Book Review: Funding Virtue: Civil Society Aid and Democracy Promotion,Marina Ottaway and Thomas Carothers (eds.), Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,Washington, DC, 2000

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations -     

Book Review: Civil Society: Old Images,New Visions,by John Keane. Stanford University Press,Stanford, 1998

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations -     

QUESTION WORDING AND PARTISANSHIP: CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN PARTY LOYALTIES DURING THE 1992 ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Gallup macropartisanship varies more over time than aggregatemeasures of partisanship employing the standard Michigan SurveyResearch Center (SRC) party identification measure, but previousanalyses do not provide direct evidence about why Gallup macropartisanshipis more variable. Although these differences could result fromthe short-term focus of the Gallup party affiliation question,aggregate-level analyses cannot test the effects of questionwording directly. Between March and October 1992, we conducteda series of question-wording experiments, employing six statewidecomputer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) surveys of Michiganadults, including a four-wave panel study. Our analyses stronglysuggest that the Gallup measure responds more to short-termpolitical conditions and clearly demonstrate that the Gallupmeasure is less stable over time. These individual-level resultshelp explain why Gallup macropartisanship varies more over timethan aggregate measures of partisanship employing the standardSRC measure and raise questions about the degree to which onecan generalize from analyses using the Gallup data to the researchliterature on party identification.     

Organizations as the building blocks of social inequalities

Most contemporary inequalities emerge in and are constituted through organizations. In this article, we review research at the intersection of organizations and inequalities, bringing the organizational literature and social stratification literature into conversation with one another. In doing so, we outline an emerging theoretical perspective, Relational Inequality Theory (RIT), that helps to make sense of how inequalities emerge within and between organizations. RIT places social relations within organizational contexts as constitutive of inequalities in access to organizational resources such as income, jobs, and respect. Much research supports theorizing inequalities as emerging through social relations within organizations, and we suggest comparative organizational designs as the key methodological strategy to study organizational inequalities.     

Issue Information

In 2017, the number of applications for care orders in England and Wales was the highest ever recorded at 14,207. This is a significant factor, contributing to the rise in the number of children who are looked after, which is at the highest level since 1985. The authors reflect on the recently published Care Crisis Review 2018, a sector‐led review, which examines the reasons for the rise in care proceedings and the number of children in care. The review sought to identify changes to policy and practice within local authorities and the family justice system, in an attempt to divert cases away from the family courts and to reduce the number of children in care, where it is safe to do so. Whilst the legislative framework is largely effective and the system generally works well, there is insufficient funding and resources to meet the needs of children and their families when they seek help, regardless of whether this is at an early stage or when they are in crisis and most in need of care and protection.     

Exposure of medical students to body fluids

Three hundred forty-two students at 3 Florida medical schools were surveyed concerning occupational exposures to blood and body fluids during their 3rd-year clerkship. The 16-item questionnaire was anonymously returned by 150 students, and differences among groups were assessed at p < .05. Most of the students complied with universal precautions guidelines (UVPG); 62 reported 101 exposures, including 9 with HIV-positive blood and body fluids. Most of the exposed students knew about the guidelines but regarded the incidents as irrelevant to their safety or supervision training. Noncompliant students reported significantly more exposures than compliant students. Time constraints, inconvenience of using gloves during procedures, and belief that patients were at low HIV risk discouraged adherence to the guidelines. Common practices following exposure were "no action" or "washed area only" without medical follow-up. Medical students' UVPG adherence should be increased by workload modification, user-friendly safety products, and supervised practice training in clinical exposure settings.     

Kinship structure and suicide: a theoretical link

L'état du mariage diminuent le risque q'uon se suicide; spécialment c 'est vrai avec les hommes. Nous proposons que la rôle particuliere des femmes en maintenant la sociabilité et les obligations avec les parents explique cet fait. Cette explication s' accorde avec les théories de la parenté et du suicide.
La proportion du suicide q'uest enregistrée dans toute la Canada pendant les années 1951,1956,1961,1966, et 1971 révélent cet effet être la même chose durant tous les années. Les comparisons préliminaire entre des Canadiens anglais et français et entre des societées matrilinéal et patrilinéal s' accordent aussi avec les théories que nous présen-tons ici.
Marriage lowers the risk of suicide for men more than it does for women. It is proposed that the particular role of women in maintaining both normative and interactive integration of kinship systems on behalf of men best accounts for this particular finding. Such an explanation is compatible with existing theories of both kinship and suicide.
Rates of reported suicide for all Canada for the years 1951,1956,1961,1966, and 1971 were used to show that the extra protection of men is consistent through time, and the theoretical explanation offered was shown to receive support from a preliminary comparison of suicide rates in English and French Canada, in which kinship structure differs, as well as from suicide rates in matrilineal and patrilineal societies.     

Survey Research and Southern Politics: The Implications of Data Management

With an identical data base—the SRCICPS election studiesconducted over the 1952–1976 period—scholars arriveat conflicting conclusions about the future politics of theSouth. One problem is alternative regional definitions—thesurvey category Solid South (which includes the states of theformer Confederacy minus Tennessee) or the combined categoriesSolid South and Border South. Another problem is the choiceto analyze native whites, whites, or all election participants.Based on data presented here, these choices are not neutral;rather, they influence the research findings. If the intentis to build upon the aggregate data-based research of Key andothers, one should use the Solid South definition. Moreover,if the intent is to predict about the future politics of theSouth, one should analyze all election participants.