Recalling Attitudes: An Analysis of Retrospective Questions on the 1982 GSS

Research using the General Social Surveys suggests that retrospectivereporting of attitudes may frequently produce inaccurate distributions.In addition, the evidence also indicates that correlations betweenrecalled attitudes and other items may be distorted.     

Division of power in legislatures with two cohesive subgroups

We formulate a voting model for a legislature composed of two disjoint and cohesive subgroups. Each subgroup has a leader, and its cohesiveness is measured by the probability that a member votes the same way as the leader, which is presumed to be the same for all non-leader members within a subgroup. We examine the relative powers of the subgroups as a function of their sizes and cohesiveness.     

The internal union political imperative for UAW pattern bargaining

Like many industrial unions, the UAW places great emphasis on pattern-following contract settlements. However, research on the rationales for pattern bargaining has been scarce, and evidence testing these rationales has been absent. The usual rationale for pattern bargaining is to take wages out of competition. However, this paper presents evidence of important internal union political reasons for pattern bargaining. If intra-union wage comparisons cause union members to feel unfairly treated, elected leaders will be challenged. Thus, the UAW leadership pursues pattern bargaining to minimize political conflicts and maintain stability. Unless you know where you came from you don’t have the sense of direction that will lead you to the goals you seek. Walter P. Reuther That word “solidarity” isn’t rhetoric. For a union, it’s everything. Bob White Helpful comments by the Editor and an anonymous referee and financial support from the Jacob K. Javits Fellows Program, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Industrial Relations Section, Princeton University, are gratefully acknowledged. Walter P. Reuther collection, Box 98-2, Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University (WSU). Walter P. Reuther was UAW President from 1946 to 1970. White (1987, p. 51). Bob White was Director of the UAW Canadian Region from 1978 to 1985 and has been President of the National Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of Canada (CAW) since 1985.     

Children,adolescents and social work: A statement from the editor

Current social policy affects clinical social work with children, adolescents, and their families. As a result of inadequate funding, many resources that are needed for prevention and therapeutic work are not adequate for the needs of the client group. Gaps in resources affect the welfare of children and their families and often contribute to the causes of mental health problems. Other issues related to service systems and professional arrangements affect the identity and status of clinical social workers and interfere with optimal professional activities.     

Voluntarism, self-help and rural community development: Some current approaches

Within the last decade or so, there has developed an increased concern for the welfare of rural communities and for individuals within such communities. At the same time there has emerged a parallel concern for environmental matters, concerned with conservation of species and habitat and the protection of cherished landscapes and amenities. Both sectors of rural concern have been characterised by debate about the means of delivery of policies and programmes in their respective areas and, in particular, about the balance between state action and the activities of the private sector. A common thread running through such debates has been the role of what is loosely called the ‘voluntary sector’, that is the complicated mix of individuals and organisations, local and national, which involve themselves in effort, not for direct payment nor as a routine of work, but because of feelings of commitment, belief and ideology.This paper is concerned with just one aspect of this sector — that which involves social and community aspects of the lives of rural dwellers in the English countryside. Despite this restricted field, there is an attempt to see things within a broader socio-political context, such that rural voluntarism and rural self-help can be assessed not only against a wider picture of volunteering generally but also placed within a political framework, both national and local. Voluntarism and self-help cannot exist independently of the world around them, yet the very process of facing up to the wider political realities creates problems of accountability and control to the extent that some would dismiss the voluntary sector as ineffective at best or the tool of vested interests at worst.