Adolph Lowe's Plea for Cooperation and Constructive Synthesis in the Social Sciences

Adolph Lowe and his mentor Franz Oppenheimer were founding members of the Editorial Board of the The American Journal of Economics and Sociology in 1941. Both this journal's name and its mission were inspired by Lowe's greatly underappreciated 1935 book, Economics and Sociology . There, Lowe issued his "plea for cooperation" and "constructive synthesis" in the social sciences. Lowe was committed to interdisciplinary teaching and research for the entirety of his long and interesting career. When celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Journal , it is worthwhile to recall Lowe's enduring contributions. His expression "constructive synthesis" still remains part of the mission of the AJES as inscribed on the back cover of the journal itself.     

Engaging consumers in esthetic offerings: conceptualizing and developing a measure for arts engagement

• As the arts face a number of challenges, including changing audience tastes and inconsistent ticket purchasing behavior, there have been calls for innovative approaches to marketing. Experts in the field have suggested that “engaging experiences” in the arts be cultivated to aid in audience development efforts. However, in the literature, little attention has been devoted to defining what encompasses an “engaging experience” in the arts. This research addresses this gap by exploring the concept of “engagement in the arts” and developing a measurement tool, which accesses overall “arts engagement.” It applies emerging theories from the customer engagement and brand experience literatures to conceptualize “arts engagement.” In four studies, an arts engagement scale is tested for its validity, reliability, and its relationship with important outcomes in the consumption experience. Implications are discussed for marketing the arts as well as other consumption contexts that incorporate performance and artistic‐based elements, including service delivery and experiential marketing.

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

法律社会化的内在途径研究——遵循市民社会的视角

"法律社会化"是法社会学的中的一个重要的理念,学者在阐述法律社会化时多会遵循以下两种定义方式:一把其看作是社会主体从"自然人"向"法律人"转换的过程;二是指西方国家的"法律社会化运动"。学者构建推进法律社会化的路径多从单纯的法条的推广到兼顾法律理念的内化,但只有遵循市民社会的视角才能使法律真正的内化于民,促进法律的社会化。     

Understanding the decision-making processes for arts sponsorship

• Corporate support is a significant revenue stream for non-profit organisations, yet little is known of the actual decision paths companies take when making these decisions and what characterises these paths. This study seeks to develop a greater understanding of decision processes for companies considering sponsorship of the arts. A multiple-case study approach was taken, with participants from arts organisations and paired sponsoring companies, resulting in the finding of three decision paths: one characterised as high-level and intuitive, one as driven at a lower-level, and a third initially instigated by a third party. Analysis of these paths highlights the importance of existing relationships as well as a ‘fit’ between both parties. In addition, the company's orientation towards more commercial or philanthropic goals is found to be a key element determining the path taken, and the role of individual informed intuition is highlighted as crucial in moving decisions forward. This study extends knowledge in sponsorship and corporate philanthropy, into a decision making and arts sponsorship context. The findings also offer a useful perspective for non-profit arts managers as they pitch their event to the business sector.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

浅谈城市规划层面的城市社会学研究

本文旨在从规划师的视域初步探讨城市规划层面的城市社会学研究内容,包括社区发展规划、城市复兴与更新、社区物质环境整治、规划的公众参与、老龄化与社区养老研究以及城市公共空间研究等.同时以北京西单文化广场使用模式调查殚为案例,透视城市社会学在城市规划领域的应用.     

Relationships among levels of government support,marketing activities,and financial health of nonprofit performing arts organizations

• This exploratory study researches and analyzes the empirical effects of financial levels of government support and marketing practices on the financial health of nonprofit performing arts organizations. Declining government subsidies and increasing competition from non-traditional sources have presented these organizations with unique opportunities and challenges that call for a market-centered, as well as an art-centered approach. Financial health is critical for the long-term success of a nonprofit performing arts organization. Few empirical studies have examined the interrelationships between these key variables. This study analyzes a sample of 63 American professional symphony orchestras employing 20 years of data. The correlations among financial levels of government support and marketing activities were positive and significant, the correlations among levels of government support and financial health were negative and significant, and the correlations between levels of marketing activity and financial health were negative and varied in significance. Causal analyses were less conclusive, but significant causal relationships were found for large symphony orchestras, indicating that segmentation research may be warranted. Implications and opportunities for future research are presented which have potential application for government agencies, academic researchers, and arts organization managers, boards of directors, and donors.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tainted museums: ‘selling out’ cultural institutions

