The relationship between job insecurity and accident under-reporting: A test in two countries

Although the problem of accident under-reporting is increasingly recognized in the literature, less is known regarding work environment variables that predict the severity of such under-reporting. Data on perceived job insecurity and on the numbers of both accidents that were experienced and accidents that were actually reported over a period of one year were obtained from 786 employees in 24 US organizations and 563 employees in 20 Italian organizations in sectors where safety is highly relevant. Analysis of these data suggested that not only is job insecurity related to the likelihood of experiencing an accident, but also perceptions of job insecurity may serve to inhibit the reporting of accidents to appropriate company officials. Overall, the rate of accidents was lower in Italy than the United States. Moreover, in both countries, when job insecurity was low, there was little difference between the total number of experienced accidents and the number that employees reported. However, as job insecurity increased, the under-reporting of accidents increased. The implications of these results are discussed in light of the globally increasing prevalence of job insecurity in today's workplace.     

Patterns of conflict and enrichment in work-family balance: A three-dimensional typology

Abstract

A four-dimensional typology of work-family balance (WFB) that has previously been reported was tested in four samples: Finnish nurses (n=662), Slovenian nurses (n=667), Finnish health and social care workers (n=1493) and Finnish service sector employees (n=827). Latent profile analyses identified three rather than four types of WFB in each sample. In line with the four-dimensional typology, a Beneficial type (56% to 70% of the participants), experiencing high work-to-family and family-to-work enrichment (WFE and FWE) and low work-to-family and family-to-work conflict (WFC and FWC), and an Active type (15% to 20%), experiencing high WFC, FWC, WFE and FWE, emerged; however, the Harmful and Passive types were not identified. Instead, a Contradictory type (16% to 53%), experiencing high WFC and low WFE in combination with low FWC and high FWE, was found. The Beneficial type showed higher subjective well-being than the Contradictory and Active types, the latter showing higher vigour at work but also higher psychological strain and lower life satisfaction than the Contradictory type. These findings support the view that WFB is not a single state or continuum, but manifests itself in diverse combinations of WFC, FWC, WFE and FWE.     

隐喻与诠释——诗的诠释学美学意义解读

本文以当代诠释学美学的观点,探讨中国诗学以诗作为意义之理解与解释,所隐含之隐喻的诠释学与美学的问题,尤其诗学中有关隐喻的认知、理解与解释的作用。本文首先讨论诗与诠释的美学问题,探讨孔子所谓的"言诗"和孟子所谓的"说诗"所隐含的有关以诗作为意义之理解与解释之隐喻的诠释学与美学的问题。其次,探讨诗的诠释学美学的意义,指出当代哲学美学除了一方面重新对美与艺术的概念提出定义的解释外,另一方面则以所提出的艺术或美学理论作为解释意义的方法,亦即以美学为方法,作为解释存在意义的理论基础。不过,本文的主旨并不在于套用西方美学的研究成果来解释中国传统的经典或文献意义,而是从当代美学尤其是诠释学的角度,从中国传统文献所遗留之文字片段,来理解中国以诗作为艺术存在的解释意义的方式以及其中所隐含的美学问题的向度。     

Utopian thought: Re-visioning gender,family, and community

Utopian ideals are vital to sustained engagement in the struggle to create a better society. However, the problematic aspects of utopian traditions also need to be addressed as part of the work of social movements. This paper offers a framework for exploring the interplay of healthy and pathological forms of idealization in groups and for analyzing the non-rational dimensions of group life. In critiquing communitarian thought, the paper develops a socialist— feminist and psychoanalytic perspective focusing on the connections between family, sexuality, and democratic community. The paper concludes with political strategies for grounding utopian ideals in contemporary struggles for reform. Les visions d'utopie jouent un rôle très important dans les mouvements visant àfaire une transformation sociale. Pourtant, dans ces projets tranformatifs, il faut aussi tenir compte des aspects les plus problématiques des traditions utopiques. Dans cet article, les auteurs proposent une stratégie pour l'exploration de l'effet réciproque des formes d'idéalisation saines et pathologiques et pour analyser les aspects non-raisonnables en la vie des groupes sociales. En critiquant les idées des ‘communitarians’, une perspective socialist—feministe et psychoanalytique est présentée qui met au centre de l'analyse les rapports entre la famille, la sexualité et la communautédemocratique. Pour conclure, on propose quelques stratégies politiques pour intégrer des idéales utopiques dans les luttes actuelles pour la réforme.     

