THE MASS MEDIA AND THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE MISSING CHILDREN PROBLEM

This article traces the role of the mass media in the social construction of the "missing children issue' as a social problem. The social construction explanation of social problems offered by Blumer (1971) and Spector and Kitsuse (1977) has been criticized (cf. Best and Horiuchi 1985) for lacking a conception of extra-media influences that can affect audiences beyond the initial viewing situation. Recent work in mass communication indicates that a media logic is adapted by other institutions to amplify television imagery and themes about crime, danger, and child abuse. A case study of the origins and claims and counterclaims about the nature and extent of missing children is combined with an empirical analysis of the impact of various sources of information about the missing children issue in order to demonstrate the process by which a social problem is constructed. The impact of additional information is analyzed by administering a self-report questionnaire to 96 respondents before and after viewing a two-part documentary on the complexities of the issue. The data suggest that mass-mediated imagery and formats forge an interactive informational context for social problems by sustaining what is viewed in one's living room with imagery in bulk mail, milk cartons, and posters. It is further suggested that mass media depictions of problems such as "missing children' carry over into consonant images such as child abuse. This conceptualization is capable of encompassing other accounts of social problems (e.g., "urban legends") within claims-making activity.     

Factors affecting pre-arbitral settlement of rights disputes: Predicting the method of rights dispute resolution

Every arbitrator has had a scheduled arbitration hearing cancelled because the disputants have privately resolved the matter. This article identifies and examines those characteristics of grievance impasses that are associated with pre-arbitral dispute settlement — that is, settlement of a grievance dispute after submission to arbitration but before an award is issued — and those that are associated with arbitral dispute settlement — that is, settlement of a grievance dispute through issuance of an arbitration award. The study concludes that the primary determinant of pre-arbitral settlement is the degree of private, outside, legal representation.     

Modernization Among Town and Bush Cree in Quebec*

L'article est base sur des donnees recueillies aupres des Indiens Cris des regions de Mistassini et de Waswanipi dans le Quebec. La these principale qui y est elaboree peut s'exprimer ainsi: la structure de role d'individus vivant dans des milieux en voie de developpement evoluera a partir d'un nombre restreint de roles traditionnels vers une structure plus complexe oil on observe une meilleure tenue de role. L'auteur elabore une echelle de modernisation: les individus les plus modernes se reconnaissent a leur scolarite, a leur milieu de residence, a leurs fonctions professionnelles et aux changements dans leurs attitudes et conceptions de l'avenir. En consequence, si on veut moderniser ces reserves, il faut susciter des changements a chacun de ces cinq niveaux de la realite sociale. This article takes data gathered on the Cree Indians in the Mistassini and Waswanipi areas of Quebec and analyses it in terms of their role structure. The principal thesis is that the role structure of people who are developing will change from a traditionally limited number of roles to a more complex structure with a higher degree of role performance. A scale of modernization is developed and is found to be associated with education, location of residence, occupational roles, and with changes in attitudes and orientation. Therefore, to bring about modernization would require changes in at least these five areas.     

Testing the lucas critique: A review

Claims that the parameters of an econometric model are invariant under changes in either policy rules or expectations processes entail super exogeneity and encompassing implications. Super exogeneity is always potentially refutable, and when both implications are involved, the Lucas critique is also refutable. We review the methodological background; the applicability of the Lucas critique; super exogeneity tests; the encompassing implications of feedback and feedforward models; and the role of incomplete information. The approach is applied to money demand in the u.S.A. to examine constancy, exogeneity, and encompassing, and reveals the Lucas critique to be inapplicable to the model under analysis.     

The implementation and effects of Great Britain's National Lottery

This article reviews the implementation of the British National Lottery since the first draw took place in November 1994. It seeks to analyse the experience to date against the background of the concerns expressed prior to its introduction and of the regulatory objectives set by the framework legislation. It also considers the impact that the Lottery is having upon the formulation and implementation of regulatory policy affecting other gambling media. The six sections following the introduction deal in turn with the Lottery's income, permitted games, the participants, the good causes benefiting from its proceeds, its impact on other gambling media, and its place within British government policy concerning the regulation of commercial gambling.Since writing this article, some changes in the National Lottery have taken place (at 1 March 1996). The sales of scratchcards have now declined to £20m a week; 330m prizes totalling £2.7bn have been distributed and there have been 343 jackpot winners, 164 of whom have received in excess of £lm. OFLOT has commissioned research on the socio-economic condition of purchasers, which shows that the average weekly spend is £2.63, and that adults within the socio-economic group C2 have the highest spend (OFLOT, 1996). This research also shows that 22% of a sample of children between the ages of 12 and 15 were spending up to £5 a week on lottery tickets. The turnover for the first year is likely to be in the region of £5.5bn, which to date has produced £1.6bn for the good causes. The total turnover represents slightly less than 0.1% of Great Britain's gross national product. The Government's proposed changes to the regulation of casinos and bingo clubs were published in February (Home Office, 1996).     

ENGAGING THE NON-ATTENDING SPOUSE IN MARITAL THERAPY THROUGH THE USE OF THERAPIST-INITIATED WRITTEN COMMUNICATION

There is currently rather widespread acceptance among clinicians that conjoint marital therapy is the preferred format for treating marital difficulties. However, more often than not, it seems that the marital referral or inquiry for therapy stems from the efforts of one spouse, with the other spouse remaining uninvolved or resistant. Consequently, engaging the non-attending spouse in therapy is an important issue for professionals working with married couples.     

Nonverbal cues to deception among intimates,friends, and strangers

Buller and Burgoon (in press) propose that deceivers attempt to encode strategically nonverbal cues which indicate nonimmediacy and project a positive image. At the same time, deceivers leak arousal and negative affect via their nonverbal display. This experiment tested these predictions, while examining the influence of relational history on deception cues and the stability of deception cues within deceptive conversations. The nonverbal behavior of 130 strangers, friends, and intimates was measured. Results indicated that deceivers signalled nonimmediacy, arousal, and negative affect, but they did not appear to project a positive image. Deception cues were mediated by relational history and showed considerable temporal variation. Strangers leaked more arousal and negative affect than friends and intimates. Further, deceivers, particularly deceiving friends and intimates, seemed to monitor and control their nonverbal behavior during deception by suppressing arousal and negative affect cues and moderating nonimmediate behavior.