Biosocial models of demographic behavior: An introduction

A workshop on biosocial models of demographic behavior was organized to provide information to members of the Social Sciences and Population Study Section (SSP), the group entrusted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with the responsibility for conducting the first level of peer review of demographic applications submitted to NIH for possible funding. Some of the variables studies by demographers are biological, e.g., fertility, fecundity, morbidity, and mortality, so demographers are not unaware of biological variables. However, they tend to treat biological variables as something to be explained by social, economic, and psychological factors rather than to be integrated into an explanatory paradigm. This workshop contains papers that focus upon various stages of the life cycle and explore the importance of biosocial variables in explaining selected aspects of human behavior.This introduction presents an overview of the topics covered by the authors of the papers presented and the workshop, and is based upon opening remarks at the DRG Workshop on Biosocial Models of Demographic Behavior, Bethesda, MD, 12 October 1994.     

Race, racial resentment, attentiveness to the news media, and public opinion toward the Jena Six

Objective. We outline the role of race, racial resentment, and attentiveness to news in structuring public opinion toward the prosecution of the Jena Six, the name given to six African-American high school students who beat a white student, five of whom were subsequently charged with attempted second-degree murder.Method. We rely on a telephone survey of 428 registered voters collected in the aftermath of the protests in Jena, Louisiana.Results. Public reactions were heavily filtered by race and associated with measures of racial resentment. African Americans followed news about the protests more closely, believed race was the most important consideration in the decision to prosecute, and believed the decision to prosecute was the wrong decision. Racially conservative white respondents were less likely to believe race was the most important consideration in the decision to prosecute and were more likely to believe that the decision to prosecute was the right decision. Consistent with theories of agenda setting and framing, attentiveness to the news influenced perceptions regarding the importance of race in the decision to prosecute but not whether the decision was the right decision.Conclusions. At least within the context of the Deep South, race and racial attitudes continue to be an important predictor of public reactions to racially charged events. Attentiveness to the news influenced the lens through which events were interpreted, but not perceptions of whether the outcome was the right decision.     

重构国家、重新引导国家权力

人们可以用"国家"这个概念指称很多不同的对象,因此,有效的国家理论必须包含多重维度,并且对不同类型的国家加以分别考察."资本主义国家"同样存在着不同的类型,例如资本主义类型的国家和资本主义社会的国家之间的区别.资本主义社会的国家指现代国家的所有形式和特点;而资本主义类型的国家则把资本积累作为占统治地位的社会逻辑.