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     

An Analysis of Labor Union Participation in U.S. Congressional Hearings

Using both a new data set of labor union appearances in congressional hearings and archival data on union organizational resources, this article analyzes factors that determine whether a labor union will be represented in congressional hearing testimony in a given year. Consistent with the expectations of resource mobilization theory, organizational resources are important predictors of participation in congressional hearings. For example, membership is an important predictor of testimony in hearings, as is the number of lobbyists on staff and the character of a union's primary industry. However, membership in the AFL‐CIO federation is negatively related to hearing participation, and some of the benefits of having a large membership base may be diminishing over time. Implications for the study of interest group politics and organizational political strategies are discussed.     

Bureaucratization in the U. S. Department of State*

Very little social scientific research has considered the question of bureaucratization in the individual governmental agency. Departing from an experiment in de-bureaucratization, this article traces the origins of two core components of bureaucracy-hierarchy and rules-in the U. S. Department of State. The discussion emphasizes the interaction between the internal structure of a public organization and two sets of environmental factors: the power setting and the operating environment. It is argued that this interaction produces a high degree of message generation, top-down demands for accountability and control, and bottom-up pressures for clearance and guidance. These conditions lead to a heavy message volume and a high degree of centralization which, in turn, bring on communications overload. Bureaucracy increases as overload is handled through hierarchical differentiation and the proliferation of rules.     

Special Elections and the Growth of Women's Representation in the U.S. House of Representatives

High incumbency return rates slow the pace at which underrepresented groups can increase their ratio of membership in the U.S. House of Representatives. We document the fact that the special election process provides an important source of congressional turnover which is particularly advantageous to women seeking to win election to the House. In fact, we document that over one-third of all women entering the House during the decade studied entered through special elections. If women are to increase their proportion in the House of Representatives, either the size of the House needs to be increased or seates held by men must be replaced with seats held by women. As there is little chance that the size of the House will increase, women will have to replace men. This is, of course, happening, but at a very slow rate. Though many factors affect women's recruitment into the House, part of the problem is that incumbents, currently 89.2% men, seem to turn over at a very slow rate. In the 1988 election (a high point for incumbent return rates), only 7.6% of the Congress was new. Retention, it is argued, creates few opportunities for women, and other underrepresented groups, to enter Congress. However, conclusions about the relationship between turnover and the election of women based on biannual elections alone are incomplete because such explanations do not account for the influence of special elections.     

美国在巴以和平进程中的角色调整

伊拉克战后的安全问题令布什政府的外交政策备受国内外批评,使得后布什时代的美国政府将解决巴以问题作为突破口,一改往日对巴以问题的冷漠态度,转而主动推动巴以和平进程,采用多重"遏制战略"和"平衡战略"以实现自身角色的调整。然而,由于巴以问题的复杂性和美国全球霸权结构的利己性,布什政府的角色调整对于巴以和平进程具有双重绩效。     

美国在巴以和平进程中的角色调整

伊拉克战后的安全问题令布什政府的外交政策备受国内外批评，使得后布什时代的美国政府将解决巴以问题作为突破口，一改往日对巴以问题的冷漠态度，转而主动推动巴以和平进程，采用多重“遏制战略”和“平衡战略”以实现自身角色的调整。然而，由于巴以问题的复杂性和美国全球霸权结构的利己性，布什政府的角色调整对于巴以和平进程具有双重绩效。     

Spatial Variation in U.S. Labor Markets and Workplace Gender Segregation: 1980–2005*

Many studies of workplace inequality have examined why workplace gender segregation still exists and how gender segregation affects workplaces (Cohen, Huffman, and Knauer 2009 Work and Occupations 36(4):318; Huffman, Cohen, and Pearlman 2010 Administrative Science Quarterly 55(2):255). Yet, fewer studies have examined how space might affect gender segregation. In this paper, we investigate two types of space, normative space and industrial space, and their influence on gender workplace segregation within geographic space. We use data from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and mixed models to examine how normative and industrial spaces affect workplaces within geographic space. We find that both measures of normative and industrial space predict differing levels of gender segregation within geographic spaces (measured via commuting zones). In addition, the effects normative space (women's share of the labor force) has on gender segregation are mediated by industrial restructuring.     

