L.A. and “Lily Law”: A Talk with David Hanna

As the movie capital of the world for many decades, Hollywood has achieved an almost legendary status the world over. As a geographical location within southern California, however, it is also home to the many people who work within its film industry. The following interview with David Hanna (1917-1993) explores just what day-to-day life was like for the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender (GLBT) population who called Hollywood home during the Golden Age of the movie studio system: 1935 to the early 1950s. As a reporter on several Hollywood papers and a movie publicist, Hanna had a journalist's eye view of the legal and social problems confronting a group of people whose sexual orientation relegated them to a largely pariah status. As a gay man, he had a first-hand knowledge of the strategies of survival developed by Hollywood's GLBT population during those years. The article lays the groundwork for a more systematic study of GLBT Hollywood. In that regard, its introduction contains a short discussion of the methodological problems confronting researchers into that history.     

Suicide risk and exposure to mobbing

The aim of this study was to study suicide risk in subjects exposed to mobbing, that is, systematic psychological harassment in the workplace. Such psychological harassment, unique to the workplace, threatens both the emotional well-being and professional ability of its victims. The items of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) that assess suicide risk were studied in 102 individuals who were exposed to mobbing. The results indicated that individuals exposed to mobbing had clear differences on the MMPI-2 from normative samples. In addition, those who appeared to be at risk for suicide differed in their scores from those not at risk. Implications for psychopathology and suicide preventions are discussed.     

I am more than a mom: Stories of parental leave during the transition to motherhood in Canada

The transition to motherhood is a time of tremendous change, during which maternal subjects experience important shifts in their relationships with family, friends, employers, and state. Parental leave policies have potential to mitigate some of these changes, contributing positively to health and economic outcomes. Indeed, such policies have been identified as essential for achieving gender equality, serving to address both recognition and redistributive claims. In this paper, we explore parental leave policy through the lens of first time mothers in Canada, where two distinct policy regimes coexist. Using narrative analysis, we examine the ways in which the transition to motherhood is embodied and enacted through policy experiences. The stories we uncover, stories of helplessness, of control and resistance, and of stymied progress, illuminate how leave policies differently position maternal subjects in complex social settings.     

Beyond Nonprofits: Re-conceptualizing the Third Sector

The idea of a “third sector” beyond the arenas of the state and the market is probably one of the most perplexing concepts in modern political and social discourse, encompassing as it does a tremendous diversity of institutions and behaviors that only relatively recently have been perceived in public or scholarly discourse as a distinct sector, and even then with grave misgivings. Initial work on this concept focused on what is still widely regarded as its institutional core, the vast array of private, nonprofit institutions (NPIs), and the volunteer as well as paid workers they mobilize and engage. These institutions share a crucial characteristic that makes it feasible to differentiate from for-profit enterprises: the fact that they are prohibited from distributing any surplus they generate to their investors, directors, or stakeholders and therefore presumptively serve some broader public interest. Many European scholars have considered this conceptualization too narrow; however, arguing that cooperatives, mutual societies, and, in recent years, “social enterprises” as well as social norms should also be included. However, this broader concept has remained under-conceptualized in reliable operational terms. This article corrects this short-coming and presents a consensus operational re-conceptualization of the third sector fashioned by a group of scholars working under the umbrella of the European Union’s Third Sector Impact Project. This re-conceptualization goes well beyond the widely recognized definition of NPIs included in the UN Handbook on Nonprofit Institutions in the System of National Accounts by embracing as well some, but not all, of these additional institutions and forms of direct individual activity, and does so in a way that meets demanding criteria of comparability, operationalizability, and potential for integration into official statistical systems.     

Gender scripts and age at marriage in India

Research on marriage in developing countries has been somewhat narrow in scope because of both conceptual and data limitations. While the feminist literature recognizes marriage as a key institutional site for the production and reproduction of gender hierarchies, little is known about the processes through which this relationship operates. This article uses data from the newly collected India Human Development Survey 2005 for 27,365 ever-married women aged 25–49 to explore ways in which different dimensions of gender in Indian society shape the decisions regarding age at marriage. We explore the impact of three dimensions of gender: (1) economic factors, such as availability of wage employment, dowry expectations, and wedding expenses; (2) indicators of familial empowerment, such as women’s role in household decision making and access to and control over resources; and (3) markers of gender performance, such as observance of purdah and male-female separation in the household. Results from hierarchical linear models confirm the importance of markers of gender performance but fail to demonstrate a large role for economic factors and familial empowerment.     

