Surviving mission drift: How charities can turn dependence on government contract funding to their own advantage

The widespread contracting out to British charities of welfare services previously furnished by the state has resulted in many charities operating in fields well outside those specified by their original missions. Challenges connected with charity mission drift have received a great deal of (mainly negative and critical) attention in the nonprofit practitioner literature in recent years, yet no academic research has been completed into exactly how charities respond managerially and operationally to government‐induced mission drift. This empirical study attempted to fill this important gap in knowledge about charity management through in‐depth case studies of three charities known to have experienced substantial mission drift during the last decade, focusing on the styles and types of approach the organizations had adopted in their dealings with government funding agencies. It emerged that the three charities accepted mission drift as a fact of life. Rather than simply supplying contract services to government bodies, the charities were highly proactive in seeking to initiate, direct, control, and assume overall strategic responsibility for state‐funded activities.     

Designing a “Think-Along Dwelling” for People With Dementia: A Co-Creation Project Between Health Care and the Building Services Sector

Ageing-in-place is the preferred way of living for older individuals in an ageing society. It can be facilitated through architectural and technological solutions in the home environment. Dementia poses additional challenges when designing, constructing, or retrofitting housing facilities that support ageing-in-place. Older adults with dementia and their partners ask for living environments that support independence, compensate for declining and vitality, and lower the burden of family care. This study reports the design process of a demonstration home for people with dementia through performing a literature review and focus group sessions. This design incorporates modifications in terms of architecture, interior design, the indoor environment, and technological solutions. Current design guidelines are frequently based on small-scale studies, and, therefore, more systematic field research should be performed to provide further evidence for the efficacy of solutions. The dwellings of people with dementia are used to investigate the many aspects of supportive living environments for older adults with dementia and as educational and training settings for professionals from the fields of nursing, construction, and building services engineering.     

Commitment and weakness of will in game theory and neoclassical economics

This paper draws on theoretical and experimental studies in game theory and on the neoclassical concept of intertemporal inconsistency in choice to argue that the motivational theory shared by neoclassical economics and noncooperative game theory is mistaken in assuming that commitment never takes place in human decisions. The paper first gives two parallel examples, one of intertemporal inconsistency in a financial decision, and the other of noncooperative (subgame perfect) equilibrium in a game in extensive form. So far as one decision-maker is concerned, the two decisions are isomorphic, and both can be associated with weakness of will. By contrast, the cooperative analysis of the game (along the lines originally suggested by von Neumann and Morgenstern) predicts a different decision associated with commitment to a particular conditional sequence of “behavior strategies”, i.e. a particular pure strategy. In effect the cooperative analysis assumes perfect strength of will. The paper then argues that strength of will and rationality of decisions are independent dimensions of a decision process and reviews some experimental evidence that suggests that both traditions are mistaken in their extreme assumptions about commitment or strength of will: neoclassical economics and noncooperative game theory in assuming that commitment never takes place, and cooperative game theory in assuming that it always does. The evidence indicates moreover that commitment is more likely in at least one context of value judgments than in its absence. The value context is reciprocity. It is suggested that a focus of research on the circumstances that favor commitment – rather than on modifications of an assumed utility function to accommodate non-self-regarding motivations – might lead to a more fruitful behavioral economics and behavioral game theory.     

Book reviews

Steven E. Aschheim, Brothers and Strangers. The East European Jew in German and German Jewish Consciousness, 1800–1923 (Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1982). Pp.xiv + 331. $25.00.

Ezra Mendelsohn, The Jews of East Central Europe Between the World Wars (Bloomington and London, Indiana University Press, 1983). Pp. 300. £19.25.

Hans van Amersfoort, Immigration and the Formation of Minority Groups: The Dutch Experience 1945–1975 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1982). Pp.vi + 243. £19.50. (Translated from the Dutch by Robert Lyng).

Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, The Empire Strikes Back: Race and Racism in ‘70s Britain (London, Hutchinson University Library, 1982). Pp.324. £5.95.

Susan Benson, Ambiguous Ethnicity: Interracial Families in London (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1982). Pp.xi + 172. £16.50 (hardback); £5.50 (paperback).

Ashok Ohri, Basil Manning and Paul Curno (eds.), Community Work and Racism: Community Work Seven (London, Routledge &; Kegan Paul, 1982). Pp.xv+188. £5.95.

Harold Pollins, Economic History of the Jews in England (London, Associated University Presses, 1983). Pp.339. £20.

Australian Council on Population and Ethnic Affairs, Multiculturalism for All Australians (Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service, 1982). Pp.54. NP.

Peter D. Osborne, The Other Australia: The Crisis in Aboriginal Health (Occasional Monograph 2, Department of Political Science, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 1982). Pp.144. NP.

J.W. Blassingame (ed.), The Frederick Douglass Papers: Series One, Volume 2: 1847–54, Speeches, Debates and Interviews (New Haven, CT, Yale University Press, 1983). Pp.616. £38.

Robert Ross, Cape of Torments: Slavery and Resistance in South Africa (London, Routledge &; Kegan Paul, 1983). Pp.xi + 160. £9.50.     

Culture and Language: Bilingualism in the German–Jewish Experience and Across Contexts

This paper argues for the inherent connection between language and culture in the therapeutic setting, which is illustrated using an example of a bilingual therapy. It examines the bilingual interaction between a German-speaking second-generation Holocaust survivor and a German-speaking analyst of German descent. By paying attention to the shifts between German and English, it is possible to see how the therapeutic process is grounded in the culture and language of its participants. Using a hermeneutic perspective, this paper suggests that culture and history are disclosed in language in ways that are often outside of conscious awareness. The intersubjective nature of bilingual therapy is demonstrated by the fact that both client and analyst are participants in the process of language shifting. The role of language and the function of culture is considered across therapeutic contexts.     

Statistical Artifacts in the Ratio of Discrete Quantities

The ratio is a familiar statistic, but it is often misused. One frequently overlooked problem occurs when ratioing two discrete (digitized) variables. Fine structure appears in the histogram of the ratio that can be very subtle, or can sometimes even dominate the histogram. It disappears when the numerator and/or denominator become continuous. This statistical artifact is not a binning error, nor is it removed by taking more data. It is important to be aware of the artifact in order to avoid misinterpretation of ratio data. We provide examples of the statistical artifact (including one from baseball) and discuss ways to avoid or minimize the problems it can cause.     

Advancing wellbeing research: would Americans be happier if they lived like Australians?

International comparisons of emotional wellbeing rarely account for the situational and social context of the experience of emotions (such as happiness or pleasantness) associated with everyday activities. A small number of studies have revealed the emotional context of the daily time‐schedules of Americans. Knowing the emotions people associate with patterns of experience opens up the possibility of modelling how national emotional wellbeing might change, should policy persuade people to alter their routines. We compare time‐use patterns in two countries with relatively similar cultural and institutional contexts, Australia and the United States, to see how people in the United States might feel if they altered their routines to live more like Australians. We find that such a change could yield a reduction in unpleasant time in certain categories, such as paid work, but at the cost of losing more pleasant time in other activities, including socialising. We also find that men and women are likely to have different responses to policies that alter general behaviour. This paper highlights the need for future research to explore the emotional diversity, emotion work, and gender gaps in the emotional wellbeing of nations.