The gender of shopping malls

Abstract

This article investigates the historical alignment between women and shopping that dates from about the middle of the nineteenth century. During this time the masculine, modernist world of urban life was separated from the feminine, domestic sphere; this led to gendered perceptions about space and place. The split between male and female worlds led to representations of space that characterised certain spaces as male and others as female. This article shows how the nineteenth-century department store became a key location of middle-class female activity and identity formation, and demonstrates how this social spatialisation has been sustained by the contemporary shopping mall. Because malls are products of consumer capitalism, they embody ideologies and myths that support this dominant ideology; notions concerning gender, class, race, and space are hence grounded in the manner in which malls conceptualise and represent space. This article sites a gendered reading of South African shopping within the discourses of gender politics, (feminist) cultural geography and (visual) cultural studies, which attempt to unveil the spatial practices of contemporary society. The findings suggest that the social perception that shopping is women's work is upheld by current social practices.     

Turning off jail turnover: do generational differences matter?

Reducing turnover in America’s jails is a significant fiscal concern and a serious organizational challenge. When determining how to improve retention, the private sector has been influenced by the literature on generational relevance. To explore whether similar cohort-driven motivators might be productively directed toward reducing jail turnover, the application of generational relevance theory to jails was empirically tested. To assess the impact of retention-related variables on various age cohorts working in America’s jails, a national survey was administered to jail staff throughout the country. Results indicate that less than half of the variables included in the analysis reached levels of statistical significance when analyzed by generational cohorts, and even among significant variables, over one-third were age-driven by nature. Although the findings do little to advance the cause of generational relevance theory, they are not without merit for jail administrators seeking to reduce turnover, pointing toward the universal appeal such intrinsic factors as treating people fairly, creating a positive work climate, and assuring that employees are listened to, have input, and are recognized, respected, and appreciated. Essentially, results indicate that reducing jail turnover is more likely to be a product of initiatives that are generically requisite than generationally relevant.     

Between Mendez and Brown: Gonzales v. Sheely (1951) and the Legal Campaign Against Segregation

On March 26, 1951, three years before the historic Brown decision, in Gonzales v. Sheeley ( 1951 ) , Judge Dave Ling of the United States District Court of Arizona ruled that the segregation of Mexican American students in a separate "Mexican School" was unconstitutional. In this article, we trace the legal arguments in Gonzales through two prior cases, Mendez v. Westminster (1946 ) and Delgado v. Bastrop (1948 ). We analyze how racialism, the social science critique of racism and legalism, shaped the arguments in the three cases. Our analysis suggests that Gonzales was a departure from Mendez and Delgado because it was the first case in which a court made an unqualified argument against segregation. The trajectory of the legal arguments across the three cases highlights how new cultural ideas about race were slowly incorporated into civil rights case law, a process that was also shaped by the institutional norms and practices of the legal system.     

Culture and Joint Gains in Negotiation

What effect does culture have on the achievement of joint gains in negotiation? Prior research has identified a number of strategies, for example sharing information about preferences and priorities, eschewing power, that lead to the development of joint gains when both negotiators are from the U.S. Are these same strategies used in other cultures? Are other strategies used? How effective are negotiators from different cultures in realizing joint gains? These are among the questions considered by the authors, whose research is based on data collected from negotiators from six different cultural backgrounds: France, Russia, Japan, Hong Kong, Brazil, and the U.S.

     

DIFFERENTIAL POLICE TREATMENT OF MALE-ON-FEMALE SPOUSAL VIOLENCE*

Recent studies of police response to violence in which men attack women with whom they have a history of shared intimacy have not addressed the issue that inspired research in the first place: the “leniency thesis” that police treat men who beat their spouses less punitively than other violent offenders. In addition, research examining the deterrent effects of various police treatments of misdemeanor domestic violence is not responsive to complaints that abused women are denied protection of law when they have been victims of serious, felony-grade, abuse by their spouses. This research analyzes the response of the Chester, Pennsylvania, police to 392 consecutively reported felony-grade assaults by persons whose identities were known to victims and police. Results confirm the leniency thesis. Tabular analysis demonstrates that arrests occurred in 13% of male-on-female spousal assaults and 28% of other assaults. Logit analysis indicates that this difference in police response is not attributable to other variables that might be expected to result in differential treatment. We conclude that the practices and results reported by research conducted in progressive police jurisdictions that volunteer to participate in studies of police response to violence against women may not be generalizable to the great majority of U.S. police agencies that have not welcomed such study.     

From rehabilitation to retribution: Examining public policy paradigms and personnel education patterns in corrections

The literature is saturated with discussions of how public policy paradigm shifts over the past several decades have affected everything from escalating prison populations to accelerating tax burdens. However, observers have not examined whether the transition from the medical model to the justice model has influenced the educational qualifications of custodial staff. Theoretically, one might assume that a treatment focus demands higher educational standards than a control orientation. The evidence presented herein largely refutes that assumption. In addition, there is some doubt as to whether advancing educational achievements will continue. Reasons for the dissonance between public policies and the educational credentials of line-level operational personnel are discussed, along with potential future implications.     

Invited Commentary: Promotion and Prevention in Youth Development: Two Sides of the Same Coin?

This commentary uses the contributions of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development as a chance to reflect on the progress of the past two decades and suggest important tasks for the future. Meaningful advances in theory now set the stage for needed work on measurement, evaluation, and understanding of contextual processes. The commentary ends with a plea for an integration of the research and programmatic approaches of promotion and prevention in order to study youth development and implement youth programs.