Incumbency Effects under Proportional Representation: Leaders and Backbenchers in the Postwar Italian Chamber of Deputies

We study incumbency effects for individual legislators from two political parties (Christian Democracy and the Italian Socialist Party) in Italy's lower house of representatives over 10 legislatures (1948–92) elected using open‐list proportional representation. Our analysis finds no reelection advantage for the average incumbent legislator. Only a tiny elite in each party successfully creates an incumbency advantage. We find incumbents advantaged for reselection by their political party. We interpret reselection advantage as a party loyalty premium. Our study depicts a political environment monopolized by party leaders who reward party loyalty but hamper legislators in appealing directly to voters.     

Anand Patwardhan: Social Activist and Dedicated Filmmaker

In this essay—an earlier version of which was delivered as a lecture at a session cosponsored by Critical Asian Studies and the Alliance of Scholars Concerned about Korea (ASCK) at the annual conference of the Association for Asian Studies, San Diego, California, on 23 March 2013—the author argues the need to go beyond the current state of perilous confrontation and volatility on the Korean Peninsula and examine how and why the current division of the peninsula into North and South has evolved into a “division system.” The author contends that “civic participation” (broadly defined to include business entrepreneurs, corporations, NGOs, and private citizens) is necessary to deal with the durable enormity of the division system. He calls this body of nonstate actors the “third party” (the first two parties being those of North and South Korea). Going beyond strictly Korean affairs, this third party, the author concludes, can play a crucial role in creating a larger framework of East Asian cooperation and solidary.     

Definitions of and beliefs about wife abuse among undergraduate students of social work

The article focuses on definitions of and beliefs about wife abuse among undergraduate social work students in Israel. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires. The vast majority of students in Study 1 acknowledged acts thought to constitute wife assault and disapproved of a husband's use of force against his wife. The majority of students in Study 2 did not justify wife abuse nor tend to believe that battered women benefit from beating, although they tended to blame the violent husband for his behavior. Significant amounts of the variance in dependent variables were explained by the students' marital role expectations (Study 1) and their attitudes toward women and sex role stereotypes (Study 2). The students' year of study and participation in family violence or wife abuse courses did not contribute toward explaining the variance in their beliefs. Results are discussed in light of the students' patriarchal ideology, and implications for future research are presented.     

A NOT SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY: THE FOSTER YOUTH TRANSITION FROM ADOLESCENCE INTO ADULTHOOD

Every year close to 25,000 youth age out of our foster care system; without the anchor of a family, former foster youth disproportionately join the ranks of the homeless, incarcerated, and unemployed. While the average age of financial independence in America is twenty‐six years of age, we presume that foster youth can somehow attain financial and emotional independence by age eighteen. Instead, these adolescents are woefully unprepared for independent adult life, and when they falter, too often no one is there to provide support or guidance. As a result, former foster youth are ten times more likely to be arrested than youth of the same age, race, and sex and one in four youth who age out of foster care will end up in jail within the first two years after leaving care. This article will discuss strategies for changing these disheartening outcomes for transitioning foster youth, including breaking down our silos and collectively taking charge of the lives of children in our care; keeping a watchful eye on data and outcomes and using that information to guide our actions; ensuring that the voices of youth are an ever‐present part of decisions and processes that will chart their future; and educating ourselves about best practices and new approaches. This article also discusses new opportunities that now exist to support foster youth as they move into adulthood, including new federal legislation that—for the first time—will allow states to support foster youth beyond age eighteen. Finally, this article provides a backdrop for this Special Issue and summarizes the insightful articles and innovative thinking contained herein.     

REFLECTIONS ON THE STATE OF CONSENSUS-BASED DECISION MAKING IN CHILD WELFARE

Consensus approaches to child protection decision making such as mediation and family group conferencing have become increasingly widespread since first initiated about 25 years ago. They address but are also constrained by paradoxes in the child protection system about commitments to protecting children and to family autonomy. In a series of surveys, interviews, and dialogues, mediation and conferencing researchers and practitioners discussed the key issues that face their work: clarity about purpose, system support, family empowerment, professional qualifications, and coordination among different types of consensus-building efforts. Consensus-based decision making in child protection will continue to expand and grow but will also continue to confront these challenges.     

Der maximal Fremde. Überlegungen zu einer transhumanen Handlungstheorie

The article broadens the previous scope of social and cultural science theories of otherness by postulating the theoretic-analytic border category of the “strangest stranger”. This category shall serve various scientific disciplines to identify, reconstruct and understand interactions of humans and non-human actors, such as domesticated and wild animals, robots and aliens, or ghosts, angels and demons. Following a brief overview of contemporary social science theories of otherness the new border category of otherness will be theoretically specified. Subsequently, three practical examples (dolphins in a therapeutic context, aliens in SETI-research, and demons in catholic exorcism) will demonstrate scientific, religious but also secular contexts in which this new category is of analytical importance.     

African–American Parents’ Racial and Ethnic Socialization and Adolescent Academic Grades: Teasing Out the Role of Gender

This study examined the relationship of racial and ethnic socialization and academic achievement in a sample of 218 African American adolescents (grades 9–12; 52% girls) attending a public high school in the northeastern United States. Researchers were particularly interested in whether adolescent gender moderated the relationship between racial and ethnic socialization and academic grades. Results indicated that aspects of ethnic socialization, African American cultural values and African American heritage were linked to adolescent grades. Additionally, adolescent gender was found to moderate the association between these socialization variables and grades. The findings also suggest that socialization provided by paternal caregivers around African American cultural values and African American heritage may have differential effects for academic grades than the socialization messages provided by maternal caregivers. Information generated from this study broadens the understanding of socialization factors that can facilitate positive academic outcomes in African American youth and has practical implications for parents and educators.