The Myth of the Computer Hacker

The seriousness of computer hacking is not exaggerated, it is far worse than that. The computer hacker has attained the status of myth; society associates all computer crime with a mythical perpetrator that bears no resemblance to reality. This paper will argue that in the early stages of the myth the computer hacker was regarded as a highly skilled but mentally disturbed youth who has an unhealthy association with computers. The new reality of electronic commerce resulted in pressures that culminated in the computer hacker becoming regarded as a dangerous criminal. A thorough analysis of the statistics will demonstrate that the majority of computer intruders are neither dangerous nor highly skilled, and thus nothing like the mythical hacker.     

Is this the end? organising identity as a post-modern means to a modernist end

Many analyses have focused on the extent to which processes of Japanisation have affected power relations (Sewell and Wilkinson, 1992), commitment relations (Chonko, 1988) and health relations (Strauss et al., 1982) within organisations. There has, however, been less of a focus on the uses post-modern forms of work organisation make of individual identity. This paper attempts with the use of case study material, to show how organisations seek to modify individuals' identities to match those of their companies. It illustrates a situation in which despite forward sounding rhetoric, organisations are still seeking to gain control over individuals, rather than share in a partnership with them; but in which, also individual employees can still resist, despite hard economic times.     

The humorous construction of disability: 'stand-up' comedians in the United States

We examine how stand-up [sic] comedy constructs, circulates, perpetuates and/or disrupts stereotypical images of disabled persons in the United States. We use disabled people, rather than people-first language, to remind readers that disability is an ill-defined, culturally imposed attribute. Although humor is culturally specific, we draw on works of an international cadre of humanities scholars and social scientists to ground our analyses. We conclude that disability humor constitutes an emerging, liberatory art form. Disabled and non-disabled comedians elicit thought-provoking laughter and present disability as an interesting way to live. However, disabling humor still perpetuates stereotyping and isolation.     

ETHNICITY, GENERATION, AND SCHOOL ATTAINMENT OF ASIANS, HISPANICS, AND NON-HISPANIC WHITES

Research on immigration and attainment in U.S. schools typically does not separate out generation of U.S. residence, a critical factor in attainment. This article explores immigrant generation effects (native, child of immigrant, immigrant) on schooling attained for Asians, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic whites, using Current Population Survey data. Previously unpublished cross-sectional data are presented. Regressions predicting school years completed show variable generation-by-ethnicity effects. Asian attainment increases sharply between immigrant and child-of-immigrant generations, leveling off thereafter. Hispanic attainment improves with successive generations of U.S. residence. Non-Hispanic white attainment peaks in the child-of-immigrant generation and declines for later generations.     

Changing patterns of wage labor migration in the Kilenge area of Papua New Guinea

Using data obtained from a village census completed in 1977, the authors examine the importance of economic and social factors in migration decisions in the village of Ongaia, Papua New Guinea. The effects on migration of opportunities at place of destination, pressures in place of origin, and connections between town and village are investigated; motivations for return migration are discussed     

Horses and baseball: social work’s cultivation of one’s ‘third eye’

Active self-reflection is a sophisticated and subtle, multi-layered process that requires learning the capacity to constantly self-monitor. These fundamental interactive skills, the core of a competent social worker, are important to work in any context. Using two distinct metaphors, one relating to horses, the other to baseball, the article will explore the importance of developing competency skills and utilize a ‘third eye.’ In current social work education curricula the use of self may not be prioritized, practiced, or well understood. Evidence from human and veterinary medicine as well as social work, are discussed. An example of an undergraduate BSW course using simulated clients and standardized measures is discussed. The paper includes a brief review of the preliminary findings for a small pilot study and the relevance to future research is considered.     

A Theory of Time Preference

This article proposes that people generally prefer present consumption to future consumption because their expected utility from consumption (eventually) falls as their mental and physical abilities (eventually) decline with age. Moreover, contrary to the ubiquitous intertemporal formulation with a constant rate of time preference and contrary to three recent theories of time preference that predict decreasing discounting as people age, this article asserts that discounting increases over the life cycle. This hypothesis is supported by data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics as well as evidence from numerous previous studies.     

The Veils of Clio: Dimensions of a Behavioral Narratology

This paper outlines a behavior-analysis approach to the field of narratology, the study of the narrative or story, with emphasis on nonfiction stories and the processes by which such stories distort the world they describe. Stories are described in terms of (a) a behavior-analysis adaptation of Todorov''s (1977) analysis of the plots of stories in terms of states of equilibrium/disequilibrium and (b) Grant''s (2005) analysis of the structure of stories in terms of establishing operations and escape contingencies. These two sets of concepts are applied to understanding how and why stories lead to distortions of the events they report.     

Divorce,living arrangements,and material well-being during the transition to adulthood in rural Malawi

In this paper, we use longitudinal data to investigate how parental death and divorce influence young women’s own experience of divorce in Malawi, a setting where women marry relatively early and unions are fragile. We find that maternal death and parental divorce are positively associated with divorce for young women but, after controlling for socio-demographic and marital characteristics, only the association with maternal death remains statistically significant. Maternal and paternal death are both strongly associated with women’s post-divorce living arrangements, which in turn affects their material well-being. This finding suggests that divorcing at a young age shapes the subsequent life chances of women; although some women return to their parental home and may have the opportunity to reset the transition to adulthood, other women begin their 20s as head of their own household and with considerable material disadvantage.