Assimilation vs. multiculturalism: Views from a community in France

A recent American survey of attitudes toward societal multiculturalism vs. assimilation has found surprisingly widespread support for maintaining heritage cultures not only among immigrant minority groups but also among most subsamples of majority host groups, black and white. Working-class whites are the one exception. This pilot study explores the same attitude domain in a contrasting European setting. Randomly selected samples of middle- and working-class families (a mother, father, and teenage son or daughter) from a small city in France were interviewed. As a group, they were neutral to slightly favorable to immigrants maintaining heritage cultures and languages rather than losing them through assimilation. On measures of attitudes toward specific immigrant groups, there were marked intergroup dyfferunces with Maghrebian Arabs rated leist favorably and Southeast Asians, the model immigrants, most favorably. Comparisons of subgroups of respondents who varied in terms of (a) political left-right orientation, (b) social class standing, (c) degree of religiosity, and (d) generational level provide the base for a more general discussion of cultural assimilation and multiculturalism.     

The Limitations and Opportunities of Business Process Re-engineering in a Politicized Organizational Climate

This paper is concerned with the organizationalchange and project management issues raised by theimplementation of a business process re-engineering(BPR) approach in the politicized hospital context. This is a report of research in progress,focusing on the issues arising at the problem definitionand project planning stages of a BPR application in anoperating theaters department experiencing problems with scheduling and delays. The research designrelies on a case study approach, with the researcher asparticipant observer, as both an adviser to the projectteam and as field interviewer. The paper argues that an ambitious BPR agenda is compromised inat least two regards. First, the lack of precisionsurrounding the focus and methodology of BPR givespolitically motivated actors considerable influence with respect to defining terms of reference in wayswhich will shape potential outcomes in their favor.Second, the complexity and indeterminacy of the businessprocess or patient trail can also diluteredesign attempts. The principal limitations of theapproach thus concern the impracticality of embarking onrapid and radical change working from a blanksheet of paper with respect to organizational and job design. BPR, unlike other organizationdevelopment interventions, is not a contextsensitive approach. The role of project manageris critical in establishing a working balance betweenindividual, occupational, and organizational goals in a manner perceivedto be legitimate in the context. Effective BPR projectmanagement thus requires a combination of political andprocess analysis skills. The principal opportunities of BPR derive from its process orientation,which brings a fresh perspective to a traditionally andfunctionally fragmented organizational setting, andwhich presents a potentially valuable platform for anevolutionary approach to process improvement.     

Call My Bluff: Multiple Interpretations of an Organizational Process

This paper attempts to illustrate the value of interpreting organizational processes from a variety of perspectives. It demonstrates that this approach reflects the natural richness of organization and avoids the rather blinkered search for single-paradigm explanations. It does not seek to offer the answer, but rather some possible insights. By combining both actor and researcher frames, it sheds light upon a particular process of social interaction within an organization. Both the context, an NHS trust hospital, and the content, a significant change scenario, brings richness and relevance to the debate.
The paper outlines the macro and micro context before focusing on the interpretative methodological approach. The research involved collecting and analysing over thirty hours of taped, semi-structured interview discourse with senior and middle management and some junior staff. After describing the change initiative, an attempt at multi-skilling and the response of recipient actors to the proposals, the paper outlines three readings which seek to explain the events that occurred. The reader is invited to play the game 'Call my Bluff' and to choose the scenario that represents the most plausible explanation. The three interpretative frames employed are a managerial, a cultural and a political perspective. The paper concludes by raising some important issues in research, organizational change and the NHS.     

地方精英与族群认同——一个村庄族群记忆的研究

本文通过对一个地方族群的案例分析,试图从地方精荚的话语表述和行为分析来探讨地方精英是如何影响地方族群记忆和地方族群认同的,并进一步强调族群的一些符号特征对于维持和凝聚族群的重要意义.     

ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE EURO: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY BASED ON THE GERMAN SOCIO-ECONOMIC PANEL (SOEP)

This paper investigates changing attitudes towards the euro over time in Germany using longitudinal micro-data from the German Socio Economic Panel Study. We observe that a large part of the German population was worried about the new currency both before and after its introduction. Social psychological theories provide insight into these attitudes. Concerns regarding the euro are apparently connected with problems in handling the new currency and with the press coverage of price rises. For these reasons, future EMU member states should prepare their populations better for these challenges.     

彝、汉文献所见之彝族认同问题——兼与郝瑞教授对话

通过对相关彝、汉历史文献的分析,结合田野资料,从主位的角度,考察了彝族的族类自称、族源、世系的自我认识,是否属同一群人的自我界定,族内婚意义上的联姻情况等,以此表明,民族识别以前,在今天被划定为彝族的人群中,在较大范围内应当存在着族群意义上的认同.     

青年社工的职业认同：内驱还是外驱？——基于珠三角地区25所社工机构的调查

伴随社会工作的全面铺开和受重视程度的提高,当前青年社工职业认同的整体水平高于以往研究。从影响因素来看,包括性别、年龄、受教育程度和婚姻状况的个体特征和包括社工工作年限和所在社工机构的规模的职业特征对青年社工的职业认同都有不同程度的影响。而从作用机制来看,个体自身因素和环境因素共同作用于青年社工的职业认同。路径分析表明,个人-组织匹配对青年社工职业认同的效用高于公共服务动机。因此,要提升青年社工的职业认同进而提高社工队伍的职业化水平一方面要注重引导青年社工投身职业,服务公众的“初心”情怀,另一方更要注重创建与优化工作环境,为青年社工提供职业支持资源,提高个人-职业匹配,实现青年社工个人与机构发展的“双赢”。     

世界政治中印度和平崛起的现实与前景

世纪之交,无论是从规模条件,还是从衡量大国地位的关键性指标数据来看,印度作为新兴大国已经无可争议地崛起了。助成印度崛起的关键性因素,除了其一以贯之的大国地位追求,特别是战略现实主义的治国方略外,显然还在于冷战的结束给印度提供了难得的战略机遇。印度对美国主导下的国际体系的许多规则、规范甚至运作机制并不认可,但由于受种种条件制约,其依然只是国际体系中的一个“有限的挑战者”。印度的崛起导致了亚洲地缘政治的重大变化,进而直接影响着中印关系。     

Correlation Coefficient Revisited

Elementary approaches to prove basic properties of the correlation coefficient are of pedagogical interest. Besides posing another proof, this article gives variations of the proofs already existing in the statistical literature     

Comparing Equal-Tail Probability and Unbiased Confidence Intervals for the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient

The conventional confidence interval for the intraclass correlation coefficient assumes equal-tail probabilities. In general, the equal-tail probability interval is biased and other interval procedures should be considered. Unbiased confidence intervals for the intraclass correlation coefficient are readily available. The equal-tail probability and unbiased intervals have exact coverage as they are constructed using the pivotal quantity method. In this article, confidence intervals for the intraclass correlation coefficient are built using balanced and unbalanced one-way random effects models. The expected length of confidence intervals serves as a tool to compare the two procedures. The unbiased confidence interval outperforms the equal-tail probability interval if the intraclass correlation coefficient is small and the equal-tail probability interval outperforms the unbiased interval if the intraclass correlation coefficient is large.