bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Community Choice between Volunteer and Professional Fire Departments
Authors: Brunet Alexia , DeBoer Larry , McNamara Kevin T.
Published: March 2007

This article presents an economic model for community choice between volunteer and professional fire protection services. Using data from the Indiana State Fire Marshal and the 1991 U.S. census, regression techniques were used to estimate the share of county population served by volunteer fire protection from variables measuring community demands for fire protection and relative costs of volunteer and professional departments. The results provide evidence that professional departments are cost-effective at high levels of fire protection and volunteer departments are cost-effective at low levels of fire protection. Per capita income, population density, education, property value, percentage of renters, farm receipts, and the percentage of commuters were found to be significant determinants of fire protection choice.
Emergence and Development of Bulgaria's Environmental Movement
Authors: Desai Uday , Snavely Keith
Published: March 2007

An environmental movement emerged in Bulgaria in the late 1980s around which regime dissent coalesced. Success was achieved in bringing an end to the communist state, but environmental problems were not resolved. Environmental issues now must be tackled within a developing pluralistic political system and its new political elite and within a struggling market economy. As Tarrow suggests in his "cycles of protest" thesis, new repertoires of political action are available to the environmental movement along with new political opportunities for it to seize. This study of the Bulgarian environmental movement suggests that even when a social movement secures significant success, far from bringing an end to activity, the movement is likely tofind that there are unresolved and even new issues to address that must be pursued under significantly changed political, social, and economic conditions.
Socioeconomic Differences in Smoking Behaviour Among Adolescents
Authors: HAGQUIST CURT
Published: March 2007

This article explores the issue of socioeconomic differences in adolescents' smoking behaviour, using academic orientation as an indication of social position. The article is based on questionnaire data collected in 1995 from 2426 pupils in the ninth grade in a county in Sweden. The results indicate that students who have applied for non-theoretical programmes in upper secondary school are more likely to smoke than students who have applied for theoretical programmes. In addition to substantial and methodological interpretations, the results also raise questions with respect to anti-smoking measures among young persons as well as the allocation of resources for health education programmes in schools.
Preschool and Playway in India
Authors: PROCHNER LARRY
Published: March 2007

There is a global trend towards formal approaches to preschool education. This article explores the tension between formal and non-formal approaches in the context of India, through a discussion of the preschool programme of the Government of India's Integrated Child Development Services that targets disadvantaged children, and private nursery schools that operate on a commercial basis. Although a non-formal approach is endorsed by experts as best for children in both settings, it has little support in actual practice. In the competitive context of Indian schools, many parents opt to provide their children with an early headstart on formal instruction.
When Children Kill Children
Authors: ASQUITH STEWART
Published: March 2007

In recent years a number of cases involving the murder of children by children have been reported in different countries. Key issues posed by such cases, especially the Bulger case in England and the Redergard case in Norway, are examined critically in the light of current European developments in juvenile justice. In particular, key concerns about the pursuit of justice for children are addressed and the relevance of these for our understanding of childhood and the relationship between children, families and the state considered. The Bulger case and others are identified as atypical and do not present an appropriate basis for change in criminal justice systems. Such cases, though, crystallize the way in which changing notions of childhood, and the competencies and abilities of children, articulate with change in major institutions such as criminal justice systems and the structural relationships between children and adults.
Citizenship in the Making
Authors: ELBERS ED
Published: March 2007

Both Dewey and Piaget ascribe to the school the task of preparing children for citizenship. In this article, it is studied how young children represent school life and adult-child relationships in their pretend play. Leaning on Vygotsky's theory of play, pretend play is interpreted as reflection-in-action. Transcriptions of pretend play are given which show that children enact negotiations and arguments about their rights and duties. In playfully representing their relationships with adults, children work out the conditions of applicability of the rules imposed on them by adults. In so doing, children practise the skills necessary for citizenship.
Growing Up With Dad
Authors: CHRISTOFFERSEN MOGENS NYGAARD
Published: March 2007

After their parents' separation, 6 percent of children aged between 3 and 5 years old in Denmark live with their fathers while 94 percent live with their mothers. In this Danish study two probability samples with an equal number of residential fathers and residential mothers were selected. The research results revealed a close association between strains on parents and the well-being of their children. Parents who were not appreciated at work or unemployed were more to have conflicts with their children. Although one-third of the fathers had care of their children because of the mother's death or because the mother was unable to take care of the children, the fathers in the study had better jobs, less unemployment and fewer psychological problems. As a consequence they were less severe with the small children than the mothers.
How to be Masculine in the Block Area
Authors: DANBY SUSAN , BAKER CAROLYN
Published: March 2007

