Gratitude to an Unknown Mentor: Bostrom's Influence on Janusik

Many people influence us throughout our lives, and sometimes we are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to reflect upon the influence. Often, this is more challenging than it sounds, as some people become a part of our DNA, inextricably linked to who we are, what we believe, and how we work. Such is the case of the influence of Robert (Bob) N. Bostrom on my work. Though I met Bostrom only once, his work became a part of what I believe about listening and how I choose to approach listening and listening research. Through the process of examining both my work and Bostrom's work, I was able to identify the two main influences he had on me. They are pursuing listening from a cognitive-based perspective and not struggling to define the construct of listening.     

Robert M. Teeter, 1939-2004

Robert M. "Bob" Teeter—political pollster, key strategistin the campaigns of every Republican president from 1968 to1992, co-director with Peter Hart of the Wall Street Journal/NBCPoll, board member and consultant to major corporations—diedof cancer at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on June 13. Hewas 65. "Teeter’s work with Hart evoked respect on both sidesof the political aisle," said Tim Russert, NBC News’sWashington bureau chief and host of Meet the Press. "You could always take Bob Teeter’s     

Personality analysis of a swingers' club

Thirty swingers (16 females, 14 males) from a private metropolitan swinging club volunteered to take the MMPI. One half of the 30 had significant elevations on the clinical and/or validity scales, most frequently on the 9 scale (Hypomania). One third of the sample with normal MMPI scale elevations had significant elevations on validity scales that indicate defensiveness in responding. Analysis of a selected group of special scales of the MMPI indicated that a significant minority of the subjects 1) may be seriously emotionally disturbed, 2) may be substance abusers, or 3) may have serious sexual problems. The MMPI records suggest further that the absence of significantly elevated clinical scales among the normal subgroup may have been a function of defensiveness. On the other hand, most of the subgroup evidencing psychopathology possess ego resources sufficient to enable them to cope with emotional problems.A paper based primarily on the clinical scale analysis was read by the senior author at the meeting of the Society for Sex Therapy and Research, Charleston, SC, 1982. A paper based primarily on the special scale and critical item analyses was read by the junior author at the Eastern Regional meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex, Philadelphia, PA, 1982. The authors are grateful for the cooperation of Dr. Robert L. McGinley in the collection of the data of this report. Address requests for reprints to: Eugene E. Levitt, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, 791 Union Drive, Indianapolis IN 46223.     

The Interdependence of Social Justice and Civil Society

Has civil society declined in the United States in the past 20 years? Multiple indicators suggest evidence for decline. This paper questions Robert Putnam's generational explanation for decline and suggests an alternative explanation, namely the structural economic transformation of the U.S. and how it has been managed. Individuals' perceptions of economic distress have increased since 1972 and are related to changes in indicators of civil society, including associational memberships, trust, anomia, and espoused racial and gay tolerance. Economic distress is also related to political interest and participation. Other consequences of an eroding civil society are discussed, including rising crime and inhibited economic productivity

     

Former SAMHSA official on need for mobile methadone

Bob Lubran was at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) when the methadone mobile units were seen as vital — long before the current opioid crisis. The former head of SAMHSA's Division of Pharmacologic Therapies (DPT), Lubran told ADAW last week that the mobile units were being approved up until the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) stopped them in 2007 due to a legal issue. We were curious about what went on behind the scenes at SAMHSA after the approvals were shut down, during the same years when the opioid crisis was growing.     

Eliciting survey cooperation: incentives, self-interest, and norms of cooperation

Given the weaker ties to community as noted by scholars such as Robert Putnam, survey researchers should not be surprised by a decline in survey participation over the past 10 years. This research analyzes the use of incentives coupled with introductory themes emphasizing cooperation and helpfulness--cooperative norms in American society--to understand their effects on survey response. This article analyzes two separate experiments (one phone and one mail) that provide evidence that norms of cooperation matter in the decision to participate in a survey, suggesting that this is particularly true at the refusal conversion stage. These results indicate that survey researchers may use such themes to their advantage, especially when conducting a nonresponse follow-up in a mail survey.     

