Colored Property: State Policy and White Racial Politics in Suburban America

Norman Cohn, Europe's Inner Demons (1975), xiv+302 (Chatto‐Heinemann for Sussex University Press, £4.50).

Eugene Kamenka and R. S. Neale (eds), Feudalism, Capitalism and Beyond (1975), viii+147 (Edward Arnold, £3.95, paperback £1.95).

David G. Hey, An English Rural Community: Myddle under the Tudors and Stuarts (1974), 260 (Leicester University Press, £5.80).

Enid Gauldie, Cruel Habitations: A History of Working‐Class Housing 1780–1918 (1974), 363 (Allen &; Unwin, £5.75, paperback £3.00).

Lee Holcombe, Victorian Ladies at Work; Middle‐Class Working Women in England and Wales, 1850 to 1914 (1974), x+253 (David and Charles, Newton Abbot, £4.95).

Bo Öhngren, Folk i rörelse. Samhällsutveckling, flyttningsmönster och folkrörelser i Eskilstuna 1870–1900 (1974), 414+26 pp. English summary (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Historica Upsaliensia No. 55, Uppsala). (People on the Move. Social development, migration patterns and popular movements in Eskilstuna 1870–1900)

Michelle Perrot, Les Ouvriers en Grève: France 1871–1890 ( 1974), 2 volumes, 900 (Mouton: Paris and The Hague, Dfl 149). (Workers on Strike: France 1871–1890)

J. E. Knodel, The Decline of Fertility in Germany, 1871–1939 (1974), xix+306 (Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., £7.60).

Kenneth D. Brown (ed.), Essays in Anti‐Labour History: responses to the rise of Labour in Britain (1974), viii+409 (Macmillan, £10.00).

Bob Jessop, Traditionalism, Conservatism and British Political Culture (1974), 287 (George Allen and Unwin, £4.65).     

Applying a Positive Youth Development Perspective to Observation of Bereavement Camps for Children and Adolescents

A positive youth development perspective focuses on recognizing psychosocial strengths and providing social environments that contribute to the development of these in children and adolescents. Bereavement camps can provide such an environment as they help children cope with the death of someone close. The purpose of this study was to observe bereavement camps through the lens of positive youth development to determine the applicability of the eight features of positive developmental settings for describing bereavement camps (safety, appropriate structure, supportive relationships, opportunities to belong, positive norms, support for efficacy, skill building opportunities, integration of family and community). Observational notes were recorded by researchers during on-site visits to three different weekend bereavement camps. Results identified how each element of positive developmental settings was exemplified in either typical camp activities or bereavement-focused activities. For example, assigning campers to cabin groups based on age and gender provided opportunities to belong, and giving campers a comfort object and a big buddy provided supportive relationships. Findings were used to create a positive developmental settings observation checklist for use by bereavement camp practitioners to assess the extent to which each camp provides the requisite elements for promoting positive youth development.     

Path(ological) Dependency? Core Competencies from an Organizational Perspective

The development of the 'resource-based theory of the firm' has helped to reorient the field of strategic management towards a focus on the organizational processes and structures which produce 'core competencies'. By challenging previous assumptions of market determinism this approach seems to open up the prospect of a greater dialogue with the theories and concerns of organization studies. This paper aims to determine the scope of such a dialogue by developing an appreciation and critique of the core competencies framework from an organizational perspective. In this context, the key feature of resource-based theories is seen to be their focus on organizational knowledge rather than decision-making processes as the engine of competitive performance. This focus has a powerful resonance with studies of knowledge in organizations, particularly those forms of knowledge which are linked to product and process design.
However, despite the important shift towards a knowledge-based view of competition, the core competencies approach fails to follow the logic of its own argument as far as the organizational appropriation of knowledge is concerned. In their pursuit of an ontological model of competitive performance –defining the essential causes of firm competitiveness – resource-based approaches neglect the socially embedded qualities of organizational knowledge. As a result, the social construction of knowledge, encompassing the dilemmas posed by the employment relationship and the pitfalls of institutionalization, is neglected. Instead, a smoothly linear model is developed linking skills, competence and competitiveness. This mechanistic view is further reinforced by reliance on a command and control model of the management process. Organizational knowledge is not a biddable resource at the disposal of top management.     

Differences in Life Satisfaction and School Satisfaction Among Adolescents From Three Nations: The Role of Perceived Autonomy Support

Past research shows that higher well‐being is reported by adolescents who live in individualistic rather than collectivistic nations. Such cross‐national differences may be due to the amount of autonomy support adolescents receive from authority figures. To examine this hypothesis, in the current study, 322 adolescents from Denmark, South Korea, and the United States completed self‐report surveys that assessed adolescents' school and life satisfaction and their experience of autonomy support from parents and teachers. Results showed that Danish adolescents reported highest school satisfaction, life satisfaction, and perceived autonomy support, followed by American and Korean adolescents, respectively. Furthermore, cross‐national differences in school and life satisfaction were partially mediated by adolescents' perceptions of autonomy support from authority figures. These findings support self‐determination theory ( Deci & Ryan, 1985 ) and the ecological model of child development ( Bronfenbrenner, 1986 ).     

Perspectives on Regional and Enterprise Marginality: Dairying in Michigan's North Country1

Abstract Dairy farmers in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, an economically marginal rural region, are encumbered by contextual constraints that are not similarly faced by their downstate counterparts. However, this does not mean that they are any less ambitious or less efficient in dealing with the resources available to them. Indeed, dairying and similar small-scale economic enterprises in this and other marginal contexts may be quite competitive and sustainable if appropriate sociopolitical supports are instituted and, in the case of dairying, if marketing orders and regulatory policies are formulated and implemented in light of their impact upon the economic growth and viability of the wider region. To explore this issue, we consider the situations, basic characteristics, and restructuring trends over time of dairy farms in three upstate localities as compared with that of a downstate dairy farming community.     

The relevance of postmodern and feminist philosophy for the study of aging

The work of postmodern and feminist philosophers such as Jean-Francois Lyotard and Luce Irigaray has a special relevance for the study of aging. It paves the way towards a more intricate perspective on subjectivity and rationality, allowing for a more adequate view on the relation between theory and practice and the role of values in the practice of care.     

Major Hazard Information Policy in the European Community: Implications for Risk Analysis

The main impetus to the development of information about major industrial hazards in the European Community comes from the so-called Seveso Directive, which defines an information network and requires the generation and transmission of information as the basis for accident prevention and risk management. This important policy development, which calls for the formal identification and analysis of major hazards and the communication of risk information to members of the public, presents new opportunities and challenges to risk analysis and research in Europe. This paper briefly reviews the accidents that gave rise to the Directive and shaped its content, and then summarizes its requirements. The status of its implementation in the EC Member States is discussed, with special emphasis given to the comparison of safety analysis practices, the Major Accident Reporting System (MARS), and risk communication. Some new research directions stimulated by the Directive are identified.