Canadian immigration policy: state strategies and the quest for legitimacy

Selon les auteurs de cette communication, les données tirées d'entrevues avec les décideurs et de l'observation participante au processus d'élaboration des politiques militent en faveur d'une interprétation de la politique canadienne de l'immigration qui s'articule autour du rǒle de l'État. Pour eux, l'État est une entitéà double visage, à la fois puissante et vulnérable, et c'est ce caractère double qui conditionne les tendances actuelles en matière de politique de l'immigration. En élaborant sa politique, l'État cherche activement à accroǐtre sa propre légitimité en adoptant des mesures susceptibles de protéger une économie en difficulté, d'éviter les critiques sur la place publique et d'atténuer les conflits sociaux. L'état vise à assurer son hégémonie, en partie grǎce à un dialogue proactif destiné d'une part à recueillir de l'information et à mesurer les appuis et les oppositions, et d'autre part à contrǒler les divers groupes d'intérět. Ainsi, l'État est maǐtre du champ de l'élaboration des politiques, mais c'est un maǐtre qui se méfie des forces politiques qui pourraient miner sa légitimité. D'après les recherches des auteurs, les nouveaux intervenants, dont les groupes ethniques, les organisations humanitaires et les provinces, jouent un rǒle de plus en plus important dans un domaine dominé par 1'État fédéral. Deux intervenants traditionnels, le mouvement ouvrier et le patronat, en sont Venus à des positions considérablement moins polarisées. Le terrain politique est donc mouvant et plutǒt instable en cette époque où les principaux intervenants, y compris l'État, tentent de se réorienter dans un contexte international en pleine mutation. Data from interviews with policy actors and from participant observation of recent policy process support a particular state-centred interpretation of Canadian immigration policy. The state has a Janus-faced character - both powerful and vulnerable - and it is this ‘both-and’ feature which underlies current trends in immigration policy. Findings in this paper indicate that, in developing immigration policy, the state actively seeks to garner support for its own legitimacy by pursuing measures which will shore up the economy, avoid public criticism and mediate social conflict. The state is engaged in a hegemonic project involving a pro-active dialogue to gather information, to monitor support and opposition, and to attempt to control diverse interest groups. In sum, the state is both in control of the policy field and yet wary of political forces which potentially threaten its legitimacy. Our research shows that new social actors -ethnic groups, humanitarian organizations, the provinces - have come to play a more prominent role, within a field dominated by the federal state. Two traditional actors, labour and capital, have moved to less polarized views. The policy arena is shifting and prone to be unstable, as the key actors involved, including the state, struggle to come to terms with a changing global context.     

Bayesian credibility limits for small finite population proportions:stratified and cluster sampling

Bayes credibility limits for small proportions from stratified and fixed size cluster samples are discussed. Ericson’s (JRSS B (1969)) Beta Binomial and Dirichlet-Multinomial priors are used. Approximate limits that are appropriate for large samples and small proportions are derived in both cases. These allow asymptotic comparisons of the efficacy of stratified and cluster sampling relative to simple random sampling for estimating small proportions. Procedures for the selection of hyper parameters are also presented.     

Ability of Experience Design Elements to Elicit Emotions and Loyalty Behaviors

Experience design, an approach to create emotional connection with guests or customers through careful planning of tangible and intangible service elements, has gained popularity in many hospitality and retail businesses. With ever‐increasing competition, service providers seek to develop loyalty by aggressively designing, continuously innovating, and managing their customer experiences. This article explores the relationship between different service elements designed to create enhanced experience and customer loyalty. In addition, it looks at emotional responses as mediating factors between the physical and relational elements and loyalty behaviors. A model is proposed and tested with a VIP hospitality tent for an internationally renowned touring circus. Results of the study indicate that while a few design elements directly affect loyalty behavior, the relationship between most design elements and loyalty behavior is strongly mediated by eliciting certain types of emotional behavior. This connection has implications for the focus of service managers' efforts in different environments.     

The Enduring Relevance of Case Management

Correspondence to Peter Ryan, School of Health, Biological and Environmental Sciences, Middlesex University, Archway, 7, Highgate Hill, London N19 5NF Summary This article summarizes the main results and policy implicationsof a Department of Health funded mental health case managementresearch and development project. The project implemented casemanagement services in four different sites, and worked withclients who were severely disabled with long-term mental illness.Higher levels of engagement (95 per cent) were achieved by case-managedas compared to control clients. They were also linked to a widerrange of community services. However, costs of the experimentalservices were higher, and client outcome variable. In two sites,case-managed clients achieved significant improvements in psycho-socialadjustment, whereas on the third site, there were no differencesin outcome between the control andexperimental clients. The article concludes that case management continues to be amode of service delivery which can achieve real benefits forclients in terms of preventing them from falling through thenet, and in linking them in responsive ways to community services.However, the increased costs can make it an unattractive optionfor purchasers, and ways need to be found to retain the establishedbenefits, whilst reducing the costs to service purchasers.     

Evaluation of Verbal Behavior in Older Adults

Approximately 5% of older adults have a dementia diagnosis, and language deterioration is commonly associated with this disorder (Kempler, 2005). Several instruments have been developed to diagnose dementia and assess language capabilities of elderly adults. However, none of these instruments take a functional approach to language assessment as described by Skinner (1957). The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a function-based assessment for language deficits of older adults. Thirty-one participants were categorized into a control group (n  =  15) and a dementia group (n  =  16) based on their score on the Dementia Rating Scale-2. Individuals with dementia performed significantly worse on the tact assessment than those without dementia. Participants from both groups performed better on measures of tacts than intraverbals or mands, even though topographically identical responses were required in these assessments. The data provide support for Skinner''s conceptualization of functionally independent verbal operants.     

Correlates of gay and lesbian couples' relationship satisfaction and relationship dissolution

A sample of committed gay and lesbian cohabiting couples engaged in two conversations after being apart for at least 8 hours: (a) an events of the day conversation and (b) a conflict resolution conversation. Physiological data were collected during the conversations and a videotape record was made. Couples viewed the videotapes and rated their affect during the interaction. The video records were coded with a system that categorized specific affects displayed. Models derived from physiology, from the perception of interaction, and from specific affective behavior were related to relationship satisfaction, and to the prediction of relationship dissolution over a 12-year period. Results supported previous findings that satisfaction and stability in gay and lesbian relationships are related to similar emotional qualities as in heterosexual relationships.     

Sport in Modern European History: Trajectories,Constellations, Conjunctures1

This essay reviews sport-related articles that have previously appeared in the JHS, alongside a range of other historical works, and in so doing recognizes the importance of persisting themes in the socio-cultural, historical analysis of sport. Such themes have appeared in wide-ranging socio-historical and figurational work, and also underpin the contributions to this special issue: they include the dynamics of cultural importation, diffusion and appropriation; and the cultural significance of sport in wider status and power relations. Emphasizing the compatibility of the historical and the sociological imaginations, and confirming recent positions on the integration of the cultural and the social in historical work, the article goes on to contextualize the place of sport in Europe in the period from the later decades of the nineteenth century into the fourth decade of the twentieth century. Referencing classic debates on historical method and periodization – particularly Braudel's discussions of event, conjuncture, and longue durée– the article identifies core conjunctural features of European sport in the period: internationalism/early globalization; increasing forms of mediatization; emergent individualism; and commercialized consumption and celebrity.     

The Culture of Sports

In conversation with Orlando Patterson, the editors of this special issue reflected and speculated on the nature of the historical sociologist's task and challenge. We agreed that any historical sociology concentrated upon particular events or single sports, but overlooking comparative cultural and social contexts, was narrow and over-focused. Recalling early contributions, Patterson notes how in cricket in the Caribbean there could be found an “intense distillation of every kind of problem and emotional baggage” carried by a society at a particular socio-historical moment. Patterson advocates the dual focus upon time/place and socio-cultural historical influence that is at the heart of the historical sociologist's enterprise; and that shows how cricket, for instance, is both constituted by the legacies of a specific historical past, and constituting of a potentially different future.