bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Immigration, Unemployment and Pensions
Authors: Kemnitz Alexander
Published: November 2004

This paper examines the impact of immigration on a host country with welfare state arrangements that support both the unemployed and the elderly. It is shown that low‐skilled immigration increases the unemployment rate. Furthermore, it harms the low‐skilled native population and benefits the high‐skilled natives and pensioners. Nevertheless, as under competitive labor markets, immigration generates an unambiguous gain for the native population as a whole. However, in contrast to the findings under full employment, this gain can be dampened by an expansion of the pension system.
Endogenous Growth: A Knife Edge or the Razor's Edge?*
Authors: Dalgaard Carl‐Johan , Kreiner Claus Thustrup
Published: November 2004

According to much of the recent growth literature, the dramatic worldwide decline in fertility currently taking place should ultimately lead to global economic stagnation. This pessimistic prediction is not shared by the original innovation‐based growth literature. In recent years, however, this strand of the literature has been criticized for resting on implausible knife‐edge assumptions and for its inconsistency with available evidence. In this paper, we argue that this conclusion is unwarranted.
Forecasting Composite Indicators with Anticipated Information: An Application to the Industrial Production Index
Authors: Battaglia Francesco , Fenga Livio
Published: November 2004

Many economic and social phenomena are measured by composite indicators computed as weighted averages of a set of elementary time series. Often data are collected by means of large sample surveys, and processing takes a long time, whereas the values of some elementary component series may be available a considerable time before the others and may be used for forecasting the composite index. This problem is addressed within the framework of prediction theory for stochastic processes. A method is proposed for exploiting anticipated information to minimize the mean-square forecast error, and for selecting the most useful elementary series. An application to the Italian general industrial production index is illustrated, which demonstrates that knowledge of anticipated values of some, or even just one, component series may reduce the forecast error considerably.
Evolution of Recurrent Asthma Event Rate Over Time in Frailty Models
Authors: Duchateau Luc , Janssen Paul , Kezic Iva , Fortpied Catherine
Published: November 2004

To model the time evolution of the event rate in recurrent event data a crucial role is played by the timescale that is used. Depending on the timescale selected the interpretation of the time evolution will be entirely different, both in parametric and semiparametric frailty models. The gap timescale is more appropriate when studying the recurrent event rate as a function of time since the last event, whereas the calendar timescale keeps track of actual time. We show both timescales in action on data from an asthma prevention trial in young children. The frailty model is further extended to include both timescales simultaneously as this might be most relevant in practice.
Science, Diminishing Returns and Long Waves
Authors: Li Chol‐Won
Published: November 2004

An endogenous growth model with long waves of growth, underlining the distinction between science and technology, is constructed. Scientific progress accelerates the rate of technological progress, but diminishing returns to technological research decelerates it. This process repeats itself with endogenous clustering of innovations. We show that higher trend (long‐run) growth is associated with more frequent waves of economic activity. Moreover, we identify a trade‐off between actual and trend growth rates when technological research activities are subsidized.
Income Determination in the GCC Member States
Authors: Zind Richard G.
Published: November 2004

We have developed in this study a simple model of income determination for the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). In alphabetical order, these states are: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Through a two‐stage regression analysis, we obtained estimates of the demand function parameters and particularly of the marginal propensities to consume and import (MPC and MPM). Given 1975–97 data drawn from each of the six member states, we combined in the same regression the cross‐section and time‐series data and obtained thereby, at the GCC‐level, yearly estimates of MPC and MPM. These propensities yielded, in turn, annual estimates of the income multiplier. Through the multiplier, we assessed next the impact on national income of major autonomous variables, namely of oil export revenue, government services and investment.
Global Energy Outlook: An Oil Price Scenario Analysis
Authors: Ghanem Shokri , Lounnas Rezki , Brennand Garry
Published: November 2004

At stable oil prices in the low 20s (US dollars per barrel), a reference case for oil market developments sees annual oil demand growth of 1.5 million barrels per day over the period 2000–10. At these prices, non‐OPEC production growth, mainly from developing countries and the former Soviet Union, is expected to meet less than one‐third of this increase in demand; this means that an annual rise in output of around 1 mb/d is required from OPEC, increasing to 1.4 mb/d yearly over the period 2010–20. However, high prices, above $30/b, lead to lower oil demand, and, in particular, a strong response in non‐OPEC production for both conventional and unconventional oil. Consequently, there will be a sharp reduction in OPEC market share, with even production levels having to continually fall. Such a scenario suggests that a price of $30/b and above may be unsustainable. The moot question remains at what price non‐linear non‐OPEC production responses may be triggered in the future.
A Vector Autoregressive Analysis Of An Oil‐Dependent Emerging Economy — Nigeria
Authors: Ayadi O. Felix , Chatterjee Amitava , Obi C. Pat
Published: November 2004

