Watergate and the 1974 Congressional Elections

Strong, if delayed, public reactions to the Watergate scandalsare documented through examination of Gallup and Harris pollresults. Analysis of panel data (N = 181) collected before,during and after the major Watergate revelations, however, suggestthat beliefs about Nixon's involvement in the scandal had littlerelationship to 1974 political behaviors. Some evidence is providedthat whom or what the voters blamed for the scandal beyond Nixondid influence the 1974 elections to some extent     

President Nixon sees a ‘cover up’: Public relations in federal agencies

Early in his first term. President Nixon initiated an effort to make major cuts in the number of personnel of federal agencies engaged in public relations as well as in the agencies' public relations budgets. He described those public relations employees as “covered up pretty properly.” His goal was to “get the public relations complement in each Department reduced by 50 per cent regardless of what they are officially called.” This article reports on the origin, implementation and denouement of President Nixon's war on public relations in public administration at the federal level of government.     

The road to abortion (II): how government got hooked

The first part of this series traced close links between eugenics (the effort to breed a "better" human race) and population control throughout the greater part of this century up to the 1960s. It stressed the population work of early eugenicists and eugenics sympathizers such as Frederick Osborn, Margaret Sanger, Gunnar Myrdal, Alan Guttmacher, Garrett Hardin and John D. Rockefeller 3rd. This second and concluding part will show how population controllers, from the 60s onward increasingly added economic and foreign-policy concerns to their original "eugenics" motive of improving human genetic stock. Working in both Democratic and Republican administrations, they gained major government backing for their programs and also played a key role in the legalization of abortion. I will use President Richard Nixon's administration as an example of heavy government involvement.     

Globalization and Labour in Africa: Ethnic Identity in Nigeria and Cross Border Migration in the Republic of South Africa1

This study pursues the relationship between globalization and the mobility of labour in Africa. It argues that globalization has been limiting the mobility, and by implication, the development of labour in Africa. The forces of globalization in this study have been historically defined. First is mercantilist capital, which began compradorial development in Africa. The second is European national capital of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which through multinational corporations and nation-states in Europe advanced compradorialism with the assistance of colonial domination. The third and final globalization force here has been transnationalism and multilateralism whose operations have been largely through foreign direct investment and management of global finances respectively. This study notes that these roles of globalization forces are observable at two fronts in the African society. The first was the engendering of ethnic identity, which has been undermining labour mobility within national boundaries in Africa. The other has been the pressures of cross border migration in Africa, underscoring the persisting disparity in global wealth distribution. In this manner, the study further notes that Africa has highlighted a contradiction in the globalization logic especially on labour mobility. This is strictly speaking in the sense that homogenization, which has been clearly suggestive of the globalization logic, has been hampered in Africa. This study has purposely selected Nigeria and the Republic of South Africa for empirical proofs.     

THE VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY IS . . . THE UNIVERSITY MADE CONCRETE?

The application of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to higher education has recently gained a new impetus, fired by the promise, and also perhaps the threat, of the 'virtual' university. While there has been much empirical research on individual ICT initiatives, most of this has been narrowly evaluative with little attention paid to their cumulative impacts on the university as an institution. Equally, while there has been much writing on the development of virtual higher education, much of this has been speculative, concerned with the advent of still marginal new institutions and little of it has been empirically grounded. This paper is based on in-depth studies of ICT initiatives in four established universities in the North East of England. It argues that one of the consequences, often unintended, of the introduction of these technologies has been to generate demands and pressures for a more corporate institutional form in which goals, roles, identities and procedures are made explicit and standardized across the institution. To the degree that these demands are met, the result appears to be that the closer that institutions move towards the goal of becoming a virtual university, the more corporate, or 'concrete', their institutional form becomes.     

Advocating rurality? The repositioning of rural local government

Since 1979 the local state in Britain has experienced a period of considerable restructuring in which the power of elected local government has been severely diminished. As a new system of local governance, characterized by self-organising networks transcending the state, private and voluntary sectors, has emerged, so elected local government has had to re-imagine its role. This paper suggests that one strategy that has been adopted has been to re-position local councils as ‘pressure groups’, lobbying external actors on behalf of local interests. Furthermore, it is argued that in rural areas the restructuring of the local state has coincided with a wider social and economic restructuring and hence an intensified contesting of rurality. As such, it is argued that rural local government has become concerned not only with advocating local interests, but with advocating particular discourses of rurality. These assertions are discussed in the context of a case study concerning strategic planning for housing development in the district of Taunton Deane in Somerset.     

