bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Minimum Wage Legislation, Investment and Human Capital
Authors: Cubitt Robin P. , Heap Shaun P. Hargreaves
Published: March 2003

A two period, general equilibrium, model is analysed in which agents foresee how the second period outcome is determined by the investment decisions which they make in the first period. These decisions concern the acquisition of human and physical capital. The paper considers the impact of a minimum wage in the second period. It shows that, in equilibrium, this policy increases both types of investment. There is a range of values of the minimum wage at which the increases in investment are obtained without any reduction in period 2 employment. This is welfare‐improving for a range of parameter values. Under very specific circumstances, the minimum wage achieves a Pareto efficient outcome.
Generalised Social Security Finance in a Two‐Country World
Authors: Bräuninger Michael
Published: March 2003

This paper develops an overlapping generations model with generalised finance of social security in a two‐country world. Social security finance includes a pay‐as‐you‐go, a fully funded, and an optimal system as special cases. An increase in social security funding of country 1 increases capital, income and consumption per head in both countries. Also, it increases foreign assets in country 1 and foreign debt in country 2. The optimal level of social security funding is below the golden rule level. During adjustment an increase in funding has negative effects on country 1 and positive effects on country 2.
A Policy Perspective on European Unemployment
Authors: Abraham Filip
Published: March 2003

This paper focuses on three major themes in the policy debate on European unemployment. A first issue concerns the causes of unemployment. We point to the diversity of the unemployment performance in Europe and plead for a policy approach which takes into account the interdependence between employment, labour costs and social protection. As a second major theme, we evaluate existing EU policies. While a EU social dimension is gradually developing, the European level is far from providing a comprehensive policy framework at this stage. A third issue relates to the national policy dimension and is linked to Europe’s quest for a third way. We compare the corporatist and competitive labour market approach.
The British and American Rules: an Experimental Examination of Pre‐trial Bargaining in the Shadowof the Law
Authors: Main Brian G. M. , Park Andrew
Published: March 2003

A commonly held view is that the frequency and value of pre‐trial settlements in civil disputes are greatly influenced by the cost allocation regime that is in place if the case goes to trial. There is a large and growing theoretical literature on this subject but almost no empirical evidence. This is due simply to the scarcity of relevant data owing to the confidentiality generally associated with such matters. However, the area is an ideal one to analyse experimentally. In this paper we consider the effect of the British and American rules for cost allocation using such an experimental methodology. We find that the two rules produce no difference in the frequency of pre‐trial settlements but that the British rule produces higher settlements (pro‐pursuer) if the probability of the pursuer winning is large.
Growth and Output Fluctuations
Authors: Li Chol‐Won
Published: March 2003

This paper sheds new light on the interaction between growth and output fluctuations. Our approach is different from the literature in that we analyse how endogenous fluctuations are affected by a faster productivity growth in the long run. Main results: (i) expansion (or contraction) occurs more (or less) frequently, (ii) expansion becomes milder but contraction severer, (iii) the amplitude of fluctuations becomes larger, (iv) the variance of output changes ambiguously, indicating a non‐monotonic relationship. We also investigate how an R&D subsidy alters the nature of output fluctuations and re‐examine its effect on technological change in the presence of recurrent cycles. The result questions the widely‐accepted theoretical implication that a research subsidy unambiguously promotes technological progress.
Regionalism and Gravity
Authors: Greenaway David , Milner Chris
Published: March 2003

Gravity models have been extensively used to evaluate the trade effects of regional trading arrangements, (RTAs), especially over the last 10 years or so. Questions addressed by researchers include, is there a regional bias to trade and are there identifiable trade affects attributable to RTAs? This paper reviews the evidence extant from this literature and evaluates the modelling and methodological issues confronted when applying gravity modelling to the analysis of regionalism. The paper argues that the approach has a distinctive role to play in evaluating trade effects and its application has been enhanced by both the refinement of theoretical underpinnings and development of econometric technique.
Kadavu Island, Fiji: Fluvial Studies of a Volcanic Island in the Humid Tropical South Pacific
Authors: Terry James P.
Published: March 2003

This paper examines features of drainage and stream channel form and process on the mountainous volcanic island of Kadavu in the humid tropical South Pacific, and interprets the findings in relation to island environmental characteristics such as geology, regolith soils, topography, vegetation and climate. At island and sub‐island scales, drainage patterns are linked to the geographical arrangement and topography of the late Cenozoic volcanoes. Stream channel and bedload characteristics demonstrate the importance of both deep saprolite weathering profiles for supplying sediment into the fluvial system, and the high energy nature of the fluvial transport regimes. Landscape chemical denudation is estimated at 50‐85 mm per 1,000 years from baseflow solute concentrations converted from water conductivity readings.

