Equal Opportunities Policies,Employment and Patriarchy

This paper, based on research in the North of England, seeks to examine the interconnections between equal opportunities policies, women's employment and patriarchy in a local labour market. It is argued that organizations develop a selection of public patriarchal strategies, most notable of which are the denial of inequality and the use of ‘time’ to segregate and disadvantage women within the labour market and labour process. It is masculine culture which has determined the shape and operation of equal opportunities policies where time commitment, individualism and priority to employment are necessary in order to achieve. Equal opportunities policies fail to address not only structural inequalities but also the role that organizations themselves play in maintaining gender segregation. By individualizing women the policies may also undermine women's own employment coping strategies which depend on assistance from other women both inside and outside the employment setting.     

THE IMPACT OF INVESTIGATOR PERCEPTIONS OF VICTIM LEGITIMACY ON THE PROCESSING OF RAPE/SEXUAL ASSAULT CASES*

This analysis of 610 reports of rape/sexual assault, collected during six months of intensive field research within a metropolitan police department, addresses the issue of differential handling of such reports by police investigators. Their attributions of “relative legitimacy” to cases and victims are analyzed in the light of information items contained in the offense reports completed by patrol officers. Victim credibility, victim consent, offense seriousness, and victim characteristics are among the factors taken into account by the investigators as they assess rape/sexual assault cases and victims for the purpose of making dispositionary decisions. The likelihood of a case being actively pursued is discussed in terms of the tendency of investigators to classify cases along a continuum from “real” rapes to “deals”.     

Interpersonal distance and personal space: A conceptual and methodological note

Forty male and forty female subjects were led to anticipate an interaction in which they were to take control, or were to avoid being controlled by another. Both interpersonal distances and personal spaces were greater when subjects were avoiding another's control attempts. Thus, both distance and space expand reactively in response to a threat to control. In contrast to earlier research (Edney, Walker, & Jordan, 1976), we obtained no relationship between interpersonal distance and size of personal space. The pattern of results suggests that the curvilinear relationship obtained by Edney et al. was due largely to the instructions they gave subjects regarding distance and space.     

Book reviews

Qualitative Sociology -     

Multistage Modeling of Lung Cancer Mortality Among Arsenic-Exposed Copper-Smelter Workers

Multistage modeling incorporating a time-dependent exposure pattern is applied to lung cancer mortality data obtained from a cohort of 2802 arsenic-exposed copper-smelter workers who worked 1 or more years during the period 1940-1964 at a copper smelter at Tacoma, Washington. The workers were followed for death through 1976. There were 100 deaths due to lung cancer during the follow-up period. Exposures to air arsenic levels measured in micrograms/m3 were estimated from departmental air arsenic and workers urinary arsenic measurements. Relationships of different temporal variables with excess death rates are examined to judge qualitatively the implications of the multistage cancer process. Analysis to date indicates a late stage effect of arsenic although an additional early stage effect cannot be ruled out.     

Positive Parenting Among African American Mothers With a Serious Mental Illness

Positive parenting is hampered by social‐contextual risks—lack of income, education, and support, as well as maternal mental illness—but current models do not examine the effect of each factor in concert with the others. Using structural equation modeling and a community sample (N= 202) of African American mothers diagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia, we examined the direct and indirect effects of poverty, maternal education, social support, material and social stress, current mental health, and psychiatric history on positive parenting attitudes, involvement in children's education, and authoritative parenting style. The strongest predictors of parenting attitudes were stress and current mental health. Parenting attitudes were the strongest predictors of parent involvement and style but stress and current mental health were also predictive. Involvement was also predicted by maternal education and social support.     

Specification of Melbin's Frontier Hypotheses: An Application to Outer Space Exploration*

This article evaluates the extent to which Melbin's (1978) ideal type of frontiers can be applied to a new frontier, outer space. Although outer space fits Melbin's model of frontiers in a number of ways, several deviations are also apparent. These deviations from the model are linked to a combination of four characteristics of outer space as a frontier: the highly technological nature of travel, dependence on Earth, government control, and the initially perceived limitlessness of space. This application leads to further specifications of Melbin's conceptualization of frontiers and provides the basis for speculation concerning the future of outer space as a frontier.