‘Bringing coals to Newcastle’? Human rights,civil rights and social movements in New York City

In this article we examine the encounter between global human rights ideas and domestic discourses of civil rights and social justice, focusing on processes of translation and adaptation of women's human rights in two ethnographic sites in New York City. The first site is a citywide coalition working for the adoption of a New York City human rights ordinance. The second site is an advocacy organization working on domestic violence issues. We find that the local adoption of human rights in New York City – the ‘domestication’ of human rights – takes place in two central sites: law and social movement. We further find that the process of translation takes place unevenly in the two sites, and it is driven primarily by the actors, mechanisms and technologies in the social movement arena. Overall, we witness the emergence of a domestic human rights movement as a new counter‐hegemonic space, characterized by multiplicity in meanings, ideological heterogeneity and ambivalence from those engaged in its construction.     

PERCEIVED IMPACT OF DEFAMATION: AN EXPERIMENT ON THIRD-PERSON EFFECTS

This paper explores the intersection of libel law and communicationtheory that occurs when libel juries assess the effect of adefamatory communication on others. The third-person hypothesissuggests that people often assume others will be more affectedby potentially persuasive communications than they are themselves.An experiment was conducted in which students were exposed toa variety of defamatory newspaper articles. The results confirmedseveral predictions. First, readers estimated that others wouldbe more affected by defamatory messages than the readers themselveswould be. Second, this effect was magnified as the "others"became progressively more distant from these readers. Third,when the defamation was attributed to a negatively biased sourcethe effect was also accentuated: readers themselves discountedthe message, while assuming others would be even more influenced.It is suggested that courtroom assessments of the effects ofdefamatory communications on others may be influenced by suchthird-person perceptions.     

Restructuring Municipal Government: Labor-Management Relations and Worker Mental Health

Cette étude présente une enquête selon la méthode mixte sur l'association qui existe entre les relations travail-gestion et la santé mentale d'employés d'un secteur municipal subissant une restructuration de style nouvelle gestion publique. L'analyse des données du sondage ( N =902) démontre qu'il existe une relation relativement forte et constante entre les pratiques de gestion et la santé psychologique des employés. Des interviews réalisées auprès d'un sous-échantillon de 54 travailleurs révèlent que le contrôle excessif, l'incompétence et l'indifférence des gestionnaires combinés avec un minimum de récompenses soulignant les efforts consentis par les travailleurs ont pour conséquence que le personnel se sent dévalorisé. Nos résultats démontrent que la santé mentale des travailleurs a étéébranlée, en sapant leur estime de soi et en leur faisant perdre des possibilités d'améliorer leurs conditions de travail.
This study is a mixed-method investigation of the association between labor-management relations and employees' mental health in a municipal sector undergoing New Public Management-style restructuring. Analysis of the survey data ( N =902) demonstrates a relatively strong and persistent relationship between management practices and employee psychological health. Interviews with a subsample of 54 workers reveal that management's excessive control, incompetence, and unresponsiveness, combined with minimal rewards for workers' efforts, left staff feeling devalued. Our findings suggest that workers' mental health was harmed by the undermining of their sense of self-worth and the loss of avenues to improve their working conditions.     

DIRECT AND INDIRECT ROUTES TO POLITICIZING PERSONAL EXPERIENCE DOES KNOWLEDGE MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

This study examines the effects of issue-specific knowledgeon the extent to which personal unemployment experiences influencepresidential approval. The well informed are found to be morelikely to connect personal experiences directly to politicalpreferences, yet less likely to generalize from their own personalexperiences in assessing the state of the nation as a whole.Since perceptions of the state of national conditions have awell-documented influence on presidential approval, Simultaneouslyconsidering direct and indirect paths helps to resolve contradictoryimplications in past findings on the role of information inconditioning the politicization of personal economic experience.     

"It Just Doesn't Feel Like You're Obviously In": Housing Policy, Family Privacy, and the Reproduction of Social Inequality*

L'auteure de cet article examine les liens existant entre le logement, l'organisation de la vie familiale et la reproduction des inégalités sociales. Elle se concentre sur les processus sociaux « sur le terrain >>– particulierement sur ceux entourant l'organisation de la reproduction sociale (les soins quotidiens donnés aux enfants et aux adultes) en tant que préoccupation personnelle ou collective. Elle étudie ces processus dans un cadre où les logements sont détenus publiquement et gérés collectivement. Son analyse indique que l'environnement a des répercussions contradictoires sur l'organisation de la prestation quotidienne des soins. L'auteure se soucie en particulier de la manière dont il influence la reproduction des inégalités sociales chez les femmes qui élévent des enfants.
This article examines connections between housing, the organization of family life, and the reproduction of social inequality. It focusses on "on-the-ground" social processes–specifically, those surrounding the organization of social reproduction (the daily care of children and adults) as a private or a collective concern. It examines these processes in a setting where the housing is publicly held and collectively managed. The analysis indicates that the setting has contradictory implications for the organization of daily caregiving work. Of particular concern here is the way this can play out as the reproduction of social inequality among women raising families.     

Sexuality and the city: exploring the experience of minority sexual identity through storytelling

This article explores the discursive construction of sexual identity through organizational storytelling, in the London office of a global investment bank, InvestCo. Work on the identity of sexual minorities in work organizations is rare, and even more so in the context of an institution such as a bank. Minority sexual identities have largely been ignored by the organizational studies and diversity literatures, but organizations and the researchers who study them, are starting to turn their attention to this previously silenced population. A major difficulty for researchers in this area, and one which has been well researched and documented in other areas of identity construction, is how to access and research this area. This article puts forward the idea that storytelling is an effective way of exploring this still sensitive topic. The results of the research are presented according to different ways in which minority sexual identity is constructed in organizations. This includes a discussion of social identities, displayed and hidden identities, changing identities, accepted and castigated identities and finally congruent and incongruent identities. The article also identifies themes which emerge from the stories about the stories themselves; themes of hidden identities, mistakes, victimhood and resistance. Although of relevance to those interested in the experience of sexual minorities in organizations, the storytelling discursive approach opens up the subject's experiences to a wider audience interested in diversity, discourse theory, ethnography and organizational life in general. The level of access is unusual and the double level story telling research approach could be of use in other areas.     

Direct Magnitude Estimation Scales in Public Opinion Surveys

Direct magnitude estimation scales, patterned after S. S. Stevens'swork in psychophysics, provide precise, reliable measures. Theuse of the scales in three surveys demonstrates that they canbe used in telephone surveys of a general population. Becausethe scales are relatively easy to construct, the researcheris able to go into the field more quickly than if he had developedscales through other methods. Since respondents arrange thestimuli on the scale, rather than have the researcher structurethe stimuli into categories for respondents, the measures arerelatively free of researcher predispositions and bias. Thescales' most important use is in providing measures that canbe used in theory building. Researchers should benefit fromdata that allow one to use powerful statistical techniques withoutviolating data assumptions.     

Short Term Care for the Elderly in Residential Homes: A Research Note

Please address requests for reprints to Dr. D. Boldy, Division of Health Sciences, Centre for Advanced Studies, Western Australian Institute of Technology, Kent Street, Bentley WA 6102, Australia. Summary Short term care for the elderly has expanded rapidly in thelast five years. The study evaluates short stay care in fourresidential homes using interviews with 42 clients, their main‘carers’, officers-in-charge of the homes and socialworkers. Whilst the service worked reasonably smoothly and provideda break for family carers there remains further potential forimproving the quality of service in the context of a full rangeof services for elderly people.