Les Chinois de Paris et de Montréal: analyse comparative de deux communautés en situation d'immigration*

This article is a comparative study of two Chinese communities in two countries that differ in their history and their political direction when it comes to immigration: Canada and France. Although it neither concludes their independence nor the disappearance of the role of national states, the article points out many similarities in the structure, organization and internal economy relying on cross‐border ethnic networks. Le présent article consiste en une étude comparative de deux communautés chinoises en situation d'immigration dans deux pays différant par leur histoire et leur orientation politique: le Canada et la France. Bien qu'il n'en conclue ni à l'indépendance de ces communautés ni à la disparition du rôle des États nationaux, l'article relève maintee ressemblances sur le plan de la structure, de l'organisation et de l'économie interne reposant sur des réseaux ethniques transcendant les frontières.     

Educational inequalities and educational mobility under socialism in the Czech Republic

The sociology of education on the Czech Republic has focused almost entirely on relative measures of inequality (based on odds ratio data) than to trends in educational mobility (based on mobility tables). Therefore, there is a significant gap in our knowledge of how the Czech education system has evolved in the long term. Although the periods before and after the onset of socialism appear to have had very specific mobility patterns, we know relatively little about their differences. Therefore, this article attempts 1) to verify the findings to date about the character and extent of educational inequalities in the Czech half of socialist Czechoslovakia, and 2) to update these findings with a new mobility analysis. In this context the article poses two key questions: In what ways are the two mobility systems (pre‐socialist and socialist) different? Was the Czech education system becoming more or less open? Using the mobility perspective and log‐linear modelling, the analysis identifies some specific structural contexts and shows that the level of intergenerational educational reproduction that existed between 1906 and 1938 gradually diminished thereafter, except among women, who experienced a re‐strengthening after 1948. Although after the Prague Spring in 1968 the association between the education of parents and their children began to strengthen, the mother‐daughter association in educational reproduction weakened at the end of socialism.     

Development and Validation of the Sexual Contingent Self-Worth Scale

Sexual contingent self-worth (CSW) refers to self-worth that is dependent on maintaining a sexual relationship, and has not been studied previously. This novel construct may have implications for sexual, relationship, and psychological well-being, because it could affect the cognitions, affect, and behaviors of individuals in sexual relationships. The purpose of this study was to develop the Sexual Contingent Self-Worth Scale and examine its reliability and validity in community samples. Two separate online studies (N = 329 and N = 282) included men and women who were in committed, sexually active relationships. The Sexual CSW Scale was adapted from a validated measure of relationship CSW. In Study 1, participants completed the Sexual CSW Scale, whereas in Study 2, participants also responded to standardized measures of related constructs. In addition, participants completed the Sexual CSW Scale again two weeks later in Study 2. Factor analysis yielded two subscales: (a) sexual CSW dependent on positive sexual events in the relationship and (b) sexual CSW dependent on negative sexual events. Results indicated good construct validity, incremental validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability for the Sexual CSW Scale. This research contributes to the fields of both CSW and sexuality by introducing a novel domain of CSW.     

The analysis of putative environmental pollution gradients in spatially correlated epidemiological data

The analysis of putative sources of health hazard has recently received considerable attention. Most analyses, however, assume that the observations - such as counts in census tracts or exact locations of cases - are not spatially correlated. This assumption, if violated, could have serious consequences for inferences made from such data. This paper outlines a number of simple Monte Carlo test procedures for this situation.     

The Interrelationship of Process And Content in Field Work

This paper discusses how the process and content of field work are deeply connected in the continual back and forth movements between concrete data, topical and generic conceptualizations, and disciplined abstractions. Consensus and conflict between researchers and those researched are at the heart of such movements. My experiences as researcher in-process were similar to the experiences which others in the settings were having; those others' experiences formed the bases of the content of my studies. Important process and content dimensions included: 1) alienation and sociability in singles bars; 2) seriousness and playfulness alone and with others in health spas; and 3) rituals accentating and mitigating the stigma of overweight in group dieting.     

A Definition of Social Work for Practice

Australian and international discussions of the broad mission of social work, of its underlying premise that the personal is political, that it is responsive and able to take a leadership role from a clear value base, are sophisticated debates that demonstrate the vitality, dynamism, and enthusiasm of a profession cognizant of changes and challenges occurring outside it. However such developments and considerations are possibly most meaningful for those social workers who are either very clear about what social work is or who are not daily confronted with challenges to explain or account for their profession in performance-driven agency contexts. This article proposes a simple definition of social work which, while cognizant of the theoretical developments occurring both in and outside the profession, presents the profession in a way that clearly articulates what it is that social workers do.     

“This Should Not Be Happening in This Country”: Private‐Life Violence and Immigration Intersections in a U.S. Gateway City

In the United States, the rise in ethnic diversity due to immigration in recent decades has been most visible in new “gateway” cities and towns, such as the Baltimore–Washington, D.C. corridor, now the fourth‐largest gateway for new immigration. Among the more grave issues that immigrant women face in these gateways and elsewhere is the experience of intimate partner violence. This article reports on a study using qualitative methods to document the problem, approaches, and challenges in the rapidly diversifying city of Baltimore, Maryland. We report on individual and focus‐group interviews with professionals in 10 agencies who work directly with the Baltimore populations. Drawing on intersectionality theory, we propose a conceptual framework that disaggregates the location of “immigration” into four components: contexts of exit, contexts of reception, racial and class hierarchies, and culture. The study's results problematize cultural essentialist models and raise questions about current U.S. legal systems regarding immigration.     

The role and status of women in a rural village in Egypt: Five life stages

Abstract

The issue of gender role appears as a controversial problem in many cultures, but particularly in Islamic cultures. A patriarchal society and the associated attitudes along with certain perceptions and/or interpretations of legal doctrines of Islamic law appear to place women in a secondary and discriminated-against position. The purpose of the present study is to examine the lived experiences of women in rural Egypt today and to determine implications for human resource development (HRD). This study will help those working in HRD to understand the cultural context in which women live and work in order to engage them in meaningful and appropriate ways. Interviews were undertaken with specific women in this village in Egypt, and these women's stories depict various circumstances and life histories. The women will be drawn from across the age span?–?from childhood to the elderly. Some implications for HRD research and practice will be drawn from these stories.     

How Women in Late Midlife Become Caregivers for Their Aging Parents

Approximately 52 million Americans provide informal (unpaid) care to a family member or friend who is disabled or ill. The most common informal caregiving relationship is that of an adult child providing assistance to an aging parent. This article describes a qualitative study examining how adult daughters between the ages of 50 and 65 become caregivers to their parent or parent-in-law. Data were collected through in-depth, face-to-face interviews with 15 female caregivers. Analysis revealed that assistance provided to parents was initiated by one or more triggering event, after which participants became caregivers in either an emergent or deliberate manner.