No Nukes! A Comparison of Participants in Two National Antinuclear Demonstrations

Results of a survey of participants in the April, 1979 antinuclear demonstration in San Francisco are compared to those obtained from a similar study of participants in the May, 1979 antinuclear demonstration in Washington, D.C. Both sets of demonstrators are found to be young, well-educated and politically liberal, and to reject several dominant American values. The similarity in findings betwcen the two studies provides increased confidence in our understanding of the social composition of the antinuclear movement.     

Endorsement of Agrarian Ideology and Adherence to Agricultural Paradigms1

Abstract Despite the fact that groups of alternative and conventional agriculturalists do not differ in their overall scores on an agrarianism scale, their responses do differ significandy on several of the agrarianism items and on the items related to agrarianism from a scale designed to assess competing agricultural paradigms. This suggests that there are differences in these groups' agrarian ideologies even though their overall scores on the agrarianism scale are nearly identical. Although divergent agricultural groups support agrarian ideals such as family farms and the farm way of life, the way in which these groups conceptualize and would achieve these ideals appear to be different. Consequendy, the relatively generic items typically used to analyze agrarianism fail to capture the differences in the agrarian ideologies of competing agricultural groups. The need to reconceptualize agrarianism so as to make it more meaningful to contemporary agriculture is discussed.     

Social Contagion of Risk Perceptions in Environmental Management Networks

An important requisite for improving risk communication practice related to contentious environmental issues is having a better theoretical understanding of how risk perceptions function in real‐world social systems. Our study applied Scherer and Cho's social network contagion theory of risk perception (SNCTRP) to cormorant management (a contentious environmental management issue) in the Great Lakes Basin to: (1) assess contagion effects on cormorant‐related risk perceptions and individual factors believed to influence those perceptions and (2) explore the extent of social contagion in a full network (consisting of interactions between and among experts and laypeople) and three “isolated” models separating different types of interactions from the full network (i.e., expert‐to‐expert, layperson‐to‐layperson, and expert‐to‐layperson). We conducted interviews and administered questionnaires with experts (e.g., natural resource professionals) and laypeople (e.g., recreational and commercial anglers, business owners, bird enthusiasts) engaged in cormorant management in northern Lake Huron (n = 115). Our findings generally support the SNCTRP; however, the scope and scale of social contagion varied considerably based on the variables (e.g., individual risk perception factors), actors (i.e., experts or laypeople), and interactions of interest. Contagion effects were identified more frequently, and were stronger, in the models containing interactions between experts and laypeople than in those models containing only interactions among experts or laypeople.     

Attitudinal and structural drivers of preferred versus actual residential landscapes in a desert city

Urban Ecosystems - Residential landscaping decisions can have important implications for water use and conservation in urban areas. Yard preferences are generally closely related to actual yard...     

The Timing and Pace of Health Transitions around the World

Estimates from some 700 mostly national studies of survival in the past are assembled to create a broad picture of regional and global life expectancy gains across space and time and to examine implications of that picture. At the initiation of their health transitions, most countries had a life expectancy between 25 and 35 years. Countries that began later made gains at a faster pace. Those faster gains are usually associated with the dissemination of Western medicine. But rapid gains occurred in the period 1920–50, largely before the availability of antibiotics or modern vaccines. Especially rapid gains came in the years immediately after World War II in countries where the leading causes of death were communicable diseases that could be managed with antibiotics but also in countries where the leading causes of death were degenerative organ diseases. Both periods of rapid gain await satisfactory explanation. The bibliography of more than 700 sources is published separately on the web at « http://www.lifetable.de.RileyBib.htm ».     

Interactive multimedia preventive alcohol education: a technology application in higher education

This article summarizes the process of implementation and short-term impact on knowledge and attitudes of an interactive multimedia software program on preventive alcohol education for young adults. The three factors related to behavioral change addressed in the software are self-efficacy in maintaining personal control and safety while using alcohol, attitudes and related expectations regarding the physiological and behavioral consequences of alcohol consumption, and peer norms regarding alcohol consumption. As compared to alternative alcohol education and a no-alcohol education groups, students using the interactive computer lesson reported learning more about dose-response and ways to intervene with friends in peril. The article concludes with consideration of the import of this technology for informing students about the consequences of alcohol use, and the utility to higher education institutions of using this technology in an era when pressures increase for due diligence around student safety but with few additional institutional resources.     

The Social Bases of Environmental Concern: Have They Changed Over Time?1

Abstract Using data obtained from National Opinion Research Center's General Social Surveys (1973–1990), this paper tests two hypotheses concerning possible changes in the sociopolitical correlates of environmental concern. The “broadening base” hypothesis predicts that environmental concern will diffuse throughout the populace, resulting in a broader base of support for environmental protection, while the “economic contingency” hypothesis predicts that the economically deprived will disproportionately withdraw support for environmental protection during poor economic conditions. Analysis of the data over the 18 years, however, failed to lend any clear support for either of the hypotheses. In marked contrast, results indicate that the social bases of environmental concern—at least as measured by the NORC environmental spending item—have remained remarkably stable over nearly two decades despite fluctuating economic, political, and environmental conditions. Younger adults, the well-educated, political liberals, Democrats, those raised and currently living in urban areas, and those employed outside of primary industries were found to be consistently more supportive of environmental protection than were their respective counterparts.     

Analysis of Managerial Experience: Integrating Career Analysis with Labour Market Dynamics

The article argues that there is a need for a greater emphasis on information relating to the quality of labour supply, particularly the nature of managerial experience. The rationale is based on the organizational and industry changes which alter patterns of experience and create new forms of human capital. At the heart of the argument is the valuation of stable labour market dynamics, that is, patterns which remain constant. This is contrasted with the ethos of change which, it is suggested, contains a dangerous element of exaggeration. An attempt is made to integrate qualitative career analysis with new forms of labour market analysis. Two models of learning by experience are introduced and examples of relevant techniques of measurement are described.