Magic Mayors: Predicting Electoral Success from Candidates' Physical Attractiveness under the Conditions of a Presidential Electoral System

A range of empirical studies has shown that candidates' physical attractiveness can substantially influence the outcome of political elections. This applies to different countries, different electoral systems, and different levels of political systems, and equally affects simple direct or list candidates and front-runners. However, no previous investigation using actual election results has been made into whether candidates' attractiveness also has an effect under the conditions of a presidential electoral system. Theoretical reasons can be formulated that suggest attractiveness is ineffective under these circumstances. In order to clarify this point empirically, we analysed the 2009 North Rhine-Westphalia mayoral elections. Yet the results of the analyses clearly show that candidates' attractiveness has a substantial influence. Taking into account earlier findings, the influence of physical attractiveness in political elections appears to be resistant, to a large degree, to varying constraints.     

Book reviews

Social Policy Research, Martin Bulmer (ed.), London, Macmillan, 1978, pp. 373, £5.95.

Making Budgets, James N. Danziger, Sage Publications, 1978, pp. 255, £8.50 cloth edition and £4.25 paperback.

Universality, Selectivity and Effectiveness in Social Policy, Bleddyn Davies (in association with Mike Reddin), Heinemann, London, 1978, pp. viii &; 264, £9.50.

Implementation in a Bureaucracy, Control in a Bureaucracy, Andrew Dunsire, Oxford, Martin Robertson, 1978, pp. Vol.1260, Vol. II 263, £15 each.

Planning the Social Services, N. Falk and J. Lee, Saxon House, Farnborough, 1978, pp. x &; 113, £7.50.

Policy Analysis: A Political and Organisational Perspective, W. I. Jenkins, London, Martin Robertson, 1978, pp. 278, £8.95.

Interactions and Interventions in Organizations, Iain L. Mangham, John Wiley &; Sons, 1978, pp. 150, price not known.     

Bootlegging: A career caught between fantasy and reality*

This essay considers the seemingly opposing stances of basic knowledge‐building and policy‐driven research. It does so by reviewing the author's involvement in a series of criminological activities on both sides of the issue. He prefers to pose as a knowledge builder, but he admits to seduction by policy concerns.     

Changes in college students' use and abuse of alcohol,and in their attitudes toward drinking over the course of their college years

Using a November 1987 random sample of 526 undergraduate students attending a midsized, private, midwestern university, this study examines changes in students' alcohol use, alcohol abuse, and attitudes toward drinking over the course of their college careers. This research provides an empirical examination of the supposition that people begin college in an adolescent-like phase in their development and graduate from college in a decidedly more adult-like developmental phase. The data suggest that women appear to mature throughout the college years, gradually progressing toward an adult-like developmental state, at least insofar as their drinking patterns and alcohol-related attitudes are concerned. Men, on the other hand, demonstrated no significant changes over the course of their college careers, suggesting that college may represent little more than a period of protracted adolescence for them.Received Ph.D. in sociology from Washington University in St. Louis. Research interests include alcohol and other drug studies, sexual behavior, HIV/AIDS, and mass media.