Cognitive links between economic grievances and political responses

Changes in the economy are associated with changes in support for the incumbent President (or members of his party) at the aggregate level but not generally at the individual level. That is, thepersonal impact of economic hardships has only rarely been linked to individual political responses. This paper finds again that various indicators of personal economic grievances are not in general associated with either economic policy preferences or support for President Carter. However, some rare circumstances in which the personal impact of economic grievances did have more power were identified, specifically when voters blamed the President for their economic hardships. Support was also found for Kinder and Kiewiet's (1979) notion that collective judgments about the health of the economy, rather than one's personal economic situation, drive political responses.     

WORSE THAN EXPECTED? A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DONOR PROLIFERATION AND AID FRAGMENTATION

The aid system itself is regarded by many as a major problem of present‐day development cooperation causing substantial transaction costs for recipients. Particularly, the expansion of bilateral and multilateral donors and the way they spread their aid money over many recipients, projects and sectors is seen as being at the base of these supply‐side problems. This article contributes to the discussion by bringing for the first time the non‐governmental organisation channel into the equation based on a data set of 73 Dutch non‐governmental organisations. Besides, it calls attention to the ‘philanthropist’ channel and shows that fragmentation and proliferation are not restricted to official aid agencies but constitute an aid channel–wide problem. This also means that solutions to this problem can no longer be restricted to only part of the aid architecture. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fatal retroperitoneal haemorrhage: an unusual complication of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy

A 93-year-old lady with dementia, neurological dysphagia and aspiration pneumonia, died from massive retroperitoneal haemorrhage which developed as a rare and, it is believed, hitherto unreported, complication of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG), which was performed for feeding purposes. It is postulated that the initial, unsuccessful attempt at needle puncture of the stomach, under endoscopic guidance, had resulted in iatrogenic perforation and laceration of the splenic and superior mesenteric veins close to their confluence with the portal vein. It would also appear that dense fibrous adhesions between the pyloro-antral region of the stomach and the posterior hepatic surface had altered the immediate anatomical relations of the stomach in such a manner as to have predisposed to these events.     

Just Jouissance: Discerning and Subverting a Politics of Inherent Transgression in Malaysian Socio-Political Discourse

The Kuala Lumpur Bersih 3.0 protests of 28 April 2012 exposed the fault-lines of Malaysia's ruling regime (led by the United Malays National Organisation, UMNO), which promises political reform whilst simultaneously employing crackdowns on protesters. This article aims to read Malaysia's socio-political discourse through Slavoj ?i?ek's political theory of the superego (itself predicated on Lacanian concepts) in which an obscene underside runs in dark parallel to the public official law. Many discussions of politics do not problematize the relation between power and its subversion, resulting in either a naive trajectory of protest as direct confrontation or as restricted to identity-based concerns (e.g. ethnicity and sexuality). An introduction to ?i?ekian-Lacanian theory interspersed with examples, both historical and contemporary, of UMNO's manifestations of the superego will precede a comparison of Bersih 3.0 mode of protest to the kind made popular by anti-government turned anti-Opposition blogger, Raja Petra Kamaruddin. As both represent divergent forms of political enjoyment (or jouissance), this article's thesis is that Bersih's specifically feminine form of protest—because of its capacity to subvert the superego within the nation's political discourse—is a preferable political response over against Kamaruddin's phallic, masculine type of political discourse based mainly on exception, privilege and exclusivity. A just jouissance could help overturn an unjust one. Largely a work of discourse analysis, this article aims to pioneer the application of psychoanalytical framework to the Malaysian socio-political domain, seeking to not only illuminate subtle cracks within an oppressive system but also redefine the very meaning of political liberation.     

