The Subjective Well-Being of the Homeless, and Lessons for Happiness

The current study assessed the subjective well-being of a broad spectrum of homeless people. One-hundred-and-eighty-six homeless people from the streets of Calcutta (India), California, and a tent camp in Portland (Oregon) were interviewed, and responded to measures of subjective well-being. They answered questions about life satisfaction, satisfaction with various life domains, and their experience of positive and negative emotions. The mean rating of life satisfaction was slightly negative for both American samples but positive for the pavement dwellers in Calcutta. Satisfaction with self-related domains was positive, whereas satisfaction with material related domains was generally negative. Satisfaction with social domains appears to be the area of largest variation among the groups. We discuss the importance of social factors and basic material needs as they relate to overall subjective well-being of the homeless.     

On the Diaconis-Gangolli Markov chain for sampling contingency tables with cell-bounded entries

The problems of uniformly sampling and approximately counting contingency tables have been widely studied, but efficient solutions are only known in special cases. One appealing approach is the Diaconis and Gangolli Markov chain which updates the entries of a random 2×2 submatrix. This chain is known to be rapidly mixing for cell-bounded tables only when the cell bounds are all 1 and the row and column sums are regular. We demonstrate that the chain can require exponential time to mix in the cell-bounded case, even if we restrict to instances for which the state space is connected. Moreover, we show the chain can be slowly mixing even if we restrict to natural classes of problem instances, including regular instances with cell bounds of either 0 or 1 everywhere, and dense instances where at least a linear number of cells in each row or column have non-zero cell-bounds.     

Money in Search Equilibrium,in Competitive Equilibrium,and in Competitive Search Equilibrium

We compare three market structures for monetary economies: bargaining (search equilibrium); price taking (competitive equilibrium); and price posting (competitive search equilibrium). We also extend work on the microfoundations of money by allowing a general matching technology and entry. We study how equilibrium and the effects of policy depend on market structure. Under bargaining, trade and entry are both inefficient, and inflation implies first‐order welfare losses. Under price taking, the Friedman rule solves the first inefficiency but not the second, and inflation may actually improve welfare. Under posting, the Friedman rule yields the first best, and inflation implies second‐order welfare losses.     

A marketing plan: like it or not, you already have one

A physician executive dives into the world of marketing and discovers that just coming up with a marketing plan for a group practice can be very pricey.     

Commitment to the union: a survey of research and the implications for industrial relations and trade unions

This paper presents an overview of the literature on union commitment. The aim is to survey the main approaches, findings and implications of the research. The nature and dimensionality of union commitment are examined, and the antecedents and consequences of union commitment are discussed in detail, including a review of the implications for union participation. There is also a discussion of the possibility of dual commitment to union and employer, and of the 'multiple constituencies' view of commitment. An attempt is made to link the union commitment findings to the wider industrial relations literature on, for example, why people join unions and the 'union renewal' thesis. The article concludes by discussing the implications of the literature for union–management relationships and for unions themselves, and with some suggestions for future research.     

Altruism and culture as social products

The historical core of the independent sector is comprised of churches, charitable organisations and higher education. What distinguishes these and other independent sector organisations from the governmental and commercial sectors is the fact that participation in the independent sector is free from state compulsion and not for the purpose of monetary gain. The independent sector is a modern development which could not have occurred without the disestablishment of religion. Disestablished churches have given rise to secular charities, higher education and other independent sector organisations in the United States. The independent sector is the arena in which cultural production and altruistic activities with a distinctive moral quality take place. Participation in the independent sector is the only mechanism for status legitimation in a democractic society with no compulsory state religion or traditional forms of authority.     

The organizational politics of the ASA

The American Sociological Association’s Report on Future Organizational Trends arose from worries that the ASA is disintegrating into a conglomerate of mutually oblivious specialities. The proliferation of sections was regarded as an aspect of this disintegration that the ASA might be able to control. But the committee charged with examining the problem of sections concluded that section expansion has become a major form of political mobilization within the association, and that sections act as a counterweight to the bureaucratic centralization of the ASA as a whole. On balance, the committee opted for the local vitalization going on in sections as against the more abstract concerns of the ASA central governing bodies. His books includeWeberian Sociological Theory (1986),Theoretical Sociology (1988), andSociology of Marriage and Family: Gender, Love and Property (third edition co-authored with Scott Coltrane, 1990).