A reassessment of the sociability of long-term skid row residents: A social network approach

Despite more than one hundred and fifty empirical studies completed on the subject of skid row, no issue remains so completely muddled than that of the sociability of skid row men. Utilizing network analysis techniques developed in previous work with inner-city populations, the authors interviewed 48 elderly residents of the Bowery. The data dispelled the notion that skid rowers are completely isolated, incapable of intimacy and complex social formation, and unable to enlist the support of their compeers in response to deteriorating health. Nonetheless, as contrasted with other urban populations, they had markedly constricted social worlds. A reinterpretation of the literature is proffered based on these findings.     

The Making of National Health Insurance in Britain and Canada: Institutional Analysis and its Limits

Scholars examining the development of health insurance reform programs from an institutionalist perspective have drawn attention to the importance of state structures and administrative capacities in shaping social policy outcomes. Focusing on the introduction of the British National Health Insurance Act of 1911 and the Canadian Hospital Insurance Act of 1957, I suggest that institutionalist analysis can obscure the historical record in three ways. Analysts may ignore the multiple institutional mechanisms that were available to policy makers at the time; they may overlook the contentiousness of policy battles; and they may underestimate the extent to which similar institutions have functioned in very different ways. In the case of Britain, I argue that national health insurance was part of a package of social reforms designed to halt the slide of Britain from a position of preeminence in the world economy. The introduction of Canadian health insurance coincided with an increased role for local and federal states in fostering economic development within the nation. Institutional structures, cultural values, and political power were all resources used within both states to create a consensus behind the new national agenda.     

步入盛年的老龄化人类学研究

伴随着全球的老龄化趋势,老龄化人类学也摆脱了以往的偏见,步入了成熟期.种种迹象表明,老龄化现象是一个需要认真加以审视的人类学研究领域.因此,老龄化人类学在全球化的视野下重新讨论了关于老年的定义,并总结了在各个社会中老年现象的文化差异和老年人的社会职能.老龄化人类学特别关注与性别相关的衰老经验,在世界范围内考察了老年人的地位,同时还关注着社会转型对于老龄化问题的影响.     

Case study as a research method to study life histories of elderly people: Some ideas and a case study of a case study

The article explores conditions under which life history interviewing, based on case study research, may become a valuable research instrument. Validity and reliability of case study as a form of qualitative research are discussed. It is shown that neither triangulation nor internal consistency methods can guarantee a single interpretation. As an example a case study of Zina, an immigrant from Russia, is used, and two explanations of her behavior are proposed. The choice between them is made through construction of a holistic image of Zina, which essentially means introduction of a new dimension—theory, worldview—as a criterion of validity and reliability of case studies. Relations of a case study to a theory are discussed, and the conclusion is made that a case study enables a researcher to utilize the most the diversity of life histories of elderly people.