bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Is It Fun? Language Play in a Fifth‐Grade Spanish Immersion Classroom
Authors: Broner Maggie A. , Tarone Elaine E.
Published: March 2003

In this article, we use an approach to the study of interlanguage that challenges prevailing models of second language acquisition (SLA) which assume that negotiation of meaning is the only causal variable in SLA. Ludic language play may also play a role in the development of interlanguage (Tarone, 2000a). In this article, we examine two notions of language play as they have been presented in the applied linguistics literature: ludic language play, as defined in Cook (2000), and language play as rehearsal in private speech, as considered by Lantolf (1997), and its relationship to SLA. Through the analysis of classroom interactions among children attending a full immersion program, we show that these two types of play can be distinguished in classroom discourse by the presence or absence of five channel cues: presence/absence of laughter, shifts in voice quality and pitch versus shifts in loudness/whispering, use of language forms that are well‐known versus forms that are new; presence/absence of a fictional world of reference, and presence/absence of an audience other than the self. It is also argued that the distinction between the two types of language play in learner language allows us to study their distinct roles in the process of SLA.

Child: Do machines ever play?

Data: Yes! I play the violin and my chess routines are quite advanced.

Child: No, I mean. Haven’t you ever played . . . for fun?

Data: Androids do not have fun.

Child: Look. If you want to know what it’s like to be a child, you need to learn to play.

Star Trek, the Movie: a conversation between Data, a robot that looks human, and a human child
Reconsidering Graduate Students’ Education as Teachers: “It Takes a Department!”
Authors: Byrnes Heidi
Published: March 2003

The article argues that prevailing approaches to educating graduate students as teachers need to be broadened conceptually and in practice. In particular, it suggests that preparing graduate students to teach constitutes only one component of a two‐fold responsibility of graduate programs: to educate their students both as researchers and as teachers. To establish this linkage, graduate departments require a comprehensive intellectual‐academic center that touches upon all practices of its members, faculty, and graduate students, in research and teaching. The paper suggests that a carefully conceptualized, integrated 4‐year, content‐oriented and task‐based curriculum with a literacy focus provides such an intellectual core. By overcoming the traditional split of language and content, it invites a reconsideration of current practices in teaching and in the relationship of teaching and research. The article elaborates these issues through a case study in one graduate department, focusing on the implications of a reconfigured departmental culture for graduate students’ education as teachers and for their socialization into the profession. It concludes with observations about the nature and conditions of change in higher education.
Complete Automation of Digital Aerial Triangulation
Authors: Ackermann F. , Krzystek P.
Published: March 2003

Automatic digital aerial triangulation is reviewed. It depends essentially on the automatic selection and transfer of tie points by digital image processing. The MATCH‐AT system is briefly sketched. Its basic design parameters are feature based matching, use of tie point clusters and integrated block adjustment. The system runs almost completely in batch mode, with as little interactive interference as possible. Some test results are discussed which confirm the general expectation that automatic digital aerial triangulation is faster, more precise and less costly than conventional aerial triangulation.
Image Sources for Informal Settlement Management
Authors: Mason S. O. , Fraser C. S.
Published: March 2003

Informal settlements are a common feature of developing countries. In South Africa the improvement of living conditions in these settlements and the upgrading to formal housing types are regarded as being of central importance to the nation's development. Effective settlement improvement and upgrading activities, which we here term “management”, require adequate spatial data. To date, the acquisition of spatial models of informal settlements has been based on conventional mapping techniques, and mostly on photogrammetry. Data are compiled using analogue or analytical methods. These are manual and hence require both considerable expertise and expensive equipment. Moreover, these methods are uneconomical over the often relatively small, densely populated areas covered by informal settlements and are also too expensive to employ with a regularity required to support such tasks as change detection. Alternative imaging sources and mapping techniques are therefore needed.

In this article we examine the problem of spatial information acquisition for informal settlement management from three perspectives: spatial information requirements, the role which imagery can play in satisfying these spatial information requirements, and effective imaging options. We focus on the potential of high resolution satellite imaging, small format digital aerial imagery and digital multispectral video systems for rapid mapping. We also discuss the example of automated shack extraction from aerial imagery.
Three‐Dimensional Geopositioning Accuracy of Ikonos Imagery
Authors: Fraser Clive , Hanley Harry , Yamakawa Takeshi
Published: March 2003

