Moral distinctions and structural inequality: homeless youth salvaging the self

This paper explores the construction and contestation of moral distinctions as a dimension of contemporary structural inequality through a focus on the subjectivities constructed by young people who have experienced homelessness. Empirical material from two research projects shows that in young people's narratives of homelessness, material insecurity intertwines with the moral economies at work in neoliberal capitalist societies to construct homelessness as a state of moral disgrace, in which an ungovernable experience is experienced as a moral failure. When young people gain access to secure housing, the increasing stability and security of their lives is narrated in terms of a moral adherence to personal responsibility and disciplined conduct. Overall the paper describes an economy of worth organized around distinctions between order and chaos, self‐governance and unruliness, morality and disgrace, which structures the experience of homelessness. As young people's position in relation to these moral ideals reflects the material conditions of their lives, their experiences demonstrate the way that moral hierarchies contribute to the existence and experience of structural inequalities in neoliberal capitalist societies.     

Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Ethics and Professional Issues in Couple and Family Therapy: Hecker, Lorna (Ed.) Ordinary Families, Special Children: A Systems Approach to Childhood Disability: Seligman, Martin, Benjamin Darling: Blue Sky July: Nia Wyn, Nia, Penguin UK     

Disordered Gambling Prevalence: Methodological Innovations in a General Danish Population Survey

We study Danish adult gambling behavior with an emphasis on discovering patterns relevant to public health forecasting and economic welfare assessment of policy. Methodological innovations include measurement of formative in addition to reflective constructs, estimation of prospective risk for developing gambling disorder rather than risk of being falsely negatively diagnosed, analysis with attention to sample weights and correction for sample selection bias, estimation of the impact of trigger questions on prevalence estimates and sample characteristics, and distinguishing between total and marginal effects of risk-indicating factors. The most significant novelty in our design is that nobody was excluded on the basis of their response to a ‘trigger’ or ‘gateway’ question about previous gambling history. Our sample consists of 8405 adult Danes. We administered the Focal Adult Gambling Screen to all subjects and estimate prospective risk for disordered gambling. We find that 87.6% of the population is indicated for no detectable risk, 5.4% is indicated for early risk, 1.7% is indicated for intermediate risk, 2.6% is indicated for advanced risk, and 2.6% is indicated for disordered gambling. Correcting for sample weights and controlling for sample selection has a significant effect on prevalence rates. Although these estimates of the ‘at risk’ fraction of the population are significantly higher than conventionally reported, we infer a significant decrease in overall prevalence rates of detectable risk with these corrections, since gambling behavior is positively correlated with the decision to participate in gambling surveys. We also find that imposing a threshold gambling history leads to underestimation of the prevalence of gambling problems.     

Populism and the Rise of the Reform Party in Alberta*

L'augmentation rapide du soutien populaire accordé au Reform Party of Canada est abordée du point de vue de deux théories déjà anciennes de mobilisation populiste-la première axée sur la position de classe et la seconde privilégiant le nativisme. Les données issues d'une enquête effectuêe dans toute la province en 1991 révèlent que les agriculteurs, un segment particulier de la petite bourgeoisie, ont tendance plus que tout autre groupe à accorder leur vote au Reform Party au cours d'une élection fédérate. Les Albertains qui se décrivent comme «Canadiens» plutôt qu'appartenant à un groupe ethnique ou racial particulier et, à un degré moindre, les répondants d'origine anglo-saxonne ou celtique, semblent un peu plus enclins à soutenir le Reform Party. De plus, les Albertains qui ont de fortes convictions sur certains dossiers sociaux et politiques (multicultu-ralisme, égalité des sexes, statut distinct du Québec, indulgence envers les criminels) sont également attirés par le Reform Party, ainsi que les personnes qui se sentent généralement aliénées sur le plan politique. The early rise in popular support for the Reform Party of Canada is discussed from the vantage point of two long-standing theories of populist mobilization, the first focussing on class position and the second emphasizing nativism. Data from a province-wide survey of Alberta residents conducted in 1991 reveal that farmers, a particular segment of the petite bourgeoisie, were more likely than any other class group to state that they would vote Reform in a federal election. Albertans who identified themselves as Canadians rather than identifying with a particular ethnic or racial group, and to a lesser extent those of Anglo-Saxon/Celtic origin, were somewhat more likely to support the Reform Party. In addition, Albertans with strong feelings on a number of specific social and political issues (multiculturalism, gender equality, distinct status for Quebec, lenient treatment of criminals) were also attracted to the Reform Party, as were those who felt generally politically alienated.     

