Book Award

The American Association for Public Opinion Research Presents the 2004 AAPOR BOOK AWARD to John R. Zaller For The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion Cambridge University Press (1992) The Nature and Origins of     

The Polls Trends: Public Reactions to Global Health Threats and Infectious Diseases

Over the past two decades, newly emerging infectious diseaseshave developed into major global health concerns, sparking intensemedia coverage, and triggering fears of a global outbreak amongpublic health experts and authorities. This article focuseson trends in American attitudes toward these newly emerged infectiousdiseases by analyzing poll data over the past 6 years aboutissues relating to avian flu, severe acute respiratory syndrome,West Nile virus, and anthrax. The polls show that Americans’attention to news coverage seemed to be event driven, peakingwhen there were new human or animal cases, and decreasing rapidlywhen the diseases seemed to have been contained. Americans’perceptions of threats were usually the highest in the earlystages of major outbreaks. The public became more complacentwhen the outbreaks seemed to be under control. Both behavioralchanges and general knowledge remained largely constant, suggestinga limited impact of the various informational and awarenesscampaigns by governmental agencies in the wake of these pandemics. Abbreviations: ABC, ABC News • ABC/WP, ABC News/Washington Post • AP/IPSOS, IPSOS-Public Affairs for Associated Press • CBS, CBS News • CBS/NYT, CBS News/New York Times • GALLUP, Gallup Organization • GALLUP/CNN/USA, Gallup Organization for CNN/USA Today • HARRIS/TIME/CNN, Harris Interactive for Time and CNN • ICR/HARVARD, International Communications Research for Harvard School of Public Health Project on the Public and Biological Security • ICR/HARVARD-RWJF, International Communications Research for Harvard School of Public Health Project, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation • IPSOS/DC, IPSOS-Reid for Dittus Communications • NORC, National Opinion Research Center • OD/FOX, Opinion Dynamics for Fox News • PSRA/KAISER, Princeton Survey Research Associates for Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Harvard School of Public Health • PSRA/NEWS, Princeton Survey Research Associates for Newsweek • PSRA/PEW, Princeton Survey Research Associates for Pew Research Center • PSRA/PMFMI, Princeton Survey Research Associates for Prevention Magazine/Food Marketing Institute     

GALLUP AND FORTUNE POLLS

This section contains a compilation, topically arranged, ofpoll results released by the American Institute of Public Opinion,by Fortune, and by the Canadian Institute of Public Opinion.The AIPO results cover the period from October through December1941. (Previous aipo questions were reported in the July 1938,October 1939, and all subsequent issues of the QUARTERLY.) TheFortune questions are those which appeared in the October andDecember issues of the magazine, together with those taken fromthe Fortune Management Poll which appeared in the November issue.(Previous Fortune questions were reported in the March 1940and all subsequent issues of the QUARTERLY.) Releases from theCanadian Institute of Public Opinion are included for the firsttime. (The first cn>o report was issued November 29, 1941.) Under each topic, all of the Institute data are given in chronologicalorder, then all of theFortune material, also in chronologicalsequence. Dates appearing in connection with AIPO questionsare those carried in the date lines of Institute releases tosubscribing newspapers; dates following Fortune questions indicatethe issue of the magazine in which the information appeared.Institute questions are designated by AIPO; Fortune questionsby FOR; "DK" stands for "don't know"; "no op." for "no opinion." In considering these poll data, the reader should bear in mindcertain salient points of reference set forth on pages 75 and76 of the March 1940 issue of the QUARTERLY. The QUARTERLY wishesto express its appreciation to George Gallup and the AmericanInstitute of Public Opinion and to the editors of Fortune andElmo Roper for their cooperation in making these survey resultsavailable in convenient form to other students of public opinion.     

