Book Review

Book reviews in this article. Growing up with Parents who have Learning Difficulties by Tim Booth and Wendy Booth.     

Review Essay: On Wayne Booth

Booth, Wayne C. (2004). The rhetoric of rhetoric: The quest for effective communication.Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

Booth, Wayne C. (2006). My many selves: The quest for a plausible harmony.Logan, UT: Utah State University Press.     

EXTENDED REVIEW

Beyond the Sociology of Development: Economy and Society in Latin America and Africa by I. Oxaal, T. Barnett and D. Booth (eds.). Interdependent Development by H. Brookfield Societal Development: Five Approaches with Conclusions from Comparative Analysis by S. Chodak     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Searching for Paradise: Economic Development and Environmental Change in the Mountain West, by Douglas E. Booth. Tangled Routes: Women, Work, and Globalization on the Tomato by Trail, by Deborah Barndt. A Future for Regional Australia: Escaping Global Misfortune, by Ian Gray and Geoffrey Lawrence     

Biosocial Influences on the Family: A Decade Review

The past decade brought a remarkable increase in the number and quality of biosocial studies of family processes. The current review summarizes recent advances in biosocial family research by providing key exemplars of emerging research paradigms. Research in the past decade has substantiated the claim in the previous Decade Review ( Booth, Carver, & Granger, 2000 ) that bidirectional influences between all levels of analysis are paramount. There is an emerging consensus that integrating factors at multiple biological and social levels is highly informative. Because ignoring biological factors often will underestimate mediating or moderating mechanisms, the review provides recommendations for biosocial family research. We also highlight the need for researchers who understand complex family environments to lend their expertise to biosocial studies.     

Moving the Indigenous Knowledge Debate Forward?

Book reviewed in this article: The Cultural Dimension of Development: Indigenous Knowledge Systems. Edited by Michael D. Warren, L. Jan Slikkerveer and David Brokensha Farmer Participatory Research: Rhetoric and Reality. By Christine Okali, James Sumberg and John Farrington Power and Participatory Development: Theory and Practice. Edited by Nici Nelson and Susan Wright Rethinking Social Development: Theory, Research and Practice. Edited by David Booth     

Book Review Symposium

Book reviewed in this article: Book Review Symposium
Simon Maxwell The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It. By Paul Collier. The Bottom Billion: Collier in Context
Paolo de Renzio The Bottom Billion: Technical and Quantitative Work in the Spotlight of Non‐specialists
Dirk Willem te Velde The Bottom Billion: Refocusing the Development Debate
Andrew Lawson Against the Current: Paul Collier's Bottom Billion
David Booth     

Book Reviews

Transitions to Adulthood in a Changing Economy: No Work, No Family, No Future? Alan Booth, Ann C. Crouter, & Michael J. Shanahan (Eds.). All Our Families: New Policies for a New Century. Mary Ann Mason, Arlene Skolnick, & Stephen D. Sugarman (Eds.). The Family On the Threshold of the 21st Century: Trends and Implications. Solly Dreman (Ed.). Stepfamilies: Love, Marriage, and Parenting in the First Decade. James H. Bray & John Kelly. Coping with Divorce, Single Parenting, and Remarriage: A Risk and Resiliency Perspective. E. Mavis Hetherington (Ed.). Resiliency in Native American and Immigrant Families. Hamilton I. McCubbin, Elizabeth A. Thompson, Anne I. Thompson, & Julie E. Fromer (Eds.). Marriage in Men's Lives. Steven L. Nock.     

REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
PROFESSIONAL BOOKS: trepper, T. S., & Barrett, M. J. Systemic treatment of incest: A therapuetic handbook
PROFESSIONAL BOOKS: de shazer, S. Clues: Investigating solutions in brief therapy.
PROFESSIONAL BOOKS: O'Hanlon, W., & Weiner-Davis, M. In search of solutions: A new direction in psychotherapy.
PROFESSIONAL BOOKS: Whittaker, J. K., Kinney, J., Tracy, E. M.,& Booth, C. (Eds). Reaching high-risk families: Intensive family preservation in human services.
PROFESSIONAL BOOKS: Yuan, Y-Y. T., & Rivest, M. (Eds.). Preserving families: Evaluation resources for practitioners and policymakers.
PROFESSIONAL BOOKS: Maglin, N. B., & Schniedewind, N. (Eds.). Women and step-families: Voices of anger and love.
SELF HELP BOOKS: Lew, Mike. Victims no longer.
SELF HELP BOOKS: Davis, L. The courage to heal workbook.
SELF HELP BOOKS: Weinhold Barry K., & Weinhold, Janae B. Breaking free of the co-dependency trap.
GENERAL INTEREST BOOKS: Rubinstein, H. The oxford book of marriage
Videotapes: Family Systems Therapy with an individual: Condusting the frst two sessions
Videotapes: School's Out.     

