The economy of risk and respect: Accounts by Puerto Rican sex workers of HIV risk taking

Three‐hundred eleven female drug‐using sex workers in urban Puerto Rico were asked to describe their last negotiation with a client. They described efforts to protect themselves from many hazards of sex work, including violence, illness, and drug withdrawal. They also described efforts to minimize the stigma and marginalization of sex work by cultivating relationships with clients, distinguishing between types of clients, and prioritizing their role as mothers. Sex workers adopted alternating gender roles to leverage autonomy and respect from clients. Their narratives suggest that sex workers negotiate a world in which HIV is relative to other risks, and in which sexual practices which are incomprehensible from an HIV‐prevention perspective are actually rooted in a local cultural logic. Future HIV prevention efforts should frame condom use and other self‐protective acts in terms that build upon sex workers' own strategies for understanding their options and modifying their risks.     

Bypassing Publicity for Getting Things Done: Between Informal and Formal Planning Practices in Finland

This article contributes to the discussion concerning the ways in which network governance and classical-modernist government practices juxtapose and redefine the idea of publicity in planning practices. Through Finnish urban planning cases we ask what kind of publicity is being promoted. We argue that new modes of governing build and employ institutional ambiguity for ‘getting things done’. This provides possibilities to ‘skim the cream’ of the best possible ways of resolving present planning issues. The crucial question is whether the possible positive outcomes give a mandate to the process, even if the process operates in a democratic void.     

A kap study on malaria in Zanzibar: implications for prevention and controlA study conducted for unicef Sub-Office Zanzibar

This study was a collaborative undertaking between UNICEF Sub-Office Zanzibar and Zanzibar Ministries of Health and Education between December 1996 and February 1997.The overall objective of the KAP study was to obtain and interpret detailed grassroots information about Zanzibaris understanding of the causation and transmission of malaria so as to select priority interventions to improve home-based management and prevention of childhood malaria. This information now forms the basis for designing various interventions targeting care-takers risk behaviors, household ability to take informed decisions, and both private and public sector provision of adequate advice and support to households.The assumption underlying the study was that communities will welcome change if they see the need for it, and they will develop the determination and capacity to bring about change to the extent that it seems worthwhile. This KAP profile, then, was to be a key component in a programme to induce beneficial change through public, especially school childrens, participation.The key findings of the study were: (a) although public health messages about malaria were technically correct, they did not address the common cultural myths and perceptions about causation and transmission of malaria; (b) there was a clear distinction made by respondents in defining malaria, i.e., fever, and malarias severe complications, convulsions and fits; (c) decisions concerning treatment were usually taken, with inputs from the family (especially grandparents), by the husbands (where they existed); and (d) treatment involved traditional medicine more frequently than the use of a modern health facility and services.     

Experiences of the maternal role and support in mothers with cognitive limitations who have children in placement

In Sweden, when needed, children of mothers with cognitive limitations are placed in foster homes. There is a lack of knowledge about the mothers with cognitive limitations, their experiences of their maternal role, whether they get the support needed to maintain the relationship with their children, and whether the support system is adapted to mothers with cognitive limitations. The aim was to describe the experiences of the maternal role and support given in mothers with cognitive limitations who have children in placement. An explorative and qualitative design was used. Eleven respondents were interviewed with support from a study‐specific guide. A model representing the respondents' experiences revealed one theme “Struggling, dependent and frustrated mothers,” and three categories: I am a mother, I am dependent on an incomprehensible system, and I reluctantly accept my situation. Mothers with children in placement experience a threat to their identity and experience a need to alter their maternal role. They need adapted support to understand the decisions made and facilitate the cooperation with child protection services and the foster home. Offering service adapted to their cognitive limitations could be helpful for the struggling, dependent, and frustrated mothers.     

The perceived legitimacy of a basic income among Finnish food aid recipients

Discussions on the pros and cons of a basic income (BI) have remained mainly at the ‘systemic level’. Based on survey and interview data, this study provides a ‘bottom‐up’ perspective on the legitimacy of the idea of a basic income among people queuing in breadlines in Helsinki in late 2016, who are assumed to be affected positively by this benefit. While general support for the idea is high, not everyone supports an unconditional BI. Despite the likely ‘objective interest’, a BI does not seem to be supported by food aid recipients any more than by the general population as measured by a previous study. Besides interests, normative beliefs and perceptions of deservingness seem of importance for legitimacy too, especially among those not supporting a BI. Doubts regarding a BI are to some extent connected to wishes to limit the social citizenship of some of the persons in the breadlines.     

Market Access and Manufacturing Wages: Evidence for the Enlarged EU

This paper shows that the establishment of market access to the new EU member countries can favour manufacturing wages in larger EU members, but not in smaller ones, although within the latter some sectors may have gains. Hence the impact of market access is country and sector-specific. The variation in country size, as measured by GDP, is highly correlated with the variation in the impact of market access to the new EU member countries on manufacturing wages.     

Doing Authenticity: The Gendered Construction of Authentic Leadership

Authenticity has been a focus of much leadership research in recent years. Despite this interest, there has been a dearth of studies that explore the role of gender in the social construction of authenticity. To date, authentic leadership theories have tended to be either gender neutral or, where gender has been considered, it is argued that women as ‘outsiders’ are less likely to be accepted by their followers as authentic leaders. In this study we examine the media representations of the CEOs — one male, one female — of two major Australian retail banks during the global financial crisis. Our approach enables us to show that authenticity is something leaders ‘do’ rather than something they ‘have’ or ‘are’, and that being constructed as authentic depends on the leader performing authenticity in line with gender norms deemed appropriate for the socially constructed context in which they are expected to lead.     

Living Arrangements of American Urban Widows

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the examination of the residential arrangements of widows and of the reasons they do not live with married children. It is based on interviews with a modified area probability sample of 301 widows, aged 50 and over, residing in metropolitan Chicago. The conclusion of the analyses is that older widows expect problems in living with married children or are enjoying the ease and independence of living alone sufficiently to offset its disadvantages. Although one-quarter of the widows live in arrangements which they do not like, in terms of sharing a residence, most express satisfaction with their current location. The tendency toward, and satisfaction with, independent living is associated with age, education, and attitudes toward selected social relations, particularly toward children. Widows sharing a residence tend to be with never married children or those undergoing a disorganization of their marriage and to be the head of such a household. Very few Chicago area widows live in three-generation families.     

Methylmercury Risks and EPA + DHA Benefits Associated with Seafood Consumption in Europe

The intake of methyl‐Hg and EPA + DHA through consumption of seafood in Europe as well as the associated probability of exceeding the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) and the recommended daily intake (RDI), respectively, were estimated by combining methyl‐Hg and EPA + DHA contents in the five most consumed seafood species with hypothesized consumption distributions for eight European countries, chosen on the basis of size and representative significance. Two estimators were used: plug‐in (PI) and tail estimation (TE). The latter was based on the application of the extreme value theory to the intakes distribution curves. Whereas contents data were collected from own database and published scientific papers, consumption data were obtained from statistical sources of the various countries. Seafood consumption levels varied considerably between countries, from 140 in the United Kingdom to 628.5 g/(person.week) in Iceland. The main consumed species were also different between countries. The probability of exceeding the methyl‐Hg PTWI ranged from 0.04% in the United Kingdom to 9.61% in Iceland. Concerning the probability of exceeding the RDI of EPA + DHA, Iceland was third, after Portugal (66.05%) and Spain (61.05%) and the United Kingdom was the last (0.32%). While TE was most accurate for small probabilities, PI yielded best estimates for larger probabilities.