• This paper examines the role of museums as repositories of cultural meaning and symbolic capital. As educational and cultural institutions, museums serve to legitimise works of art within the frame of an art historical context. However, our comparative case study reveals how the taken‐for‐granted role of the museum as an allegedly unbiased platform for disseminating the arts can be usurped for economic or political ends. Using the cultural settings of the Hong Kong Museum of Art and the Venezuelan art museum circuit, we examine via our case studies how legitimation in the arts may be jeopardised or misused if and when cultural institutions succumb to commercial and political pressures. By adopting a qualitative research design, we observe the macro‐context in which institutional roles are defined and played out, and demonstrate the ideological discourses at play in the role of these cultural institutions as meaning‐makers. Although they may be presented as neutral spaces, museums inadvertently serve to circulate socio‐political views. How the institution manages these views and unavoidable macro‐level forces will in turn influence the cultural credibility of the museum framework as a legitimising force on the cultural horizon. Attention is devoted to how these pressures can affect the production and consumption of art, offering an alternative perspective on the development of museum policies.

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Understanding customer satisfaction in opera: first steps toward a model

• Despite the frequent call for a strengthened customer orientation in performing arts organizations, no efforts have been made to investigate customer satisfaction in opera so far. The paper aims at filling this gap by suggesting a first integrative model of customer satisfaction in opera. This model integrates insights from both services marketing literature (i.e., general services marketing and performing arts marketing) and performing arts literature (i.e., music perception and theater studies). The model is tested in a field study interviewing 116 visitors of a public German opera house. Results reveal visitors' level of appraisal to be the main antecedent of their satisfaction, followed by their perception of the artistic quality, empathy/identification with the actors on stage, and recall from memory. Furthermore, differences within the audience regarding the relative importance of the antecedents of customer satisfaction in opera are investigated. Using gender and attendance frequency as segmentation variables, only minor differences are found, though. Managerial implications for opera marketing are discussed in conclusion. First, efforts in opera marketing should rather concentrate on the core service quality instead of the peripheral service quality. Second, professional opera companies may attract broader audiences if they focus on the emotional satisfaction of their customers. Third, since only minor and mostly insignificant differences between men and women, and occasional compared to frequent visitors are found, a need for further research to explore alternative segmentation variables in the opera context is identified.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationship marketing,audience retention and performing arts organisation viability

Marketing strategy in performing arts organisations has become particularly important in the increasingly competitive environment in which the arts operate. Since the late 1980s there has been a necessary shift in focus to audience development away from product development. This change in focus is being encouraged to ensure the long‐term viability of performing arts organisations (PAOs) and micro‐economic reform. While government reports have recommended strategies aimed at building audience‐based recognition, this is an expensive approach for many PAOs and does not produce short‐term returns. Little attention has been paid to building enduring relationships with existing audiences as a way of having a more dramatic impact on PAOs' long‐term viability. This paper explores this theme through relationship marketing and the implication of retaining existing audiences. The paper identifies the changing cultural environment which has led to the importance of marketing. It then explains the concepts of relationship marketing and its pertinence to PAOs' viability by presenting a loyalty ladder. The structure is modelled as a dynamic conceptualisation of the relationships (audience and organisation) to assist arts managers to decide whether to focus their efforts on catching or keeping customers to maximise earned income. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

Artists' attitudes to marketing: a cross-cultural perspective

• Although the music industry is dominated by a few global players, the vast majority of musical performances are by nonprofit organisations, self-employed musicians or small and medium enterprises (SMEs). But, while a great deal has been written about the marketing of music—distribution, branding, audience development, etc.—comparatively little is known about the attitudes of musicians themselves to marketing, despite the fact their role as both product and producer is so central to the musical experience.
• The research sets out to gain an understanding of this neglected topic by undertaking a cross-cultural analysis of musicians from two different cultures: it compares the attitudes of artists in a mature, post-industrial economy (UK) with those in a post-communist, emerging democracy (Poland). The research finds that society, culture and the economic environment appear to shape attitudes far less than art itself. Across both cultures the research discovers at best an ambivalence towards marketing, and at worst a general antipathy towards the whole notion of art-as-business.
• The implications of these findings, if replicated across other countries, other musical genres and across the arts as a whole, could be worrying. Historically, the arts have been dominated by nonprofit organisations funded at least in part by public and private subsidies, funds which are being substantially eroded in both mature economies and in developing nations. The challenge for nonprofits and SMEs in the arts, then, is about achieving some sort of engagement with business and marketing, without losing their artistic integrity in the process.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

