Does any mother’s body odor stimulate interest in mother’s face in 4‐month‐old infants?

Little is known about the effects of olfaction on visual processing during infancy. We investigated whether and how an infant's own mother's body odor or another mother's body odor affects 4‐month‐old infants’ looking at their mother's face when it is paired with a stranger's face. In Experiment 1, infants were exposed to their mother's body odor or to a control odor, while in Experiment 2, infants were exposed to a stranger mother's body odor while their visual preferences were recorded. Results revealed that infants looked more at the stranger's female face in presence of the control odor but that they looked more at their mother's face in the context of any mother's body odors. This effect was due to a reduction of looking at the stranger's face. These findings suggest that infants react similarly to the body odor of any mother and add to the growing body of evidence indicating that olfactory stimulation represents a pervasive aspect of infant multisensory perception.     

Everybody’s Business? A Research Review of the Informal Safeguarding of Other People’s Children in the UK

The paper reviews public discourses and research on the safeguarding of other people’s children by adults at the neighbourhood level. There is much empirical evidence pointing to the existence of thriving informal communities of support and informal childcare for parents across the social classes. There appears to be less empirical evidence related to intervening with children and young people who may be at risk. Nonetheless, the limited evidence suggests that many neighbours, acquaintances and strangers do intervene, or say that they would. The paper concludes by considering the potential negative consequences of promoting the notion that safeguarding children is ‘everybody’s business’.     

A useful extension of Bourdieu’s conceptual framework?: emotional capital as a way of understanding mothers’ involvement in their children’s education?

This article utilises the concept of emotional capital in order to explore some of the class and gender processes embedded in parental involvement in education. Drawing on fieldwork from a study of mothers' involvement in their children's primary schooling it examines mothers' emotional engagement with their children's education. Understandings of mothers' involvement in their children's schooling are enhanced by including an analysis of the emotions, both positive and negative, that infuse mothers' activities. The article tentatively concludes that the relationships between educational success, emotional capital and emotional wellbeing, and the extent of overlap and difference between them, could provide new ways of understanding how a range of disadvantages which cross class barriers are being manufactured in the contemporary educational marketplace.     

Mother’s,Father’s,or Both? Parental Gender and Parent‐Child Interactions in the Racial Classification of Adolescents1

Research on racial identification in interracial families shows that children are more likely to be labeled as minority if the father is of minority race. Yet, prior studies have not sufficiently considered the role of parent‐child relationships in shaping children’s identification with either mother’s or father’s race. We address this limitation using data on 706 adolescents in interracial families from Wave 1 of Add Health. We examine whether adolescents identify with their mother’s race or with their father’s race, as opposed to selecting a multiracial identity, within specific combinations of parents’ races. We also explore whether indicators of parental involvement (i.e., quantity and quality of involvement, educational involvement, and social control) explain any gender effects. Contrary to prior studies, we find that the tendency to match father’s race is only true in black/white households, particularly if he is white, while adolescents in Asian/white families tend to match mothers regardless of her race. Moreover, while father’s involvement, particularly educational involvement, was more likely than mother’s to influence racial classification, adjusting for involvement does not explain gender patterns. This study shows that the well‐known gender influences on parenting have little to do with the complex ways parent‐child relationships impact racial classification.     

Who cares? A lack of self‐care for women in the non‐profit/non‐governmental sector

In this article I examine the lack of self‐care regimes for women working in the non‐profit/non‐governmental sector. While I draw on ethnographic research conducted in the Malaysian context of women's organizations, the issue of self‐care for activists and feminist activists is a global one that crosses borders and boundaries. I explore the gendered nature of care and care professions to demonstrate how women are predominantly affected in these working environments. To date, there has been little scholarship on self‐care and care in non‐profit/non‐governmental working environments. Using interviews with women working in the sector, I argue that women's emotional, mental and physical health comes at a cost in these hectic workplaces. This article contributes to the literature on gender, work and care in women's organizations by taking seriously women's concerns working in these spaces, where they experience self‐neglect and institutional barriers in care regimes.     

