Breast‐feeding,Bottle‐feeding and Dr. Spock: The Shifting Context of Choice*

Dans l'environnement d'aujourd'hui, l'allaitement naturel représente à la fois un exemple médical idéal pour l'alimentation infantile et un exemple moral idéal pour les soins maternels. Le caractère moralement chargé de ce discours rend la notion de choix dans l'alimentation infantile particulièrement problématique et lourde de difficultés. À partir d'une analyse de contenu historique d'éditions choisies de 1946 à 1998 du célèbre manuel de soins de l'enfant du Dr Spock, l'auteure de cet article explique le processus par lequel le discours du sein contre le biberon s'est transformé au cours du dernier demi‐siècle et comment ce change‐ment a influé sur le contexte du choix à l'intérieur duquel les mères doivent décider comment nourrir leur enfant. In today's environment, breast‐feeding represents both a medical gold standard for infant feeding and a moral gold standard for mothering. The morally charged character of this discourse makes the notion of choice in infant feeding particularly problematic and fraught with difficulty. From an historical content analysis of selected editions from 1946 to 1998 of Dr. Spock's famous child‐care manual, this paper explicates the process through which the breast versus bottle discourse has shifted over the last half‐century, and how these shifts have shaped the context of choice within which mothers must make their infant‐feeding decisions.     

OPTIMAL CALL SCHEDULING FOR A TELEPHONE SURVEY

Contacting a suitable respondent at home and securing the interviewis a significant component of the typical household telephonesurvey. An optimal calling schedule minimizes the number ofcallbacks required and thus conserves resources. This articlepresents an analysis of time-of-day and day-of-week effectson the probabilities of obtaining an answered outcome and aninterviewed outcome in a large national telephone survey ofadult males. The data presented indicate that, at least forthe survey population included in this study, the chances ofobtaining an answer and conducting an interview on the firstcall are much better on weekday evenings and on weekends thanthey are during weekday daytime hours. Moreover, there is someevidence to indicate that this finding also applies to secondcalls made to first-call no-answers, at least with regard tocontacting efforts. Time-of-day and/or day-of-week effects onfirst call outcomes appear to be generally consistent with respectto both contacting and interviewing, although Sunday has a decidedlyhigher interview response rate for answered calls than do theother calling periods analyzed.     

SCHOOL QUALITY AND INFORMATION DISCLOSURE: EVIDENCE FROM THE HOUSING MARKET

In this article, we investigate the relationship between school quality and information disclosure in housing markets. When presented with the option of identifying their local public school in a real estate listing, we find that sellers with homes assigned to higher‐performing schools are more likely to provide this information. We find more evidence of selective disclosure in 2001–2002 than in 2006–2007, when the costs of gathering and disclosing information on school assignments and quality were lower. Furthermore, we find more evidence of strategic behavior among sellers of large single‐family units that presumably appeal to families with children. After controlling for school quality, information disclosure does not appear to affect housing prices. Taken together, our results support the findings of the education literature on the importance of school quality capitalization in residential real estate and they provide the first evidence of strategic information disclosure in housing markets. (JEL L15, I20, R31)     

Provisioning Responsibilities: How Relationships Shape the Work that Women Do

Cette étude documente le travail d'approvisionnement que les femmes effectuent pour elles‐mêmes et pour les autres, tout en enregistrant les contours de ce travail et en analysant les responsabilités qui y sont associées. Le concept d'approvisionnement a orienté les interviews réalisées auprès de 100 femmes. La diversité et l'étendue du travail des femmes se sont manifestées par le choix des femmes provenant de six groupes communautaires marginalisés par le revenu, la race ou l'âge dans deux provinces canadiennes. Les résultats résument les types d'activités et de stratégies d'approvisionnement que les femmes utilisent pour assumer leurs responsabilités. Parce que celles‐ci font partie des avenues de leurs relations, négocier les limites de leurs responsabilités d'approvisionnement modèle le travail quotidien des femmes et leurs possibilités de s'engager dans la société civile. This study documents the work women do to provision for themselves and others. It charts the contours of this work and examines associated responsibilities. The concept of provisioning informed interviews with 100 women. The diversity and range of women's work were surfaced by selecting women from six community groups, marginalized by income, race, and age, in two Canadian provinces. Findings summarize the types of provisioning activities and strategies women use to meet their responsibilities. Because the latter flow through pathways of relationships, negotiating the boundaries of their provisioning responsibilities shapes women's daily work and possibilities for engaging in civil society.     

Cross‐cultural civility in global civil society: transnational cooperation in Chinese NGOs

Transnational networks and organizations are often hailed as embodiments and carriers of global civil society, yet these assessments remain incomplete due to a lack of empirical research on their internal dynamics. In this article, I investigate whether or not transnational NGOs embody the cooperation across multiple social, cultural and political cleavages central to definitions of global civil society by exploring how multiple memberships are negotiated in the context of their everyday tasks. Using organizational documents and interview data with staff of two Protestant Christian development NGOs in China, I analyse how actors within these transnational organizations successfully manage their multiple memberships in national polities, national cultures, religious communities and a world culture. While multiple memberships exhibit the potential both to enable and to constrain an NGO's organizational tasks, the key to making such ties enabling are staff who act as skilful cross‐cultural brokers. Thus, the type of social capital required to render multiple memberships beneficial and not harmful to the organizations also makes these organizations true indicators of a developing global civil society.