Explaining the causes of poverty in the West Indies: A cross-cultural comparison

Research into attitudes towards the poor and lay explanations for poverty have heen primarily concerned with the structure and determinants of these attitudes and explanations. Whereas a number of variables — education, religion, ethnic group — have been shown to relate to explanations for poverty, there have only been a few cross-cultural studies. This study set out to compare the explanations adolescents gave for poverty in two West Indian islands — the relatively wealthy island of Barbados and the relatively poor island of Dominica. The overall economic development/prosperity of the two islands, and the extent and visibility of economic inequality between the two islands appeared to account for the numerous national differences. These results are discussed in terms of the social, political and historical differences between the two islands.     

Spiralling Up or Spinning Out: A Guide for Reflecting on Action Research Practice

This paper offers a theoretical ‘action research spiral’ model to guide reflection on the dual client focus of action research. While theoretically exploring and highlighting the tensions and dilemmas created by this dual client focus, this paper will argue for a greater degree of reflection on action research practice and utilize vignettes from action research cases to illustrate those reflective processes. It is concluded that further discussion and reflection on the process of action research is an important component of social science’s contribution to phronetic knowledge.

I saw the University as helping us to reflect on what we are doing—they are the expert reflectors. This is particularly what I saw as X’s role. Sometimes his interjections go above their heads and his ‘nine words or less’ statements need to have some explanation, and I should feed this back to him. I also see the University as playing a visionary role, helping to show us new things about what is possible. I don’t see the University as helping to pull the team together—that is when it gets confusing. They are observing us, they are looking at us as the rats, and when they see something that they think needs to be addressed, they can feed this back to us—and this is where teaching and formal learning comes in. This is a difficult role for the University. I can see some of the University people just squirming—you can see it in their face that they want to intervene. They know something about what we are doing but are not imparting the knowledge. This can piss people off. They are withholding what they know and not helping. But it can also piss people off if they come in too early and tell us what is going on and what to do and not let us wallow around for a while, and learn. This is what I see as a major problem for the University. As you observe us, at what point do you reflect the learning and feedback, and yet not prostitute the learning or dirty the data. …We are the rats, the factory is your laboratory. But when we are looking at the role of the University, you are the rats. (Plant Manager and Industry Sponsor of an Action Research Project, 2000)     

Arbeitsmarktsegregation und Einkommen

What mechanisms link horizontal labour market segregation and the gender gap in wages? One explanation is based on the cultural devaluation of typically ‘female’ skills and work contents which are held responsible for lower earnings in these occupations. In the present study the idea of devaluation of ‘female’ work is contrasted with other possible explanations such as occupational differences in specialized human capital requirements or unpleasant work conditions. Based on a large sample of employed persons in Germany (IAB-Beschaeftigtenstichprobe 1975–1995) and on a survey on work conditions (BIBB/IAB-Erhebung 1991/92), the influence of ‘female’ work contents and other occupational variables on individual earnings is modeled for East and West Germany separately. The results of multilevel analyses accounting for the embeddedness of individuals in occupations and industries show that some ‘female’ work contents — typing, cleaning and selling — decrease income, and thus are culturally devalued. In contrast, occupational differences in specialized human capital requirements and work conditions do seemingly not affect individual wages. In East Germany the results in regard of devaluation are less pronounced. In both parts of the country there is an unabatedly strong effect of individual sex on earnings which cannot be explained by the introduced occupational characteristics.     

Subjectivation processes and gender in a neoliberal model of science in three Spanish research centres

From a Foucauldian approach, neoliberal rationality in science can be understood as a form of governance of the self that produces mechanisms through which the subject is constructed and subordinated at the same time. In this study we examine subjectivation processes and gender in centres of research created under neoliberal scientific rationality. We analyse 19 semi‐structured interviews of men and women researchers conducted in three highly competitive centres of excellence — a context rarely addressed in the literature of academic subjectivities. Following a critical discourse analysis, we show how subjectivation processes of neoliberal rationality result in two main discursive mechanisms of subjection that prevent or hinder alternative subjectivities and collective resistance, especially for women, presenting a double turn that we call: a ‘turn on oneself’ and a ‘gendered turn on oneself’. We conclude that these centres are spaces which provide the conditions of possibility to develop a scientific entrepreneurial self, excluding ‘other’ scientific subjectivities and preventing possible resistances that could emerge from them.     

