‘Another Europe is possible’? Labour and social movements at the European social forum

The first European Social Forum (ESF) held in Florence, Italy from 6 to 10 November 2002 brought together a diverse array of so-called ‘anti-capitalist’ movements including trade unions, new, radical unions and social movements to contest the agenda of neoliberalism as it is presented within and beyond processes of European integration. This article evaluates the ESF and the possibilities for cooperation between labour and social movements in forming joint strategies against neoliberalism. It is often assumed—rather than demonstrated—that established trade unions are an obstacle to more radical contestatory practices of direct-action social movement resistance. With detailed empirical analysis, the article assesses whether there was a continuation of reformist practices within unionist activities at the ESF allied with a focus on the often-contrary sensibilities of social movement opposition. The activities and joint strategies of labour and social movements at the ESF are therefore examined, not least their resistance to both neoliberalism and its ultimate extra-economic enforcement through military power as evidenced by the war on Iraq. Whilst conclusions about the efficacy of future cooperation are cautious it appears that the horizons of resistance are expanding not only within Europe but also at the global level.     

„Lola rennt“ oder: „es hätte auch anders kommen können“ – Über den Möglichkeitsraum gruppendynamischer Intervention

A group of eight Trainers for Groupdynamic analyzed their interventions as trainers of Sensitivity-Groups during the last seven years. They used the methodological approach of Sequential Analysis and the model of the groupdynamic space (Amann, Gruppenprozesse verste-hen, 2001, S. 28). This model combines the three elementary polarities shaping the dynamic in T-Groups: belonging (in or out), power (up or down) and nearness (near or far) and supposes that these three polarities form a kind of dynamical “group-space” in which the three dimensions are simultaneously effective. Thus this model avoids a hydraulic understanding of group processes. Taking into account the model of groupdynamical space the group analyzed Trainer-interventions and asked which alternative intervention could have been possible to underline another dimension of the space. In the analysis of interventions they pointed out which of the three dimensions the trainer-intervention was focussing, which consequences this decision had for the group-process and they asked hypothetically which effects another strategy of intervention could have had. Every intervention is the consequence of a particular interpretation of the current group situation. And each decision could have been taken differently by bringing the attention towards another dimension of the groupdynamical space. This is the core-idea of this essay. Years ago a german movie was released with the title “Lola rennt” and it showed three variations of one moment with three entirely different show downs. This idea inspired us to choose the same titel for our reflections about the practice and richness of groupdynamical interventions. This essay is meant as a contribution to a “second order Groupdynamic” which is interested more in the way trainers perceive group processes than in the theory of the group-process itself.     

THE LOT OF THE UNEMPLOYED: A TIME USE PERSPECTIVE

This paper provides new evidence on the time use of employed and unemployed individuals in 14 countries. We devote particular attention to characterizing and modeling job search intensity, measured by the amount of time devoted to searching for a new job. Job search intensity varies considerably across countries, and is higher in countries that have higher wage dispersion. We also examine the relationship between unemployment benefits and job search.     

Getting better or getting worse? Consumer responses to decreasing, constant, and ascending multi-dimensional price profiles

This research investigates consumer preferences for different multi-dimensional price profiles. Drawing on research on price affect, we investigate whether consumers prefer descending monthly installments (e.g., 40, 30, 20, 10) over constant (e.g., 25, 25, 25, 25), or ascending ones (e.g., 10, 20, 30, 40). Results of a field experiment with a sample of 1,628 German car buyers corroborate the hypothesized profile effect. In the experiment, participants were asked to evaluate different finance offers for a new car that all had the same present value but differed in terms of how the installments unfolded over time. Consistent with the hypotheses, decreasing monthly installments are evaluated more favorably than constant installments, which, in turn are evaluated more favorably than ascending installments. Furthermore, the results provide evidence for the underlying process by showing that the impact of different MDP profiles is mediated by positive affect. Finally, it was hypothesized that consumers’ individual differences (i.e., debt aversion, financial expectations, and product category knowledge) would exert a moderating influence on evaluations of different price profiles; these hypotheses, however, were only partially confirmed. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

On binomial and circular binomial distributions of orderk forl-overlapping success runs of lengthk

The number ofl-overlapping success runs of lengthk inn trials, which was introduced and studied recently, is presently reconsidered in the Bernoulli case and two exact formulas are derived for its probability distribution function in terms of multinomial and binomial coefficients respectively. A recurrence relation concerning this distribution, as well as its mean, is also obtained. Furthermore, the number ofl-overlapping success runs of lengthk inn Bernoulli trials arranged on a circle is presently considered for the first time and its probability distribution function and mean are derived. Finally, the latter distribution is related to the first, two open problems regarding limiting distributions are stated, and numerical illustrations are given in two tables. All results are new and they unify and extend several results of various authors on binomial and circular binomial distributions of orderk.     

Weighted modified first order regression procedures for estimation in linear models with missingX-observations

This paper considers the estimation of coefficients in a linear regression model with missing observations in the independent variables and introduces a modification of the standard first order regression method for imputation of missing values. The modification provides stochastic values for imputation and, as an extension, makes use of the principle of weighted mixed regression. The proposed procedures are compared with two popular procedures—one which utilizes only the complete observations and the other which employs the standard first order regression imputation method for missing values. A simulation experiment to evaluate the gain in efficiency and to examine interesting issues like the impact of varying degree of multicollinearity in explanatory variables is proceeded. Some work on the case of discrete regressor variables is in progress and will be reported in a future article to follow.