The social psychology of Adam and Eve

Conclusion I am arguing for three links between the biblical creation myth and social theory. First, I am arguing that, by exploiting the story for the social psychological ideas that can be drawn out of it, we have a rich way to appreciate the nuances of the myth. By treating Adam and Eve as a parsimonious and memorable form of sociological theorizing, we can effectively appreciate the elaborate, highly tuned, richly coherent, and subtle structure of the myth. We can answer a series of initially enigmatic questions about the logic of the story, and in the process we can bring out some of its neglected features, such as the burden in the final gift. Here empirical theory serves to clarify the hermeneutics of a powerfully appealing element of cultural life.Next, reversing the perspective, we can reveal the myth as a testable empirical theory. In this article, I can only suggest the promise of such a theory. But this operation draws out theoretical ideas about emotions - such as their dualistic and dialectical character - that are difficult to summarize elegantly without the aid of the symbolic powers of mythical narrative and that point empirical investigation in new directions.Third, there is the empirical question of the impressive resonance of the story of Adam and Eve. I am arguing that the everyday emergence and decline of emotions, in typically brief, typically inconsequential, social interactional episodes, parallels the metamorphosis described in Genesis. This parallel indicates a ground for the appeal of this creation myth wherever people structure their emotions into socially situated forms, wherever falls, literal or figurative, can lead alternatively to shame, laughter, crying, or anger. The narrative structure of everyday emotions is surely not the only nor the most important basis of the appeal of Adam and Eve, but there is a grounding for the resonance of the story, a tacit basis for its pervasive appeal, in the stories that we corporeally convey as we construct socially situated episodes of shame, laughter, anger, and crying.Something similar was argued by the English and German literary and philosophical Romantics but their claims were far more ambitious. They frequently appreciated biblical stories such as those of the Fall from paradise, the prodigal son, and the tearing of Christ from communal embrace and eventual resurrection, not as history or allegory but as proto-scientific summaries of ongoing human realities. In M. H. Abrams's review, the Romantic tendency was... to naturalize the supernatural and to humanize the divine. All the figures and events of the bible were to be seen and felt within you.My position in this essay is neither so grand nor so optimistic. I am arguing that emotions in everyday social life describe a metamorphosis of fall, chaos, and an attempt at graceful reintegration, but not that this process describes all of social life, much less all of history, nor even that it describes what is most fundamental, best, or most elevating in life, as the Romantics might have said. For Schiller, the Fall was fortunate because it led to a spiral ascent toward a paradise more grand than the one Adam lost. Our situated emotions routinely lead back to the banalities from which they emerged. Moreover, much of emotional life does not necessarily take the form of bounded narrative episodes; indeed much of what may be most important about social life, in any number of senses, is not characterized by the bouts of crying and anger, phases of shameful feeling, and moments of laughter that this essay addresses. But the story of Eden resonates elaborately in emotionally colorful moments within the mundane prose of routine interaction, just as those sensually vivid experiences are narrated in corporeally distinctive ways. Revisiting Genesis, we can grasp its wisdom reverberating through the workings of emotions in everyday social life.     

Domestic Violence,Children's Agency and Mother–Child Relationships: Towards a More Advanced Model

Although domestic violence research increasingly recognises children's agency, this awareness has not extended to our understanding of children's relationships with their abused mothers. Findings suggesting that some children actively support their mother, and encourage her to leave the perpetrator, have been consistently under‐discussed. This article argues that the model of parent–child relationships used by most domestic violence research sees children as passive and contributes to mother‐blaming discourses. Analysing key quantitative and qualitative research, I suggest that a more sophisticated model of parent–child relationships is needed to understand how children's agency affects them, their mothers and the domestic violence situation.     

Suicidal behaviour in transition‐aged youth with out‐of‐home care experience: Reviewing risk,assessment, and intervention

The rates of suicidal behaviours in youth with out‐of‐home care experience, particularly those who are on the verge of emancipation, appear to be alarmingly high. The purpose of the current study is to highlight the rates of suicidal ideation and behaviour in these youth, illuminating the empirical risk factors that may increase their vulnerability. We offer a review of screening measures and suicide interventions that may hold promise for administrators, practitioners, and researchers who wish to provide comprehensive assessment for transition‐aged youth with out‐of‐home care experiences and effectively treat those who may be at the highest risk.     

Using social norms theory to explain perceptions and sexual health behaviors of undergraduate college students: an exploratory study

The authors and associates conducted a social norms-based intervention targeting high-risk sexual behaviors among undergraduate students at 4 college campuses. Social norms theory predicts that widely held misperceptions may encourage risky behavior in a misguided attempt to conform to perceived norms and that information correcting these misperceptions will lead to a decrease in such behaviors. Students overestimated their peers' levels of sexual activity, numbers of partners, incidence of sexually transmitted infections, and rates of unintended pregnancies, but underestimated rates of condom use. Rates of HIV test taking, however, were accurately estimated. Although some components of sexual risk behaviors lend themselves well to social norms-based interventions, others, specifically inconsistent condom use and avoiding HIV tests, do not. Although no changes in reported beliefs or practices were apparent at the end of a 9-month intervention period, longer or modified interventions may be needed to make a fair assessment of the efficacy of this approach.     

