Letters from a Kangaroo: A Third Object Technique for Working with the Young Child

Summary The author looks at the use of letter writing as a third objecttechnique and considers its value in working with under fives.She also touches on early language development in the pre-schoolchild and the relevance of the theory for social workers.     

The Impact of "No Opinion" Response Options on Data Quality: Non-Attitude Reduction or an Invitation to Satisfice?

According to many seasoned survey researchers, offering a no-opinionoption should reduce the pressure to give substantive responsesfelt by respondents who have no true opinions. By contrast,the survey satisficing perspective suggests that no-opinionoptions may discourage some respondents from doing the cognitivework necessary to report the true opinions they do have. Weaddress these arguments using data from nine experiments carriedout in three household surveys. Attraction to no-opinion optionswas found to be greatest among respondents lowest in cognitiveskills (as measured by educational attainment), among respondentsanswering secretly instead of orally, for questions asked laterin a survey, and among respondents who devoted little effortto the reporting process. The quality of attitude reports obtained(as measured by over-time consistency and responsiveness toa question manipulation) was not compromised by the omissionof no-opinion options. These results suggest that inclusionof no-opinion options in attitude measures may not enhance dataquality and instead may preclude measurement of some meaningfulopinions.     

Children's experience of divorce

SUMMARY. Until very recently, little has been known about children's personal experiences of parental separation and divorce. Interviews with children from a representative sample of divorced families showed that they lacked information, that they suffered more distress than their parents realised, that their satisfaction with access was directly related to the speed with which it was arranged, and that relationships with custodial parents' new partners were similar to their relationships with absent parents     

ON THE CHOICE BETWEEN PROPERTY RULES AND LIABILITY RULES

When parties can bargain with each other in an externality situation, it is frequently argued that liability rules are preferable to property rules. The case for liability rules is thought to be strongest when the parties behave strategically, when the collective authority responsible for maximizing social welfare has perfect information, and when lump-sum transfers are not available. It is shown here that liability rules are not generally preferable to property rules in these circumstances because of their limited ability to redistribute income between the parties.     

Meaning and Measurement in Cross-National Research on Satisfaction with Democracy

The stability of a democratic nation has long been thought torest on its level of legitimacy among the mass public. Yet,measurement of such support has been characterized by considerableconfusion. One key element in that confusion is the heavy relianceover the past 20 years on data from a survey item that measuresrespondents' levels of satisfaction with democracy. Data fromthis item have been analyzed in numerous studies of politicalsupport. This research has proceeded despite the existence ofsubstantial disagreement regarding what dimension or dimensionsof support the item measures. In an effort to resolve this ambiguity,we examine the conceptual and empirical properties of the itemin question. The analysis draws on original surveys conductedin 1999 in Romania and El Salvador and on data from the 1997Latinbarometer. Results reveal that the satisfaction with democracyitem taps multiple dimensions of political support and thatthe substantive content represented by the item varies acrossboth individuals and nations. We argue that these empiricalcharacteristics limit the capacity of analysts to derive meaningfulinferences from study of this item and that, until clarificationof the measurement issue is obtained, progress in identifyingpredictors of democratic stability will be slowed.     

Veiling,secularism, and the neoliberal subject: national narratives and supranational desires in Turkey and France

Abstract In this article we examine recent heated debates about the acceptability of the veil in public institutions in Turkey and France. France's adoption of a law that banned all conspicuous religious and political symbols from public schools was a focal point in these debates. A restraining attitude towards veiling is even more extensive in Turkey. In this article we focus on the historical and contemporary connections between these two secular republics, as well as the ideological context of global neoliberalism and the policies of suprastate and transnational organizations to analyse how the discourses and practices of secularism have been employed with respect to the question of wearing veils in public institutions. We argue that the concept of secularism, of which the veil debate is one component, has been important for state formation and economic development in both Turkey and France, and that in the contemporary period it is also employed with respect to the image of a particular kind of unattached and unbiased neoliberal subject. France and Turkey provide revealing cases of the ways in which contemporary secularism as a technology of governance reflects both historical patterns and new trends in the neoliberal era.