Letters From Pamela: Reading Howard S. Becker's Writing(s) for Social Scientists

A deconstructive reading of a text is only in part an argument that can be abstracted. More than that, a reading deconstructs a text to make explicit how that text implicates a certain kind of reader. The reading can celebrate, resist, or essentialize the very construction of the reader by that text My reading of Becker's Writing for Social Scientists is a resisting reading which focuses: 1) on the formal aspects of the writing style that Becker endorses for social scientists, and 2) on the figure of the woman which Becker uses as a vehicle of “the structure of feeling” that promotes the message of his text.     

Accounting for plasma levels below detection limits in a one-compartment zero-order absorption pharmacokinetics model

We provide a simple method for fitting a one-compartment, zero-order absorption pharmacokinetics model in the presence of observations below the detection limit. This method may be extended to more complex pharmacokinetics models. We demonstrate, using a small simulation study, that the method provides accurate parameter estimates over a range of detection limits and we compare it to an ad hoc midpoint method. An applied example is provided from a pharmacokinetic investigation of a nicotine nasal spray.     

Combination of Cancer Data in Quantitative Risk Assessments: Case Study Using Bromodichloromethane

There are often several data sets that may be used in developing a quantitative risk estimate for a carcinogen. These estimates are usually based, however, on the dose-response data for tumor incidences from a single sex/strain/species of animal. When appropriate, the use of more data should result in a higher level of confidence in the risk estimate. The decision to use more than one data set (e.g., representing different animal sexes, strains, species, or tumor sites) can be made following biological and statistical analyses of the compatibility of these data sets. Biological analysis involves consideration of factors such as the relevance of the animal models, study design and execution, dose selection and route of administration, the mechanism of action of the agent, its pharmacokinetics, any species- and/or sex-specific effects, and tumor site specificity. If the biological analysis does not prohibit combining data sets, statistical compatibility of the data sets is then investigated. A generalized likelihood ratio test is proposed for determining the compatibility of different data sets with respect to a common dose-response model, such as the linearized multistage model. The biological and statistical factors influencing the decision to combine data sets are described, followed by a case study of bromodichloromethane.     

Is Rural Residency a Risk Factor for Childhood Poverty?1

Abstract The influence of rural variables on young children's poverty status, adjusting for individual and family characteristics, is explored. The literature suggests that specific demographic variables exert an overwhelming influence on children's poverty status. This is confirmed with data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Results also suggest that the residential histories of children have consequences for their poverty status, even after the influence of control variables has been taken into account. The conclusion identifies the integration of survey and ecological data as one promising direction for future research on childhood poverty.     

YOUTH HOMELESSNESS: ABUSE,GENDER, AND THE PROCESS OF ADJUSTMENT TO LIFE ON THE STREETS

Interviews were conducted with 66 homeless adolescents from various parts of Brisbane. Information regarding incidence of abuse, reasons for leaving home and lifestyle on the streets was sought. Homeless adolescents were compared using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Questionnaire and the Beck Hopelessness Scale, by gender and whether they were abused or not. There were differences related to gender, but not to the abuse category. Females showed lower levels of self esteem and less sense of hope for the future than males. Changes in levels of self-esteem, sense of hopelessness and incidence of self-inflicted injury were used to examine the process of adjustment to homelessness. Findings revealed that the levels of self-harm were different for abused and non-abused adolescents. The abused maintained similar levels of self-harm over time, whereas the self-harming behaviour in non-abused adolescents increased after six months but then decreased to previous low levels.     

The Emotional Basis of Charisma*

Charisma is commonly thought of as an extraordinary personal characteristic. In contrast, this paper proposes that charisma is a product of emotional interaction between charismatic leaders and their followers. More specifically, charisma is argued to spring from charismatic leaders' use of emotion rules to redefine both objective and subjective aspects of their followers' realities. Through modeling emotion charismatics first gain legitimacy; then they propose changes in the social order and redefine the emotions necessary for such changes to occur. An analytical model of the emergence of charisma based on the evoking, revoking, and refraining of emotion rules is developed. To tentatively illustrate its utility the model is applied to speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. The implications of this analysis of emotional interaction for the study of social change are discussed.     

The supreme court,family policy,and alternative family lifestyles: The clash of interests

This article reviews the basis for the judicial system's involvement in the development of national family policy. Major Supreme Court decisions in establishing the rights of the nuclear family, the extended family, foster families, communal families, homosexual couples, and unwed fathers are discussed. The Supreme Court is seen as having established the parameters of a nationally definedfamily, and the implications of the court's actions for the development of national family policy are considered.     

Robert E. Park and the Theoretical Content of Chicago Sociology: 1920–1940*

Drawing on the entire body of Robert E. Park's work published in the period 1921–1944, this paper describes his general theoretical system at three points in time: in 1921, between 1922 and 1929, and from 1930 to 1944. Park refined and altered his general theory of society over this period partly because of ambiguities in his original 1921 formulation and partly because of pressure from changing social and intellectual milieux. Park is treated as the leading theorist of the Chicago School of Sociology, and this account of his theoretical system is used as a base for assessing the validity of five different contemporary claims about the theoretical contributions of the Chicago School of Sociology.     

Book reviews

Clinical Social Work Journal -