SCHOUTEN IN THE DARK: MISSING THE FOREST AND THE TREES

The present article is a response to a paper by Schouten in the January, 1994 issue of the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy entitled, "A Scale in Search of a Construct: Comments on Gavin and Wamboldt" (Schouten, 1994) in which he comments on our 1992 paper entitled "A Reconsideration of the Family-of-Origin Scale" (Gavin & Wamboldt, 1992). We respond to Schouten's allegations of lack of methodological rigor and "unsubstantiated claims" (Schouten, 1994, p. 59). We systematically address ways in which Schouten has taken our work out of context, missed the essence of our study, and used faulty and/or vacuous logic in an attempt to discredit our findings. Despite the appearance of rigor in Schouten's work, closer scrutiny brings into question the contribution of Schouten's article to the field of family theory or measurement.     

THE MASS MEDIA AND THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE MISSING CHILDREN PROBLEM

This article traces the role of the mass media in the social construction of the "missing children issue' as a social problem. The social construction explanation of social problems offered by Blumer (1971) and Spector and Kitsuse (1977) has been criticized (cf. Best and Horiuchi 1985) for lacking a conception of extra-media influences that can affect audiences beyond the initial viewing situation. Recent work in mass communication indicates that a media logic is adapted by other institutions to amplify television imagery and themes about crime, danger, and child abuse. A case study of the origins and claims and counterclaims about the nature and extent of missing children is combined with an empirical analysis of the impact of various sources of information about the missing children issue in order to demonstrate the process by which a social problem is constructed. The impact of additional information is analyzed by administering a self-report questionnaire to 96 respondents before and after viewing a two-part documentary on the complexities of the issue. The data suggest that mass-mediated imagery and formats forge an interactive informational context for social problems by sustaining what is viewed in one's living room with imagery in bulk mail, milk cartons, and posters. It is further suggested that mass media depictions of problems such as "missing children' carry over into consonant images such as child abuse. This conceptualization is capable of encompassing other accounts of social problems (e.g., "urban legends") within claims-making activity.     

THE MISSING LINK: POLITICAL ACTIVISTS AND SUPPORT FOR SCHOOL PRAYER

Explanations for the wide gap between strong public supportfor school prayer and lack of support in Congress have focusedon the attributes of the public. Here another important explicandis investigated: the characteristics of political activists.We find that activist opinion more nearly matches congressionalbehavior on school prayer than does public opinion. While manyof the same demographic and religious variables explain supportfor school prayer among activists and the public, ideology appearsto be more important among activists.     

A POSSIBLE EXPLANATION OF THE MISSING DEFLATION PUZZLE

Following the Great Recession, despite large and persistent slowdown in economic activity, the fall in inflation was modest. This is known as the missing deflation puzzle. In this paper, we develop and estimate a New Keynesian model to provide an explanation for the puzzle. The new model allows for time-varying volatility in cross-sectional idiosyncratic uncertainty and accounts for changes in intermediate input prices. We show that inflation did not fall much because intermediate input prices were increasing. (JEL E31, E32, E52)     

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE IN THE WEAK‐LINK GAME

We investigate the effects of leadership in a four‐player weak‐link game. A weak‐link game is a coordination game with multiple Pareto‐ranked Nash equilibria. Because the more efficient equilibria involve a degree of strategic uncertainty groups typically find it difficult to coordinate on more efficient equilibria. We wanted to see whether leadership by example, in the form of one player acting publicly before the rest of the group, could help groups do better. Our results suggest that leadership can increase efficiency but is far from being a guarantee of success. Specifically, in a significant number of groups we observed successful leadership and increased efficiency, but in most groups efficiency was low despite the efforts of leaders. We did not find any difference between voluntary leaders and leaders that are randomly assigned. (JEL C72, H41)     

