Gender Differences in Peer and Parental Influences: Body Image Disturbance,Self-Worth,and Psychological Functioning in Preadolescent Children

The connections between body image disturbance and psychological functioning have been well established in samples of older adolescent girls and young women. Little is known, however, about body image in younger children. In particular, little is known about possible gender differences in preadolescent children. The current study explored self-reported body image disturbance and psychological functioning in relation to peer and parental influences in 141 elementary school-aged girls and boys aged 8–11. Results suggest that girls are more concerned about dieting and are more preoccupied with their weight than are boys. Girls also reported a greater drive for thinness and a higher level of family history of eating concerns than did boys. Correlations suggested that girls' experiences of body image concerns (body dissatisfaction, bulimia, and drive for thinness) were related to a number of factors (such as family history of eating concerns, peer influences, teasing, depression, and global self-worth) whereas boys' experiences of body image concerns were related to fewer factors. On the basis of these findings, the assessment and treatment of body image concerns in preadolescent children (especially girls) are of great importance. Implications for intervention and prevention programs are discussed.     

Sustainable fiscal policies and budgetary risk under alternative monetary policy arrangements

Early work on the theory of economic policy stressed the importance of the interactions between fiscal and monetary policy. Tinbergen, and Cooper, showed us that there would be costs in instability and protracted imbalances, in particular fiscal imbalances, if this was not recognised. Yet most models we use today treat fiscal or monetary policies as if they operated alone. This paper reviews the advantages of recognising those interactions. We consider three possibilities: fiscal leadership (in the sense of acting first), monetary leadership, and simultaneous decision making, each underpinned by independence at the central bank. This temporal separation is important because it creates an opportunity for punishment by the follower (a result from asynchronous games). Making fiscal policy lead, and monetary follow, provides fiscal precommitment and the best results for output, inflation and fiscal balances. In particular, it ensures sustainable public finances without the need for arbitrary (and easily evaded) external restrictions. We show these results are proof against override by rational governments; and robust to changes in structure caused by flattening of the Phillips curve, globalisation, market reforms, and changes in savings.

Making Visible the Invisible: Visuality,Narrativity, and Victimhood in Greek Cypriot Memorials

Political memorials and memorial locations in Cyprus function as “figures of memory” that regulate political rhetoric, detect (hi)story-telling, and shape identities, both on a collective as well as on an individual level. Although they seem to go unnoticed in the citizens’ daily routines, they exert profound influence in Greek Cypriot society where remembering and honoring the dead fighters according to the socially institutionalized religious and social rites constitute fundamental prerequisites of “belonging.” The paper will argue that the esthetics applied on the memorials along with their density on the island and the commemoration of individual fighters blur the boundaries between private and public and foster the collective awareness of us. At the same time, line us with the awareness of the self because of the emotional impact visual narratives exert on both a collective and an individual level. Memorial narratives secure a “homogeneous array of reactions” and become powerful propaganda tools because they are the pivotal vehicles in the perception of loss and instruments in the construction of victimhood within the Greek Cypriot society. The paper will sustain that the effect intense exposure causes interacts with the workings of implicit memory, influences dispositions, behaviors, and mental structures and radically intervenes in the process of reality perception.     

Black or Blue: Racial Profiling and Representative Bureaucracy

Are there conditions under which minority bureaucrats are less likely to provide active representation? The authors address this question by testing the link between passive and active representation for race in a police department and in the particular instance of racial profiling. Literature from three areas—racial profiling, representative bureaucracy, and police socialization—is brought together. The findings support the hypothesis that organizational socialization can hinder the link between passive and active representation. Furthermore, the authors find that the presence of black police officers is related to an increase in racial profiling in the division. This finding was unexpected and raises several important questions regarding active representation and race.     

Reentry to What? Theorizing Prisoner Reentry in the Jobless Future

Academic research on “prisoner reentry” has been heavily focused upon experimental design and program evaluation rather than broader shifts in race and class relations or underlying economic change. Deeper theoretical attention to the subaltern context of prisoner reentry would offer a more balanced and comprehensive assessment of the challenges facing the highly-marginalized populations of former prisoners now increasingly the objects of “reentry” programming. This paper employs a sociology of punishment perspective to foreground recent scholarship on the prisoner reentry movement and to document the still nascent implementation of a “prisoner reentry” agenda, despite nearly two decades of effort. The paper argues that long-neglected needs of subaltern populations incarcerated over the past several decades in the United States should become a more central focus of prisoner reentry research. The paper highlights the work of several theorists to summarize three theoretical perspectives to help balance the “reentry” research agenda: prisoner reentry as neoliberal punishment; prisoner reentry as peculiar institution; and prisoner reentry as criminological scientism.     

