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1、Structural, Cultural and Social features of a Binational Organizational Community: Binational Collaboration between the US and Mexican HIV/AIDS SectorsBy Nielan BarnesDepartment of SociologyUniversity of California, San DiegoPaper submitted to the Society for Comparative Research Graduate Student Re
2、treat, May 14-15 2004Abstract: This paper discusses how binational networks interact with certain structural, cultural, and social features of local community-based organizations to shape their strategies, forms and goals and ultimately their success or failure. For example, binational networks inte
3、rsect with structural aspects of the organizational environment, such as funding and policies provided by government (State, Federal), private foundations, and/or international agencies, to shape the mission, decision-making structures and daily activities of local organizations. Binational networks
4、 must also negotiate the different cultural features of organizational settings (such as the taken-for-granted and normative “rules” and regulations) typical of community-based organizations and the public health sector. Finally, binational ties intersect with already-existing social networks and ti
5、es between organizations in ways that can reduce or enhance access to key resources and decision-making processes. This paper contributes to current debates in the fields of globalization and health inequities, transnational social movements, and the sociology of organizations and the non-profit sec
6、tor by generating original knowledge and theory about the origin, function and social impact of transnational networks upon local community-based AIDS organizations in the US and Mexico, and in transnational settings in general. In addition, the study clarifies what kinds of resources, funding polic
7、ies and collaborative institutional processes are required for developing effective State-Community partnerships and sustainable local non-profits that can negotiate the kinds of complex and diverse problems presented by the AIDS pandemic and other major health issues that span transnational setting
8、s. I. IntroductionSpurred by international AIDS conferences and the recognition that the AIDS pandemic does not respect national borders, the concept of an “international AIDS community” is increasingly used to describe a global vision of a transnational community of individuals and organizations li
9、nked because they are infected and/or affected by HIV/AIDS. The global vision of an AIDS community also explicitly recognizes that global forces of capitalism contribute to the world-wide spread of HIV/AIDS and inequities in access to AIDS treatments. In particular, access to AIDS medications and tr
10、eatments has become a global issue giving rise to a new phase of global solidarity between AIDS organizations (UNAIDS 1998). Regardless of the conceptual level, descriptions of the AIDS community revolve around a sense of shared history and identity, and mutually intelligible meanings” (Goldring 199
11、9: 173) that exists between individuals and organizations claiming membership in this group. This concept, however, does not assume consensus over all areas of meaning. Indeed, conflict and contestation over the meaning of membership and community boundaries are central to the process of forming and
12、 maintaining a community. The importance of contestation (and negotiation) in the creation of community shows how meanings, boundaries and identities and therefore communities - are socially constructed within particular historical contexts (Smith 1999: 204). Organizations are particularly important
13、 to the construction and maintenance of communities, as they provide both a physical and ideological space for individual members to negotiate and structure the boundaries of their community. In many ways, communities can be viewed as networks of inter-organizational linkages” (Hall 1999: 9), or as
14、“a group of populations bound by ecological ties of commensalism (involving the co-action of like forms) and symbiosis (involving mutual interdependence of unlike forms) that co-evolve with each other and the environment” (Rao, Morrill et al. 2000: 541). Within organizational communities and communi
15、ties in general it is the social ties and networks between actors that constitute and maintain the community. Such social networks have a boundary-making function that determines membership in the community and by extension determines access to resources embedded in the social networks of the commun
16、ity. Resources embedded in social networks social capital are typically available only to community members. However the location of an individual (or organization) in relation to the network can offer unexpected opportunities to access social capital (e.g. bridging of structural holes) from within
17、and outside the community. Social capital is vital to forming strong and active communities. Described as “resources embedded in a social structure that are accessed and/or mobilized in purposive actions” (Lin 2001: 12), social capital is both a collective and individual good. Social capital it is a
18、 “metaphor about advantage” (Lin 2001: 31) that says people who are better connected are wealthier, more successful and happier. However, social capital is useful only if one has the opportunity to access and use embedded social resources in purposive actions (Lin 2001). So while social capital may
19、exist as an individual and collective resource, it is really network capital - the relational characteristics of each member to another - that makes resources available through interpersonal ties (Wellman and Frank 2001: 233). Network capital is derived from the social characteristics of people in t
20、he network PLUS the 1) nature of the tie (close vs. distant; strong vs. weak, etc.); 2) the networks composition (i.e. of close friends vs. employer); and 3) the network structure (density vs. looseness). The importance of social and network capital for acquiring social, political and economic advan
21、tages is reflected by the preoccupation than many individuals and organizations have with networking and collaboration. Networking to mobilize social capital takes place between members of a community (social closure argument), as well as between actors from different communities (structural hole ar
22、gument). With the advent of modern transportation and communication technology, transnational networking and collaboration has become a common practice engaged at unprecedented levels and rates. Such networks have led to the creation of various types of transnational organizations (corporations, NGO
23、s, etc.), practices (coalitions, social movements), and communities (of transnational migrants) that overlap and/or intersect with local organizations, practices and communities (Guarnizo and Smith 1999: 18-19). Transnational networks, organizations and practices may extend beyond the locality or na
24、tionality, yet are bounded and constrained by the opportunities and constraints found in the particular localities where transnational practices occur” (Guarnizo and Smith 1999: 11). More specifically, transnational practices and communities are “embodied in specific social relations established bet
25、ween specific people, situated in unequivocal localities, at historically determined times” (Guarnizo and Smith 1999: 11). An optimistic “transnationalism from below” perspective suggests that by participating in and maintaining transnational networks and social spaces, local actors can access “orga
