The Mother-in-Law Mystique: A Tale of Conflict,Criticism and Resistance

While women have been described in various disciplines as the kin keepers of family relationships, empirical data show that the greatest rivalry in newly constructed heterosexual families exists between two women: the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law. Numerous rituals are employed across cultures in order to ease the expected tension between these two rival women. Yet, the topic seems to have been overlooked by feminist and family therapy research alike. Inspired by Bowen's (1978) concept of differentiation of self and Linn's (1998) and Gilligan's (Linn & Gilligan, 1990) ideas of the resisting self, the present study examines these female rivals as moral critics in the war zone of the family. The study sample consists of 14 mothers-in-law, daughters-in-law, and sons/husbands, belonging to five Israeli families of diverse cultural origin. Gilligan's Listening Guide was used to assess how participants saw the dilemmas of their situation, adopted a critical distance, and formed an authoritative moral voice.     

Carrying Capacity and the Death of a Culture: A Tale of Two Autopsies*

Issues associated with the phrase “sustainable development” are clarified by careful analysis of the meaning of carrying capacity. In their impressions of carrying capacity's effects, two explanations for the death of a memorable culture (Easter Island) differed fundamentally. One explanation was captive to a premature notion of a carrying capacity ceiling no population growth could ever penetrate. For the other, population was seen as having grown until it did exceed the maximum sustainable load, thus having inflicted environmental damage that reduced carrying capacity. The former view had to imagine a geological catastrophe to account for the culture's death. In the latter view, it was a case of excessive success proving fatal. A proponent of the latter view regarded Easter Island as a “preview in microcosm” of what may be happening globally. As such, the Easter Island experience would have important implications for industrial societies. Comparison of the two autopsies has implications for the social sciences.     

Language Learning in the Process of Refugee Resettlement: A Case Study Comparing Conditions in Germany and Japan

Abstract The difficulties encountered in the resettling of refugees in a host country arise from the following sources. The first source of difficulty involves so-called personal factors which stem from the character and experience of the individual refugee. For example, these include past experiences or experiences encountered during flight from the home country, family-background, religion, age, sex, educational level, occupation, etc. The second source pertains to the circumstances surrounding the process of resettlement (e.g. level of assistance offered by the host country, cultural differences between the home and host country, etc.). The third sorce of differences arise from the level of communication between the refugee and the new social environment (for example, the possibility of establishing social contacts, access to various kinds of information, etc.). In this article some characteristics of the language-learning process are discussed with the inclusion of several case-studies from Germany and Japan. It is noted that Germany appears to provide better assistance in language-learning. On the other hand, from the point of view of Indochinese refugees, Japan is more similar culturally and socially. The questions of how language-acquisition can best be achieved, as well as the ways in which the situation of refugees in Germany and Japan can best be improved are discussed.     

Women’s Family Care Responsibilities,Employment and Health: A Tale of Two Countries

Journal of Family and Economic Issues - Persistently low employment of women in some countries can still be ascribed to a traditional perception of women’s role in society. According to...     

A Tale of Two Counties: Natives’ Opinions Toward Immigration in North Carolina1

This article compares native residents’ opinions and perceptions regarding immigration using a representative survey from a pair of matched North Carolina counties – one that experienced recent growth of its foreign-born population and one that did not. Drawing from several theoretical perspectives, including group threat, contact theory, and symbolic politics, we formulate and empirically evaluate several hypotheses. Results provide limited evidence that competition and threat influence formation of opinions about immigration, with modest support for claims that parents with school-aged children harbor more negative views of immigration than their childless counterparts. Except for residents in precarious economic situations, these negative opinions appear unrelated to the immigrant composition of the community. Claims that the media promotes negative views of immigration receive limited support, but this relationship is unrelated to the volume of local immigration. Finally, sustained contacts with foreign-born residents outside work environments are associated with positive views of immigration, but superficial contacts appear to be conducive to anti-immigration sentiments. Political orientation, educational attainment, and indicators of respondents’ tolerance for diversity explain most of the difference between the two counties in overall support for immigration.     

Comparing Protest and Conflict: A Time-Series Analysis of Peasant Unrest in Japan, 1800-1877

Abstract  The objective of this study is to explore the mechanisms of peasant political protest and social conflict in nineteenth-century Japan. While political protest and social conflict have often been referred to as constituting two major categories of peasant unrest throughout feudal Japan, past studies on nineteenth-century peasant uprisings, based mainly on a class conflict paradigm, did not treat them as such. This study aims at examining differential mechanisms between protest and conflict, and at assessing the applicability of the class conflict paradigm.
A time-series analysis is performed using the annual data of peasant uprisings and antecedent socioeconomic and political conditions during the period 1800-1877. The study results strongly suggest that differential mechanisms between political protest and social conflict existed in the nineteenth-century, and that the applicability of a class conflict paradigm is, at the very least, dubious. Based on the results, combined with historical-contextual knowledge, an alternative explanation is also suggested.     

Gendered Aspects of Conflict,Displacement and Peace Process in Turkey

The peace process in Turkey, since its inception, has not paid any attention to internal displacement or its gendered aspects. This study analyses how displaced women remember the gendered aspects of displacement and perceive reconciliation and peace. The analysis, based on interviews with 42 internally displaced women, shows that changing domestic and international contexts have substantive impact on how displaced women remember their stories and the meaning they attach to their ethnic identities. Consequently, it suggests that if the peace process is re‐initiated, leaders need to take into consideration that each component of reconciliation (justice, peace, trust towards the state, intergroup relations and truth‐telling) has different difficulties to be overcome when the gendered aspect of displacement is taken into account and consider return not only as a realistic demand but also as a political wish.     

