Local Food and Civic Engagement: Do Farmers Who Market Local Food Feel More Responsible for Their Communities?

Do farmers who participate in local food systems attach greater importance to civic engagement than farmers whose livelihood is not tied to the vitality of local markets? The literature on local food as a social movement continues to paint a picture of local food systems as contributing to, and benefiting from, rich networks of civil society groups. Yet to date, few studies have directly addressed the question of whether marketing local food is actually associated with higher levels of civic engagement among farmers. In this paper, I draw on local capitalism theory to identify two different mechanisms—depth of economic reliance on local markets, and breadth of social networks related to local food sales—that might spur farmers who market local food to feel more responsible for their communities. Then, using data from a large-scale survey of specialty crop growers, I explore whether a relationship exists between farmer involvement with local food markets and attitudes toward civic engagement. Results suggest that while farmers strongly committed to local food markets attach greater importance to civic engagement, participation in multiple categories or kinds of local food supply chains is not necessarily associated with stronger civic values.     

On Boundaries

In this essay, I discuss the consequences of establishing boundaries and categories and the consequences for peoples, the need to consider insider and outsider categories in the sociological endeavor, and some of the current problems in our society that have been revealed by research and the communication of boundary research.     

Separating online scheduling algorithms with the relative worst order ratio

The relative worst order ratio is a measure for the quality of online algorithms. Unlike the competitive ratio, it compares algorithms directly without involving an optimal offline algorithm. The measure has been successfully applied to problems like paging and bin packing. In this paper, we apply it to machine scheduling. We show that for preemptive scheduling, the measure separates multiple pairs of algorithms which have the same competitive ratios; with the relative worst order ratio, the algorithm which is “intuitively better” is also provably better. Moreover, we show one such example for non-preemptive scheduling.     

The hierarchical model for load balancing on two machines

Following previous work, we consider the hierarchical load balancing model on two machines of possibly different speeds. We first focus on maximizing the minimum machine load and show that no competitive algorithm exists for this problem. We overcome this barrier in two ways, both related to previously known models. The first one is fractional assignment, where each job can be arbitrarily split between the machines. The second one is a semi-online model where the sum of jobs is known in advance. We design algorithms of best possible competitive ratios for both these cases. Furthermore, we show that the combination of the two models leads to the existence of an optimal algorithm (i.e., an algorithm of competitive ratio 1). This algorithm is clearly optimal for the makespan minimization problem as well. For the latter problem, we consider the fractional assignment model and design an algorithm of best possible competitive ratio for it. This work was submitted as the M.Sc. thesis of the first author.     

Political culture and monopoly price determination

In this paper we study the endogenous determination of monopoly price. Our proposed game of endogenous monopoly-price setting extends the literature on monopoly-price, monopoly rent-seeking contests and monopoly rent-seeking rent-avoidance contests by (i) determining the monopoly price such that it maximizes a composite utility function that depends on two components: expected social welfare and lobbying efforts. The welfare component has a positive or no effect on the utility while the lobbying efforts have a positive, negative or no effect on the utility (ii) introducing the political culture of the government and clarifying its role in the endogenous determination of monopoly price. In the proposed model the single parameter representing political culture is the weight assigned to the enhancement of social welfare. Our main concern is with the study of the relationship between this parameter and the proposed monopoly price and, in turn, the rent-seeking rent-avoidance efforts of the potential monopoly and the consumers and their aggregate expected benefit. We are grateful to the referees for their constructive and helpful comments.     

Normative mediation of reactions to crowding

Previous research on short-term crowding had found that males and females react differently. In general, males respond to spatial restriction more negatively while females react more positively than their noncrowded counter-parts. Epstein and Karlin (1975) suggested that these differences are based on group processes rather than biological differences. The present study manipulated norms governing interaction levels in crowded groups of women. Results indicated that these norms influenced reactions to crowding as predicted. Women reacted most positively when interaction levels were high and most negatively when interaction levels were low.The present research was supported by grant # HD-08546-01 to Drs. Epstein and Aiello and by grant #07-2119-08 from the Rutgers Research Council to Dr. Karlin.     

Effect of insult upon personal space preferences

After sixty male undergraduates individually were either insulted or not insulted by the experimenter, each was tested for body-buffer zone (the physical distance between themselves and an approaching person at which they first reported being uncomfortable) by either the experimenter or an assistant. The body-buffer zones of the insulted subjects were larger when tested by the experimenter than when tested by his assistant; but for those not insulted, there were no differences in body-buffer zone produced by the identity of the tester. The results are discussed in terms of the interaction between affect and interpersonal proxemics.This project was facilitated by the senior author's Margaret Bosshardt Pace and Paul David Pace Research Fellowship.     

Advertising unreasonable expectations: Nanny ads on Craigslist

ABSTRACT

Research has shown that while some domestic workers in the United States work in situations that are fair and decent, many others face conditions of abuse, degradation, and/or exploitation. These conditions are commonly seen as a “hidden” aspect of domestic work. This article asks if these conditions are really as hidden as is commonly assumed. Through a content analysis of nanny ads on Craigslist, we explore whether employers are willing to advertise their expectation that nannies will work under one of three unreasonable conditions: i.e., for low pay, long daily hours, and/or long weekly hours. Overall, we find that of the ads that specify how much pay a nanny is expected to work for as well as how long she is expected to work, many contain unreasonable expectations. By looking at how these expectations are expressed in these ads, we can see that these unreasonable expectations are generally presented in a matter-of-fact manner. This suggests that these employers do not find these expectations to be that remarkable, notwithstanding how unreasonable they are.