Trying to make race science the “civil” science: charisma in the race and intelligence debates

Theory and Society - When studying science contexts, scholars typically position charismatic authority as an adjunct or something that provides a meaning-laden boost to rational authority. In this...     

Nonwork Influences on Withdrawal Cognitions: An Empirical Examination of an Overlooked Issue

The aim of this research is to examine severaldimensions of nonwork domains such as nonwork-to-workspillover, work/nonwork conflict, coping strategies, andorganizational support for nonwork, and their relationship to withdrawal cognitions.Questionnaires were mailed to all employees of a schooldistrict in western Canada. A total of 300 usablequestionnaires were returned: a response rate of 42%. The findings show that nonwork domain variables aresignificantly related to withdrawal cognitions. This wasdemonstrated mainly in two strong interaction effectsbetween the importance of nonwork and personal coping strategies on the one hand, and betweenthe importance of nonwork and perceived organizationalsupport for nonwork on the other. The two interactionsremain significant when two work variables, i.e., organizational commitment and job satisfaction,were entered into the regression as control variables.The paper concludes with proposed directions for futureresearch based on the findings of this present work.     

Small Area Estimation via Multivariate Fay–Herriot Models with Latent Spatial Dependence

The Fay–Herriot model is a standard model for direct survey estimators in which the true quantity of interest, the superpopulation mean, is latent and its estimation is improved through the use of auxiliary covariates. In the context of small area estimation, these estimates can be further improved by borrowing strength across spatial regions or by considering multiple outcomes simultaneously. We provide here two formulations to perform small area estimation with Fay–Herriot models that include both multivariate outcomes and latent spatial dependence. We consider two model formulations. In one of these formulations the outcome‐by‐space dependence structure is separable. The other accounts for the cross dependence through the use of a generalized multivariate conditional autoregressive (GMCAR) structure. The GMCAR model is shown, in a state‐level example, to produce smaller mean square prediction errors, relative to equivalent census variables, than the separable model and the state‐of‐the‐art multivariate model with unstructured dependence between outcomes and no spatial dependence. In addition, both the GMCAR and the separable models give smaller mean squared prediction error than the state‐of‐the‐art model when conducting small area estimation on county level data from the American Community Survey.     

Number of matches and matched people in the birthday problem

The well known birthday problem asks for the probability of at least one match out of a group of n people. Also of interest are the number of matches and the number of matched people. In this paper the means and variances of the number of matches and matched people are obtained. A generalization of the use of these methods to computer storage analysis is discussed.     

World Culture and Transnational Economic Governance: Theory and Evidence

The current global financial crisis has led to renewed efforts to strengthen the formal rules and organizations of transnational economic governance. A substantial body of research in sociology and related fields suggests that the informal norms, values, expectations, and ideas that make up a world culture are equally important for understanding why countries cooperate, and why those cooperative efforts sometimes fail. This article explores these insights, showing how they can be applied to current debates about transnational economic governance, by paying particular attention to the emergence, adoption, and evolution of the Basel Capital Accords.     

Communication without sender or receiver? On virtualisation in the information process

A communication process can be described in terms of a sender transmitting information to a receiver. What happens if one of the two subject roles in this process is virtualised, i.e. substituted by a machine? Is it still appropriate to refer to this as an information transfer even if its source or target is missing? Can information originate from an unknown sender or be transmitted to a (completely) unknown receiver? Before examining these questions and answering them, one has to clarify what is understood by information. As it turns out, different interpretations of this term lead to considerably different answers to the initially raised questions. We consider these questions particularly important since the continuing dissemination of so called information and virtualisation technologies changes the human communication processes fundamentally. These changes are part of the ongoing formation of an information society and may eventually lead to the formation of a new image of man.     

Counselor Turnover in Substance Abuse Treatment Centers: An Organizational-Level Analysis

This article draws on institutional and ecological perspectives on work and organizations to develop a workplace level model of variation in voluntary counselor turnover rates across privately funded substance abuse treatment centers in the United States. Results show that participatory management structures reduce turnover rates principally by promoting organizational commitment. The analysis also tests hypotheses regarding the effects on turnover rates of other relevant theoretic domains of treatment center structure and organization. We discuss theoretical implications of the findings and suggest directions for future research.     

If money doesn’t make us happy, why do we act as if it does?

Research on income and subjective well-being shows that among the non-poor, increased income has little or no lasting impact on happiness. Yet the desire for more income remains a powerful motive among many people at all income levels. Is this simply because many people are misinformed and believe that higher incomes will make them happier, or are they motivated by something other than the pursuit of happiness? This paper argues for the latter. The paper begins by exploring this question, reviewing the literature on income and subjective well-being, and discussing of the role of utility in decision making. This paper then argues that three main factors lead us to value increased income even if it does not make us happier. First, happiness is just one value among many, and not the only conscious goal people set for themselves. Second, even when people are striving to maximize happiness, our tendency to overweight short-term payoffs leads us to overvalue the short-term rewards that income provides. Finally, I argue that our values-based decision making competes with other motivational systems and evolutionary drives. Three evolutionary desires are discussed: (1) to store resources, (2) to be sexually attractive, and (3) to manage our social relationships and our personal identity within those relationships. While all three motivations play a role in our desire for increased income, this paper argues that it is the third – the use of money and consumption as a social tool – that has the most important overall influence on our desire for increased income past the point where it ceases to increase personal happiness.