A Storm in a Tea‐Cup? ‘Making a Difference’ in Two Sure Start Children's Centres

Sure Start Children's Centres were central to the last UK Labour government in improving outcomes for children and families. Yet, participation by those who ‘ought’ to attend was and remains a focus of concern. Using the work of Foucault, this paper explores parental participation in two Centres to examine how ‘government operates at a distance’, through the everyday interactions of those who inhabit these spaces. In exploring micro‐practices, the humble cup of tea can be seen, not only as a small act of caring but a site of power and struggle over what these spaces meant to parents and practitioners.     

Anyone for Tennis? Social Class Differences in Children’s Responses to National Curriculum Mathematics Testing

Mathematics is a central part of the school curriculum. Alongside studies in the dominant language of a society, success and failure in the discipline play an important role in the distribution of opportunities to children and young people. Until fairly recently, in England and elsewhere, success in primary school mathematics was achieved by demonstrating a capacity to memorise, reproduce and use relatively simple algorithms. However, in recent years, there has been considerable change in primary school mathematics with an increasing stress being laid, at least rhetorically, on understanding, investigation and the application of mathematics in 'realistic' settings. It seems likely that such changes, in so far as they affect the form and content of National Curriculum assessment, will produce changes in who succeeds and who fails, ie in selective processes within schooling.
The paper draws on preliminary results from an ESRC project which is examining National Curriculum assessment in mathematics for 10–11 and 13–14 year-old children in relation to class, gender and 'ability'. The paper examines the ways in which children from different sociocultural backgrounds approach assessment items which embed mathematics in supposedly 'realistic' contexts. Early data from the Key Stage 2 sample of 10–11 year olds will be presented which shows that there does seem to be a social class effect in the response of children to 'realistic' items – one which leads to some working class children failing to demonstrate competences they have. The paper uses quantitative and qualitative methods, relating its findings to Basil Bernstein's account of sociocultural codes – in particular his theorising of the social distribution of recognition and realisation rules for reading educational contexts – and to Bourdieu's theorising of habitus.     

Multi‐stakeholder Groups for Better Sector Performance: A Key to Fighting Corruption in Natural‐Resource Governance?

Multi‐stakeholder groups – involving representatives from civil society, government and the private sector — are increasingly seen as a means of promoting improved service delivery and operational performance in natural‐resource sectors. Although the intention is to promote dialogue, learning and collaboration towards agreed goals and the implementation of standards for better sector governance and performance, the impact of these initiatives will be shaped by members' incentives and external constraints. This article describes how incentive incompatibilities will prevent the group from effectively addressing fundamental problems in the sectors, such as corruption. Multi‐stakeholder groups can be a viable forum for debate, but should not be expected to perform a role in fighting corruption in natural‐resource management.     

Emigration for Development? An Exploration of the State's Role in the Development‐Migration Nexus: The Case of Romania

This article explores the proposition that the developmental potential of emigration depends on the context of the sending countries. It builds on the insights from the institutional approach to development and adapts them to the migration‐development nexus. It argues that government involvement is necessary if resources from emigration are to become seeds for development. By analysing the case of Romania, one of the largest labour sending countries in Eastern Europe, it argues that its laissez‐faire approach is likely not enough to capitalize on emigrants' resources for development.     

Masculinities in the construction industry: A double‐edged sword for health and wellbeing?

Construction remains a male‐dominated industry and men in construction suffer high rates of illness and injury compared to other industries. Consideration of men and masculinities may support any attempt to maintain and promote the health and wellbeing of construction workers. This article discusses qualitative case study research conducted with stakeholders in the UK construction industry around health and wellbeing. Our thematic analysis highlights how masculinities operate to both inhibit and promote healthy practices. On the one hand, a culture of stoicism pertaining to illness or injury was evident, whilst a competitive ethos between occupational groups was observed to increase risk‐taking and poor health choices. However, interviewees identified homosocial camaraderie and respect for lived experience as a means to promote positive health behaviour. Differences between younger and older generations of employees were noted. Overall, we argue that men's work and associated health practices can be understood as ‘rational’ individualized responses to structural deregulation and insecurity within the construction industry.     

