Use of a conceptual model of societal drivers of ecological change in South Florida: Implications of an ecosystem management scenario

Human-dominated ecosystems such as in South Florida's Everglades region are greatly affected by societal actions and choices, and efforts to restore degraded ecosystems must take into account the societal drivers of ecosystem change. A conceptual model of societal-ecological interactions within the region illustrates connections between major societal drivers, such as water management and land use, and ecological stressors, such as loss of habitat and nutrient loading. Using the conceptual model as an initial guide for discussion, examination of a restoration scenario for the region shows that social and economic effects from activities proposed in a restoration scenario will likely affect most sectors of South Florida. Political effects from changing land and water management practices likely will be significant, as will the physical effects of changing water structures and management practices. Conceptual models such as this can aid in the initial stages of ecosystem restoration discussions and can assist in planning for subsequent social science evaluations of specific societal impacts of actual proposed governmental restoration alternatives. In crafting restoration scenarios, local, regional, and national decision makers can use conceptual models such as this to help broaden the early considerations of how possible future changes in societal drivers, including management choices, will change ecological stressors that affect ecosystem health.     

Affective and aesthetic dimensions of contemporary social movements in South West England

The paper examines contemporary social movement activity within South West England. It is argued that much social movement analysis has been too nation‐state orientated, that it has too readily framed diverse contemporary practices within a narrow, politically reductive and instrumentally rational frame. Increasingly, aesthetic and affective dimensions of everyday life must be examined if any coherent theoretical account of such activity is to be offered. Altering relations between states and their citizens in a global age and the emergence of an extended civil society are linked to a weakening of the capacity of nation states to manage identity formation. A series of excursuses link theoretical analysis of the expressive dimensions of the region's social movement activity, to these more extended global transformations.     

Adolescent Electronic Media Use: Instead of Doing What?

Adolescents like to watch TV and listen to the radio, even on school days, but their day contains, like for all other people, only 24 hours. What do those who use electronic media frequently neglect? Data from 14- and 16-year-old adolescents from 12 European countries and from the USA (EURONET sample) were analyzed (N = 3,250). The correlations between time spent using electronic media (EM) and 15 other daily activities were all negative, which is not surprising given the fact that the sum of all activities is bound to be 24 hours. We, therefore, calculated correlations between electronic media use and the proportions of each other activity within the remaining time. A clear pattern emerged. The method allowed us to identify “mandatory” activities that always have high priority, such as sleeping and attending school, and “optional” activities that enter into competition with electronic media use, including engaging in sports, playing music, leisure reading, and being with friends without media use. As to the mandatory activities, the correlations between media-using time and the proportions of remaining time were positive; relative to the optional activities, the correlations between media-using time and the proportions of remaining time were negative. While one might expect school homework to be regarded as mandatory, the correlation patterns identified it as optional. As to the average electronic media-using times, there were marked differences not only between the individual participants, but also between the countries. While Bulgarian adolescents spent an average of 2.37 hours of a regular school day using electronic media, French adolescents averaged only 1.72 hours.     

Seeing poor children: Three artists' views

This essay explores representations of poverty in art. In so doing, the visual arts are offered as a supplement to traditional textual studies of poverty. The depiction of poor children in particular is rare before the modern period, and reasons for this are explored. Significant literary and artistic treatments of children in poverty, which begin to appear in the 19th century, are considered in the context of philosophical, political, and economic developments of the time. The New York painter of street children J. G. Brown represents Victorian era painters of poor children in that he distanced himself and his images from reality. More involved in the lives of the poor was the early 20th-century German printmaker Ka¨the Kollwitz, who steered away from the impetus to abstraction of that period in favor of an emotionally charged, politicized, activist approach which focused on the topic of children in misery. Finally, the use of photographs to document poor children is briefly summarized to set the stage for a consideration of the work of Wendy Ewald. This artist's novel approach of giving poor children the means to depict themselves and their own world breaks down the barrier between artist and subject and unifies them in a common purpose.     

