More but not better jobs in Chile? The fundamental importance of open‐ended contracts

Chilean governments since 1990 have relied on economic growth to generate employment, higher wages and better conditions of employment. But the results of this policy have been mixed: quantitative improvements in employment and wages have not been matched by improvements in job quality. Contrasting Chile's seemingly rigid regulatory framework with its actual labour market flexibility, the authors stress the importance of employment conditions in assessing labour market performance. They empirically explore the effects of individual and job characteristics on employment and income‐generating capabilities, whose most powerful determinant, they find, is employment under an open‐ended contract. They conclude with a discussion of policy implications.     

Exploring social constructions of followership: A qualitative study

This study adopts a qualitative approach to deconstruct the meaning of followership. Interviews were conducted with employees in various industries to examine how individuals socially construct their roles as followers and to explore followership schemas and contextual influences that relate to these constructions. Results suggest that while some individuals socially construct definitions around passivity, deference and obedience, others emphasize the importance of constructively questioning and challenging their leaders. With regard to personal qualities that are thought to make followers effective, major themes such as obedience, expressing opinions, and taking initiative were found to be most disparate across different groups of followers. Results also revealed that contextual factors may affect both followership constructions and behavior in the follower role. These findings have important implications regarding a need to examine the construct of followership in leadership research, as well as raise interesting possibilities for advancing an “expanded” view of leadership in organizations.     

Psychological abuse in Spanish same-sex couples: prevalence and relationship between victims and perpetrators

This study investigates the prevalence of psychological abuse victimization in same-sex couples and the relationship between being a victim and a perpetrator of these negative behaviours. The final sample consisted of 107 adults residing in Spain who identified themselves as lesbian women and gay men, and who had been involved in a conflictive same-sex relationship. Participants were asked how frequently they would label their experience of psychological abuse and three different estimation methods were used. Furthermore, the relationship between being a victim and being a perpetrator of psychological abuse behaviours was calculated through the behavioural estimation method using a questionnaire. The results showed that the prevalence rates varied from 11.3% to 56.6%, depending on the estimation method, and they revealed that there was no correlation between receiving and enacting psychological abuse behaviours. The variation in prevalence rates highlights methodological differences that limit the extent to which comparisons can be made across studies. Three estimation methods are introduced to stimulate future research on this issue.     

“We Can Help the People Who Can Make a Difference”: Motivations,Goals, and Outcomes in Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring

This research examines motivations and goals of individuals participating in volunteer water quality monitoring programs and the ways in which volunteer collected data are used as well as the potential impact on environmental governance. Findings indicate that participants are primarily motivated to protect water as a natural resource and seek to do so by sharing citizen-collected data with government environmental management agencies. The impact of monitoring programs is uniformly positive for raising citizen awareness about water quality issues and building data sets but is uneven when it comes to policy influence. The experience of volunteer water quality monitors and the outcomes of their work are shaped by social contexts of scientization and neoliberalism. These contexts facilitate openings for citizen participation in data collection and environmental governance but also create limits on the extent to which volunteer data can be used for policy-making.     

Canada’s forced birth travel: towards feminist indigenous reproductive mobilities

ABSTRACT

The mandatory travel for birth experienced by Indigenous women living in rural and remote areas of Canada is examined using an emergent lens of Indigenous reproductive mobilities. Current evacuation practices are contextualized within the historic and ongoing systems of oppression experienced by Indigenous people in Canada. Indigenous feminist and decolonial theoretical approaches are used to outline one way in which Indigenous women counter settler colonialism to assert sovereignty over their birth experiences – through the resurgence of culturally-based doulas or birth workers. A further contribution of these analyses is the inclusion and centering of the voices and experiences of those previously neglected within this particular body of scholarship, shifting the power relations underpinning reproductive mobilities.     

INTERNAL COCAINE TRAFFICKING AND ARMED VIOLENCE IN COLOMBIA

This paper exploits time variations in international cocaine prices and potential trafficking routes within Colombia to estimate the effect of the illegal cocaine trade on changes in municipality homicide rates. I construct the potential internal cocaine-trafficking network and exploit the fact that different regions in Colombia have comparative advantages in serving different international markets. My results suggest that when cocaine prices increase in either the United States or Europe, homicide rates increase in municipalities strategically placed to serve each international market. (JEL D74, K42, F19)     

System Justification in Responding to the Poor and Displaced in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

We examine people's reactions to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, most of whom are minorities living in poverty, and we do so in terms of system justification theory. We propose that the social system was indirectly threatened for the public when inadequate relief efforts exposed governmental shortcomings, called into question the legitimacy of agency leadership, and highlighted racial inequality in America. In response to such system threats, both victims and observers (e.g., the general public, commentators, policy makers) are known to engage in various forms of system justification, including direct defense of the status quo, victim blaming, stereotyping, and internalization of inequality. These processes can reduce emotional distress and restore perceived legitimacy to the system, but they may have a number of troubling consequences for the storm victims in their efforts to return to normalcy.     

Project Employ: engineering hope and breaking down barriers to homelessness

The homeless population in the US has dramatically increased in the past two decades. People who are homeless often lack skills sets such as stress management and social skills, independent living skills, and skills for vocational and leisure engagement. Best practice vocational education and training programs for individuals who are homeless recognize that success in the worker role often hinges on a person's capacity to manage day-to-day living. Life skills and pre-employment training are essential components of vocational programs but no more important than interpersonal skill development including anger management, developing self esteem and motivation, building goal setting capacity, and skills for money management, personal budgeting and self-advocacy. These areas of performance have all been traditionally included in occupational therapy's domain of practice. This article describes Project Employ, a grant funded supportive employment program that has grown out of collaboration between Duquesne University's Department of Occupational Therapy and Bethlehem Haven, an emergency shelter and residential recovery program and primary service provider for homeless people in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The purpose of this article is to describe the history, structure and outcomes of Project Employ.     

The "Antidemocratic Personality" Revisited: A Cross-National Investigation of Working-Class Authoritarianism

More than 60 years ago, psychologists identified a potential threat to democracy from within, namely the "antidemocratic personality" arising from the "authoritarian syndrome." It was soon discovered that the problem of authoritarianism was especially acute among those who were low in education and income, and that it was associated with intolerance toward others. However, several important questions were left unresolved. We revisit fundamental theoretical and empirical questions concerning the existence and nature of "working-class authoritarianism," focusing especially on four psychological aspects of authoritarianism, namely, conventionalism, moral absolutism, obedience to authority, and cynicism. In a cross-national investigation involving respondents from 19 democratic countries, we find that all four aspects of authoritarianism are indeed related to moral and ethnic intolerance. However, only obedience to authority and cynicism are especially prevalent among those who are low in socioeconomic status. Conventionalism and moral absolutism were significant predictors of economic conservatism, whereas obedience to authority and cynicism were not. We find no support for Lipset's (1960) claim that working-class authoritarianism would be associated with economic liberalism. Instead, we find that authoritarianism is linked to right-wing orientation in general and that intolerance mediates this relationship. Implications for electoral politics and political psychology are discussed.