Building on more than two decades offeminist analysis of the family, this article takes a neoinstitutionalist approach to examine some of the ways that sex, gender, and sexual orientation intersect in lesbianheaded two-parent families, affecting how they construct their roles as mothers. Institutionalist theory tends to de-emphasize how actors deliberately construct social arrangements such as parenting roles within the family. The authors' analysis of interviews from 14 lesbian mothers remedies this deficiency by focusing both on how they draw upon and (...) transform institutionalized scripts, practices, and understandings of family roles and relations. Their findings reveal how these mothers reinscribed gendered understandings while simultaneously challenging heteronormative ones in their efforts to construct and maintain socially viable two-parent families. (shrink)

Distinctive features of culture industries suggest that women culture workers face formidable barriers to career advancement. Using longitudinal data on the careers of screenwriters, we examine gender inequality in the labor market for writers of feature films. We hypothesize and test three different models of labor market dynamics and find support for a model of cumulative disadvantage whereby the gender gap in earnings grows as men and women move through their careers. We suggest that the transition of screenwriting from a (...) mixed to a male-dominated occupation parallels the “empty field” phenomenon described in a study by Tuchman of nineteenth-century novelists. The institutionalization of male dominance of the film industry in the 1930s and the typecasting of women writers has had a lasting impact on gender inequality, which shows little change through the early 1990s. (shrink)

An experiment was conducted to investigate the relative contributions of syntactic form and content to conditional reasoning. The content domain chosen was that of causation. Conditional statements that described causal relationships (if (cause>, then (effect>) were embedded in simple arguments whose entailments are governed by the rules -oftruth-functional logic (i.e., modus ponens, modus tollens, denying the antecedent, and affirming the consequent). The causal statements differed in terms ofthe number of alternative causes and disabling conditions that characterized the causal relationship. (A (...) disabling condition is an event that prevents an effect from occurring even though a relevant cause is present.) Subjects were required to judge whether or not each argument’s conclusion could be accepted. Judgments were found to vary systematically with the number of alternative causes and disabling conditions. Conclusions of arguments based on conditionals with few alternative causes or disabling conditionswerefoun~d:tobe-rnore accept~ able than cdnclusions based on those with many. (shrink)

It is commonly supposed that evolutionary explanations of cognitive phenomena involve the assumption that the capacities to be explained are both innate and modular. This is understandable: independent selection of a trait requires that it be both heritable and largely decoupled from other `nearby' traits. Cognitive capacities realized as innate modules would certainly satisfy these contraints. A viable evolutionary cognitive psychology, however, requires neither extreme nativism nor modularity, though it is consistent with both. In this paper, we seek to show (...) that rather weak assumptions about innateness and modularity are consistent with evolutionary explanations of cognitive capacities. Evolutionary pressures can affect the degree to which the development of a capacity is canalized by biasing acquisition/ learning in ways that favor development of concepts and capacities that proved adaptive to an organism's ancestors. q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. (shrink)

Proponents of the dominant paradigm in evolutionary psychology argue that a viable evolutionary cognitive psychology requires that specific cognitive capacities be heritable and “quasi-independent” from other heritable traits, and that these requirements are best satisfied by innate cognitive modules. We argue here that neither of these are required in order to describe and explain how evolution shaped the mind.

A viable evolutionary cognitive psychology requires that specific cognitive capacities be (a) heritable and (b) ‘quasi-independent’ from other heritable traits. They must be heritable because there can be no selection for traits that are not. They must be quasi-independent from other heritable traits, since adaptive variations in a specific cognitive capacity could have no distinctive consequences for fitness if effecting those variations required widespread changes in other unrelated traits and capacities as well. These requirements would be satisfied by innate cognitive (...) modules, as the dominant paradigm in evolutionary cognitive psychology assumes. However, those requirements would also be satisfied by heritable learning biases, perhaps in the form of architec- tural or chronotopic constraints, that operated to increase the canalization of specific cognitive capacities in the ancestral environment (Cummins and Cummins 1999). As an organism develops, cognitive capacities that are highly canalized as the result of heritable learning biases might result in an organism that is behaviourally quite similar to an organism whose innate modules come on line as the result of various environ- mental triggers. Taking this possibility seriously is increasingly important as the case against innate cognitive modules becomes increasingly strong. (shrink)

Norman tries to link the ecological and constructivist approaches to the dorsal and ventral pathways of the visual system. Such a link implies that the distinction is not only one of approach, but that different issues are studied. Norman identifies these issues as perception and action. The influence of contextual illusions is critical for Norman's arguments. We point out that fast (dorsal) actions can be fooled by contextual illusions while (ventral) perceptual judgements can be insensitive to them. We conclude that (...) both approaches can, in principle, be used to study visual information processing in both pathways. (shrink)

