Who Lives Near Coke Plants and Oil Refineries? An Exploration of the Environmental Inequity Hypothesis

Facility-specific information on pollution was obtained for 36 coke plants and 46 oil refineries in the United States and matched with information on populations surrounding these 82 facilities. These data were analyzed to determine whether environmental inequities were present, whether they were more economic or racial in nature, and whether the racial composition of nearby communities has changed significantly since plants began operations.The Census tracts near coke plants have a disproportionate share of poor and nonwhite residents. Multivariate analyses suggest that existing inequities are primarily economic in nature. The findings for oil refineries are not strongly supportive of the environmental inequity hypothesis. Rank ordering of facilities by race, poverty, and pollution produces limited (although not consistent) evidence that the more risky facilities tend to be operating in communities with above-median proportions of nonwhite residents (near coke plants) and Hispanic residents (near oil refineries). Over time, the racial makeup of many communities near facilities has changed significantly, particularly in the case of coke plants sited in the early 1900s. Further risk-oriented studies of multiple manufacturing facilities in various industrial sectors of the economy are recommended.The authors are all affiliated with the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis     

Engaging the Process of Transformation

The contributions included in this issue demonstrate the variety of ways in which participatory and interpretive methods are transforming the field of psychology and clarify the integration of the personal and political commitments of the authors within their research. A number of issues remain to be negotiated, however, before these methods take their full place in the field. This conclusion considers a few of these issues, including an examination of how these approaches demand a fundamental reassessment of validity in psychological research. It also considers the critical issue of the ownership of knowledge, and proposes a reframing of the ethical guidelines for research in the field. Finally, it invites further discussion and debate around the issues raised in this issue.     

The Evolution of Organizations: Suggestions from Complexity Theory About the Interplay Between Natural Selection and Adaptation

There has been much debate in the managementliterature between neo-Darwinists (who believe in thenatural selection of populations of organizations) andadaptationists (who contend that changes in organization structure and behavior occur in response to theenvironment). The general thesis of neo-Darwinism isthat species are blindly selected for survival by theenvironment. The latest empirical support for the dominant neo-Darwinism perspective adopted bymost biologists is based primarily on the experimentsconducted by Salvador Luria who claims to haveconclusively demonstrated that genes mutate randomly.Recently, however, biologists have re-examined Luria sresearch methods and, after replications of hisexperiments, now question some aspects of the validityof his results. Moreover, there is now new researchwhich provides support for the earlier adaptationistposition, namely, the existence of evolutionary driversand directors existing within self-organizing systems.Of particular importance to the present study is the experimental indication thatself-organizing systems play a conscious role in theirown evolution. We propose that similar mechanisms orprocesses operate in organizational adaptation, thuspointing toward a theoretical modification ofneo-Darwinism that embraces both adaptation and naturalselection in a general, unified theory.     

“What problems do you confront?” an approach to doing qualitative research

Social life is filled with problems — situations that are perceived and defined as problems by individuals as they interact with each other. As such, these problems are often of more concern to those individuals than are other matters. The sociologist can gain insight into the structure of social relations by focusing the investigation on those problems rather than directly on the underlying structure. That is, the discussion of the problems that those being studied see in their situation or setting is revealing of the structured relations in those settings. This approach to doing social research is illustrated by two of the author's studies — one a study of an emergency department, and the second a study of how commercial art galleries affect the production and consumption of art.     

Men’s Aggression Toward Women: A 10‐Year Panel Study

The present study examined the longitudinal course of men’s physical and psychological aggression toward a partner across 10 years, using a community sample of young couples (N = 194) from at‐risk backgrounds. Findings indicated that men’s aggression decreased over time and that women’s antisocial behavior and depressive symptoms predicted changes in men’s aggression. This suggests the importance of studying social processes within the dyad to have a better understanding of men’s aggression toward a partner.     

MAXIMUM LIKELIHOOD ESTIMATION FOR A POISSON RATE PARAMETER WITH MISCLASSIFIED COUNTS

This paper proposes a Poisson‐based model that uses both error‐free data and error‐prone data subject to misclassification in the form of false‐negative and false‐positive counts. It derives maximum likelihood estimators (MLEs) for the Poisson rate parameter and the two misclassification parameters — the false‐negative parameter and the false‐positive parameter. It also derives expressions for the information matrix and the asymptotic variances of the MLE for the rate parameter, the MLE for the false‐positive parameter, and the MLE for the false‐negative parameter. Using these expressions the paper analyses the value of the fallible data. It studies characteristics of the new double‐sampling rate estimator via a simulation experiment and applies the new MLE estimators and confidence intervals to a real dataset.     

Dyadic Adjustment and Community Involvement in Same-Sex Couples

This study examines the effects of age and involvement in the gay, lesbian, and bisexual community on dyadic adjustment in 62 male and 54 female same-sex couples. Participants completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976) and scales of political and social involvement in the gay, lesbian, and bisexual community based on Peplau and Cochran (1981). Those in midlife (35 years and older) had significantly lower conflict in matters of affection and sex than those younger (less than 35 years old). Political involvement interacted significantly with gender and age in predicting dyadic consensus scores: Among younger women, greater political involvement was associated with higher dyadic consensus. Inter-partner differences in social involvement were significantly associated with greater dyadic conflict in sex and affection. Inter-partner dyadic adjustment and community involvement scores were positively correlated, in general. Findings support the importance of age in the study of same-sex couples. The implications for conceptualizations of the gay, lesbian, and bisexual communities and dyadic adjustment are discussed.