Globalizing Firms and Small Communities: The Apparel Industry's Changing Connection to Rural Labor Markets*

Abstract This paper explores changing relationships between apparel firms and rural labor markets in Wisconsin over the last decade. Mainstream explanations of recent changes in the apparel industry suggest that rural communities will lose tedious or physically demanding, low‐skilled apparel manufacturing jobs but will gain more information‐intensive and desirable “apparel service” employment. Through case studies of apparel firms located in two Wisconsin communities, the paper argues that current changes in the industry not only affect communities unevenly but, even in regions where apparel service firms have provided significant numbers of new jobs, these jobs are less well paid, more casually structured, and less secure than manufacturing employment has been. The paper argues that current concepts of the economic embeddedness of firms in communities need to be refined to permit consideration of the kinds of leverage and voice that community organizations have in confronting new forms of corporate capital. The two case studies demonstrate that corporate embeddedness and its labor market outcomes are linked to changes in the global market in which firms compete.     

Audience effects in affective imagery: Replication and extension to dysphoric imagery

Subjects imagined situations during which they reported feeling happiness, sadness, anger, or fear, at both low and high levels of imagined sociality. Electromyographic (EMG) activity was recorded from four facial sites overlying the left forehead, brow, cheek, and lip. Controlling for reported emotion, facial EMG activity was influenced by the sociality of the imagery. Results corroborate previous findings of imaginary audience effects on smiling, and extend these effects to imagined situations that elicit dysphoria.This research was supported in part by a University of California Academic Senate grant to the first author. We thank Norman Severe for his assistance in running subjects.     

College Women’s Plans for Different Types of Egalitarian Marriages

This study examined college women’s plans for egalitarian marriages. One hundred and forty‐four heterosexual undergraduate women completed surveys about their preferences for different life scenarios and their attitudes about work and family life. The pattern of their preferences showed a distinction between home‐centered, balanced, and job‐centered egalitarian families. Regressions showed that gender ideology, ideas about parenting and motherhood, career orientation, and family dynamics were associated differentially with the three types of egalitarian families, which reflected the different values that underlay the pursuit of each. The results also cast doubt on whether outsourcing is truly an egalitarian path. Outsourcing domestic labor may simply be a means for women to pursue careers without achieving real equality in families.     

Investigating the Effects of Mediated and Passive Prompts on Pedestrian and Bicycle Lane Adherence on a College Campus Footbridge

The current study investigated the effects of passive prompts (e.g., posted signs) and mediated prompts (e.g., spoken reminders) encouraging the lane adherence behavior of pedestrians, bicyclists, and other transportation users (i.e., skateboarders, people riding scooters, etc.) on a college campus. Results showed an increased percentage of bridge user lane adherence compared to baseline in both the mediated and passive prompting conditions, with mediated prompting yielding higher (but not significantly higher) adherence measures across sessions. The feasibility and comparative effectiveness of each prompting method are discussed.     

Thirty‐Year Trends in U.S. Adolescents' Civic Engagement: A Story of Changing Participation and Educational Differences

Using annual cross‐sectional data from Monitoring the Future, the present study examined trends in high school seniors' current and anticipated civic participation and beliefs over a 30‐year period. We examined overall trends and patterns based on youths' post‐high school educational plans. Findings point to declines in recent cohorts' involvement in conventional and alternative forms of engagement but greater involvement in community service. Regardless of period, the majority of youth said they intended to vote when eligible, but few expressed trust in the government or elected officials. All civic indicators showed significant differences based on youths' college aspirations: Youth who planned to graduate from a 4‐year college were more civically inclined than their peers with 2‐year or no college plans.     

A collaborative effort to apply ergonomics to electric utility workers at generating stations

As part of a collaborative approach involving electric utility companies, university researchers, individual contractors and a not-for-profit research institute, two ergonomics teams consisting of skilled utility workers and trained ergonomists, were assembled. These teams were to identify tasks with risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among workers in fossil-fueled generating stations and and to propose ergonomic interventions for these tasks. One team focused on tasks of electricians and the other focused on tasks of plant operators and mechanics. Several of the tasks were tested in an ergonomics laboratory and at one of the utility's generating stations. We present a sample of the recommended interventions in this paper. An anthropometric analysis of electrical box height recommended the appropriate height for electrical boxes. The results of a field experiment showed that low rolling resistance wheels decreased the forces to initiate and sustain pushing a cart. The same experiment also demonstrated that the forces required to turn a cart with six wheels were lower than the forces equired to turn a cart with four wheels. A collaborative approach to ergonomics proved to be an effective method to identify and assess tasks that are problematic for workers and to develop best practices for these tasks in the electric power industry. This method could be used by other industries in their attempt to decrease the incidence, cost and severity of workplace MSDs.     

The fabric of engagement: the engagement and personality of managers and professionals in human and developmental disability services

Employee engagement is a complex and dynamic process that reflects each individual's unique, personal relationship with work. Engaged employees have a clear and defining connection to the organization's mission and purpose, and employee engagement is reflected in behaviors that meet or exceed expectations of service in the workplace. The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between personality and engagement among professionals and managers providing services to people with developmental disabilities. In particular, the authors investigated relationships between the 5-factor model of personality (FFM) and William Kahn's model of employee engagement encompassing physical, emotional, and cognitive components.     

Stressors and life goals of caregivers of individuals with disabilities

Caregivers of individuals with disabilities can experience stress as they manage caregiving responsibilities while they attempt to balance family, work, and the satisfaction of their personal goals. In this pilot study, 31 caregivers of individuals with a variety of disabilities completed a quantitative-qualitative survey. A statistically significant relationship was found between the age and severity of disability of the family member receiving care, the length of time care had been provided, the educational level and the relationship of the caregiver to the family member and reported feelings of optimism, humbleness, quality of family relationships, financial concerns, loss of control, and hope. When life goals were probed, the most common reported were achieving financial stability, having a strong, healthy family, and experiencing happiness. The implications for supporting caregivers and their families are discussed.     

Identifying the causal pathways from religiosity to delayed adolescent sexual behavior

This study used the Integrative Model as a framework to examine whether religiosity delays onset of coitus among a longitudinal sample of virgins, and investigated the causal pathways of this relationship. In addition, this study examined the behavioral beliefs about the consequences of engaging in sex, which distinguishes between youth who vary in level of religiosity. A further analysis was also conducted to examine whether religiosity offers protective effects in terms of progression toward sexual intercourse on a sexual behavior index. The sexual behavior index assumes a progressive nature of sexual behaviors, and includes the following seven behaviors: kissing, having breasts touched (touching for boys), genital touching, receiving oral sex, vaginal intercourse, giving oral sex, and receiving (or giving) anal sex. Religiosity at baseline was negatively associated with sexual debut one year later. This relationship was mediated through attitudes toward personally engaging in sexual intercourse. Religiosity at baseline was also negatively associated with scores on the sexual behavior index one year later. These results suggest that religiosity offers protective effects for both coital and noncoital sexual behaviors.