Response to McMichael,Block, and Goldfrank

Theory and Society -     

A Reply to Theodori,Luloff, Brennan,and Bridger

Theodori et al. (2016) take issue with our presentation of the interactional field theory of community, asserting that, according to interactional field theory, (1) community does not equate with community field; (2) community does not emerge out of the community‐oriented actions of individuals; as well as making various other charges. In our reply, we refute their points, and demonstrate how Theodori et al., themselves, often provide the best evidence against their own arguments.     

Unions,firms, and the return to seniority

Wages generally rise more slowly with experience in union than in nonunion settings. It has been argued that the lower slope of the earnings profiles reflects the preferences of the median worker. It is shown in this paper that the median worker model (assuming a median worker exists) does not lead to a uniformly less steeply sloped earnings profile. Instead, the lower return to seniority reflects the firm’s rational response to the union’s monopoly power. Thus, the lower slope in unionized firms reflects the objectives of firms, not unions, in the bargaining process. I would like to thank Bill Dickens, Bernie Grofman, Shu Kahn, and Donald Martin for useful comments and suggestions.     

Why Laundry,Not Hegel? Social Class,Transition to College,and Pathways to Adulthood

This article is part of a larger study looking at upper‐middle‐class, college‐bound high school seniors and their parents as they go through the college application process. The seniors we interviewed expect college to be a transformative experience that will affect their identities. But they also know they will experience upheavals in the routines of everyday life as they face changes of place, changes in responsibility for tasks, and changes in familial relationships. At this point of upheaval their anxiety is focused more on issues such as how to get their laundry done than on whether they will understand thinkers such as Hegel. These college‐bound students also see their ongoing transition to adulthood as a gradual, emerging process. The connection between social class and pathways to adulthood is explored.     

Evidence-based medicine, clinical uncertainty, and learning to doctor

For the past two decades, evidence-based medicine (EBM), or the reliance on current scientific evidence to reach medical decisions, has been embraced as a new paradigm to standardize clinical care. Drawing from in-depth interviews with seventeen pediatric residents in two residency programs, we evaluate the extent to which the medical sociology scholarship on uncertainty analytically elucidates the recent influx of EBM during residency training. Our findings suggest that residents interpret EBM in varying ways to match their work practices: "Librarians" consult the literature while "researchers" evaluate it critically. For both groups, EBM might generate new uncertainties due to the increased reliance on information technologies and epidemiology. Whether EBM reduces uncertainty depends upon the residents' understanding of standardized knowledge and consequent incorporation of EBM in their clinical practice. Contrary to the predictions of some sociologists, EBM does not lead to a diminishment of humanitarian values in medical care. Nor does EBM lead to a science-based meritocracy on the patient ward, as claimed by some EBM advocates. Our conceptual updating of uncertainty emphasizes the continuous management of uncertainty during the medical socialization process. We argue that managing uncertainty develops along with what we term evidence-based clinical judgment.     

Wealth, Reservation Wealth, and the Decision to Retire

This paper introduces a model of retirement wealth choice. Reservation wealth is defined as the level of wealth at which an individual is indifferent between retiring and not retiring. Economic theory is used to generate hypotheses concerning how an individual's characteristics determine his or her reservation wealth. An econometric strategy is outlined for estimating these determinants, given that reservation wealth is not directly observed. This strategy is then employed using the 1992 Survey of Consumer Finances. The findings imply that individuals respond fairly conservatively, with respect to their retirement planning, to changes in their income. It is also found that married men and women choose their reservation wealth in very different ways.     

Ideology,Context, and Obligations to Assist Older Persons

Are older adults responsible for meeting their own needs, is it their children's obligation to care for them, or is there a collective responsibility to see that older adults have their needs met? The purpose of this study was to examine the normative obligations of individuals, family members, and the government to provide for the needs of older adults. The authors examined how ideological beliefs and contextual circumstances are related to beliefs about obligations to older persons. Data were collected from phone interviews of a sample of 270 adults who were over 40 years old. The results indicate that ideological beliefs were better predictors of normative obligations than were contextual variables. Future research should reflect the complex relationships among ideological beliefs, contextual circumstances, and normative obligation beliefs.     

Giving to Friends,Classmates, and Strangers in Adolescence

This study examined how perspective taking and sensitivity to social rewards predict giving to friends, classmates, and strangers in adolescence. Five hundred and twenty adolescents aged 12–17 years completed questionnaires on perspective taking and social rewards and played three Dictator Games in which they divided coins between themselves and a friend, classmate, and stranger. We found that, irrespective of age, adolescents donated most to a friend, less to their classmate, and least to a stranger, and females donated more than males. Individual differences in perspective taking and social reward sensitivity moderated how much adolescents donated, especially to strangers. These findings suggest that perspective taking and sensitivity to social rewards influence giving behavior in adolescence, especially to unknown others.     

A Collaborative Approach to Service,Learning, and Scholarship

ABSTRACT

This article describes a research course that was a collaborative endeavor between a school of social work and a community organization. This project was guided by learning, service and scholarship goals. Specifically, the participants in this course provided a pro-bono evaluation for a community benefits district. The benefits district solicited assistance from the authors, with the caveat that district members not be involved in the data collection and analysis. The authors situate this project on a continuum of traditional versus participatory research, and propose a “mixed” model for collaborative university-community efforts. The authors suggest ways of engaging students in “real world” research that benefits the community and facilitates their own training as macro social work practitioners. Factors that facilitate and hinder such a project are also discussed.