Explaining support for the Moral Majority

The purpose of this paper is to examine the usefulness of several theoretical perspectives for understanding the popular appeal of the Moral Majority. The perspectives used were cultural fundamentalism, diffusion, resource mobilization, status loss, and alienation. Data came from a series of surveys between 1981 and 1984 carried out in Middletown, Indiana. Overall, diffusion theory was useful in understanding who knew about the Moral Majority, and cultural fundamentalism was most helpful in understanding support for the Moral Majority.     

"MEN I MESS WITH DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH AIDS":

Pivotal in HIV/STD intervention and prevention is how individuals perceive risk. This article discusses how ethnotheory can be used to understand the underpinnings of risk perception from the subject's perspective. Ethnotheory's theoretical and methodological character extends present models used to explain sex-related HIV behaviors and provides insights into risk perception useful for the development of effective intervention strategies. Four detailed ethnographic excerpts from low-income African American and Mexican American men and women illustrate how people form perceptions of risk and how information gained through ethnotheory is useful in the design of culturally relevant interventions.     

Bayesian analysis of screening data: Application to AIDS in blood donors

The rapid increase in the number of AIDS cases during the 1980s and the spread of the disease from the high-risk groups into the general population has created widespread concern. In particular, assessing the accuracy of the screening tests used to detect antibodies to the HIV (AIDS) virus in donated blood and determining the prevalance of the disease in the population are fundamental statistical problems. Because the prevalence of AIDS varies widely by geographic region and data on the number of infected blood donors are published regularly, Bayesian methods, which utilize prior results and update them as new data become available, are quite useful. In this paper we develop a Bayesian procedure for estimating the prevalence of a rare disease, the sensitivity and specificity of the screening tests, and the predictive value of a positive or negative screening test. We apply the procedure to data on blood donors in the United States and in Canada. Our results augment those described in Gastwirth (1987) using classical methods. Indeed, we show that the inclusion of sound prior knowledge into the statistical analysis does not yield sufficiently precise estimates of the predictive value of a positive test. Hence confirmatory testing is needed to obtain reliable estimates. The emphasis of the Bayesian predictive paradigm on prediction intervals for future data yields a valuable insight. We demonstrate that using them might have detected a decline in the specificity of the most frequently used screening test earlier than it apparently was.     

Local Government Fiscal Burden in Nonmetropolitan America1

Rising fiscal pressure on local governments in rural areas of the United States is documented in this study. The level of fiscal burden on taxpayers to support local governments in nonmetropolitan areas is found to be higher than that in metropolitan areas between 1977 and 1987. Using a model from the urban fiscal literature, the level of fiscal burden in nonmetropolitan areas is found to be influenced by a combination of demographic, socioeconomic, intergovernmental, and historical factors. Intergovernmental revenue transfers from the state and federal government play a critical role in determining the level of fiscal burden rural taxpayers bear. These findings have implications for rural economic development and for understanding how rural areas are influenced by the larger society.     

Capitalism,Protestantism and the Private Family: Comparisons among Early Modern England,France, and the American Colonies*

The study of western family change lies disintegrated, divided into two largely independent intellectual communities–family history and theoretical family sociology. An integration of the two fields is proposed. The results of family historical research from three national cases, England, France, and the North American Colonies, are used to evaluate critically the family theories of Parsons, Seccombe, Zaretsky, and Horkheimer. The pattern of family organization regarded as modern, including the differentiation of the family from other social institutions, the emergence of companionate marriage, and the consolidation of authority over the family in the role of the father, characterize the family systems of England and the Colonies better than that of France. A theory of modern family organization is proposed that identifies the emergence of a culturally dominant middle class and the institutionalization of Protestantism as facilitating conditions for the development of this private family system.     

Consequences of Male Partner Violence for Low‐Income Minority Women

The current study used a random sample of 563 low‐income women to test Johnson's (1995) theory that there are two major forms of male‐partner violence, situational couple violence and intimate terrorism, which are distinguished in terms of their embeddedness in a general pattern of control. The study examined the associations between type of violence experienced and respondents’ physical health, psychological distress, and economic well‐being. Analyses revealed three distinct patterns of partner violence: intimate terrorism, control/no threat, and situational couple violence. Compared to victims of control/no threat and situational couple violence, victims of intimate terrorism reported more injuries from physical violence and more work/activity time lost because of injuries. Compared to women who experienced no violence in the previous year, victims of intimate terrorism reported a greater likelihood of visiting a doctor, poorer health, more psychological distress, and a greater likelihood of receiving government assistance.     

Young Infants' Perception of Object Unity in Rotation Displays

Much research has been devoted to questions regarding how infants begin to perceive the unity of partly occluded objects, and it is clear that object motion plays a central role. Little is known, however, about how infants' motion processing skills are used in such tasks. One important kinetic cue for object shape is structure from motion, but its role in unity perception remains unknown. To address this issue, we presented 2‐ and 4‐month‐old infants with displays in which object unity was specified by vertical rotation. After habituation to this display, infants viewed broken and complete versions of the object to test their preference for the broken object, an indication of perception of unity in the occlusion display. Positive evidence for the perception of unity was provided by both age groups. Concomitant edge translation available in 1 condition did not appear to contribute above and beyond simple rotation. These results suggest that structure from motion, and perhaps contour deformation and shading cues, can contribute important information for veridical object percepts in very young infants.     

Generational equity and the reformulation of retirement

Starting from an examination of the essential components of the long-established contract between the generations, the analysis moves on to examine public policy responses to the aging of populations. Observing an international inclination to panic at the growth of old age and to restrict expenditure on services to older people, the article addresses practical questions of political economy within the generational contract. On the one hand, cuts to pensions and services are seen not to be economically inevitable. On the other, it is argued that modern retirement breaches the compact between the generations and will need to be reformulated, enabling more people to earn income well beyond current retirement ages.