This article focuses on the social interactions of several boys aged 3-5 years in the block area of a preschool classroom in a childcare setting. Using transcripts of video segments showing these boys engaged in daily play and interactions, the article analyses two episodes that occurred in the first weeks of the school year. At first glance, both episodes appear chaotic, with little appearance of order among the players. A closer analysis reveals a finely organized play taking place, with older boys teaching important lessons to the newcomers about how to be masculine in the block area. These episodes illustrate that masculinity is not a fixed character trait, but is determined through practice and participation in the activities of masculinity. Play and conflict are the avenues through which this occurs.
A Mother and a Friend
Authors: SAMUELSSON INGRID PRAMLING , MAURITZSON ULLA , CARLSSON MAJ ASPLUND , UEDA MIYOKO
Published: March 2007

A narrative like The Giving Tree can be interpreted in various ways by readers from different cultures depending on differences in life-world apprehension. The study asked 193 Swedish and 344 Japanese mothers about what they felt as they heard this tale, what the tale was about and what children could learn from the tale. The responses were analysed according to the phenomenographic method. Six qualitatively different conceptions were found, describing some kind of relation. The categories were related to differences in age, where differences between Japanese mothers indicate a change in Japanese society. The categories are also related to differences in cultural background. Japanese mothers see a hierarchical relation, Swedish mothers see a mutual relation. A comparison between Swedish children and mothers show striking similarities. Finally, differences in interpretations can be related to differences in Japanese and Swedish children's life-worlds.
Family, Child Labour and Migration
Authors: CAMACHO AGNES ZENAIDA V.
Published: March 2007

This study explores the complex interrelationship between the family, child work and migration, the role of the family in decision-making and migration process and the economic benefits of labour migration for the child's family. The study is based on interviews with 50 children below 18 years of age, who migrated from the provinces to Metro Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, to work as waged domestic workers. The decision to work and to migrate is regarded by the children as their own, although made in consultation with other family members. Most respondents felt that it was imperative for them to work and contribute to family income. The findings counter the stereotype of first-time young migrants as wide-eyed, naive individuals who do not know anyone in the city. Migrants tend to go to areas and occupations where other kin or community members have gone; family-based contacts in the recruitment process serve to make the migration process less risky. When asked what they think the government and the society can do for them, the children identified four priorities: higher wages and more benefits, protection from abusive employers, appropriate education programmes and a change in society's low regard for domestic workers.
Pump Up the Volume
Authors: JAMES ADRIAN L. , JAMES ALLISON
Published: March 2007

This article seeks to build on the theoretical advances made by the new sociology of childhood by exploring how recently postulated models of childhood might be applied to an analysis and understanding of an important issue relating to children and childhood which is currently the subject of considerable debate - the welfare of children in separation and divorce and the policy and practice issues surrounding this. It is argued that while these theoretical models offer some valuable insights, their explanatory power and applicability to issues affecting the lives of children can be considerably enhanced by an empirical focus on the role of law as a key influence in the social construction of childhood and by the addition of a temporal dimension to reflect the dynamic nature of such a process.
Organizing for Environmental Destruction
Authors: Perrow Charles
Published: March 2007

Organizations are the most intensive and effective environmental destroyers. Organizations in a competitive unregulated market such as the United States and emerging Asian and former Soviet countries are more likely to be destructive because externalizing environmental costs increases profits and competitiveness, but organizational properties encourage destructive practices even in command economies. In the United States, a fully wage-dependent workforce makes whistle-blowing risky, structural interests of employees limits the reform efforts of even an environmentally sensitive executive, decentralization limits accountability, consultants and public relations staffs are available to reassure executives that trade-offs are in society's interests and that regulations mean waste, and organizations socialize all employees, making whistle-blowing even rarer.
Trust, Social Dilemmas and Collective Memories
Authors: Rothstein Bo
Published: March 2007

What does it take to move a society from an inefficient equilibrium, characterized by low social capital, distrust and inefficient legal and political institutions, to the opposite situation? The starting point is a discussion of solutions to the `social dilemma' problem presented in rational choice theory, which are found wanting. Without norms of trust, the `tragedy of the commons' is unavoidable. An institutional mechanism is identified which implies that trust can be established `from above', that is, the trustworthiness of `efficient' institutions creates interpersonal trust, which in its turn makes the `production' of social capital in civil society possible. It is argued that the theory of `collective memories' can serve as the missing link in the theory of social capital and game-theoretical explanations of cooperation. The advantage of this approach is that it brings action and power into the theory of social capital and social dilemmas.
Perceptions, Opinions and Party Preferences in the Face of a Real World Event
Authors: van der Brug Wouter
Published: March 2007

