The world views of export processing workers in Northern Mexico: A study of women,consciousness, and the new international division of labor

Data on women in export processing plants and service occupations in northern Mexico are used to assess the character and social roots of attitudes and world views of women working within the new international division of labor. The data show the predominant world view of these women includes a sense of personal autonomy, attitudes favoring gender equality and political participation for women, and commitment to one’s family. Analyses of hypotheses from developmental, class analytic, and feminist theories suggest the utility of each perspective in clarifying the social roots of this world view. Consideration of the international system suggests that both economic and cultural/institutional dimensions of the world system helped produce this world view, largely by setting in motion intra-societal processes. Robert Fiala and Susan Tiano are both associate professors of sociology at the University of New Mexico. Fiala’s recent publications and research include cross-national studies of educational ideology, income inequality, child homicide, and labor force change. Tiano is currently finishing a book on maquila industries in Mexico. Recent publications include a book on women along the United States-Mexico border (with Vicki Ruiz), and articles examining various aspects of the lives of women working in export processing plants.     

Using Ideas Strategically: The Contest Between Business and NGO Networks in Intellectual Property Rights

Whose ideas matter? And how do actors make them matter? Focusing on the strategic deployment of competing normative frameworks, that is, framing issues and grafting private agendas on policy debates, we examine the contentious politics of the contemporary international intellectual property rights regime. We compare the business victory in the establishment of the 1994 Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property (TRIPS) in the World Trade Organization with the subsequent NGO campaign against enforcing TRIPS to ensure access to essential HIV/AIDS medicines. Our analysis challenges constructivist scholarship that emphasizes the distinction between various types of transnational networks based on instrumental versus normative orientations. We question the portrayal of business firms as strictly instrumental actors preoccupied with material concerns, and NGOs as motivated solely by principled, or non-material beliefs. Yet we also offer a friendly amendment to constructivism by demonstrating its applicability to the analysis of business. Treating the business and NGO networks as competing interest groups driven by their normative ideals and material concerns, we demonstrate that these networks' strategies and activities are remarkably similar.     

Taking Stock of the Kaiser Permanente Partnership Story

The success of the 2000 interest-based contract negotiation at Kaiser Permanente (KP) does not mean that future challenges to this approach to negotiation have evaporated. Among the factors that contributed to the success thus far were: establishing buy-in to what was a new approach for many people; effective coordination in a complex environment; deadline pressure; managing internal negotiations; effective leadership; an investment in training; facilitation; creative brainstorming; and establishing ground rules. In addition to reviewing the KP experience, the authors focus on lessons learned and guidelines for future negotiations, as well as the role of interest-based processes in an organization's daily routine.     

An evaluation of de Jong-Giervald's loneliness model with Australian adolescents

This study concerns the prevalence of loneliness in a sample of adolescent Australian college students and examines the predictors of loneliness in this group, in particular the impact of social network characteristics, social network appraisal, the functions of friendship, and the psychosocial variables of identity and intimacy (Erikson, 1978) within the context of de Jong-Giervald's (1987) model of loneliness. One hundred and thirty- eight college students aged between 17 and 20 years from one regional and one city tertiary institution were surveyed to ascertain the level of experienced loneliness as measured by the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russellet al., 1980). Measures of intimacy and identity were obtained using the Erikson Psychosocial State Inventory (Rosenthalet al., 1981) while the functions of friendship in general and of a specific same- sex close friend were those established in a previous study (Moore and Boldero, 1987). Comparison of the levels of loneliness reported with those found by other studies suggested that Australian adolescents are no less vulnerable to the experience of loneliness than their American counterparts. In addition, while no quantitative sex differences in loneliness were found, qualitative differences emerged. Specifically, although psychosocial intimacy was the best predictor of loneliness for both male and female, the other independent predictors were different. For males having fewer same- sex friends and an inability to share feelings with a specific same- sex friend predicted loneliness whereas for females social network appraisal, the ability to engage in mutual aid with a specific same-sex friend, living with family, and psychosocial identity were important. These differences were discussed in terms of the impact that the differential socialization of male and female has on ability of adolescents to engage in close and satisfying interpersonal relationships. Suggestions for intervention were made.This research was supported by a grant from the Research and Development Committee, Melbourne College of Advanced Education.An earlier verison of this paper was presented at the Children and Families at Risk Conference, Ballarat, Australia, April 1989.Received M.A. in Psychology from University of Auckland, New Zealand. Ph.D. in Psychology at University of Melbourne currently being assessed. Current interests include interpersonal relationships of adolescents and adults.Received Ph.D. in Counseling from Florida State University. Current interests include psychology as applied to educational issues and adolescent development.     

Cybercrime jurisdiction

The principles that govern a sovereign’s exercise of jurisdiction to prohibit conduct and to sanction those who violate such prohibitions are well-established as to conduct occurring in the real, physical world. These principles evolved over the last several millennia, as law increased in sophistication and life became more complex. Real-world crime is, almost exclusively, a local phenomenon; the perpetrator(s) and victim(s) are all physically present at a specific geographical point when a crime is committed. The principles that govern the exercise of criminal jurisdiction are therefore predicated on the assumption that “crime” is a territorial phenomenon. Cybercrime makes these principles problematic in varying ways and in varying degrees. Unlike real-world crime, it is not physically grounded; cybercrime increasingly tends not to occur in a single sovereign territory. The perpetrator of a cybercrime may physically be in Country A, while his victim is in Country B, or his victims are in Countries B, C, D and so on. The perpetrator may further complicate matters by routing his attack on the victim in Country B through computers in Countries F and G. The result of these and other cybercrime scenarios is that the cybercrime is not committed “in” the territory of a single sovereign state; instead, “pieces” of the cybercrime occur in territory claimed by several different sovereigns.     

Intimate femicide in Israel; temporal, social, and motivational patterns

This study investigated all (76) cases of intimate femicide (the killing of women by their intimate male partners) in Israel during the years 1990–1995. The analysis focused on temporal patterns, the representation of various population groups, and given motives. The findings show a relationship between the incidence of intimate femicide and a number of major events/processes experienced by Israeli society during the period investigated. Following the Persian Gulf War (in 1991), during which families were enclosed for lengthy periods in sealed rooms, there was a sharp increase in intimate femicide. On the other hand, the enactment of the Law for the Prevention of Family Violence in 1991 was followed by a sharp (though temporary) decrease in intimate femicide in 1992. New immigrants from the former Soviet Union and even more so, from Ethiopia were over-represented among intimate femicide offenders. In most cases, more than one motive is given for the intimate femicide, with 'possessiveness' being mentioned in the majority of cases usually in conjunction with other motives (such as argument/conflict between the parties, mental, drinking or drug problems of the offender). Here too, differences were found between the various population groups. The findings are discussed within the framework of a stress-support theoretical model which postulates that violence in society will be positively related to stress factors and negatively related to support systems.