How Do Children Matter? A Comparison of Gender Earnings Inequality for Young Adults in the Former East Germany and the Former West Germany

The former Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) differed sharply in their family policies. We follow 1950s and early 1960s birth cohorts from their first jobs to 1989 to see in what ways having children affected earnings for women and men. For the FRG, we find that being a parent had stronger earnings effects (positive for men and negative for women) than in the GDR, with much of this impact mediated by employment hours for women. This does not mean that having children was unimportant for women's and men's earnings in the GDR, but it indicates that the less variable life course led to more society‐wide than individual‐level impact. Further, in the East, some young women balanced family and employment by taking jobs below their qualifications, and this reduced their earnings.     

Is Who Delivers the Treatment More Important than the Treatment Itself? The Role of The Therapist in Common Factors

In this article, we discuss the role of the therapist in change in couple and family therapy. We argue that the therapist is a key change ingredient in most successful therapy. We situate our discussion in the common factors debate and show how both broad and narrow common factor views involve the therapist as a central force. We review the research findings on the role of the therapist, highlight the strengths and weaknesses of this literature, and provide directions for future research. We then use this review as a foundation for our recommendations for theory integration, training, and practice.     

More than a method? Organisational ethnography as a way of imagining the social

The authors – two anthropologists and an organisational theorist, all organisational ethnographers – discuss their understanding and practices of organisational ethnography (OE) as a way of imagining and reflect on how similar this understanding may be for young organisational researchers and students in particular. The discussion leads to the conclusion that OE may be regarded as a methodology but that it has a much greater potential when it is reclaiming its roots: to become a mode of doing social science on the meso-level. The discussion is based on an analysis of both historical material and the contemporary learning experiences of teaching OE as more than a method to our students.     

The Adoption and Use of the Hirschman–Herfindahl Index in Nonprofit Research: Does Revenue Diversification Measurement Matter?

Since its introduction by Tuckman and Chang (Nonprofit Volunt Sector Q 20(4):445–460, 1991), the Hirschman–Herfindahl Index (HHI) has been widely adopted into the nonprofit literature as a precise measure of revenue concentration. This widespread adoption has been characterized by diverse composition, with the HHI’s calculation being largely determined by the nature of the available data and the degree to which it contained disaggregated measures of revenue. Using the NCCS 990 Digitized Data, we perform an acid test on whether different HHI measures yield significantly different results. Four measures of revenue concentration—an aggregated measure based on three revenue streams, an aggregated measure separating government grants from other contributions, a more nuanced measure based on seven revenue streams, and a fully disaggregated measure based on thirteen revenue streams—are used to predict two dominant nonprofit financial health dimensions: financial volatility and financial capacity. Overall, our results show that aggregation in HHI measurement matters; aggregation often downplays relationships by influencing the significance levels and magnitudes of estimates in a non-trivial way.     

Families in the Time of the Pandemic: Breakdown or Breakthrough?

The COVID‐19 pandemic has taken a toll on all individuals and their families around the world. Some suffer more adversely than others depending on their unique developmental needs, resources, and resilience. However, instead of breaking down, many families and therapists have hunkered down to cope with this ‘wicked’ situation as it continues to evolve. This article examines the unique challenges and opportunities of COVID‐19 for families at different life developmental stages, as well as the challenges and opportunities for systemic therapists as they venture into unfamiliar territory. Through a case example and by integrating recent literature related to this pandemic, we apply three key and interconnected systemic themes (unsafe uncertainty, family life cycle, and social diversity) to discuss the challenges and opportunities for families and therapists, respectively. We are optimistic that there are many possibilities as families and therapists draw on, and often reinvent, currently available resources to navigate their course in this pandemic. We also find that while the pandemic continues to present unsafe and uncertain situations, there are new ways of being and behaving, especially when families and professionals work together collaboratively. Despite formidable challenges, there are many opportunities, both within families and communities that cut through different social contexts related to family, culture, economics, and even politics. Families and therapists could endure better when they are more cognisant of how and what these contexts may impact and offer them.     

Does religion influence the labor supply of married women in Germany?

Using behavioral theories, this article analyzes whether religion influences married women in Germany in their decision to supply labor. Gender roles and accompanying attitudes toward the division of labor among spouses might differ across religious groups depending on the groups’ strictness. Examining data from the GSOEP, the findings suggest that denominational affiliation itself only weakly influences women’s labor participation decisions. However, women who participate regularly in religious activities are less inclined towards paid employment. Furthermore, there is evidence that the presence of a spouse with a strong belief also affects a woman’s supply of labor negatively.     

What Affects the Happiness of Adopted Children in South Korea? Does the Adoption Matter to Their Happiness?

Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal - Since the ultimate goal of adoption is to provide children a happy life in a stable family environment, our major concern is children’s happiness...     