Subjective agreement between voters and the party they voted for can be produced by three separate processes: rational selection of parties, persuasion by parties, and distortion of perceptions. Rational choice theory, balance theory and social judgment theory make different predictions about the strength of each of these processes. In this article the strength of the three processes are estimated by modeling continuous longitudinal change in attitudes and perceptions of positions on nuclear energy in a period in 1986 during which the accident at Chernobyl occurred. The study uses a short-term panel study of Dutch respondents covering this period. The analyses demonstrate that changes in attitudes and perceptions conform largely to the Downsian model of democracy. Evidence is found for a weak persuasion effect, but hardly any distortion of perceptions occurred. These findings challenge the applicability of concepts from balance theory to the field of electoral research. It is argued that voters have little psychological motivation to distort their perceptions of party positions because they are normally not strongly involved with politics or political parties.
The Calculus of Stonewalling
Authors: Glazer Amihai , Hassin Refael
Published: March 2007

We consider a politician's choice of whether to be evaluated, either by subjecting himself to a detailed interview or by asking for the appointment of a special prosecutor. If politicians are risk-neutral, then in equilibrium all choose to be evaluated. If politicians are risk-averse, then whether when they do or do not know the quality of their own actions, stable equilibria may exist in which politicians can avoid evaluation, or prefer evaluation by a body which can poorly discriminate between good and bad actions. The ability of voters to distinguish between good and bad politicians may therefore be limited.
A System Perspective on Party System Change
Authors: Smith Gordon
Published: March 2007

Discussions of party system change may be unsatisfactory if insufficient attention is given to the defining properties of a system. A number of dimensions have to be considered, but - as with `social cleavages' - there can be disagreement as to whether a truly constitutive element is involved. In addition, it is necessary to distinguish the various degrees of change that are possible, and in this respect a study of the process of change is essential. Party system typologies are of little help, so that an alternative in the form of `working models' can be employed. The emphasis in this approach is on the identification of the `core components' of the particular system against which the degree of change can be assessed. An examination of representative West European party systems reveals that these core components show a strong persistence.
Ideas, Institutions and Political Culture in Western Development
Authors: Weede Erich
Published: March 2007

Contemporary Western political culture is characterized by three achievements and ideas: (1) the limitation of government or the rule of law; (2) some institutional separation of the economy and of science from government and religion; and (3) popular participation or democracy. The first two components of Western political culture are prerequisites of the European miracle. In contrast to the great Asian civilizations, Western civilization alone succeeded in overcoming mass poverty. The third component of Western political culture, i.e. democracy, depends on the first two components as well as on a high level of prosperity. Western cultural, political and economic achievements are rooted in political fragmentation, i.e. in the existence of an international system in the West instead of a unified empire, as well as in conflicts between cities and territorial rulers, between secular and spiritual leaders, and later even between crown and parliament. In the twentieth century, however, the most basic Western achievement, i.e. the limitation of government, is threatened by the reassertion and democratization of rent-seeking or creeping socialism. The twin trends towards the growth of distributional coalitions and government reduce Western economic performance without moving us closer to professed egalitarian goals. Western government activities tend to be limited as far as the procurement of public goods is concerned, whether one refers to the maintenance of competition or national security, but increasingly unlimited as far as redistribution is concerned.
The Game of Political Entry with Truly Effective Identical Players
Authors: Nitzan Shmuel
Published: March 2007

This paper presents a general formal model for analyzing political entry decisions in strategic contexts. The model focuses on dichotomous entry decisions made by potential entrants in a full information setting. The players in the proposed entry game are truly effective equals. That is, they share common payoffs (their preferences are identical) and an individual's entry decision always affects his and the other players' payoffs. We illustrate the relevance and applicability of the model to the study of diverse issues such as voluntary contribution to the provision of public goods (e.g. private charitable contributions or individual participation in organizational decision-making) and the formation of exclusive and non-exclusive benefit groups (e.g. clubs, political parties, labor unions). Within the above-mentioned particular contexts two issues are of paramount significance. First, the characterization of the equilibrium and efficient entry (participation) levels. Second, the comparison between these levels. Both issues are briefly analyzed. It is shown that the equilibrium number of entrants can be efficient or inefficient depending on the specific form of the players' payoff functions. In particular, depending on the degree of excludability of non-entrants from the benefits accruing to entrants, on the degree of subtractability of the benefits, on whether the benefits are increasing or decreasing with the number of entrants and on the costs of entry.
Explaining the Occurrence of Charismatic Leadership in Organizations
Authors: Ellis Richard J.
Published: March 2007

