Inequality in the Toy Store

This article explores race, gender, and class inequalities in the social organization of retail work. I report on a participant-observation study of two toy stores. One store was located in a low-income redevelopment zone, the other, a unionized store, in an upscale downtown shopping district. I describe working conditions at the two stores, including the segregation of jobs, scheduling practices, pay and benefits provisions, and promotion policies. I also explore some of the reasons people stay at these jobs, despite oppressive working conditions. I conclude with a discussion of the importance of collective action in transforming the social conditions of retail work.     

Political Orientation and Music Preferences among College Students

The socio-political implications of contemporary music are investigatedusing survey data pertaining to the political orientations,music involvement, and musical preferences of college students.The analysis indicates that political orientation is associatedwith amount of music involvement and with preferences for particularmusical styles. Zero-order relationships are not substantiallyaltered by controls for demographic background characteristicsof respondents.     

AN ALGORITHM FOR CONSTRUCTING OPTIMAL RESOLVABLE ROW-COLUMN DESIGNS

This paper describes an effective algorithm for constructing optimal or near-optimal resolvable row-column designs (RCDs) with up to 100 treatments. The performance of this algorithm is assessed against 20 2-replicate resolvable RCDs of Patterson & Robinson (1989) and 17 resolvable RCDs based on generalized cyclic designs (GCDs) of Ipinyomi & John (1985). The use of the algorithm to construct RCDs with contiguous replicates is discussed.     

From Organizational Sexuality to Queer Organizations: Research on Homosexuality and the Workplace

Organization scholars historically ignored the crucial importance of sexuality in the workplace. But in the last 20 years, scholars influenced by the ‘sexuality in organizations’ perspective have documented the ways that the management and deployment of workers’ sexuality are key elements in organizational life. While most of these studies have documented persistent privileging of heterosexuality in work organizations, a recent trend is to investigate a new organizational form: the gay‐friendly workplace. We review legal and policy changes in US workplaces that have made them more accepting of gay and lesbian employees. Then we examine ethnographic studies of gay‐friendly organizations. Although they are certainly an advance over previous homophobic workplaces, the literature suggests that they may reproduce inequalities of race, class, and gender. Few studies have investigated ‘queer organizations’, which we identify as a rich area for future scholarship.     

The quest for quality at Philips

All over the western world during the last few years companies have been introducing total quality programmes. Their objective is to regain or maintain market leadership. Top management understands the importance of company-wide quality for strategic positioning and actively leads the companies in these excellence movements. All aim at improving performance through top management leadership, total involvement of all members of the organization, rebuilding organizational and management practices and systematic, deep, long-term change strategies. At Philips such a movement started company-wide 3 years ago. This article describes the background to the programme, gives some of the results achieved so far and looks ahead to possible future developments.     

Socioeconomic status,psychosocial factors and health in urban Guyana

Individuals of higher socioeconomic status live longer and enjoy better physical and mental health relative to individuals of lower social status. Socioeconomic status differences in health status persist over time. This paper examines the association between socioeconomic status, psychosocial factors, and health in Georgetown, Guyana. The major causes of death are cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease; life expectancy at birth is 67.3 years for males and 72.3 years for females; and the infant mortality rate is 44 per 1000 live births. Data for the study were drawn from a probability sample of 654 adult residents of Georgetown. A significant inverse association was found between formal education and morbidity for four of the six measures of health status. The authors investigated the extent to which self-concept, health behaviors, stress, and social ties are linked to health status and socioeconomic status, and can explain socioeconomic status differences in health status. Psychosocial factors, especially the self-concept measures of self-esteem and mastery, were found to play a moderate role in accounting for educational differences in health status.     

Physician-hospital organizations and PHO executives. What lies ahead for the PHO?

The 1996/97 Profile of Physician-Hospital Organizations and PHO Executives, jointly conducted by the American Association of Physician-Hospital Organizations/Integrated Delivery Systems (AAPHO/IDS) and Tyler & Company, takes a closer look at the PHO and trends within the health care system. In examining contracting, enrollees, staff size and experience, compensation, incentives, and projected salary increase for CEOs, the survey found that the PHO is in the midst of transformation into an integrated delivery system. As physicians and hospitals form a team to deliver more efficient and cost-effective health care to patients, they are paving the way to the integrated delivery system. The survey also focuses on the details of the PHO and PHO executives, including an in-depth look at all aspects of compensation for the CEO.     

Self-efficacy for refusal mediated by outcome expectancies in the prediction of alcohol-dependence amongst young adults

The present study examined the relative importance of outcome expectancies and self-efficacy [1] in the prediction of alcohol dependence [2] and alcohol consumption in a sample of young adult drinkers drawn from a milieu previously reported as supportive of risky drinking. In predicting alcohol dependence, outcome expectancies were found to mediate self-efficacy and the same pattern was found for both males and females. This suggests that male and female drinkers may become more similar as they progress along the drinking continuum from risky drinking to dependent drinking. However, in women, in comparison to men, a greater array of expectancies and self-efficacy scales were found to predict heavy drinking, as measured by quantity and frequency. These results suggest that heavy drinking women are particularly at risk of developing drinking related complications and that preventative education needs to take into account gender differences.