Usability requirements for buildings: a case study on primary schools

This paper concerns an applied research aimed at applying the concept of usability, as derived form the standard ISO 9241/11, in the filed of building design, namely primary schools. Starting from the concept that space characteristics play a very relevant role in learning performances, the study presented here developed an original methodology for the assessment of effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction of buildings hosting primary schools, in order to create a school environment better supporting users in their tasks. Research core is the framework of usability requirements and their related markers, indicators and technical specification that has been formulated in order to check compliance of urban area, building, rooms and architectural details with users needs. Therefore, a detailed task analysis of pupils and teacher tasks has been carried out and two questionnaires addressed to a significant users panel have been formulated for satisfaction survey. Lastly, a matrix for an overall reading of gathered data has been set-up and criteria for usability assessment based on that data has been defined. The whole study has been developed within the case study of a primary school in the Naples city centre, whose contents and results are discussed.     

The State of Indian Exorcism: Violence and Racial Formation in Eastern Brazil

As in various parts of the Western Hemisphere, the indigenous population of eastern Brazil has increased rapidly in recent decades. Based on over fifty in-depth interviews that I conducted with eastern Indians and the twelve months I spent living in their households and communities between 1994 and 1997, I discovered that much of this demographic phenomenon has been fueled by increasing numbers of individuals self-identifying as Indian who had not always identified as such or their parents had not identified as Indian. A number of lay people and scholars have argued that this shift in the direction of racial formation has been driven by state induced material incentives. Yet my ethnographic data, which I detail in great depth in this article, suggests that in terms of the material factors responsible for Indian resurgence that the state's sticks have been a much more significant variable than the state's racializing carrots. In other words, I found that the fundamental change in state practices in eastern Brazil has been in the drastic reduction of the costs of being Indian. Thus I posit and demonstrate how one of the primary variables behind this demographic shift has been the reduction of state led and sanctioned anti-Indian violence in eastern Brazil.     

Keeping children on top of the states' policy agendas

There is no longer any doubt that national consciousness of the truth that the future always depends on today's children has reached new levels of legislative action. This article cites Alaska's progress, and what has been and has not been achieved, and movements in other states, as a call to vigorous action.     

Persistence of an exclusionary model: Inequality and segmentation in Mexican society

Beginning in the 1980s, Mexico's social and labour policies took a neoliberal turn which exacerbated inequalities, poverty and social exclusion. The change of policy course that has occurred over the past decade has so far failed to bring about a critical review of the country's economic model and its social consequences. The role of the State has been systematically cut back; social services have been outsourced to the market; and informal family‐based social protection has gained ground. Mexico's social model has thus been reduced to a system that is almost exclusively concerned with protection for those living in extreme poverty.     

Family Therapy: Out from Behind the Hero Narrative

Schools of family therapy have been highly selective in their presentation of the theory/practice nexus. Family therapy's method of teaching (the infamous workshop format) has hampered it's growth as a practice and academic discipline. An inadvertent, unhelpful legacy of Gregory Bateson has been that lesser scholars have aped his capacity to draw on other fields of knowledge without his rigour, or his propriety. Family therapy's cavalier dealings with bodies of knowledge and its reliance on miraculous case studies has resulted in the bypassing of individual suffering. The heroic narrative that has dominated family therapy has precluded other styles of stories for therapists, theorists and clients. Family therapy has been dominated by the myth of the hero, with its accompanying motif of the puer eternus (the eternal youth). Family therapy has been forever reinventing itself, forever the ‘new kid on the block’. This fascination with newness has interfered with family therapy's capacity, at times, to consolidate its genuine value as a therapeutic entity.     

Language,discourse and empowerment: changing approaches to children and young people who have sexually abused others

The sexual abuse of children by other children and young people has gained an increasing profile during the previous decade. It has been increasingly recognised that there has been a significant change in the way that this issue has been responded to, both in philosophy and practice, as research has developed and also as the value base of initial constructions of this behaviour has been questioned. This article describes the development of a project to work with children and young people who have sexually abused from its inception in 1995 to the present, outlining the original assumptions and working practices and the reasoning behind changes. The growth of the project illustrates the changing nature of constructions of this behaviour, along with the introduction of new theoretical approaches to respond to this change. In particular, the changes can be seen to reflect a move away from a ‘modernist’ position and this is discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparative overview of social enterprise ‘ecosystems’ in Scotland and England: an evolutionary perspective

Social enterprise has been identified as a culturally and socially constructed phenomenon; over recent years there has been increasing focus on how social enterprise ‘ecosystems’ differ across countries. There has been less focus on the differences in social enterprise ecosystems within countries, where regional differences in the cultural, political and social environment can lead to variations in the environment for support. Recent devolution within the United Kingdom has led to all four countries developing fairly diverse political and policy environments. This paper explores these differences through the lens of evolutionary theory which posits that within an ecosystem all organisms are a product of the evolution of that ecosystem and that socio-political and regulatory differences can lead to the rapid divergence of social enterprise ecosystems.     

