And yet they thrive!—Regaining the relevance of a transparency system

Over the past decade, a host of donor organizations implemented transparency systems to make international development aid more transparent to the public. These initiatives have met with little public interest, but their proliferation and development show no sign of diminishing. This article shows how internal importance to the political system, fueled by formal rankings and the exhibition of transparency systems as a flagship initiative, can replace relevance to the public as a driving force for sustainable development. The article concludes by discussing the possibility of a future development where transparency systems finally do connect with user groups, such as citizens of both donor and recipient countries, and gain a relevance even beyond original intentions.     

The spatial distribution of smoking violations on a no-smoking campus: Implications for prevention

ABSTRACT

Objective: The present study extends research on campus smoking bans by examining where smokers are violating the policy at a large university in the southeastern region of the United States. Participants: The data collection was conducted by one graduate student from the university in August of 2014. Methods: A global positioning system device was used to collect the geo-coordinates of littered cigarette butts as a proxy measure for smoking violations. Results: A hot spot analysis found a number of spatial concentrations on campus, largely around classroom and administrative buildings along with parking lots and garages. Conclusions: The implications of such findings can direct enforcement to target these areas in order to reduce offenses and fulfill the initial goals of policy-makers and university administrators who support smoke-free campuses.     

The impact of migratory flows on population changes in Jordan: a Middle Eastern case study

The impact of migration into and out of Jordan on population changes from 1949 to the present is examined. The author briefly discusses population growth, spatial distribution, urban growth, economic conditions, and remittances. (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

The effect of product-harm crisis situations on firms’ spokesperson strategies: Evidence from China's emerging market economy

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence product-harm crisis situations have on, a firm's spokesperson strategies in China's emerging market economy. Through the content analysis of, 127 product-harm crises, crisis type is found to be a predictor of spokesperson strategies. Compared, with Chinese brands, foreign brands are less likely to employ top-executive spokesperson strategies, during product-harm crises. Crisis severity was found to have no impact on the adoption of, spokesperson strategies.     

The diffusion of public private partnerships: a world systems analysis

ABSTRACT

This paper analyzes the diffusion of neoliberal policies from the UK to Australia and New Zealand, and then to the Asia-Pacific region. The analytical framework employed is the world systems model developed by Immanuel Wallerstein. The primary focus of attention is the spread of public-private partnerships (PPPs) modelled on the UK Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Despite the demise of the PFI in its country of origin, and repeated failures in Australia and New Zealand, there is still considerable enthusiasm for the model in Australasia reflected in eagerness to export national expertise through aid and financial links.     

Reflections on rational choice—The existence of systematic irrationality

The behavioral challenge to the rational choice paradigm is oriented toward individual decision-making. Behavioral irrationality does not mean chaos. Most irrational behavior involves the exercise of reasoning. In reality, decision makers do not behave with full knowledge and/or optimal computational power in pursuit of maximizing expected utility. Besides reviewing critiques to the rationality paradigm for judgments and preferences and exploring the impact of culture on people's economic behavior, this paper is the first to call the attention of researchers to the phenomenon of systemic irrationality. Irrationality may exist at the aggregate or societal level, a conclusion based on the observation that large segments of the population are incapable of making decisions in accord with traditional rationality—groups such as those who have a psychiatric disorder, those who are taking medications, those with limited intelligence, those from the lower social classes, children and adolescents, and the elderly. Even those who are not included in the aforementioned groups, but who take medications for medical conditions may have their decision-making impaired to some extent. Therefore, it is argued that rationality in economic decision-making may be the exception rather than the norm.     