Integrating race and gender in a social constructionist framework, the authors examine the way that second-generation Asian American young women describe doing gender across ethnic and mainstream settings, as well as their assumptions about the nature of Asian and white femininities. This analysis of interviews with 100 daughters of Korean and Vietnamese immigrants finds that respondents narratively construct Asian and Asian American cultural worlds as quintessentially and uniformly patriarchal and fully resistant to change. In contradistinction, mainstream white America is constructed (...) as the prototype of gender equality. Hence, Asian American and white American women serve in these accounts as uniform categorical representations of the opposing forces of female oppression and egalitarianism. The authors consider how the relational construction of hegemonic and subordinated femininities, as revealed through controlling images that denigrate Asian forms of gender, contribute to internalized oppression and shape the doing of ethnicity. (shrink)

The Michigan Department of Community Health stores almost 4 million dried blood spot specimens in the Michigan Neonatal Biobank. DBS are collected from newborns under a mandatory public health program to screen for serious conditions. At 24 to 36 hours of age, a few drops of blood are taken from the baby’s heel and placed on a filter paper card. The card is sent to the state public health laboratory for testing. After testing, MDCH retains the spots indefinitely for the (...) personal use of the patient and also, pursuant to a 2000 law, for possible research. (shrink)

The Michigan Department of Community Health stores almost 4 million dried blood spot specimens in the Michigan Neonatal Biobank. DBS are collected from newborns under a mandatory public health program to screen for serious conditions. At 24 to 36 hours of age, a few drops of blood are taken from the baby’s heel and placed on a filter paper card. The card is sent to the state public health laboratory for testing. After testing, MDCH retains the spots indefinitely for the (...) personal use of the patient and also, pursuant to a 2000 law, for possible research. (shrink)

The ethical obligation to provide a reasonably safe discharge option from the inpatient setting is often confounded by the context of homelessness. Living without the security of stable housing is a known determinant of poor health, often complicating the safety of discharge and causing unnecessary readmission. But clinicians do not have significant control over unjust distributions of resources or inadequate societal investment in social services. While physicians may stretch inpatient stays beyond acute care need in the interest of their patients (...) who are experiencing homelessness, they must also consider the implications of using an inpatient hospital bed for someone without the attendant level of medical need. Caring for patients in an inpatient setting when they no longer require acute care means fewer beds for acute care patients. And when a patient who is experiencing homelessness declines a medically safer option such as a skilled nursing facility, then clinicians may be faced with the sole option of discharge to the street, which raises troubling questions of nonmaleficence and social justice. Here we investigate the different forms of injustice that play out when patients are discharged to the street, and offer a map of the interwoven ethical responsibilities of clinicians, hospitals, and skilled nursing facilities. (shrink)

In this study, we investigate the use of narrative in online conversations among persons suffering from chronic opiate addiction and evaluate both its positive and negative uses. Illness narratives, as argued by sociologist Arthur Frank and psychiatrist/medical anthropologist Arthur Kleinman, enable patients to give order to life experiences and receive support from others. We wished to explore under what circumstances online support coalesces and breaks apart. The narratives we examined exemplify two topics frequently discussed on the message board: the recovery (...) process and what it means to be ‘clean’. To better understand these narratives from a theoretically based approach, we used the work of rhetorical theorist Kenneth Burke. Burke's description of two human motives, suffering and perfection, led us to an understanding of how unification and division happened within the online community. We found that the recovery narrative primarily embodied the author's suffering and, consequently, received support from other members of the message board. The second narrative centered on what it means to be ‘clean’ through a discussion of the author's desire to court temptation, revealing what Burke calls the rotten nature of perfection. As a result, the author of the narrative provoked disagreements and did not receive support. (shrink)

Job motivation remains an area of concern among researchers due to the rising issues of poor or lack of motivation among workers. This refers to one’s personal will or drives to perform a task at work. Meanwhile, job satisfaction refers to an employee’s sense of fulfillment with his or her work experience. Therefore, the current study utilized the descriptive- correlational research design to investigate the impact of job motivation on the job satisfaction of accountants. To gather essential data and achieve (...) the objectives of the study, Multidimensional Work Motivational Scale (MWMS) and Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) were administered to the target respondents. The collected data were then analyzed using a Multiple Regression Analysis; findings revealed that job motivation has a significant impact on the job satisfaction of accountants. Additionally, the results of this study were carefully evaluated and discussed, and recommendations were made to benefit the stakeholders of the study and contribute to the existing body of knowledge. (shrink)

