Why is Collective Violence Collective?

A theory of collective violence must explain both why it is collective and why it is violent. Whereas my earlier work addresses the question of why collective violence is violent, here I apply and extend Donald Black's theory of partisanship to the question of why violence collectivizes. I propose in general that the collectivization of violence is a direct function of strong partisanship. Strong partisanship arises when third parties (1) support one side against the other and (2) are solidary among themselves. Such support occurs when third parties are socially close to one side and remote from the other and when one side has more social status than the other. Third parties are solidary when they are intimate, culturally homogeneous, and interdependent. I focus in particular on lynching: Lynching is a joint function of strong partisanship toward the alleged victim and weak partisanship toward the alleged offender. Unequal strong partisanship appears in both classic lynchings (of outsiders) and communal ynchings (of insiders) across societies and history. Where partisanship is weak or strong on both sides, lynching is unlikely to occur. Evidence includes patterns of lynching in various tribal societies, the American South, imperial China, and medieval Europe.     

Long-term effects of teaching behavioral strategies for managing persistent auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia

1. Attendance at a 10-week class designed to teach behavioral management strategies to people with schizophrenia was effective in reducing some of the negative characteristics of auditory hallucinations for 12 months and in reducing anxiety for 9 months after completion of the class. 2. The sustained improvement experienced by class participants was characterized by their voices being less frequent and more mumbled and the participants feeling more in control, less distractible, and less anxious. 3. Participants recommended that other mental health consumers take similar classes to learn how to better manage their voices. 4. Monthly support groups may help participants maintain gains lost during the follow-up period.     

Relationship between balance and gait stability in healthy older adults

Age-related adaptations during walking create a more stable walking pattern, which is less effective for forward progression and might be related to balance deficiencies. This study determined the relationship between walking stability and measures of balance in older adults. Seventeen older and 20 young adults performed the Berg Balance Test (BBT) and walked 10 m. Walking velocity (WV) and cadence were measured, and a gait-stability ratio (GSR) was calculated. Higher GSR indicated that a greater portion of the gait cycle was spent in double-limb support. Age-group comparisons established declines in BBT scores and WV and increases in GSR with age. Significant relationships were identified for BBT Item 12 (alternate stepping on a stool) with WV (r =.58, r(2) =.34) and GSR (r = -.74, r(2) =.54). The correlation of BBT Item 12 with GSR was stronger than with WV (p <.05). Results indicated a strong relationship between increased gait stability and decreased balance for a dynamic weight-shifting task. Therefore, GSR is a better indicator of balance deficits during walking than is WV alone.     

The nursing home crisis: a consumer study of Texas nursing home care

This article discusses the findings of a consumer-oriented survey to ascertain the perceptions of Texas nursing home residents, their families, and nursing home administrators about what factors they believe contribute to quality of care. The findings from previous studies and established practice standards are then used to further delineate the practice roles and functions of social workers in nursing facilities (NFs) and to inform social work curriculum.     

When did coronavirus arrive in Europe?

Statistical Methods & Applications - The first cluster of coronavirus cases in Europe was officially detected on 21st February 2020 in Northern Italy, even if recent evidence showed sporadic...     

Tensions between (Post)Bureaucratic and Neo-normative Demands: Investigating Employees’ Subjective Positions at EurAirport

The introduction of a neo-normative discourse in a (post)bureaucratic organization can result in tensions between the neo-normative injunction to be authentic and exhortations to fit with the ideal (post)bureaucratic organizational subject. Focusing on how shopfloor workers subjectively experience the tensions between neo-normative and (post)bureaucratic demands, this empirical investigation yielded three major contributions. First, it pinpointed and addressed significant gaps in existing studies of normative and neo-normative discourse. Second, the study better distinguished normative and neo-normative control on the basis of two tensions: (1) authenticity versus conformity; and (2) conflation versus differentiation between life and work. Third, the study identified four distinct subject positions that demonstrated how organizational participants creatively appropriate and strive to resolve these two tensions in a work setting that mixes normative and neo-normative control.     

Infants’ learning of non-adjacent regularities from visual sequences

Tracking adjacent (AD) and non-adjacent (NAD) dependencies in a sequence of elements is critical for the development of many complex abilities, such as language acquisition and social interaction. While learning of AD in infancy is a domain-general ability that is functioning across different domains, infants’ processing of NAD has been reported only for speech sequences. Here, we tested 9- to 12- and 13- to 15-month-olds’ ability to extract AxB grammars in visual sequences of unfamiliar elements. Infants were habituated to a series of 3-visual arrays following an AxB grammar in which the first element (A) predicted the third element (B), while intervening X elements changed continuously. Following habituation, infants were tested with 3-item arrays in which initial and final positions were switched (novel) or kept consistent with the habituation phase (familiar). Older infants successfully recognized the familiar AxB grammar at test, whereas the younger group showed some sensitivity to extract to NAD, albeit in a less robust form. This finding provides the first evidence that the ability to track NAD is a domain-general ability that is present also in the visual domain and that the sensitivity to such dependencies is related to developmental changes, as demonstrated in the auditory domain.