Women and the left in Western Europe: A continuing dilemma

Feminism in Europe: Liberal and Socialist Strategies 1789–1919. By Maria Mies and Kumari Jaywardena. The Hague: Institute of Social Studies, 1983. Pp.208.

Sisters or Citizens? Woman and Socialism in France Since 1876. By Charles Sowerwine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982. Pp.248. £16.40.

Enquête sur les femmes et la politique en France. By Janine Mossuz‐Lavau and Mariette Sineau. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1983. Pp.280. Fr. 90.

German Feminism: Readings in Politics and Literature. Edited by Edith Hoshimo Altbach, Jeanette Clausen, Dagmar Schultz and Naomi Stephan. New York: State University of New York Press, 1984. Pp.389. $12.95 (paperback); $39.50 (hardback).

Unfinished Democracy: Woman in Nordic Politics. Edited by Elina Haavio‐Mannila, Drude Dahlerup, Maud Eduards, Esther Gudmundsdottir, Beatrice Halsaa, Helga Maria Hernes, Eva Hänninen‐Salmeljri, Bergthora Sigmundsdóttir, Sirka Sinkonnen and Torild Skard. Translated by Christine Badcock, Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1985. Pp.206. £14.50 (hardback).

The Situation of Women in the Political Process in Europe. Preliminary report submitted to the Council of Europe, Strasbourg: Directorate of Human Rights, Council of Europe. 1984. Pp.74 (Part 1); pp.185 (Part 2); pp.43 (Part 3).

Women and European Politics: Contemporary Feminism and Public Policy. By Joni Lovenduski. Brighton: Wheatsheaf, 1985. Pp.313. £18.95 (hardback); £7.95 (paperback).     

Sub-surface characterisation of latest-generation identification documents using optical coherence tomography

The identification of individuals, particularly at international border crossings, coupled with the evolving sophistication of identity documents are issues that authorities must contend with. Particularly, the ability to distinguish legitimate from counterfeit documents, with high throughput, sensitivity, and selectivity is an ever-evolving challenge.Over the last decade, an increasing number of security features have been introduced by authorities in identification documents. The latest generation of travel documents (such as passports and national ID cards) forego paper substrates for several layers of polycarbonate, allowing security features to be embedded within the documents. These security features may contain information at either the superficial and sub-surface levels, thus increasing the document’s resilience to counterfeiting.As the documents become harder to forge, so does the sophistication of forgery detection. There appears to be an unmet and evolving need to identify such sophisticated forgeries, in a non-destructive, high throughput manner.In this publication, we report on the application of optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging on assessing security features in specimen passports and national ID cards. OCT allows sub-surface imaging of translucent structures, non-destructively enabling quantitative visualisation of embedded security features.     

More Similarities or More Differences? Comparing Public and Nonprofit Managers’ Job Motivations

Existing research on career motivations tends to focus either on the difference between private and public organizations or on the difference between nonprofit and for‐profit firms. Although commonalities exist, the literature suggests that there also are many differences in what motivates public and nonprofit employees. Employing data from the National Administrative Studies Project III, this research examines how seven motivational aspects correlate with the choice between public and nonprofit employment. The authors find that managers who value advancement opportunities, a pension and retirement plan, and the ability to serve the public in their jobs are more likely to accept a job in the public sector, whereas managers who value family‐friendly policies and increased responsibility are more likely to accept a position in the nonprofit sector. Participation in volunteering is positively associated with nonprofit employment. The authors suggest a possible link between volunteering and the unique nonprofit motivation that is differentiated from public service motivation.     

Collective decision making by committee

Implicitly or explicitly, economic decisions always contain elements of compromise. However, the bargaining models of economic theory treat only the two decision maker case with linearly aggregated priorities; i.e. compromise decisions under Pareto optimality and no side payments. Even then the relative importance of the decision makers remains indeterminate. This paper proposes a simplified bargaining model with three new features: (a) it allows multiple participants; (b) it uses optimal voting patterns to combine the policy proposals, rather than the policy priorities, to form those compromise decisions; and (c) it determines the relative power of each participant endogenously. Perhaps more important, the method does not depend on each decision maker knowing the preferences of his colleagues exactly.