THE EFFECTS OF PRESTIGE NAMES IN QUESTION WORDING

Although survey researchers are often warned against using prestigenames in questions (e.g., identifying Contra aid as "PresidentReagan's policy"), prestige names are still commonly used. Tolearn more about the effects of using prestige names, we analyzetwo sets of experiments—on judicial confirmation electionsand on an initiative on tax indexing. The results indicate thatprestige names do more than shift responses in one direction—they eliminate the effect of education on DKs and provide moreof a political basis for the responses.     

The Determinants of Expenditure on Children's Personal Social Services

¹ Peter C. Smith, Centre for Health Economics, University of York, York YO1 5DD, UK. E-mail: pcsl{at}york.ac.ukAbstract Summary This paper reports the results of a statistical study of thedeterminants of expenditure on children's social services intwenty-five local authorities in England. The study was commissionedas part of the Government's review of Standard Spending Assessmentsfor Personal Social Services. The study combined data from avariety of sources, including local authority registers, toinfer the distribution of expenditure between 1,036 small areaswith populations of about 10,000. Multilevel statistical techniqueswere used, and suggested that the principal determinants ofexpenditure are children in lone parent families, children infamilies of income support claimants, children living in flats,children with limiting long-standing illness, and populationdensity. As well as these results, the study yielded importantinsights into potential improvements for Standard Spending Assessmentmethodology.     

Frequency of Citations as Criterion for the Ranking of Departments, Journals, and Individuals

Interest in the structure and dynamics of sociology as a discipline has led to recurrent attempts to measure the prestige, productivity, and quality of education of the various sociology departments. While several previous papers have suggested the potential value of the Science Citation Index (SCI) as a measure of scientific standing, few attempts have been made to utilize a citation-based measure of scientific prestige. This paper considers the meaning of the citation in science and in stratification theory. Procedures are described whereby citations to individual sociologists and journals are employed to yield rankings of departments of sociology and journals. The differences between these rankings and other rankings are discussed.     

Parton, Howe and Postmodernity: A Critical Comment on Mistaken Identity

Correspondence to Carole Smith, School of Social Work,, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, Dover Street Building, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL Summary In their contributions to the debate about social work, modernityand postmodernity Parton(1994) and Howe (1994) argue that therecent changes in social work practice can best be understoodas features of, or responses to, the postmodern social orderin which it is located. This has led, they argue, to an increasingfragmentation of the profession and an undermining of its formalknowledge base. We will argue here that, not only does suchan argument oversimplify the nuances of the ‘postmodernity’question, but it represents a misreading of the pressures affectingpractice at this time, which are more properly attributableto the operation of the discourses and ideologies of a particularphase of late capitalism and high modernity.     

“Children's Talk and Parental Fear”. Cases of Sexual Misconduct in Danish State Schools 1900–19701

Cases of sexual misconduct in Danish state schools became the objects of attention in the years following the turn of the 20^th Century. An analysis of 85 cases where teachers were accused of sexual misconduct towards their students reveals that the period from 1900 to 1970 present a set of changes in the attitudes to and management of intergenerational sexuality. Throughout these years there existed three ambivalent features relating to the child and its sexuality, to the pros and cons of reporting the case, and to the behaviour of the masculine teacher at a time of changing pedagogical ideals.     

Disconnections and exclusions: professionalization,cosmopolitanism and (global?) civil society

In this article, we address the ways in which theories and practices of cosmopolitanism and professionalization intersect in the sphere of global civil society. We emphasize the experiences of grassroots development activists, arguing that although they have so far been pivotal to the legitimacy of these spaces and discourses, such activists are increasingly absent from the practices of global civic spaces. We explore this process of change over time using the example of grassroots health promoters in Peru, explaining it in terms of the articulation of neoliberal processes of professionalization with a particularly neoliberal version of cosmopolitanism. We argue that the two are mutually reinforcing and produce a particularly narrow, and arguably less cosmopolitan, rendition of global civil society, with implications for the possibility of building critical and transformative encounters across difference as a foundation for more equitable ideas and practices of development and democracy.     

America's Most Important Problem--A Trend Analysis, 1946-1976

Using an extremely rich data series, this paper traces trendsin America's most important problem from 1946 to 1976. Bothlong-term and short-term changes in public concern are charted.Additionally, the problem profiles of major sociodemographicgroups are analyzed. Changes in the problem concerns of thesegroups are also followed across time.     

LOSS AVERSION AND MANAGERIAL DECISIONS: EVIDENCE FROM MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

Previous research indicates that management changes are important events for organizations, partly because they lead to reversals of poor prior decisions. An unanswered question is why replacing the manager seems to be necessary for reversing poor decisions. One explanation is that managers have an irrational behavioral aversion to admitting mistakes (loss aversion). We test this hypothesis with a research design that mitigates many of the measurement problems associated with investment decisions in traditional corporate settings, and that allows us to distinguish agency cost from loss aversion as explanations. Using Major League Baseball data, we find that new managers, compared to continuing managers, are more likely to divest low‐performing players. Moreover, when the manager is new and the previous manager was responsible for acquiring a player who is underperforming, the likelihood of player divestiture is significantly higher relative to low performers acquired by earlier managers. Experience of the acquiring manager does not affect the likelihood that the manager retains a low performer, suggesting that it is loss aversion, and not career concerns, that motivates acquiring managers to retain low performers. The findings suggest that loss aversion plays a significant role in managerial decisions and managerial turnover. (JEL J6, L8, D8)