bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Problems of Artisanal Marine Fishermen in Ghana: The Way Ahead
Authors: Mensah John Victor , Antwi Barima Kwabina
Published: March 2003

Marine fishing is an important traditional economic activity of the coastal communities in Ghana and contributes over 80 per cent of the total fish catch. The traditional sector accounts for over 75 per cent of the marine catch. The small‐scale artisanal marine fishing communities, which contribute less than 30 per cent of the traditional sector landings, are generally characterised by low levels of production and, hence, low incomes, poor living conditions and chronic indebtedness. Based on field data on artisanal fishing communities in the Ahanta West and Gomoa districts, this paper summarises the chronic problems of artisanal fishermen that perpetuate their precarious existence in the coastal environment. Overcoming the problems of these increasingly marginalised and migrant communities calls for the provision of supplementary employment opportunities, improved social services and the formation of solidarity groups to enhance access to micro credit. These would require technical and management training as well as support services from government and non‐governmental organisations (NGOs).
Friendship and Gender Differences in Task and Social Interpretations of Peer Collaborative Problem Solving
Authors: Strough JoNell , Berg Cynthia A. , Meegan Sean P.
Published: March 2003

Investigations of peer collaboration often vary task or social aspects of collaborative contexts and assume that these aspects of the context are experienced similarly by individuals. The present study examined how social aspects (group friendship and gender) of a peer collaborative context related to differences in adolescents’ interpretations of task and social problems that occurred while collaborating with peers in a naturalistic classroom setting. Eighth‐grade adolescents (N = 82, 44 females) worked with peers on a six‐week Spanish project at school. Adolescents chose to work primarily with same‐gender peers and friends. Task and social interpretations of problems were assessed twice. The salience of task problems decreased over time; social problems became somewhat more salient. Social problems were less salient to females than to males. Greater group friendship was associated with the lesser salience of task problems early in the project. The salience of social problems, gender, and friendship were important for understanding performance on the project. The value of considering the context of peer collaborative problem solving from individuals’ perspectives is discussed.
Links between Social Understanding and Early Word Learning: Challenges to Current Accounts
Authors: Baldwin Dare A. , Moses Louis J.
Published: March 2003

If young children approached word learning with little social savvy, certain predictable patterns of error would arise in the way they interpret new words. The absence of such errors provides evidence that social understanding informs word learning even in the infancy period. We outline such evidence, and then scrutinize it with respect to four challenges. 1) Is it necessary to invoke genuine social understanding to explain infants’ word‐learning successes? 2) Do infants treat social clues as criterial in their interpretation of new words? 3) Individuals suffering clear deficits in social understanding sometimes display apparently intact vocabulary acquisition: Must we then conclude that word learning can proceed without the aid of social understanding? 4) Is processing of social clues too effortful to be generally useful for everyday word learning? The first challenge is answered by the available evidence: Infants indeed capitalize on social understanding to interpret new words. Although the remaining challenges have yet to be resolved, we offer speculations that might profitably guide future investigation.
Mutual Contributions of Individuals, Partners, and Institutions: Planning to Remember in Girl Scout Cookie Sales
Authors: Rogoff Barbara , Topping Karen , Baker‐Sennett Jacquelyn , Lacasa Pilar
Published: March 2003

This paper argues that planning entails distributed, mutual contributions of individuals, their social partners, and their community institutions. We suggest that these mutually involved contributions can be viewed through shifts in focus of analysis, contrasting with analyses of cognitive development that treat individuals as though they exist apart from their social and cultural worlds.

We illustrate this argument with a study examining the distributed nature of planning to remember in a complex everyday task. We investigated the personal, interpersonal, and institutional cognitive contributions of 16 Girl Scouts, their mothers and customers and other companions, and institutions (the national organization and the cookie company) in keeping track of deliveries and planning collection of money in Girl Scout cookie sales and deliveries. The article also discusses an analytic methodology (Functional Pattern Analysis) for abstracting findings from the details of rich ethnographic data.

