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Social Ties (social + tie)
Kinds of Social Ties Selected AbstractsTHE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL TIES ON CRIME VARY BY CRIMINAL PROPENSITY: A LIFE-COURSE MODEL OF INTERDEPENDENCE,CRIMINOLOGY, Issue 2 2001BRADLEY R. ENTNER WRIGHT Previous studies have explained the transition from criminal propensity in youth to criminal behavior in adulthood with hypotheses of enduring criminal propensity, unique social causation, and cumulative social disadvantage. In this article we develop an additional hypothesis derived from the life-course concept of interdependence: The effects of social ties on crime vary as a function of individuals' propsensity for crime. We tested these four hypotheses with data from the Dunedin Study. In support of life-course interdependence, prosocial ties, such as education, employment, family ties, and partnerships, deterred crime, and antisocial ties, such as delinquent peers, promoted crime, most strongly among low self-control individuals. Our findings bear implications for theories and policies of crime. [source] Expatriate Social Ties: Personality Antecedents and Consequences for AdjustmentINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SELECTION AND ASSESSMENT, Issue 4 2003Erin C. Johnson This expaloratory study examines the relationship between personality characteristics (extraversion, core self evaluations), social tie characteristics (number, breadth, depth), and three types of expatriate adjustment (general, interaction, and work). Data was collected at two points in time from 75 expatriate employees from one organization on international assignments around the world. Results indicate that core self-evaluations, but not extraversion, are positively related to the number of ties formed with other expatriates and host country nationals. Social ties with other expatriates were found to provide greater social support, but similar access to information, than those with host country nationals (HCNs). In general, depth and breadth of relationships with other expatriates predicted general and work adjustment; whereas, breadth and total number of relationships with HCNs predicted all three types of adjustment. Overall, these results provide initial support for the importance of social ties in facilitating expatriate adjustment. [source] Online Communication and Adolescent Social Ties: Who benefits more from Internet use?,JOURNAL OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION, Issue 3 2009Sook Jung Lee Literature suggests 4 hypotheses to explain social outcomes of online communication among adolescents: displacement, increase, rich-get-richer, and social-compensation hypotheses. The present study examines which hypothesis is supported, considering differences in social ties (time vs. quality of social relationships; parent-child relationships; friendships; school connectedness). This study's sample was 1,312 adolescents ages 12 to 18. Displacement hypothesis predicted negative associations between time in online communication and time with parents, but time with friends was not displaced. Examination of relationships among earlier sociability, online communication, and cohesive friendships supported the rich-get-richer hypothesis. That is, adolescents who already had strong social relationships at earlier ages were more likely to use online communication, which in turn predicted more cohesive friendships and better connectedness to school. [source] Presbyterian Social Ties and Mobility in the Irish Sea Culture Area, 1610,1690JOURNAL OF HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 3 2005BARRY VANN Moreover, few studies have considered the reverse flow of ministers to Scotland from Ireland and how their experiences in Ulster (the nine northern-most counties in Ireland) impacted the political landscape in south-western Scotland. This study addresses those voids in the literature. [source] Expatriate Social Ties: Personality Antecedents and Consequences for AdjustmentINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SELECTION AND ASSESSMENT, Issue 4 2003Erin C. Johnson This expaloratory study examines the relationship between personality characteristics (extraversion, core self evaluations), social tie characteristics (number, breadth, depth), and three types of expatriate adjustment (general, interaction, and work). Data was collected at two points in time from 75 expatriate employees from one organization on international assignments around the world. Results indicate that core self-evaluations, but not extraversion, are positively related to the number of ties formed with other expatriates and host country nationals. Social ties with other expatriates were found to provide greater social support, but similar access to information, than those with host country nationals (HCNs). In general, depth and breadth of relationships with other expatriates predicted general and work adjustment; whereas, breadth and total number of relationships with HCNs predicted all three types of adjustment. Overall, these results provide initial support for the importance of social ties in facilitating expatriate adjustment. [source] THE CONTEXT OF MARRIAGE AND CRIME: GENDER, THE PROPENSITY TO MARRY, AND OFFENDING IN EARLY ADULTHOOD,CRIMINOLOGY, Issue 1 2007RYAN D. KING Marriage is central to theoretical debates over stability and change in criminal offending over the life course. Yet, unlike other social ties such as employment, marriage is distinct in that it cannot be randomly assigned in survey research to more definitively assess causal effects of marriage on