INFORMATIONAL INTIMACY AND FUTURISTIC FLU: LOVE AND CONFUSION IN THE MATRIX

Cyberpunk's influence upon our understanding of the information revolution is indicated by the fact that its seminal novel, Neuromancer (Gibson 1984), is accredited with the coining of the now widespread non-fictional concept of cyberspace. Beyond providing this resonant concept, however,some of the genre's more recent work known as biopunk is shown to provide fresh insights into the cultural experience of a society increasingly transformed, not only by the extent of technological change in a new informational age, but also its unprecedented pace. This paper reviews cyberpunk to demonstrate the vivid ways in which it uses its fictional licence to catalogue and articulate imaginatively a profoundly ambivalent aspect of contemporary culture in the age of information. We find ourselves interacting more and more closely and rapidly with information, yet at the same time, we feel increasingly run down by the effort demanded of such close and rapid interaction: hence the title-phrases, informational intimacy and futuristic flu. Numerous examples are provided of cyberpunk'szeitgeist-capturing qualities in the face of a profound and rapid information-induced paradigm shift. A mismatch is shown to exist between the conceptual categories we have at our disposal and the qualitatively new scenarios created by the latest information technologies. This paper argues, however, that assuming one maintains a healthy sense of its various deliberate ironies, cyberpunk's fictional exaggerations are seen as potentially instructive elements for a society striving to avoid a bout of techno-influenza.     

Implicit and Self-Attributed Dependency Needs in Homeless Men and Women

Recent metaanalyses indicate that women consistently obtain higher scores than men do on self-report dependency measures, but not on projective dependency tests (R. F. Bornstein, 1995, 1996). To explore this issue in a heretofore unexamined population, we analyzed archival data from 85 homeless participants (40 women and 45 men) enrolled in a vocational rehabilitation program, using the MMPI Dependency (Dy) Scale (L. Navran, 1954) and the Rorschach Oral Dependency (ROD) Scale (J. M. Masling, L. Rabie, & S. H. Blondheim, 1967). Consistent with earlier results, there were no gender differences in projective dependency scores, but contrary to earlier results, there were also no gender differences in self-reports of dependency. These findings suggest that stressful conditions like homelessness may mitigate the impact of gender on self-reported dependency.     

Body Size,Skills, and Income: Evidence From 150,000 Teenage Siblings

We provide new evidence on the long-run labor market penalty of teenage overweight and obesity using unique and large-scale data on 150,000 male siblings from the Swedish military enlistment. Our empirical analysis provides four important results. First, we provide the first evidence of a large adult male labor market penalty for being overweight or obese as a teenager. Second, we replicate this result using data from the United States and the United Kingdom. Third, we note a strikingly strong within-family relationship between body size and cognitive skills/noncognitive skills. Fourth, a large part of the estimated body-size penalty reflects lower skill acquisition among overweight and obese teenagers. Taken together, these results reinforce the importance of policy combating early-life obesity in order to reduce healthcare expenditures as well as poverty and inequalities later in life.     

FAIR DIVISION OF INDIVISIBLE ITEMS

This paper analyzes criteria of fair division of a set of indivisible items among people whose revealed preferences are limited to rankings of the items and for whom no side payments are allowed. The criteria include refinements of Pareto optimality and envy-freeness as well as dominance-freeness, evenness of shares, and two criteria based on equally-spaced surrogate utilities, referred to as maxsum and equimax. Maxsum maximizes a measure of aggregate utility or welfare, whereas equimax lexicographically maximizes persons' utilities from smallest to largest. The paper analyzes conflicts among the criteria along with possibilities and pitfalls of achieving fair division in a variety of circumstances.     

A Small-Scale Study of the Relationship Between Measures of Deprivation and Child-Care Referrals

There now exists an extensive literature on the causes of childabuse. Within the UK, individualistic and inter-personal approacheshave predominated in terms of their influence on social worktheory, research and practice. However, much less emphasis hasbeen given to structuralist explanations. Indeed, of the structuralistwork that currently exists with its emphasis on the relationshipbetween deprivation and child abuse, this relationship has yetto be empirically tested within the UK. This is the focus forthe present article. Drawing upon data relating to all referralsmade to a short-term intake family and child-care team for athree-year period in Northern Ireland (1998–2000), thearticle confirms the strong relationship that exists, at wardlevel, between measures of deprivation and referrals to theteam. In discussing the implications of the findings, it isargued that more use needs to be made of quantitative methodsin social work research in order to identify and understandmore fully the influence of structural factors on issues relatingto family and childcare. The article concludes with a considerationof the implications of the findings for further research andfor social work practice.     

Social Policy in a Federal Europe

The European Union has a federal structure, in which each citizen is subject to two governments. The position of social policy within the federation is contested, but the EU has gradually developed powers through the extension of its competence, direct intervention in social welfare issues and the push for “convergence”, or agreement on minimum standards. Consistent with its federal nature, the European model of the welfare state is based on convergence, integration of the excluded and social protection through the gradual extension of solidarity. The precise role that the federal government will take on within this is unclear, but it is already having a major impact on social welfare and its influence is likely to increase.     

When Do Benevolent Capitalists Change Their Mind? Explaining the Retrenchment of Defined‐benefit Pensions in Britain

This paper explores the politics of welfare retrenchment, but differs from much of the current literature in this area by focusing not on the decisions of politicians but those of private sector employers. In countries with a large private welfare sector, employers are major social policy players with a significant influence on the generosity of welfare provision, but the rationale behind their actions is not well understood. To explore these issues, a case study is used of the recent fundamental change in UK occupational pension provision, involving a rapid shift from defined‐benefit to defined‐contribution pensions. The paper shows by means of a micro‐simulation of the relative performance of defined‐benefit, defined‐contribution and state pensions that this shift represents a significant retrenchment. It suggests, using historical material, interview data and insights from behavioural economics, that existing explanations for this change, while valuable, have important gaps because they are based on too narrow a conceptualization of business motives. In this regard, the paper highlights the importance of herd behaviour.     

Homelessness in Europe and the United States: A Comparison of Prevalence and Public Opinion

Random samples of 250–435 adults were interviewed by telephone in five different nations ( N = 1,546): Belgium, Germany, Italy, the UK, and the United States. The interview included questions on respondent attitudes, knowledge, and opinions regarding homelessness; respondents' own personal experiences with homelessness and homeless people; and demographic characteristics of the respondents. The highest rates for lifetime literal homelessness were found in the UK (7.7%) and United States (6.2%), with the lowest rate in Germany (2.4%), and intermediate rates in Italy (4.0%) and Belgium (3.4%). Less compassionate attitudes toward the homeless were also found on many dimensions in the United States and the UK. Possible explanations of these findings, drawn from various theoretical perspectives, and policy implications are provided .