The American flag and the body: How the flag and the body create an American meaning

“The most universally recognizable symbol of American government” is the American flag (Hopkins, 1991, p. 817). The American flag is vital to our nation and to its citizens, particularly as the flag remains a major symbol during the country’s times of peace and war. This paper explores the connections between the American flag and the corporeal body. A historical review of the creation of the American flag ignites the discussion of how Americans use their physical bodies to offer meanings of the American flag. From the presented taxonomy of meanings, an interpretation of the effect of the flag on the body and the effect of the body on the flag is offered. The American flag gives meaning to the American body as a collective whole, whereas the American body’s utilization of the flag allows for individual interpretation and negotiation of the meanings assigned by the flag

Relational Maintenance Strategies on Facebook

This study explored how college students utilize the social networking site Facebook to maintain relationships. Focus group data was analyzed to develop a list of 58 Facebook relational maintenance strategies. Canary, Stafford, Hause, and Wallace’s (1993) relational maintenance typology was used to organize Facebook relational maintenance strategies. A new category was created to represent a popular relational maintenance strategy on Facebook: surveillance. This study also examined how maintenance strategies vary in different Facebook relationships; close friends, casual friends, acquaintances, romantic partners, and outsiders (e.g. parents, bosses, teachers). Participants suggested Facebook is an adequate stand-alone tool to maintain casual or acquaintance relationships, yet cannot convey enough intimacy to maintain close relationships. Participants expected close friends and romantic partners to put forth extra effort to maintain relationships through additional communication media such as text messaging, phone calls, and face-to-face interaction

The Rules of Facebook Friendship: A Two-Stage Examination of Interaction Rules in Close, Casual, and Acquaintance Friendships

The present study examined friendship rules on the online social networking site Facebook. Study 1 used focus group data to inductively create a list of 36 Facebook friendship rules. Study 2 utilized survey data to examine college students’ endorsement of the various rules in close, casual, and acquaintance friendships. Results indicated five categories of Facebook friendship rules, which included rules regarding communication channels, deception and control, relational maintenance, negative consequences for the self, and negative consequences for a friend. Additionally, close friends, casual friends, and acquaintances significantly differed in their endorsement of four of the five rules categories. Results suggested that interaction rules provide a useful framework for the study of online social networking sites

A Functional Approach to Social Networking Sites

The widespread use of social networking websites (SNSs) is one of the most groundbreaking communication trends to emerge in recent years. Since its creation in 2004, sites such as Facebook have become immensely popular among college students. Many SNSs continue to experience exponential growth. Facebook, for example, reached 100 million active users in August 2008 and proceeded to quadruple this membership base to surpass 400 million active users by July 2010 (Facebook.com). In addition to maintaining astronomically high membership rates, SNSs also appear to be part of user\u27s daily schedules. In one study assessing Facebook use, Ellison, Heino, and Gibbs (2006) found that participants reported using the site an average of 10 to 30 minutes each day, with 21% of participants spending more than an hour on the site every day. As a result, high membership and usage rates suggest SNSs hold significant power as a relational and social tool for users

Visitors not Welcome: Hospital Visitation Restrictions and Institutional Betrayal

Healthcare organizations’ continued restrictions on hospital visitation during the COVID-19 pandemic can be considered a violation of the rights of hospitalized patients to receive family visitors. Despite expert opinion related to the safety of visitation and low risk of visitor transmission with appropriate monitoring and precautions, hospital visitation restrictions have continued beyond the initial crisis phase of the pandemic, with little transparency or inclusion of key stakeholders in the decision-making process. Particularly on critical care units, blocking access to family visitors can contribute to additional harm and trauma for care-dependent hospitalized patients and their families. Utilizing an institutional betrayal framework, the aim of this commentary on hospital ICU visitation policy is to provide a discussion of how hospitals who serve a care-dependent population have placed critically ill patients, families, and healthcare workers at risk for complex trauma. Hospital social workers should incorporate an integrated social work approach to advocacy efforts which address not only individual hospitalized patient service needs, but also the uneven power differential that can contribute to inequity in visitation, medical mistrust, and long-term community trauma. On the interprofessional ICU team, social workers can function as trauma informed systems experts, coordinating and facilitating supports to help patients and families cope with hospitalization, while also advocating within their institution and with elected officials for policy change to protect patient and family–centered visitation rights

A Functional Approach to Computer-Mediated Communication

The primary purpose of this chapter then is to use these aforementioned functions as guiding principles in discussing SNSs and provide an assessment of these functions as reflected in existing research. A secondary focus of this chapter is to provide a review of literature relevant to each function that may guide future research on SNSs. Much in the same manner that general research functions such as relational communication, social influence, and social support help guide research in several content areas in the field of communication, the functions identified in this chapter may provide interested scholars a new manner of conceptualizing the study of SNSs