Administrative Practices in American Unions: A Longitudinal Study

Using data collected from surveys conducted in 1990 and 2000, we examine changes in the administrative practices of US-based national and international unions. We examine the hiring, human resource, financial, strategic planning, and organizational practices and how they have changed over time. We find that unions are changing their staff hiring practices in ways that contribute to workforce professionalization and that unions are moving toward more formal human resource policies and more systematic financial and strategic planning practices. These developments appear to be a reaction to the unions’ changing operating environment and reflect the pressure on union leaders to make effective use of their declining resources.

A changing democracy: contemporary challenges to the British political tradition

A series of authors including ourselves have argued that there is a dominant, if contested, political tradition (the BPT), that is a particular conception of democracy, that underpins to institutions and processes of British politics. However, here we argue that the BPT has never been more contested or vulnerable, focusing upon three contemporary challenges, the Scottish question, the rise of anti-politics and the demands to leave the European Union (EU), culminating in BREXIT, although we recognise there are others. At the same time, we contend that the BPT still plays a key role in how the political elite reacts to these challenges; its first response remains to preserve as much of the BPT as possible in changing circumstances. As such, the key question we address here is whether we are witnessing the beginnings of a fundamental shift in the nature of British political democracy, or whether, as so often before, the BPT and its adherents will adapt to, and accommodate, these challenges.     

‘Determined to breastfeed’: A case study of exclusive breastfeeding using interpretative phenomenological analysis

Background

Given the significant benefits of breastfeeding, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend exclusive breastfeeding for six months. Despite numerous strategies aimed at increasing the percentage of babies who are exclusively breastfed, Australia currently has one of the lowest six-month exclusive breastfeeding rates in the developed world. Notably, most research focuses on the early postnatal period (birth-two months) yet the largest decline in exclusive breastfeeding rates is observed between two and six months.

Simple principal components

We introduce an algorithm for producing simple approximate principal components directly from a variance–covariance matrix. At the heart of the algorithm is a series of 'simplicity preserving' linear transformations. Each transformation seeks a direction within a two-dimensional subspace that has maximum variance. However, the choice of directions is limited so that the direction can be represented by a vector of integers whenever the subspace can also be represented by vector if integers. The resulting approximate components can therefore always be represented by integers. Furthermore the elements of these integer vectors are often small, particularly for the first few components. We demonstrate the performance of this algorithm on two data sets and show that good approximations to the principal components that are also clearly simple and interpretable can result.     

SOME INSTRUMENTALITY-VALENCE MODELS OF UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGE CHOICE

This paper reports an extension of valence-instrumentality-expectancy (VIE) type models of organizational choice to the decision process of high school students selecting undergraduate colleges. Using questionnaire data from 714 respondents, interactive vatence-instrumentality models correctly predicted 68% of actual choices. A number of alternative models are evaluated, and several areas for refinement and extension of this study are identified.     

Generational Differences in Orientations to Coresidence in Chongju,South Korea

This study examines generational differences by assessing the advantages and disadvantages of intergenerational coresidence in Chongju, South Korea. In the past, it was traditional for the elderly to live with the eldest son. Rapid industrialization and urbanization have contributed to changing gender roles and living arrangements, and new values promote daughters sharing filial responsibilities with their brothers. To explore the perceived benefits and costs of coresidence, 50 intergenerational households were studied. Interviews about attitudes toward living in an extended family arrangement were conducted among the mothers and daughters-in-law in the 50 intergenerational households. Two separate regressions, one analyzing mothers and one analyzing daughters-in-law, were performed. The older generation reported more benefits and fewer costs than the younger generation, although the regression analyses for mothers' satisfaction was not statistically significant. The results are interested in the context of exchange theory. The results have implication for social welfare and housing policy in South Korea.     

Selection,Alignment, and Their Interplay: Origins of Lifestyle Homogamy in Couple Relationships

The present study examines different processes leading to lifestyle homogamy in married and cohabiting couples using data from the German Socioeconomic Panel (n = 3,490 couples). The analyses first suggest that alignment over time promotes homogamy of leisure‐related lifestyles, especially with respect to action‐oriented activities. However, intermediate stages in the life course (i.e., phases of active parenting and labor force participation) tend to inhibit alignment, whereas cues indicating a high‐quality match (e.g., educational homogamy and being in a long‐term or a marital relationship) promote alignment. Second, we find evidence for selection effects in that not only homogamy but also convergence of lifestyles over time may increase couples' resilience to relationship breakup.     

College students' views on gay and lesbian issues: does education make a difference

Many in academia believe that higher education leads to an increase in tolerance towards individuals who are different. There are some empirical findings to support this premise; however, the impact of higher education on acceptance of homosexuality has not been adequately explored. Gays and lesbians in society face many negative attitudes. Based upon the survey results of 364 students at a Midwestern university, juniors and seniors had statistically significant more positive attitudes towards gays and lesbians than did freshmen and sophomores. Even in multi-variate analysis, upper-level students had more positive views on many of the attitudinal measures.