Union wage differentials for covered members and nonmembers in Great Britain

I present the first longitudinal estimates of covered union member and covered nonmember wage differentials in Great Britain. Crosssectional estimates show that covered union members receive a premium of about 10 percent over other workers, but covered nonmembers have no significant wage differential. Longitudinal estimates that accounted for fixed effects, selectivity, and measurement error indicated that OLS estimates are downward biased. The “true” union wage differential is likely about 30–35 percent. There is a large negative selection effect to union membership. No robust estimate could be found for covered nonmembers. This paper has benefited from conversations with Martyn Andrews, Wiji Arulampalam, Alison Booth, Tim Hatton, John Hutton, George Jakubson, Costas Meghir, and Andrew Oswald. Alison Booth kindly made extensive comments on an earlier draft, which greatly improved the exposition. John Budd, Hank Farber, and Larry Katz directed me towards related work in the U.S. I am also grateful to seminar participants at the University of York University of Essex, and the CEPR Workshop on Labour Market Issues. Thanks to the ESRC Data Archive for supplying the Family Expenditure Survey (FES) data. All data, computer programs, and results alluded to in the text are available on request. The British Household Panel Study (BHPS) and FES data are available from the ESRC Data Archive at the University of Essex. The Panel Study of Manufacturing Establishments (PSME) data are available from the author on request.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this article: Modelling the World: The Social Constructions of Systems Analysis Brian P. Bloomfield. Max Weber, Rationality and Modernity S. Whimster and S. Lash (eds). The Recent Work of Jürgen Habermas. Reason, Justice and Modernity Stephen K. White. Culture, Identity and Politics Ernest Gellner. Which Socialism? Marxism, Socialism and Democracy Noberto Bobbio. Culture, Identity and Politics Ernest Gellner. Which Socialism? Marxism, Socialism and Democracy Noberto Bobbio. The End of Organized Capitalism Scott Lash and John Urry. The Control Revolution: Technological and Economic Origins of the Information Society James R. Beninger. Transcarceration: Essays in the Sociology of Social Control J. Lowman, R. J. Menzies, T. S. Palys. The Police: Powers, Procedures and Proprieties John Benyon and Colin Bourn, (eds). Anthropological Studies of Religion: An Introductory Text Brian Morris. The Social History of Religion in Scotland since 1730 Callum G. Brown. Jews, Antisemitism and Culture in Vienna Ivar Oxaal, Michael Pollak and Gerhard Botz (eds). The Science Question in Feminism Sandra Harding. Gender, Culture and Empire: European Women in Colonial Nigeria Helen Callaway. Women's Occupational Mobility Shirley Dex. Occupations of the People of Great Britain 1801–1981 (with a compendium of a paper by Charles Booth), Guy Routh. Occupations of the People of Great Britain 1801–1981 (with a compendium of a paper by Charles Booth), Guy Routh. Voices of the People, The Social Life of ‘La Sociale’ at the end of the Second Empire Adrian Rifkin and Roger Thomas (eds), translated by John Moore. Business and Politics in Britain Wyn Grant with Jane Sargent. Education, Unemployment and Labour Markets P. Brown and D. N. Ashton, (eds). Rethinking Welfare B. Jordan.     

Family Studies and Intergenerational Studies

ABSTRACT

This paper reviews key sources in the field of family studies in order to identify, in research and program development, intersections of theoretical, methodological, or programmatic interests. The purpose of the paper is to begin a dialogue between researchers and practitioners in the fields of family studies and intergenerational studies to foster collaborative projects in research and programming. The authors have chosen to limit the literature reviewed to sources that contain landmark reviews of research on intergenerational relationships from the perspective of the family studies field: Decade reviews that appeared in the primary journal of the National Council on Family Relations, the Journal of Marriage and the Family(Broderick, 1971a; Berardo, 1980; Booth, 1990; Milardo, 2000); the Handbook of Marriage and the Family(Sussman & Steinmetz, 1987; Sussman, Steinmetz, & Peterson, 1999); Families: Intergenerational and Generational Connections(Pfeifer & Sussman, 1991).     

Spirituality and the Gay Community

Father Leo Booth examines the need to recognize the effects negative religious messages about homosexuality have on gay and lesbian clients. He describes the difference between religion and spirituality, and offers suggestions for guiding gay client into self-acceptance, even in the face of a religious and social environment, which does not always promote such acceptance.     

Beginnings: participatory action research and adults with developmental disabilities

This paper discusses the emergence of Participatory Action Research (PAR), and its use with individuals with cognitive disabilities. A brief history of PAR is given, with a focus on its uses for empowerment and self-determination for persons with disabilities. Using literature-based standards for participatory, action and emancipatory research approaches, a 3-year research project with goals of increasing community participation by adults with developmental disabilities is described and evaluated. The "Transition into Community Life" project used an adapted form of the "Farmer-back-to-Farmer" PAR model (Rhoades & Booth, 1982), and the article discusses the successes and challenges of the model in a context quite different from how it was originally designed. The author describes lessons learned concerning the use of PAR with people with developmental disabilities. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the feasibility of PAR with individuals with cognitive challenges.     

