The contagion of stigma: Fieldwork among deviants

Noting the emergence of ethnographic or fieldwork methods as the preferred methodology of many researchers in the sociology of deviance, this article focuses on a particular problem which occurs when such methods are adapted to the study of deviant groups, namely the strains that develop in researchers' relationships with professional colleagues and significant others, particularly family and friends, outside of academia. The article is based on the authors' observations of others' reactions to their research on the homosexual or gay subculture, informal conversations with sociologists who have done fieldwork among stigmatized groups, and more general observations of the ways in which sociology is practiced. The authors seek to increase awareness of the problem, especially among those who will do similar studies in the future; and to offer practical suggestions that may be employed to reduce the possibility of labeling and its accompanying problems.This article is a version of a paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Sociological Society, Minneapolis, 1979. We thank Karen Peterson, Murray L. Wax, and anonymous referees for criticisms of earlier drafts. The authors' names were ordered arbitrarily. Their contributions are equal.     

Engaging with Parents in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services

This paper asks the question: How can child and adolescent mental health clinicians constructively engage parents as a resource in the young person's treatment? It draws from qualitative research data that explore parents' experience of their involvement in their adolescent's mental health treatment program. The paper especially focuses on challenges for clinicians in engaging with parents as part of the treatment program for young people. Clinicians' input about their perceptions of interacting with parents is utilised alongside parents' experiences of their involvement in clinical processes. The clinician data revealed key challenges were managing their reactions to parent defensiveness; broadening the focus from just alleviating symptoms in the young person; not taking sides with the young person; and resisting becoming an expert instructor. The paper discusses Murray Bowen's original family research about engaging parents in treatment with the symptom bearer and addresses how clinicians can build a positive alliance with parents that avoids blame while constructively opening exploration of the family relationship process as part of a collaborative approach.     

Assisting the Two‐person System: An Approach Based on the Bowen Theory

The Bowen theory, developed by Murray Bowen, views the family as a natural system of relationships. This paper reviews basic concepts of the Bowen theory and describes their role in guiding the clinical approach to the disturbed two‐person relationship.     

Union decline: A view from Canada

Important changes are occurring in the Canadian unions’ political and economic environments. This paper argues that such changes may be detrimental to Canadian trade unions, given their structural and institutional situation. To support this argument, private-sector union and nonunion firms in Alberta are compared. This comparison uncovers some structural (union members’ employment patterns and union firm characteristics) and institutional (union services) attributes of unions. Combined with the politico-economic environments that Alberta unions have faced since the early 1980s, these attributes have led to a decline in union membership. Because these attributes are shared by many other Canadian unions, those unions may increasingly confront some of the same hardships currently plaguing their Alberta counterparts. I am indebted to Brian Bemmels, Alan Murray, and John G. Fricke for helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper, and to Mike Jones for his research assistance.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
Max Weber and His Contemporaries . Wolfgang J. Mommsen and Juergen Osterhammel, editors. London: Allen & Unwin, 1987, 591 pages, $50.00, cloth
Max Weber and Political Commitment: Science, Politics, and Personality . Edward Bryan Portis. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987, 246 pages, $29.95, hardback.
Sociology: New Directions . Michael Haralambos, editor. Ormskirk, Lancashire: Causeway Press, Ltd., 1985, 675 pages, $22.25 hardbound, $11.75 softbound.
Mapping the Dynamics of Science and Technology . Michel Gallon, John Law and Arie Rip, editors. London: The Macmillan Press Ltd., 1986, 238 pages, $39.50, hardback.
Constructing the Political Spectacle . Murray Edelman. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1988, 137 pages, $7.95, paper.
The Search for a Methodology of Social Science: Durkheim, Weber, and the Nineteenth-Century Problem of Cause, Probability and Action . Stephen P. Turner. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1986, 251 pages, hardback.     