This paper models the interrelationship among a variety of macroeconomic variables representing the financial, as well as the energy, sectors of the Nigerian economy from 1975 through 1994. The attempt is to investigate the impact of the energy sector on the functioning of the Nigerian economy, including the financial markets. The investigation is explored within a vector autoregressive (VAR) system. The results reveal that the energy sector exerts a significant influence on the Nigerian economy by acting as a prime mover. More importantly, Nigeria seems to find itself in a vicious circle, because of its inability to exercise control over the price of its main export and its imports. Thus, the strength and autonomy exhibited by Nigerias macroeconomic managers during the oil boom era appears to have been barren.
The ‘Whole Man’: The Longing for a Masculine World in Nineteenth–Century Germany
Authors: Kessel Martina
Published: November 2004

Through the lens of advice literature, letters and autobiographical documents, this article examines the construction of middle–class masculinity in nineteenth–century Germany. Between the end of the eighteenth century and the fin–de–siècle gender debates, masculinity was paradoxically configured. On the one hand, manhood was said to be relational, that is notions of the masculine were related to notions of the feminine. On the other hand, the concept of the ‘whole man’ encompassed aspects gendered both as female and as male, thus inviting visions of a society without women. This paradoxical construction became the site of discussions, projections and contestations: women used the figure of the whole man in order to voice their desires or criticise male claims to dominance and control, but it frequently also served as the basis for male self–descriptions. In the course of the nineteenth century, notions of integral masculinity became ever more precarious since the sociable, well–rounded, artistically inclined man propagated in the first half of the nineteenth century was increasingly superseded by the ‘soldier of work’ which gave the fin–de–siècle gender debates a particular urgency.
Domesticating the Frontier: Gender, Empire and Adventure Landscapes in British Cinema, 1945–59
Authors: Webster Wendy
Published: November 2004

Before 1945, films of the empire genre, produced in Hollywood as well as Britain, celebrated the masculinity of the British adventure hero, and promoted an imperial world view. This article explores the significance of the incorporation of white women into empire films in the late 1940s and 1950s, focusing on three films from different moments in the period. What are the range of meanings assigned to white femininity in these films, and their significance to the politics of race and gender? How is the white woman represented in relation to colonised women and men? In addressing these questions the article considers shifts in the gendering of the empire genre as part of an attempt to address a range of anxieties – about the transition from empire to Commonwealth, the rise of American power, and the collapse of boundaries between colonisers and colonised.
Personal Income Distribution and Market Structure
Authors: Benassi Corrado , Cellini Roberto , Chirco Alessandra
Published: November 2004

Income distribution affects market demand and its elasticity, and, as a consequence, the optimal behaviour of firms and market equilibrium. This paper focuses on the effects of income polarization, and presents a model where ± for any unimodal density function describing income distribution of the consumers ± income polarization leads to market concentration, i.e., to a smaller number of firms able to survive in the long run, provided that the firms' fixed costs are sufficiently low.
On the Effectiveness of Growth- Enhancing Policies in a Model of Growth Without Scale Effects
Authors: Arnold Lutz G.
Published: November 2004

Standard R&D growth models have two disturbing properties: the presence of scale effects (i.e., the prediction that larger economies grow faster) and the implication that there is a multitude of growth-enhancing policies. Recent models of growth without scale effects, such as Segerstrom's (1998), not only remove the counterfactual scale effect, but also imply that the growth rate does not react to any kind of economic policy. They share a different disturbing property, however: economic growth depends positively on population growth, and the economy cannot grow in the absence of population growth. The present paper integrates human capital accumulation into Segerstrom's (1998) model of growth without scale effects. Consistent with many empirical studies, growth is positively related not to population growth, but to investment in human capital. And there is one way to accelerate growth: subsidizing education.
Negotiating the Public Sphere through Private Correspondence: A Woman’s Letters of Liberty in Eighteenth‐century Germany
Authors: Archangeli Melanie
Published: November 2004

