Economic infrastructure and the development of state autonomy: A case study of U.S. maritime policy

This paper interprets the development of the U.S. maritime industry as reflecting changes in the economic substructure of American capitalism. The analysis seeks to explain how the changing interests of the state, as well as the changing balance of power between capitalists, workers and the state stimulated changes in the maritime industry. Three time periods are used: the Revolution until 1867; 1868 to 1897; and 1898‐on. These three periods represent distinct periods of policy change and strategies of capital accumulation for the state and for capitalists. A combination of Marxian and Weberian theories of political economy are used to explain these capital‐state relations.     

From pillar to post: Women and social work studies in the 21st century

Abstract

A decade or so after the acknowledgement and inclusion of women's issues in mainstream social work courses, we find the circumstances in which such education occurs have changed. The 'third wave' of feminism has revisited the feminist agenda of the 1960s and 1970s; there has been a paradigm shift in what tertiary education is perceived to offer; and global theories have been replaced by post modern interpretations. This article discusses the impact of these changes for social work education drawing on the authors' experiences with the 'Women and Social Work' elective subject in the Bachelor of Social Work Degree at the University of New South Wales, Australia. This elective was popular until the mid 1990s when it failed to attract students. The authors reflect on their experience of teaching the subject and their understanding of current feminism to identify a way forward in the attempt to rekindle student enthusiasm for feminist understandings and provide education which will further the emancipatory project of social work.     

DEMOCRATIC POLITICS AND THE LONG MARCH ON GLOBAL WARMING: Comments on McCright and Dunlap

The political impasse over global warming legislation stems from obstacles in the mass media arena, public awareness, electoral politics as well as governmental policy. Advocates of global warming policy have to be simultaneously successful in all four major public arenas to prevail. This article provides an overview of the obstacles in each public arena in the United States highlighting the broader context in which McCright and Dunlap's analysis of polarized public opinion operates. Global warming advocates have had their greatest success in the media arena but are checked by the rise of a conservative counter‐campaign as well as media reporting norms, which have contributed to polarized public opinion and limited salience of the issue. Global warming never ranks in the top issue list to which electoral candidates attend, giving it little priority in national electoral contests. Although the House of Representatives passed the Waxman‐Markey Bill in 2009, the bill died in the Senate and will not resurface until the Democratic margin is again large enough to overcome opposition vetoes. At the same time, major legislation has often incubated on the margins of these public arenas for significant time until a political crisis removes the normal obstacles to such major “watershed” legislation. For global warming, the long march through American public arenas appears to have begun.     

Decision Making Clusters in Retirement Savings: Gender Differences Dominate

This study explored the impact of demographic factors on individuals’ investment choice decisions in retirement savings funds. Analysis found identifiable member clusters across a large and diverse sample of almost 150,000 transactions. Results suggested that gender and risk are the most dominant factors with women showing a strong tendency to make lower risk investment choices. If this behavioural tendency is not addressed through education it will accentuate the hurdles women already face in accumulating adequate saving for retirement.     

Diversity in National Legislatures Around the World

Men from majority racial, ethnic, and religious groups continue to dominate electoral politics in most countries. At the same time, national legislatures are becoming more diverse. Cross‐national research on inequality in national politics focuses most often on women, but occasionally addresses the political representation of other marginalized groups. This review brings together these distinct areas of research – cross‐national studies on the representation of women and minority groups in national legislatures – to think about diversity in politics in a broader way. Such an approach suggests future studies should: (i) acknowledge important differences among women; (ii) focus on more than one type of minority group at a time; and (iii) explicitly examine variation in the overrepresentation of majority men as political elites.     

Representing knowledge: instances of management information

Against the backdrop of discussions about the 'Information Society', the 'Informational Economy' and the role of IT in realizing organizational change we examine how representations of 'organizational knowledge' are constructed and used in work settings. We do this through the explication of ethnographic materials that detail the realization and use of Management Information (MI) in a major UK retail bank undergoing massive organizational change. We focus in particular on explicating how existing metric information was drawn upon to construct a representation of the work of the bank for those involved in managing that work. Systems designers have been increasingly interested in offering ways of conceptualizing the problem of 'knowledge' with a view to embedding these properties in systems. In the quest to develop representations of procedural knowledge to support work we argue that it is first necessary to understand how representations are actually created and used in work to support existing work practices.     

Who Reads Catholic Newspapers? Exploring Readership in a Changing Industry

Newspapers published by Roman Catholic dioceses represent a large and unexplored part of the religious publishing industry. This study attempts to shed light on the challenges these publications face by examining the readership of a diocesan newspaper in a large Catholic diocese in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Based on a comprehensive survey of 24,278 Roman Catholic households from 27 parishes throughout the diocese, this study finds a large gap in readership and engagement between older and younger readers, raising important strategic and pastoral questions for the newspaper in the years to come.