Warum werden Arbeiterkinder vom Studium an Universitäten abgelenkt? Eine empirische Überprüfung der „Ablenkungsthese“ von Müller und Pollak (2007) und ihrer Erweiterung durch Hillmert und Jacob (2003)

Why are the working- class children diverted from universities? In spite of the educational expansion, the decline of inequalities of educational opportunities in schools, and the institutional reforms in vocational training and university education, the access to tertiary education at university remains still remarkably unequal across social classes. In accordance with the ?diversion thesis‘ suggested by Müller and Pollak and extended by Hillmert and Jacob working class children are lead away from the direct path to university to non-academic education institutions because of both the impact of institutional structures of the educational systems on individuals‘ educational choices and the attractiveness of alternative education and training in non-academic areas. In order to investigate how does the diversion work the mechanisms of socially selective educational choices have to be analyzed from the perspective of rational action theory. For the empirical test of the theoretical approach data about school-leaves with the ?Abitur‘ (high school degree) in the East Germany federal state Saxony are employed. Subjective evaluation of the former educational performance, the expectation to be successful at university and the subjectively expected costs are the mechanisms mainly responsible that working class children more likely choose the vocational training than education at university. In particular, the subjectively expected success at university has the greatest impact on working class children‘s educational choices leading them away from the university.     

Naturalization and Earnings: A Denmark–Sweden Comparison

The determinants and consequences of the naturalization of immigrants is a hot topic in the political debate in Europe. This article compares the effect of naturalization on the income attainment of immigrants in two Scandinavian countries, Denmark and Sweden, using longitudinal register data from 1986 and onward. Sweden is characterized by low obstacles to naturalization, and existing studies provide inconclusive evidence regarding the impact of naturalization on labor market outcomes. Denmark is instead characterized by higher barriers to naturalization, as well as a virtual inexistence of previous studies on the topic. Results, obtained through individual fixed-effect regression analysis, suggest similar effects in both countries. A consistent naturalization premium is detected for immigrants of Asian and African descent, but not for any other immigrant group. The similarity across contexts arguably questions the use of more stringent naturalization laws to promote the economic integration of immigrants.     

Ethnic and religious perspectives on disability and the helping professions

This note looks at ethnic and religious perspectives of people who are training for and/or working in the helping professions in regard to their views of disability. The Modified Issues in Disabilities Scale (MIDS) was administered to a sample of people training for and/or working in the helping professions. A statistically significant association was found between ethnic and religious perspectives and scores on the MIDS.     

On the asymptotic independence of numbers of observations near order statistics

In this paper, we consider the numbers of observations in two-sided neighbourhoods of the kth and (n?r)th order statistics from a sample of size n and show that they are asymptotically independent as n→∞. We also establish a result that generalizes all the existing results regarding the asymptotic independence of numbers of observations in the left and right neighbourhoods of order statistics. Finally, we consider the limiting joint behaviour of numbers of observations in the neighbourhoods of s central order statistics and establish that they are asymptotically independent.     

On Moments of k-Records from Discrete Distributions

In this article, we establish recurrence relations satisfied by first and second moments of k-records arising from discrete distributions. Then we use these relations to obtain means, variances, and correlation coefficients of geometric k-records. We consider all the three known types of k-records: strong, ordinary, and weak.     

Relative Errors of Difference-Based Variance Estimators in Nonparametric Regression

Difference-based estimators for the error variance are popular since they do not require the estimation of the mean function. Unlike most existing difference-based estimators, new estimators proposed by Müller et al. (2003 Müller , U. , Schick , A. , Wefelmeyer , W. ( 2003 ). Estimating the error variance in nonparametric regression by a covariate-matched U-statistic . Statistics 37 : 179 – 188 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Tong and Wang (2005 Tong , T. , Wang , Y. ( 2005 ). Estimating residual variance in nonparametric regression using least squares . Biometrika 92 : 821 – 830 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) achieved the asymptotic optimal rate as residual-based estimators. In this article, we study the relative errors of these difference-based estimators which lead to better understanding of the differences between them and residual-based estimators. To compute the relative error of the covariate-matched U-statistic estimator proposed by Müller et al. (2003 Müller , U. , Schick , A. , Wefelmeyer , W. ( 2003 ). Estimating the error variance in nonparametric regression by a covariate-matched U-statistic . Statistics 37 : 179 – 188 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), we develop a modified version by using simpler weights. We further investigate its asymptotic property for both equidistant and random designs and show that our modified estimator is asymptotically efficient.     

Interaction Terms in Distance-Based Regression

We propose a method of including polynomial and interaction terms in Distance-Based Regression (Cuadras and Arenas, 1990 Cuadras , C. M. , Arenas , C. ( 1990 ). A distance based regression model for prediction with mixed data . Commun. Statist. A Theor. Meth. 19 : 2261 – 2279 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), relying on properties of a semi-Hadamard or Khatri-Rao product of matrices. We demonstrate its application to real data examples.     

The discretion and power of street-level bureaucrats: an example from Swedish municipal eldercare

This paper focuses on discretion in the frontline practice of social work with elderly people in Sweden. The aim is to describe and analyse how care managers in municipal eldercare use discretion and power in needs assessment and decision-making. Emanating from Lipsky's concept of discretion, we identify the conditions of decision-making, which along with the concepts of structural power and intentional power constitute the theoretical framework of our analysis. Eight care managers from four Swedish municipalities were observed and interviewed. The researchers carried out 38 observations and nine in-depth interviews. The analysis led to the identification of four techniques in the decision-making process of care managers: reject, execute, transform needs and control. The consequences of these practices are discussed at the end of the paper.

Denna artikel handlar om beslutsprocessen inom socialt arbete med äldre i Sverige. Syftet är att beskriva och analysera hur några biståndsbedömare inom kommunal äldreomsorg, som exempel på frontlinjebyråkrater, använder sitt handlingsutrymme och sin makt. Utifrån Lipsky's begrepp handlingsutrymme, beskriver vi de villkor för beslutsfattandet som tillsammans med begreppen strukturell och intentionell makt, utgör ramen för analysen av det empiriska materialet. Åtta biståndsbedömare, från fyra svenska kommuner, har observerats och intervjuats. Sammanlagt har 38 observationer och nio djupintervjuer genomförts. I analysen framträder fyra handlingssätt i biståndsbedömarnas beslutsprocess: avvisa, expediera, omvandla behov och kontrollera. Konsekvenserna av dessa handlingssätt diskuteras avslutningsvis i artikeln.

Handlingsutrymme

Strukturell Och Intentionell Makt

Frontlinjebyråkrater

Beslutsfattande

Äldreomsorg

Biståndsbedömare