Innovators Award

The American Association for Public Opinion Research Presents the 2004 INNOVATORS AWARD to James Lepkowski, Robert Casady, and Clyde Tucker For the Invention of "List-Assisted" Sample Designs Telephone sampling frames achieved adequate coverage of theU.S. household population in the latter half of the 20^th century,and survey researchers invented practical sample designs fromcomplete sampling     

AAPOR Award

The American Association for Public Opinion Research Presents the AAPOR Award For Exceptionally Distinguished Achievement to Benjamin I. Page His many years of research on the relationship between the variousinputs into government and its policy outputs have contributedgreatly to the understanding of public opinion. He has made     

Community Development and Government Response

The article contrasts two programmes aimed at improving thequality of life for older women in Australia. The CommunityOptions programme is a wellfunded Government initiative directedat personal care within the home. The Older Women's Networkis a grass-roots community development initiative. The articleexamines the relationship between control and resourcing interms of preventative and crisis care.     

Reinventing religious land as urban open space: The case of kuang in Chiang Mai (Thailand)

Urban open spaces are highly valued for their contribution to the quality of life in the cities [Tenkel (1963). Cities and space: The future use of urban land. Baltimore:Johns Hopkins Press; Burgess, Harrison and Limb (1998). Urban Studies, 25, 455–473; Madanipour (1999). Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 26, 879–891]. Third world cities, for example, Chiang Mai (Thailand), are no exception with regard to the role of urban open space in achieving such a goal [Tantayanusorn (2003). Unpublished doctoral thesis. Melbourne:Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology]. However, the provision of urban open space as a social public facility is coming low in priority in comparison to other market-demanded facilities in the form of roads, car parks, clean water, electricity and the like. Such a fact was corroborated by a study conceived by Thailand's Social Research Institute (1996) which reveals that 73% of Chiang Mai population wanted more public open space.This paper aims at exploring the revitalization of existing traditional open spaces (kuang)—which is usually categorized as ‘religious land’, hence it is a religious property—in Chiang Mai as an intermediate strategy in providing the much needed public open space. In doing so, the physical and cultural characteristics of kuang have to be elaborated, while at the same time the local aspirations on urban open space were canvassed. The combined analysis of those two inquiries resulted in a proposal of kuang wat—a variance of kuang—utilization as an agent of urban open space provision in the project of achieving quality of urban life in Thai city of Chiang Mai.     

OWI AND MOTION PICTURES

Is the Office of War Information making fullest use of our motionpicture facilities? Mr. Wanger says no, and presents hereina forthright and vigorous criticism of the policies, personnel,and methods of the Motion Picture Bureau of the OWI. The author is president of the Academy of Motion Picture Artsand Sciences and has produced a wide variety of entertainmentfilms from Algiers and Foreign Correspondentto Eagle Squadronand Arabian Nights. Many of his productions have been attemptsto advance the motion picture as a serious medium of expression,notably in the case of Gabriel Over the White House, PrivateWorlds, The President Vanishes, and Blockade. Mr. Wanger isalso president of the Motion Picture Society for the Americaswhich is the Hollywood collaborator with the Office of the Coordinatorof Inter-American Affairs.     

Living Longer: Ageing, Development and Social Protection

Living Longer provides the reader with an overview of currentdevelopments in social policy for older people in a fast-changingworld. As its United Nations Research Institute for Social Development(UNRISD) status suggests, this text brings together the complexitiesand subtleties of changing welfare state systems worldwide.It has been published as a culmination of UNRISD funded internationalresearch, initially disseminated at a conference in Madrid in2002. This book has appeal for community activists, policy-makers,practitioners and academics who wish to understand more fullythe state of development and social policy affecting older peoplein a diverse range of countries, each of which is influencedby global change. Contributions come from authors who are clearly knowledgeableabout their own country's historical and political context andwho are thus able to demonstrate the impact     

Improving Coding Reliability for Open-Ended Questions

One of the basic measurement problems in survey research isthe reliable coding of open-ended questions. A posteriori methodsfor improving coding reliability are distinguished from a priorimethods. An a posteriori method has been shown to be of limitedvalue for improving reliability for certain coding tasks. Thisarticle proposes and illustrates a multi-step, a priori procedurefor generating coding categories for open-ended items. Preliminaryevidence is presented indicating that this method may yieldreliability levels far superior to those typically obtainedin coding open-ended questions     