Lessons From Infants: 1960–2000

Our image of the infant as an organism interacting with the environment has changed dramatically in the past 40 years. A new surge of infancy research began in the 1960s and continues unabated today. The view of the infant has been transformed from that of a primarily reflexive organism to a highly competent being, exquisitely sensitive to sensory and perceptual information. Controversy still swirls around the issue of when infants acquire specific knowledge about objects and events. New work is reviewed on how infants and toddlers use knowledge to guide their behavior in challenging situations. Despite the tremendous growth of knowledge about infant development over the past 40 years, it seems that we are on the threshold of even more exciting discoveries.     

Between technocracy and democracy: An experimental approach to certification of food products by Japanese consumer cooperative women

Voluntary food certification systems have emerged as a prominent mechanism of food governance in recent years. However, critics have exposed certifications’ inability to secure independence, quality, consumer trust, and costs. Recent criticism is even more pointed in that some theorists have critiqued “alternative” systems such as Fair Trade as neoliberal window-dressing. What is curious about this emerging literature is how little has been said about the role of citizens. Although most of the certification literature has assumed that food certification resides in the exclusive realm of “experts” and that technical sophistication is equated with improvement, I argue that democratization is possible and desirable. This paper draws on a case study of a Japanese consumer cooperative which has conducted a laywomen's food certification system for past ten years. By proposing at least two parameters of evaluation of food certification—redistributive effect and the degree of democratization, the paper expands the imaginary of “politics of the possible” in food governance while acknowledging tension of gendered participation.     

Economic effects of right to work laws

This article examines the effects of Right to Work laws on wages, unionization, and strikes in the context of a simultaneous equation framework. Unlike most past studies, the effects of the factors leading to the existence of a Right to Work law are separated from the effects of the Right to Work laws themselves. Both state and individual data are examined. The results show that the Right to Work laws do not have the negative effects often attributed to them. The author wishes to thank the participants of the session on labor economics at the SEA Annual Convention in 1978 (Washington, D.C.) and of the Labor Workshop at North Carolina State University (Raleigh) as well as Bob Fearn, Daniel Hamermesh, Barry Hirsch, William Moore, H. Gregg Lewis, and many others for their comments on earlier versions of this paper. I would especially like to thank Dan Hopler for his aid and support. Any errors in this paper are solely my responsibility.     

Can work and training programs reform welfare?

Over the past thirty years the number of Americans on welfare has increased by 460 percent, generating concern about both the monetary and social costs involved. Long-term welfare dependence produces adverse outcomes for many families by distorting incentives for work and marriage. Government programs to reduce welfare have focused on work and training programs to raise the skills of welfare recipients, but these programs have not significantly reduced welfare participation. Policies to scale back welfare are essential for reducing welfare disincentives. New approaches to the delivery of education are viewed as an important preventive strategy.     

‘The Castaways of Life’: A study of organizational remembering within the context of a Chilean Geriatric Hospital

This paper explores the phenomenon of organizational memory within the context of a Chilean Geriatric Hospital that has undergone profound institutional transformations during the last 40 years. The effects of such transformations have reinforced an emphasis on progress at the expense of remembering and integrating the past of the institution as a hospice. The study reveals that this institutional past reverberates in the hospital's working dynamics, which contributes to generating confusion in collective identity, as well as to affect the accomplishment of primary tasks and people's well-being. Access to organizational memory is carried out by the registration of some members' remembering practices about the hospital's past, which are analysed through a hermeneutic method. The study is ethnographic and interpretative, and the recollection of data combines interviews, methods of observation, and the revision of documents.     

Comprehensive community building initiatives--ten years later: what we have learned about the principles guiding the work

Community building places emphasis on resident engagement, collaboration, and other elements of a more community-driven approach. For the past ten years, we have learned a lot about how to value the principles of community building and have become more strategic about how to make them work. The chapter offers a brief look at this learning and what community building should focus on as we move forward.     

To tell or not to tell: lifestyle impacts on whether adolescents tell about violent victimization

Adolescent sexual and physical victimization is an issue of serious social concern in our society. This study examines the predictors of whether juveniles tell about these experiences. We specifically question whether the adolescents' lifestyles inhibit victims from telling anyone about the assault and determine if such predictors vary by sex. Using data from the National Survey of Adolescents, we find that the victims' lifestyles do predict help-seeking but that the importance of these measures varies by the type of victimization and the sex of the adolescent. Lifestyles influence reporting the event more consistently for victims of sexual assaults than physical assaults. In addition, while several lifestyle measures are significant for sexually victimized girls, the context of the event is more important for boys who are sexually victimized. Aspects of the adolescents' lifestyles are not as important for telling about physical victimization.     

