Reforming electricity rates: Benefits to low-income households

The electricity rate reforms proposed in the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act reflect the quest for an energy policy which encourages conservation, efficiency, and equity. Focusing on equity concerns, this research examines the relative effectiveness of lifeline and time-of-day rates in easing the burden of rising household energy prices among the low-income population. Lifeline rates establish a minimum number of kilowatt hours (kWh) required for basic necessities and a special low rate for these kWh. Time-of-day rates provide lower electricity prices to those households using electricity during off-peak generating hours. The data indicate that lifeline rates would assist low-income households in general, with the greatest benefits going to poor households with small numbers of members and older heads of household. Time-of-day rates would immediately benefit smaller households and those with older household heads. Some lifestyle changes, in the form of appliance use patterns, would be required among the low-income population if they are to benefit from time-of-day rates.This research was supported by a Department of Energy grant from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (DE-FG-01-79 RG 10220) to the National Energy Law and Policy Institute at the University of Tulsa.     

Financial challenges in remarriage

Remarried couples, especially those with children from a previous marriage, face financial complexities unknown to couples in their first marriages. The few empirical investigations which have explored this feature of stepfamily life have revealed that couples often have a difficult time with the financial functioning aspect of their remarriage. While further research is needed to examine the dynamics of the financial aspects of remarriage, educators and counselors need to begin to help remarried couples to develop management strategies for coping with their unique situations. Recommendations for a workshop are made and resources are listed.Supported in part by Utah State University Vice President for Research. Scientific contribution Number 1480 from the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station.Jean M. Lown received her Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Family Economics and Consumer Studies. Currently Dr. Lown is assistant professor, Department of Home Economics and Consumer Education, UMC-2910, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322.Elizabeth M. Dolan is associate professor, Department of Family and Consumer Studies, Pettee Hall, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824. Drs. Lown and Dolan are collaborating on a research investigation into the dynamics of financial management in remarried families.     

奥古斯丁：内在逻各斯的普遍性

奥古斯丁在西方解释学史上具有重要的地位,这不仅表现在《圣经》解释学上,而且也表现在哲学的解释学方面。他接受了西方古代的斯多葛学派关于“内在逻各斯”与“外在逻各斯”的区分,并将其运用到基督教教义(如“道成肉身”、“三位一体”)的解释中,明确了在上帝那里,这两者只有理论上的差别,而在实际上是统一的,但在人那里,这两者并不总是能统一。这种差别导致了人在对内在逻各斯的追求中的过程因素,并体现为一种辩证法的精神。这些思想对伽达默尔产生了巨大的影响。这种影响集中表现在后者对解释学的普遍性的理解方面,而这种普遍性指的是内在的逻各斯,而不是外在的逻各斯。伽达默尔在这方面与奥古斯丁存在着的内在的一致性,是我们深刻地理解哲学解释学的思想之关键。     

Becker's Side-Bet Theory of Commitment Revisited: Is It Time for a Moratorium or a Resurrection?

The results of Cohen and Lowenberg's 1990meta-analysis of 50 studies that empirically testBecker's (1960) side-bet model provide little empiricalsupport for his theory of commitment. They conclude that severe limitations of past research, both interms of measuring commitment and the strategies used totest the side-bet model, may be responsible for the lackof empirical support. Alternatively, they submit that if these methodological problems are notat fault, we should consider abandoning the side-bettheory. Three limitations of past side-bet research areaddressed in this study. The results of this study suggest that it is time to resurrect Becker'sside-bet theory of commitment. In doing so, we shouldsubject his theory to tests that employ more valid anddirect measures of the side-bet variables, that use measures of continuance commitment ratherthan affective commitment, and that apply to bothorganizational and occupational commitment.     