Exception from Informed Consent (EFIC) regulations detail specific circumstances in which Institutional Review Boards (IRB) can approve studies where obtaining informed consent is not possible prior to subject enrollment.To better understand how IRB members evaluate community consultation (CC) and public disclosure (PD) processes and results, semi-structured interviews of EFIC-experienced IRB members were conducted and analyzed using thematic analysis.Interviews with 11 IRB members revealed similar approaches to reviewing EFIC studies. Most use summaries of CC activities to determine community members’ attitudes; none (...) reported using specific criteria nor recalled any CC reviews that resulted in modifications to or denials of EFIC studies. Most interviewees thought metrics based on Community VOICES’s domains (feasibility, participant selection, quality of communication, community perceptions, investigator/IRB perceptions) would be helpful.IRB members had similar experiences and concerns about reviewing EFIC studies. Development of metrics to assess CC processes may be useful to IRBs reviewing EFIC studies. (shrink)

The American Journal of Bioethics, Volume 11, Issue 11, Page 26-27, November 2011.

A new research area linked to ethics, virtues, and morality is servant leadership. Scholars are currently seeking publication outlets as critics debate whether this new leadership theory is significantly distinct, viable, and valuable for organizational success. The aim of this study was to identify empirical studies that explored servant leadership theory by engaging a sample population in order to assess and synthesize the mechanisms, outcomes, and impacts of servant leadership. Thus, we sought to provide an evidence-informed answer to how does (...) servant leadership work, and how can we apply it? We conducted a systematic literature review (SLR), a methodology adopted from the medical sciences to synthesize research in a systematic, transparent, and reproducible manner. A disciplined screening process resulted in a final sample population of 39 appropriate studies. The synthesis of these empirical studies revealed: (a) there is no consensus on the definition of servant leadership; (b) servant leadership theory is being investigated across a variety of contexts, cultures, and themes; (c) researchers are using multiple measures to explore servant leadership; and (d) servant leadership is a viable leadership theory that helps organizations and improves the well-being of followers. This study contributes to the development of servant leadership theory and practice. In addition, this study contributes to the methodology for conducting SLRs in the field of management, highlighting an effective method for mapping out thematically, and viewing holistically, new research topics. We conclude by offering suggestions for future research. (shrink)

Corporate psychopathy thrives perhaps as the most significant threat to ethical corporate behaviour around the world. We argue that Human Resources Management professionals should formulate strategic solutions metaphorically by balancing what strategic military planners famously call ‘Search and Destroy’ and ‘Hearts and Minds’ counter-terrorist strategy. We argue that these military metaphors offer creative inspiration to help academics and practitioners theorise CP in richer, more reflective and more balanced and complementary ways. An appreciation of both metaphors is likely to favour the (...) use of hybrid strategies comprising SD and HM elements, which may provide the best HRM solutions to CP for the same reasons as the military now considers parallel hybrid solutions optimal for combating terrorist and guerrilla insurgency. (shrink)

De tout temps, les hommes d'Etat ont eu pour préoccupation majeure de réaliser l'intégration de leurs citoyens. C'est ce souci qui conduit, dès -334, Alexandre le Grand, élève d'Aristote, à l'élaboration d'une pensée unique et universelle pour assurer la cohésion de son Empire à l'échelle planétaire. La pensée devient alors, par sa fonction d'intégration, une entreprise gérée par l'Etat qui la fait évoluer selon des procédés appelés à se transmettre d'Empire à Empire. L'enquête menée par l'auteur, en suivant la formation (...) de la pensée universelle en milieux grec et romain, sa rivalité avec le judaïsme, sa rencontre avec le christianisme et sa confrontation avec l'Islam révèle les enjeux de fond qui expliquent la genèse de la pensée en Occident et les temps forts de son évolution. C'est à la lumière de ces enjeux que se sont trouvés éclairés les grands phénomènes de l'Histoire tels que la construction de l'Europe, les Renaissances et les profondes transformations mentales, culturelles et sociales qu'elles provoquent dans les sociétés d'Occident, l'explosion des hérésies, (des albigeois, des vaudois... ) et leur répression, les guerres saintes (le djihad, les croisades), l'antijudaïsme précurseur de l'antisémitisme, l'inquisition... Poursuivie jusqu'à Saint Louis, l'enquête a confronté l'auteur à trois espaces: l'Orient sunnite et chiite, l'Espagne musulmane et l'Occident chrétien et à plusieurs courants de pensée. En cela cet ouvrage pose un jalon essentiel dans l'exploration de l'histoire de l'Occident dans ses rapports avec l'histoire universelle, l'histoire du Saint-Siège et celle des minorités à laquelle Denise Bonan accorde une grande place. " Autant de sujets de discussion, souligne Jean Glénisson dans sa préface, pour les historiens et les philosophes qui trouveront dans cet ouvrage le lieu de rencontres stimulantes. ". (shrink)

