RACE RELATIONS AS COLLECTIVE DEFINITION: RENOGIATING ABORIGINAL-GOVERNMENT RELATIONS IN CANADA

Recent trends in Canadian aboriginal-government relations are examined by way of an interactionist perspective on race and ethnic relations. Employing Blumer's notion of group interaction as socially constructed and collectively defined, aboriginal-government relations are proposed to have undergone a reassessment in response to various developments. This is particular true of the situation in Canada where Native Indians have become actively involved in a ‘collective redefinition’ of their relational status. Failure, however, to achieve a constitutionally-based self-governing position has cast light on the politics of aboriginal renewal. In applying Blumer's interactionist perspective, debate over the direction of aboriginal-government relations are shown to embody both competing images and definitions, as well as shifting tactics and adjustments.     

Networks and collective action

This paper proposes a new measure for a group's ability to lead society to adopt their standard of behavior, which in particular takes account of the time the group takes to convince the whole society to adopt their position. This notion of a group's power to initiate action is computed as the reciprocal of the resistance against it, which is in turn given by the expected absorption time of a related finite state partial Markov chain that captures the social dynamics. The measure is applicable and meaningful in a variety of models where interaction between agents is formalized through (weighted) binary relations. Using Percolation Theory, it is shown that the group power is monotonic as a function of groups of agents. We also explain the differences between our measure and those discussed in the literature on Graph Theory, and illustrate all these concerns by a thorough analysis of two particular cases: the Wolfe Primate Data and the 11S hijackers’ network.     

Toward a Theory of Law in Society

Abstract

Interest group conflict, power, and values have been prominent in recent attempts to analyze law as social control. The role of fact beliefs in creating, interpreting and administering legal norms has been relatively neglected, especially in the few efforts toward theories of law in society. Both fact beliefs and value beliefs are here related to legal norms, and also to group interests, power and conflict. Law is conceived of as the formal social control of the political state, a definition that does not at all require acceptance of Austin's view of law as commands of the sovereign. The forced choice between power elite and structural-functional theories is avoided, since law operates in a wide variety of power situations. The subjective meanings of interest group actions directed toward legal norms are seen as consisting of value and fact beliefs, an approach of particular promise in analyzing law and social change.     

Lessons from introducing a livelihood project for unaccompanied children into an existing child protection programme in the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya

Evidence shows that displacement, family separation and economic status are risk factors for child protection concerns and children's mental health, and that violence and economic status are risk factors for children's physical, emotional and social development. Family based care, community social support and economic strengthening have been shown to moderate such risk factors. This article explores the introduction of a livelihood project for unaccompanied children into an existing child protection programme in the Dadaab refugee camp complex in Kenya, with the primary objective of strengthening the household economy of foster families and improving the care of the fostered children. In this article the authors reflect on the programme's work in recognising and building on existing traditional clan-based family tracing and care mechanisms for unaccompanied and separated children, as well as the importance of understanding the particular needs of specific groups of children such as those without appropriate care. They discuss issues of insecurity and lack of funding affecting programme quality and programme monitoring, and discus challenges of project design. Consideration of how such challenges can impact on existing traditional care mechanisms is shared. The authors argue for greater acknowledgement and efforts to build on traditional child protection mechanisms within wider debates on child protection systems; greater understanding and consideration of the needs of unaccompanied children in particular contexts; better monitoring of the outcomes of child protection programmes on the children they serve; and adequate and sustained funding for child protection in emergencies.     

Hezbollah as a Group Phenomenon: Differential Association Theory

This article examines Hezbollah through the lens of differential association theory. The theory posits that violent behavior is cultivated in group interaction. One does not simply act alone but must learn from the tricks, successes, and failures of those who belong to one's group. In this analysis, the theory explains how Hezbollah has successfully managed to recruit new members and convince them to perpetrate terrorist attacks. The essence of any terrorist endeavor is communication among group members. As such, by interacting with one another, Hezbollah terrorists develop their combat skills and learn new tactics. Of particular importance in this analysis is the role of symbolism that forges a bond among group members. Whether it is through the Ashura procession (an annual Shi'ite commemorative ceremony), matams (religious sanctuaries that now serve as political and social gatherings), or calendar events such as World Jerusalem Day, potential Hezbollah members get to learn violent behavior by cultivating evil in groups.     

