The good, the bad and the delicious: the role of confectionery in British society

Food, contemporarily, has a high political and public profile in British society particularly in relation to health and health education. In this paper I explore why, despite the advice of the body technocrats, confectionery continues to occupy a prominent and pre-eminent place in the British diet. I suggest that the particular place which confectionery occupies in the system of food classification is between ‘rear’ and ‘junk’ food, and, as a ‘liminal’ foodstuff, confectionery has the symbolic power both to mediate social relationships and to confer particular sets of social meanings. These meanings are resonant of the wider moral space within which attitudes towards food in Britain are conceptually located. By exploring the ‘mythology’ of confectionery some explanation may be found as to why the much publicised warnings and advice of health educationalists and nutritionists go unheeded.     

Vaginal Douching Practices Among Women Attending a University in the Southern United States

Abstract

The authors assessed the frequency, characteristics, and motivational antecedents of vaginal douching practices among 125 White and 155 Black female college students. Overall, 40% of the students had ever douched and half of those women currently douche. Black women were most likely to be encouraged to douche by their mothers, whereas White women were more influenced by television advertisements. Among the sexually active women, being Black, using oral contraceptives, using spermicides, and being encouraged to douche by their mothers or by the media were independently associated with ever having douched. These associations were present among both Black and White women and were stronger when current douching was compared with never having douched. Women who were discouraged from douching by a physician or nurse were more likely to have stopped the practice. Douching is common, even among educated young women; nurses' and physicians' advice to stop douching appears to have a salutary effect.     

The good,the bad and the unnatural: a study of coroners' decisions in Northern Ireland

This paper is concerned with an examination of the investigatory resources and explanatory principles which surround the dead. The central focus is upon the distinctions which are drawn between natural and unnatural death, and the paper has two main aims. First, it attempts to measure the direction and flow of investigatory and observatory power which emanates from the coroners’ court. Second, it attempts to unravel the connotations embodied in the concept of unnatural death. It is argued that the characteristics of the natural and the unnatural are not to be found within the anatomy or physiology of the corpse, but rather in the principles of an aetiological framework which seeks to decontextualise death and disease from their social base, and which consequently distorts our vision of the human condition at death. The data on which the arguments are based are drawn from studies of those deemed to have died unnaturally in Belfast at various periods during the twentieth century.     

Slavery in White and Black: Class and Race in the Southern Slaveholders' New World Order

Slave-breeding is a topic that has long divided American historians. Since the late nineteenth century, historians have sought out empirical evidence to prove or disprove the idea that some slave owners deliberately bred slaves for sale or to augment their own labour force. As a result, the historiographical treatment of slave-breeding has become bogged down in what Herbert Gutman called ‘the numbers game’. This essay re-examines the question of slave-breeding and challenges us to consider the broader historical meaning of such sensational accusations. It does this by focusing on the rhetoric of black and white abolitionists in the United States between 1830 and 1861. The author argues that slave-breeding discourse provided abolitionists with a narrative focal point with which to attract public attention to their concerns about the westward extension of slavery, the physical and emotional toll slavery wrought on enslaved women, and the trauma associated with the break-up of slave families.     

Slavery in the Americas: Resistance,liberation, emancipation

Author: BERGAD, LAIRD W.; Slavery and the Demographic and Economic History of Minas Gerais, Brazil, 1720-1888; Author: HIGGINS, KATHLEEN J.; 'Licentious Liberty' in a Brazilian Gold-Mining Region. Slavery, Gender and Social Control in Eighteenth-Century Sabara, Minas Gerais     

Expectations and reality: a case study of return migration from the United States to Southern Italy

A summary of Italy's emigration flows shows that Southern Italy sent her people abroad in great number, and, at the same time, return migration to Italy has been characteristic of a minority, e.g., an estimated 3000 from the US alone, 1964-68. Italy's modernization proceeded unevenly, the South remaining agricultural and for the most part, economically backward. Any form of identification with Italy as a country did not affect the Southern peasant thus preparing his/her way to emigrate as soon as any opportunity presented itself. Due to all the conditions which facilitated emigration from Italy on an individualistic and nonideological basis and without an understanding of the economic forces pushing the emigrant out, and in view of the lack of understanding of how the New World economy of the US was constituted, it is no surprise that the return migration of some remained as much ad hoc and based solely on individual motivations as was the emigration. The 2 fundamental approaches to the concept of immigrant both start by considering the immigrant in his/her new situation. 1 approach views the immigrant's success in the new situation as dependent upon acquiring values and patterns of behavior which would resolve his/her problems in the new society. According to the other approach, in order to resolve the problems of his/her new situation the immigrant must become critically aware of the consequences of his/her actions. The 1st view of conceiving integration has been prevalent, particularly in the study of international migration. And, mass migration from Italy, from the emigrant's perspective, is connected to a repeatedly unsuccessful search for economic success and failure to reach prevailing cultural objectives. The act of emigration, of abandonment, may thus be seen as the resolution of the disparity between the means at the emigrant's disposal and the objectives he/she seeks. The great majority succeed but some fail, and if they have a home and family to return to, they begin to think of returning. Returned migrants interviewed experienced an abrupt passage from a rural to an urban and industrial world. Few of the immigrants whose background was in a fa rm occupation engaged in farming upon arrival in the US. The factor determining whether the immigrant surmounts the problems of the 1st phase of his/her experience is his/her work. If the work the immigrant has found makes him/her part of the production process, the money earned makes him/her part of the consumption process. And, this is the 1st turning point in the experience as an immigrant. A return of conservativism is given when the immigrant continues to consider his/her earnings and investments in terms of the traditional scheme appropriate to the home country. Return of innovation is the term given to those who were unwilling or unable to accept fully their expected position in the new society and tended to detach themselves, even to the point of return to the mother country. The consequences of returns to the native society are summarized. In sum, it appears that returned migrants cannot function as vehicles of social development.     

