Marriage market in early modern Kyoto, 1843–1868

This study uses the population registers of 17 Kyoto neighborhoods to address marriage in Kyoto. Our analyses focus on the age differences between spouses and intermarriage between Kyoto natives and migrants from other provinces. Our previous analysis showed that the median age at marriage was tightly linked to life-cycle service in Kyoto with male and female ages at marriage corresponding to the end of the service period. Later analyses have shown that a third or more of the live-in employees listed as “servants” were migrants to Kyoto from other provinces, and males predominated in the migrants in the Kyoto population at ages after the service period ended. We find that migrants who remained in Kyoto married and all others left. We also find that those who remained were likely to marry Kyoto natives and the age differences between spouses was often relatively small.     

Ministerial Turnover and Why Reshuffles Matter for Parliament

Reshuffles are a relatively common occurrence in British politics. We expect to see them whenever a new Prime Minister enters Downing Street, after elections and following ministerial resignations. Recent research from the Institute for Government warns that the regular churn of ministers has negative consequences for policy making and for parliamentary accountability. This article summarises their latest research and what this tells us about the potential implications of Boris Johnson’s February 2020 reshuffle on government and Parliament.     

A Non-bipartite Propensity Score Analysis of the Effects of Teacher–Student Relationships on Adolescent Problem and Prosocial Behavior

Previous research suggests a link between the quality of teacher–student relationships and the students’ behavioral outcomes; however, the observational nature of past studies makes it difficult to attribute a causal role to the quality of these relationships. In the current study, therefore, we used a propensity score analysis approach to evaluate whether students who were matched on their propensity to experience a given level of relationship quality but differed on their actual relationship quality diverged on their concurrent and subsequent problem and prosocial behavior. Student/self, teacher, and parent- (only waves 1–3) reported data from 8 waves of the Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children and Youths (z-proso), a longitudinal study of Swiss youth among a culturally diverse sample of 7- to 15-year-olds were utilized. The initial sample included 1483 (49.4 % female) students for whom information relevant for this study was available. The sample represented families from around 80 different countries, from across all the continents; with approximately 42 % of the female primary caregivers having been born in Switzerland. Following successful matching, we found that students who reported better relationships with their teachers and whose teachers reported better relationships with them evidenced fewer problem behaviors concurrently and up to 4 years later. There was also evidence for an analogous effect in predicting prosocial behavior. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to prevention and intervention practices.     

Building peace through education

ABSTRACT

Can we pave the way to world peace through education of the next generation? This paper focuses on how teaching social and emotional learning (SEL) skills in schools could promote the positive development of children and youth so that they can choose prosocial, nonviolent ways of building relationships with others. First, research on how belonging and fairness develop early in life is briefly reviewed. Then the authors introduce SEL and the research supporting its impact, and explain how it can be supported through various strategies in the classroom, including programs, teacher–student relationships, cooperative learning, approaches to discipline, and solving problems and dealing with conflict peacefully. Building peace by promoting social and emotional development through education offers hope for future generations.     

The Queensland Public Sector: Recent Developments in Employment Relations

With the incumbent Labor government embracing a recentralisation of industrial relations, public sector agencies in Queensland are experiencing a dramatic shift in the framework of employment relations. This paper discusses the approach of the previous Coalition government to managing the public sector workforce and the emerging approach of the Labor government. The comparison of contrasting governmental approaches to public sector employment relations throughout the 1990s suggests that successive governments have balanced very differently the three main pressures they have faced: political, managerialist and industrial relations.     

Trading rule of law for recovery? The new EU strategy in the post-Covid era

The ambition of this article is twofold. First, it argues that, in order to enhance respect for the rule of law by its Member States, the EU has launched a new strategy albeit essentially based on mechanisms which were not specifically designed to protect the rule of law. Second, the article aims to clarify the notion of rule of law resulting from this strategy and to subsequently analyse its consequences. In doing so, this article will thereby demonstrate that the instruments used by the new strategy promote a notion of the EU rule of law which implies a constant arbitrage between the rule of law and the economic objectives pursued by the EU. The risk may be, however, that it would subjugate fundamental values (as defined in Article 2 TEU) to the logic of European economic integration, thus inverting the hierarchy between protection for the rule of law and economic values.     