Religion,Socioeconomic Status,and Sexual Morality: An Application of Reference Group Theory*

Reference group theory is used to help resolve an anomaly: the relationships among religiosity, socioeconomic status, and sexual morality. Past research has shown that while SES and religiosity are positively related to each other, SES is related to liberal sexual attitudes and religiosity is related to conservative sexual attitudes. SES and religiosity are therefore working at cross-purposes and represent competing frames of reference for some persons. Specifications of reference group theory helps to pinpoint the conditions under which particular choices are made. The 1972–78 NORC data set is used to test specific propositions extrapolated from Robert Merton's analysis of reference groups. The findings show that religious group involvement has greater impact than SES collectivity. The influence of religiosity is, however, dependent upon a conservative milieu. For generally liberal denominations, there is less necessity for a choice between the competing reference points; thus, neither religion nor SES overwhelms the other. These results and reference group theory suggest areas for future investigation.     

Indo-China: Storm Center of Southeast Asia

The authors report the findings of a survey study in which they investigated high school social studies teachers' current practices, challenges, and needs in relation to instruction of English language learners (ELLs). Thirty-three high school social studies teachers in six English as a second language (ESL)-centered schools in central Virginia participated in the study. Drawing on the findings, three themes demand particular attention: the challenges that social studies teachers face teaching ELLs; the accommodations teachers currently make for ELLs; and the types of support teachers need to teach ELLs social studies more effectively. The authors include findings from the field of second-language education to raise social studies teachers' consciousness about their ELLs' needs and conclude with a number of practical suggestions related to instruction and differentiation that are crucial for social studies teachers to help ELLs learn effectively. Further dialogues are needed, particularly regarding ESL inclusion and teachers' critical awareness of serving this particular group of students.     

White Universal Identity as a “Sense of Group Position”

This article seeks to expand upon Blumer's “Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position.” I argue that Blumer's group position model invites us to critically consider the role that dominant group identity and “threats” to identity play in reproducing racial inequalities. Identities seat both material and ideal concerns, and white identities, in particular, may provide “ontological security” that whites will defensively protect. I draw on ethnographic research conducted in 1994–96 in two demographically distinct high schools. Young whites in both schools expressed identities that positioned them as “universal,” and they responded reactively, even prejudicially, when their universal group position was threatened.     

Cry Babies and Pollyannas: Infants Can Detect Unjustified Emotional Reactions

Infants are attuned to emotional facial and vocal expressions, reacting most prominently when they are exposed to negative expressions. However, it remains unknown if infants can detect whether a person's emotions are justifiable given a particular context. The focus of the current paper was to examine whether infants react the same way to unjustified (e.g., distress following a positive experience) and justified (e.g., distress following a negative experience) emotional reactions. Infants aged 15 and 18 months were shown an actor experiencing negative and positive experiences, with one group exposed to an actor whose emotional reactions were consistently unjustified (i.e., did not match the event), while the other saw an actor whose emotional reactions were justified (i.e., always matched the event). Infants' looking times and empathic reactions were examined. Only 18‐month‐olds detected the mismatching facial expressions: Those in the unjustified group showed more hypothesis testing (i.e., checking) across events than the justified group. Older infants in the justified group also showed more concerned reactions to negative expressions than those in the unjustified group. The present findings indicate that infants implicitly understand how the emotional valence of experiences is linked to subsequent emotional expressions.     

Typification in a neuro-rehabilitation centre: Scheff revisited?

This paper presents data on the admissions process in a Regional neuro-rehabilitation centre, using the framework proposed in Thomas Scheff's classic paper on typification in the diagnostic process as a starting point for analysis. We argue that typification is a more complex and diffuse process than Scheff's ‘diagnostic stereotype’ concept suggests, and that this may be linked to the particular work imperatives and relevancies that are important in this setting.     

'Clinton faces nation': a case study in the construction of focus group data as public opinion

This paper analyses the way in which a particular newspaper report constructs ‘public opinion’ based on data from small‐scale qualitative research. Using as a case study a report of a focus group discussion of Clinton's grand jury testimony, we show how these data are ‘worked up’ as representative, generalisable, and valid. By capitalising on the advantages of focus group data, while attending to and countering their disadvantages, the newspaper report is able to suggest that the views of ten people in San Francisco offer an authoritative indication of public opinion about Clinton across the USA. Finally, we sketch out some of the implications of this case study in relation to the construction of facticity more generally.     

Adolescents' Willingness to Vote for a Woman for President:

During the past two decades there has been an increase in the number of women who campaign for and attain political office. This clearly has the potential to influence attitudes toward women in politics. In particular, it has the potential to influence the attitudes of adolescents, who, according to socialization theory, are especially affected by role models. In this study we used a quasiexperimental design to examine adolescents' attitudes toward female political candidates. We found that the junior and senior high school students we surveyed did not, as a group, use candidate sex as a voting cue. However, females were more willing than males and blacks were more willing than whites to vote for the female candidate.     