The Consequences of Validated and Self-Reported Voting Measures

This paper reports on the results of validation of the self-reportedregistration status and voting behavior of respondents in the1976 and 1978 American National Election Studies. The resultsindicate about one in seven of the respondents misreported theirregistration status or voting behavior. Comparative analysesare conducted using simple regression models to see if differencesin their explanatory power arise using validated and self-reporteddependent variables. The results show that there are no majorchanges in the fundamental nature of basic relationships thathave been observed since the first surveys were conducted. Analysisof the effects of overreported participation on estimates ofthe partisan division of the vote in three sets of subnationalcontests reveals a likely "bandwagan" effect. . Portions of the data utilized in this article were made availableby the Inter-university Consortium for Political and SocialResearch. The data for the 1976 and 1978 American National ElectionStudies were originally collected by the Center for PoliticalStudies of the Institute for Social Research. The Universityof Michigan, under a grant from the National Science Foundation.Neither the original collectors of the data nor the Consortiumbear any responsibility for the analyses or interpretationspresented here. The comments of an anonymous reviewer, whichresulted in a fruitful extension of the analysis, are gratefullyacknowledged.     

Old Chicago and new France

It is only when theories are located in history, when we view the demands for verification in highly particular contexts of a historical kind that we are freed from either dogmatism or capitulation to scepticism (MacIntyre 1977: 471). The world has problems; the university has disciplines whose boundary lines inhibit our abilities to address those problems. The boundaries acquire such seeming validity that it becomes necessary to defend problem-oriented research as “interdisciplinary,” when the real point is to examine social reality, rather than defer to academic turf (and scientistic scruples). Faced with the contemporary range of global problems, it is helpful to re-assess and re-construct our history. The artificiality of the disciplinary lineages within the U.S. has diminished Old Chicago. Yet the problems which it addressed have remained pertinent not only to the U.S., and not only to France, but throughout the world. Because the French disciplinary lines have been other than ours, and their nation has been confronting a set of social problems akin to those faced by the Chicagoans, some of their social scientists have sought to draw upon that heritage. The abstract and allusive discourses of a Derrida or Lacan tend to distract observers from the engaged character of the best French intellectual discourse. Park was engaged in the best sense, but he had observed too many campaigns of urban reform which simply clothed the attempt of a culturally dominant group to impose its ethos upon a socially subordinated populace. Underlying Park’s disparagement of “do-good” campaigns and “evangelical sociology” was a moral insistence on respecting the varieties of social life. 19 This is manifest in his life trajectory and in his role as teacher. To me he is cast in the heroic figure of Bernard Rieux in Camus’ The Plague. After undergraduate studies (B.S., 1942) at University of Chicago, Murray L. Wax returned there to teach and undertake doctoral studies (Ph.D., 1959)- He has taught at several universities and is now emeritus Professor, Washington University, St. Louis. The author wishes to express his gratitude for their advice and encouragement to Joan Cassell, Jean-Michel Chapoulie, Lawrence T. Nichols, and Paule Verdet.     

The accomplishment of intimacy in the jail visiting room

An essential feature, and perhaps the harshest reality, of incarceration is the physical separation of the prisoner from those with whom he or she would ordinarily interact—a separation which often puts familial and friendship ties in jeopardy. In light of this, prison administrators, citizens' advisory commissions and government agencies have become aware of the rehabilitative benefits of prisoner contact with outsiders. Despite such thinking and the institution of various forms of visitation, effective procedures are difficult to attain in large metropolitan jails. This paper, based on observations in a county jail located in a large, western city, argues that the desired level of intimacy exhibited during a visitor-prisoner conversation is directly related to the importance of the visitor-prisoner relationship as a topic of conversation. Furthermore, the conversation itself becomes an effective experience for those visitors and prisoners for whom their sexual relationship becomes a topic of high priority. The author wishes to thank Murray Davis, Bennett Berger and Fred Davis for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

Partial equality-of-opportunity orderings

This paper proposes a partial equality-of-opportunity ordering based on the inequality-of-opportunity curve, a mechanism that gives preference to those who are worse off in terms of opportunity. Moreover, it provides a complete ordering that depends on a sensitivity parameter representing the degree of priority in the equality-of-opportunity policy. The Moreno-Ternero approach is obtained as a particular case. This proposal is applied to a set of 12 countries to compare their degree of equality of opportunity. Results show the relevance for economic policy of observing inequality of opportunity over tranches. Denmark dominates, in terms of post-tax income, all other economies in our sample. This paper was written during my visit to the Department of Political Science at Yale University. I am very grateful for the hospitality and helpful comments of John Roemer. I also acknowledge useful comments and suggestions by Juan D. Moreno-Ternero, the audiences at XIV EEP (Santander) and ECINEQ2007 (Berlin) and two anonymous referees. This paper has benefited from the support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology [Project#SEC2003-08397], Fundación BBVA and Instituto de Estudios Fiscales. The usual disclaimer applies.     