THE GENERALIZED ALCHIAN–ALLEN THEOREM: A SLUTSKY EQUATION FOR RELATIVE DEMAND

We generalize the Alchian–Allen theorem so as to account for income and endowment effects and provide two versions of a Generalized Alchian–Allen theorem: one for a unit cost component and one for a proportional cost component. Both versions provide a decomposition of an uncompensated change in the demand ratio of two goods into a substitution effect and an income‐endowment effect—and may thus be regarded as extensions of the familiar Slutsky equation for relative demand. Finally, we apply our results to the choice of real estates and to parental time allocation decisions, the latter providing implications for child care policies. (JEL D11, H21, J22, R21)     

REGRESSION WITH MISSING YS: AN IMPROVED STRATEGY FOR ANALYZING MULTIPLY IMPUTED DATA

When fitting a generalized linear model—such as linear regression, logistic regression, or hierarchical linear modeling—analysts often wonder how to handle missing values of the dependent variable Y . If missing values have been filled in using multiple imputation, the usual advice is to use the imputed Y values in analysis. We show, however, that using imputed Y s can add needless noise to the estimates. Better estimates can usually be obtained using a modified strategy that we call multiple imputation, then deletion (MID). Under MID, all cases are used for imputation but, following imputation, cases with imputed Y values are excluded from the analysis. When there is something wrong with the imputed Y values, MID protects the estimates from the problematic imputations. And when the imputed Y values are acceptable, MID usually offers somewhat more efficient estimates than an ordinary MI strategy.     

USING STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING TO EXAMINE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POLITICAL CYNICISM AND RIGHT-WING AUTHORITARIANISM

The government's ability to gain and hold a high proportion of citizens' trust is essential to the functioning of an efficient and successful administration at all levels. This study aims to examine the relationship between an individual's demographic and psychosocial characteristics and their associated levels of trust in the local government. Results show that, while authoritarian attitudinal clusters are a significant predictor of government trust, they are not significant predictors of trust controlling for all related demographic controls. This finding can be explained using a Social Identity theoretical framework concerned with an individual's perceived place within their given community.     

DONOR PREFERENCES AND RECIPIENT FISCAL BEHAVIOR: A SIMULTANEOUS ANALYSIS OF FOREIGN AID

We theoretically develop and empirically estimate a preference model determining foreign aid donor behavior. Aid access and levels are separately determined by endogenous budgetary allocations, the international economic environment, the distribution of income between countries, basic human needs, the small country effect, and regional bias. We find fungibility of aid in recipient budgets is due to donor and recipient preferences. Despite the importance of other economic influences, we find a significant pro-poor country bias in aid allocations, although little aggregate influence of basic human needs or regional bias. The small country effect is significant for two (of six) donors. (JEL F35, O19, H 77)     

SOCIAL SECURITY AND AGGREGATE CAPITAL ACCUMULATION REVISITED: DYNAMIC SIMULTANEOUS ESTIMATES IN A WEALTH-GENERATION MODEL

This paper re-examines Feldstein's(1974, 1982)results of the effect of social security on private capital accumulation in the context of a simultaneous-equation model of capital accumulation. The model incorporates dynamic feedback effects in capital accumulation and is estimated by FIML to incorporate theoretical restrictions that are tested against the data. It is then simulated as a full dynamic model to analyze the long-run effect of SSW on private capital accumulation. The simulated effects are in the same direction as found by Feldstein, but are considerably weaker.     

FRAMING THE SHOOTER: THE GLOBE AND THE STREETS

This article concerns the extensive news coverage by the leading Boston newspaper, the Boston Globe, given a double homicide of two African-American boys. These two boys were killed, ostensibly following a dispute with a juvenile street gang, in April 1991. By examining the shifting focus of this coverage over time, the article examines how the local understanding of street violence was framed by the Massachusetts debate over juvenile justice, in particular newly amended state legislation which tipped the scales towards treating juvenile offenders as adults. Considered here are the Globe's attempt to both orchestrate and stand for ‘civic debate’ by entertaining and absorbing rival voices in its representational protocols.     