Does transformational leadership stimulate user orientation? Evidence from a field experiment

While doing good for specific citizens and users is often considered a powerful motivator among public service employees, little research has rigorously evaluated how public managers can promote individualized prosocial motivation. We follow recent studies on the behavioural implications of ‘user orientation’ to explore how public managers can use a specific leadership strategy—transformational leadership—to reinforce employees' individualized prosocial motivation. Combining a field experiment with 80 childcare centre managers and survey reports from their 590 preschool teachers, we assess the effect of a transformational leadership training programme on user orientation. The results show a positive effect on user orientation three months after the training programme but no persistent effect 15 months after the intervention. This implies that, at least in the short term, public managers can use transformational leadership behaviours to stimulate user orientation.     

Participative leadership and hierarchical structures in multiple perpetrator rape: replicating and extending a scale of influence among offenders

ABSTRACT

This paper replicates and extends Porter and Alison’s (2001. A partially ordered scale of influence in violent group behavior: An example from gang rape. Small Group Research, 32(4), 475–497) method of leader identification in Multiple Perpetrator Rape (MPR). The study examined 216 MPR offences (totalling 712 different offenders), collected from archival sources (predominantly law reports). Porter and Alison’s original coding scheme was refined and Multidimensional Scaling identified a partially ordered scale of influence based upon the decisions, actions and orders made by the offenders at each chronological offence stage. The updated scale identified leaders in 97% of the sample groups. The hierarchical structures of the groups were also examined through the distribution of influence among co-offenders. While the majority (68%) of cases exhibited a dichotomous leader/follower structure, some “followers” also exhibited influence tactics to varying degrees with the presence of “lieutenants” and linear hierarchies. The findings are discussed in relation to group dynamics as well as the reliability and validity of the influence scale.     

Strategic competence and agency: individuals overcoming barriers to change in South African higher education

Social relations, institutional arrangements and cultures bequeathed by South Africa’s system of apartheid continue be felt in the present despite the country’s formal transition to democracy 25 years ago. Race, class and gender inequities continue to structure South African society in ways that have proven intransigent to change, leading to growing frustration and widespread public dissatisfaction expressed in multiple arenas including worker strikes, service delivery and university student protests. While it is clear that social structures inherited from the past are difficult to change, it is also the case that change does happen. In this paper, we discuss the findings of a hermeneutic phenomenological study with 10 academics at one historically White university in South Africa, who have been agents of change within their particular context. We show how participants engaged in struggles to counter resistance to their efforts. In doing so they demonstrate what we call ‘strategic competence’ – the ability to act in ways that not only draw on personal resources but recognise the resources, contradictions and opportunities offered within the existing limitations of the social structure. Strategic competence thus emerges as a central feature of agency, enabling individuals to stretch the boundaries of what is possible.     

Impacts,Measurements, and Art Policy: Starting the Change Process

The author discusses a survey of companies with art collections in German-speaking countries—Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Drawing on the data collected in the survey, he highlights the differences between two groups of curators currently responsible for corporate art collections, the "new professionals" and the "management administrators." First, organizational changes in corporations that occurred during the "founding boom" of the 1990s had a significant effect on the roles of corporate art managers, introducing the art-educated "new professional" into the process, which before then had been controlled by the corporate-trained "management administrators." Second, the nature, content, and styles of current corporate art collections reflect specific "corporate cultures." Third, the "new professional" corporate art curators purchase contemporary art for their collections at art fairs, a reality that has significant impact on the art market. The author concludes with an analysis of the relationship between these new professional corporate collectors and the contemporary art market by highlighting significant changes in pre- and post-1990 corporate art collections.