Varieties of failure of monotonicity and participation under five voting methods

In voting theory, monotonicity is the axiom that an improvement in the ranking of a candidate by voters cannot cause a candidate who would otherwise win to lose. The participation axiom states that the sincere report of a voter’s preferences cannot cause an outcome that the voter regards as less attractive than the one that would result from the voter’s non-participation. This article identifies three binary distinctions in the types of circumstances in which failures of monotonicity or participation can occur. Two of the three distinctions apply to monotonicity, while one of those and the third apply to participation. The distinction that is unique to monotonicity is whether the voters whose changed rankings demonstrate non-monotonicity are better off or worse off. The distinction that is unique to participation is whether the marginally participating voter causes his first choice to lose or his last choice to win. The overlapping distinction is whether the profile of voters’ rankings has a Condorcet winner or a cycle at the top. This article traces the occurrence of all of the resulting combination of characteristics in the voting methods that can exhibit failures of monotonicity.     

宗教信仰选择：一个西方宗教经济学的文献梳理

本文在回顾归纳国外宗教经济学相关理论和经验成果的基础上,建立了“供给-需求”分析框架。笔者认为,既有宗教经济学理论主要从供给和需求两个角度来解释信仰选择的作用机制。宗教市场理论从供给出发,认为宗教市场结构是宗教信仰的重要决定因素;宗教社会资本理论、宗教家庭生产模型、宗教人力资本模型和宗教事后保障模型则从需求角度出发,分别强调社会网络的人际依恋、宗教参与的机会成本、宗教产品的生产效率和宗教组织的公共物品供给因素等在宗教信仰选择方面发挥的影响。改革开放以来中国社会宗教信仰领域发生了极大的变化,引入宗教经济学视野一方面能为考察分析当今中国宗教信仰现状及推动其理论发展带来相应的契机,另一方面应考虑中国与西方社会之间的差异以及特殊性,对该视野的运用要有所甄别。     

Identity Change in Northern Ireland: A Longitudinal Study of Students' Transition to University

This two-wave longitudinal study followed a cohort of young people in Northern Ireland (N = 124) to examine how the transition to university impacts on identity change. Drawing on Stryker's (1968, 1987) identity theory, we examined salience, affective and interactional commitment for five identities: family member, friend, student, national and religious identity. The relative salience of national and religious identities did not change over time, but an absolute increase in the salience of religious identity was indicated at Time 2. Regression analysis provided some support for identity theory but suggested a difference between Catholics and Protestants in relation to religious identity. The implications for the identities of young people in Northern Ireland, and, more generally, for identity theory are discussed .     

Culture Wars in the Congressional Theater: How the U.S. House of Representatives Legislates Morality, 1993–1998

Objective . This article explores the politics of cultural conflict in the U.S. House of Representatives (1993–1998) by analyzing legislator decision making on reproductive issues. Because reproductive policies represent a major contemporary cultural cleavage between feminists and religious traditionalists, decision making should be influenced by elite – and district –level variables reflective of culture. Methods . Pro –choice support scores are derived and, using OLS, are regressed on elite – and district –level cultural and noncultural variables. Results . Republican partisanship and elite ideological and religious conservatism produce low levels of support for pro –choice reproductive policies. Conclusions . Cultural theory is a useful lens through which to view congressional politics. In the area of reproductive policy, legislator decision making is influenced by an array of cultural considerations.     

Identity and Government Funding in Christian Nonprofits*

Objectives. This article aims to understand if and how the expressed religious identity of Christian nonprofit organizations varies between those receiving and not receiving government funding and whether there is evidence that government funding produces such differences. Methods. I utilize a content analysis of narratives provided on tax forms of 1,900 of the largest national and international Christian nonprofits based in the United States. Results. Christian nonprofits receiving government funding are less likely to express a religious identity and tend to use more inclusive language when doing so. However, receiving government funding does not seem to be the direct cause of changes in expressed religious identity. Conclusions. Differences in expressed religious identity might better be understood as the result of long‐term changes that both alter the organization's identity and makes it more likely to acquire government funding.     

State Income Inequality and Presidential Election Turnout and Outcomes*

Objective. This study examines the links among income inequality, voter turnout, and electoral choice at the state level in recent presidential elections. Methods. We introduce two new state‐level ecological data sets, estimated annual Gini coefficients of income inequality from 1969 to 2004 and a measure of income segregation across Census tracts within states in 1999. We test for associations among inequality, turnout, and party preference with cross‐sectional, fixed‐effects, and multilevel analyses. Results. The cross‐sectional effect of inequality on voter turnout and electoral choice is ambiguous. However, a fixed‐effects analysis links higher income inequality to lower voter turnout and also to a stronger Democratic vote. Multilevel results indicate that higher levels of economic segregation likewise are associated with depressed turnout, after controlling for individual voter characteristics and for state‐level income.     