26、nizational resources that permit the development of alternative power hierarchies and improve their social position (Goldring 1999: 167) in their localities. In particular, those transnational actors that significantly alter their local community in positive ways increase its status as well as their
27、 own power in relation to both local and national authorities (Goldring 1999: 175). The ways in which a community is altered most often include community and organizational-level service and infrastructure projects that change the look and feel of the place and raise its stature. By participating in
28、 these processes, actors contribute to altering the material and social landscape of their locality in a positive manner, contributing to an upward shift in the social status of both the community and themselves. Power and status are enhanced if an actor has connections that help direct resources to
29、ward the local community. These connections are easier to establish for those who present themselves as community leaders capable of mobilizing people and money. In turn, leaders who present themselves as having useful connections tend to have their positions strengthened because their legitimacy in
30、creases. In this sense, engagement within transnational social fields and the formal or informal organizations they may generate can be an important source of social capital.” (Goldring 1999: 185) and can offer an opportunity to develop an alternative hierarchy of power and reorient regimes of strat
31、ification in relation to other local community members and/or state authorities. The transnationalism from below vision is profoundly democratic and empowering” (Mahler 1999: 69), yet it is also problematic because local actors and actions can just as easily serve to reproduce or create new stratifi
32、cation regimes. Also, it is problematic in that actors from below can include a range of entities including local state actors and international foundations. Recent research (Rucht 1999; Smith and Guarnizo 1999; Guidry, Kennedy et al. 2000; Fox 2002) suggests that rather than assuming participation
33、in transnational networks (i.e. transnational networking, or collaboration) is good (because it provides access to social capital, raises social status and challenges the local status quo), it would be helpful to problematize these assumptions and ask: whose interests are served by transnational net
34、works and activities; and do such networks and activities affirm and/or reconfigure traditional power relations (Mahler 1999: 87)? Asking and answering such questions provide evidence that transnational networks and social capital operate in contradictory and ambiguous ways. However, it is in these
35、ambiguous and seemingly contradictory findings that scholars are most likely to achieve a more textured understanding of the nature of transnational networks, collaboration and communities. Organization of the Paper: The following section on methods and measures describes in detail the projects leve
36、ls of analysis, key measures (for organizational culture, structure and social networks), and the population sample. NOTE: The reader may want to read this section at a later time in order to get right into the case study. Section III presents a theory of organizational culture and networks local Sa
37、n Diego, Tijuana and SD-TJ binational fields. Section IV examines more closely several key cultural, structural and social networks characteristics of binational organizations that is organizations that operate on a regular basis within the binational organizational field. The final section conclude
38、s with a discussion of several pros and cons of binational collaboration and some thoughts on what successful binational collaboration might look like.II. Methods & MeasuresThis paper is part of a larger ethnographic dissertation project that examines how transnational collaboration and networks aff
39、ect local AIDS organizations in Mexico and along the US-Mexico border. The project is comparative in design and utilizes a mixture of qualitative methodologies. The comparative frame examines similarities and differences between community-based AIDS organizations at national (US vs. Mexican) and reg
40、ional (Tijuana, Mexico City, San Diego) levels, paying specific attention to the relationship between transnational ties and exchanges and shifts in non-profit structures, goals and strategies. Additionally the project compares the activities and impact of different types of organizations (State age
41、ncies, non-profit community-based organizations, academic research centers, private foundations, and international NGOs and development agencies) operating in the AIDS service sector in San Diego-Tijuana and Mexico City. The practice of “mixing” methodologies has become increasingly popular in socio
42、logy and the social sciences in general (Baker and Faulkner 2002: 31; Creswell 2003). Qualitative methods utilized for this project include in-depth interviews, participant observation and archival research. In-depth interviews have been conducted with forty-five key actors in government programs an
43、d policy-making positions; non-profit community-based organizations; the medical and academic professions; and foundations in San Diego, Tijuana, and Mexico City. In depth interviews focus on the history of inter-organizational relationships between state-funded and non-profit community-based organi
44、zations, with an emphasis on the content and function of different types of organizational ties at both the local and transnational levels. Interviews also inquire into aspects of organizational leadership styles and organizational culture. In addition, participant-observation was conducted at more
45、than forty-five key events (conferences, workshops, and policy planning meetings) in the San Diego-Tijuana/border region and Mexico City. Other participant-observer activities include volunteering on a weekly basis (for four months) for a binational non-profit community-based AIDS organization (the
46、Binational AIDS Advocacy Project), and working as an active member of the San Diego-Tijuana Binational HIV/STD Committee (from 1999 to present). Participant observation in these contexts provides an opportunity to observe and verify the myriad of processes and dynamics involved in inter-organization
47、al collaboration at local, national and transnational levels.A large amount of archival data, such as HIV/AIDS policy documents, conference and workshop proceedings, policy-planning meeting minutes, organizational literature and periodical publications has been collected and analyzed to supplement t
48、he ethnographic data and serve verification and historical/contextual purposes.Data Analysis: Interviews and field notes from participant observation were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using the grounded theory(Glaser and Strauss 1967) method of analyzing qualitative data. This method entails co
49、ding field notes and interview transcripts on a line-by-line basis to uncover analytic categories and connections and recurring themes, which are then elaborated by writing theoretical memos. This method of organizing the ethnographic data into analytic categories regarding the meaning, function, impact and history of inter-organizational relationships, organizational goals and strategies allows for identif
