Interview with Dame Muriel Spark

This interview took place on the occasion of theSecond Workshop in Anglophone Culture:“Identity,”held at the University of the Algarve (7–8 March 2003) and organized by the Departamento de Letras Clássicas e Modernas. The authors of this interview want to sincerely express their gratitude to Dame Muriel Spark for allowing us to interview her, as well as to thank the organizers of the Workshop (Mary Gwaltney Vaz, Ana Isabel Soares, Merja de Mattos-Parreira, and James Brooker) for their brilliant organization of the event. We also want to acknowledge the kindness of the sponsors that contributed to the funding of the Workshop: The British Council; The Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Ireland; The Centro de Estudos Comparatistas; The University of the Algarve; and the Municipal Council of Faro.     

Gender differences in police officers' attitudes: Assessing current empirical evidence

Research on attitudinal differences between female and male police officers has burgeoned since the 1980s, producing a rich albeit at times contradictory legacy. Focusing on quantitative studies published after 1990, this current study reviewed empirical results regarding attitudinal differences between female and male police officers. A comprehensive search of the literature yielded thirty-three articles where gender was used either as an independent or control variable in multivariate regression analysis. A general finding was that officer gender has only a weak effect on officers' attitudes toward community policing, the community and neighborhood residents, job satisfaction, and domestic violence. There was some limited evidence showing that male and female officers differ in their attitudes toward the police role and stress. The limitations of this research are pointed out, and the directions for future research are identified.