Agency Theory Shapiro, Susan P.
Annual review of sociology,
01/2005, Letnik:
31, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
In an agency relationship, one party acts on behalf of another. It is curious that a concept that could not be more profoundly sociological does not have a niche in the sociological literature. This ...essay begins with the economics paradigm of agency theory, which casts a very long shadow over the social sciences, and then traces how these ideas diffuse to and are transformed (if at all) in the scholarship produced in business schools, political science, law, and sociology. I cut a swathe through the social fabric where agency relationships are especially prevalent and examine some of the institutions, roles, forms of social organization, deviance, and strategies of social control that deliver agency and respond to its vulnerabilities, and I consider their impact. Finally, I suggest how sociology might make better use of and contribute to agency theory.
This article reviews the fate of truth and falsehood outside of the courtroom, largely-but not exclusively-in the United States. Describing opportunities and techniques to mislead or deceive on and ...off the Internet and social media, it focuses on the evolving social control response undertaken by institutions and increasingly by distributed networks: government regulators, private actors, self-regulators, crowds, third parties, platform architecture, and technology. The review highlights the turbulent legal and regulatory challenges encountered as existing rules do not quite fit the virtual world, free speech protections tie the hands of legislators and regulators in some parts of the world, and massive private corporations-whose profitability is maximized by user engagement with inflammatory and often false messages-control much of what can and cannot be said. Competing media, platforms, and regulators usher in a post-truth era with contested arbiters of truth and dire warnings of an epistemological crisis.
There is currently great interest in the phylogenetic origins of altruistic behaviour within the primate order. Considerable attention has been focused on chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, because they ...are our closest living relatives and participate in a wide range of collective activities, including hunting and food sharing. Food sharing is of particular importance because it plays a critical role in the human foraging niche, but food sharing among adults is rare in nonhuman primates. Some research suggests that chimpanzees selectively share meat with reciprocating partners and allies, while other work indicates that chimpanzees primarily share to reduce harassment from other group members (tolerated theft). We examined the effects of kinship, relationship quality, reciprocity and the intensity of solicitations on the pattern of food transfers in six captive groups of chimpanzees. We observed events that occurred after the chimpanzees were provisioned with large frozen juice disks. These disks share some properties with prey carcasses: they are a valued, but limited, resource; they take a considerable period of time to consume; they can be monopolized by one individual, but bits can be broken off and transferred to others. Our analyses suggest that food transfers serve multiple functions for chimpanzees. Individuals may use food transfers to enhance the welfare of closely related group members, strengthen social relationships with favoured partners and reduce the costs of persistent solicitations.
► We studied naturalistic food transfers in six captive groups of chimpanzees. ► Begging gestures usually preceded transfers and often prompted resistance. ► Kinship influenced the frequency of both active and passive transfers. ► Direct reciprocity influenced active transfers, and relationship quality influenced passive transfers. ► Our results suggest that multiple factors facilitate food transfers in chimpanzees.
Historical data sets can be useful tools to aid in understanding the impacts of global change on natural ecosystems. Resampling of historically sampled sites ("snapshot resampling") has often been ...used to detect long-term shifts in ecological populations and communities, because it allows researchers to avoid long-term monitoring costs and investigate a large number of potential trends. But recent simulation-based research has called the reliability of resampling into question, and its utility has not been comprehensively evaluated. Here we combine long-term empirical data sets with novel community-level simulations to explore the accuracy of snapshot resampling of both population- and community-level metrics under a variety of conditions. We show that snapshot resampling often yields spurious conclusions, but the accuracy of results increases when inter-annual variability in the response variable is low or the magnitude of change through time is high. Snapshot resampling also generally performs better for community-level metrics (e.g., species richness) as opposed to population-level metrics pertaining to a single species (e.g., abundance). Finally, we evaluate strategies to improve the accuracy of snapshot resampling, including sampling multiple years at the end of the study, but these produce mixed results. Ultimately, we find that snapshot resampling should be used with caution, but under certain circumstances, can be a useful for understanding long-term global change impacts.
