Overcoming temptation: on masculinity and sexuality among Muslims in Stockholm

Abstract In this article I deal with transnational processes in contemporary Stockholm and focus on notions of masculinity and sexuality among transmigrant Arab Muslims. A key idea among the men is that their desires have to be controlled. Five ways to overcome temptations are presented: visions of paradise, polygamous marriages, storytelling, sermons in the mosque, and stereotyping Swedish women. The emphasis placed on resisting temptation is understood to be a result of transmigration and an expression of a gender‐based cultural logic. Men, in contrast to women, can restrain their desires and thereby also establish a stable relationship with God. For this reason they can both assume responsibility for public life and be the leaders of their families. The legitimate foundation of this power position is their ability to resist temptation.     

Questioning textbook truth: Suicide rates and the Hawthorne effect

Advocacy and interest groups routinely make fantastic and shocking claims in an effort to motivate the public to respond to what these groups perceive to be important but neglected social problems and/or incipient “crises.” When closer scrutiny impeaches these claims, these groups lose a measure of credibility, and the general public grows increasingly cynical of them and of the social sciences whose data and research presumably support the claim. Similar temptations and dangers may face sociology. I raise the possibility that the teaching of discredited findings and discoveries and the use of gimmicks that challenge conventional wisdom and common sense may turn our students off and trigger the same distrust and cynicism engendered by advocacy groups. Ironically, giving in to the temptation to shock and surprise rather than to inform and enlighten may foreclose the very real opportunities that exist for engaging our students and the public in the enterprise of sociology. He has been teaching introductory sociology for nearly thirty years, has published a number of articles on macrosociology and ecological-evolutionary theory, and is coauthor of the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth editions of Human Societies: An Introduction to Macrosociology. I thank Sang-moon Kim for his help in assembling and analyzing the introductory texts, and Paul Nisbet for his help in reviewing recent research on religion and suicide. A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the session, “Philosophical Foundations of Sociological Knowledge and Applied Sociology,” Joseph Gittler, organizer and présider, at the Annual Southern Sociological Society Meetings in 1995, in Atlanta, G A.     

THE FAMILY FIRO MODEL: A MODEST PROPOSAL FOR ORGANIZING FAMILY TREATMENT

This paper presents a model for organizing family issues and family treatment. Schutz's FIRO model is offered as a framework for organizing family issues into inclusion, control and affection categories. Following Schutz's theory of group development, we propose that inclusion, control and affection constitute a logical hierarchy of core issues to be dealt with in treating multiproblem families-inclusion first, then control, and then affection (intimacy). Furthermore, we propose that the FIRO model can be used to organize theories of family therapy. We attempt to demonstrate that different family therapies are best suited for one of the three core issues of family interaction. We advocate an "intelligent eclecticism" based on the premise that when an issue is appropriately matched with a therapy, therapeutic effectiveness should be enhanced. We also discuss implications of our Family FIRO model for clinical practice.     

Understanding the Client/Social Worker Relationship in a Multicultural Setting:

As social work professionals, we need to be senstitive to the communication exchanges we engage in with our clients. At the best of times, cross-cultural communication has its difficulties and is even more problematic when interpreters are used. We need to understand the nature of these relationships and the lifetime of socialization that our clients have experienced which shape these relationships. The temptation of dismissing the difficulties as simply "a culture gap" reflects poorly on our individual practice and our profession as a whole. This paper examines the types of social bonding as they are applied to the client/social worker relationship. Two distinct forms of social bonding, interpersonal reciprocity and interdependency contract relationships, are examined and analyzed from a multicultural perspective in the social work setting. The role of interpreters is reviewed in relation to these communication patterns. The role of trustworthiness and the behaviors that enhance it are reviewed in light of the types of relationships professionals engage in with their clients. The paper then examines two classes of interventions, "changing" versus "supporting" the client, and how these intervention strategies relate to the ethno-cultural background of the client. The paper concludes with the suggestion that there are some very serious limitations on the professional's relationship in the cross-cultural setting. The professional may need to adjust his/her expectations of the relationship and adapt to more effective and realistic types of interventions.     