Comme la nova de 1604 et les trois comètes de 1618, qui engagèrent Galilée et les jésuites du Collège romain dans un long débat, la comète de 1664 a relancé la curiosité et l'attente des astronomes et des astrologues. L'article analyse quelques aspects de ce débat européen, en se focalisant sur l'observatoire de l'école de Santa-Lucia de Bologne, où Giovan Battista Riccioli et ses «associés» avaient, depuis longtemps, développé une activité expérimentale connue dans toute l'Europe pour sa précision. Il étudie (...) ensuite la renaissance des scientiae mediae, c'est-à-dire principalement la géographie et l'hydrométrie, en cherchant à éclairer les conditions socioculturelles dans lesquelles de nouvelles figures professionnelles, comme celles de l'ingénieur et du technicien, ont pris naissance dans la Bologne du XVIe siècle. (shrink)

Ce livre questionne. Il ne prétend pas dissoudre les obscurités qui subsistent concernant l'histoire du XXe siècle. Bien plutôt se voit-il confronté à la nécessité d'entamer une réflexion de fond sur l'écriture de l'histoire abordée sous un jour nouveau, dans une perspective transdisciplinaire - la discipline historique n'ayant pas le monopole de son objet. L'écriture de l'histoire est appréhendée thématiquement, géopolitiquement (auteurs allemands et français alternent), historiquement (du milieu du XVIIIe à nos jours) et par les disciplines respectives dont ils (...) émanent. (shrink)

Les grands genies sont certes inepuisables, mais ils ne sont tels que par la mediation de leurs interpretes, veritables createurs a la seconde puissance qui les eveillent a une vie nouvelle. Henri Gouhier possedait une etonnante capacite de detecter dans chacun des auteurs qu'il analysait, de Descartes a Bergson, en passant par Pascal, Malebranche, Rousseau, Comte - pour ne citer qu'eux! - ce quelque chose de different par quoi il donnait aux lecteurs de les voir autrement. La dimension du speculaire (...) est ici fondamentale, qui s'articule a celle du speculatif. Les metaphores optiques sont recurrentes dans son lexique, et revelent, proprement, sa methode. Tel un photographe, il avait l'obsession de la mise au point. Une philosophie, disait-il, n'a de sens que par reference a une certaine vision du monde dont elle est l'expression. (shrink)

Nudges have gained popularity as a behavioral change tool that aims to facilitate the selection of the sensible choice option by altering the way choice options are presented. Although nudges are designed to facilitate these choices without interfering with people’s prior preferences, both the relation between individuals’ prior preferences and nudge effectiveness, as well as the notion that nudges ‘facilitate’ decision-making have received little empirical scrutiny. Two studies examine the hypothesis that a social proof nudge is particularly effective when people (...) have no clear prior preference, either because people are indifferent (in a colour-categorization task; Study 1, N = 255) or because people experience a choice conflict (making shopping decisions about meat products; Study 2, N = 97). Both studies employed a social proof nudge to steer participants’ choices. The potential facilitating effect of the nudge was tested using a mouse-tracker paradigm that implicitly assessed experienced uncertainty during decision-making. Results showed that the nudge was effective in steering participants’ decisions; the facilitation effect (i.e., reduced uncertainty regarding the decision) was only observed for conflicting preferences, but not under indifference. A better understanding of when and how nudges can influence individuals’ behavior may help in deciding whether nudges are an appropriate policy tool for changing particular undesirable behavior. (shrink)

ObjectiveWhile nudges are increasingly utilized in public policy settings, their potential threat to autonomous choice is the topic of heated debate. Regardless of the actual effects of nudges on autonomy, the mere perception of nudges as autonomy threatening by the general public or policy makers could negatively influence nudge acceptability. The present online studies examined how people expect nudges to affect their perception of autonomy.MethodsIn the first study, participants were presented with a hypothetical choice that employed either a default nudge, (...) direct persuasion, or no persuasion, to steer to the desired choice. The presented influence technique was explained before participants reported their expected autonomy, as well as their expected choice satisfaction. Study 2 involved a replication of Study 1 with an additional social norm nudge condition. In Study 3, the explanation of how choice had been influenced was omitted.ResultsWhile participants expected the default nudge to violate autonomy, they had no such expectations for social norm nudges. Omitting the explanation that most people are unaware of nudges influencing their choice, reduced the negative impact of nudges on expected autonomy.ConclusionEffects of nudges on expectations of autonomy differ by type of nudge. Negative expectations are primarily driven by the explanation that decision makers are often unaware of nudges. (shrink)

À lafin du XVIII e siècle, lemédecin et philosophe allemand Ernst Platner, en rapportant une observation faite sur un aveugle-né, affirme qu’un homme privé de la vue depuis la naissance ne peut pas posséder la catégorie de l’espace. Cette courte observation s’affirme bientôt comme référence privilégiée du débat sur la nature acquise ou innée de la connaissance. L’une des principales contributions publiées en France est le texte de Jules Lachelier sur la genèse de la notion d’espace. Texte fort peu connu (...) de la production de l’auteur, « L’Observation de Platner » (1903) renferme des vues originales sur la question. Sur la base d’une connaissance approfondie du débat psychologique de l’époque, Lachelier donne ici une nouvelle forme aux positions spiritualistes formulées sur le problème, en finissant par reconceptualiser le dualisme entre nativisme et empirisme. (shrink)

Dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle, un nombre important de femmes peintres, françaises et étrangères, sont actives professionnellement à Paris, et exposent au Salon, la manifestation annuelle d’art contemporain. À la différence de leurs confrères, elles ont à se positionner par rapport à divers préjugés, notamment celui du dilettantisme qui influence leurs choix stylistiques. D’un autre côté, leurs écrits personnels (correspondances, mémoires, journaux intimes) mettent en évidence la vraie modernité de leur vie et de leur mode de pensée.

On associe souvent le début du xixe siècle avec une crise de masculinité. Les guerres napoléoniennes une fois terminées, la floraison de littérature romantique laisse croire que les hommes de cette génération cherchaient en vain un modèle de masculinité convenant à leur époque et aux circonstances du moment. Ce beau livre, issu d’une thèse de doctorat soutenue à l’université Paris-VII en 2010, utilise une vaste et diverse collection de sources publiées et non publiées pour s’interroger sur le...

Il est étonnant que la Commune n'ait pas reçu plus d'attention de la part de ceux et celles qui s'occupent d'histoire sociale et culturelle, et surtout de l'histoire des femmes. Les efforts des conservateurs des premières années de la Troisième République visant à monopoliser les représentations des Communards et des Communardes ont apparemment très bien réussi. En effet, peu d'historien(ne)s féministes ont essayé de réexaminer les buts idéologiques et les stratégies suivies par les Co..

Il est étonnant que la Commune n'ait pas reçu plus d'attention de la part de ceux et celles qui s'occupent d'histoire sociale et culturelle, et surtout de l'histoire des femmes. Les efforts des conservateurs des premières années de la Troisième République visant à monopoliser les représentations des Communards et des Communardes ont apparemment très bien réussi. En effet, peu d'historien(ne)s féministes ont essayé de réexaminer les buts idéologiques et les stratégies suivies par les Co...

En 1868, vingt ans après la naissance du féminisme américain, se forme en Europe un mouvement pour l'émancipation des femmes qui, faute de faire l'unité sur la demande du droit de vote, se concentre sur l'exigence de l'amélioration de l'enseignement féminin. À l'exemple américain, des femmes de plusieurs pays plaident pour la mixité scolaire ou coéducation. Dans les nombreux congrès internationaux ou nationaux, on en discute fortement dans la dernière décennie du XIXe siècle. C'est d'abord le fait des Françaises, des (...) Finlandaises, des Suissesses et des Anglaises puis l'idée gagne les autres pays d'Europe. Principal nom à retenir, celui de la Française Pauline Kergomard. L'intérêt faiblit en Occident au XXe siècle mais la pensée coéducative est reprise par les féministes russes à la veille de la Grande Guerre. (shrink)

Après avoir situé le contexte québécois de l’apparition du vocable de la Dieue avec un «e», l’auteure propose l’hypothèse selon laquelle la féminisation du divin ne signifie pas d’abord que la Dieue chrétienne serait de genre féminin, mais renvoie à l’acte d’énonciation féministe. Dans le domaine de la théologie universitaire, on peut analyser le dire la Dieue à partir d’une intersection construite entre une théologie existentielle et une approche féministe. Dans cette perspective, des théologiennes féministes ont critiqué une compréhension de (...) la transcendance de la Dieue et insisté sur son immanence tout en conservant une dialectique entre les deux termes. (shrink)