Early postmortem course of washerwoman's skin of the fingers

Studies were carried out systematically in both corpses and the hands of corpses in order to find out when " washerwoman 's skin" begins. The temperatures ranged between 10 degrees and 18 degrees C and the time of the experiments did not exceed 300 min. The initial formation of washerwoman 's skin could be observed after 20-30 min at the fingertips and after 50-60 min in the entire finger. The longest intervals observed were 100 or 150 min, respectively. These long intervals were interpreted as being exceptions from the norm, probably due to either extraordinarily heavy strips of fat on the fingers or abnormally hard skin on the hands. The course of washerwoman 's skin obviously depends on the water temperature, and afterwards it disappears rather slowly--even after a short immersion--in the open air. We will carry out additional experiments in the future.     

Interest in political campaigns: The influence of question order and electoral context

A split-ballot experiment shows that, when people are asked how interested they are in following political campaigns, their response depends not only on the order in which the question is asked, but also on the broader electoral context in which it is posed. When asked how interested they were in following the political campaigns immediatelyafter a question about whether or not they voted in the (1982) election, people were more likely to think they were interested in the campaign, especially if they claimed to have voted, than if they were asked about it immediatelybefore the question on whether or not they voted. This order effect, however, appears to depend onwhen the questions are asked. If asked within a few weeks after the election, there is little or no order effect. But later, as the memory of the campaign fades, the order of the questions makes a sizable difference in the results. This order effect also seems to be more pronounced among better-educated respondents, suggesting that they are more likely to feel pressured by a social norm to vote and to express an interest in political affairs, not only in real life, but in the survey interview as well. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the implications for the design of the interview schedule used in the American National Election Studies.The research reported in this paper was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (SES81-11404).     

Electoral studies and democratic theory reconsidered

In recent years, political theorists and social scientists have sought to assess the contemporary relevance and validity of a so-called classical doctrine of democracy in light of empirical evidence emphasizing the apathy, ignorance, incompetence, and/or authoritarian inclinations of ordinary citizens. Elite or revisionist theories have urged a drastic attenuation of the participatory commitments of classical democratic theory in light of this evidence. Defenders of classical democratic theory have often accepted this evidence as substantially accurate, staking their hopes upon future possibilities for the development of mass political competence in the democratically reconstituted structures of a participatory society. This article suggests that a critique of revisionist democratic theory can be developed solely on the basis of currently available findings. After reviewing an important body of evidence, we conclude that the distribution of political competence between mass and elite is far less unequal than has been assumed by revisionist proponents of elite democratic theory and conceded by their participatory critics.