Measuring cultural bias in a cross-national study

Cross-national research claims increasing attention, due in part to a growing awareness of worldwide interdependence. One of the most intriguing areas of research is the comparison of perceptions about the quality of life. However, even the first attempt to compare cross-national quality of life perceptions (Cantril, 1965) raised a question which still remains unanswered: What do the differences between countries mean? Presumably differences in income, in the objective conditions of the major life domains such as housing, health and employment, and in demographic variables account for some of the difference among countries' reported quality of life satisfaction. But how can these factors be separated from other non-random factors? The term we use for the latter is “cultural bias”. By cultural bias we mean the systematic cross-national differences in quality of life perceptions which are not explained by objective measures of quality of life nor by demographic factors. Ordinarily these culture-specific biases are acquired during the socialization process almost as automatically and unconsciously as one learns one's mother tongue. Cultural bias is manifested in the tendency for members of a particular culture to be optimistic or pessimistic, confident or cautious in evaluating their social and physical environment and in revealing these evaluations to others. Thus, our conception of cultural bias has something in common with the idea of national character, but it is more limited in scope. In this paper we discuss the problem of isolating the impact of cultural bias from the other factors affecting how people perceive their quality of life and measuring it. We describe a method which is capable of doing this and report the results of using it to measure the relative cultural bias between respondents in Springfield, Illinois and Aixen-Provence, France.     

Book reviews

The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 gave an opportunity to remake not just political institutions, but ethno-religious distinction in Northern Ireland. This article looks at how individuals reconstruct their way of being Protestant in Ireland and Northern Ireland in the context of social and political change. It shows individuals renegotiating their ways of being Protestant, attempting sometimes successfully to change its socio-cultural salience, blurring ethnic boundaries, distinguishing religious and ethno-national narratives, drawing universalistic political norms from their particular religious tradition. It argues that these renegotiations are highly sensitive to the macro-political context. Changes in this context affect individuals through their changing cognitive understandings and strategic interests that, at least in this case, are as important to identification as social solidarities.     

Citizen‐agency versus state‐agency at the frontline in prisons and probation services: A systematic literature review

Street‐level bureaucrats play a key role in the delivery of public services to the citizens with whom they interact. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta‐Analyses approach, we rely on a street‐level perspective to report a systematic review of 46 studies about officer–offender interactions in prisons and probation services. In doing so, we examine how correctional officers articulate state‐agency – whereby they focus on the implementation of rules and policies – and citizen‐agency – whereby their decisions regarding offenders are based on judgements of offenders' worth. Our results provide evidence that frontline work in prisons and probation services stems from a mix of citizen‐ and state‐agencies in which the former is prioritized over the latter: when rule enforcement allows it, correctional officers often make discretionary decisions based on professional judgements rooted in professional norms. In this respect, the managerial and actuarial approach to risk management and public protection involved by contemporary correctional reforms comes with new role expectations that conflict with correctional officers' rehabilitative ideals. At the same time, the literature provides many instances of officers coping with workload in order to meet policy objectives and organizational demands while maintaining satisfactory working conditions. In other words, there is an increasingly elaborate and fragile articulation of state‐ and citizen‐agencies at the frontline, in prisons and probations services. We conclude with some implications and an agenda for future research.     

Technological Innovation and Employment Reallocation

The paper describes the dynamics of employment at a firm and sector level in French industry and examines how far technological innovation can give account of it. We use a sample of 15,186 firms, over the period 1986–90. The two facts we want to explain at a firm and sector level are the net change in employment and the micro turmoil (transfers between competing firms). Innovating firms and sectors create jobs more than others over the medium run (5 years). Process innovation is more about job creation than product innovation at the firm level, but the converse is true at the sector level. This paradox is probably due to substitution effects (creative destruction).     

Attachment insecurities and under-commitment in distressed couples: The role of positive and negative partner behaviors

Research has rarely considered intermediate variables in the association between attachment insecurities and relationship commitment. Based on attachment theory and Rusbult's Investment Model, we tested whether positive and negative partner behaviors explain this association in 91 distressed couples undergoing therapy. Path analyses based on the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model revealed that individuals with attachment avoidance reported perceiving fewer positive behaviors from their partner, which was associated with their own higher under-commitment. Partners of individuals with avoidance also reported perceiving fewer positive partner behaviors, which was in turn associated with their own higher under-commitment. Partners of individuals with attachment anxiety perceived more positive behaviors from their partner, which was associated to their own lower under-commitment. Perceived negative partner behaviors were only directly associated with higher under-commitment. These findings imply that perceived positive partner behaviors may be a key aspect to target in relationship therapy in couples who present with high attachment insecurities.