Sensing the skin: acne sufferers and the dermatologization of life

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we explore what we call the “dermatologization of life” and how it regulates the ways in which acne sufferers relate to their skin. We refer to these ways of relating to the skin as “skin sensing”. Through an analysis of the online narratives found on the website acne.org, we demonstrate how the skin sensing bound up with dermatologization both converges with and diverges from biomedical understandings of acne in three key contexts: the hormonal, the alimentary and the nocturnal. In doing so, we show that skin sensing involves a complex combination of pleasure and pain, excitement and exhaustion, and work and play. Ultimately, we suggest that the ways in which acne sufferers sense their skin open up a set of possibilities that not only disable but also enable them as they embark on the often all-consuming quest for a clear complexion.     

Affirmative Reaction: The Influence of Type of Justification on Nonbeneficiary Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action Plans in Higher Education

It is popularly believed that justifying an affirmative action plan (AAP) through emphasizing the advantages that diverse students can bring to a college campus will increase nonbeneficiary support for the program. However, there has been little empirical support for this proposition, perhaps because previous research has not directly articulated to participants the value of a diverse student body. As such, the current study sought to determine how the explicit framing of an AAP influences subsequent reactions. Both quantitative and qualitative data from 216 White undergraduate participants revealed that the utilitarianism justification that highlighted the benefits of the AAP to both minority and majority students, was the most effective means of increasing support for the plan.     

Do management tasks differ by field of practice?

The authors examine the question: Do management tasks differ by field of practice? Many social work Master's programs are organized on the principle of specialization by field of practice for both micro- and macro-practice students. Secondary analysis of task data suggests that managers and supervisors with MSW degrees perform the same task regardless of the field of practice. The study suggests a need to examine assumptions of current MSW curriculum organization.     

A note on deriving rank-dependent utility using additive joint receipts

Luce and Fishburn (1991) derived a general rank-dependent utility model using an operation ⊕ of joint receipt. Their argument rested on an empirically supported property (now) calledsegregation and on the assumption that utility is additive over ⊕. This note generalizes that conclusion to the case where utility need not be additive over ⊕, but rather is of a more general form, which they derived but did not use in their article. Tversky and Kahneman (1992), conjecturing that the joint receipt of two sums of money is simply their sum, criticized that original model because ⊕=+ together with additive utility implies the unacceptable conclusion that the utility of money is proportional to money. In the present generalized theory, if ⊕=+, utility is a negative exponential function of money rather than proportional. Similar results hold for losses. The case of mixed gains and losses is less well understood.     

A service tracking and referral form to monitor the receipt of services in a case management program

Too often, systematic recording procedures are not developed which describe and assess the delivery of social work--and, more specifically, case management--services. The authors report on the Service Tracking and Referral Form developed by California's Adolescent Family Life Evaluation Project to document the receipt of services by pregnant adolescent clients as a result of case management intervention. The rationale and process underlying the development and use of the project's Service Tracking and Referral Form are discussed. Data are presented to illustrate the kinds of information which can be generated from the form. Finally, the authors discuss the form's utility and the possible uses of these types of data for case management, supervisory, administrative, and evaluative purposes.     

Market uncertainty and the process of belief formation

Subjective or personal belief formation has been up to now grounded on axioms (e.g., the axioms of Savage) that can be described asintrospection axioms, for they bear only on judgments formed by the individual within himself (e.g., judgments on the ordering of the “acts” in Savage's contribution), excluding every reference to other, possibly external, sources of opinion formation. This current view, linked to the traditional concept ofinstrumental economic rationality, implicitly assumes cognitive capacities that are most of the time out of the reach of any individual. Therefore this view is little or improperly used in the practical world of economics and/or management. An alternative view of belief formation on a market is offered in this article, grounded on a much more modest demand of cognitive capacities from the individual and on a different concept of economic rationality known ascognitive rationality. The model introduces to this end the global concept of market psychology as well as the concept of regular revision of the sets of opinions. Belief formation then appears as a process of deliberation between the individual and the market, rationality emerging within this process as deeply intertwined with the way the individual revises his opinions during the process. The rational treatment of beliefs in view of reaching a decision can consequently be carefully distinguished from their rational formation process.