Subjective Proximity to Crime or Social Representations? Explaining Sentencing Attitudes in Switzerland

Lay sentencing attitudes are considered in the light of two theoretical perspectives. The first perspective views sentencing attitudes as parts of broader sets of social representations anchored in one’s position in the social structure. The second perspective explains sentencing attitudes by their subjective experiences of crime. This paper tests both theories by performing a series of multiple regressions on two dimensions of sentencing: punishment goals and severity of punishment. Empirical data comes from a quantitative survey conducted in Switzerland. Findings reveal that indicators of subjective proximity to crime largely account for sentencing attitudes. Nevertheless, social representations of crime measured by causes of crime also have a significant impact on sentencing attitudes. Implications of these findings for sentencing in Western democracies are discussed.     

Analysing the subject of peace in award-winning children’s and adolescent novels in Turkey

The purpose of this study is to reveal how the concept of peace is addressed in the national award-winning novels written for secondary school students within the Republic of Turkey. Data for this study was obtained from child and youth literature award organizations, associations and publishers within Turkey. Each group which was researched has been awarding literature prizes for at least five years. Books which were researched were chosen from the award lists from these organizations for the five-year period of 2009–2013. All of the books were utilized in the analyses and all books in this study were examined as written instruments. The data for this research was evaluated through qualitative research methodology using content analysis. For this research, the main category – peace – was analysed based on five sub-categories including; ‘having human rights’, ‘having cooperation, sharing and solidarity’, ‘not having prejudice and stereotypes’, ‘having conflict resolution’ and ‘being sensitive to the environment’. It can be said that award-winning children’s and adolescent novels are written in a way that is sensitive in terms of the ideas of peace and they have the qualities which can generate the ideas of peace in the hearts of children and adolescences Please check whether the abstract and keywords have been set correctly.     

Cross-border marriages as a side door for paid and unpaid migrant workers: the case of marriage migration between China and Japan

Cross-border marriages between Chinese and Japanese over the past twenty years have expanded in scale and taken on new forms. The special case of Japan lies in the implication of local authorities in the promotion of these marriages, locating the matrimonial migratory route at the crossroads of familial migration and work migration from the point of view of both the migrants themselves and the host communities. Marriage migrants in Japan are one of the variations of the transfer of a feminine workforce to ensure reproductive work. While migratory policies in Japan have generally appealed to side doors for unqualified immigration, local authorities have helped create extra side doors via marriage to provide support in the context of the restructuring of reproductive work. Migrant wives also represent a potential salaried foreign workforce especially in peripheral zones which have difficulty attracting migrants. An analysis of the participation of these migrants in both reproductive and productive work (remunerated or not) enables us to better understand the contemporary debate that feminized migratory routes tend to reinforce patriarchal norms.     

Repraesentatio identitatis : l’idée de représentation politique en débat dans la République de Genève lors de la crise de 1707

In the Republic of Geneva, the Small Council and the Great Council considered themselves to be representative of the people, although they were not elected by citizens, but were mutually co-opted instead. There were still elections by the General Council, the assembly of all burgesses and citizens, but they were only meant to promote the members of these co-opted councils to particular magistracies. During the political crisis of 1707, government thinkers tried to justify in theory this conception of representation, which is similar to what the German legal philosopher Hasso Hofmann called repraesentatio identitatis. For them, the Small and the Great Councils were inherently representative of the people owing to their large numbers and their concern for the public interest. The main thinkers of the ‘popular party' not only rejected this argument, but also advocated an alternative political model, with a redistribution of powers between the Councils and the restoration in practice of the sovereignty of the General Council, which it should directly exert. On either side, no project of representative government – in the sense that the Small and the Great Councils would be elected by the people – was ever put forward in these debates.     

Towards an Integration of Distributive Justice,Procedural Justice,and Social Resource Theories

The aim of this paper is to formulate new and more precise predictions regarding behavioral reactions to distributive and procedural injustice via insights from resource theory. The three theories share focus on discrepancies between actual and ideal states of existence as well as on psychological and behavioral reactions to discrepancy. But they also differ from each other in their conceptualizations and theorizing about these matters. Equity theory conceptualizes discrepancy as a perceived mismatch between inputs and outcomes; multiprinciple distributive justice and procedural justice theories view discrepancy as a mismatch between expected and applied distribution and procedural rules, respectively. Resulting feelings of inequity/injustice may trigger attempts to restore justice. Within the framework of resource theory, discrepancy concerns an inappropriate match between the nature of the provided and received resources. This leads to frustration which, in turn, may trigger attempts at retaliation. Limitations of the theories are discussed, with particular focus on their inability to match specific discrepancies with appropriate behavioral reactions. Behavioral predictions are based upon established congruence between behavioral reactions and violated procedural rules as well as type of inequity, as determined via their respective resource isomorphism. Limitations of the present integration attempt are discussed.     

Gay,Lesbian, and Bisexual Youths: Separation-Individuation,Parental Attitudes,Identity Consolidation,and Well-Being

The study examines separation-individuation during adolescence and young adulthood for gay, lesbian, and bisexual youths, and evaluates the consequences of parent-youth relationships for well-being and sexual orientation identity development. Seventy-two youths completed interview and questionnaire measures of relatedness, autonomy, and conflictual independence in relation to mothers and fathers, along with self-reports of parent attitudes, identity consolidation, and well-being. When youths perceived that their parents had relatively accepting attitudes regarding sexual orientation they demonstrated closer relatedness and greater conflictual independence with parents, but not greater autonomy. Both accepting parental attitudes and greater separation-individuation predicted more positive well-being for the youths, though only parental attitudes predicted greater consolidation of sexual orientation identity. Although mothers were generally closer and more supportive than fathers, relationships with both parents were important, independent predictors of personal adjustment. The discussion proposes mutual influences among separation-individuation, perceived acceptance by parents, identity consolidation and well-being.