Mainstream and Marginal Newspaper Coverage of the 1995 Quebec Referendum: An Inquiry into the Functioning of the Canadian Public Sphere*

Cet article applique le concept habermassien de la sphère publique à l'examen des relations entre les journaux ethniques et grand public présents à Toronto. En particulier, cette étude analyse les éditoriaux parus au cours de l'année précédant le référendum de 1995 sur la souveraineté du Québec et en explique la couverture médiatique sur la base d'entretiens avec les rédacteurs en chef des journaux concernés. Pendant cette période, tous les journaux, sauf un, étaient antiséparatistes. Cependant, contrairement aux journaux grand public, les journaux ethniques se sont particulièrement attachés à des questions de survivance culturelle. Les approches des éditeurs sur la question de la souveraineté suggèrent qu'on ne peut ni parler de sphère publique unifiée ni de publics multiples et atomisés. Il y a plutôt des sphères publiques multiples - inscrites dans des tempo-ralités socio-économiques spécifiques - qui se recouvrent et se complètent. This article employs Habermas's concept of the public sphere in examining the relationship between ethnic and mainstream Toronto newspapers. In particular, the study analyses editorials in the year leading up to the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty, and draws upon interviews with the newspaper editors in explaining the patterns of coverage. During the specified time period, all but one newspaper was anti-separatist. Unlike the mainstream papers, however, the ethnic presses stressed issues of cultural survival. The editors' approaches to the sovereignty question suggests that there is neither a single unified public sphere nor multiple discrete publics. Instead, there are multiple overlapping public spheres—embedded in particular socio-economic historical moments—that complement one another.     

On the robustness of empirical likelihood ratio confidence intervals for location

The authors examine the robustness of empirical likelihood ratio (ELR) confidence intervals for the mean and M‐estimate of location. They show that the ELR interval for the mean has an asymptotic breakdown point of zero. They also give a formula for computing the breakdown point of the ELR interval for M‐estimate. Through a numerical study, they further examine the relative advantages of the ELR interval to the commonly used confidence intervals based on the asymptotic distribution of the M‐estimate.     

Safety First: A Model of Care for Working Systemically With High Risk Young People and Their Families in an Acute CAMHS Service

The following article outlines the Safety First Model for working with high‐risk young people in crisis. This hierarchical model prioritises emotional and physical safety by using multi‐systemic and family‐based interventions. A typical case example is used to illustrate the model and the structures and strategies employed at each level. The intervention model empowers families, facilitates their connections with other providers, and minimises the need for hospital admissions. The model also promotes collaborative and systemic practice in a child and adolescent mental health service.     

Volunteering in a voluntary community: Kibbutz members and voluntarism

The way in which kibbutz members define voluntarism, their attitudes toward it, the volunteering they do, their reasons for doing it, and the helping mechanisms and obstacles that the kibbutz offers were explored in a sample of four Israeli kibbutzim. This is a preliminary study of the way a unique society deals with a well-known field. Between-kibbutz differences were found mainly between the religious kibbutz and the others. No satisfactory explanations for between-person differences with regard to volunteering could be found, and it is hypothesised that the difference may lie in orientation to traditional kibbutz ideology. Our grateful thanks are given to Benjamin Gidron and our anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. We also acknowledge the contribution of Nahum Goldshneider, Varda Rappaport, Yigal Nachtomi, Yishai Koom, Yoram Margai, Shoshana Cohen and Avi Ofir who participated in the data collection and provided welcome input to the research process.     

Aspects physiques de la division sexuelle des tâches: quand la qualification professionnelle et l'organisation du travail viennent en aide aux femmes cols bleus*

The greatest hindrances to women's persistence in non-traditional jobs in industry are psychosocial and organizational; physical difficulties seem negligible in comparison. This study identifies the physical characteristics of three categories of manual jobs and shows how they affect the way women perform their work and their physical (and mental) health. On the basis of data collected on men and women's bodily pains, physical difficulties, and psychosocial problems, the study suggests that to a certain extent, women have succeeded qualitatively and quantitatively in entering these jobs, although problems—health risks, adaptation of tools and machinery, and the “cultural coexistence” of the sexes—remain to be resolved in the short term. The study finally suggests that women could take advantage of both organization in the workplace and their own technical qualifications to guarantee their legitimacy in such jobs. Les principaux obstacles au maintien des femmes en emploi non tra-ditionnel en industrie sont de nature psycho-sociale ou organisation-nelle. Les difficultés d'ordre physique paraissent négligeables en comparaison. Cette étude dresse la liste des caractéristiques physiques de trois catégories d'emplois manuels et montre comment celles-ci affectent la facilité avec laquelle les femmes les occupent et leur intégrité physique (et mentale). Sur la base d'un relevé des douleurs, difficultés physiques et problèmes psycho-sociaux des femmes et des homines, l'étude suggère un succès relatif, quantitatif et qualitatif, de rintégration des femmes dans ce milieu de travail, mais encore des problemes (de santé, d'aménagement matériel, de «co-existence culturelle» des sexes) qui à moyen terme devront être résolus, et que les femmes peuvent tirer parti de l'organisation du travail et de leur qualification technique pour assurer leur légitimité dans ces emplois.