Parental education, children's performance and the transition to higher secondary education: trends in primary and secondary effects over five Dutch school cohorts (1965–99)

According to Boudon, social background affects educational transitions as a result of differences in children's academic performance (primary effects) and differences in transition probabilities given children's level of academic performance (secondary effects). This study addresses historical changes in both primary and secondary effects on the educational transition from primary school to higher secondary education in the Netherlands. In addition, it considers changes over time in the relative importance of these effects. The study compares five cohorts of Dutch pupils, specifically those enrolling in secondary education in 1965, 1977, 1989, 1993 and 1999, and it employs counterfactual analyses. The main findings are that secondary effects have been stable and primary effects have fluctuated to some extent. As a result, the proportion of the total effect of social background accounted for by primary effects has increased somewhat, from 53 per cent to 58 per cent.     

Determinants of Nonprofit Sector Density: A Stakeholder Approach

Why do nonprofit organizations exist? From an economic perspective, a number of major theories have been proposed to explain their existence. However, when exploring determinants of nonprofit sector density, one needs to take into account that demand and supply factors operate simultaneously and that it is difficult to separate them. By using a stakeholder approach, we develop a more integrative framework for understanding variations in nonprofit sector density. We test this framework by investigating determinants of nonprofit sector density in Texas at the county level.     

The Relationship Between Personal Financial Wellness and Financial Wellbeing: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

We examined the construct of financial wellness and its relationship to personal wellbeing, with a focus on the role of financial literacy. Gender comparisons are made using a structural equation modeling analysis including personal wellbeing, financial satisfaction, financial status, financial behavior, financial attitude, and financial knowledge. Males ranked higher in financial satisfaction and financial knowledge whereas females ranked higher in personal wellbeing. Joo’s (2008) concept of financial wellness as multidimensional is supported though the result is improved when a causal model of sub-components is estimated. The relationship of all variables to personal wellbeing is mediated by financial satisfaction, with gender differences: In females the main source of financial satisfaction is financial status whereas in males it is financial knowledge.     

Performance Analysis of Exponential Multi-Server Production Lines with Fluid Flow and Finite Buffers

This article presents an approximation method for fluid flow production lines with multi-server workstations and finite buffers. Each workstation consists of parallel identical servers, which are subject to operation-dependent failures with exponentially distributed uptimes and downtimes. The proposed method decomposes the production line into single-buffer subsystems, each described by a continuous state Markov process, the parameters of which are determined iteratively. The approximation method is appropriate for the analysis of longer production lines, able to accurately estimate performance characteristics (e.g., throughput and mean buffer content), and shown to perform well on a large test set.     

Inside the movie roadshow: a critical approach to media events in China

Although face-to-face events starring film professionals have become increasingly popular, they have rarely been studied, especially from the perspective of production. Focusing on the phenomenon of Chinese movie roadshows, this study explores the motivations and techniques used to produce popular media events in the Chinese film industry. Based on expert interviews with 15 media practitioners, the results showed that roadshows are staged as ritualized events that are centered on the performance of a symbolic boundary between “inside” and “outside” the media. Film industry professionals embrace face-to-face communication with audiences and use such events to display sincerity, producing them as a seemingly “unmediated” peek behind the veil of an otherwise hidden world. Moreover, communication on social media is another form of ritualized practice. We conclude that, by thus mediating the “unmediated,” movie roadshows offer an insightful perspective on the machinery of media power in China.     

The Experience of Social Mobility: Social Isolation,Utilitarian Individualism,and Social Disorientation

The dissociative thesis states that social mobility is a disruptive and detrimental experience for the individual. Despite the absence of convincing evidence either for or against it, this thesis is generally accepted in sociology. I investigate this thesis by considering three dimensions of dissociation—i.e., social isolation, utilitarian individualism, and social disorientation. I use data from a large-scale survey in Flanders (Belgium) and apply Diagonal Reference Models to study consequences of intergenerational social mobility. I find support for asymmetric acculturation for each dimension, i.e., upwardly mobile individuals adapt more to the new social status position, compared to downwardly mobile individuals. Moreover, both for social disorientation and utilitarian individualism, I find detrimental effects of the experience of downward social mobility. As I find no detrimental consequences of both upward and downward mobility, the results do not provide evidence for the dissociative thesis.     

Families of adult people with disability: Their experience in the use of services run by social cooperatives in Italy

Social cooperation has historically played a pivotal role in developing socio‐educational services for people with disability, thereby contributing to counteracting the social isolation often associated with this condition. Using a mixed‐method methodology, this study maps the diversity of perspectives on how the use of disability‐related services run by social cooperatives impacts on and becomes meaningful to family life. One hundred twenty‐nine interviews with family members of adults with different kinds of disability were studied using emotional textual analysis. It provides a multi‐dimensional model to read and map the multiplicity of emotional meanings related to disability and the use of services, shedding light on key diversities in how family members emotionally make sense of care and support. The results reveal the importance of supporting family‐carers on two main issues: accessing a less passive representation of their relative with disability; and being able to test and acknowledge limits without succumbing to a sense of powerlessness.     

Media and Disasters: Demarcating an Emerging and Interdisciplinary Area of Research

This article provides an overview of the research and literature on media and disasters. Drawing on the central idea of a disaster as a social and media construction, I identify this young and rapidly emerging body of research as an inherent interdisciplinary area that has attracted the interest of many disciplines within social sciences. A first section of the article focuses on a characterization of (mediated) disasters and the question of academic relevance. Second, I adopt a historical perspective to reflect on issues of disciplinary concern, followed by an outline of the contemporary body of literature. In the final section, directions to advance future research on media and disasters are discussed.     

The Governance of Public–Nonprofit Service Networks: A Comparison Between Three Types of Governance Roles

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - In this research, we focus on the governance role of the coordinator affiliated to the leading agency in...