Intergenerational Mobility in Relative Educational Attainment and Health-Related Behaviours

Social Indicators Research - Research on intergenerational social mobility and health-related behaviours yields mixed findings. Depending on the direction of mobility and the type of mechanisms...     

Does National Income Inequality Affect Individuals’ Quality of Life in Europe? Inequality,Happiness, Finances,and Health

This paper analyses the effect of income inequality on Europeans’ quality of life, specifically on their overall well-being (happiness, life satisfaction), on their financial quality of life (satisfaction with standard of living, affordability of goods and services, subjective poverty), and on their health (self-rated health, satisfaction with health). The simple bivariate correlations of inequality with overall well-being, financial quality of life, and health are negative. But this is misleading because of the confounding effect of a key omitted variable, national economic development (GDP per capita): Unequal societies are on average much poorer (r = 0.46) and so disadvantaged because of that. We analyse the multi-level European Quality of Life survey conducted in 2003 including national-level data on inequality (Gini coefficient) and economic development (GDP) and individual-level data on overall well-being, financial quality of life, and health. The individual cases are from representative samples of 28 European countries. Our variance-components multi-level models controlling for known individual-level predictors show that national per capita GDP increases subjective well-being, financial quality of life, and health. Net of that, the national level of inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, has no statistically significant effect, suggesting that income inequality does not reduce well-being, financial quality of life, or health in advanced societies. These result all imply that directing policies and resources towards inequality reduction is unlikely to benefit the general public in advanced societies.     

On the efficiency of some non-orthogonal split-plot×split-block designs with control treatments

Many split-plot×split-block (SPSB) type experiments used in agriculture, biochemistry or plant protection are designed to study new crop plant cultivars or chemical agents. In these experiments it is usually very important to compare test treatments with the so-called control treatments. It happens yet that experimental material is limited and it does not allow using a complete (orthogonal) SPSB design. In the paper we propose a non-orthogonal SPSB design for consideration. Two cases of the design are presented here, i.e. when its incompleteness is connected with a crossed treatment structure only or with a nested treatment structure only. It is assumed the factors' levels connected with the incompleteness of the design are split into two groups: a set of test treatments and a set of control treatments. The method of constructions involves applying augmented block designs for some factors' levels. In a modelling data obtained from such experiments the structure of experimental material and appropriate randomization scheme of the different kinds of units before they enter the experiment are taken into account. With respect to the analysis of the obtained randomization model the approach typical to the multistratum experiments with orthogonal block structure is adapted. The proposed statistical analysis of linear model obtained includes estimation of parameters, testing general and particular hypotheses defined by the (basic) treatment contrasts with special reference to the notion of general balance.     

Reproductive rights or duties? The rhetoric of division in social media debates on abortion law in Poland

ABSTRACT

This study explores the argumentative schemas used in claim-making and the rhetorical resources for stance-taking in the online abortion law debate in Poland in late 2016. It shows how these discursive devices were used to divide and discredit the opponent in the social media by two social movements: the Stop Abortion coalition of conservative and religious organizations that sponsored the legislative proposal to considerably restrict abortion, and the Save Women committee that stood behind the ‘black’ protests opposing the project. The textual material is drawn from social media profiles of the two movements following a week of intense street protests and publicity activities (19–26 October 2016). It is subjected to contrastive argument analysis and critical discourse analysis of rhetorical resources. The analysis involves comparing (1) the discrepant premises underpinning arguments in the process of claim-making; (2) the reverse distribution of legitimization techniques deployed; and (3) the choices of name-calling devices aimed at discrediting antagonists.     

Population and labour force projections for 27 European countries, 2002-052: impact of international migration on population ageing

Population and labour force projections are made for 27 selected European countries for 2002-052, focussing on the impact of international migration on population and labour force dynamics. Starting from single scenarios for fertility, mortality and economic activity, three sets of assumptions are explored regarding migration flows, taking into account probable policy developments in Europe following the enlargement of the EU. In addition to age structures, various support ratio indicators are analysed. The results indicate that plausible immigration cannot offset the negative effects of population and labour force ageing.     

SHARP BOUNDS FOR EXPECTATIONS OF kTH RECORD INCREMENTS

This paper presents sharp bounds for expectations of non‐adjacent increments of kth record statistics, measured in various scale units, for a sequence of independent identically distributed random variables with continuous cumulative distribution function. The results for kth record spacings are considered as special cases. The paper also characterizes probability distributions for which the bounds are attained.     

Beyond Fear: Sociological Perspectives on the Criminalization of School Discipline

Since the early 1990s American schools have adopted a number of practices – zero tolerance, school police, metal detectors, drug sweeps, and surveillance cameras – that signal a shift from a discretionary student disciplinary framework to a crime control paradigm. The sociological sub‐field that centers on the examination and interpretation of the criminalization of school discipline is still in its formative stages and, consequently, even basic conceptual issues remain unsettled. However, sustained by a growing body of ethnographic research, the field’s theoretical discussions and debates regarding the causes, consequences, and social distribution of school criminalization are complex, vibrant, and synergistic. In the broadest terms, this field explores how school criminalization expresses, accommodates, and reinforces broader fears and political‐economic changes. The field also includes a disappointingly but understandably small number of quantitative studies that bear directly on these theories. The field’s critical, sociological insights will find and resonate with a broader audience (including policy‐makers) only after an equally innovative and vigorous quantitative empirical tradition emerges to refine and validate its theoretical contributions.     

Sing … Then Think: Musical Interventions and Nondeliberative Forms of Practice in Social Work Groups

ABSTRACT

The positive effects of music have been demonstrated worldwide in many fields including social work, psychology, medicine, and education. Musical interventions including music listening, lyric analysis, and singing have also been found effective in group work. This article, guided by Norma Lang’s nondeliberative theory, aims to provide the “why,” “when,” and “how” of incorporating music into social work groups. It also provides the reader with a toolbox of musical interventions and the encouragement to utilize these “artful, actional, and analogic” activities in group work.     

Spillover effects of taxes on government debt: a spatial panel approach

It is claimed that tax policy is neither time- nor space-independent due to cross-border tax base mobility, which induces spillovers. Specifically, fiscal shocks in one country are supposed to have an impact on fiscal policies in other countries. Different types of taxes influence economies differently. This paper addresses the question of their impact on government debt. Within a framework of spatial econometric modeling, we evaluate the impact of capital, labor and consumption taxes on public debt in 34 European countries in 2002–2011, and find strong spatial spillovers. We show that a consumption tax and, to a lesser degree, a capital tax significantly affect the sovereign debt, and that the global relations play a leading role (i.e. dominate the local ones) in shaping fiscal policy.