Individual scouts, their mothers, customers, and the scouting organization and cookie company all played significant roles in keeping track of progress. In particular, tools and supports provided by the cookie company played a key role in organizing the cognitive tasks, and the scouts collaborated in planning with other people (usually their mothers and customers). Our findings illustrate the importance of examining contributions beyond those of the individual, while still recognizing the active roles of individuals in thinking. We argue that conceiving of individual, interpersonal, and institutional/cultural contributions as mutually constituting aspects of cognitive activities supports this aim beyond the usual focus on separate individual and ‘external’ factors.
The Nature and Effects of Young Children's Lies
Authors: Wilson Anne E. , Smith Melissa D. , Ross Hildy S.
Published: March 2003

Children's use of deception in a naturalistic setting was observed longitudinally in 40 families when children were 2 and 4 years old, and again two years later. Goals included describing children's lying behavior and parents’ reactions to lies, and comparing lies to other false statements. Lies were commonly told to avoid responsibility for transgressions, to falsely accuse siblings, and to gain control over another's behavior. Unlike children's other false statements (e.g., mistakes, pretense), lies were distinctly self‐serving. Parents rarely addressed the act of lying itself but often challenged the veracity of lies or addressed the underlying transgression. Older siblings lied more often than younger ones, and parents who allowed older siblings to lie at Time 1 had children who lied more often at Time 2. Results are considered from a speech‐act perspective and in terms of children's developing understanding of mental states.
Integration and Inclusion: Illusion or Progress in Services for Disabled People?
Authors: Northway Ruth
Published: March 2003

This paper analyses the meanings of “integration” and “inclusion” in the context of disability services to determine the extent to which the latter signals a change in perspective rather than simply a change in terminology. It is argued that integration implies that disabled people need to be integrated into “mainstream” society and that it is they rather than society which is required to change. The policy response which results from this approach may thus be a technical one which focuses on physical integration alone. In contrast, inclusion takes as its starting‐point the fact that a just state of affairs is one in which disabled people are included in society and hence the required policy response is a broad one which includes comprehensive civil rights legislation, an analysis of the effects of present and future policy on disabled people and the participation of disabled people in the democratic decision‐making process. However, as disabled people are currently excluded from many aspects of society, the potential for an inclusive approach to be dismissed as being too idealistic is noted, and a number of possible barriers to its realization are discussed. It is concluded that whilst such barriers exist they should not, in themselves, provide a reason for inaction as an understanding of the implications of inclusion for policy and practice can provide a useful starting‐point from which to bring about change.
The Transferability of Welfare Models: A Comparison of the Scandinavian and State Socialist Models in Relation to Finland and Estonia
Authors: Manning Nick , Shaw Ian
Published: March 2003

In this paper, two examples of the close relationship between a national social welfare system, and explicit transnational influences are discussed. Both the state socialist and Scandinavian models have a recognized structure independent of the particular countries in which they have been implemented, although they are both associated with a home base, Russia and Sweden respectively. Our examples, Estonia and Finland, faced both common and specific national problems following 1991, which led to rapid change in each country’s economic situation and pressure on their respective welfare systems. There were elements of continuity and discontinuity with the main tenets of their respective welfare models, and both structural factors and cultural diffusion will be explored to understand the origin of these changes. The paper could be seen as a case study of welfare changes in the "borderlands" where "old empires meet". The countries were chosen because they are peripheral to what were rival spheres of influence and because they see themselves as having much in common. We also expect changes to occur more rapidly in peripheral areas.
Transformation: Canadian Social Policy Since 1985
Authors: Battle Ken
Published: March 2003

This paper sets out to document and explain the major structural changes which have taken place in Canada’s social security system since the mid‐1980s. Most major programs have been cut back one way or another, in response to a combination of pressures. Foremost amongst these has been the commitment to reduce federal and provincial government deficits. In addition there have been the consequences of high unemployment and increasing job insecurity, demographic and social changes, and "tax fatigue" on the part of the public. The paper documents major recent changes of social policy both in general—with regard to the changed approach evident at federal level and its effect on social transfers to the provinces—and in respect of key programs, including unemployment/employment insurance, old age pensions/the Canada Pension Plan, and child benefits. The paper next identifies "currents and undercurrents" common to all of the developments commented on: the decline of universality, the practice of "social policy‐making by stealth", the evidence of the contemporary Canadian public’s "collective ambivalence and loss of memory" in respect of the major, historic social programs. It concludes by urging the case for social reinvestment in genuinely sustainable social policy, in the currently more favourable fiscal climate.
Social Security in Australia and New Zealand: Means‐tested or Just Mean?
Authors: Saunders Peter
Published: March 2003

The social security systems of Australia and New Zealand have traditionally rejected social insurance in favour of a means‐tested categorical safety net approach that provides considerable scope for targeting. The experience of both countries provides many examples of how targeting can be used to constrain social security spending, and these have attracted interest in other countries keen to contain the growth in their social security budgets. However, although there are many similarities between the two systems, there are also many differences and these have become greater as targeting has gathered momentum over the last two decades. This paper analyses how targeting has been used in each country as a way of illustrating the different approaches adopted. Attention is focused on how the retirement income systems of the two countries illustrate an increasing policy divergence, with the planned Australian transition to a “multi‐pillar” approach in contrast to the constant (and continuing) reform of New Zealand superannuation. Household data on the pattern of receipt of transfer incomes and their impact on the distribution of income are then used to explore the impact of targeting since the early 1980s. This analysis suggests that, in practice, targeting has had a far smaller impact on income inequality in both countries than is often claimed.
Targeting Social Expenditure in New Zealand: An Evaluation of the Current Policy Regime
Authors: Boston Jonathan
Published: March 2003

