‘Developmental’ policies and rent: comparing Russia and Sub-Saharan Africa

The article evaluates the concept of ‘developmental’ policies, comparing post-communist Russia and Sub-Saharan African (SSA) states. Asian ‘developmental state’ policies have been identified as developmental because of successful industrial policies and leaders’ ability to implement them. The comparison shows that while these features have been absent in SSA, notably due to the trapping effects of commodity dependence, Russia exhibits an original dualistic model where the negative impact of commodity dependence (such as the creation of rents) is compatible with developmental industrial policies. The evidence presented demonstrates the importance of constraints that stem from both economic and political structures, in turn explaining variations in developmental policy effectiveness.     

The Difference a Job Makes: Licit and Illicit Work Experiences and Aspirations at a Transitional Housing Facility for Women Leaving the Sex Industry

This investigation establishes a baseline understanding of how women exiting the sex industry understand the economic options available to them by reviewing their work experiences in the legal economy, histories of sex industry involvement, and their aspirations for legal work upon entering a yearlong residential program offered at a transitional housing facility. Specifically, it explores how prior work experience, type of sex industry involvement, and demographic characteristics such as race and age intersect with women’s legal work aspirations upon leaving the sex industry. Analysis indicates that women’s occupational choices are limited by prior experiences within the formal and informal economies and that women of color and poor women of all ethno-racial backgrounds are particularly likely to face disadvantages in both economic sectors. Findings accordingly indicate that rehabilitative settings must consider whether the career pathways they create lead to economic self-sufficiency and reduce the likelihood that women will return to life situations they express a desire to leave.     

Reproductive behavior and contraceptive practices in comparative perspective,Switzerland (1955–1970)

This paper focuses on marital birth control practices c. 1955–1970, i.e. before the era of widespread uniform adoption of modern contraceptives, in two nearby Swiss cities characterized by different religious cultures. It asks how responsibility for contraceptive practices was shared within the marital couple, whether it was the object of discussion between spouses, how the choice of a method of contraception was made and how religious culture affected these elements. This paper uses written sources reflecting medical authorities' views about birth control and 48 semi-structured interviews with elderly persons from the lower middle and working classes. The results point to three key conclusions. Firstly, the findings show a joint responsibility of both spouses for contraceptive practices. Secondly, the paper shows that religious culture plays a key role in the access to means of birth control. Specifically, Fribourg gynecologists were reluctant to prescribe modern methods. Thirdly, the results underline that a combination of methods are used throughout reproductive life, depending on the spouses' desire to have additional children and on men and women's individual attitudes toward birth control methods.     

‘She’s White and She’s Hot,So She Can’t Be Guilty’: Female Criminality,Penal Spectatorship,and White Protectionism

Despite mainstream criminology’s burgeoning interest in issues of race, class, and gender, very little scholarship has examined whiteness and its attendant privileges in understanding public discourse on criminal offenders. This paper examines the role of penal spectatorship as a discursive mechanism by which white, female offenders are protected in public spaces by virtue of their racial and gender identity. Using a content analysis of comments posted on the mug shot images of white women on a popular ‘mug shot website,’ we find that these women are viewed as victims of circumstance deserving of empathy and redemption rather than as criminals. We offer ‘white protectionism’ as a means by which whites extend privilege and protection to other whites who transverse the boundaries of whiteness through criminality to guard against ‘deviant’ or ‘criminal’ designations. These findings add to our understandings of penal spectatorship as yet another tool of white supremacy operating in the Post-Civil Rights era of mass incarceration.     

The piper’s tune

Caroline Poplin is a graduate of Yale Law School and practiced law for more than a decade. She then attended the University of Rochester Medical School and is now a practicing internist in Virginia. This is her first article in SOCIETY.     

The case of two trials: Father-son incest

Although efforts for investigating and prosecuting child abuse cases have increased little attention has been paid to juror response to child testimony. This paper, developed as part of a pilot study to test a questionnaire for polling jurors' opinions in child sexual abuse cases, analyzes a case in which there was a reversal of outcome at retrial. Poll results of the jurors' opinions suggest the need for testimony from law enforcement and child sexual abuse experts to explain children's perception, memory, and recall of a reported experience.