Other Voices

This column is devoted to informing VGQ readers of important articles in other journals. All articles are published by the American Personnel and Guidance Association unless otherwise noted. Single copies of back issues may be ordered from APGA Publication Sales, Two Skyline Place, Suite 400, 5203 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, Va. 22041     

The puzzle of metaphor and voice in arts‐based social research

Research exploring the emotional responses to crime experienced by the citizens of several major European and North American countries has suggested that a significant proportion of the residents of these countries 'fear' or feel 'angry' about the possibility of criminal victimization. It has ceased to appear incredible to us that we are regularly finding that between a quarter and two thirds of our citizens are fearful or 'angry about crime' 'all of the time'. The argument put forward in this contribution to the work in this field is that the emotional responses to crime have been exaggerated by the inappropriate use of the survey as a measurement tool. Ethnographic and qualitative data suggest that experiences of 'fear' and 'anger' are less common. Suggestions for improving the ability of the questions used in surveys to accurately capture these emotional responses are advanced.     

Children's residence patterns and educational attainment in rural South Africa, 1997

Using data collected by the Agincourt Health and Population Programme in a rural sub-district of South Africa's Northern Province, this paper describes the residential arrangements of a population in rural South Africa, and analyses the impact of these arrangements on children's educational attainment. Children with co-resident parents generally have higher levels of schooling than those who have one or no co-resident parents. However, having a father who is away from home as a migrant appears to benefit older children whereas, for girls aged 11 to 15, having a mother who is a migrant lowers educational attainment. Children who live in households headed by Mozambican refugees have lower levels of schooling than those who live in non-refugee households. Living in a household headed by a woman is not associated with lower levels of education and, for some age-sex groups, appears to be an advantage.     

Organisation and Creativity: Mere Administration and Mere Theology

Abstract This essay uses personal experience at the University of Sussex and as Principal of Ruskin College since 1989, to argue that Creativity in associational form has been systematically marginalised as 'Mere Administration' or even as 'Theology'. New forms and relations of production (of ideas and culture as much as of material goods) depend upon organisational innovation. Max Weber's work, together with some of the best 19th and 20th century Social History (particularly of voluntary organisations) in Britain, together with the author's own experience all point to the importance of what Marx called 'Centres of Organisation for the working class' which can do what the medieval municipalities and communes did for the middle class'.
Don't forget. I set out our principles before we came into power so that people knew exactly what we stood for. Let me try briefly to sum up. It is the sanctity of the individual. Margaret Thatcher, in Newsweek , April 1992, reprinted in The Guardian , 22/4/92
Our case, after all, is the sociality of general freedom.
Raymond Williams, Politics and Letters , 1979     

A step-by-step guide to the identification of an appropriate computer-aided production management system

The increasing dissatisfaction of users with their Computer-aided production management (CAPM) systems has been widely reported. This dissatisfaction led the UK's Science and Engineering Research Council to initiate a major study to improve CAPM systems use. The research results presented here form part of the overall initiative and focus on the development of a set of guiding principles for companies seeking to implement appropriate CAPM systems. The research team have identified three key elements that must be considered when implementing a CAPM system. First, that CAPM implementation can be eased if the overall manufacturing-system is first simplified. Second, we recognize that even then most companies will still require a computerized solution thus any methodology must include a software specification. Third, the overall performance of the system may be enhanced by changes to the infrastructure that supports the software. In attempting to meet these requirements the research team developed a four-stage methodology. The first two stages of the methodology deal primarily with the strategic context for CAPM, i.e. the simplification. The last two stages develop a software specification and present guidelines for the development of appropriate infrastructure configurations.