Racial/Ethnic Minority Vocational Research: A Content and Trend Analysis Across 36 Years

The authors examined 281 racial/ethnic minority (REM) career‐related studies published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior, The Career Development Quarterly (CDQ), the Journal of Career Assessment (JCA), and the Journal of Career Development between 1969 and 2004. Publication trends, article content and type, samples, and leading author and institutional contributors are reported. CDQ published the largest percentage of these articles (33.5%, n = 94), whereas JCA had the largest percentage (13%) of REM career articles relative to other articles it published during this time frame. There was an increase in the number of REM career articles being published across the years.     

Class,gender and generation matter: using the concept of social generation to study inequality and social change

This article highlights how concepts from the sociology of generations can facilitate new understandings of the processes by which social inequalities are made and perpetuated in the lives of young people. There is a tendency in some youth research for inequality to be conceptualised too simplistically, as a process of reproduction that remains stable over time. Hence, continuing inequality is weighed as evidence against theories proposing social change. Using the sociology of generations, the article argues that social change and new risks are not facades behind which more real, and long-standing, forms of inequality are hidden, but are central to the way inequalities, including but not only by class, gender and race, are made in the conditions facing emerging generations of young people.     

Konkurrentinnen außer Konkurrenz?

The ratio of women in managerial positions is to be sure an essential indicator for assessing modern gender relations. The current situation yet appears quite ambiguous. Women do have reached lower and middle management levels, whereas top levels still seem inaccessible for most of them. How is this phenomenon of “inclusion with incomplete integration” to be explained? Taking on the debate of informal boundary work and on the ground of Bourdieu’s concepts of social distinction and habitus, this article focuses on the persistency and transformations of access barriers.     

Factory women,redundancy and the search for work: toward a reconceptualisation of employment and unemployment

A number of social scientists (see for example, Allen et al., 1986; Brown, 1984; Purcell, 1985; Purcell et al., 1986; Roberts et al., 1985) have drawn attention to the way in which patterns of working have changed radically in recent years suggesting that we need to rethink and reconceptualise with regard to work, employment and unemployment. This paper examines these issues in Sweden where recession in the early eighties and economic restructuring, similar to the experience in other Western countries, have affected individuals’relation to the labour market. It is our view that the effects of these developments (have) affect(ed) women and immigrants differently. It is furthermore our contention that welfare state policies related to the functioning of the labour market (inadvertently) play a role in the maintenance of inequality.     

Stakeholder management and program planning in German public theaters

Taking the example of a German public professional theater, this study is the first to analyze how stakeholder interests are managed in the process of program planning. We address the following questions: (1) What are the goals and interests of the most influential stakeholders? (2) How are these goals and interests reflected by theater management when deciding the season's program? (3) Which strategies does theater management apply to balance conflicting stakeholder goals and interests? Results of our qualitative study identify five decisions to be made with regard to program planning: selection of the season's theme, plays, stage directors, cast, and chronological order of productions. Four strategies of balancing conflicting stakeholder goals and interests are identified: setting priorities, combining stakeholder interests, focusing on neutral goals, and developing audiences.     

Evidence-based practice for youth in supervised out-of-home care: a framework for development, definition, and evaluation

Adolescents comprise more than half of the children in child welfare supervised out-of-home care. This article considers the evidence-base for an array of services to adolescents in out-of-home care and evaluates the existing research base for each program. This review advances a framework for considering the critical need to develop, define, and evaluate the essential elements of out-of-home care services for older foster youth. Policy, program, and evaluation recommendations are forwarded.