Does Rent‐sharing Profit Female and Male Workers? Evidence from Israeli Matched Employer–Employee Data

This paper analyses the impact of workplace characteristics on individual wages based on a unique cross‐section matched employer–employee data set for the Israeli private manufacturing sector in 1995. Specifically, we examine the effects of the interaction between profit‐sharing and wages on the gender wage gap. The empirical findings show that individual compensation is significantly and positively correlated with firms’ profits‐per‐employee, even when controlling for all of the following: group effects in the residuals, individual and firms’ characteristics, industry wage differentials and endogeneity of profits. Wage–profit elasticity is found to be 11 per cent and it does not significantly differ between genders. With respect to the overall gender wage gap (on average women earn 28 per cent less than men), the results show that within firms there is no gender discrimination and that 12 per cent of this gap can be explained by the wage–profits profile and by the fact that women are more likely to be employed in less profitable firms than men.     

The density maximization problem in graphs

We consider a framework for bi-objective network construction problems where one objective is to be maximized while the other is to be minimized. Given a host graph G=(V,E) with edge weights w _e ∈? and edge lengths ? _e ∈? for e∈E we define the density of a pattern subgraph H=(V′,E′)?G as the ratio ?(H)=∑ _e∈E′ w _e /∑ _e∈E′ ? _e . We consider the problem of computing a maximum density pattern H under various additional constraints. In doing so, we compute a single Pareto-optimal solution with the best weight per cost ratio subject to additional constraints further narrowing down feasible solutions for the underlying bi-objective network construction problem. First, we consider the problem of computing a maximum density pattern with weight at least W and length at most L in a host G. We call this problem the biconstrained density maximization problem. This problem can be interpreted in terms of maximizing the return on investment for network construction problems in the presence of a limited budget and a target profit. We consider this problem for different classes of hosts and patterns. We show that it is NP-hard, even if the host has treewidth 2 and the pattern is a path. However, it can be solved in pseudo-polynomial linear time if the host has bounded treewidth and the pattern is a graph from a given minor-closed family of graphs. Finally, we present an FPTAS for a relaxation of the density maximization problem, in which we are allowed to violate the upper bound on the length at the cost of some penalty. Second, we consider the maximum density subgraph problem under structural constraints on the vertex set that is used by the patterns. While a maximum density perfect matching can be computed efficiently in general graphs, the maximum density Steiner-subgraph problem, which requires a subset of the vertices in any feasible solution, is NP-hard and unlikely to admit a constant-factor approximation. When parameterized by the number of vertices of the pattern, this problem is W[1]-hard in general graphs. On the other hand, it is FPT on planar graphs if there is no constraint on the pattern and on general graphs if the pattern is a path.     

Exploring the abortion problem in Canada

A scale designed to measure attraction to sexual aggression is described, based on earlier work assessing self‐reported likelihood of committing rape. This scale's associations with measures of theoretically relevant attitudes, perceptions, and behavioral inclinations are examined in comparison with briefer measures, and with a number of other scales measuring attraction to various types of sexual interactions. These include conventional sex (e.g., heterosexual intercourse), homosexuality, bondage, unconventional sex (e.g., group sex), and deviant sex (e.g., pedophilia). Data supporting the longer and shorter versions of the attraction to sexual aggression scale are presented, showing internal consistency, test‐retest reliability, and discriminant and construct validity. As well, a number of issues raised by critiques of research in this area are addressed empirically.     

Reporting Suspected Child Maltreatment: Educating Social Work Students in Decision Making and Maintaining the Relationship

ABSTRACT

As future mandated reporters, social work students face the dual challenge of rendering accurate reporting decisions while concurrently maintaining the therapeutic relationship in an effort to decrease future child abuse and neglect. To address the paucity of training in this regard, 42 bachelor of social work (n=18) and master of social work (n=24) students participated in a workshop focused on decision making and the therapeutic relationship in mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect. Participants were given a case vignette and responded in writing to structured questions. Two patterns emerged from the qualitative analysis: factors that centered on the case and those that centered on the social worker. Implications for social work education are suggested.     

Needs and Perceptions of LGBTQ Caregivers: The Challenges of Services and Support

Increasing attention has been paid to the lack of services and support afforded older lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) women in same-sex relationships, including caregivers. This study was designed to investigate the needs and perceptions of LGBTQ women from ages 35 to 91, including informal caregivers and older adults regarding services and support from health care providers. Questionnaires were completed by older LGBTQ women (N = 76), and follow-up interviews were conducted with 25% of caregiver respondents. The majority of subjects indicated a fear of future challenges and discrimination. Four main themes emerged when analyzing the open-ended responses: the need for health care workers who were both supportive and knowledgeable about LGBTQ issues; better and consistent recognition of same-sex partners and their rights to make decisions as primary caregivers; increased sensitivity training regarding the needs of LGBTQ patients and caregivers; and more open and accepting environments where LGBTQ patients and caregivers could feel comfortable discussing issues with the staff.