Minority-Group Status and Fertility: A More Detailed Test of the Hypothesis

To date, tests of the minority-group status hypothesis relating to fertility have embodied a number of shortcomings—often in the nature of the data used, sometimes in the techniques of analysis, as well. Australian data particularly suited to a test of this hypothesis support it, but only when minority status is combined with pronatalism. In the absence of pronatalism, minority/majority fertility differences can instead be readily accounted for in terms of group differences either in socioeconomic composition or in the distribution of more specifically individual attributes.     

Institutional Change and Debt-based Corporate Governance: A Comparative Analysis of Four Transition Economies

Countries in transition now represent a significant sector of the international political economy. One of the challenges that they face in moving towards market-based systems and institutions is that of transforming the structure of business enterprises into forms more compatible with capitalist economies. Corporate governance is an important part of this. We argue that, certainly during an interim stage whilst equity markets are weak or non-existent, debt finance has a useful role to play. However for this to be possible there are some important institutional changes that are necessary in order to provide the infrastructure within which debt finance can operate effectively and efficiently. We then present an overview and evaluation of the progress of change in four selected transition countries. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Towards 1992: A strategy for training

1992 is now 3 years away and much is now being spoken and written on the free market within Europe following the magic date. The need for businesses to think about a strategy for training to equip their staff to take advantage of the new opportunities is ever more important. Training has historically lived under the ‘stop-go’ policy. When business is good, we can afford training; when business is bad, training is the first to suffer. The author has tried to formulate a strategic approach to ensure people become conscious of the necessity of management involvement and commitment in training. The 1990s offer great potential to companies who direct activities to these opportunities, and those who meet the threat will be winners.     

The consequences of international migration for the status of women: a Turkish study

As part of a larger inquiry into the consequences of international migration for those who remain in the country of origin, 234 adults in four Turkish provinces were interviewed concerning matters (mostly opinions) pertaining to the status of women. Three migrant-status categories were defined; (a) Returned migrants, (b) Non-migrant close kin or friends of migrants, and, as a control group, (c) All others. Controlling for age, sex, urban-rural residence, and schooling, group (a) was the most likely to express "non-traditional" views, and group (c) the least. Group (b) was in between.
Of the two possible explanations for such a pattern – recruitment and socialization – we found recruitment highly significant. The evidence for socialization, however, was decidedly mixed. Some of the considerable diversity of viewpoints pertaining to the status of women found in this inquiry are doubtless causally associated with the experience of migration, whether direct or indirect. But there is also evidence here of a society in the process of rapid change; and it is these more general social changes, not migration as such, that would appear to be more likely to affect the status of women.
There is little support for the contention that the type of international migration that has involved so many Turks these past three decades – migration that has for the most part been temporary and economically motivated and has consisted of movements from relatively poor agricultural or but slightly industrialized areas to rich, highly industrialized ones characterized by marked differences in language, religion, and overall culture – is going to result in moving the status of women from a more to a less "traditional" plane.     

Seed funding for health promotion: sowing sustainability or skepticism?

Health promotion activities are enjoying renewed attention fromgovernments under the rubric of chronic disease prevention,yet often with similar and inadequate resources. Seed-fundingopportunities are popular means for governments to distributemonies and groom communities to embed the funded activitiesinto local ecology. The success of seed funding in nurturingcommunity capacity and engendering program sustainability iscontroversial. This article discusses a recent seed-fundingexperience in the Canadian province of British Columbia.     

The management of sex offenders in the community: from policy to practice

This paper provides an overview of the most significant public policy initiatives that apply to known sexual offenders who live in the community. It is argued that while registration schemes, community notification, and offender residency restrictions have become a prominent feature of contemporary sex offender policy, the evidence base supporting their implementation is, at best, limited. There is a need to develop policies which are more tailored to the needs of individual offenders and which are explicitly designed to manage risk. Policies which mandate and facilitate interagency and partnership working represent one way in which individualised and research‐informed approaches can be developed. It is suggested that the implementation of this type of approach may ultimately lead to more effective community responses to preventing sexual reoffending than those which rely solely on monitoring and supervision.     

From ‘temporary migrants’ to ‘permanent residents’: Indian H-1B visa holders in the United States

Literature on international migration from India in the past has focused on the formation and development of ‘Indian diasporas’; that is, Indians who have moved to various parts of the world and maintain socio-economic, cultural and political lives in India as well as other countries. However, little attention has been paid toward ‘temporary migrants’ who have migrated to different countries with a temporary visa and in the course of time extended their visas to become ‘permanent residents’. Temporary migration from India has become a common trend over the last two decades, especially since the acceleration of globalisation and the developments in the fields of information and communication technologies. Although it is argued that this type of migration took place in the past – for instance, Indians migrated to British, French, Dutch and Portuguese colonies during the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth centuries as indentured labourers for a period of three to five years and later extended their stays – what is new about the current trend is the new state policies of different host countries and the socio-economic and cultural background of the immigrants. This paper is an exploratory study of this contemporary phenomena of movement from ‘temporary migrant’ to ‘permanent resident’, a phenomena which has not been given much attention by academicians and policy makers in India. The present paper outlines this trend with an illustration of Indian H-1B visa holders in the United States.     

Public Perceptions of Health Risks from Polluted Coastal Bathing Waters: A Mixed Methodological Analysis Using Cultural Theory

This article explores public perceptions of, and attitudes toward, possible health risks from polluted coastal bathing waters in the United Kingdom. Cultural theory is applied in the present analysis, using a mixed methodology of quantitative analysis from interviews and qualitative interpretation of focus group discussions to provide insights into how different cultural solidarities view a number of issues. These include risks to health; attitudes toward regulation; public consultation and information provision; and trust, blame, and accountability applied to different stakeholders in the bathing-water-quality debate. The results show that individuals' standpoints can be represented on a number of dimensions, consistent with cultural theory, including perceptions of power and authority, beliefs in the efficacy of collective action, and acceptance or rejection of incremental change as opposed to radical solutions. The discussion focuses both on methodological and substantive issues related to the use of cultural theory as a research tool, and on policy recommendations arising from this research.