Keeping the marines in the field: Results of a field experiment

A package of tools for military managers to implement a program for effective human service activities in the unit was developed and evaluated as a pretest-posttest quasi-experiment with a matched control group. The package was comprised of a set of activities modeled after well-known principles of effective leadership behavior. Several effects of the program on commanders, unit members, and unit absenteeism rates were found, including a 50% reduction in absenteeism. Relevance of the findings to military human service programs, evaluation research, and absenteeism research are discussed.     

The iemoto system and the avant-gardes in the Japanese artistic field: Bourdieu's field theory in comparative perspective

The conceptual framework of ‘field’ proposed by Pierre Bourdieu and his model of the literary and artistic fields in nineteenth‐century France are widely applied to studies of the development of the literary and artistic fields in other regions and the fields of other cultural practices. These researches, while showing similarities to Bourdieu’s model, reveal the distinct forms of nomos which those different fields developed through localised contingencies. In other words, their findings highlight the cultural specificity of the cases on which Bourdieu’s field theory is based. The main purpose of this paper is to argue that the field theory can be beneficially applied to cross‐cultural cases provided that its culturally specific elements are clearly identified. For this purpose, I focus on one particular aspect associated with the nomos of Bourdieu’s model – the orientation toward autonomy – to argue for its cultural specificity, which becomes clearer when it is compared to a distinct case of the artistic field in early‐twentieth‐century Japan. My case study shows that the Japanese artistic field did not develop the same form of autonomy as Bourdieu’s model, but it also discloses the processes in which a certain form of nomos was shaped through the struggles between the artistic field and other fields.     

Photography and field contacts

This paper is a definition of photo elicitation and a history of its development in anthropology and sociology. The view of photo elicitation in these disciplines, where the greatest number of photo elicitation studies have taken place, organizes photo elicitation studies by topic and by form. The paper also presents practical considerations from a frequent photo elicitation researcher and concludes that photo elicitation enlarges the possibilities of conventional empirical research. In addition, the paper argues that photo elicitation also produces a different kind of information. Photo elicitation evokes information, feelings, and memories that are due to the photograph's particular form of representation.     

News from the field

Two problems are always present in any research: reliability and validity, and this paper will attempt to assess reliability and validity in relation to dietary data. Reliability means stability of results over a period of time or in similar situations. (It is very difficult to find two identical situations, especially outside a laboratory, as some variation is always introduced.) Validity refers to the accuracy of techniques and results. It includes the idea of measuring methods and results against a standard or criterion.     

Narrative reasoning and coherent alignment in field placement

ABSTRACT

In social work, field placement is considered an essential component to prepare students for professional practice. A significant degree of disjunction between academic and practical learning also is asserted. The present study aims to explore how students develop their professional competence in field placement and relate their learning outcomes across the university setting and the field. Data from students’ learning contracts and placement reports and a focus-group interview are analysed. Concrete practical experiences and the complexity of problems in specific contexts seem to provide inputs on the development of students’ knowledge, skills and personal competence outside the university setting. Although the students were asked to account for these three dimensions separately, the findings demonstrate their ability to connect and integrate them in the narrative reasoning that characterises students’ reflections on their learning from placement. Moreover, our findings show that all three dimensions are developed in both the university setting and in field placement. Preparing students properly for placement training and calling for specific reports on learning outcomes allow access to meaningful connections that are created and developed between the university setting and field placement.     

A randomized field trial in Oakland, California

This study evaluates the impact of a civil remedy program (Beat Health) on drug and disorder problems under experimental field trial conditions. Using calls for service data, the authors find statistically significant differences between the control and experimental groups, when drug problem calls prior to the start of the intervention were compared to drug calls during a 12-month follow-up period. The Beat Health sites, especially the residential sites, improved relative to the control sites. By contrast, the control treatment (patrol response) led to significant increases in drug problems, particularly at the commercial properties included in this study. The authors also examined the spatial influences of the Beat Health and patrol responses in catchment areas surrounding each of the 100 study sites. The results show some improvement in the experimental residential sites. The authors found, however, a possible displacement of drug problems in and around both the commercial experimental and control sites. They show that the displacement effect is most notable in the commercial control sites.     

Jewish lesbians: New work in the field

Abstract

This introduction provides an overview of the field of Jewish lesbian studies, particularly in the United States and the English-speaking world. The author looks at the opening of the field of Jewish lesbian feminist work and then explores ways in which Jewish lesbians have been active in religious and spiritual initiatives, the arts, politics and history, as well as academic and organizational life, and matters of exclusion.     

