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Full-Text Articles in Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration

Occupational Aspiration Among African-Americans: A Case For Affirmative Action, Ronald E. Hall Dec 1996

Occupational Aspiration Among African-Americans: A Case For Affirmative Action, Ronald E. Hall

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The recent attack upon Affirmative Action in the workplace demands that merit be the sole criterion of employment. Policies designed to eliminate discriminatory practices are in themselves discriminatory and suggest minorities are inferior. Such suggestions are archaic and simplistic. Each assumes that the workplace operates in a social vacuum when in fact a complex system of cultural norms precedes the influence of merit. For African-Americans color is a predcedent of merit. The present study was undertaken to determine the implications of color in the workplace by analyzing it vis a vis occupational aspiration. Using a sample of African- American college …


The Repeal Of Rent Control In Cambridge, Robert P. Moncreiff Sep 1996

The Repeal Of Rent Control In Cambridge, Robert P. Moncreiff

New England Journal of Public Policy

In the November 8, 1994, state election, Massachusetts voters approved a question placed on the ballot by initiative petition passing a law that effectively outlawed rent control throughout the commonwealth. This law had its most dramatic effect in Cambridge, where a stringent rent control system had been in effect since 1970. The success of the petition was realized primarily through the grassroots efforts of a coalition of small-property owners in Cambridge who felt aggrieved by the city's rent control system. The use of a statewide vote on an initiative petition to enact a law with predominantly local effect created for …


Downsizing The Massachusetts Mental Health System: The Politics Of Evasion, Richard A. Hogarty Sep 1996

Downsizing The Massachusetts Mental Health System: The Politics Of Evasion, Richard A. Hogarty

New England Journal of Public Policy

For the past three decades the topic of the proper role of state mental hospitals has been vigorously debated as a major public policy issue in Massachusetts. The state has had two runs at hospital closings: the first between 1973 and 1981, when the deinstitutionalization policy flourished, the second between 1991 and 1993, when the privatization policy was developed. In making the case for this seismic shift, a governor's special commission concluded that the state had too many hospitals for too few patients at too high a cost. This study provides a detailed analysis of the problems that beset the …


The Battle For City Hall: What Do We Fight Over?, Louise Simmons Sep 1996

The Battle For City Hall: What Do We Fight Over?, Louise Simmons

New England Journal of Public Policy

An important dimension of contemporary American urban politics involves the redistributive role of local government. Activism at the local level has produced electoral movements that have succeeded in electing progressive local candidates and coalitions, yet on assuming office those officials face tremendous obstacles in meeting the expectations of those who put them in office. From 1991 to 1993 in Hartford, Connecticut, an attempt at progressive governance by a multiracial coalition was fraught with difficulties. Tensions among progressives and among leadership from impoverished communities of color, responses of downtown interests and the media, fiscal crises and the unrelenting needs of the …


The Trouble With Connecticut, Kenneth J. Long Sep 1996

The Trouble With Connecticut, Kenneth J. Long

New England Journal of Public Policy

The problems of Connecticut, this author believes, parallel those of Nigeria, which are described by Chinua Achebe in The Trouble with Nigeria. Both places may be considered dirty, callous, ostentatious, and dishonest. The causes of these and other defects are also similar: unusually large disparities in living standards, high cost of living, localism, and lack of leadership. In Connecticut, gross inequities in taxation seem to intermingle with and reinforce all these roots of unpleasantness.


Understanding Latino Ethnic Identity Development: A Review Of Relevant Issues, Azara Rivera-Santiago Mar 1996

Understanding Latino Ethnic Identity Development: A Review Of Relevant Issues, Azara Rivera-Santiago

New England Journal of Public Policy

One of the most promising areas in cross-cultural psychology is the development of identity among various ethnic groups in the United States. This article has a twofold purpose. First, it offers the concept of ethnic identity as defined and studied within the social sciences — sociology, anthropology, and psychology — including a review of some of the recent work on ethnic identity development proposed by leading investigators in the field of psychology. The author discusses their generalizability across ethnic groups. Second, it presents a number of dimensions considered important in conceptualizing and studying Hispanic ethnic identity development. These include acculturation, …


Foreword, Martha Montero-Sieburth, Ralph Rivera Mar 1996

Foreword, Martha Montero-Sieburth, Ralph Rivera

New England Journal of Public Policy

These articles echo the issues of today that will have an impact on the future and help us understand how current thinking about ethnicity, education, and health within Latino populations presents opportunities for the coming century. The Latino presence in the United States will certainly make itself known. As Richard Rodriguez poignantly reminds us, "We will change America, even as we will be changed."


Latino Students' Academic Literacy In Science Education: Contextualizing Policies, Raimundo Mora Mar 1996

Latino Students' Academic Literacy In Science Education: Contextualizing Policies, Raimundo Mora

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article reviews various interpretations of academic literacy that are being applied to science education, their limitations in terms of Latino students, and the case study experiences of three Latino students majoring in science. The author examines the ways in which factors he has identified in his experiences and research as crucial can be integrated to improve academic literacy programs. He recommends to planners of science programs methods to effect advancement in Latinos' academic performance.


The Health Status And Lost Earnings Of Hispanic And Non-Hispanic Women, Janis Barry Figueroa Mar 1996

The Health Status And Lost Earnings Of Hispanic And Non-Hispanic Women, Janis Barry Figueroa

New England Journal of Public Policy

Based on data from the 1990 early release file of the Latino sample of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), this article examines the loss of earnings suffered by disabled or health-limited Hispanic women workers. For comparative purposes, the author created an identical analysis based on a sample of black and white non-Hispanic women from the 1989 original-sample PSID. The research also considers the prevalence of poor health among Latinas to ascertain whether their lower labor-force participation, earnings, and number of hours worked can be associated with episodes of poor health. The empirical results show that Hispanic women are …


Puerto Ricans' Access To Health Care, Ralph Rivera Mar 1996

Puerto Ricans' Access To Health Care, Ralph Rivera

New England Journal of Public Policy

The shift toward cost containment in health policy over the past decade has had negative consequences for the most vulnerable populations in the country, namely, ethnic minorities, the poor, and the uninsured. The Puerto Rican population is significantly affected by this shift, yet little is known of their health care usage. This study investigates the extent to which Puerto Ricans' health care use is determined by the relationship between predisposing variables, enabling variables, need, and other contextual variables and probes the implications of the findings for health policy. The adult Puerto Rican subsample (n = 1598) of the Hispanic Health …


Risk Perception And Trust: Challenges For Facility Siting, Howard Kunreuther, Paul Slovic, Donald Macgregor Mar 1996

Risk Perception And Trust: Challenges For Facility Siting, Howard Kunreuther, Paul Slovic, Donald Macgregor

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

The authors maintain that, by granting legitimacy to different notions of fairness and building on common values such as responsibility, it is possible to design siting procedures that promote social cohesion, trust and a sense of fair play.


Fairness As Compassion: Towards A Less Unfair Facility Siting Policy, Benjamin Davy Mar 1996

Fairness As Compassion: Towards A Less Unfair Facility Siting Policy, Benjamin Davy

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Dr. Davy argues that siting efforts fail because of perceived injustices and urges authorities to search more aggressively for ways to avoid injustice and to cope with the anguish of those who may be unavoidably shortchanged.


Procedural And Substantive Fairness In Landfill Siting: A Swiss Case Study, Ortwin Renn, Thomas Webler, Hans Kastenholz Mar 1996

Procedural And Substantive Fairness In Landfill Siting: A Swiss Case Study, Ortwin Renn, Thomas Webler, Hans Kastenholz

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

The authors describe the design and implementation of a process for siting a landfill. They see it as an application of procedural equity expressed in discourse ethic philosophy - one that includes checks for competence and substantive fairness.


Tourism: Who Needs It?, Joan S. Remington, Marcel R. Escoffier Jan 1996

Tourism: Who Needs It?, Joan S. Remington, Marcel R. Escoffier

Hospitality Review

Is tourism economically beneficial? If so, who benefits? How much of the money generated through tourism can be channeled into other projects so desperately needed by the community without harming the local tour market? Will tourism continue to grow forever, or is there an end in sight? The authors discuss how tourism will change in approaching the next century: and how people will change if tourism is to remain such an important economic facto


A New Vision: U.S Travel And Tourism Industry, Greg Farmer Jan 1996

A New Vision: U.S Travel And Tourism Industry, Greg Farmer

Hospitality Review

Greg Farmer, U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Travel and Tourism, envisions a new proactive role for travel and tourism in the U.S. He has written this article especially for the FIU Hospitality Review.