An investigation of the accuracy potential of Ikonos 1m satellite imagery is reported. Three sensor orientation/triangulation models are applied to stereo‐ and three‐image configurations of “Geo” imagery with the aim of achieving 3D geopositioning to sub‐metre accuracy. The models considered comprise rational functions with bias compensation, affine projection and the direct linear transformation. Test results from the Melbourne Ikonos Testfield are reported and these show that with modest provision of good quality ground control, Ikonos “Geo” imagery can yield 3D object‐point determination to an accuracy of 0.5m in planimetry and 0.7m in height. The accuracy achieved is not only consistent with expectations for rigorous sensor orientation models, but is also readily attainable in practice with only a small number of ground control points being required
The Diminishing Publicness of Public Service under the Current Mode of Governance
Authors: Haque M. Shamsul
Published: March 2003

In this article, it is argued that while there has been an apparent eclipse in discourse regarding the publicness or public quality of public service, the recent transition toward a market‐driven mode of governance has created a serious challenge to such publicness. More specifically, the contemporary businesslike changes in the objectives, structures, functions, norms, and users of public service tend to diminish its publicness in terms of its current trends toward eroding public‐private distinction, shrinking socioeconomic role, narrowing composition of service recipients, worsening condition of accountability, and declining level of public trust. Based on the existing studies, empirical findings, and country experiences, this article delineates the basic criteria determining the publicness of public service, uses these criteria to demonstrate how the recent businesslike reforms have led to the erosion of such publicness, and makes recommendations for reviving the quality of publicness in public service.
The Rise of Professional Government: Evidence from Large‐Scale Public Works Projects
Authors: Lentz Corliss
Published: March 2003

Books reviewed:

Drew Fetherston, The Chunnel:The Amazing Story of the Undersea Crossing of the English Channel

Joanne Goldman, Abel.Building New York's Sewers: Developing Mechanisms of Urban Management

Stephen Halliday, The Great Stink of London: Sir Joseph Bazalgette and the Cleansing of the Victoria Metropolis
Cumulating the Intellectual Gold of Case Study Research
Authors: Jensen Jason L. , Rodgers Robert
Published: March 2003

Two criticisms of public administration research have been leveled. First, knowledge in the field is not being cumulated. Second, the research has low quality. A preference for case studies as a form of scientific inquiry is behind both criticisms. The authors propose a solution to the first problem by showing how meta‐analysis can be used to cumulate knowledge using case study evidence. Viewed cumulatively, case studies comprise an intellectual goldmine awaiting discovery. The authors challenge the second criticism, proposing that quality judgments should be based on the important principle of knowledge cumulation, which acknowledges the value of all research methods.
The Emerging Federal Quasi Government: Issues of Management and Accountability
Authors: Moe Ronald C.
Published: March 2003

There has been a growing trend in the federal government toward reliance on organizations that commingle legal attributes of the government and private sectors. These hybrid organizations now constitute a quasi government that occasions both interest and concern by political leaders, practitioners, and scholars alike because these organizations touch the very heart of democratic governance: To whom are these hybrids accountable? How well is the public interest being protected against the interests of private parties?

In this article, the author seeks to define the quasi government and place these hybrid entities into manageable categories from which legal and behavioral generalizations may be drawn. Are hybrid organizations a problem or a solution? Looking critically at this question, the author suggests the answer may depend in large measure on which of two management paradigms the reader accepts: the constitutionalist management paradigm or the entrepreneurial management paradigm, both of which are defined and discussed. The author concludes that the increasin reliance on hybrid organizations constitutes a threat not only to accountable management within the government, but to the fundamental values of democratic governance as well.
Clean Air Federalism: Do States Race to the Bottom?
Authors: Potoski Matthew
Published: March 2003

Proponents of federal environmental standards argue that competition for industrial development creates a “race to the bottom” in which states relax their own environmental standards to avoid losing businesses to states with more “business‐friendly” regulations. This article presents results from a unique survey of state clean air programs that show—contrary to the race to the bottom—a substantial number of states exceed federal EPA standards in a broad variety of clean air programs. Multivariate analyses of these state policies indicate that states strengthen their environmental programs in response to citizen demands rather than weaken their programs in deference to economic pressures.
The Supreme Court's New Constitutional Federalism: Implications for Public Administration
Authors: Wise Charles R.
Published: March 2003

Since the early 1990s, the Supreme Court has been issuing decisions that, taken together, constitute a new judicial federalism. This effort is rearranging intergovernmental relations as we have known them for several decades. However, the boundaries of this new doctrine and its implications for public administration are not well understood. This article analyzes the principal constitutional bases for the Court's actions and gauges the balance of this new judicial federalism. It then sorts out the implications for public administration and projects where the Court may be going with this doctrine in the future.
John Stuart Mill's Theory of Bureaucracy within Representative Government: Balancing Competence and Participation
Authors: Warner Beth E.
Published: March 2003

