VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP AMONG BLACK AMERICANS: THE POST-CIVIL RIGHTS ERA

This article discusses voluntary association membership among black Americans in the post-civil rights era. Previous empirical studies comparing black to white social participation are critically assessed. A model composed of social class and intragroup regionality variables is offered to explain membership patterns as a manifestation of vertical and horizontal differentiation in the black American social structure. The analysis of empirical data collected by telephone interviews (N= 321) in a southwest Chicago community revealed that education most accurately predicts membership across associations but that occupation and regionality are also important variables. The analysis showed that members of church groups and civil rights groups are likely to be women from the rural South with at least 12 years of education. These findings suggest that explanations of black American life in the post-civil rights era may wish to consider vertical as well as horizontal differentiation.     

MARITAL PARADIGMS: COMPATIBILITY, TREATMENT, AND OUTCOME IN MARITAL THERAPY

Marital paradigms comprise the guiding images that serve as reference models for a couple's relationship. Such individualized images can be understood as variations on a small set of basic themes. An understanding of clients' marital paradigms can help foeus treatment on the most appropriategoals usingapproaches and techniques that are most effective for a particular couple. An unselected group of 103 couples seen in systems-oriented marital therapy were reviewed, to identify outcome and treatment issues as a function of marital paradigm. Based on outcome criteria that took marital paradigm into account, 92% of 38 cases where both partners identified with the same basic paradigm were judged to be treatment successes, while only 60% of the cases where the partners identified with different paradigms could be considered successful outcomes. Clinical approaches based on experience with marital therapy conducted within a paradigmatic framework are presented.     

ROBUST ESTIMATION UNDER TYPE II CENSORING

The properties of robust M-estimators with type II censored failure time data are considered. The optimal members within two classes of ψ-functions are characterized. The first optimality result is the censored data analogue of the optimality result described in Hampel et al. (1986); the estimators corresponding to the optimal members within this class are referred to as the optimal robust estimators. The second result pertains to a restricted class of ψ-functions which is the analogue of the class of ψ-functions considered in James (1986) for randomly censored data; the estimators corresponding to the optimal members within this restricted class are referred to as the optimal James-type estimators. We examine the usefulness of the two classes of ψ-functions and find that the breakdown point and efficiency of the optimal James-type estimators compare favourably with those of the corresponding optimal robust estimators. From the computational point of view, the optimal James-type ψ-functions are readily obtainable from the optimal ψ-functions in the uncensored case. The ψ-functions for the optimal robust estimators require a separate algorithm which is provided. A data set illustrates the optimal robust estimators for the parameters of the extreme value distribution.     

Gender Advertising: The Self- Fulfilling Prophecy?

The socialising role of advertising is discussed in the context of gender bias, and reference is made to studies analysing advertisements from various media. Policy considerations in regard to the regulation of gender advertising are discussed, with a review of the relevant Australian legislation. Alternative possibilities for reform in the area of sexist advertising are canvassed.     

Two-parameter decision models and rank-dependent expected utility

This paper extends the existing literature concerning the relationship between two parameter decision models and those based on expected utility in two main directions. The first relaxes Meyer's location and scale (or Sinn's linear class) condition and shows that a two-parameter representation of preferences over uncertain prospects and the expected utility representation yield consistent rankings of random variables when the decision maker's choice set is restricted to random variables differing by mean shifts and monotone meanpreserving spreads. The second shows that the rank-dependent expected utility model is also consistent with two-parameter ranking methods if the probability transform satisfies certain dominance conditions. The main implication of these results is that the simple two-parameter model can be used to analyze the comparative statics properties of a wide variety of economic models, including those with multiple sources of uncertainty when the random variables are comonotonic. To illustrate this point, we apply our results to the problem of optimal portfolio investment with random initial wealth. We find that it is relatively easy to obtain strong global comparative statics results even if preferences do not satisfy the independence axiom.     

DURKHEIM'S MACROFOUNDATIONS OF TIME: AN ASSESSMENT AND CRITIQUE

In this article, Durkheim's theory of time will be assessed in reference to his theory of transactions (organic solidarity). Specifically, Durkheim associated time with a metaphorical conception of the transaction that separated: (1) macrofoundations from microstates, and (2) external constraints from subjective states. This separation led to a conception of time as dominated by linear, rigid sequential, and categorical images. Counterposed to this metaphor are more dynamic, interpersonal, and cybernetic conceptions of temporality and transactions, which can be integrated with Durkheim's scheme to suggest another way of bridging the micro-macro distinction—through the use of time and temporality. This integration will be discussed in relation to five conceptions of time that will, in turn, be used to evaluate and critique Durkheim's macrofoundations. These conceptions are: (1) the evolutionary-transformational, (2) the categorical, (3) the iterative, (4) the rigid sequential, and (5) the negotiated sequential. The article concludes by suggesting that Durkheim's emphasis on the rigid sequential conception can inform and be informed by modern-day emphases on iterative and negotiated sequential conceptions.     

The Risks of Using Nuclear Energy Sources in Space: Some Lay Activists'Perceptions

A combination of directive and nondirective techniques was used to study the mental models of 30 lay activists regarding the risks of nuclear energy sources in space. Respondents'perceptions were compared with an "expert model" of the processes generating and controlling these risks, in terms of both the substance of their beliefs and several statistical measures of their performance. These analyses revealed a complex pattern of strengths and weaknesses. Their details are used to derive recommendations for formulating messages about these risks.