Charisma is commonly regarded as disruptive and unpredictable. Its origins are treated as mysterious and unexplainable. This view of charisma is due in part to a tendency to reify charisma, but more importantly to the lack of an adequate theory of social organization. After clearing up some methodological confusions surrounding the concept of charisma, I present a theory that predicts the type of organization, and the type of organizational situation, in which charismatic leadership will occur. By joining Mary Douglas's grid-group analysis with Herbert Simon's decision theory, I show that charismatic leadership, far from being a disruptive force, serves an integrative function in egalitarian organizations hampered by disagreement on facts and values.
Why Politics is More Fundamental Than Economics
Authors: Miller Gary , Hammond Thomas
Published: March 2007

Efficient incentive-compatible schemes for resolving hidden action and hidden information problems have been shown to exist, thereby offering the hope that public goods can be provided in a neutral, non-political way. We argue that this hope is illusory. Such schemes inevitably generate a residual profit, and a property right to the residual creates a stake in inefficiency; the residual can be increased by a distortion of the efficient incentive system. In general, therefore, the residual-owners' claims that they will not distort the efficient incentive scheme are not credible. Economic efficiency in the presence of externalities requires the resolution of a fundamentally political problem: the credible commitment of central officials to the implementation of an efficient incentive scheme that is not in their own best interest.
The Challenge to Policymaking of Large-Scale Systems
Authors: De Greene Kenyon B.
Published: March 2007

The intersecting global societal and natural-environmental systems are described in terms of evolution, instability and structural change. Systems theory, particularly a number of constructs from dissipative-structure theory and synergetics, are applied in this description. The policy meaning of dynamic, reconfigurational systems change and the need for new kinds of policies to fit such change are emphasized. The history of systems support for policymaking is reviewed. The 1990s are interpreted as representing a coalescence of several `exhausted' evolutionary cycles/structures including the Fourth Kondratiev, the Great Power hegemony, and the Newtonian paradigm of science and society. In addition, the natural environment is interpreted as being in a state approaching catastrophic collapse. Accordingly, the 1990s are considered to present an emergent window of opportunity for the development of new kinds of policies. Several recommendations for further work are made.
The Concentration of Authority: Constitutional Creation in the Gold Coast, 1950
Authors: Firmin-Sellers Kathryn
Published: March 2007

In the past 30 years, scholars have advanced a number of explanations for the rise of authoritarian rule throughout Africa. Scholars have attributed authoritarian rule to the weakness of the one-party state and to the legacy of colonial rule. In this paper, I argue that the roots of authoritarian rule lie in the politics of transition, the period in which the new institutions of government were first created. Drawing on the analytical insights of the New Institutionalism, I argue that we cannot understand the politics of this transition process unless we consider (1) the actors' beliefs about the political environment; (2) the procedure through which the new institutions were created; and (3) the path-dependent nature of institutional creation. I then use these concepts to analyze a single instance of constitutional creation: the drafting and implementation of the Gold Coast constitution of 1950. I conclude that, in an effort to control the outcome of the constitutional negotiations, the British colonial government adopted procedures that encouraged indigenous actors to concentrate political authority.
Institutional and Partisan Sources of Gridlock
Authors: Krehbiel Keith
Published: March 2007

A spatial theory of the comparative consequences of unified and divided government clarifies the relationship between institutions, partisanship and gridlock. Under formally specified conditions, executive and legislative institutions are shown to inhibit but not prohibit the convergence of public policies to those most preferred by the legislative median voter. Extensions illustrate the theoretical robustness of the primary empirical expectation. Under all but extreme conditions, gridlock is a predictable consequence of super-majoritarian procedures. Gridlock occurs in divided and unified government alike, and in the presence of any degree of party strength. Concluding discussions speculate on the effects of alternative assumptions and on applications of the theoretical framework to settings other than US national government.
Negativity Effect and the Emergence of Ideologies
Authors: Aragones Enriqueta
Published: March 2007

