Anthropological stranger: the intellectual trajectory of Hortense Powdermaker

This article investigates the life and works of Hortense Powdermaker (1896-1970). In contradistinction to the intellectual climate of her times, Powdermaker's intellectual trajectory can be characterised as eclectic, dynamic and forward thinking. Spanning nearly four decades, Powdermaker's academic career was dedicated to developing a distinct ‘anthropological vision’. Yet, although she conducted studies of culture and society that transcended structures of orthodoxy and charted alternative theoretical and methodological terrain, in turn establishing herself as a pioneer of contemporary anthropological thought, Powdermaker's work has failed to gain incorporation into wider disciplinary research agendas. Set within a sociology-of-intellectuals framework, it is argued that Powdermaker occupies a peripheral position in the history of anthropology – a position which does not adequately reflect the significance of her work – and that Powdermaker's greatest intellectual contribution was her innovative epistemology and sophisticated ‘anthropological vision’. Nonetheless, as a result of the powerful traditions and orthodox schools of thought which reigned supreme in mid-century anthropology and sociology, she was unable to exert any enduring influence on British or American social thought.     

Slackers and Zealots: Civil Service, Policy Discretion, and Bureaucratic Expertise

We investigate how aspects of "civil service" systems of personnel management interact with bureaucratic discretion to create expert bureaucracies populated by policy-motivated agents. We construct a dynamic model in which bureaucrats may invest in (relationship-specific) policy expertise and may or may not be interested in policy choices per se. The legislature makes sequentially rational grants of discretion, which serve as incentives for expertise investment and continued service only for policy-motivated bureaucrats. Bureaucratic policy preferences and the legislature's agency problem vis-à-vis bureaucracies develop endogenously in the model. Bureaucratic expertise can be supported in equilibrium only at a cost of its politicization; "neutral competence" is inconsistent with strategic incentives of bureaucrats. We identify several conditions that support the development of an expert bureaucracy in equilibrium, including security of job tenure and control over policy issues for policy-motivated bureaucrats.     

Mandibular ramus height as an indicator of human infant age

There were two goals to be achieved from the analysis of 53 skeletonized infants from the Southwest Collection at the National Museum of Natural History. The first objective was to determine whether this infant sample could be aged based on a mandibular measurement. The second was to determine which dimension of the mandible, if any, most accurately predicts infant age within a six-month range. Seven osteometric measurements were applied to each mandible. Statistical analysis determined that the individuals in the Smithsonian's Southwest Collection that were under two-years-old could be accurately aged to within six months. Out of these seven measurements the most accurate age-at-death estimates were generated based on the maximum height of the mandibular ramus. This finding can potentially aid investigators in determining the age-at-death of infants.     

The impact of past sexual experiences on attributions of responsibility for rape

Two factors potentially affect observers'attributions of responsibility to a rape survivor: how closely they identify with the survivor and how much they adhere to rape myths. To assess the impact of these factors, 157 female college students categorized by their sexual assault history and by their acceptance of rape myths, evaluated a sexual assault scenario. It was hypothesized that previously victimized participants would attribute less blame, and that those participants who self-identify as rape survivors would view the assault as rape more often than other participants. Neither hypothesis was supported. As expected, those who scored higher on the Rape Myths Acceptance Scale(RMAS) blamed the victim more and were less likely to believe rape had occurred. Only one subscale of the RMAS, Adversarial Sexual Beliefs, was consistently associated with participants'evaluation of the scenario, suggesting that this dimension may be especially important to understanding an observer's assessment of rape.