The Efficacy of Regional Trade Agreements, 1958–2006: The Effect of Institution Creation on Market Expansion

This article examines the efficacy of regional trade agreements (RTAs) in promoting bilateral trade through a sociological lens that stresses institutional underpinnings of the market. Most RTAs are driven by economic neoliberalism and mainly focus on “negative integration” (direct removal of trade barriers such as tariffs and other regulations). Not all RTAs incorporate elements of “positive integration” (deliberate establishment of institutions supporting new markets). Using a large data set on international bilateral trade from 1958 through 2006, this study finds that incorporation of positive integration in an RTA increases its actual efficacy in promoting bilateral trade. It further distinguishes two major types of positive integration: (1) establishment of market institutions that directly regulate cross‐border markets and (2) establishment of social institutions that deal with social consequences of market expansion. Both types promote bilateral trade. The higher the level of positive integration, the more effective the RTA is in promoting bilateral trade. Overall, this study lends support to the sociological insight that creation of necessary institutions is essential for market expansion across borders. It also implies that positive integration has the potential to reconcile the seemingly contradictory goals of trade expansion and social protection.     

The effect of labour market polarization on university students’ job market‐related outcomes in the Republic of Korea: Implications for youth unemployment

This article aims to assess the effect of the labour market environment on university students’ labour market‐related behaviour in the Republic of Korea. Using data from the country's Graduates Occupational Mobility Survey for 2005–13, the author estimates the effect of macroeconomic variables on university students’ job market‐related outcomes. Results indicate that labour market polarization, as measured by the labour market polarization index developed by Chung and Jung (2016), has a significant effect on both the nominal and masked (through extension of university enrolment and university transfers) unemployment of university students. These findings imply that the labour market structure is a key element in understanding youth unemployment.     

Racial discrimination in Britain, 1969–2017: a meta‐analysis of field experiments on racial discrimination in the British labour market

Field experiments represent the gold standard for determining whether discrimination occurs. Britain has a long and distinguished history of field experiments of racial discrimination in the labour market, with pioneering studies dating back to 1967 and 1969. This article reviews all the published reports of these and subsequent British field experiments of racial discrimination in the labour market, including new results from a 2016/17 field experiment. The article finds enduring contours of racial discrimination in Britain. Firstly, there is an enduring pattern of modest discrimination against white minorities of European heritage in contrast to much greater risks of discrimination faced by the main non‐white groups, suggesting a strong racial component to discrimination. Secondly, while there is some uncertainty about the magnitude of the risks facing applicants with Chinese and Indian names, the black Caribbean, black African and Pakistani groups all face substantial and very similar risks of discrimination. Thirdly, there is no significant diminution in risks of discrimination over time either for Caribbeans or for South Asians as a whole. These results are broadly in line with those from the ethnic penalties literature, suggesting that discrimination is likely to be a major factor explaining the disproportionately and enduringly high unemployment rates of ethnic minorities.     

Ergonomics in a hospital and a university setting: The effect of worksite analysis on upper extremity work-related musculoskeletal disorders

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine whether individuals with work-related injuries receiving worksite analysis would have less lost workdays than individuals not receiving worksite analysis. Therapeutic management of work-related injuries in a hospital and a university setting were also compared. STUDY DESIGN: Over a one-year period, employees who sustained an upper extremity work-related injury were issued questionnaires regarding their injury, treatment, functional status and pain level. Participants were divided into three groups: group 1 consisted of hospital employees (N=14) who underwent worksite analysis, group 2 included university employees (N=15) who underwent worksite analysis whereas group~3 included university employees (N=14) who underwent no analysis. RESULTS: All groups were similar in demographics, functional status, and pain level. Satisfaction with the worksite analysis was similar for groups one and two. CONCLUSION: A pattern of less absenteeism but greater modified duty days was associated with those individuals undergoing worksite analysis.     

The effect of unemployment duration on national suicide rates: a time series analysis, 1948-1982

The relationship between unemployment and suicide in the United States is examined. Data for the period 1948 to 1978, primarily from the U.S. Public Health Service, are used to examine the effect of the duration of unemployment on suicide. "The results of a Cochrane-Orcutt iterative regression analysis indicate that the greater the duration of unemployment the greater the suicide rate. Using ex post forecasting techniques it is estimated that increases in unemployment during the Reagan administration have been associated with at least 929 additional deaths from suicide."     

