Mixed matters in Australia

ABSTRACT

Mapping attitudes toward intermarriage – who is and who is NOT considered an acceptable mate – offers an incisive means through which imaginings of belonging – ethnicity, nationhood, citizenship, race, and culture – can be critically evaluated. Looking specifically at Australia, despite a growing body of research on whiteness, and Mixedness, there is very little qualitative research on attitudes toward mixing among the different groups in Australia. Therefore, in this article, I document attitudes towards ‘mixed’ marriage through focus group interviews in communities across Australia to explore what boundaries, if any, exist and the attitudes of different groups toward intermarriage and ‘mixed’ families in Australia. Drawing from these 69 focus groups conducted across seven cities and the surrounding area of the six states of Australia: Darwin, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, and Melbourne with homogenous groups based on the ways Australians self-identify – indigenous (Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander), white (differentiating if applicable between those who identify as Australian as opposed to European or South African), African Australian, and other groups at various community locations, I argue that national discourses of multiculturalism and imaginings of who and what constitutes being Australian heavily influence attitudes toward mixing. Furthermore, there is a clear hierarchy of desirability in terms of who is considered marriable, with pattern in the narratives and counter-narratives offered by different groups. These findings are presented within a larger discussion of how the contemporary situation in Australia compares to the institutional, individual, and ideological practices that discourage mixing globally.     

Collaboration and Internationalization of SMEs: Insights and Recommendations from a Systematic Review

This paper performs a systematic literature review of the undeniably diverse – and somewhat fragmented – current state of research on the collaborations and internationalization of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). We analyze key works and synthesize them into a framework that conceptually maps key antecedents, mediators, and moderators that influence the internationalization of SMEs. In addition, we highlight limitations of the literature, most notably in terms of theoretical fragmentation; extant theories are deployed and illustrated but rarely extended in a manner that significantly informs subsequent work. At an applied (but related) level, we argue the need for supplementary work that explores the distinct stages of internationalization – and the scope and scale of this process – rather than assuming closure around particular events. With this, we highlight the need for more rigorous and empirically informed explorations of contextual effects that take account of the consequences of developments in the global economic ecosystem.     

Is governing board behavior cyclical?

An empirically derived model of cyclical board behavior holds that following a nonrecurring founding period, a board typically progresses through a sequence of three distinct operating phases and then experiences a crisis that initiates the whole sequence over again. During each cycle, board members become progressively less interested in the agency's mission and programs and more interested in the board's bureaucratic procedures and the agency's reputation for success in the community. Although the sequence of phases is predictable, the timing of them is not. As a conceptual framework, the model integrates the results of a variety of valuable, but otherwise unrelated, studies of governing board behavior. The cyclical model can also be used as a diagnostic tool that can enable a board member, executive director, consultant, foundation officer, or public funder to analyze quickly a particular board's perspective and potential.     

Prediction of tumour pathological subtype from genomic profile using sparse logistic regression with random effects

The purpose of this study is to highlight the application of sparse logistic regression models in dealing with prediction of tumour pathological subtypes based on lung cancer patients'' genomic information. We consider sparse logistic regression models to deal with the high dimensionality and correlation between genomic regions. In a hierarchical likelihood (HL) method, it is assumed that the random effects follow a normal distribution and its variance is assumed to follow a gamma distribution. This formulation considers ridge and lasso penalties as special cases. We extend the HL penalty to include a ridge penalty (called ‘HLnet’) in a similar principle of the elastic net penalty, which is constructed from lasso penalty. The results indicate that the HL penalty creates more sparse estimates than lasso penalty with comparable prediction performance, while HLnet and elastic net penalties have the best prediction performance in real data. We illustrate the methods in a lung cancer study.     

State-authorizing citizenship: the narrow field of civic engagement in the liberal age

Liberal citizens are held ethically accountable not only for their own acts and behaviors, but also those of their state. Reciprocally, a proper liberal subject is one that metonymizes with the state, merging their fates and moral worth, and taking personal responsibility for the state’s actions. I claim that as a result, the liberal subject is not only self-authorizing according to liberal theories of moral autonomy, but also state-authorizing. I demonstrate the above claims through a consideration of changing activist practices among the Israeli political left. I show that the hegemonic model of civic engagement is oriented towards the state and state policy as the privileged and naturalized site of ethical intervention. I then describe the ways this model hampers political endeavors by restricting the sites of intervention as well as structural access to political participation. I also consider contemporary efforts at political engagement that bypass the state.     

Do Some Students Need Special Protection From Research on Sex and Trauma? New Evidence for Young Adult Resilience in “Sensitive Topics” Research

Institutional review boards (IRBs) have expressed concerns that certain individuals or groups, such as participants who are younger, ethnic minorities, or who have certain psychological or personality traits, may be particularly distressed when participating in “sensitive topics” research. This study examined the effects of several demographic and individual difference factors (i.e., age, sex, ethnicity, religiosity, Big Five personality traits, and baseline psychological distress levels) on reactions to participation in sensitive topics research. Participants were 504 undergraduates who completed an extensive battery of either trauma/sex questionnaires or cognitive tests and rated their positive and negative emotional reactions and the perceived benefits and mental costs of participating. They also compared research participation to normal life stressors. Our findings indicated that individual difference and demographic risk factors do not increase participant distress after participating in sex/trauma research over and above that experienced after participating in traditionally minimal-risk cognitive tasks. Participants generally found research participation less distressing than normal life stressors and even enjoyable.     

Doin’ Meth or Doin’ Math: What Client Constructions of Social Class Mean for Social Work Practice

The voices of people experiencing poverty are underrepresented in social work research, public policy development, and practice interventions. This study explored the social class attributions of clients receiving poverty-related services through qualitative interviews. Findings reveal dynamic contributions of individual, environmental, and structural factors of social class positioning and significant stress and stigmatization associated with experiencing economic hardship. Participants indicate a sense of lived contradiction, viewing social class to be the result of fate while simultaneously endorsing individualistic attributions of poverty. Results have implications for social work research and practice, as well as poverty-related policy and program development.