Doing Authenticity: The Gendered Construction of Authentic Leadership

Authenticity has been a focus of much leadership research in recent years. Despite this interest, there has been a dearth of studies that explore the role of gender in the social construction of authenticity. To date, authentic leadership theories have tended to be either gender neutral or, where gender has been considered, it is argued that women as ‘outsiders’ are less likely to be accepted by their followers as authentic leaders. In this study we examine the media representations of the CEOs — one male, one female — of two major Australian retail banks during the global financial crisis. Our approach enables us to show that authenticity is something leaders ‘do’ rather than something they ‘have’ or ‘are’, and that being constructed as authentic depends on the leader performing authenticity in line with gender norms deemed appropriate for the socially constructed context in which they are expected to lead.     

SEX DIFFERENCES IN SCHOOL PERFORMANCE DURING HIGH SCHOOL: Puzzling Patterns and Possible Explanations

While past explanations for sex differences in school performance are heavily geared toward explaining boys’ small advantage on standardized math tests, we broaden the focus to include educational outcomes for which girls typically do well—standardized reading tests and math and English grades. Among adolescents in the National Education Longitudinal Study, girls enjoy better English and math grades and higher reading test scores than boys in eighth grade and these advantages all increase during high school. In contrast, boys earn slightly higher math test scores in eighth grade and this gap also increases slightly by the end of high school. This set of patterns leaves us with a puzzle—why do girls and boys excel at different components of schooling? We explore models that assess the degree to which these different trajectories can be explained by sex differences in classroom behavior and out‐of‐class activities. We conclude that a major reason for sex differences in grades is boys’ poorer classroom behavior while sex differences in time spent outside of school should supplement previous explanations for test scores gaps.     

Clarifying the role of belief-motive explanations in multi-stakeholder realist evaluation

In realist evaluation, where researchers aim to make program theories explicit, they can encounter competing explanations as to how programs work. Managing explanatory tensions from different sources of evidence in multi-stakeholder projects can challenge external evaluators, especially when access to pertinent data, like client records, is mediated by program stakeholders. In this article, we consider two central questions: how can program stakeholder motives shape a realist evaluation project; and how might realist evaluators respond to stakeholders’ belief-motive explanations, including those about program effectiveness, based on factors such as supererogatory commitment or trying together in good faith? Drawing on our realist evaluation of a service reform initiative involving multiple agencies, we describe stakeholder motives at key phases, highlighting a need for tactics and skills that help to manage explanatory tensions. In conclusion, the relevance of stakeholders’ belief-motive explanations (‘we believe the program works’) in realist evaluation is clarified and discussed.     

Beyond Mars and Venus: Understanding gender differences in financial risk tolerance

Research indicates that men are more risk tolerant and make riskier financial decisions than women. To explain this, researchers have favored “essentialist” explanations that attribute differences to core biological mechanisms and have tended to neglect psychological mechanisms that reflect the influence of culture and socialization. To better understand gender differences in risk tolerance, we investigated the relative effects of multiple psychological dimensions of gender, including gender identification (i.e., identifying as one’s biological sex and viewing it as a positive part of the self), gender typicality (i.e., feeling like a typical member of one’s biological sex), and gender-stereotyped personality traits and social roles. We also measured 2D:4D digit ratios as an indicator of prenatal testosterone exposure. Stereotypically masculine or instrumental personality traits (e.g., strong, acts as a leader) were associated with more risk tolerance in both men and women but were relatively more important for understanding men’s risk tolerance. Stereotypically feminine or communal personality traits were associated with less risk tolerance in women. Women who identified more with other women, and men who identified less with other men showed greater risk tolerance. Digit ratio was not associated with risk tolerance. Further research focused on psychological gender and risk tolerance is emphasized.     

Do Women’s Orgasms Function as a Masculinity Achievement for Men?

