M. L. Darling and the Punjab peasant in prosperity and debt: A fresh look

More than half a century ago M. L. Darling contended that the volume and burden of debt in the Punjab province of British India were higher for the more prosperous farmers or areas. This thesis has enjoyed considerable intellectual respect over the years. The present article attempts a closer inspection of Darling's data and argues that though the prosperous farmers had a larger volume of debt its incidence was lower. The findings of the All‐India Rural Credit Survey (1951–52) corroborate this contention.     

Money as Punishment: Neoliberal Budgetary Politics and the Fine

ABSTRACT

In August of 2014, a young Indigenous woman, known as Ms. Dhu, died in the lock-up of the South Hedland Police Station after being detained for unpaid fines totalling $3622. Her death drew attention to the fact that fine defaulters – most of whom are Indigenous and female – are once again being imprisoned at astonishing rates in Western Australia, after the practice was more or less discontinued elsewhere. What does the nexus between the fine, incarceration and forced labour tell us about the relationship between money and penality in contemporary neoliberal/neoconservative states? Pointing to the combined influence of the Chicago and Virginia schools of neoliberalism on Australian public policy, I suggest that the recent expansion of monetary sanctions must be understood as a way of transferring the debt burdens of the state downwards, onto those classified as excessive ‘users’ of public services. Not only does the fine blur the boundaries between civil and criminal law, it also harnesses punishment to the fiscal imperatives of an increasingly austere, deficit-averse state.     

Adolescent Marital Expectations and Romantic Experiences: Associations With Perceptions About Parental Conflict and Adolescent Attachment Security

This study tested associations between adolescent perceptions of interparental conflict, adolescent attachment security with parents, and adolescent marital expectations and romantic experiences. Participants were 96 early adolescent females from 2 parent families. Insecurity was examined as a mediator of the association between negative perceptions of parental conflict and romantic outcomes. Results supported the mediation model in which adolescents' negative perceptions of parental conflict was associated with insecure attachment with parents, which was in turn associated with negative marital expectations and romantic experiences. Implications for understanding how parent-adolescent and interparental variables influence adolescent marital expectations and romantic experiences are discussed.