There's more to the picture than meets the eye: Measuring tangible and intangible capital in two marginal communities in rural Denmark

A missing link in economics has been what Veblen in 1908 termed intangible capital. This includes common norms, trust and high levels of cooperative performance. Intangibles are invisible to the eye and not easily measured in quantitative terms. They nevertheless involve visible, socioeconomic outcomes and should therefore rightly be seen as productive, like tangibles. Thus, uneven levels of intangible capital would explain Differential Economic Performance (DEP) between, say, two firms containing exactly the same stock of physical, economic and human capital. Despite this common sense observation, most economists have failed to see that ‘there's more to the picture than meets the eye’, as Neil Young once sang. We use statistical, historical and fieldwork data from two Danish, marginal rural communities both rich on intangible capital. This to show how intangible capital in the form of social, organisational and cultural capital is accumulated and utilised in situ, at the microlevel. We suggest that the difference between these two, very similar communities should be explained in their varying ability to utilise local stocks of tangible and intangible capital. Drawing on seminal ideas from Bourdieu [The forms of capital. In: Richardson, J.G. (Ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. Greenwood Press, New York, Westport, CT and London, 1986, pp. 241–58] and the DORA project [Bryden, Differential economic performance in rural areas. In: International Conference on Rural Communities and Identities in the Global Millennium. Malpasino University College, Nainamo, BC, Canada, 2000], we want to develop a ‘total capital’ assessment tool for mapping and measuring socioeconomic development in marginal rural communities. In this way, we hope to count in ‘all’ capital as Schultz [Investment in human capital. In: Kiker, B.F. (Ed.) Investment in Human Capital. Columbia, 1971, pp. 3–21] prophesised. This in order to explain what we term Differential Local Development (DLD), where ‘good’, sustainable development is associated with high economic performance and increase in population.     

Government,Culture and Sustainability in Greenland: A Microstate with a Hinterland

In population terms Greenland is one of the world's smallest states, but it occupies one of the world's largest land masses. It also brings together two very different cultures, those of the indigenous Inuit hunter society and those of the Danish colonial administration. There is now a substantial measure of self-government, building on what this article sees as a surprising measure of common ground between the cultures. Today economics and technology present significant challenges, and the article suggests that the cause of social sustainability will not be well served by giving in to contemporary global pressures.     

Handlungserklärung und die zwei Rationalitäten?

The question is being scrutinized how to integrate into a general theory of action the two types of rational action distinguished by Max Weber based on value rationality and instrumental rationality. Three proposals recently made by Raymond Boudon, Siegwart Lindenberg and Hartmut Esser are considered. These authors agree in conceiving rationality as based on reasons. But, unlike Boudon, Lindenberg and Esser hold that rationality should be essentially considered as consequential and that it is possible to reconstruct value-rational action in this framework, although Weber’s formulation of this type of action clearly excludes a reference to consequences. According to Lindenberg and Esser, this reconstruction of value-rational action can be accomplished by the theory of subjective expected utility supplemented by a concept of framing. In their opinion this kind of model also offers the opportunity to construct a conception superior to a mere typology of action orientations, because it enables us to specify under what conditions which type of action prevails. The article provides evidence that the proposals made by both authors still fall short of offering an adequate model for understanding the difference between both types of action. Lindenberg’s proposal does not sufficiently allow for explaining the difference between traditional and value-rational action and the claim for justification associated with value-rational action. Esser’s conception meets these two criteria but it remains unsettled whether his model already specifies sufficient conditions for value-rational action. The article concludes in considering the general question whether it is conceivable to derive both types of action from a common notion of rationality.     

Current Directions in Risk Research: New Developments in Psychology and Sociology

This article reviews the main approaches to risk in psychology and sociology and considers recent developments. It shows that research continues from a wide range of perspectives. Some developments in psychological thinking have recently acknowledged the importance of the cultural framing of risk perceptions and responses and the positive power of emotions to manage uncertainties, while some streams of work in sociology have moved toward more individualist approaches. These converging processes open opportunities for cross-fertilization and for using insights from both disciplines in the development of research.     

Gemeinschaftliche Formen der Sicherheitsgewährleistung zur Ergänzung staatlicher Kontrollpolitik

Motivated by the debate on ‘broken-windows’ politicians discovered the safety of communities as suitable for participation. The article deals with this connection between a former pure state task and civil engagement. The empirical focus aims at different organisational forms of community-watch projects. All of them cause different forms of participation. The more civic engagement is related to community-networks the better social control of urban communities can be provided by citizens.     

Generalized Linear Latent Variable Modeling for Multi-Group Studies

ABSTRACT

Latent variable modeling is commonly used in behavioral, social, and medical science research. The models used in such analysis relate all observed variables to latent common factors. In many applications, the observations are highly non normal or discrete, e.g., polytomous responses or counts. The existing approaches for non normal observations can be considered lacking in several aspects, especially for multi-group samples situations. We propose a generalized linear model approach for multi-sample latent variable analysis that can handle a broad class of non normal and discrete observations, and that furnishes meaningful interpretation and inference in multi-group studies through maximum likelihood analysis. A Monte Carlo EM algorithm is proposed for parameter estimation. The convergence assessment and standard error estimation is addressed. Simulation studies are reported to show the usefulness of the our approach. An example from a substance abuse prevention study is also presented.