Orgasms have been promoted as symbols of sexual fulfillment for women, and have perhaps become the symbol of a woman’s healthy sex life. However, some research has suggested that this focus on women’s orgasms, though ostensibly for women, may actually serve men; but the mechanisms of this are unclear. In the present experiment, we hypothesized that women’s orgasms specifically function as a masculinity achievement for men. To test this, we randomly assigned 810 men (M age = 25.44, SD = 8.31) to read a vignette where they imagined that an attractive woman either did or did not orgasm during a sexual encounter with them. Participants then rated their sexual esteem and the extent to which they would feel masculine after experiencing the given situation. Our results showed that men felt more masculine and reported higher sexual esteem when they imagined that a woman orgasmed during sexual encounters with them, and that this effect was exacerbated for men with high masculine gender role stress. These results suggest that women’s orgasms do function—at least in part—as a masculinity achievement for men.     

Population growth and poverty measurement

If the absolute number of poor people goes up, but the fraction of people in poverty comes down, has poverty gone up or gone down? The economist’s instinct, framed by population replication axioms that undergird standard measures of poverty, is to say that in this case poverty has gone down. But this goes against the instinct of those who work directly with the poor, for whom the absolute numbers notion makes more sense as they cope with more poor on the streets or in the soup kitchens. This paper attempts to put these two conceptions of poverty into a common framework. Specifically, it presents an axiomatic development of a family of poverty measures without a population replication axiom. This family has an intuitive link to standard measures, but it also allows one or other of “the absolute numbers” or the “fraction in poverty” conception to be given greater weight by the choice of relevant parameters. We hope that this family will prove useful in empirical and policy work, where it is important to give both views of poverty—the economist’s and the practitioner’s—their due.     

Klassenlage und Bildungsentscheidungen

This empirical study seeks to contribute to the explanation of class differences in educational opportunities in the transition from primary to secondary education. According to recent theoretical explanations the social inequality in education results — apart from the historical conditions and institutions of the educational system — from rational choices of parents about the continuation of their children’s education. There is a nexus between class specific evaluation of costs and benefits of higher education and educational choice, which depends on the parents’ resources and the selection and allocation function of the educational system. This interrelationship results in unequal educational attainment among the children of different social classes. These hypotheses are tested by employing a two-step model of the dynamics of choices and actual transition. Using panel data and logistic regression as well as considering the children’s social origin the rise of educational aspirations and the following transition to higher education tracks are analyzed. The results lend support to the mechanisms and processes assumed by the subjective expected utility approach. However, there is an open question about the historical persistence of class differences in education in spite of educational expansion and school reforms.     

The Doing and Undoing of Gender: The Importance of Being a Credible Female Victim

It is increasingly argued that gender is something we ‘do’ (or ‘undo’) rather than ‘are’. The doing of gender, or the accomplishment of gender, becomes credible when it conforms (in broad terms) to certain normative conceptions of gender. Resistance to, or subversions of these norms, or the failure to appear credible, deny the individual a gendered authenticity. Attempts to unshackle notions of gender — to ‘undo gender’ and to accept the outcome as authentic, open and fluid — have been matched with concerns that this theoretically empowering process may result in the loss of political power — the notion of woman (or man) in whose name we can act being lost as the binary is eliminated. These tensions are explored in the context of the UK Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (rev. 1986) . This article demonstrates how the doing and undoing of gender in an employment tribunal accomplishes or negates the ‘authenticity’ of gender.     

跨国实践中的社会地位补偿——华南侨乡两个移民群体文化馈赠的比较研究

中国改革开放以来,海外华人移民通过文化馈赠这种跨国实践极大地促进了东南沿海地区的发展。但从我们的观察来看,不同类型的移民群体的跨国实践模式不尽相同。本文借鉴以往国际移民与跨国主义的研究,从社会学的角度提出"社会地位补偿"的范式,对分别来自广东五邑开平与海南文昌下辖两个镇的移民群体进行比较。通过分析,我们发现移民对于侨乡的文化馈赠不仅受到其个人出国前后社会地位变化的制约,而且还受多种客观因素的制约。特定的祖籍国和移居国在世界政治经济地理格局中位置的差异,移民群体在移居地的不同社会境遇以及侨乡的地方政府和地方社会均对文化馈赠产生不同程度的影响。上述这些宏观、中观与微观层面的因素交互作用,形成社会地位补偿的特殊机制,影响移民跨国实践中的文化馈赠。     

The Therapeutic Pyramid: A Common Factors Synthesis of Techniques,Alliance, and Way of Being