Are cash transfers the answer for child nutrition in sub‐Saharan Africa? A literature review

Early evidence is ambiguous on the effects of cash transfer programmes on children, but until the last few years there has been little focus on Africa. We review the literature on 20 cash transfer schemes, including 12 from sub‐Saharan Africa. Such interventions have shown improvements in household diet and, in some cases, to agriculture, but have not always improved child health. However, a larger perspective focusing on two key time periods for nutrition—adolescence and the first 1,000 days of life reveals more opportunities for impact. In particular, the opportunity to empower young women to access secondary education and the reduction of adolescent pregnancy rates can improve the health of African children. Cash transfer programmes show promise, though there is room for improvement.     

Passing by the Girls? Remittance Allocation for Educational Expenditures and Social Inequality in Nepal’s Households 2003–2004

We examine the utilization of remittances for expenditures associated with development, specifically children's education. We use household-level data from the Nepal Living Standards Survey (NLSS II, 2003–04) to separate remittance effects from general household income effects to demonstrate the migration–development relationship reflected in child schooling investment. We find that family-household remittances are spent on education of children, but the expenditures are disproportionately for boys' schooling. Only when girls are members of higher-income households do greater schooling expenditures go to them. This gender-discriminating pattern at the household level contrasts with the call for universal and gender-equal education.     

Arranged Marriages as Support for Intra‐ethnic Matchmaking? A Case Study on Muslim Migrants in Germany

This article discusses the behavioural and institutional mechanisms that guide the matchmaking process of arranged marriages 1 amongst Muslim migrants in Germany and clarifies how this practice may influence ethnic homogamy. The focus is on general characteristics of arranged marriages rather than differences between diverse ethnic groups. The methodology is qualitative due to the sensitive and complex topic and the current state of research. Typically, the whole family is deeply involved in the process of arrangement, which consists of three stages (pre‐engagement, engagement, marriage). Thereby, the extension of parental scope of action by means of institutionalized admission procedures turns out to be vitally important. In consideration of the fact that mate selection takes place at the pre‐engagement stage, it is the most crucial. Furthermore, differences to other partner‐choosing processes are at their most distinct at this point, being responsible for the identification and labelling of this model as an arranged marriage. Selection criteria are mainly determined by the reputation of the marriage candidate and her/his family along with cultural features (such as belonging to a particular religious group, ethnicity or nationality). In our study, preferences for a cultural homogenous match were the most dominant ones. This inclination may cause the tendency towards transnational marriages when there are no suitable marriage candidates to be found in Germany.     

A Privileged Status for Male Infant‐Directed Speech in Infants of Depressed Mothers? Role of Father Involvement

Prior research showed that 5‐ to 13‐month‐old infants of chronically depressed mothers did not learn to associate a segment of infant‐directed speech produced by their own mothers or an unfamiliar nondepressed mother with a smiling female face, but showed better‐than‐normal learning when a segment of infant‐directed speech produced by an unfamiliar nondepressed father signaled the face. Here, learning in response to an unfamiliar nondepressed father’s infant‐directed speech was studied as a function both of the mother’s depression and marital status, a proxy measure of father involvement. Infants of unmarried mothers on average did not show significant learning in response to the unfamiliar nondepressed father’s infant‐directed speech. Infants of married mothers showed significant learning in response to male infant‐directed speech, and infants of depressed, married mothers showed significantly stronger learning in response to that stimulus than did infants of nondepressed, married mothers. Several ways in which father involvement may positively or negatively affect infant responsiveness to male infant‐directed speech are discussed.     

