Circuits of schooling: A sociological exploration of parental choice of school in social class contexts

Parental choice of school is one of the main platforms of government education policy and is the centre piece of the Parents Charter. But sociological understanding of choice and choice-making is woefully underdeveloped. This paper draws on an ESRC study of market forces in education to explore social class variations in choice of school in one specific locality. The complexity of choice-making is portrayed using data from interviews with parents and it is argued that middle-class parents are taking full advantage of ‘the market’ to sustain or re-assert their class advantages.     

Adolescent Weblog Use: Risky or Protective?

Weblogs, or personal websites updated in time-based fashions, are common media used for expressing thoughts and networking socially online (Lenhart et al. in Teens and social media, Pew Internet and American Life Project, Washington, DC, 2007). This qualitative study describes the content of 100 adolescent weblog users’ communications through a risk and resilience framework. These users primarily utilized weblogs for community building, as most of their postings involved communications designed to foster and nurture relationships with peers via the weblog. The majority of the content posted involved the discussion of common prosocial behaviors, such as doing homework, hanging out with friends, or planning for events such as dances. A surprisingly small amount of weblog content included text about risk factors and related problem behaviors. Findings are described in relation to adolescent use of the Internet. Specific implications are drawn for social workers and other professionals involved in youth work.     

Review

For the time being: ethnography of everyday life By Richard Quinney. New York: State University of New York Press, 1998. 198 pages. $20.95 paper. ISBN: 079143852x.     

Physical distribution: A suitable case for treatment

Physical distribution is a key, but neglected, function of business. Yet it is an area which offers tremendous opportunities for cost reduction, improved efficiency and better customer service. All these can contribute to increased profitability. Finding the means to achieve these improvements need not be a daunting task or one which requires sophisticated techniques. This article shows how ordinary solutions can be found and implemented by ordinary companies; how physical distribution should take its place as the important cost centre that it is; and the four major areas where cost savings can be most readily effected.     

罗莎·卢森堡与马克思的历史辩证法

在对罗莎·卢森堡的最新研究中,何萍通过分析卢森堡对马克思历史辩证法的阐释和创新,认为卢森堡对资本主义世界体系的预言、对资本积累环境中东西方国家关系的论述、对社会主义民主的理解成为人们思考当今人类历史发展问题重要的思想资源,卢森堡对马克思思想富有创新的发展,是马克思主义发展史上的重大革新。保尔·泽瑞姆卡从政治经济学视角比较了卢森堡与马克思对这一问题的不同思考,认为卢森堡的《资本积累论》是在马克思之后,这一领域研究中所迈出的重要一步。赵凯荣具体分析了卢森堡与列宁的多次争论,正面回答了如何看待马克思主义体系内部论争这样一个重大理论和现实的问题。奥图卡·鲁本以大量档案资料为依据,记述了卢森堡对列宁中央集权政党观念的批评,认为这仅仅是两人在如何实现社会主义问题上的分歧。     

Middle class fractions, childcare and the 'relational' and 'normative' aspects of class practices

The emphasis in class research remains on the structural aspects of class, class processes are neglected. This paper focuses upon some relational and normative aspects of class through an examination of social divisions produced and constructed within middle class families’ choices of childcare. Working with data from two contrasting settings in London (Battersea and Stoke Newington) three issues are addressed in the paper; the extent to which childcare arrangements both substantively and structurally position children differently within long term educational careers; the ways in which the use of choice in a market system of child care and education, works to produce patterns of social closure that quietly discriminate via the collectivist criterion of class and racial membership; and the ways in which child care choices also point‐up and perpetuate subtle distinctions and tensions of values and lifestyle within the middle class, between class factions. Concepts drawn from the work of Bourdieu are deployed throughout.     

Econometric analysis and managerial decision making

Econometric analysis is concerned with the quantitative relationships between economic variables and it can provide an important input into the decision making process of managers. Typically econometrics differs from other apsects of management science in that it considers problems primarily, though not exclusively, from a background of economics rather than of other disciplines and behaviour is usually dealt with at higher levels of data aggregation than the individual firm.This paper considers some applications of typical econometrics to the general area of managerial decision making, where primarily the techniques have a role to play in assisting the general process of data analysis. Initially discussion is pointed towards the use of the analysis for predictive purposes and the contrast with time series methods. Subsequently examples are presented where the objective is to obtain a better understanding of individual economic relationships that aim to be important inputs into the decision making process, for example cost and revenue analysis. Finally, an example is given of how these ideas contribute more generally to the activity of model building for the firm as a whole both for the purpose of forecasting and policy simulation.     

Rational Suggestions for Pre-Marital Counseling

Pre-marital counseling purports to help clients discover and challenge unrealistic expectations they may have for themselves and for one another. Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) is ideally suited to locating and correcting irrational thoughts that precipitate personal and interpersonal conflict. In order to demonstrate the utility of RET pre-marital counseling, this article presents examples of specific irrational beliefs which clinicians can use to help couples develop and maintain intimacy with minimal conflict. Mental health practitioners are encouraged to apply these principles to other specific irrationalities they may discover in their own work experience.     

The effects of physical activity and sedentary behavior on cognitive health in older adults

Physical activity has been shown to be positively associated with cognitive health, but the mechanisms underlying the benefits of physical activity on cognitive health are unclear. The present study simultaneously examined two hypotheses using structural equation modeling (SEM). The depression-reduction hypothesis states that depression suppresses cognitive ability and that physical activity alleviates dysphoric mood and thereby improves cognitive ability. The social-stimulation hypothesis posits that social contact, which is often facilitated by socially laden physical activities, improves cognitive functioning by stimulating the nervous system. Sedentary behavior in the absence of physical activity is expected to exert an inverse relationship on cognitive health through each of these hypotheses. Community-dwelling elders (N = 158) were administered a variety of measures of cognition, depression, social support, and physical activity. SEM techniques provided partial support for the social-stimulation hypothesis and depression-reduction hypothesis. Implications for treating depression and improving cognitive functioning are discussed.