Race and gender as bases of class fractions and their effects on earnings

Maints auteurs ont affirmé que la race et le sexe repreésentent des bases de fractions de classe en ce sens que leur construction sociale permet à des segments d'une classe de se constituer à partir de caractéristiques liées à la race et au sexe. Cependant, les études ernpiriques antérieures tendent à considérer seulernent la race et le sexe comme des facteurs de fractionnernent au sein de la classe ouvrière seulement. À l'aide des données du recensement de 1986, cette communication analyse lea effets interactifs de la race et du sexe sur le revenu considéré comme facteur de fractionnement des classes. Les recherches de l'auteur indiquent que les effets produits par le groupement par race et par sexe sont inégaux en ce qui trait au revenu, les hommes gagnant davantage que les femmes tout en étant davantage ‘fractionnés’ par le revenu que les femmes. Lorsqu'on fait abstraction des différences de revenu entre classes, la race et le sexe demeurent des facteurs explicatifs importants du niveau de revenu, bien que leurs effets soient plus marqués chez les cadres, les professionnels et les ouvriers. L'écart entre les sexes est plus prononcé, mais la race demeure importante comme facteur de fractionnement au niveau des revenus des homrnes, měme après correction pour tenir cornpte d'autres variables. L'auteur affirme que l'assimilation des relations de sexe et de race aux relations entre classes est insatisfaisante et qu'il existe de sérieuses considérations théoriques pour considérer que les causes des inégalités entre les sexes et les races se trouvent non seulement à l'intérieur du domaine de la production, mais également à l'extérieur de celui-ci. The literature has argued that race and gender are bases of class fractions in that their social construction enables segments of a class to be constituted on racialized and gender-linked characteristics. However, previous empirical works tend to consider race or gender as fractionalizing the working class only. Using the 1986 Census data, this paper analyses the interactive effects of race and gender on earnings as grounds of fractionalizing classes. The findings indicate that race and gender groupings produce unequal effects on earnings: males have an income advantage over females, but race fractionalizes the earnings of men to a greater extent than for women. When inter-class differences in earnings are removed, race and gender remain important in explaining earnings, although their effects are stronger among the managerial, the professsional, and the working class. The gender gap is more pronounced, but race remains important in fractionalizing the earnings of men even after controlling for other variables. The paper argues that it is insufficient to subsume gender and race relations under class relations, and that there are compelling theoretical grounds to consider gender and race inequality as having roots both within and outside the sphere of production.     

Forced to work and liberated from work

The work-welfare nexus is essential in all social policy regimes. The question is in what situations individuals should be entitled to social welfare benefits and in which situations they should be obliged to work. Social welfare law and administrative practices define mechanisms that separate the deserving poor from people able to work. This article analyses the functions and character of these "separation mechanisms" in Sweden during three periods in history: a) in rural society in the late 19th century; b) in industrial society during the successful years of the Swedish model from World War II until the late 1970s; and c) the present, including the period of welfare retrenchment and reconsideration since the early 1980s. The conclusion is that Swedish social policy has always been strongly work-oriented, but the specific form and content of the work ethic has varied under the influence of different ideologies and handled in different social policy institutions. Under specific conditions the work line has been either generous or restrictive and it has been based on structural attempts to improve the opportunities to work as well as on attempts to strongly pressure the individual to work. The work line of today is seen as an interesting attempt to combine an effort to create good work through improved work conditions and an effort to reinforce elements of work enforcement in the social insurance system.     

Question Order Effects on Subjective Measures of Quality of Life1

The effects of question order on respondents' ratings of general and specific aspects of community life were assessed using data from separate mail surveys in Montana and Pennsylvania, The samples differed in locale, composition, and size and the relevant questions varied in number, format, and specific focus. Nevertheless, for both data sets the general question was more likely to be answered and more likely to receive positive responses when it was asked after—rather than before—the specific questions. There was some indication that carryover from the specific items to the general question responses were somewhat greater for those questions asked most recently and less for those asked earlier. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

A Process for Incorporating Comparative Risk into Environmental Policymaking in Louisiana

The goal of Louisiana's 1990–1991 comparative risk project, also called the Louisiana Environmental Action Plan (LEAP), was to incorporate risk assessment into state environmental planning and policymaking. Scientists, government officials, and citizens were brought together to estimate the relative risk to human health, natural resources, and quality of life posed by 33 selected environmental issues. The issues were then ranked according to their relative estimated risks. It was hoped that this ranking of "comparative risks" would enable state policymakers to target the most important environmental problems and allocate scarce public resources more rationally and efficiently. As a result of the project, the governor issued an Executive Order forming a permanent Public Advisory Committee to continue this type of comparative risk assessment in Louisiana.     

FAMILY THERAPISTS' RESPONSE TO AIDS: AN EXAMINATION OF ATTITUDES,KNOWLEDGE, AND CONTACT*

As the number of individuals and families impacted by AIDS continue to multiply, family therapists will increasingly be asked to become engaged in the challenge of caring for those affected. To date, little has been written in family therpy journals regarding the response of family therapists to this crisis. This paper represents an initial attempt to examine the atitudes of clinical members of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy toward AIDS and persons with AIDS. Included in the study are data regarding the therapists' contact with persons with AIDS, gays, and lesbians, and the impact of such contact on attitudes. Implications for future research, training, and treatment of those affected by AIDS are also provided.     

The Social Context of Police Lying

This is an analysis of the social context of normal police lies. We define lies as speech acts which the speaker knows are misleading or false, are intended to deceive, and where evidence to the contrary is known to the observer. Lies are relative to a moral context, and what an audience will accept. Lies include excuses, which deny full responsibility for an act, but acknowledge its immorality, and justifications, which accept responsibility but deny blame-worthiness. Police learn to lie and to carefully distinguish normal (or acceptable) lies from unacceptable lies, suggesting that lies are a part of a negotiated occupational order. We show how and why some types of lies are rewarded by police using ethnographic data from an 18 month field study of a large urban force. Lies can be of little issue, or become troublesome. We report and analyze two kinds of troublesome lies: case lies, recognized stories an officer utilizes in a courtroom or on paper to facilitate the conviction of a suspect, and cover stories, lies an officer tells in court, to supervisors, and on the job with the aim of providing a verbal shield or mitigation in the event of discipline. Both excuses and justifications are woven together in these vignettes. An example of a refusal to lie is used to illustrate some of the limits on lying as well organizational factors in lying. Some implications for official lying are also noted.     

Bayesian analysis of outlier problems using divergence measures

A Bayesian approach is presented for detecting influential observations using general divergence measures on the posterior distributions. A sampling-based approach using a Gibbs or Metropolis-within-Gibbs method is used to compute the posterior divergence measures. Four specific measures are proposed, which convey the effects of a single observation or covariate on the posterior. The technique is applied to a generalized linear model with binary response data, an overdispersed model and a nonlinear model. An asymptotic approximation using Laplace method to obtain the posterior divergence is also briefly discussed.