The Sociological Tradition or Traditions?

Almost five decades on, Nisbet’s The Sociological Tradition remains instructive for anyone seeking to write a general history of sociology. Combining a distinctive approach to the history of ideas with a curious lack of methodological self-consciousness, its dated feel belies the relevance of its substantive concerns.     

People,Power, and Land: New Enclosures on a Global Scale

A global land rush is aggressively underway. It is reinventing frontier narratives wherever farmland, rangeland, and forestland appear “underutilized,” particularly in the Global South. Though the means and motives of these acquisitions are diverse, the lens of “new enclosures” lends itself to focusing on their similarities. New enclosures surpass the enclosures of bygone centuries in scale and speed and in the plethora of resources they reach. Sociological interventions, both theoretical and applied, are needed to contextualize and concretize this burgeoning alienation of land rights and power contingencies across communities and continents.     

STUDENTS WHO CHOOSE AND THE SCHOOLS THEY LEAVE: Examining Participation in Intradistrict Transfers

Data from one urban school district is analyzed to examine equity‐based arguments about school choice as they pertain to intradistrict transfer policies. We specifically examine which factors influence the propensity for parents to participate in choice, and how choice schools differ from the schools that students are zoned to attend. We find that advantaged and disadvantaged parents make similar choices in that they are both likely to choose more affluent schools with better academic records than the schools they are zoned to attend. However, these choices operate in different spheres, as advantaged parents choose the most affluent schools with the best academic records, and disadvantaged parents choose away from the least affluent schools with the worst academic records to schools that are slightly better.     

The effect of visualization method on the performance of simulated microsurgery tasks

The operating microscopes may be a significant cause of fatigue and discomfort in surgeons. The need for the microscope to be placed over the operating field forces surgeons to remain at the microscope's eyepieces at an uncomfortable posture for the entirety of the surgery. This study compared the effects on microsurgical task performance for four visualization methods: a monocular microscope, a binocular microscope, a three-dimensional (3D) flat-panel television display and a two-dimensional (2D) flat-panel television display. Eleven subjects each performed two microsurgical tasks and their performance was documented by video camera. The statistical analysis performed indicated utilization of the microscope as a visualization method increased subject performance. No significant difference in performance between the 2D and stereoscopic visualization methods.     

An Overview of and Rationale for Changes Proposed for Pathological Gambling in DSM-5

The fifth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) is scheduled for publication in 2013. It will include several changes to the diagnosis of pathological gambling: the name of the disorder will be altered, the threshold for diagnosis will decrease, and one criterion will be removed. This paper reviews the rationale for these changes and addresses how they may impact diagnosis and treatment of the disorder, as well as potential for future research in the field.     

The Role of <Emphasis Type="Italic">New Zealand Sociology</Emphasis> in Developing New Zealand Sociology

Journals may set themselves one or several of a range of missions, but often a national Sociology Association’s journal is concerned to be a vehicle assisting in the shaping of that country’s ‘national sociology’, while maintaining some openness to international sociology. This personalised case study of New Zealand’s sociology journal discusses the extent to which this mission has been achieved over the last decade and more generally over the journal’s history, and the nitty-gritty of challenges and operational issues involved in carrying this out.     

CASH INFLOWS AND BUBBLES IN ASSET MARKETS WITH CONSTANT FUNDAMENTAL VALUES

Previous experimental research on asset markets has reported that the level of cash available to traders does not affect asset prices when fundamentals follow a time trajectory that is constant over time. This contrasts with other research indicating that greater cash levels increase prices when fundamental values are decreasing over time. We report a new experiment in which we show that greater initial cash levels are indeed associated with higher prices when fundamental values are constant over time. Thus, high cash levels will lead to bubbles, if the cash is introduced before the market opens. Our results reconcile the two previous sets of findings. (JEL C90, D03, G02, G12)