Memoirs of Gay Militancy: A Methodological Challenge

Biographical and autobiographical material has long been used by sociologists. What are the specific epistemological and methodological challenges of using memoirs of militancy for social movement sociology? This article analyses four memoirs by militants of the gay movement of the late 1960s and 1970s. To understand the validity of memoirs of militancy as sociological sources, it highlights their constructedness as narrative artefacts: as retrospective discourses on an individual's past, memoirs allow for the self-reflexive deployment of their authors' subjectivity. Their narrativeness is a key to understanding how their narrative voice reflects the very agency that animates mobilizations. Memoirs of militancy are thus an invitation for sociologists to turn to literary and rhetorical scholarship for adequate methodological tools.     

Competing for Shelf Space

In recent years, the competition for shelf space has intensified, as more products now compete for a retail space that has remained roughly constant. In this paper, we analyze the dynamics of this competition in a multi‐supplier retail point. Assuming that sales are shelf space dependent, we consider a retailer that optimizes its shelf space allocation among different products based on their sales level and profit margins. In this context, product manufacturers set their wholesale prices so as to obtain larger shelf space allocations but at the same time keep margins as high as possible. We analyze the equilibrium situation in the supply chain, and find that generally the retailer's and the suppliers' incentives are misaligned, resulting in suboptimal retail prices and shelf space allocations. We however find that the inefficiencies induced by suboptimal shelf space allocation decisions are small relative to those induced by suboptimal pricing decisions.     

Hospital design and the temporal and spatial organization of nursing activity

The effectiveness of health care delivery in hospitals is determined, in part, by the design of the physical environment and by the spatial organization of work. This paper presents an analysis of the spatial and temporal organization of the work of nurses in the medical and surgical units of French hospitals. In both cases the units were designed around a 'U' shaped configuration. The data from these analyses focused on the number of trips undertaken by nurses in completing the various aspects of their work. The results, it is argued, are useful towards the redesign of the units.     

Job Durations With Worker- and Firm-Specific Effects: MCMC Estimation With Longitudinal Employer–Employee Data

We study job durations using a multivariate hazard model allowing for worker-specific and firm-specific unobserved determinants. The latter are captured by unobserved heterogeneity terms or random effects, one at the firm level and another at the worker level. This enables us to decompose the variation in job durations into the relative contribution of the worker and the firm. We also allow the unobserved terms to be correlated in a model that is primarily relevant for markets with small firms. For the empirical analysis, we use a Portuguese longitudinal matched employer–employee dataset. The model is estimated with a Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) estimation method. The results imply that unobserved firm characteristics explain almost 40% of the systematic variation in log job durations. In addition, we find a positive correlation between unobserved worker and firm characteristics.     

The water is wide

Before you build your bridge to the future, stop and take time to lay a good foundation. Discover your own core beliefs and, perhaps more importantly, discover those of your employees.     

Ready for the storm

The coming decade is likely to be more turbulent than any we have faced. In fact, the basic structures and roles of health care may begin to shift and dissolve in ways that we cannot begin to predict. In turbulent times, long-term plans are vulnerable to fundamental shifts in the environment. Planning recedes in importance compared to preparing--nurturing the institutional and individual capacity for change. Rigid planning is about power and control. Preparing is about unleashing the strengths of each person on the crew. Self-development is largely a matter of recognizing what your strengths are, learning to live in those strengths, while nurturing the abilities that do not come naturally. Leadership is largely a matter of creating an environment that helps your crew work from their strengths and supports them in their weaker areas.     

Is everyone really middle class? Social class position and identification in Alberta

In defining social class, researchers often rely on measures of objective class position, even though subjective perceptions of social class identity can better account for the creation of social class boundaries. We explore the relationship between measures of objective class position and subjective class identity using data from an online survey of 1155 residents in Alberta, Canada, a conservative province dependent on a fluctuating energy sector. We find that although most Albertans identified as middle class, the strength of class identity and views regarding linked social class fates varied across categories with poverty class and uppermiddleclass respondents standing out. In reporting class identity, respondents considered measures related to objective class position, especially their income and economic security levels, but gaps still remained. We then use the results of this exploratory study to advocate for more comprehensive measures of social class.     

Family Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Risks of Financial Insecurity and Coping

During the COVID-19 pandemic, families have experienced unprecedented financial and social disruptions. We studied the impact of preexisting psychosocial factors and pandemic-related financial and social disruptions in relation to family well-being among N = 4091 adolescents and parents during early summer 2020, participating in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development^SM Study. Poorer family well-being was linked to prepandemic psychosocial and financial adversity and was associated with pandemic-related material hardship and social disruptions to routines. Parental alcohol use increased risk for worsening of family relationships, while a greater endorsement of coping strategies was mainly associated with overall better family well-being. Financial and mental health support may be critical for family well-being during and after a widespread crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.     

PERSONALITY,INFORMATION ACQUISITION,AND CHOICE UNDER UNCERTAINTY: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

This article studies the role of personality in choice under risk and uncertainty. We explore the hypothesis that personality plays a role in decision making in situations of uncertainty but not in situations of risk. In addition to offering support for this main hypothesis, we explore the various pathways through which personality exerts its influence. What we find is that in uncertain environments, where decision makers are able to acquire information about the unknown probability distributions they face, personality variables influence the type of information people acquire, which then influences their choice. Our experimental design brings in two novel aspects of choice under uncertainty: information acquisition and advice. The findings indicate that indeed, under uncertainty, personality matters for choice in a way it does not under risk. Furthermore, the results suggest that personality can play a role at multiple levels, such as people's preferences for certain types of information and the likelihood of following advice. (JEL C90, D03, D81)