`Negativity effect' refers to the psychological phenomenon that people tend to attach greater weight to negative information than to equally extreme and equally likely positive information in a variety of information-processing tasks. Numerous studies of impression formation have found that negative information is weighted more heavily than positive information as impressions of others are formed. There is empirical evidence in political science that shows the importance of the negativity effect in the information processing of the voters. This effect can explain the observed decrease in popularity of a president the longer he is in office. We construct a dynamic model of political competition, incorporating the negativity effect in the decision rule of the voters and allowing their preferences to change over time, according to the past performance of the candidates while in office. Our model may explain the emergence of ideologies out of the competition for votes of myopic candidates freely choosing policy positions. This result gives rise to the formation of political parties, as infinitely-lived agents with a certain ideology. Furthermore, in this model some voters may start out by switching among parties associated with different policies, but find themselves supporting one of the parties from some point on. Thus, the model describes a process by which some voters become identified with a `right' or `left' bloc, while others `swing' between the two parties.
Defence and European Integration
Authors: Forster Anthony
Published: March 2007

This article examines neorealist and neofunctionalist theoretical approaches to the issue of defence and European integration, and specifically the prospects of adding a defence component to the European Union. It sets out the difference between the core assumptions on these issues and argues that these theories provide different and contradictory explanations and predictions about the relationship between defence and European integration. However, when these two approaches are set against the historical record, neither neorealism with its notion of high and low politics, nor neofunctionalism with its notion of spillover, provides a parsimonious explanation as to why the defence issue has developed in the way that it has over the last 50 years.
Is There Something Wrong with `Free Action'?
Authors: Kristjánsson Kristján
Published: March 2007

This article gives an overview of traditional accounts of social freedom (`negative' and `positive') as noninterference with action, and defends their conceptual common ground against recent attacks. Philip Pettit claims that freedom would be better understood as antipower than noninterference. However, it is so far from being the case that accounts of freedom as noninterference and as antipower are necessarily antithetical, that they can in fact be complementary. More specifically, they are not about the same kind of freedom, the first being concerned with free action, but the second with the notion of a free person or a free society. Wayne Norman's arguments against the importance of the notion of free action are subsequently examined and found wanting. In general, we have no good reason for abandoning the post-Isaiah-Berlin conceptual orthodoxy about an analysis of free action being the cornerstone of any viable general theory of freedom.
Free to act otherwise? A Wittgensteinian deconstruction of the concept of agency in contemporary social and political theory
Authors: Pleasants Nigel
Published: March 2007

The concept of agency, defined counterfactually as the freedom to 'act otherwise', occupies a central place in much of contemporary social and political theory. In criticizing this concept of agency I deploy what I call an 'immanent critique', focusing upon Bhaskar's 'transcendental realism' and Rorty's anti-realist theory of linguistic contingency. Invoking Wittgenstein's argumentation from On Certainty, I go on to contend that agency and freedom cannot be 'known' in the way that social and political theorists assert. I proceed to criticize Bhaskar's pro vision of transcendental realist foundations for Marxism, and Rorty's use of Wittgenstein. I argue that Bhaskar's conception of social critique and Rorty's defence of 'bourgeois liberal society' are both predicated on a similar notion of individuals' 'private' possession of agency and free choice.
The concept of luxury in British political economy: Adam Smith to Alfred Marshall
Authors: Roberts M.J.D.
Published: March 2007

In the discourse of 18th-century British intellectuals the term 'luxury' held a well-recognized and much disputed place. Dispute arose chiefly around the problem of disentangling the economic, moral-theological and political strands of the term. The object of the present paper is to trace forward the history of debate over the concept along one develop ing line of specialization - that of 19th-century political economy. It will be seen how the term luxury (and related terms: necessity, decency, productive, unproductive, etc.) adjusted meaning(s) as the economic, social and intellectual contexts in which it was embedded themselves mutated. In particular, it is argued, the changing significance attached to the term illustrates the extent to which a key 19th-century intellec tual elite managed to accommodate the implications of a transition from a society based on assumptions of scarcity and hierarchy to one that was beginning to contemplate the possibility of mass market abun dance. While the profession's leaders did develop a sharpened interest in aspiration to luxury consumption as a legitimate motor of economic growth, all registered their disapproval of certain forms of the aspira tion, revealing in the process a variety of class, gender and 'race' pre occupations - including (from J. S. Mill onwards) a particular distaste for positional or status-related consumption.
Children's play - a forgotten right
Authors: Hughes Bob
Published: March 2007

Play - the forgotten right describes the important and often overlooked role of play in children's learning. It describes the characteristics of a good play space and points to the inadequate in provision for children's play in Europe (and virtually all other societies). It also discusses the impact on children (and on their later development as adults) of deprived or inadequate play experiences. The concluding section identifies some general criteria to guide the setting-up or improvement of play environments
The forgotten half; environmental health in Nairobi's poverty areas
Authors: Lamba Davinder
Published: March 2007

