Metropolitan influences on migration into poor and nonpoor neighborhoods

Data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and three decennial US censuses are used to examine the influence of metropolitan-area characteristics on black and white households’ propensity to move into poor versus nonpoor neighborhoods. We find that a nontrivial portion of the variance in the odds of moving to a poor rather to a nonpoor neighborhood exists between metropolitan areas. Net of established individual-level predictors of inter-neighborhood migration, black and white households are more likely to move to a poor or extremely poor tract rather than to a nonpoor tract in metropolitan areas containing many poor neighborhoods and a paucity of recently-built housing in nonpoor areas. Blacks are especially likely to move to a poor tract in metropolitan areas characterized by high levels of racial residential segregation and in which poor tracts have a sizeable concentration of blacks. White households are more likely to move to a poor than to a nonpoor tract in metropolitan areas that have comparatively few African Americans.     

Bad news indeed for Ryff’s six-factor model of well-being

Springer and Hauser (An Assessment of the Construct Validity of Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-Being: Method, Mode, and Measurement Effects. 2006. Social Science Research 35) tested one key aspect of the validity of Ryff’s six-factor model of psychological well-being (RPWB), namely, whether there is substantial independent variation among the six factors. In several large and heterogeneous samples, under a variety of model specifications, and using various sets of RPWB items, we found very high factor correlations among the dimensions of well-being, especially personal growth, purpose in life, self-acceptance, and environmental mastery. That is, the six-factor model makes theoretical claims that do not yield large or consistent empirical distinctions when standard measures and instrumentation are used. Where Ryff and Singer’s comment (Best News Yet on the Six-Factor Model of Well-Being. 2006. Social Science Research 35) refers directly to that analysis, their methodological discussion is most often irrelevant or incorrect. Their text largely ignores and fails to challenge our strong empirical findings about the factorial structure of well-being. In this response, we reinforce these findings and their implications for the (in)validity of the six-factor well-being model as implemented by Ryff. We also explain why Ryff and Singer’s lengthy review of studies that show differential relationships of RPWB factors with other variables should be interpreted with far greater caution than Ryff and Singer recognize. We offer recommendations for analyzing RPWB items in surveys that have already been conducted, but we also emphasize the need for a thorough rethinking of the measurement and dimensionality of psychological well-being.     

THE ETHICS AND POLITICS OF MUTUAL OBLIGATION

Welfare schemes which require recipients of benefits to ‘give something back’ are often justified in terms of ‘fairness’ or fulfilling the ‘social contract’. The Australian Government's recent and proposed changes to unemployment benefits through the Mutual Obligation Scheme appeal to both justifications. However, insufficient attention has been paid the underlying ethical and political assumptions — a serious deficiency. given their role in legitimating harsh new penalties. There are two broad reasons the current trend to tie benefits to obligations is inappropriate. First, the unemployed have little choice about their contract. And second, there is insufficient mutuality shown towards the unemployed for the Scheme to be obligation‐generating. Rather than being a means of encouraging participation or mutuality, the Scheme is essentially punitive.     

Behavioral Stability Across Time and Situations: Nonverbal Versus Verbal Consistency

Behavioral consistency has been at the center of debates regarding the stability of personality. We argue that people are consistent but that such consistency is best observed in nonverbal behavior. In Study 1, participants’ verbal and nonverbal behaviors were observed in a mock interview and then in an informal interaction. In Study 2, medical students’ verbal and nonverbal behaviors were observed during first- and third-year clinical skills evaluation. Nonverbal behavior exhibited consistency across context and time (a duration of 2 years) whereas verbal behavior did not. Discussion focuses on implications for theories of personality and nonverbal behavior.     

Hogging the road

This essay examines how aesthetic, corporate and cultural formations have radically altered. motorcycling and its image over the past two decades as a means to highlight more general changes in cultural politics, citizenship and governing through culture. The essay begins with the Guggenheim's The Art of the Motorcycle exhibit, treated. as a means for shaping and governing thought and conduct about and on motorcycles. The essay then addresses numerous articulations between aesthetic criteria and economic practices that have benefited. corporate and professional entities at the expense of long-time motorcyclists. Lastly, the essay formulates genealogical criteria for assessing attempts to represent culture in the hopes of more actively engaging in struggles over not just representation, but the activation of modes of thought, conduct and citizenship.     

