ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND STRIKES: PROBLEMS IN TESTING THE HAAS AND STACK MODEL

Haas and Stack (1983) make a bold attempt to establish an empirical relationship between strike volume (working-days lost due to industrial disputes) and economic development using parametric statistical techniques in the from of ordinary least squares regression. They conclude that "the effect of economic development on strikes follows a parabolic curve"(p. 56). While the authors express the customary caution about the reliability of their data, they ignore various problems with their data, i.e., method and technique which may invalidate the conclusions of the study. These problems are dealt with in this article.     

Homeless identities: enacted and ascribed

Homelessness has been a perennial concern for sociologists. It is a confronting phenomenon that can challenge western notions of home, a discrete family unit and the ascetics and order of public space. To be without a home and to reside in public places illustrates both an intriguing way of living and some fundamental inadequacies in the functioning of society. Much homelessness research has had the consequence of isolating the 'homeless person' as distinct category or indeed type of individual. They are ascribed with homeless identities. The homeless identity is not simply presented as one dimensional and defining, but this imposed and ill-fitting identity is rarely informed by a close and long-term engagement with the individuals it is supposed to say something about. Drawing on a recent Australian ethnographic study with people literally without shelter, this article aims to contribute to understandings of people who are homeless by outlining some nuanced and diverse aspects of their identities. It argues that people can and do express agency in the way they enact elements of the self, and the experience of homelessness is simultaneously important and unimportant to understand this. Further, the article suggests that what is presumably known about the homeless identity is influenced by day-to-day lives that are on public display.     

Examining the Institutional Features Influencing Sexual Assault at Small Colleges and Universities*

This article explores the relationships between institutional features of small college and university campuses and the levels of reported sexual assault. Using the mandated reporting of crime on campus through the Clery Act, we look at the combined levels of reported sexual assault for the years 2012 and 2013 at the main campuses of all accredited non‐profit, four‐year, residential, undergraduate colleges and universities in the United States that have a student body size of 2,000–2,999 students, N = 198. We find that the presence of a Greek life system, alcohol policy, religious affiliation, and the proportion of male students all influence the levels of reported sexual assault at colleges and universities, with alcohol policy being the strongest influence.     

Local Institutional Quality and Return Migration: Evidence from Viet Nam

This article examines the link between local institutional quality in the home country and locational choices of international return migrants. We scrutinize the locational choices of Vietnamese return migrants to the south central and the south regions of Viet Nam in 2014. Binary and multinomial regression models are fitted to identify the influence of migrants’ individual attributes and the characteristics of regional destinations within Viet Nam. Our analysis reveals that both individual‐specific and region‐specific variables are significantly related to Vietnamese return migrants’ choices when registering for permanent residency back in their home country. More remarkably, we provide compelling evidence of the positive role of institutional quality at the local level in these migration decisions. Moreover, the effect of institutional quality differs with the characteristics of migrants: regions with better institutional quality are more attractive both to younger return migrants and to those who returned from host countries with better institutional quality.     

Bureaucratic encounters “after neoliberalism”: Examining the supportive turn in social housing governance

It is well established that encounters between welfare bureaucracies and their clients have been reconfigured under neoliberalism to address the problem of “welfare dependency.” Contemporary bureaucratic encounters therefore entail measures to activate clients’ entrepreneurial/self-governing capacities, and conditionality/sanctioning practices to deal with clients who behave “irresponsibly.” Despite the dominance of the neoliberal model, recent research has identified a counter-trend in the practices of housing services away from entrepreneurializing and punitive strategies and towards a more supportive approach. This paper examines this counter-trend and its implications for neoliberal welfare governance. To do this, it presents findings from research into social housing governance in Queensland, Australia, where the neoliberal focus on welfare independence, conditionality and sanctioning has been tempered by a new supportive approach focused on assisting vulnerable clients to maintain and benefit from access to welfare/housing support. Following Larner, we argue that this shift signals the emergence of an “after neoliberal” governmental formation, wherein key features of neoliberal governmentality are replaced by, or redeployed in the service of, progressive initiatives that address neoliberalism’s failings at the street level, but leave broader neoliberal policy settings undisturbed. We also challenge recent sociological accounts that construe supportive welfare practices as a function of an all-encompassing neoliberal project, arguing instead for appreciation of the contingency of these developments and the progressive political affordances that they entail.     

Found in (survey) translation: lessons learned while engaging with a wharekura in Southland,New Zealand

We liaised with a wharekura (Māori language immersion school) to translate and disseminate an online survey for a group of Māori youth in Southland, New Zealand (NZ). The focus of this article is not results, but the processes of respondent orientation and engagement to more genuinely include Māori in a youth survey. An online survey about transport and well-being was conducted with older teenagers from 12 schools, including the wharekura. After working with wharekura staff and students, the survey was translated from English into te reo Māori using best-practice methods. Steps were taken to safeguard authentic engagement, including how the survey translation was conducted, and how the survey data were shared. This NZ-specific experience adds to the literature about the practice of applying the principle of respondent orientation to the process of translating an existing survey into te reo Māori, demonstrating commitment to some Treaty of Waitangi principles. While this is not a kaupapa Māori research project, it is informed by some kaupapa Māori principles. This may be seen as a limitation of this work; however, we believe there are many positive experiences and lessons to be learned from our approach.     

Assessment of motion media on believability and credibility: An exploratory study

The radical shift by news audiences away from newspaper to motion media (video stories on TV, web, cell phones, handhelds) prompted the assessment of media modality (text, text + picture, video) and source (public relations, news, user-generated content [UGC]) effects on credibility and more importantly perceived veridicality, a perception of an object as being accurate and believable regardless of the source, as well as impact of messages. The findings revealed that motion media modality significantly enhances believability judgments and perceived veridicality, which is independent of source cue, in which news source garnered no greater credibility than PR or UGC source.