Immigration-related political culture and support for radical right parties

Radical right parties are not equally successful across or within all countries. Most studies have up to now relied on socio-economic, socio-structural and political factors to explain these differences. We examine whether the immigration-related political culture – consisting of integration policies and shared conservative values – in which voters are embedded influences radical right voting. We argue that more exclusive immigration-culture is related to more support for radical right parties. Furthermore, the relationship between immigration attitudes and radical right support is expected to be moderated by immigration-culture. With multilevel regression models using data from the 2011 Swiss Electoral Studies (SELECTS) we compare the effect of immigration-culture in 26 Swiss cantons. We find that cantonal immigration-culture (assessed with integration regimes and shared conservative beliefs) increases radical right support and the effect of individuals' immigration attitude on radical right support is stronger when immigration-culture is exclusive.     

Utilization of health care among female-to-male transgender individuals in the United States

Female-To-Male (FTM) transgender individuals were approached at a conference and several peer support groups in the United States and asked to complete a short questionnaire regarding their medical care. Results from the 122 completed questionnaires indicated that a high number of respondents were taking testosterone (n = 106) and had some gender-confirming surgery (n = 68). Seventy percent of respondents rated their overall quality of health care "good" or "excellent." A surprising finding was the low number (7%) reporting diagnoses of polycystic ovarian syndrome--the incidence of which has been reported elsewhere as high as 50%. Also notable were the high levels of employment, insurance, knowledge of standards of care, and access to providers, contrasting with reports from studies involving predominantly Male-To-Female (MTF) individuals. Finally, FTM's usage of transition-related medical resources can vary, but many within this study are foregoing genital surgery.     

Temporary Work and Insecurity in Britain: A Problem Solved?

Temporary workers in Britain experience lower job quality. However, the proportion of employees on temporary contracts has fallen since a decade ago to just 5.5% in 2005. There have also been qualitative improvements. Many temporary workers now fall under the protection of the Fixed Term Employees’ (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002, and the relative pay of fixed-term contract workers has since improved. In contrast, the subsequent fortunes of seasonal and casual workers with short contracts have been mixed. Furthermore, the Act excludes agency workers, and the paper calls for additional legislative action to ensure fair treatment for this group.

Urban development in the southern Great Plains: effects of atmospheric NO<Subscript>x</Subscript> on the long-lived post oak tree (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Quercus stellata</Emphasis>)

Concentrated human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels have resulted in chronic nitrogen (N) additions to urban ecosystems. We predicted that urban development in North Texas (NTX; the largest “megapolitan” region in the Great Plains) would be positively correlated with atmospheric concentrations of nitrogen oxides (NO_x) and with the leaf tissue quality (lower C:N ratio) and herbivory of the long-lived native tree, post oak (Quercus stellata). Data from air monitoring stations were used to calculate distance-weighted estimates of atmospheric NO_x for 11 sites of differing urban development across NTX. Soil samples were collected at each site along with post oak leaves, estimates of herbivory, and measurements of tree size. Percent urban development was strongly positively correlated with atmospheric NO_x concentrations, though there was no correlation between atmospheric NO_x and soil N. There was a positive relationship between soil N and leaf tissue quality, but only where atmospheric NO_x was relatively low, possibly due to factors that covary with urban development. Herbivory was not significantly correlated with leaf tissue quality, but leaves from the two most urban sites had the greatest amount of insect herbivory. The NO_x concentrations in NTX were lower than other industrialized cities, which may be due to climate and topography differences or the relatively young age of this urban area. This study adds to the expanding body of literature examining how urban ecosystems are affected (or not) by N deposition and suggests that interactions among NO_x, soils, and plants are complex and sometimes, counterintuitive.     

Mentoring Youth Across Cultures Incorporating Different Worldviews: A Zones of Proximal Exploration Model

Mentoring is an ongoing, regular, reciprocal process of advice-sharing, involving a mentor and a protégé in an agreed pattern over an extended period. In this article the need for cross-cultural, immigrant youth mentoring is demonstrated and acculturation issues in educational, employment, and social and family environments are highlighted. A grounded approach is described using a new conceptual model of zones of proximal exploration drawing on the work of sociocultural, educational, and developmental theorists to incorporate the social context of both parties involved in conjunction with a person-focused approach based on a new behavior motivation matrix and the work of Gardner, Kohlberg, and Maslow.     