The relationship between bureaucracy and representative government has been a subject of concern to public administration since its inception. John Stuart Mill addressed this question in an 1861 essay, in which he explained his theory of government. Mill suggests a role for public administration that is not only legitimate, but also necessary for good government. His writings contain remarkable references to the concerns addressed in current theories of public administration. Mill worked to balance the spirit of popular government with governance by the most educated, skilled, and experienced of the nation, whether they were citizens, elected representatives, or administrative officials. This article examines Mill's theory and the contribution it makes to current public administration discussion.
People and Performance: Challenges for the Future Public Service— the Report from the Wye River Conference
Authors: Ingraham Patricia Wallace , Selden Sally Coleman , Moynihan Donald P.
Published: March 2003

What are the key challenges for the public sector at present, and what will the future public service look like if it is to meet these challenges? These questions were put to public‐sector leaders at a conference at the Wye River Plantation in June 1999. The leaders agreed on aspects of a broad vision for the future and the urgent need for a detailed debate on the transition questions that arose.
The Political Theory of Reinvention
Authors: DeLeon Linda , Denhardt Robert B.
Published: March 2003

In this article, we examine the implications of the reinvention movement for democratic governance, broadly defined. The most basic premise of the reinvention movement is a belief that the accumulation of the narrowly defined self‐interests of many individuals can adequately approximate the public interest. By “narrowly defined,” we mean the interests of individuals as they privately apprehend them, unmediated by participation in a process of civic discourse. To illustrate the centrality of this assumption to the implicit theory of reinvention, we consider three of its elements—its use of the market model, its emphasis on customers rather than citizens, and its glorification of entrepreneurial management. We then examine the implications of the self‐interest assumption, which entails a rejection of democratic citizenship, civic engagement, and the public interest, broadly conceived.
The “Best Place” Debate: A Comparison of Graduate Education Programs for Nonprofit Managers
Authors: Mirabella Roseanne M. , Wish Naomi Bailin
Published: March 2003

This article presents a critical examination of the curricular elements of nonprofit management degree programs in colleges of business, public administration, and social work. What are the major curricular elements in each type of program? How do the curricular elements of these programs compare with generic management degree programs? What are the central challenges facing managers of nonprofit organizations, and how are these challenges addressed in each program? Based on the curricular review, is one setting more favorable for students of nonprofit management? What are the views of stakeholders regarding the “best place” to educate managers?

Data collected from focus groups and surveys of stakeholders in each of these academic settings are presented. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for the future of nonprofit management education in the United States.
Human Resource Practices in State Government: Findings from a National Survey
Authors: Selden Sally Coleman , Ingraham Patricia Wallace , Jacobson Willow
Published: March 2003

What are states doing with respect to human resource practices to improve government operations? Using data collected by the Government Performance Project, this article identifies emerging trends and innovations in state personnel systems. Specifically, it provides a national comparison in the areas of personnel authority, workforce planning, selection, classification, and performance management. Results show that many states are delegating authority for personnel functions to agencies and managers, shifting their human resource missions to being more proactive and collaborative with agencies, and adopting performance management systems that integrate organizational and individual goals. In short, many states are investing considerable resources to modernize their human resource management systems.
Police Budgeting: Winning Strategies
Authors: Coe Charles K. , Wiesel Deborah Lamm
Published: March 2003

Based on a national survey of police chiefs with a follow‐up focus group, this article discusses budgetary strategies that police departments used to be successful in budgeting. The strategies include: using crime and workload data judiciously; capitalizing on sensational crime incidents; effectively getting the message out; carefully mobilizing interest groups; strategic planning; playing the federal grants game; working closely with the chief executive and elected officials; and involving all departmental staff levels in budgeting.
A Framework for Analyzing Emergency Management with an Application to Federal Budgeting
Authors: Donahue Amy K. , Joyce Philip G.
Published: March 2003

Emergency management is a complex policy subsystem that involves an intergovernmental, multiphased effort to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. This article develops a framework for analyzing the fiscal and functional aspects of disaster policy. It uses established theories of intergovernmental relations to offer a rationale for examining the capabilities required to implement disaster policy and the behavioral incentives that drive policy formulation. In particular, the article identifies the extent to which the capabilities and political objectives characteristic of each level of government are aligned, and illustrates the interplay between incentives and competencies by reviewing the federal disaster funding process. The current rules for federal budgeting may inappropriately promote spending on disaster response and recovery, while de‐emphasizing mitigation and preparedness. Various proposals for reform could establish more coherent incentives, making disaster spending more consistent with the relative functional capabilities of the various levels of government.
Nonincremental Policy Change: Lessons from Michigan's Medicaid Managed Care Initiative
Authors: Weissert Carol S. , Goggin Malcolm L.
Published: March 2003