THE LONG ARM OF THE LAW:

This article offers a test of labeling theory by exploring whether contact with school and justice system authorities has long-term, negative, and independent effects on an individual's labor market success. We use the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79), a large and nationally representative sample, to examine whether experiences ranging from school suspension to incarceration during ages 15–23 can predict occupational status, income, and employment during ages 29–37. Unlike previous studies, we control for an exhaustive list of variables: social background, human capital, prior deviant behavior, family status, and local context. Our findings generally support labelling theory. Severe forms of labeling like sentencing and incaraceration have the strongest negative effects, though among females suspension or expulsion from school also has consistently negative effects. We conclude with a discussion of how labeling might reduce employment chances, with a focus on gender differences.     

THE EMBRACE:

This article develops the notion that non-distance is a constitutive element in human relations. The essential difference between body-engagement as a relation of non-distance and face-engagement (comprising eye-contact and talk) as a relation of distance is demonstrated. Body-engagement reduces distance and the separate self/body dissolves through touch. The full significance of touch as an encounter and a merging together of bodies is found in the embrace. In it bodies clasp together and draw and press closer to the point where separate and disengaged personal spaces open up and collapse into one common closure. Exploring a broad range of "embrace' phenomena, beginning with the ordinary ritual of shaking hands, and continuing through whole body embraces, erotic love, and finally communitas and mystical union with the divine, this study questions the possibility of unity between self and other. It suggests that the seed of distance always remains within the moment of non-distance, yet the growth of the self (the separate, the different) requires the element of non-distance attained in the unity of the embrace.     

DISARMING THE OPPOSITION: THE PRESIDENT, THE PUBLIC, AND THE INF TREATY

Data from a nationwide opinion survey are used to test the propositionthat President Reagan's sponsorship of the INF treaty effectivelydisarmed the opposition that hard-liners would normally haveregistered against the treaty. The data are consistent withthis interpretation. That is, the president's endorsement ofthe treaty had only a modest impact on those who perceived theSoviets as relatively nonthreatening, but it had a much morepronounced impact on those who viewed the Soviets as threatening.These results shed new light on the extent to which and theconditions under which Americans are willing to set aside theirown policy predilections and follow along behind presidentialinitiatives in the international arena.     

PRESERVING THE POSTMODERN, RESTORING THE PAST:

This article is based on a comparison of the preservation philosophies in place at two historical Virginia homes: Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and James Madison's Montpelier. Interviews and analysis suggest that the curators at the former site are guided by an empirical historicism that is decidedly modernist, while their counterparts at the latter, influenced by contemporary trends in social science and philosophy, are more skeptical about the possibility of recovering and presenting an objectively verifiable past of a specific historical period. The divergence in preservation strategies at these historic homes suggests that, in our present cultural moment, there is much confusion over what constitutes history, over the legitimacy of privileging one person or period over another, and over the currency of scientific interpretations of truthin non-academic contexts.     

THE NEW ECONOMY AND THE AMERICAN DREAM:

Recent decades have seen major changes in economic conditions in the United States, including large-scale layoffs and downsizing, erosion of job quality for some workers, and increased reliance on nonstandard workers. Researchers have investigated the objective contours of this new economy, but few have investigated the consequences of these changes for popular attitudes about economic opportunity. Using data from the 1998 Indiana Survey of Workers in a Polarized Economy (N = 853), I investigate this new economic landscape and its effects on people's views about economic opportunity. I find that job deterioration and experiences with layoffs and job threats are creating pessimism about the American Dream among Indiana workers.     

THE MULTIPLE BODIES OF THE MEDICAL RECORD:

This article argues that the medical record is an important focus for sociological research. In medical work, the modern patient's body that Foucault has so aptly described is produced through embodied, materially heterogeneous work, and the medical record plays a crucial role in this production. It does not simply represent this body's history and geography; it is a central element in the material rewriting of these. Simultaneously, the record fulfills a core role in the production of a body politic . As the record is involved in the performance of the patient's body, it is also involved in the performance of the clinic in which that body comes to life. Finally, we argue that different records and different practices of reading and writing are intertwined with the production of different patient's bodies, bodies politic, and bodies of knowledge. As organizational infrastructure, the medical record affords the interplay and coordination of divergent worlds. Seen as a site where multiple stories about patients and organizations are at stake, including the interoperability between these stories, the medical record becomes highly relevant both analytically and politically.