The pivotal role played by letters in eighteenth‐century German literary, cultural and everyday life has long been recognised. In contrast to earlier times, many of the letters written in the eighteenth century were composed by women, and their correspondence provides modern scholars with a rich source of information abour the process of communication in the intimate, private and public spheres. The linited correspondence of Charlotte von Hezel, the first woman in Germany to edit a periodical under her own name, is of particular interest because it offers one of the few examaples of a woman corresponding with men for professional, not personal reasons. In addition, Hezel, not her male correspondents, represents the voice of authority within the area of activity being discussed: the publication of her magazine. Hezel’s self‐assurance is remarkable for a German woman of the time, and her letters demonstrate a liberating process of communication that allowed individuals hingered by gender, educational background or social status to debate contemporary issues and exchange serviced as they negotiated their entry into the public sphere.
Women in Wheelchairs: Space, Performance and Hysteria in Libuše Moníková’s Pavane für eine verstorbenen Infantin and Ines Eck’s Steppenwolfidyllen
Authors: Marven Lyn
Published: November 2004

Libuše Moníková’s Pavane für eine verstorbene Infantin and Ines Eck’s Steppenwolfidyllen both have as their first‐person narrator a woman who chooses to present herself as wheelchair‐bound. This article examines how the notion of a female identity and voice is played out in two modes of discourse which converge on the image of the wheelchair, namely the spatial and the performative. The wheelchair demarcates personal space and acts as a prop for a performance of disability. This article shows how the texts in question reflect these two aspects in a network of spatial representations and topographical metaphors, and in their concern with imitation and role‐playing. Moreover, the wheelchair is also a ‘room of one’s own’, a precondition of writing for the two women narrators. They develop narrative strategies based on mimicry and mutism, which are the strategies of the hysteric according to Luce Irigaray. It is shown how the notion of hysteria underlies Moníkova´’s use of quotation and Eck’s conspicuously unconventional typography. The hysteric’s performance focuses on the body even while denying it authenticity. Ultimately, then, the image of the wheelchair offers new perspectives on feminist concerns with the body and with women’s writing, particularly the notion of ‘Körper‐Sprache’.
Factors Affecting Training Effectiveness in the Context of the Introduction of New Technology—A US Case Study
Authors: Kontoghiorghes Constantine
Published: November 2004

The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify the key factors within and outside the training context that could affect training effectiveness. The most important variables that were found to facilitate trainee learning and training transfer are: measurement of trainee knowledge before and immediately after training; supervisory support and encouragement for the application of new skills and knowledge; intrinsic rewards for applying newly learned skills and knowledge; a participative/sociotechnical organisation that is characterised by a high degree of employee involvement; and, a continuous learning environment that encourages frequent participation in multiskill training and retraining programs.
Evaluating Corporate Training and Development: An Indian Experience
Authors: Yadapadithaya P. S.
Published: November 2004

The central purpose of this article is to report on the current practices of evaluating training and development programs in the Indian corporate sector. The data were collected from written questionnaires mailed to 252 respondent companies—127 private, 99 public, and 26 multinational corporations (MNCs). The results and discussions are based on the major drivers and key result areas of training and development; purposes, levels, instruments, timing, and designs of evaluation; serious limitations of the training system; and finally the major challenges currently faced by the Indian corporate sector in strengthening the training and development function.
Evaluation as an Organisational Development Tool
Authors: Mitchell Robert J.
Published: November 2004

What do you do with a failed evaluation? That is, can positive outcomes come out of a situation where a return on investment cannot be demonstrated? This study highlights the value of the ROI method in providing direction at the macro‐level even when level 4 and 5 evaluations are unable to be ascertained. By taking a macro‐level view, the researcher was able to provide positive feedback and recommendations for further organisational development.
Case Studies in Job Analysis and Training Evaluation
Authors: McKillip Jack
Published: November 2004

Job analysis identifies work behaviors and associated tasks that are required for successful job performance. Job analysis is widely recognised as a starting point in a needs analysis for training and development activities. The content validity justification for basing training on a job analysis can be used for training evaluation. Effective training should only have an impact on job tasks significantly related to successful job performance. This article presents two examples of the use of job analysis for training evaluation: evaluation of an information technology certification and evaluation of training for a professional association of librarians.
An Aggregation Theorem for the Valuation of Equity Under Linear Information Dynamics
Authors: Ashton David , Cooke Terry , Tippett Mark
Published: November 2004

We state an Aggregation Theorem which shows that the recursion value of equity is functionally proportional to its adaptation value. Since the recursion value of equity is equal to its book value plus the expected present value of its abnormal earnings, it follows that the adaptation value of equity can normally be determined by a process of simple quadrature. We demonstrate the application of the Aggregation Theorem using two stochastic processes. The first uses the linear information dynamics of the Ohlson (1995) model. The second uses linear information dynamics based on the Cox, Ingersoll and Ross (1985)‘square root’ process. Both these processes lead to closed form expressions for the adaptation and overall market value of equity. There are, however, many other processes which are compatible with the Aggregation Theorem. These all show that the market value of equity will be a highly convex function of its recursion value. The empirical evidence we report for UK companies largely supports the convexity hypothesis.
Characteristics Associated with the Corporate Decision to Adopt Long‐term Performance Plans
Authors: Richardson Vernon J. , Waegelein James F.
Published: November 2004

