Voices in the Adjudication of Compulsory Adoption in Israel: The Hegemonic Voice of the Professional Expert and the Unheard Voice of the Biological Parents

Ambiguity in the definitions of “parental incapability” and “child's best interests” in the Israeli law of adoption allows for different “voices” to determine their meaning. With regard to compulsory adoption, findings from texts of the judicial discourse in Israel portray the voice of the professional expert as hegemonic and that of the biological parents as unheard, revealing the nature of the practices that lead to the deligitimization of the parents’ voice. To bring about a balanced representation of the different voices, the article proposes a moralization of the legal procedure of adoption that stresses its rehabilitative rather than condemnatory character.     

When the cost has sunk: Measuring and comparing the sunk-cost bias in autistic and neurotypical persons

This paper measures and compares the sunk-cost bias among autistic adults, and neurotypical controls. Frequent influencing personality traits and task factors affecting the sunk-cost bias such as age, gender, and education level, time spent in the decision task, and the level of sunk cost (e.g., very low, low, moderate, and high), are controlled for in the analysis. Results show that both autistic and neurotypical individuals are subject to the sunk-cost bias, however, with autistic individuals being less affected by this bias. Results also show significant differences among subgroups of autistic and neurotypical individuals, with autistic individuals with more autism traits being less subject to the sunk-cost bias. For individuals with autism, time spent in the decision task is found to be negatively associated to the sunk-cost bias.     

Where are the motives? A problem with evidence in the work of Richard Thaler

In this journal (Mackenzie, 1997. Economic Psychology 18(1), 123–135), Mackenzie argues that there is a problem with Thaler's work: in failing to provide evidence about motives, Thaler's claims are vulnerable. In this comment, I present a different view. Thaler merely pinpoints some stylized facts, such as the endowment effect. Models of economic behaviour should be able to account for these. Mackenzie's discussion of the wine owner anecdote gives ad hoc reasons for apparently irrational behaviour. Thaler's work focuses on systematic effects, which is a much more fruitful approach. Mackenzie fails to do justice to the work that has been done to document the endowment effect.     

Pathways of influences leading to adoption of the Faith,Activity and Nutrition (FAN) program in a statewide initiative

RE-AIM (Reach, effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance) and CFIR (Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research) are complementary frameworks guiding research on dissemination and implementation of evidence-based interventions and factors influencing this process. Faith, Activity, and Nutrition (FAN) is an evidence-based program that increased physical activity and fruit and vegetable intake in faith-based settings. The aims of this adoption study were to quantify state-wide church level adoption rates and congregant reach of FAN in accordance with RE-AIM guidelines, and to explore the association of CFIR-derived constructs of the church inner setting and pastor characteristics with FAN adoption. Church recruitment was documented, and data were collected via telephone-administered surveys from 93 pastors in adopting churches and 60 pastors in non-adopting churches. Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) identified combinations of CFIR-derived church and pastor characteristics sufficient for FAN adoption. As defined by RE-AIM, church-level FAN adoption was 11.7 % and congregant-level reach was 20.0 %. Fourteen pathways to adoption were identified; seven of these featured the presence of a culture of concern for congregant health along with openness to new ideas. Results suggest early assessment of these two CFIR-derived inner setting constructs may help identify faith-based organizations predisposed to undertake a comprehensive, environmental intervention to promote congregant health.     

A Cognitive Neuroscience Approach to Studying the Role of Overconfidence in Problem Gambling

Research on the neural correlates of decision making in gambling tasks may be informative for understanding problem gambling. The present study explored confidence and overconfidence using magnetoencephalography (MEG) to measure brain activity during a judgment task. Nineteen undergraduates who self-identified as frequent gamblers (average age 19.7 years; 5 females, 14 males) participated in this study. Participants first completed the DIGS (Winters, Specker & Stinchfield, 2002), a measure of gambling pathology. They then engaged in a behavioral task of confidence assessment, wherein they answered two-alternative trivia questions and estimated the probability that each answer was correct. In a subsequent MEG task, they viewed the questions and a target answer, and indicated with a button press whether the target matched the correct answer. Confidence was directly related to activity in the right prefrontal cortex. Matching and mismatching targets were associated with activity in the medial occipital cortex and left supramarginal gyrus, respectively. An interaction of pathology and match/mismatch was observed in the right inferior occipital-temporal junction region, showing more activity following a mismatch in non-problem gamblers, but not in problem gamblers. Implications of the results for understanding of top–down modulation and attentional systems are discussed in relation to gambling behavior.     

