Issue 3, Dec 2011

Response to Reviewers

Stern & Porr (2011) Response to Reviewers Phyllis Noranger Stern,DNS, LLD (hon.), FAAN No abstract on site

The Theory of Social Control and the Social Psychology of Dissatisfaction: Inhibition, regression and isolation in a cultural context...

NB: There were two entries with the same abstract – mistake? Selmes, Orsolya. (2011). The Theory of Social Control and the Social Psychology of Dissatisfaction: Inhibition, regression and isolation in a cultural context. The Grounded Theory Review, vol.10, no.2, pp.91-111. The Theory of Social Control (TSC) is grounded in satisfaction and happiness research. The study investigated the reasons behind relatively low levels of civil and personal satisfaction, subjective social well-being and experienced happiness in the post-communist Hungarian social context. The basic social process uncovered in the research is self-situating, which involves a continuous assessment of social control, which occurs on three psychological dimensions: activity, fairness and connectedness, operated viasocial flow. The culturally salient outcome of self-situating in Hungary is self-victimizing, meaning a subjective loss of control on all three dimensions. Some of the most important emotional-motivational consequences of self-victimizing are inhibition, regression and isolation, which contribute to various socio-cultural phenomenon such as distrust, bystander strategies, pessimism or anomie across a number of social situations. Based on the emerging theory, the concept of subjective social control is introduced and an expanded three-dimensional model of civil satisfaction, comfort and contribution, along with psychological and cultural implications, are...

The Theory of Social Control and the Social Psychology of Dissatisfaction: Inhibition, regression and isolation in a cultural context...

Selmes, Orsolya. (2011). The Theory of Social Control and the Social Psychology of Dissatisfaction: Inhibition, regression and isolation in a cultural context. The Grounded Theory Review, vol.10, no.2, pp.91-111. The Theory of Social Control (TSC) is grounded in satisfaction and happiness research. The study investigated the reasons behind relatively low levels of civil and personal satisfaction, subjective social well-being and experienced happiness in the post-communist Hungarian social context. The basic social process uncovered in the research is self-situating, which involves a continuous assessment of social control, which occurs on three psychological dimensions: activity, fairness and connectedness, operated viasocial flow. The culturally salient outcome of self-situating in Hungary is self-victimizing, meaning a subjective loss of control on all three dimensions. Some of the most important emotional-motivational consequences of self-victimizing are inhibition, regression and isolation, which contribute to various socio-cultural phenomenon such as distrust, bystander strategies, pessimism or anomie across a number of social situations. Based on the emerging theory, the concept of subjective social control is introduced and an expanded three-dimensional model of civil satisfaction, comfort and contribution, along with psychological and cultural implications, are...

Stigma in Access to HIV Treatment in African Settings: The importance of social connections...

NB: There were three articles here with the same abstract – I only brought in one. Not sure if that was a mistake or what. – SFH   Oturu, Kingsley. (2011). Stigma in Access to HIV Treatment in African Settings: The importance of social connections. The Grounded Theory Review, vol.10, no.2, pp.63-90. Access to antiretroviral therapy is desperately needed in Nigeria. Increased access to anti-retroviral therapy for HIV treatment contributes to improved quality of life and reduced health care costs. It may assist in reduction of stigma and risk of HIV transmission. Although a lot of global funding has been mobilised to improve access to HIV treatment, many people in Nigeria still do not have access. The HIV treatment access rate in Nigeria is 16.6%. It is often assumed that with the provision of antiretroviral therapy, patients will readily access HIV treatment. However, as this grounded theory (GT) study suggests, stigma stands out as a major barrier to HIV prevention and treatment services in Nigeria. The main concern of the participants that emerged in this GT study was the fear of different types of stigma that stand as barriers to access. Self stigma, familial stigma andcommunity stigma, institutional stigma and organisational stigma surfaced as issues that influence access. The participants were also able to overcome stigma and other barriers to accessing HIV treatment through the use of social connections. Social connection emerges as the core category of this theory. The core determinant to engaging with social connectors is the type of disclosing strategy utilised by the research participants. The social connection theory on access developed from this study suggests that although stigma poses a major barrier to HIV treatment, social connectors can play a major role in supporting the patient in overcoming barriers to access HIV treatment. Social connectors were identified as trusted acquaintances that influenced how and when HIV patients access treatment. I therefore argue in this paper that in African settings, social connectors should be targeted in access programs and not just the individual patient. The theory may be adapted for other diseases associated with stigma, such as leprosy or mental illnesses. It may also be relevant for African patients living in western or non-African contexts or in contexts within developed countries where there is strong social...

The Rediscovery and Resurrection of Bunk Johnson – a Grounded Theory Approach: A case study in jazz historiography...

Ekins, Richard (2011). The Rediscovery and Resurrection of Bunk Johnson – a Grounded Theory Approach: A case study in jazz historiography. The Grounded Theory Review, vol.11, no.3, pp.27-54. This paper was written in the beginning phase of my transitioning from grounded theory sociologist (Ekins, 1997) to grounded theory musicologist (Ekins, 2010). In particular, it provides preliminary data for a grounded theory of ‘managing authenticity’, the core category/basic social process (Glaser, 1978) that has emerged from my ongoing grounded theory work in jazz historiography. It was written whilst I was ‘credentialising’ (Glaser, 2010) my transition to popular music studies and popular musicology. In consequence, it incorporates many aspects that are inimical to classic grounded theory. As with so much of Straussian and so-called constructivist grounded theory (Bryant and Charmaz, 2007), it roots itself in G.H. Mead and a social constructivist symbolic interactionism – inter alia, a legitimising (authenticating) strategy. Moreover, as is typical of this mode of conceptualising, the paper fills the void of inadequate classic grounded theorising with less conceptual theorising and more conceptual description. Nevertheless, the article does introduce a number of categories that ‘fit and work’, and have ‘conceptual grab’ (Glaser, 1978; Glaser, 1992). In particular, in terms of my own continuing credentialising as a classic grounded theorist, it sets forth important categories to be integrated into my ongoing work on managing authenticity in New Orleans revivalist jazz, namely, ‘trailblazing’, ‘mythologizing’, ‘debunking’, and ‘marginalising’, in the context of the ‘rediscovering’ and ‘resurrecting’ of a jazz pioneer. More specifically, the paper is offered to classic grounded theorists as a contribution to preliminary generic social process analysis in the substantive area of jazz...

The Literature Review in Classic Grounded Theory Studies: A methodological note...

Christiansen, Olavur. (2011). The Literature Review in Classic Grounded Theory Studies: A methodological note. The Grounded Theory Review, vol.10, no.3, pp.21-25. The place and purpose of the literature review in a Classic (Glaserian) Grounded Theory (CGT) study is to situate the research outcome within the body of previous knowledge, and thus to assess its position and place within the main body of relevant literature. The literature comparison is conceptual, i.e. the focus is on the comparison of concepts. The literature comparison is not contextual, i.e., it is not based on the origin of the data. This, of course, means that the literature comparison has to be made in a selective manner....