A Cross‐National Look at How Welfare States Reduce Inequality

A major shift in welfare state research occurred at the turn of the century as researchers moved from explaining the development of welfare states and variations in spending across welfare states to a focus on welfare state outcomes. One of the key outcomes examined in the literature is inequality. While much of the early literature examined overall spending, followed by analysis of specific taxes and transfers related to old age, unemployment, disability, health, and families, more recent research has included a broader range of welfare state policies including work‐family policies and flexicurity. This essay highlights some important developments in the research on welfare states and inequality.     

Under the microscope: Gender and mentor–protégé relationships

Forty (40) depth interviews were conducted among Florida-based public relations practitioners to examine mentor–protégé relationship dynamics according to gender. Two factors, compatibility and structural features, are offered to explain successful mentoring in public relations and to suggest a strategy for maximizing its benefits. Moreover, mentoring facilitates career enhancement in five important ways (supplement to college training, validation and empowerment, deportment, networking, reciprocity) – and gender composition of vertical dyads seems to matter a great deal.     

A Comparison of Visual Familiarization and Object‐Examining Measures of Categorization in 9‐Month‐Old Infants

Three studies were conducted to determine whether differential patterns of categorization observed in studies using visual familiarization and object‐examining measures hold up as procedural confounds are eliminated. In Experiment 1, we attempted as direct a comparison as possible between visual and object‐examining measures of categorization. Consistent with previous reports, 9‐month‐old infants distinguished a basic‐level contrast (dog–horse) in the visual task, but not in the examining task. Experiment 2 was designed to reduce levels of nonexploratory activity in an examining task; 9‐month‐olds again failed to distinguish categories of dogs and horses. In Experiment 3, we adopted a paired‐comparison test format in the object‐examining task. Infants did display a novel category preference under paired testing conditions. The results suggest that the different patterns of categorization often seen in looking and touching tasks are a reflection, not of different categorization processes, but of the differential sensitivity of the tasks.     

Concurrent and Across Time Prediction of Young Adolescents' Social Functioning: The Role of Emotionality and Regulation

The social functioning of 64 young adolescents (10‐ to 12‐year olds) was examined in relation to negative emotionality and regulation during early adolescence, as well as two, four, and six years earlier. Young adolescents who were viewed as relatively high in social functioning (i.e., high teacher‐rated school social competence; low mother‐ or father‐rated problem behavior) were generally viewed as relatively low on negative emotionality and high on regulatory abilities during early adolescence as well as two, four, and six years earlier. Furthermore, negative emotionality and regulation during early adolescence, and in some cases at previous time periods, contributed unique variance to the prediction of social functioning during early adolescence. Young adolescents who were consistently low in social functioning across time were higher on negative emotionality and lower on regulation than were young adolescents who were consistently high on social functioning over time.     

What Happened on Ruby Ridge: Terrorism or Tyranny?

In the 1992 Ruby Ridge, Idaho, incident during which U.S. Marshal William Degan and Sammy and Vicki Weaver were killed, law enforcement and the Weavers socially constructed each other's roles. We focus on how the framing of what happened on Ruby Ridge changed. Drawing on Gamson's (1968) discussion of law enforcement strategies, we suggest that certain federal agencies were challenged about the justness of their actions. The Weavers, white separatists, and others tried to alter the dominant frame of the federal government from a legitimating one to that of unjust authority. To counter that, investigations by the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism and the Department of Justice portrayed certain agents as incompetent rather than unjust. Various federal agencies “yielded ground” by recognizing mistakes, making payments to the Weavers and Kevin Harris, and charging one official and temporarily suspending others, but they maintained the legitimacy frame.