The forgotten half; environmental health in Nairobi's poverty areas describes the unhealthy conditions in which the city's poor live, conditions that arise largely through a policy of neglect on the part of the public authorities. The city has never made a serious or systematic attempt to provide adequate services in low-income areas. Voluntary organizations are the main organizers and providers of health and community development programmes in these areas. The paper also discusses the lack of basic data on environmental and health conditions which also reflect indifference, on the part of the authorities, to environmental health in poverty areas.
Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum's concept of catatonia
Authors: Goldar Juan C. , Starkstein Sergio E. , Hodgkiss Andrew
Published: March 2007

Catatonia is a neuropsychiatric syndrome described by Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum in 1874. Based on Kahlbaum's own description and Carl Wernicke's hypothesis about the mechanism of catatonia, we describe two types of catatonic domain: the akinetic motality psychosis, which is characterized by rigid immobility, fixed gaze, lack of blink, and cogwheel rigidity, and catatonia sensu strictu, which is characterized by spasms, iterations and verbigerations. The loss of motility allows the 'hypobulic levels' described by Kretschmer in 1920, which consist of aggressive acts, furious shouting, hyperactivity and orality, to break through. These behaviours are present in the hyperkinetic variant of catatonia and may result from a reduction of dopaminergic innervation and the release of limbic and neocortical mechanisms containing behavioural programmes.
Norway: water and class in nineteenth-century psychiatry
Authors: Blomberg Wenche
Published: March 2007

Water has long been considered an effective means of therapy for mental disorders. Its use, however, was divided along class lines during the nineteenth century. After presenting a brief background of the general conditions of the insane in Norway around the mid-nineteenth century when modem psychiatry entered the scene, I will present some examples of developments in hydrotherapy - fashionable bath resorts for the rich, and the use of prolonged baths as coercive treatment for asylum paupers.
French psychiatrists on the causes of madness, 1800-1870: an ambiguous attitude before an epistemological obstacle
Authors: Sueur Laurent , Hodgkiss Andrew
Published: March 2007

Modern psychiatry was born in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. At that time French psychiatrists had much to learn. One of their interests was in recognizing the causes of madness which they divided into physical and moral. This article aims to describe this moment in the history of medicine and to demonstrate how ancient ideas were reworked by these alienists. Above all it is argued that alienists struggled with a kind of disease that was regarded as unacceptable at the time.
Cultural television: current French critiques
Authors: Emanuel Susan
Published: March 2007

On ne peut à la fois exiger de la télévision qu'elle passe moins de séries et prétendre que la bande dessinée est d'avant-garde; pas davantage imposer aux chaines des retransmissions d'opéra et de ballets ou des quotas d'oeuvres originales d'expression françaises et voir dans le rock et le clip l'âme même de la jeunesse. " - Jacques Rigaud, Libre Culture
Gender, Discourse and Semiotics: The Politics of Parenthood Representations
Authors: LAZAR MICHELLE M.
Published: March 2007

This article analyses the co-presence of two potentially contending discourses of gender relations - the Discourse of Egalitarian Gender Relations, and the Discourse of Conservative Gender Relations - in the domain of parenthood in a Singaporean national advertising campaign. The difference between the two discourses is a question of symmetry and asymmetry, respectively, in gender roles and expectations. By undertaking a combined analysis of linguistic and visual structures in the texts, I will show how the two discourses are manifested within, and across, the advertisements in the series. I conclude by suggesting that the distinction between the two discourses is not a clear-cut one. Rather, on closer scrutiny, they work in tandem to maintain a largely unchallenged conservative gender order.
Globalization and Poverty in Chile
Authors: BERARDI LEDA
Published: March 2007

Even though Chile has the highest macroeconomic indicators as compared to the other countries of Latin America - and for this reason is no longer regarded by the IDB as first beneficiary of its loans - it has not been able to cope with social inequity. In this context, a critical analysis was undertaken of a government speech on social policies delivered in an international seminar organized in Chile by the IDB and the Ministry of Finance. An analysis was made of what discourse strategies and entities of the political imagery are used by the government in order to persuade this international organization and the readers of El Mercurio that social equity is attainable as long as it receives financial aid from the IDB.
Oratory in Akan Society
Authors: Yankah Kwesi
Published: March 2007

The paper takes a close look at the sociocultural significance of oratory and formal speaking among the Akan of Ghana, and discusses the various stylistic and rhetorical strategies adopted to mitigate face threat in formal interaction. The Akan style of formal speech is replete with honorifics, proverbs, metaphor and ornate expression, and is contrived to control the power of the spoken word as well as reinforce the existing social and political order.
A Critical Linguistic Approach to a Corpus of Business Letters in Greek
Authors: Kessapidu Sevasti
Published: March 2007

