TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF "RALLY" EFFECTS: PUBLIC OPINION IN THE PERSIAN GULF WAR

Although research has been conducted to document the effectof international events on the popularity of the president,littie work has been done to examine the scope of such effects.This analysis of rally forces during the Persian Gulf War showssignificant changes in the following attitudes: positive evaluationsof George Bush's and the U.S. Congress's performance, trustin the federal government, assessments of personal finances,and expectations for the economy. Most of these attitudes returnto preconflict levels within 10 months.     

Les facteurs sociaux liés au degré d'information de la population du Saguenay‐Lac‐Saint‐Jean à propos des maladies héréditaires et des services disponibles*

The past few years have seen significant advances in medical genetics. These advances have in turn given rise to several important clinical applications that have targeted populations with specific historical and demogenetic characteristics. One such population lives in the Saguenay‐Lac‐Saint‐Jean region of Quebec. One might think that this population is reasonably well informed of the situation. But their knowledge of population‐specific genetic pathologies and of the services available to them happens to vary considerably from one social group to another. This article presents the results of a quantitative study aimed at determining the factors that contribute to the acquisition of such knowledge in this population. Depuis quelques années, nous assistons à d'importantes avancées en génétique médicale. Celles‐ci induisent un développement sans précèdent de nouvelles applications cliniques qui interpellent certaines populations dont les caractéristiques historiques et démogénétiques font qu'elles sont davantage concernées. C'est le cas, notamment de la population du Saguenay‐Lac‐Saint‐Jean (Québec). On pourrait penser que cette population s'avère, dans l'ensemble, largement sensibilisée mais il appert que le niveau d'information sur les génopathies régionales et les services offerts varie considérablement d'un groupe social à l'autre. Le présent article livre les résultats d'une enquête quantitative visant à connaître les facteurs qui favorisent l'acquisition de telles connaissances dans cette population.     

Long Term Social Work in a Primary Health Care Setting

Summary This study was designed to explore which factors characteriselong term clients and to investigate the relationship betweenthe burden on medical and welfare resources in a general practicesetting. Two groups of clients were studied; 135 long term clientsreferred over a five year period, where contact was maintainfor a minimum of one year and 157 cases referred during a sixmonth period, in all of which the duration of social work interventionwas less than 12 months. Few differences were found betweenthe characteristics of the two groups, nor did any individualsocial worker emerge as being particularly predisposed to maintainlong term contact However, a significant change in the proportionof referrals which became long term was found over the fiveyear period under consideration, and policy regarding the handlingof cases was therefore felt to constitute a major influenceon the length of contact with any particular client Relationshipswith other members of the primary health care team were generallyfound to be good, especially in relation to the long term clients.Moreover, the OPs' workload with regard to these clients wasfound to be reduced following social work intervention. Theseclients' consultation rates dropped significantly after receivingsocial work help, and continued to drop when the case had beenclosed.     

From Resistance to Activis m: The Emergence and Persistence of Activism among American Vietnam War Resisters in Canada

The concept of ‘emergent ties’ is often used to refer to the role of social networks in activating social movements. Yet pre-existing network ties were usually not a factor in initiating decisions of 50,000 draft-age American youth to migrate to Canada during the American Vietnam War. These youth often learned about the possibility of migrating to Canada through the news media and a widely distributed draft resistance manual. Once in Canada, they often became involved in networks that directed and sustained their movement activity. This suggests that the emergence and persistence of activism may often be distinct. This paper argues that a transformation process that leads to activism is often a life stage specific process, usually in late adolescence or early adulthood, whose explanation requires detailed attention to everyday behavioral activity; while the evolution and persistence of activism is often a life course persistent process that covers a longer period and involves the influence of more generically structured network ties. These patterns are demonstrated in a fuzzy set analysis (FSA) of early and longer term political activism in the lives of Americans who migrated to Toronto during the Vietnam War. We find that for both men and women, helping others was a necessary experience in transforming the resistance involved in this migration into collectively organized anti-war activism, and that a longer term tendency of the women who migrated to Canada to remain more involved than men in social movements is a product of their continuing contacts with the persons involved in their earlier activism. The results of our research underline the importance of distinguishing life stage specific and life course persistent processes in the study of social movements, and more generally that the study of social movements and the life course have much to contribute to one another.