Citizenship Norms and the Expansion of Political Participation

A growing chorus of scholars laments the apparent decline of political participation in America, and the negative implications of this trend for American democracy. This article questions this position – arguing that previous studies misdiagnosed the sources of political change and the consequences of changing norms of citizenship for Americans' political engagement. Citizenship norms are shifting from a pattern of duty-based citizenship to engaged citizenship. Using data from the 2005 'Citizenship, Involvement, Democracy' survey of the Center for Democracy and Civil Society (CDACS) I describe these two faces of citizenship, and trace their impact on political participation. Rather than the erosion of participation, this norm shift is altering and expanding the patterns of political participation in America.     

Are homo economicus and homo politicus identical twins?

When we view social and economic cooperation through the lens of game theoretic strategic interaction, we find that they have essentially identical abstract representations. If instead we view them substantively according to the issues with which they deal, they are commonly different. But even while they are substantively different, they depend heavily on each other, so that at the very minimum they are inextricably intertwined. If we do not get our economic interactions right, our social interactions will fail too, and vice versa., In other words, the social and economic fields are game theoretically identical; and they are substantively inseparable, even though they are not identical. Arguably the chief reason that we often separate them is that their modal focuses differ dramatically. In the development of microeconomics the focus is overwhelmingly on pairs involved in exchange. Politics primarily deals with the larger group and social levels of interaction. The movements of rational choice theory and of institutional economics in our time are fairly far reaching efforts to bring these two focuses together.     

Maternal Predictors of Noncoital Sexual Behavior: Examining a Nationally Representative Sample of Asian and White American Adolescents Who Have Never had Sex

Current research in adolescent sexuality has largely focused on vaginal-penile intercourse, with less attention to noncoital sexual activity. This study examined how maternal factors influence the transition from virginity to noncoital behavior among White and Asian American youth who have never experienced vaginal intercourse. We conducted logistic regression analyses to examine whether traditional maternal predictors of coital sex were important in understanding noncoital sexual activity of these two populations. Waves 1 and 2 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were utilized. For White Americans (n = 3,926), direct and indirect maternal factors were associated with noncoital sexual involvement: maternal support, control, mother–child communication about sex, and adolescents’ perceptions of maternal approval of sex. In contrast, only maternal support was associated with the onset of noncoital sexual behavior for Asian Americans (n = 611). The study underscores the need to explore culturally specific factors that may influence Asian American adolescent noncoital sexual behaviors.

Keeping warm cookies: Cultural discourses of fun talk in public participation

ABSTRACT

Declining rates of public participation in the United States of America have raised questions about the sustainability and effectiveness of U.S. democracy. Some scholars have called for making democracy fun through the use of game design to make public participation more accessible. Using cultural discourse analysis, this study explores the locally situated communication practices of a civil society organization called Warm Cookies of the Revolution that seeks to (re)imagine U.S. democracy by making public participation fun. The research employs ‘fun talk’ – a specific communication practice within public participation – as an analytical unit and finds that fun talk served as a discursive hub of emotion with radiants of meaning connected to being, acting, and relating. In contrast to those who have argued fun democratic practices should employ game design to improve public administration, participants understood fun talk as a way to introduce them to civic affairs, form relationships with neighbours, and take action to improve their communities. The article discusses implications for theories of emotion and affect in civil society scholarship.     

State sovereign standing: often overlooked, but not forgotten

Critics of Virginia's challenge to the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act have asserted that Virginia lacked standing to even raise the issue. Such criticism is inconsistent with foundational understandings of the role of states in providing a check on federal power and with the modern standing jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, especially as reflected in the Court's decisions regarding a state's sovereign interest in defending its code of laws. This Article demonstrates that, as a matter of constitutional design and history, as well as under relevant precedents, Virginia clearly had and has standing to bring its challenge.     

Verapamil toxicity: an unusual case report and review of the literature

Verapamil blocks the rapid influx of calcium into the cardiac myocytes of the cardiac conduction system and smooth muscle of the vasculature, resulting in decreased myocardial contractility, prolonged conduction time, and vascular relaxation. A sustained-release form, verapamil SR (or ER), is available that contains higher levels of medication and requires only once-daily dosing. The majority of reported fatal cases of verapamil toxicity are due to massive, intentional overdoses. Herein, we present an unusual case of fatal verapamil SR toxicity in a 57-year-old female that resulted from accidental overdose of only 3 tablets (720 mg), as witnessed by the decedent's daughter. In spite of the low dose ingested, the postmortem cardiac blood verapamil level was clearly toxic (6000 ng/mL, or 6 mg/L). Her preexisting medical conditions included hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, iron deficiency anemia, diabetes mellitus, and associated mild chronic renal failure. Complicating factors, which likely include the decedent's preexisting renal and cardiac disease, and a review of the available literature will be discussed.     

The boundaries of belonging: gender,human trafficking and embodied citizenship

A ‘victim of trafficking’ is an identity that an individual can adopt to access legal resources that would otherwise not be open to them. However, this identity contains certain implicit assumptions about that individual and their experiences. This article analyses 12 applications for a one-year visa, written by women from the former Soviet Union who were trafficked to Israel and forced to sell sex. To apply for a visa as a ‘victim of trafficking’ applicants assert certain narrative tropes to emphasise their desire to belong in Israel. These tropes obscure the complexities of their experiences by emphasising themes of naivety and innocence, a commitment to familial obligations and a lack of agency. They reject the alternative identity of a migrant sex worker and distance themselves from any implication of a desire to illegally cross national borders. When they describe their hopes for the future, they assert normative gendered desires to marry and have children. This article argues that by closely aligning themselves with gender norms, these women seek to respond to conceptualisations of individuals who transgress gender and moral norms and who pose a threat to national borders and integrity.