Does Sexual Harassment Training Change Attitudes? A View from the Federal Level*

Objective. Employment‐related sexual harassment imposes large costs on both workers and their employers and many organizations have responded by implementing formal policies, grievance procedures, or training programs. However, limited evaluation of these interventions leaves us knowing very little about their impact. Our goal is to add to this limited empirical literature by analyzing the relationship between sexual harassment training and employees' views about what behaviors in fact constitute sexual harassment. Method. We use probit analysis and data drawn from the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (USMSPB) of the U.S. federal government to determine—separately by gender—the impact of sexual harassment training on the propensity of workers to define specific unwanted sexual behaviors in the workplace as forms of sexual harassment. Results. We find that sexual harassment training is associated with an increased probability—particularly for men—of considering unwanted sexual gestures, remarks, touching, and pressure for dates to be a form of sexual harassment. We also find that the proportion of agency staff receiving training is positively related to the propensity that an individual employee has a definition of sexual harassment that includes these forms of unwanted sexual behavior. Conclusions. Our results suggest that sexual harassment training programs may be useful in leading workers to be more sensitive to the issue of sexual harassment. Widespread training within the agency has an effect over and above that attributable to the individual's receipt of training itself and training appears to be particularly successful in clarifying men's views about the “gray” area generated by unwanted sexual behavior originating with co‐workers rather than supervisors.     

公共哲学视阈的公共政策

社会公共生活需要公共秩序.建立公共秩序需要以公共政策的产生为前提,公共秩序也是公共政策的最终归宿.公共政策既以公共利益为取向,为构建公共秩序提供了基础,又以公共权力为依托,为构建公共秩序提供了可能.公共政策通过对社会公共价值的权威性分配,来实现公共利益,从而也为社会生活建立起新的公共秩序.公共政策由于其自身的特点和在社会公共生活中的特有功能,逐渐成为社会规范体系的核心,在构建和谐社会中发挥着非常重要的作用.     

Explaining Public Support for the Environmental Movement: A Civic Voluntarism Model*

Objective. The literature on environmentalism includes many more studies of environmental concern than of the public's practical support for the environmental movement. This article develops several categories of predictors of such support from the civic voluntarism model of Verba and associates. Methods. These predictors are tested with data from the 2000 General Social Survey, which included a special module of items on environmental attitudes and activities. Results. Findings generally suggest the utility of the civic voluntarism model for explaining public support for the environmental movement. Additional analysis attempts to untangle reasons for gender and racial differences in the level of this support. Conclusion. This study elucidates several predictors of practical support by the U.S. public for the environmental movement that merit further attention. Such research should pay attention to the proper operationalization of the kind of movement participation studied here.     

论科学发展观与经济法的一致性

科学发展观是崭新的哲学理论,经济法是现代法律制度,虽然不在同一层次上,但是科学发展观与经济法在产生、理念、功能、目标等方面具有一致性。科学发展观对经济法的立法、实施具有重要的指导意义,而经济法是实现科学发展观的主要制度性方法。     

Partisan Cross‐Pressure and Voter Turnout: The Influence of Micro and Macro Environments*

Objectives. This article explores the impact of the partisan homogeneity/heterogeneity of a variety of group environments on patterns of voter turnout for recent presidential elections in Erie County, New York. Methods. Using multilevel methods (HLM) with data drawn from voter registration files and Census sources, we simultaneously estimate the independent and joint effects on turnout of a variety of the nested contexts inhabited by individuals. Results. Our analysis uncovers strong evidence that politically homogeneous households reinforce participatory behaviors, but that this effect is also conditioned by the partisan complexion of their district environment. Conclusions. We also demonstrate that contextual influences from both households and neighborhoods are stronger for members of the partisan minority.     

Public Attitudes Toward the Census: Influences and Trends*

Objective. This article considers the determinants of attitudes toward the census. Methods. Data from a survey of Connecticut residents are analyzed. Some of the questions replicate items from previous national surveys. Results. Conservatives and people with low trust in government have more negative views of the census, while interest in politics has no effect. Exposure to advertising has a positive effect on some attitudes. Conclusions. Despite the Census Bureau's efforts to maintain political neutrality, support of the census is influenced by general outlook on government and politics, suggesting that conflicts over the census are likely to continue.     

The Link Between Voter Choice and Religious Identity in Contemporary Society: Bringing Classical Theory Back In*

Objectives. In this article, we analyze voter choice data from six U.S. presidential elections for evidence of religious identity and sociodemographic effects on voter choice. Methods. Voter choice is analyzed over the period 1980 to 2000 with multivariate statistical models. Results. A link is found between voter choice and religious identity, where the effect of religious identity on voter choice is contingent on location within the stratification order defined by race, class, and gender. The article proposes a theory to explain the contingent link between voter choice and religious identity; the theory is derived from classical sociology. Conclusion. In the United States, political behavior related to religious identity is contingent on the individual's location within the stratification order.     