So near yet so far: blocked networks,global links and multiple exclusion in the German–Polish borderlands

Abstract The building blocks of global society are conventionally thought of in terms of ‘flows’, ‘scapes’, ‘key nodes’, and ‘global cities’, to name a few. We rarely consider borders and border regions. However, state borders provide a crucial component of a globalizing society in transition. Exhibiting a structural ambivalence, borders can be seedbeds of cosmopolitanism, sites of cultural closure, or often both simultaneously. To understand cross‐border interaction we have to engage with a complex configuration of global and sub‐global dynamics. In this article I argue that borders are revealing analytical tools that must be included in any grounded theory of global change. I draw on fieldwork conducted in the German‐Polish border region, mostly in the German‐Polish twin city Guben/Gubin. Here we are confronted with the simultaneous processes of globalization, European integration and post‐socialist transformation.     

Cohabitation in the United States and Britain: Demography,kinship, and the future

Cohabitation is a rapidly changing aspect of family life in the United States and Britain. This article describes the demography of cohabitation, considers the place of cohabitation in the kinship system, and speculates on the future of cohabitation. I argue that three processes—cohort replacement, socialization that occurs when children live with cohabiting parents, and social diffusion—will foster continued increases in rates of cohabitation. These processes are also likely to increase variation in the types of cohabiting relationships that couples form. Understanding the meaning of cohabitation in the kinship system requires distinguishing between individuals' attitudes about their own relationships and the composition of cohabiting unions at the population level.     

Technology-Based Innovation for Independent Living: Policy and Innovation in the United Kingdom,Scandinavia, and the United States

Interest in utilizing technology to help older adults remain living at home is growing; however, uptake remains low. We present a conceptual framework for understanding independent living technology innovation within health and social services. Public policy and innovation in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Scandinavia are profiled as case studies. In all profiled countries, independent living technology is more rapidly advancing than associated state policy, regulation, and payment systems. The findings from this comparative analysis reveal areas for further exploration, including policy subsystem environments in which technologies and services are regulated, as well as trends and desires of older adults and their caregivers within particular cultural contexts.     

Doing good when times are bad: volunteering behaviour in economic hard times

This paper examines how the 2008–9 recession has affected volunteering behaviours in the UK. Using a large survey dataset, we assess the recession effects on both formal volunteering and informal helping behaviours. Whilst both formal volunteering and informal helping have been in decline in the UK since 2008, the size of the decline is significantly larger for informal helping than for formal volunteering. The decline is more salient in regions that experienced a higher level of unemployment during the recession and also in socially and economically disadvantaged communities. However, we find that a growing number of people who personally experienced financial insecurity and hardship do not explain the decline. We argue that the decline has more to do with community‐level factors such as civic organizational infrastructure and cultural norms of trust and engagement than personal experiences of economic hardship.     

A Korean Gay Man in the United States:

An increasing number of Koreans are immigrating to the U.S. Little information exists for human service professionals to draw from to help Korean gay men adjust to living in America. This discussion provides a historical overview of homosexuality in Korea with insights into contemporary Korean culture. An interview with a young Korean gay man living in the U.S. illustrates the concerns and problems these men experience as they struggle to adapt to gay life in this country. Racism from the gay community and alienation from the Korean American community are salient characteristics of the problems experienced by Korean gay immigrants. To better serve the needs of these men, helping professionals must develop relationships based on trust and friendship, understand Korean attitudes toward homosexuality, and be knowledgeable of how Confucian gender ideology influences same sex relationships involving Korean gay men living in this country.     

The Polls--Trends: Labor Unions in the United States

In this study, we analyze data on public opinion and attitudestoward labor unions from the iPOLL Databank at the Roper Centerfor Public Opinion Research (University of Connecticut), theAmerican National Election Study, and the Current PopulationSurvey. Despite recent developments that suggest labor unionsare in decline, we find organized labor has maintained reasonablystrong public support. Although the data indicate that Americansremain skeptical about how much confidence they can place inunions and their leaders, the results make clear that the publiccontinues to recognize the need for unions to protect the rightsof workers. These results hold potentially important implicationsfor the future of organized labor in the United States.     

The Unique Culture of Gullah/Geechee Families on the Southern Coast of the United States

The Gullah/Geechee people are a distinct group of African Americans that have been more successful in maintaining customs and traditions from Africa than any other subset of African Americans. This group's unique language is often the first characteristic that brings them to the attention of outsiders; however, upon closer look, their uniqueness is revealed in their art, folklore, music, religion, food, and overall culture. An exploration of the uniqueness of this subgroup of African Americans can provide valuable insight for social workers assisting clients from the Gullah/Geechee culture.