当代尚武崇德精神之思辨

武术追求内外双修之功,要求武德与拳理、技术与修养结合。在当代社会背景下,尚武精神具体表现为:刚健自强,竞争合作;而崇德精神则具体表现为:内德外礼、崇德达礼。尚武精神与崇德精神是统一的。武术规则他律和武德、武礼自律同在。本文通过介绍尚武与崇德的关系和作用,从而指出用武和修身养性都离不开武德和武礼,武术规则以及社会法律与武德、武礼的相得益彰共同维护了社会的稳定和谐,这也是当代尚武崇德精神的价值所在。     

Ethnic preference for the arts: the role of the social experience as attendance motivation

This paper addresses the issue of the level of ethnic group attendance at the arts, with a special emphasis on African American attendance at classical music concerts. Current attendance data will be examined to determine if there is a difference in attendance rates when the traditional determiners for attendance — education and income — are similar. The paper proposes that the lower rates of attendance for ethnic groups may not be the result of differences in levels of education or income, but are the result of these groups having their own values and tastes that affect the benefits that they desire from attendance. To explore this proposed theory, the results of a survey of an arts event successful in attracting an ethnic audience will be analysed to see if it can provide insight as to whether ethnic audiences have unique attendance motivation. This is important to marketing as these benefits must be included in the artistic event and promoted to the potential ethnic audience. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

突现地域文化特色的高校武术课程体系的构建

运用调查研究与文献研究相结合的方法,分析高校武术课程体系的现状,对"已有的课程设置、课程结构、教材建设、人才培养目标等"进行时代的反思。将考察的视野从武术教学自身转向更广阔的民族民间武术资源多样性、地域的差异性、文化的传承性、社会发展需求等方面,构建适合高校武术教育实际的、具有发展性的、科学的、规范的、满足社会对本专业需要的切实可行的高校武术课程体系;进而实现传承中华民族文化,弘扬民族精神的目的。     

“Music to our ears”: understanding why Canadians donate to arts and cultural organizations

The contribution of donations and volunteer time to North American arts and cultural organizations is impressive. Growing economic uncertainty coupled with the increasingly competitive nature of philanthropic work and fluctuating volunteerism rates describe some of the challenges facing nonprofit managers in the arts and cultural field today. The intent of this study was to explain charitable giving to an arts and cultural organization in a Canadian context using variables supported in the literature related to philanthropic behavior. The variables included the norm of social responsibility, donor benefits, philanthropic behavior, and household income. Data (233 questionnaires) were collected at a renowned community symphony with revenue from various sources including over $1 million annually in private support. Multiple regression analysis determined two of the four hypotheses were supported and two were partially confirmed. While the norm of social responsibility and household income did confirm existing literature, philanthropic behavior seemed only defined by length of time as donor rather than by volunteering for arts and cultural organizations and donor benefits included tax incentives but not receiving a “gift” in exchange for a support. Research such as this, which contributes to our understanding of arts and cultural donors and the benefits they seek, continues to be important with the potential to inform nonprofit managers. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance Related Pay In Operation: A Case Study From the Electronics Industry

Stephen Procter, Louise McArdle, Michael Rowlinson, Paul Forrester and John Hassard draw on the evidence of a longitudinal case study of a large electronics company to discuss the problems arising from the introduction and operation of a performance related pay system. These included resource constraints, difficulties in criteria selection, and subjectivity. Underlying these problems was the workforce's lack of confidence in the principle as well as the appication of the system. the authors conclude that companies face great difficulty in using such systems to effect cultural change: the necessary culture may already have to exist for such pay systems to work. Stephen Procter, Paul Forrester and John Hassard, respectively, are lecturers and Professor in the School of Management and Economics at the University of Keele, Louise McArdle is in the Department of Organisation Studies at the University of Central Lancashire, and Michael Rowlinson is in the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Southampton.     