Con Job: An Estimate of Ex‐Felon Voter Turnout Using Document‐Based Data*

Objective. Ex‐felon voter turnout was estimated for the first time using government records rather than statistical models. Statistical models have estimated that 25–35 percent of eligible ex‐felons would vote in federal elections. Methods. Six‐hundred‐sixty recently released ex‐felons in Erie County, NY, who would have been legally eligible to register and vote in 2004 or 2005, were compared with data from the Erie County Board of Elections to determine whether they registered and voted in either 2004 or 2005. Results. Five percent this population of ex‐felons voted in either 2004 or 2005. Conclusions. Single‐digit turnout among ex‐felons raises questions about the assumptions underlying statistical estimates, and it also suggests that elections would have to be very close for ex‐felons to have an impact on the results.     

大学-经济学-中国经济：从理论到现实的一种思考

本文是作者近年在国内多所大学所作专题演讲融汇而成,反映了作者对大学、经济学和中国经济的认识和感悟。     

Campaign Finance Laws and the Competition for Spending in Gubernatorial Elections*

Objective. The diversity of campaign finance laws in the U.S. states allows the effects of these reforms to be measured. I investigate the impact of contribution limits and public financing on campaign spending in gubernatorial elections. Methods. I conduct a multivariate regression analysis of general election spending in races for governor from 1980 to 2000. I analyze levels of spending per voter, as well as challengers' share of total spending. Results. State contribution limits do not hold down overall spending. Candidate acceptance of public funding and spending limits reduces spending by incumbent governors more than it reduces that of challengers. As for challengers' share of spending, I find that public funding programs improve challengers' ability to match incumbents' spending dollar for dollar. Conclusions. State programs that offer public funding to candidates effectively favor challengers. This points to the potential of these reforms to make federal elections more competitive.     

咖啡馆与近代早期英国的公共领域——哈贝马斯话题的历史管窥

本文以近代早期英国的公共领域为对象,以咖啡馆为切入口,联系哈贝马斯的相关理论进行了历史考察,并就咖啡馆公共领域的平等性和咖啡馆与社团的关系问题作了辨析.咖啡馆公共领域的平等性经历了历史的动态演变,不可将这种平等性理想化和绝对化,把当时的咖啡馆设想为无限制的完全自由的言论空间间.咖啡馆与以俱乐部为代表的社团组织在时间和空间上有着密切的内在联系,不能将两者看成是前后相继和互相排斥的事物;以往有关"文学公共领域"与"政治公共领域"的阶段划分,也存在结合历史实际进行修正的必要.     

Raising Considerations: Public Opinion and the Fair Application of the Death Penalty*

Objectives. A major justification for capital punishment is its perceived public support, yet common measures of public opinion do not capture the complexity of death penalty attitudes. This research, first, examines the stability of attitudes regarding the fair application of the death penalty when those attitudes are expressed within the context of an enlarged pool of considerations about its administration and, second, evaluates the directional effect of the considerations on those attitudes. Methods. Data from a national telephone survey that capture the complexity of these attitudes are analyzed using ordered probit estimation. Results. These results indicate substantial instability in attitudes regarding the fair application of capital punishment given the context of more pertinent considerations. Furthermore, within this context respondents tend to indicate that the death penalty is less fairly applied. Conclusion. The justification for capital punishment may rest on oversimplified conceptions of attitudes toward the death penalty and its application.     

TRI to Communicate: Public Knowledge of the Federal Toxics Release Inventory*

Objective. Investigate public knowledge and use of information from the U.S. Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), the most internationally prominent and well‐regarded environmental information program, providing industrial facility chemical release and transfer data since 1989. Method. Three‐phase survey panel of 1,292 people in two counties. Results. Only very small percentages recalled, without prompting, TRI or recognized it when it was mentioned. Only minuscule percentages recalled TRI facility names when asked for local facilities using hazardous chemicals. Respondents did not recognize most local TRI facilities or know if they used hazardous chemicals. Very few who were aware of TRI information obtained it from the sources Congress intended. Finally, when provided with TRI information, many respondents did not review it and virtually no one took any action. Conclusions. These results raise concerns about the TRI program's effectiveness in enhancing public knowledge of nearby industrial facilities using hazardous chemicals.     

儒家视阈之创造力

通过对儒家"天、地、万物一体"理念的考察,可以看到中国人的宇宙论之鲜明特征并不在于其缺少对宇宙进化论的关注,而在于他们笃信在宇宙持续创造的进程中所形成的诸存在形态之间具有相互关联性。