ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE EURO: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY BASED ON THE GERMAN SOCIO-ECONOMIC PANEL (SOEP)

This paper investigates changing attitudes towards the euro over time in Germany using longitudinal micro-data from the German Socio Economic Panel Study. We observe that a large part of the German population was worried about the new currency both before and after its introduction. Social psychological theories provide insight into these attitudes. Concerns regarding the euro are apparently connected with problems in handling the new currency and with the press coverage of price rises. For these reasons, future EMU member states should prepare their populations better for these challenges.     

The Man of Hobbes: Masculinity and Wartime Necessity

Abstract The primary focus of this article is on the wartime (1939–1945) necessity of the British Army intervening into the personal lives of soldiers in order to maximise military effectiveness. Analysis of administrative discourse on masculinity suggests that the Army was only too well aware of the fact that men approximated the exemplary masculinity of the combat soldier to greatly varying degrees and that, in practice the Army worked not only to achieve a division of labour among servicemen which reflected a range of military masculinities, but also to find a means of dealing with the fears and anxieties of all men which often centred on death or marital infidelity. It suggests that the necessity of such state intervention into the private lives of soldiers was contingent on men's emotional investment in the both the gender order and the particular relations of trust which bound them to it.     

Eligibility Criteria for Cash Assistance for Older and Disabled People in Hungary: A Model for Countries in Passage from a Planned to a Market Economy

Correspondence to Ruth Landau, Paul Baerwald School of Social Work, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel. Summary The political and economic changes presently taking place inthe Central and Eastern European countries are accompanied byprofound social changes for which, in terms of personal well-being,older and disabled people pay the highest price. Having lostthe security of a minimum standard of living, many are exposedto poverty in its broadest sense. The collapse of governmentalarrangements to provide for the minimum needs of this populationled to the establishment of non-governmental voluntary socialagencies. Unfortunately, these are characterized by limitedresources on the one hand, and lack of trained and skilled socialwork staff on the other. Based on the experience of a Hungariannon-governmental social agency, a model for eligibility criteriafor cash assistance under these circumstances, taking vulnerabilityas a key concept, is suggested for the benefit and dignity ofthose most in need.     

'More Myth than Reality': the Independent Artisan in Nineteenth Century Sheffield

Abstract In the context of an industrial revolution dominated by technological change and factory-based production, nineteenth century Sheffield has been perceived as differing from the norm. Small workshops, numerous outworkers and the retention of handicraft skills have charcterised the cutlery trades until the present century and these economic structures are said to have produced a backward looking but independent and robust artisan class. In this paper we argue that the robust artisan was more a creature of myth than reality. We point to the critical role of the factor in the nineteenth century cutlery trade for an understanding of the slide of the little master into dependence.