Sexual Harassment Policy

This research explores hew public-sector employees feel about sexual harassment policies in their workplace, identifies policy attributes that appear to lead to dissatisfaction, and examines employee suggestions for policy improvement. Based on a survey of employees in two public-sector organizations, it concludes that satisfaction with policies is mixed and uncertainty is high, while reporting rates are low relative to harassment experiences. And, while employees are better able to identify problems than propose solutions, recommendations for policy improvements include training on the nature of sexual harassment, use of an ombudsperson, and increased accountability of supervisors.     

The effects of political participation on political efficacy: A simultaneous equations model

The absence of studies investigating the influence of political participation on individuals’ perceptions of political efficacy constitutes a significant gap in our knowledge of political behaviour. While many researchers have investigated the influence of efficacy on political participation, and there has been some endeavour to examine the reciprocity of the relationship between the variables, none has estimated a comprehensive model of the impact of individuals’ participation is different kinds of political activity on different aspects of their perceptions of political efficacy. We redress these particular deficiencies in our knowledge of political behaviour, investigating the influence of participation in three different modes of activity—partisan activism, community activism and political extremism—on individuals’ perceptions of internal and external efficacy; that is, their perceptions of political self‐competence and system responsiveness. Our findings confirm that the relationships between different modes of participation and efficacy are both reciprocal and varied, and that they vary in ways which have important implications for theories of participatory democracy.     

Reviews

The Book in the Americas: The Role of Books and Printing in the Development of Culture and Society in Colonial Latin America. By JULIE GREER JOHNSON. Providence: The John Carter Brown Library, 1988. Pp. xx, 142.

Emigrants and Society: Extremadura and Spanish America in the Sixteenth Century. IDA ALTMAN. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989. Pp. viii, 372.

Migration in Colonial Spanish America. Edited by DAVID J. ROBINSON. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Pp. xvii, 399.

Trajinantes: caminos indígenas en la sociedad colonial, siglos XVI y XVII. By LUIS MIGUEL GLAVE. Lima: Instituto de Apoyo Agrario, 1989. Pp. 461.

Indigenous Migration and Social Change: The Forasteros of Cuzco, 1570–1720. By ANN WIGHTMAN. Durham: Duke University Press, 1990. Pp. 315.

Sátira hecha por Mateo Rosas de Oquendo a las cosas que pasan en el Pirú, año de 1598. Study and critical edition by PEDRO LASARTE. Madison: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, 1990. Pp. xci, 181.

A sátira e o engenho: Gregório de Matos e a Bahia do século XVII. JOAO ADOLFO HANSEN. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras: Secretaria do Estado e da Cultura, 1989.

Obras completas de Juan del Valle y Caviedes. Edición y estudios de MARÍA LETICIA CÁCERES A. C. I., LUIS JAIME CISNEROS y GUILLERMO LOHMANN VILLENA. Lima: Banco de Crédito, 1990. Pp. 962.

Historia de la revolución de la Nueva España de Fray Servando Teresa de Mier. Edición crítica de A. SAINT‐LU y M‐C. BÉNNASY‐BERLING (Coordinadores). J. CHENU, J‐P. CLÉMENT, A. PONS, M‐L. RIEU‐MELLAN y P. ROCHE. Prefacio de DAVID A. BRADING. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1990. Pp. 690     

Space,Social Relations,and Contestation: Transformative Peacebuilding and World Social Forum Climate Spaces

The 2013 and 2015 World Social Forums in Tunis, Tunisia hosted thematic “climate spaces” for the first time. This article examines the extent to which these spaces are constitutive of a form of “transformative peacebuilding” aiming to transform social relations and eliminate the structural violence of the world capitalist economy. Both the theoretical and practical activities of civil society at the climate spaces are shown to be transformative but only to the extent that they contest broad processes of trasformismo which transcend differences and obscure the lived realities of governance and resistance. In this sense, civil society groups and movements at the climate spaces are shown to engage with global capitalism to potentially produce new global understanding and action. This generates new understandings of civil society as constitutive of directly resistant modes of social relation that push for radically different visions of climate justice and governance.     

A Mona effect: How place discourse constitutes culture‐led change

The arrival of the Museum and Old and New Art (Mona) in the disadvantaged municipality of Glenorchy was heralded as the beginning of significant social change in Australia's island state of Tasmania. These expectations were premised on a local place discourse known as the “Tasmanian gothic,” and, in this article, our aim is to illustrate the importance of place specifications in culture‐led change, including in relation to how place discourse constitutes such change. To do this work, we illustrate a Mona effect that comprises a critical account of the Tasmanian gothic informed by an empiric of tourist movement to and from Mona. We demonstrate that tourist movements follow existing socio‐spatial patterns, with tourists from higher socio‐economic backgrounds bypassing Glenorchy and those from lower socio‐economic backgrounds more likely to stop in this disadvantaged municipality. This socio‐spatial account unsettles the characterisation of Tasmania and Tasmanians provided by the Tasmanian gothic and we conclude by observing (1) a lack of significant social change resulting from Mona, in part explained by well‐established socio‐economic patterns; (2) signs of more subtle change that warrant further investigation; and (3) how local place discourse can act to curtail culture‐led change by reinforcing existing socio‐economic patterns.     

Australian children's independent mobility levels: secondary analyses of cross-sectional data between 1991 and 2012

This study investigated changes in Australian children's independent mobility levels between1991 and 2012. Data from five cross-sectional studies conducted in 1991, 1993, 2010, 2011 and 2012 were analysed. Parent and child surveys were used to assess parental licences for independent mobility and actual independent mobility behaviour in children aged 8–13 years. Findings show declines in the proportion of young children (≤10 years of age) being allowed to travel home from school alone (1991: 68%, 1993: 50%, 2010: 43%, 2011: 45%, 2012: 31%) and travel on buses alone (1991: 31%, 1993: 15%, 2010: 8%, 2011: 6%, 2012: 9%). Furthermore, the proportion of children travelling independently to school decreased (1991: 61%, 1993: 42%, 2010: 31%, 2011: 32%, 2012: 32%). Significantly fewer girls than boys travelled independently to school at each time point (p?≤?.001). Overall, the findings suggest that Australian children's independent mobility levels declined between 1991 and 2012.     

Book reviews

Environmental Management: New Directions for the Twenty‐First Century. Geoff A. Wilson and Raymond L. Bryant. UCL Press (Taylor & Francis), London; 1997, 224 pp., £14.95, ISBN 1–857284–631 (pb)

Sustainable Development in Western Europe: Coming to Terms with Agenda 21. Tim O'Riordan and Heather Voisey (Eds). Cass, Ilford, Essex, 1997, 190 pp., £25.00 (hb) ISBN 0–7146–4830–2, £13.50 (pb) ISBN 0–7146–4376–9

Industrial Policies and Economic Integration. Patrizio Bianchi. Routledge, London; 1998, 228 pp., £45.00 (hb), ISBN 0–415–14910‐X

Economia, Espacio e Globalizacio. Georges Benko. Hucitec, São Paulo, 1996, 266 pp., ISBN 85–271 0348–6