Beyond European Labour Law? Reflections on the EU Racial Equality Directive

In June 2000, the Council adopted a directive forbidding discrimination on grounds of racial or ethnic origin in the areas of employment, social protection, education, goods and services, and housing. This is the first time the European Union has adopted binding legislation to combat racism. In this article, the Directive is placed within the context of European labour law, and its implications for the development of this area of law are considered. Specifically, it is proposed that a new category of European 'social law' is emerging, broader in scope than European 'labour law'. The Directive also reveals a new emphasis on effective enforcement of social law. Finally, this article considers the position of the Social Partners and non-governmental organisations in relation to the Directive. The prominence of NGOs is linked to wider trends in the wake of globalisation.     

The Aversive Racism Paradigm and Responses Favoring African Americans: Meta-Analytic Evidence of Two Types of Favoritism

This research examined conditions promoting favoritism for White targets and conditions promoting favoritism for African American (AA) targets. We extended research on the aversive racism paradigm through examination of reactions to AAs and Whites when normative behaviors or expressions of attitude clearly favored egalitarian responses and when evaluative criteria were ambiguous. We conducted a meta-analysis of 31 studies including more than 5000 participants. When norms were ambiguous, AA targets received worse treatment than Whites, supporting the presence of aversive racism. AA targets were treated even more positively than Whites when norms clearly favored positive reactions to all targets. We discuss results in terms of the aversive bias perspective, motivations to appear nonprejudiced, the flexible correction model, self-categorization theory, and shifting standards.     

Sudden death due to intravascular hemolysis after bladder irrigation with distilled water.

A 45-year-old white man was hospitalized with gross hematuria, one month after cystoscopy and biopsy for the same complaint. The biopsy revealed cystitis glandularis. One day after admission, he developed seizures and died within hours. Autopsy, laboratory tests, and further questioning of the hospital staff showed that he died of acute hyponatremia and massive intravascular hemolysis after irrigating the bladder with sterile water. Two deep bladder ulcers with exposed veins served as the portals of entry. Until now, this fatal complication had been described only during transurethral surgery. Both a careful autopsy and hospital investigation is necessary to differentiate in-hospital natural death from iatrogenic fatality.     

Resolving the contradictions of modernity and modernism

He is the author, among other books, of The End of Ideology; The Coming of Post-Industrial Society; The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism;and The Social Sciences Since World War Two.This is the first of a two-part essay on Modernity and Modernism. An enlarged version, with reference citations and text emendations in footnotes, will be published later this year by Transaction.