This paper provides a brief account of how social expenditure in New Zealand has been targeted (i.e. means‐tested) since the late nineteenth century, outlines the policy framework at the dawn of the new millennium, and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the current targeting regime. It is argued that the existing policy settings are open to challenge on a number of counts. In particular, they are complex, inconsistent and relatively intrusive, they impose significant administrative and compliance costs, and they generate considerable incentive problems. Nor has the greater reliance on targeting since the mid‐1980s prevented an increase in relative poverty and inequality. Given this situation, the paper outlines some possible reforms.
Continuing to Pay: the Consequences for Family Caregivers of an Older Person’s Admission to a Care Home
Authors: Wright Fay
Published: March 2003

This paper aims to discuss the reasons why caregiving in the community had ended for a sample of dependent older people, two‐thirds of whom had dementia. Comparisons are made between the situation of a spouse caring for a partner and a daughter or son caring for a parent in a separate household. Spouses in the study had often sustained a greater burden before caregiving collapsedthan had daughters or sons. They were less likely, however, to have had support from the home care service. When caregiving in the community ended and the dependent older person entered a care home, family caregivers themselves often had a financial price to pay. Currently spouses have a legalliability to contribute to a partner’s care costs. The implementation of this liability depended on individual local authority policies and the views of the individual social worker doing the financial assessment. Because of the UK’s means‐testing rules, daughters and sons were often penalizedbecause a parent’s assets that they might have inherited had to be used to meet the care home costs. Resentment at being disinherited was related to the daughter’s or son’s family situation. Those with children or grandchildren themselves were far more likely to be angry than those without children.
Private Residential Care for Older Persons: Local Impacts of Care in the Community Reforms in England and Wales
Authors: Andrews Gavin J. , Phillips David R.
Published: March 2003

The 1990 National Health Service and Care in the Community Act, implemented in 1993, had as a prime objective the creation of social care markets. Prior to these reforms, private residential homes had enjoyed almost guaranteed state financial support for the care of residents, but since then, residential homes have had to compete amongst each other for a finite number of clientsfunded by limited local budgets. The withdrawal of guaranteed state support and the introduction of a marketplace have had negative impacts on many residential home businesses. Indeed, many homes are facing financial difficulties. This paper considers the actions and attitudes of proprietors under the new conditions, based on a three‐stage survey in Devon. The private residential sector illustrates that local social care markets have the potential to produce negative outcomes that are far from ideal and, to some extent, the paper highlights a market failure. As a case study this research also demonstrates the value of undertaking locality‐based detailed studies over time to investigatethe impacts of policy change.
Multiple Scripts and Contested Discourse in Disseminating Research Findings
Authors: Hundt Gillian Lewando
Published: March 2003

Disseminating research findings locally, nationally and internationally is complicated and sensitive. International teams of researchers have to navigate and wind their way through multiple agendas, scripts and discourses. This leads to contested discourses concerning the meaning and relevance of findings, often expressed through disputes over the use of language. There is a need to consider local, national and international sensitivities, structures, policies and ideologies and to negotiate a shared awareness and understanding of these differences. The case study presented here is drawn from an international collaborative research project in the area of maternal, reproductive and child health in the Middle East. Issues of difference arose in relation to the nature of the research, the significance of the findings, the terminology to be used when referring to the groups of people being studied or when presenting data. The importance of the political and social context of the research and research teams was as relevant as the research design, data collection and findings.
How Social is Social Policy? Fiscal and Market Discourse in North American Welfare States
Authors: Prince Michael J.
Published: March 2003

Long regarded as a ‘laggard’ among welfare states in advanced industrial countries, the USA may be emerging as a ‘leader’ in the reformation of social programmes and the relationship between government, the market economy, and civil society. The dissemination and impact of this new orthodoxy is realized, in large part, through discursive practices. Fiscalization and marketization are two processes central to this growing influence of American social policy. Fiscal and market discourse, while not new, have increased in acceptance and influence, and are changing the welfare state from within by altering perceptions of issues, vocabularies used and programme reforms adopted.
“Bridging the Gap”: New Relationships between Primary Care Groups and Local Authorities
Authors: Glendinning Caroline , Abbott Stephen , Coleman Anna
Published: March 2003

