LEARNING TO NOT LABOR:

This article examines the micro-analytical strategies of identity formation among individuals attempting to transform their ascribed social-class position into an achieved social-class position. The interpersonal strategies discussed include associational embracement, associational distancing, and presentations of self. Data come from forty in-depth, semi-structured interviews with college seniors (twenty men and twenty women) from a large northeastern public university. The students were sampled systematically using a randomized list provided by the Office of Institutional Research. Results suggest that social transformation is difficult, in part, because of the interpersonal strategies in which individuals must engage. Self-avowals are not enough to achieve a desired social identity; rather, individuals must engage in the requisite identity-work activities in order to be successful in social transformation. These results suggest a convergence between social identity theory and identity theory to the extent that individuals must be successful in their role enactments if they hope to gain membership in a particular social group.     

Patriarchal Women: A Case Study of Newly Orthodox Jewish Women

Although it seems obvious why men might turn to a community steeped in patriarchal tradition, it is much more difficult to explain women's attraction. To explain their attraction the author conducted in-depth interviews with 75 newly orthodox Jewish women. Although many of these women began their journeys toward Jewish Orthodoxy partly as a backlash against feminism or any liberation movement they perceived as placing individual freedom above social responsibility, the data also suggest that almost all of them selectively incorporate and adapt some protofeminist values about the family and about men. This article explores the ways in which these women seem to make “feminist” sense out of patriarchal religion and social strucuture.     

Adolescent attitudes and beliefs about sexual behavior

Four hundred and fifty-one teenagers responded to a sexual attitude survey. Results focus on attitudes and values related to sexual activity and to parental and school involvement and responsibility for sex education. Findings are reported as they relate to six important sexual decisions: to have intercourse or not? to have children or not? to use contraceptives or not? to have an abortion or not? to give the baby up for adoption or not? and to marry or not? Lack of communication, feelings that parents were unaware of their teenagers' sexual behavior, and uncertainty and confusion about their sexual feelings also surfaced.     

Contraceptive use in South Africa under apartheid

In this paper, patterns of contraceptive use among black South African women in the late 1980s are examined. Multilevel logit models are used to evaluate the extent to which segregation of the African population into homelands gave rise to uneven patterns of contraceptive use; how this pattern was shaped by variations in family-planning acceptability; and the way in which the system of male labor migration and social and economic inequities across communities affected women's use of contraceptives. Results show that variation in contraceptive use across homeland areas diminished with the addition of community controls for development and migration. Controlling for unobserved heterogeneity indicated that localized conditions could offset the advantages or disadvantages of living in a former homeland.     

The future of U.S. private sector unionism: Did George Barnett get it right after all?

V. Conclusion George Barnett has the unenviable reputation of making one of the most ill-timed, inaccurate forecasts in the history of industrial relations. Only six months after predicting trade unionism would further decline in the U.S., union organizing swept over the nation in mid-1933 and union density jumped nearly three-fold in the course of a decade. While Barnett's forecast was wildly at odds with the course of unionism in the shortmedium run, viewed over the long run (i.e., the remainder of the twentieth century) it appears more prescient. When he made his prediction, private sector union density stood at roughly 12 percent; seventy years later it is at 9 percent.     

Psychosocial moderators of substance use among middle school-aged adolescents.

Recent statistics show a decrease in the overall use of drugs and alcohol in the general population [1]. In sharp contrast to this trend is the indication that adolescents' use of drugs and alcohol is increasing [2]. Because the use of drugs and alcohol can have serious implications for adolescents' physical, emotional, and social development, it is important that human service practitioners working with them understand those factors that influence their substance use, in order to develop effective interventions to deal with this growing problem. This article reports the findings of a study of drug and alcohol use among a sample of 779 adolescents who attended middle schools in a large urban city in the southwest United States. The study examines the relationships between substance use, social support, and a variety of other psychosocial factors. The implications of those relationships for human service practice and research are discussed.     

Gender role attitudes and college students’ work and family expectations

Work and family issues are becoming increasingly important for both women and men. This study examines college students' plans and attitudes concerning work and family, gender differences in attitudes and expectations, and the effect of gender role attitudes on future expectations. Findings indicate that a majority of men and women expect to marry, have children, and work full-time. While men expect to work more hours at a job, there are no gender differences in ideal work hours. Women who hold more egalitarian gender role attitudes are less definitive in their plans to marry and have children. Egalitarian men expect to work fewer hours and are more willing to stay at home than their traditional counterparts. Her research interests include gender, family, demography, aging, and the life course. She is currently working on a study of fathers' experiences with work-family conflict and adaptive strategies for balancing the two domains, which is being funded by the American Sociological Association.     

The determinants of strikes over time and across industries

This paper presents a pooled time-series, cross-section analysis of strike activity across 27 major industry groups over the years 1970–1980. While numerous studies have analyzed the time-series behavior of strike activity and fewer studies have analyzed the cross-sectional pattern of strikes, little work has been done to combine both perspectives into one empirical analysis. This paper improves on this by incorporating variables into one regression model that is capable of explaining both dimensions of the variation in strike activity. The regression results suggest that strikes over time and across industries are affected by a wide range of economic, organizational, institutional, occupational, demographic, market structure, political, and other variables.     

Labor’s inequality of bargaining power: Changes over time and implications for public policy

A major justification for enacting the Wagner Act and encouraging collective bargaining was that in the wage-determination process individual workers suffer from an inequality of bargaining power vis-á-vis employers. This critical review of this justification examines the analytical meaning of the concept of an inequality of bargaining power, the factors responsible for this inequality, the change that has taken place in labor’s disadvantage since the 1930s, and the implications for national labor policy. It is concluded that some employers continue to have significant market power over wages but that the extent and degree of labor’s disadvantage in bargaining has diminished substantially since World War II. The implication is that the Wagner Act’s protection of the right to organize remains in the social interest but that the bargaining power of labor unions should be further circumscribed to preserve a balance of power in wage determination. The author thanks Paul Swiercz for helpful comments.