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This article discusses prospects of strengthening new increasingly global economic activities and environmental governance by focusing on the institutional relationship between information society policy issues and environmental policy issues. These two sets of issues have some common denominators insofar as they are both comprehensive and go beyond traditional sector policy rationalities, as illustrated by the notions of “sustainable development” and “ecological modernization” in the case of environmental issues, and neither can avoid the problem of governance subjects such as social legitimacy and institutional dynamics between the main actors. The article also identifies a more functional relationship between these issues and discusses challenges common to both as well as asking whether there is institutional potential and capacity to find “synergy” by integrating environmental policy elements into moves towards information society and vice versa. The case study of Finland reveals that information society strategy lacks environmental policy objectives and discusses the factors behind this failure. The lack of integration of different policy areas is an issue of organizational power with policy actors showing no real interest in radically changing prevailing bureaucratic institutions and socioeconomic structures. Beyond organizational factors the policy problems seem to be based on the inconsistency of different policy rationalities with information society reasoning being justified by economic‐technical rationality whereas environmental policies are justified by natural scientific rationality, which policy makers do not consider to be in their interests. The article concludes with the assertion that the principles of ecological modernization could potentially unite environmental policies and positive environmental aspects of information society policies.

Scholars have shown that organizations active in social movements are important because they carry out a number of critical tasks such as recruitment, coordination, and sustained contention. However, these accounts do not explain how a number of recent movements using the tactic of occupation and featuring a seemingly minimal formal organizational structure nevertheless engaged in a number of critical organizational tasks. This paper draws from in-depth ethnographic research on the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City and finds that the movement’s sustained occupation of Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan carried out four critical functions: messaging, recruitment, building commitment, and connecting participants to each other. These findings move past a general overemphasis in the literature on social movements on organizational structure, and instead point toward the utility of a perspective that accounts for the role of nonorganizational factors in the accomplishment of fundamental movement tasks.

The purpose of this paper is to provide background on the US living wage movement, with particular attention to recent victories, and also the ways in which the US movement differs from living wage movements in other countries. It begins with some technical distinctions of terms, then analyzes the campaigns and movement for higher wages, and considers some of the challenges the campaigns have faced. It will conclude with some discussion about the future of the movement.

This is a general review of living wage campaigns in the USA. This is based on a review of existing literature and the author’s own prior research and participant observation.

The author argues that the initial living wage movement that began in the early 1990s was limited in scope but successful in building coalitions and political power to launch a much more expansive movement to raise wages in 2012.

This paper is a general summary of the last 20 years of living wage campaigns. It does not include new research.

There is a link between stress experienced during adversity and negative outcomes, which demands the identification of mechanisms to minimize the harm. However, to date, these mechanisms remain unclear. This study will help us understand how to reduce the negative impact of COVID-19 stress (CS) on COVID-19 burnout (CB). The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating role of meaning in life (MIL) in the relationship between CS and CB in the general population.

During the second wave of COVID-19 in India, 514 adults aged 18–75 years (M = 33.11 ± SD =10.42) completed the survey online. Testing of the model was conducted using the structural equation modeling technique.

Results indicated that CS had a positive impact on CB. CS explained 49% of the variance in CB. A mediation model was used to examine the relationship between CS and CB through MIL, which was also supported.

These findings explain the efficacy of MIL in reducing harm. It is imperative to promote MIL to prevent negative outcomes. Instead of treating symptoms of disorders, psychologists, mental health professionals and health-care workers should focus on prevention.

The model explains the underlying mechanisms between CS and CB. This is among the very few studies attempting to explore these variables among the general population. Therefore, it adds to the literature on ways to reduce the negative impact of stressors.

This paper explores the school leadership career outcomes, timing and educator evaluation of those who complete the Massachusetts Performance Assessment for Leaders (PAL) in comparison with others who did not. It also compares outcomes for those with different PAL score completion requirements.

Using PAL assessment results and state employment data for years 2015 through 2019, the authors examined trends and timing in PAL completers' career advancement into an initial school leader position (assistant principal or principal), by assessment cohort (based on assessment year and passing (cut) score requirements) and with who never had to complete the assessment for licensure (non-PAL completers). Using regression analysis, the authors evaluated potential race/ethnicity and gender differences in advancement. Using chi-square tests of association, the authors compared non-PAL and PAL completers on their demographic attributes and on retention and promotion from assistant principal and on their educator evaluation scores. The authors also examined differences in advancement based on the cut score requirements and preparation pathways.