Identities in Northern Ireland: A Multidimensional Approach

The conflict in Northern Ireland is often described in terms of a clash of identities, national and religious. This study aimed to determine the relative importance of these identities using a multidimensional approach to examine the identity structures of students (N = 216). Analyses revealed that national and religious identities were accorded low salience and centrality relative to other identities. The study also investigated relations between a variety of identity dimensions derived from two identity traditions, social identity theory and identity theory. The differing patterns of relationships to emerge across groups and across identities suggest that the process of identification in Northern Ireland is a complex one. The implications of these findings for the analysis of the Northern Ireland conflict are discussed.     

现代宗教是理性选择的吗:质疑宗教的理性选择研究范式

本文在关注宗教社会学理论如何给现代社会的宗教现象以合理的解释的同时,对运用理性选择理论解释现代宗教的取向提出商榷。尽管理性选择理论非常强势,号称有相当普遍的解释力,但本文还是试图对以理性选择理论来解释现代社会宗教的有效性提出质疑,认为 “宗教经济”范式中的宗教市场的“供方”与“求方”是理解宗教的错误逻辑,在工具理性和价值理性两个重要概念中有相互混淆和偷换之嫌。本文最后指出,目前仅以宗教市场理论研究中国宗教具有一定的危险性,必须谨慎地使用。     

从类型学到动态研究：兼论信仰的流动

自从杨庆堃提出“混合宗教”与“制度化宗教”概念之后,类型学建构成为华人宗教研究的主流。本文尝试进行视角的转换,用“基于类型学基础上的动态研究”来分析华人社会中信仰的流动。该视角一方面强调类型学的重要性,认为在研究中国宗教时有必要对“灵”、“义”等本土概念予以社会科学化;另一方面它强调揭示类型之间的联系与变化,将静态的类型学考察转化为动态分析。本文认为,动态的视角有助于关照到被类型学忽略的过程以及隐匿于其中的趋势,继而发展诸多经典理论,即研究神灵的流动有助于理解“神灵的诞生与竞争”,研究信徒的流动可以丰富“改教”理论,对宗教组织流动的研究则可以拓宽“教派-教会”理论的视野。     

Mobilized by Direct Democracy: Short‐Term Versus Long‐Term Effects and the Geography of Turnout in Ballot Measure Elections*

Objectives. A number of recent studies find that direct democracy increases voter turnout. In this article, we ask: Who does direct democracy mobilize to vote and how are they mobilized? We distinguish between long‐term and short‐term effects on voter turnout, noting that much of the current literature has focused on participatory theory. Methods. Our research design harnesses the power of geographic information systems and examines turnout in special initiative‐only elections using registered voter lists. Our model draws on individual and Census tract data, incorporated using a hierarchical generalized linear model. Results. The findings demonstrate how partisan context mitigates the potential for direct democracy to mobilize from the middle, and clarifies the dominance of short‐term as opposed to long‐term effects in increasing voter participation in ballot initiative elections. Conclusion. Mobilization via direct legislation occurs mostly because voters are actively mobilized by partisan campaigns, not because of an increase in participatory fervor.     

Determining Democracy in the Organization of the Islamic Conference*

Objectives. We determine the conditions that account for change in the realized level of political rights and civil liberties within the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Methods. We use ordered logit to assess the impact of religious pluralism and fragmentation and related controls on changes in Freedom House Political Rights and Civil Liberties scores at five‐year intervals between 1976 and 2004. Results. Findings suggest that the presence of non‐Islamic religious groups within OIC states leads to an increase in political rights, while the presence of Islamic groups practicing a version of the faith not officially recognized by the state reduced political rights and civil liberties. Conclusions. Islam's influence on democratization does not fall neatly into either the “pro” or “con” categories that have so strongly defined the relevant literature. Islam's influence is, instead, variable and contingent on the wider degree of religious characteristics within each state.     

Ambiguity,pessimism, and rational religious choice

Using a subclass of the α-maximin expected-utility preference model, in which the decision maker’s degree of ambiguity and degree of pessimism are each parameterized, we present a theory of religious choice in the Pascalian decision theory tradition, one that can resolve dilemmas, address the “many Gods objection,” and address the ambiguity inherent in religious choice. Parameterizing both the degree of ambiguity and the degree of pessimism allows one to examine how the two interact to impact choice, which is useful regardless of the application. Applying this model to religious choice is a move beyond subjective expected-utility theory, allowing us to show that a change in either the degree of ambiguity or the degree of pessimism can lead a decision maker to “convert” from one religion to another.     

Political Mobilization in the Pews: Religious Contacting and Electoral Turnout

Objective . We probe the impact of voter contact by religious groups, in the form of direct attempts to encourage voters to vote in a certain way and the placement of voter guides in churches, on voter turnout among white evangelical Protestants, white mainline Protestants, white Roman Catholics, and black Protestants in 1994, 1996, and 1998. Methods . Using data from the 1994, 1996, and 1998 National Election Studies, we fit a series of logistic regression models of voter turnout that feature, as key predictors, variables indicating whether an individual was contacted by "any groups concerned with moral or religious issues that tried to encourage you to vote in a particular way" and whether "information about candidates, parties or political issues [was] made available in your place of worship before the election." Results . These forms of contact were most commonly experienced by white evangelicals and black Protestants, and in many instances such contacts accomplished their intended purpose. Conclusions . Interest group contacts—at least contacts from the types of groups examined here—have the potential to be no more effective than contacts by political parties, perhaps because their messages can be more narrowly targeted.     

