Assessing Risk of Victimization through Epidemiological Concepts: An Alternative Analytic Strategy Applied to Routine Activities Theory*

Cet article fait appel aux concepts et aux techniques de l'épidémiologie pour examiner la capacité de la théorie des activités routinières à expliquer le risque de victimisation criminelle. En allant au-delà de l'identification des facteurs de risque de victimisation, les auteurs se demandent comment les changements des facteurs de causalité pourraient influer sur ce risque dans la population générale. lis trouvent que les prédicteurs établis avec des méthodes plus traditionnelles expliquent la plus grande partie du risque, mais que certains sont moins importants pour la compréhension du risque de la population dans l'ensemble en raison du petit nombre de personnes qui leur est associé, tandis que d'autres sont plus utiles parce qu'ils s'appliquent à un plus grand nombre de personnes.
This paper draws upon concepts and techniques from epidemiology to examine the ability of routine activities theory to account for the risk of criminal victimization. Moving beyond the identification of risk factors for victimization, we ask how changes to causal factors might affect the risk of victimization in the general population. We find that predictors identified with more traditional methods account for the bulk of the risk, but that some are less important for understanding overall population risk because of the small numbers of people associated with them, while others are more helpful because they apply to larger numbers.     

Dependency and its Relationship to the Assessment of Care Needs of Elderly People

Correspondence to Dr Ian Gibbs, Social Policy Research Unit, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York, Heslington, York, YO1 5DD Summary A number of previous studies of old people in residential homeshave suggested that a substantial minority are not in need ofthat form of care. The rapid growth in the number of peoplein private homes, supported by social security payments andentering without any independent assessment, has led to concernthat many more people enter residential homes without needingto be there. Social workers were employed in four areas to assess the needsof residents newly admitted to homes in the independent sectorand over eighty per cent were found to be in need of residentialcare. It is suggested that the measures of dependency used toindicate need in some previous studies fail to take into accountthe complex factors involved in deciding whether a person needsresidential care.     

PRODUCTION EXTERNALITIES AND LONG-RUN EQUILIBRIA: BARGAINING AND PIGOVIAN TAXATION

This paper analyzes bargaining and Pigovian taxation solutions to inefficiencies from production externalities with free entry. The Coase Theorem fails in a decentralized context but remains valid if the property rights holder can act like a command economy planner. A less powerful price-taking rights holder's objective function is nonconcave, causing an inefficient bargaining outcome. Bargaining complicates Pigovian taxes with a nonlinear tax scheme required to sustain the optimum. Polluting firms pay a franchise tax whose revenue is given lump sum to consumers and face a marginal charge only on excess output, which thus raises no revenue in equilibrium.     

Values as constraints on affordances: Perceiving and acting properly

At the bottom of all human activities are "values," the conviction that some things "ought to be" and others not. Science, however, with its immense interest in mere facts seems to lack all understanding of such'requiredness.'… A science … which would seriously admit nothing but indifferent facts … could not fail to destroy itself. (Kohler, 1938/1966, p. 38-39)     

Current Folklore in the Criticisms of Parsonian Action Theory*

This paper examines the often repeated assertion that Parsons abandoned the notion of “voluntarism” in favor of “macrofunctionalism” or ”behavioristic naturalism” and that the Parsonian scheme therefore reveals marked discontinuity. When Parsons’strategy for theory building is appreciated, this prevalent assumption proves to be incorrect. In fact, the Parsonian action scheme evidences a considerable degree of continuity from 1937 to the present. While a prevalent piece of sociological folklore is refuted by a careful examination of the Parsonian theory building strategy, a number of significant problems in following this strategy are felt to remain.     

NON-PECUNIARY BENEFITS IN COMMERCIAL FISHING: EMPIRICAL FINDINGS FROM THE ALASKA SALMON FISHERIES

The issue of non-pecuniary benefits in commercial fishing is examined using data from the Alaska salmon fisheries, which are subject to entry limitations. It is concluded that, while limited entry permit prices reflect primarily pecuniary factors, the continued presence of many low-revenue fishermen in the fisheries suggests that they, at least, derive non-money benefits. However, the existence of non-pecuniary benefits does not appear to depend substantially on the gear type or geography of the fishery.