Errata

In Table A of Werner Cohn's comment (POQ 48:661) on the articleby Himmelfarb, Loar, and Mott ("Sampling by ethnic surnames:the case of American Jews," POQ 47:247–60), there is amissing minus sign: item 15 in the DJN column should read -.18. Harold Himmelfarb points out that in the response to Cohn(POQ 48:664–65), this error makes questionable the interpretationby him and his coauthors (p. 665). In "Taking Note: Bibliographies," in Book Notes (POQ 49:141),the number of pages given for the Guide to the Bureau of AppliedSocial Research, edited by Judith S. Barton, was erroneouslygiven. The book has 202 pages.     

Assumptions, Motivations and Neutrality in Rural Development: The Portuguese Paradigm

Development agents need to examine their underlying assumptions,motivations, neutrality, and their terminology, which is oftenimprecise and misleading. In addition, development is frequentlycharacterized by self-created dichotomies that obscure the veryproblems that need to be solved. The combined cooperativistand constructivist approach has proved itself successful inovercoming these problems. "A lady once said to him, ‘My maid must be pleased, Igave her my dresses.’ ‘That's nice’, he replied,‘does she give you hers?" Jean-Paul Sarrte, Saint Genet "You name it, you claim it." Max Roach, Black American jazzmusician, referring to whites, and jazz.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Abstract

CONFRONTING OPPRESSION, RESTORING JUSTICE: FROM POLICY ANALYSIS TO SOCIAL ACTION By Katherine van Wormer. Alexandria, VA: CSWEPress, 2004. 254pp. $36.95 (paper). Reviewed by Linda Plitt Donaldson.

GEORGE G. HIGGINS AND THE QUEST FOR WORKER JUSTICE: THE EVOLUTION OF CATHOLIC SOCIAL THOUGHT IN AMERICA. By John J. O'Brien. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2005. 396pp. $32.95 (paper). Reviewed by William J. Hutchison.

BUT THEY ALL COME BACK: FACING THE CHALLENGES OF PRISONER REENTRY. By Jeremy Travis. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press, 2005. 391 pp. $32.50 (paper). Reviewed by Frederick G. Reamer.     

A Study of An Alternative School for Pregnant and/or Parenting Teens: Quantitative and Qualitative Evidence

In response to multiple problems faced by pregnant and parenting teens, many alternative school-based comprehensive programs have been established throughout the United States. By collecting data from a sample of enrollees of such a school-based comprehensive program and comparing them with data collected from a sample of non-enrollees, the present study systematically evaluates the program. The results of the study seem to suggest that the program participants were more likely to have higher educational aspiration, better reproductive health outcomes, higher contraceptive use, and more breast-feeding practice and intention than those of their non-participating counterparts. The implications of the study findings for comprehensive school-based program for pregnant and/or parenting teens are discussed.Ruhul Amin is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Health Disparities Solutions and Senior Research Scientist in the Institute for Urban Research, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD 21239. Dorothy C. Browne is the Director of the Institute for Urban Research, Jamir Ahmed is a research assistant at the Center for Health Disparities Solutions and Takanori Sato is research assistants at the Institute for Urban Research, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD 21239.     

The British Community Development Project: Lessons for today

This paper looks back at the experience of the first Britishpoverty programme, the national Community Development Project(CDP), which operated from 1969 to 1978. The "radical" projectswithin CDP comprehensively rejected the official governmentview of the nature and causes of, and solutions to, povertyand urban deprivation. The roots of the radical CDP perspectiveare to be located within the political character of the periodamong other factors. The paper offers a retrospective accountof the strengths and limitations of CDP.     