Two field experiments on Approval Voting in Germany

We report on two field experiments on Approval Voting conducted during actual state and federal elections in Germany. Voters provided approval ballots both for named district candidates and for state parties. The data reveal significant discrepancies in the outcomes under the official method and Approval Voting. Further, our analysis suggests that currently used voting methods do a poor job of representing the electorate??s preferences. As a consequence, some recurring features of the political landscape in a given country might be, in part, an artifice of the employed voting method.     

Forms of politicization in the French literary field

Using Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of “fields,” this article proposes a model of analysis of the forms of politicization in the literary field based on the French case. In France, during the first half of the twentieth century, the writer has embodied the figure of the “Intellectual.” The first claim is that the politicization of the French literary field resulted from three factors: the autonomy it gained in the nineteenth century, its lack of professional development, and the competition with the newly emerging professions. These factors, joined to the specific features of the literary activity, account for the writers’ most typical mode of politicization: prophesying. This analysis adapts the Weberian concepts of “charismatic power” and of “prophetism” to the intellectual field, in the way suggested by Pierre Bourdieu’s interpretation of Max Weber’s theory of religion. The second claim is that the forms of politicization of writers depend on the position they occupy in the literary field: the way of being a writer conditions the way one engages in the political sphere. Four figures of committed writers are distinguished: the “notabilities,” the “aesthetes,” the “avant-garde,” and the “writer-journalists.”     

Argentine experience in the field of illegal immigration

This article provides a brief history of Argentine policy toward migratory flows from neighboring countries and Europe, and concludes with statistics on the number of foreigners in Argentina in the 1970-80 period. Measures passed during the 1940s and 1950s were aimed at providing amnesty for foreigners who were residing in Argentina without immigrant status. However, the lack of an adequate administrative structure to regulate foreigners at the borders was a drawback for migration authorities and limited the possiblility of applying admission criteria effectively. By 1970, there were 583,000 foreigners from neighboring countries living in Argentina, which represented a 25% increase from 1960. 42% of these migrants were in the metropolitan region of the country, indicative of a shift away from employment in agriculture. Decree No. 87, passed in 1974, represented an extension of a migration policy aimed at granting ample facilities for permanent residence to aliens from contiguous countries and was designed to prevent abuse of clandestine workers by employers. As a result of this measure, 150,000 foreigners were able to settle legally in the country. A 1981 law, yet to be implemented, establishes a new legal framework aimed at fostering immigration and regulating the admission of foreigners. To attain the objective of settling workers in areas of the country considered of prime importance to economic development, the law provides for infrastructural investments and promotional measures in areas such as tax exemption and the granting of credit. The 1980 National Population Census indicated there were 677,000 foreigners from neighboring countries in Argentina. In that year, foreigners comprised 2.4% of the country's population and 3.1% of the inhabitants of the metropolitan region. These figures are indicative of a decline in the growth of immigration, most likely due to the decline in the purchasing power of workers' salaries in the late 1970s.     

Settlement evolution in the Arena society in the urban field

Post-modern spatial relationships at the outer edge of Toronto's urban field are interpreted within the context of the Arena Society and urban field concepts. Custom census tabulations of commuting and migration show that although there are strong migration ties between Toronto and communities in the south Georgian Bay study area, most work trips are short and link settlements to the next place up the local settlement hierarchy. Migration from rural townships to urban areas, and between communities in the study area is also significant. A case study of Thornbury demonstrates that it is an ‘Amenity/Affinity/Niche’ community as suggested by the two concepts. It has developed a strong retail/service sector in response to the post-modern conditions facilitating economic links to Toronto and the ‘Golden Horseshoe’, but has also attracted tourists and residents because of its accessible location and appealing amenity characteristics. Local diversification as suggested by the Arena Society concept has combined with the economic interaction proposed by the urban field literature to stimulate settlements in the study area. The Arena Society and urban field concepts are mirror images and should be employed together when interpreting post-industrial settlement evolution.     

天津建设领域发展循环经济的对策研究

一、循环经济的含义及其在建设领域的应用 以＂大量生产、大量消耗、大量废弃＂为特征的传统经济发展模式,导致了资源枯竭、环境污染和生态破坏,严重制约着经济社会的可持续发展。