Accounting for the Performance of Environmentally Significant Behavior: The Symbolic Significance of Recycling

The scientific community has pronounced climate change unequivocal and its consequences disastrous. Yet Americans' behavioral response to the global social problem of environmental degradation has been largely confined to the individual act of recycling. This article examines why Americans are not doing more to address climate change and other environmental issues. Taking a cognitive sociological perspective, I describe how Americans think about environmental issues and pro‐environmental behavior. I draw on Swidler's concept of a “cultural tool kit,” to examine the cultural narratives Americans use to account for the small amount of pro‐environmental behavior they perform. The act of recycling functions as a synecdoche for pro‐environmental behavior in general, allowing individuals to over‐claim the significance of a modest amount of pro‐environmental behavior. I argue that Americans' failure to engage with environmental issues at a collective level is rooted in the individualized culture of American environmentalism.     

Biologically Motivated Cancer Risk Models

A two-stage dose response model is proposed for use in cancer risk assessment. The model assumes that transformation probabilities and cellular dynamics are exposure- and time-dependent.     

Work hardening: Outdated fad or effective intervention?

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this outcome measurement study was to determine the effectiveness of a work hardening program as measured by the participants' work status at three months after program completion. Predictors of successful return to work were explored. STUDY DESIGN: The sequential case series design was employed, and data were gathered at three points: the initial work hardening assessment, the discharge assessment, and three months post-discharge from the work hardening program. Seventy-nine participants were included. RESULTS: Eighty-two percent (82%) of the clients who completed a work hardening program reported that they were working in some capacity three months after program completion. They listed their employment status in 5 sub-categories. Significant predictors of employment included "single" marital status, lower perceived disability scores at program entry, reduction in reported pain during program duration, and funding source. CONCLUSION: Work hardening remains an effective treatment strategy which promotes successful return to the workplace. Ongoing analyses of these programs is imperative.     

Indigenous Resource Management Plans: Transporting Non-Indigenous People into the Indigenous World

The paper explores the degree to which Indigenous groups perceive that resource management plans they develop are able to help deliver outcomes they seek through formal planning systems. It does this by a case study of practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. Some Indigenous groups are concerned they are being encouraged to devote considerable effort to production of major planning documents for use in interaction with environmental agencies, yet in practice, such plans can appear to have a limited role in bringing about desired change or affecting wider planning processes. The research contributes a New Zealand dimension to this international debate.     

The muse as mother

This paper suggests that the concept of the muse in relation to the creative process is more than a myth or cultural artifact. It is argued that the muse is a psychic recollection of our memories of the female who presided over our first experiences of consciousness as we traversed the borders of inner and outer reality—that is, the mother. The shift of consciousness required in creative activity triggers recall of this figure. Object relations theory, recent findings from infant research, and the intuitive observations of several authors are used to support this thesis. Clinical examples illustrate the application of this concept in treatment.     

Beyond the mirror towards a plurilingual prism: exploring the creation of plurilingual ‘identity texts’ in English and French classrooms in Toronto and Montpellier

In an age of transnational mobility, there has been a growing recognition of the need for both English and French mainstream classroom teachers to be trained to teach increasingly plurilingual student populations. In this article, I begin by describing the context for an exploratory comparative and collaborative ethnographic action research study in four English and French schools in Toronto, Canada and one school in Montpellier, France that engaged children as co-researchers of their lived plurilingualism. I analyse in particular the process of creating plurilingual multimodal books with students and teachers across the five different school cases. This paper focuses on the iterative ‘identity text’ creation process across all five schools by examining one plurilingual identity text from each case, along with students’ research conversations about their creative productions, and interviews with their classroom teachers and parents. Finally, I summarize five features of inclusive plurilingual pedagogy that emerged across the five cases and call for further collaborative research across English and French schools and scholarly communities investigating creative plurilingual language and literacy production in the twenty-first century.     

Complex Interrelations of Trait Vulnerabilities in Mothers and their Infants

Despite the developmental and clinical relevance of this area of inquiry, no studies have examined the interrelations of trait vulnerabilities in the affective, behavioral, and interpersonal domains between mothers and their infants. Thus, this study examined the interrelations of three trait vulnerabilities (i.e., negative affective intensity, impulsivity, and insecure attachment) between mothers and their 12‐ to 23‐month‐old infants, focusing in particular on the unique and interactive influence of these maternal trait vulnerabilities on the expression of and precursors to these traits in their infants. Mother–infant dyads (N = 101) completed several laboratory procedures, and mothers reported on their own and their infants' expressions of the trait vulnerabilities of interest. Findings from this study provide preliminary evidence for intergenerational relations between these traits and suggest that it is the confluence of trait vulnerabilities in mothers that relates to the early expression of some of these traits in infants.     

The Role of Social Distrust in Risk-Benefit Analysis: A Study of the Siting of a Hazardous Waste Disposal Facility

Distrust of social institutions is becoming an important component of risk communication and policy analysis. To assess the impact of social distrust on decision making, we examine the role of distrust of information sources on the willingness to accept a hazardous waste disposal facility in one's neighborhood. Using a prospective-reference utility model, distrust of information sources is analyzed a possible influence on individual choice in a risk-benefit tradeoff. Using contingent valuation survey data on the siting of a hazardous waste disposal facility, we find that respondents are particularly distrustful of both governmental officials and waste disposal businesses. We find that social distrust increases the perceived risk of a facility and influences the likelihood of accepting a referendum to site a hazardous waste disposal facility. The level of compensation offered in the contingent valuation scenario also is found to influence a respondent's risk perception.