Variations of the same? A sectoral analysis of the gender pay gap in Germany and Austria

Germany and Austria are two countries with a comparably and persistently high gender pay gap. Further, both countries are classified as conservative welfare states where the male breadwinner model has been only partly modernized and strong corporatist structures shape working conditions. At the same time, welfare policy and provision are not only based on but also shape gender‐related norms, beliefs and assumptions that are virulent for job valuation and collective bargaining. Against this background the article analyses similarities and differences regarding the gender pay gap in Germany and Austria. While both countries show significant similarities regarding the causes for the gender pay gap, there are some differences regarding legislation and further policies with which the gender pay gap could be reduced. Arguing that the institutional framework strongly influences income opportunities for women and men, the article provides a sectoral analysis of the financial and insurance sector and the human health sector in both countries. Using qualitative data from a recent research project, it is argued that in the classification of a sector as ‘female’, the sectoral income level combined with different wage‐setting mechanisms have a crucial impact on wage inequalities between women and men.     

Religion,Crime, and Social Trust in Historic Germany: Are Catholics More Inclined to Violate Social Norms than Protestants?

Are Catholics more inclined to violate social norms than Protestants? A tentative answer is yes due to this confession's attitude towards absolution of sins. Opportunities existed for Christians around Reformation times, for example as sales of indulgences. Catholics and Protestants arguably differed historically in their understanding of whether penitence is feasible or not, resulting in different conditions under which Catholics and Protestants decide in situations of social exchange. This is illustrated by ethical game theory and exemplified by historical data. The analysis points to the tentative suggestion that religious socialisation can affect social payoffs of crime and social trust in a long-term perspective.     

Religious individualization or secularization? Testing hypotheses of religious change – the case of Eastern and Western Germany

The individualization thesis advanced by sociologists of religion such as Grace Davie, Danièle Hervieu-Léger, Michael Krüggeler, Thomas Luckmann, Hubert Knoblauch, Wade Clark Roof, Wayne E. Baker, and others has become increasingly widespread especially in Europe within the sociology of religion. In contrast to the secularization theory it assumes that processes of modernization will not lead to a decline in the social significance of religion, but rather to a change in its social forms. According to the individualization theory, traditional and institutionalized forms of religiosity will be increasingly replaced by more subjective ones detached form church, individually chosen, and syncretistic in character. The article examines the empirical applicability of the individualization thesis on the basis of how religiosity and church affiliation have evolved in Germany over the past 50 years. It comes to the conclusion that the rise of individually determined non-church religiosity cannot compensate for the losses of institutionalized religiosity, since non-church religiosity remains rather marginal and is interwoven with traditional Christian religiosity. Religious individualization is only a component of the predominant secularization process.     

More than profits? The contribution of the slave trade to the Dutch economy: assessing Fatah-Black and Van Rossum

We assess Fatah-Black and Van Rossum’s analysis of the Dutch slave trade by detailing six 1750s voyages of the Middelburg Commercial Company. The costs of transporting captives from Africa to Suriname are explored along with their relation to the Dutch economy. We also examine the implications of the concept ‘gross margin’, which is central to Fatah-Black and Van Rossum’s work. We find that, given the nature of the transport costs, the impact of the slave trade on the Dutch economy was minimal, and more generally that gross margin is not a useful measure for testing the Williams Thesis.     

Are Population and Land Use Changes Perceived as Threats to Sense of Place in the New West? A Multilevel Modeling Approach

The Intermountain West's rapid changes in population growth and land use may be welcome to some, but others perceive such changes as threats to sense of place. The objective of this study is to assess whether New West and Old West contextual variables predict how agricultural landowners view threats to agricultural lifestyles and sense of place. We analyze survey data collected from 2,270 agricultural landowners in Colorado and Wyoming utilizing a multilevel regression model (MLM). We posit that this analytical approach is effective for evaluating hierarchal New West or Old West economic configurations that may otherwise be difficult to observe. Our study specifically examines whether population pressures threaten agricultural lifestyles in the amenity‐based New West or in Old West economic regimes with proclivity toward large‐scale agricultural production. Our results show that landowners in farming‐dependent counties and in high‐amenity areas express greater concern than other landowners surveyed about increases in population growth that could threaten an agricultural way of life. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these perceptions relate to whether individuals reside in New West or Old West counties. In summary, some of the contextual variables of New West and Old West economic structures predict whether individuals perceive population growth and land use changes as threats to sense of place.     