Relative tectonic and sea‐level stability during the late Holocene and the largely undisturbed rainforest and savanna vegetation on the island suggest that climatic factors control rates of fluvial processes on Kadavu. Streamflow records show particularly that tropical storms can have a big impact. The effects of possible increasing numbers of cyclones in the South Pacific and human vegetation disturbance on Kadavu are considered.
Intensification, Degradation and Soil Improvement: Utilising Structuration Theory for a Differentiated Analysis of Population Pressure Outcomes in Highland Tanzania
Authors: Jones Samantha
Published: March 2003

This paper reviews the evidence for and consequences of population pressure in an area of highland Tanzania. While intensification is found to be occurring, both soil improvement and soil productivity decline are evident. A household‐level, spatially disaggregated analysis is therefore adopted to understand the variegated pattern of population pressure outcomes. The approach is guided by structuration theory to gain a deeper understanding of the contexts and processes shaping different outcomes. Gender, wealth and land types are found to be influential variables affecting responses to population pressure in this case study.
The Communication of Differential Relationships in Preschool Children: Preference and Social Theme
Authors: Chisholm Vivienne , Pitcairn Tom
Published: March 2003

We examined the conversations of 14 preschool children to explore differences in communication between friends and nonfriends in a well‐established group. Children's social preferences were identified by analysing relative utterance frequencies which revealed a network structure of 4 cliques. We then examined whether the integration (inclusion/exclusion) and social theme (person/action) content of children's utterances, and the responses (accept/oppose) to these utterances, discriminated relationships in the social network. Our main findings were 1) Exclusive utterances were more likely to occur between nonfriends and to be opposed. Inclusive utterances were more likely to occur between friends and to be accepted. 2) Person and action themes were used differentially. In exclusion statements, nonfriends were more likely to be personally rejected whereas friends were more likely to have their actions rejected. In inclusion statements, personal references were more likely to be accepted between friends whereas references to a peer's actions tended to be accepted by both friends and nonfriends. We concluded that children adapted the integration and social theme content of their utterances to relationship context in order to establish more intimate interactions between friends and more distant interactions between nonfriends.
Explaining Emotions in Attachment
Authors: Trevarthen Colwyn
Published: March 2003

Book reviewed in this article:

L.A. Stroufe, Emotional Development: The Organisation of Emotional Life in the Early Years
How Parenting Style Affects False Belief Understanding
Authors: Ruffman Ted , Perner Josef , Parkin Lindsay
Published: March 2003

This study investigated whether mothers facilitate false belief understanding, and if so, what strategies are particularly relevant. The mothers of 64 3‐ and 4‐year‐olds were given questionnaires eliciting information about mother's education, mother's occupation, number of younger and older siblings, the time the child spends with mother, and about how mothers deal with five disciplinary situations with their child. Three variables were positively correlated with belief understanding: age, number of older siblings, and number of times mothers said they would respond to the disciplinary situations by asking the child to reflect on the victim's feelings (How Feel responses). These three variables had an independent effect on belief understanding because each was significant after accounting for the influence due to the other two variables. In contrast, there was no significant positive relation between belief understanding and mothers who engaged their child in general discussion and exploration of the disciplinary issues, or who simply reprimanded the child without discussing the situation. The effects for number of older siblings and How Feel responses remained even after the influence due to the child's age, verbal mental age, time spent with the mother, and number of younger siblings was accounted for. The results are consistent with recent research showing that parent‐child relations may be important for theory of mind understanding. More importantly, they provide insight into a specific strategy by which parents may help children learn about mental states.
Social‐Cognitive Factors in Childhood Social Anxiety: A Preliminary Investigation
Authors: Banerjee Robin , Henderson Lynne
Published: March 2003

The present study addresses the social cognition of socially anxious children, with particular emphasis on their ability to understand others’ mental states in interpersonal situations. The heterogeneous sample used in this preliminary investigation consisted of 63 primary school children in England and the USA. The English children were from a mainstream classroom of 8‐ to 9‐year‐olds, while the children from the USA ranged in age from 6 to 11 years and had been selected by school district officials for a variety of social interaction difficulties. All children completed measures of social anxiety, shy negative affect, and various social‐cognitive abilities, and teacher ratings of social skills were additionally available for the USA subgroup. Results showed that feelings of social anxiety are not associated with any basic deficit in the understanding of recursive mental states which concern facts about the physical world. However, there was evidence that socially anxious children—particularly those with high levels of shy negative affect—do experience specific social‐cognitive difficulties in understanding the links between emotions, intentions, and beliefs in social situations. Providing further support for this link, socially anxious children were rated by their teachers as poorer than non‐anxious children only on social skills that require insight into others’ mental states. Directions for further examination of this complex interplay between cognitive and emotional factors in the development of social anxiety are discussed.
Is there a Gender Difference in False Belief Development?
Authors: Charman Tony , Ruffman Ted , Clements Wendy
Published: March 2003

