Both the family and school environments influence adolescents' violence, but there is little research focusing simultaneously on the two contexts. This study analyzed the role of positive family and classroom environments as protective factors for adolescents' violence against authority (parent abuse and teacher abuse) and the relations between antisocial behavior and child-to-parent violence o...

This paper explores the creation of smart mobs and their ability to gain knowledge, social capital, and expand individual authority through participation. The evolution of smart mobs through computer-mediated communications has extended and expanded the traditional realm of individual influence and authority. In the decade since Rheingold identified smart mobs, this type of behavior has continu...

The result of a referendum delivers a signi…cant amount of information about social preferences to each composite member of the society. This paper argues that, beyond this obvious fact, the choice not to o¤er a referendum by an authority, although permitted to do so, may enhance as well the information individuals posses about social preferences. The addition of a referendum option in the rule...

The result of a referendum delivers a signi…cant amount of information about social preferences to each composite member of the society. This paper argues that, beyond this obvious fact, the choice not to o¤er a referendum by an authority, although permitted to do so, may enhance as well the information individuals posses about social preferences. The addition of a referendum option in the rule...

Within US media reactions to March of the penguins, animal images became an arena for displaced conflicts of human interest. This paper examines an intermediary step through which the film became a medium for social disagreement: conflict over control of the cultural authority to interpret animal images. I analyze claims to the cultural honorific of science made within disputes over readings of...

Computing authority, trust, and reputation scores in web graphs and social networks, by means of eigenvector analysis,is computationally expensive and potentially critical regarding autonomy and privacy of data owners. Embedding the computation in a peer-to-peer network addresses these issues, using distributed algorithms. However, the necessary data exchanges between peers give rise to the pro...

Finding influential users in online social networks is an important problem with many possible useful applications. HITS and other link analysis methods, in particular, have been often used to identify hub and authority users in web graphs and online social networks. These works, however, have not considered topical aspect of links in their analysis. A straightforward approach to overcome this ...

This paper examines the close links between knowledge making authority and decision making authority in the multilateral negotiations on terrestrial sinks of greenhouse gases. Drawing upon social constructivist science studies and public sphere theories in international relations, the paper traces the communicative contexts in which state actors have struggled to bring meaning to the sink conce...

We investigate the formation of opinion against authority in an authoritarian society composed of agents with different levels of authority. We explore a “dissenting” opinion, held by lower-ranking, obedient, or less authoritative people, spreading in an environment of an “affirmative” opinion held by authoritative leaders. A real-world example would be a corrupt society where people revolt aga...