A Cross‐country Comparison of Attitudes Towards Mothers Working and their Actual Labor Market Experience

In this paper, we use data from the International Social Survey Project to present a cross‐country comparison of attitudes about the labor force participation of mothers. We also estimate earnings functions and probits for full‐time work and examine whether there is a link between attitudes and women’s actual labor market experience across countries. We find that while a woman’s own attitude about work does not directly influence her wage, it does influence the probability that she works full time.     

Situationen gestalten,um Ärzte am Krankenhaus zu halten

The situation at work in a hospital is often exhausting for medical doctors. Besides deteriorating health, doctors report a diminishing quality of their work. As a consequence, the willingness to change the hospital one is employed by is increased. Aside from important political decisions, doctors and others of responsibility can design their working situation more positively. The authors discuss the doctors’ challenges based on a current survey and introduces situational design—an approach to design working situations optimally so that they positively enhance wellbeing and productivity.     

Sex Ratio and Family Structure in the Nonmetropolitan United States

The sex ratio hypothesis maintains that the ratio of marriageable men to marriageable women can have major implications for family formation and structure. Despite extensive research attention, the sex ratio hypothesis has yet to be tested on general nonmetropolitan populations. This study of nonmetropolitan counties in the United States found strong support for the sex ratio hypothesis. Counties with low sex ratios (shortage of men) had lower proportions of married couple households and a corresponding higher proportion of female-headed households. These low sex ratio counties also had fewer adults married, and a lower proportion of their children living in married couple households with a higher proportion of children living in female-headed households.     

Poverty in Nonmetropolitan America: Impacts of Industrial,Employment, and Family Structure Variables

Abstract Poverty is more extensive and more severe in nonmetropolitan areas than in metropolitan areas. Here we maintain that the extensive industrial and economic transformations occurring in rural areas have resulted in patterns contributing to these high poverty levels. These transformations, which include an increase in service‐sector employment, in many ways mirror the economic changes that have occurred in the inner city. We maintain that Wilson's model of the inner‐city underclass can be useful in understanding some poverty trends in nonmetropolitan areas. To test the Wilson model, we analyze 1990 census data. The data generally support the model and indicate that the industrial transformation of rural areas leads to changes in the gender structure of the labor force, and to a more unbalanced sex ratio. These changes, in turn, result in adjustments to family structure, including an increase in the percentage of female‐headed households. This process results in higher poverty levels.     

Opportunity/Threat Responses to Nuclear Waste Disposal Facilities1

One of the most difficult environmental policy challenges facing the United States and other societies is that of finding ways to safely dispose of hazardous and toxic substances, including nuclear waste materials. Efforts to site such facilities have been uniformly unsuccessful, due largely to strong public opposition. Although supporters of such facilities often emphasize the potential for local economic development and other opportunities, opponents focus on a variety of threats involving potential risks associated with waste disposal. Survey data collected in rural areas of Nevada and Nebraska where nuclear waste disposal facilities have been proposed reveal that respondents' positions on issues of perceived health and safety risks, trust in responsible agencies, anticipated local economic effects, and concerns about environmental contamination are key variables predicting local response. Even in areas where there may be substantial local support for economic opportunities associated with the facilities, broad-based fears about nuclear materials and a legacy of distrust in the agencies responsible for managing nuclear wastes suggest that proposals for such facilities will almost inevitably continue to generate strong public opposition.     

Etagen der Zivilgesellschaft Methodenstrenge,Engagement und Öffentlichkeit

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Family Structure Among Urban,Rural and Farm Populations: Classic Sociological Theory Revisited

Abstract As predicted by the classic sociological theories of Durkheim, Tonnies, and others, early sociological researchers found extensive differences between urban and rural residents in the United States. In recent decades, many of these differences have appeared to wane, or in some cases, totally disappear. Based on these classic theories, we maintain that many of the urban/rural differences found in the past were actually farm/nonfarm differences. Further, we argue that many of these differences continue to exist in rural America, but they have been suppressed by major demographic transitions. Utilizing Current Population Survey data on family structure, we found that there were few significant differences between urban and rural nonfarm residents, but both varied extensively from various segments of the farm population.     

The Changing Structure of U.S. Agriculture: Dualism Out,Industrialism In

Abstract Between 1982 and 1992, trends in farm structural change resumed patterns that had existed from the Great Depression to the 1970s. That is, farms became fewer and larger. By 1992, the number of American farms declined below two million for the first time since the Civil War. Also, the trend toward dualism noted in the 1970s is over, as the number of small farms again declined rapidly during the 1980s. The trend toward large-scale agriculture is most prominent in the most important agricultural counties.     

Neighborhood Selection and Residential Segregation

Residential segregation has long been a topic of investigation for urban scholars. In attempting to understand this phenomenon, most researchers have examined the characteristics of different residential neighborhoods (typically census tracts) and have often compared the composition of the population within the census tract over time. This study looks at the household characteristics of the mobile family, as well as the aggregate characteristics of the census tract into which the family moves. The findings reveal that households display a tendency to move to areas where the existing population has characteristics similar to their own. A multiple logit analysis reveals that the race/ethnicity of the household is generally the best predictor of the neighborhood where the household will move.