Reflections on the meritocracy debate in Britain: a response to Richard Breen and John Goldthorpe

A paper by Breen and Goldthorpe recently claimed to have exposed 'fatal flaws' in my work on meritocracy in Britain. This paper responds to their criticisms. The results of their re-analysis of the NCDS data set are shown to be consistent with my earlier findings and arguments. Furthermore, re-running some of my earlier models using measures that they favour and a method designed to privilege their position, the results once again demonstrate that, while class origins have some effect on class destinations (in particular, for those born into the middle class), ability and effort exert a much greater effect. Based on these results, the paper identifies three core propositions about meritocracy in Britain on which all parties to this debate should now be able to agree.     

Bowen Family Systems Theory and Practice: Illustration and Critique

This paper will give an overview of Murray Bowen's theory of family systems. It will describe the model's development and outline its core clinical components. The practice of therapy will be described as well as recent developments within the model. Some key criticisms will be raised, followed by a case example which highlights the therapeutic focus of Bowen's approach.     

Condorcet's jury theorem in light of de Finetti's theorem

This paper generalizes Condorcet's jury theorem to the case of symmetrically dependent votes with the help of de Finetti's theorem. Thus, the paper relaxes Condorcet's assumption of independent voting while preserving his main result: In jury-type situations a majority of voters is more likely than any single voter to choose the better of two alternatives.I am indebted to Professors Steven Brams, Arnold Buss, Gary Miller and Norman Schofield for their comments and questions. This paper is supported, in part, by a grant from the National Science Foundation (SES-9210800).     

When leadership failed

Conclusion As we have seen, history is not only a tale of great men and their wills and their imagination, but it is partly also that story. Following Professor Lipset’s injuction, we find that by including leaders in our understanding of the world and in our reckoning of what is possible and desirable in human societies, we can more fully appreciate the extent to which choices can stretch constraits. The depths of Italian and Japanese liberalism and their replacement by fascism point us toward reisserting choice between great social, economic, and political forces on the one hand, and outcomes on the other. The choices to bolster the state against the challenges of mass politics. Goilitti reached out to leftist parties in a failed effort to incorporate the masses. Neither Hara nor Giolitti ever reached out directly to the masses with a compelling idea about a shared national project. Thay did not inspire citizens—they bought voters. And, in the event, buying agve way to bullying in both countries. Hara Kei and Giovanni Giolitti, two consummate politicians, had failed to be sufficiently creative. Their successors were remarkably creative bricoleurs who would not make the same mistake. And, as Lipset has reminded us, so long as leaders are creative, history has no shortcut and no end. He is author of a new work called Leaders, published by Cornell Universiry Press. He is the recipient of grants from the Social Science Research Council and the Marshall Fund of Germany. This paper is derived from my forthcoming book: Leaders. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2003. I am grateful to the Abe Fellowship Program of the Social Science Research Council and the German Marshall Fund for supporting my research.     

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS AND GENDER DIFFERENCES AMONG ACADEMIC ECONOMISTS

This paper tests for gender differences in remuneration and professional achievement among academic economists using data on grants and grant applications to the National Science Foundation. A simultaneous equations model is used to examine the determinants of salary, rank, department affiliation and research output. In addition to confirming some long-standing folklore about the composition of faculty in research-oriented institutions, significant gender differences were found among older cohorts. Although the signs of the gender coefficients are consistent with a discrimination hypothesis for the sample of assistant professors, the results were not statistically significant.     

“…Do it with joy!” – Subjective well-being outcomes of working in non-profit organizations

Working in non-profit organizations has been shown to be good for individuals’ satisfaction with their jobs despite lower incomes. This paper explores the impact of non-profit work on life satisfaction more general for the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and finds a significant positive impact the size about more than a fourth of that of getting widowed. This effect is quite uniform across the subjective well-being distribution, and thus exists also for those who are already happy. Shadow prices peg this effect at around 22,000 GBP p.a., the average amount of equivalent net household income in the sample analyzed (which is roughly 27,000 GBP p.a.). The positive effect can be explained by third sector workers enjoying their day-to-day activities more, being (affectively) happier and feeling that they are playing a useful role in their lives.     