The contribution of children's social environment to their acquisition of theory of mind skills, combined with the well documented advantage for girls in mental state talk with siblings, peers and mothers, might lead to a female advantage on false belief tasks. We present a post‐hoc analysis of large datasets from two independent laboratories. A slight advantage for girls on false belief task performance was found in both datasets and was only apparent in younger but not older children. Language ability could be controlled for only in a smaller subsample of one dataset and cannot be ruled out as a potential mediator of this effect. However, if there is an age‐specific advantage for girls in false belief acquisition it is a weak effect only.
Ethnic Attitudes Among Minority and Majority Children: The Role of Ethnic Identification, Peer Group Victimization and Parents
Authors: Verkuyten Maykel
Published: March 2003

This study examines the relative importance of key variables proposed by intergroup and social learning theories for understanding ethnic attitudes. The focus is on how ethnic identification, perceived parental attitudes and victimization by peers are related to ethnic attitudes. The sample includes Dutch (N = 295) and Turkish (N = 158) children (10–12 years of age) in the Netherlands. For both ethnic groups, stronger ethnic identification is related to more positive in‐group evaluation, and a higher degree of victimization relates to more negative out‐group evaluation. Furthermore, parental attitudes are related to out‐group evaluation. Higher perceived in‐group favoritism among parents was related to a less positive evaluation of the out‐group. In addition, Turkish parental attitudes turn out to be related to ethnic identification and in‐group evaluation. Further analyses suggest that the effect of perceived parental attitudes on children's group evaluations is not only due to projection. It is concluded that the study of ethnic attitudes among children should focus on group identification as well as on the social influences of parents and peers. Furthermore, it is important to distinguish between in‐group and out‐group aspects of ethnic attitudes and to include both majority and minority children.
Sibling Relationships and Social‐emotional Adjustment in Different Family Contexts
Authors: Deater‐Deckard Kirby , Dunn Judy
Published: March 2003

The aims of this study were to examine family type (nonstep, stepfather, stepmother, and single mother) and sibling type (full‐ and half‐siblings) differences in sibling relationship quality (positivity and negativity), and to investigate links between sibling relationship quality and child externalizing and internalizing problems. The sample included 192 families with a 5‐year‐old target child and an older sibling. In addition, 80 of these families included a third older child. Mothers and the older siblings (8 years and older) completed questionnaires and interviews regarding conflict and support in their sibling relationships, and parents and teachers reported on each child's social‐emotional adjustment. Sibling negativity (conflict, aggression) was highest in single‐mother families and full‐siblings were more negative than half‐ and stepsiblings. There was some evidence that sibling antagonism was associated with more child behavioral and emotional problems, but these effects were moderated by family type.
The Right to Take Risks: Alcohol and Older People
Authors: Herring Rachel , Thom Betsy
Published: March 2003

This paper examines policy and practice regarding the purchase of alcohol for older clients of home carers in three local authorities in the Greater London area. Data were gathered from interviews with home carers and their managers, focus group discussions, and a postal survey. None of the local authorities had a written policy or written guidance on alcohol purchase or on appropriate responses to the identification of problematic drinking in older clients. The findings illustrate the problem of balancing “rights” and “risks” within a philosophy of community care which emphasizes client choice and autonomy, and show how policy and practice are “tailored” by local contexts. It is suggested that both home carers and other domiciliary workers, as well as their older clients, could benefit from a clear code of practice regarding responses to alcohol consumption and problematic drinking by older people.
Probation and Social Exclusion
Authors: Smith David , Stewart John
Published: March 2003

The paper begins with a brief discussion of the value of the term “social exclusion”, before drawing on quantitative (survey) and qualitative (interview) evidence to suggest that young people on the caseload of the probation service are, in general, excluded from the full range of social goods. The basis of this exclusion is not only in poverty and unemployment, but in social and personal insecurity, lack of access to the benefits of education and training, and housing and health problems. It is argued that despite their exclusion these young people have predominantly conventional hopes and aspirations, and that there is therefore no reason to believe that a programme for their social inclusion and reintegration would be doomed to fail. The paper then reviews some aspects of present practice in probation which may tend to increase rather than reduce the exclusionary pressure on those with whom the service works, by stigmatizing and marginalizing them through a narrow focus on their offending. It concludes by suggesting strategies for more inclusionary and integrative practice in the areas of anti‐custodialism, restorative justice and reintegrative shaming, community safety, and help with access to education, training and health services. The paper considers what local inter‐agency structures are needed to support intensive work on offending, and sketches some characteristics of a probation service committed to social inclusion.
Framing the Other: Criminality, Social Exclusion and Social Engineering in Developing Singapore
Authors: Clammer John
Published: March 2003

This paper examines the issue of criminality as it is expressed in social policy in Singapore. This small South‐east Asian country is characterized by great social and ethnic diversity, high rates of economic growth, but low crime rates. The relationship between these is pursued by examining the authoritarian political system and the social policies that have arisen from this to socialize and discipline the ethnically disparate and class‐divided population. A brief survey of the social structure of Singapore, the role of colonialism in shaping the legal system, the legal measures introduced during the pre‐independent anti‐colonial and anti‐communist struggles and the adoption of many of these by the new government of independent Singapore as weapons of social control introduces the paper. This is followed by an examination of the single‐minded pursuit of developmentalism and security in the post‐independent period and of the emergence of crime in political discourse as the paradigm of social disorder and self‐exclusion from the developmental state, and the relationship of these to the dominant political problem of the management of ethnicity and social differences expressed as concern with classification, a commitment to socio‐biology and the constant attempts to define a field of “Asian values” based on a local reading of Confucianism as the basis of social cohesion. The essay concludes with a discussion of the relationship between Singaporean images of social order and the pursuit of a distinctive form of positivist modernism and the question of whether a “Singapore model” is applicable elsewhere in the world.
A New Model of Welfare: Re‐asserting the Value of Kinship for Children in State Care
Authors: Ryburn Murray
Published: March 2003

This paper briefly examines current arguments concerning the demise of the traditional family, pointing out that the numbers of lone‐parent families are not historically unparalleled and noting that the current emphasis in the “death of the family” debate on the nuclear rather than the extended family marks a significant shift over recent decades. The nature of kinship is briefly examined in historical context, and kin relationships are seen to be fundamentally different on a number of important dimensions from other social relationships. The erosion of kinship as the consequence of the increasing state regulation of family life and the lack of importance it is now generally accorded in modern child welfare systems is considered and the reasons for this are discussed. Finally the article turns to the changes that would be required were kinship decision‐making once more accorded a key place in planning for the care of children deemed to be in need of care and protection and the potential, as a model for practice, of the family group conference is considered.
The Informal Economy: A Case Study in Unrestrained Competition
Authors: Jordan Bill , Travers Andrew
Published: March 2003

The New Labour government in Britain is the first post‐deregulation regime in Europe and the first to attempt to re‐regulate the labour market. In particular, its welfare‐to‐work programme and New Deal for Lone Parents are aimed at shifting activities from the informal to the formal economy, and at enlarging labour market participation. Its commitment to social justice and inclusion is closely linked to increased employment opportunities and a responsibility for contributing to national prosperity. The new programmes must also reconcile these aims with the retention of the flexibility that it sees as giving Britain a competitive edge over other European economies. In order to combine efficiency and equity, increased participation must not involve excessive transaction and enforcement costs. The problem is that those at present engaged in the informal economy (and especially in undeclared cash work while claiming) do not have strong incentives to cooperate with the new schemes. This paper uses the example of the informal relations of taxi‐driving in a small town to illustrate the paradoxes of this situation. It is a case study in the rational strategies of individual actors, which collectively frustrate each other; and in the difficulties of starting collective action for mutual restraint of competition. The New Labour government must solve many such problems if its policies are to succeed.
Funding Social Science Research in Academia
Authors: Lewis Janet
Published: March 2003

This paper identifies the different funding streams for social science research and the different purposes for which it is carried out. The issue of making research ‘useful’ and relevant and how this links to different modes of user involvement is discussed. For research users to be involved in research in a real, strong, way requires long‐term relationships to be built between users and researchers. A large proportion of research being carried out within the higher education sector is funded by external bodies of some kind, on short‐term contracts. The argument is put that little time and energy goes into the management of this contract research. The combination of high staff turnover, little management and the decline of the dual support system have made it increasingly difficult for long‐term relationships between researchers and research users to be built up. The paper concludes with a discussion of the role and effect of the Research Assessment Exercise. There are no incentives in the RAE for the creation of the kind of environment within which applied research can flourish—team working, a focus on problems rather than disciplinary issues, support, training and skill development for researchers, and good management.
Researching Homelessness and Rough Sleeping in the Scottish Context
Authors: Third Hilary
Published: March 2003

