Fishermens blues: Factors related to accidents and safety among Newfoundland fishermen

The fisheries is one of the most dangerous industries in Canada. Possible contributory causes of the high rate of injuries are a fatalistic attitude to accidents and safety, and a high level of anxiety and worry among fishermen. These characteristics would be expected to lead to less attention to safety procedures and a consequent greater risk of accidents. The purpose of this study was to explore fishermen's levels of fatalism and anxiety; to consider the relationship of these factors to the frequency of accidents and extent of safety precautions; and to explore fishermen's explanations of and suggested solutions to the high rate of injuries at sea. The study was conducted among a sample of inshore fishermen who fished in the waters around Newfoundland. Fifty-five fishermen completed a questionnaire that requested basic demographic details, information on injuries obtained, safety precautions taken, perceived locus of control over accidents, anxiety, worries and explanations for accidents and possible measures to reduce them. Analysis of their replies revealed that the fishermen reported a high level of anxiety and that those who reported most anxiety reported more injuries and fewer safety precautions.     

Critical Theory, Information Society and Surveillance Technologies

This article offers an account of information and communication technologies (ICTs) that draws upon the tradition of critical theory, arguing that an application of the latter to the former can be categorized as a theory of 'cyber criticalism'. Its aim is not to provide an exhaustive theoretical analysis or any kind of literature review, but to suggest that such a theorization is possible because cyber criticalism (1) offers an account of social power and (2) suggests how and why alternatives to existing social practices and institutions can be formed. The first section relates the debate about information society to that concerning globalization and argues that two main theories square off against each other in the race to explain that society: one which, in Castells's terminology, emphasizes the power of flows and the other which emphasizes the flows of power. If the former is inadequate in crucial respects then the way is clear for critical theorists to explore the latter. Cyber criticalism is then sketched in outline and the article proceeds to identify information systems, the flows of power, as potential sites of resistance. The final section focuses upon biometrics and argues that the way forward for cyber critical theorists lies in exploiting the cultural insecurities of informatic capitalism. Ultimately, then, cyber criticalism is critical theory updated for the information age. Unlike those such as Castells it identifies flows of power and the intensification of those flows around the dominant nodes of the informational net. It insists that information systems constitute potential sites of resistance. Nevertheless, acts of resistance are still relatively marginal and fragmented events due to they way in which social problems are pathologized and criminalized.     

Dementia Patients’ Transition to Residential Aged Care: Carers’ and Social Workers’ Experiences

Many people with dementia eventually require residential aged care, frequently preceded by a hospital admission. Family carers often find the process challenging and disempowering, as they are expected to move their family member to residential aged care quickly. This article reports on findings from a small Australian qualitative study focusing on the provision of information, support and resources, and discusses the findings in relation to person-centred care and critical social work. Social workers completed an online survey and participated in focus groups, and carers were interviewed. The research found that carers valued the information, support, and resources provided by social workers and other hospital staff. They needed time to adjust to the dementia diagnosis and wanted a supportive person to talk to about the written information. The social workers wanted an improved approach to the preparation and communication of information, and a more consistent approach to family meetings.     

Anticipated and experienced changes in activities after husbands retire

As an element of anticipatory socialization, ability to predict future roles accurately may impact subsequent adaptation. Part of a larger study of retirement and marital quality, this longitudinal research examined husbands' and wives' (n = 61 couples) anticipations of change (more/less/same) in six individual and joint activities following husbands' retirement, and compared them with couples' reported experiences a year after husbands had retired. With the exception of household tasks, continuity in levels of activity from pre-to post-retirement was greater than couples had anticipated. Cross-classification of responses at baseline and Time 2 indicated only modest congruence between anticipated and experienced change in activities. Accuracy of anticipation was not related significantly to retirement satisfaction as hypothesized, but direction of retirement-satisfaction mean scores, especially among wives, suggest that future testing would be warranted.     

Elder abuse: factors related to perceptions of severity and likelihood of reporting

This study examined factors that affect assessments of abuse as depicted in scenarios in which a caregiving daughter abuses her elderly mother through over-medication. College students (N = 239) read scenarios that varied in terms of the past quality of the caregiver/elder relationship and whether or not the elder adult was depicted as suffering from dementia. The role of the participants' own family caregiving experiences also was explored. Results from a factorial ANOVA showed that individuals who perceived the relationship as difficult and whose parents had served as caregivers rated the behavior in the scenario as more abusive and were more willing to notify authorities than participants in other conditions. Results are discussed with a focus on educating families and those working with elderly populations.     

THE RHETORIC OF DEMOCRACY IN INTERNATIONAL ON-LINE EDUCATION

On-line education has been heralded as the next democratizing force in education, particularly in higher education (Daniel 1996; Jones 1997). By opening access to populations which have not had access either because of geographical location, job status, or physical handicap, the rhetoric of on-line education suggests that this new technology will democratize education, breaking down the elitist walls of the ivory tower. However, it is not at all clear that the reality of implementing distance learning solutions have in fact any potential, much less actual value for democratizing higher education. Much the opposite, founded on the myth of the meritocracy, on-line education has the potential to exacerbate already intractable views of individual achievement through education as rectifying failures to meet disadvantaged populations' needs. This paper presents several cases of international on-line education and the rhetoric that surrounds its introduction. In some cases we are able to share stories of implementation of distance learning programmes or governmental promises made to those interested in distance learning. In each case, we attempt to tell a story that sheds light on the ways in which the noble goals of democracy are and aren't met in the harsh reality of on-line learning.     

THE EFFECTS OF COMMUNITY STRUCTURE ON OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTERRACIAL CONTACT:

Blau's (1977) macrostructural theory builds on the assumption that social structure affects intergroup relations. This relationship depends upon the opportunity for intergroup contact. Previous tests of Blau's theory, however, treat opportunity as an unmeasured construct. P *, as a measure of opportunity for intergroup contact, not only enables a test of that assumption, but also merges general sociological principles with specific middle-range ones like those urban sociology develops.
Findings here modestly support Blau's opportunity for contact assumption. Serendipitously, the analysis demonstrates that heterogeneity asymmetrically influences opportunities for intergroup contact between groups of varying size. Because increasing heterogeneity presupposes an increase in the minority proportion and a decrease in the majority, it enhances majority and suppresses minority opportunities for intergroup contact. This suggests that Blau's hete ogeneity theorem, which assumes a symmetrical effect on contact, needs some qualification.     

THE LIMITS TO GROWTH

This article examines aggregate real estate firm mortality rates in a group of metropolitan areas during the 1960s and 1970s. Real estate firms play a critical role in the local growth machine, yet no research has examined the environmental limits which these firms experience. A set of ecological hypotheses are constructed which detail the influence of task and institutional environments on aggregate firm mortality rates. The findings show the sensitivity of firms to their local context, although standard market forces are not operating. In addition, period differences suggest that larger societal forces interact with the local land market, increasing aggregate mortality rates over time. Results support recent observations of the local land market made by the "new urban sociology."     

Why textile and clothing industries are shifting to the third world

The 1970s witnessed important changes in the international division of industrial labour. Textiles and clothing were the major examples of industries where comparative advantage shifted in favour of developing countries. The present article discusses the reasons why textiles and clothing are important at the early stage of industrialization. It then examines the statistical relationship between the size of these industries and GNP per capita levels and finds this to be strongly negative. The article concludes that this points to the unrealistic nature of developed countries' attempts to maintain textile and clothing industries at their present size through protectionism, and that this will be an inadequate response to future changes in the international division of labour.