This study investigates why firms adopt long‐term performance plans. The results provide evidence that firms that adopt long‐term performance plans have higher risk as measured by Beta, have lower percentages of managerial stockholdings, have higher levels of investment in research and development expenditures two years prior to adoption of a long‐term performance plan, and experience increases in the ratio of debt to total assets in the two year period prior to long‐term performance plan adoption. Also, firms increase their investments in research and development and capital expenditures following adoption of long‐term performance plans.
The Incremental Information Content of Earnings and Cash Flows from Operations Affected by Their Extremity
Authors: Agnes Cheng C.S. , Yang Simon S.M.
Published: November 2004

Previous returns studies have shown that extreme earnings and extreme cash flows from operations are less informative than moderate (i.e., less extreme) earnings and moderate cash flows. Studies also report that cash flows supplement to earnings in firm valuation by showing a higher association of cash flows with returns when earnings are extreme than when earnings are moderate. We propose that this supplementary role of cash flows is affected by cash flows extremity. Using data from the US capital markets, we find that the supplementary role of cash flows exists only when cash flows are not extreme. We also investigate the supplementary role of earnings to cash flows and search for a higher association of earnings with returns when cash flows are extreme than when cash flows are moderate. Similar to results on cash flows, our findings show that the supplementary role of earnings exists only when earnings are not extreme. Our results imply that investors and researchers should consider both earnings and cash flows extremity when assessing the information content of these variables.
Determinants of Actuarial Valuation Method Changes for Pension Funding and Reporting: Evidence from the UK
Authors: Klumpes Paul J.M. , Whittington Mark
Published: November 2004

This study examines various factors that potentially explain cross‐sectional variations in UK corporate managerial discretion to switch towards a market‐based actuarial pension valuation method for pension funding and reporting purposes. Evidence is based on accounting, actuarial and share market data for an industry‐matched pair sample of 90 UK firms. Consistent with our hypotheses we find that companies have a greater propensity to switch actuarial methods if they use lower discount rates, lower flow funding ratios and sponsor larger pension plans in the pre‐switch valuation year. These findings are consistent with the traditional perspective, which implies that UK corporate switching decisions are explained by characteristics of their defined benefit pension funds. The results run contrary to the findings of earlier US based studies that find that such choices can be explained from an alternative corporate financial perspective.
The Information Signaling Hypothesis of Dividends: Evidence from Cointegration and Causality Tests
Authors: Mougoué Mbodja , Rao Ramesh P.
Published: November 2004

This paper uses cointegration and causality tests to study the temporal behavior of dividends and earnings at the individual firm level. We find that, for a sample of 143 non‐utility firms, approximately one‐fifth of the firms exhibits a temporal relationship between dividends and earnings that is consistent with the information signaling hypothesis of dividends. In the case of 72 utilities, about a third exhibit dividend policies that are consistent with the signaling notion of dividends. Further examination of firm characteristic differences between signaling and non‐signaling firms shows that, in the case of non‐utility firms, signaling firms tend to be smaller, have a lower growth rate of total assets, and have a higher leverage ratio. In the case of utilities, we find no major differences in firm characteristics between signaling and non‐signaling firms.
Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management Practices in Australian and Overseas-Owned Workplaces: Global or Local?
Authors: Mcgraw Peter , Harley Bill
Published: November 2004

This paper compares human resource (HR) and industrial relations (IR) practices in the workplaces of predominantly Australian and predominantly overseas-owned organisations. It advances understanding of HR/IR in Australia and elsewhere by considering two questions. First, whether Australian-owned workplaces have different HR/IR practices from overseas-owned workplaces. Second, whether there has been a convergence or divergence of practices between the two groups in recent years. The analysis is conducted using the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey data from the years 1990 and 1995 (AWIRS 90/95). The main findings are that there are significant differences in HR/IR practice between Australian and overseas-owned workplaces. Both groups have increased their use of sophisticated HR/IR practices, but the overseas-owned workplaces have increased their usage at a faster pace. On the basis of these findings, we suggest caution in accepting the argument that globalisation pressures necessarily lead to a uniform convergence of HR/IR practices across the globe. While it appears that globalisation has stimulated local and overseas-owned firms to move in qualitatively similar directions, they are doing so at rates sufficiently varied for the gap to be increasing when measured quantitatively. In this sense, the locals might best be described as lagging behind the overseas firms in the adoption of HRM practices.
The State, Immigration Policy and Labour Market Practices: The Case of Overseas-Trained Doctors
Authors: Groutsis Dimitria
Published: November 2004