From “Shared Responsibility” to a Migration Agreement? The Limits for Cooperation in the Mexico‐United States Case (2000–2008)1

Why were the Mexican and United States governments unable to establish formal cooperation for the management of migration flows even after agreeing on the need for a “shared responsibility” approach and establishing an agenda for negotiations on a bilateral agreement in the spring of 2001? Conventional wisdom is that the terrorist attacks of September 11th were the main reason for the shift from a bilateral to a unilateral approach to the management of US‐Mexico migration flows. Although this event changed the US government’s foreign policy priorities, in order to understand the reasons why the proposal for a migration agreement failed, it is necessary to look beyond the security context that permeated the US agenda after September 11th and analyse the underlying structural, domestic and ideological factors that influenced the governments’ positions during and after the negotiations. By examining the context of power asymmetry in the US‐Mexico relationship, the domestic politics that surround the issue and public perceptions of immigration in the United States, this paper identifies the challenges implied in efforts to expand bilateral cooperation over migration issues in the NAFTA framework. The fact that both countries’ migration policies are mostly pursued unilaterally despite the acceptance of a “shared responsibility” raises key questions regarding the limits of regional integration and bilateral or multilateral cooperation for the management of migration.     

A Therapist’s Mandate?: Integrating an Ethics of Care into Custody Law by Recognising and Responding to Post‐separation Parental Loss of Connection with Children

In 1999 Smart and Neale published their seminal book Family Fragments, arguing for the replacement of the ethics of justice that currently informs custody law and practice with an ethics of care. Recognising loss is one of four principles they identify as being key to care‐based processes for managing post‐separation parenting arrangements. Here they had in mind the non‐resident fathers in their study, who were often anxious, angry, and resentful about their diminished fatherhood. Yet gender‐neutral custody laws and the greater prominence given to shared care across the West means that increasing numbers of separated mothers are also experiencing diminished connections to their children, either by becoming non‐resident parents or through shared care arrangements. Research into post‐separation fathers’ and mothers’ experiences of loss and grief in relation to their children is sparse and largely consists of small‐scale qualitative studies focusing either on fathers or mothers. Nonetheless, these studies show that the grief talk of post‐separated parents is strikingly similar, except that mothers who become non‐resident parents commonly talk about a sense of stigma and shame, while fathers are more likely than mothers to resort to the language of anger and rights. Despite Smart and Neale's call roughly 20 years ago, custody law systems across the West continue to neglect parents’ need for recognition and support. This paper seeks to rectify this social neglect through describing a dual program of therapeutically informed interventions with separated mothers and fathers. This is designed to recognise and respond to parental loss and grief experiences, whilst simultaneously fostering personal self‐reflexivity and transformation. The latter is no easy task but is frequently an essential basis for workable co‐parenting post‐separation.     

Does Actor Perspective Matter? A Case Study of Designing Intervention for Small‐Scale Palm Oil Production Enterprises in Kwaebibirem District of Ghana

Despite the fact that the government of Ghana imports the bulk of its industrial palm oil needs, it still fails to give assistance to about 80 percent of small‐scale producers to enhance development in the industry. To design interventions that will be sustainable for and beneficial to these producers, it is important to understand their perspectives first, so as not to “fix development” for them. This case study in the Kwaebibirem District of Ghana uses an actor‐oriented approach to understand the dynamics in the palm oil enterprise (kramer). Improvements in the kramer evidently evolve from the actors’ own agency. Any intervention for development should therefore first understand the dynamics of the kramer as a social field, and take this perspective as a bottom‐up starting point. This article is divided into six sections; the first section is an introduction, while the second describes our methodology. We next outline our conceptual approach, followed by an analysis of experiences of actors and their interactions. We then describe the resource flows and their interrelationships, including the power relations at play in the kramer networks. Finally, we conclude by drawing lessons on the relevance of an actor perspective in designing a learning intervention for processors, scientists, and extensionists.