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This paper examines how certain cultural arguments gain the authority necessary to explain the social problem of domestic violence. I begin by demonstrating the existence of competing explanations for the question of why abusive relationships continue. I find that a certain kind of explanation, multiple victimization arguments that emphasize the numerous ways battered women are victimized, are most common. Through an analysis of social science citations, news papers, and legislative and judicial decisions, I conclude that one multiple victimization argument in particular, Lenore Walker's battered woman syndrome (Walker, 1979, The Battered Woman. New York: Harper & Row; Walker, 1984, The Battered Woman Syndrome. New York: Springer), has become the most recognized explanation for why abusive relationships continue. The syndrome was best able to meet the criteria necessary for gaining cultural authority put forth by Schudson (1989, Theory and Society 18:153–180): retrievability, rhetorical force, resonance, resolution, and institutional retention. In recent years, however, this authority has been threatened as social and cultural conditions have changed, leaving competing understandings of the domestic violence issue to challenge Walker's claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines one aspect of child-care arrangements that has been largely ignored by previous research: that most day care is relatively temporary, changing often over the course of a few years. The data come from a four-year longitudinal study of a representative sample of New York City mothers of preschool children. The findings indicate that most mothers change care arrangements frequently. Substitution of group day care and multiple care arrangements for care by relatives was the most common pattern found. The paper discusses some of the implications of these frequent changes in day care for women's employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ice storms cause periodic disturbance to temperate forests of eastern North America. They are the primary agents of disturbance in some eastern forests. In this paper, a forest gap model is employed to explore consequences of ice storms for the long-term dynamics of Tsuga canadensis -northern hardwoods forests. The gap model LINKAGES was modified to simulate periodic ice storm disturbance in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. To adapt the gap model for this purpose, field data on ice storm disturbance are used to develop a polytomous logistic regression model of tree damage. The logistic regression model was then incorporated into the modified forest gap model, LINKADIR, to determine the type of damage sustained by each simulated tree. The logistic regression model predicts high probabilities of bent boles or severe bole damage (leaning, snapping, or uprooting) in small-diameter trees, and increasing probability of canopy damage as tree size increases. Canopy damage is most likely on gentle slopes; the probability of severe bole damage increases with increasing slope angle. In the LINKADIR simulations, tree damage type determines the probability of mortality; trees with severe bole damage are assigned the highest mortality rate. LINKADIR predicts Tsuga canadensis dominance in mesophytic old-growth forests not disturbed by ice storms. When ice storms are simulated, the model predicts Acer saccharum -dominated forests with higher species richness. These results suggest that ice storms may function as intermediate disturbances that enhance species richness in forested Adirondack landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks an account of why young teens initiate consensual sexual activity. It does so by constructing statistical models aimed at distinguishing those who report having initiated sexual activity from those who have not in four samples of eighth graders from an Upstate New York county. Theoretical selection of the model variables is guidel by insights from "problem syndrome," control and differential association theories. From our findings we conclude the following: (1) Risk behaviors foreseen by the "problem sysdrome" approach, including having used marijuana and having been drunk, are significant, powerful predictors of early-teen sexual activity: (2) The social setting of consensual sexual activity differs by sex at the eighth grade level. For example, having a boyfriend is a more consistent, powerful predictor variable for girls than is having a girlfriend for boys and there is evidence to support the hypothesis that boys initiate sexual activity in the context of status-seeking while girls are more likely to do so as a way of attaining approval. (3) Our findings do not give clear primacy to parents or peers as an influence on early-teen consensual sexual activity. Both control theory, usually associated with "parental-influence" variables. And differential association theory, usually associated with " Per-influence" variables, receive support. (4) The results of the research spanning a 2-year period of intensive community antiteen-pregnancy efforts by a Zero Adolescent Pregnancy (ZAP) campaign are consistent with the conclusion that such a multifaceted approach might help lower early-teen initiation of sexual activity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using information gathered during fieldwork on New York lesbian and gay film festival organizations, this paper argues that scholarship on identity has not paid sufficient attention to the organizational mediation of collective identity. The shape of collective identity-how internal instabilities and diversities are accommodated, in this case-depends not only on the emergent characteristics of the "collective," but also on the resolution of challenges particular to organizational fields. Two very differently conceived lesbian and gay festival organizations, sites at which decision making about collective identity is ongoing and self-conscious, are examined. The analysis traces how each responds to two related tasks: maintaining community legitimacy, which requires racial diversification, and surviving within an altered institutional environment. Rather than imposition from "above" or construction from "below," the adaptive responses by organizations (to changes in both community expectations and the resource environment) transform the collective identity formulations reaching public visibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This note examines the role of academic-industry linkages in the innovation performance of New York State manufacturers of medical devices. Evidence from a pilot survey of 63 specialised producers suggests that innovation rates are higher among firms that exploit university resources. The contribution of the academic sector to industrial innovation is quantified via a series of OLS regressions. These models suggest that geographic proximity to academic resources is less important to the innovation process than the extent of academic-industry interaction (though the two are positively correlated). While the empirical results confirm that close proximity to academic research units is a helpful factor in product development, the data reveal that non-geographic factors play a stronger role overall. Factors of notable significance include in-house R&D effort, investment in academic interaction and the extent of collaborative research with other manufacturing firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a note from the new editor of the journal "Sociological Forum," for the first issue processed in the Albany office in New York. The issue is similar to the issues from offices in Ithaca and Stony Brook. Two reasons for this continuity are that the papers in editorial process at Stony Brook were sent to Albany in the editorial office transition and that editors are at the mercy of the authors who submit manuscripts. The plea made to authors by editor Stephen Cole was that if one had a manuscript ready for submission, one should first think of the "Sociological Forum."

Abstract. In this article, we use annual (1980-90) county-level manufacturing plant location data for New York State to examine the effects of the 1977 Clean Air Act Amendments on the location decisions of new pollution-intensive manufacturing plants in the "neo-regulatory" (1980-84) and "mature-regulatory" (1985-90) phases of the Act's implementation. Our results suggest that the temporal effects of regulation vary. Whereas the location decisions of pollution intensive manufacturing firms were unaffected by the Act's regulatory restrictions in the "neo-regulatory" period, the restrictions appear to have had a significant negative impact on the location decisions of these types of firms in the Act's "mature-regulatory" phase. The diversion of new pollution intensive plants to counties with less stringent environmental regulations suggests that current US environmental regulations may be leading to a "browning process" whereby counties historically free of pollution become havens for polluters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]