Patterns of Conflict About Risky Technologies

This paper examines taxonomies for classifying risks and conflicts about risky technologies. First, we describe six levels of conflict that represent various " shades of gray" between purely factual and purely value laden conflicts in technology disputes. Subsequently, we survey several recent taxonomies of risks and hazards that were at least partly intended to clarify the nature of the public conflicts about technologies and their risks. After pointing out that non-risk features frequently shape technology debates, we develop a taxonomy of the disputes themselves, based on a collection of 162 cases. Our taxonomy of technological controversies is related to the recent risk taxonomies and to the different levels of conflict. It turns out that the different technological disputes create quite different levels of conflict ranging from mainly factual (consumer products, drugs) to extremely value laden (nuclear power, genetic engineering). Depending on the type of controversy and level of conflict we suggest alternative conflict management strategies.     

Norwegian lottery winners: Cautious realists

The study investigated 261 lottery winners of prizes of NKR 1 million (US $150,000) or more in the years 1987–91 in a postal survey. The modal Norwegian winners were middle-aged married men of modest education, living in small communities. Emotional reactions to winning were few, aside from moderate happiness and relief. Winners emphasized caution, emotional control and unconspicuous spending, e.g. paying debts and sharing with children. There was only a slight increase in economic spending. A wish for anonymity was frequent, together with fear of envy from others. Betting was modest both before and after winning. Experiences with winning were predominantly positive. Life quality was stable or had improved. An age trend was observed, accounting for more variance than any other variable. The older winners seemed to represent a puritan subculture of caution, modesty and emotional restraint. A slightly more impatient pattern of spending was characteristic of younger winners. The results support Kaplan's 1987 and others' findings that lottery winners are not gamblers, but self-controlled realists and that tenacious, negative cultural expectations to the contrary are myths, but perhaps also deterrents of uncontrolled behavior.     

Aus dem Büro in den Wald

CHANGE OR DIE. The competitiveness of business companies continuously demands innovative ideas and the willingness to implement these from executive managers. Thereby their own personal needs are often neglected. The consequences range from stress and overload up to burnout symptoms. To support an appropriate handling of the imposed work load by managers, a scientifically grounded stress-tolerance-training will be designed and evaluated. For the first time, certain outdoor exercises will be used specifically among conventional elements as active experiences of challenges outside the office can deeply strengthen the constructive handling of stressful situations.     

The evolutionary anthropology of political leadership

Existing approaches within leadership studies often share a bias towards industrialized societies and lack broader cross-cultural and ethological reference. Meanwhile, cross-cultural and evolutionary approaches within anthropology are actively working to unify research on leadership and followership across the biological and social sciences. This review provides a novel and thorough view of political leadership as investigated by evolutionary anthropologists and highlights the benefits of incorporating findings from the evolutionary social sciences into leadership studies generally. We introduce the anthropological approach to leadership; describe evolutionary anthropology, its subdisciplines (including primatology, paleoanthropology, paleogenetics, human behavioral ecology, and gene-culture coevolution), and its complementary disciplines (particularly evolutionary psychology); review leadership and hierarchy in nonhumans, including our extinct hominid ancestors; review female leadership and sex-differences; and, primarily, discuss the relationships between evolution, ecology, and culture as they relate to the observed patterns of political leadership and followership across human societies. Through evolutionary anthropology's diverse toolkit, a deeper insight into the evolution and cross-cultural patterning of leadership is realized.     

Helge Pross-Preis 2007 der Universität Siegen an Cornelia Helfferich

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Counting Young Carers in Switzerland – A Study of Prevalence

An online survey of children in school grades 4–9 (mostly aged 10–15) was conducted in order to determine the prevalence of young carers in Switzerland using a 2‐stage stratified sampling approach. 4082 respondents were drawn from 230 schools. A total of 3991 respondents were included in the analysis and of these 307 (7.7%) were identified as young carers. The population estimate of prevalence was 7.9 per cent. This suggests that there are around 38 400 young carers in school grades 4–9 in Switzerland. Extrapolating to the 9–16 age group gives a figure of almost 51 500.     

Superior Sporting Performance in Athletics: Determinants and Sustainability

The article aims to contribute to the understanding of competitive dynamics and specialization in international sport by analyzing superior sporting performance (SSP) in international athletics in the period from 1999 to 2018. By applying iterative Kolmogorov‐Smirnov tests to annual bests, the study examines national SSPs. Contrary to theoretical considerations, less specialized countries are more likely to achieve SSP. Technical entry barriers and macrosocial factors also appear to play a limited role. SSP seems not to disappear due to increased international competition. The United States and Russia are identified as “sporting super powers,” able to persistently dominate a number of disciplines. The case of Russia poses fundamental questions concerning market distortions in international sport resulting from doping. The results come with substantial policy implications.     

Mixing Bismarck and child pension systems: an optimum taxation approach

Pensions with a strong tax–benefit link (Bismarck pensions) minimise the labour–leisure distortion of the public pension system. By contrast, pensions with a strong link of benefits to the number of children (child pensions) minimise the fertility distortion. When both types of distortion are present, we obtain a Corlett–Hague result regarding the optimal mix of the two pension formulae: the Bismack pension should be given a positive weight if and only if children are more complementary to leisure than consumption. Alternative fertility instruments such as child benefits turn out to be perfect substitutes to a child pension.