Attracting the best talent in the context of migration policy changes: the case of the UK

ABSTRACT

Employment projections and skills strategies emphasise the importance of (highly) skilled labour for competitiveness. A strategic focus on ‘attracting the best talent’ globally may conflict with policies to ‘grow local talent’. This issue is considered in the UK context of a shift from a liberal immigration regime to a demand-led system characterised by increasing restriction, through adjustments to a points-based system to manage labour migration from outside the European Economic Area (EEA). The specific focus is on an annual limit on non-EEA labour migrants introduced in 2011 and tightening of eligibility criteria for entry of (highly) skilled migrants, amid business’ concerns that this might stifle economic growth. Drawing on 20 employer case studies and literature on skills and migration policy, the article investigates the costs and implications for business in adhering and seeking to adapt to migration policy changes. Such changes pose administrative burdens on employers and limit business flexibility but associated monetary costs to businesses are difficult to quantify. Adaptation strategies and the impact of migration rule changes vary: some firms experience limited impact, some adjust their recruitment behaviour and some feel their underlying business rationale is threatened. Developing local talent is a partial long-term solution.     

Voluntary After‐School Alcohol and Drug Programs for Middle School Youth: If You Build it Right,They Will Come

Few after‐school programs target alcohol and other drug (AOD) use because it is difficult to encourage a diverse group of youth to voluntarily attend. The current study describes CHOICE, a voluntary after‐school program which targeted AOD use among middle school students. Over 4,000 students across eight schools completed surveys and 15% participated in CHOICE. Analyses indicated that there were some differences between CHOICE participants and nonparticipants. For example, African American and multiethnic students were more likely to attend. Past month alcohol users were more likely to initially attend, and marijuana users were more likely to continue attendance. Thus, CHOICE reached students of different racial and ethnic groups and attracted higher risk youth who may not typically obtain prevention services.     

Arts policy and practice for disabled children and young people: towards a ‘practice spectrum’ approach

This article argues for an approach to the evaluation of arts policy and practice for disabled children and young people that goes beyond the dialogic antagonism between Disability Arts and community arts, and towards a ‘practice spectrum’. Little is known about the extent to which a Disability Arts perspective has extended into arts policy and practice for disabled children and young people. The article aims to redress this knowledge gap. It is based upon two sets of data collected in relation to the East Midlands region of England during 2014. First, a critical evaluation was conducted of official and institutional attitudes to arts practice with disabled children and young people. Second, interviews exploring contemporary practice were conducted with 24 arts organisations. Their practice represents a diverse range of art forms and programmes undertaken in the region, and a range of attitudes and positions taken towards disabled children and young people. We argue that the best way to conceive of current practice is as a spectrum, as opposed to an antagonism between community arts and Disability Arts perspectives. There is, however, little evidence of the penetration of a Disability Arts perspective into policy and practice for children and young people.     

Modernity’s dirt: carbon emissions and the technique of life

ABSTRACT

Under colonialism, the concept of dirt was frequently employed ideologically to make judgements about relative worth. In Africa, a particular European cultural idiom or “technique of life” was presented as superior because of its “cleanliness.” This paper is concerned with modernity’s “technique of life” at a particular historical moment when, as a result of environmental crisis, it is suddenly called upon to give an account of itself. I undercut modernity’s claim to cleanliness by suggesting that what it introduces alongside regimes of order and sanitation is a much more globally destructive form of dirt in the form of increasing carbon dioxide levels. The CAIT Climate Data Explorer is a website that compares carbon dioxide emissions across a range of categories. This paper reads three graphs generated by this website as incomplete figures for making visible modernity’s “technique of life.” Realist fiction, read as a supplement to the climate graph records, is able to reinvest some of the abstract categories employed by the climate data tool – transport, fugitive emissions and electricity use – with the details that characterise particular techniques of life and to reveal the way they continue to be defined, at this historical moment, by narratives of development and consumption.