Current policy places great emphasis on the development of “partnerships”, particularly between NHS and local authority services, with the aims of increasing service coordination and delivery and improving health. To this end, primary care groups (PCGs), at the forefront of NHS organizational developments, are required to include a social services representative on their governing boards; similarly, primary care trusts (PCTs) have a social services representative on their executive committees. Drawing on a representative longitudinal national survey of English PCGs, the paper evaluates the contribution of these new governance arrangements to the development of inter‐agency partnerships. Despite poor histories of collaboration and some major organizational barriers, there are some signs of progress, with social services representatives playing an active part in PCG affairs and having clear lines of communication about PCG matters with their employing authorities. Equally significantly, PCGs have also quickly established a wide range of contacts directly with other local authority services and departments. However, these early gains risk being limited by traditional professional inequalities between social work and medicine and, in particular, by the prospect of further organizational upheaval as PCGs merge with each other and/or acquire trust status.
Making Welfare for Future Generations
Authors: Fitzpatrick Tony
Published: March 2003

This article attempts to construct a new temporal framework for social policy. It draws upon a theory of intergenerational justice that has been elaborated by the author elsewhere and uses that theory to elaborate upon the principles of “sustainable justice”. The article addresses some of the diffcult philosophical dilemmas that those principles generate and argues that reconciling the interests of present and future generations of the least well‐off requires the design of a new property regime. An ecosocial regime is defned and discussed, especially in terms of substitutable goods. The article concludes by debating the prescriptive implications of the above for social policy and future welfare reform.
Creating a Public Space for Women in US Agriculture: Empowerment, Organization and Social Change
Authors: Wells Betty L.
Published: March 2003

This paper situates women in the public space of US agriculture by chronicling the development of the Women Food and Agriculture Network (WFAN). WFAN has grown from concern about systemic problems in agriculture; the dissonance between agricultural policy and women’s knowledge and experiences; a desire to give voice to women on issues of food, agriculture, community and natural systems; and the belief in women’s capacity to engage in a strategic and embodied agricultural politics. WFAN’s emergence reflects the often inhospitable terrain and organizational challenges for women in agriculture. The author, as participant observer, constructs a partial, second‐order interpretation of WFAN as a potential social movement organization (SMO). She evokes the notion of direct theory, suggesting that WFAN theorizes about social change through practice, that member‐theorists and member‐activists contribute to social knowledge. WFAN’s formative structures, processes and practices are shown to parallel those of SMOs, associations of persons challenging dominant social constructions of what is realistic, reasonable, and ethical.
Breaking into a Masculine Discourse. Women and Farm Forestry
Authors: Brandth Berit , Haugen Marit S.
Published: March 2003

This paper studies the gendering processes of farm forestry by means of discourse analysis. Forestry has traditionally been one of the most masculine rural activities. In spite of a relatively large number of women forest owners, women have only been active in this industry to a limited extent, and made little impact on the masculine culture of forestry. Looking at the main sites of discourse in the magazine of the forest owners, women are absent at the most influential site: organization and management. At the site of practical forestry work, women are sometimes represented, but as tokens in a man’s world. The only site in which women can be seen to obtain a position is that of expert work and knowledge, but this is not a change originating from forestry itself.
‘Back to Nature’: Changing ‘Worlds of Production’ in the Food Sector
Authors: Murdoch Jonathan , Miele Mara
Published: March 2003

Analysis of the contemporary food system has shown a progressive displacement of ‘natural’ processes in favour of those characterized as ‘industrial.’ Thus, an instrumentalized form of nature has come to prevail within the food sector. And yet, the contemporary literature on the processes of globalization and standardization in the food system has underestimated the reassertion of more ‘natural’ products in alternative food circuits. In this paper we seek to combine understandings of the conventional food sector with analysis of alternative circuits so that we can show how different ‘worlds of production’ come together in the sphere of food production. Utilizing two case studies from Italy, we indicate that the main trajectory of development in the food sector is not towards globalized and standardized production but is towards a fragmentation of production processes in which different trends can be seen to co‐exist. The status of ‘nature’ differs according to the particular productive world that dominates. However, we indicate that a growing concern for the natural component of food is driving some of the most significant changes currently running through the food sector.
Towards a Meta‐Framework of Endogenous Development: Repertoires, Paths, Democracy and Rights
Authors: Ray Christopher
Published: March 2003

