The push for health care value spurs greater physician scrutiny

Health plans are profiling physicians on efficiency measures-producing new clinical, operational and strategic challenges for practices.     

Everyday territories: homelessness,outreach work and city space

This article develops a situational approach to understanding urban public life and, in particular, the production of urban territories. Our aim is to examine the ways in which city space might be understood as comprising multiple, shifting, mobile and rhythmed territories. We argue that such territories are best understood through attending to their everyday production and negotiation, rather than handling territory as an a priori construct. We develop this argument from the particular case of the street‐level politics of homelessness and street care. The experience of street homelessness and the provision of care in the public spaces of the city is characterised by precarious territorial claims made and lost. We describe some of the ways in which care work with rough sleepers is itself precarious; ‘homeless’, in lacking a distinct setting in which it might get done. Indeed, outreach work takes place within and affirms homeless territories. The affirmation of territory is shown to be central to the relationship developed between the workers and their rough sleeping clients. We also show, however, the ways in which outreach workers operate on territory not their own, twice over. Outreach work is precarious in that it is practised within, and can run counter to, other territorial productions in which the experience of urban need and the work and politics of care are entangled. In sum, this article aims to move beyond static and binary understandings by developing a mobile and situational approach to city space which recognises the intensive yet overlooked work of territorial production.     

Diversification and internationalization in the sociological study of science and religion

Classical sociology addressed the relationship between science and religion, but interest in the topic waned during the 20th century. A second wave of research has emerged in the 21st century, focusing on scientists' (ir)religiosity, evolution, and the relationship between knowledge and acceptance of scientific concepts. Most of this research has been conducted in the United States, used quantitative methods, and focused on creationism, although scholars have recently begun to explore different research methods and sites. Their results suggest that the “conflict thesis” is not valid and that publics and scientists' views tend to be fluid and strongly shaped by national context. The literature on nonreligion has also expanded, but its connection to science remains ripe for further development. A more intersectional approach would also benefit the field, as would increased engagement between public understanding of science scholars and sociologists studying science and religion. Research in both areas is showing that attitudes toward science and religion cannot be understood solely in terms of knowledge about either domain. There is scope for more empirical and theoretical work internationally eschewing the assumption that science and religion conflict and focusing more on identity, culture, and power relations.     

The sample size debate: response to Norman Blaikie

In his detailed response to our paper on sample size in qualitative research, Norman Blaikie raises important issues concerning conceptual definitions and taxonomy. In particular, he points out the problems associated with a loose, generic application of adjectives such as ‘qualitative’ or ‘inductive’. We endorse this concern, though we suggest that in some specific contexts a broad categorization may be more appropriate than a more nuanced distinction – provided that it is clear in which sense the terms are employed. However, other concepts, such as saturation, do not lend themselves to generic use, and require a more detailed conceptualization. Blaikie’s analysis also makes it clear that meaningful discussion of sample size in qualitative research cannot occur with reference to an undifferentiated conception of the nature of qualitative research; clear distinctions need to be made within this approach in terms of methodology, ontological and epistemological assumptions and broader research paradigms.     

A theoretical analysis of antecedents of young couples’ fertility decisions and outcomes

Longitudinal survey data from 509 couples who at Time 1 interview had recently married or had their first child did not support the hypothesis that demographic factors influence fertility intentions, decisions, and outcomes only indirectly through their effects on attitudes and motivations. Husbands’ and wives’ attitudes exerted reciprocal influence on one another. However, while husbands’ sex-role traditionalism and motivation for parenthood strongly influenced wives’ traditionalism and motivation in the case of recently married couples, this pattern was reversed for riew parents. Birth control use was directly affected by wives’ fertility intentions, but not by husbands’ intentions. Difficulties in examining couple interaction variables such as relative power and the possible limitations of fitting these data to a complex theoretical model using LISREL are discussed.     

The South African fertility decline: Evidence from two censuses and a Demographic and Health Survey

Inadequate data and apartheid policies have meant that, until recently, most demographers have not had the opportunity to investigate the level of, and trend in, the fertility of South African women. The 1996 South Africa Census and the 1998 Demographic and Health Survey provide the first widely available and nationally representative demographic data on South Africa since 1970. Using these data, this paper describes the South African fertility decline from 1955 to 1996. Having identified and adjusted for several errors in the 1996 Census data, the paper argues that total fertility at that time was 3.2 children per woman nationally, and 3.5 children per woman for African South Africans. These levels are lower than in any other sub-Saharan African country. We show also that fertility in South Africa has been falling since the 1960s. Thus, fertility transition predates the establishment of a family planning programme in the country in 1974.     

Dynamics of Peer Relationships Across the First Two Years of Junior High as a Function of Gender and Changes in Classroom Composition

This article examines the dynamics of peer relationships across the first 2 grades of Dutch junior high schools (average age 13–14). Specifically, we studied how gender and compositional changes in classrooms structured the changes in peer relationships between the 2 grades. Expectations were derived from past research, and we tested whether these held when methods for data analysis were applied that control appropriately for the dependence structure of the data (more specifically, multilevel analysis and a multilevel application of actor‐oriented models for network evolution). Analyses revealed that the stability of peer acceptance was relatively low and that it was affected neither by the level of classroom stability nor by gender. Dyadic relationships were moderately stable. Tendencies toward reciprocity, network closure, and gender similarity shaped the changes in networks of peer relationships within classes. Contrary to past findings, female newcomers in classrooms were equally as well accepted as male newcomers or established class members.     

Mental health around and after the menopause

The menopause is a time in a woman's life when it is recognized that biological and social changes can impact upon mental wellbeing. Several studies have investigated the relationship between menopause and psychological symptoms, especially depression, with mixed results. In part, this is due to a considerable overlap between depressive symptoms and those due to declining estrogen levels, causing challenges in assessment. However it appears that vulnerable women are at a higher risk of succumbing to depression during menopausal transition. Antidepressants remain the mainstay of treating depressive symptoms, with little conclusive evidence for hormone replacement therapy. Memory problems during menopause are a common complaint, but there is no demonstrated link to subsequent dementia. This paper also reviews considerations of diagnosis and treatment of postmenopausal depression.