The ingathering: Reasons of state,logic of capital and the assimilation of immigrants in Israel 1948–60

After more than 50 years of statehood ethnicity still looms large in Israeli politics as the division between Israelis of non‐European and European descent plays a central part in Israeli politics. This article, examining patterns of immigrant assimilation in the 1950s, seeks to explain why, despite an all embracing Jewish identity and the massive efforts of the state to erase ethnic identities, the categories have retained so much of their weight. Assimilation and modernization, directed towards immigrants, were both constituted and limited by the mutually constitutive, yet sometimes contradictory dictates of state building and the formation of a market economy. Assimilation facilitated the settlement of immigrants along the frontier, mobilized and motivated them into shouldering security demands, and helped to create a productive labour force. But, contrary to the inclusive military apparatus, the policies of settlement and employment relegated immigrants to the periphery. Consequently, while immigrants assimilated and gradually achieved some economic progress and political leverage due to the remaining disparities and past resentments ethnic identity persisted.     

Post-Fordism,union strategy and the rhetoric of restructuring: The case of Australia, 1980–1996

Theory and Society -     

After the ‘Great White Walls’ Came Down. Debating the Ethnicity of Immigrants in Australia and the USA, 1980–1990

In 1965 and 1973, the governments of the USA and Australia, respectively, abolished their racially discriminatory immigration policies. A line had seemingly been drawn in the sand in which one's race, nationality or ethnicity would no longer be grounds for exclusion. As a consequence of these reforms, the source countries of immigrants to Australia and the USA diversified. How did politicians react to this change? This article finds that although overtly racist immigration policies had become a relic of the past, a number of mainstream politicians in both countries did not welcome the outcomes of race-blind immigration policies.     

Constructing merit in the civil service: The French Ministry of Culture (1880–1980)

Merit-based procedures for evaluation and grading in the French Civil Service have often been studied with the idea that concepts and practices circulate between public and private sectors, domestic and foreign organizations. Less attention has been afforded the in-house origins of procedures for assessing the work of civil servants. This article focuses on the procedures gradually built up to evaluate government employees in the French Ministry of Culture. Light is shed on the difficulties of making good the Republic's promise to base merit on differences in talent alone. How is a civil servant's work to be measured? Are qualifications evaluated while seeing to it that as many employees as possible can be promoted? Focusing on procedures – imagined or actually implemented – for grading, evaluating and promoting museum personnel shows that the process follows a timing and modality that vary depending on one's position in the hierarchy. The evaluation process nevertheless creates ties between socio-occupational groups that all else separates. Ways to measure civil servants’ activity existed before the neomanagerial objection to bureaucratic rules and regulations of the 1960s; the French system for evaluating merit is, thus, not simply an importation of anglo-saxon managerial methods.     

A model of work–life conflict and quality of employee–organization relationships (EORs): Transformational leadership,procedural justice,and family-supportive workplace initiatives

This paper tested a new model of employee–organization relationships (EORs) by introducing types of work–life conflict as variables leading to EOR outcomes, and by investigating the possible effects of transformational leadership, procedural justice, and family-supportive workplace initiatives upon employees’ perceptions of work–life conflict and relationships with their employers. Data were collected from a survey of 396 U.S. employees. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was adopted to address the multilevel structure of collected data. Time-based work–life conflict, individualized consideration, and procedural justice were found to be associated with quality of EORs significantly. Fair work–life policy-making procedures also significantly predicted perceived levels of work–life conflict.     

Sexuality in Older Adults (65+)—An Overview of the Literature,Part 1: Sexual Function and its Difficulties

Objectives: The aim of the current article was to provide an overview of literature on sexual function and sexual difficulties in older adults. Method: The authors conducted a narrative review of papers published in English between January 2005 and July 2015 based on an extensive search in PsycINFO. Results: The review showed that although common biological changes may adversely affect sexual function in old age, sexual experience seems to also be affected by psychological and interpersonal factors. Conclusions: Greater life expectancy and better medical care will result in older individuals with chronic diseases living longer. The need for help to cope with changes in sexual health is likely to increase in older adults, as sexuality may be negatively affected through several pathways.     