WHY ZERO TOLERANCE OF MISCONDUCT IS UNDESIRABLE IN CONTESTS

Competition can foster misconduct in any circumstance where the organizer of a contest cannot perfectly monitor contestants' actions or when doing so is prohibitively costly. Although misconduct comprises all actions that are contrary to the interest of the organizer, it is not necessarily the case that it is optimal to prohibit all such behavior. In this paper, we determine the equilibrium level of misconduct chosen by players in a symmetric rank‐order tournament between two competitors in which the organizer tolerates some level of misconduct. In addition to showing that zero tolerance may not minimize the level of misconduct in equilibrium, we show that there exists a range of tolerated misconduct where a symmetric mixed strategy equilibrium exists with players cheating (i.e., misconduct above the tolerated level) with some probability. When the gain from misconduct is uncertain and unknown the contest organizer faces a tradeoff: tolerating more misconduct will reduce such behavior when the state of temptation is high, but increase it when temptation is low. (JEL J33, K42)     

THE EVOLUTIONARY LOGIC OF HONORING SUNK COSTS

Although economics claims that sunk costs should not figure in current decision‐making, there is ample evidence to suggest that people squander resources by honoring bygones. We argue that such wastage of resources was tolerated in our evolutionary past by Nature because it served fitness‐enhancing functions. In this study, we propose and model one such function. We demonstrate how the honoring of sunk costs could have arisen as a commitment device that Nature found expedient for scenarios where conflicts over temptations between the emotional and rational centers of the brain might sabotage long‐term investments. By applying this idea to the self‐concept, we argue that this model provides a rationale for cognitive dissonance, a well‐established phenomenon in social psychology. (JEL D01, D03)     

Money as a Tool for Negotiating Separateness and Connectedness in the Therapeutic Relationship

It is nothing new to suggest that money has meaning. Whether or not one accepts Freud's (1908)linkage of money and feces, within our culture money is frequently seen as a direct pathway to feelings of power, agency, self-directedness, and personal satisfaction. Trachtman (1999) states, Money, psychologically speaking, is our projection onto coins, bills, bank accounts, and other financial instruments of our beliefs, hopes, and fears about how those things will affect who we are, what will happen to us, and how we will be treated by others or by ourselves...(Trachtman, 1999, p. 283). Yet this material is often unavailable for therapeutic exploration or understanding until it explodes into the therapy, often in unmanageable and countertherapeutic ways. This article will look at some of the ways in which money can be utilized to negotiate the ever-changing tensions between self and other, object and subject, intrapyschic and interpersonal, connection and separation that appear in every relationship. In particular, it will explore some ways that money issues within the therapeutic relationship can be turned into significant tools for understanding and working with anxieties about connection and separateness, both within and outside the therapeutic dyad.     

Naivety and Family Therapy An Interview with John Carpenter

Family therapists have been naive about families, the pressures on them and the contexts of therapy. Therapists should be clear about their roles, sensitive to families' experience of therapy, and resist the temptation to mystify therapy. John Carpenter is Senior Lecturer in Mental Health, University of Kent, Canterbury, England and Co-Editor of Journal of Family Therapy. He was a guest keynote speaker at the 1991 Australian Family Therapy Conference in Brisbane, and this interview took place shortly afterwards in Melbourne.     

Minimum winning versus oversized coalitions in public finance: the role of uncertainty

This paper extends Persson et al.’s (J Polit Econ 108:1121–1161, 2000) simple legislature in the context of public finance with certainty to uncertainty. In our uncertain world, oversized coalitions (OSCs) as well as minimum winning coalitions (MWCs) may arise in equilibrium, and the agenda setter’s proposed policy may fail to receive a majority support. This is in marked contrast to the certain world, in which only MWCs can arise in equilibrium and the agenda setter’s proposal never fails to pass. When OSCs arise, we show that both public good provision and redistribution are likely to achieve their first-best solution, even if the legislature is simple.     