The Attitude of the Shari'a Courts to Parental Alienation Syndrome: Understanding the Dynamics of the Syndrome in Arab Society

In addition to the many factors leading to parental alienation syndrome (PAS), including the narcissistic injury felt by the abandoned parent, or the custodial parent's personal difficulty, there are further factors unique to Arab society—including strong influence by the extended family on the child. Although all the components of PAS exist and are well known to the shari'a courts, no parallel concept is found in the Arab legal lexicon. This article presents 1 case of a shari'a court hearing that illustrates this phenomenon. The conclusions indicate that the shari'a court considers this a serious phenomenon and sees coping with the situation as an essential and preliminary condition to the custody hearing.     

Parental style,parental practices,and socialization outcomes: An investigation of their linkages in the consumer socialization context

This study aims to generate insights into the mechanisms through which parental style influences adolescent consumer socialization. Toward this end, it examines two alternative conceptual frameworks: (1) The mediation model which posits two key dimensions of parental style (responsiveness and demandingness) as antecedent variables affecting adolescent consumer socialization directly and indirectly through parental socialization practices and (2) the moderation model which posits each parental style dimension as a moderator of the link between parental socialization practices and adolescent socialization outcomes. The influences of maternal and paternal parental styles on adolescent socialization outcomes are investigated separately and compared. Results provide stronger support for the mediation model. They also show that mothers’ parental style and practices are more influential than fathers’ in shaping adolescents’ consumer socialization outcomes.     

The intersection of home study assessments and child specific recruitment: the performance of home studies in practice

Child specific recruitment efforts are designed to facilitate permanent placements for children in foster care by finding them potential adoptive families among people already known to the child. This process relies heavily on gathering thorough and accurate information about prospective families, and much of this information is often contained in families’ home study assessments. Yet, little is known in the research literature about the way that home studies operate in conjunction with the recruitment of adoptive families. The purpose of this study is to explore how home studies are perceived and used in the context of child specific recruitment. Findings suggest that home studies perform best in gathering general family information, but poorly in capturing sensitive information, which may be one of the most critical dimensions to capture. These findings highlight important practice changes needed in current adoption practice.     

Local Experts in the Domestication of Information and Communication Technologies

Research into the adoption and use of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) pays increasing attention to social context; however, the social fabric of contexts of use is often poorly theorized. This paper presents an investigation into the formation and operation of informal local networks of collaboration and knowledge exchange. It highlights the role of local experts in sustaining these informal networks and helping individuals and groups adopt and cope with new ICTs. The paper draws on a range of analytic traditions, including domestication and consumer research, to assess how local experts transfer knowledge, ideas of use and even new technologies across social networks and across the boundaries between home, work and education and other domains of life. The methodology deployed attempts to overcome the limitations of many studies of the adoption and diffusion of innovations in sample selection, especially the inclusion of non-adopters. It addresses the social dynamics of engagement with new technologies and proposes a move beyond a simple individualistic adopter/non-adopter model, with consequent implications for understanding digital inclusion and exclusion.     