A Tale of Two Contexts: U.S. Migration and the Labor Force Trajectories of Mexican Women

Even though women have long participated in Mexico–U.S. migration studies assessing the labor market implications of international mobility for women are rare. Especially lacking are studies that follow a life‐course approach and compare employment trajectories across contexts and in connection with other transitions. Using life‐history data collected in Mexico and the U.S., we explore the impact of migration on women's employment, focusing on how the determinants of employment vary across contexts. We show that U.S. residence eliminates or even reverses the employment returns to education found in Mexico and that the constraints imposed on women's work by marriage are actually stronger in the U.S. context. We also explicitly connect migration to other life‐course events, documenting how the impact of context varies not only by marital status but also by where women's unions were formed.     

A Tale of Two American Cities: Disaster,Class and Citizenship in San Francisco 1906 and New Orleans 2005

Destruction, notes David Harvey, “is often required to make the new urban geography out of the wreckage of the old.”² The history of San Francisco's Chinatown following the 1906 earthquake and fire and New Orleans' public housing following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 reveal how powerful class interests collude with the fog of disaster to lay claim to the urban spaces of the poor and marginal. In two historic U.S. disasters we witness the concerted efforts of urban elites to confiscate the spaces of two politically vulnerable populations: the Chinese in 1906 and low‐income African‐Americans in 2005. The widely varying outcomes of these two attempts reveal a good deal about the intersection of calamity, class, race, and citizenship in American history.     

Gender-as-Knowledge and AIDS in Africa: A Cautionary Tale

This article is based on my experience with translating research about AIDS, masculinity and risk in Malawi into the public sphere. My work was misinterpreted as demonstrating that African men want to get AIDS because they think it reaffirms their masculinity. I use the concept of gender-as-knowledge to organize my analysis of this response. I argue that media representations of AIDS in 21st century Africa are filtered through a centuries-old prism of racialized gender knowledge, in which African men are presumed to be irrational, sexually voracious, and uninhibited. This article concludes with cautions about the complexities of translating social research into the public sphere.     

Migration and Transnational Families in Fiji: Comparing Two Ethnic Groups

In the past two decades, international migration patterns out of Fiji have undergone changes with important implications for the formation of transnational families. The focus of this paper is on a comparison between the formation of Indo-Fijian transnational extended families and indigenous Fijian transnational nuclear families. These are discussed within the framework of "transnational corporations of kin."
For several decades, Indo-Fijians have permanently migrated to the Pacific Rim as a consequence of the economic and political situation in Fiji. They have resettled in complete nuclear family units and have subsequently attempted to sponsor the migration of their extended family members. Recent years have witnessed an increasing number of indigenous Fijians migrating temporarily for work. In contrast to Indo-Fijians, indigenous Fijian migrate as individuals, leaving their spouses and children behind in Fiji. Women migrate autonomously as caregivers and nurses while men find employment as soldiers and security officers. The main purpose of their mostly temporary migration is to send remittances. However, these economic benefits have to be contrasted with the social and psychological costs associated with the separation of nuclear families. The paper also discusses policy implications arising from the comparative analysis, especially in the light of the current situation in Fiji which is characterised by a lack of policies addressing the implications of migration.     

末世论和全球社会政治冲突——以巴以冲突为例

宗教原教旨主义者的末世论成了全球社会政治冲突一种不可忽视的动因,它不仅导致了许多国家内在的社会政治断裂,也加剧了当今伊斯兰世界与西方的矛盾和冲突。巴以冲突就是一个末世论产生重要影响的典型个案。末世论是以色列的信仰者集团、美国的基督教右翼积极在巴勒斯坦被占领土上推进定居点运动,阻扰和平进程的重要动因。这两者的进攻性行动破坏了伊斯兰世界的认同,损害了他们的权利、尊严和拯救前景,从而引起哈马斯、真主党等激进伊斯兰主义者同样带有末世情结的伊斯兰群体以圣战为主要形式的抗争。     

The Relationship Between Work-to-Family Conflict and Family-to-Work Conflict: A Longitudinal Study

The relationship between work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict was tested using a longitudinal research design with 234 dual-earner couples caring for both children and aging parents. Two waves of mailed survey data were collected. The mediating effects of role-related satisfaction were hypothesized to link these two forms of work-family conflict. The analytical steps for determining mediating effects followed suggestions by Baron and Kenny (1986). The results failed to show significant mediating effects of role-related satisfaction between the two forms of conflict over time for both husbands and wives, contrary to suggestions by Frone, Yardley, and Markel (1997). Instead, positive, direct relationships between the two types of work-family conflict were found. Limitations and implications are discussed.     

末世论和全球社会政治冲突——以巴以冲突为例

宗教原教旨主义者的末世论成了全球社会政治冲突一种不可忽视的动因,它不仅导致了许多国家内在的社会政治断裂,也加剧了当今伊斯兰世界与西方的矛盾和冲突。巴以冲突就是一个末世论产生重要影响的典型个案。末世论是以色列的信仰者集团、美国的基督教右翼积极在巴勒斯坦被占领土上推进定居点运动,阻扰和平进程的重要动因。这两者的进攻性行动破坏了伊斯兰世界的认同,损害了他们的权利、尊严和拯救前景,从而引起哈马斯、真主党等激进伊斯兰主义者同样带有末世情结的伊斯兰群体以"圣战"为主要形式的抗争。