Although interest in endogenous (integrated, participative, bottom‐up) rural development by policy makers, practitioners and academics continues to grow, the term suffers from an incomplete conceptualization. This prescriptive essay proposes a meta‐framework in which to conceptualize the nature of endogenous development in the contemporary, contexts of globalization and Europeanization. The framework is built around three main components. Territorial repertoires and development paths encapsulate the nature of ownership and choice in the exploitation of resources. This derives from a more sophisticated understanding of territorial agency. A repertoire functions dynamically as a mediator between the local territory and the extralocal level and so the component rights focuses attention onto this flexible interface, through the support potentially available from extralocal regulation and through a raising of consciousness within the local territory. Rights, by energizing a cultural and political dynamic, allow for a discourse on alternative paths of development to be pursued, which is itself operationalized through any or all of the three modes of democracy.
leader and partnerships: the case of Italy
Authors: Osti Giorgio
Published: March 2003

This paper focuses on the Local Action Group as a partnership and considers how such entities fit within the Polanyian triadic model of social order. The rhetoric of leader and endogenous development would suggest that lags are a manifestation of the principle of reciprocal relationships. Osti concludes, however, that although there is a shift away from the hierarchical principle, the direction of change is, in fact, towards quasi‐markets. In these markets, territories are provided with an enhanced capacity as strategic agents but are also susceptible to control by local/regional economic and political interests. His theoretical ideas are grounded in a study of leader in Italy.
Leader in Germany and the Discourse of Autonomous Regional Development
Authors: Bruckmeier Karl
Published: March 2003

The leader programme in Germany has built on the ideas and approaches of independent rural initiatives that have crystallized in a rural movement for autonomous regional development. Since the mid‐1980s,ideas such as these have found resonance in regional development programmes in some West German federal states.The implementation of leader projects in West Germany can be characterized by the institutionalization and neutralization of the approaches of the independent movements. Leader's catalytic role has not yet taken place to the same extent in East Germany where, after the unification in 1990,a rapid growth of local and regional development projects has been observed. Although leader has only adopted these in part, one can still project that official, institutional project sponsorship seems inevitably to undermine the innovative, independent and critical character of these rural development initiatives. The critical factors for the assessment of leader projects are the criteria of innovation and participation that play a central role in the community initiative. It can be concluded that the criteria of innovation are insufficient to direct the innovation process in a direction of sustainable rural development.
Integrating Agri‐Environment Policy, Farming Systems and Rural Development: Tir Cymen in Wales
Authors: Banks Jo , Marsden Terry
Published: March 2003

This paper examines a conservation scheme in Wales called Tir Cymen (tidy land in Welsh) as a means of exploring the extent to which policies designed primarily to support habitat, landscape, biodiversity and conservation are commensurate with goals to maintain viable rural communities,including viable agricultures. Maximizing the broader rural development impacts of conservation schemes, it is argued, is a vital ingredient in the pursuit of sustain‐able rural development, particularly in regions where many farm businesses are likely to be already highly dependent upon subsidy support. It is argued, through the presentation of the Tir Cymen case, that conservation policies can,if appropriately designed and regionally embedded, go some way to mitigating both the ‘farm problem’ and the ‘rural problem’, and are therefore capable of a sustainable and desirable rural development impact commensurate with the new rural development paradigm.
Of tractors and men: masculinity, technology and power in a French farming community
Authors: Saugeres Lise
Published: March 2003

This paper explores cultural constructions of masculinities and femininities among farming families in a French community. In particular, it shows how, with the development of agricultural technology, the tractor has become a symbol of male power and spatial domination over women. Drawing on life–history interviews and ethnographic observations, it is argued that farmers have appropriated agricultural technology and used it to construct and reaffirm their masculine identities. As a result of this appropriation,women’s work in agricultural production has become limited to carrying out menial tasks which are seen as secondary to farming.Focusing on narratives revolving around men, women and tractors, the paper shows that the tractor,as a symbol of male domination,is directly opposed to images of femininity. However, it is argued that the tractor can also become the expression of struggle and contention over masculine power and patriarchal gender relations on the farm.
We've been Framed: Visualising Methodology
Authors: Holliday Ruth
Published: March 2003

This paper explores the reasons why video, and other visual representations have been largely ignored in sociology, whilst the possibilities of video as an empirical source have been sidelined by cultural studies. Discussions of methodology have raised doubts about notions such as objectivity and scientific knowledge, and about the power relationships involved in the research and writing processes, and techniques that one might employ in order to avoid such problems have been suggested. Yet the aims of such techniques are misguided if they serve only to further legitimate the ‘truth’ of the research itself. In this context I explore some of the possibilities of visual methods, such as video and photography, whilst also examining some of the ethical issues raised by them. In this respect, the paper explores the notion of a ‘queer methodology’. This approach is indebted to the legacy of its predecessor, feminist methodology, but departs from this in several important ways. I will explore these differences and examine the possibility that a place for the visual within sociology is an inherently queer conception.
Structure and Meaning in Multidisciplinary Teamwork
Authors: Cott Cheryl
Published: March 2003

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between structure and meaning in multidisciplinary long‐term care teams. In‐depth semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 26 staff working on five multidisciplinary teams in the same long‐term care facility in Metropolitan Toronto. Staff in different structural locations have differing meanings of work and teamwork. Direct caregiving nursing staff have simple role‐sets, minimal involvement in team decision‐making and ritualistic orientations towards their work and teamwork.