Enjoyment of Work by Full-Time Workers in the U.S., 1955 and 1980

Two questions concerning enjoyment of work asked on a 1955 AmericanGallup Poll were asked on a 1980 United States national surveyto gauge the net change during a quarter of a century. Onlythe responses of persons employed full-time were used for thisstudy. Indicated enjoyment of work was substantially lower in1980 than in 1955. The difference was especially great for manualworkers, Protestants, and older persons. A tentative conclusiondrawn from examining trend data for one birth cohort is thatthe change resulted from cohort succession and from orientationsand attitudes members of younger cohorts brought to their workrather than from changes in work conditions which affected workersof all ages and in all birth cohorts. Some implications of thefindings are disscussed.     

AFTER TAFT-HARTLEY: The Legal-Institutional Context of U.S. Strike Activity, 1948 to 1980

This article examines how the legal-institutional context created by American labor law has impacted the frequency, issue composition, and economic damage of strike activity since the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act. Emphasis on the legal-institutional context complements conventional perspectives of strike activity which focus on business cycle and political-organizational interpretations. A new labor law index is developed to measure the legal-institutional context, and it is comprised of five components: number of pro-labor laws, National Labor Relations Board unfair labor cases filed, use of antilabor injunctions, labor mediation, and labor arbitration. For the period of 1948 to 1980, high values on the labor law index reduced overall strike frequency, reduced some types of control-related strikes, had no effect on economic strikes, and decreased working time lost to strikes, especially in the monopoly sector. These findings suggest that the legal-institutional context of the post-Taft-Hartley period has served to regulate and delegitimize expressions of labor unrest that most seriously challenge capitalist interests.     

Asian Americans and Voting Participation: Comparing Racial and Ethnic Differences in Recent U.S. Elections

This research assesses the significance of race and ethnicity in the participation of Asian Americans in recent U.S. elections. It reviews the major characteristics of the nonwhite, multiethnic population in recent census surveys and discusses the necessity for voting behavior research to address effects of international migration on eligibility issues in voting participation. Results from analyzing U.S. Current Population Survey Voter Supplement files, 1994–2000, indicate that Asian Americans' apparent deficit in voting participation among voting‐age persons can be reduced, removed, or even reversed when restricting analyses only to eligible persons. Multivariate analyses controlling for a set of institutional, contextual, and individual factors show that being Asian and foreign born may have the net effect of increasing voting registration, while being U.S. born and Asian may have the contrary effect, compared to non‐Hispanic whites of comparable background. Nativity is not significant in impacting turnout among registered Asians as a whole, but U.S.‐born Asians are less likely to turn out compared to their white counterparts. Among other findings, being foreign born may enhance the registration likelihood for Chinese, Korean, and Asian Indian American citizens and the turnout likelihood of registered Korean Americans.     

Commodity Agriculture,Civic Agriculture and the Future of U.S. Farming*

Abstract Commodity agriculture and civic agriculture represent two distinct types of farming found in the U.S. today. Commodity agriculture is grounded on the belief that the primary objectives of farming should be to produce as much food/fiber as possible for the least cost. It is driven by the twin goals of productivity and efficiency. Civic agriculture, on the other hand, represents the rebirth of a more locally oriented agriculture and food system. Using data from the 1992 and 1997 Censuses of Agriculture and other secondary data sets, we examine factors and conditions associated with the presence and growth of both types of agriculture. Our findings show that civic agriculture is associated with particular commodities and with specific social, economic and demographic characteristics of localities. Commodity agriculture, on the other hand, is more sensitive to the classic economic factors of production, namely, land, labor, and capital.     

