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This article presents information on the fourth "Work, Employment and Society (WES) Conference," which was held in Manchester, England during September 1-3, 2004. The conference was hosted by the University of Manchester of England. WES 2004 was a lively and international three-day event. Over 200 delegates attended from 20 countries across Europe, North America and Australasia. They came from a variety of disciplines. The papers presented by the delegates represented subjects like anthropology, economics, geography, history and applied psychology.

This paper draws on the findings of an autoethnographic study to discuss significant changes in the character of US institutions of higher education in recent decades. The autoethnography incorporates two forms of evidence: first, a dataset generated from the author's experiences, observations, communications, and interactions over a 40-year career as a college professor in a wide range of academic settings, and second, a specific event that occurred just weeks before the author's formal retirement from full-time academic employment. The latter event proved to be analytically important as a crystallizing experience for making sense of the larger body of data collected over the author's academic career. The event serves as a dramatic illustration of profound changes in how various academic constituencies have come to define the meaning and value of academic books. The paper proposes that the changing meaning of books among key academic actors can be viewed as an important signifier of broader social-economic trends in higher education in the postwar era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, as I follow scholars' socio-economic perspectives on Ezra 9-10, I will explore the mixed marriage issue in light of the post-colonial theory, especially Homi Bhabha's post-colonial theory. I will argue that Ezra as a mimic man followed the Persian Empire's political policy. The Empire prohibited intermarriage between the returnees and those who had not been in exile. However, Ezra was persecuted because of his coercive dissolution of marriage. In his commentary, Ezra-Nehemiah, Joseph Blenkinsopp assumes that Ezra was recalled by the Persian Empire since Ezra's decision of dissolution of marriage caused political unrest in Yehud. However, he does not clarify how Ezra's intermarriage prohibition is supported by the Persian Empire. Given the fact that Udjahorresnet, the Egyptian priest and special advisor to the Persian Empire on Egyptian affairs, banished the foreigners who had settled in the sanctuary of Neith in the third year of Darius, Ezra must have followed the prohibition of intermarriage by the Persian Empire. If I apply Homi Bhabha's concept to Ezra's political status, Ezra as a mimic man reveals his hybrids: he is part Pro-Persian and part Jewish elite. In an attempt to resolve the conflicts between the group of returnees and those who were not in exile, especially in regard to property disputes, the Persian Empire sent the Pro-Persian Ezra. However, by interpreting the Deuteronomic law in an extreme way, Ezra decided to separate the existing families. According to Ancient Near Eastern Law, a husband should return his wife's dowry after their divorce. On account of this, Ezra must have stirred up considerable social controversy. In other words, Ezra's hybridity functions as a menace to the Persian Empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is consensus in quality-of-democracy research on the role of electoral participation, but what about participatory opportunities beyond elections? Non-electoral participatory opportunities have been neglected in most measurements. Recent indices, however, include these opportunities as indicators of democratic quality. Should non-electoral participatory opportunities be considered an essential component of democratic quality? To answer this question and to address the controversy, I examined three established approaches. On the basis of this examination, it became clear that a novel approach was necessary. By applying the recently emerging debate on ‘democratising’ the definition of democracy, I argue that the controversy among experts needs to be connected to citizens’ concepts. An approach that takes citizens’ concepts into account implies several conceptual as well as methodological challenges. The paper suggests some solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of museums as agents of culture, education and even nationhood is widely recognised. However, the potential for museums to contribute to regeneration processes is also important. Urban development literature has demonstrated the importance of creative capital in economic development processes. Then, evaluating museums in economic terms, covering issues including visitor numbers and resulting tourism consumption, provides only a partial indication of museum ‘value’. This paper reports research undertaken with Amgueddfa Cymru—National Museum Wales to establish the economic impact of museums, but which also developed a conceptual framework to assess other elements of museum contribution. In particular, the paper picks up on research challenges on the need to test critically how far culture can be at the heart of local regeneration. The paper also addresses a challenge from the literature that a wider group of stakeholders might be involved in establishing the ‘value’ of services emanating from museums. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper 'financialisation' is broadly defined as a process of inflating capital markets or more strictly financial inflation. The paper examines some of the social, economic and political consequences of financial inflation for the activities of companies and the operations in debt markets of an increasingly financial middle class. Financial inflation alters the behaviour of individuals and firms, and hence the character and dynamics of the capitalist economy and society. The first section of the paper explains the Kalecki–Steindl theory of enforced company indebtedness in a middle-class society. The second section shows how financial inflation makes companies over-capitalised, resulting in a decline in the trend of long-term investment. The third section shows how forced company indebtedness is modified as the middle classes extend their consumption financed through inflating asset markets. A conclusion sketches out some of the consequences of this financialisation for politics, social policy, and moral and cultural attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper I review recent empirical work analysing the determinants of crime. Improved detection rates consistently lower crime while the relation between prison sentences and crime is more complex. Short sentences are found to be counterproductive. Socio-economic factors play an important role but their sign and significance varies across crime types. Given the police funding cuts, the paper suggests that there is a need for rigorous efficiency studies so that less efficient forces can learn from the practices of more efficient forces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The well-documented weaknesses of structural adjustment policies have led to a reconceptualisation of the World Bank's approach to neo-liberal reforms. The 'Doing Business' reforms aim to foster a better climate for business in a number of ways. The main policy documents reject interventions targeted at specific groups but, although they identify informal small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as likely to benefit disproportionately, they specifically exclude micro-enterprises as a target group. The general argument of this paper is that reforms may well impact non-target groups through interactions with several areas of policy and law, with public attitudes and with multiple economic sectors. In particular, it is argued that the exclusion of micro-traders from the reforms contributes to their marginalisation in political and policy arenas, increasing their vulnerability to state intervention. The paper draws on a four-month study conducted by the authors in Tanzania in 2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the ways in which policies are transferred between places: how they are disembedded from, and re-embedded into, new political, economic and social contexts. To do this, the paper will draw upon a case study of the transfer of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) from the US to England and Wales. Within this, the paper demonstrates how they were a response to fiscal problems facing city-centre management in England and Wales; how US BIDs were socially constructed as `successful' and `transferable'; and how the BID `model' was reshaped prior to and following its rolling-out in England and Wales. The paper concludes by stressing six wider conceptual points about the nature of urban policy transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are substantial inequities within the current National Health Service (NHS), with people in lower socioeconomic groups (SEGs) using a wide range of services less relative to their needs than people in higher SEGs. These inequities are likely to arise due to factors on both the demand and the supply side of the system. On the demand side, they could arise from differences in patients' beliefs, knowledge, costs, resources and capabilities. On the supply side, professional beliefs and attitudes, and risk selection or cream-skimming by providers may result in inequities. This paper discusses whether these factors are at play within the English NHS and analyses whether current policy to extend patient choice of provider is likely to reduce or increase these inequities. It shows that extending patient choice may leave unchanged inequity due to differences in health beliefs (because choice does not affect these directly), increase inequity due to unequal resources (because patients may have to travel further), and decrease inequity due to unequal capabilities (because the poor will have access to a new and, for them a more effective, source of leverage over health service professionals). On the supply side, there will be little change. The paper then discusses policy options for dealing with factors that contribute to greater inequity on the demand side. It proposes a package of supported choice whereby individuals from lower SEGs would receive assistance in making choices, including an identified key worker to act as patient care adviser and help with transport costs. The paper concludes that policies for extending patient choice can enhance equity – so long as they are properly designed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore aspects of the contemporary phenomenon of immigration from Balkan countries into Greece, linking it to wider developments taking place at the international level and locating transnational elements. More precisely, ft focuses on contradictory processes of social incorporation of Albanian and Bulgarian immigrants in Thessaloniki, based on empirical material deriving from fieldwork research. The analytical framework used in the paper is built upon: (a) the political, institutional and cultural context, with particular reference to the social and political responses to immigration; (b) the socio-economic context of the local labour market where immigrants work; and (c) the sociospatial context, seen in relation to the city's social geography and the transformation of the urban space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes socioeconomic characteristics of more than 1,300 extremely poor households randomly selected from rural areas in four regions of Thailand in 1999. These "ultra poor" households are observed to share the same demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as the ordinary-poor households in Thailand, such as relatively large family sizes, large demographic dependency ratios, household heads with low or no schooling, and lack of land assets. However, unlike the general poor, the ultra poor are more likely to be general laborers (instead of farm laborers), have a higher incidence of widows as heads of households, fewer number of working days, and greater burden of chronically ill and disabled persons in the family. Surprisingly, despite the Thai government's large number of social assistance schemes, very few of the ultra poor report receiving any assistance. A large proportion of the ultra poor are very pessimistic about their prospects for escaping poverty. To help the ultra poor, the paper concludes that the government will need to maintain macroeconomic and sectoral policies that bring about economic growth, adopt general anti-poverty policies that promote income-generating opportunity and capability of the poor, and provide safety nets for those whose family members suffer from catastrophic and chronic illnesses and disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The requirements of the knowledge-based economy and the contribution of information and communication technology (ICT) to socio-economic change have had a significant impact upon regional economic performance in the European Union. So far, however, the literature on the implications of the ICT paradigm for labour productivity growth has largely neglected the (sub-national) regional dimension. By using experimental micro-data, this paper first provides a picture of the regional contributions to labour productivity growth in Italy in the period 2001–2005. Second, it explores the relationship between ICT production and regional labour productivity in the same reference period. In line with previous studies at the country level, our findings highlight a strongly positive relationship between ICT production and regional labour productivity growth, at the same time suggesting a complementary relationship between ICT production and diffusion in explaining interregional differences in productivity performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the factors influencing whether individuals have delegative democratic attitudes (i.e. supporting strong executive power with little oversight from the legislature). Roughly up to 50% of voters in East Asia have delegative democratic attitudes, which are known to undermine democratic governance in new democracies. Understanding delegative democratic attitudes is thus closely linked to the question of why delegative democracy persists. Our theoretical analysis suggests that delegative democratic attitudes are associated with low support for democracy, a perception of the strong influence of interest groups on policy, and trust in a national leader who can counter the power of interest groups. Using Asian Barometer Survey data from East Asian countries, 2001–2011, we confirm the hypotheses. Our findings imply that transforming a delegative democracy into a consolidated democracy requires promoting support for democracy and preventing interest group dominance over public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The food-energy-climate change trilemma refers to the stark alternatives presented by the need to feed a world population growing to nine billion, the attendant risks of land conversion and use for global climate change, and the way these are interconnected with the energy crisis arising from the depletion of oil. Theorizing the interactions between political economies and their related natural environments, in terms of both finitudes of resources and generation of greenhouse gases, presents a major challenge to social sciences. Approaches from classical political economy, transition theory, economic geography, and political ecology, are reviewed before elaborating the neo-Polanyian approach adopted here. The case of Brazil, analysed with an `instituted economic process’ framework, demonstrates how the trilemma is a spatial and historical socio-economic phenomenon, varying significantly in its dynamics in different environmental and resource contexts. The paper concludes by highlighting challenges to developing a social scientific theory in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The work of Buenos Aires’ cartoneros (informal recyclers) has important environmental and economic repercussions for the city. This paper investigates cartoneros’ working and living conditions, establishing a 2007 baseline for the logistics of informal recycling practice in Buenos Aires and providing a description of the socioeconomic characteristics of these workers at a key moment in time. Under the purview of a new chief of government elected in 2007, a formalization plan for cartoneros was initiated in 2011. This paper assesses some of the potential impacts of this plan on cartoneros and their work, and suggests that while such a system may benefit some workers (providing them with increased income, social acceptability and improved relationships with the municipality), there are also potential drawbacks to the formalization plan (including possible difficulties instituting a cooperative system with previously unorganized workers and the labour exclusion of more socially marginalized cartoneros). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Drawing on particular socio-economic theories, this paper discusses the implications for regional studies of the experience economy approach through the broader question of market valuation. Different forms of market construction are identified and compared with regard to distinct models of regional development. It is observed that most of established territorial innovation models give prominence to a technical form of market valuation driven by technological change, by localized innovative production and by the mobility of goods and services. Conversely, experiential valuation primarily points to alternative models of development focusing on the local capacity to set attractive and engaging stages and to exploit consumer mobility. While the former models have mainly been applied to export-based manufacturing, the latter have essentially been applied to leisure, entertainment and tourism activities. The second part of the paper discusses the limits of technical as well as experiential market valuation in the case of the Swiss watchmaking industry. In such a case, experience in consumption and technology in production appears as strategic economic resources but what is primarily valued is authentic watchmaking. Authenticity is regarded as a third possible form of market valuation revealing specific socio-economic and territorial dynamics. The paper finally argues that market valuation should be considered as a key issue for future understandings of economic and territorial development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper assesses the residential segregation of German immigrants from Turkey, Italy, the Balkans and eastern Europe with a special focus on the link between social and ethnic segregation. Microdata from the German Socioeconomic Panel Study (SOEP) are used. A new dataset provided by the microm Micromarketing-Systeme und Consult GmbH makes accessible information on participants’ immediate residential environments at the micro-neighbourhood level where an average neighbourhood contains only eight households. Substantial levels of residential isolation in the form of own-group overexposure are found for all four migrant groups. Based on previous research, an enhanced methodology is proposed to measure the effect of socioeconomic neighbourhood sorting on ethnic residential segregation. It is shown that differences in income, education, language skills and village/city size have the potential to account for 29–84 per cent of the residential isolation of the four migrant groups. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although gentrification is an accepted process nowadays around the globe, little debate is found in the Latin American context—particularly, when considering that 70 per cent of this continent is urbanised and that major physical and socioeconomic changes have been observed in its historical neighbourhoods in the past 20 years. This paper focuses on the continuity and change that Santiago, Chile, has shown in recent decades. Empirical data are provided to reflect both the physical and socioeconomic patterns of change that have modified the urban morphology and the social capital of Santiago’s inner city. Furthermore, by selecting Bellavista—one of the oldest inner-city neighbourhoods of Santiago—this paper draws conclusions about how specific urban regeneration strategies can promote gentrification and then links them with wider patterns of ‘Latino gentrification’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Higher-income neighbourhoods in Canada’s eight largest cities flourished economically during the past quarter-century, while lower-income communities stagnated. This paper identifies some of the underlying processes that led to this outcome. Increasing family income inequality drove much of the rise in neighbourhood inequality. Increased spatial economic segregation, the increasing tendency of ‘like to live nearby like’, also played a role. It is shown that these changes originated in the labour market. Changes in investment, pension income and government transfers played a very minor role. Yet it was not unemployment that differentiated the richer from poorer neighbourhoods. Rather, it was the type of job found, particularly the annual earnings generated. The end result has been little improvement in economic resources in poor neighbourhoods during a period of substantial economic growth, and a rise in neighbourhood income inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, an examination is made of the accessibility of the homeownership market using measures that include both supply and demand characteristics of regional housing markets. These measures are applied empirically on an extensive dataset that covers the Dutch housing market. The analysis quantifies the extent to which the position of first-time buyers on the homeownership market has weakened over time and identifies the driving factors of this change. It is found that smaller portions of the housing market are becoming affordable due to financial constraints of young households. However, more importantly, first-time buyers today need to contend with a much larger group of competing bidders on every house that suits their financial situation, than ever before. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research capacities in African universities are less developed due to many challenges — poor research infrastructure, limited Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), the lack of leadership mandate and support, the lack of congenial political and academic environment in some countries, shortage and lack of faculty to pursue academic research due to heavy teaching loads, inadequate financial support, etc. This paper discusses the challenges facing higher education research in Africa. Using research reports, policy papers, and data in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), the Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) and the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) from Thompson’s Web of Science, this paper discusses the state of academic research in Africa. The author argues that for the continent of Africa to experience socioeconomic development, universities and research institutes need robust research agendas that will unleash to their economies the knowledge, ideas, innovation, and technologies for economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Personal insolvency rates vary considerably across local areas of England and Wales but the reasons for this have barely been explored. This paper presents an empirical study of the factors determining variations in personal insolvency rates in 2006 utilising newly available data. The results suggest that a number of economic and demographic factors are important including income, social benefits, age, occupation, public-sector and armed forces employment and level of local entrepreneurship. Significant spatial autocorrelation is evident in the dataset and three sub-regional clusters of local authorities are identified; one in the South West is characterised by adjacent areas with a high insolvency rate and two others in Wales and the North West that are characterised by low insolvency rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how flexible employment, particularly temporary and part-time employment, affect political support for social policy protection. Although their implications are a priori uncertain, the paper lays out how flexible employment conditions can be expected to generate various kinds of economic insecurity for workers that ought in turn to spur support for social-welfare policies. The paper finds broad support for such expectations in individual-level survey data from 15 EU member states. In particular, part-time employment, temporary employment and their combination tend to increase several measures of an individual's subjective economic insecurity. Further, partly due to such increases, the same measures of flexible employment tend to spur support for social policy assistance targeted at the unemployed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Environment & Urbanization is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, many Russian and Ukrainian households have experienced periods of economic marginalization. The role of this paper is to examine these social costs of transition, noting that official reporting underestimates the true scale of the problem, and the household responses to these costs. The discussions are based on both qualitative and quantitative research undertaken in numerous locations in Russia and Ukraine. One of the paper's key arguments is that informal economic practices are crucial to many households and that a broad spectrum of coping tactics is employed. These tactics often reveal the unequal power relations that run through state-society and worker- employee relations and help detail the high levels of corruption that exist in post-Soviet societies. Furthermore, these tactics are entwined in the locations within which they take place and rely on high levels of social capital, ensuring that households would rather remain in their current location than migrate to cheaper regions. The paper concludes on a rather pessimistic note, arguing that, although Russian and Ukrainian households have 'coped' over the 20 years since the beginning of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the future poses new challenges. These include an ageing population, the increasing use of credit (default on which can lead to eviction) and the global recession, which leads to a decrease in opportunities in the informal sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-cultural studies are particularly relevant in the context of climate change, given its pervasive character and the growing demand for climate change mitigation at both global and local levels. This paper reports on findings from comparative cross-cultural mixed-methods research eliciting perceptions of the future among citizens in Norwich (UK) and Rome (Italy). The paper explores how individuals at the two locations interpret socio-economic and climate scenarios, and how they relate environmental change to human behavior. Attitude segmentation was found to be similar in both localities. Although most participants in both locations realized the benefits of a future centered on sustainable resource use and societal welfare, individuals' attitudes and considerations about the future were not largely influenced by the scenarios. Discussions revealed that the credibility of the projections depended on individuals' prior beliefs and their trust in the science portrayed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the social, economic and political conditions in Europe. According to the author, the Spring European Council continues to review the Lisbon Strategy and the progress that has been made in pursuing reforms and investing in the fields of research and development as well as education. He added that the ETUC has opposed to the basic premises of the European Commission's Green Paper Modernizing labor law to meet the challenges of the 21st century. He also stated that the Commission published a report to the electoral participation of EU citizens in the Member State of residence which aims to evaluate the application of Community law in the 2004 European elections.

The relationship between family socioeconomic status (SES) and the academic performance of children is well established in sociological research. Another important dimension is the factors that may influence educational outcomes within low SES families. This paper presents new data from a sample of over 3000 students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds to estimate the extent of socioeconomic, family, individual and contextual factors on school educational performance. Results obtained using binomial logistic regression techniques indicate that gender, unexplained absences, parental educational attainment, housing type, ethnicity and student age are all statistically significant variables and predictors of academic performance. In contrast, family structure, the main source of family income and geographical location do not significantly predict outcomes in school performance once other factors are controlled for. The findings support the notion that the 'social' and the 'economic' components of the socioeconomic status equation have distinct and separate influences on educational outcomes. While financial assistance to schools and families in need is important, policies and programmes that also assist low-income parents in providing appropriate psychological and educational support for their children should also be promoted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After reviewing the theoretical underpinnings behind the ‘conventional wisdom’ that voters on the left abstain more, this article critically assesses the traditional approach of the so-called ideological bias on turnout. By compiling a new large dataset (197 country elections in Europe), this paper shows that centrist abstention is higher than leftist or rightist abstention. The analysis reveals that a society’s ideological turnout bias reflects its socioeconomic context (traditional explanation), but also that party strategies play a key role. Most importantly, results show that convergence towards the centre triggers a higher centrist abstention. Additionally, this article demonstrates that both socioeconomic and partisan factors have heterogeneous effects across ideological positions. These findings critically challenge prior understanding of the ideological bias on turnout and the impact of parties’ election strategies when pursuing the key centre voter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws from two case study informal settlements and their recent Constitutional Court litigation to explore the connection between informal living spaces, democracy, and housing. The temporal element of this development dynamic is examined through the erosion and building of hope resulting from the political actions of the state and the political agency of the poor. This engagement of time as an element of space is considered through residents’ expectations manifested in social processes reflecting either the criticality of hope as a catalyst for bottom-up developmental agency or waiting as a fortification of the top-down status quo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the future of public broadcasting in India. It examines the concept of the `public', and traces its history and present status, particularly with reference to the model adopted in the United Kingdom. This foregoing analysis is linked to an examination of public service broadcasting in India. Its history, evolution and present status, is situated within the contemporary political economy in India, as well as the new communications environment. The paper concludes by defending the 'space' for public broadcasting in India, provided the State grants it genuine autonomy inscribed within a 'peoples' mandate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The capacity to make policy for the regulation and control of scientific and technological activities has recently begun to occupy the thoughts of decision-makers in many developing countries. An important aspect of this general problem is how to monitor and control the activities of research institutes so as to maximize their impact on social and economic development, which in turn implies the capability to assess, in a meaningful and efficient way, the present behaviour of a heterogeneous collection of such establishments. This paper argues that an assessment procedure which relies on traditional cost-benefit techniques to provide appropriate guidelines is in general not to be recommended. An alternative methodology is proposed in which research establishments are examined as optimally behaving institutes. Deviations from idealized behaviour can then be used as a basis from which to make and execute policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under what conditions do secessionist parties advance identity, socioeconomic or political frames for constitutional change? By performing a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) of 93 party manifestos from six Western regions, the results identify a key variable that plays an important role in rhetorical strategies: the governmental status of the party. In linguistically distinctive regions, parties tend to put forward identity frames when in opposition. Instead, being in office is a condition for framing their position in socioeconomic terms. The results concerning political frames are highly complex, although patterns around office holding have also been identified. Hence, the present article shows that office-seeking strategies imply a fundamental change in how these parties frame their claims. Minority nationalist parties take the opportunity of being in office to enhance their credibility as governing parties by downplaying identity issues in favour of a more inclusive and policy-oriented appeal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise in extreme weather events, coupled with the acknowledgement by policymakers that vulnerable populations are disproportionately at risk, has led to an increase in demand for vulnerability assessments, and particularly composite vulnerability indices. This paper presents a flood hazard vulnerability index that incorporates socioeconomic, built environment and natural environment data, and that was used to measure the vulnerability of 1,276 municipalities in Brazil. Findings show that 83 of these municipalities (with 22 per cent of the Brazilian population) are at risk. Vulnerability stemming from lower levels of socioeconomic status is concentrated in the Northern regions; that related to poor governance is widespread across all regions. This analysis highlights the dangers of assessing vulnerability using aggregate measures of socioeconomic status in middle-income countries with high levels of inequality, where the presence of vulnerable populations in informal settlements within highly developed municipalities may be obscured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper disaggregates non-institutional political engagement into three distinct repertoires of activism: collective, communicative and individualised forms. I evaluate the claim that non-institutional activism is more inclusive than traditional forms of political engagement by measuring the relative effects of typical predictors of participation, including resources, values and contextual measures, on different repertoires of non-institutional engagement. The findings suggest that individualised engagement is more accessible to women but stratified by resources and national wealth. Collective engagement is more accessible to people from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds but is stratified by gender, with women less likely to engage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the social dimensions of gated communities (GCs) in US western metropolitan areas and how they contribute to segregation. We use geographically referenced data of GCs, and introduce a local metric based on social distance indices (SDI). This multivariate spatial analysis investigates homogeneity in three aspects: race and ethnicity, economic class and age between 2000 and 2010 census. The results indicate contrasting effects given different levels of geography. GCs significantly contribute to segregation patterns at a local level, and this has been locally reinforcing. Although socioeconomic segregation and ethnic status yield the most prevalent structure of local distance, gated enclaves are also significantly structured by age. The findings are considered in the context of a metropolitan decline in levels of segregation. Data also show that GCs are likely to be located within large racially homogeneous areas, and do not significantly contribute to racial segregation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyses whether hosting the most prestigious European cultural event, the European Capital of Culture, has an impact on regional economic development and the life satisfaction of the local population. We show that European Capitals are hosted in regions with above-average GDP per capita, but do not causally affect the economic development in a significant way. Surprisingly, using difference-in-difference estimations, a negative effect on the wellbeing of the regional population is found during the event. Since no effect is found before the event, reverse causality and positive anticipation can be ruled out. The negative effect during the event might result from dissatisfaction with the high levels of public expenditure, transport disruptions, general overcrowding or an increase in housing prices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