Multidisciplinary professionals have complex role‐sets, greater involvement in team decision‐making and organic orientations towards their work and teamwork. Supervisory nurses are in a contradictory structural location and shared aspects of both orientations to teamwork. The lack of shared meanings results in alienation from work and teamwork for staff in lower structural positions which, in turn, has considerable implications for team functioning.
Defining the ‘social’: towards an understanding of scientific and medical discourses on the social aspects of the new human genetics
Authors: Cunningham‐Burley Sarah , Kerr Anne
Published: March 2003

The way in which ‘the social’ is treated in discourses about the new human genetics is an important marker of the interests and relative power of the groups it concerns. Scientists and clinicians are powerful players in such discussions and seem to be able to direct attention towards the social implications of genetics, often viewed as beneficial, rather than to the science and technology itself. This can serve to protect their cognitive authority by promoting the benefits of their work and marginalising more critical commentaries. Here, three aspects of some written accounts of the social aspects of genetics are considered: the social use and abuse of genetics; eugenics and genetic determinism; and professional responsibilities and expertise. We consider the dominant and minority discourses within these accounts and reflect on the stances taken by clinical and molecular geneticists and public health specialists. We argue that these discourses create strategic boundaries between science and society which protect scientists’ cognitive authority, but that critical leverage can nevertheless be garnered when these boundaries become blurred. This might be usefully combined with social scientists’ empirical and theoretical analyses of the new human genetics, in order to facilitate more sophisticated and inclusive policy discussions and decisions.
The missing voice of the critically ill: a medical sociologist’s first‐person account
Authors: Rier David
Published: March 2003

Existing sociological studies of critical illness deal mainly with providers and families, but seldom with patients, themselves. Moreover, most of the literature on the patient’s experience involves chronic illness. Based on the author’s experience as an intensive care unit (ICU) patient, this paper demonstrates that certain concerns of the post‐Parsonian literature, such as full disclosure of information to patients and patients’ negotiation and collaboration with physicians, are of minimal relevance for critically ill patients. This paper also discusses the notebook the author used in the ICU to communicate while on a respirator, thus unintentionally leaving a concurrent record of his experience, in a form of ‘inadvertent ethnography’. This allowed him to reconstruct experiences rarely accessible to sociologists. Such notebooks can help us construct accounts of the ICU patient’s experience, and move us towards a sociology of the critically ill patient. Potential topics for this new research area are suggested.
‘It’s a small world’: mental health policy under welfare capitalism since 1945
Authors: Carpenter Mick
Published: March 2003

Much sociological theorising about community care in mental health universalises from Anglo‐American contexts. So do assessments of policy shifts towards deinstitutionalisation, whose tendency towards negativity largely reflects the downsized mental health care systems that have emerged in welfare regimes, strongly influenced by neoliberal political ideology. Drawing on the framework of Esping‐Anderson (1990), the article seeks to theorise from a wider range of welfare regimes, including Sweden and Italy, where political influences on policy provide more support for a degree of optimism. It also seeks to demonstrate in outline the advantages of analysing global influences on mental health policy under welfare capitalism, as key factors shaping policy throughout the whole post‐1945 period.
Guidelines, professionals and the production of objectivity: standardisation and the professionalism of insurance medicine
Authors: Berg Marc , Horstman Klasien , Plass Saskia , Van Heusden Michelle
Published: March 2003

Does the increasing importance of guidelines in health care threaten the professional status of health care professions by reducing their professional autonomy? Or does it increase their position through enhancing their scientific status? In this paper, we focus on this apparent contradiction by studying how Dutch insurance physicians created and used guidelines for the evaluation of labour disability claims. Drawing upon the theoretical repertoire of science and technology studies, we studied the role of the notion of ‘objectivity’ in these developments. A specific redefinition of objectivity played a core role in the active alignment, by the insurance physicians’ profession, of the processes of guideline development and professionalisation. Simultaneously, it is argued, a specific conceptualisation of the position of the client was put to the fore. Guidelines, it seems, can be drawn upon creatively so that rather than embodying a potential constant threat to professional autonomy, they actually enforce it.
The moral dangers of home birth: parents’ perceptions of risks in home birth in Finland
Authors: Viisainen Kirsi
Published: March 2003