Common factors in therapy such as the therapeutic alliance and client motivation have been found to account for more change than therapy models. But common factors have been critiqued as only lists of variables that provide little practical guidance. Some researchers have demonstrated that certain common elements (e.g., the therapeutic alliance) account for more variance than others (e.g., techniques), suggesting that some factors should be emphasized over others. Such findings suggest the need for alternatives to model‐based therapy, with one alternative being meta‐models, or “models of models,” that focus on how therapeutic factors interact with each other to produce change. The purpose of this article is to propose a meta‐model describing the relationship between two specific common factors—the therapeutic alliance and interventions. We also propose a new factor—a therapist's way of being—that we believe is foundational to effective therapy. The model is proposed in pyramid format, with techniques on top, the therapeutic alliance in the middle, and therapist way of being as the foundation. The hierarchical relationships between these three concepts are discussed, along with implications for training, research, and therapy.     

Adaptive Strategies,Gender Ideology,and Work‐Family Balance Among Dutch Dual Earners

Using questionnaire data on 149 Dutch dual‐earner couples with young children participating in the European Famwork study, we examine how adaptive strategies and gender ideology relate to parents’ perceived success in balancing work and family. Path analysis indicates that some adaptive strategies may harm individuals’ work‐family balance, particularly when they are made in the domain where the time budget is limited. In the need to succeed in multiple roles, however, endorsement of traits traditionally linked with the opposite gender, that is masculine traits for women and feminine traits for men, seems beneficial. We speculate that two underlying mechanisms — social pressure and time constraints — jointly operate in determining perceived success in balancing work and family.     

The periodic table model of the gender transpositions: Part I. A theory based on masculinization and defeminization of the brain

Students of human sexuality have long tried to make sense of atypical masculinity, femininity, sexual object choice, gender identity, or clothing choice. In Part I of this paper, we propose a theory to organize and to make sensible most of the major facts about these gender transpositions—a periodic table model of the gender transpositions. People have neural substrates that have been subjected to particular combinations of two distinct biobehavioral processes: masculinization and defeminization. In our theory, we hypothesize that individuals exhibit behaviors reflecting particular degrees of masculinization and/or defeminization, at least probabilistically. Therefore, each sexological group is characterized by a distinct distribution of its members centered about one particular combination of the two. Many other facts about the gender transpositions, as well as about aspects of gender roles in typical men and women, then flow from the theory. We also consider the possible mechanisms of brain masculinization and defeminization—noting genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences.     

Objects, Words, and Bodies in Space: Bringing Materiality into Cultural Analysis

What can actor-network theory’s approach to analyzing objects offer to cultural sociology? To answer this question we ask a more specific one: How does materiality affect people’s experience of art in a museum exhibition? Research at two museums suggests that non-human agents—object and words—interact with human bodies to choreograph the art encounter. This process works through interactions between two processes of emplacement: physical position and cognitive location. Position guides location in the process of meaning-making, a relationship mediated by three mechanisms: distance, legibility, and orientation.     

‘Seeing through their Eyes’: Towards Understanding Risk and Protection Perspectives of Young Bedouin Children in the Unrecognised Villages of the Naqab

This article is based on a participatory, context-informed study that examined perception of ‘risk’ and ‘protection’ among 30 Bedouin children aged four to five. It was conducted in the Bedouin unrecognised villages — Southern Israel and utilised photography, drawings and verbal explanations. The analysis yielded seven themes representing children’s perceptions of risk and protection. It indicated that children facing extreme adversity were aware of numerous risk conditions, including a lack of infrastructure and the fear of losing their homes, thus adversely affecting their well-being. Children’s insights, and suggested modes of protection, as the study findings reveal, are crucial for promoting children’s welfare.     

Is “cost disease” contagious? The case of early music ensembles

The article aims to supplement traditional explanations of why performing arts institutions tend to run a deficit. The case of early music ensembles shows that the traditionally cited mechanisms do not suffice to explain why these institutions catch Baumol’s “cost disease.” Baumol’s model may be supplemented by another, based on two related hypotheses: the deepening deficit of early music ensembles is related to their going professional and is due to the fact that they are simultaneously competing with subsidized orchestras on two markets: the concert market and the labor market for musicians.