Ethical encounters: Spivak,Alexander and Kincaid

This essay seeks to engage with the idea of the possibility of meaningful ethical encounters with another. It does not attempt to engage with the broader discourse of ethics. Its purpose is simply to read a few of Gayatri Spivak’s discussions about ethics and alterity and offer a reading of three postcolonial texts in the context of that reading.     

The Exclusiveness of the Political Field: Networks and political mobilization

This paper applies social network analysis to three case study social movement organizations based in the north of England: a local Labour Party branch, an environmental group, and a conservation group. Using a postal survey of members, we chart the extent of ties between members of these three groups, indicating how each group has its own internal social dynamics and characteristics that are related to the nature of the movement organizations themselves. We explore how the network structures interrelate with the socio-demographic structure of the membership of the three organizations, and we show there are important differences in the way that core members of the three organizations are recruited compared to those who are either peripheral or isolated. Our paper is the first to analyse the networks of whole populations of case study organizations in the UK, and can therefore be read as developing the potential of social network analysis for case study research and for understanding social movements. Analytically we argue it is important to distinguish two different types of ways that networks are important. They can be seen as offering resources for mobilization, or they can be seen as providing a means of integrating particular types of individuals into organizations. It is this latter sense that offers a more fundamental role for network analysis, and we argue that it offers an important way of developing insights from resource mobilization theory by relating them to Bourdieu's provocative arguments regarding the exclusiveness of the political field.     

Attitude Toward Menopause and Aging: A Study on Postmenopausal Women of West Bengal

We examined the attitude of postmenopausal women toward menopause and aging with respect to sociodemographic variables and postmenopausal years. Four hundred and eighty postmenopausal women representing Bengali-speaking Hindu ethnic group of West Bengal, India were interviewed about their attitude toward menopause and aging. Information on sociodemographic and reproductive characteristics and menopausal symptoms were also collected. The participants were categorized into four groups based on postmenopausal years (Group 1: ≤2; Group 2: >2 to ≤5; Group 3: >5 to ≤8; and Group 4: >8). The attitude did not differ significantly among different groups, but it differed significantly when compared for residential status and per capita monthly household expenditure (pooled groups), for residential and educational status (Groups 3 and 4), and per capita monthly household expenditure (Group 3). Hierarchical linear regression (stepwise) shows per capita monthly expenditure, age at menopause, years after menopause, and menopausal symptoms (irritability and inability to hold urine) significantly predict attitude.     

A longitudinal study of domestic water conservation behavior

A 1988 study of a school-linked sample in a metropolitan and a regional urban area established baseline data for knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and behavior with regard to water management and conservation (Murphy, Watson, & Moore, 1991). This paper reports on a 1991 follow-up, utilising both longitudinal and cross-sectional samples of students, teachers and parents, which aimed at identifying changes within the community since the initial study. In addition, the study sought to identify factors influential in change and the extent to which the pattern of relationships between knowledge, attitudes, intentions and behaviors had remained stable over time. The results indicated that there was a move towards greater conservation as measured by the variables studied over the three year period, that media interventions and water costs were perceived as influential in this change, and that reported conserving behavior continued to be better predicted by stated intentions than by knowledge. Little difference in the pattern of intervariable relationships was observed across the time span studied.     

Household composition and optimal commodity taxes

This paper investigates conditions under which demographic variables will have no impact on commodity taxes. We allow nonlinear and nonseparable preferences, a general demographic demand procedure, and a demogrant scheme linked to the number of children. Formulae for demographic revision of tax estimates are presented in a form that can be easily applied, and the only marginal data requirement is the number of children in the household. The paper extends an earlier exercise (Ray 1988) in avoiding the need for equivalence scales, and in using a demogrant scheme that is consistent with current practice in several European countries. The study confirms the robustness of the earlier discussion to the demogrant scheme adopted.I acknowledge, with thanks, the comments of two anonymous referees, but retain responsibility for errors that may remain.     

On Bayesian D-optimum Design Criteria and the Equivalence Theorem in Non-linear Models

The concavity of some Bayesian D -optimality criteria is investigated and is found in some cases to depend on the prior distribution. In the case of a non-concave criterion, the standard equivalence theorem may fail, but a local version continues to apply.