A growing literature addresses the poor fit of classic agency theory to management settings. For example, where classic theory considers discretion the avenue through which agents exercise ...self-interest at the expense of their principals, alternative perspectives identify discretion as the reason some principals enter an agency relationship in the first place--to take advantage of agent expertise and to respond to uncertain contingent events. This paper examines relationships in which agents enjoy considerable discretion and have limited, conflicting, or ambiguous guidance from their principals, characteristic of many governance and organizational settings and professional relationships. It draws on observational research in two intensive care units, where principals (patients) lack capacity to specify their objectives and cannot control, monitor, incentivize, converse with, or fire the agent charged with making life-and-death medical decisions on their behalf. Observing agents at the bedside provides a rare opportunity to understand—in real time—how agents fashion appropriate actions to take on behalf of principals with whom they cannot communicate and who rarely gave them sufficient guidance. Managers not infrequently must act for another without clear or authoritative direction. Insights from the study of medical decision-makers inform diverse literatures that feature extreme delegation to the agent.
Do Advance Directives Direct? Shapiro, Susan P.
Journal of health politics, policy and law,
06/2015, Letnik:
40, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Resolution of long-standing debates about the role and impact of advance directives — living wills and powers of attorney for health care — has been hampered by a dearth of appropriate data, in ...particular data that compare the process and outcomes of end-of-life decision making on behalf of patients with and without advance directives. Drawing on a large ethnographic study of patients in two intensive care units in a large urban teaching hospital, this article compares aspects of the medical decision-making process and outcomes by advance-directive status. Controlling for demographic characteristics and severity of illness, the study finds few significant differences between patients without advance directives and those who claim to have them. Surprisingly, these few differences hold only for those whose directives are in their hospital chart. There are no significant differences between those with no directive and those claiming to have a copy at home or elsewhere. The article considers the implications if directives seemingly must be in hand to show even modest effects. Do advance directives direct? The intensive care unit data provide far more support for the growing body of literature that casts doubt on their impact than studies that promote the use of them.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
We report the safety and feasibility of using convection-enhanced delivery to administer Cotara (Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tustin, CA), a novel radioimmunotherapeutic agent, to patients with ...malignant glioma.
Between April 1998 and November 2002, 51 patients with histologically confirmed malignant glioma received Cotara by convection-enhanced delivery. Most patients (88%) were treated with Cotara targeting tumor volume-dependent, single or multiple administrations of activity ranging from 0.5 to 3.0 mCi/cm3 of baseline clinical target volume. Two weeks after infusion, single-photon emission computed tomographic imaging determined the spatial distribution of Cotara. Patients were followed for as long as 41 months (average follow-up, 5 mo). Safety was evaluated on the basis of incidence of procedure-related, neurological, and systemic adverse events. Feasibility was evaluated in a subset of patients on the basis of the correlation between the prescribed activity and the actual activity administered to the targeted region.
Fifty-one patients, 37 with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme, 8 with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme, and 6 with recurrent anaplastic astrocytomas, were treated. Average tumor volume was 36 +/- 27.6 cm3 (range, 5-168 cm3). Of the 67 infusions, 13 (19%), 52 (78%), and 2 (3%) delivered less than 90%, 100 +/- 10%, and more than 110%, respectively, of the prescribed administered activity to the targeted region. Treatment-emergent, drug-related central nervous system adverse events included brain edema (16%), hemiparesis (14%), and headache (14%). Systemic adverse events were mild. Several patients had objective responses to Cotara.
The majority of Cotara infusions delivered between 90 and 110% of the prescribed administered activity to the targeted region. This method of administration has an acceptable safety profile compared with literature reports of other therapeutics delivered by convection-enhanced delivery.
Toxocariasis, one of a group of parasitic diseases known as neglected parasitic infections, is a disease caused by the larvae of two species of
roundworms,
, from dogs, and less commonly
, from cats. ...Although most infected individuals are asymptomatic, clinical manifestations may include fever, fatigue, coughing, wheezing, or abdominal pain (visceral toxocariasis) or vision loss, retina damage, or eye inflammation (ocular toxocariasis). To assess U.S. pediatrician knowledge of toxocariasis, we conducted an electronic survey of American Academy of Pediatrics members. Of the 2,684 respondents, 1,120 (47%) pediatricians correctly selected toxocariasis as the diagnosis in an unknown case presentation with findings typical for toxocariasis; overall 1,695 (85%) stated they were not confident that their knowledge of toxocariasis was current. This knowledge gap suggests a need for improved toxocariasis awareness and education for U.S. pediatricians, especially those caring for children at risk for infection.
PDF
