Social identities and political cleavages: the role of political context

Summary. Using a novel method, the paper investigates the influence of social group identities on attitudes and on voting in a variety of political contexts. Examining the major regions of Britain, Canada and the USA, we find considerable national and regional diversity in the nature of social cleavages. For example, social class and race had widely different effects across societies, but within societies their effects on attitudes and on voting were very similar. However, despite that, age and religion had a similar effect on attitudes across societies; the effects on voting varied considerably. The significant within-country differences underline the importance of using region, rather than country, as the unit of analysis. More importantly, these results highlight the role of political context, especially competing cleavages and the structure of party competition, in the establishment of politically relevant social cleavages.     

How Welfare Policies Affect Adolescents' School Outcomes: A Synthesis of Evidence From Experimental Studies

Using data from 8 random assignment studies and employing meta‐analytic techniques, this article provides systematic evidence that welfare and work policies targeted at low‐income parents have small adverse effects on some school outcomes among adolescents ages 12 to 18 years at follow‐up. These adverse effects were observed mostly for school performance outcomes and occurred in programs that required mothers to work or participate in employment‐related activities and those that encouraged mothers to work voluntarily. The most pronounced negative effects on school outcomes occurred for the group of adolescents who had a younger sibling, possibly because of the increased home and sibling care responsibilities they assumed as their mothers increased their employment.     

The Exclusion of Disabled People from Positions of Power in British Voluntary Organisations

Disabled people are excluded in various ways from a wide range of social privileges, activities and institutions. Voluntary and charitable organisations promote themselves as champions of disabled people in their struggle for access to the ordinary choices and opportunities of everyday life. This paper reports the findings of an empirical study which demonstrate that in voluntary agencies governed by able-bodied people, disabled people are excluded from positions of power and influence, and they experience the same sorts of barriers and constraints as those with which they are confronted in the wider world. Furthermore, the development of agencies governed by disabled people themselves is constrained by their lack of access to money, staff and other resources.     

The theoretical and empirical structure of general well-being

A comprehensive set of variables that have been supported as contributing to overall health and general well-being were analyzed to determine their simple structure using factor analysis and their relative contribution using Pearson correlation. The contributors to general well-being had been theoretically grouped into: emotions, beliefs, temperaments, behaviors, sittuations, experiences and health. The empirical factor structure was compared with the theoretical structure used to develop the variables. Stability was investigated by comparing results with those of another geographically separated group. All subjects were normally functioning working adults. The results demonstrated the feasibility and potential usefulness of using self-report questionnaires with multivariate procedures to measure components of the global general well-being concept.     

The Effects of ROTC Program Participation on Socioeconomic Status and Life Satisfaction*

Using mail survey data based on a stratified systematic sample [N = 686] of 1983–1988 graduates of a medium-sized state university, this research evaluates whether ROTC program participation constitutes an independent source of human capital in civilian labor markets by comparing postgraduate earnings (annual income), prestige and authority, and life satisfaction of ROTC program participants with those of nonparticipants. The results revealed no statistically significant ROTC program participation effects, independent of subsequent military status. ROTC program participation paid off in terms of occupational prestige and authority for those on active duty, but not for those in national guard or reserve units. Neither ROTC participation nor current military status affected income or life satisfaction levels.     

A simultaneous-equations model of the relationship between public sector bargaining legislation and unionization

This paper estimates a simultaneous-equations model with public sector bargaining laws and union membership treated as jointly-determined variables. The extent of public sector unionization has a significant positive influence on the passage of prolabor bargaining legislation and bargaining legislation has strong, independent effects on the extent of public sector unionization. We gratefully acknowledge the research support provided by Minbo Kim and Parisun Chantonahom.     

Yardstick competition and political agency problems

We examine how yardstick competition between jurisdictions affects the agency problem resulting from uncertainty about politicians (adverse selection) and their policies (moral hazard). We find that yardstick comparison can contribute both to disciplining and to selecting politicians.Earlier versions of this paper have circulated as Queen Mary Working Paper No. 444 and CORE Discussion Paper 2002/29. We would like to thank our editor, Maurice Salles, two anonymous referees, Mark Armstrong and Enrico Minelli for helpful comments and suggestions. We would also like to thank seminar participants at CORE, Queen Mary, Marseilles, and the 2002 Public Economic Theory conference, Université Paris 1.     

The Use of E‐mail in the Therapy Process

The therapeutic letter has a long history, with roots in psychoanalytic work and continuing application in family therapy. The advent of e‐mail has allowed another form for therapeutic written communication which, while incorporating the benefits of therapeutic letters, adds to these. It has also opened up some potential risks. This article incorporates a brief review of the literature covering therapeutic written communication and offers a case example where e‐mail was used as an adjunct in face‐to‐face therapy with a client who experienced attachment difficulties. This therapy was informed by systemic and psychoanalytic traditions. The authors explore a variety of technical matters including the timing and crafting of e‐mail responses, the integration of written communication with face‐to‐face therapy, impact on the therapeutic relationship and management of crisis. Ethical issues such as confidentiality and duty of care are also considered.