This paper offers some reflections on a number of methodological and personal issues associated with researching homelessness, particularly in the Scottish context. It opens with an examination of the political and social construction of statistics on homelessness. It highlights the limitations of official data sources, and outlines the problems in quantifying (or even estimating) the extent of one of the most extreme manifestations of homelessness—rough sleeping. It identifies some other practical difficulties in conducting research amongst homeless people, such as setting and meeting interview targets, and questions the perceived level of risk in conducting face‐to‐face work with street homeless people. The second part of the paper considers a range of ethical tensions, posing a series of dilemmas which can arise for an academic researching homelessness. It is suggested that these issues and concerns could be widely applied to social policy research, and are therefore of equal relevance to academic researchers involved with any groups affected by poverty and social exclusion. Drawing on recent controversial practice debates, the paper questions the role of the researcher in perpetuating the so‐called ‘homelessness industry’. Finally, the paper argues that the researcher should seek opportunities to enhance user‐involvement policy development as well as research. The paper suggests that researchers in the field of homelessness occupy a privileged position, providing a link between homeless people, agencies responsible for policy and practice, and politicians. It concludes that research can make a real contribution to understanding and alleviating homelessness. This, it argues, is the only valid justification for making a living out of homelessness research.
Older People and the Health–Social Care Boundary in the UK: Half a Century of Hidden Policy Conﬂict
Authors: Lewis Jane
Published: March 2003

The boundary between health and social care services has been an important focus of both social research and policy reform in many western and northern European countries. In the UK there is a history of particularly sharp divisions between the centrally funded NHS and locally run social services. A consequence for older people, especially those with less acute or “intermediate” needs, is that they may be rationed out, ignored, or treated inappropriately on either side of the boundary. This paper seeks to go beyond explanations in terms of financial, administrative and professional divisions by using now‐available public records to show how the boundary between health and social care was set in stone in the immediate postwar years and resulted in a constant battle between the two services over the needs they would meet. The first part of the paper examines a largely hidden history of health and social care policy. The second part examines the new NHS Plan and the extent to which it is likely to resolve the problem of the boundary.
Understanding the Relationship between Income and Health: How Much Can be Gleaned from Cross‐sectional Data?
Authors: Benzeval Michaela , Judge Ken , Shouls Sue
Published: March 2003

The aim of this paper is to develop a better understanding of the relationship between income and health using a cross‐sectional survey of the general British population. It is divided into two parts. First, it examines a number of methodological inconsistencies in the existing literature and assesses their consequences for the inferences that can be drawn about the income–health association. These issues include: the measurement of income and its functional form; health selection; and the role of confounders. Second, it explores the relative strength of the income–health association in contrast to that of other socioeconomic measures. The relationship between income and health is complex. However, having taken into account a range of methodological problems, income is still significantly associated with health. The association appears to be non‐linear and is attenuated but not removed by controlling for health selection effects. The inclusion of a wide range of confounders into models of income and health reduces the association between them, but does not make it insignificant. In comparison to other socioeconomic measures, income appears to be a better discriminator of health status than education or occupation. However, tenure and car ownership seem to be at least as good if not better than current income.
Turkey and the European Union: Modernizing a Traditional State?
Authors: Sozen Süleyman , Shaw Ian
Published: March 2003

This paper discusses the difficulties encountered when reforms are attempted to the administration of public policy in Turkey. This discussion is timely, since Turkey has recently stepped up its modernization agenda in its drive to gain membership of the European Union. The paper briefly examines the political and administrative structure of Turkey before discussing the influence of the EU on the country's modernization agenda.
Memories of Nazi‐Fascist Massacres in Two Central Italian Villages
Authors: Cappelletto Francesca
Published: March 2003

This paper analyses accounts of Nazi massacres in two rural communities in central Italy, with the aim of examining what memory of the event has survived fifty years later. Interview data were collected in villages which had the same land‐tenure system (Mezzadria) until the 1960s, but which were characterized by a different system of socio‐economic stratification. The hypothesis developed here is that the patterning of memory has to be related to different social, occupational and residential identities of the groups concerned with the events. The narratives of survivors are compared in order to discern the different viewpoints which produced a veritable ‘divided’ memory of the massacre.
Gender Segregation at Vocational Schools – Women Farm Apprentices’ Dilemma
Authors: Schmitt Mathilde
Published: March 2003

