What’s Left and Who’s Right? A Q-method Study of Individual and Contextual Influences on the Meaning of Ideological Labels

Left–right semantics are commonly employed by scholars, the media, and politicians in reference to Latin American politics. Yet, how do citizens understand these terms and what determines the meanings they assign to them? I investigate the significance of left–right labels, as potential political heuristic devices, among and across a selected group of citizens in Mexico and Argentina. Subjective understandings of the left–right semantics were tapped using Q-sort methods. Analyses of these data reveal quite different conceptions across individuals and national contexts. Further, and as hypothesized in the text, the analyses demonstrate that ideological labels (a) reference valence issues, in addition to political actors and policy stances; (b) differ across contexts in ways that correspond to elite packaging; and, (c) vary by individual partisan leanings and political sophistication.     

Changes in the welfare caseload and the health of low-educated mothers.

Declines in the welfare caseload in the late 1990s brought significant change to the lives of many low-educated, single mothers. Many single mothers left welfare and entered the labor market and others found different ways to avoid going on public assistance. These changes may have affected the health and health behaviors of these women. To date, there has been little study of this issue. In this paper, we obtained estimates of the association between changes in the welfare caseload caused by welfare policy, and four health behaviors--smoking, drinking, diet, and exercise--and four self-reported measures of health--weight, days in poor mental health, days in poor physical health, and general health status. The results of our study reveal that recent declines in the welfare caseload were associated with less binge drinking, but otherwise welfare reform had little effect on health and health behaviors.     

The Potential for Local Diversity in Implementation of the National Competition Policy

Australian governments have embarked on a major effort to improve the competitiveness of the economy by adoption of a national competition policy (NCP). The policy extends the scope of trade practices legislation to encompass the public sector and professions, modernises policy in the areas of pricing and access powers, and is intended to revitalise the microeconomic reform agenda. The intended result is an integrated national economy, more uniform and consistent business regulation across the country and improved levels of competitiveness. But, there is an inherent tension between the imperatives for harmonisation, uniformity and reduced regulation on the one hand and tendencies for local diversity and increased regulation on the other. This article explores this tension with illustrations taken from three key aspects of the policy — opportunities for institutional diversity, treatment of the public interest and the prognosis for an integrated national, competitive market. The potential for each jurisdiction in Australia to take diverse and problematic approaches to the implementation of competition policy is then re-examined through the mechanism of a specialised case study involving the regulation of access to gas pipelines in Western Australia.     

Infanticide

The 1922 and 1938 Infanticide Acts ameliorated the judicial process with regard to women who kill their babies. It allowed both a charge other than murder and a less severe disposal than would be normally warranted by the offence, in cases where there was a mental imbalance attributable to the birth. It is shown that in recent years convictions for infanticide have been falling, and that this is true even when the decreasing birth rate is taken into account. This finding is discussed in the context of all infant homicides where the principal suspect is the mother. An examination of recent legislative proposals demonstrates the illogicality pertaining to the offence of infanticide and it is noted that there is no explanation given as to why mental disturbance related to childbirth should have different legal consequences from mental disturbance brought about by any other cause.The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and are not to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Department of Health & Social Security or of the Home Office. We would like to thank the Home Office Statistical Department for their much valued help in providing the statistics of homicide victims.