In Brief

In contemporary Japan, the family remains a strong social and legal entity. The right to make decisions on behalf of another in emergency situations lies with the immediate family. Similarly, immediate family members are legally entitled to claim from deceased family member's estates. One way to ensure that property and inheritance rights are passed on to same-sex partners is for the older partner to adopt the younger, thereby becoming family in the eyes of the law. An alternative that has recently been proposed is for partners to draw up legal agreements and register them with a local notary office. Neither of these options are problem free—the former introduces a parent/child relationship to a domestic partnership; the latter is yet to be tested in a court of law. Both rely on surreptitiously accessing (or appropriating) the existing civil code. This article briefly outlines the current situation in Japan regarding same-sex partnership rights and the alternatives available.     

The Theory and Politics of Contemporary Social Movements

Social movements of the 1960s have given rise to new theoretical perspectives such as Resource Mobilization Theory and theories of New Social Movements. Resource Mobilization Theory analyses the dynamics of mobilization: the effective organisation of social movements and their influence on mainstream political institutions. By contrast, New Social Movement theories seek to explain the anti-institutional nature of contemporary movements which are said to pursue radical social transformation through mainly cultural means. In this article, both theoretical approaches are examined but found to be inadequate explanations of the complexities of contemporary movements and their relationship with the political environment.     

Binding: a resource for exploring interpersonal meaning in three-dimensional space

This paper takes an in-depth look at Binding, a recently theorised resource for analysing interpersonal meaning in three-dimensional space. Binding is concerned with the dialectic between affect and space. Extremes of Binding can evoke claustrophobic and agoraphobic responses to space, whereas median choices produce comfort zones of security or freedom. In considering how security and insecurity are experienced in the spatial realm, the paper also compares Binding with the resources language has for expressing similar meanings. While the examples used in this paper are drawn from the domestic sphere, Binding is relevant to spaces across an endless range of fields – the natural environment, schools, workplaces, retail sites, hospitals, museums – as well as virtual and literary spaces. It can be used to inform the design and analysis of all three-dimensional space – natural or built.     

Linkedin Users’ Self-Brand Congruence,Attitudes and Social Media Use Integration

This article describes a sample of LinkedIn users in South Africa. The main purpose of the study reported on was to compile a consumer profile of LinkedIn users based on several measures (e.g. usage behaviour, self- and brand-personality traits and attitudes towards the LinkedIn brand). The study contributes to the literature by including users’ personality traits, perceived brand-personality traits, self-brand congruence (SBC) and social media use integration (SMUI) in the investigation. Self-congruity theory was used as a basis to examine SBC in the LinkedIn context. The study entailed a cross-sectional quantitative design using a survey of LinkedIn users in Gauteng, the economic hub of South Africa. The primary results indicated that despite low usage patterns, users’ SBC is high and their attitudes towards the LinkedIn brand are positive. SMUI is not prevalent, yet it correlates positively with brand attitude.     

A Comparative Analysis of Entrepreneurial Approaches Within Public Healthcare Organisations

This article examines the development of two distinct models of organising allied health professionals within two public sector health service organisations in Australia. The first case illustrated a mode of organising that facilitated a culture that focused on asset protection and whose external orientation was threat oriented because its disparate multiple identities operated as a fractured, fragmented and competitive set of profession disciplines. In this milieu, there was no evidence of entrepreneurial approaches being used. In contrast, the second case study illustrated a mode of organising that facilitated an entrepreneurial culture that focused on asset growth and an external orientation that was opportunity oriented because of the evolution of a strong superordinate allied health identity that operated as a single united health services stakeholder. This evolution was coupled with the emergence of a corporate boardroom model of management that is consonant with Savage et al. (1997) IDS/N model of management. Once this structure and strategy were in place, corporate entrepreneur ship became the modus operandi. Consequently, because the case study was a situation where corporate entrepreneurship existed in the public sector, it was possible to compare the factors that stimulate corporate entrepreneurship in Sadler's (2000) study with factors that were observed in our study.     

Through the looking-glass: Exploring the wonderland of ‘other’ female portrayals in advertising

Abstract

Research on gender portrayals in advertising are prolific and mostly focus on stereotypical roles. However, there is no previous research report analysing portrayals that fall into the ‘other’ category of female roles. This article aims to provide an outline of female role portrayals in advertising and, importantly, to examine the ‘other’ role category for new portrayals. A quantitative content analysis was conducted on samples of South African magazine and television advertisements. The findings indicate that the stereotypical decorative role was prevalent in magazine advertisements, while in television advertisements the product user was the person most often featured. A detailed analysis of the ‘other’ category in both media revealed four new role portrayals. These roles represent a different view of the modern woman and may be used to differentiate effectively those brands in the media that are cluttered with advertising messages. The research provides directions for future content-analytic studies on the topic of female portrayals in advertising.