Using Intersectionality to Examine the New Complexities of Work Identities and Social Class

This article explores how the concept of intersectionality is useful for examining how class location and gender intersect in the workplace. Intersectionality foregrounds the complex ways that work identity is negotiated and achieved and how formations of identity constitute complex affiliations, solidarities and tensions in the workplace. I use data from oral histories of railway workers to illustrate the usefulness of intersectionality as an approach to analysing work. Intersectionality and the concept of structures of feeling are important tools for examining how work shapes social identity and action. These concepts have been central to an important research project conducted at the Working Lives Research Institute, part of the wider ESRC Identities programme.     

Female crack users and their sexual relationships: The role of sex‐for‐crack exchanges

This study challenges the image of female crack users as exchangers, or women who exchange sex for crack. Between June 1997 and February 1999, quantitative interviews were conducted with 150 active female crack users, one half of whom also completed a qualitative interview. Data analysis involved contingency analysis, bivariate logistic regression analysis, and the constant comparison method. Exchangers (n = 65) were younger, and were more likely to have been homeless and to be single than were nonexchangers (n = 85). Exchangers also were more likely to report infidelity and less likely to communicate with their most recent steady partner about the partner's relationship expectations. Sexual behaviors differed by partner type among the exchangers and nonexchangers. These findings provide a comprehensive picture of female crack users. Additionally, the findings indicate the importance of designing interventions that capture the complexities of the women's sexual relationships.     

Re-Examining Evelyn Hooker: Setting the Record Straight with Comments on Schumm's (2012) Reanalysis

Evelyn Hooker's research comparing the mental health of 30 male homosexuals to 30 male heterosexuals may be the most influential study in the history of social science. The American Psychological Association (APA) claims her work was the major reason it began advocating for acceptance of homosexuality. It led the American Psychiatric Association in 1973 to eliminate homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. And it impacted the U.S. Supreme Court's 2003 legalization of sodomy in Lawrence v Texas.

Hooker reportedly believed experts would be unable to distinguish homosexuals from heterosexuals on psychological tests. Re-examination of her work indicates that Hooker's study was neither rigorous nor reliable. Among other problems, homosexual subjects were easily identified on test protocols; her reports of how she obtained her samples were incomplete and contradictory; and her study generated results supportive of obsession/compulsivity in homosexuals.

Thus Hooker's study was seriously flawed. Moreover, because it was marketed by the APA as central in transforming homosexual activity from an illness/crime into acceptable behavior—yet Hooker did not correct those who mischaracterized her work—APA misrepresentations of Hooker over the past 40 years appear to be more in line with ideology than science.     

Are Psychological and Ecological Well-being Compatible? The Role of Values,Mindfulness, and Lifestyle

Happiness and ecological well-being are often portrayed as conflictual pursuits, but they may actually be complementary. In samples of adolescents (Study 1) and adults (Study 2), we tested this proposition and examined the role of three factors in promoting both subjective well-being (SWB) and ecologically responsible behavior (ERB). In both studies, individuals higher in SWB reported more ERB. An intrinsic value orientation (Studies 1 and 2) and dispositional mindfulness (Study 2) related to higher SWB and ERB, while a lifestyle of voluntary simplicity (Study 2) related to higher ERB. Further analyses showed that the compatibility of SWB and ERB was explained by intrinsic values and mindfulness. These findings offer clues to a sustainable way of life that enhances both personal and collective well-being.     

Deterrence and Knowledge of Statutory Penalties*

This study examines deterrence theory in light of three questions. First, is there an inverse relation between crime rates and maximum statutory penalties? Second, is there an inverse relation between crime rates and maximum penalties as perceived by potential offenders? Third, what is the accuracy of those perceptions? Classical versions of deterrence theory seemingly assume that the perceptions of potential offenders are substantially accurate, but the present findings (based on a survey of adult Tucson residents) show only a positive correlation (not absolute agreement) between statutory and perceived maximums. Yet there is a substantial inverse relation among types of crimes between statutory maximums (actual or perceived) and crime rates. However, that relation becomes problematic when public disapproval of criminality is controlled because of the collinearity between that aspect of social condemnation and the statutory maximums.     

Hug drug or thug drug? Ecstasy use and aggressive behavior

While clinical studies have established a link between aggression and ecstasy (3,4-methylenedioxymeth-amphetamine [MDMA]), no research has attempted to explore how this link manifests itself in behavioral outcomes. In this research we examine the effects of ecstasy on aggressive and violent behavior in a sample of active users. Data were collected from 260 ecstasy users in Atlanta, Georgia. Data analysis included ordered logit regression to examine the likelihood of engaging in aggressive behavior, controlling for key predictors of aggression independent of ecstasy use. Our results indicate that those with a higher prevalence of lifetime ecstasy use exhibit higher levels of aggressive and violent behavior. However, the effect of lifetime ecstasy use differs by levels of low self-control as a measure of propensity for aggression. Those who exhibit low self-control are more affected by ecstasy use than those who do not in terms of aggression. Our findings add an important dimension to our current knowledge about the relationship between aggression and ecstasy.     

Effects of Phonotactic Probabilities on the Processing of Spoken Words and Nonwords by Adults with Cochlear Implants Who Were Postlingually Deafened

Probabilistic phonotactics refers to the frequency with which segments and sequences of segments occur in syllables and words. Knowledge of phonotactics has been shown to be an important source of information in recognizing spoken words in listeners with normal hearing. Two online tasks (an auditory same-different task and an auditory lexical decision task) were used to examine the use of phonotactic information by adults who were postlingually deafened who have received cochlear implants. The results of the experiments showed that cochlear implant patients with better word recognition abilities (as measured by the Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6 (NU-6) produced patterns of results that were similar to the pattern of results obtained from listeners with normal hearing in Vitevitch and Luce (1999). This finding suggests that cochlear implant patients with better word recognition abilities use lexical and sublexical representations to process spoken words, much like listeners with normal hearing. In contrast, cochlear implant patients with poor word recognition abilities could not differentiate between stimuli varying in phonotactic probability and lexicality, suggesting that less distinct representations are used by these patients to process spoken words. The implications of these results for outcome assessments and clinical interventions are discussed.