Sociopolitical Development and Vocational Expectations Among Lower Socioeconomic Status Adolescents of Color

The well‐documented aspiration‐expectation gap refers to lower socioeconomic status (SES) adolescents of color expecting to attain occupations with lower pay and status than the occupations to which they aspire. Sociopolitical inequity, such as structural racism and asymmetrical access to resources, may explain this gap. This article examines the capacity to cope with sociopolitical inequity (i.e., sociopolitical development) and its relationship to vocational expectations among this population. Analyses revealed that sociopolitical development was associated with higher vocational expectations and may contribute to reducing the vocational aspiration‐expectation gap among lower SES adolescents of color. Furthermore, career counseling, guidance, and psychosocial interventions may be augmented by incorporating sociopolitical development.     

Sociological Knowledge and Scientific Knowledge

Some significant insights in relation to science and its claims emerged in early sociology. However, sociologies of knowledge and science remained separate until the late 1960s. Questioning scientific knowledge raised questions about career interests, language, interaction, class and gender in shaping scientific claims. Offering insights, this new sociology tended towards 'epistemological polarisation'. New waves further distanced themselves from the validity claims of 'scientists'. Insulating within a self-referential field of peers, journals, conferences and subdisciplinary norms, epistemological polarisation, emulated natural sciences, but had a marginalising effect. Attention to symmetry in the social study of scientific beliefs, such that social causation of belief is not said to invalidate such belief, was often ignored, and the sociology of scientific knowledge tended towards debunking. This article challenges this spiral and suggests a 'reflexive epistemological diversity' that recognises the value of many forms of explanation, promoting interaction between different explanations, at different levels of causation, and across the divide between natural and social sciences. Recent feminist science studies go furthest in developing this trend. In line with recent developments in the natural sciences, such an approach does not suggest that 'anything goes', yet opens up explanation beyond narrow conceptions of expertise, reductionism and relativism.     

A New Look at Quartiles of Ungrouped Data

Traditional methods of calculation of quartiles for ungrouped data are based on interpolation. In this article we focus on three methods of defining measures of this kind. Then we present hinges that divide data into four parts by a lower hinge, a median, and an upper hinge. A hinge is “crudely, a quartile.” The preceding four techniques may yield different numerical answers when applied to the same set of data. Two tests are proposed and are used to evaluate the various methods for calculation of quartiles and hinges. Finally, an alternative method of calculating quartiles is provided; it retains desirable characteristics of quartiles and combines them with the advantages ascribed to hinges.     

Building Citizenship: How Student Voice in Service-Learning Develops Civic Values

Objective . Though many decry the decline in political participation and interest, few academic studies present a clear approach to help reverse these trends. This paper examines the impact of service-learning programs on students' self-concept, political engagement, and attitudes toward out-groups. Methods . The data come from a pre and post survey given to more than 200 high school students in 10 different schools. We use Huber regression to assess the impact of student voice in the service-learning project on six dependent variables. Results . We show that if students are involved in service-learning projects in which they have a high degree of voice and ownership, their self-concept and political engagement will improve, and they become more tolerant toward out-groups. Conclusion . In short, having a voice in service-learning programs builds citizenship.     

Stochastic volatility modelling in continuous time with general marginal distributions: Inference,prediction and model selection

We compare results for stochastic volatility models where the underlying volatility process having generalized inverse Gaussian (GIG) and tempered stable marginal laws. We use a continuous time stochastic volatility model where the volatility follows an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck stochastic differential equation driven by a Lévy process. A model for long-range dependence is also considered, its merit and practical relevance discussed. We find that the full GIG and a special case, the inverse gamma, marginal distributions accurately fit real data. Inference is carried out in a Bayesian framework, with computation using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). We develop an MCMC algorithm that can be used for a general marginal model.     

“党派实在论”的结构诠释学

如果政治宣传,意识形态以及党派性等概念真的从这些概念本身的内涵来界定自身,那么,在追逐某个政治议程时,这些概念由于存在明显的偏见,从而会导致自相驳斥的结果。因此,毫不奇怪,这些沟通类型的显明特征之一就是宣称它们在精准和公平地再现实在,并且否认存在政治偏见的丑恶内涵。笔者称这种类型为“党派实在论”,即被政治驱动的媒体演出,它们象征性地把自己呈现为是在实在论类型下运作的。本文的问题是,党派性媒体报导是如何在追逐自身的政治议程的同时创造出一种中立且无偏见的实在论表象的。为此,本文借用文化社会学的结构诠释学方法,以“奥莱利实情”这档非常流行的美国电视新闻节目作为党派实在论的分析案例。本文认为,“奥莱利实情”是通过如下几个范畴来生产一种用以诠释新闻的“党派实在论”框架的：主持人形象建构、围绕二元对立符码形成复杂的潜在意义结构,以及一套精致奥妙的修辞技巧。虽然这档节目自诩是一扇投射现实的简单窗户,但事实上,它启用一套精妙的党派文化系统来确证观众通过这扇明显中立的窗户所看到的东西能够支持节目制作人的政治利益。为了让新闻呈现在一定程度上暗合各种党派结论但又看起来依然是实在论,而非充斥着偏见,节目的每个情节和片段都依据一个意义结构来搭建问题。这个意义结构虽然具有强烈的党派结论导向性,但又能给人一种对各方观点都进行过理性思考的外表。本文认为,这种针对意义结构的深度分析对于理解作为政治沟通类型的“党派实在论”具有重要意义。     

Shame and guilt in child protection social work: new interpretations and opportunities for practice

Shame is an underexplored and misunderstood emotion. It can be described as an acute awareness of one's flawed and unworthy self. It is the primary social emotion and one of our most intimate feelings developed within the context of our family of origin, which can have a devastating effect on an individual and their relationships. Social workers are routinely faced with issues of shame as an intrinsic consequence of the matters with which social work deals and also as a result of how both families and workers experience the child protection process. This paper outlines the research on shame and guilt to argue for a re‐evaluation of the key challenges faced by child protection social workers. It is argued that shame experienced by parents and carers potentially plays a significant role in these challenges, while it may be argued that ‘guilt’ has had a bad press and may potentially play an important role in the successes. An argument is made for a shame‐reducing child protection social work practice with some key themes for practitioners to consider in their attempt to improve the accuracy of assessments and intervention.