“The mosque and the satellite”: Media and adolescence in a Moroccan town

The exposure of young people in a semirural Moroccan town to a variety of Western, Middle Eastern, and locally produced media increased rapidly during the 1980s, a period of rapid social change. Media images included economic affluence, relatively free sexual behavior, and nontraditional social roles for females. Data collected mainly in 1982 reveal relationships between media exposure and adolescents' use of media images in their social behavior, choice of mate, and career aspirations. Male adolescents were exposed to more Western media and were able to develop a more individual taste, but both sexes appeared eager to reconcile traditional Islamic and contemporary media-relayed values.This research was carried out with support from the National Institutes of Health and The William T. Grant Foundation to Harvard University, and with a Fulbright grant to Susan S. Davis.Received Ph.D. in Anthropology from University of Michigan. Research interests include gender role development, and Moroccan society.Received, Ph.D. in Psychology from University of Michigan. Research interests include personality development and Moroccan society.     

Housing vouchers for the poor

Can the nation's social programs survive the push toward leaner appropriations, a greater use of the market, and a narrower definition of the needy? A program to provide housing assistance for the poor is proposed that fills all these requirements. Housing vouchers are found to be cheaper than other housing programs and more satisfactory for participants. Moreover, the political climate augers well for the new approach.     

Fetal death due to nonlethal maternal carbon monoxide poisoning

Fetal death due to acute carbon monoxide poisoning is rarely reported in the medical literature. Of the eight cases found in literature review, only one documented the fetal carboxyhemoglobin concentration. This paper reports a fetal death due to accidental nonlethal maternal carbon monoxide intoxication in which both maternal and fetal carboxyhemoglobin concentrations were obtained. The corrected carboxyhemoglobin concentration was 61% at the time of death in utero, while the maternal carboxyhemoglobin was measured at 7% after one hour of supplemental oxygen. The authors review the mechanisms of fetal death and emphasize the different carbon monoxide kinetics in the fetal circulation.     

A test of candidate equilibrium

Richard McKelvey predicts that candidates will converge to an equilibrium if candidates and voters maximize their utility and voters' preferences conform to stringent assumptions. Although there are discrepancies between electoral data and the requirements of the theory, an analysis of 1972 and 1976 survey data lends support to basic components of the theory. First, most voters did choose the candidate who provided the greater utility. Second, voter distribution was not asymmetrical enough to allow a candidate to win by moving away from the median toward a concentration of voters. Third, the winning strategy for a candidate was to locate at or near the median. While formal theories' predictions will not hold in their precisely stated form, the assumptions can be robust enough to offer an explanation of electoral choices.     

Life-style constraints on formal political participation—Why so few women local councillors in Britain?

Much of the literature on both formal political participation and political recruitment is static in concept. It fails to take into account that opportunities for participation may alter during one individual's lifetime. In particular, the lives of women change, often abruptly, on marriage and at childbirth. Time constraints increase and decrease as family demands heighten or lessen. The small survey of women political activists reported here suggests that flexibility of time constraints, taken together with family attitudes, are important factors in women's recruitment. Some women's expectations of local government and perceptions of its power also militate against their recruitment. Although the survey is small and limited to Labour Party activists, its findings are likely to be applicable to women in other industrialized countries.