Race, Class and the Dilemmas of Upward Mobility for African Americans

We use the concept of intersectionality to explore the psychological meaning of social class and upward mobility in the lives African Americans. Throughout, we pay special attention to the context of education, a site which many Black Americans feel represents their best hope for upward mobility. Literature related to three themes is reviewed and discussed: (a) the history and significance of class divisions within the Black community, (b) experiences of educational institutions as entryways to upward mobility, and (c) the hidden costs of mobility. It is suggested that future research should address the intersection of gender with class and race, the relevance of class to racial identity, and the experience of downward mobility among Black Americans .     

Maternal Functioning, Time, and Money: The World of Work and Welfare

Numerous studies have assessed families' employment and financial stability following welfare reform. Yet little research has addressed whether welfare and work transitions are linked with other changes in family functioning. Using a representative sample of approximately 2,000 low-income urban families from the Three-City Study, analyses assessed whether mothers' welfare and employment experiences over a two-year period following welfare reform were related to changes in family well-being. Lagged regression models controlling for family characteristics and earlier levels of functioning found that moving into employment and stable employment (of 30 hours or more per week) were linked to substantial increases in income and improvements in mothers' psychological well-being. Movements into employment also were associated with declines in financial strain and food insecurity. Sustained or initiated welfare receipt was related to relative declines in income, physical health, and psychological well-being, but also to improved access to medical care. In contrast, mothers' welfare and work experiences showed very limited relations to changes in the quality of parenting or of children's home environments. These patterns were similar for families with young children and those with adolescent children. Results suggest that parenting behaviors are more resistant to change than are maternal emotional and economic functioning.     

Maternal Welfare and Employment Experiences and Adolescent Well-Being: Do Mothers' Human Capital Characteristics Matter?

Using a representative sample of over 900 low-income urban families from the Three-City Study, analyses assessed whether maternal human capital characteristics moderate relationships between mothers' welfare and employment experiences and young adolescents' well-being. Results indicate synergistic effects whereby greater maternal education and literacy skills enhanced positive links between mothers' new or sustained employment and improvements in adolescent cognitive and psychosocial functioning. Greater human capital also enhanced the negative links between loss of maternal employment and adolescent functioning. Mothers' entrances onto welfare appeared protective for adolescents of mothers with little education but predicted decreased psychosocial functioning among teens of more educated mothers. Results suggest that maternal human capital characteristics may alter the payback of welfare and work experiences for low-income families.     

Turning Three Sides into a Delta at General Motors: Enhancing Partnership Integration on Corporate Ventures

General Motors had enjoyed global operations that were based on exports, acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances throughout the 20th century. Its global-programme strategy appeared assured. However, the carmaker came unstuck when it came to creating a large-scale collaborative effort involving its own internal units. The Delta Small Car Program, involving three fully internal GM units, was terminated after its goals failed to materialise. The carmaker’s long-standing cultural tradition of autonomy for its units was what made collaboration between them difficult. We examine this GM global programme, placing it in its historical context. Our primary database consists of the perceptions and experiences offered to us by a cross-section of programme participants. By examining partner integration at the working level, we identify insights and offer recommendations pertaining to venture structure and dynamics and their role in venture success.     

Social exclusion,mobility and access1

Much of the literature on social exclusion ignores its ‘spatial’ or ‘mobility’ related aspects. This paper seeks to rectify this by examining the mobile processes and infrastructures of travel and transport that engender and reinforce social exclusion in contemporary societies. To the extent to which this issue is addressed, it is mainly organized around the notion of ‘access’ to activities, values and goods. This paper examines this discourse in some detail. It is argued that there are many dimensions of such access, that improving access is a complex matter because of the range of human activities that might need to be ‘accessed’, that in order to know what is to be accessed the changing nature of travel and communications requires examination, and that some dimensions of access are only revealed through changes in the infrastructure that ‘uncover’ previously hidden social exclusions. Claims about access and socio‐spatial exclusion routinely make assumptions about what it is to participate effectively in society. We turn this question around, also asking how mobilities of different forms constitute societal values and sets of relations, participation in which may become important for social inclusion. This paper draws upon an extensive range of library, desk and field research to deal with crucial issues relating to the nature of a fair, just and mobile society.     

Partner Violence and Mental Health Outcomes in a New Zealand Birth Cohort

This study examines the prevalence and extent of domestic violence and the consequences of domestic violence for mental health outcomes in a birth cohort of New Zealand young adults studied at age 25 years. A total of 828 young people (437 women and 391 men) were interviewed about the domestic violence victimization and violence perpetration in their current or most recent partner relationship. Key findings of the study were (a) domestic conflict was present in 70% of relationships, with this conflict ranging from minor psychological abuse to severe assault; (b) men and women reported similar experiences of victimization and perpetration of domestic violence; and (c) exposure to domestic violence was significantly related to increased risks of major depression (p < .05) and suicidal ideation (p < .005) even after extensive control for covariates.