The state has played a critical role in defining the form and character of the labour market through its regulation of immigration. This paper considers the implications of the waves of migrant labour as driven by the state, with a special focus on overseas-qualified professionals. 1 Emerging from this discussion is an assessment of the immigration and settlement policies which have established, reinforced and also reflected the dominant cultural milieu in the broader Australian society and the labour market. Following this is an exploration of the implications of the policy rhetoric on the labour market entry of overseas-qualified professionals, with a focus on overseas-trained doctors as a case in point. The paper seeks to answer the following question: How, if at all, have labour market practices—including accreditation and labour market entry—relating to overseas-qualified professionals been influenced by the shift in the official rhetoric dominating migrant settlement and labour market integration as driven by the changing nature of migration? To explore this question, this paper is divided into two sections. Part one examines the state-driven socio-cultural policy trends throughout the post World War II period and how and why these shifts in policy have directly shaped the labour market experience of skilled migrant labour. Following the examination of the dominant sociocultural paradigm, part two explores the effect of the major state-driven policy shifts on overseas-qualified professionals—with a specific focus on overseas-trained doctors. The conclusion drawn is that the medical profession strictly directs the registration and labour market access of overseas-trained doctors based on factors that contravene the broader state policy, raising calls for a more active approach to monitoring professional practice by the state and related institutional bodies.
Small Business and Unfair Dismissal
Authors: Barrett Rowena
Published: November 2004

The Coalition has said that exempting small business from unfair dismissal provisions in the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (WRA) will create 53 000 new jobs in the small business sector. The purpose of this research note is to evaluate small business access to and use of unfair dismissal provision in the WRA. In doing so, the small business job-generating potential is examined, as is the evidence that the unfair dismissal provisions inhibit small business employment growth. In conclusion, suggestions for further research on the link between unfair dismissal and small business are made in order to ensure policy is grounded in evidence rather than ideology.
Protecting Medical Privacy: Challenges in the Age of Genetic Information
Authors: Alpert Sheri A.
Published: November 2004

This article examines the privacy issues that arise from the convergence of two trends: the computerization of medical records, and the increasingly detailed level of personal genetic information that will potentially be placed within the electronic medical record. The article discusses the privacy and public policy implications for medical care, group identity, and familial relationships arising from the transition toward electronic medical records which will increasingly contain highly detailed genetic information. As such, the article focuses on the confidentiality of the electronic medical record, the increasing prevalence and sophistication of genetic testing and analysis, and the implications of electronic genetic information.
Consumer Privacy: Balancing Economic and Justice Considerations
Authors: Culnan Mary J. , Bies Robert J.
Published: November 2004

Consumer privacy is at the center of an ongoing debate among business leaders, privacy activists, and government officials. Although corporations face competitive pressures to collect and use personal information about their customers, many consumers find some methods of collection and use of their personal information unfair. We present a justice theory framework that illustrates how consumer privacy concerns are shaped by the perceived fairness of corporate information practices. We describe a set of global principles, fair information practices, which were developed to balance consumer privacy concerns with an organization's need to use personal information. We conclude by discussing three alternatives for implementing fair information practices with particular attention to the Internet: government regulation, industry self‐regulation, and technological solutions.
A Tack in the Shoe: Neutralizing and Resisting the New Surveillance
Authors: Marx Gary T.
Published: November 2004

Eleven behavioral techniques of neutralization intended to subvert the collection of personal information are discussed: discovery moves, avoidance moves, piggybacking moves, switching moves, distorting moves, blocking moves, masking moves, breaking moves, refusal moves, cooperative moves and counter‐surveillance moves. In Western liberal democracies the advantages of technological and other strategic surveillance developments are often short‐lived and contain ironic vulnerabilities. The logistical and economic limits on total monitoring, the interpretive and contextual nature of many human situations, system complexity, and interconnectedness and the vulnerability of those engaged in surveillance to be compromised, provide ample room for resistance. Neutralization is a dynamic adversarial social dance involving strategic moves and counter‐moves and should be studied as a conflict interaction process.
Verbal and Nonverbal Dynamics of Privacy, Secrecy, and Deceit
Authors: DePaulo Bella M. , Wetzel Chris , Weylin Sternglanz R. , Wilson Molly J. Walker
Published: November 2004