This study explored Finnish home‐birth parents’ perceptions of risks in home birth through interviews. It was found that the parents considered three types of risks in their decision‐making: medical risks of pregnancy and birth, iatrogenic risks of medical practice and moral risks of going against medical authoritative knowledge. While the parents’ choice was guided by their image of the hospital as an iatrogenic environment for birth, they did not refuse prenatal examinations but, rather, negotiated the extent of their use to ensure the medical safety of their home‐birth plan. Yet, they often concealed the plan from prenatal care staff in order not to be confronted with being labelled as a ‘risk parent’. It is argued that the authoritative medical definition of childbirth as risky and as requiring hospitalisation contains a moral subtext which defines home birth as risky behaviour, for which the parents can be blamed and stigmatised.
How ‘we’ are different from ‘them’: occupational boundary maintenance in the treatment of musculo‐skeletal problems
Authors: Norris Pauline
Published: March 2003

Strategies of occupational control at the macro‐level have been described by many sociologists. This paper draws on a study of the division of labour in the treatment of musculo‐skeletal problems in New Zealand to look at micro‐level strategies of occupational control. These are rhetorical strategies used by individual practitioners to establish and maintain occupational boundaries. Practitioners used these strategies to distinguish their occupation from others, creating a sense of professional identity and enabling claims to jurisdiction over an area of work. Many of these strategies involved notions of limitation (i.e. other occupations are limited because they do not possess something we do), holism (we are holistic in our approach while others are not), and prevention (we prevent problems by treating the causes, while others treat the symptoms).
Blurring the boundaries: breastfeeding and maternal subjectivity
Authors: Schmied Virginia , Lupton Deborah
Published: March 2003

Contemporary medical and public health discourses represent breastfeeding as vital to infant development and the mother‐infant bond. Little research from a medical or sociological perspective has sought to investigate the qualitative breastfeeding experiences of women. This article draws on a range of feminist perspectives on the body and subjectivity, together with empirical data from a series of interviews with 25 Australian first‐time mothers, to theorise the experience of breastfeeding. These women’s accounts revealed that, although nearly all of them subscribed vehemently to the dominant discourse of ‘breast is best’, the experience of breastfeeding differed markedly among them. Some of the women experienced breastfeeding as a connected, harmonious and intimate relationship between themselves and their baby. For others, however, the breastfeeding relationship between mother and infant was difficult to reconcile with notions of identity that value autonomy, independence and control. We use insights from feminist philosophy on subjectivity and embodiment to explain why the latter response predominated among our interviewees.
Illness and other assaults on self: the relative impact of HIV/AIDS on women’s lives
Authors: Ciambrone Desire´e
Published: March 2003

Based on interviews with 37 women with HIV infection, this paper explores women’s perceptions of HIV/AIDS in relation to other traumatic life events. Employing a biographical disruption framework, this paper demonstrates how women reconstruct the meaning of HIV infection in light of other disruptive life situations. Findings indicate that despite initial disruption, in retrospect, many of the sample women did not consider HIV to be the most devastating event in their lives. Rather, violence, mother‐child separation, and drug use were deemed more disruptive than HIV infection. Several factors, including race, drug use and abuse histories, social support and diagnosis, were central to women’s differential assessment of HIV in relation to other disruptive events. Results are discussed in terms of the practical and theoretical implications of the analysis.
Reporting the dawn of the post‐genomic era: who wants to live forever?
Authors: Smart Andrew
Published: March 2003

On the 26 June 2000 the teams involved in mapping the human genome announced to the world's media that they had completed the ‘first draft’. This paper is a content analysis of UK press coverage of the announcement, particularly of the ethical, legal and social implications (ELSIs) contained therein. Widespread and highly visible coverage of the completion of the Human Genome Project (HGP) was characterised by press ambivalence towards, on the one hand, the optimistic future of post‐genomic medicine and, on the other hand, the pessimistic vision of post‐genomic society. Coverage of the positive medical implications characteristically echoed the exuberance felt by the champions of human genetic research, focusing on longevity and a cure for cancer. Articles on ELSIs either repeated long‐standing concerns about genetic discrimination and the redesign of human life, or introduced more novel topics such as the commercialisation of genetic science, genetic determinism and ‘living forever’. Press reports on the more novel ELSIs addressed the political and economic context of the science, its ‘social value’ and its complexity, issues that have often been lacking in media coverage of human genetics. However, as a contribution to public awareness and policy frameworks surrounding human genetic science, press coverage was deficient in important respects. The HGP's proponents were the press's key source of information about its ELSIs. Journalists addressed only a limited number of ELSIs, focusing on issues that were ‘manageable’ by regulation or legislation rather than concerns such as risk, clinical utility or opportunity costs. Furthermore, those articles that addressed the more novel concerns were often presented using sensationalist news values. As a media representation of science, coverage of the ‘first draft’ in the UK press demonstrated both ‘source dependence’ and a bias toward the legitimacy of science, although the coverage of the more novel ELSIs indicated some mistrust toward scientific governance.
Limiting distribution of the collision resolution interval
Authors: Feldman P. , Rachev S. T. , Rüschendorf L.
Published: March 2003

