The power of dirt: an exploration of secular defilement in Anglo-Canadian culture

Dans cette communication nous établirons que les seuils culturellement établis distinguant le pur de l'impur constituent une dimension centrale de la construction d'identités et leur maintien. De plus, dans des cultures caractérisées par des formes structurées d'inégalité, ceux qui occupent des positions avantageuses sont positionnés de manière à réaffirmer leur situation au moyen de la gestion de violations d'identité, c'est-à-dire de souillure. Afin de développer cette thèse nous examinerons attentivement la dynamique des relations culturelles impliquées par les relations entre les sexes et l'inégalité des sexes. En particulier nous présenterons des données qui nous permettront de définir des seuils de répugnance par sexe.
In this essay we contend that the culturally defined boundaries distinguishing the pure from the impure constitute a central dimension of identity construction and maintenance. Moreover, in cultures characterized by forms of structured social inequality, those occupying positions of advantage and domination are positioned to reaffirm their situation through the management of identity violation, i.e. defilement. To develop this thesis we focus on the cultural identity dynamics of gender relations and gender inequality. In particular, we present data which permit us to define thresholds of repugnance and finicality by gender.     

A NORMAL APPROXIMATION TO THE FISHER DISTRIBUTION

A simple normal approximation is given for the joint probability density function of the polar co-ordinates (θ, ψ) of a random vector following the Fisher distribution with arbitrary mean direction (θ₀, ψ₀). The approximation leads to simple inference procedures which are particularly useful in regression models. Conditions for the adequacy of the approximation are investigated and summarized in tabular form.     

“I've Fallen for You like a Blind Roofer:” Some Effects of Listener Characteristics on Interpreting Opening Lines

Until recently, the revolutionary effects of the development of metacommunication theory have been felt in message/behavioral research but have been ignored in the listening arena. In 1992, Cline and Clark (1992a) coined the term relational listening to capture the phenomenon of partners in interpersonal relationships actively attempting to decide the relational information that is embedded in interpersonal messages at an abstract level. Reasoning that relational listening begins at the beginning of a relationship (at the inception of relational contact), Cline and Clark 1992a; 1992b) focused their previous investigations of relational listening on the interpretation of opening lines. Those studies pointed listener characteristics as factors that significantly influence the interpretation of opening tines as a process of relational listening. The present investigation pursues this line of research by focusing on the listener's gender, the listener's self-perceived attractiveness, and the listener's communication predispositions as factors influencing the interpretation of opening lines.     

An alternative ethics for research: Levinas and the unheard voices and unseen faces

Abstract

Some social scientists have criticised the workings of research-ethics committees on the grounds that their biomedical model is ill-suited to some social-science research in both practical and philosophical terms. In this paper we review these criticisms and propose an alternative approach to pre-research ethical review that is based on the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas.