Land-use planning in a world of shrinking resources

The paper contrasts two opposed strategies of land-use planning: the classical planning strategy of containment and conservation, and the strategy for outward displacement of land uses, here designated ‘Lemmings Rule’. It is shown how Lemmings Rule which has characterized recent years in Britain, despite the existence of the planning machine, has resulted in large-scale waste of the land resource through various landuse zones outward from the inner city. Statistics derived from the Second Land Utilisation Survey of the 1960s and sample resurveys of the 1970s are cited in support of the argument for a return to the insurance principle in planning.     

Living same-name siblings and British historical demography

This article examines the extent to which living siblings were given identical first names. Whilst the practice of sibling name-sharing appeared to have died out in England during the eighteenth century, in northern Scotland it persisted at least until the end of the nineteenth century. Previously it has not been possible to provide quantitative evidence of this phenomenon, but an analysis of the rich census and vital registration data for the Isle of Skye reveals that this practice was widespread, with over a third of eligible families recording same-name siblings. Our results suggest that further research should focus on regional variations in sibling name-sharing and the extent to which this northern pattern occurred in other parts of Britain.     

Foundational stigma: Place-based stigma in the age before advanced marginality

This paper joins the debate on the formation of territorial stigma by uncovering the existence of a form of “foundational stigma” that preceded place-based stigma of the era of advanced marginality. I show that not only were the traces of stigma present prior to the era of advanced marginality but that these early traces facilitate later forms of stigma by providing the necessary foundations upon which adhesive and detrimental stigma was operationalized. Following a critical discourse analysis approach, this paper examines coverage in the British press of Toxteth, Liverpool between 1900 and 1981 as a paradigmatic case study to show that this primitive stigma existed in three key ways: relating to inter-community strife, to crime, and to substandard housing conditions. These traces of stigma laid the foundations for later forms of stigma based on the presence of the poor, violent, deviant other that would be operationalized by dominant voices during the era of advanced marginality.     

The epistemic and strategic dimension of the establishment of the IPBES: “epistemic selectivities” at work

The economic valuation of biodiversity and related market-based policy instruments are increasingly being referred to in the international politics of biodiversity and related Multilateral Environmental Agreements. They are both the subject of diverging interests, hence leading to conflict and critique, and an impetus for compromise on the way toward a “reasonable” solution to the environmental and economic crises. This development coincides with an extensive debate on how to increase the profile of biodiversity science and make it more policy relevant. This article takes a close look at decision-making processes leading to the establishment of the Intergovernmental Science–Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Particular emphasis is placed on the implicit and explicit conflicts around the significance attached to the concept of ecosystem services within the IPBES debate. The article is based on the assumption that struggles over biodiversity knowledge become marginalized in favor of a stabilization of the “global paradigm of valorization.” In this vein, the concept of ecosystem services contributes to sustaining the rationale that biodiversity can only be preserved if its diverse elements are commodified. This is theoretically underpinned by the concept of “epistemic selectivities,” and I discuss its contribution to the understanding of the role of knowledge in institutional change.     

The grace of motherhood: disabled women contending with societal denial of intimacy,pregnancy, and motherhood in Ethiopia

This study aimed to provide better understanding of intimacy and marriage, pregnancy, birth, and motherhood experiences of women with disability in Ethiopia. Qualitative, in-depth, and semi-structured interviews along with personal observations were used to explore the full experiences of participants, as told in their own words. The result of the interviews indicated that relationships and motherhood proved a very rewarding option for women with disabilities. They also expressed their need for intimacy regardless of society’s denial. Challenges identified include negative societal attitudes toward women with disabilities regarding relationship, pregnancy, and child-rearing. Accessibility of health centers in addition to the ignorance and negative attitudes of the physicians are also reported to be major challenges for the interviewees. This study highlights how rewarding the experience of motherhood was for the interviewees and also shows that women with disabilities face challenges at every step of their experiences, because of society’s prejudices toward disability.     

A class of regression models for parallel and series systems with a random number of components

We extend the Weibull power series (WPS) class of distributions to the new class of extended Weibull power series (EWPS) class of distributions. The EWPS distributions are related to series and parallel systems with a random number of components, whereas the WPS distributions [Morais AL, Barreto-Souza W. A compound class of Weibull and power series distributions. Computational Statistics and Data Analysis. 2011;55:1410–1425] are related to series systems only. Unlike the WPS distributions, for which the Weibull is a limiting special case, the Weibull law is a particular case of the EWPS distributions. We prove that the distributions in this class are identifiable under a simple assumption. We also prove stochastic and hazard rate order results and highlight that the shapes of the EWPS distributions are markedly more flexible than the shapes of the WPS distributions. We define a regression model for the EWPS response random variable to model a scale parameter and its quantiles. We present the maximum likelihood estimator and prove its consistency and asymptotic normal distribution. Although series and parallel systems motivated the construction of this class, the EWPS distributions are suitable for modelling a wide range of positive data sets. To illustrate potential uses of this model, we apply it to a real data set on the tensile strength of coconut fibres and present a simple device for diagnostic purposes.     

The educational experiences of the second generation from refugee backgrounds

This paper draws on qualitative interviews to explore the educational experiences amongst the UK-born adult children of refugees from Vietnam, Sri Lanka (Tamils) and Turkey (Kurdish). Second generation from refugee backgrounds are characterised by diversity and as a group are increasing numerically. However, little is known about the specificity of their experiences as they have been either subsumed within or have fallen between the research agendas on new migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and the body of research on larger established minorities. This paper sets out to fill a gap in the literature by exploring the perspectives of second generation from refugee backgrounds. We examine the impact of policy – particularly dispersal and mobility – on education, the ways in which inter-generational relations and the aspirations of both parents and their children can be shaped by refugee histories, how schools fail to alleviate barriers to parental participation and racism within school settings, especially – though not exclusively – within schools that are less ethnically diverse. We conclude that the policy context and refugee backgrounds shape educational experiences and aspirations but also significant are the structural divisions that reproduce class and race-based inequalities.     

Stages of change and the group treatment of batterers: a randomized clinical trial

A stages-of-change motivational interviewing (SOCMI) treatment approach was compared with a standard cognitive behavioral therapy gender reeducation (CBTGR) approach in a sample of 528 English-speaking and Spanish-speaking male batterers who were randomly assigned to 49 26-week groups in either condition. Blind ratings of therapist adherence differentiated the two conditions. Language spoken neither predicted outcome nor interacted with treatment. The SOCMI curriculum led to significant reductions in female partners' reports of physical aggression at follow-up, but not to changes in self-reported aggression. Men who were initially less ready to change benefited more from the SOCMI approach while men who were more ready to change benefited more from the CBTGR approach. Results suggest the importance of tailoring abuser intervention programs to individuals' initial readiness to change.     

The spaces and ethics of organic food

Initial assessments of the potential for organic food systems have offered an optimistic interpretation of the progressive political and ethical characteristics involved. This positive gloss has prompted a stream of critique emphasising the need to explore the ambiguities and disconnections inherent therein. In this paper, we consider the case of Riverford Organic Vegetables,¹ arguably the largest supplier of organic vegetables in the UK, and suggest that existing debates assume too much about the “goods” and “rights” of organic food and leave important questions about the spaces and ethics of organic food. We argue that, in the case of Riverford, the space of organic food production and distribution is neither the small, local, counter-cultural farm nor the large, transnational, corporate firm. Rather, simultaneously, the spaces of organic food production and distribution are the national network, the regional distribution system and the local farm. In addition, in the case of Riverford, the ethics of organic food exhibit few grand designs (of environmental sustainability, for example). Rather, the ethics of organic food are best characterised as: ordinary, since they relate to concerns about taste, value for money, care within the family and so on; diverse, since multiple practices steer the production and distribution of organic food; and graspable, in that both vegetables and box have material and symbolic presence for consumers.     

Women who use violence in intimate relationships: the role of anger, victimization, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression

The present study examines the role of anger and victimization in women's use of aggression in heterosexual intimate relationships. The sample was composed of 108 women, primarily African American, urban, and poor, who had used violence against a partner in the previous 6 months. Path modeling was used to examine the interrelationships among anger, women's aggressive behavior, victimization, childhood abuse experiences, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression. Results revealed that almost all of the women experienced violence from their partners. Greater frequency of victimization from partners and experiences of childhood abuse increased the likelihood that women would use aggression against their partners. Victimization from partners and childhood abuse also increased the likelihood that women would experience symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression. Women with more symptoms of posttraumatic stress were also more likely to express anger outwardly towards others. Expressing anger outwardly toward others, in turn, predicted an increased likelihood of using aggression against partners.