Housing as Health Capital: How Health Trajectories and Housing Paths Are Linked

This article explores the relationships between housing and health inequalities. It locates housing within a network of health resources that can either promote well-being or increase susceptibility to disease. Housing thereby contributes to the accumulation, or depletion, of the health capital of individuals and communities. Qualitative interviews in three British regions help specify the links between health capital, on the one hand, and the network of resources, environments, events, institutions, and social relations comprising the housing system, on the other. The findings show why, from a health capital/health-resources-network perspective, a segment of the housing system (owner-occupation) that generally appears therapeutic can have the opposite effect for people whose resilience is low or whose health is in decline .     

The Benefits and Costs of Inequality for the Advantaged and Disadvantaged*

Objectives. To test theoretical models intended to improve our understanding of the consequences of increased inequality for advantaged and disadvantaged populations. Methods. The 5 percent PUMS (Public Use Microdata Sample) data from the 2000 Census of Population and Housing were analyzed using a variety of ANOVA and regression techniques. Results. It was found that in geographic areas where inequality levels were high, individuals with low levels of education earn lower incomes than equally educated individuals in areas where inequality levels were lower. Similarly, in high‐inequality areas, individuals employed in low‐paying industries, who were not married, and who were minority earned lower incomes than individuals with similar characteristics in low‐inequality areas. The data clearly show that as the level of inequality increases, the benefits of being advantaged and the costs of being disadvantaged both increase. Conclusions. Support was found for both theoretical models tested in this study. As the extent of inequality increases in the United States, it is apparent from this study that the life chances of disadvantaged individuals diminish and are largely determined by the accident of their birth.     

Insurance for low-probability hazards: A bimodal response to unlikely events

Two insurance experiments using real-money consequences and multiple rounds to provide experience are described. In the first experiment, subjects bid for insurance to prevent a fixed loss of 4 at probabilities ranging from .01 to .9. Mean bids were near expected value except at the lowest probability of.01, for which a very bimodal distribution was observed (some subjects bid zero and others bid much more than expected value). A second experiment explored this bimodality at a probability of .01 with loss increased to4 at probabilities ranging from .01 to .9. Mean bids were near expected value except at the lowest probability of.01, for which a very bimodal distribution was observed (some subjects bid zero and others bid much more than expected value). A second experiment explored this bimodality at a probability of .01 with loss increased to 40. A similar bimodal distribution was obtained that persisted over 50 rounds of experience. These laboratory results are consistent with field evidence for low-probability hazards, for which people appear either to dismiss the risks or to worry too much about them.We would like to thank Alan Carlin, Ann Fisher, Risa Palm, and David Brookshire for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this article, and Rebecca Boyce, Julie Irwin, Glenn Russell, and Joy Smith for research assistance. We also gratefully acknowledge support from the University of Colorado Council on Research and Creative Work for human subject payments and from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation for support for research design and analysis provided as part of Cooperative Agreement #CR812054. All errors, opinions and conclusions are the sole responsibility of the authors.     

Renaissance beauty = Today’s ugly: What appearance factors determine attractiveness judgments?

ABSTRACT

By comparing photos of portraits of the faces of Renaissance courtesans to photos of attractive contemporary women’s faces this study estimates the importance of sociocultural factors in the personal perception of faces. Physical attractiveness is an important causal factor in choosing a sex partner, so the difference between averaged attractiveness judgments, a focus of attractiveness research, and individual attractiveness judgment, most relevant to choosing a sex partner, is important. Except for modesty and faithfulness, 13 normally attractive contemporary models were rated much more positively by college student participants (N = 189) than were eight celebrated Renaissance courtesans, both in attractiveness (contemporary stimuli 63%; Renaissance courtesans 31%) and in personality traits. All of the Renaissance courtesan trait ratings showed more variability than the contemporary stimuli. This study supports the view that once a relatively low baseline level of biological attractiveness is surpassed, latent and explicit sociocultural factors, culturally relative gender role appearance expectations, culturally relative aesthetic judgment factors, individual differences, and interpersonal dynamics are major determining factors of judgments of pretty and/or beautiful showing large subcultural and cultural individual differences. Pretty and beautiful may be discrete concepts, with beautiful strongly culturally determined. These data suggest that sociocultural and subcultural factors are important determiners of attractiveness.     

‘An Unstable Amalgam’

Christopher Herbert. Culture and anomie: ethnographic imagination in the nineteenth century. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press. 1991. x, 364pp., references, index, notes. ISBN 0 226 32738 8 (hard); ISBN 0 226 32739 6 (paper).     

Measuring Success in Intentional Communities: A Critical Evaluation of Commitment and Longevity Theories

Abstract

Intentional Communities (ICs) are groups of people that form for a specific agreed-upon purpose and live in close proximity to achieve their desired end. The prevailing scholarship in the study of these communities is that communal processes of commitment, as well as ethnic and linguistic homogeneity, play a strong role in determining a community's success when defined as how long-lived a community was. However, most of these conclusions are based in historical research on communities that no longer exist. In this article, we use survey data collected from present-day ICs to find that those assumptions do not necessarily hold true, and we propose a definition of success that incorporates how well communities report satisfaction fulfilling their intentions. By testing a sample of living ICs, we find that the community decision-making structure is more important than any other factor in determining whether communities reports progress toward this metric of success.     

Exploring Autonomy in Group Work Practice with Persons with Intellectual Disabilities

Preserving the autonomy of individuals with intellectual disabilities in group work is challenging. Group workers often experience inadequate guidance about autonomy—an individual's capability to act independently without influence by others. Group workers can enhance autonomy through group activities that promote self-efficacy, empowerment, and the ability to make decisions. Fostering autonomy requires that the group workers be knowledgeable and aware of personal biases, analyzing their expectations and actions. To promote the autonomy of persons with intellectual disabilities in group work practice, the authors make recommendations to strengthen the IASWG Standards for Social Work Practice with Groups in this area.