The child's entry into the symbolic order: a developmental-societal interpretation of Jacques Lacan

Lacan's psychoanalytic insights, as found primarily in his 1964 seminar “The four fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis” are interpreted within a social-developmental framework. Using Piaget's theory of a structural transition from action logic to object logic I recast (1) Lacan's signifying function as a new competence emerging around age two and (2) the “Other” as the general content/context of this newness, namely the child's grasp of a societal-symbolic order. The child's entry into that order is described as inherently linked to sexuality, desire and the unconscious and as accompanied by feelings of alienation and separation. Insofar as the desire of the unconscious is toward the “Other” Lacan seems to support my claim of an endogenous origin of the societal order.     

“I Did Not Get that Job Because of a Black Man...”: The Story Lines and Testimonies of Color-Blind Racism

In this paper we discuss the dominant racial stories that accompany color-blind racism, the dominant post–civil rights racial ideology, and asses their ideological role. Using interview data from the 1997 Survey of College Students Social Attitudes and the 1998 Detroit Area Study, we document the prevalence of four story lines and two types of testimonies among whites. We also provide data on ideological dissidence among some whites (we label them racial progressives) and blacks. We show that although these stories, and the racial ideology they reinforce, have become dominant, neither goes uncontested.     

The impact of Indian gaming on crime in New Mexico: A research note

The complexity of the relationship between gambling and crime make empirical establishment of a relationship between the two difficult. Focusing on one state, we examine the impact of Indian gaming on crime in New Mexico. Specific crime rates in New Mexico counties with tribal gaming are discussed. Comparisons of the rates of specific crimes are made between New Mexico counties with tribal gaming and those without.     

Engagement: A Critical Aspect of Family Therapy Practice*

Engagement must be appreciated as an integral ongoing aspect of therapy. It can provide therapists with a wealth of information about the structure and functioning of the family. Engagement/counter-engagement, assessment and interventions are essential, interdependent processes which occur throughout treatment. Ways of enhancing the engagement process are discussed.     

Weighing the Evidence for Hypotheses with Small Samples of Right-censored Exponential Data

The p-value evidence for an alternative to a null hypothesis regarding the mean lifetime can be unreliable if based on asymptotic approximations when there is only a small sample of right-censored exponential data. However, a guarded weight of evidence for the alternative can always be obtained without approximation, no matter how small the sample, and has some other advantages over p-values. Weights of evidence are defined as estimators of 0 when the null hypothesis is true and 1 when the alternative is true, and they are judged on the basis of the ensuing risks, where risk is mean squared error of estimation. The evidence is guarded in that a preassigned bound is placed on the risk under the hypothesis. Practical suggestions are given for choosing the bound and for interpreting the magnitude of the weight of evidence. Acceptability profiles are obtained by inversion of a family of guarded weights of evidence for two-sided alternatives to point hypotheses, just as confidence intervals are obtained from tests; these profiles are arguably more informative than confidence intervals, and are easily determined for any level and any sample size, however small. They can help understand the effects of different amounts of censoring. They are found for several small size data sets, including a sample of size 12 for post-operative cancer patients. Both singly Type I and Type II censored examples are included. An examination of the risk functions of these guarded weights of evidence suggests that if the censoring time is of the same magnitude as the mean lifetime, or larger, then the risks in using a guarded weight of evidence based on a likelihood ratio are not much larger than they would be if the parameter were known.     

A Career Readiness Typology and Typal Membership in Middle School

This study explored a career readiness typology of 629 8th‐grade students using the Career Factors Inventory. Data revealed developmentally appropriate elevated needs for information, specifically self‐knowledge. In addition, cluster analysis demonstrated the heterogeneity of career development needs of 8th‐grade students. Typal membership revealed little variance on sociodemographic factors. Career development implications are presented.