OUT OF UTOPIA:

An important segment of writings on postindustrialization is distinctly utopian in stressing the greater mastery and control made possible by recent innovations in information technology. The utopian theme underscores the technical outcomes of innovations and highlights their benefits for ameliorating social problems. By contrast, our work suggests that many of the social problems in contemporary society are a consequence of recent innovations in information technology. We argue that postindustrial theorists are correct in stressing mastery over certain technical problems but incorrect in slighting the destabilizing effect innovations have on organizations and the markets in which these organizations participate. These destabilizing effects complicate organizational strategies by increasing market risk and uncertainty. Since most organizations are risk aversive, social problems are created as organizations externalize their costs and pass along risk to other, more dependent actors. Illustrations from two institutions, politics and the economy, indicate that many postindustrial innovations are associated with heightened competition as well as greater risk and uncertainty across the institutional order. We conclude that postindustrial technology introduces no net gain in man aging the complexities of the social world. Risk and control are both integral to technological innovation and constitute the paradox of postindustrialization.     

Nonverbal intimacy,sex, and compliance: A field study

The present study was designed to explore further the effects of nonverbal behaviors and sex on compliance. Male and female subjects who had just found a dime in a phone booth were approached by a male or female experimenter and were asked to return the dime that the experimenter had supposedly just lost. In the Eye Contact condition, the experimenter gazed at the subject as the request was made, whereas in the No-Eye Contact condition he/she did not. In addition, the experimenter lightly touched half of the subjects while making his/her request, but did not touch the other half. Replicating previous findings, it was found that both eye contact (significantly) and touching (marginally) produced increased rates of compliance. Extending prior results, these effects were obtained for male experimenters. Furthermore, a Sex of experimenter times Sex of subject interaction effect was obtained, such that subjects were much more willing to comply with the request of an opposite, rather than same sex experimenter. Questionnaire data suggested that: 1) subjects were aware of the touch, but not of the eye contact variable, and 2) the requesters were perceived as much more attractive when they were of the opposite, rather than the same sex as the subjects.     

Semiparametric Estimation of a Proportional Hazard Model with Unobserved Heterogeneity

The proportional hazard model with unobserved heterogeneity gives the hazard function of a random variable conditional on covariates and a second random variable representing unobserved heterogeneity. This paper shows how to estimate the baseline hazard function and the distribution of the unobserved heterogeneity nonparametrically. The baseline hazard function and heterogeneity distribution are assumed to satisfy smoothness conditions but are not assumed to belong to known, finite-dimensional, parametric families. Existing estimators assume that the baseline hazard function or heterogeneity distribution belongs to a known parametric family. Thus, the estimators presented here are more general than existing ones.     

The influence of the birthplace and models of care on midwifery practice for the management of women in labour

This paper will examine how the settings in which midwives practice (the birthplace) and models of care affect midwives’ decision making during the management of labour. One-hundred-and-four independent, team and hospital based midwives and 100 low obstetric risk nulliparous women to whom labour care was provided were surveyed. These midwives and women resided in the Auckland metropolitan area of New Zealand. The majority of midwives who participated worked in models of care which provided women with continuity of carer and care, however, this was not found to influence the way the midwives provided labour care. Instead, practice was found to be relatively homogenous regardless of whether the midwives worked in independent, team, or hospital-based practice. The birthplace setting in which the labour care took place did influence midwifery practice. The majority of midwives provided labour care in large obstetric hospitals and identified practices dominated by the medical model of care. Practice was described as being influenced by intervention and the need for technology, however, this did not prevent the majority of women from perceiving they were actively involved in the decision making process and that they worked in partnership with their midwives. Closer examination of the midwives’ decision making processes whilst providing the labour care revealed that the midwives’ individual decisions were influenced by the needs of the women rather than the hospital protocols. What became evident was that the midwives in this study had adopted a humanistic approach to care whereby technology was used alongside relationship-centred care.     

Academic Autonomy and Freedom under Pressure: Severely Limited,or Alive and Kicking?

Academic freedom and the autonomy of academic institutions (their freedom from outside interference) are core values in contemporary academic life. This article outlines changes that have taken place in the last few decades that impact academic freedom and autonomy to at least some degree. These include the increasing catering by universities to stake-holders in the environment, increasing professionalization of university administrations, an evolving pattern of broadening authority over internal university decision-making, and an increasing attention to student (i.e. customer) needs. Two case studies -- one of recent decisions in the University of California system and the other at the University of Oslo -- illustrate the theoretical points in the article and point to the need to know a lot more about academic autonomy and academic freedom, especially in an environment of changing management practices and scarce resource bases for many institutions. The cases were selected because of the authors’ familiarity with them and are examples meant to illuminate some of the challenges and complexities inherent in the phenomena and to inspire further research on academic freedom and autonomy utilizing the instrumental and institutional perspectives from organization theory that are the core of our theoretical analysis.     

Intergenerational Relations between English Students,Graduates Living at Home,and their Parents

Debate about intergenerational relations has become more prominent since the financial crisis of 2007–09, focusing particularly on the difficulties faced by young adults trying to enter the labour and housing markets, whilst often bearing high levels of debt incurred as students. This article reviews the nature of the ‘intergenerational contract’ at both the micro level of the family, and at the macro level between individuals and the state. We then present qualitative, empirical data on the relationship between parents and: (1) their student children; and (2) their graduate children who have returned home. We focus primarily on the financial support provided by parents to the two groups. We explore why support is given, and the nature of similarities and differences in terms of what is given. We find that virtually all parents who were able to support their young adult children financially did so, but to different degrees and with different amounts of tension and anxiety. We suggest that the increased importance of the intergenerational contract at the micro level is likely to contribute to intra‐ rather than intergenerational inequalities.     

Evaluating multi-regional population projections with Taylor’s law of mean–variance scaling and its generalisation

Organisations that develop demographic projections usually propose several variants with different demographic assumptions. Existing criteria for selecting a preferred projection are mostly based on retrospective comparisons with observations, and a prospective approach is needed. In this work, we use the mean–variance scaling (spatial variance function) of human population densities to select among alternative demographic projections. We test against observed and projected Norwegian county population density using two spatial variance functions, Taylor’s law (TL) and its quadratic generalisation, and compare each function’s parameters between the historical data and six demographic projections, at two different time scales (long term: 1978–2010 vs. 2011–2040; and short term: 2006–2010 vs. 2011–2015). We find that short-term projections selected by TL agree more accurately than the other projections with the recent county density data and reflect the current high rate of international migration to and from Norway. The variance function method implemented here provides an empirical test of an ex ante approach to evaluating short-term human population projections.