MEDIAN VOTERS OR BUDGET MAXIMIZERS: EVIDENCE FROM SCHOOL EXPENDITURE REFERENDA

Some readers may have found these results of greater interest were we able to confirm the directional hypotheses of the certainty setter model in addition to finding that spending is "related" to the reversion – the much weaker prediction of the uncertainty model. Yet the failure of the certainty
When base elections were optional, their infrequent occurrence might be expected under either a median voter or a setter model. For those districts that did hold base elections, the observations appear consistent with a setter model, but are either inexplicable by or inconsistent with a median voter model. Finally, both (a) the relationship between the number of budget elections and the presence of base elections, and (b) the outcome of mandatory base elections in 1978 provide a set of observations that are challenging to either model.
A similar challenge was posed by our investigation of budget elections when we called attention to the inadequacy of static, full information models. Rather than resolving the question of the simple setter model against the simple median voter model, our results indicate that both may be inappropriate and that endeavors dealing with complexities omitted here are warranted.     

Language as an Exclusive or Inclusive Concept: Reaching beyond the verbal

Language is a primary means by which practices of inclusion and exclusion are determined in our society. As language is also the primary medium of most narrative family therapies, the politics of our practices with regard to inclusion and exclusion require examination, particularly when working with children for whom language is neither a strength nor a preferred processing mode. In this paper, some young people showing language-based learning difficulties will be introduced. Children's experiences with oppression and colonization will then be briefly considered, followed by the particular experiences of children showing language-based learning difficulties. The interrelationship between language, social-emotional development and social competence will be considered and ways to ‘scaffold’ these children during the therapy process to facilitate their inclusion will be addressed. Throughout the discussion, the implications for narrative family therapists will be explored as we consider whether our fascination with language is wielded in inclusive or exclusive ways and whether we can competently reach beyond the verbal in our practice.     

ADJUSTMENT TO PRODUCTION UNCERTAINTY AND THE THEORY OF THE FIRM: A COMMENT

This paper reconsiders the model presented by Flacco and Kroetch [1986]. It shows that with additive technological uncertainty the firm will produce and contract to sell the same output as under certainty. When the Flacco/Kroetch model is generalized to allow the firm to select contract commitments and planned output ex ante, no simple comparisons with certainty are possible. These results are broadly consistent with those obtained by Mills [1959; 1962] for demand uncertainty.     

Long-term care policy for the elderly in the Zaporozhye region of Ukraine: a case study of social development following the collapse of Communism

In this paper, we review the status of social policy for the elderly in Ukraine since the fall of Communism and the breakup of the Soviet Union. We specifically address the problem of "rebuilding" an income and services policy for the at-risk elderly after the unraveling of the system that existed prior to the fall of Communism. Also, we address some existing problems faced by the elderly in the health care system. Within this context, we present a case study of the current status of long-term care policy for the elderly in one province of Ukraine, the eastern province of Zaporozhye, encompassing the industrial city of Zaporozhye on the Dnieper River. This case study particularly pays attention to current attempts to promote a social development process of long-term care services for the elderly. It examines recent developments with respect to public sector organizations and voluntary sector organizations that are trying to provide necessary services to the needy elderly. With respect to the voluntary sector, the paper pays particular attention to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) model of a largely externally funded NGO that provides comprehensive and integrated social supports, while emphasizing local empowerment and the use of volunteers, for the needy Jewish population in the province of Zaporozhye. Based on our findings, we make some proposals regarding the improvement of income and services policy with respect to the elderly in Zaporozhye and Ukraine.     

