As ever-increasing numbers of children live apart from their parents, how can policymakers and professionals who work with families address the emotional and financial needs of such children? The editors draw on research, policy and practice sources in order to identify a rich array of roles that nonresidential parents may play in the lives of their children. They also explore such issues as: variation in nonresidential parenting across ethnic groups; the financial implications of parenting separately; patterns of involvement of nonresidential parents; and implications for further research and social policy.
It is often necessary for social scientists to study differences in groups, such as gender or race differences in attitudes, buying behaviour, or socioeconomic characteristics. When the researcher seeks to estimate group differences through the use of independent variables that are qualitative, dummy variables allow the researcher to represent information about group membership in quantitative terms without imposing unrealistic measurement assumptions on the categorical variables. Beginning with the simplest model, Hardy probes the use of dummy variable regression in increasingly complex specifications, exploring issues such as: interaction, heteroscedasticity, multiple comparisons and significance testing, the use of effects or contrast coding, testing for curvilinearity and estimating a piecewise linear regression.
By combining sound feminist theory and group dynamic principles with information on how to be a leader in a nonhierarchical, consensus-oriented framework, this book offers a unique approach to leadership. It deals with such issues as: the way leaders collude in maintaining gender biases; how patriarchy, power and process can be viewed in relation to feminist theory and group dynamics; the frustrations that facilitators face as they deal with these; and how these frustrations can be dealt with through principles of effective leadership.
A host of misconceptions about single parenting are explored in this volume. Topics examined include the interface between the family and the external environment, transitional stages in the life of the family and support from the extended family. Attention is also paid to special categories of families: families of ethnic minorities, father-headed families, adolescent parents and non-custodial parenting.
In the last 35 years, health care in the US has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry. Americans view access to health care as important and take pride in their excellent medical care technology. However, there is growing consensus that the US health care system is in crisis - but there is far less agreement on what to do about it. This book examines the major controversies confronting American society, health care professionals and policy makers: access to health care, costs and financing health care and the quality of health care. Kronenfeld discusses whether the system can solve these problems or whether there is a health care system at all.
To help researchers and students make the transition from the classroom and laboratory to research in the `real world', the authors reveal the pitfalls and suggest strategies to overcome problems in the design and planning of applied research. With a focus on how to refine research questions as real world events force deviations from the original research plan, they discuss how to study and monitor programme implementation and statistical power analysis. They also explore how to assess the human and material resources that will be needed at different times while conducting an applied research design to facilitate the management of data collection, analysis and interpretation.
This book introduces the reader to the social and behavioural foundations for a `sense of justice' - the form of equilibrium which individuals and legal systems seek to achieve and maintain in a changing and complex world. The contributors draw upon new discoveries and insights from the biologically-based behavioural sciences that are critical to a more informed understanding of legal phenomena, particularly those dealing with complex social and political relationships.
The move from an industrial to a post-industrial society has been documented by many, as has the impact of this new order on the macro-level institutions of society - government, the workplace and the economy. But what does post-industrial life mean to the individual and for relationships between people? Hage and Powers examine that question, linking global changes in the work patterns, information flow and knowledge to the practice of everyday life. Their answer is that the complexification of society requires a different kind of person. Creativity, flexibility and emotional astuteness will become the watchwords of the future, personality traits that will enable people to successfully adapt to the ever-changing swirl of workplace, familial, personal and leisure roles. Based on the tenets of social theory, the authors present both a vision of the future and a plan for personal and interpersonal action.
Intended for students, academics and researchers in organization studies, management and sociology, this book argues that organizational structure is primarily determined by environment as opposed to technology. The essays consider the place of organizations within a wide institutional framework, focusing on educational systems and medical services. "Organizational Environments" is an explication of the author's theoretical positions and has an impact on organizational theory.
