Social Deviance and the 'Discovery' of the Moron

American psychologist Henry H. Goddard's introduction of the Binet test in the United States was hailed by contemporaries as a major advance in diagnostic technique. With it he 'discovered' the moron, who was believed to suffer from a mild type of mental deficiency that had previously been unidentified. But Goddard had actually grafted his new classification onto an older tradition that was based on social judgments about what constituted normal behaviour. This paper describes the social context of Goddard's discovery along with the assumptions and methods that resulted in his 'scientific' confirmation of the earlier, socially constructed prototype.     

Five-Hundred Life-Saving Interventions and Their Cost-Effectiveness

We gathered information on the cost-effectiveness of life-saving interventions in the United States from publicly available economic analyses. "Life-saving interventions" were defined as any behavioral and/or technological strategy that reduces the probability of premature death among a specified target population. We defined cost-effectiveness as the net resource costs of an intervention per year of life saved. To improve the comparability of cost-effectiveness ratios arrived at with diverse methods, we established fixed definitional goals and revised published estimates, when necessary and feasible, to meet these goals. The 587 interventions identified ranged from those that save more resources than they cost, to those costing more than 10 billion dollars per year of life saved. Overall, the median intervention costs $42,000 per life-year saved. The median medical intervention costs $19,000/life-year; injury reduction $48,000/life-year; and toxin control $2,800,000/life-year. Cost/life-year ratios and bibliographic references for more than 500 life-saving interventions are provided.     

Time diary and questionnaire assessment of factors associated with academic and personal success among university undergraduates

OBJECTIVE AND PARTICIPANTS: A sample of 231 students attending a private liberal arts university in central Alberta, Canada, completed a 5-day time diary and a 71-item questionnaire assessing the influence of personal, cognitive, and attitudinal factors on success. METHODS: The authors used 3 success measures: cumulative grade point average (GPA), Personal Success--each participant's rating of congruence between stated goals and progress toward those goals--and Total Success--a measure that weighted GPA and Personal Success equally. RESULTS: The greatest predictors of GPA were time-management skills, intelligence, time spent studying, computer ownership, less time spent in passive leisure, and a healthy diet. Predictors of Personal Success scores were clearly defined goals, overall health, personal spirituality, and time-management skills. Predictors of Total Success scores were clearly defined goals, time-management skills, less time spent in passive leisure, healthy diet, waking up early, computer ownership, and less time spent sleeping. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest alternatives to traditional predictors of academic success.     

Should countries be more like shopping malls? A proposal for Service Performance Guarantees

Through an examination of existing guarantee mechanisms, this article sets out and explains a proposal for the adoption of Service Performance Guarantees (SPGs) by developing countries working to attract foreign investment. The proposed approach is to offer investing firms the opportunity to purchase insurance against a wider range of risks than is currently possible, with highly visible payouts if service delivery standards fall short of those expected from the programme. The SPG contracts would be covered by a “domestic reserve” funded from premiums paid in by the firms and backed up by a further guarantee issued by a development partner. This approach restructures accountability to create a partnership of donors and recipient governments, accountable to their investor clients.     

Community Activism in the USA: Catholic Hospital Mergers and Reproductive Access

This article analyzes how grassroots organizing diminishes the potential loss of reproductive services in communities affected by Catholic hospital mergers. The empirical contribution of this study is to highlight changing patterns of pro-choice social movement mobilization and approaches to conflict resolution in the reproductive rights arena. To discover how Catholic hospital mergers threaten access to reproductive services, five case studies based in diverse regional and demographic areas throughout the USA are developed. From the case studies, we analyze which organizational factors most strongly influence the preservation of services. Among the variables which may affect outcomes are: characteristics of the acquiring institution, the type of coalition created to terminate the merger, the failure of pro-life activists to counter-mobilize, incentives for compromise on both sides, and regulatory intervention by government or state action. The study concludes that this new phase of the abortion struggle represents renewed vigor among local pro-choice activists and demonstrates that grassroots coalitions who oppose the curtailment of services often preserve reproductive healthcare options in their communities by creating alliances with professionals and other coalition partners.