Biotechnology: Movers,Shakers, Winners,Losers

Book reviewed in this article: Biotechnology and Developing Country Agriculture: The Case of Maize. By Carliene Brenner Agricultural Biotechnology: Opportunities for International Development. Edited by Gabrielle J. Persley Biotechnology, Agriculture and Food Biotechnology: Economic and Social Aspects. Edited by E.J. Da Silva, C. Ratledge and A. Sasson     

Essay Review: Marital Therapy, Monogamy, and Menagés

Fitzgerald, R. V. Conjoint Marital Therapy .
Foley, V. An Introduction to Family Therapy .
Smith J. & Smith L. Beyond Monogamy .     

Society as Text: Essays on Rhetoric,Reason, and Reality,by Richard Harvey Brown

Anthropology as Cultural Critique: An Experimental Moment in the Human Sciences , by George E. Marcus and Michael M.J. Fischer.     

Caraley,D. J. (ed.): American Hegemony: Preventive War,Iraq, and Imposing Democracy.

Review of Journals and Books

Caraley, D. J. (ed.): American Hegemony: Preventive War, Iraq, and Imposing Democracy.     

Men in Traditional and Nontraditional Careers: Gender Role Attitudes,Gender Role Conflict,and Job Satisfaction

Men established in traditional (mechanical engineering, n = 100) and nontraditional (elementary school counseling, n = 100) careers were compared on their career compromise choices (sex type vs. prestige), adherence to masculinity ideology, gender role conflict, and job satisfaction. The engineers tended to choose sex type over prestige; the school counselors indicated a clear preference for prestige. The engineers reported more traditional gender role attitudes. The gender role variables had little predictive value for the career compromise choices. The Gender Role Conflict Scale (J. M. O'Neil, B. J. Helms, R. K. Gable, L. David, & L. S. Wrightsman, 1986) Conflict Between Work and Family Relations subscale predicted job satisfaction for both groups.     

Soccer, civil religion, and public relations: Devotional–promotional communication and Barcelona Football Club

The aim of this article is to provide a public relations perspective on the civil religion phenomenon through a study of Barcelona Football Club (BFC) as an institution and its public relations efforts. We believe that BFC can be seen as a form of civil religion that uses a devotional–promotional communication model which sets forth, upholds and reinforces relations with “faithful supporters”. The paper links to three main contributions: the work of [Salvador, J. (2004). Futbol, metàfora d’una guerra freda: Un estudi antropològic del Barça. Barcelona: Proa.] on anthropological approach to BFC, [Giner, S. (2003). Carisma y razón. Madrid: Alianza] on civil religion and its communicative dimension, and [Tilson, D. J. (2006). Devotional–promotional communicationa and Santiago: A thousand-year public relations campaign for Saint James and Spain. In J. L’Etang & M. Pieczka (Eds.), Public relations: Critical debates and contemporary practice (pp. 167–184). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.] on devotional–promotional communication. Thus, this article advances a public relations approach to civil religion.     

Review essay - Beyond Post-emancipation Studies: The Dilemmas of Grounded Comparison,Authorial Location,and the Haunting Subaltern

Authors: COOPER, FREDERICK, HOLT, THOMAS C. and SCOTT, REBECCA J.; Beyond Slavery: Explorations of Race, Labor and Citizenship in Postemancipation Societies     

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     

MALE MARITAL WAGE DIFFERENTIALS: TRAINING,PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS,AND FIXED EFFECTS

Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, we replicate previous estimates of the marital wage differential for white men, extend the analysis to African American men, then explain the within and between race differentials. We first control for formal job training, then for cognitive skills, parental background, and self‐esteem with little effect. By contrast, the white differential but not the black differential disappears in fixed‐effects estimation. We reconcile the cross‐section/panel differentials by focusing on the distinct identification conditions employed by each technique. Men who never change marital status play a significant role in white cross‐sectional estimates. (JEL J31, J12)     