offending. As a result, key questions remain as to whether different individual propensities toward marriage shape its salience as a deterrent institution. Building on these issues, the current research has three objectives. First, we use a propensity score matching approach to estimate causal effects of marriage on crime in early adulthood. Second, we assess sex differences in the effects of marriage on offending. Although both marriage and offending are highly gendered phenomena, prior work typically focuses on males. Third, we examine whether one's propensity to marry conditions the deterrent capacity of marriage. Results show that marriage suppresses offending for males, even when accounting for their likelihood to marry. Furthermore, males who are least likely to marry seem to benefit most from this institution. The influence of marriage on crime is less robust for females, where marriage reduces crime only for those with moderate propensities to marry. We discuss these findings in the context of recent debates concerning gender, criminal offending, and the life course. [source] DIRECTLY INTERVENE OR CALL THE AUTHORITIES?CRIMINOLOGY, Issue 1 2007A STUDY OF FORMS OF NEIGHBORHOOD SOCIAL CONTROL WITHIN A SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION FRAMEWORK Informal social control is a central concept in the contemporary social disorganization literature, and much attention has been directed at examining community characteristics related to variation in the quantity of informal social control across communities. However, considerably less attention has been paid to variation in forms of informal social control. This study examines the extent to which neighborhood characteristics are related to residents'likelihood of using two different forms of informal social control: direct informal social control (i.e., through direct intervention) and indirect informal social control (i.e., through mobilizing formal authorities). Data for this study are based on surveys of residents in 66 neighborhoods. The analysis uses hierarchical modeling to examine whether neighborhood characteristics central to contemporary social disorganization theory have similar effects on these two forms of neighborhood social control. Findings indicate that social ties increase the likelihood of direct informal social control but not indirect informal social control, whereas social cohesion and trust decreases indirect informal social control but does not have a significant effect on direct informal social control. Faith in the police is not found to affect either form of informal social control. These findings are discussed in terms of current issues in contemporary social disorganization theory. [source] THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL TIES ON CRIME VARY BY CRIMINAL PROPENSITY: A LIFE-COURSE MODEL OF INTERDEPENDENCE,CRIMINOLOGY, Issue 2 2001BRADLEY R. ENTNER WRIGHT Previous studies have explained the transition from criminal propensity in youth to criminal behavior in adulthood with hypotheses of enduring criminal propensity, unique social causation, and cumulative social disadvantage. In this article we develop an additional hypothesis derived from the life-course concept of interdependence: The effects of social ties on crime vary as a function of individuals' propsensity for crime. We tested these four hypotheses with data from the Dunedin Study. In support of life-course interdependence, prosocial ties, such as education, employment, family ties, and partnerships, deterred crime, and antisocial ties, such as delinquent peers, promoted crime, most strongly among low self-control individuals. Our findings bear implications for theories and policies of crime. [source] Accountability and Inaction: NGOs and Resource Lodging in DevelopmentDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 2 2010Matthew Harsh ABSTRACT From the late 1980s, research on NGOs had a normative focus and was vulnerable to changing donor preoccupations. This article contributes a new conceptual approach, analysing the practices through which relationships and resources are translated into programmes and projects. The theoretical justification for this move combines the new ethnography of development practice with a re-agency approach to transactions across time and space. The study is based on data including thirty hours of video ethnography involving interviews and field visits with Kenyan NGOs in a variety of sectors. The analysis focuses on the problem of accountability that emerged through the interactions of donors and state corruption. We argue that NGOs operating in capital cities often provide organizational solutions to this problem. Depending on donor preferences, varying amounts of resources become ,lodged' or absorbed in ,capital NGOs' as they provide accounts of programmes that satisfy donors. However, no matter the donor preferences, capital NGOs provide accountability independently of increased action with communities or increased resources transferred to them. We conclude that the institutionalization of the NGO field as a well-grounded specialization depends in part on the degree to which researchers can sideline the stories generated in inter-organizational contexts such as workshops and policy meetings, and substitute understandings based on accounting practices, resource flows and social ties. [source] Social Networks and Corporate GovernanceEUROPEAN FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2008Avanidhar Subrahmanyam G30; G34 Abstract We analyse frameworks that link corporate governance and firm values to governing boards' social networks and innovations