Studies of policy implementation have focused primarily on incremental policy change, yet policy change is sometimes implemented quickly and comprehensively. Such is the case with Michigan's recent implementation of a statewide Medicaid managed care initiative. This article analyzes Michigan's quick implementation and highlights the importance of political support, organizational change, and a supportive policy and administrative environment in affecting successful implementation. It also notes the price paid for quick implementation—namely, stakeholder dissatisfaction, mistakes, and lack of public involvement.
Gender Differences in Agency Head Salaries: The Case of Public Educaton
Authors: Meier Kenneth J. , Wilkins Vicky M.
Published: March 2003

This study demonstrates a quantitative approach to assessing gender discrimination in public salaries at the individual level. Using data from more than 1,000 school districts in Texas over a period of four years, the results show that gender differences in superintendents' salaries are subtle rather than systematic. Female superintendents who replace male superintendents receive lower compensation. Local district wealth also interacts with gender to affect salaries.
County Service Delivery: Does Government Structure Matter?
Authors: Benton J. Edwin
Published: March 2003

Very little systematic research has been conducted to determine the policy effects of changing the form of county government. The findings of this study suggest that efforts to modernize county government structure may enable county officials to respond successfully to increasing citizen demands for a higher level of current services as well as expand the menu of services. Specifically, there is a strong association between the type of county government (non‐charter commission, non‐charter commission/appointed administrator or elected executive, or charter commission/appointed administrator or elected executive) and county spending for all types of services. In addition, there is a strong linkage between type of county government and three categories of county services representative of the service roles of the modern American county—that is, traditional, local, and regional services.
Competing Interest Groups and Union Members' Voting
Authors: Clark Paul , Masters Marick F.
Published: March 2003

Objective. This study is designed to assess the impact of support for union and social interest groups on labor union members' voting. Methods. Descriptive and logit analyses of members' support for senatorial and gubernatorial candidates in the 1994 Pennsylvania elections examine the relationship between support for the union and support for the Christian Coalition and National Rifle Association. Results. The results indicate that union members who are more supportive of labor's political goals are more likely to support union‐endorsed candidates. But union members differ considerably in their support for union political goals vis‐a‐vis the Christian Coalition and National Rifle Association. Conclusions. Unions were a potentially pivotal force in the 1994 Pennsylvania elections. If they had been better able to educate their members about the importance of voting their economic self‐interest, then the election outcomes might have been reversed.
A Double Disadvantage? Minority Group, Immigrant Status, and Underemployment in the United States
Authors: De Jong Gordon F. , Madamba Anna B.
Published: March 2003

Objective. This study documents the magnitude of four types of underemployment experienced by both native‐born minority and ethnic immigrant male and female workers in the United States and tests a “double disadvantage” economic outcome hypothesis that minority workers tend to be channeled into secondary‐sector jobs and that immigrant workers face initial disadvantages in labor force assimilation. Method. Data for men and women aged 25‐64 who are in the labor force and not attending school were derived from the 1990 Census Bureau Public Use Microdata Sample. Multinomial logistic regression procedures were used to estimate the effect of minority group membership and immigrant status on the odds of unemployment, part‐time employment, working poverty, and job mismatch, relative to adequate employment. Results. Descriptive results showed greater overall underemployment among females than males. Blacks and Hispanics had higher unemployment and working‐poverty rates compared to non‐Hispanic whites and Asians, with job mismatch highest among Asians. Immigrant underemployment was greater than that of the native‐born. Asians posted the largest disparity in immigrant versus native‐born underemployment, and blacks had the smallest. Multivariate models showed that minority group effects were stronger than immigrant status effects in predicting underemployment. Increased likelihood of underemployment across the different minority groups versus non‐Hispanic white workers was not fully accounted for by the expected influences of human‐capital, demographic, industry, and occupational variables. Conclusion. The double disadvantage hypothesis of minority group and immigrant status is accepted only for Asian men and women with jobs mismatched to their skills and for Asian women, who are most likely to be unemployed or be among the working poor.
Do Term Limits Help Women Get Elected?
Authors: Carroll Susan J. , Jenkins Krista
Published: March 2003

Objective. We examine the proposition put forward by term limit advocates and some scholars that the implementation of term limits will lead to increases in the numbers of women serving in state legislatures. Methods. Data are examined for all state house races in the six states that implemented term limits in 1998. Results. Although there was some variation across the states, the overall number of women serving in state house seats that were term‐limited actually decreased following the election. Conclusions. More research is needed as more states implement term limits in future elections. However, our analysis suggests that term limits, unaccompanied by efforts to recruit women to run for term‐limited seats, may be insufficient to increase the number of women state legislators.
Attitudinal Polarization and Trimodal Distributions: Measurement Problems and Theoretical Implications
Authors: Downey Dennis J. , Huffman Matt L.
Published: March 2003