We discuss the ways in which deception can be used to protect privacy, as well as the ways in which claims to privacy can provide the latitude to lie. In their attempts to maintain their own privacy and their secrets, people can be assisted by others who overlook their lies. Habits of honoring other people's verbal and nonverbal claims about themselves, even when they are not totally convincing, and expectations of similar indulgences from others can keep interactions from getting derailed by small interpersonal bumps. But they also enable exploitation in the form of frauds and scams.
Four Motives for Community Involvement
Authors: Batson C. Daniel , Ahmad Nadia , Tsang Jo–Ann
Published: November 2004

A conceptual analysis is offered that differentiates four types of motivation for community involvement: egoism, altruism, collectivism, and principlism. Differentiation is based on identification of a unique ultimate goal for each motive. For egoism, the ultimate goal is to increase one's own welfare; for altruism, it is to increase the welfare of another individual or individuals; for collectivism, to increase the welfare of a group; and for principlism, to uphold one or more moral principles. As sources of community involvement, each of these four forms of motivation has its strengths; each also has its weaknesses. More effective efforts to stimulate community involvement may come from strategies that orchestrate motives so that the strengths of one motive can overcome weaknesses of another. Among the various possibilities, strategies that combine appeals to either altruism or collectivism with appeals to principle may be especially promising.
Preaching Christ Crucified: Luther and the Revelation of God
Authors: Ratke David C.
Published: November 2004

Abstract:  The doctrine of revelation has to do with how we know God, but Luther warned against the human presumption that God can be known fully. God remains hidden and is revealed in Jesus and his death on the cross. The cross is at odds with all human notions of an omnipotent God. Preachers ought to be suspicious of human presumptions about God that inflate and puff up. The cross is the antidote for a theology and a preaching of glory as well as the criterion for theology and preaching that authentically proclaims God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Lutheran Preaching and the Quest for Humanization and Planetary Justice: A Perspective from Brazil
Authors: De Souza Mauro B.
Published: November 2004

Abstract:  Since economic globalization hides the roots of injustice and internationalizes its consequences, any attempt to preach (which necessarily means to preach justice) must address the local church and at the same time the wider global context, hence the term “planetary justice.” This article describes the current approach to Lutheran preaching in Latin America and specifically the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brazil (IECLB). The article offers the following suggestions for Lutheran preaching throughout the world: hold form and content in creative tension; present justification as liberation; strive for a biocentric, gender conscious, and planetary symbiotic homiletic.
Thinking in Picture
Authors: Jensen Richard A.
Published: November 2004

Abstract:  We live today in a highly visual culture. Therefore, the author asserts that the use of visual images in preaching is an appropriate response of the church to the challenge of communicating the gospel in our pervasively visualized world. In making this argument, the author reviews the uses of art in the church's historical life, sets forth three theological assumptions that can ground such practice and urges a complementarity of words and images in homiletical practice. Words alone can be used to exclude people (e.g. doubters and heretics) from the embrace of the gospel. Images alone can be so all‐inclusive in their meaning that they lead to superstition and idolatry. Words and images used together can communicate a holistic gospel to holistic hearers.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way Through the Sermon
Authors: Monson Glenn L.
Published: November 2004

Abstract:  The purpose of this article is to give thought to the listener as co‐creator of meaning with the preacher during the sermon event. The underlying conviction of the author is that preachers and listeners have always been co‐creators but have not been recognized as such. The author sketches the history of the task of preaching as a movement from getting something said to getting something heard, and suggests that, building on this, preaching can now be viewed as getting something created. Finally, the qualities of humility, imagination, and a “catalytic consciousness” are seen as essential for any preacher willing to take up this task.
Can Bioethics be Lutheran?
Authors: Andersen Svend
Published: November 2004

Abstract:  A Lutheran bioethics must rest on a reconstructed version of Martin Luther's ethics. In the article it is shown that this ethics is Christian in that it has faith in Jesus Christ as its source. But the ethics of neighbor love is practiced in the secular world where it to some extent corresponds with natural law ethics. A Christian believer acts ethically both as an individual and as a citizen. Against the background of this understanding of Lutheran ethics, the position of Ted Peters and Gilbert Meilaender on genetics and stem cells is presented and criticized. One conclusion is that there is no Lutheran doctrine on the status of the human embryo.
Explorations in open space. The World Social Forum and cultures of politics*
Authors: Keraghel Chloé , Sen Jai
Published: November 2004

We are living through a time of the rise of dramatically new politics, including civil politics, at local, national, transnational, and global levels, and new global networks among refugees, migrants, and religious groups. One of the most prominent manifestations of world civil politics is the World Social Forum, which held its first world meeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in January 2001. Based on issue analysis and diagnosis, the Forum aims to encourage the formulation of alternative proposals and strategies to neo‐liberal “pensée unique” and to all forms of fundamentalism. The dramatic growth in numbers attending the world event – from around 25,000 in 2001 to over 100,000 in 2004 – attests to the relevance of the Forum to people all over the world.

