Causes and consequences of juvenile crime and violence: Public attitudes and question-order effect

This article examines issues in juvenile justice that include public opinion about the causes and the consequences of juvenile crime and violence. Data for the study were collected in 1996 by means of a telephone survey of 492 respondents from Shelby County, Tennessee. The study explores the relationships between attitudes about juvenile crime and sociodemographic factors. Results are consistent with national surveys aimed at assessing public attitudes toward issues in juvenile justice. Finally, the article discusses how survey instrumentation may influence responses regarding the issues surrounding juvenile crime and violence.     

Sex Workers and Cultural Policy: Mapping the Issues and Actors in Thailand

This article deals with the deeply controversial side of cultural tourism in mapping the position of the sex industry. In doing so, it places sex tourism in two epistemic contexts: one context expands the notion of cultural policies, the other notes the implicit and explicit origins and effects of cultural policies affecting sex work, although these positions are not mutually exclusive. Sex tourism, we argue, poses a particular challenge to the understandings embedded in these contexts. The sex industry points us to the limits of cultural policies, both in terms of expanding the scope of cultural industries and also in documenting their effects. So far, while we expand the list of cultural industries, the sex industry remains as the industry that must not speak its name. Officials do not want to name it; neither do they do much to stop it. Naming and mapping sex tourism is then a useful place to start. For empirical substantiation, Thailand is our case study. We document the cultural and economic importance of sex work. In doing so, we also remain sensitive to the context of racism, stigma, trafficking, and HIV/AIDS issues that intersect sex work.     

Ministers and Top Officials in the Dutch Core Executive: Living Together,Growing Apart?

This paper reports the results of a comprehensive, qualitative (100 interviews; 9 interactive workshops) study among Dutch ministers and top departmental officials. Its key question is how both groups conceive of their respective roles and working relationships. This question became a high‐profile issue in the late 1990s after a series of overt clashes between senior political and bureaucratic executives. To what extent does the old, Weberian set of norms and expectations concerning the interaction between politics and bureaucracy still govern the theories and interaction patterns in use among ministers and top officials within the core executive? What new role conceptions are in evidence, and how can we explain their occurrence and diffusion in the Dutch core executive?     

‘Me and My Drank:’ Exploring the Relationship Between Musical Preferences and Purple Drank Experimentation

“Purple drank” is a label typically applied to mixtures of codeine cough syrup with soda, although it has also been applied to mixtures of over-the-counter cough syrups and alcohol. This novel drug formulation was first popularized in the Houston, Texas rap music scene in the 1990’s, and since then references to purple drank have become common in rap and hip-hop songs, but remained virtually absent in other musical genres. Prior research has found that musical preferences can have an influence on choice and frequency of drug use. The goal of the present study is to examine the relationship between musical preferences and experimentation with purple drank. Self-reported information about musical preferences, substance use, and demographic characteristics were collected from 2,349 students at a large university in the southeastern United States. An analysis of lifetime purple drank and other drug use by musical preferences reveals that those who prefer rap/hip-hop music and rock/alternative have the highest risk for reporting purple drank use. Further, this relationship far exceeds the associations between musical preferences and other drugs. Results from logistic regression analyses indicate males, other drug users, and those that prefer rap/hip-hop music have a significantly higher likelihood of using purple drank.     

Communication,Politics, and the Notions of Martin Spencer

This essay calls attention to the work of sociologist Martin Spencer, who once offered an uncommon understanding of political communications in the United States. According to Spencer, public discourse not only propels action but constitutes action in and of itself on occasion. This means that political rhetoric can have both an injunctive effect on political actors and can also stand as a kind of completed “action” in its own right. The importance of these principles is examined here, and some of their implications are delineated.     

To love the republic: The patriotism of benevolence and its rhetorical obligation

Until the last century, most political philosophers considered patriotism to be a virtue, and an essential characteristic of the good state. From Cicero to Adam Smith, the active love of one's nation was also considered a duty, especially for public servants. They gave serious consideration to the necessary characteristics of a proper patriotism. But in modern times, serious questions have been raised about patriotism, because so many crimes have been committed in the name of one's nation. This has led scholars to distinguish between patriotism and its negative counterpart, nationalism. Our concern with the problem of nationalism has led us to neglect the positive benefits of patriotism. Using the United States as the example, this article argues that patriotism is a virtue, provided that it is the patriotism of benevolence: a patriotism based upon the love of others. Furthermore, it is also argued that patriots have a rhetorical obligation to persuade others to love the Republic. In an age where the affectionate ties among citizens are loosening, the importance of the patriotism of benevolence is even greater, as is the corresponding rhetorical obligation.