PAL completers made steady career advances over time and at faster rates than non-PAL completers. Further, PAL completers subject to higher cut score requirements advanced more quickly than those with lower or no score requirements. PAL completers' gender and race/ethnicity seemed to matter less in career advancement than was found in other studies. In 2019, almost half who advanced were employed in the same districts as they had been in 2014 and were more likely to be new leaders in urban districts. When compared with other career-related measures, PAL completers outperformed non-PAL completers who first became school leaders since 2014: they were more likely to be rated as exemplary on educator evaluation and more likely to be retained or promoted after two years in their first school leader position.

Until now little research has existed on the career effects of licensure assessments. Because it requires candidates to demonstrate proficiency in core areas of school leadership work, the PAL assessment appears to be a superior means of screening initial school leaders (based on rate of hiring) and of signaling future performance (based on subsequent educator evaluation ratings) than other assessment forms (such as the School Leader Licensure Assessment [SLLA] exam).

Enabling people with dementia to continue to communicate their views, needs and preferences as their condition progresses is essential for development of person‐centred services and care facilities. This paper describes part of a 15‐month research project funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It examined the effectiveness of Talking Mats, a low‐technology communication tool, to help people with dementia express their opinions, in comparison with usual communication methods. The study involved 31 people at different stages of dementia who were interviewed about their well‐being under three conditions: unstructured (ordinary) conversation, structured conversation and Talking Mats conversation. The study found that Talking Mats can improve the communication ability of many people at all stages of dementia in expressing their views about their well‐being.

There is a meager body of research addressing the role educational leadership preparation programs in colleges and universities play in preparing women leaders. Also educational leadership preparation research has yet to explore ways in which mentorship provides additional capital for female graduate students. This study seeks to understand the challenges facing, and the opportunities available to, female graduate students in educational leadership departments.

The study used qualitative methods to explore the constructs of educational leadership preparation and mentorship of female graduate students. Qualitative methods, specifically a questionnaire and a collaborative focus group, were informed by the work of feminist theory and were used to explore participants' experiences and perceptions with the larger purpose of understanding the implications of their experiences for the development of strategies and programs intended to support female graduate students.

The following themes emerged from the participants' stories: constraints within the organizational culture, personal and familial sacrifice, struggles with identity, questioning self, and experiences with mentoring.

The findings have important implications for the roles university leadership preparation program structures might play in supporting female graduate students and their career success. The findings also offer recommendations for the development of mentoring programs for female graduate students.

Currently, there is an exceptional lack of research documenting the lived experiences of female doctoral students, particularly research that can be used to inform policy and program development. To that end, the qualitative study described in this paper helps in understanding the challenges facing, and the opportunities available to, female graduate students in educational leadership departments as well as in understanding the implications of such experiences for the development of strategies and programs intended to support female graduate students.

The aims of this project were to establish whether Talking Mats, a low tech communication framework, helps people with dementia to communicate and to examine how effective the Talking Mats framework is for people at different stages of dementia. Thirty‐one people at three stages of dementia were interviewed about their well‐being under three interview conditions ‐ an unstructured (ordinary) conversation, a structured conversation and using the Talking Mats framework.The results indicated that conversations using the Talking Mats framework improved communication for people at all stages of dementia but that not all people at late‐stage dementia could use the Talking Mats framework effectively.The researchers concluded that the Talking Mats framework may therefore play an important role in improving quality of care by providing a simple, low‐cost tool that family and staff can use to engage with people with dementia and help them express their views about a range of topics.

I am honored to present Volume 22 of Political Power and Social Theory (PPST). This volume is a landmark, in that it is among the first volumes of PPST to be dedicated to a single topic. With the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election in sight, this special volume on the meaning of Barack Obama's presidency from a critical social science perspective is especially timely. For the first part of the volume, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva and Louise Seamster have put together a diverse collection of essays on the politics of race in the age of Obama. For the second part (the Scholarly Controversy section familiar to PPST readers), Philip S. Gorski offers provocative reflections on Obama and civil religion in the United States, with critical commentary from Joseph Gerteis, Andrew R. Murphy, and Michael Young and Christopher Pieper.