The house of refuge movement: Humanitarian gesture or simple exploitation?

The 1800s marked the early development of a new approach to child welfare in the United States. Beginning with the house of refuge movement (1820s) and culminating with the creation of the juvenile court (1899), this developmental period has been traditionally praised as an age of humanitarian reform. Sociological research has suggested, however, that the creation of the juvenile court served mainly as a new form of social control designed to protect the power and privilege of the middle and upper classes while furthering the exploitation of the lower class. Unfortunately this research has treated only the reforms of the middle to late 1800s. The present study seeks to contribute to this literature by illuminating the early reforms. More specifically, an examination of the New York, Boston, and Philadelphia houses of refuge reveals that the exploitation thesis provides a more complete explanation of the emergence of these houses than does the humanitarian position.     

Health Risk,Inequality Indexes,and Environmental Justice

Inequality indexes have long been used to analyze distributions of income. Studies have recently begun to use these tools to evaluate the equity of distributions of environmental harm. In response, issues have been raised regarding the appropriateness of using income-based measures in the context of undesirable outcomes. We begin from first principles, identifying a theoretical preference structure under which income-based tools can be appropriate for ranking distributions of “bads.” While some critiques of existing applications are valid, they are not a justification for rejecting the approach altogether. Instead, we show how standard income-based measures can be adjusted to accommodate bad outcomes. Rather than inequality indexes, we argue that equally distributed equivalents (EDEs) are well-suited for this purpose since they account for levels and dispersion of outcome distributions. The Kolm–Pollak EDE is particularly useful, having the advantage of consistently evaluating both bads and their complementary goods (e.g., mortality risk and survival probability). As an illustration, we show how these tools can inform an environmental justice analysis of a proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule addressing indoor air pollution.     

Marx on ideology,power and force

As Marx matured as a thinker, he became more acutely aware of the obstinate hold which capitalism exercised upon society. Consequently, he was forced to complement his theory of revolution with a theory of social structures. In this paper, I aim to explore Marx's ideas on this point as they emerge in three of his more mature works, i.e.,Capital, Grundrisse, and theTheories of Surplus Value. My enterprise is guided by my convictions that (i) the notions of ideology, power and force are still central to debates in modern social theory, and (ii) Marx's development of these notions has the intrinsic merit of providing a useful and sophisticated contribution to such debates.     

VIOLENCE,MORALITY, AND TELEVISION COMMERCIALS

It is popularly believed that television violence and declining morality are important causes of crime. Nearly all of the research in this area, however, has centered attention on programs, both news and entertainment. Commercials have generally been neglected. The present study sought to remedy this oversight . Findings from a content analysis of 1,699 commercials show that only a very small percentage of commercials contain violence. The findings also indicate that a low number of commercials exhibit behavior or attitudes that run contrary to conventional moral standards. It is theorized that although advertisers sponsor programs that feature violence or morally controversial themes, they do not wish to closely associate such content with the products or services they seek to sell.     

What Can Decision Analysis Do for Invasive Species Management?

Decisions about management of invasive species are difficult for all the reasons typically addressed by multiattribute decision analysis: uncertain outcomes, multiple and conflicting objectives, and many interested parties with differing views on both facts and values. This article illustrates how the tools of multiattribute analysis can improve management of invasive species, with an emphasis on making explicit the social values and preferences that must inform invasive species management. Risk assessment protocols developed previously for invasive species management typically suffer from two interacting flaws: (1) separating risk assessment from risk management, thus disrupting essential connections between the social values at stake in invasive species decisions and the scientific knowledge necessary to predict the likely impacts of management actions, and (2) relying on expert judgment about risk framed in qualitative and value-laden terms, inadvertently mixing the expert's judgment about what is likely to happen with personal preferences. Using the values structuring and probability-modeling elements of formal decision analysis can remedy these difficulties and make invasive species management responsive to both good science and public values. The management of feral pigs in Hawaiian ecosystems illustrates the need for such an integrated approach.     

Are dual and single exposures differently associated with clinical levels of trauma symptoms? Examining physical abuse and witnessing intimate partner violence among young children

A significant portion of children living in the United States have experienced trauma. Informed by the developmental traumatology model, we explored the effects of physical abuse and witnessing intimate partner violence (IPV) on childhood trauma symptoms. This study utilizes a convenience sample of 580 high‐risk children between 3 and 12 years who received services from one‐child advocacy centre during a 12‐month period. We performed a series of binary logistic regression analyses to examine if physical abuse, exposure to IPV, and dual exposure (i.e., both physical abuse and IPV) are distinctly associated with six trauma symptoms, including anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress (PTS), dissociation, anger, and sexual concerns. The results indicated that dual exposure was predictive of all trauma symptoms, except for dissociation. Additionally, physical abuse was associated with PTS, anger, and sexual concerns, whereas exposure to IPV was associated with depression, PTS, and sexual concerns. Research and implications for practitioners working with young children are discussed.