Social Science

When consumers, politicians, educators, practitioners, journalists and others in public settings are seeking answers to social problems within our community, they find them through studies including social work research. These studies benefit the public because they examine preventative methods for dealing with ongoing problems and issues in areas such as health care concerns, substance abuse, discrimination and the economy., It also studies the effectiveness of different types of organizations. An example of a study can be the risk factors associated with poverty and mental health. Another study could be about single parenting and school grades.

Three major organizations known for conducting various studies include ANSWER, SSWR, and IASWR. These three associations are very integrated with one another and network widely via conferences. Information is shared with many government agencies.

Communities, cities and nations rely upon these types of study results and surveys The acquired information can be channeled into figuring out school strategies, social service programs that are needed and ways to benefit those in difficult situations. Schools need to know how financial issues, abuse and parental homework support influences the way that children process information and relate to other students. Other setting that benefit from the research includes after care programs, hospitals and programs for at risk kids. Many innovative programs were born out of the deficiencies that were revealed in the studies. Read the rest of this entry »

“Language shapes thoughts and emotions, determining one’s perception of reality.” Benjamin Whorf

From the day that the United States won its independence, intellectual Americans have attempted to define the new identity. When we speak about American social identity these elements and names come to the mind:

Religion

Language

Democracy

Pragmatism

Nationalism

Melting pot, apple pie, hollowing and…

I chose language which I think is very key factor in developing social identity in every culture.
Regarding the topic these kinds of questions come to the mind.

What is social identity? What is role of language in social identity development? So first of all we shall define identity and language.

“Identity is an umbrella term used throughout the social sciences to describe an individual’s comprehension of him or herself as a discrete, separate entity. The notion of social identity is defined as the way that individuals label themselves as members of particular groups (e.g., nation, social class, subculture, ethnicity, gender, etc.)”. Social identity is some thing like personality and individual identity.

“A language is a system of visual, auditory, or tactile symbols of communication and the rules used to manipulate them.” It is a means of communication between people. Language is not only a vehicle for the expression of thoughts, perceptions, feelings and emotions, and values features of a community; it also represents a basic expression of social identity. Language is an important element which influences cultural and intellectual aspects of human life. Not only language creates several communications among people but also it makes bilateral relation between different groups and societies. Events and realities are expressed by words and sentences. Politicians assert their abilities and their policies through language and words. Nowadays, since the role of media became very crucial we can learn about importance of language. So we can say individual’s ideology, religious concepts and literature are indebted to the language and actually all of them shape social identity of a nation. Read the rest of this entry »

Considerable evidence exists that social media is rapidly evolving from the shiny new marketing toy to a standard part of the media mix.

Nowadays almost every campaign at least considers doing a YouTube video or a blog or a Facebook page. What sometimes gets forgotten is the post-mortem – was using social media worth it? Where do we go from here? That’s where a social media audit comes in.

I’ve long held the belief that communications is as much art as science. Yes, I try to maximize reach and frequency and lower cost per thousand impressions for my clients, but that doesn’t capture the art of conversation, or even persuasion. There is no formula that says how many interactions it takes for me to enlighten, engage, educate or persuade you. Yet typically that’s what we communicators need to do.

I used to think the word audit meant a precise accounting of assets and holdings. Then my accountant friends enlightened me that even in a profession as buttoned down as accounting, interpretation plays a large part. Had I only known 20 years ago when applying for student loans! Read the rest of this entry »