Mediation and Minority Members of Academe

Focus groups are used to gather information from minorities in a university setting. Minority members of three campus groups (students, staff, and faculty) identified issues that could lead to relational conflicts. Alternative methods of dispute resolution are discussed in terms of their suitability and viability for use by minorities in academe. Mediation is presented as the preferred process for conflict resolution on an increasing number of college and university campuses. Mediation as a form of sociological practice in academia is a wide-open field of opportunity.     

«Land of East Wind»: mise en forme d'une mémoire mi'gmaq*

This essay follows from an historical study of Heron Island (Baie des Chaleurs), and in particular, the relationship between the island and the members, past and present, of the Eel River Bar Band, from the reserve of the same name. It aims to explore elements brought to light through my observation of members of the band, and notably the processes by which the latter strive to fashion a renewed connection with Heron Island; that is, to Self and to the world. Purposefully multidisciplinary, this study focusses on the representation/construction of space and on the manner in which it acts upon its derivatives in the form of collective memory and identity. Situated at the intersection of the symbolic and material realms, this essay endeavours to shed light on the formation of the narratives that, in this instance, constitute the production (mise en scene) of a perspective space of symbolization and social objectification—a process articulated on the enunciation of goals related to socio‐economic development and autonomy. At the same time, it is an attempt to account for a number of correlates to discourse, particularly practices related to social reconfiguration and the exercise of power, in a context marked by a quest for self‐determination and revitalism. In short, it is an examination of a case of resistance and accommodation by a small indigenous group seeking a new world‐vision. Le présent essai découle d'une étude historique portant sur l'île au Héron (Baie‐des‐Chaleurs) et en particulier sur les liens qui s'éta‐blissent entre celle‐ci et les membres, passés et présents, de la bande Eel River Bar, de la réserve du même nom. Il vise à explorer les éléments mis en relief par des observations faites dans le cadre de mes relations avec des membres de la bande, notamment les processus de l'élaboration d'un rapport renouveléà l'île au Héron, c'est‐à‐dire au Soi et au monde. Résolument multidisciplinaire, c'est une étude de cas qui porte sur la représentation/construction de l'espace et sur la façon dont celle‐ci influe sur la mémoire collective et sur l'identité qui en dérive. Sis à l'intersection de l'univers symbolique et de l'univers matériel, cet essai cherche à mettre au jour la formation des récits qui, dans ce cas, constituent la mise en scène d'un espace perspectif de symbolisation et d'objectivation sociale, un processus articulé sur l'énonciation de desseins de développement socio‐économique et d'autonomie. Parallèlement, il s'attache àéclairer les pratiques corrélatives au discursif, qui se nomment reconfiguration sociale et déploiement du pouvoir, dans un contexte de prise en main et de velléités revitalistes. En somme, il s'agit d'examiner un cas de résistance et d'accommodement de la part d'un groupe autochtone de petite taille, en mal de vision‐monde.     

ACROSS TIME AND REGIMES: 212 YEARS OF THE US‐UK REAL EXCHANGE RATE

The behavior of the US‐UK real exchange rate over the period 1794–2005 is examined. This series includes five intervals of floating nominal exchange rates and four fixed exchange rate regime periods. A consistent pattern of higher real exchange rate volatility under floating nominal rates is shown. Over time, real exchange rate movements have increasingly been driven by movements in the nominal exchange rate rather than relative prices. The persistence of the real exchange rate has been considerably higher in the postwar period. (JEL F31, N20)     

On the adjudication of conflicting claims: an experimental study

This paper reports an experimental study on three well-known solutions for problems of adjudicating conflicting claims: the constrained equal awards, the proportional, and the constrained equal losses rules. We first let subjects play three games designed such that the unique equilibrium allocation coincides with the recommendation of one of these three rules. In addition, we let subjects play an additional game that has the property that all (and only) strategy profiles in which players coordinate on the same rule constitute a strict Nash equilibrium. While in the first three games subjects’ play easily converges to the unique equilibrium rule, in the last game the proportional rule overwhelmingly prevails as a coordination device, especially when we frame the game as an hypothetical bankruptcy situation. We also administered a questionnaire to a different group of students, asking them to act as impartial arbitrators to solve (among others) the same problems played in the lab. Also in this case, respondents were sensitive to the framing of the questions, but the proportional rule was selected by the vast majority of respondents.