We use the theory of probability metrics to study the asymptotic normality of the collison resolution intervals in the CTM multi‐access protocol under general conditions on the number of retransmitted messages and of new arrivals during the collision slots. Our main result establishes stability of the central limit theorem for the CTM algorithm. We provide extensive simulation results investigating the extent to which the mean of the collision resolution interval eventually becomes unstable for increasing values of n, the number of users who initially collide. The normal fit is numerically investigated and is shown to be quite satisfactory and stable with respect to moderate perturbations and n≥50.
Analysis of a mixed model for ordinal data by iterative re‐weighted REML
Authors: Keen A. , Engel B.
Published: March 2003

An estimation procedure will be presented for a class of threshold models for ordinal data. These models may include both fixed and random effects with associated components of variance on an underlying scale. The residual error distribution on the underlying scale may be rendered greater flexibility by introducing additional shape parameters, e.g. a kurtosis parameter or parameters to model heterogeneous residual variances as a function of factors and covariates. The estimation procedure is an extension of an iterative re‐weighted restricted maximum likelihood procedure, originally developed for generalized linear mixed models. This procedure will be illustrated with a practical problem involving damage to potato tubers and with data from animal breeding and medical research from the literature.
The identification of outliers in exponential samples
Authors: Schultze V. , Pawlitschko J.
Published: March 2003

In this paper, the task of identifying outliers in exponential samples is treated conceptionally in the sense of DAVIES and GATHER (1989, 1993) by means of a so‐called outlier region. In case of an exponential distribution, an empirical version of such a region – also called an outlier identifier – is mainly dependent on some estimator of the unknown scale parameter. The worst‐case behaviour of several reasonable outlier identifiers is investigated thoroughly and it is shown that only robust estimators of scale should be used to construct reliable identifiers. These findings lead to the recommendation of an outlier identifier that is based on a standardized version of the sample median.
A new approximation of the posterior distribution of the log–odds ratio
Authors: Fredette Marc , Angers Jean–François
Published: March 2003

In this paper, the posterior density of the log–odds ratio is studied. It is assumed that the observations have a multinomial distribution and that the prior on the multinomial parameters is a Dirichlet density. Several approximations currently available are reviewed. Under certain conditions on the prior parameters of the Dirichlet density, it is shown that the posterior moments can be computed exactly. A new approximation, similar to the Edgeworth expansion is also proposed. Using a numerical example, the different methods of approximation of posterior density are compared.
Hele Shaw Convection with Imposed Shear Flows: Boundary‐Layer Formulation
Authors: Yang Huijun , Krishnamurti Ruby
Published: March 2003

The nonlinear convection forced by the boundaries of a Hele Shaw cell to align perpendicular to an imposed shear flow was analytically investigated by the boundary‐layer method. The imposed shear flow may be a Couette flow that extends throughout the convecting layer or flow confined to a boundary, depending on the geometry of the Hele Shaw cell. This study examined the case in which the imposed shear flow has a boundary‐layer structure and its interaction with the convecting interior. Analytical solutions for both the boundary layer and interior were obtained. The study revealed the following.For large aspect ratio A, the interaction of the imposed shear flow and convection is confined to the boundary layer. The boundary layer is a viscous rather than a thermal layer. The results showed that the range of validity of the Hele Shaw equations used in the literature is of order 1/A2. For an asymptotically large aspect ratio A up to order 1/A2, the velocity in the y‐direction must be zero. The velocity in the x‐direction and the z‐direction has a parabolic dependence on y, but the temperature perturbation does not depend on y. These results may have implication for convection in porous media.
Low Mach Number Limit of Viscous Polytropic Flows: Formal Asymptotics in the Periodic Case
Authors: Bresch D. , Desjardins B. , Grenier E. , Lin C.‐K.
Published: March 2003

This article is devoted to the low Mach number limit of weak solutions to the compressible Navier–Stokes equations for polytropic fluids with periodic boundary conditions and ill‐prepared data. We derive formally the equation satisfied by the mean value of the velocity and the equations governing the dynamics of the nonlinear acoustic waves in dimension d= 2 or 3.