Stories of (Social) Distress: Applied Narrative Analysis and Public Policy for the Homeless

Recent attention to the use of social science research in the formation of social policy highlights the role of narratives in the mediation of the relationships between research and practice, science and policy. This paper demonstrates the value of applied narrative analysis in revealing the function of narratives in this mediation. Public debate over a universal “right to shelter” for homeless persons in Washington D. C. is the central case study. The results illustrate the usefulness of applied narrative analysis in the study of social distress and in the forging of new links between research and policy.     

Practice teaching and knowledge

This paper asserts that levels of knowledge about practice teaching are low. It briefly reviews three areas; ideologies and paradigms of practice teaching, development of new structural arrangements and the processes of teaching and learning as experienced by students and practice teachers. An agenda for future inquiry is suggested.     

A survey of tests for exponentiality

A wide selection of tests for exponentiality is discussed and compared. Power computations, using simulations, were done for each procedure. Certain tests (e.g. Gnedenko (1969), Lin and Mudholkar (1980), Harris (1376), Cox and Oakes (1384), and Deshpande (1983)) performed well for alternative distributions with non-monotonic hazard rates, while others (e.g. Deshpande (1983), Gail and Gastwirth (1978), Kolmogorov-Smirnov (LillViefors (1969)), Hahn and Shapiro (1967), Hollander and Proschan (1972), and Cox and Oakes (1984)) fared well for monotonic hazard rates. Of all the procedures compared, the score test presented in Cox and Oakes (1984) appears to be the best if one does not have a particular alternative in mind.     

WORKERS, FIRMS, AND THE DOMINANT IDEOLOGY:

Theorists of work and class relations have argued that organizational processes within the monopoly 'core' induce employees to identify with the firm and consent to the social relations of production. The adequacy of this 'hegemony' thesis is evaluated using data from two Bell operating companies, whose workers hold relatively high-paying primary sector jobs and are exposed to a strong corporate culture. Although these factors should favor the thesis of managerial hegemony, the data provide only limited support. In fact, an oppositional consciousness is fairly common among the workers, but with marked variations between occupational groups. The data indicate that hegemony theory inflates the role of ideological mechanisms in the reproduction of managerial control and underestimates workers' capacity to form a critical consciousness of the employment relationship. Worker consent should be viewed as problematic—that is, as exceptional, occurring only under specific social and organizational conditions.     

Using "Bud World Party" attendance to predict adolescent alcohol use and beliefs about drinking

This study explored the association between attendance at the "Bud World Party," a family entertainment venue created by Anheuser-Busch for the 2002 Winter Olympics, and alcohol-related beliefs and current drinking behaviors for a group of 7th and 8th graders who attend a middle school in close proximity to the downtown Salt Lake City plaza where the exhibit and related events were located. Data were collected via a questionnaire administered to 283 students 30 days after the closing ceremonies.. Logistic regression was used to predict recent alcohol consumption. Significant predictors were race (non-white) (OR = 3.9), religiosity (OR = .72), having a parent who drinks (OR = 4.8), the number of best friends who drink (OR = 2.5), and the interaction for "Bud World Party" attendance and gender (OR = 33.2). Post-hoc analysis of the interaction effect indicated that the relationship between "Bud World Party" attendance and recent alcohol consumption is moderated by gender. Girls who visited "Bud World Party" were more likely than the boys to have consumed alcohol in the past 30 days. In addition, the girls who visited "Bud World Party" were more likely to believe that drinking would increase their chances of popularity at school than the students who did not.     

Factors influencing middle and high schools' active parental consent return rates

The authors examined factors influencing the return rates for attempting to collect active parental consent forms from 21,123 students in the 7th through 10th grades in 41 middle and high schools. Overall return rates from middle schools were higher than from high schools. Schools that offered high levels of staff support for collecting consent forms had higher return rates. Procedures where the consent form was attached to a school form that parents had to complete and return to the school yielded the highest return rate. Implications for how researchers can obtain a high parent consent form return rate are discussed.     

Substance use and vulnerability to sexual and physical aggression: a longitudinal study of young adults

Using data from 2,170 individuals who participated in Waves 8 (age 23) and 9 (age 29) of a multiyear panel study, this study examined whether alcohol and marijuana use in young adulthood increase one's risk for experiencing subsequent sexual or physical assault victimization, whether victims' own violent behavior or involvement in the sale of drugs explain any effects of substance use on victimization, and whether these associations differ by gender. Controlling for prior victimization, we found that marijuana use, but not alcohol use, predicted women's and men's subsequent sexual victimization and men's subsequent physical assault victimization, and that heavy alcohol use, but not marijuana use, predicted women's subsequent physical assault victimization. Whereas the links from marijuana use to victimization were explained by users' own violent behavior, the link from alcohol use to women's physical assault victimization was not.     

The Effect of World Economy on Income Inequality: A Reassessment*

The research on the world systems model of income distribution has been marked by some conflicting reports on whether or not periphery status is significantly related to inequality. Writers such as Rubinson argue for the salience of the world-systems model, while authors such as Weede claim that it is insignificant if we include a correctly specified control for level of development. This confusion is based, in part, on a debate over how periphery status should be measured. Previous work has often used measures of questionable validity, such as foreign trade, as a percent of GDP. The present investigation develops a conceptualization of dependency on the world market based on the concentration of export receiving nations. A multiple regression analysis of data from forty-three nations indicates that the index of periphery status does influence indicators of inequality. However, the parabolic model of level of development tends to explain more of the variance in inequality than the world-systems factor. Finally, a control for political democracy gave no support for the political paradigm on inequality.