Earnings,Effort, and Work Flexibility of Self-Employed Women and Men: The Case of St. Croix County,Wisconsin

Data collected on self-employed women and men in one county allow examination of work effort, housework effort, housework hours, and preference for flexible work on earnings. Regressions indicate housework effort of self-employed women contributes to their lower earnings. Housework hours do not supporting the view women select self-employment to find flexible work. Housework hours do reduce the earnings of self-employed men, which could reflect their stronger commitment to housework combined with less flexible work. A Oaxaca decomposition suggests less tenure and greater housework effort are important contributors to lower earnings of self-employed women. Ranges that measure earnings may contribute to the insignificance of work effort, normalized work effort, and preference for flexible work hours. (J16, J23)

Ethnographic boundaries: Culture,class, and sexuality in Tokyo

For those engaged in participant-observation, the first few months in the field are usually extremely difficult. By taking a reflexive turn, however, the events recorded during entrée are invaluable for revealing the social and cultural dimensions of the new life a researcher creates for him or herself. The following is an account of one researcher's attempt to enter a community in contemporary Tokyo. This account reveals the boundaries of culture, class and sexuality between the researcher and the community. The complex set of highly personal ramifications resulting from crossing those boundaries are also discussed.Many people have read various versions of this paper, but I would especially like to thank the following for taking the time to provide me with thought provoking comments: Beverly Eliasoph, Steven Brint, Deborah Davis-Friedmann, Ezra Vogel, Robert J. Smith, Shulamit Reinharz, and Lee Rainwater. I am especially indebted to Dorinne Kondo, whose insights and warm support proved to be invaluable. Of course, all of the usual disclaimers apply.     

Trauma Symptoms: Relationship With Career Thoughts,Vocational Identity,and Developmental Work Personality

Knowledge of traumatic events and how trauma symptoms relate to social and psychological well‐being continues to grow. One aspect of an individual's functioning that may be affected by exposure to traumatic events is the ability of the individual to engage in career‐ and work‐related activities (D. H. Coursol, J. Lewis, & L. Garrity, 2001). The current study examines the relationship between trauma symptoms and the career development process of 131 college students. Results indicate a significant relationship between higher levels of trauma symptoms and higher levels of dysfunctional career thoughts and lower levels of work personality. Implications for career counselors are discussed.     

PAY, TECHNOLOGY, AND THE COST OF WORKER ABSENCE

Conventional studies of absenteeism concentrate on labor supply. An equilibrium approach, however, establishes that the shadow cost of absenteeism varies across firms that operate different technologies. Using an unusual employee/employer matched data set from France, which records both individual worker absenteeism and information about technology, we show that firms operating just-in-time technology have higher shadow costs of absence than firms that do not. The estimates are used to calculate the economy-wide cost of absence, which turns out to be very low. ( JEL J22, J31, J41)     

SELF‐EMPLOYMENT,EFFICIENCY WAGE,AND PUBLIC POLICIES

Empirical evidence suggests that unemployed workers are much more likely to become self‐employed than wage‐employed workers. Also, higher unemployment benefits significantly reduce the rate of self‐employment. This article develops a model of self‐employment which incorporates transitions between unemployment and self‐employment. It integrates two strands of theoretical literature—models of occupational choice and the efficiency wage models. In this model, a higher unemployment benefit reduces the self‐employment rate and the transition rate of unemployed workers to self‐employment, which is consistent with empirical evidence. (JEL J23, J58, J64)     

Review of Attachment Theory: Familial Predictors,Continuity and Change,and Intrapersonal and Relational Outcomes

Initially, the major focus of attachment theory was the parent–child relationship, but Bowlby (1988 Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Clinical applications of attachment theory. London: Routeledge. [Google Scholar]) also described the attachment system as active over the entire life course. Accordingly, a proliferation of research on attachment theory in the past two decades has addressed an array of familial predictors as well as intrapersonal and relational outcomes of attachment. The purpose of this review is to present: 1) measurement of attachment, 2) family violence, parental depression, and parental divorce as predictors of attachment, 3) (in)stability of attachment over time, 4) impact of attachment on emotion regulation and psychopathology, and 5) influence of attachment on romantic relationship. Special attention is paid to the role of attachment as a mediator between family of origin experiences and outcomes among youth and adults.     

