Max-min (σ-)additiye representation of monotone measures

In non-additive measure and integration (or fuzzy measure and integral) one tries to generalise the issues of product measure and conditional expectation from the additive theory. In the discrete case successful attempts have been made via the max-min additive representation of the monotone measure and the corresponding integrals. The present paper intends to find, for arbitrary monotone measures, a max-min additive representation and, under certain topological assumptions, a representation with σ-additive measures, thus providing a powerful tool for the theory of non-additive measure and integration. Received: December 2000; revised version: September 2001     

A Push Toward Equality: Processes Among Dual‐Career Newlywed Couples in Collectivist Culture

This study examines gender construction among dual‐career newlywed couples in a collectivist culture. A qualitative analysis of in‐depth interviews with 20 heterosexual Singaporean couples reveals aspects of the collectivist norms (e.g., doing family, we‐consciousness, marrying one's equal) that are favorable toward the development of gender equality. Additionally, as couples respond to the political and social pulls of economic development, they begin to organize their relationship around both careers. Incorporating egalitarian values becomes a pragmatic move carried out through five direct processes: (a) career as central to the relationship, (b) flexible allocation of household duties, (c) open dialogue regarding conflict, (d) equal say in decision making, and (e) internal self‐reflection. Implications for future research are addressed.     

Community Development, Partnership Governance and Dilemmas of Professionalization: Profiling and Assessing the Case of Ireland

Over the last two decades, Ireland has emerged as a paradigmaticcase of partnership governance. Underpinned by state-facilitatednational agreements that sought to maximize economic and socialdevelopment, ‘partnership’ was also held to includethe development of progressive social policies. The ‘communityand voluntary sector’ has been both the site and purportedvehicle for these progressive policies. In this context, communitydevelopment emerged as a discourse of social action that wasboth popular with what Donnelly-Cox and Jaffro (1999) have inthe Irish context called ‘second generation communitydevelopment’, i.e. the emergence of self-activated localcommunity groups informed by a social justice ethos, and tothe Irish state as a route to social inclusion for an arrayof marginalized social groups. Since the early 1990s, thesegroups have been the recipients of significantly increased statefunding. This resource has had a dramatic effect on the structureand nature of community development. In this paper, we outlineand assess the model of community development that has emergedin Ireland during this period. Based on empirical data arisingfrom a nationwide survey of community workers, we profile theextent of state funding; the consequent employment profile ofcommunity development workers and the impact on volunteerism;and the nature and consequence of community development’semerging relationship with the Irish state.     

Sociology and the Second Darwinian Revolution: A Metatheoretical Analysis

Sociologists tend to eschew biological explanations of human social behavior. Accordingly, when evolutionary biologists began to apply neo‐Darwinian theory to the study of human social behavior, the reactions of sociologists typically ranged from indifference to overt hostility. Since the mid‐1960s, however, neo‐Darwinian evolutionary theory has stimulated a "second Darwinian revolution" in traditional social scientific conceptions of human nature and social behavior, even while most sociologists remain largely uninformed about neo‐Darwinian theory and research. This article traces sociology's long‐standing isolation from the life sciences, especially evolutionary biology, to divergence in the metatheoretical assumptions that typify conventional sociological thought versus contemporary evolutionary biology. We conclude with a discussion of the recent emergence of a nascent "evolutionary sociology" that integrates sociobiological reasoning with contemporary sociological thought.     

THE SOCIOLOGY OF THE FLUORIDATION CONTROVERSY

Previous studies have explained opposition to fluoridation in terms of misinformation, alienation, or confusion. These studies have several shortcomings stemming from an uncritical attitude toward scientific knowledge. Recent perspectives in the sociology of scientific knowledge provide the basis for developing a wider understanding of the fluoridation issue, including analysis of scientific disagreements, the promotion of fluoridation, and experiences in other countries. Contrary to the usual view, public opposition to fluoridation does not necessarily signify a failure of education or democracy.     

Reconceptualising Social Exclusion: A Critical Response to the Neoliberal Welfare Reform Agenda and the Underclass Thesis

The application of free‐market principles to welfare reform in western industrialised nations is underpinned by contentious assumptions about human behaviour. In the postwar era, welfare policies largely considered disadvantage and exclusion as structural problems of the economy and society generally; disadvantaged individuals were considered ‘victims’ of their environment. More recently, conservative contributors have re‐emphasised disadvantage and exclusion as largely due to behavioural problems of the ‘undeserving poor’, manifest in what is believed to be an ‘underclass’. Critics of the current welfare reform agenda have voiced their concerns about the individualist assumptions that underpin it but their response to date is insufficient because they have generally neglected human agency and have failed to acknowledge individuals as capable actors. While there has been a revival of interest in human agency, greater recognition of agency in debates about welfare is required to mount a credible critique of the conservative assumptions about human behaviour in order to develop a more sensitive theory of the activities of the poor. One of the ways in which this may be achieved is by reconceptualising the concept of social exclusion and highlighting a ‘strong’ rather than a ‘weak’ version.