Workplace discrimination and missing limbs: the national EEOC ADA research project

Using the Integrated Mission System of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the employment discrimination experience of Americans with missing limbs is documented. Researchers compare and contrast the key dimensions of workplace discrimination involving Americans with missing limbs and persons with back and other non-paralytic orthopedic impairments. Specifically, the researchers examine demographic characteristics of the charging parties; the industry designation, location, and size of employers against whom complaints are filed; the nature of discrimination (i.e., type of adverse action) alleged to occur; and the legal outcome or resolution of these complaints. Findings indicate that persons with missing limbs were more likely to encounter discrimination if they were male, under 20 or over 65 years of age, and White or Native American. They were also more likely to encounter more frequent discrimination when they worked for employers in the Southern United States, those with 200 or fewer employers, or whose industry designation involved manufacturing, construction, or transportation. Finally, the nature of job discrimination experienced by Americans with missing limbs is more likely to involve hiring, promotion, or job training than other issues. Implications for policy and advocacy are addressed.     

Philosophical speculations on systems design

Belief in the value of the scientific method as a means of implementing improvement in social systems (here called “systems design”—SD) raises important philosophical questions concerning, inter alia, the meaning of “scientific method”, of “improvement”, and of social reality. One underlying problem is that of the “self reflecting paradox”; e.g. the content and validity of the scientific method can only be discovered by the application of the scientific method. Similarly, SD has its own “social reality” through which it perceives that of its client. “Improvement” is bound up with ethics but ethics does not admit the limitation of obligation to one sub-system, therefore improvement requires the recognition of sub-system linkages. Paradoxically, again, the “improver” is himself part of the total system and bears its impress. Implementation (of improvement) meets the paradox that SD on SD is needed to judge the worth of the SD proposal. The pragmatic escape from the paradox identifies SD with a heuristic role in social progress but presupposes the possibility of progress. “Implementation” secures the possibility of such progress. The second major problem is that SD requires a social reality in which individuals have visible goals; but the “inner world” of individual goals is unknown and cannot be tracked from observable responses. In any case, Kant's moral precept requires that individuals be valued as ends rather than means. Much of SD uses them as means. Though SD is and must be practised, such philosophical speculation raises SD's self knowledge and points the neat paradox of its technical precision won at the price of its fundamental woolliness.     

Public perceptions of the ideal number of children for contemporary families

Demographic and family dynamics have been influenced by the recent downturn in average family size. This research examines perceptions of the ideal size for contemporary families and beliefs regarding factors which have contributed to families' decisions to have fewer children. Findings reveal that the two child family is the overwhelming standard chosen by respondents, and that this preference holds for virtually all demographic categories. Three of five reasons offered for smaller families today (expense of children, wives working and better birth control) were viewed as important by over 85% of those sampled.A previous version of this paper was presented at the annual meetings of the Southern Demographic Group, Austin, Texas, October, 1985. Support for computer analyses was provided by the Office of Computer and Information Services, University of Maryland Baltimore County.     

The North Korean famine and its demographic impact

The North Korean famine began in 1995 and its ill effects, while peaking in the late 1990s,undoubtedly linger. Recent conjectures on excess deaths caused by the famine range widely from about 200,000 to 3 million or more. This article assesses the demographic impact of the famine with greater rigor than has previously been attempted and describes the unique setting in which the famine occurred. The analysis begins with a pair of population projections based on mortality statistics from two sources. Given their contradictory implications, the analysis turns to less direct evidence of famine‐related mortality. That evidence includes China's demographic experience during the Great Leap Forward and recent measurements of child malnutrition in North Korea. Crosscountry comparisons translate this malnutrition into corresponding levels of infant mortality. The article concludes that famine‐related deaths in North Korea from 1995 to 2000 most likely numbered between 600,000 and 1 million.     

