Family Leave Policies and Labor Market Segregation in Germany: Reinvention or Reform of the Male Breadwinner Model?1

abstract The historically dominant male breadwinner and female carer model in West Germany has resulted in comparably low female employment rates and a gender‐structured labor market. Since the 1970s, the decline of traditional patterns and sectors of male employment has been accompanied by the expansion of the female‐dominated service sector. Supplemented by women's higher educational attainment, a pluralism of household forms, and German unification, the result has been constant growth in female employment. With more working mothers, the question of combining work and family has provoked policy responses that, in West Germany, have mainly centered on family leave policies. In addressing the question of whether these policies have resulted in a more equitable sharing of paid and family work, this article presents longitudinal empirical data on the working patterns of women entitled to different forms of family leave. These show how changing regulations have led to the institutionalization of a “baby break” for younger women and to the promotion of labor market exclusion.     

Institutions and Ideology: Sources of Opposition to Federal Regulation of Child Care Services in Canada and the United States

This article explores the impact of federal political arrangements and conservative ideology on provisions for regulating child care services embodied in the major proposals for child care legislation under consideration in Canada and the United States during the late 1980s. The initial contrast between the non-centralized approach taken in Bill C-144 (Canada) and the more centralized approach originally proposed in the Act for Better Child Care Services (United States) was a function of differences in the two countries' federal systems. However, conservative preferences and pressures contributed to the eventual adoption of a non-centralized approach in both countries. Federalism facilitated this expression of conservative ideology by providing supporters of a non-centralized approach with resources (constitutional and institutional) with which to pursue their policy preference, and a political rhetoric with which it could be justified.     

INTERROGATING INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE: ACTORS' ATTITUDES TO COMPETITION AND COOPERATION IN COMMISSIONING HEALTH SERVICES IN ENGLAND

Since the beginning of the 1990s the public healthcare system in England has been subject to reforms. This has resulted in a structurally hybrid system of public service with elements of the market. Utilizing a theory of new institutionalism, this article explores National Health Service (NHS) managers' views on competition and cooperation as mechanisms for commissioning health services. We interrogate the extent of institutional change in the NHS by examining managers' understanding of the formal rules, normative positions and frameworks for action under the regime of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. Interviews with managers showed an overall preference for cooperative approaches, but also evidence of marketization in the normative outlook and actions. This suggests that hybridity in the NHS has already spread from structure and rules to other institutional pillars. The study showed that managers were adept at navigating the complex policy environment despite its inherent contradictions.     

Tasks for the Applied Sociologist in a Court of Law

Social problems have preoccupied American sociologists, and of all social problems the one that has aroused the keenest sociological interest is crime. Much of the information we now have on crime, criminals, and the operation of the criminal justice system has come from the work of sociologists. Due not only to their careful attention to the formation and development of theoretical perspectives but also to their grounding in empirical research methodology, the role for social scientists in the analysis of crime and punishment would be a natural one.

Applied sociology is defined by Angell (1967:725) as sociology that “is not an end in itself, but (that) becomes a means to some other end.” He provides a neat breakdown into three principal subroles that may be assumed by the applied sociologist: consultant, practitioner, researcher. The sociologist-as-consultant is an outside expert, often in gathering and explaining data for his client, an agency or institution. The sociologist-as-practitioner is a person schooled in sociology but employed to work directly in the field of human services, such as warden of a prison. The researcher in a practical setting works for some prison or organization that desires knowledge for some reason of their own. Here, we will be concerned, in one way or another, with all three dimensions.     

A STRUCTURAL EXAMINATION OF MISDEMEANOR COURT DISPOSITION PATTERNS*

The utility of structural criminology in explaining societal reaction to criminal events is examined in an analysis of misdemeanor court cases processed in an urban southern jurisdiction. The analysis employs a relational measure of class to discern distinctions in disposition patterns for misdemeanors classified by type of complaining party. Logistic regression is used to consider the influence of a variety of procedural/legal and extralegal variables in predicting case dispositions for individual, corporate, and victimless cases. Results indicate partial support for the premises of structural theory, and the discussion focuses on how the context of criminal court processing may be conditioned by varying degrees of control between victim and offender.     

The RWJF Reclaiming Futures Initiative: Improving Substance Abuse Interventions for Justice‐Involved Youths

Juvenile justice systems in the United States do not always respond effectively to substance abuse problems among young offenders. In 2002, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation launched a 10‐community demonstration project to address this problem. Reclaiming Futures (RF) relies on community partnerships to improve treatment quality, strengthen local leadership, expand inter‐organizational collaboration, and create systems of shared performance management. The initial findings of a cross‐site evaluation suggest that Reclaiming Futures is yielding important and positive change. Bi‐annual surveys of key informants measure the quality and integration of juvenile justice and substance abuse treatment systems in each community. Of 13 indices measured by the surveys, 11 showed significant improvements between 2003 and 2005.