Is “Sexual Competence” at First Heterosexual Intercourse Associated With Subsequent Sexual Health Status?

The timing of first sexual intercourse is often defined in terms of chronological age, with particular focus on “early” first sex. Arguments can be made for a more nuanced concept of readiness and appropriateness of timing of first intercourse. Using data from the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3), conducted in 2010–2012, this study examined whether a context-based measure of first intercourse—termed sexual competence—was associated with subsequent sexual health in a population-based sample of 17-to 24-year-olds residing in Britain (n = 2,784). Participants were classified as “sexually competent” at first intercourse if they reported the following four criteria: contraceptive protection, autonomy of decision (not due to external influences), that both partners were “equally willing,” and that it happened at the “right time.” A lack of sexual competence at first intercourse was independently associated with testing positive for human papillomavirus (HPV) at interview; low sexual function in the past year; and among women only, reported sexually transmitted infection (STI) diagnosis ever; unplanned pregnancy in the past year; and having ever experienced nonvolitional sex. These findings provide empirical support for defining the nature of first intercourse with reference to contextual aspects of the experience, as opposed to a sole focus on chronological age at occurrence.     

The impact of changing union density on earnings inequality: Evidence from the private and public sectors

The degree of inequality in U.S. earnings has varied considerably over the past 20 years, including a dramatic, much documented rise since 1980. We examine empirically how changes in union density have contributed to these trends, using Current Population Survey data for 1977 and 1992. Inequality is measured as the mean logarithmic deviation of individual earnings from overall average earnings. A decomposition of the change in the inequality index reveals that decreases in private-sector union density have accounted for about 25 percent of the overall rise in earnings inequality during the past 15 years. Decompositions based on public-sector earnings indicate that increases in union density have produced inequality that is 29 percent below what it otherwise would have been. The analysis demonstrates that, among private sector workers, the results are sensitive to the population being studied: Changing union density accounts for 13 percent of the rise among prime aged males (a noticeably smaller fraction than found in existing studies) and only 4 percent among females and non-prime-aged males. The analysis also demonstrates that covariances between the subsamples explain why the union effect is larger in percentage terms for the whole sample than it is in either subsample.     

The community as a source of union power

In recent years, the labor movement has expressed interest in using the community as a source of union power in dealing with employers. This paper explores labor’s historical relationship with the community, examines the emphasis on more effective uses of the community in core union activities, identifies the communities with which labor aligns itself in coalitions, and discusses the strategies employed to form alliances with community groups. Finally, an analysis of some of the key barriers and limitations that affect prospects of the formation and effectiveness of union-community coalitions is presented. The author acknowledges and is grateful for the research assistance of Trudy Labovitz and Ellen Hufnagel. Also, appreciation is expressed to the following persons for valuable comments on an earlier draft: Roger Ahlbrandt, Jr., Robert Atkin, Paul Clark, Donald McPherson, Robert Perloff, Vida Scarpello, and Gerald Schoenfeld.     

EMPLOYERS' USE OF JOB HISTORY DATA FOR MAKING HIRING DECISIONS:

Most research on occupational assignment has concentrated on characteristics of job seekers that presumable signal positive labor market information to employers. Foremost among these have been educational credentials and years and type of work experience. In many cases, though, employers seek indicators that can provide them with negative information about a candidate's prospects for successful job performance; they frequently construct screens that enable them to easily disqualify candidates. Case studies of six Chicago organizations identified six components of "job history data' used by many employers to screen out otherwise acceptable candidates: job hopping, absences from work, latenesses to work, periods of unfilled time, reasons for leaving past employers, and past wage rates. One or more of these items are often consequential in employer hiring decisions. The implications of these findings for a more detailed understanding of status attainment and job assignment are discussed, as well as how research in this area might proceed.     

复兴的“丝绸之路”

去年伊始，宋崇姬随就任巴基斯驻华大使的先生马苏德·哈立德定居中国。十多年前，她通过一次短期旅游初识中国；而今身为大使夫人，宋崇姬积极参与各种外事活动，希望借此了解这里的风土人情。