The Good, the Bad, and the Regulator: An Experimental Test of Two Conditional Audit Schemes

Conditional audit rules are designed to achieve regulatory compliance with fewer inspections than required by random auditing. A regulator places individuals into audit pools that differ in probability of audit or severity of fine and specifies transition rules between pools. Future pool assignment is conditional on current audit results. We conduct an experiment to compare two specific schemes—Harrington's Past-Compliance Targeting and Friesen's Optimal Targeting—against random auditing. We find a production possibility frontier between compliance and minimizing inspections. Optimal targeting generates the lowest inspection rates as predicted, but random auditing the highest compliance. Past-compliance targeting is intermediate.     

A hazard model of the probability of medical school drop-out in the UK

Summary.  From individual level longitudinal data for two entire cohorts of medical students in UK universities, we use multilevel models to analyse the probability that an individual student will drop out of medical school. We find that academic preparedness—both in terms of previous subjects studied and levels of attainment therein—is the major influence on withdrawal by medical students. Additionally, males and more mature students are more likely to withdraw than females or younger students respectively. We find evidence that the factors influencing the decision to transfer course differ from those affecting the decision to drop out for other reasons.     

From Migrant to Minority: Hmong Refugees and the Social Construction of Identity in the United States*

The social constructionist perspective of ethnicity suggests that international migrants may not consider themselves ethnic minorities even when they objectively hold this status. Interview data from forty Hmong refugee leaders support this thesis. One-third have an entirely migrant orientation, while few have an entirely minority orientation. However, one-third are primarily minority in orientation. The migrant orientation prioritizes the ethnic community and problems related to migration. The minority orientation prioritizes relations with U.S. society and problems caused by U.S. institutions. Consistent with findings of prior research, the minority orientation is most common among leaders who have the greatest potential for successful adaptation. But in contrast to prior research, the findings suggest that ethnic awareness among migrants depends not only on attitudes toward assimilation, but also on whether they attribute inequality to their status as newcomers in a host society or to their status as a minority in a racial and ethnic hierarchy.     

Privatization in eastern Europe

As an adviser to governments and companies in this field, Jeremy Seddon is well placed to comment on privatization schemes. Privatization of industry and commerce in Eastern Europe is a must as a result of the appalling legacy of central planning.Seddon looks at the rationale behind privatization, the obstacles that need to be defeated and some strategies. He believes that the principal method of privatization will be by sale of state-owned businesses either to existing private sector companies, to investors via a stock market or to employees of the business concerned. The consequences of these different types of transactions are of great interest to governments and companies and all “Eastern Europe-watchers”.     

Examining the Relationship Between Female Inmate Homosexual Behavior and Attitudes Toward Homosexuality and Homosexuals

Most sociologists and penologists tend to shy away from studying inmate attitudes toward homosexuality and homosexuals. Researchers within the corrections field who focus on prison sexuality typically conduct their research on consensual samesex sexual behavior and sexual coercion. The focus of the present study, however, was to ascertain female inmates' attitudes toward homosexuality and homosexuals while exploring the role ofseveral predictor variables on their attitudes. Specifically, the authors examine the relationship between female inmate homosexual behavior and attitudes toward homosexuality and homosexuals. Because of the number of items pertaining to attitudes toward homosexuality and homosexuals, factor analysis was conducted to examine whether the items measured similar constructs. Results ofthe factor analysis revealed two distinct factors/issues:civil/personal rights and personal deviance models. The mostsalient, and only statistically significant, variables in the civil/personal rights model were age, homosexual activity prior to incarceration, and homosexual activity during incarceration. Homosexual behavior during incarceration was the only statistically significant predictor of the personal deviance model.