in technology. Because agents create social networks with individuals with whom they share commonalities along the dimensions of social status and income, among other attributes, CEOs may participate in board members' social networks, which interferes with the quality of governance. At the same time, social connections with members of a board can allow for better evaluation of the members' abilities. Thus, in choosing whether to have board members with social ties to management, one must trade off the benefit of members successfully identifying high ability CEOs against the cost of inadequate monitoring due to social connections. Further, technologies like the Internet and electronic mail that reduce the extent of face-to-face networking cause agents to seek satisfaction of their social needs at the workplace, which exacerbates the impact of social networks on governance. The predictions of our model are consistent with recent episodes that appear to signify inadequate monitoring of corporate disclosures as well as with high levels of executive compensation. Additionally, empirical tests support the model's key implication that there is better governance and lower executive compensation in firms where networks are less likely to form. [source] ISOLATING CONNECTIONS , CONNECTING ISOLATIONSGEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2009Eric Clark ABSTRACT. The varied and distinct ways we connect can facilitate or impose isolation, our own or someone else's. Different forms of isolation are themselves interconnected and sometimes enrich our connecting. The relation between isolation and connection, we argue, is one of complementarity, like Calvino's ,two inseparable and complementary functions of life ,syntony, or participation in the world around us , [and] focalization or constructive concentration.' Solitude sought can enhance connections. Imposed isolation weakens connections in ways both obvious and subtle. This contrast between sought and imposed underscores the influence of hierarchy and socially produced inequities, excesses of which fragment the social ties that could constrain or diminish these same inequities. Deep inequity degrades the quality of both connections and isolation, at significant costs to our health, ecology, economy, cultural diversity, and political vitality. From this vantage point, we cull ways to improve our syntony and our focalization, fulfilling by expressing those shared egalitarian moral sentiments that motivate connections of solidarity partly in the interest of being "left alone". [source] Linking return visits and return migration among Commonwealth Eastern Caribbean migrants in TorontoGLOBAL NETWORKS, Issue 1 2004David Timothy Duval Return visits are periodic but temporary sojourns made by members of migrant communities to their external homeland or another location where strong social ties exist. As a result, the conceptual framework in this article revolves around transnationalism as the return visit is shown to be a transnational exercise that may facilitate return. Using data from ethnographic fieldwork, three themes highlight the link between return visits and return migration: (1) the need to facilitate ties such that relationships are meaningful upon permanent return; (2) the functional nature of the return visit, such that changes are measured and benchmarked against what is remembered and internalized by the migration after the migration episode; and (3) the knowledge that return visits aid in reintegration. [source] Death of a migrant: transnational death rituals and gender among British SylhetisGLOBAL NETWORKS, Issue 3 2002Katy Gardner In this article I discuss transnational burial rituals carried out in London and Sylhet. While collective identity and reaffirming social ties are important issues in discussing the burial of migrants in Sylhet, the main focus of the article is on gender. The analysis of what happens when Londonis die reveals a great deal about the differential effects of living between two places on men and women. While transnationalism may in some contexts be understood as potentially subversive, for the majority of Sylhetis in Britain movement between places is highly constrained by poverty and British immigration controls, as well as by particular gender and household relations. These in turn impact on men and women's experiences of bereavement, as well as on their access to and relationship with the British state. [source] Expatriate Social Ties: Personality Antecedents and Consequences for AdjustmentINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SELECTION AND ASSESSMENT, Issue 4 2003Erin C. Johnson This expaloratory study examines the relationship between personality characteristics (extraversion, core self evaluations), social tie characteristics (number, breadth, depth), and three types of expatriate adjustment (general, interaction, and work). Data was collected at two points in time from 75 expatriate employees from one organization on international assignments around the world. Results indicate that core self-evaluations, but not extraversion, are positively related to the number of ties formed with other expatriates and host country nationals. Social ties with other expatriates were found to provide greater social support, but similar access to information, than those with host country nationals (HCNs). In general, depth and breadth of relationships with other expatriates predicted general and work adjustment; whereas, breadth and total number of relationships with HCNs predicted all three types of adjustment. Overall, these results provide initial support for the importance of social ties in facilitating expatriate adjustment. [source] Levels of comfort and ease among patients suffering from urinary incontinenceINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF UROLOGICAL NURSING, Issue 2 2007Michal Rassin Abstract Urinary incontinence is a common phenomenon among women, which harms social ties and is perceived as embarrassing and incurable. Despite its prevalence, there are few studies that have examined how those affected by this syndrome feel. The goal of this study was to examine the personal characteristics and levels of comfort among women suffering from urinary incontinence. The study included 50 women who had been diagnosed as suffering from urinary incontinence. The participants answered the Urinary Incontinence and Frequency Comfort Questionnaire, which examines levels of physical, mental, social and environmental comfort. , reliability has been found to be high in previous studies (,= 0·82). Our findings indicated that urinary incontinence occurred among the patients from several times a day to several times a week caused by sneezing, coughing and laughing. Most participants delayed treatment for up to 3 years. The general level of comfort was identified as medium low (SD = 0·04, M= 2·95) from a possible range of 1,6. Particularly low levels of comfort were recorded on items such as ,I feel clean and fresh,',finding a toilet in close proximity is a worrisome issue when I exit the house' and ,I fear having sex due to the urinary incontinence problem'. Identifying patients' needs and understanding their emotions are a useful basis for nursing intervention in promoting quality of life. [source] U.S. Deportation Policy, Family Separation, and Circular MigrationINTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW, Issue 1 2008Jacqueline Hagan Since the mid-1990s the United States has enacted a series of laws that make it easier to deport noncitizens. Drawing on findings from interviews with a random sample of 300 Salvadoran deportees, we examine how family relations, ties, remittance behavior, and settlement experiences are disrupted by deportation, and how these ties influence future migration intentions. We find that a significant number of deportees were long-term settlers in the United States. Many had established work histories and had formed families of their own. These strong social ties in turn influence the likelihood of repeat migration to the United States. [source] The Panel Study on American Religion and Ethnicity: Background, Methods, and Selected ResultsJOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION, Issue 1 2010Michael O. Emerson Surveying 2,610 respondents, the Panel Study of American Religion and Ethnicity is a nationally representative in-home survey of the noninstitutionalized U.S. adult population. The survey is designed to (a) focus primarily on religion and spirituality (with over 200 questions on these topics), (b) include multiple other modules (such as health, family relationships, and social ties), (c) oversample African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics, and (d) follow the same respondents over time. We describe the main design features of the survey, present some characteristics of the sample, and provide basic findings. It is our hope that these data will foster more research and contribute to a better understanding of the role and meaning of religion in the contemporary United States. [source] The Ties Made in the Harvest: Nicaraguan Farm-worker Networks in Costa Rica's Agricultural ExportsJOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE, Issue 4 2010SANG E. LEE Traditional and nontraditional export agriculture expansion dramatically changed the social and economic landscapes in the global south. An examination of one aspect of south,south international migration, Nicaraguan migrant economic integration into Costa Rica's export agriculture sector, reveals how production systems in the traditional and nontraditional agricultural sectors shape migrant social networks in distinct ways in the global south and its significance for both migrant workers and the agricultural sectors they work in. The rapid expansion of nontraditional export agriculture , the essence of agricultural development in Costa Rica , depends on the traditional crop production structure of coffee farms. The experiences of Nicaraguan migrant workers and their social ties to each other in nontraditional export agriculture and the coffee farms in Costa Rica demonstrate how different production structures call for distinct fragile and conflicted social networks ties between migrants. The economic integration of migrant workers relies on opportunistic and weak ties that are both gendered and contradictory. [source] Neighborhood-specific and general social support: which buffers the effect of neighborhood disorder on depression?JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2009Joongbaeck Kim Is neighborhood-specific social support the most effective type of social support for buffering the effect of neighborhood disorder on depression? Matching theory suggests that it is. The authors extend the research on neighborhood disorder and adult depression by showing that individuals who have higher levels of both general and neighborhood-specific social relationships, measured by social support and neighborhood social ties, are less vulnerable to negative effects of neighborhood disorder. Using the Community, Crime, and Health Survey, the authors found that neighborhood disorder's association with depression is lower for people with supportive social ties with neighbors and for people with more general social support. The latter conditional effect is stronger than the former, indicating that support in which the source of support matches the source of strain is not more effective than general support at buffering the effects of neighborhood strain. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Religious involvement and depressive symptoms among Mexican-origin adults in CaliforniaJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2009Christopher G. Ellison A burgeoning literature has documented generally salutary relationships between various aspects of religious involvement and mental health outcomes, including depressive symptoms. However, few of these studies have focused on Latinos (Hispanics), who now constitute the largest ethnic minority population in the United States. Our work addresses this gap in the literature. A number of hypotheses concerning main and contingent effects of religious attendance, salience, and consolation-seeking are developed and tested, using data on a large (N=3,012) sample of Mexican-origin adults drawn in the Fresno, CA area in 1995,1996. An initial inverse association between religious attendance and depressive symptoms disappears with controls for supportive social ties. However, an apparently salutary association between religious salience and depression persists despite all statistical controls; this relationship is present among both men and women, but it is significantly stronger for women. Contrary to expectations, there are signs that religious involvement may exacerbate the deleterious effects of discrimination and acculturation stress on depressive symptoms. A number of study implications, limitations, and directions for future research is discussed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Online Communication and Adolescent Social Ties: Who benefits more from Internet use?,JOURNAL OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION, Issue 3 2009Sook Jung Lee Literature suggests 4 hypotheses to explain social outcomes of online communication among adolescents: displacement, increase, rich-get-richer, and social-compensation hypotheses. The present study examines which hypothesis is supported, considering differences in social ties (time vs. quality of social relationships; parent-child relationships; friendships; school connectedness). This study's sample was 1,312 adolescents ages 12 to 18. Displacement hypothesis predicted negative associations between time in online communication and time with parents, but time with friends was not displaced. Examination of relationships among earlier sociability, online communication, and cohesive friendships supported the rich-get-richer hypothesis. That is, adolescents who already had strong social relationships at earlier ages were more likely to use online communication, which in turn predicted more cohesive friendships and better connectedness to school. [source] Configurations of Relationships in Different Media: FtF, Email, Instant Messenger, Mobile Phone, and SMSJOURNAL OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION, Issue 4 2007Hyo Kim This study analyzes the configurations of communication relationships in Korea through face-to-face, email, instant messaging, mobile phone, and short message service media. Through a web survey, we asked respondents to identify (1) for each of the five media (2) up to five of their most frequent communication partners, (3) the partner's social role (including colleagues, family, friends), and (4) their own employment category. Individual-level and network-level analyses were used to compare variations in communication relationships and configurations of relationships among social roles overall, within each medium, and for different employment categories, and to identify configurations of relationships across media. IM, SMS, and mobile phone are distinctive media for students, mobile phone for homeworkers, and email for organizational workers. Moreover, mobile phones tend to be used in reinforcing strong social ties, and text-based CMC media tend to be used in expanding relationships with weak ties. Finally, face-to-face (FtF) seems to be a universal medium without significant differences across respondents' employment categories. [source] Confronting Social Defence Mechanisms: Avoiding Disorganisation During CrisesJOURNAL OF CONTINGENCIES AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2001Martin Loosemore Crises cause social disturbances within their host organisation and the patterns of interpersonal ties that emerge are an important determinant of crisis management efficiency. In this article, social network analysis is used within a construction project context, to demonstrate that efficient crisis management depends upon the design and maintenance of an appropriate social fabric. However, crises have defence mechanisms that make management difficult by inducing forces that encourage people to pursue inappropriate social ties. Purposeful social intervention is therefore an essential part of the crisis management process to confront and avoid disorganisation. [source] Relocated Citizens' Perceptions and Attitudes Regarding Indoor Application of Toxic Agricultural PesticidesJOURNAL OF CONTINGENCIES AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2000Olurominiyi O. Ibitayo This study investigates the viewpoints of relocated citizens regarding the effects of relocation, perceptions of the potential hazards of indoor application of a toxic agricultural pesticide , methyl parathion , and the efficacy of the risk information emphasizing the adverse health effects of this inappropriate use of the pesticide. The surveyed citizens were those relocated because the levels of the pesticide contaminant in their homes were high. Despite the extensive information , through the mass media and face-to-face warnings and activities such as assessment of contamination levels, decontamination of homes and relocation , the respondents, regardless of race, consistently perceived relatively low levels of risks from the indoor application of methyl parathion. The disruption of family life, loss of peace of mind and the loss of contaminated property were the most mentioned problems caused by the relocation. In contrast to past research, the disruption of social ties or networks was hardly mentioned. The results of this study suggest that the perceived personal benefits of home-use of methyl parathion, and the voluntariness and controllability of exposure may have been the overriding factors of the respondents' risk perception, more than the clarity, content, consistency, and credibility of the risk information. The fact that the relocation was temporary must have contributed to the low level of importance attached by the respondents to the disruption of social ties as one of the adverse effects of the relocation. [source] Parental Behavior and the Quality of Adolescent Friendships: A Social-Contextual PerspectiveJOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 3 2002Ming Cui On the basis of an evolving social-contextual perspective, the authors predicted and found that socioeconomic advantage in terms of income and parental education promotes supportive and inhibits hostile parental behaviors toward an adolescent child (N= 221). These parental behaviors predicted similar actions by the child toward a close friend 4 years later. In turn adolescent supportiveness promoted close friendship ties, whereas hostility diminished the quality of friendships. The results support the notion that, to a significant degree, the quality of family interactions: (a) arises from the social context surrounding the family, (b) is transmitted across generations, and (c) has a demonstrable impact on the quality of adolescents' social ties outside the family. [source] Attachments, Grievances, Resources, and Efficacy: The Determinants of Tenant Association Participation Among Public Housing TenantsJOURNAL OF URBAN AFFAIRS, Issue 1 2005Brian P. Conway Using logistic regression models we estimate the net effects of four sets of factors on the likelihood that a tenant has attended tenant association meetings: neighborhood attachments, grievances, resources and constraints, and feelings of efficacy. Results show that net of other factors, participation is greater among attached tenants who have resided in public housing longer and who have social ties to other people. Grievances also increase participation, but they do so indirectly by increasing people's tendency to be more involved in their communities. With the exception of education's positive effect, resources and constraints are not important determinants of participation. Education and efficacy act like enablers increasing people's ability to be involved in their communities. The implications of the findings for research and community organizing are explored by examining how three mechanisms account for the findings. [source] Life of the mind: The interface of psychopharmaceuticals, domestic economies, and social abandonmentAMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, Issue 4 2004Joćo Biehl ABSTRACT In this article, I address the embroilment of medical science in the lifeworlds of the urban poor in Brazil, particularly the place of psychopharmaceuticals within households. I explore how psychiatric diagnostics and treatments are integrated into a domestic "dramaturgy of the real" and how family members use them to assess human value and to mediate the disposal of persons considered unproductive or unsound. I focus on the life of Catarina, who was deemed mad and left by her family in an asylum in southern Brazil. Disabled and abandoned, Catarina began to compile a "dictionary" of words that have meaning for her. By tracing Catarina's words back to the people, households, and medical institutions that she had once been a part of, I illuminate the complex network in which her abandonment and pathology took form as well as the edges of human imagination that she keeps expanding. From this examination, one comes to understand how economic globalization, state and medical reform, and acceleration of claims over human rights and citizenship coincide with and impinge on a local production of social death. One also sees how mental disorders gain form at the juncture between the subject, her biology, and the technical and political coding of her sense of being alive. Hers is not just bare life, though: Thinking through her condition, Catarina anticipates social ties and one more chance. This is also a story of the methodological and ethical challenges I faced as I supported Catarina's search for consistency and her demands for continuity. [source] Despite the Northern Territories: Hokkaido's Courting of the Russian Far EastPACIFIC FOCUS, Issue 1 2003Tsuneo Akaha Recent studies of Japan's postwar policy toward Russia have persuasively argued that the intrinsic (symbolic and psychological) value rather than the instrumental (economic or strategic) value that the Northern Territories (Southern Kuriles) represents to Japan is the most important obstacle to the normalization of relations between the two countries. Theoretically, there are three ways in which the intrinsic value of the disputed islands might be substantially depreciated and the instrumental value of closer bilateral ties appreciated: (1) major concessions from Russia, which are highly unlikely, (2) the emergence of a security or strategic of common concern to Tokyo and Moscow prompting the two sides to offer mutual concessions on the territorial issue or indefinitely postpone its resolution, and (3) a substantial expansion of economic, cultural, and social ties between the Japanese and the Russians, dramatically improving Japanese attitudes toward Russia. This study explores the third possibility, with a particular focus on developments at the subnational level, the level that has been largely ignored by students of Russian-Japanese relations. Namely, the study examines relations between Hokkaido and the Russian Far East since the 1960s and asks: Do the same logic and dynamic that operate at the national level apply at the regional level? Does the intrinsic importance of the territorial dispute prevail over considerations of economic and other tangible values at the subnational level as it does at the national level? The paper concludes that while Hokkaido has not deviated from the Japanese government,s official position on the territorial issue,that all the islands belong to Japan, the dispute has not prevented the provincial administration, municipal governments, or nongovernmental organizations in Hokkaido from launching and sustaining initiatives to cement closer ties with their northern neighbors, with growing economic and human ties playing important roles in the process. [source] Remitting the gift: Zambian mobility and anthropological insights for migration studiesPOPULATION, SPACE AND PLACE (PREVIOUSLY:-INT JOURNAL OF POPULATION GEOGRAPHY), Issue 1 2005Lisa Cliggett Abstract This article brings together anthropological theories of gift exchange and ethnographic data on migrant gifting (,remitting') in order to understand the core of investing in social relations through remitting practices. Migration literature from throughout the developing world documents important patterns of remitting that furthers our understanding of how migrants' earnings help rural investment. In contrast to the majority of migration literature, scholars working in different regions of Zambia have documented migration patterns and remittance practices that do not echo the documented findings from other regions of the developing world. In Zambian migration, remittances consist more of food, ,town goods' or cash, rather than the larger sums of money or durable goods that other migration studies describe. The Zambian literature also documents cases of non-remitting. Rather than provide significant support to relatives in sending communities, Zambian migrants invest in social networks over time through ,gift-remitting'. These ,gift-remittances' facilitate options to return to home communities, or to maintain mutually beneficial social ties for both migrants and relatives in home villages. These findings compel policies directed towards enhancing migrants' remitting power to consider the core social foundation of their ties to home, and how investing in social relations can be incorporated into policy development. The article draws on fieldwork with the Gwembe Tonga people of Zambia's Southern Province since 1994, and recent ethnographic literature from Zambia. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Effects of a brief intervention on social support and psychiatric morbidity in breast cancer patientsPSYCHO-ONCOLOGY, Issue 4 2002J. Steven A. Simpson (1) To cross-sectionally and longitudinally investigate relationships between the availability and adequacy of both close personal attachment and interactional support, and psychiatric morbidity in a sample of early stage breast cancer patients participating in a 6-week psychoeducational intervention. (2) To address the question of directionality in these longitudinal relationships. (3) To investigate the effects of the intervention on levels of social support. Eighty-nine women were enrolled in the study, and randomly assigned to either the treatment or control condition. They were evaluated with the Interview Schedule for Social Interaction (ISSI), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Global Severity Index (GSI) of the Symptom Checklist (SCL) ,90-R, and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID) at three time periods: baseline (pre-intervention), 1 year post-intervention and 2 years post-intervention. Relationships between social support and the psychiatric measures were evaluated both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Cross-sectionally, there were strong associations at each time period between being diagnosed with a DSM-III-R Axis I disorder and having less adequate perceived social support from both close relationships and more distant social ties. Initial levels of psychiatric symptoms on the BDI and GSI were better predictors of later social support than initial social support variables were of later psychiatric symptoms. Participation in the group intervention did not result in changes in social support at 1 or 2 years post-intervention. Cross-sectionally, there was a strong relationship between social support and psychiatric morbidity in these patients with early-stage breast cancer. Longitudinally, it appeared that although social support influenced psychiatric symptomatology somewhat, the influence of psychiatric symptoms on social support was greater. This illustrates the importance of both working to bolster social support and dealing with psychiatric symptomatology in this population. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||