Rereading The Intellectuals on the Road to Class Power

These essays were originally presented at a symposium of the same title that took place at the annual meeting of the American Association of the Advancement of Slavic Studies in Toronto on November 20, 2003. The charge to the participants was to to reread the book and make short presentations on it, its significance, the validity of its analysis in hindsight, its historical contribution to our understanding of late communism, its influence on others. The symposium was timed to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of writing of the book in 1973–1974 as well as the twenty-fifth anniversary of its publication in English in 1979.     

Structural Isomorphism in Australian Nonprofit Organizations

This paper assesses the extent of structural similarity or isomorphism among nonprofit organizations in Australia. Based on neo-institutional theory, the paper explains such isomorphism in terms of these organizations subordination and dependency, the uncertainties they face, and the networks of experts of which they are a part. The analysis uses the nonprofit component of a 2001–2002 random sample of Australian employment organizations. It finds surprisingly little isomorphism in this subsample and few differences in isomorphism according to the level of the factors thought to produce similarity. The discussion of the findings focuses on the suitability of the nonprofit sector as the appropriate organizational field within which isomorphism involving these organizations is likely to be produced. Industries, which include all organizations that produce the same product or service, be they nonprofit, for-profit, or government, may be more appropriate interactional fields for the development of isomorphism.     

Why do drug treatment organizations use contingent staffing arrangements? An analysis of market and social influences

Contingent staffing arrangements are defined as conditional and transitory work arrangements. In the drug abuse treatment sector, contingent staffing arrangements have the potential to improve treatment if they are used to increase access to needed services. Alternatively, such arrangements could interfere with the development of consistent, long-term client-staff relationships. Unfortunately, little is known about the consequences of or influences on contingent staff arrangements in this sector. The goal of this study is to examine the conditions under which outpatient substance abuse treatment organizations are more likely to use contingent staffing arrangements. Building on previous research on the social organization of health care structures and practices, we develop a conceptual model based in market economics and institutional perspectives to suggest that treatment organizations choose contingent arrangements in response to market conditions and uncertainty, institutional demands, and client needs. Using data from a nationally representative study conducted in 1988, 1990, and 1995, we find limited evidence that drug treatment units use contingent staff in response to market pressures. Labor market and demand uncertainty, however, are systematically associated with greater use of contingent staff. Study results suggest that expectations and norms from the institutional environment, particularly the organizational context of the treatment unit are strong predictors of the use of contingent staff. By considering both market and social influences of contingent staffing, we contribute to a growing body of research on how markets and institutions interact to influence organizational structures and practices in the health care system.     

A comparison of chi-squared statistics for testing homogeneity of survey data:High School and Beyond survey

The performance of several test statistics for comparing vectors of propor tions from certain survey data was compared. The statistics were used to analyze a subsample of data from the 'High School and Beyond' survey. These tests include the Wald test statistic X2w and the modified Wald test statistic FW, the chi-squared test statistic X2rSB and its modification FRSB, a test X2dmb based on a probability model, and a method of moments approach, X2H. Data were also simulated based on two-stage cluster sampling design and the type I error level, and the power of these tests was obtained for selected combinations of parameter values. The statistics X2DMB XRSB, FRSB and X2H performed well both for a small number of clusters or a small number of units within clusters. The power performance of these tests is quite stable. Approximate intervals were constructed for design effect constants. Methods of estimating these constants based on a normality assumption worked best.     

Historical Overview of Tobacco Legislation and Regulation

In this paper we describe the legislative and regulatory history of tobacco control efforts and discuss ways in which the debate over tobacco control has been framed. From a regulatory perspective, primary concern is how to balance the individual's legal use of tobacco products with society's obligation to limit the use of a lethal product. Our review demonstrates the progress tobacco control advocates have made in enacting statewide legislation and local ordinances, especially during the past fifteen years, to restrict both smoking in public places and youth access to tobacco products. Nevertheless, this progress may be threatened by a powerful and determined tobacco industry. We discuss various strategies for determining how and where to allocate tobacco control resources.     

Race and Words: A Note on the Sociolinguistic Divisiveness of Race in American Society

The convergence and polarization hypothesis is tested using the standard English vocabulary score in the General Social Survey. Blacks scored significantly lower than whites, and this finding is consistent over the test period, and holds within similar educational, financial status and social class groupings. The hypothesis is not supported with General Social Survey data. Conditions maintaining nonstandard language usage apply to blacks in America, and sociolinguistic measures could be used to supplement the assessment of divisiveness of race in survey data.     

Occupational socialization and cynicism toward prison administration

Corrections officers occupy a crucial position in the institutional organization of prisons, and translate the policies and goals of prison administrations into action. This study focuses on the formation of cynicism toward prison administration and the factors that foster or inhibit it. I examine this type of cynicism by using questionnaire data from 198 first-line corrections officers at a medium-sized, medium security state prison. Cynicism toward prison administration peaks among officers in their first month of duty. However, cynicism declines with increased experience among officers who endorse rehabilitative goals, but does not decline among those who do not endorse such goals. Additionally, stress and frustration and perceived influence on administrative superiors are consistently related to cynicism toward prison administration among all officers. The data suggest that a subculture of cynical officers may form among first-line officers due to variations in occupational socialization processes. Three conceptual themes from symbolic interactionist theories of occupational socialization are presented that could lead to improvements in future research on corrections officers.     

Educating handicapped children: The development of a special education ideology scale

The ideological belief system of actors who influence the direction of policies is an important dimension providing some estimate of a policy's feasibility. This paper, through the development and application of a Special Education Ideology (SEI) Scale, examines what a randomly selected group of local educational decision-makers in Massachusetts think regarding the education of handicapped children within the contexts of citizen/parent participation, intergovernmental relations, community/agency linkage, and normalization. Their belief system, and extent of mainstreaming in Massachusetts, are analyzed according to community type—urban, small city, suburban, and rural. With respect to Public Law 94–142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, implications and limitations of the SEI Scale are explored for education and human service professionals.