Communicating philanthropy: The media and the voluntary sector in Britain

Whether in looking for resources or doing their work, voluntary and charitable organisations have always needed to publicise their existence. However, major changes in the role and funding of the sector in Britain have meant that the issue of publicity has gained particular salience. This article discusses these changes and provides preliminary findings from a large-scale investigation into media and public attitudes towards voluntary and charitable activity. It explores how voluntary activity is reported by mainstream news media, and how these presentations are framed by media professinal's perceptions of, and value judgements about, different types of voluntary action. This article is based on research funded by the ESRC (Grant Reference R000 23 3193) and the Home Office. The analysis draws on collaborative work with Peter Golding and Alan Radley. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the inaugural conference for the International Society for Third Sector Research, in Pécs, Hungary, July 1994.     

Demographic,personality, cognitive and behavioral correlates of off-course betting involvement

A large (n=381) exploratory survey of off-course bettors was conducted as a step towards rectifying deficits in current gambling literature. Information collected by interviews and questionnaires from off-course betting agency customers showed the level of betting involvement to be largely unrelated to demographic and cognitive variables and sensation seeking, but related to a variety of betting behaviors. A factor analysis produced three independent factors accounting for 30% of the variance. Loadings on these suggested an independence of items involved in the process of betting and those related to the control of betting behaviors, implying that non-pathological gambling involvement may be a reasonable goal for treatment programs.     

Powerless Children—Powerful Systems

This article looks at the needs of children and families now that there is increasing inter-agency conflict. The situation is considered from the perspective of one agency, educational psychology and it is suggested that the pressures on one agency are common to all agencies. It is argued that the impact of the changes imposed upon agencies conspires to enhance the power of systems and diminish opportunities for children and families to be in control. Examples of effective inter-agency support and a model of working that facilitates positive outcomes for children and their families are discussed.     

Representation elections in higher education: Occurrence and outcomes

This study examines factors related to the occurrence of union representation elections in four-year universities and colleges and the outcomes of those elections (i.e., whether or not faculty opt for collective bargaining). In general, the results indicate that the probability of union victory in an election depends on economic conditions, the structural characteristics of the institution, and union density in higher education. For the most part, however, such indicators of institutional vulnerability are not found to be significant determinants of election occurrences. A major implication of this study is that there is a need to investigate more thoroughly the intraorganizational processes of faculty unions with regard to the allocation of organizing resources in order to understand the spread of faculty unionism. It is also suggested that the findings of this study may cast light on the growth of unionism in other white-collar and professional sectors. The authors are grateful to James L. Perry, Jeffrey Pfeffer, Claudia Bird Schoonhoven, and an anonymous reviewer for comments on an earlier version. The research assistance of Ken Bergstrom is also acknowledged.     

Modeling and guided practice as components within a comprehensive testicular self-examination cancer education program

This study sought to assess the effects of modeling and guided practice as components within a comprehensive testicular self-examination education program for college-aged men. We studied three treatment groups (N = 161) at two Arkansas universities. The variables investigated were knowledge of testicular cancer, attitudes toward testicular cancer, and frequency of self-reported testicular self-examination. A summary of the major findings revealed a significant difference in knowledge of testicular cancer and attitudes toward testicular cancer and a significant difference in frequency of testicular self-examination for all treatment groups. Modeling and guided practice yielded no significant differences in knowledge of testicular cancer or frequency of self-reported testicular self-examination but some significant attitudinal differences. Results indicated that subjects were not knowledgeable about testicular cancer and that most (91.7%) were not practicing testicular self-examination. Three months after participation in one of three education programs, 78.9% of the subjects indicated they had performed testicular self-examination. Modeling and guided practice as components of one education approach used appear to be an essential strategy to increase the practice of regular testicular self-examination.     

The conduct of program evaluation reviews in the general accounting office

Professional behavior during the General Accounting Office's (GAO's) present era of oversight can best be understood by reviewing the audit types that populate village life in the GAO and the repertoire the office uses in conducting program evaluation audits. Four types of auditors are present, each of which has a role to play in the audit repertoire. This repertoire focuses on finding faults in government programs in order to catch or sustain congressional interest in GAO's work. The “audit trail” of each report may last up to 3 years and involves considerable organizational strife and conflict with outside groups. To sustain themselves through this arduous auditing process, auditors have developed a creed through which they conceptualize themselves as an elite with a mission to insure good government.     

The Social Costs of Gambling: An Economic Perspective

Much of the opposition to legalized gambling is based on analyses of the social costs that occur as a result of pathological gambling. It is our contention that many, if not most, authors who have contributed to this literature are either unclear or misguided in what they define as social costs. Instead of starting with a clear definition of what constitutes a social cost, these authors have adopted an ad hoc approach-using "common sense" to determine what constitutes losses to society and then attempting to quantify the impact of those activities. We believe this is not, as some suggest, simply a matter of semantics. Rather, it is a serious problem in the gambling literature. How do we differentiate between a consequence of pathological gambling that is a "social cost" and one that is not? Which of the consequences of addictive behaviors that are associated with gambling arise when gambling is legal, and which will be manifest in some form whether or not gambling is legal? In this article we explain the economic perspective on social costs. An understanding of this paradigm removes the subjectivity in the classification of pathological gambling's social costs. The paper has three major components. First, we introduce the economic notion of social costs. Using this paradigm, we differentiate between the "true" social costs related to pathological gambling, and other negative consequences that cannot legitimately be classified as social costs. Second, we evaluate a recent social cost study using the economics social cost paradigm. Third, we discuss two types of social costs that have been largely overlooked in the gambling literature. One is caused by gambling prohibition. The other occurs as a result of "rent seeking" that is related to the political process surrounding the legalization of gambling.     

Forecasting aggregate period-specific birth rates: the time series properties of a microdynamic neoclassical model of fertility

"This article demonstrates the value of microdata for understanding the effect of wages on life cycle fertility dynamics. Conventional estimates of neoclassical economic fertility models obtained from linear aggregate time series regressions are widely criticized for being nonrobust when adjusted for serial correlation. Moreover, the forecasting power of these aggregative neoclassical models has been shown to be inferior when compared with conventional time series models that assign no role to wages. This article demonstrates that, when neoclassical models of fertility are estimated on microdata using methods that incorporate key demographic restrictions and when they are properly aggregated, they have considerable forecasting power." Data are from the 1981 Swedish Fertility Survey.