“Just a Typical Teenager”: The Social Ecology of “Normal Adolescence”—Insights from Diabetes Care

In Western society “normal adolescence” is understood to be a biologically driven phase characterized by emotional turmoil and irrational behavior. Despite being discredited within academic literature this discourse persists both in formal theory and everyday use. Drawing on the case of diabetes care, I argue that the discourse of “normal adolescence” derives its power from its value as a vocabulary of motive through which to navigate the contradictions inherent in the social order at this stage of the life‐course. While helping us to comprehend sociologically the ecological niche in which “normal adolescence” is sustained, this analysis raises questions about the persistence of this discourse for social action.     

A Stain on the White Uniform — The Discursive Construction of Nurses' Industrial Action in the Media

This article focuses on the discursive construction of the nursing profession in the context of an industrial action. Drawing on studies that claim that the diffusion of new public management reforms restructure healthcare professions and on feminist studies arguing that gender is crucial to understanding the concepts and processes of this restructuring, the article examines a media debate surrounding a recent labour dispute in the Finnish healthcare sector. The analysis illustrates how the nursing profession was discursively constructed through a negotiation of individual and societal rights and responsibilities, and how the debate was framed by competing and contested discourses of professionalization, caring, labour markets and new public management. As a consequence, the debate both sustained and reproduced the traditional gendered meanings related to the nursing profession, as well as provided a context for unsettling, at least for a moment, the normative gender order of Finnish society.     

The effect of job satisfaction on labor turnover by gender: An analysis for Switzerland

This paper analyzes the effect of job satisfaction on labor turnover by gender using data from the first two waves of the Swiss Household Panel (1999 and 2000). The results confirm that job satisfaction is a very good predictor of future quits and, more important, reveal that job satisfaction does not influence the inclination to become non-employed; that is, neither men nor women self-select out of the labor force due to dissatisfaction. This result clearly refutes the claim that the gender/job satisfaction paradox (i.e., the fact that women tend to be more satisfied at work than men) is being driven by self-selection. This paper also shows that, based on job satisfaction information and quitting behavior, there is no apparent difference in firm attachment between men and women.     

The local political economy of languages in a Sámi tourism destination: Authenticity and mobility in the labelling of souvenirs1