Following a multidimensional approach to text variation, the study interprets a corpus of Greek business letters as a composite of clusters of linguistic features, i.e. as factors which represent culture and situation-bound textual dimensions. The study concludes that business letters are produced and interpreted by means of schematic knowledge which establishes categorical and, thus, persuasive language. Persuasive strategies manifested in the data are not developed only on the basis of the factual presentation of information. Probing the notion of cultural relativity, the study reports that participants are also frequently identified in the interactive event and their relationships are foregrounded.
Introduction: Organizational Discourses and Practices
Authors: IEDEMA RICK , WODAK RUTH
Published: March 2007

This article provides a brief introduction to the other articles in this Special Issue, and sets out some of the traditions in linguistics and discourse analysis which have engaged in organizational research. The article then addresses some of the issues that define organizationality, such as impersonalization, power, and (re)production. The latter of these three is focused on in greater detail and is linked to current concerns with what is now termed the `recontextualization' of professional and organizational phenomena (Bernstein, 1990; Iedema, 1997a; Linell and Sarangi, 1998). Here, recontextualization is proposed to be at the heart of organizationality itself; that is, organizationality is seen as constituted in (re)productive processes which apply discipline/scientific technologies to human/exosomatic resources, producing lasting effects. These effects include both specialized practices and alternative social and material realities. Relatedly, we argue that organizational meaning making practices are to be considered as `multimodal' chains of recontextualization, with alternative semiotics such as design and built construction forming equally important links as does language in the chains of organizational processes.
Working With Insults: Discourse and Difference in an Inner-City Youth Organization
Authors: TANNOCK STUART
Published: March 2007

Over the last few decades in the US, a wide variety of community-based organizations (CBOs) has emerged in response to a sense of failure of mainstream institutions to work with a socially and linguistically diverse population. Discourse analysts have paid little attention to the discursive practices - which often bear little resemblance to conventional institutional discourse - found in CBOs. This article analyzes, as an example of the heterogeneous discourse of CBOs, an insulting routine between two teenagers - a white, upper middle-class female and a black, working-class male - working together in an inner-city youth theater group. The routine helped the teens accomplish some of the theater group's goals, but it also reinforced the gender inequality and signalled passive acceptance of the race prejudice the group was explicitly seeking to challenge. The contradictions within this routine are indicative of the challenges faced by CBOs attempting to embrace diversity.
Are Experiments Possible?
Authors: Royzman Edward B.
Published: March 2007

The paper critically examines the inferential logic underlying Mill's methods of agreement and difference as it is applied in present-day behavioral science where the methods in question are embodied in the socalled `treatment-control random design' (Mayo, 1996). The reputed goal of the design is to be able to arrive at judgments of sufficient causation (e.g. `X is a sufficient cause of [condition for] Y'). This is accomplished by `neutralizing' the influence of the extraneous variables inherent in a particular (experimental) set of conditions by way of creating another (control) set of conditions which is identical to the experimental prototype in every way except for one element (the independent variable). Any difference between the effects of the two sets (the experimental effect) is, then, said to reflect or be a product of the independent variable in question. As I argue, the above-mentioned inference is rooted in the generally tacit assumption of effect independence, that is, the view that the `extraneous' and the `independent variable' components comprising the experimental condition end up exerting completely separate or isolated effects on the dependent variable under consideration. It is argued that the said assumption, given both the inherent conceivability and the empirical ubiquity of various interaction effects, has no logical foundation and, thus, cannot be affirmed with any degree of certainty. The non-acceptance of the assumption calls into question the logical viability of clinical process research.
Operationism again
Authors: Green Christopher D.
Published: March 2007

Grace's (2001) critical analysis of the use of operationism in psychology is founded on two basic claims. First, he argues that the main difficulty with mid-20th-century psychologists' interpretation of Bridgman was that they believed a single operation to be sufficient to define a new concept. Second, he claims that the main thrust of recent criticisms of operationism is that operational definitions should be used for existing concepts only and not to create new ones. In his view, both the earlier difficulty and the recent criticism are effectively quashed by the adoption of `convergent operationism', first proposed in the 1950s. In the present commentary, I try to show that neither of the basic claims is quite correct, nor does `convergent operationism' do much to resolve the matter. The primary difficulty with operationism, in contrast to Grace's analysis of the situation, was that it was proposed as a solution to a metaphysical problem which it was not even remotely adequate to meet, and, in addition, that the presumed metaphysical problem it was intended to solve was, in the first place, a mistaken diagnosis of the difficulties that faced science in the 1920s, when operationism was first proposed.
Personalism, Social Constructionism and the Foundation of the Ethical
Authors: Williams Richard N. , Beyers Marissa S.
Published: March 2007