“It Isn’t in the Curriculum”: World History Teachers’ Views on U.S. Presidential Elections

Abstract

This study examines world history teachers’ attitudes regarding teaching U.S. presidential elections. During interviews with nine teachers, participants emphasized that the competing demands of their classrooms negatively influenced their willingness to teach about the U.S. presidential elections generally, and the 2016 Election specifically. The participants reconsidered their stances on not teaching elections during the interviews but struggled to reconcile their role as world history teachers with their priorities as social studies more generally. While elections are part of the civics curriculum and can be easily associated with history courses, this study suggests that greater attention should be paid to how citizenship practices can be understood through world history classes to promote teaching about elections as part of the curriculum.     

The U.S. Criminal Justice System: A Role for Radical Social Work

ABSTRACT

Characteristics of the current United States criminal justice system include mass incarceration at a rate higher than that of any other Western country, extraordinarily long sentences, rampant racial discrimination, and discrimination against all low-income persons. The impact of this system goes beyond devastation of those subject to supervision of the system to their families, communities, and society at large. This article analyzes the current criminal justice system relative to neoliberalism and ongoing reform efforts. The possible roles of radical social work in facilitating reforms and connecting criminal justice advocacy and issues to larger structural issues as well as direct practice strategies are explored.     

Consumer Trust in the U.S. Food System: An Examination of the Recreancy Theorem*

Abstract Because consumer opinions to an increasing extent affect the structure and management of the U.S. food system, it is important for social scientists to accurately model consumer trust in this system so they can better understand and anticipate public responses to existing or proposed food‐related regulatory policies and facilitate effective partnership building between food‐system representatives and the public. The recreancy theorem posits that individuals' trust in and support for societal institutions reflects their perceptions of the competence and fiduciary responsibility of institutional actors. This theorem might prove effective at identifying the key determinants of consumers' trust in and support for institutional actors within the U.S. food system, whether these actors be representatives of large‐scale, internationally operated firms or small‐scale, locally operated businesses. We used data from two nationwide samples of adults to test the recreancy theorem for seven to nine pertinent institutional actors each within five areas of the U.S. food system: food safety, nutrition, treatment of workers, environmental protection, and treatment of livestock. The resulting 55 tests of the theorem entailed the estimation of 55 structural equation models to evaluate model fit and the efficacy of perceived competence and fiduciary responsibility in explaining trust and support. The results of analyzing the structural equation models separately and overall indicate support for the recreancy theorem. Based upon our results, we offer suggestions for enhancing public‐private partnership formation within the U.S. food system.     

Performance evaluations of for‐profit and nonprofit U.S. hospitals since 1980

This synthesis of studies examines whether the published literature shows an evidence‐based consensus on performance differences between private for‐profit and nonprofit hospitals in the United States since 1980. The author systematically and comprehensively surveyed peer‐reviewed publications to clarify this question. The author's second objective was to learn what proportion of all research assessing for‐profit and nonprofit health care providers is devoted to hospitals compared to all other providers. The third goal was to discover how any trends in observed performance differences among hospitals compare with trends among other provider types. Computerized bibliographic searches of all relevant databases yielded seventy‐five studies (ninety‐three assessments) that compared the performance of for‐profit and nonprofit hospitals on four performance criteria: access, quality, cost or efficiency, and amount of charity care. The author coded findings on performance in one of three ways: for‐profit superiority, nonprofit superiority, or inconclusive. Most studies (60 percent) reported that nonprofit hospitals have better relative performance than for‐profit hospitals, clear evidence of their organizational effectiveness. Thirty‐one percent were inconclusive, and 8 percent reported that for‐profits were better.     

Making and Remaking State Institutional Arrangements: The Case of U.S. Trade Policy in the 1970s*

Abstract The article describes the struggle between free-trade advocates and protectionists in the early 1970s in the United States over the institutional arrangements governing trade policy formation and implementation. The analysis of the struggle and its impacts offers several modifications to historical institutionalist analysis of institutional dynamics and change. First, the uneven distribution of benefits by institutions is an intended outcome of institutional designers. Second, institutions are causally effective when they reflect a balance of forces that no longer exists. Third, unanticipated effects within given institutional arrangements are the outcome of intended counter-strategies.