Between inequality and difference: the creole world in the twenty‐first century

A major theme in contemporary social theory is the questioning and destabilization of boundaries – self/other, culture/nature and gender being the most obvious areas. Not least for this reason, creole identities, ostensibly premised on openness and mixing, deserve renewed attention. Although the term creolization, as borrowed from linguistics, is sometimes used in a broad comparative sense, the creole world refers to the outcome of a particular historical experience, namely that of displacement, slavery, emancipation and its aftermath reverberating into the present. Key terms are uprootedness, cultural mixing and creole languages existing in diglossic situations with metropolitan ones. Creole intellectuals in the Caribbean have celebrated the cultural creativity characteristic of these societies but have been criticized for ignoring class, racism and gender issues. By embracing the egalitarianism and openness of creoledom, they have become vulnerable to criticism of being handmaidens of neoliberalism or neocolonialism. Controversies over creole identity are related to fundamental questions in anthropology. Drawing on material mainly from the Indian Ocean region, in this article I attempt to create a dialogue between debates over creole identity and theoretical questions raised in social and cultural theory concerning the relationship between cultural difference and social inequality.     

BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE RESEARCH AND THE RIGHTS OF HUMAN SUBJECTS*

L'examen de la question des libertés civiles des sujets expérimentaux humains est placé dans le cadre de l'accroissement de l'analyse au moyen dordinateurs et l'augmentation des banques de données recouvrables. Les chercheurs doivent se justifier devant un public de plus en plus grand. Une préoccupation se manifeste en particulier pour les implications cumulatives de I'accumulation de données et pour les questions impliquées quant à la distribution du pouvoir. Des exemples de difficultés de plus en plus sérieuses à obtenir la collaboration de sujets humains expérimentaux sont fournies comme base d'une plus grande préoccupation concernant toute la question des ordinateurs, de la vie privée et de la recherche dans les sciences du comportement. Une série de mesures appropriées sont recommendées. The issue of the civil liberties of human experimental subjects is examined in the light of the growth of computer analysis and retrievable storage of data. Researchers are becoming accountable to an increasing audience. Particular concern is demonstrated for both the cumulative implications of data-gathering and the underlying power-distribution issues involved. Examples of increasing difficulty in obtaining cooperation from human experimental subjects, whether in the laboratory or the field, are cited as a base for greater concern surrounding the entire issue of computers, privacy, and behavioural science research. A series of recommendations for appropriate action are reported.     

The Quality Dimension. Evaluating Quality of Service and Quality of Life in Human Services

Correspondence to Stephen P. Osborne, Public Sector Management Research Centre, Aston Business School, Aston University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham B4 7ET. Summary This paper addresses the issues, for those involved in planningand managing human services, of evaluating the quality of suchservices as part of the service provision process. It beginsby examining the nature of quality itself and moves on to lookat the links between quality of life and quality of servicein human services. It then assesses existing models of evaluationwhich might be applied and highlights their strengths and limitations. The paper argues that many of the models have their roots inareas outside of direct service provision and consequently arenot appropriate for implementation in this context. It concludesby reviewing some principles to guide the evaluation of servicequality by service managers, and suggests how these might beapplied in practice to the evaluation of the quality of humanservices.     

The Cause-Deleted Index: Estimating Cause of Death Contributions to Mortality

Causes underlying mortality disparities are often determined by causal decomposition. This method is based on the decomposition of differences in mortality or life expectancy into parameters representing the contribution of underlying causes. It quantifies disparities as differences in mortality rates and does not account for the fact that many underprivileged groups are more likely to die from nearly all causes. Results are driven by the frequency of cause of death. Alternatively, the cause deleted index quantifies the role of underlying causes in mortality disparities as the change in the relative risk of dying that is related to deleting a specific cause. The consistency between the methods in estimating cause of death contributions is analyzed using 2000 U.S. mortality data and simulated mortality profiles. The two methods often produce divergent results because causal decomposition relies on the prevalence of causes of death.