Adolph Lowe's Methodological Alternative for Economic Research and Policy

A bstract . Social scientists and philosophers are engaged in a profound re-examination of the foundations of economic science. Among them the economist, Adolph Lowe , opened a new vista. First, in his Economics and Sociology: A Plea for Cooperation in the Social Sciences (1935) he argued compellingly for a unified social science. Lowe introduced there the concept of " instrumental analysis " which he greatly modified in On Economic Knowledge (1965) and applied to a major issue of contemporary economics in The Path of Economic Growth (1976). Instrumental analysis is intended to achieve a system of " political economics ," a theory for deriving one or more paths—a sequence of positions—over which an initial state of an economy can be transformed into a terminal state—a goal itself stipulated by political decision. Instrumental analysis is also used to determine measures of public control to achieve the behavioral pattern suitable to set and keep the system on the goal-adequate trajectory.     

High art down net: Conceptualizing a citizen arts philanthropy with ethical codes and a digital system

This research aims to offer a new perspective of art philanthropy, different than the traditional one, that focuses on citizen's desire for and support to art as one of the most important, collective heritage of human society. It conceptually proposes the citizen arts philanthropy (CAP) system, as well as its application in the form of a digital platform. The research proposition is based on a cross-disciplinary review of literature on the history of arts, patronage and philanthropy, arts and philanthropy ethics, participatory philanthropy, evolution of stakeholders in the art world, and a digital citizen governance process. Analysis of the existing literature leads to the CAP conceptualization with the subsystem of artistic creation; financial, social, and practical engagement; and collective activities. Each subsystem sets its ethical codes to assure the ethics of arts philanthropy. The CAP system may be realized with a digital platform with registration, art and art philanthropy ethics setting, art selection and art philanthropy action. The digital platform is conceptualized as a collective design with citizen governance, including actors, domain, and process and includes the platform registration, art and art philanthropy ethics setting, art selection and art philanthropy action. The overall design of the CAP system offers a direct engagement of citizens in arts and arts philanthropy and assures that citizens have equalized rights and responsibilities regarding art selection and creation. It further contributes to a new ethics of arts and arts philanthropy and the ecosystem of the art world.     

The extent of excessive or insufficient fundraising among US arts organizations and the effect of organizational efficiency on donations to US arts organizations

• We estimate, for each nonprofit organization (NPO) in a sample of 606 US arts NPOs, whether the NPO's level of fundraising is ‘excessive,’ ‘insufficient,’ or neither, relative to the level that maximizes net donations. We find that the effect of a 1% increase in fundraising on net donations varies widely across the arts NPOs in our sample—from an increase in net donations of 8.91% of gross donations to a decrease of 3.82% of gross donations. Of the 100 NPOs in our sample with the highest donations, the estimated effect of a 1% increase in fundraising on net donations varies more narrowly—from an increase in net donations of 0.27% of gross donations to a decrease of 0.32% of gross donations. Of these 100 NPOs, we estimate that only 3 engaged in ‘excessive’ fundraising, but 83 engaged in ‘insufficient’ fundraising, and 14 did not engage in ‘excessive’ or ‘insufficient’ fundraising.We also provide evidence that reported organizational efficiency does not affect donations to arts NPOs. This finding may be useful to managers and directors of US arts NPOs who believe that organizational efficiency does impact donations and who, therefore, incorporate the effect on efficiency in their decisions to allocate resources across fundraising, administration, and program objectives.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The marketing and public relations practices of Australian performing arts presenters

Although arts organisations are often said to be underdeveloped in marketing and management areas, it is unclear whether this is actually an intentional response to the atypical environment in which they exist, or simply a result of limited skills and resources. This paper looks at performing arts presenters (PAPs) in two Australian States, profiling what they do in the way of marketing, how sophisticated they are at it and the reasons they behave the way they do. In‐depth interviews with marketing managers indicated that PAPs are confused about the role of marketing, relying instead mainly on public relations. While it was widely acknowledged that marketing would be beneficial, the marketing that is executed is generally ad hoc and basic. This lack of marketing action is due primarily to a paucity of skills and resources and a historical preference for public relations, not as a considered response to the arts environment. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications