Alcohol use in male spouse abusers and their female partners

Patterns of alcohol use of 181 maritally violent and maritally nonviolent men and their female partners differed on subscales of the Quantity-Frequency Index. Two abuser groups (43 uncounseled and 46 counseled) drank significantly greater amounts and for different psychological reasons than two nonabuser groups (50 satisfactorily married and 42 discordant). However, group frequency rates did not vary. The abuser groups had experienced and observed significantly more violence during childhood than the nonabuser groups; further, they reported significantly more current life stress. The female partners of the abusers did not differ in global alcohol use; however, they drank substantially more than their counterparts. They were especially prone to drink in response to battering. About one fourth of the abusers and one fifth of their wives drank frequently during abusive episodes. Stressors and depressors most likely precipitated both drinking and battering, with strain, hostility, and alcohol myopia (altered perception) serving as intervening variables. Results clarify contradictory reports concerning the role of alcohol in family violence.     

Globaloney: Economic Versus Cultural Convergence Under Conditions of Globalization

Using the theory of the commons and social obligation theory of inclusion, this article critically examines current art museum fundraising practices in the United States that rely too much on traditional White, wealthy patrons. This leads museums to emphasize the limited interests of traditional donors, neglecting the needs of and potential support from their broader communities. This results in the tragedy of the anticommons, where museums are underused by diverse publics. The article advocates for more inclusive relationship-based fundraising practices that build relationships with local community members and include their perspectives on fundraising practices through diversifying fundraising leadership, understanding diverse giving patterns, and utilizing innovative fundraising methods while remaining sensitive to cultural differences.     

Medicalisation,pharmaceutical promotion and the Internet: a critical multimodal discourse analysis of hair loss websites

This study conducts a critical multimodal discourse analysis of commercial hair loss websites. Specifically, I focus on eight sites which provide information about and promote the pharmaceutical hair loss treatment Propecia, a widely available medication marketed to treat male pattern baldness. I identify four salient discursive strategies through which the websites depict male hair loss and the Propecia treatment, namely (1) representing the balding man as type and outcast, (2) promoting the attractiveness and self-assurance of the hirsute man, (3) situating male hair loss in a scientific discourse and (4) encouraging consumers to self-evaluate their hair loss. By inducing insecurities in men experiencing hair loss and encouraging them to embrace pharmaceutical remedies as a viable response to male pattern balding, these discursive-semiotic strategies help to reproduce the contemporary sociocultural practice of medicalisation, the phenomenon whereby the natural processes of life are treated as medical problems. The findings of this study suggest that these promotional discourses play a role in transforming ordinary, benign ailments into illnesses, reconfiguring them as treatable disorders for commercial gain.     

Social conflict over property rights: the end,a new beginning,or a continuing debate?

The ownership and control of private land is a core social value in the United States. Public planning can be seen as conflicting with this value. The long-standing tension between private property rights and public planning was heightened in the 1990s with the emergence of the so-called private property rights movement. This movement seeks to limit governmental authority over privately owned land through a multi-level strategy of legal, policy, political, and public relations actions. This paper explores the historical basis for this conflict, the legal framework within which it functions, and contemporary policy battles.

The paper concludes that there may be no final outcome to this debate. Property rights activists are impassioned and believe their view of history and law is correct. I argue that it may be best to see debate about land use and property rights as one of the central vehicles for a continual reframing of core values in the American experience.