The Trauma Trifecta of Military Sexual Trauma: A Case Study Illustrating the Integration of Mind and Body in Clinical Work with Survivors of MST

Military sexual trauma (MST) has recently received much attention from the media in contemporary society. With the ever-increasing population of United States service members returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, it is vital for any mental health practitioner to be aware of the epidemic that is sexual assault in the military, the unique trauma experiences of the MST survivor, and treatment implications incorporating multiple psychological theories. This article explores three factors, referred to as the trauma trifecta, in which the effects of MST are exacerbated: the loss of professional and personal identity, the regulatory functions of self harm behaviors, and the retraumatization that many service members endure as a result of the distinctive characteristics of the military culture and its service to veterans. A case study with clinical interventions will be utilized to demonstrate this concept of “the trauma trifecta” and the unique challenges in treating the PTSD symptoms that can result from MST in clinical therapy. Drawing from multiple theories in clinical treatment, this paper illustrates the strengths and limitations of cognitive-behavioral techniques, highlights the integration of feminist theory to illustrate the obstacles of power structures, and mind–body interventions, bridging the gap between talk therapy and body therapy. Through this unique integration of multiple therapies, the case study illustrates the veteran’s reengagement with her body and the reformulation of her identity post MST.     

Creating Culturally Responsive Family Therapy Models and Research: Introducing the Use of Responsive Evaluation as a Method

Models of marriage and family therapy (MFT) typically reflect Western values and norms, and although cultural adaptations are made, many models/frameworks continue to be inappropriate or inadequate for use with non‐Western cultures. Worldwide, therapists are examining ways of using MFT models in a culturally sensitive manner, especially when working with clients who are seen as having minority status or perceived as “other” by the dominant group. This essay suggests the use of responsive evaluation as a theoretically consistent methodology for creating and evaluating culturally responsive therapies. This approach rigorously evaluates each unique client/therapist context, culture, power, needs, and beliefs. We describe responsive evaluation and discuss how each component addresses the research needs of examining culturally responsive family therapies. A case illustration is offered delineating the process of conducting culturally responsive therapy with a Cambodian sample using solution‐focused and narrative therapy.     

Enhancing Family Therapy's Relationships With Research

The contention of this article is that systemic family therapy has much to gain from a realistic appraisal of its research base, which is as positive as possible. And that through such an appraisal we can find ways of developing the scope of family therapy to the benefit of the profession and thereby, of our clients. Family therapy will benefit if practitioners can present an informed view of research. As a preliminary approach to this objective, I review reasons why perceptions of family therapy underestimate its research base, and why therapists might resist involvement with research. The article then explores the reasons for regarding randomised controlled trials as a ‘gold standard’, and why they are not well fitted for the purpose of evaluating or developing a relational therapy. Next is a consideration of alternative approaches to research, including a consideration of what clients actually want from their therapy, then a brief review of the positive findings of outcome research. Greater emphasis on researching processes in therapy is proposed, and consideration of the ‘common factors’ debate is shown to support priorities that are specific to systemic therapies. The article concludes with suggestions for increasing the involvement of family therapists with research, both as consumers and as research practitioners.     

Integrating Attachment Theory into Family Therapy

Solution‐focused therapies have had only short‐term effectiveness for clients with serious problems stemming from abuse who come to our family counselling centre in Auckland, New Zealand. In seeking long‐lasting change, we have begun integrating attachment theory into the family systems therapy we have been practising. The Adult Attachment Interview (George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985) has been incorporated into a case in order to study the effectiveness of integrating attachment and family systems theories. This case illustrates how information gathered about the mother's attachment pattern can help the therapist comprehend the client's response to the present crisis, and clear a path through what can appear to be an overwhelming labyrinth of presenting issues.     

ACCESSING TRANSGENERATIONAL THEMES THROUGH DREAMWORK

This paper proposes the use of "dreamwork" to evoke historical patterns or transgenerational themes. A new variant of dreamwork is described. This work is systemic as well as symbolic, combining aspects of both Gestalt and Family System therapies. Two examples present this experiential exploration of recursive historical themes. The integration of these approaches is demonstrated. Implications of this therapeutic dramatization for couple therapy are suggested.