, sia l'attuale fascia adolescenziale, che può essere definita come la prima generazione italiana completamente "naturalizzata" all'utilizzo dei social network. ; Scienze Della Comunicazione ; new media, social media, media literacy, media education, mobile learning ; open ; Bruni, Isabella ; Bruni, Isabella
