networks of violence in the production of young women’s trajectories and subjectivities

This paper focuses on the deployment and interdependence of different expressions of gendered and classed violence in shaping the choices, trajectories and subjectivities of young women on vocational beauty therapy courses. It takes as its premise the understanding that, far from simply being an aberrant expression of interpersonal or intergroup aggression, violence is embedded in social life in multiple and complex ways, reverberating through women’s lives to reproduce disadvantage and subordination. The paper draws on theoretical and empirical investigations of the interrelationships between structural, direct and symbolic expressions of violence and asks what this literature can offer in challenging normative, often individualised, conceptions of violence. Drawing on an ethnographic case study of National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) beauty therapy courses and the young women undertaking them, I explore the accounts of students and their tutors on becoming and being ‘beauty girls’. I consider what these accounts might tell us about how forms of symbolic and interpersonal violence intersect with, reproduce and legitimise the violence involved in unequal and unjust socio-economic structures. I argue that the ways in which different forms of violence mutually reinforce each other at a micro-level produce an embodied ‘sense of limits’ that ultimately reproduces the structural violence of gendered and classed inequalities. The examples given illustrate both a ‘chronology of violence’ in young women’s lives, and the way in which those lives can be understood, at least in part, as embedded in and shaped by networks of violence. Finally, I briefly consider examples of dissent and resistance, the conditions under which they might be possible and the ways in which, through the interplay of different forms of violence, they might also be curtailed.     

The Role of Social Networks in Physical and Relational Aggression Among Young Adolescents

Despite the veritable influence of the peer context on the elaboration of adolescent aggression, few studies of relational aggression have directly identified and measured peer groups, limiting our ability to draw formal conclusions about the level and nature of peer influence. The current study used a developmental framework to examine peer group influence on individual levels of physical and relational aggression over a year with 6th and 7th grade students (n = 346, 51 % female). A multilevel network approach was used in which peer groups were identified via social network analysis, and peer group influence was evaluated with hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). HLM analyses indicated that peer group aggression (physical and relational) at time 1 was predictive of individual aggression levels at time 2 after controlling for other peer group characteristics as well as other individual risk and protective factors. Although both forms of aggression were embedded in peer networks, findings suggest that physical aggression is relatively less endemic to peer networks, and is more likely to occur in smaller, predominantly male networks. The current study highlights the importance of understanding the influence of peer group membership on adolescent aggression and points to important implications for prevention.     

Racial mistrust and disposition to deviance among African American,Haitian, and other Caribbean Island adolescent boys

Using survey data from Miami, Florida, this study empirically tests whether racial mistrust is related to a willingness to engage in delinquent behaviors among a sample of African Americans, Haitians, and other Caribbean Island Black adolescent boys residing in Miami, Florida. No significant differences were found among the three groups with respect to their disposition scores. However, when compared to non-Blacks, African Americans and Haitians reported a greater willingness to violate the law. Bivariate analyses suggest a strong relationship between racial mistrust and disposition to deviance for all three ethnic groups. Three findings also held in multivariate analyses controlling for socioeconomic status.     

Reasonable expectation of privacy and third-party consent searches

Reasonable expectation of privacy is discussed in the context of searches conducted without the warrants usually required by the Fourth Amendment but with the consent of a third party, who is not the target of the search. Case law on this issue is neither consistent nor clear-cut. Psychological theory and research clarify this issue by establishing closer correspondence between legal concepts and assumptions and individuals' actual behaviors and social expectations. The key legal components of reasonable expectation of privacy are delineated, with regard to third-party consent: “common authority” areas versus “exclusive use” areas and theassumption of risk doctrine. Next, the psychological theory and research on interpersonal relations and human territorial functioning are reviewed as they relate to the legal components of privacy regulation. Taken together, the legal criticisms of this warrant exception category, and possible discrepancies between the legal assumptions concerning interpersonal and territorial functioning among co-residents and the actual behaviors and expectations suggested by psychological theory and research, raise questions about its validity.     

The determination of lysergide (LSD) in urine by high-performance liquid chromatography-isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS)

The use of isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) has been investigated for the forensic confirmation of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in urine by LC-MS. The advantages of using a deuterated analog of LSD as an internal standard over methysergide are discussed. This study includes a comparison of the electrospray mass spectra of LSD, LSD-d3 and methysergide, and discusses the choice of suitable ions for use in selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode. An IDMS method is presented for the LC-MS confirmation of LSD in urine, with a limit of quantification (LOQ) of 0.5 ng/mL, reflecting the forensic requirement at this laboratory. Under some circumstances the LOQ can be improved to 0.1 ng/mL. This method is linear in the range tested (up to 10 ng/mL LSD in urine) and has been validated in terms of accuracy and precision.     

Reviews

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Anne Edwards and Susan Magarey (eds), Women in a Restructuring Australia: Work and Welfare (Allen & Unwin) St Leonards, NSW, 1994.

Tanya Castleman, Margaret Allen, Wendy Bastalich and Patrick Wright, Limited Access: Women's Disadvantage in Higher Education Employment (National Tertiary Education Union) Melbourne, 1995.

Wendy Weeks (in collaboration with women in women services), Women Working Together: Lessons from Feminist Women's Services (Longman Cheshire) Melbourne, 1993.

Shurlee Swain with Renate Howe, Single Mothers and Their Children: Disposal, Punishment and Survival in Australia (Cambridge University Press) Cambridge, 1995.

Kathleen Barry, The Prostitution of Sexuality (New York University Press) New York, 1995.

Susanne Kappeler, The Will to Violence: The Politics of Personal Behaviour (Spinifex) Melbourne, 1995.

Jill Bavin‐Mizzi, Ravished: Sexual Violence in Victorian Australia (University of New South Wales Press) Sydney, 1995.

Leonore Davidoff, Worlds Between: Historical Perspectives on Gender and Class (Polity Press) Cambridge, 1995.

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Adrian Howe, Punish and Critique: Towards a Feminist Analysis of Penality (Routledge) London, 1994.

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Ruth Frankenberg, White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness (Routledge) London, 1993.