The structure of guanxi: Resolving problems of network assurance

Two widespread assumptions concerning networks, including guanxi networks, are that they function in terms of trust relations and that their structure is dyadic. This article subjects both assumptions to critical assessment and proposes alternative formulations. When the distinctions between trust and trustworthiness and between trust and assurance are made, then broader understandings of guanxi relationships emerge. The article shows that the assurance mechanism of guanxi is public exposure of transgressions against network norms, leading to the transgressor’s loss of face (mianzi). The necessity of third-party intervention of this type, typically but not exclusively through gossip, indicates the triadic rather than dyadic structure of guanxi relationships when sanction of reputation is included in the conceptualization of guanxi. Changes in guanxi during economic transition in China, from strong-to weaker-tie associations, require careful consideration of the changing nature of the mechanisms of face-loss.     

Public Sociology or Partisan Sociology? The Curious Case of Whiteness Studies

This paper identifies the common themes in 245-plus refereed articles on whiteness studies that were published in academic journals after 1992 in an attempt to assess the implications of whiteness studies for the discipline of sociology. Of special interest is the relationship between whiteness studies and Michael Burawoy’s call for public sociology. I argue that the emerging field of whiteness studies identifies itself as a public sociology that is infused by the moral vision of critical sociology. Nevertheless, the field does not accept professional sociology as Burawoy defined it. The ontological, epistemological, and soteriological foundations of whiteness studies encourage the field to pander to one segment of the public—the marginalized—and condemn another segment of the public—“privileged whites,” thus rendering impossible a democratic dialogue on one of the most basic social issues of our time. Conflating Western epistemology with whiteness encourages a misreading of American social scientific work on race relations, thus opening the door to a so-called hermeneutics of suspicion. The result is not an innocuous “pop” sociology, but a partisan sociology, whose implications should caution sociologists against an uncritical embracing of public sociology.     

Activism and Willingness to Help in Union Organizing: Who Are the Activists?

Research on union renewal often cites a critical role for lay activism. This study examines determinants of activism and activism intentions among a broadly representative sample of U.S. union members. Hypotheses are developed from theory and previous research on union commitment and participation. Results for current activism are generally consistent with prior work. Extending the model to future intentions to help with organizing, an interesting contrast is that pro-union attitude influences appear much more important than do union instrumentality perceptions. This suggests that “covenant” rather than “exchange” concerns are more salient for this form of activism. Findings for ideological orientation support this interpretation.     

Cooks Cooking Up Recipes: The Cash Value of Nouns,Verbs and Grammar

In the process of eating, everyone cooks, personally combining ingredients at hand to enhance appetite; but few are called cooks. From this mundane example we can take a new approach to the study of material status. A sociological formula that credits capital as opposed to labor with the source of advantage will obscure the dynamics shaping material status. Drawing on a study of the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, I indicate how, at the lowest and highest levels, people make their material status by innovatively combining what they have, as passively available resources, and what they do in the nature of hourly or task paid labor. The shift of theory from nouns, like labor and capital, to the active and passive verbs, “doing” and “having,” leads to a shift in the search for explanations of status differences. As in cooking, the transformative tricks critical for producing savory results are not simply in the recipes handed down from generation to generation but in those cooked up, in the innovative interactions in relating working for pay and the exploitation of ongoing relations.     

Preventive Benefits of U.S. Childcare Subsidies in Supervisory Child Neglect

Using data from age 3 of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, the current study explores the complex relationships between U.S. childcare subsidies and neglect. Specifically, the study examines two research questions: (i) Are U.S. childcare subsidies associated with self‐reported neglect among low‐income mothers? (ii) What individual types of self‐reported neglect are significantly reduced by receipt of childcare subsidy? Using negative binomial regression examining the relationships among mothers who were income‐eligible for childcare subsidy, we found that childcare subsidy was associated with lower levels of supervisory neglect, indicating an important role of subsidy in the lives of low‐income families.     

Sex references in the mass media∗

This study investigates the mass media's coverage of sexual topics during the years 1950, 1960, and 1970. An examination is made of the quantity of references to sex, the percentage of liberal references, and the coverage of specific sexual activities. It is ascertained that specific references to extramarital sex and noncoital sex decreased from 1950 to 1970. References both to sex relations leading to pregnancy and to sexual deviance have doubled in the number and percentage of total sexual references in this same period. The possible effects of the activities of special interest groups in altering the mass media's coverage of sexual activities is also taken into consideration.     

Keynote Address

Abstract

Because of the increasing prevalence of eating disorders in college populations, it is increasingly important for student health services to identify affected individuals. Therefore, the authors analyzed the student health forms of member schools of the New York State College Health Association for the presence of items that would identify an eating disorder. Directors of health services that include specific questions about eating disorders on health forms were then surveyed for their opinions about this practice.

Specific items about eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia, vomiting to lose weight, laxative use to lose weight) were included on 5 of 111 forms. Less specific items including dissatisfaction with weight, being on a diet, or binge eating appeared on 10% of forms.

Approximately one-third of the students known by health service staffs to have an eating disorder reported this on their health form, when provided a specific opportunity to do so. Even though underreporting by students is potentially a problem in such circumstances, the health service directors all recommended the inclusion of items relating to eating disorders on student health forms.

“Human Papillomavirus Type 16 and Early Cervical Neoplasia,” CHRISTOPHER P. CRUM, et al. Flat warts (condylomata) of the uterine cervix are sometimes cytologically atypical and have abnormal mitotic figures; they are thought to be possible precursors of cancer of the cervix. Flat warts are caused by any of a number of types of human papillomaviruses (HPVs), one of which (HPV 16) has been previously associated with invasive cancer of the cervix. To determine whether HPV 16 is also associated with flat warts with abnormal mitoses, we analyzed 23 flat warts by DNA-hybridization techniques for the presence of HPV 16 and other HPV types, and correlated the results with the histology. Of 10 lesions with abnormal mitotic figures, 7 contained HPV 16, and 1 contained another type of HPV. Of 13 lesions without abnormal mitotic figures, only 1 contained HPV 16, and 7 contained other types of HPV.

We conclude that the presence of HPV 16 correlates with the presence of abnormal mitotic figures in flat warts of the cervix, and that this type of flat wart is a precursor of invasive cancer of the cervix. (New England Journal of Medicine 1984;310:880–3.)