While it calls itself “Social”, the Forum is a fundamentally political idea and promotes a specific vocabulary, grammar, and culture of politics. We call for a wide‐ranging, critical, and insistently plural exploration of the idea and concept of “open space” as a political‐cultural concept, focusing on the Forum and its self‐defined culture(s) of politics. In these terms, the Forum represents both an important experiment and something of a paradox. On the one hand, it offers a rich vision of an “open space” for movements that challenge empires and celebrate diversity and plurality. On the other hand, the open space is circumscribed by a specific conception of politics and a specific ideological orientation. Is multiplicity sustainable within and in relation to a single, “unique” larger idea? Can the culture of “open space” politics operate coherently both within the Forum and in its relations with the world it seeks to change?
The Social Forums as an ideal model of convergence
Authors: Pleyers Geoffrey
Published: November 2004

Alternative globalisation activists, who are opposed to cultural uniformity, promote respect for difference as one of their main values. In order to blend this appreciation of diversity with the various factions of the movement, activists have created a new ideal convergence model: the Social Forums. Three main characteristics apply: an inclusive atmosphere with respect for diversity, the organisation of “open spaces”, and the non‐deliberative nature of meetings. Though activists aim to live by these principles, the model remains no less ideal, because this way of acting it out expresses the values of alternative globalisation utopias and is impossible to recreate in real‐world meetings, which is a result both of the behaviour of the parties involved and of structural limitations inherent to the model.

Rather than an organisation that encompasses all factions of the alternative globalisation movement, World Social Forums provide platforms for debate and flexible coordination allowing activists to work together in an environment respectful of differences. However, certain aspects of the expansion of these World Social Forums–their increasing size, the growing burden of their organisation, their institutionalisation or internal shortcomings in their democratic process – may pose a threat.
The placebo response complex
Authors: Kradin Richard
Published: November 2004

Abstract:  Placebo effects contribute to beneficial therapeutic responses and are common in anxiety and depressive disorders. It is posited that placebo effects are yielded by autonomous feeling‐toned complexes capable of re‐establishing background self‐states of well‐being. The relationship between the placebo response complex and modern neurobiological models of self is explored. The psychological roots of the placebo response complex in implicit memories of organized attachment between child and early caretakers and in Sandler's conception of the benign superego are examined. The relationships between the negative placebo (nocebo) response complex, Freud's negative therapeutic reaction, and Fordham's defence of the self are explored. Finally, it is suggested that approaches fundamental to the analytic encounter, e.g., mirroring, affectual exchanges, attunement, and containment are likely to optimize the salutary effects of both psychological and somatic therapeutic interventions.
Boarding school: the trauma of the ‘privileged’ child
Authors: Schaverien Joy
Published: November 2004

Abstract:  Sending young children to boarding school may be considered a particularly British form of child abuse and social control. The trauma of the rupture with home may be followed by other ordeals such as emotional deprivation and, in extreme cases, physical and sexual abuse. The taboo on expressing emotion, which is common in such institutions, may lead to an encapsulation of the self. Consequently, the needs of the distressed child/self remain active, but unconscious, within the adult. This maybe disguised by an armoured, and very often socially successful, persona. The psychological interplay, between these two facets of the personality, may be detrimental to intimate relationships. In clinical practice the emotional conflict between a desire for intimacy and anticipated exile comes to the fore. Three examples demonstrate how within the transference this may lead to a dependent and erotic atmosphere, which abruptly changes to sever all connection. Changes in the frame, breaks in analysis, and confessions of emotional need are all points at which vigilance is required if such disturbance in analysis is not to end in its abrupt termination.
Fathering latina sexualities: Mexican men and the virginity of their daughters
Authors: González‐López Gloria
Published: November 2004

Mexican men have been traditionally misrepresented in or omitted from fatherhood scholarship, sexuality and reproductive health‐related research, and immigration studies. Based on in‐depth tape‐recorded interviews with 20 immigrant men living in Los Angeles, this study examined Mexican fathers’ views of virginity as they educate their daughters in the United States. Results indicate that fathers’ perceptions of a daughter's virginity are shaped by regional expressions of patriarchy and masculinity, and the socioeconomic segregation of inner‐city barrios. Protecting their daughters from a sexually dangerous society and improving their socioeconomic future is of greater concern to these men than preserving virginity per se. These men's narratives challenge stereotypical images and archetypes of the Latino macho father.
Educational differences in parents’ time with children: Cross‐national variations
Authors: Sayer Liana C. , Gauthier Anne H. , Furstenberg Frank F.
Published: November 2004

