Quantitative Storytelling in the Making of a Composite Indicator

The reasons for and against composite indicators are briefly reviewed, as well as the available theories for their construction. After noting the strong normative dimension of these measures—which ultimately aim to ‘tell a story’, e.g. to promote the social discovery of a particular phenomenon, we inquire whether a less partisan use of a composite indicator can be proposed by allowing more latitude in the framing of its construction. We thus explore whether a composite indicator can be built to tell ‘more than one story’ and test this in practical contexts. These include measures used in convergence analysis in the field of cohesion policies and a recent case involving the World Bank’s Doing Business Index. Our experiments are built to imagine different constituencies and stakeholders who agree on the use of evidence and of statistical information while differing on the interpretation of what is relevant and vital.

     

Time and Postmodernism

In this essay we discuss changes in the cultural meaning and significance of time in postmodernism. We begin by examining the experience of time and space in the Middle Ages and its radical alteration following the Renaissance. After a relatively brief period of optimism during the Enlightenment regarding the scientific control over time and space, a new crisis beginning in the mid‐nineteenth century emphasized the increasing disjuncture between external, objective notions of time and the way time was experienced subjectively. We argue that the current literature on time and post‐modernity is best understood in this context, where earlier disequilibriating effects brought about by modern technologies are exacerbated by new developments in transportation and communications technology. Here we discuss the particular effects on topics of interest to social scientists such as changes in notions of personal identity and the effacement of historical time. We conclude with a call for more empirically grounded work on questions concerning time in postmodernism. We lament the paucity of concrete data as well as the excess of useless polemics and recommend several researchers already conducting work in this field.     

Multiple Commitments: A Conceptual Framework and Empirical Investigation in a Community Health Service Trust

This study examines different work–related foci of commitment, such as the work group and the employing organization as well as the current occupation. It assesses how these foci of commitment are influenced by, and influence, attitudes and emotions at work. Data from employees and managers in the British health–service sector shed light on the associations. Regression analysis reveals a strong association between positive work–related emotions and commitment levels, leading to a higher intention to stay with the organization. Implications for management and how the study fits into the existing body of commitment literature are discussed     

A non-profit approach to addressing the effects of urbanization in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin, Louisiana

The Lake Pontchartrain Basin in southeast Louisiana is an estuarine watershed encompassing New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and wetlands that are an integral part of Louisiana's unique culture. In recent decades rapid growth and poorly planned development have resulted in a decrease in water quality and habitat loss, especially in St. Tammany Parish on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. In 1989, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation (LPBF), an environmental, non-profit organization, was formed to address and rectify environmental issues in the Basin. LPBF accomplishes its mission through programs addressing water quality, habitat protection, geographic information science, public access, and education.LPBF used the recent, rapid development occurring in St. Tammany Parish as a case study to examine the relationship between land use, water quality, and development in the Basin by investigating habitat change/urbanization, development in flood plains, and water quality. Through the integration of LPBF programs, it was found that urbanization is having a devastating impact on the parish's natural habitats and severely degrading water quality. Using these results, LPBF is educating Basin citizens on the protection of their habitats and water quality to insure that these resources may be available for future generations.     

A comparative approach to assessing the quality of life of intercollegiate athletes

Although concerns have frequently been raised recently regarding the quality of life of intercollegiate athletes, information is seldom available on which college and university administrators can base policy decisions. Particularly lacking are studies that provide administrators with assessments of their own athletics programs relative to athletics programs at other institutions. We describe here a method we used in conducting a comparative evaluation of the status of student-athletes at a large public university, involving comparisons of student-athletes at this university to student-athletes at a subset of the institutions that participated in the 1987–88 National Study of Intercollegiate Athletes. By utilizing existing data sets to construct comparison samples, relative assessments of the status of student-athletes at a given institution can be performed without the excessive costs of gathering data on student-athletes at comparison institutions. Techniques employed in data collection and analysis are discussed as well as the format of the report in which the findings of the study were presented.     

“Life isn't yet over”: Older heroines in American popular cinema of the 1930s and 1970s/80s

This article analyzes the evolution of a significant undercurrent within American culture challenging the dominance of the cult of youth and masculinity, through the interpretation of selected American popular films of the 1930s and 1970s/80s featuring heroines over 60 years of age. These two eras, which witnessed the impact of elder advocacy on national legislation and social policy, generated films such asIf I Had A Million (1932),Make Way for Tomorrow (1937),Harold and Maude (1971) andThe Trip to Bountiful (1985). Through analyzing these films as well as related media trends, psychoanalytic approaches to the study of female representation in cinema are critiqued. While psychoanalytic approaches often stress the cultural dominance of an ahistorical patriarchy, a sociological model conceptualizes culture as a process constituted by communication and negotiation, resistance and rebellion as well as oppression and domination.This study was funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Clark University Faculty Development Fund and the Bunting Institute, Radcliffe College. I wish to thank the staff members of the Theatre Arts Library, University of California at Los Angeles and the Division of Film, Television and Recorded Sound, Library of Congress for their help in locating films and materials. Thanks also to Lois Banner, Ruth Jacobs, Elizabeth Markson, Carmen Sirianni, the members of my Aging and Society course (Clark University, Fall, 1987) and two anonymous reviewers who offered helpful suggestions on earlier drafts of this paper.     

The Evolution of Knowledge and the Dynamics of an Industry Network

The paper moves a step forward in the direction of establishing a connection between the structure and evolution of knowledge bases and the structure and evolution of organizational forms in innovative activities in a science-intensive industry. The paper has an explicit focus on the dynamics of the network of collaborative agreements in R&D in the pharma/biotech industry after the “molecular biology revolution”. Using a comprehensive dataset, built by the authors integrating several sources in the industry, the dynamics of the network over time is extensively analyzed. With regards to network structure, it is found that, while the size of the network increases over time due to net flows of entry, its topological properties remain relatively unchanged. The evolution of the network has occurred without relevant deformations in the core-periphery profile. With regards to age-dependent propensity to collaborate, the paper finds that the extent of inter-generational collaboration is much more significant than intra-generational collaboration. In addition, the propensity of firms of a given generation to enter into collaboration with firms of a different generation increases with the distance between the two, while the total number of intra-generational collaborations decreases over time and, moreover, tends to decrease for most recent generations. In the paper a unitary and coherent explanation of the evidence is developed, coming to reveal the existence of a striking isomorphism between structural properties of the dynamics of knowledge and of the evolution of network structure. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.