Skill School Boys: Masculine Identity Formation Among White Boys in an Urban High School Vocational Autoshop Program

Through interviews and observations, I explore how a group of white working-class boys who have family traditions in auto repair construct notions of masculinity in a public-vocational-school autoshop class in Buffalo, New York. Many of the students in this group say that they plan to open their own garages on graduation. Although there are many facets to the production of a sense of manhood, I focus on the ways in which young white males in a restructuring economy narrate a sense of self grounded in the area of work on a multiethnic shopfloor—a sphere which they ultimately coconstruct around notions of the racially deviant other. At present, there is not a lot of literature on identity formation processes among youth who are trained in school to become trades-people, particularly in relation to jobs that are typically coded male.     

Memes and symbolic violence: #proudboys and the use of memes for propaganda and the construction of collective identity

ABSTRACT

As a social media platform, Instagram has a strong influence on youth culture, identity, and perceptions of the world, with the application serving not only for youth to follow accounts that are aspirational but also for entertainment and identity building through memes. Meme accounts that are explicitly conservative and that espouse white supremacist, hateful ideology and subsequently, identity, are incredibly prevalent. Media serve as powerful institutions for the socialization of youth, and content on the platform reveals that memes are serving as building blocks of ideological meaning. This study conducted a discourse analysis of the memes and content circulated by the alt-right affiliate movement the ‘Proud Boys,’ which is being sold to young men as a fraternity-like organization to celebrate ‘Western ideals’. Proud Boys operate on an ideology that consists of both symbolic and physical violence, and the popularity of these groups is growing. Using Bourdieu’s work on language as a framework, this article is an exploration to their recruitment and world-building practices on Instagram using memes and will be necessary to understand the movement, and to gain further insight into how memes are being used as propaganda.     

“The Soldiers Came to the House”: Young Children’s Responses to <Emphasis Type="Italic">The Colour of Home</Emphasis>

This article begins by reflecting on the present refugee crisis and its relevance to children in the UK. It identifies the need for teaching about the refugee experience to young children and argues that literature can provide a conduit for this. Since the millennium there has been a rapid increase in the number of books published for children which take this as their theme, aimed at ever-younger readers. Taking as a case study The Colour of Home by Mary Hoffman, a picturebook commonly used in lower primary classrooms, the article considers how this text promotes understanding and validates the circumstances of refugees. It closely examines the motivations and aims of the writer, how the book was mediated by teachers in the primary classroom, and how refugee and non-refugee children read and responded to it. Findings are presented from an interview with Mary Hoffman herself, juxtaposed with data from three classrooms suggesting that pupils gained valuable insight into a complicated and controversial issue. However the research concludes that viewing children through a refugee/non-refugee binary was reductive in not recognising the multi-layered nuances of meaning which were constructed by young readers who brought to bear a wide variety of individual life and family experiences. Furthermore, teachers in the study played a powerful role in mediating the texts when sharing them in the classroom, and devised a selection of stimulating resources to provoke reader response in terms of empathy, “social action”, and some critical literacy.     

Temperament Predicts Processing Speed in Low Socioeconomic Status Rural Preschoolers

Extreme poverty all over the world is concentrated in rural settings. However, studies about cognition in low socioeconomic status (SES) children are for the most part conducted in urban populations. This paper investigates, in a poor rural sample, what are the individual and socioenvironmental variables that make the difference in performance in a processing speed task. Forty four 5‐year‐old children were evaluated with a processing speed task; individual and socioenvironmental information was obtained from parents' interviews. Higher scores in the effortful control dimension of temperament were associated with higher performance in the processing speed task. No other individual or socioenvironmental variable predicted the performance. These results showed that effortful control is important in processing speed and suggest that in low SES rural contexts, low effortful control children would require stronger interventions.     

Negotiating femininities online

Much has been written about the potential for online learning (Fryer, 1997 Fryer R (1997) Learning for the twenty first century (London, DfEE)  [Google Scholar]; www. ngfl.gov.uk/ngfl/index.html www.ngfl.gov.uk/ngfl/index.html  [Google Scholar]). However this literature typically emphasizes not online learning but online education. In this paper I focus on the potential for online learning, specifically learning about issues surrounding femininity in the presence of online peers, originally brought together through the medium of the Mindscape game ‘Babyz’. Members of ‘The Babyz Community’, as participants describe themselves, (www.angelfire.com www.angelfire.com  [Google Scholar]; www.mnBabyz.cjbnet www.mnBabyz.cjbnet  [Google Scholar]; www.Babyzrus.cjb.net www.Babyzrus.cjb.net  [Google Scholar]) gain experience in web site surfing and design, email, as well as opportunities to communicate worldwide. This paper, through an analysis of ‘Babyz’ software, affiliated web sites and forum interactions, provides an account of girls' links with each other and their presentations of multiple identities through the Internet.     

Does Institution Type Predict Students’ Desires to Pursue Law Enforcement Careers?

Diversity in the field of law enforcement remains an issue, despite the popularity of the criminal justice degree. Prior research has typically been limited to surveying students from a single type of institution (historically black college & university, mixed-race institution, or predominately white institution). This is the first time a sample of students has been drawn from three different types of institutions. The current study examined whether institution type, race, gender, major, and perception of fair treatment were adequate predictors of a criminal justice student’s desire to pursue a career in law enforcement. Results revealed a significant interaction between the institution and gender. Academic major and perception of fair treatment produced significant main effects in the model. The theoretical and practical implications associated with these findings are discussed.     

Action learning and the creative industries: the efficacy of an action learning set in building collaboration between a university and creative industries

In the UK, the creative sector has been identified as a key strand in the economic recovery strategy. Composed of mostly micro and small enterprises often grouping together for particular commissions and projects, there is a tendency to operate primarily through a series of networks made up of peers. This paper presents the outcomes of a ‘peer-to-peer business programme’, or action learning set, involving 10 participants from the creative sector over a period of 6 months. The programme was based on a ‘Six-Squared’ model where participants would address their own needs alongside participating in, and developing further understanding of, action learning sets in order to establish sets with others. Assessment of outcomes indicated that the programme allowed participants to develop new skills with peers, network and strengthen relationships and collaborate in a university programme. The paper concludes by suggesting that, within the context of a growing and vibrant creative industries sector and increasing pressures on universities to engage with the business community, it is essential to develop flexible, peer-led and innovative models of collaboration.     

Books on Books

THE BUSINESS OF BOOK PUBLISHING: PAPERS BY PRACTITIONERS edited by Elizabeth A. Geiser (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1985---$38.75)

THE BOOK PUBLISHING ANNUAL (New York: Bowker, 1985---$60.00)

THE BOWKER ANNUAL OF LIBRARY AND BOOK TRADE INFORMATION edited by Julia Moore (New York: Bowker, 1985---$69.95)     

The 2008 Presidential Election, 2.0: A Content Analysis of User-Generated Political Facebook Groups

Although Facebook is primarily known for building and maintaining relationships, the 2008 presidential election highlighted this social networking website as a viable tool for political communication. In fact, during primary season until Election Day in 2008, Facebook users created more than 1,000 Facebook group pages that focused on Barack Obama and John McCain. Using quantitative content analysis, the primary purpose of this study was to assess how both John McCain and Barack Obama were portrayed across these Facebook groups. Results indicated that group membership and activity levels were higher for Barack Obama than for John McCain. Overall, Barack Obama was portrayed more positively across Facebook groups than John McCain. In addition, profanity, racial, religious, and age-related language were also coded for and varied with regard to how each candidate was portrayed. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.