Drug Courts: A Social Capital Perspective*

Social capital is a variable resource embedded in all social networks. Although the majority of work on social capital describes it as contributing to socially beneficial outcomes, it also contributes to deviant activities. In addition to laying a theoretical basis for understanding the deviant potentials of social capital, this paper argues that a change in social networks results in a change in social capital. Using data collected from adult drug courts in Wyoming, multivariate ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analyses and analyses of personal interviews were used to explore changes in the social capital of drug court participants. However, as a result of deficiencies in available data, questions remain as to the long‐term social circumstances of participants after graduating from the programs and differences in social outcomes among minority groups. The results from this project have implications for future research conducted on drug courts and the theory of social capital.     

A Test of Basic Assumptions of Affective Events Theory (AET) in Call Centre Work1

Based on data from 2091 call centre representatives working in 85 call centres in the UK, central assumptions of affective events theory (AET) are tested. AET predicts that specific features of work (e.g. autonomy) have an impact on the arousal of emotions and moods at work that, in turn, co‐determine job satisfaction of employees. AET further proposes that job satisfaction is an evaluative judgement that mainly explains cognitive‐based behaviour, whereas emotions and moods better predict affective‐based behaviour. The results support these assumptions. A clear separation of key constructs (job satisfaction, positive and negative emotions) was possible. Moreover, correlations between several work features (e.g. supervisory support) and job satisfaction were, in part, mediated by work emotions, even when controlling for gender, age, call centre type (in‐house versus outsourced centres) and call centre size. Predictions regarding consequences of satisfaction and affect were partly corroborated as continuance commitment was more strongly related to job satisfaction than to positive emotions. In addition, affective commitment and health complaints were related to both emotions and job satisfaction to the same extent. Thus, AET is a fruitful framework for explaining why and how specific management strategies used for designing work features influence important organizational attitudes and well‐being of employees.     

Innovation, cultural values, and the management of change in British hospitals

This paper describes the results of a study of innovation in the management teams of 27 UK hospitals. It is argued that the content of innovations provides an accurate representation of the underlying cultural values of the management teams, and the cultural values which they seek to purvey within the wider organizational settings. The authors propose that values in action (as opposed to espoused values) are manifest in the range of innovations introduced by top management within organizations. Using a typology of organizational culture, they categorize the innovations introduced by the management teams, in order to map their underlying cultural values. The results indicate predominant orientations of hospital management teams towards rational goal and hierarchical values in the current context of health care in Britain. Internal climate and service innovations were relatively infrequent, suggesting that the hospitals were dominated by management concern for control rather than flexibility. The costs of such cultural strategies in health service settings are discussed.     

WHEN THE DOCTOR IS A “LADY”: POWER,STATUS AND GENDER IN PHYSICIAN-PATIENT ENCOUNTERS*

An extensive body of research indicates that men interrupt women much more often than the reverse, across a variety of situations. Some conclude that men's interruptions of women in cross-sex conversations constitute an exercise of power and dominance over their conversational partners. To be sure, power is an important facet of many other social relationships, such as those between whites and Blacks, bosses and employees, and—of immediate interest—doctors and patients. Moreover, much of our existing knowledge of sex differences in behavior confounds gender with status. This paper reports results of an exploratory study of interruptions between physicians and patients during actual “visits to the doctor.” Findings based on detailed analyses of videotaped encounters offer empirical support for an asymmetrical view of the physician-patient relationship: physicians interrupt patients disproportionately—except when the doctor is a “lady.” Then, patients interrupt as much or more than physicians, and their interruptions seem to subvert physicians' authority. Discussion focuses on the respective roles of power, status and gender in face-to-face interaction.     

Chemical Health Effects Assessment Methodology for Airborne Contaminants

Chemical Health Effects Assessment Methodology (CHEM) is a new procedure for assessing hazardous properties of airborne toxic contaminants. CHEM evaluates substances for four major health effect categories: carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, reproductive/developmental toxicity, and toxic effects other than the first three. Three elements are considered in the assessment: weight of evidence, potency, and severity of effect. This approach produces a profile of toxic properties of chemicals which preserves their unique multidimensional character and highlights data gaps.