Insurgent Labor, Economic Change, and Social Development: Costa Rica, 1900–1948

Costa Rica in the 1930s had a level of social development typical of a peripheral society, yet today Costa Ricans enjoy a level equivalent to the wealthier US and Italy. This paper examines the contribution of labor to state formation and social development. Beginning around the First World War, labor gradually forced the adoption of social legislation that altered the distribution of social power and reshaped the ideological and institutional character of the state. Reactions to the increasing power of labor and the state culminated in the 1948 social pact among labor, the middle strata and the dominant class that institutionalized the existing ideological and strategic trends responsible for the present level of social development.     

Social Support Networks and School Outcomes: The Centrality of the Teacher

This investigation compares school outcomes for students who differ in the extent to which they perceive their parents, friends, and teachers—each alone and in combination—as important sources of social support. Findings indicate that middle and high school students who perceive high supportiveness from all three sources of support, as opposed to none, one, or two, have better attendance; spend more hours studying; avoid problem behavior more; have higher school satisfaction, engagement, and self-efficacy; and obtain better grades. Positive school outcomes are promoted when teacher support is perceived in combination with perceived support from parents and friends. Implications of the results for human service providers are presented.     

Effects of Political Advertising

Relationships between broadcast advertising exposure and variouscognitive and affective orientations were assessed in a surveyof voters during a congressional election campaign. Exposurewas moderately correlated with political knowledge and interest.Highly exposed voters were somewhat more likely to attach higheragenda priorities to issues and candidate attributes emphasizedin the commercials. Personal affect toward each candidate wasmildly associated with advertising exposure frequency.     

Immigrants and Housing Markets in Mid-Size Metropolitan Areas1

The recent trend of immigrants arriving in mid-size metropolitan areas has received growing attention in the literature. This study examines the success of immigrants in the housing markets of a sample of 60 metropolitan areas using Census microdata in both 2000 and 2005. The results suggest that immigrants are less successful in achieving homeownership and more likely to live in overcrowded conditions than native-born whites of non-Hispanic origin. The immigrant effect on homeownership differs by geography and by immigrant group. Finally, we find evidence that immigrant networks increase the likelihood of becoming a homeowner.     

Bootstrap confidence interval estimates of cpk: an introduction

The interpretation of C_pk:, a common measure of process capability and confidence limits for it, is based on the assumption that the process is normally distributed. The non-parametric but computer intensive method called Bootstrap is introduced and three Bootstrap confidence interval estimates for C^ are defined. An initial simulation of two processes (one normal and the other highly skewed) is presented and discussed     

Living on the margin: disabled Iranians in Belgian society

This paper explores the antecedents, experiences and consequences of marginalization as reported and dealt with by disabled Iranian immigrants in Belgium. This work extends the work of Gallie and colleagues and Siegrist demonstrating that the forces of marginalization applicable to all immigrants are particularly pertinent to disabled immigrants. The research is based on 26 in‐depth, face‐to‐face interviews, focus groups, interviews with government officials and immigration experts, ethnographic work and official government statistics. The findings detail how the combined forces of history, context and reasons for immigration; isolation, vulnerability and perceived loss of control; religion and rejection; lack of reciprocity in social exchanges; problems in obtaining jobs; and difficulties in negotiating an entry into Belgian society combine to sustain marginizalation. As a consequence, disabled immigrants in this group are generally excluded from society and discriminated against in terms of citizenship, education, jobs and general acceptance.     

Peer Group Acceptance and Academic Performance Among Adolescents Participating in a Dropout Prevention Program

This investigation examines the relationship between peer group acceptance and academic performance among adolescents participating in a dropout prevention program. Three variables assessing school-related attitudes and behavior are identified as potential links between peer group acceptance and academic performance and the results are examined in the context of the gender and racial/ethnic group identification of adolescent respondents. Peer group acceptance is found to have an indirect rather than a direct influence on academic achievement. The behavior variable, avoidance of problem behavior, provides the strongest path of connection between peer group acceptance and academic performance. Implications of the findings for social work practice in the school setting are discussed.     

Adventure as Character Work: The Collective Taming of Fear

It is ultimately through experience that character is formulated and made evident. From an ethnographic examination of an adventure program (Ropes Adventure, Inc.) that attempts to mold the identity of adolescents who have been detained for minor felonies and misdemeanors, we examine how personal challenge can be channeled into moral messages. By evoking and then taming fear (adventure), organizations demonstrate the power of personal accomplishment, trust, and cooperation—each socially legitimated moral virtues. We argue that character building efforts may be hampered when organizational aims and actual implementation of structured adventure collide.