Apprenticeship and the process of entry into a professional farming career are very impressing times. They shape the professional self‐confidence of farmers, and also influence their futures. Even if women farm apprentices succeed in technical and economic subjects at the vocational school, they still have to face many social problems. This paper argues that, according to the experiences of the women farm apprentices, the institutions limit rather than support their empowerment and integration. Vocational schools’ representatives are not prepared seriously to discuss current social developments in agriculture. Biographical interviews and a group discussion with women farmers from all over Western Germany who completed an apprenticeship illustrate this argument. It is clear that if vocational schools want to attract young people in the future, gender relationships in the farming world must become a central topic for discussion.
Women on South African Farms: Empowerment Across or Along Race and Class Divisions?
Authors: Kritzinger Andrienetta , Vorster Jan
Published: March 2003

This paper explores the role being played by two prominent women groupings in empowering farm women on South African fruit and wine farms. By focusing their efforts on farm wives and women farm workers, the Cape Women’s Forum has embarked on a process of empowering farm women across race and class divisions. This approach contrasts with that of the other group – the Women on Farms Project – in that the latter facilitates the empowerment of women farm workers only. The paper examines the activities of two groups, analyses the underlying assumptions regarding women’s shared interests guiding these divergent approaches from a feminist perspective, and identifies factors which could constrain women’s empowerment. Information on these groups was obtained by in‐depth interviews and analysis of written documents. It is suggested that liberal and socialist/Marxist feminist paradigms are particularly useful when interpreting the empowerment strategies employed by these two women’s groups. The paper concludes that, although these groups are making significant inroads into the empowerment of farm women, developments within the South African agricultural sector and the politics of international sponsorship may impede empowerment efforts in future.
Tradition and Innovation in Coastal Finland: The Transformation of the Archipelago Sea Region
Authors: Andersson Kjell , Eklund Erland
Published: March 2003

This paper deals with the demographic and socio‐economic development in the Archipelago Sea Region in southwestern Finland in recent decades. The most important finding is that the region has fared rather well during recent decades, even during the first half of the 1990s, when the rest of Finland was hit by a severe economic crisis. Two factors seem to have influenced the relatively favourable development in the archipelago. On the one hand, the region has specific cultural, social and economic traditions that have enabled it to adapt to new challenges; and on the other hand, certain welfare, regional and other policies seem to have favoured the region to some extent. A general conclusion from the study is that there is a need for a broader theory of rural development than those theories currently being used. The most important feature of such a theory would be its use in providing general interpretations of regional development, even if each region has completely different economic foundations and its own development logic.
Rural Wales and Rural Scotland: Review Essay
Authors: Errington Andrew
Published: March 2003

Books reviewed in this article:

Cloke, P., M. Goodwin and P. Milbourne, Rural Wales: community and marginalization

Shucksmith, M., P. Chapman and G.M. Clark, Rural Scotland today
“We make our own fun”: Reading the politics of youth with(in) community
Authors: Panelli Ruth , Nairn Karen , McCormack Jaleh
Published: March 2003

Drawing on recent research that has highlighted both the heterogeneity and agency of youth, this paper reports on how young people experience and negotiate social relations and everyday spaces in a rural community. Taking a case from New Zealand, we consider the sites, activities and social negotiations young people encounter when considering their experiences of ‘community’. These experiences include engagements with the social relations and spaces where young people feel marginalized and/or (sometimes simultaneously) included. We then argue that a ‘politics of youth’ can be read through the strategies young people select while engaging in social relations and activities within ‘community’. We identify three different strategies to illustrate how young people engage with everyday spaces; make their ; and actively negotiate their diverse positions and experiences of ‘community’.
Changing the Map: Health in Britain 1951–91
Authors: Shaw Mary , Dorling Danny , Brimblecombe Nic
Published: March 2003

It is accepted that within Britain there are persistent and growing inequalities in mortality between groups of people as defined by their social class. This paper shows that similar persistent and growing inequalities prevail between groups of people defined by district of residence. Although there is some confusion between these two ways of grouping people – there is a slight tendency for people of the same class to live in the same district.

This paper reviews the geographical literature which may shed light on why inequalities in mortality are widening between districts in Britain. We present new data for a set of 293 unchanging districts by amalgamating published reports from the 1950s, 60s and 70s with individual postcoded mortality records from the 1980s and 90s, aggregated to the 293 districts using a Geographic Information System and Census data from 1971, 1981 and 1991 (including estimates of the residence of the ‘missing million’). We find that a growing proportion of premature deaths in Britain can be attributed to some aspect of rising spatial inequalities. Changing geographical inequalities in health are not simply a passive reflection of social inequalities. To begin to investigate them, however, we first need to measure them properly.
Daily and lifecourse contexts of smoking
Authors: Laurier Eric , McKie Linda , Goodwin Norma
Published: March 2003

