The spaces and ethics of organic food

Initial assessments of the potential for organic food systems have offered an optimistic interpretation of the progressive political and ethical characteristics involved. This positive gloss has prompted a stream of critique emphasising the need to explore the ambiguities and disconnections inherent therein. In this paper, we consider the case of Riverford Organic Vegetables,¹ arguably the largest supplier of organic vegetables in the UK, and suggest that existing debates assume too much about the “goods” and “rights” of organic food and leave important questions about the spaces and ethics of organic food. We argue that, in the case of Riverford, the space of organic food production and distribution is neither the small, local, counter-cultural farm nor the large, transnational, corporate firm. Rather, simultaneously, the spaces of organic food production and distribution are the national network, the regional distribution system and the local farm. In addition, in the case of Riverford, the ethics of organic food exhibit few grand designs (of environmental sustainability, for example). Rather, the ethics of organic food are best characterised as: ordinary, since they relate to concerns about taste, value for money, care within the family and so on; diverse, since multiple practices steer the production and distribution of organic food; and graspable, in that both vegetables and box have material and symbolic presence for consumers.     

Recruitment strategies for conducting research on women's retirement

Currently, little information is available to inform new or returning researchers about designing and conducting research on the topic of women and retirement. Few published studies describe how to access non-probability samples of retired women, yet preliminary evidence suggests women possess distinctive characteristics that affect their retirement as well as complicate the recruitment process. In this article, certain challenges and benefits of conducting research with women in retirement are presented. Next, important issues to consider prior to sampling retired women are described. Finally, specific strategies for identifying and recruiting community-dwelling retired women are presented and discussed.     

The Study of Organizational Effectiveness*

This paper reviews the goal approach and the system resource approach to the study of organizational effectiveness. First, the goal approach is defended with respect to criticisms made by the users of the system resource approach. Next it is criticized for its failure to develop general measures of effectiveness. The system resource approach is then criticized because optimization is not measured, few general measures are used, and the basic rule of mutual exclusiveness is seriously violated. Finally, a general measure of effectiveness is suggested, based on Georgopoulos and Mann's (1962) study of community general hospitals.     

Reflections on the academic job search in sociology

Although a variety of resources exist to aid social scientists, in general, in their aca-demic job pursuits, almost no resources detail this process specifically for sociolo-gists. This research aims to provide a review of the literature on the academic job market and to provide a sociological analysis of the job searching process in sociology. We report and analyze the experiences of five sociologists as they moved from graduate school, post-doctoral fellowships, an applied research position, and a non-tenure track teaching position to assistant professor positions. We detail the importance of impression management and self-presentation throughout this process (by job candidates, departments, and administrators), the resources provided by the American Sociological Association that exist to aid job candidates, and we suggest implications of the current organization of the sociology job market.     

Postural problems of the left shoulder in an orchestral trombonist

Professional musicians require a disciplined and balanced regime of practise and performance to enable them to cope with the physical challenges of their chosen instrument and to reduce the risk of work- related injury. If practise or performance strategies are suddenly changed, permanent damage may occur even in a player with a mature, well-established technique. The trombone presents unique physical challenges which are heightened by recent developments in instrumental design as well as by orchestral working conditions. This study presents the experiences of a professional orchestral trombonist who worked as a principal player in a UK orchestra until his performing career was cut short by a performance related injury. His personal approach to practise is discussed in the context of the physical and professional challenges associated with contemporary orchestral practices. The case study demonstrates the importance of considering the interplay between psychological and physical factors in the development and treatment of injury in musicians.     

Beyond Employment and Income: The Association Between Young Adults’ Finances and Marital Timing

This study tested an extension of the theory of marital timing (Oppenheimer, Am J Sociol 94:563–591, 1988) by assessing whether visible and less visible financial assets and debt mediated the relationship between employment and the likelihood of marriage. We conducted these prospective, longitudinal analyses using a sample of 1,522 never-married young adults from the National Survey of Families and Households. For participants who were not cohabiting at Wave 1, financial issues such as car values predicted marriage but did not mediate the relationship between work hours, occupational prestige, and the likelihood of marriage. For cohabiting participants, employment factors were the strongest predictor of marriage.     

Mesothelioma: Risk Apportionment Among Asbestos Exposure Sources

The mesothelioma epidemic in the United States, which peaked during the 2000–2004 period, can be traced to high‐level asbestos exposures experienced by males in occupational settings prior to the full recognition of the disease‐causing potential of asbestos and the establishment of enforceable asbestos exposure limits by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 1971. Many individuals diagnosed with mesothelioma where asbestos has been identified as a contributing cause of the disease have filed claims seeking compensation from asbestos settlement trusts or through the court system. An individual with mesothelioma typically has been exposed to asbestos in more than one setting and from more than one asbestos product. Apportioning risk for mesothelioma among contributing factors is an ongoing problem faced by occupational disease compensation boards, juries, parties responsible for paying damages, and currently by the U.S. Senate in its efforts to formulate a bill establishing an asbestos settlement trust. In this article we address the following question: If an individual with mesothelioma where asbestos has been identified as a contributing cause were to be compensated for his or her disease, how should that compensation be apportioned among those responsible for the asbestos exposures? For the purposes of apportionment, we assume that asbestos is the only cause of mesothelioma and that every asbestos exposure contributes, albeit differentially, to the risk. We use an extension of the mesothelioma risk model initially proposed in the early 1980s to quantify the contribution to risk of each exposure as a percentage of the total risk. The percentage for each specific discrete asbestos exposure depends on the start and end dates, the intensity, and the asbestos fiber type for the exposure. We provide justification for the use of the mesothelioma risk model for apportioning risk and discuss how to assess uncertainty associated with its application.     

Developing expert systems for management applications

The Alvey Report has resulted in a growing interest in the UK in ‘expert systems’. It is fairly generally accepted, at least in the UK, that such systems function in a particular type of way, i.e. they arrive at decisions through a process of rule based inference. It is suggested that it may be more fruitful to regard rule based inference as one approach to the construction of expert systems, and that proven techniques of operational research may well be more useful in constructing other types of expert system. Alternative applications of expert systems are derived on the basis of a broader definition of an expert system in terms of what it does rather than how it does it. A parallel is drawn between these applications and some typical concerns of business research. It is suggested that a useful aid in identifying promising business applications of expert systems is to set up four ‘dimensions’ along which different types of system differ. Examples are given of where other techniques might conceivably be useful in applications of expert systems.     

Socioeconomic stress in rural families: Part II from the co-guest editors

Dorothy Z. Price is Professor, Child and Family Studies, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-2010. Mari S. Wilhelm is Associate Professor, School of Family and Consumer Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721.