This paper characterizes and contrasts personalism and social constructionism as ontologies—theories that makes claims about what fundamentally is—and as phenomenologies—theories that offer descriptions of lived experience. It is argued that as ontologies both perspectives face difficult problems. Personalism must assume a priori processes as a foundation for individual identity, but has difficulty accounting for genuine sociality. Social constructionism claims to account for the origin of intelligent actions, but must either beg the question or revert to a behaviorism. Both as ontologies and as phenomenologies personalism and social constructionism fail to provide adequately for the ethical nature of life and relation to the other. An alternative, drawn from the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Emmanuel Levinas, is offered in which individuality, sociality and the ethical arise from the same metaphysical ground.
Past and Future American Psychological Association Guidelines for Statistical Practice
Authors: Finch Sue , Thomason Neil , Cumming Geoff
Published: March 2007

We review the publication guidelines of the American Psychological Association (APA) since 1929 and document their advice for authors about statistical practice. Although the advice has been extended with each revision of the guidelines, it has largely focused on null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) to the exclusion of other statistical methods. In parallel, we review over 40 years of critiques of NHST in psychology. Until now, the critiques have had little impact on the APA guidelines. The guidelines are influential in broadly shaping statistical practice, although in some cases recommended reporting practices are not closely followed. The guidelines have an important role to play in reform of statistical practice in psychology. Following the report of the APA's Task Force on Statistical Inference, we propose that future revisions of the guidelines reflect a broader philosophy of analysis and inference, provide detailed statistical requirements for reporting research, and directly address concerns about NHST. In addition, the APA needs to develop ways to ensure that its editors succeed in their leadership role in achieving essential reform.
The Rhetoric of Irrationality
Authors: Lopes Lola L.
Published: March 2007

The popularity of the `biases and heuristics' literature is examined critically in terms of the rhetorical factors that have mediated widely published claims that human judgment abilities are poor and even irrational. The logic of the original experiments is examined as well as the factors that cause that logic to be ambiguous and the implications of the experiments to be misrepresented. Questionable use of evaluative language in scientific articles and secondary gains to outside authors who spread the bias message are also examined.
Rigor and Logic
Authors: Chow Siu L.
Published: March 2007

This is Chow's response to four comments on his critique of the view that research conclusions be based on multiple context-dependent criteria. Five themes could be identified in the comments. In reply, it is argued that care should be taken not to use the alpha level whimsically because the continuum similarity is being used as a dichotomy in theory corroboration. The superiority of effect-size estimates to statistical significance is more apparent than real. Chow's assessment of meta analysis is illustrated with the apples and oranges issue.
Three Arguments Against Methodological Solipsism as a Research Strategy of Psychology
Authors: Hildebrandt Helmut
Published: March 2007

Contemporary cognitive psychologists share methodological solipsism (MS) as a general research strategy. MS postulates that a complete explanatory level dealing exclusively with processes within an organism is the domain of psychology. The paper undertakes a critical review of MS. By reanalysing the debate between proponents of MS (cf. Fodor & Pylyshyn, 1981) and proponents of ecological realism (cf. Gibson, 1966, 1979), it will be shown that MS is theoretically unsound. As a second step, problems concerning the concept of transduction and invariance detection, using movement perception as a concrete example, are discussed. Existing findings do not support the principle of MS. The third step consists in discussing the status of MS in the theory of problemsolving developed by Newell and Simon (1972). The next section of the paper is devoted to the development of a model that fulfils the conditions stipulated by the critique of the principles of MS. The last part presents a summary of the differences of the developed model in relation to MS.
Introduction: The Future of Developmental Theory
Authors: Bradley Ben S.
Published: March 2007

The future of developmental theory will only in part be shaped by topical matters. Of greater importance is the changing status of theory in the psychology of development. Recent scholarship has suggested that psychologists can no longer assume that development is synonymous with progress nor that psychologists can pronounce on development `in general'. Such recognitions radically alter the status of what psychologists can say about development, highlighting the central role played by irrationality in developmental thinking. On this ground, I argue that developmentalists must acknowledge the poetic or `mimetic' constitution of their language when dealing with others, whether in theory, research or practice. This acknowledgement suggests that psychologists will need to review both the putative child-centredness of their thinking about development and, more generally, their own subjective orientation to others in research and practice.