Prosodic levelling during language shift: Okinawan approximations of Japanese pitch‐accent1

This article demonstrates how the language death process potentially contributes to the emergence of a new dialect. A sociolinguistic survey of the prosodic phonology of Japanese spoken in Yaeyama, Okinawa shows that the obsolescence process of Okinawan has resulted in a new dialect of Japanese. First, Okinawan is undergoing processes typical of language death, including increased variability and the elimination of phonological contrasts at the prosodic level. These processes are also occurring in the incoming language, Japanese. Second, these processes have influenced the acquisition of the prosody of Standard Japanese, resulting in a new prosodic system. Third, a positive attitude towards the local variant of Japanese is prevalent among the younger members of the community, particularly the working‐class males. These results suggest that a local prosodic system is emerging, resulting in a new dialect of Japanese.     

Beyond White Pride: Identity,Meaning and Contradiction in the Canadian Skinhead Subculture*

Partant de l'approche culturelle de l'analyse des sous-cultures observées chez les jeunes, cette enquête sur le terrain menée dans une ville de l'Ouest canadien examine les significations que nos sujets accordent à leur appartenance à un sous-groupe de skinheads qui se veut apolitique. Notre étude remet en cause une certaine image que l'on se fait du mouvement skinhead. En dépit des idées reçues qui véhiculent une apparente homogénéité, notre recherche montre que la sous-culture skinhead est à la fois complexe et multidimensionnelle et qu'elle offre à ses membres un choix de modèles de comportements et d'orientations idéologiques, même s'ils sont souvent contradictoires. Notre analyse suggèe aussi que, loin d'être profondément contestataires ou révolutionnaires, les groupes de skinheads peuvent constituer un instrument de reproduction des rapports sociaux, en particulier les rapports entre les sexes, les groupes raciaux et les ethnies. Grounded in a cultural studies approach to youth subcultures and based on participant observation in a Western Canadian city, this study examines the meanings associated with membership for participants in a self-described “non-political” branch of the skinhead subculture. Despite popular images that imply homogeneity, the study shows that the skinhead subculture is both complex and multi-dimensional and that it accommodates, albeit in often contradictory ways, a range of behavioural and ideological opportunities for its members. The study also suggests that, far from being resistant or transformative in any significant way, skinhead groups may represent a vehicle for social reproduction, specifically with respect to gender, race and ethnicity.     

Threat, Group Identification, and Children's Ethnic Prejudice

This experiment tested predictions from social identity development theory (SIDT, Nesdale, 1999 ), that children's tendency to show out‐group prejudice depends on the strength of their in‐group identification and/or their perception of threat from the out‐group. Anglo‐Australian children (N= 480) aged 6, 7, or 9 years were assigned to a high‐status team and their identification with the in‐group (high vs. low) was manipulated together with threat from the out‐group (present vs. absent). The members of the out‐group were revealed to be of the same (Anglo‐Australian) or different (Pacific Islander) ethnicity to the in‐group. Results supported the SIDT predictions. In addition, consistent with socio‐cognitive theory (ST, Aboud, 1988 ), dislike for the out‐group at 6 years gave way to increasingly neutral reactions by 9 years of age. Ethnic composition of the out‐group did not impact differentially on liking but it did affect the children's desire to change groups. Strongly identified children were reluctant to leave their group regardless of the ethnicity of the out‐group, whereas children with low in‐group identification were more willing to change into a same‐ than into a different‐ethnicity out‐group. It is concluded that both social identity and social cognitive processes are implicated in the development of prejudice in middle childhood.     

Measuring the Propensity to Volunteer

As charities are expected to take on more and more of the provision of services to the disadvantaged, they will be calling on volunteers to support that work. The use of volunteers means important cost savings when compared to the use of paid service providers, thus giving one advantage to the voluntary sector when bidding in the mixed economy of welfare. Given the potential for increased use of volunteers, questions of motivation and commitment become very important. Volunteers make up a significant proportion of the human resources used to service social needs, yet previous research has not made it clear why and how volunteers come to give so much of themselves. This research demonstrates that there is an underlying Volunteerism–Activism Attitude which can be measured, and which holds within its four dimensions the key motivations for volunteering. Use of the scale measuring this attitude allows prediction of those people who are most likely (and least likely) to volunteer for charity activity. For charities the scale might provide a useful tool in managing the personnel with whom they are now expected to bid in the quasi-markets of service provision.     

The impact of legislator attributes on interest-group campaign contributions

Legislators possess political assets that economic interest groups may find valuable in pursuing their goals. This paper examines the effect these legislative assets have on the campaign contributions made by two large and easily identifiable interest groups: corporations and labor unions. Committee assignment, voting record, and electoral security are significant predictors of both corporate and union contributions to House incumbents, while party affiliation and years in office also influence the behavior of union political action committees.     

Why aren't managers concerned about occupational stress?

To explain the rarity of workplace stress management interventions, it is thought that managers are not concerned with the risks of occupational stress to health and job performance. Some writers consider either (1) deficiencies in theory, and/or (2) deficiencies in methodology to be the cause of this apparent lack of concern. The aim of this paper is to illustrate another perspective on this issue; that of risk perception. Two perspectives on risk perception are discussed; the psychometric view and the cultural view. The psychometric view suggests that senior managers may underestimate the risks associated with stress. The cultural view suggests that managers may consider stress management to be inappropriate, since individuals, not organizations, should be responsible for coping with stress. Both perspectives indicate that very few managers may consider stress to be a risk that should be actively managed by the organization. The associated disciplines of risk management and particularly risk communication are discussed to suggest ways to overcome lack of managerial interest in stress management.     

Does Returning to Work After Childbirth Affect Breastfeeding Practices?

This study examines the effect of the timing and intensity of returning to work after childbirth on the probability of initiating breastfeeding and the number of weeks of breastfeeding. Data come from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79). Baseline probit models and family-level fixed effects models indicate that returning to work within 3 months is associated with a reduction in the probability that the mother will initiate breastfeeding by 16–18%. Among those mothers who initiate breastfeeding, returning to work within 3 months is associated with a reduction in the length of breastfeeding of 4–5 weeks. We find less consistent evidence that working at least 35 h per week (among mothers who return to work within 3 months) detracts from breastfeeding. Future research is needed on understanding how employers can design policies and workplaces that support breastfeeding.