The Social Embeddedness of Transactions: Evidence from the Residential Real-Estate Industry

Information and communications technologies (ICT) are becoming pervasive in the residential real-estate industry and their usage is affecting the work lives of real-estate agents. Drawing on data from a regional study of the residential real-estate industry in the United States, we focus on the disintermediation or, more accurately, the reintermediation of real-estate agents in the sales process. Using data collected from interviews, direct observation, and archival records, we examine how real-estate agents are (1) taking advantage of new ICT in their work, and (2) protecting themselves from others wishing to displace their position in the real-estate value chain. Our analysis of this activity draws on two contrasting theoretical perspectives to illuminate the roles of residential real-estate agents: transaction cost and social capital. The results of this study provide insights into the ways in which ICT are used to build and draw on the social relationships that underpin the actual transactions, to help guide the process of buying/selling a house, and to invoke expertise as needed.     

The perceived role of the Teach For America program on teachers’ long-term career aspirations

In urban school systems, the percentage of teachers that leave the profession is disproportionally high. Part of the driving force for this high rate of teacher turnover are alternative certification programmes, like Teach For America (TFA) which recruits teachers only for a short-term teaching commitment. This study contributes a novel perspective on these teachers’ decision to stay or exit the classroom after this two-year commitment by analysing extensive open-ended qualitative interviews with 30 TFA participants in Los Angeles. Within this sample, a majority enter the programme without viewing teaching as a long-term career option, though they are willing to extend their initial two-year teaching commitment for several years, though not much longer after that. Only a minority of these teachers entered TFA as a means of becoming long-term classroom teachers. No teachers changed their long-term career plans as a result of their participation in TFA. Implications are discussed.     

Stichwort: Schulische Inklusion

‘Inclusion’ has become a central topic in the field of education. The idea that all children should attending regular schools has been increasingly discussed following the UN Convention, which came into force in Germany in 2009. This article highlights the central dimensions of the on-going discussions on inclusion in education. First, the tension between inclusion as a global and inclusion as a regional concept as well as the tension between the understanding of inclusion in a narrow and broader sense will be discussed. The different areas of discussion emphasize the complexity of this topic. Second the central challenges that are associated with inclusive schooling and curriculum development in inclusive schools will be discussed on the basis of current research findings. Lastly, the importance of attitudes of teachers dealing with inclusion will be highlighted. The article comes to the conclusion that research on and the implementation of inclusive education must take into account the complexity inherent in the circular pattern of causal factors in the field of education.