Economics of Home Activities

This paper explores the contribution of unpaid home activities to the economic welfare of the family. It begins with a review of the conventional economic framework on how household decisions are made. It deals with the modifications which take into account unpaid work in the home. The concept of ‘imputed income’ from home activities (like housework and child care) is then introduced before several possible methods of measuring that income are assessed. The final section of the paper analyses some policy implications which follow from recognizing imputed income as part of family income.     

Nonverbal cues employed in discriminating between disabled persons and actors

Undergraduate subjects were seen to accurately discriminate between simulating actors and genuinely disabled males confined to wheelchairs. Judgments were based on skill in manipulating the wheelchair, poorer muscular development of the disabled, and on appearance of clothing. Implications for research on the disabled employing actors was discussed.This study was supported by a grant from the York University Faculty of Arts awarded to the first two authors. The project was performed as the third author's Honours thesis. The authors wish to thank all participants for their cooperation and assistance in making this research possible. The authors also wish to thank Gail Kenyon, Coordinator of the Centre for Handicapped Students who helped recruit participants for the videotaping and to Lucie Cantrell, Executive Officer of the York University Counselling and Development Centre who arranged for the use of the Centre's facilities and equipment.     

Ethnicity and Organization: Jewish Communities in Eastern Europe and the United States*

In their most essential respects, the immigrant communities of American Jews (and the total American Jewish community) were a direct continuation of those which appeared in East Europe, prior to 1914. Using archives, government reports, and texts (primary and secondary) this paper reconstructs the sociohistorical environment in which they appeared. The extensive communal organization which characterized both settings, actually served the interests of societal demands. These institutions provided needed (often emergency) services to the community, but they also supported the out-group's status, as determined by the larger society. A clear picture emerges of the impact on the collective Jewish, and individual Jew's, adaptation to society within a highly developed and organized community.     

Assumptions of social mobility research in the U.S.: The case of occupational status

This paper examines the theoretical and empirical basis for common rank-orderings of occupational roles by raters throughout the world. From an illustrative comparison of occupational stratification in Australia and the United States we conclude tentatively that (1) commonalities in the socioeconomic characteristics of occupational roles provide the basis for interplace consistencies in “prestige” scores, (2) the structure of occupational mobility in the U.S. and Australia is largely similar, (3) this similar structure of occupational stratification manifests a common socioeconomic process which defines a (the?) major component of occupational mobility in capitalist, industrial (only?) societies. We infer that “prestige” scores for occupations are fallible estimates of the socioeconomic statuses of occupation, within the context of mobility processes in (at least) the U.S. and Australia.