中东地区格局变动中的以色列

以色列在中东地区格局的转变中更趋孤立,周边安全环境遭受巨大冲击后趋于复杂,巴以和谈重新启动,但进展迟缓,以色列国内安全堪忧,以土关系跌入低谷后重回正常化轨道,以色列对伊朗发出动武威胁,并反对伊核协议的达成。     

Strain and Enrichment in the Role of Employed Mothers in Israel

This paper analyzed some central elements in the dual role behavior of Israeli employed mothers. Two approaches can be distinquished in the study of working mothers specifically, and multiple role sets in general. The role-strain approach maintains that the two sub-roles compete for scarce resources, thus impairing their performance and adversely affecting the role occupant and her contibution to society. The enrichment approach empphasizes the reciprocal complementarity of the sub-roles and, as a result, the advantages which may compensate for the strain. Some of the skills and assets acquired in one aspect of a dual role are likely to help the role occupant improve their performance and ward off burnout. The balance between strain and enrichment characteristics the Israeli working mother was examined, and the conditions under which strain diminishes while enrichment increases were identified. A representative sample of 1,500 married couples were interviewed by means of a structured questionnaire. The main findings are:

-The average burden, measured in hours, carried by the working mother is larger than the comparable burden on married fathers or on homemakers.

-Decreasing the number of children reduces the gap between self image at work and the one at home, whereas a decrease in the hours of paid employment reduces the sense of burnout.

-Mothers who are rich in resources, schooling, income, and occupational prestige, tend to moderate the role-strain by reducing their tasks: the number of children and the amount of work hours.

-Mothers who are rich in resources are able to recruit hired help to ease the burden involved in the dual role, but they do not manage to enlist greater help from their husbands.

-Mothers who are rich in resources succeed in maintaining work continuity more than do mothers having limited resources.

-Mothers who are rich in resources tend to perceive their work as contributing to their children's education.

The findings indicate that the dual role encompasses elements of strain, internal competition for scarce resources as well as elements of enrichment. The general ramifications of these findings pertaining to the employment of women and to sexual equality are discussed.     

Post-Soviet Nostalgia in Israel? Historical Revisionism and Artists of the 1.5 Generation

ABSTRACT

The article examines contemporary Israeli poetry and visual art by Russian-Jewish artists of the 1.5 generation, artists who were born in the Soviet Union but resettled in Israel during the 1990s. By focusing on the representation of the Soviet–Jewish past in their works, I show that in contrast to the largely negative view of the Soviet experience by the previous generations of Russian-Israeli authors, the historical understanding of the 1.5 generation is fundamentally different. This cohort of artists resists the lachrymose portrayal of Jewish life in the USSR and the “Happily Ever After” finale in Israel. Instead, they propose a counter-narrative that is hinged on a romanticized depiction of life in the USSR and disillusionment in Israel that followed. I argue that nostalgic representations of the Soviet–Jewish past by these artists derive from the suffering, humiliation, and rapid downwards social mobility that the Russian-speaking community experienced in Israel.     

Decision-making about the adoption of information technology in social welfare agencies: some key considerations

Government and non-government social welfare agencies have invested heavily in information technology, such as electronic information systems (IS) but evaluations have shown that they may undermine rather than support frontline practice. In this article, the findings of research in which senior managers and information technology managers were asked to reflect on why a particular application failed to achieve its aims are presented. The insights they provide can be used to guide future decision-making about the adoption of information technology.     

The Measurement of Child Poverty in the United States

How poverty is defined and measured has significant implications for the identification of children in need. This article evaluates the current measure of child poverty in the United States in order to gauge its appropriateness for assessing child well-being. The article begins with a brief discussion of the meaning of poverty and evaluates the history, structure, and strengths of the official measure of child poverty. In addition, critical shortcomings that potentially mask the known deprivation of poverty are revealed and Amartya Sen's capability approach is introduced as a tool for capturing this deprivation. The overall premise of this article, therefore, is that the discourse on poverty might benefit by reconceptualizing approaches to measuring and defining poverty.     