The Role of Technology on Young Adolescent Development: Implications for Policy, Research and Practice

This National Science Foundation funded qualitative study highlights unique features of adolescent technology use and its impact on the developmental maturational processes of early adolescence. One hundred twenty-eight 13- and 14-year-old students were interviewed about their information technology (IT) use. The most salient feature of the interview data is that the students perceived technology as integral to all aspects of their everyday life experience. In particular, they understood the necessity of using technology for the development of their cognitive/academic skills, and they spoke about the need to have technology skills for their future careers. They also seemed to understand how IT helped them develop psychosocially, especially in the areas of communication and relationship development. Throughout the interviews, these young adolescents expressed pleasure and pride in their self-reported high level of technoliteracy. Their voices can help expand our understanding of adolescent development in the digital age, and suggest implications for policy, practice, and research.     

Equality of opportunity in educational achievement in the Middle East and North Africa

This paper is an empirical investigation of inequality of education opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). We use student scores from tests administered by the international consortium Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) for a number of MENA countries and over time since 1999 to estimate the effect of circumstances children are born into on their academic achievement in science and mathematics. We find that inequality of opportunities explains a significant part of the inequality in educational achievements in most MENA countries, but there is ample heterogeneity. Family background variables are the most important determinants of inequality in achievement, followed by community characteristics. The results show that, despite great efforts in past decades to invest in free public education, most MENA countries are less opportunity equal in educational achievement than European countries, and several are less so than Latin America and the United States. From the variation in inequality of education opportunities across countries and over time we draw lessons on the influence of different education systems or changes in policy on equality of opportunity.     

Evidence of Potentially Harmful Psychological Treatments for Children and Adolescents

This paper applies the concept of potentially harmful psychotherapies (PHTs; Lilienfeld, Perspectives on Psychological Science 2(1):53–70, 2007) to concerns about potentially harmful treatments for children and adolescents (PHTCs). I propose that such treatments can be identified by methods derived from the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study and from the NIS-4 study of abuse and neglect, as well as by their plausibility or congruence with established child development theory and research. Five psychological treatments for children and adolescents that have been reported as harmful are examined, using evidence from published materials, journalists’ reports, legal documents and Internet sites. Details of treatment and outcomes are compared to relevant ACE and NIS-4 criteria and to plausibility, and empirical support for the treatments is examined. The examined treatments use methods that would be considered adverse childhood experiences or abusive or neglectful care events if they occurred outside a therapeutic setting. Most, but not all, lack empirical support of effectiveness and are incongruent with established information about child development. Risks associated with PHTCs can thus be identified through close examination before children are exposed to them and harmed. Prevention or reduction of PHTC use may be possible. Public and professional education about PHTCs are essential parts of child protection in this context and are arguably an ethical obligation of both social workers and psychologists.     

THE SCREENING HYPOTHESIS: AN APPLICATION OF THE WILES TEST

According to Wiles (1974) the screening and human capital theories of the return to education may be discriminated between by determining whether qualified individuals earn more by working in areas where their skills are relevant, than they earn in other areas. Failure to do so is presumed to constitute evidence against human capital theory. This paper applies the Wiles' test to a census of recent Economics and Science graduates from Australian Universities. Only for male science graduates is any evidence found in favour of human capital theory.     

The Shaping of the Self: Patterns and Pathways in Bowlby,Kohut, and Bowen

This article offers a heuristic framework that links several key aspects of the psychological models of John Bowlby, Heinz Kohut, and Murray Bowen, generating insight into an underlying set of isomorphic patterns in the shaping and reshaping of the self. This theoretical matrix of interlocking perspectives can facilitate our understanding of the formation – and promote the transformation – of selves as they engage within their familial and social worlds. The first section introduces some of these three authors’ key theoretical and therapeutic contributions and provides our rationale for linking some of their ideas and intervention strategies. The second section offers a brief review of earlier attempts at partial integration of these theories and describes the distinctiveness of our proposal. The third section outlines our proposed heuristic framework, which identifies some of the underlying structural similarities in the formation of the self, described in different ways and with varying emphases by these three scholars. Finally, we briefly explore some of the implications of the model for producing clinical insights into distinctive pathways for the transformation of the self.