Divergent Patterns in the Ethnic Transformation of Societies

The uneven timing of the demographic transition in different countries of the world will lead to divergence between countries in ethnic and religious homogeneity. Developed‐country populations that began their fertility transitions relatively early are becoming increasingly diverse with respect to the ethnic origin and religion of their inhabitants, primarily as a result of high recent levels of immigration. Many demographic patterns of the developed world, such as low death and birth rates, are becoming universal. It might be expected that less developed countries will also turn from emigration to experiencing immigration, as their populations age and their economies develop. This essay suggests, however, that future ethnic diversity arising from immigration may be less marked in many of those developing countries than in the West, especially among latecomers to the fertility transition. Five reasons are advanced as impediments to the globalization of ethnic heterogeneity arising from immigration: demographic, economic, political, and factors related to resource constraints, and climate change. The essay considers what social, economic, and political consequences might arise if high levels of ethnic diversity, and possibly ethnic replacement, remained an idiosyncratic peculiarity of today's developed countries, which would therefore diverge in important ways from the rest of the world as the twenty‐first century unfolds.     

Sustaining a democratic innovation: a study of three e-participatory budgets in Belo Horizonte

This article explores the transition from democratic innovation to institutionalised political process of e-participatory budgeting in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Applying a multimethod approach (content analysis, interviews and social media monitoring) regarding the last three editions (2008, 2011 and 2013), it considers how the proponents and organisers of ePB conceive its function in relation to the representative mechanisms that surround it; how the citizens of Belo Horizonte have responded to it in relation to their experience of being represented; and how governments seeking to institutionalise democratic innovations with a view to establishing more direct forms of representation might learn from this exercise.     

Coping With LGBT and Racial–Ethnic‐Related Stressors: A Mixed‐Methods Study of LGBT Youth of Color

This study examines how racial–ethnic minority lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth cope with both racial–ethnic and LGBT‐related stress. Within a sample of 213 LGBT youth of color, the present study presents (1) quantitative and qualitative results from an approach and avoidance–based measure of parental racial coping socialization across six conversation domains, and (2) qualitative responses regarding LGBT stressors and associated coping strategies. The emphasis on approach versus avoidance varied across the racial–ethnic conversation domains. However, both racial–ethnic‐ and LGBT‐related coping strategies emphasized a combination of cognitive and behavioral strategies. Similarities and differences also existed in the types of stressors encountered across racial–ethnic and LGBT statuses. We discuss the potential for coping skill transfer across these minority statuses.     

Exploring African American Masculinities: An Integrative Model

To date, African American masculinity has been explored from several perspectives and across many disciplines. Much of the work on Black masculinity derives from scholarly fields and paradigmatic approaches that are seldom in conversation with one another. This review explores the applications and critiques of deficit, Afrocentric, gender/sex role, and identity paradigms commonly applied to discourses on African American manhood across various disciplines. Additionally, this paper concludes with a call for paradigmatic triangulation in Black gender scholarship towards creating a comprehensive notion of African American masculinity.     

The relationships among the big 5 personality factors and negative career thoughts

College students may present with career concerns that are interrelated with personality and psychological factors. Various authors have highlighted the need for career practitioners to take a holistic approach with clients seeking assistance. This research examined the intersection of personal and career characteristics, specifically personality and negative career thoughts. A total of 128 undergraduate students in five career course sections completed the NEO-Five Factor Inventory and the Career Thoughts Inventory. A hierarchical multiple regression showed that 27.1% of the variability in negative career thoughts was explained by the combined effect of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Personality factors had significant moderate correlations with specific aspects of negative thinking, including Decision-Making Confusion (DMC) and Neuroticism and Conscientiousness. Commitment Anxiety (CA) was significantly correlated with Neuroticism and Conscientiousness. We discuss how the findings highlight the intersection of career and personality factors, and the implications for theory, practice, and future research     

The Death of the West: An alternative view

Much has been written about the ‘Death of the West’, a demise threatened by the low level of reproduction in Western countries. That fate is contrasted unfavourably with the rapid growth of the populations and economies of less developed countries, and the prospect of the numerical and political marginalization of the formerly dominant developed world. We believe that trends in European fertility have been misunderstood and that, with effort and some pain, their consequences for age structure are manageable. Many European societies also enjoy the advantages of demographic and social maturity, the resilience of established consensual democratic institutions, the rule of law, and civil society. The sizes of China and India raise problems of resource sustainability and vulnerability to climate change. China risks falling into a low-fertility trap, reinforced by urban working conditions unfriendly to family formation. Traditional patriarchal and familist cultures may depress fertility rates to unhelpfully low levels in other less developed countries.     

SPC—making it work for the gas transportation business

Transco is the main provider of gas transportation to domestic and commercial customers in mainland Britain. Gas arrives in Britain at a steady rate but is consumed with a distinct diurnal pattern. The safe and timely movement of gas from arrival at the beach in various places in Britain to delivery at burners is the main driver for System Operations. The movement of gas is meticulously controlled and monitored resulting in a mass of information on pressure, flow and temperature. Gas is stored temporarily in various storage vessels and is moved around the pipes and in and out of storage as demand dictates. Demand is mostly dictated by the weather and is therefore subject to much variation. Transco and its predecessors have been transporting gas for over 50 years and are very successful as judged by their excellent safety record and the continual delivery of gas. Nevertheless, the company wished to improve itself and make further use of the many measurements collected. SPC is ideal for improving communication and understanding through increased visibility of data. All companies have special issues to face when they implement SPC, and this paper describes the way these were dealt with in System Operations and the lessons learnt along the way. The first part describes how performance measures were chosen for investigation. It includes a novel use of correlation between output and day-to-day conditions, which was successfully turned into a measure to check the uncheckable. The second part is about the issues involved with early application of SPC when features of the system are still unexplained. SPC has helped enhance understanding of the complex transportation process, encouraged team work, improved performance and provided an objective means of decision making.     

The Role of Death in the Addict Family

Drug addiction is a potentially life-threatening problem with suicidal ramifications. Within the family of the addict, the addiction takes on a special, participatory meaning; the addicted member is treated as one undergoing a slow death. These families attach special significance to death and give it considerable emphasis. This appears to arise from unresolved and premature deaths experienced by the family, particularly the parents. The addict is substituted for the deceased member. Treatment can deal with these issues directly through making the mourning explicit. The death issue can also serve as a vehicle for family change.     

Psi in the family

Summary The case of Mark, age four, is presented in which his viral infection and conversion symptom of tonic arm spasm disappear one afternoon after his father naps at his side. Later the same day, in play therapy with his grandmother, the boy verbalizes a fantasy concerning the manner in which her old dog had died some months ago. The same night, after the children are asleep, the father reports a nightmare which he had during the nap as he lay beside his son. In manifest detail and also interpretively, the nightmare corresponds closely to the boy's play therapy fantasy. At the time of his play fantasy Mark had no knowledge of the fact or content of the father's nightmare.The familial dynamics surrounding the parallel phenomena are discussed from a psychoanalytic viewpoint, with emphasis on the fusion of oral and oedipal correspondences between father and son during a period of situational stress for the family. The data are considered illustrative of the need to treat families as a unit rather than to focus on their most symptomatic members.A comparison is drawn between this type of involuntary transfer of the pain or sickness and the ritualized healing procedures among many so-called primitive ethnic groups, where such transfer as took place between father and son is ceremonially practiced between patient and shaman through various modes of physical contact.