"ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, The"

Lopes, Paul; Durfee, Mary

doi: 10.1177/000271629956600101pmid: N/A

Crane, Diana

doi: 10.1177/000271629956600102pmid: N/A

Large-scale diffusion processes such as those affecting fashionable clothing are difficult to study systematically. This article assesses the relevance of top-down as compared to bottom-up models of diffusion for fashion. Changes in the relationships between fashion organizations and their publics have affected what is diffused, how it is diffused, and to whom. Originally, fashion design was centered in Paris; designers created clothes for local clients, but styles were diffused to many other countries. This highly centralized system has been replaced by a system in which fashion designers in several countries create designs for small publics in global markets, but their organizations make their profits from luxury products other than clothing. Trends are set by fashion forecasters, fashion editors, and department store buyers. Industrial manufacturers are consumer driven, and market trends originate in many types of social groups, including adolescent urban subcultures. Consequently, fashion emanates from many sources and diffuses in various ways to different publics.

Lopes, Paul

doi: 10.1177/000271629956600103pmid: N/A

This article presents an analysis of the musical syncretism involved in the development of a modern jazz tradition in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. It shows how a professional ethos among popular musicians during this period guided their reinterpretation and reinvention of folk, popular, and classical music practices in the creation of this music tradition. It further argues that this ethos led them, in their low-status positions as popular musicians, to affirm their legitimacy through the creation of a high-art aesthetic. In general, this study shows how the social context in the diffusion of jazz practices affected the transformation of these practices in value and form in this century.

Burt, Ronald S.

doi: 10.1177/000271629956600104pmid: N/A

Opinion leaders are more precisely opinion brokers who carry information across the social boundaries between groups. They are not people at the top of things so much as people at the edge of things, not leaders within groups so much as brokers between groups. The familiar two-step flow of communication is a compound of two very different network mechanisms: contagion by cohesion through opinion leaders gets information into a group, and contagion by equivalence generates adoptions within the group. Opinion leaders as brokers bear a striking resemblance to network entrepreneurs in social capital research. The complementary content of diffusion and social capital research makes the analogy productive. Diffusion research describes how opinion leaders play their role of brokering information between groups, and social capital research describes the benefits that accrue to brokers.

Valente, Thomas W.; Davis, Rebecca L.

doi: 10.1177/000271629956600105pmid: N/A

Theory on the diffusion of innovations has been used to study the spread of new ideas and practices for over 50 years in a wide variety of settings. Most studies have been retrospective, and most have neglected to collect information on interpersonal communication networks. In addition, few have attempted to use the lessons from diffusion research to accelerate the diffusion of innovations. This article outlines a method to accelerate the diffusion of innovations using opinion leaders. The authors present their optimal matching procedure and report on computer simulations that show how much faster diffusion occurs when initiated by opinion leaders. Limitations and extensions of the model are discussed.

Studlar, Donley T.

doi: 10.1177/000271629956600106pmid: N/A

Tobacco control has grown enormously across advanced industrial countries over the past two decades. This article assesses the process of the diffusion, by networks, of innovations in tobacco control both within Canada, sometimes considered a world leader in tobacco control, and across the border with the United States. Advocacy groups, both governmental and nongovernmental, have had a role in spreading ideas about tobacco control from one jurisdiction to another, on both the federal and state/provincial level. In contrast to the usual North American pattern of public policy leadership by the United States, followed by Canada, in tobacco control the identity of the leader and follower varies, as does the level at which leadership is exercised.

Mooney, Christopher Z.; Lee, Mei-Hsien

doi: 10.1177/000271629956600107pmid: N/A

How does morality policy change as it diffuses? Social learning theory holds that later adopters learn from earlier adoptions to modify, or reinvent, a policy to fit their needs better. But because of its technical simplicity, saliency, and conflicts of basic values, morality policy may not be amenable to policy learning. We develop and test three reinvention hypotheses reflecting distinct roles for learning. Our analysis of U.S. state death penalty policy supports each hypothesis but under different political conditions. We conclude that, when possible, policymakers make morality policy in their usual way, by incremental steps and learning from previous adoptions. But when basic moral conflicts surface, considerations other than policy learning drive reinvention.

Fan, David P.; Ostini, Jennifer

doi: 10.1177/000271629956600108pmid: N/A

An analysis was made of mass media coverage originating in four Chinese-speaking regions of the world—the People's Republic of China (PRC), Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. The analysis was of coverage of human rights of three types: civil and political; social and economic; and due process. Rights were also scored as to whether they pertained to individuals and businesses. One finding was that civil-political rights were emphasized in regions with the greatest exposure to the West, while regions with less exposure focused on social-economic rights. Another result was that, as ideas about human rights diffused in regions, due process rights were increasingly discussed in the media. A further finding was that much of the press coverage that used the term "human rights" involved rhetorical responses to Western criticisms without articulating specific ideas about rights.

Durfee, Mary

doi: 10.1177/000271629956600109pmid: N/A

Prevention is growing in importance as a method of reducing industrial pollution, though it is by no means easy to do. Diffusion of the prevention approach may be enhanced by increasing the risks associated with doing nothing or sticking to control technologies, while providing settings where trust can grow.

Soule, Sarah A.

doi: 10.1177/000271629956600110pmid: N/A

It is often assumed that only successful or effective innovations diffuse. This article examines the diffusion of an unsuccessful protest tactic used during the student divestment movement: the shantytown. Two factors led student activists to adopt it. The first factor was the media construction of the tactic as successful. The second factor was how this tactic fit with an existing student tactical repertoire and resonated with students' perceptions of South Africa. These factors led students to adopt it without attaining information about its effectiveness at actually forcing university divestment.