Polarization and convergence in academic controversies

Not many years ago both anthropology and political science experienced internal disputes—in the first case over the publication of a book accusing a noted anthropologist of endangering indigenous subjects and in the second over the nature of the field. While the first led to polarization, the second produced a partial convergence and modest reforms. This article examines the two processes and seeks the key mechanisms that produced those differences, closing with a call for broadening the study of contentious politics to cover non-public controversies like the ones examined in this article.

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Multi-couple reflecting team: preliminary report

The aim of therapeutic help in marital crisis is to break the vicious circle of mutual hurtful accusations. The method that the authors present below involves a group of couples working within a closed cycle of meetings. In the course of successive group meetings, the various couples act as reflecting teams (RTs) for each other. This achieves two objectives: the couple recounting their crisis receives nonthreatening feedback, which helps them to implement positive changes and break out of the self-perpetuating destructive interaction. In addition, the couples acting as the RT learn nonjudgmental, nontheorizing and affirmative communication.     

Theorizing the institution: foundations,duality, and data

Although a central construct for sociologists, the concept of institution continues to elude clear and full specification. One reason for this lack of clarity is that about 50 years ago empirical researchers in the field of sociology turned their gaze downward, away from macro-sociological constructs in order to focus their attention on middle-range empirical projects. It took almost 20 years for the concept of the institution to work its back onto the empirical research agenda of mainstream sociologists. The new institutional project in organizational sociology led the way. Since then, scholars in this tradition have achieved a great deal but there is still much more to accomplish. Here, future directions for research are considered by reviewing how the concept of the institution has come to be treated by mainstream philosophers, sociologists of science and technology studies, and social network theorists.

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A Measure of Justice: The Rabinal Human Rights Movement in Post-War Guatemala

This article explores one region’s struggle for human rights and legal justice in post-war Guatemala. Rabinal—a target of state-directed genocide in the 1980s—suffered one of the highest fatality levels of the war. In the post-war era, Rabinal human rights activists have led the struggle to demand exhumations of mass graves, build memorials, and push for criminal investigations and trials. Despite some important local victories, few of those responsible for the violence have received punishment. But that does not mean this movement is a failure. Instead, this article highlights the cultural, expressive and inprocess benefits of mobilization. Rabinal activists have restored their sense of agency and confirmed their collective identity as fighters for legal justice. Meanwhile, this local mobilization has contributed to Guatemala’s uneven process of democratization.

Cracking the Code: Race,Class, and Access to Nightclubs in Urban America

Using ethnographic data collected in the downtown nightlife of Athens, Georgia, we explore black males’ responses to being rejected from nightclubs via dress code enforcement in predominately white settings. We contrast these responses to the general experiences of other black males who gained access. Although race is a factor in the enforcement of dress codes, we find a fluid relationship between race, class, and taste that influences black males’ responses and experiences. We illustrate how the nuanced reality of lived racial and class experiences for many young black males problematize the narrow interpretation of a black cultural essence.

The Non-Existence of the Labor Demand/Supply Diagram,and other Theorems of Institutional Economics

The most famous and influential diagram in modern (neoclassical) labor economics is the model of wage determination by supply and demand. Using concepts and ideas from institutional economics, I argue that the theory of a perfectly competitive labor market is logically contradictory and, hence, the demand/supply diagram cannot exist on the plane of pure theory. Four other fundamental theorems concerning labor markets are also derived, as are implications about the theoretical foundation of the field of industrial relations and the economic evaluation of labor and employment policy.

State and Regional Variation in the Effects of Trade on Job Displacement in the US Manufacturing Sector, 1982–1999

Worker-level data from the 1984–2000 Displaced Worker Surveys are employed to examine the effects of trade on manufacturing workers’ probabilities of job displacement. Observed changes in import and export penetration rates yield increases in displacement probabilities for the North Central, Middle Atlantic and South Central regions yet lower displacement probabilities for the Plains/West and Pacific regions. Changes in import and export price indexes lead to increases in displacement probabilities for the Pacific, Southeast and Northeast regions and decreases for the South Central and Middle Atlantic regions. However, while the influences of imports and exports on job displacement vary considerably across states and regions, the estimated net effect of trade on displacement probabilities is minor, generally speaking, when compared to the combined influence of other factors.

Spousal Income and Sick Leave: What do Twins Tell us About Causality?

Theoretical arguments suggest that a higher socioeconomic status can improve health and as a consequence reduce the need for sick leave. The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate causal effects between spousal income and absence from the workplace due to sickness. To control for unobserved heterogeneity a Swedish sample of female twins and a semiparametric censored fixed-effects model was used. Results for dizygotic (fraternal) twins indicated that male spousal income, i.e., a non-shared environmental influence, reduced the share of income that was government-paid sickness benefits. Data on monozygotic twins, who have identical genes, provide a more complete control for unobserved heterogeneity. No causal effect was found in this case.

Consumer Debt Repayment Behavior as a Precursor to Bankruptcy

The passage of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) of 2005 culminated years of debate over the escalating number of bankruptcy filings and whether or not consumers were abusing the bankruptcy system. Our study focuses on the extent to which households seek bankruptcy protection without first attempting to restructure their debt or experiencing indicators of financial distress. Through multivariate regression analyses of longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), we find a significant relationship between having prior financial problems and filing for bankruptcy. Our results also indicate that households that obtained consolidation loans were equally likely to file for bankruptcy as those that did not. We conclude that early interventions with financially distressed consumers may provide opportunities to reduce bankruptcy filings.

Saving for Children’s College Education: An Empirical Analysis of the Trade-off Between the Quality and Quantity of Children

This paper examines the effect of children’s college expenses on household savings. The theoretical model introduces life-cycle savings into the quality–quantity model of fertility and derives predictions for the impact of expected expenses on parents’ savings. Using the actual amount of parents’ financial support reported in the Survey of Consumer Finances, the empirical model estimates the expected expenditures on children’s college education and investigates the effect of expected expenditures on parents’ savings. The results show that parents’ support for each of their children’s college expenses decreases with the number of children. The results are consistent with the predictions of the life-cycle theory of saving and consumption that households save in advance for expected expenses to smooth their consumption.