Even-chance lotteries in social choice theory

This paper discusses aspects of the theory of social choice when a nonempty choice set is to be determined for each situation, which consists of a feasible set of alternatives and a preference order for each voter on the set of nonempty subsets of alternatives. The individual preference assumptions include ordering properties and averaging conditions, the latter of which are motivated by the interpretation that subset A is preferred to subset B if and only if the individual prefers an even-chance lottery over the basic alternatives in A to an even-chance lottery over the basic alternatives in B. Corresponding to this interpretation, a choice set with two or more alternatives is resolved by an even-chance lottery over these alternatives. Thus, from the traditional no-lottery social choice theory viewpoint, ties are resolved by even-chance lotteries on the tied alternatives. Compared to the approach which allows all lotteries to compete along with the basic alternatives, the present approach is a contraction which allows only even-chance lotteries.After discussing individual preference axioms, the paper examines Pareto optimality for nonempty subsets of a feasible set in a social choice context with n voters. Aspects of simple-majority comparisons in the even-chance context follow, including an analysis of single-peaked preferences. The paper concludes with an Arrowian type impossibility theorem that is designed for the even-chance setting.     

Identity Politics Among Arab‐American Women*

Objective. Identity politics has dominated contemporary analyses of protest movements. Although multiple identities are commonplace, progress in delineating their empirical relationship has been slow. This article examines the relationships among ethnic and religious identities and feminist orientations among Arab‐American women, a group that bridges multiple cultural identities. The primary research question is whether ethnic and religious identities undermine feminism in this population or whether multiple identities are mutually supportive. Methods. Using data from a national mail survey of Arab‐American women, regression analyses examine the separate effects of various dimensions of ethnic and religious identity on women's feminist orientations. Results. Arab political identity is positively associated with feminism while religious and feminist identities are inversely related. The effects of ethnic cultural identity and Muslim affiliation are negligible. Conclusions. This study finds a complex pattern of relationships among multiple identities and underscores the underlying political dynamic linking group identities.     

Movers and Stayers in Care Management in Adult Services

Professional biographies of care managers in the mid-ninetiesand, seven years on, their profiles and career choice are thefocus of this article. The work draws on two linked studiesbased on adult services in two social services departments.The profile of those who stayed in post and those who movedon raises issues for the social work profession, for managersand for policy makers. Those who stayed constitute an experiencedworkforce of middle-aged, predominantly female practitionerswith mixed views about the changing nature of the work. Thosewho moved include a group of females who became managers bydefault. The work raises issues concerning work pressures, genderprofiles within an ageing workforce, and succession planning.The findings link to more extensive workforce studies and contributetowards debates concerning the occupational identity and thefuture of qualified practitioners within a human services landscapewhich is constantly being reshaped within a culture of new managerialism.     

Religious involvement and group identification: The case of Hispanics in the United States

This study examines the link between religious involvement and racial group identification among Hispanics in the United States. Relying on the multifaceted nature of religious involvement, this study focuses on five dimensions of religious involvement—church attendance, prayer, the importance one places on religion, one's belief in God's love, and religious affiliation. Using the data from the Panel Study of American Religion and Ethnicity (1st wave, 2006), this study employs regression analysis. The results show that, among the five dimensions of religious involvement, only church attendance has a significant effect on racial group identification; Hispanics who frequently attend church are more likely to identify with Hispanics. This study suggests that church attendance increases Hispanics’ group identification for two reasons: first, because of the formation of Hispanic-oriented churches; and second, because of the intense interaction among Hispanics within their church communities.     

Genocide Reconsidered: A Pragmatist Approach

The recent literature on genocide shows signs of taking what might be called a “processual turn,” with genocide increasingly understood as a contingent process rather than a singular event. But while this second generation's turn may be clear to those within the literature, the theory guiding the change is insufficiently specified. The theory regarding process and contingency is implicit, and, as such, genocide theory does not realize its full generative potential. The primary goal of this article is to provide a more robust theoretical framework for making sense of the continually evolving dimensions of genocide. It builds on the literature's existing foundations, most notably Mann's (2005) notion of “contingent escalations.” In the spirit of the recent revival of American Pragmatism in sociology, it draws on the work of Dewey, Mills, Follett, and Addams (among others) as part of a theoretical reconstruction using pragmatist concepts such as rupture, perplexity, vocabularies of motive, and experimentation to consider examples from the Rwandan genocide and show how we might explore the potential for non‐teleological intentionality on the part of genocidal actors. The result is an enhanced theoretical framework that offers “fresh eyes” for considering one of the worst (and most under‐theorized) social problems.