The sociological construction of gender and sexuality

This essay considers how we might come to understand social constructionism sociologically. It examines a number of related approaches to gender and sexuality that speak to sociological concerns and might be termed social constructionist: historicism, symbolic interactionism, ethnomethodology and materialist feminism. By recognising that social constructionism is multifarious rather than unified, we find that each social constructionist approach offers particular strengths for analysing the complexities of gender and sexuality. Through closely analysing these approaches and some of the criticisms of them we can reassert sociology's specific contribution, and embrace social constructionist analyses which address the multilayered characteristics of the social in general and gender and sexuality in particular.     

Cosmopolitanism and Europe

Cosmopolitan perspectives on contemporary social and political issues have made inroads into EU studies, despite official EU discourse making no reference to Europeans as cosmopolitans. There are three main dimensions to the cosmopolitanization of the EU studies agenda: (i) a rethinking of transnationalism and globalization in relation to the EU; (ii) an increasing interest in the social dimensions of Europeanization; and (iii) a growing multi-disciplinarity in the study of contemporary Europe. There are several reasons for the increased interest in cosmopolitanism: a growing disenchantment with nationalism; recognition of the importance of global civil society; the ‘cosmopolitan democracy’ thesis advanced by Archibugi and Held; and the growing importance of human rights as a benchmark for democracy. Cosmopolitanism encourages a shift from a concern with the role of the nation-state in Europe to a broader sense of its role in the world, and relativizes Europe and the EU by placing them in a global context.     

球墨铸铁曲轴的气体软氮化

柴油机的珠墨铸铁曲轴系重要零件,气体软氮化应用到球墨铸铁领域还是一种新工艺,而且比中频淬火效果好,提高了曲轴的抗疲劳和抗磨损的能力。本文对气体软氮化的基本原理、设备、工艺参数的选择和催渗方法进行了探讨,对软氮化后曲轴的尺寸形状误差、光洁度和机械性能的提高等进行了较详细的试验、分析和比较,结果,经气体软氮化后的曲轴不但尺寸形站误差符合图纸要求外,而且抛去轻微氧化层后光洁度还略有提高,曲轴安全系数由1.3～1.6提高到1.70～1.77,并且一般不再发生疲劳断(?),使用寿命比原来寿命增加3.32倍以上。     

Job creation: New work for women?

The movement of some women into self employment is considered in this paper. It is argued that if this movement is to be successful, and thus have any influence on the equality of employment opportunities, then it is necessary for the business ventures involved to be run strategically rather than operationally. It is also argued that there must be greater scope and encouragement for innovation in this area, otherwise there is a danger of mirroring, in new business formation, the structure of inequality that applies to the formal, and declining, structure of current employment. Finally, the paper examines the need for women's entrepreneurial ventures to be better accepted by and integrated into the wider social fabric. The potential sources of stress and of satisfaction in women's self employment are noted.     

THE COMMUNITIES WE ARE REGAINING BUT NEED TO LOSE

Michael Young and Gerard Lemos’ (1997 Young, M. and Lemos, G. 1997. The communities we have lost and can regain, London: Lemos and Crane.  [Google Scholar]) text The communities we have lost and can regain has had a substantial influence on New Labour's communitarian thinking. This paper critically examines a specific aspect of New Labour's communitarian agenda, namely, its use of public housing policy to rebuild communities in order to combat social exclusion on so-called ‘sink estates’. The paper is presented in four main parts. The first part of the paper discusses how, why and to what extent ‘community’ has been lost, with particular reference to public housing estates. The second part examines why community rebuilding is now seen as the solution to the problems caused by the loss of community on public housing estates and, to this end, pays particular attention to the communitarian values that underpin New Labour's third way. The third part of the paper examines some empirical studies of community in order to highlight the key characteristics of ‘community’ and thereby develop a critical understanding of what New Labour are currently seeking to achieve. The fourth part of the paper juxtaposes this discussion of ‘community’ with a discussion of emerging socio-economic trends that have been identified in the literature on late modernity and globalization. By highlighting emerging socio-economic trends such as residential mobility into the community debate, the paper concludes by criticizing the policy of community building as ‘good for you’. Our key point is that community building restricts the residential mobility of poorer households and exacerbates (rather than combats) their social exclusion because a key indicator of social inclusion is their ability to take advantage of the social, cultural and economic opportunities that so often exist ‘elsewhere’.     

Performance of standard imputation methods for missing quality of life data as covariate in survival analysis based on simulations from the International Breast Cancer Study Group Trials VI and VII*

Abstract

Imputation methods for missing data on a time-dependent variable within time-dependent Cox models are investigated in a simulation study. Quality of life (QoL) assessments were removed from the complete simulated datasets, which have a positive relationship between QoL and disease-free survival (DFS) and delayed chemotherapy and DFS, by missing at random and missing not at random (MNAR) mechanisms. Standard imputation methods were applied before analysis. Method performance was influenced by missing data mechanism, with one exception for simple imputation. The greatest bias occurred under MNAR and large effect sizes. It is important to carefully investigate the missing data mechanism.     

Preserving Open Access

Abstract

Libraries have an established track record of preserving the scholarly record, but this stewardship role has generally been exercised over materials the library has purchased or otherwise acquired. With open access publishing, the library’s role in preservation is less certain, as libraries may facilitate access to a wide array of freely accessible materials without ever obtaining any copies. Additionally, the open access landscape includes many small noncommercial publishers with limited resources that may not be able to invest in long term preservation and access. In this column, Courtney McAllister, Electronic Resources Librarian at Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale University, discusses preservation concerns and strategies for open access publications and how libraries may be affected by unstable or unpredictable long-term access.     

Get Full Text Research and the Search for Appropriate Copies

Abstract

A group of the largest academic publishers has launched a new service to simplify access to full-text research for users of discovery services and scholarly collaboration platforms. While this service aims to provide easy access to full-text articles using article-level entitlement information linked to institutions through Seamlessaccess.org, it also introduces ambiguity. The service allows for publishers to direct users to alternative versions when a full-text entitlement is not found for the user, though users may already be entitled to full text through providers that do not participate in the service. Depending on specific implementations, this could lead to further confusion and make it more difficult for users to find an appropriate copy.