In this article we use ethnographic and discourse analytic approaches to examine how the labelling of tourist souvenirs affects, and is in turn affected by, the local political economy of language of a tourist destination, which is also a minority language space. We begin by arguing for the importance of our particular focus of study, souvenir labels, in the process of global and local tourism, and consequently as evidence of the interplay of languages, politics and economics. We then consider the distinctive features of the local political economy of language in our particular case study, the multilingual Sámi village of Inari in Northern Finland. In a related discussion, we describe how Inari functions as a site of experiential cultural tourism, and how the purchase of souvenirs is part of the tourist experience. We then go on to describe a number of practices that we have observed in the choice and use of linguistic and visual resources for the labelling of souvenirs in Inari, the delicate balancing act that takes place in these practices between authenticity and mobility, and how this reflects and is reflected in the local political economy of language. Tutkimme tässä artikkelissa etnografiaa ja diskurssianalyysiä hyödyntäen miten matkamuistot ja niiden kuvaukset nimilapuissa rakentuvat kielten paikallisessa poliittisessa ja taloudellisessa konteksteissa samalla niitä rakentaen. Tarkasteltavana oleva turistikohde on alkuperäisenä saamelaiskylänä markkinoitu Inari, joka sijaitsee uhanalaisten saamenkielten kotiseutualueella Pohjois‐Suomessa. Aluksi kuvaamme matkamuistojen tarkastelun kiinnostavuutta kielten, politiikan ja talouden tutkimuksen risteymässä. Seuraavaksi tarkastelemme Inarin kieliympäristöä ja sen nivoutumista paikalliseen poliittiseen talouteen. Tämän jälkeen kuvaamme Inarissa myynnissä olevien matkamuistojen ja niiden nimilapuissa tehtyjä kielellisiä ja visuaalisia valintoja. Matkamuistojen multimodaalisen diskurssin analyysimme kuvaa, miten niihin liittyvät käytänteet tasapainottelevat autenttisuuden ja liikkuvuuden rakentamisen välillä samalla kun ne nivoutuvat paikalliseen kielten poliittiseen talouteen. [Finnish] Mii dutkat dán artihkkalis, mo mátkemuittut ja daid govvideapmi gilkoriin ?addet gielaid báikkála? politihkala? ja ekonomala? konteavsttas nu, ahte dat seammás huksejit daid. Geavahit dutkanvuohkin etnografiija ja diskursaanalysa. Geah?adit turisttaid mátkemeari Anára, mii márkanastojuvvo originála sápmela? gilá?in. Anár lea gilli áitojuvvon sámegielaid ruovttuguovllus Davvi‐Suomas. Álggos mii govvidit, man bero?tahtti mátkemuittuid geah?adeapmi lea gielaid, politihka ja ekonomiija gaskkas. ?uovvova??an mii geah?adit Anára giellabirrasa ja dan, mo dat ?atnasa báikkála? politihkala? ekonomiijai. Dán ma??á mii govvidit, makkár gielala? ja visuálala? válljemat leat dahkkon dain mátkemuittuin ja daid gilkoriin, mat leat vuovdinláhkai Anáris. Min analysa mátkemuittuid multimodálala? diskurssas govvida, mo vierut, mat laktásit mátkemuittuide, dássádallet autentala?vuo?a ja lihkadeami huksema gaskkas seammás go dat ?atnasit gielaid báikkála? politihkala? ekonomiijai. [Northern Sámi]     

The effect of joint control training on the acquisition and durability of a sequencing task

Gutierrez (2006) experimentally demonstrated the effects of joint control and particularly the role of response mediation in the sequencing behavior of adults using an unfamiliar language. The purpose of the current study was to replicate and extend the procedures used by Gutierrez by comparing the effects of joint control training with the effects of a prompt-and-fade procedure on the acquisition of a sequencing task. The effects of each procedure on delayed sequencing behavior were also tested. Ten undergraduate students participated in 2 experiments. The results indicated that all participants acquired the sequencing response in fewer trials and maintained accurate delayed responding when the component responses necessary for joint control were directly taught. Finally, when the self-echoic mediation component was blocked, accurate responding deteriorated in 8 of 10 participants.     

Action speaks louder than words: The effect of personal attitudes and family norms on adolescents’ pro-environmental behaviour

Adolescents’ environmentally relevant behaviour is primarily carried out in a family context. Yet, it is usually studied and discussed in an individual decision-making perspective only. In a survey involving 601 Danish families, we examine to which extent adolescents’ everyday pro-environmental behaviour is the outcome of their own pro-environmental attitudes or the product of social influence within the family, that is, a reflection of the dominating values and norms in the family group as manifested most clearly in their parents’ attitudes and behaviour. In addition, we examine the moderating effects of two family characteristics, parenting style and the “generation gap” (parent-child age difference), on the relative weight of adolescents’ personal attitudes vs. social influences within the family as predictors of adolescents’ pro-environmental behaviour. Results show that the adolescents’ pro-environmental behaviour is heavily influenced by the dominating norms within the family and in particular by how strongly they are manifested in their parents’ behaviour.     

The power of peasants: Reflections on the meanings of La Vía Campesina

This article assesses the social and political significance of the international farmers’ movement, La Vía Campesina by exploring how it has evolved since its inception in 1993. It explores the movement's accomplishments and the tensions that exist between international expansion and a commitment to represent the local interests of member organizations.