Putting Moral Standards on the Map: The Construction of Unemployment and the Housing Problem in Turn-of-the-Century London1

Abstract This article challenges the idea that the construction of unemployment in turn-of-the-century Great Britain was an attempt simply to normalize employment relations by promoting regular work patterns. An analysis of the Booth survey in terms of the standard of life concept demonstrates the importance of the slum clearance problematic in bringing about the major rethink in policy thinking which ultimately led to the labour exchange project. The peculiar mobilisation patterns promoted by the labour exchange project reflect the difficulty or impossibility of delocalising industry or dock activity into the London suburbs.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: Charles Booth on the City: Physical Pattern and Social Structure, edited with an Introduction by Harold W. Pfautz Methodology in Social Research, edited by Hubert M. and Ann Blalock The Social Meanings of Suicide by Jack D. Douglas Working Class Community: Some general notions raised by a series of studies in northern England by Brian Jackson Role Theory: Concepts and Research edited by Bruce J. Biddle and Edwin J. Thomas The Enterprise in Transition: An Analysis of European and American Practice by H. van der Haas Social Class, Language and Education by Denis Lawton Family and Community in Ireland by C. M. Arensberg and S. T. Kimball Autonomous Group Functioning: An Exploration in Behaviour Theory and Measurement by P. G. Herbst The Sexual Context of Premarital Sexual Permissiveness by Ira L. Reiss Social Interaction: Process and Products by M. Sherif The Sociology of the School by M. D. Shipman The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research by B. G. Glaser and A. L. Strauss Influences on Parent Behaviour by Lois M. Stolz Mobility of Farm Families: a study of occupational and residential mobility in an upland area of England by J. S. Nalson Scientific Sociology: Theory and Method by David Wilier The Emergent American Society Vol. i, Large-Scale Organizations (eds.) W. L. Warner, D. B. Unwalla and J. H. Trimm Vulnerable Children, Three Studies of Children in Conflict: Accident Involved Children, Sexually Assaulted Children and Children with Asthma by L. Burton Power, Politics and People: The Collected Essays of C. Wright Mills edited by I. L. Horowitz Military Organisation and Society by Stanislav Andreski The Family in Social Context by Gerald R. Leslie The Social Context of the School by S. John Eggleston     

Sexual agreements and intimate-partner violence among male couples

Objectives: In the United States, HIV continues to disproportionately affect men who have sex with men. One promising area of research that may inform the development of behavioral interventions among male–male couples is within the realm of sexual agreements. Methods: The purpose of our analysis was to determine whether respondents who report having an open agreement or an agreement breakage also report a higher incidence of recent (within the previous 12 months) intimate-partner violence (IPV) compared to respondents who report having a monogamous agreement or no agreement breakage after controlling for demographic variables. Results: Results showed that men who have an open agreement are less likely to report recent physical IPV. Conclusions: The results highlight the need to develop dyadic behavior interventions that address sexual agreements and stress management.     

Effectiveness of a Web-based Alcohol-Misuse and Harm-Prevention Course Among High- and Low-Risk Students

Objective: In the current study, the authors assessed whether a new online alcohol-misuse prevention course (College Alc) is more effective at reducing alcohol use and related consequences among drinkers and nondrinkers. Participants: The authors compared incoming college freshmen who reported any past 30-day alcohol use before the beginning of the semester with those who did not. Method Summary: The authors randomly assigned students who completed a precollege baseline survey to either complete a 3-hour noncredit version of College Alc or serve as members of a control group. The authors conducted a follow-up survey 3 months later. Results: Findings indicated that among freshmen who were regular drinkers before college, College Alc appeared to reduce the frequency of heavy drinking, drunkenness, and negative alcohol-related consequences. Among freshmen who did not report any past-30-day alcohol use before college, College Alc did not appear to have any beneficial effects. Conclusions: Results suggest that College Alc may be an effective program for students with a history of alcohol use.     

How Do Gamblers End Gambling: Longitudinal Analysis of Internet Gambling Behaviors Prior to Account Closure Due to Gambling Related Problems

Objective: To examine behavioral patterns of actual Internet gamblers who experienced gambling-related problems and voluntarily closed their accounts. Design: A nested case–control design was used to compare gamblers who closed their accounts because of gambling problems to those who maintained open accounts. Setting: Actual play patterns of in vivo Internet gamblers who subscribed to an Internet gambling site. Participants: 226 gamblers who closed accounts due to gambling problems were selected from a cohort of 47,603 Internet gamblers who subscribed to an Internet gambling site during February 2005; 226 matched-case controls were selected from the group of gamblers who did not close their accounts. Daily aggregates of behavioral data were collected during an 18-month study period. Main outcome measures: Main outcomes of interest were daily aggregates of stake, odds, and net loss, which were standardized by the daily aggregate number of bets. We also examined the number of bets to measure trajectory of gambling frequency. Results: Account closers due to gambling problems experienced increasing monetary loss as the time to closure approached; they also increased their stake per bet. Yet they did not chase longer odds; their choices of wagers were more probabilistically conservative (i.e., short odds) compared with the controls. The changes of monetary involvement and risk preference occurred concurrently during the last few days prior to voluntary closing. Conclusions: Our finding of an involvement-seeking yet risk-averse tendency among self-identified problem gamblers challenges the notion that problem gamblers seek “long odds” during “chasing.”