Abortion and family building models: Fertility limitation in Hungary

This paper demonstrates how family-building models can be used for checking the quality of abortion data. A family-building model, called FERMODA, is presented and used to check whether the available data on abortion for Hungary are consistent with Hungarian data on other aspects of family building. Model cohorts are generated, using in FERMODA the proportions of women married and the birth and abortion rates of two selected Hungarian cohorts. The estimates obtained from the simulated cohorts concerning use of contraception are compared with the information available on contraception, and, on the basis of this comparison, a judgment is made about the quality of abortion data for Hungary.     

Claiming Our Own: A Model for Women's Growth

As traditional sexual roles in our society become less defined, searching for one's identity can be confusing and amorphous not only to those seeking help but to educators and counselors who strive to aid those experiencing change. The ownership model offers professionals a framework in which women can develop themselves, often without risk to marriage.     

Attitudes toward wife rape: effects of social background and victim status

The current literature on wife rape is minimal compared to the published research in areas such as wife battering or date rape, and most of the existent work on attitudes toward wife rape is dated and/or focuses on limited samples (i.e., college populations). Using data from a nationally representative telephone survey, this study examined national attitudes toward wife rape using the following measures: perceptions of the occurrence of wife rape, perceptions of the frequency of wife rape, and perceptions of three rape scenarios. Respondent sex, education, age, race, and female victim status were predictors. Findings reveal that older, non-white respondents were less likely to believe wife rape occurs. Males and the more educated were less likely to believe it occurs frequently. Older and less educated respondents were less likely to believe forced sex scenarios between a husband and wife constitute wife rape. Among women, non-victims of forced sex were significantly less likely than current victims to believe that wife rape occurs.     

Estimates of the Health Risk Reductions Associated with Attainment of Alternative Particulate Matter Standards in Two U.S. Cities

As part of its periodic re-evaluation of particulate matter (PM) standards, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated the health risk reductions associated with attainment of alternative PM standards in two locations in the United States with relatively complete air quality data: Philadelphia and Los Angeles. PM standards at the time of the analysis were defined for particles of aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 10 microm, denoted as PM-10. The risk analyses estimated the risk reductions that would be associated with changing from attainment of the PM-10 standards then in place to attainment of alternative standards using an indicator measuring fine particles, defined as those particles of aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 microm and denoted as PM-2.5. Annual average PM-2.5 standards of 12.5, 15, and 20 microg/m3 were considered in various combinations with daily PM-2.5 standards of 50 and 65 microg/m3. Attainment of a standard or set of standards was simulated by a proportional rollback of "as is" daily PM concentrations to daily PM concentrations that would just meet the standard(s). The predicted reductions in the incidence of health effects varied from zero, for those alternative standards already being met, to substantial reductions of over 88% of all PM-associated incidence (e.g., in mortality associated with long-term exposures in Los Angeles, under attainment of an annual standard of 12.5 microg/m3). Sensitivity analyses and integrated uncertainty analyses assessed the multiple-source uncertainty surrounding estimates of risk reduction.     

RADICAL SOCIAL MOVEMENT ORGANIZATIONS: A THEORETICAL MODEL

In this article we contend that social movement theory has predominantly analyzed social movement organizations (SMOs) from a reform perspective, emphasizing movement participants' demands to be recognized by, and incorporated into, the dominant culture. While for many SMOs this has certainly been the case, we argue that it is an inadequate model for the study of radical social movement organizations (RSMOs). When we look at RSMO participants' self-defined goals and objectives, we find that they tend to focus on a radical restructuring of the system rather than incorporation into that system. We therefore propose an alternative theoretical model for understanding RSMOs, utilizing ideal type characteristics for the internal structure, ideology, tactics, methods of communication, and measures of success that differentiate such organizations from their more moderate, reformist counterparts. Through the use of primary sources, we provide evidence that RSMOs, such as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and various radical second-wave feminist organizations, would be better understood through such an alternative theoretical model. Other RSMOs could be similarly redefined through this model, thereby acknowledging their intentional differences from moderate SMOs and allowing them to be evaluated on their own terms.     

Performing counter-narratives and mining creative resilience: using applied theatre to theorize notions of youth resilience

As part of a nationwide study of growing socio-spatial inequality, researchers collaborated with a Toronto youth shelter and a theatre company, Project: Humanity, to use drama methods to explore local manifestations of poverty and social polarization. Together, shelter-dwelling youths and researchers challenged understandings of ‘resilience’ beyond their normative framings that fail to consider youth perspectives. Provoking affective encounters, the drama methodology activated a youth critique of structural inequalities and a peer mentoring for developing tactics to confront incidents such as unwelcome police interactions. The authors propose the concept of creative resilience, which draws from the idea of the ‘ensemble’ in drama, to collectively devise and rehearse strategies of survival and resistance for application in the real world. Such creative and critical improvised encounters catalyse, they further argue, a critical-affective stance in participants, facilitators, and researchers. Such a critical-affective stance demands theoretical sophistication in the analysis of empirical accounts because it values affect as constitutive to knowledge production. Using an illustrative case, the authors put forward a new theoretical frame for youths resilience as an ensemble practice. The findings of this study support the experiential and cultural knowledge of youth as critics and agents of resistance in the face of growing global socio-spatial inequality.     

Young Mother (in the) Hood: Gang Girls' Negotiation of New Identities

This article examines the experiences of young women in street gangs who become mothers. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 65 young women in the San Francisco, CA, Bay Area, we examine their narratives about the transition to motherhood. In particular, we focus on the ways these young women negotiate femininities and attempt to reconcile their identities as young mothers and gang girls-both stigmatized identities. For many of the young women, motherhood entails a retreat from the street and a renewed emphasis on time spent in the home. While many receive (financial and childcare) support from their families, this also often means a diminution of the autonomy they experienced while more heavily involved in the gang. Issues of respect and respectability remain important for the young women, but the dimensions on which these are based change.     

The marriage premium and compensating wage differentials

This paper proposes and tests an alternative explanation of the marriage premium that relies upon differences in workers' tastes and compensating wage differentials. A key assumption is that marital status proxies for the consumption of family goods — such as children; and that these are costly. Workers whose greater demands for family goods are taste-generated are shown to choose jobs that offer greater wage, and lesser nonpecuniary compensation. This creates an observed wage premium that has nothing to do with differences in workers' productivities. Supporting empirical evidence for this hypothesis is presented, including a reevaluation of previous studies.