Is there a moral economy of state formation? Religious minorities and repertoires of regime integration in the Middle East and Western Europe, 600–1614

This article asks how state formation processes informed the normative frameworks of late-Medieval and early-Modern Latin European and Muslim Middle Eastern regimes. The question at hand is not why pre-Modern regimes discriminated against religious minorities (as well as other groups) during the pre-Modern period, but why Western European states consistently engaged in mass expulsions of their non-Christian subjects from the late thirteenth century onward and the neighboring states of the Middle East did not. Rather than addressing these peculiar policies as a function of religion, culture, or law the article adopts a comparative, contextual method. With the aid of Charles Tilly’s theoretical perspectives it isolates critical variables in pre-Modern Middle Eastern state formation. These variables are then used to shed light on the circumstances and relationships that led to Latin Europe’s mass expulsions of Jews and Muslims between 1290 and 1614.     

From globalization to Europeanization-and then? Transnational influences in lesbian activism of the Western Balkans

The article looks at transnational dynamics in lesbian activism in the Western Balkans, with particular focus on Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, over the last two decades. Based on 30 interviews with activists from local and international feminist, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), and queer organizations, the article discusses the role played by transnational contacts in the development of lesbian activism in the region and the related issues arising within the conflicting relationship between the "East" and the "West," with special attention to trends related to international intervention and cooperation, globalization, and Europeanization.     

At the Eve of Convergence? Transformations of Social Service Provision in Denmark, Germany, and the United States

Increasing societal heterogeneity, changing demographics, and increasing public debt and fiscal constraints have recently challenged traditional “regime” approaches to welfare state development. Some scholars argue, against this background, that welfare states might plausibly move out of their “regime container” by opting in favor of similar solutions and responses. This potential trend toward “convergence” might, furthermore, be facilitated by the widespread use of new public management ideas and techniques for “reinventing government” by adopting market solutions to public problems. This article investigates whether such trends of convergence can be identified by comparing three different countries each traditionally looked upon as belonging to different welfare state regimes: Denmark, Germany, and the United States. More specifically the article looks at one important segment of welfare state activity, namely social services and related health care. To further focus the analysis, special attention is devoted to the changing role played by the third sector in delivering services. The research design, thus, differs from most comparative welfare state research. Instead of analyzing a broad set of quantitative indicators in a large number of countries, it is scrutinized how some of the same problem pressures and policy ideas are being interpreted and implemented in a small number of countries within one policy area. The analysis reveals that trends of convergence—conceptualized along four dimensions: ideas, regulation, mix of providers, and revenue mix—can be identified across the three cases, though this does not mean that the market share of nonprofit providers becomes the same. The study also reveals that fundamental aspects of state–nonprofit relations persist despite trends of convergence.     

More than half of the men in a Swedish population of men aged 55, 65 and 75 believe in ‘a male climacteric’

Aim.?Symptoms of late-onset hypogonadism (LOH) are often unspecific, and the existence of a male climacteric has been much debated. In this study, we investigate aging men's thoughts about, and beliefs, in a ‘male climacteric’.

Methods.?A questionnaire was developed including background demographic data, symptoms possibly related to LOH and questions about men's thoughts and beliefs in a ‘male climacteric’. All men, 55-, 65- and 75-years old, living in Linkoping, Sweden (n?=?1885) received the questionnaire.

Results.?One thousand three hundred fifty-six (72%) questionnaires were eligible for evaluation, 65.4% of the responders had heard of a ‘male climacteric’, and 42.2% believed it existed but only 3% had sought medical advice for these symptoms. More than half believed that a ‘male climacteric’ was related to decreased libido and less strong erections. Almost half of the men thought that decreased memory and/or dystymia and anxiousness were related to a male climacteric.

Conclusions.?The majority of men have heard of a male climacteric, but only a minority had consulted a practitioner about their symptoms. More information and knowledge are needed, for the general population to better motivate men to seek medical advice and also for the health care professionals to better deal with the symptoms of LOH.     

More equal than others? A comparative analysis of state and non-state perceptions of interest representation and decision-making in REDD+ negotiations

This paper provides a quantitative analysis of stakeholder perceptions regarding the governance of the UN climate change negotiations on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD+). Governance quality and legitimacy were evaluated by means of an online survey conducted in 2011, using a normative framework of principles, criteria and indicators. The paper concentrates on national-level stakeholders active in REDD+ in Nepal, and their perceptions of governance quality, with a discussion, given the focus of this special volume, that emphasizes inclusiveness, equality and resources (indicators of interest representation) and democracy, agreement and dispute settlement (indicators of decision-making). Respondents were selected from state (i.e. governmental) and non-state (i.e. civil society) interests from a range of sectors active in REDD+ at the national level. The results show that survey respondents generally found REDD+ to be inclusive, but did not consider that there was the necessary capacity, or resources, for meaningful participation. A concluding section reviews the framework applied, and comments on the nature of multi-stakeholder relations in contemporary global governance, and REDD+ specifically.