We analyze time diary data from 24,546 married mothers and married fathers in Canada, Germany, Italy, and Norway to determine whether the effect of education on child‐care time varies cross‐nationally. Our results indicate that more educated mothers spend more time with children than less educated mothers in each country, despite substantial cross‐national variation in levels of economic support and services for families. This suggests that better educated mothers may have different parental values and behaviors than less educated mothers. Among fathers, however, education has no effect on child‐care time in Norway, and only weak effects in Germany. This suggests that family policies that provide economic support to families may reduce time constraints on fathers, thus ameliorating educational effects.
New ideas and fertility limitation: The role of mass media
Authors: Barber Jennifer S. , Axinn William G.
Published: November 2004

This article investigates the mass media as a social change that shapes individual behavior primarily via ideational mechanisms. We construct a theoretical framework drawing on social demography and social psychology to explain how mass media may affect behavior via attitudinal change. Empirical analyses of 1,091 couples in the Chitwan Valley Family Study, using detailed measures of social change from rural Nepal, show that exposure to the mass media is related to childbearing behavior, and to preferences for smaller families, weaker son preferences, and tolerance of contraceptive use. This result should motivate greater research attention to the influence of changing ideas on behavioral changes, particularly in the study of families.
The gendered division of labor and family outcomes in germany
Authors: Cooke Lynn Prince
Published: November 2004

The literature on the predictors of the division of household labor continues to expand, but the effect of this division on family outcomes has not been explored. Using the German SocioEconomic Panel (N= 628), I analyze the effect of men's participation in housework and child care on the likelihood of second birth and divorce. Fathers' greater relative child‐care time increases couples' odds of second birth, attenuating the negative effect of mothers' employment. Husbands' relative housework time is insignificant in predicting second birth or divorce among couples with at least one child, but increases the likelihood of divorce among childless couples. This is evidence that the division of domestic labor affects family outcomes, but effects differ depending on the outcome and presence of children.
Education, wage work, and marriage: Perspectives of Egyptian working women
Authors: Amin Sajeda , Al‐Bassusi Nagah H.
Published: November 2004

We explore young working women's perceptions of marriage and work in contemporary Egypt, when an increase in age at marriage was evident from national survey data. Both working conditions and employment opportunities declined significantly for young women even as their educational attainment increased and marriage was delayed. In‐depth interviews were conducted over a 2‐year period between 1998 and 2000 with 27 young women between the ages of 15 and 29 who were from relatively poor families and working in a range of salaried jobs in three locations. The qualitative data indicate that young women have high expectations in terms of marital living standards. They seek to achieve this in part by saving intensively before marriage when they work, and otherwise by ensuring substantial monetary support from their families. We conclude that rising material aspirations and family nucleation rather than change in female labor force participation drive marriage change in contemporary Egypt. The driving force behind this conclusion is that there is a reinforcement of the traditional values associated with the institution of marriage rather than its erosion.
Preface: Women and Work: Where Are We, Where Did We Come From, and Where Are We Going?
Authors: Barnett Rosalind Chait
Published: November 2004

The obstacles faced by today's women in the workplace bear out the truth in the old adage that history repeats itself. The maternal wall, the ideal worker, and the ideal homemaker beliefs are current iterations of the century‐old tendency to mark women as suited for the home and men as suited for the workplace (Albee & Perry, 1998;Coltrane, 1996;Mintz, 2000). The belief that the sexes are vastly different—with different needs, values, and abilities—has been a hallmark throughout the history of both women and men in both the workplace and the home (Ferree, 1990;Williams, 2000). Generally speaking, these beliefs have been detrimental to all concerned (Barnett & Rivers, 2004).
The Intuitive Psychologist Behind the Bench: Models of Gender Bias in Social Psychology and Employment Discrimination Law
Authors: Krieger Linda Hamilton
Published: November 2004

Courts make use of psychological theories, especially in cases involving discrimination. But the courts do not appear to be cognizant of recent advances in cognitive social psychology. Flawed intuitive psychological models presently limit the law's effectiveness in dismantling the maternal wall. By understanding how the courts operate, social engaged socially psychologists might work with civil rights lawyers to influence the system and make progress dismantling the maternal wall.