Objective. We present trimodality as a distributional pattern that is relevant to conceptual issues of attitudinal polarization but fits nowhere along the modality‐bimodality continuum. Methods. We use simulated univariate distributions and distributions taken from the 1994 General Social Survey to investigate how commonly used measures track (or fail to track) noteworthy shifts in the distributions. Results. The kurtosis and variance are largely insensitive to important distributional differences, most importantly that between bimodality and trimodality. Conclusions. We argue that the lack of attention to trimodality and the insensitivity of commonly used measures of polarization (kurtosis in particular) to that distributional pattern create a blind spot in our thinking about polarization and can lead to basic misinterpretations of extant patterns in public opinion data.
State Felon Disenfranchisement Policy
Authors: Preuhs Robert R.
Published: March 2003

Objective. Felon disenfranchisement policies impose restrictions on a felon's right to vote. Since these policies disproportionately affect minority citizens, legal scholars and others argue that felon disenfranchisement is a result of racial politics, aimed primarily at undermining the electoral power of black and Latino citizens. This study evaluates these claims in a rigorous empirical analysis. Methods. The study uses cross‐sectional data on current state felon disenfranchisement policies in an order probit regression analysis to examine race‐based explanations in light of competing hypotheses. Results. The findings demonstrate that the size of the minority population, parity in incarceration rates, and the degree of legislative professionalism are the primary explanatory factors of this policy. Conclusions. Given the continued rise in minority incarceration rates relative to those for whites and the link between the racial composition of a state and the severity of felon disenfranchisement laws, the study raises important questions regarding the future of minority participation in the democratic process.
Party Organization and the Political Success of the Communist Successor Parties
Authors: Ishiyama John T.
Published: March 2003

Objective. Although there has been much recent work done on party systems in the postcommunist world, there has been very little systematic comparative work that examines the relationship between the organizational development of political parties and political performance. The objective of this article is to empirically examine the relationship between party organization and the political success of 17 communist successor parties from 1993 to 2000. Methods. I propose a way of measuring party organizations based upon the degree of personnel overlap between the organs of the extraparliamentary party and the party in public office and the organizational density of political parties and relate these characteristics to the political success enjoyed by the communist successor parties. Results. In general, I find that the more the successor party was dominated by officeholders and less reliant on a mass membership for political support in the years immediately following the transition, the more successful the party was later. Conclusions. The interaction of party organization with the party's competitive environment was a better predictor of success than declines in the socioeconomic condition of the population, rises in popular “nostalgia” for the past, or openings created by political institutions.
3. Bounding Disagreements about Treatment Effects: A Case Study of Sentencing and Recidivism
Authors: Manski Charles F. , Nagin Daniel S.
Published: March 2003

Empirical inference on treatment effects is a core objective of social science research. The conventional practice is to obtain point estimates of treatment effects using models that make strong and thereby controversial assumptions about treatment selection and outcomes. In this paper we obtain bounds under weak nonparametric assumptions and explore how the bounds vary with the assumptions imposed. This mode of analysis clarifies the source of common disagreements about the magnitudes and signs of treatment effects. We use a treatment question facing the juvenile justice system to showcase the value of the approach in empirical social science research. We compare the impacts on recidivism of the two main sentencing options available to judges: confinement in residential treatment facilities and diversion to nonresidential treatment.
1. Ecometrics: Toward a Science of Assessing Ecological Settings, with Application to the Systematic Social Observation of Neighborhoods
Authors: Raudenbush Stephen W. , Sampson Robert J.
Published: March 2003

This paper considers the quantitative assessment of ecological settings such as neighborhoods and schools. Available administrative data typically provide useful but limited information on such settings. We demonstrate how more complete information can be reliably obtained from surveys and observational studies. Survey-based assessments are constructed by aggregating over multiple item responses of multiple informants within each setting. Item and rater inconsistency produce uncertainty about the setting being assessed, with definite implications for research design. Observation-based assessments also have a multilevel error structure. The paper describes measures constructed from interviews, direct observations, and videotapes of Chicago neighborhoods and illustrates an “ecometric” analysis—a study of bias and random error in neighborhood assessments. Using the observation data as an illustrative example, we present a three-level hierarchical statistical model that identifies sources of error in aggregating across items within face-blocks and in aggregating across face-blocks to larger geographic units such as census tracts. Convergent and divergent validity are evaluated by studying associations between the observational measures and theoretically related measures obtained from the U.S. Census, and a citywide survey of neighborhood residents
4. Algebraic Representations of Beliefs and Attitudes: Partial Order Models for Item Responses
Authors: Wiley James A. , Martin John Levi
Published: March 2003

