Development and Social Problems: The Impact of the Offshore Oil Industry on Suicide and Homicide Rates1

Abstract There are few studies in the literature concerning economic development that examine the impact of offshore oil and gas extraction on communities and even fewer that use annual data, examine more than one community and account for the degree of involvement of the community in the oil industry. This study rectifies these problems. The results support hypotheses derived from social disorganization and relative deprivation theories by demonstrating that higher levels of and rapid changes in development are associated with higher homicide and suicide rates, especially in communities that are more involved in resource extraction. The utility of the methods and the implications of the results for theory and future research are discussed.     

The new census question about ancestry: What did it tell us?

In addition to specific inquiries about race and Spanish origin, the censuses of 1980 and 1990 included an open-ended question about ancestry, which replaced the question about parents' place of birth that had been used since 1870. This paper examines findings from the new ancestry question from the perspective of measuring ethnicity. The question adds little information about Hispanics, racial minorities, or recent immigrants, who can be identified readily on the basis of other census inquiries. The ancestry question allows us to characterize the descendants of European immigrants, but because of ethnic intermarriage, the numerous generations that separate present respondents from their forebears, and the apparent unimportance of ancestry to many whites of European origin, responses appear quite inconsistent. In regard to these groups, we may now be in an era of optional ethnicity, in which no simple census question will distinguish those who identify strongly with a specific European group from those who report symbolic or imagined ethnicity.     

The meaning and measurement of race in the U.S. census: Glimpses into the future

The 1996 Racial and Ethnic Targeted Test (RAETT) was a "mail-out mail-back" household survey with an experimental design of eight alternative questionnaire formats containing systematic variations in race, instructions, question order, and other aspects of the measurement. The eight different questionnaires were administered to random subsamples of six "targeted" populations: geographic areas with ethnic concentrations of whites, blacks, American Indians, Alaskan natives, Asian and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics. The major conclusion is that allowing multiple responses to the "race" question in the 2000 census (and other variations in measurement that were considered in RAETT) had only a slight impact on the measured racial composition of the population. Another finding was a dramatic reduction in nonresponse to the combined race/Hispanic-origin question relative to all other questionnaire formats. We conclude that the concept of "origins" may be closer to the popular understanding of American diversity than is the antiquated concept of race.     

Psychological factors that influence traumatic injury occurrence and physical performance

This 9 month prospective study, conducted at the US Army Sergeants Major Academy (USASGMA), examined the association of selected psychological variables (e.g., measures of tension/anxiety, sleep disturbance, Type A behavior pattern) with injury occurrence and physical performance in 126 soldiers. ANOVA and logistic regression analyses revealed significant relationships between: 1) Traumatic injury occurrence and mean tension/anxiety scores, 2) Mean self-reported sleep disturbance scores and traumatic injury occurrence, 3) The Type A behavior pattern (abbreviated Jenkins Activity Survey) and number of sit-ups repetitions completed in 2 minutes, one component of the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT), 4) The Type A behavior pattern and total score APFT. No significant associations were found for mean tension/anxiety scores and overuse injuries, or Type A behavior pattern and two mile run time or number of push-up repetitions completed in 2 minutes. These data suggest traumatic injury occurrence is influenced by tension/anxiety and disturbances in sleep habits. Additionally, individuals with higher Jenkins Activity scores (characteristic of the Type A behavior pattern) perform better physically.     

A strange lobster tale of self-sacrificial transversality: or,transversal poetics flourishes in the spectral ether of Deleuze,Bataille, and Shakespeare

ABSTRACT

Written from the perspective of Transversal Poetics, this essay involves an exploration of the theory’s various selves in the context of a self-immolating spectacle staged at London’s New Globe Theatre by the theory’s progenitor, Dr. Bryan Reynolds. The essay outlines the history of this scandalous affair, which was inspired by the work of Rodrigo Garcia (Accidens: Matar Para Comer), Deleuze and Guattari, and George Bataille. Transversal Poetics travels with Reynolds to London and is shocked and appalled by the lurid transgression that unfolds on stage as Reynolds is hung on a massive hook and then dismembered for the adoring crowds. Exploring the complexity of its own reactions to this new initiative by Reynolds – and his attempt to conceive an ‘offspring’ with Bataille through a highly questionable and outrageous Deleuzian approach – Transversal Poetics is itself subtly transformed. It casts a powerful light on the urban milieu surrounding the New Globe (Southwark, the City of London) as it brings the era of neoliberal financialization to a close. A lobster-city that combines both ‘central place’ and the ‘maritime’ qualities (as identified by Christaller), London turns out to be the perfect location for the demolition of the Deleuzian taboo against the sacrificial.