Special Educational Needs: From Disciplinary to Pedagogic Research

A review of research on special educational needs in Britain over the last two decades indicates that two concerns have been paramount. First, there has been an attempt to broaden research styles in response to the growing critique of traditional positivist research. Secondly, the problem of the perceived gap between theory and practice has been addressed. Developments have included the use of small-N studies within a positivist framework, the adoption of qualitative research strategies and the critical perspectives of sociologists. It is argued here that such developments have been largely restricted to what Michael Bassey refers to as 'disciplinary' research, neglecting the 'pedagogic' research associated with the growth of practitioner research in other areas of education. The article examines both why teacher research has been relatively neglected in special education and the kinds of contributions it might make.     

Do employers pay efficiency wages? Evidence from Japan

Economists have long been interested in the seemingly cooperative nature of Japanese industrial relations. It has been hypothesized that information sharing in the wagesetting process has been used to promote efficiency. But have Japanese employers really paid efficiency wages, that is, can productivity gains be linked to pay raises? Efforts to test for efficiency wage setting face the problem of sorting out the extent to which pay influences labor productivity and vice versa. For the 1975–1997 sample period, we used an innovative statistical technique developed by Geweke to disentangle the linear association between pay and productivity growth. Efficiency wage behavior has not been the norm in Japan. Nevertheless, efficiency wage setting cannot be ruled out for some key areas of manufacturing.     

The gender neglect and textual abuse of children in the print media

In recent years the relationship between the media and child abuse has been subjected to closer scrutiny. Research at Monash University into the media portrayal of child abuse has led the researchers to examine the language used by the print media to represent both children who have been abused or neglected and the offences committed against them. This paper presents two findings from this research. The analysis firstly found that a child who has been abused or neglected may be objectified in print media language even when the child’s gender is previously identified. Secondly, the analysis found that the language used to describe the sexual abuse of children may serve to reduce the seriousness of offences. These phenomena, termed ‘gender neglect’ and ‘textual abuse’, are highlighted by examples from UK and Australian print media. The authors argue that ‘critical language awareness’ is important for children, just as it has been identified in research that examines the representation of women in print media. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Two approaches to the improvement of low-income urban areas — Madras and Orangi

Slums or squatter settlements have long been recognised as a major urban problem in India and Pakistan. Until recently, public authorities have not been able to bring about any substantial change in these settlements. However, there have been two relatively successful projects one in Madras and the other in Orangi, Karachi. Although the basic aim of both the projects has been to seek improvement in the low-income areas of urban poor, approaches adopted by the two projects have been different. This paper has studied these approaches and has identified their differences. Emphasis of the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) approach is on management of the programme by the people themselves. OPP provides a viable approach to undertaking improvement programmes in lowincome urban areas. Madras Slum Improvement Programme (SIP) also provides a possibility of finding long-term solutions to the urban slum problems. It is managed by public agencies and has not been fully successful as the local community has not been effectively involved in the programme. It is felt that SIP will be more successful if the local community is fully involved in the process of planning, implementation and maintenance of the programme.     

Professional staff in American unions: Changes,trends, implications

The last twenty-five years has been a period of rapid change for the American labor movement. One way in which that change has been manifested has been the growth in the number of professional, technical, and administrative personnel employed by labor organizations. This article examines data on changes in the employment of union professional staff in 30 major unions between 1961 and 1985. The reasons for these changes are discussed, along with the implications of these trends for the institutional future of American unions.     

Babies and Young Children in Nurseries: Using Psychoanalytic Ideas to Explore Tasks and Interactions

Anxiety about the emotional experience of young children in nursery has been central in thinking about the development of nursery provision. The main theory of emotion that has been applied to nursery practice has been attachment theory. This article proposes that there is a need to open up our conceptual framework for thinking about emotional interactions in nursery and introduces concepts from psychoanalytic theory that may assist in this. It illustrates the application of these concepts to thinking about nursery tasks and interactions by reference to existing studies of nursery provision. © 2006 The Author(s). Journal compilation © 2006 National Children's Bureau.     

The Suburban Culture of Building and the Reassuring Revival of Historicist Architecture Since 1970

ABSTRACT

In recent years there has been an international revival in the eclectic use of historical architectural styles in modern suburbs. This revival has been largely ignored. When noticed, it has often been dismissed as arbitrary, and by implication devoid of interest or significance. With reference to North American suburbs, this article argues that the historicist revival expresses popular taste. It is the product of a suburban building tradition in which commercial builders are finely attuned, and readily adapt, to consumer taste. A significant cultural trend, it has been associated ambiguously with the rise of neo-liberalism and, contingently, with the fragmentation of consumer taste. It appears to have been a coded, if contentious, expression of changing gender roles while, above all, indicating a search for reassurance in an uncertain world.