Men doing women's dirty work: Desegregation,immigrants and employer preferences in the cleaning industry in Norway

The literature on gender desegregation has documented the gendered nature of employment hierarchies and opportunities, but less work has examined how the influx of immigrants in the labour market might affect employment hierarchies and gender segregation. This study examines employers' perceptions of ‘the suitable cleaner' — a traditionally female‐dominated occupation that has received a substantial number of male immigrant workers. Departing from the notion that men in female‐dominated occupations are advantaged by a ‘glass escalator' effect, we analyse how employer preferences position different categories of workers as hireable. Building on interviews with employers in the Norwegian cleaning industry, the study demonstrates how three different but intertwined logics define employer preferences: effectivity demands, professionalization and devaluation. While the first logic favours men as workers and the second devalues ‘female' competence, opening the occupation for men, the third logic favours immigrants, combined positioning immigrant men on top of the hierarchy of suitability.     

De-marginalizing youngsters in public space: critical youth workers and local municipalities in the struggle over public space in Belgium

Young people from lower income groups or with an immigrant background in public space are increasingly problematized in Belgium [Karsten, L., E. Kuiper, and H. Reubsaet. 2001. Van de straat? De relatie tussen jeugd en publieke ruimte verkend [Of the Street? Exploring the Relation between Youth and Public Space]. Assen: Van Gorcum; Rom, M., B. Vanobbergen, E. Coene, and N. Van Ceulebroeck. 2012. “Een reus op lemen voeten: GAS voor minderjarigen [A Giant with Feet of Clay: Municipal Administrative Sanctions for Minors].” In Jeugdwerk en sociale uitsluiting. Handvatten voor emanciperend jeugdbeleid [Youth Work and Social Exclusion. Tools for an Emancipating Youth Policy], edited by F. Coussée en L. Bradt, 61–72. Leuven: Acco.]. Building on the model of [Lavie-Ajayi, M., and M. Krumer-Nevo. 2013. “In a Different Mindset: Critical Youth Work with Marginalized Youth.” Children and Youth Services Review 35: 1698–1704. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.07.010], this paper discusses the variety of ways in which youth workers in five Flemish municipalities engage in strategic relational and narrative work with young people and actors in their institutional environment to develop alternative perspectives on young people in public space. Drawing on qualitative case studies, we identify critical youth workers’ successful and less successful strategies. Our study reveals how the possibilities for critical youth work to develop ‘counter-narratives’ and ‘loosen up’ public spaces in favor of young people [Tani, S. 2015. “Loosening/Tightening Spaces in the Geographies of Hanging Out.” Social &; Cultural Geography 16 (2): 125–145. doi:10.1080/14649365.2014.952324], are circumscribed by the particular institutional embeddedness of youth workers, as well as by the depth and dimensionality of conflicts.     

On estimands and the analysis of adverse events in the presence of varying follow‐up times within the benefit assessment of therapies

The analysis of adverse events (AEs) is a key component in the assessment of a drug's safety profile. Inappropriate analysis methods may result in misleading conclusions about a therapy's safety and consequently its benefit‐risk ratio. The statistical analysis of AEs is complicated by the fact that the follow‐up times can vary between the patients included in a clinical trial. This paper takes as its focus the analysis of AE data in the presence of varying follow‐up times within the benefit assessment of therapeutic interventions. Instead of approaching this issue directly and solely from an analysis point of view, we first discuss what should be estimated in the context of safety data, leading to the concept of estimands. Although the current discussion on estimands is mainly related to efficacy evaluation, the concept is applicable to safety endpoints as well. Within the framework of estimands, we present statistical methods for analysing AEs with the focus being on the time to the occurrence of the first AE of a specific type. We give recommendations which estimators should be used for the estimands described. Furthermore, we state practical implications of the analysis of AEs in clinical trials and give an overview of examples across different indications. We also provide a review of current practices of health technology assessment (HTA) agencies with respect to the evaluation of safety data. Finally, we describe problems with meta‐analyses of AE data and sketch possible solutions.     

Parenting challenges and parents’ intimate relationships

ABSTRACT

Parenthood is a rewarding as well as a potentially stressful event for many couples as it brings many changes to their lives. Having young children at home can result in decreased relationship satisfaction and a low-quality sexual relationship. Same-sex couples may, however, report different parenting experiences, and their parenthood may not significantly affect their level of relationship satisfaction. The quality of marital relationship is an important determinant of the parenting stress and the quality of the parent-child relationship. Mothers and fathers who report dissatisfaction with their marriage and relationship experience more parenting difficulties and stress than those who are satisfied with their relationships. Although research into transition to parenthood is very significant, the association between parenting challenges and parents’ intimate relationships remains an understudied topic. Research needs not only to highlight the importance of parents and family well-being and its direct impacts on the child’s well-being, but also to emphasize the bidirectional association between parent-child interactions and couples’ intimate relationship satisfaction.     

Contingency and Social Change: Collective Engagement in Conditions of Radical Uncertainty

This paper addresses the nexus between contingency, social engagement and change, through investigating the potential of severe (“disruptive”) contingency to bring about new forms of joint agency. By challenging Boltanski's notion of existential tests (which can only be experienced in isolation), the paper argues that social actors can experience disruptive contingent events in an inherently intersubjective manner. Although they severely hinder social interaction, disruptive contingent events enable a possibility of what might be called “negative common knowledge” between social actors which in turn renders certain societal norms meaningless. This possibility is mediated through processes of mutual engagement (calls between actors) that could, further, be transformed into a new “norm circle” (Dave Elder-Vass). Social domination – in particular its “complex” variety – in this context appears as the obstructing of such transformation. A recent political episode in Serbia is analyzed to demonstrate the emancipatory potential of contingency and the logic of complex domination.