从巴以选举看巴以政局演变

2006年初,巴勒斯坦和以色列相继进行了两场重要的选举。哈马斯出人意料地战胜了法塔赫,在孤立的国际环境中组建了巴勒斯坦新政府。不久,以色列政坛也因沙龙退出利库德集团却又突然卧病而发生强震。持强硬立场的哈马斯和继承沙龙路线的前进党上台,使巴以政局发生重大变化,也使巴以局势和中东和平进程蒙上阴影。巴以内部政治势力的演变在很大程度上决定着决策者在和谈进程中的战略选择。剖析巴以政局巨变的背景,有助于更好地理解近年来巴以谈判陷入困境的原因,进而对巴以局势的走向作出较准确的判断。     

Letter writing in the intercultural classroom: the case of retraining courses for immigrant English teachers in Israel

Training of immigrant teachers offers ample opportunities for intercultural interactions, yet it also requires unique sensitivities. On the one hand, immigrant teachers are often qualified and experienced. At the same time, immigration forces them out of their comfort zone, entailing some loss of professional status and self-esteem. The essay suggests letter writing as a method that aims to address these often-neglected aspects in the training of immigrant teachers and is based on a course given to new immigrant English teachers in Israel.     

Collective action of ethno-national minority groups and the cost of inaction: Arab Palestinians in Israel

ABSTRACT

Collective action requires resources, organization, leaders and political opportunities. In the case of disadvantaged minority groups, long-standing conflict with the majority, a closed political opportunity structure and the difficulty of acquiring resources, increases the costs and risks of the action. We argue that the development of such an action is a function of leaders’ perceptions about the cost of inaction (COI) and symbolic resources of the group, such as solidarity. Combining these evaluations creates three trajectories: growth, restriction and decline. We examine this argument by four collective actions carried out by Arab Palestinians citizens in Israel to improve education. The findings show that leaders increased efforts even if they assessed opportunities are limited when they thought that COI is high, since inaction means not only the loss of instrumental costs but also the loss of potential symbolic gains such as recognition of the group collective identity.     

The disability bias: understanding the context of hate in comparison with other minority populations

During recent years ‘disability hate crime’ has become a major political and criminal justice concern due to a number of high-profile murders in the United Kingdom. The aim of this article is to compare disability-motivated hate crimes with other hate crimes motivated by homophobic or racist bias. This study employs a quantitative methodology utilising data collected by the ARCH hate crime recording system over a 10-year period (2005–2015). The data findings illustrate a number of variations concerning incidents reported by disabled people regarding violence and threatening behaviour, when compared with incidents motivated by race/faith or homophobic bias.     

Trisection of forces: gender, religion and the state--the case of state-run religious schools in Israel

This article discusses the theoretical claims that 'gender', 'religion' and 'state' are not universal nor essentialist entities, but rather contingent phenomena embedded in time, place, and changing historical circumstances. Historical analysis of social processes reveals the complex relations between the three categories, as they individually and as a whole are re/constituted as changing co-tangential and often unpredictable phenomena. One case study presented in this article that of state-run religious schools in Israel demonstrates how state, religion and gender intersect. Through the analysis presented here, we see examples of the permeable boundaries between these social categories as well as the inter-relationships and unintended consequences of the interplay between the three. Paradoxically, graduates of these schools, especially women, have evolved from being members of a marginalized - even ignored - social category, to being active participants in the religious and political life of their community and in the political struggle over state policy regarding the future of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank.     

Mapping the two levels of digital divide: Internet access and social network site adoption among older adults in the USA

Older adults have increasingly adopted Internet and social network sites (SNSs), but little communication scholarship has explored systematic differences in access within this population. Using a nationally representative sample of Americans over the age of 50 years from the 2012 Health and Retirement Study, we examine Internet access (N?=?18,851) and SNS adoption patterns (N?=?869) among this sample and explore how these patterns vary by age. Regarding Internet access, results suggest that while the gender divide has reversed in favor of women, older adults who are economically, socioculturally, or physically disadvantaged are less likely to have reliable Internet access. In addition, the view that the various divides in Internet access are less of a concern for those who are younger is only partially supported, as some access-related divides do not vary by age or even decrease with age. For SNS adoption, we found that access to technological resources (diversity of online activities) positively predicts SNS use. Moreover, SNS users are more likely to be younger, female, widowed, and homemakers, perhaps because these individuals are more motivated to use SNSs to complement or compensate for their existing social status. These findings reveal unique challenges and motivations in relation to Internet access and SNS adoption patterns across the later life span.