Measuring organizational effectiveness to develop strategies to promote retention in public child welfare

Public child welfare agencies are under pressure to improve organizational, practice and client outcomes. Related to all of these outcomes is the retention of staff. Employee intent to remain employed may be used as a proxy for actual retention. In this study public child welfare staff in one Midwestern state were surveyed using the Survey of Organizational Excellence (Lauderdale, 1999) and the Intent to Remain Employed (Ellett, Ellett, & Rugutt, 2003) scales to assess the extent to which constructs such as perceptions of organizational culture, communication and other areas of organizational effectiveness were associated with intent to remain employed. A number of statistically significant relationships were identified which were presented to the public agency for use in the development of strategies for organizational improvement. Data were also analyzed regionally and based on urban/suburban/rural status to enable development of targeted approaches. This case study presents an example of how ongoing measurement of organizational effectiveness can be used as a strategy for organizational improvement over time in the child welfare system.     

儿童游戏的权利——世界范围内游戏在儿童生活中重要性的考察（连载之一）

本文系统考察世界范围内游戏在儿童生活中重要性,将儿童的游戏权看做1989年联合国《儿童权利公约》（CRC）第31条中的一个独立的权利,旨在为世界范围内和整个联合国《儿童权利公约》框架内探究“儿童的游戏权”提供理论基础,并提出人们为何要承认、尊重儿童游戏权,并阐明将游戏提升为一种儿童权利的理论依据,主张全面深刻理解儿童游戏权利的丰富内涵,特别是作为自我保护方式及作为参与日常生活方法的游戏的社会价值,应积极创设提供儿童游戏发生的条件,努力推进实现儿童的游戏权利。     

The world food prospect

The global supply of food is now acting as a constraint on both population and economic growth. The worldwide scarcity of food in recent years has ked to soaring food prices. These in turn have contributed to rising death rates in the lowest income countries and, through efforts to check inflation, a global slowdown in economic growth. Thus, food has become not only a limit to future world growth but a very visible indicator of declining human welfare.In this paper the author demonstrates how the agricultural and nutritional advances of the last quarter century have ended on a resounding downbeat characterized by a falling fish catch, falling grain yields, increased infant mortality, falling food reserves, and price instability. Then he examines the way in which overpopulation, affluence inefficiency and political expediency have led virtually the entire world to heavy dependence on the North American breadbasket. Faced as we are with restraints on increased production—limited land, water, fuel, fertilizer, technology, capital, as well as ecological deterioration—one can only conclude that a vigorous global effort will be required to reverse the troublesome trends emerging during the seventies.     

Novel biotechnologies for eradicating wasps: seeking Māori studies students’ perspectives with Q method

Aligned with the New Zealand government’s ‘Predator-Free 2050’ target for Aotearoa New Zealand, National Science Challenge: Our Biological Heritage supports research into five distinct ‘novel biotechnological controls’ of exotic wasps. A framing question within this project is which controls are considered ‘socially acceptable’ and thus suitable for further development to control and potentially eradicate introduced wasps? How can the public answer this question without first engaging with complex technologies? Can they develop and express an informed view that still reflects their ‘gut’ reactions and unique positions? To model and explore the views of an ‘informed public’, university students in Māori studies engaged in reflection, writing and mapping activities; choice and ranking exercises; Q Method; and focus group interviews. Amongst the interviewees, Q Method analysis distinguished three ‘factors’, describing unique viewpoints: those who see the potential of biotechnologies, those who are in doubt about them and those in a position of trust in scientists. Overall, the group see potential in new biotechnologies for wasps but are wary of political, economic and social decision-making mechanisms.     

Should Persons with Diabetes Be Licensed to Drive Trucks?—Risk Management

How should a regulatory agency interpret a risk analysis that concludes there is a small increase in risk? The agency must decide on behalf of society whether the increased risk is large enough to justify banning the risky activity or taking some other step to lessen the risks. In a companion paper (Songer et al.), we conclude that licensing insulin using persons to drive commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce would result in 42 additional crashes each year. Here we address risk management issues by interpreting the number of additional crashes and the relative risks of the prospective handicapped drivers. Are the number of additional crashes (42) significant? Is the increase in the annual crash risk (from 0.00785 to 0.032 for non-insulin dependent and 0.048 for insulin dependent persons) significant? Are the relative risks significant for all insulin using drivers (4.7)? For drivers with a history of severe hypoglycemic reactions (19.8)? How should society tradeoff risk increases for increases in opportunity for these handicapped persons? We review other social decisions concerning highway safety: Accepting the increasing risks of letting 16 year olds drive, allowing extremely light cars, allowing some unsafe highways, and allowing extremely unsafe driving conditions at some times of day. We conclude that the additional risks from insulin using persons are well within the current accepted range of risks. Currently, 70% of states permit insulin using persons to drive trucks within their state. Nonetheless, the social cost, due to fatalities, injuries, and property damage from allowing a person with a history of severe hypoglycemic reactions to drive is more than $19,700 per year.