Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper analyses Albert Hirschman’s Exit, Vice and Loyalty (Hirschman 1970) as a basis for understanding the relationship between media and citizenship. It considers the significance of Hirschman’s concept of voice in relation to media policy, media participation through user-created content, and the rise of ‘citizen media’ and ‘citizen journalism’. It associates these developments with a ‘de-centering’ of both media practice and media studies, as considered by Couldry (2006a, 2006b). It concludes by suggesting that voice and participation, rather than citizenship, may constitute a more suitable foundation for understanding new digital media initiatives.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Why did the British government agree, in the early 1970s, to maintain a strategic nuclear deterrent in the UK? In response to the challenge of Soviet Anti-Ballistic Missile Defences, the Heath government opted for an independent programme, codenamed Chevaline, to improve Britain’s warheads. Although the international system was in transition as the superpowers engaged in détente, and as Britain entered the EEC, the choice of Chevaline indicated that the British did not seek to transform their nuclear policy. By implementing the programme, the British hoped to retain nuclear connections to the USA, as well as an elevated status in Europe and internationally. Using recently released documents, this paper will illuminate the politics of being and remaining an independent nuclear power in the early 1970s. Under Heath, the Chiefs of Staff conducted a far-reaching review of Britain’s strategic nuclear deterrent. The review did advocate the retention of an independent capacity, but this was not without dissent. Hence, analysis of the review is highly revealing as to contemporary perceptions of the utility and purpose of Britain’s deterrent, the nature of the Soviet threat, the place of nuclear weapons in international politics and the Britain’s role in Europe and in the world. As such, study of this period provides crucial context for the government’s recent decision to renew Trident.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Audio-CASI and interactive voice response (IVR, also called telephone ACASI) surveys have received a great deal of attention in recent years. In particular, they have been shown to increase the reporting of socially undesirable behaviors relative to interviewer-administered surveys. But the development of the recorded voice files is a costly and time-consuming undertaking, and may in fact re-introduce some social presence, with respondents reacting to characteristics of the voice such as gender. One potential solution to both these problems may be the use of computer-generated voices (text-to-speech systems). We conducted an experiment to explore these issues, using an IVR survey on sensitive topics. We contrasted live interviewers (CATI) and recorded human voices with two different text-to-speech (TTS) systems, one sounding more human-like, the other more machine-like. We crossed this with gender, yielding a 4*2 experiment. Subjects were recruited by telephone from list-based sample of Michigan residents and randomly assigned to mode, yielding almost 1,400 completes. We examine the effect of gender and “humanness” of voice on the reporting of socially desirable and undesirable behaviors. We also examine respondents’ reaction to the different voices and compare break-off rates across the different conditions to explore whether TTS systems could be a reasonable alternative to recorded human voices for audio-CASI and IVR applications.

Publication Type: Work in Progress
Abstract: I examine the call center sector in El Salvador in relation to a discussion of globalized/racialized labor niches and bilingualism. Emerging communication technologies allow people to communicate in ways that place them in shifting capitalist formations. Interviews with human resources staff at various call centers in San Salvador, El Salvador indicate that call center work is represented by recruiters and government agencies as a desirable job option for English-speaking Salvadorans because it involves the use of linguistic and technical skills within a work culture that produces awareness of a condition called ‘globalization,’ or at least awareness of transnational capitalism and the dislocation of telephone voices. Spanish/English bilingualism is an important asset for prospective employees, while training often emphasizes listening comprehension and the improvement of an American English accent to attend United States customers. Meanwhile, Salvadoran call center workers are advertised by investment promoters as workers with ‘neutral accents’—in this claim, Salvadoran Spanish is not as ‘marked’ as the distinctive intonations of other Latin American varieties (e.g. Mexico, Argentina). The expanding call center sector is in part shaped by the state, technological advances, and ideas about the linguistic and professional capacities of the Salvadoran workforce. The call center, where disembodied voices are localized and commercialized, is an example of the many reconfigurations of globalization as lived in communities and institutions.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The view that unions can be usefully conceptualised as an institution for collective voice in the workplace is most closely associated with the work of Freeman and Medoff, who sought to provide a corrective to the standard neo-classical model of the union as a monopolistic organisation whose purpose is to raise wages above market rates. While this “exit-voice” model has provided highly influential in subsequent research on unions, the question of just how a union discovers and aggregates individual members’ preferences in a way that enables it to exercise voice collective preferences has remained a ‘black box’. Surprisingly, this “voice within voice” problem is has not been explored in the industrial relations (or sociological) literature Yet, arguably, understanding how individual members exercise voice is of growing significance to unions in an increasingly hostile environment. This paper explores this problem by investigating how individual members exercise voice in response to dissatisfaction with their union. Drawing a number of related bodies of research I develo a model which relates voice and intent to quit to an individual’s commitment to the union. The model also explores the antecedents of a number of different voice options based on the extent of formality of voice: informal voice, union voice and external voice. The model is tested using survey data administered to members of a single Australian union. The paper concludes with a discussion of the results, their implications for unions and future research within the collective voice paradigm.

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