YOUTUBE,TWITTER AND THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT

Videos stored on YouTube served as a valuable set of communicative resources for publics interested in the Occupy movement. This article explores this loosely bound media ecology, focusing on how and what types of video content are shared and circulated across both YouTube and Twitter. Developing a novel data-collection methodology, a population of videos posted to YouTube with Occupy-related metadata or circulated on Twitter alongside Occupy-related keywords during the month of November 2011 was assembled. In addition to harvesting metadata related to view count and video ratings on YouTube and the number of times a video was tweeted, a probability sample of 1100 videos was hand coded, with an emphasis on classifying video genre and type, borrowed sources of content, and production quality. The novelty of the data set and the techniques adapted for analysing it allow one to take an important step beyond cataloging Occupy-related videos to examine whether and how videos are circulated on Twitter. A variety of practices were uncovered that link YouTube and Twitter together, including sharing cell phone footage as eyewitness accounts of protest (and police) activity, digging up news footage or movie clips posted months and sometimes years before the movement began; and the sharing of music videos and other entertainment content in the interest of promoting solidarity or sociability among publics created through shared hashtags. This study demonstrates both the need for, and challenge of, conducting social media research that accommodates data from multiple platforms.     

Predictors of sports motivation among gay and bisexual men

Athletic activities are associated with reduced levels of stress and negative mood states among heterosexuals; thus, examining this association among gay/bisexual men is warranted. The current study examined the relationship between sports motivation and mood states, self-esteem, body esteem, life satisfaction, perceptions of masculinity/femininity, and parental encouragement for athletic endeavors among 195 gay/bisexual men. The results were mixed, but suggest that sports participation among gay/bisexual men may relate to a desire to express their masculinity and maintain a positive body image. Gay/bisexual men may be more likely to participate in sports if they receive positive reinforcement from others.     

Race/ethnic differences in respiratory problems among a nationally-representative cohort of young children in the United States

Using data from a nationally-representative cohort of young children in the United States, we ask the following: (1) Are there race/ethnic and birth weight differentials in the likelihood of developing respiratory problems by age three in a nationally representative birth cohort? (2) To what extent does birth weight, vis-á-vis other key sociodemographic risk factors, mediate race/ethnic differentials in reported respiratory problems? (3) Does the effect of birth weight on respiratory problems risk differ by race? We find that non-Hispanic black children are 1.7 times as likely as non-Hispanic white children to be reported to have respiratory problems by age three, while the risk for Hispanic children is similar to that of non-Hispanic white children. Birth weight is also very strongly related to respiratory problem risk. Specifically, children born at very low weights (500–1499 g) have four times the odds of having respiratory problems of heavier children. Statistical controls for birth weight decrease the black-white differential by about 20%, while additional controls for sociodemographic factors reduce the race differential by an additional 35%. Finally, the net effect of birth weight is different for black and white children: whereas birth weight affects the risk of respiratory problems for black children only at low weights (<1500 g), it remains an important predictor of excess risk for white children up to 3500 g.

     

Investment in health when health is stochastic

This paper applies stochastic control theory to the Grossman model of investment in health to characterize the case of a serious illness, i.e., one that permanently reduces the individual’s stock of health capital. Health itself is modelled as a stochastic variable, whose variation over time is determined partly by a deterministic factor and partly by a random factor with a Poisson distribution. After setting out the equations for the deterministic and stochastic approaches, phase diagrams illustrate how the introduction of uncertainty alters the model. The framework is also used to consider the effect of the introduction of a vaccine.

Generative Ritual Among Nonmetropolitan Lesbians and Gay Men: Promoting Social Inclusion

Generativity is typically studied as a normative adult inclination expressed through social roles (D.P. McAdams & E. de St. Aubin, 1992). We extend this research by examining generativity through the lenses of social marginality and ritual. Toward this end, we utilize in‐depth interview and observational data about family rituals from 49 downstate Illinois residents who participated in a larger survey of nonmetropolitan lesbian and gay life. We first examine their ritual intentions and the locations where they are enacted. Then we identify what makes the rituals generative and identify their facilitating and moderating conditions. The findings suggest a distinction between normative and queer generativity. Our final product is a substantive grounded theory of generativity among sexual minorities that extends current theory.     

The Chinese urban labor system: Prospects for reform

The international industrial relations literature has devoted little attention to the Chinese experience. Yet during the last ten years China has adopted a number of labor reforms that represent a significant departure from previous policies. This paper reviews the employment problems that motivated these reforms, describes the nature and limits of these new policies, and analyzes the effect of these reforms to date. Particular attention is devoted to reforms officially implemented in the summer of 1986 that change the “labor system” for nonprofessional workers in the largest enterprises. In theory, the reforms will increase the mobility of these workers between enterprises as well as give employers greater flexibility in making decisions about staffing and termination. The likely success of these policies is evaluated using both secondary sources and a limited survey of Chinese enterprises. The authors gratefully acknowledge the comments of Carl Riskin and Charles Hoffman on earlier versions of the paper, the financial support provided through the School of Management, SUNYAB, and the research assistance of Du Xin Xin. The authors are responsible for all remaining errors. This paper was completed while Mr. Gao was a Visiting Scholar at the School of Management, SUNYAB.     

Major, Blair and the Third Way in Social Policy

Tony Blair's adoption of the catchphrase ‘the Third Way’ to précis New Labour's policy orientation allowed him to distance ‘New’ Labour from ‘Old’ Labour and to appropriate many of John Major's modifications to Thatcherism, albeit framed within a new political language. This article sets out the basic similarities and differences between the social policies of the Major and Blair governments, arguing that, although the policies have been presented within different discourses, there has been a marked similarity in policy content, with Major espousing Third Way policies if not Third Way rhetoric. Indeed, towards the end of his second term of office, Blair started to go beyond the Third Way and towards Margaret Thatcher's favoured model of spirited competition between public and private suppliers.     

Toward Disentangling Fathering and Mothering: An Assessment of Relative Importance

This study employed dominance analysis to assess the relative importance of maternal and paternal support, behavioral control, and psychological control in explaining depression, antisocial behavior, and social initiative within 644 adolescents. We noted the lack of replicated findings concerning differential effects of mothers and fathers and employed an approach that considered mothers’ and fathers’ overlapping predictive abilities in determining their relative importance. Results lend support to the overall parental framework and additionally suggest (a) mothers’ behavioral control is relatively more important than fathers’ in explaining sons’ subsequent antisocial behavior, (b) fathers’ support is relatively more important than mothers’ support in explaining subsequent youth social initiative, and (c) mothering and fathering tend to have a cross‐gendered effect on early adolescents’ depression.