Women's Work,Dirty Work: The Gynaecology Nurse as ‘Other’

This article seeks to explore the world of the gynaecology nurse. This world defines the gendered experience of nursing; that is, women in a women's job carrying out ‘women's work’. It is also a world that receives scant public recognition due to its association with the private domain of women's reproductive health. Many issues dealt with on a daily basis by gynaecology nurses are socially ‘difficult’: cancer, infertility, miscarriage and foetal abnormalities; or socially ‘distasteful’: termination of pregnancy, urinary incontinence, menstruation and sexually transmitted disease. The ‘tainted’ nature of gynaecology nursing gives it the social distinction of ‘dirty work’ but does not deter the gynaecology nurse from declaring her work as ‘special’, requiring distinctive knowledge and skills. Qualitative data collected from a group of gynaecology nurses in a North West National Health Service hospital displays how they actively celebrate their status as women carrying out ‘dirty work’. Through the use of ceremonial work that continually re‐affirms their ‘womanly’ qualities the gynaecology nurses establish themselves as ‘different’, as ‘special’, as the ‘other’.     

SEX ROLE CONSIDERATIONS AND BEHAVIORAL MARITAL THERAPY: EQUAL DOES NOT MEAN IDENTICAL*

Despite the egalitarian position espoused in behavioral marital therapy, little attention has been paid to sex role issues and female-male differences. This paper explores advantages and disadvantages of behavioral marital therapy vis à vis the treatment of women and men. Features of behavioral marital therapy implicated as important in the consideration of sex role issues include underlying assumptions of egalitarianism, assumptions of external causality, and orientation toward action, as well as specific procedures such as goal setting, behavioral exchange and training in communication and problem-solving skills. Each of these features is evaluated with respect to clinical considerations as well as to research findings on female-male differences in marriage. The paper concludes with recommendations as to how behavioral marital therapy could become more sensitive to sex role issues.     

Model and design correspondence in finite population sampling

A correspondence rule is suggested for the choice of a sampling design when prior knowledge concerning a finite population is available. Designs satisfying the correspondence rule are discussed in the case of random permutations models. A general optimality theorem is given for strategies under such models. Approximate correspondences satisfied by systematic sampling and πps sampling are also indicated.     

Animal Magic: Nigel Nicholson and Evolutionary Psychology

Nicholson, N., Managing the Human Animal: Why People Behave the Way They Do in Corporate Settings     

Qualitative sociology in New Zealand

Conclusion It can be argued that qualitative research has become more popular in New Zealand in recent years. If this is so, then researchers in diverse subfields of sociology may come to develop an awareness of their common interests, thus fostering the growth of qualitative sociology as a basis of occupational identification. However, many of the developments which have bearing on the state of qualitative sociology in New Zealand (e.g., a local journal, funding agencies and research centres) have only been recently established. It is therefore too early, perhaps, to assess the future role of qualitative sociology in New Zealand scholarship. Nevertheless, the preceding discussion has demonstrated the existence of a lively research scene, much of it qualitative, which exists in New Zealand at present.     

On uniform approximation of Poisson variates by normal ones

In this paper the accuracy of the normal approximation to the Poisson is treated from the viewpoint of direct approximation of Poisson variables by normal ones. The conclusions that are derived on the accuracy of this approximation lead (among others) to very useful results on confidence limits for the mean of a linear combination of independent Poisson variables; these latter are employed in precise determination of the composition of a mixture of radioactive isotopes by means of a scintillation counter.     

Family violence: A microeconomic approach

A model of violence between adult family members is developed by integrating material from the sociological theories of family violence and social exchange, and the economic theories of crime and the family. Based on this model a decrease in the dictator's internal sanctions against violence would be expected to increase the amount of time allocated to violence by the dictator. Further, if the level of fines and other monetary costs imposed by external agencies (e.g., the courts) as a result of the family violence do not vary with the level of violence, then the model indicates that an increase in such monetary sanctions will cause a reduction in the amount of time the dictator allocates to violence. If both the dictator and victim are risk neutral, an increase in the probability of external intervention will decrease the time allocated to violence. In addition, it is found that increases in the opportunities available to the victim outside the marriage will tend to improve the well-being of the victim in the marriage even if it has no effect on the time allocated to violence by the dictator. The model also provides insights for empirical work in family violence such as (1) suggestions of relevant independent variables, (2) the specification of a functional form for estimation, and (3) the specification of an error structure for the empirical model.