The “other woman”

Based on interviews with 26 single women who have had long-term intimate relationships with married men, a power continuum of management styles is derived. At one end are women who are hyper-submissive; at the other end, women who are hyper-dominant. Reasons for ending the relationship and the role of the other woman in that decision are discussed. The kind of ending is classified into three types: the shock-out, the drag-out, and the peter-out. Author's Note: I wish to thank the women I interviewed. Without their words, there could be no study. To protect the identity of these women I have altered names, places, and occupations in this article.     

A personal reflective account: The impact of the collation and sharing of information during the course of a child protection investigation

This paper provides a subjective, personal account of the impact and effect which the collation and sharing of information had and continues to have on my family during the course of a child protection investigation. By sharing my story I hope to preserve my unique, subjective experience in the midst of an impersonal and highly invasive bureaucratic process in an attempt to bridge the power divide between the professional and parent. I do not attempt to analyse theory but rather feelings, and identify the differing perceptions of those involved. The importance of the professional maintaining an open mind and challenging any preconceived assumptions or judgements about a family is also stressed. Child protection work must ensure that policies and practice comply with the rights laid down in the Human Rights Act (1998) and the professionals involved must be seen to promote and protect the rights of all vulnerable individuals.     

The Sea Monster: An Ethnographic Drama

The characters are Laurel, a sociologist, and Ernest, a novelist. They live together, and they have been writing, and talking about writing for years. There is also a discussant who lives in Laurel's study. The drama begins in a neo-colonial home in the heartland of America, where Laurel—who has been invited to be a “Discussant” of “Ethnographic Novels” at the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interactionism-Stone Symposium at St. Petersburg Beach—is waking up.     

A test of the characteristic function and the Harsanyi function in N-person normal form sidepayment games

This paper reports the results of a laboratory experiment investigating sidepayment games represented in normal form. Attempts to predict payoff allocations via the application of solution concepts (such as the Shapley value or the nucleolus) encounter a problem in games of this form, because the game must first be transformed into some other form. Commonly, this other form is a set function defined over coalitions, such as the von Neumann-Morgenstern characteristic function. Because there are numerous possible transformations, the question arises as to which one provides the most accurate basis for prediction of payoffs.The laboratory experiment tested three such transformations - the mixed strategy characteristic function, the pure strategy characteristic function, and the Harsanyi threat function. Payoff predictions from two solution concepts (Shapley value, nucleolus) were computed on the basis of each of these transformations, making a total of six theories under test.Results of the study show, in general, that payoff predictions based on the Harsanyi threat function and on the mixed strategy characteristic function were more accurate than those based on the pure strategy characteristic function. The most accurate theories were the Shapley value computed from the Harsanyi function, the nucleolus computed from the Harsanyi function, and the Shapley value computed from the mixed strategy characteristic function. Less accurate were the nucleolus computed from the mixed strategy characteristic function and both the nucleolus and the Shapley value computed from the pure strategy characteristic function.This research was supported by grants SOC-7726932 and SES-8319322 from the National Science Foundation. The authors express appreciation to Yat-Tuck See, Jyh-Jen Horng Shiau, and Raymond Wong for assistance in computer programming, and to Jennifer Brandt, Young C. Choi, David C. Dettman, Laurel Dettman, Stephen B. Geisheker, Irving J. Ginsberg, Mike P. Griffin, Kimberly Ihm, Todd Isaacson, Christy Kinney, Mary Kohl, Sue Pope, Tammy Schmieden, Jill Schwarze, Susan Winter, and Kenneth Yuen for assistance in data collection and analysis.     

Closed Circuit TV Debate Bridges the Gap between Schools

Abstract

Children of Cambodia's Killing Fields: Memoirs by Survivors, compiled by Dith Pran. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 1998. 199 pp. ISBN 0-300-06839-5. $14.95.     

Assessing Television’s ‘Political Dramas’

Because drama is so important to the television schedules, and because television remains a ubiquitous and pervasive medium, TV drama is a constant cultural presence. Some of its stories are about politics, featuring the work of government, the contestation of elections, party rivalry and negotiation, and so on, with a cast of characters including leaders, advisors, journalists, celebrities and citizens: they echo, refract, replay, model and feed into narratives about real‐world politics in a variety of ways. Dramatic stories of this kind are important for the sake of their potential contribution to what citizens believe ‐ and feel ‐ about politics itself. Dramatised political stories and characters appear in a wide range of genres, from factually based docudramas to situation comedy and soap opera, and have become the focus of international academic attention for a number of scholars in politics departments as well as those working from within media and cultural studies. This article looks at a range of approaches to studying political drama on television, raising questions about generic variety, the ideas and the kinds of analysis that have been applied and the varying assessments that have been put forward.     

Inclusion or Exclusion? Exploring Barriers to Employment for Low-Income Older Adults

Faced with economic uncertainty and declining retirement security, older adults have increasingly tried to remain in, or return to, the workforce in recent years. Unfortunately, a host of factors, such as ageism and changing skill requirements, present challenges for older adults seeking employment. Low-income older adults, in particular, may lack necessary education and skills and have limited access to job opportunities and training. In this review, we examine factors that inhibit and support employment for low-income older adults and explore the role of social work in facilitating their inclusion in the workforce.     

Displacement,caregiving, and the ecological system of youth in foster care: a theoretical perspective

Children involved in the child welfare (i.e., foster care) system are at a greater risk for numerous negative outcomes in adolescence and adulthood (e.g., lower educational attainment, higher risk for a criminal record). For children in foster care who experience placement disruption (i.e., removed from a foster home and placed in another nonpermanent placement), the risks significantly increase. Informed by the ecological systems model, the authors propose a theoretical perspective to explain the unique aspects of a foster child’s development and discuss how this framework informs child welfare practice and intervention for foster children at risk for placement disruption. This perspective has the potential to provide a framework that has implications for foster caregivers and child welfare professionals and to inform future policies.