On the links between globalization and poverty

This article surveys the evidence on the linkages between globalization and poverty, drawing on a new NBER study that has been completed under the direction of one of the authors. We focus on two measures of globalization: trade and international capital flows. Past researchers have argued that global economic integration should help the poor since poor countries have a comparative advantage in producing goods that use unskilled labor. Our first conclusion is that such a simple interpretation of general equilibrium trade models is misleading. Second, the evidence suggests that the poor are more likely to share in the gains from globalization when there are complementary policies in place.Third, trade and foreign investment reforms have produced benefits for the poor in exporting sectors and sectors that receive foreign investment. Fourth, financial crises are very costly to the poor. Finally, the collected evidence suggests that globalization produces both winners and losers among the poor. The fact that some poor individuals are made worse off by trade or financial integration underscores the need for carefully targeted safety nets. We conclude the article by identifying a number of unanswered research questions regarding the impact of globalization on poverty.     

Authoritarian neoliberalism and capitalist transformation in Africa: all pain,no gain

ABSTRACT

As a region of the world capitalist political economy, Africa has been the epitome of neoliberalism as a universal project to remake societies in its image. In Africa, the neoliberal project encountered a region already ensconced in state-forms that were authoritarian, albeit very often weaker than their analogues in Latin America or Southern Europe. In these circumstances, neoliberalism both reconstructed and relied upon authoritarian state practices: reassertions of law and order, rising technocracy, re-built bureaucracies, and ‘choiceless democracy’. Liberal advocates of neoliberalism indulged authoritarian governance in the belief that economic liberalization would generate economic growth and transformation. Reviewing these authoritarian neoliberal constructions, one is struck by how poorly they performed as vehicles for market-based capitalist transformation. In a phrase, the pain of neoliberal adjustment was accompanied by no palliative of sustained economic ‘gain’. Liberalization, executed by top-down and undemocratic governance, has generated fragile growth, instability, some enrichment and no economic transformation. This conjuncture is pivotal to an understanding of moves by some governing elites to explore and at times implement non-neoliberal development strategies. The article concludes by suggesting that neoliberalism is currently a somewhat besieged orthodoxy. However, the exploration of unorthodox development strategies has taken place within an authoritarian political shell.     

Crafting Mixed Sexual Advertisements for Mainstream Media: Examining the Impact of Homosexual and Heterosexual Imagery Inclusion on Advertising Effectiveness

ABSTRACT

This research applied both qualitative and quantitative methods to measure the effectiveness of mixed sexual advertisements that explicitly feature both homosexual and heterosexual models within the same message. Drawing on theoretical framework of social identity theory, this study predict mixed sexual advertisements could create a perceptual social categorization that includes both homosexual and heterosexual identities and reduces intergroup competitions between homosexual and heterosexual viewers. Results indicate that mixed sexual advertisements elicit better ad evaluation than strictly gay-themed advertisements when evaluated by a mix of homosexual and heterosexual participants. The findings suggest mixed sexual advertisements could balance between homosexual-themed advertising and gay window advertising by addressing homosexual audiences without alienating heterosexual viewers.     

Correction of Bias in Imputing Missing Values of Categorical Variables

Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) is the most common method used in multiple imputation. However, it is not unbiased when it is applied to imputations of categorical variables. The literature has considered the problem for binary variables with only two levels. In this article, we consider more general situations. We not only evaluate the bias associated with the imputation of categorical variables using the MCMC method, but also introduce a method to correct the bias. A simulation study is conducted and an application is provided to demonstrate the advantages of using the correction factors proposed in this article.     

Risk and time preferences of entrepreneurs: evidence from a Danish field experiment

To understand how small business entrepreneurs respond to government policy one has to know their risk and time preferences. Are they risk averse, or have high discount rates, such that they are hard to motivate? We have conducted a set of field experiments in Denmark that will allow a direct characterization of small business entrepreneurs in terms of these traits. We build on experimental tasks that are well established in the literature. The results do not suggest that small business entrepreneurs are more or less risk averse than the general population under the assumption of Expected Utility Theory. However, we generally find an S-shaped probability weighting function for both small business entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs, with entrepreneurs being more optimistic about the chance of occurrence for the best outcome in lotteries with real monetary outcomes. The results also point to a significant difference in individual discount rates between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs: entrepreneurs are willing to wait longer for certain rewards than the general population.