Changing Economic Opportunities,Family Structure,and Poverty in Rural Areas1

Abstract Instrustrial restructuring in the 1980s ushered in a new pattern of growing economic diversity over geographic space. The objective of this study is to examine the extent and etiology of changing spatial inequality between and within metropolitan (metro) and nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) areas, as measured by increasing or decreasing county poverty rates. Results based on data from the 1980 and 1990 census summary tape files suggest several conclusions. First, poverty rates increased more rapidly in nonmetro than metro counties during the 1980s; historical patterns of metro-nonmetro economic convergence slowed over the past decade. Second, poverty rates tended to decline in nonmetro counties with traditionally high rates of poverty, thus providing counter-evidence to arguments suggesting that the gap between traditionally poor and nonpoor nonmetro counties has widened. Third, spatial differences in poverty rates and relative increases in county poverty rates over the 1980s were most strongly associated with women's employment and headship status. The results raise questions about the extent to which traditional rural economic development strategies address the potentially deleterious economic effects of rising percentages of poor female-headed families.     

Regulation and Risk in Social Work: The General Social Care Council and the Social Care Register in Context

The 2000 Care Standards Act led to the setting up the GeneralSocial Care Council (GSCC) as the new governing professionalbody for social workers and other social care employees in England.¹The GSCC published national Codes of Practice for social carestaff and their employers in 2002, whilst 1 April 2003 saw theintroduction of the Social Care Register. The stated aim ofthese developments is to protect the public, improve the qualityof care offered by social workers and increase public confidencein the profession. However, such intentions disguise the increasein regulatory control that the GSCC and social care employershave gained over the workforce—intrusions that have metrelatively little criticism. By locating these developmentswithin a broader social context, one in which risk and its managementare at the forefront of contemporary social policy and practice,this paper argues that underlying the debate is a climate offear and distrust in which there is a tendency to view peopleas either vulnerable, dangerous or both. Such a degraded viewof the subjects of social work also pertains to social workersthemselves, who are simultaneously seen as assessors of risk,at risk and as a risk.     

University students' knowledge of alcoholic drinks and their perception of alcohol-related harm

A total of 371 university students were asked to estimate the amount of alcohol contained in a standard drink and to estimate the number of standard drinks contained in popular alcoholic beverages. In addition, students completed questionnaires assessing their perception of short and long term harm related to the consumption of beer, wine, spirits and pre-mixed alcopops. Results revealed that students were generally inaccurate in their estimate of alcoholic content of beverages, and national guidelines for low risk drinking. Students were also found to hold different perceptions regarding how harmful different alcoholic beverages were. While both male and female students considered spirits to be more harmful than beer, wine and pre-mixed drinks, males also believed beer to be more harmful than wine when considering the short term consequences. The pattern of beliefs reported by this sample suggest a high-risk population who are not aware of the risks they are exposing themselves to through their drinking behavior.     

Changes in an intellectual elite 1960–1990: The Royal Society revisited

This paper has attempted a partial replication of Porter's study of an anglophone intellectual elite, i.e. Section II of the Royal Society. It has found continuing, albeit reduced, institutional domination by the University of Toronto, along with a notable decline in the role of Oxford. It has also found that foreign influence has increased with possible negative implications for the mobility opportunities of Canadians born in Canada¹⁰ and for the elite's performance of its social role of articulating and advancing the interests of Canadian society. While the domination of those of British ancestry has declined, the elite remains unrepresentative in terms of many of its ascribed social characteristics. In particular, a seemingly low representation of females, Jewish people, and Canadians born in Canada is evident. While Canadian intellectuals are now much more critical of the status quo than they were when Porter wrote, the separation between anglophone and francophone intellectuals appears to be as great as ever. All this may help to explain a number of the weaknesses which characterize Canadian society.     

Becoming Poor: The Experiences of Elders1

Elderly Americans residing in nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) areas have higher poverty prevalence than their metropolitan (metro) counterparts. Data from both the response and nonresponse files of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (1988 wave) are analyzed to establish the extent to which this disadvantage also occurs in the length of poverty spells and the risk of becoming poor at older ages. Specifically, for individuals aged 55 and older Kaplan-Meier survival functions and multivariate discrete-time hazards models are estimated to document residential differences in the poverty risks of metro and nonmetro men and women. Nonpoor nonmetro elders are much more likely to become poor than metro elders. These results hold when controlling for race, education, marital status, age, change in work effort, becoming widowed, and types of income received.