Changing Signs: The Political Pragmatism of Poststructuralism

In a recent issue of The New Republic, Martha Nussbaum singled out Judith Butler for a particularly venomous attack. Nussbaum's criticism was very simple: good theory leads to practical political action, and Butler's theories do not. Nussbaum's criticism of Butler echoes a general criticism leveled against the emerging field of queer theory. Many advocates of sexual rights have suggested that poststructuralist approaches do not have practical political application. In this essay, the authors argue that Butler's work points to a new political pragmatism. In the past, many advocates of sexual rights have focused on essentialized notions of sexual identity. A politically pragmatic approach, informed by Butler's theories, can shift the debate so that the issue of homophobic discrimination, rather than sexual identity, becomes a primary focus of the sexual rights movement.     

Family councils in nursing facilities: strategies for effective participation

This article provides an overview of the role of family councils. The contributions of the three groups that play a significant role in the development and support of family councils, relatives and friends of the facility's residents, facility administration and staff, and local advocacy organizations, are discussed. The role of the staff advisor, generally the facility social worker, is a major key to a successful council. Barriers that impede family council success are identified, and strategies that improve effectiveness are presented. Family councils play an important part in improving the quality of lives of long-term care residents.     

Local Chapter Outposts: A Dilemma for Federated Social Movement Organizations*

Although there has been a significant shift toward decentralized forms of social movement organizations (SMOs), the federated form is still quite active and deserves further study. In particular, the role of the local chapter in relation to its national office can be explored from new angles for additional insights into federated SMOs. I address the specific issue of isolation that is problematic for some chapters of federated SMOs. I consider these chapters to be “outposts”; isolated from national headquarters geographically, socially, culturally, politically or due to communication barriers. This outpost status creates specific difficulties over control, autonomy, coordination, and resources. “SMO Outposts” are often not able or willing to carry out national goals, strategy or tactics in the prescribed manner expected from headquarters. However, SMO Outposts may also experience unexpected opportunities. My typology of SMO Outposts clarifies their characteristics and presents the challenges and opportunities they encounter under various modes of isolation. This provides for a fuller assessment of the success, organizing capability and adaptation of federated SMOs.     

Special Interests and/or New Right Economics? The Ideological Bases of Reform Party Support in Alberta in the 1993 Federal Election*

La faveur croissante que connaît le Parti réformiste auprès du public est d'ordre à transformer la scène politique canadienne. Dans le présent article, les auteurs soutiennent que les conditions du succès du Parti réformiste tiennent à des facteurs globaux, dont on peut égale-ment observer l'existence au cours des années 1980 et 1990 dans d'autres démocraties industrialisées avancées: la crise des dépenses de l'état-providence et la renaissance du conservatisme attenante. Néanmoins, si la crise fiscale a établi les conditions qui ont rendu possible la mise sur pied du Parti réformiste, ce sont surtout les traits populistes du projet qui lui ont attiré les votes. L'analyse des données d'un sondage de 1994 à l'échelle de la province de 1'Alberta met en lumière une différence prépondérante entre les individus qui ont reporté leur voix sur le Parti réformiste et ceux qui sont restés fidèles à leur parti: la conviction que certains groupes (special interests), exercent trop d'influence sur la politique du gouvernement. The recent growth in public support for the Reform Party has the potential to transform the Canadian political landscape. This paper argues that the conditions for Reform's success are broader factors also observed in other advanced industrial democracies in the 1980s and 1990s, namely the crisis of welfare-state expenditures and the attendant resurgence of conservatism. But while the fiscal crisis established the conditions that made Reform possible, it has been the populist elements of its project that have provided the strongest attraction for voters. Analysis of 1994 province-wide survey data from Alberta indicates that the belief that certain “special interests” have too much influence on government policy best differentiates those individuals who switched their allegiance to the Reform Party from those who maintained their previous party loyalties.     

SEX OF CHILDREN: A COMMUNITY ANALYSIS OF PREFERENCES AND PREDETERMINATION ATTITUDES

A self-administered questionnaire concerning child sex preferences and attitudes toward the exercise of pre- and post-conception sex predetermination was distributed and retrieved from an urbanized area sample of 209 adults aged 18 to 50. A modified (i.e., truncated) version of McClelland's (1979) "stopping rule" measure method was used to assess child sex preferences. It confirmed and extended findings from earlier research in that male first children, but sex-balanced completed families, were preferred by the respondents. The use of either pre- or post-conception techniques of sex predetermination was favored by only a minority of the respondents, a very small minority when by the postconception method. Finally, it was evident that child sex preferences did not have a significant influence upon fertility intentions or upon attitudes toward the personal exercise of sex predetermination by either method.     

The measurement and analysis of time use

There is a growing interest in, time allocation research. Particularly by government statistical bodies. Papers in this issue, briefly highlighted in this introduction, make a small contribution to fulfilling a need for wider exposure of time use literature. The included papers do two things. First, they identify issues related to the collection and analysis of time use data. Second, they show how time use data can be effectively applied to improve one's understanding of significant issues.     

Symbolic Interaction and Postmodernism: Close Encounter of a Dubious Kind

My aim here is threefold: firstly, to ask those who are attracted to certain aspects of postmodernism to avoid imprudent applications of it to our work; secondly, to assess the accomplishments of Symbolic Interaction as we approach the new millennium and; thirdly, to express the hope that Symbolic Interaction will deliver on it s deepest political and philosophical values by speaking truth to power while remembering whose side it is on.     

ADAPTING TO DEPRIVATION: AN EXAMINATION OF INFLATED EDUCATIONAL EXPECTATIONS

Many researchers argue that lower-class individuals adapt to their deprivation by lowering their aspirations for success. Data provide only limited support for this position, however, and suggest that many lower-class individuals continue to hold high aspirations. This article points to a second method of adapting to deprivation: raising expectations for success to inflated levels—levels that have a low probability of realization. The extent and determinants of inflated educational expectations are explored using data from a national, longitudinal survey of high school seniors. Results indicate that almost half of all deprived individuals with high aspirations have inflated expectations. The primary determinants of inflated expectations appear to be pressure to attend college and the overestimation of one's abilities. These data are relevant to anomie or strain theories of deviance and social structure and personality.     

Infants' Ability to Distinguish Between Intentional and Accidental Actions and Its Relation to Internal State Language

The experiment reported here investigated infants' concept of intention, as well as the relation among intention understanding, general productive vocabulary, and internal state language production during the 2nd year. Results from an imitation task indicated that 18‐month‐olds are better able to differentiate between intentional and accidental actions than 14‐month‐olds. Although there was no relation between infants' performance on the intention task and their general productive vocabulary, internal state language production at 30 months was predicted by infants' ability to differentiate between intentional and accidental actions about a year earlier. These findings shed light on the developmental progression of infants' concept of intention, as well as on the continuity between infants' understanding of intentional action and their ability to use internal state words.