"I KNOW THIS ISN'T PC, BUT . . .": Religious Exclusivism among U.S. Adolescents

Despite the growing pluralism of American society, the proportion of Americans who maintain exclusivist religious beliefs is sizable. This study focuses on adolescence—a period when independent religious lives are forming—examining the social, familial, and denominational correlates of exclusivist beliefs and the ways in which exclusivist adolescents reconcile their beliefs with the cultural mores of a pluralistic society. Using new data from the National Study of Youth and Religion, this study involves the analysis of both survey data and in-depth interviews. Logistic regression results show that Mormons and evangelicals are more likely than mainline Protestants to hold exclusivist beliefs. High levels of parent religiosity and dense religious peer networks also strongly predict exclusivism. Yet the interview data show that exclusivists have not resisted pluralism but have internalized messages of religious diversity. They modify their beliefs in response to pluralism and articulate them carefully so as not to be perceived as intolerant.     

Remarriage,Unmarried Cohabitation,Living Apart Together: Partner Relationships Following Bereavement or Divorce

Substantial proportions of people enter into new partner relationships after bereavement or divorce. Nowadays in Europe, unmarried cohabitation and living‐apart‐together relationships are frequently opted for at repartnering. Drawing on the Netherlands’ Living Arrangements and Social Networks survey of men and women aged 55 to 89 years (N = 4,494), this article explicates the determinants that lead widowed or divorced people to enter into old and new types of partner relationships. Cox proportional hazard regression analyses revealed that age at most recent union dissolution, the number of partner dissolutions, working during and after the most recent union dissolution, and other demographic variables are important in weighing the pros and cons of different types of living arrangements.     

Social-economic context of parent care: explaining Chinese caregivers' psychological and emotional well-being

This paper explores Chinese familial caregivers' depression and subjective burdens among the current caregivers. Data were collected in 1997-1999 with 110 caregivers who were then taking care of physically dependent parents or parents-in-law. Regression analyses were conducted to assess the factors that influence caregivers depression and subjective burden. Findings suggest that family and individual economic conditions are related to caregivers' depression. Caregivers' involvement in caregiving tasks is associated with caregivers' subjective burden. Poorer self-perceived health is related to higher report of caregivers' depression. The author argues that poorer health and unemployment at the time of drastic social and economic changes in China may have created psychological and emotional anxieties and depression for caregivers. The lack of financial and social stability may have deleterious effect for current caregivers in the future when they grow older and have to be cared for by their one-child generation children.     

Neoliberalism,Inequality and Politics: The Changing Face of Australia

Since the early 1980s Australian public policy has undergone the most major transformation since Federation. This transformation has been underwritten by two key principles: liberalism – the view that citizens are autonomous individual actors whose interests are best served when they are free from coercive government interventions into individual action; and marketisation – the belief that free markets are arenas which best enable individual autonomy and produce efficient economic outcomes. These principles define ‘neoliberalism’ or ‘hard liberalism‘. After summarising the major policy changes identified with neoliberalism in Australia, the paper introduces a new research project that examines its impact on socioeconomic inequality, gender inequality and politics and culture. Inspection of relevant data indicates that there are important trends in inequality, public opinion and political behaviour that warrant this investigation.     

TRUSTING THE TAX OFFICE: DOES PUTNAM'S THESIS RELATE TO TAX?

Data from the Community Participation and Citizenship Survey are used to explore the factors that influence people to place trust in strangers and impersonal others. We use Putnam's social capital thesis to explore whether civic engagement and associational membership are major factors in the development of generalised or social trust, and whether this kind of trust is generalisable to trust in government institutions, specifically the Tax Office. There is partial support for Putnam's thesis that civic engagement develops social trust. More important is affective trust developed in the family and through familiar others. We find that trust is generalisable, being extended to strangers and to the impersonal others in government institutions. It is trust that builds trust — and government institutions like the Tax Office begin their task with benefits accrued through generalised trust.     

The relationship between criminality and home background

There are two extensive literatures which deal with this subject. One is that on criminality, defining the distinctions between morality and cultural definitions. The other is on how parents ought to influence their offspring. And there is also a smaller literative on the causal or statistical relationship between the two. This research tradition attempts to isolate particular hypotheses—like lone parents or genetics. What is missing is both a study of why certain influences are significant, and a connection between the actual cases of criminality and criminals' own experiences of their parents. For this purpose lengthy semistructured interviews with young offenders were carried out, exploring their memories and perceptions of home life and their attitudes to their parents and their subsequent experiences. This paper discusses the factors that the interviewees raised consistently, openly and articulately; violence in the home, neglect, laissez-faire: and turning to peer groups for alternative support. At the heart of the evidence lies a lack of dialogue and the perception of a lack of active interest in them by parents. The consequences are discussed, including the inability to develop normal social relationships, leading to frustration and the repetition of violence in the home in different circumstances.     

The interface between the child welfare and criminal justice systems in England

The development of government guidance can seem a mysterious process to those outside government. This paper, which draws on the author's experience, is intended to give some insight into how guidance in two areas—child witnesses and children involved in prostitution—was developed within the existing legal framework. Since that time, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 has come into force in England and Wales and the Children Bill is currently before Parliament. The paper begins by setting out the key legislation, regulations and guidance that underpinned the child welfare and criminal justice systems as they related to child protection at the time the guidance was being developed. It then describes how the different guidance documents relate to each other and the implications for practice. The development of speci?c guidance is drawn upon to illustrate some of the tensions that had to be resolved during the drafting and the processes by which they were ?nalized for approval by the Government. A key area requiring careful consideration was the differences between the family and criminal justice systems. In the former, the welfare of the child is paramount when making decisions and in the latter, the court has a duty to ensure the defendant has a fair trial. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.