Smoking remains a key topic of research and debate within the field of health research in the social sciences. This article seeks to add the dimension of the smokers’ and ex‐smokers’ perspectives to the debate in order to ground the importance of smoking in people’s everyday lives. Data are drawn from 54 semi‐structured interviews with smokers and ex‐smokers involved in a study of their experiences and understandings of the place of smoking in their daily and long‐term biographies. The rich accounts given by the respondents are interpreted through Van Gennep’s (1960) notions of rituals and rites of passage. By examining the contexts within which the practice of smoking and the rite of giving up occur, a sense of the effort required to break ‘the habit’ is given, which adds much to more physiologically‐based explanations of the difficulties of smoking cessation.
Civil commitment due to mental illness and dangerousness: the union of law and psychiatry within a treatment‐control system
Authors: Dallaire Bernadette , McCubbin Michael , Morin Paul , Cohen David
Published: March 2003

This article discusses the use of ‘dangerousness’ as a legal criterion for civil commitment. The notion of dangerousness is defined within the perspective of the relationship between judicial and medical‐psychiatric institutions. By reviewing empirical evidence concerning the possibility of a link between mental illness and dangerousness, we critically evaluate the main postulate supporting the inclusion of this notion in the civil laws. We then examine empirical studies of psychiatric expertise in dangerousness assessment and risk prediction. By using observational studies of civil commitment proceedings, we examine how the legal criterion of danger to self or others is actually operationalised into a series of heuristic criteria. These criteria are teleological statements: if being mentally ill and being dangerous are, in this context, interchangeable, so are the finalities of treating and controlling. We conclude that, at the psychiatry‐justice interface exemplified by civil commitment, treatment and control have been equated conceptually and in practice, even if the written law clearly distinguishes the concepts. With respect to civil commitment, the institutions of mental health and justice are not, as usually depicted in sociological analysis, two different systems that meet and compete at this junction. Rather, they join together – becoming, in effect, one actor – within a treatment‐control system which has as its function and aim to ‘take care of’ residual cases viewed as problematic for society.
Contemporary legends, rumours and collective behaviour: some neglected resources for medical sociology?
Authors: Dingwall Robert
Published: March 2003

This paper demonstrates the potential interest for the sociological understanding of medicine and health as social institutions of the qualitative study of collective behaviour. It takes, as a case study, the transformation of a widely‐circulating contemporary legend, ‘The Missing Kidney’ into a rumour in Nottingham, and elsewhere in the United Kingdom, in 1992. Possible methodological approaches and interpretations are considered, making particular use of the work of the French sociologist, Edgar Morin, and the ‘mass society’ tradition of social theory. It is argued that neither provides an adequate understanding of the phenomenon and that medical sociologists should look to the Chicago tradition of work on collective behaviour, represented by Park and Blumer for inspiration. Using this, it is suggested that the Missing Kidney offers useful insights into lay thinking about professional work and its strategies for the informal social control of medicine.
Prescribing and the defence of clinical autonomy
Authors: Britten Nicky
Published: March 2003

The medical profession has an almost exclusive right to prescribe medicines, but this right is being challenged by the State, patients and other health care professionals. It is argued that, in British general practice, prescribing is a battleground on which the cause of clinical autonomy is defended. It represents a particular context for assessing the theories of proletarianisation and deprofessionalisation. The historical conflicts between the State and the medical profession, and the threat posed by ‘patient demand’, are both reflected in the regulations governing prescribing and the medicolegal status of medicines. Clinical freedom is under threat from the State and peer group pressure in the form of clinical governance, while at the same time doctors’ jurisdiction over medicines is being reduced by the deregulation of prescription‐only medicines. These changes, however, do not yet support the thesis of proletarianisation as the medical profession continues to dominate the clinical agenda and the responsibilities of other health care workers. Neither does the concept of patient demand support the thesis of deprofessionalisation, as it is unsupported by the research evidence. Doctors cite patients’ inappropriate demands as problematic, but do not give patients the information about their medicines that they both want and need. Patients’ resistance tends to take the form of ‘non compliance’. In fighting two adversaries, patients’ expectations (‘clinical need’) are cited in support of professional claims, while in other contexts ‘patient demand’ is seen as a threat to clinical autonomy.
Governmentality and risk: setting priorities in the new NHS
Authors: Joyce Paul
Published: March 2003

