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Integration of Theory and Practice in Health Communication |
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Author(s): Hairong Feng |
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This paper discusses theory and practice integration in health communication. It starts from addressing the significance of integrating theory and practice from both practical necessities and theoretical supports. Then, this paper addresses current existing problems including research is hardly problem-based, unwilling to share research results, difficult to connect to research, and practitioners seldom use formulated theory and research results. Following this, corresponding possible solutions are discussed most from scholars' side. Finally, the paper calls attention to some relevant issues that deserve further exploration: practitioners' efforts, potentiality of a theory, and development of applied health communication research. |
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Toward a Confucian Feminism: A Critique of Eurocentric Feminist Discourse |
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Author(s): Jing Yin |
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Feminist movements in the United States and Western Europe have called attention to the oppression of women worldwide. However, as Western feminisms are gaining more and more currency, it is vital for non- Western women to be cautious of the pitfall of replacing one form of oppression with another. This article explores an alternative framework for non-Western feminism. The article offers a critique of the hegemony of Eurocentric discourse in feminist movements around the world. It problematizes three characteristics of Eurocentric feminist discourse: universalism, individualism, and right-based ethics. The article also proposes a Confucian feminism based on the principle of ren (humanness), the notion of rights as fen (share), and duty-based ethics. |
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Compare Participative Leadership Theories in Three Cultures |
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Author(s): Ming-Yi Wu |
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Much has been written about leadership in the United States and in other nations. Participative leadership is one of the most well-discussed and closely-examined concepts in contemporary American scholarly literature. To understand leadership communication in the global context, this paper reviews and compares participative leadership theories in three cultures, the United States, Japan, and Taiwan. Empirical studies related to these theories are also summarized and discussed. The results of this comparative study demonstrate that participative leadership communication is a culturally-bounded phenomenon. American participative leadership theories emphasize situational variables. Japanese participative leadership theories focus on the leaders' communication function organizations. However, traditional Taiwanese leadership theories stress the authoritarian leadership style. After reviewing participative leadership theories in three cultures, a new theoretical model is proposed. The theoretical implications for the comparative analysis are also discussed. |
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An Attempt to Harmonize the Conflicting Images of China |
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Author(s): Michael B. Hinner |
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Westerners have been fascinated with China for a very long time. Today as in the past, many West-erners are puzzled by the conflicting images of China. Commerce and communism coexist as do ultra-modern technology and traditional farming; a paradox to most Westerners. Yet closer inspection reveals that this apparent contradiction is only one to Western thinking, not traditional Chinese philosophy which seeks to harmonize and bal-ance opposites. This paper looks at how perception influences not only the way people see the world, but also how they communicate with one another as a consequence of that perception. In today's global business context, it is important to understand how one is perceived by one's potential business partners and customers. For it is only with such knowledge that business transactions can be turned into mutually beneficial business relationships. |
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Intercultural Friendship from the Perspectives of East Asian International Students |
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Author(s): Yea Wen Chen |
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International students in the United States generally experience great social difficulties and psychological obstacles in the process of establishing satisfying friendships with the host nationals (Collier, 1996; Gareis, 1995; Mcdermott, 1992; Olaniran, 1996; Owie, 1992). Compared with international students from individualistic cultures, those from collectivistic cultures especially encounter higher levels of obstacles developing friendships with US students and lower probability of smooth adjustments (Olaniran, 1996). Research on intercultural friendship has identified self-disclosure as a major factor as well as a crucial and defining indicator (Kudo & Simkin, 2003; Matsushima & Shiomi, 2002). Grounded in a social penetration perspective (Altman and Taylor, 1973), this paper aspires to examine the impact of self-disclosure in the development of intercultural friendships between US Americans and international students from four Asian countries specifically from the perspectives of the latter. This research employed a four-page survey questionnaire to answer the proposed research questions and hypothesis regarding four dimensions and six topics of self-disclosure in three levels of intercultural friendship development. In general, this study highlights the crucial role of self-disclosure in the development of intercultural friendship as it evolves from superficial social relationships to intimate friendships. |
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Narrating a Happy China through a Crying Game: A Case Study of Post-Mao Reality Shows |
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Author(s): Hui Xiao |
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In the summer of 2005, the \"Mengniu yogurt super girls\" show, a Chinese version of \"American Idol\", sweeps China and achieves unprecedented ratings as well as phenomenal commercial success. Going far beyond simply a contest of musical talent, the show strikes people with its melodramatic narrative and emotional investment. In sharp contrast with the image of a \"Happy China\", the overarching theme of a series of Chinese reality shows including \"Super Girl\", what impresses 400 million audiences watching the show is the flooding of tears shed on and off the TV screen. Investigating the televisual representation of intensified emotions and the operating mechanism underneath the melodramatized sentiments, I argue that the performance of an emotional dialectic of excessive tears and joys aroused by this popular reality show contribute to socioeconomic discourses in four aspects: 1. Fulfilling and circulating Chinese intellectuals' haunting fantasies of democracy and civil society, the central terms of global flows of ideoscapes; 2. Constructing marketable individual \"self\" for the rocketing neoliberal market economy of post-Mao China; 3. Representing highly sexualized female body as the active agent in retrieving the lost innocence and moral legibility through a crying game of democratizing the consumption of feminine youth; 4. Enhancing the state agenda of building a \"harmonious society\" out of a globalizing \"Happy China\" with the allied forces of a ritual of grassroots justice and Chinese women's virtuous sufferings as well as redemptive tears. |
