Gender and Employment Restructuring in British National Health Service Manual Work

While managerial initiatives to cut costs through increased labour flexibility are widespread, we have limited knowledge of the micro-politics of gender and contemporary restructuring at the local level: of the processes and dynamics through which flexibility and other initiatives reconstitute or transform gendered patterns of work and advantage in specific workplaces. This case study, based upon extensive interviewing, observation, and examination of documentary materials, examines the gender implications of several different types of restructuring initiatives in three types of manual work at two hospitals in an NHS Trust. On the whole, it finds that restructuring created more continuity than change in gendered patterns of work and advantage in the two sites. The case study suggests, first, that employment restructuring incorporates elements of structural, institutional and interactive gendering; managers use women's subordination in the workplace and labour markets to achieve their objectives, and male workers actively resist loss of their advantages. Second, it suggests that competitive tendering exercises have a disproportionately negative impact upon women workers, while functional flexibility initiatives are somewhat more positive. Third, the case study suggests union resistance to restructuring is limited and particularly circumscribed in relation to restructuring of women's jobs.     

Crossnational Differences in Happiness: Economic and Cultural Factors Explored

In forty countries, happiness was correlated with national economic and cultural living conditions. Both characteristics correlated strongly and positively with happiness. Need theory predicts this observed pattern quite well. However, when exploring the independent influence on happiness of either predictors, only economic prosperity persistently correlated with happiness. The relation between culture and happiness proved to be spurious. When subgroups of countries were studied, within the group of rich countries a positive first order correlation was found between happiness and culture, whereas in the group of free countries a positive correlation between happiness and economic prosperity was found, when controlling for culture. Especially the study of countries in transition is helpful in discovering causal relations between economic prosperity, culture and happiness.     

Persistence and desistance in heavy cannabis use: the role of identity,agency, and life events

Many cannabis users ‘mature out’ of their drug use, and factors of cannabis use cessation have been identified. However, very little in-depth knowledge is available about the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. Criminological studies have gained interesting insights in desistance from crime, yet these perspectives are rarely used in drug research. This qualitative, three-year longitudinal study explored the processes involved in desistance from frequent cannabis use for young adults. Using a narrative approach, desisters (frequent users who successfully quit their cannabis use) and persisters (frequent users with a persistent desire and unsuccessful attempts to quit) were compared. In the course of the study, desisters mainly exhibited increasing agency and goal setting, established strategies to achieve these goals, and could envision another self. Desistance was generally induced by life events that became turning points. Persisters experienced largely similar events, but lacked goals and strategies and held external factors responsible for their life course and failed quit attempts. Identity change is at the core of desistance from frequent cannabis use, and the meaning-giving to life events and experiences is essential. Agency is a necessary ingredient for desistance, develops over time and through action, and leads to a new drug-free identity with desistance in turn increasing agency.     

24/7 SM slavery

This study describes the nature of 24/7 SM slavery as practiced within the SM (sadomasochistic) community. These SM participants, who attempt to live full-time in owner-slave roles, represent a small proportion of those with SM interests. SM slaves have not been studied systematically to determine if and how they differ from other SM practitioners. An online questionnaire was used to obtain responses from individuals who self-identified as slaves. A total of 146 respondents participated, 53% female and 47% male, ranging in age from 18 to 72. We explored the depth of their relationships, how well they approximated "slavery," and how their relationships were structured to maintain distinct roles. Data showed that in long-term SM slave relationships, a power differential exists which extends beyond time-limited SM or sexual interactions. Owners and slaves often use common, daily life experiences or situations, such as the completion of household chores, money management, and morning or evening routines, to distinguish and maintain their respective roles. In addition, contrary to the perception of total submission, results revealed that slaves exercise free will when it is in their best interests to do so. These relationships were long-lasting and satisfying to the respondents.     

Social welfare grey zones: how and why subnational actors provide when nations do not?

In an era where even citizenship is not a guarantee of access to the welfare state, can non-citizens gain access to social protection? Using health care as a lens, and the United States and Spain as cases, we find that non-citizens do have access to social protection via what we call ‘grey zones’, namely points of disagreement between national and local governments that create opportunities for non-citizens. Grey zones are possible due to processes that are often seen as disenfranchising: the denationalisation of policy and the disaggregation of citizenship. In addition, they tend to open up regardless of the nature or intent of national reforms. That said, we find significant variation in the extent to which subnational governments take advantage of them. While differences are somewhat explained by partisanship, significant outliers warrant further investigation.     

Neighborhood Norms,Disadvantage, and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration

Most theoretical treatments of intimate partner violence (IPV) focus on individual‐level processes. More recently, scholars have begun to examine the role of macrolevel factors. Results of that research indicate that social ties facilitate the diffusion of cultural norms—including tolerance of deviance/violence—across neighborhoods. Yet the influence of the neighborhood normative climate extends beyond norms regarding the use of violence, shaping cultural understanding about dating and the opposite sex. Using data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS), the current investigation examines the multilevel association between dating norms and IPV perpetration among a large, diverse sample of adolescents and young adults. Results indicate that individuals’ liberal dating attitudes are associated with IPV perpetration. Furthermore, this effect varies across levels of neighborhood disadvantage.