Differenzierung des Milieugefüges?

According to the research findings of the Sinus institute, a differentiation of social milieus has taken place in West Germany during the eighties and nineties of the last century. This diagnosis is widely acknowledged within the German social structure analysis. Yet, there is no evident methodical basis of this diagnosis. There are not even concepts indicating how to measure processes of differentiation of social milieus. An appropriate method for this is suggested and the hypothesis of differentiation is tested empirically. The method suggested is a time-related hierarchical cluster analysis. The data basis consists of three surveys conducted in 1985 (‘Erlebnisgesellschaft’ by G. Schulze), 1993 (‘Wohlfahrtssurvey’) and 1998 (‘ALLBUS’). The trend analysis shows that there is no evidence supporting the hypothesis of differentiation. This can be explained by the fact that even in “multi-optional” societies people are looking for simple structures of orientation.     

Determinanten der Lebensqualität psychisch kranker Personen

Not only chronic mental disease, but also psycho-social factors limit the quality of life (QoL) of mentally ill persons. From three theoretical explanation models of QoL — the medical model, labeling theory, and stress process model — we deduced three hypotheses. To test our hypotheses, we re-analysed data from the study “Social integration and quality of life of mentally ill people”. Data were derived from structured interviews with 305 in-patients in psychiatric institutions in the Canton of Zurich (Switzerland), and completed with few informations from their doctors’ files. Various QoL dimensions entered the statistical analyses as dependent variables. Results indicate varied explanation power of the models under investigation depending on the dimension of QoL: psychic symptoms highly influence the health-related QoL, but have only small effects on social and material QoL. Social as well as material QoL are strongly influenced by social support as well as, though to a lesser extent, by life stress events. Chronification of mental illness and perceived discrimination because of the mental disease indirectly affect QoL through reduced social support and increased psychic symptoms. From our results we conclude that social integration and rehabilitation of mentally ill people require a bio-psycho-social treatment approach.     

Some statistical aspects of methods for detection of turning points in business cycles

Methods for online turning point detection in business cycles are discussed. The statistical properties of three likelihood-based methods are compared. One is based on a Hidden Markov Model, another includes a non-parametric estimation procedure and the third combines features of the other two. The methods are illustrated by monitoring a period of the Swedish industrial production. Evaluation measures that reflect timeliness are used. The effects of smoothing, seasonal variation, autoregression and multivariate issues on methods for timely detection are discussed.     

Dyaden,Gruppen und Teams: Die Rahmungen von Coachings und Supervisionen

This article examines what impact three different framings of personal oriented consulting interactions – dyads, groups and teams – have on the consulting situation. Intuitively consultants are aware that it makes a difference if a client is consulted in a face-to-face-interaction “under four eyes”, in the framework of a group which just started to know each other or in a team which is working together on regular basis. However, what are exactly the mechanisms which are working in the three different settings? And what exactly are their impacts on the consulting situation? This article provides first interpretations.     

中国现代科学史上的一次科学考察壮举——记20世纪40年代首次对湖北神农架的探察

20世纪40年代开展的神农架探察是中国现代科学史上的一个重要事件。这次探察初步揭开了神农架的神秘面纱,为后来神农架的开发提供了论证基础,开我国单纯的学术考察与实用考察相结合之先河。由于历史等方面的原因,有关对这次科学考察的背景及结果报道甚少,众说纷纭,错误甚多,组织者贾文治编撰的《神农架探察报告》至今未曾刊布。本文作者经过20余年的调查、实物收集和人物探访,对这次考察进行了比较详细的了解,同时对《神农架探察报告》作了校注。     

Bargaining over a finite set of alternatives

We analyze bilateral bargaining over a finite set of alternatives. We look for "good" ordinal solutions to such problems and show that Unanimity Compromise and Rational Compromise are the only bargaining rules that satisfy a basic set of properties. We then extend our analysis to admit problems with countably infinite alternatives. We show that, on this class, no bargaining rule choosing finite subsets of alternatives can be neutral. When rephrased in the utility framework of Nash (1950), this implies that there is no ordinal bargaining rule that is finite-valued. Professor Sertel passed away on January 25, 2003.     

Organizations in Movement: An Ethnographer in the Spanish Campaign <Emphasis Type="Italic">Poverty Zero</Emphasis>

During the year 2005 many organizations took part in Poverty Zero, a campaign that aims to reach the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals for 2015. Based on participant observation and open ended interviews, this paper describes the origins, development, and evaluation of Poverty Zero in Andalusia (Spain). It examines, by means of ethnography, how DNGOs (Development Nongovernmental Organizations) create social movement networks, and explores the limits and possibilities of their advocacy activities. The paper concludes that DNGOs tend to generate centralized social movements with reduced questioning of the global system. Nevertheless, as shown in the case of the Andalusian Alliance against Poverty, the more decentralized a movement, the deeper its transformational potential.