A partial order of discrete beliefs based on a generalization of item order in Guttman scaling generates a nonunidimensional collection of latent belief states that can be represented by a distributive lattice. By incorporating misclassification errors under local independence assumptions, the lattice structure is transformed into a latent class model for observed response states. We apply this model to survey responses dealing with government welfare programs and suggest that our approach can retrieve information where unidimensional and multidimensional models do not fit. The concluding section discusses directions for future work.
Incongruity Between Bureaucracy and Society in Developing Nations: A Critique
Authors: Haque M. Shamsul
Published: March 2003

In most developing countries, there exists an “overdeveloped” bureaucratic apparatus inherited as a colonial legacy and expanded through imitative postcolonial reforms, while the political, economic, and cultural realms remain largely underdeveloped. As a result, there is a certain incongruity between bureaucracy and society in these countries, which has serious implications for their socioeconomic progress. However, the existing literature focuses mainly on the structural and procedural issues of postcolonial bureaucracy, and contains very limited discourse on this mismatch between the bureaucratic apparatus and the overall social formation. This article attempts to explicate the nature and dimensions of this bureaucracy‐society incongruity, analyze its adverse implications for socioeconomic development, and offer some remedial policy alternatives for consideration.
Nonviolent Theory on Communication: The Implications for Theorizing a Nonviolent Rhetoric
Authors: Gorsevski Ellen W.
Published: March 2003

The interrelationship between nonviolence and rhetoric is examined. While we have studied the world of adversarial relationships, conflict, and difference of belief, rhetorical critics have not done as much to understand the practices of seeking mutual identification, cooperation, and learning how to live with diversity and adversity. Scholars and theorists of nonviolence (and peace and conflict studies) maintain that human beings can reach mutual understanding peacefully, through a process of nonviolent conversion that is accomplished through a wide range of linguistic and symbolic acts. Nonviolent theory shows rhetoricians that language and culture—our ways of creating and perpetuating our reality—can impose minimal aggression while maximizing the potential for peacemaking. Finally, the essay presents practical applications for a better understanding of the connection between rhetorical theory and nonviolence.
Education and Understanding Structural Causes for Group Inequalities
Authors: Lopez Gretchen E. , Gurin Patricia , Nagda Biren A.
Published: March 2003

Group inequalities in the United States are most often attributed to the characteristics of the individuals who belong to these groups; thinking about structural causes of group inequalities is rare. This paper reviews cognitive, cultural, and systemic reasons for this bias. The efficacy of education as a way to increase structural thinking was investigated in two studies of college students' causal thinking about group inequalities. Both studies involved a course on intergroup relations that covered structural sources of racial or ethnic inequalities. Results supported hypotheses that the course would increase structural thinking about racial or ethnic inequality, and that structural thinking would generalize to inequalities not explicitly covered in the course. Both course content and active learning pedagogy were related to structural thinking about inequalities. Active learning was also related to applying structural thinking to targets of change.
Social Capital, Television, and the “Mean World”: Trust, Optimism, and Civic Participation
Authors: Uslaner Eric M.
Published: March 2003

Robert Putnam argues that much of the decline in social trust and civic engagement in the United States can be attributed to increased television viewing. People who watch a lot of television are likely to believe that the real world is as “mean” as the “television world,” and hence withdraw their trust from other people and decline to participate in civic affairs. Using data from the GSS and other surveys, I show that it is not television that makes people less trusting, but optimism for the future that makes people more trusting. When measures of optimism were used as determinants of trust in the estimation of a simultaneous equation model, the effects of television vanished. There is no support for the argument that television makes us less trusting because of the content of the shows we watch, or for the argument that television makes us withdraw from civic engagement because of the amount of time consumed by viewing. In addition, no evidence for specific cohort effects was found.
Social Trust and Value Change: The Decline of Social Capital in American Youth, 1976–1995
Authors: Rahn Wendy M. , Transue John E.
Published: March 2003

