Death and the Modern Imagination

This essay is an exercise in what might be called metaphysical sociology. Metaphysical sociology focusses on the meaning questions that confront all humans, questions about origins, about what to do with one's life, and about death. In particular, the essay examines the place of death in the modern secular psyche, given that interpretations of mortality have become clouded in uncertainty.     

Policing Identities: Cop Decision Making and the Constitution of Citizens

We examine police decision making by focusing on police stories and drawing together contemporary thought about identities and police subculture. Our inquiry suggests that police decision making is both improvisational and patterned. Cops are moral agents who tag people with identities as they project identities of their own. They do engage in raw forms of division or stereotyping, marking some as others to be feared and themselves as protectors of society, while exercising their coercive powers to punish "the bad." Due, in part, to the many ways that they identify themselves, cops also connect with people as unique individuals, including individuals whose categorical identities (e.g., drug dealers) put them at the margins of society. Rather than using their coercive powers to repress these individuals, cops infuse them with certain virtues (e.g., good family men) while cutting them breaks. As they complicate representations of themselves, cops also project complex notions of law and legality. Moral discourse seems to infuse their judgments, while they invoke law strategically as a tool to enforce their moral judgments.     

Administrative devolution and accountability: the case of the non-profit housing program

Abstract: The problem of bureaucratic accountability has received considerable attention in the literature of public administration, but few studies have considered the extent to which extra-governmental agencies are held accountable to governments or legislatures. This paper examines administrative devolution and the problem of accountability, using the non-profit housing program as an example. It argues that devolution of programs, without adjusting for the resulting loss of bureaucratic control, leaves governments with little information about, or control over, the people who make decisions about large expenditures of public funds. It concludes that if the advantages of using the voluntary sector for social service delivery are to outweigh the problems of reduced accountability, forms of control -such as incentives for compliance and internal professional standards - which do not limit the autonomy of these groups, but which can enhance pre-audit accountability, need to be developed. Sommaire: Si le problème de la responsabilité bureaucratique a fait I'objet de nombreuses études dans les textes de I'administration publique, peu d'entre elles, en revanche, ont pris en considération la mesure dans laquelle les organismes paragouvernementaux sont tenus de rendre des comptes aux gouvernements ou législatures. Cet article examine la décentralisation administrative et les problèmes de responsabilités, en utilisant comme exemple le programme de logement à but non lucratif. Il suggere que la décentralisation des programmes, sans ajustement qui tienne compte de la perte de contrôle bureaucratique en résultant, laisse les gouvernements avec peu de renseignements ou de contrôle sur les personnes qui prennent des décisions concernant d'importantes dépenses de fonds public. En conclusion, I'auteure dit que, si les avantages résultant de I'utilisation du secteur bénévole pour fournir les services sociaux doivent I'emporter sur les problèmes de diminution de la responsabilité, il faut mettre en place certaines mesures de contrôle (tels les encouragements à se conformer à des normes professionnelles internes), qui ne restreindraient par I'autonomie de ces groupes, mais pourraient accroître la responsabilité avant le contrôle.     

Peasant federations and rural development policies in the Andes

This chapter focuses on a special type of structural social capital embedded in second-tier indigenous peasant federations in the Andean countries. It first examines the manifestations of this social capital and then goes on to analyze the strategies of the various social actors for its use, mainly to further the interests of poor and oppressed members, but often in the service of broader societal or narrower partisan purposes. Cases are presented to illustrate how such a social capital resource, once created, can be used or transformed for other than the original purposes. Sometimes these spillovers are socially beneficial, confirming the mutability thesis of Hirschman (1984); but in other cases the diversions can be harmful and disempowering. The authors conclude that even considering these varied uses, meso-level peasant federations, when incorporated into rural development policies, can help to achieve equity and sustainability.     

Industrial structure of the federal sector: Evidence from bureau market share data

This paper examines the industrial organization of the federal sector by measuring the variation of bureau market shares of appropriations. The two measures employed are rank-shift analysis (turnover) and the Hymer-Pashigian index of market share instability which have been used to indicate the level of competitiveness within private sector industries. The results of both the rank-shift and market share instability analyses strongly suggest that there is considerable competition among bureaus within the federal sector. These results are consistent with the hypothesis and existing evidence that bureaus engage in nonprice competitive strategies.