Editor's Note

The masthead for this, the first issue of the 70^th year of publicationof Public Opinion Quarterly, lists some new members of the journal’sAdvisory and Editorial Boards. I want to welcome these scholarsof public opinion to the POQ family. Along with continuing membersof the boards, they perform essential roles in the operationof the journal, and we owe them a debt of gratitude for their     

Social capital, the social economy and community development

Social capital is increasingly used in the field of communitydevelopment and the social economy. This article describes someof the results to emerge from a three-year research project(CONSCISE Project), which looked at the contribution socialcapital can make to the social economy within local economicdevelopment. Following the definition of social capital, thearticle examines how it can be assessed and then goes on tolist the main findings on the significance of social capitalin the understanding of the social economy and community development.It concludes with a number of policy implications on how socialcapital can be used within the context of community development.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Shaping Competitive Advantages: Conceptual Framework and the Korean Approach. By Wolfgang Hillebrand Systemic Competitiveness: New Governance Patterns for Industrial Development. By Klaus Esser, Wolfgang Hillebrand, Dirk Messner and Jörg Meyer-Stamer New Approaches to Poverty Analysis and Policy: A Contribution to the World Summit for Social Development I. The Poverty Agenda and the ILO: Issues for Research and Action. Edited by Gerry Rodgers II. Reducing Poverty through Labour Market Policies. Edited by José B. Figueiredo and Zafar Shaheed A New Wave of Foreign Direct Investment in Asia. Compiled by Nomura Research Institute and Institute of Southeast Asian Studies Traders in a Brave New World: The Uruguay Round and the Future of the International Trading System. By Ernest Preeg Famine Early Warning and Response: The Missing Link. By Margaret Buchanan-Smith and Susanna Davies The Alms Bazaar: Altruism Under Fire – Non-Profit Organizations and International Development. By Ian Smillie Urban Health in Developing Countries: Progress and Prospects. Edited by Trudy Harpham and Marcel Tanner Overseas Aid Motivations: The Economics of Australia's Bilateral Aid. By Rukmani Gounder Coping with Capital Surges: The Return of Finance to Latin America. Edited by Ricardo Ffrench-Davis and Stephany Griffith-Jones Indonesia: The Political Economy of Energy. By Philip Barnes Democracy, Development and the Countryside: Urban-Rural Struggles in India. By Ashutosh Varshney Exporting Africa: Technology, Trade and Industrialization in Sub-Saharan Africa. Edited by Samuel M. Wangwe A Moment on the Earth: The Coming Age of Environmental Optimism. By Gregg Easterbrook     

The Portrayal of Blacks in Magazine Advertisements: 1950-1982

This article compares the frequency and social characteristicsof blacks and whites in advertisements in Time and Ladies' HomeJournal during 1950 and 1980. The occupational level of blacksportrayed has risen considerably, and blacks are no longer presentedas maids or servants. However, white authority figures are stillfrequently shown aiding poor blacks or supervising black children.Furthermore, ads show friendly and informal social relationshipsbetween individual whites much more frequently than they showsuch relationships between whites and blacks. Finally, in anextended analysis the frequency of black ads in 1980, 1981,and 1982 is examined for Time, Newsweek and LHJ. Blacks arestill somewhat underrepresented, and recent fluctuations inthe use of black advertisements are considered. The articlebegins and ends with a discussion of three different modelsthat might account for the way blacks are presented in advertisementsin the United States.     

Bridging the divide in urban sustainability: from human exemptionalism to the new ecological paradigm

This paper reviews the main bodies of contemporary urban sustainability theory. From this analysis, two underpinning paradigms of urban sustainability are identified: (1) The ‘Human Exemptionalism Paradigm’ (HEP), which emphasizes the ability of humans to overcome environmental problems—see Urban Sociology, Urban Ecology, Urban Geography, Urban Psychology and Political Economy; and (2) The ‘New Ecological Paradigm’ (NEP), which emphasizes the criticality of ecological limits to human progress—see Urban Metabolism, Energy/Emergy Analysis and Ecological Footprinting. Each of these approaches is critically reviewed, highlighting their main assumptions, theoretical and practical foci. It is argued in the paper that if the related issues of urban sustainability and development are to be progressed, there needs to be: (1) a greater maturation of the NEP approaches, which are ‘relative newcomers’ to the area of urban theory; and (2) greater integration and dialogue between the HEP and NEP approaches to urban sustainability than has hitherto been the case.