Social status inconsistency and migration

We use NLSY79 panel data to extend the line of sociological research encouraged in the early work of Lenski by analyzing the effects of social status inconsistencies on the likelihood and direction of migration. Given that migration is often viewed as a way for individuals to locate prospective returns fitting for their qualifications, analysis of migration behavior offers an opportunity to examine the impact of status inconsistency. Key findings indicate that under-rewarded individuals, specifically relatively highly educated individuals in low status and low paying occupations, are more likely to migrate than are status consistent individuals. Over-rewarded individuals are less likely to migrate. These findings vary across metropolitan and nonmetropolitan places: individuals in nonmetropolitan areas who are under-rewarded or have mixed statuses have higher odds of migration than status consistent respondents. Individuals in metropolitan areas with inconsistent statuses are not more likely to migrate than status consistent respondents once other determinants of migration are entered in the analysis. Exploratory analysis shows migration increases the likelihood of achieving status consistency. Further examination of the interrelationship between migration and status inconsistency is recommended.     

Diskurskoalitionen in den Massenmedien

Two of the most highly developed analytical approaches to public and mass media debates are discourse analyses in the tradition of Michel Foucault and the theory of the public sphere that has been developed at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB). Both approaches emphasize relevant and complementary aspects of societal communication, but so far, there has been no attempt to combine the two. This is the aim of this article: First, it is shown that both approaches are based on similar assumptions. Second, the concept of “discourse coalitions” is employed in order to bridge discourse analyses and the WZB model. Third, I propose to reconstruct discourse coalitions statistically using multiple correspondence analysis. Fourth, two examples will be considered in order to demonstrate discourse coalitions in a concrete mass media debate. In the cases of human genome research and stem cell research, three discourse coalitions can be shown, each having a different weight and therefore, a different discursive “power” in the coverage.     

Solving Social Problems: Southern Perspectives

Locating an appropriate starting point for this review is nosimple task. Part of the difficulty is that the book breaksimportant new territory for New Zealand and Australian studentsand, possibly, students and practitioners at the internationallevel because of the strong and explicit connection betweensocial problems and the work of community and social workersas social change agents. It also attempts to make direct connectionsbetween theory and practice and the unequivocal preference forcommunity-based responses, arguments and solutions. There isa good body of material that focuses on different dimensionsof social problems and a significant body of material on socialwork intervention and practice. The authors' purpose is clear. As they note on the back cover,the book is intended for students and practitioners ‘whowish to develop their reflexive practice’. The developmentof this practice is, the authors     

Bayesian analysis of nonlinear and non-Gaussian state space models via multiple-try sampling methods

We develop in this paper three multiple-try blocking schemes for Bayesian analysis of nonlinear and non-Gaussian state space models. To reduce the correlations between successive iterates and to avoid getting trapped in a local maximum, we construct Markov chains by drawing state variables in blocks with multiple trial points. The first and second methods adopt autoregressive and independent kernels to produce the trial points, while the third method uses samples along suitable directions. Using the time series structure of the state space models, the three sampling schemes can be implemented efficiently. In our multimodal examples, the three multiple-try samplers are able to generate the desired posterior sample, whereas existing methods fail to do so.