Scaling legislative decision making: A methodological exercise

Previous work in American state politics shows that an accurate measure of legislative decision-making attributes can be a useful tool for empirical research. Using data from a new survey of state legislators, conducted in 1981, the present analysis includes both an improved survey item and a sophisticated scaling procedure.     

Work-related psychological health and psychological type among lead elders within the Newfrontiers network of churches in the United Kingdom

Building on a series of recent studies concerned with assessing work-related psychological health and psychological type among various groups of church leaders, this study reports new data provided by 134 Lead Elders within the Newfrontiers network of churches in the United Kingdom who completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales (FPTS) together with the two scales of the Francis Burnout Inventory (FBI) concerned with emotional exhaustion and satisfaction in ministry. Compared with other groups of church leaders, Lead Elders within the Newfrontiers network of churches reported lower levels of emotional exhaustion and higher levels of satisfaction in ministry. Compared with other groups of church leaders, there was a higher proportion of extraverts among Lead Elders within the Newfrontiers network of churches. There was only a weak association between psychological type and burnout.     

Criminalizing Health-Related Behaviors Dangerous to Others? Disease Transmission, Transmission-Facilitation, and the Importance of Trust

Statutes criminalizing behavior that risks transmission of HIV/AIDS exemplify use of the criminal law against individuals who are victims of infectious disease. These statutes, despite their frequency, are misguided in terms of the goals of the criminal law and the public health aim of reducing overall burdens of disease, for at least three important reasons. First, they identify individual offenders for punishment, a paradigm that is misplaced in the most typical contexts of transmission of infectious disease and even for HIV/AIDS, despite claims of AIDS exceptionalism. Second, although there are examples of individuals who transmit infectious disease in a manner that fits the criminal law paradigm of identification of individual offenders for deterrence or retribution, these examples are limited and can be accommodated by existing criminal laws not devoted specifically to infectious disease. Third, and most importantly, the current criminal laws regarding HIV/AIDS, like many other criminal laws applied to infectious disease transmission, have been misguided in focusing on punishment of the diseased individual as a wrongful transmitter. Instead of individual offenders, activities that enhance the scale of disease transmission—behaviors that might be characterized as ‘transmission facilitation’—are a more appropriate target for the criminal law. Examples are trafficking in human beings (including sex trafficking, organ trafficking, and labor trafficking), suppression of information about the emergence of infection in circumstances in which there is a legally established obligation to disclose, and intentional or reckless activities to discourage disease treatment or prevention. Difficulties remain with justifications for criminalizing even these behaviors, however, most importantly the need for trust in reducing overall burdens of disease, problems in identifying individual responsible offenders, and potential misalignment between static criminal law and the changing nature of infectious disease.     

Self-control strength in prison inmates with antisocial personality disorder

The present study aimed to examine the difference in self-control strength between individuals with and without antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) in a Chinese male prisoner sample. Thirty-seven male inmates who met the criteria for DSM-IV ASPD and 38 who did not were asked to watch a four-minute silent videotape of an interview, and ignore the words displayed on screen during the videotape to deplete their ego strength. A handgrip task was conducted both before and after watching the videotape, with participants’ time squeezing the handgrip being the dependent variable. Result showed a significant interaction between group (ASPD/no-ASPD group) and time (baseline/post-manipulation measure). The post-manipulation result was significantly worse than the baseline result for the ASPD group, but not for the no-ASPD group. These results indicate that tasks that contribute to ego depletion lead to a deficit of self-control strength in prisoners with ASPD.     

Countervisions of Modernity: David Roberts,The Total Work of Art in European Modernism

David Roberts's The Total Work of Art in European Modernism extends and deepens the analysis of the counter-paradigm of redemptively inspired art to modernism's own pre-occupation with secularization. It addresses the imbalance in social and critical theory whereby progressive secular rationalization has been elevated to the sole logic of modernity, and the romantic redemptive tradition has been reduced to a marginal counter-enlightenment. The total work of art paradigm allows Roberts to demonstrate how the programme of modernity has been constituted by internal tensions and antinomies from the very beginning.     

“We want financial accountability”: deconstructing tensions of community participation in CHPS,Ghana

This article reports on the ways and factors that facilitate or constrain community participation in the Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) programme in Nsanfo, a village in Central Region of Ghana. We found that the community made an important step through mobilising the necessary resources in establishing the CHPS compound, which has resulted in improved access to health care. Yet maintaining the facility did not matter most to community members, owing chiefly to unmet demands for financial accountability pertaining to the running of the programme. Failure to clearly identify various actors and their roles potentially explains this state of affairs.     

Why the “Sacred” Is a Better Resource Than “Religion” for Understanding Terrorism

The popular media and many in academia often overstate the role that religion, and its supposedly unique qualities, has played in recent acts of terror. In this article, I argue that the notion of religious violence is unhelpful and that there is a more useful concept that we can utilize to draw out the values and ideas that play a role in the move to violence in both religious and secular groups. From a series of case studies on religious and non-religious groups, I have drawn out an alternative framework for investigating and learning from the role that beliefs play in motivations and justifications for terrorism. This framework uses the concept of non-negotiable (or “sacred”) beliefs. It is as applicable to secular as it is to religious groups, and can show us much more about how such beliefs can contribute to violence.