African-American students’ perceptions of public relations education and practice: Implications for minority recruitment

In-depth interviews were conducted with African-American public relations students to explore their perceptions of public relations and the role race may play in their career success. The motivations for pursuing public relations and perceptions of the field are not different than those of other groups of students found in previous studies. However, the findings provide insights that are helpful in recruiting African-American students, and also in retaining them in the major. Central themes that emerged from the data are that it is important to have African-American role models, and that students’ view race as a fact of life that can be both a barrier and an asset.     

An Exploratory Study of Clinical Measures Associated with Subsyndromal Pathological Gambling in Patients with Binge Eating Disorder

Both binge eating disorder (BED) and pathological gambling (PG) are characterized by impairments in impulse control. Subsyndromal levels of PG have been associated with measures of adverse health. The nature and significance of PG features in individuals with BED is unknown. Ninety-four patients with BED (28 men and 66 women) were classified by gambling group based on inclusionary criteria for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV (DSM-IV) PG and compared on a range of behavioral, psychological and eating disorder (ED) psychopathology variables. One individual (1.1% of the sample) met criteria for PG, although 18.7% of patients with BED displayed one or more DSM-IV criteria for PG, hereafter referred to as problem gambling features. Men were more likely than women to have problem gambling features. BED patients with problem gambling features were distinguished by lower self-esteem and greater substance problem use. After controlling for gender, findings of reduced self-esteem and increased substance problem use among patients with problem gambling features remained significant. In patients with BED, problem gambling features are associated with a number of heightened clinical problems.     

Agency and expression despite repression: a comparative study of five ethiopian lesbians

Same-sex sexual practices are illegal in Ethiopia; consequently, little is known about Ethiopian lesbians. We explored the lives of five Ethiopian lesbians in order to understand their sexuality from their perspectives. We were particularly interested in how they perceived their sexual identities and practices, the obstacles they faced, and how they coped with such obstacles. Three major themes emerged from their responses to a semi-structured questionnaire, which we analyze from radical, African feminist perspectives. First, these women consistently described the negative impact of Ethiopian laws on their lives. Second, all testified to experiences of sexual agency, despite repression. Finally, their responses revealed considerable diversity and fluidity regarding sexual desire, attraction, and sexual behavior, demonstrating the complexities of lesbian sexuality. We conclude with recommendations for future research and lesbian activism.     

The impact of union-sponsored boycotts on the stock prices of target firms

An empirical analysis of the impact of union-sponsored boycotts on the stock prices of target firms strongly suggests that union boycott announcements initially lead to economically and statistically significant losses in the stock prices of the target firms. However, this short-term price decline is almost completely erased by rebounds in stock prices over the ensuing 15 trading days.     

Ethnic Identity Among Mixed-Heritage People In Hawaii

In this study, intensive interviews were used to explore the identity of a sample of mixed-heritage Hawaiin college students from a variety of ethnic groups. The great majority of respondents listed at least one multiple-heritage identity (e.g., Chinese-Japanese). While cultural exposure and ethnic identity were strongly associated, cultural exposure is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for ethnic identity to occur. Differences in perceptions of ethnic identity between respondents with stable and situtionally changing identities were discussed. The conceptions of identity proposed by processual and structural symbolic interactionists both received some support in these data.     

Control via concentration?: Political and business evidence

This paper explores the relationship between concentration and control, in terms of both markets and hierarchies in economics and their analogues of polities and parties in politics. It is argued that the relationship is not always a positive one. In some cases the relationship is negative and in other cases there is no relationship at all. Insight into the determinants of the nature of this relationship can be gained by explaining apparent inconsistencies which appear when contrasting the economic and political spheres. For example, why is it that a market which meets the criteria for perfect competition—many small producers—is considered socially optimal but not so a polity comprised of many small parties? The two-party system, considered desirable in our national politics, corresponds to the much maligned duopoly in the economic sphere. This paper posits that there are three major types of systems found in both the economic and political spheres, which apply to both levels of aggregation—firms and markets, and parties and polities, respectively—and which have different implications for the relationship between concentration and control. It is also argued that these two levels of aggregation, however useful or necessary for purposes of discussion, are not analytically distinct.     

Internal migration in China, 1950–1988

This paper examines the long-term patterns of migration within China between 1950 and 1988. The analysis uses data from China S 1988 211,000 Fertility and Birth Control Survey, which asks respondents about their most recent interprovincial move. The results suggest that long-term migration patterns can be explained by political and economic changes in China. We argue that the approaches we introduce can offer significant insight into long-term migration patterns for countries where historical data on migration are unavailable or unreliable.     

Can Mathematics Be Social? Flexible Representations for Interaction Process and Its Sociocultural Constructions

Mathematics is needed especially and primarily for helping coax social phenomena sufficiently into view to permit the sorts of reconstruing, manipulation, and measurement on which productive insight depends. I develop this view in two themes, language use and social space-times, along with two morals, and several object lessons, all leading up to the Knotty Future. I conclude with a discussion of pitfalls in this view.     

Ethnic group and the British census: the search for a question

"The 1991 census contained, for the first time, a question on the ethnic group of each member of the population of Great Britain. This paper reports on how a question was developed which has a sufficiently high degree of acceptance from all the main ethnic groups, and which is answered sufficiently accurately, to justify inclusion in the census."