Rereading The Intellectuals on the Road to Class Power

These essays were originally presented at a symposium of the same title that took place at the annual meeting of the American Association of the Advancement of Slavic Studies in Toronto on November 20, 2003. The charge to the participants was to to reread the book and make short presentations on it, its significance, the validity of its analysis in hindsight, its historical contribution to our understanding of late communism, its influence on others. The symposium was timed to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of writing of the book in 1973–1974 as well as the twenty-fifth anniversary of its publication in English in 1979.     

Rerum Novarum and the modern corporation

This paper argues that Rerum Novarumis a classic text. The classic character of Rerum Novarumis evident in relation to contemporary business ethics, particularly when Pope Leo addresses questions concerning the moral workplace and the moral economic order. The paper is in three parts. The first section explores Rerum Novarumand Pope Leo's model for creating the moral workplace. The second section argues that Rerum Novarumanticipates, both conceptually and normatively, the thrust of much contemporary work in business ethics. Conceptually the encyclical responds to issues on the micro and macro arenas as does contemporary business ethics. Normatively the encyclical argues that moral reasoning ought to be a part of management decisions. Rerum Novarumappeals to personal forces and calls upon the conscience of managers. The third section suggests that the decisions of some modern corporations are consistent with the insights of Leo XIII. Three cases are used to illustrate themes in Rerum Novarumthat are morally significant today.     

Personal History of Psychosocial Trauma in the Early Life of Social Work and Business Students

The incidence of psychosocial trauma in the families of origin of master’s-level social work students was compared with that of their counterparts in a nonhelping profession (master’s-level business majors). Students at one private college in northeastern Pennsylvania completed a questionnaire that sought to examine the extent of alcohol and drug abuse; physical, sexual, and emotional abuse; physical and mental illness; death; suicide; and other traumatic events, such as separation and divorce of parents, during childhood. Demographic data also were obtained. Social work students reported a high frequency of family trauma in early life that was significantly greater than that of the business students. These findings have implications for effective social work practice, social work education, and professional responsibility.     

Strangers in a strange land: coping with imprisonment as a racial or ethnic foreign national inmate

A wide range of scholarship examining the global effects of neo‐liberalism draws attention to the precarious position of individuals who are not seen as part of the social body. While immigrants, racial minorities, and common criminals are central to this discourse, relatively little research has examined how the experiences of these individuals may vary based on statuses other than citizenship when they are imprisoned. Our research focuses on the interactions (between prisoners and between prisoners and correctional staff) of a racially diverse group of Dutch foreign national prisoners incarcerated in England. Although all of these prisoners clearly saw themselves as ‘outsiders,’ visible minorities faced a unique set of challenges relative to their White counterparts. We consider both the practical and theoretical import of these findings.     

Pornography Use and Attitudes: An Examination of Relational and Sexual Openness Variables Between and Within Gender

The purpose of this investigation was to examine male and female pornography users' and nonusers' attitudes regarding sexual openness and inhibition as well as relational variables both between and within gender. Participants included 846 individuals, 355 men and 491 women, with 239 of the men and 117 of the women being pornography consumers. Results indicate that men are more sexual seeking and less relationally oriented than women. However, men are more sexually conservative than women. When comparing groups by pornography usage, both male and female pornography users are more sexually open and uninhibited and less relationally oriented than nonusers. Interestingly, when comparing female pornography users to male nonusers, pornography-using women are more sexually open and uninhibited than nonusing men and are less sexually conservative than nonusing men. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

Identifying the death gender -- the ghost of masochism in queer subject

This article re-assesses the theories of death, narcissism and identification from a selection of essays by Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan in order to demonstrate that gender is generated out of masochism and the 'death drive' (Todestrieb). In closely reading and amending key sections of Judith Butler's queer theories, the author argues against her Foucaltian claim that the queer subject is constituted in the face of a sadistic Law, which s/he is forced to eroticise and internalise, and therefore conflate with her/his own masochism. It is argued that the subject's masochism is a queer attempt not to be; to bridge the constitutional split enforced by the Lacanian idea of the assumption of subjectivity through misidentification, and to become a living mortuary for the (dead) identifications that found the subject on his/her illusory ground through the (contingent) foreclosure of the Other.     

Subjective evaluation of well-being: Problems and prospects

This paper discusses some of the substantive and methodological pitfalls that arise in the subjective evaluation of well-being. The discussion includes illustrative references to the empirical findings of the 1977 Edmonton Area Study. Issues discussed include (1) specific, domain, and global measures; (2) objective states and subjective perceptions; (3) micro and macro units of analysis; and (4) the problem of cultural relativism. It is concluded that it is not yet possible to delineate a simple set of social indicators for use by policy-makers and social planners. Accurate assessment of social well-being currently requires the study of demographic and objective states together with cognitive and evaluational responses and also requires assessment not only at the global ‘general satisfaction’ level but also at more specific levels of analysis.