The aim of this paper is to explore priority setting issues in the British National Health Service (NHS). It focuses on the changing way in which rationing issues are managed by a sample of English health authorities in the wake of Health Service reforms and the separation of function between purchasing and providing health care. The paper employs the conceptual framework of ‘governmentality’, associated with the French social theorist Michel Foucault, to analyse this aspect of contemporary British health policy. Governmentality analysis situates social and economic change as reflecting shifts in the ‘mentality’ of government. The consequence of this new articulation is that the concepts of priority setting and rationing become embedded as dominant discourses and emergent practices within health policy. Equally important is the way in which the perceived shift in the formula of governance also results in a different conceptualisation of the subject of health governance based on the management of individual risk.
The cause of death vs. the gift of life: boundary maintenance and the politics of expertise in death investigation
Authors: Timmermans Stefan
Published: March 2003

In late modernity, conflicts about professional jurisdiction have gained in intensity because the emergence of new technologies can drastically alter the grounds for expertise. In the United States, medical examiners have the legal mandate to investigate and certify suspicious deaths, straddling the disparate worlds of public health and criminal justice. Over the last decade, procurement organisations fuelled by advances in immunology and surgical techniques have challenged medical examiners’ jurisdiction, requesting access to the corpse for organ and tissue transplantation purposes. Building further on Andrew Abbott'sThe System of Professions(1988), this article investigates jurisdictional relationships between professions when an emerging profession makes inroads on the jurisdiction of an established profession. Taking the vantage point of the established profession, I have distinguished three different conflictual jurisdictional relationships: a subordinated, a standardised and a commodified jurisdictional relationship. These relationships will be evaluated for the extent that they are able to preserve the mission of death investigators.
Transforming general practice: the redistribution of medical work in primary care
Authors: Charles‐Jones Huw , Latimer Joanna , May Carl
Published: March 2003

The paper focuses on the redistribution of medical work within primary health care teams. It reports the results of the analysis of interviews with general practitioners, practice nurses and managers, undertaken as part of an ethnographic study of primary care organisation and practice during a period of rapid organisational change. By examining the ways in which the respondents account for how work is being redefined and redistributed, we explore how current government policy and professional discourses combine to reconfigure both the identities of those who work in primary care and the nature of patienthood. In particular, we show how general practitioners are being reconfigured as medical specialists or consultants in ways that seem to depart radically from earlier claims that general practice is a distinctive field of social or biographical medicine. Within this new discourse medical work is distributed between doctors, nurses and unqualified staff in ways which make explicit the reduction of general practice work to sets of biomedical problems or tasks. At the same time, the devolution of much general practice work to less qualified and cheaper personnel is justified by drawing on a discourse of person‐centred medicine.
A central limit theorem for sums of correlated products
Authors: Hooghiemstra G. , Keane M.
Published: March 2003

Consider a sequence of random points placed on the nonnegative integers with i.i.d. geometric (1/2) interpoint spacings yi. Let xi denote the numbers of points placed at integer i. We prove a central limit theorem for the partial sums of the sequence x0y0,x1y1, . . . The problem is connected with a question concerning different bootstrap procedures.
The M/M\1 queue in a heavy‐tailed random environment
Authors: Boxma O. J. , Kurkova I. A.
Published: March 2003

We consider an M/M/1 queue with the special feature that the speed of the server alternates between two constant values sL and sH>sL. The high‐speed periods are exponentially distributed, and the low‐speed periods have a regularly varying distribution. We obtain explicit asymptotics for the tail of the workload distribution. The two cases in which the offered traffic load is smaller respectively larger than the low service speed are shown to result in completely different asymptotics.
On the Interaction Between Raising and Focus in Sentential Complementation
Authors: Rooryck Johan
Published: March 2003

Raising‐to‐subject (SpectAGRSP) verbs such as seem and so‐called ECM or raising‐to‐object (SpecAGROP) verbs such as believe display a semantic alternation that can be captured in the same way as in Freeze's (1993) and Kayne's (1994) analysis of have and be. With respect to the syntax of the sentential complement of these verbs, it is shown that analyses of raising and ECM in terms of a ‘reduced’ sentential complement are theoretically and empirically untenable. An analysis of raising is developed which requires two steps: in the embedded CP complement of seem/believe, AGRSP first moves to SpecCP before the subject in the embedded SpecAGRSP moves to the matrix SpecAGRS/OP (seem/believe) position. The first step is motivated as Focus‐movement, and allows for an explanation of the relation of seem type verbs to verbs of comparison in many languages. The presence of [+Focus] C° in the sentential complement of seem/believe also accounts for Focus‐related restrictions on the subject of the embedded complement of believe type verbs, which were observed by Postal (1974) for a subset of English ECM verbs (his DOC‐verbs) and by Kayne (1981) and Pollock (1985) for French ECM verbs.