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Who could Get Benefits from the Reform of Chinese Movie Industry? |
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Author(s): Hai Kuo and Hou Jie |
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By analyzing the development of Chinese movie industry, the thesis concluded a macro-economy model cored of theater chain. In the globalization structure of movie economy, it is necessary for a developing movie country to develop from the part and centralizing the industry resources to change the latent requirement into reasonable supplementary. After that, the whole movie industry of the country will be activized to merge into the international movie trade market to engender a scope economy connected with the world. The key point of Chinese theater chain reform is the relationships among inner of movie industry, government, industry chain, requirement, international competition have been changed in the system transformation of national economy, however, the shortcomings that limited the further development of industry have also appeared. |
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HIV/AIDS and Corporate Social Investment in South Africa: Investigating Communication Strategies |
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Author(s): Renitha Rampersad |
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HIV/AIDS is a worldwide concern. Today, more than 100 million people are estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS. It is estimated that sub-Saharan Africa is the region most affected by the virus with South Africa emerging as one of the most ‘prolific' carriers of the virus. The high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in South Africa poses major challenges for both government and civil society groups, who are doing their utmost to curb the spread of the disease and help those affected by it. This paper investigates the questions and issues related to the extent to which the top 100 companies on the JSE commit their resources to corporate social investment. The paper is marked by two commitments. Firstly, the paper explores the effects of HIV/AIDS on South African corporations and examines the strategies employed between private sector and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Secondly, the paper explores corporate social investment in the context of HIV/AIDS. The proposition to be developed implies perspectives of the past ‘in terms' of CSI and HIV/AIDS, a view of the present and assumptions concerning the future. |
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The AIDS Issue in China: Government Perception and Public Policies |
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Author(s): Zhao Jinqiu |
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The explosive trajectory of AIDS in China from a \"foreign disease\" to a social issue and finally a national public health crisis within almost two decades has provided us with a rare opportunity to study a social phenomenon from a historical point of view. By monitoring how the AIDS issue, under different phases of China's social and economic development, has been responded and tackled by the Chinese government, this paper attempts to probe into the mindset and perceptions held by the Communist Party of China (CPC) in policy-making and their effects upon the spread of the epidemic in the country. The method of documentary analysis was used to shed light on the issue at hand. The result of the study suggests that the Communist ideology under the impact of conservative cultural values plays a decisive role in framing the issue. As the Rule of Man rather than Rule of Law mentality is central to the governing of the CPC over the country, it is natural to see that public policies are subject to the influences of personal values and arbitrary judgment of situations. This study could contribute to the understanding of the state-center governance paradigm and the social consequences brought about by the Rule of Man mentality in an authoritarian country like China. |
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A Measurement Method and Data Analysis of Cultural Potential in Intercultural Communication |
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Author(s): Fred Y. Ye |
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On the basis of the analytical framework for intercultural communication proposed by the author, the measurement method of cultural potential is studied. Considering the exports of books, journals, films and television or Internet users as important intercultural criteria, a criterion system for measuring cultural potential is proposed. Using actual data, the criteria of some countries are calculated. After calculation, the author finds that the top 5 nations ranked by cultural potential are the US, UK, Germany, France and Italy. Reasons for the results are discussed. |
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Intercultural Symposium on Cultural Globalization* |
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Author(s): Jen Hu Chang, Guo-Ming Chen, D. Ray Heisey, |
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Eight scholars from Australia, Czech Republic, Mexico, P.R. China, USA, and Taiwan approach the concept of cultural globalization from different perspectives in this intercultural and international symposium. Chang first argues that our world is enriched by different cultures; Heisey explores the meaning and impact of cultural globalization; Chen proposes a model for the enhancement of intercultural communication competence; Miike examines cultural Asia in the age of globalization; Nesbitt deals with the relationship between global media and cultural change; Peza points out that global media speed up globalization; Servaes discusses the issue of constructing the local cultural identity, and finally, Shi investigates the relationship among globalization, culture and communication. Together, the eight essays draw a picture of cultural globalization. |
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Full, Fair & Accurate, An interview with Dr. Richard Cole, Dean, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
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Author(s): Shuhua Zhou and Ying Du |
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This interview was conducted in the Fall 2004. Amid his many obligations, Dean Cole was able to answer part of the questionnaire via e-mail. He preferred, however, to complete the interview via telephone (because the first author was located in another state) as he could hardly find time to sit down for an extended period of time. |
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