BAN THE BOX,CONVICTIONS, AND PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT

Ban the Box (BTB) policies mandate deferred access to criminal history until later in the hiring process. However, these policies chiefly target public employers. The study is the first to focus on the primary goal of BTB reform, by measuring the impact of BTB policies on the probability of public employment for those with convictions. To execute the analyses, the study uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 Cohort (2005–2015) and difference-in-difference (DD) estimation. The study finds that BTB policies raise the probability of public employment for those with convictions by about 30% on average. Some scholars argue that BTB policies encourage statistical discrimination against young low-skilled minority males. The study employs triple-difference (DDD) estimation to test for statistical discrimination, but uncovers no evidence to support the hypothesis. (JEL J15, J71, J78, K4).     

Artificial Experiments on Society: Comte, G.C. Lewis and Mill

The success of the experimental physical sciences in mid-Victorian Britain brought to prominence the question whether artificial social experiments—as distinct from those offered by the ordinary course of social life—were feasible. Influenced in part by Comte's writings, such authoritative figures as J.S. Mill and C.G. Lewis argued that social issues were not subject to experimental investigation. Their arguments are examined here in order to raise, for further discussion, the problem why social experimentation in general was so often firmly resisted during the period.     

Religion,Spirituality, and Career Development in African American College Students: A Qualitative Inquiry

The authors explored through semistructured interviews the interrelationships of religion, spirituality, and career development in a sample of 12 African American undergraduate students. Using consensual qualitative research methodology (C. E. Hill, B. J. Thompson, & E. N. Williams, 1997), they identified 6 primary domains or themes related to these students' experiences in this regard, including (a) degree of identification as religious and/or spiritual, (b) parents' influence on religious and spiritual beliefs, (c) roles of religion and spirituality in participants' career development, (d) challenges in dealing with academic and career‐related issues, (e) religious and spiritual strategies to deal with academic and career‐related challenges, and (f) indicators of success in future career or occupation.     

Diverse Pathways of Psychology Majors: Vocational Interests,Self‐Efficacy,and Intentions

The authors examine the differences in vocational interests and self‐efficacy of 254 undergraduate psychology majors organized by 7 career intention groups (e.g., psychological research). The explanatory power of individual General Occupational Themes (GOTs), Basic Interest Scales (BISs), and Personal Style Scales (PSSs) of the Strong Interest Inventory (L. W. Harmon, J. C. Hansen, F. H. Borgen, & A. L. Hammer, 1994) and the General Confidence Themes (GCTs) of the Skills Confidence Inventory (N. E. Betz, F. H. Borgen, & L. W. Harmon, 1996) is examined. Results show overall group differences in Holland themes. The BISs, PSSs, and GCTs appear to augment GOTs when used with clients considering psychology or other fields with diverse pathways.     

INTERMEDIATE INFORMATION,LOSS AVERSION,AND EFFORT: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

The present article empirically explores the impact of intermediate information on contestants' effort. Data involving substituted soccer players of the German Bundesliga indicate only weak evidence of a negative effect of ex ante heterogeneity on effort; in contrast, intermediate information, measured by goal difference at the time of substitution, significantly affects effort. Players exert the greatest effort when their team is leading by one goal and reduce their effort when it is trailing. When intermediate information suggests the contest is already decided, players from both teams reduce effort. This behavior is in line with loss aversion, such that players weight potential losses more than potential gains and adjust their effort accordingly. (JEL Z22, J41, M54)