Police control during a national political convention: A four perimeter strategy

The article examines types of role strategies utilized by police to gain control over perceived oppositional group activity. Literature in the area of formal organizations and police structures are viewed as deficient in terms of examining the combined effect of presenting multiple images of an organization to an oppositional group. Boundary-spanning roles are conceptualized as varying in terms of discretion, penetration and secrecy. Data from the 1976 Republican Convention are used to identify four types of boundary-spanning roles utilized to gain control over demonstrator activity. While each of these roles served an important control function, in combination the roles presented an inconsistent and contradictory image of the police to demonstrators. The effect of this strategy was to create confusion in the strategies and tactics of the oppositional group.Partial support for this research was obtained through an L.E.A.A. grant, Evaluation of the 1976 Republican National Convention, awarded to Midwest Research Institute (MRI). Patricia E. Erickson and James Flynn were employed as consultants to MRI for the grant period. Special thanks are extended to Bruce B. Morgan who served as project director.     

Social support and social structure

The burgeoning study of social support in relation to social stress and health would benefit from increased attention to issues of social structure. Three aspects of social relationships, all often referred to as social support, must be more clearly distinguished—(1) their existence or quantity (i.e., social integration), (2) their formal structure (i.e., social networks), and (3) their functional or behavioral content (i.e., the most precise meaning of social support)—and the causal relationships between the structure of social relationships (social integration and networks) and their functional content (social support) must be more clearly understood. Research and theory are needed on the determinants of social integration, networks, and support as well as their consequences for stress and health. Among potential determinants, macrosocial structures and processes particularly merit attention.     

PATHOLOGICAL INTERNET COMMUNITIES: A NEW DIRECTION FOR SEXUAL DEVIANCE RESEARCH IN A POST MODERN ERA

This article explores the impact of the Internet and related technologies on the nature of deviant behavior, deviant communities, and the future of deviance research. The idea that pathological communities, once largely suppressed by time, space, and societal restraints, can now create and use virtual communities is focal. Those new communities may expand their numbers and/or pathology, while reinforcing their rationales for rule violations. Investigation of these new virtual communities is especially complex for both conceptual and methodological reasons: identity is hard to ascertain in cyber-settings; nationality, ethnicity and other background traits and standard (e.g., random) sampling methods are not feasible. Nonetheless, the impact of communications technology on the creation and expansion of pathologically deviant communities requires exploration to determine whether, for example, immersion and social support lead to satiation-catharsis, more aggressive real-time behavior, and/or increases in the depth and number of pathological sexual preferences.     

The relationship between unit diversity and perceptions of organizational performance in the military

Structural equation modeling techniques are used to examine the relationship between demographic diversity and perceptions of organizational performance in military units. Analyzing data from the Military Equal Opportunity Climate Survey reveals higher female and minority representation reduces females’ and minorities’ perceptions of organizational effectiveness, respectively. Identical factors appear to influence the perceptions of organizational performance across these two subgroups of employees. The results demonstrate the importance of conducting separate analyses for subgroups in examining the effects of demographic diversity on organizational performance.     

Student Debates in Policy Courses

This article examines the use of student debates to promote substantive knowledge and policy practice skills. The authors present a pedagogical rationale for student debates, describe the incorporation of debates into a child welfare policy course, and report the results of an evaluation. Students demonstrated significantly greater increases in self-reported knowledge of course topics when they participated in debates than when they observed debates or learned through standard forms of instruction. The majority of students reported satisfaction with the debates, reported that participation improved their policy skills and knowledge, and rated the educational value of debates higher than traditional assignments.     

The intelligence of Twins. A comparative study of eleven-year-old twins. II

The scores of about one thousand Scottish eleven-year-old twins on a group intelligence test are compared with those of a similar group of about seven thousand non-twin children. The average score of the twins is found to be significantly lower than that of the non-twins. This difference is examined in connexion with the age of the child's mother, the degree of overcrowding in the home, and the occupation of the father. The mothers of the twins are found to be significantly older than those of the non-twins. The relationship of twinning and fertility is examined. There is also a slight predominance of twins in the higher social classes. Despite differences in family structure and social environment, the twins remain of lower average. intelligence throughout.     

Resource Review

Abstract

Cynthia Parsons. Serving to Learn, Learning to Serve—Civics and Service from A to Z. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press. 1996. 112 pages. $18 paper, $40 hard cover.