The strengths and limitations of demography,and the works of W.D. Borrie

This lecture examines the nature of demography and how the work of W.D. Borrie relates to it. The principal topics are: the meaning of ‘demography’, changes in the discipline, the uniqueness of demography, population theories and ideologies, and the writings of W.D. Borrie.     

Continuity and change in contemporary Ulster Protestantism*

This paper explores current trends in religious practice, observance and belief in Ulster Protestantism for elements of continuity and change. Using historical and survey data it is clear that there are strong elements of both. However, Protestant religiosity is not changing to the point that it constitutes secularisation, as sociologists of religion understand it. Nor are new trends in religiosity weakening ethno‐national identities in Northern Ireland. This is because political identities are socially reproduced in ways that are independent of their religious roots and are thus unaffected by patterns of religiosity. Likely changes in Protestant religiosity in the future therefore offer no immediate panacea for altering the dynamics of Northern Irish politics.     

Adorno und die autoritäre Persönlichkeit

“The Authoritarian Personality” is a milestone study in social science research. Based on a series of research and investigations, the study, conducted in 1945/46, had to pass controversies and delays until its publication in 1950. Theodor W. Adorno’s involvement in this research appears to be less central than has frequently been assumed. Gradually, the importance of Erich Fromm’s contribution to the theoretical foundation and methodology of the study was recognized. Nevertheless, in many publications it is still acceptable to neglect the major contribution of Erich Fromm and Adorno’s further co-authors, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel J. Levinson and R. Nevitt Sanford. During the fifties, the Frankfurt Institut für Sozialforschung (IfS) conducted only two large-scale interview-and questionnaire-based studies pertaining to authoritarian personality issues. However, in further studies innovative research perspectives were not evident, and the most obvious task, to investigate former perpetrators and supporters of National Socialism, was not realized. The most probable of these deficit motives were based on Adorno’s dismissive view of empirical social psychology and differential psychology. However, the expertise of both are indispensable for such research programs. This historical review of “The Authoritarian Personality” demonstrates why there has been so little innovative and comprehensive research on the subject in postwar Germany.     

‘Nobody should feel alone.’ Re-introducing socially excluded,cultural and ethnic minority children and young people to educational and vocational opportunity

This article reports on some of the findings from a five-nation study of projects working to re-introduce cultural and ethnic minority children and young people to educational training and work. It focuses upon the work of independent mediators in Anderlecht (Brussels) and Den Helder (Holland) in facilitating communication and collaboration between students, families, welfare and criminal justice agencies, schools and colleges and employers. In particular it considers the mediator's role in bringing together the ‘minimum sufficient network’ of professionals and resources necessary to make an ‘intelligent’ response to a problematic situation and the consequent emergence of new forms of ‘meta-professionalism’.     

A Social Choice Lemma on Voting Over Lotteries with Applications to a Class of Dynamic Games

We prove a lemma characterizing majority preferences over lotteries on a subset of Euclidean space. Assuming voters have quadratic von Neumann–Morgenstern utility representations, and assuming existence of a majority undominated (or “core”) point, the core voter is decisive: one lottery is majority-preferred to another if and only if this is the preference of the core voter. Several applications of this result to dynamic voting games are discussed.This paper was completed after Jeff Banks’s death. John Duggan is deeply indebted to him for his friendship and his collaboration on this and many other projects.     

Cognitive therapy and behavioural coping in the management of work-related stress: An intervention study

Transactional models of stress emphasize the importance of cognitive appraisal of potential stressors in the determination of the stress response. This appraisal can be modified by the use of techniques normally associated with cognitive therapy. The contribution of a specifically cognitive component when intervening in work-related stress has not been well evaluated to date. This research seeks to determine the effectiveness of stress management training in the treatment of the work-related effects of stress by comparing the role of modifying dysfunctional cognitions with the teaching of appropriate behavioural coping strategies. Participants were allocated to one of two intervention conditions or to a waiting list control group. Those in the intervention conditions received group stress management either with the focus on delivering cognitive therapy techniques or with the focus on behavioural coping skills. Measures of general health were taken at the beginning and end of intervention and at 3-month follow-up. Participants in the cognitive therapy groups who were reporting symptoms of general ill-health at the start of the intervention showed a significant improvement at follow-up. Cognitive therapy appears to have been an effective intervention in work-related stress. Those in the behavioural group showed a smaller but still clinically effective improvement. Results are discussed in terms of methodological issues and implications for future research. It is suggested that changes in cognitive appraisal may need to be developed.     

Dyadic Adjustment and Community Involvement in Same-Sex Couples

This study examines the effects of age and involvement in the gay, lesbian, and bisexual community on dyadic adjustment in 62 male and 54 female same-sex couples. Participants completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976) and scales of political and social involvement in the gay, lesbian, and bisexual community based on Peplau and Cochran (1981). Those in midlife (35 years and older) had significantly lower conflict in matters of affection and sex than those younger (less than 35 years old). Political involvement interacted significantly with gender and age in predicting dyadic consensus scores: Among younger women, greater political involvement was associated with higher dyadic consensus. Inter-partner differences in social involvement were significantly associated with greater dyadic conflict in sex and affection. Inter-partner dyadic adjustment and community involvement scores were positively correlated, in general. Findings support the importance of age in the study of same-sex couples. The implications for conceptualizations of the gay, lesbian, and bisexual communities and dyadic adjustment are discussed.     

Line transects of two-dimensional random fields: Estimation and design

In line-transect sampling data are collected continuously along the path travelled. These data are then used to estimate some characteristic of an entire region. We model the characteristic of the region as a linear functional of Z(), a realization of a random field, and our data as the values of Z(x) for x along the path. We study how to estimate the characteristic of interest and how to choose the path to accurately estimate it.     

ALAIN TOURAINE, MANUEL CASTELLS AND SOCIAL MOVEMENT THEORY: A CRITICAL APPRAISAL

The "action theory" of Alain Touraine and Manuel Castells' theory of urban movements together constitute a social movement paradigm which differs significantly from both the traditional collective behavior explanation and the newer resource mobilization model. In this paper, the Touraine-Castells perspective is contrasted to the existing approaches with reiation to social movement causes, characteristics, and outcomes. It is argued that the work of this "French School" represents a partial realization of Traugott's (1978) attempt to reconceptualize social movements as distinct phenomena integrally linked to the analysis of social change outside institutional channels.