Corporate environmental policy in Shell

In the last decade there has been a radical change in public attitudes to the environment—a change initiated by a young ‘green’ movement, which, years ago, was trying to make its real concern heard in both government and industry. Governments were seen to have little concern for the environment, and industry was typecast in the role of the dirty polluter. Most significantly, the three parties were seen as sitting in separate camps. Over the years, however, we in industry were forced to think our actions through towards their logical environmental conclusion. We were forced to develop an environmental appreciation which we did not have some time ago. In turn, the environmentalists and governments started to realize that industry is an essential player in society, and that balances can be struck which benefit both society and the environment. We have much to be grateful to these green pioneers for, even if we sometimes find that difficult to admit. This process resulted in industry, government and the ‘green’ movement learning to talk to each other. Dialogue, is most important if we are to ensure the continuation of a world fir for our children and grandchildren to grow up in. Dialogue ensures that the tide of change continues. In that process business should become part of the environmental solution, the provider of the resources needed to improve our world for the better rather than being portrayed as the problem.     

Meaning making and playing in psychoanalytic therapies

Abstract

This paper explores Freud's idea of the transference as a playground, and Winnicott's assertion that psychotherapy is a subspecies of play. In the context of what those authors called “intermediate” space, a person discovers ways of interpreting or attributing meanings to inner feelings, thoughts, and being as he engages in dialogue with others. Whether with children or adults, psychoanalytic therapies have developed a specialized form of playing in the service of this necessary communication with another, as the case examples will illustrate.     

The moral economy of contemporary working‐class adolescence: managing symbolic capital in a French public ‘Adolescent Centre’

Working‐class adolescents of French urban peripheries are key figures in a new social debate that reactivates the nineteenth century spectre of ‘dangerous’ classes to be controlled. Since the 1990s, French social counselling has privileged two modalities of response: taking account of suffering and government by listening and speech. We hypothesize that the contemporary moral economy allows for social interactions that go beyond social control and institutional domination. This is partly because professionals engaged in this moral undertaking may keep a critical distance, and partly because the concerned populations aren't necessarily devoid of resources to advance their interests or incapable of resistance. The concept of moral economy, coupled with the ethnographic method, is heuristic for fully comprehending the complexity of these issues and their stakes. Our fieldwork was centred on a French Adolescent Centre in an impoverished commune in Paris's periphery, from January 2010 through March 2011. These institutions were established in the early 2000s to respond to adolescent ‘suffering’ by crossing social work and psychiatry. Adolescents, parents, and other institutions (especially schools) solicit the professionally diverse staff for assistance, which in turn may take on cases and/or make referrals to other support institutions. By paying attention to all the scenes upon which the story of a counselled adolescent evolves, and bearing more general social evolutions in mind by applying the concept of moral economy, we can consider the multiplicity of seemingly contradictory processes as a whole. We see the destabilization of parents and their loss of symbolic capital, partly due to the norms of contemporary parenthood and partly due to the stigmatization of working‐class adolescence. But we also discern possibilities for expressing sentiments of injustice and humiliation, for increasing symbolic capital, and in some cases a reappropriation of the system, particularly in trajectories marked by a will for social ascension.     

Book reviews

Abstract

Social Policy, Public Policy Meredith Edwards, Cosmo Howard, Robin Miller (2001), Allen & Unwin, Sydney ISBN 1 86448 9480 $35.00 RRP.

Spirituality in social work practice: Narratives for professional helping Sonia Abels (Ed) (2000), Love Publishing Company, Denver, Colorado 131 pp. $56.90 (paperback)

Family — centered policies and practices: International implications Katharine Briar-Lawson, Hal A. Lawson, Charles B. Hennon and Alan R. Jones, Columbia University Press, New York Chichester, West Sussex ISBN 0 231 12106 7 462 pp. (soft cover)

Lookin' after our own: Supporting Aboriginal families through the hospital experience Angela Clarke, Shawana Andrews and Neville Austin (2000), A report sponsored by the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation

Making stepfamilies work A course for couples Irene Gerrard & Margaret Howden (1998), Stepfamily Association of Victoria Inc. ISBN 0 646 3622 4 (spiral bound)

The empowerment approach to social work practice: Building the beloved community Judith AS Lee (2001), Columbia University Press, New York, ISBN 0 231 11548 2 517 pp. (hardback)