Failure to Update: An Institutional Perspective on Noncompliance With the Family and Medical Leave Act

At least one‐quarter of covered workplaces violated the parental leave requirements of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) when surveyed in 1997. What explains this noncompliance? Using a survey of 389 U.S. workplaces and qualitative interviews with managers in 40 organizations, I demonstrate that noncompliance comes in distinct forms. Some forms of noncompliance result from a failure to update institutionalized—and gendered—policies, practices, and norms. This form of noncompliance (indicated by illegally short leaves) is better explained by the institutional perspective, while outright noncompliance (as evidenced by a lack of leaves) is best explained by rational choice and deviant culture theories.     

浅议大学新生在人际交往中的矛盾心理

大学新生在人际交往中存在多种矛盾心理,主要有强烈的交往需要与强烈的孤独感之间的矛盾,过分自尊与自卑的矛盾,传统与现代观念的矛盾,现实交往与虚拟交往心理的矛盾.     

Beijing Back Breakers

When I first arrived here a few months ago, I couldn't help but notice several work projects going on all around me. A new dorm was being built on campus where I would be teach-ing, as well as a courtyard being repaved and bricked in front of the female students' dormitory, and a building next to my gym was being renovated. I wondered how long it would take to finish these large tasks, espe-cially the courtyard, as school would begin in about a week, and it would be a mess for students to have to walk through mud, over piles of sand, and around stacks of bricks to get where they wanted to go.     

The reciprocal dynamics of organizing and sense‐making in the implementation of major public‐sector reforms

Abstract: Drawing on a longitudinal study from the early years of implementation of health‐care networks in Quebec, this article describes how public‐sector managers deal with complex challenges when both organizational structures and organizational strategies are radically transformed simultaneously. The new organizations studied had to completely re‐shuffle roles and responsibilities of their management teams while making sense of their new mandate of developing a population‐focused approach to health problems – all the time maintaining day‐to‐day operations. The four health‐care networks studied proceeded somewhat differently to meet these reciprocal challenges. The study reveals the importance of balancing organizing initiatives (focused on structures) with “sense‐making” initiatives (focused on strategies), of developing capacities for sense‐making through the creation of key “sense‐maker/sense‐giver” positions whose occupants are able to ensure that conceptual activities engage people working at different levels, even as organizational structures are in flux, and of mobilizing external constraints and influences as opportunities and resources in sense‐making and organizing. Sommaire : Se fondant sur une étude longitudinale des premières années de la mise en œuvre des réseaux de soins de santé au Québec, cet article décrit la manière dont les gestionnaires du secteur public font face à des défis complexes, alors que les structures et les stratégies organisationnelles sont radicalement transformées simultanément. Les nouveaux organismes étudiés ont dû complètement remanier les rôles et les responsabilités de leurs équipes de gestion et comprendre leur nouveau mandat d'élaborer une approche axée sur la population pour ce qui est des problèmes de santé, tout en maintenant leurs activités au jour le jour. Les quatre réseaux de soins de santéétudiés ont travailléà relever ces défis réciproques d'une manière assez différente. L'étude révèle l'importance de trouver un équilibre entre les initiatives consistant à organiser (axées sur les structures) et les initiatives consistant à interpréter les faits (axées sur les stratégies) ; de perfectionner les capacités à interpréter les faits grâce à la création de postes clés d'«interpréteurs de faits», dont les titulaires veilleraient à ce que des activités conceptuelles fassent intervenir les gens travaillant à différents niveaux même lorsque les structures organisationnelles fluctuent continuellement; et enfin de tirer parti des contraintes et influences externes comme autant d'occasions et de ressources pour interpréter et organiser les faits.     

A NATIONWIDE SURVEY OF MANDATORY PARENT EDUCATION*

In an effort to take positive steps toward coping with problems for families and children created by high levels of separation and divorce, ever increasing civil caseloads and the exposure of children to interparental conflict, court‐affiliated educational programs have emerged in the United States for parents separating from their spouse or partner or going through a divorce. This article will provide an overview of the creation of such programs and their development, which includes a discussion regarding the numerous states currently mandating parents to attend. It will summarize some of the research which has been conducted as to the efficacy of the programs and will provide the results of our nationwide research for each state's parent education status. There is a discussion of domestic violence issues and sensitivities in the context of parent education programs and possible future directions for mandatory parent education.     

俄中美三角中的俄罗斯东部地区

21世纪初西伯利亚和远东的地理政治与地理经济作用正逐渐增长,太平洋地区国家对该地区的兴趣和关注也在飞速增长.莫斯科、北京和华盛顿在广袤的西伯利亚和远东的利益将如何部署,这种部署会建立在合作的基础之上还是会成为引发各种冲突表现的主要原因?它将怎样影响在太平洋地区和全世界的国际关系?一种关于"俄中美三角关系"在西伯利亚和远东广大地区相互作用之前景的观点得出了关于潜在冲突的结论,这种潜在的冲突埋伏在三方态度和利益的差异上.在太平洋地区潜在的国家利益和全球及地区力量分配的改变可能会给三方利益和立场的确定带来调整.     

Reactions to flag desecration in American society: Exploring the contours of formal and informal social control

Although flag burnings today rarely draw the amount of attention they received in the late 1980s, efforts to protect the flag have persisted for nearly a decade. Accordingly, the flag protection campaign has captured the interest of intellectuals from various academic backgrounds, including political scientists, egal scholars, and journalists. Conspicuously absent from the literature on flag desecration, however, are sociologists and criminologists. Combining historical evidence with recent cases, this article unveils key sociological aspects of social control, including formal and informal responses to flag desecration.