Given the importance that generalized social trust plays in various theories of American society, recent evidence of its low levels among younger people portends ominous changes in American civic life. Using survey data collected from high school seniors over the last 20 years, this paper examines the origins of social trust among young people and the causes of change in beliefs about trust over time. Such changes could not be accounted for by the explanations for declining trust offered in other accounts of social capital. An alternative explanation, based on the theoretical accounts of Alexis de Tocqueville and Emile Durkheim, is that materialistic values may be undermining young people's views about the trustworthiness of others. Both aggregate time series correlations and an individual‐level model show that the rapid rise of materialistic value orientations that occurred among American youth in the 1970s and 1980s severely eroded levels of social trust. The paper concludes with some observations about the likely trajectory of American democracy, given the kinds of trends observed in the youth data.
Go With the Flow or Fight the Power? The Interactive Effects of Social Dominance Orientation and Perceived Injustice on Support for the Status Quo
Authors: Rabinowitz Joshua L.
Published: March 2003

Previous research in social dominance theory has found an asymmetry in the relationship between social dominance orientation (SDO) and various hierarchy‐enhancing ideologies, such that the relationship between the two variables is significantly more positive among high‐status group members than among low‐status group members (Sidanius, Pratto, & Rabinowitz, 1994; Sidanius, Levin, & Pratto, 1996). Perceptions of systemic injustice toward one's ingroup may help to explain this ideological asymmetry. The hypothesis of a three‐way interaction among group status, SDO, and perceived injustice was tested by using survey responses from American university students to predict opposition to hierarchy‐attenuating policies as well as levels of patriotism. Analyses revealed the presence of a three‐way interaction (ps < .05). Ethnic minority students who scored high on SDO did not always maintain conservative policy stances or strong patriotic attachments—it depends on their level of perceived injustice. Implications for social dominance theory and system‐justification theory are discussed.
Who Gets What and Why: Determinants of Social Allocations
Authors: Pratto Felicia , Tatar Deborah G. , Conway‐Lanz Sahr
Published: March 2003

Four experiments were conducted to explore how people allocate social resources between meritorious and needy parties. As predicted, participants with high social dominance orientation (SDO), who prefer hierarchical relationships in society, favored meritorious parties. In contrast, participants with low SDO, who value social equality, favored needy parties. Participants appealed to merit‐ or need‐based ideologies to justify their allocations. Apparently, the notion of fairness denotes merit‐based reasoning to people with high SDO, whereas it denotes need‐based reasoning for those with low SDO. Among the participants, merit‐ and need‐based ideologies were not simply post hoc rationalizations, but rather mediated the allocation decisions. Implications for the study of ideology and for theories of distributive justice are discussed.
Value Words and Lizard Brains: Do Citizens Deliberate About Appeals to Their Core Values?
Authors: Brewer Paul R.
Published: March 2003

Political elites often present citizens with frames that define issues in terms of core values. This study tests two competing accounts of how citizens might process such frames. According to the “passive receiver” thesis, citizens process elite frames automatically, without engaging in critical thought. In contrast, the “thoughtful receiver” thesis holds that the impact of frames may depend on how favorably or unfavorably citizens respond to them. An experiment in value framing produced evidence more consistent with the thoughtful receiver thesis: The message that welfare reform is “tough love” influenced opinion only among those it did not anger, whereas the message that welfare reform is “cruel and inhumane” produced an effect only among those who judged it to be strong. More generally, these findings suggest that active processing of frames may limit the power of elite framing.
The Influence of Perceived Deservingness on Policy Decisions Regarding Aid to the Poor
Authors: Applebaum Lauren D.
Published: March 2003

In the current climate of welfare reform, it is important to understand how perceptions of the poor affect policy decisions. This paper examines how people distinguish between the undeserving poor and the deserving poor, and how this differentiation affects policy decisions. Survey respondents rated each policy in a set of hypothetical policies on a liberal‐conservative continuum. Analyses were then conducted to explore differences in the respondents’ likelihood of recommending the most liberal and the most conservative of these policies. Study 1 demonstrated that liberal policies were more likely to be recommended and conservative policies were less likely to be recommended when the target group was perceived to be deserving rather than undeserving. Study 2 replicated this effect of perceived deservingness and demonstrated an effect of attribution of responsibility. That is, liberal policies were more likely to be recommended and conservative policies were less likely to be recommended when the responsibility for the target’s poverty was attributed to society rather than to the individual.
Early Communications in the War Against Terrorism: An Integrative Complexity Analysis
Authors: Suedfeld Peter , Leighton Dana C.
Published: March 2003

Integrative complexity reflects the degree to which the source of a communication perceives several dimensions and points of view relevant to the topic (differentiation) and the degree to which such characteristics are seen as related to each other (integration). During international crises, bilateral decreases in the integrative complexity of communications frequently precede the outbreak of war; a unilateral decrease reliably precedes surprise strategic attacks. In the current study, complexity was scored in the messages of selected leaders from before to approximately a month after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. Even this limited database replicated some of the complexity patterns found previously, as well as showing some novel characteristics. This was the first application of the method to hostilities other than inter–nation or civil wars.
Individual Orientation Toward Engagement in Social Action
Authors: Corning Alexandra F. , Myers Daniel J.
Published: March 2003

