LIVING WITH THE CONTRADICTIONS OF MODERNIZATION? EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT IN THE TEACHING PROFESSION

The state education system in the UK has undergone significant transformation such that New Labour’s modernization policy embodies aspects of the marketized system, inspired by New Right thinking, with a concern for placing schools at the centre of the social inclusion agenda. In this paper, we explore the impact of the modernized agenda on teachers’ work and identify the tensions and contradictions which emanate from these policies. The research centred on interviews with teachers and headteachers in four school case studies and explores the changing nature of the profession by focusing on teachers’ emotional management. It is evident that at a time when a large proportion of what teachers do is subject to scrutiny and audit, the emotional and less definable elements of teaching have also increased but remain relatively unrecognized. The findings suggest that issues of emotional management bring into sharp relief the contradictions evident in the modernized agenda.     

Divided Government and Congressional Investigations

This article explores the political determinants of congressional investigatory activity. Using Mayhew's list of high‐profile probes updated through 2006, we developed five measures of the frequency and intensity of investigative oversight. Contra Mayhew, we found that divided government spurs congressional investigatory activity. A shift from unified to divided government yields a five‐fold increase in the number of hearings held and quadruples their duration. Conditional party government models also offer explanatory leverage because homogeneous majorities are more likely to investigate the president in divided government and less likely to do so in unified government. This dynamic is strongest in the House, but analyses of the Senate also afford consistent, if muted, evidence of partisan agenda control.     

The Obama Buzz

I didn't expect any of my students to care about American politics. When I first moved to China to teach English in August 2008, I figured some of the     

THE NARROWING GENDER GAP IN ARRESTS: ASSESSING COMPETING EXPLANATIONS USING SELF‐REPORT,TRAFFIC FATALITY,AND OFFICIAL DATA ON DRUNK DRIVING, 1980–2004*

We evaluate two alternative explanations for the converging gender gap in arrest—changes in women's behavior versus changes in mechanisms of social control. Using the offense of drunk driving and three methodologically diverse data sets, we explore trends in the DUI gender gap. We probe for change across various age groups and across measures tapping DUI prevalence and chronicity. Augmented Dickey‐Fuller time‐series techniques are used to assess changes in the gender gap and levels of drunk driving from 1980 to 2004. Analyses show women of all ages making arrest gains on men—a converging gender gap. In contrast, self‐report and traffic data indicate little or no systematic change in the DUI gender gap. Findings support the conclusion that mechanisms of social control have shifted to target female offending patterns disproportionately. Little support exists for the contention that increased strain and liberalized gender roles have altered the gender gap or female drunk‐driving patterns.     

MEASURING PROTECTIVE HANDGUN OWNERSHIP*

Hill et al. (1985) have suggested a measure of protective handgun ownership that can be implemented in an omnibus survey like the General Social Survey (GSS), which does not ask respondents why they own the gun. Using the 1980 GSS and their refined measure, Hill et al. report (among other things) that fear of crime and prior victimization increase the likelihood that men, but not women, will own handguns for protection. Their analysis, however, is Jawed because (1) they made errors in their analysis and (2) their measure of protective handgun ownership is biased. This paper explains why the measure is biased and shows how the measure alters parameter estimates.