“I saw the handwriting on the wall”: shades of meaning in reasons for early retirement

This article attempts to locate people's individual decisions to take early retirement in the particular social and economic context in which these decisions are being made. Results are presented from a phenomenological case study of a particular group of people who talked about their reasons for having taken early retirement from a particular company. The analysis indicates that the reasons people give for their decision do not always fall neatly into dichotomous explanatory categories such as “health versus wealth,” “push versus pull factors,” or “voluntary versus involuntary,” as suggested by much of the current literature. Rather, this decision is fraught with shades of ambiguity, and involves complex and multiple considerations at the personal, workplace, and societal levels.     

Doing collaborative research: doing what feels right and makes sense

Drawing on current doctoral research in the UK, this paper discusses the benefits, challenges and dilemmas associated with adopting a collaborative approach to exploring the experiences of women offenders as consumers of community-based health and social care services. The initial focus is on the rationale for setting up an advisory group of 'expert advisers/knowers', as a means of collaborating with women with direct and personal experience of the criminal justice system. In addition, the group's role in supporting, advising and guiding the research process is explored with particular emphasis on examining the practice of building long-term relationships with 'vulnerable' groups of women. Both short and long-term ethical issues are considered, for example, the implications of adopting an approach based on reciprocity, mutual disclosure and 'friendship' and the impact of 'role reversal' where it is the researcher who ultimately feels powerless and abandoned in the relationship. A key theme that underpins the work is the notion that in this context, 'doing' collaborative research essentially embraced 'doing' what fundamentally 'felt right' and 'made sense' thus ensuring that the study was meaningful to all involved.     

Finding a Sociological Voice: The Work of Mirra Komarovsky*

This article offers a biographical sketch of Mirra Komarovsky in the framework of an analysis of her work as a researcher, writer, teacher and feminist. It demonstrates how the cultural conflicts that existed while she was a college student laid the foundation for her later sociological research. It also illustrates the particular dynamics of a woman's career in sociology, especially with regard to the influence of social supports on a woman's sense of “finding her voice.” Her work after retirement suggests that this period may have particular significance in the lives of academic women. The theoretical foundation and methodological characteristics of her work are additional foci of this article.     

Parents' Relationship Quality and Children's Behavior in Stable Married and Cohabiting Families

Although an extensive literature has shown that family structure is linked with child well‐being, less well understood is how the dynamics within families affect children, in particular the extent to which positive mother–father relationship quality is linked with children's outcomes. In this study the authors used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 773) to examine how couple supportiveness in stable coresident families is related to children's externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems over ages 3 through 9. Using latent growth curve and fixed effects models, they found that parents' greater supportiveness has a slight association with lower levels of children's behavioral problems. Using cross‐lagged structural equation models to examine the direction of the association, they also found some evidence that parents' relationship quality and children's behavioral problems are reciprocally related. Overall, this study suggests that more positive couple interactions are beneficial for children residing with both of their biological parents.     

Women's employment patterns during early parenthood: A group‐based trajectory analysis

Research on women's employment and parenthood frequently focuses on the correlates and consequences of decisions at a particular time, such as a birth. This article applies a group‐based trajectory method to examine women's employment trajectories across the period of early parenthood using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (N= 2,093). We find that throughout early parenthood, women exhibit significant movement into and out of the labor force. Factors that typically predict women's employment status, such as age at first birth and education, are also good predictors of women's employment patterns. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research, particularly on the use of a static measure of women's or couples’ employment status.     

Transcending a Double Bind: The Case of Jenna

Although all women's career development has been largely ignored, gifted women, in particular, have been virtually invisible within the career field. Many people assume that choosing a career should be easy for women with high intelligence and multiple gifts; however, the challenges to occupational choice for gifted women are frequently amplified because they are expected to use their talents while conforming to societal expectations of them as women. In this article, the authors seek to enhance awareness of some of these issues by first discussing one gifted woman's difficulties and then addressing treatment issues, using an ecological perspective.     

‘What did you think about that?’ Researching children's perceptions of participation in a longitudinal genetic epidemiological study

This paper examines how empirical study of children's involvement in non‐therapeutic health research can contribute to our understanding of the significance of the research to the children themselves. This raises issues that are pertinent to, and which will guide policy relating to ethical protection in research. The paper begins with a brief review of the literature considering how children perceive research in general, and non‐therapeutic health research in particular. The empirical study is then described, outlining the approach to sampling, recruitment and the focus group method used. This is followed by consideration of several key issues relating to research with children, with particular reference to ethical protection. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.