Fact or artifact revisited: Survey instrument effects and pocketbook politics

Sears and Lau (1983) presented evidence that apparent self-interest effects can be, and have been, generated in political surveys by question order artifacts. This evidence was based in part on a tabulation of published reports of self-interest effects in the NES series, specifically on the political effects of personal financial situation. From another analysis of the NES data, Lewis-Beck (1985) concluded, to the contrary, that personal finances have in fact had a consistent effect on voting preferences, without significant contamination from such artifacts. We here argue that his analysis inappropriately defines the conditions for possible contamination. We first lay out a theory of when such contamination effects might occur. We then repeat our analysis, taking into consideration both his observations and our own reappraisal of our procedures. We obtain results consistent with our original position, although the results are confounded by different types of questions appearing disproportionately in contaminated and uncontaminated conditions. However, the 1984 election appears to be a special case, in which self-interest effects were strong and relatively uncontaminated. We then report a split ballot experiment that is not confounded by item content, and find results consistent with our original position. However this methodological debate may be resolved, on the larger question of whether people's economic self-interest has major political implications, the evidence seems clear. In cases not contaminated by item order, which we would take to be the most appropriate test of self-interest effects, personal finances have on the average had only a small effect on political responses.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1989 annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago. Address all correspondence before June 30 to Richard R. Lau, Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213; after July 1 address correspondence to Richard R. Lau, Department of Political Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903.     

Effects of self-concept and perceived disapproval of delinquent behavior in school children

It is argued that a multidimensional approach to self-concept may reveal intricate relations between self-concept and delinquent behavior, and that perceived approval of delinquent behaviors from referent groups may be related to the frequency of their occurrence. To evaluate these hypotheses, 1668 students from Grade 7 to Grade 9 responded to a questionnaire that measured their general self-esteem; their self-concept with regard to physical ability, social ability, physical appearance, and academic ability; the frequency they committed 15 delinquent acts; and the perceived approval of committing these acts from their parents, teachers, and friends. Regression analyses indicated that poor academic self-concept and poor relationship with school and parents were related to a higher frequency of delinquent behavior. However, a higher frequency of delinquent behavior was related to a more positive selfconcept with regard to social ability and physical ability. Finally, higher perceived approval from parents and peers was related to more delinquent behavior. Implications of these findings for identifying the antecedents and consequences of delinquent behavior were discussed.Received his Ph.D. from University of Illinois in social, industrial, and organizational psychology. His research interests included cross-cultural psychology, social justice, and the psychology of adolescence.Received his Ph.D. from Purdue University, and his research interests include values, selfconcept, family processes, and the psychology of adolescence.     

Subaortic Pseudoaneurysm of the Left Ventricle Complicating Staphyloccal Endocarditis*

Abstract: Subaortic pseudoaneurysms are rare but can be a cause of sudden death in young individuals. This case report involves a 20‐year‐old Vietnamese male who died suddenly from rupture of a subaortic pseudoaneurysm with resultant hemopericardium with tamponade. He had a history of bicuspid aortic valve with recent but healed Staphylococcal endocarditis. A review of the literature reveals few similar cases and enlightens the association between aortic bicuspid valve, endocarditis, and subvalvular aortic aneurysm. The pathogenesis as well as recent studies that identified aneurysm predisposing genes in patients with bicuspid aortic valve will be discussed.     

The Influence of Maternal Acculturation,Neighborhood Disadvantage,and Parenting on Chinese American Adolescents’ Conduct Problems: Testing the Segmented Assimilation Hypothesis

Associations among neighborhood disadvantage, maternal acculturation, parenting and conduct problems were investigated in a sample of 444 Chinese American adolescents. Adolescents (54% female, 46% male) ranged from 12 to 15 years of age (mean age = 13.0 years). Multilevel modeling was employed to test the hypothesis that the association between maternal acculturation and adolescents’ conduct problems could be explained by differences in mothers’ reliance on monitoring and harsh discipline. In addition, guided by segmented assimilation theory, measures of neighborhood disadvantage were expected not only to be related to differences in parenting, but also to moderate the effects of maternal acculturation on parenting. Results indicated that increased maternal acculturation was related to higher levels of maternal monitoring and lower levels of harsh discipline, which, in turn, were related to lower levels of adolescents’ conduct problems. Hierarchical linear modeling results revealed that neighborhood disadvantage was related to lower levels of maternal monitoring. However, neighborhood disadvantage did not moderate the link between maternal acculturation and parenting practices.