New markets and governance arrangements have emerged in recent years to address grand challenges at the interface of science, economics and politics. Whereas much has been written on the technical design on these markets, this paper focuses on how these complex socio-economic systems are created and evolve over time. Drawing on theories of legitimacy, we propose a model for how legitimate authority is created in environmental governance along three bases: scientific authority, economic authority and emotive authority. We distinguish our approach from the literature on power by examining discursive practices that create legitimacy over time. Our analysis relies on the case study of the Australian carbon market and uses in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 45 respondents across multiple fields. Our findings have implications for theory and policy practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Several studies have documented extensive low-density urban expansion of cities in sub-Saharan Africa, exacerbating issues of inadequate infrastructure, limited mobility and human impact on the environment. However, the relation between socioeconomic factors and urban expansion trends in sub-Saharan Africa remains understudied. This study investigates the links between household socioeconomic status and urban form of informal settlements based on case studies in Maputo, Mozambique. The findings of the study underscore that (1) built densification occurs over time, reflecting an incremental house expansion process enabled by household economic resources; (2) households with higher socioeconomic status consume comparatively more land, contributing to urban expansion; (3) households in more recently established settlements within the city limits have higher socioeconomic status than households in older settlements located in comparable proximity to the city centre; and (4) rental housing is more widespread in the centrally located settlements and accommodates younger residents with lower socioeconomic status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ghana has experimented with two social protection programmes: the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme, and the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) pilot project aimed at reducing extreme poverty and enhancing the standard of living of beneficiaries. This study comparatively assessed how the LEAP programme and the JSDF-LEAP project have contributed to improving the standard of living of beneficiaries. A sample of 167 respondents, comprising 81 LEAP households, 82 JSDF-LEAP beneficiaries and four District Social Welfare Officers took part in the study. The study findings suggest that cash transfers alone such as the LEAP programme may not yield significant improvement in the standard of living of the extremely poor without complementary programmes such as the JSDF-LEAP project to address the livelihood and other socio-economic challenges that they encounter. The study recommends a holistic approach to tackling extreme poverty through 'cash plus' programmes. Points for practitioners: The findings of this study highlight the need for public administration practitioners involved in poverty eradication programmes to pursue a simultaneous design involving the implementation of both cash transfers and productive inclusion programmes as the preferred strategy for improving the standard of living of the extremely poor. Moreover, this research has also revealed that for social protection programmes to be successfully implemented, carefully designed systems and structures must be put in place at the national level, through the regional, district and community levels at the design and implementation phases of such interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most studies in the mobile communication field focus on the acceptance of the technology rather than the resistance of it, a trend that makes researchers try to understand only the powerful actors in society. Instead, this paper explores the socio-economic characteristics of mobile phone service have-nots. Based on an analysis of samples from three consecutive nationwide annual surveys in Sweden, this study finds that two socio-economic factors – age and the household income – remain significant to explain non-usage of mobile phone services. Other variables dynamically change over time without a significant effect. This finding supports the argument that most socio-economic factors are transient at different stages of the adoption of innovation. Since the benefits of mobile phones are related to social networks (the more people you know, the more beneficial), it is not surprising that, in the long run, elderly people with low income, who typically have a decreasing social network, find this technology no longer purposeful and finally refuse it. This indicates that the status of the have-nots may not reflect socio-economic inequalities in general, but rather individuals’ preference when managing their social situation. This is relevant with the argument that a universal service policy should be based on connectivity, that is, people’s need for communication rather than solely promoting subsidizing a particular technology or service. The policy, therefore, should consider the technological frame sharing – the interpretation of the technology shared by members of a relevant social group, that is, users, service providers and regulators, to bring a more socially constructed technology that can protect individuals with less socio-economic power from being socially excluded. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores how children in different cultures and socio-economic contexts develop representations about the public sphere. It addresses how contexts of representation shape the form and content of children’s thinking while expressing the two-way transactions between the child and their social world. Drawings by children from two age groups (seven- and 10-year-olds) and two socio-economic milieus (affluent and deprived), in four cultures (Germany, Mexico, Brazil and Romania), supported by observations and interviews, were used to investigate children’s representations of their public world and their position within it. Findings show that public spheres characterised by collectivism, poverty and/or marginalisation: a) accelerate decentration bringing the public world and its complexity to the foreground of children’s depictions, and b) show a strong link between self and the public world. In affluent or individualistic public spheres we recognise the classical developmental pathway proposed by Piaget, with a clear increase in the separation between self and society as children grow. Children’s representations are flexible semiotic systems whose form and content interact productively with the context in which they develop. These results reject conceptions of children’s knowledge as a prototype of adult knowledge, suggesting that children’s societal knowledge evolves through adaptive strategies to specific socio-cultural environments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Social trust is essential to a cohesive society. Previous studies have demonstrated the importance of individual and contextual determinants in explaining social trust. In this paper it is argued, by means of Blumer’s group position theory, that an individual’s position in the ethnic hierarchy relative to that of the neighbourhood residents influences his or her social trust in the neighbourhood. The multilevel regression analysis of data from the Amsterdam Safety Monitor 2009 provides tentative support for this theory. Building upon previous studies, the relevant individual and contextual determinants of social trust in the neighbourhood are also studied. Contrary to earlier findings, no neighbourhood effects are detected. Thus, it is neither the actual position in the ethnic hierarchy nor the effect of the neighbourhood, but the ethnic position relative to the neighbourhood residents that diminishes minority group members’ social trust through a threat that appears to be both socioeconomic and cultural. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores philanthropic finance by analysing data on the sizes and structures of the 20 highest-giving private foundations in the US, the UK, Germany and Japan in 2005. It is shown that socio-cultural rather than purely economic indicators are better predictors of private foundation giving. Foundations in the four countries show similarities in terms of age, geographic scope, areas of funding and lack of performance measurement. Methods of income generation, asset management and capital deployment, however, differ significantly between countries. We suggest that, while philanthropic culture and governance exist, they bear the features of national business culture and governance. Conclusions are drawn for the feasibility of competition and collaboration, as well as the use of performance metrics, among private foundations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current crisis confirmed that highly financialized regimes of accumulation are extremely crisis-prone. Most of the literature on financialization is focused on the economies of the centre. This paper analyses the peculiarities of financialization in the periphery, which is characterized by a high degree of extraversion and/or by considerable socio-economic heterogeneity. The theory of regulation permits analysis of different forms of financialization and the social dynamics linked with them. In contrast to Keynesian approaches, the state, international organizations and social forces shaping norms and policies are an explicit part of the theory. This allows for looking at policy-making within the analysis. Such an analysis enables us to explain policy changes (or lack of them) that are crucial for the processes of financialization and de-financialization in the periphery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationships between the built environment--both 'neighborhood' design characteristics and relative location--and motor vehicle ownership and use in a rapidly motorising, developing city context, that of Santiago de Chile. A vehicle choice model suggests that income dominates the household vehicle ownership decision, but also detects a relationship between several built environment characteristics and a household's likelihood of car ownership. A second model, directly linked to the ownership model to correct for selection bias and endogeneity, suggests a strong relationship with locational characteristics like distance to the central business district and Metro stations. Elasticities of vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT), calculated via the combined models, suggest that income plays the overall largest single role in determining VKT. In combination, however, a range of different design and relative location characteristics also display a relatively strong association with VKT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing mainly on qualitative evidence gathered from interviews with migrant handymen and with labour-using households in the UK, this paper analyses how this migration typifies economic and social divisions within Europe and embodies conflicting tensions between economic and social policies at an interpersonal level. By supplying household services, migrant handymen enable labour-using households to alleviate time pressures and conflicts in time priorities arising from tensions between economic expectations regarding working hours and work commitment, and social expectations regarding contemporary ideas of active parenting. Similarly to the outsourcing of feminized domestic labour and care, these tensions are in part resolved for labour-using households by extending class divisions across national boundaries while leaving gender divisions changed but not transformed and in some instances exacerbating work/ life tensions among the migrants. These broad findings are complicated by differential desires and capabilities around fathering practices among fathers in labour-using households and among the migrants, and economic differentiation among the migrant population. Although we cannot tell from our study whether such movement reinforces or redresses uneven development, what we can say is that existing cohesion policies are insufficient to redress uneven development, and individual responses including migration can reinforce existing social divisions. Further, existing social policies for promoting gender equality fail to recognize or redress the deeply embedded gendered norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]