Toward a gender politics of aging

The article proposes a Gender Politics of Aging approach to the study of aging societies. The approach recognizes the feminization of old age, ageism’s roots in sexist discourse, and the need to recognize the role of politics in driving demographic debates. Drawing together arguments from feminist gerontology and political demography, the article argues that the intersection of politics and gender must be considered if appropriate responses to an older, feminized demography are to be produced. I conclude that the work of aging feminists provides a rich vein of research and praxis from which a gender politics of aging approach can draw.     

Warehouses or Welfare?: Legislative Dispositions for Alcoholics

Skid row alcoholic offenders and the various legislative responses to this social problem are examined. Recent United States case law is discussed in the context of sociological explanations of societal intervention against this group. The validity of the medical model of alcoholism as a basis for planning social policy in respect of alcoholic offenders is questioned. Traditional justifications for civil commitment programmes are rejected as an infringement of civil liberty and human dignity. The effectiveness of criminal sanction on a cost benefit basis is analysed. Finally,. alternative policies are discussed and recommendations are made as to possible long-term solutions.     

A Phenomenological Study of Postdivorce Adjustment in Midlife

Today, 50% of all U.S. marriages are expected to end in divorce, with the majority of the divorces being granted to individuals between the ages of 45 and 54. Gaining an understanding of the lived experience of postdivorce adjustment as seen in midlife was the aim of this study. A phenomenological research design was used. The themes that emerged from the data included time, emotional pain, changes in postdivorce parenting, and a sense of starting over. The clinical implications of this study suggest that obtaining an understanding of the postdivorce adjustment experience might help mental health practitioners enhance care for divorced individuals, divorcing couples, and their family members.     

Multi‐sited ethnography: Opportunities for the study of race

Multi‐sited ethnography (MSE) is an underutilized research method that presents particular challenges and unique possibilities for generative research that can build upon existing theories of race and ethnicity. This review discusses the theoretical and methodological components of MSE and provides examples of both transnational and translocal ethnographic studies. These examples illustrate how MSE as a method can enrich analyses of race and ethnicity by enabling ethnographers to identify site‐specific phenomena as well as social processes that transcend a single locale. MSE, when intentionally paired with methodological framings in line with research priorities, can enable scholars to produce rigorous sociological analysis and theory building. Multi‐sited ethnographies of race can provide a set of analyses that complement a range of other sociological research tools, including single‐sited ethnography and quantitative studies, to deepen our understandings about the production and maintenance of racial and ethnic categories in the United States and transnationally.     

Corporate governance and stakeholder conflict

The stakeholder management literature is dominated by the ‘shareholder value’ and ‘inclusive stakeholder’ views of the corporation. Each views the governance problem in terms of inter-functional conflicts between stakeholder groups, such as between investors and managers or managers and employees, and rests on the assumption of an idealized corporate structure characterized by the separation of ownership from management. Our review of corporate governance and stakeholder conflict shows that such functional-based characterization is too simplistic and fails to account for important intra-functional conflict. Through a comparative review that considers managerial, stakeholder and family systems of governance, we demonstrate that, while the modality of conflict varies by system, substantial intra-functional conflict is endemic to each. We integrate the findings of the agency and comparative stakeholder theories of corporate governance to offer an authority-based framework with three different governance structures that offers complementary insights into stakeholder conflicts. Thus, our study highlights the important, but often neglected, intra-stakeholder type of conflict in various organizations and provides a basis for understanding their various manifestations and consequences under the different systems of governance.     

Operations research in the management of the airlines

This paper is intended to present an introduction to the use of operations research in the international airline industry, and to demonstrate the scope and significance of the airline OR activities. First, the special reasons for the viability and spread of airline OR are discussed. Then a functional framework for an airline is outlined, to be used in analyzing the problems of an airline and relating the OR work to it. Four major applications are described, corresponding to four major components of the framework. These applications are: schedule development, overbooking control, crew scheduling and engine management, respectively. In each case we describe the problem and its significance, indicate the types of solution techniques which have been developed, and assess the implemented solutions. The paper concludes with comments on the current state-of-the-art and the future of airline OR. A detailed bibliography is given.Both of the authors have been operations research directors in major airlines and more recently have focused their attention upon the industry as academic researchers. This background has provided us with an unusual opportunity to analyze the role of OR in the airlines, and our paper seeks to share with the reader some of the insights we have gained thereby.     

Social Welfare: Availability and Delivery of Services and Benefits for Children

It is contended that social welfare legislation is principally concerned with the allocation of resources of income, wealth, position and power. Australian legislation providing welfare services and benefits for children is assessed from this perspective. It is argued that the present legislation providing income support payments for young people accords excessive weight to the promotion of economic interests of the community such as the work ethic and fails to address the social and human needs of that population. It is also contended that the structure of the child welfare services legislation is overly concerned to cater to conservative forces in society who favour social control measures designed to protect their values and interests and who resist efforts to provide a network of non-coercive preventive services. Both areas of the law are criticized on the basis that they place excessive reliance on the notion that the family unit is capable of carrying the major responsibility for income support and service provision.     

TOO MUCH ACCESS?: THE CASE FOR INTERMEDIATE OPTIONS TO GUARDIANSHIP

Guardianship bodies appoint substitute decision makers for adults who cannot make their own decisions, and have a current ‘need’ which cannot be met by less restrictive options. These bodies are cheap, accessible and user-friendly, leading to large numbers of applications. Less restrictive options to guardians and managers include identifying a person to provide substitute medical consent, service planning mechanisms, advocacy and informal arrangements. We argue that an effective guardianship system requires a systematic series of ‘filters’ providing a sequence of intermediate interventions. Without these filters, guardianship, the opportunity for one person to exercise the civil rights of another, can too easily become a first option. This has important consequences for the civil liberties of people with disabilities.     

Recycling in multi-family dwellings: Increasing participation and decreasing contamination

This study explored the promotion of recycling in multi-family dwellings. An experimental design investigated four behavior change techniques: biweekly postcards giving specific feedback to each dwelling unit as to quantity and contamination of the recyclables, newsletters giving general information on recycling and the amount recycled by the city as a whole, written pledges committing households to recycle for a specified period, and volunteer coordinators who distributed information and answered questions from residents. The effectiveness of these techniques was compared against that of a control group. The findings suggest that volunteer coordinators are not an effective intervention technique in multi-family dwellings, and that feedback and commitment techniques are useful mainly for managing contamination in medium sized complexes. The data also suggest that the size of a multi-family dwelling complex significantly affects the amount of recyclables collected and the level of contamination. Smaller complexes with less than ten units recycled up to three times the amount on a per unit basis as complexes with more units. Smaller units also had fewer problems with contamination in their recyclables. Several explanations are offered for the poor participation and performance in larger complexes.