POLARIZATION,SECULARIZATION, OR DIFFERENCES AS USUAL? The Denominational Cleavage in U.S. Social Attitudes Since the 1970s

Scholarly debates over modernization and social change in the late twentieth century have raised far-reaching questions about the possible consequences for religious group conflict and differences in behavior, identity, and opinion. Three general theoretical interpretations—polarization, secularization, and stable influence—have been asserted in the relevant literatures, yet which interpretation might best capture the effects of religious group memberships during the past three decades remains unresolved. We seek to advance research and debate on the changing influence of religion by investigating questions about the magnitude of, and trends in, religious groups differences in attitudes toward issues relating to gender, abortion, and sexuality during the past three decades. Building from past research, our analyses make use of three innovations: we apply a new typology of religious group memberships; we evaluate main versus interaction effect models to gauge evidence of change in the magnitude of religious influence; and we use indices that enable comparisons of the magnitude of group-based differences in attitudes across distinct issues and over time. Of the seven different issues we analyze, two reveal evidence of growing group-based differences, while the remaining five are characterized by a pattern of stability. We discuss the significance of these results for understanding limits of secularization theory, considering in conclusion how our results contribute to ongoing debate over the effects of religious group memberships.     

Suggestions for management training of residents

In addition to having medical expertise, physicians must possess managerial skills to deal with the ever-changing business environment of the practice of medicine. This article addresses the need for management training of physicians and calls for management training during residency and medical school. It also describes one residency program's efforts to provide comprehensive management training to its residents in pathology.     

Call My Bluff: Multiple Interpretations of an Organizational Process

This paper attempts to illustrate the value of interpreting organizational processes from a variety of perspectives. It demonstrates that this approach reflects the natural richness of organization and avoids the rather blinkered search for single-paradigm explanations. It does not seek to offer the answer, but rather some possible insights. By combining both actor and researcher frames, it sheds light upon a particular process of social interaction within an organization. Both the context, an NHS trust hospital, and the content, a significant change scenario, brings richness and relevance to the debate.
The paper outlines the macro and micro context before focusing on the interpretative methodological approach. The research involved collecting and analysing over thirty hours of taped, semi-structured interview discourse with senior and middle management and some junior staff. After describing the change initiative, an attempt at multi-skilling and the response of recipient actors to the proposals, the paper outlines three readings which seek to explain the events that occurred. The reader is invited to play the game 'Call my Bluff' and to choose the scenario that represents the most plausible explanation. The three interpretative frames employed are a managerial, a cultural and a political perspective. The paper concludes by raising some important issues in research, organizational change and the NHS.     

How Latinos Are Transforming the United States: Research, Theory, and Policy

The United States is entering a new era, a period marked by some important demographic changes in the composition of the population, most especially significant increases in the Latino and Latino immigrant segments of society. These population shifts require corresponding interpersonal, organizational, and structural changes. The present issue bridges research and theory across disciplines and includes studies incorporating a variety of methodologies to examine these important areas. These articles begin to fill some of the voids where a systematic and robust corpus of knowledge is lacking. The contributions address topics ranging from issues of identity and interpersonal relations to pressing matters of educational significance to general approaches to navigating the cultural transitions that mark fluid transnational adaptations. Finally, each contribution delineates the policy implications resulting from the processes and literatures that are examined.     

‘Always up for the craic’: young Irish professional migrants narrating ambiguous positioning in contemporary Britain

This paper explores the experiences of recent Irish highly qualified migrants who, having left post-Celtic Tiger Ireland, arrive in post-‘Peace Agreement’ Britain. Our paper contributes to understanding the enduring salience of place and how expressions of identities are framed by specific place-based factors as well as by temporality. We explore how these migrants’ narratives, as ‘successful’ professionals, are framed by complex intersections of historical legacies and changing socio-economic and intra-EU migration patterns. We consider the extent to which residual anti-Irish stereotypes remain, or indeed have re-emerged since the economic recession, and how these negative perceptions may impact on expressions of Irishness. Focusing on accents and other markers of identity, we discuss how Irishness may be constructed through a spectrum of visibilities at different times and in different places. This spatial-temporal perspective may help to go beyond a simplistic, one dimensional ethnic lens by highlighting the contextualities of identities.