Agricultural Trajectories (1961–991), Resulting Agricultural Profiles and Current Sociodemographic Profiles of Rural Communities in Southern Quebec (Canada): A Typological Outline

The transformation of the rural areas in Quebec is a result of the decrease in the agricultural population, the spread of the periurban fringes, and the appropriation of areas by seasonal residents. To what extent have these phenomena evolved according to different spaces, from one municipality to the other? Have they made the territory more homogeneous, or have they rather contributed to produce new spatial patterns? What are the dominant traits of the rural communities’ sociodemographic profiles that are attributed to these trajectories? Considerable work remains to be done in order to characterize the evolving trajectories, induced by these phenomena, and the resulting spatial patterns. Based on the agricultural and sociodemographic indicators available in Canadian censuses, and the possibilities offered by the multivaried analyses; the present research aims to identify typological outlines apt to report on: (1) evolving agricultural trajectories (1961–1991); (2) resulting agricultural profiles; and (3) current sociodemographic profiles. Two observations result from these outlines. First, resulting from the two main agricultural trajectories observed (intensification-regression), the five following agricultural profiles were noticed for 1991: vegetable crop intensive farming, cereal crop intensive farming, moderately intensive farming, extensive cattle farming, and marginalised farming. Second, on the sociodemographic level, the identification of seven rural municipality groups (predominantly agricultural, agricultural in transition, marginalised agricultural, periurban, small mutating industrial centre, traditional and high-class rural amenity municipalities) accounts for the diversity of social recomposition shapes. This paper attempts to contribute to the understanding of spatial and demographic dynamics of contemporary rural communities.     

Themes and Trends of Journal of Family and Economic Issues: A Review of Twenty Years (1988–2007)

This review article examines the progress and impact of the Journal of Family and Economic Issues (JFEI) between 1988–2007. Over the past 20 years, JFEI has become a major journal publishing articles on the relationship between families and economic systems. JFEI contributed to both the economic and family studies disciplines by publishing articles that explore the interface of these two disciplines. Between 1988 and 2007, JFEI published articles on a variety of themes not often found in other economic or family studies journals such as family resource management, consumer attitudes and behaviors, and economic issues and family relationships. Other unique characteristics of JFEI include many collaborative multidisciplinary studies and many studies analyzing international or cross-cultural samples.     

Agriculture,Pesticide Use,and Economic Development: A Global Examination (1990–2014)

Modern agricultural production typically requires large quantities of chemical pesticides, a potential source of both environmental and human harm. Previous social science research has suggested that environmental problems such as those associated with pesticide use may begin to decline at higher levels of economic development. Using fixed effects models, we examine whether this possible relationship holds within nations and over time. This study draws on data from the World Bank as well as pesticide use data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to examine the relationship between pesticide use and economic development within nations from 1990 to 2014. The findings are considered from theoretical perspectives in environmental sociology on the drivers of environmental impacts: the treadmill of production theory, structural human ecology, ecological modernization theory, and the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. The results of this study show a positive relationship between economic development and pesticide consumption over time, with no decline in use at higher levels of economic development. Thus, they generally support the claims made by treadmill of production and structural human ecology.     

In memory of C. West Churchman (1913–2004) Reminiscences,retrospectives, and reflections

Abstract

C. West Churchman, the grand old man of the ‘systems approach’, is dead. Born on 29 August 1913 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was 90 years of age. After a rich and significant life of scholarship, he died on 21 March 2004 in Bolinas, California. A former student and collaborator of Professor Churchman offers this commemorative essay. He looks back on his years with West (as everybody called him) at the University of California, Berkeley, and reflects on the way this changed his understanding of the systems approach. The paper also offers a sketch of some of the core concerns and concepts of Churchman’s philosophy of social systems design; a short summary of his professional career; an overview of his major publications; and a list of recommended readings.     

Honoring,Training, and Building a Statewide Network of Elder Activists: The California Senior Leaders Program (2002–2012)

This case study explores the first decade (2002–2012) of the California Senior Leaders Program (CSLP), including participants' creation of a formal advocacy group, the California Senior Leaders Alliance. Grounded in concerns with ageism and invisibility, the CSLP provides recognition and support for diverse California elders engaged in community building and social justice work. This study employs qualitative analysis of data from participant interviews, event evaluations, program documents, video footage, and participant observation. Findings show emotional, learning, and networking benefits for participants, intergenerational influences, collective capacity and coalition building, and contributions to policy. Program challenges are described, and future directions discussed.     

Ethnic identification and the project of individual identity: The life of Mary Ann wodrow Archbald (1768–1840) of little cumbrae island,Scotland and Auriesville,New York

A totalizing and privileging of ethnicity, to the exclusion of other sources of identification, in American historiography has created a tendency to conflate group identity and individual identity in historical subjects. While ethnic group identities are ultimately rooted in cultural representations and ideologies, individual (or personal) identity is the ongoing effort to maintain a sense of continuity. Personal identity assures us we remain the same person that we have been previously. The letters of a Scottish immigrant to the United States are examined to suggest the role of ethnicity in personal identity.