The issue of how an activist identity develops is one of the core issues in social psychology and social movement research. Because of problems in the measurement of individuals’ propensities to engage in social action, however, findings in this area are often equivocal, and cross–study comparisons and conclusions are difficult to draw. Hence, the aim of these studies was to develop a measure to assess individuals’ propensities to engage in social action. This measure, the Activism Orientation Scale (AOS), demonstrates strong psychometric properties and allows assessment of activist propensity across a wide continuum of social action behaviors, ideological positions, and movement issues. Additionally, the broad applicability of the AOS allows for its use by researchers, activists, and policymakers.
Enforcing Social Conformity: A Theory of Authoritarianism
Authors: Feldman Stanley
Published: March 2003

Fifty years after the publication of The Authoritarian Personality, the empirical literature on authoritarianism continues to grow even though there is no widely accepted theory to account for the phenomenon. The absence of a secure theoretical grounding severely limits our understanding of authoritarianism. This paper offers a new conceptualization in which authoritarian predispositions originate in the conflict between the values of social conformity and personal autonomy. Prejudice and intolerance should be observed among those who value social conformity and perceive a threat to social cohesion. These hypotheses were tested with a sample of undergraduate students; the questionnaire included new measures of the dimension of social conformity–autonomy as well as items from Altemeyer's RWA (right–wing authoritarianism) scale.
The Impact of Social Threat on Worldview and Ideological Attitudes
Authors: Duckitt John , Fisher Kirstin
Published: March 2003

Research has shown that social threat correlates with ideological authoritarianism, but the issues of causal direction and specificity of threat to particular ideological attitudes remain unclear. Here, a theoretical model is proposed in which social threat has an impact on authoritarianism specifically, with the effect mediated through social worldview. The model was experimentally tested with a sample of undergraduates who responded to one of three hypothetical scenarios describing a future New Zealand that was secure, threatening, or essentially unaltered. Both threat and security influenced social worldview, but only threat influenced authoritarianism, with differential effects on two factorially distinct subdimensions (conservative and authoritarian social control attitudes) and with the effects of threat mediated through worldview. There was a weak effect of threat on social dominance that was entirely mediated through authoritarianism. The findings support the proposed theoretical model of how personal and social contextual factors causally affect people's social worldviews and ideological attitudes.
Transforming time into money using water: A participatory study of economics and gender in rural India
Authors: James A.J. , Verhagen Joep , Van Wijk Christine , Nanavaty Reema , Parikh Mita , Bhatt Mihir
Published: March 2003

When water supply improvements are coupled with opportunity to create income through micro–enterprises, time released from water collection is converted into income earned. This brings several benefits: reduced drudgery, higher household income, and, consequently, greater women’s empowerment through changing gender relations within the household. This article documents the performance of one such scheme in Banaskantha District in the state of Gujarat in India, one of poorest districts in the state and the country. Here, due to the efforts of the Self–Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), an Indian NGO, poor women are reaping the social and economic benefits of a government–run regional piped water supply scheme, a project funded by Dutch bilateral aid, focusing on women’s development. If government policy–makers took the cue and formulated programmes and schemes that combined these two aspects, viz., actions that release time for rural women from daily chores (e.g., collecting water, fuel wood and fodder)and opportunities for sustainable micro–enterprises to convert time saved into income, this could become a reliable route out of rural poverty into gender–sensitive sustainable development.
Factors in Risk Perception
Authors: Sjöberg Lennart
Published: March 2003

Risk perception is a phenomenon in search of an explanation. Several approaches are discussed in this paper. Technical risk estimates are sometimes a potent factor in accounting for perceived risk, but in many important applications it is not. Heuristics and biases, mainly availability, account for only a minor portion of risk perception, and media contents have not been clearly implicated in risk perception. The psychometric model is probably the leading contender in the field, but its explanatory value is only around 20% of the variance of raw data. Adding a factor of “unnatural risk” considerably improves the psychometric model. Cultural Theory, on the other hand, has not been able to explain more than 5–10% of the variance of perceived risk, and other value scales have similarly failed. A model is proposed in which attitude, risk sensitivity, and specific fear are used as explanatory variables; this model seems to explain well over 30–40% of the variance and is thus more promising than previous approaches. The model offers a different type of psychological explanation of risk perception, and it has many implications, e.g., a different approach to the relationship between attitude and perceived risk, as compared with the usual cognitive analysis of attitude.