FEMINIST PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION AND THE PROBLEM OF EPISTEMIC PRIVILEGE

There have been a number of developments within religious epistemology in recent years. Currently, the dominant view within mainstream philosophy of religion is, arguably, reformed epistemology. What is less well known is that feminist epistemologists have also been active recently within the philosophy of religion, advancing new perspectives from which to view the link between knowledge and religious experience. In this article I examine the claim by certain feminist religious epistemologists that women are both epistemically oppressed and epistemically privileged, and I consider whether or not this justifies the specific re‐conceptualisations of religious terms that such epistemologists have proposed.     

CONNECTIONS BETWEEN LOWER BACK PAIN, INTERVENTIONS, AND ABSENCE FROM WORK: A TIME-BASED META-ANALYSIS

We conducted qualitative and quantitative reviews of the medical literature to develop an understanding of the linkages between nonspecific lower back pain (LBP) and employee absenteeism, and the efficacy of lower back pain interventions (LBPI) in reducing absenteeism. First, we offered a general time-based framework to clarify the causal flows between LBP and absence. Second, we inspected LBPIs designed to ameliorate LBP, which should, in turn, lead to reduced absence-taking. Third, we conducted a meta-analysis of 45 effect sizes involving 12,214 people, to examine the relationships between both LBP and LBPIs and absenteeism. Consistent with a presumption in the medical literature, we found support for the idea that chronic LBP has a positive overall relationship with absence-taking. The relationship was stronger for absence frequency measures than time lost measures. In addition, we found that increasing aggregation time (i.e., increases in the periods over which absence is observed) enhances the size of the chronic LBP-absence connection. Further, evidence showed that LBPIs were effective overall in reducing absenteeism. Finally, when there was a temporal mismatch between the form of LBP (acute vs. chronic) and the absenteeism aggregation period in LBPI studies, effect sizes were significantly smaller. We concluded with a discussion of these results, methodological limitations, and suggestions for future research that blends medical with organizational approaches to the etiology of absence.     

Images Versus Issues in the 1984 Presidential Election Differences Between Men and Women

Recent accounts of male and female personality development suggest that members of each sex differ in the orientations and capacities they bring to their experience of the political world. This article explores the relative importance of respondents’ images of the candidates and respondents’ political positions to predictions of males’ and females’ candidate preferences. It was predicted that candidate images based on interpersonal communication behavior, as opposed to respondents’ political positions, would be a more powerful predictor of females’ candidate preferences. The opposite pattern was expected to be the case for males’ candidate preferences. These predictions were supported; however, the data analysis also indicated that both candidate images and politkal positions contributed significantly to predictions of females’ candidate preferences.     

Deconstructing Organizational Commitment: Associations Among Its Affective and Cognitive Components,Personality Antecedents,and Behavioral Outcomes1

This study tests whether measurement of the cognitive aspect of organizational commitment can explain variance in behavioral expressions of commitment beyond Allen & Meyer's (1990 ) measure of the affective component of commitment. This cognitive component was measured by an index of belief accentuation. Undergraduates (N = 110) completed a questionnaire that measured all variables. Results show that students who polarize their judgments about the appropriateness of behavior at the university support the university more by defending it from criticism and praising it. This effect holds even after controlling for personality and demographic variables. Results also show that extraversion and agreeableness explain variance in the affective element of commitment and that conscientiousness explains variance in the cognitive element of commitment.     

Changes in Behaviour and Body Weight Following a Single or Double Social Defeat in Rats

In a series of experiments, the consequences of a single and double social conflict on various behaviours and body weight in rats were studied. Animals were subjected to social defeat by placing them into the territory of an aggressive male conspecific for one hour, either once, or twice at the same time on two consecutive days. To assess the consequences of social defeat, three experiments were performed with independent groups of rats. In the first experiment, an open field test was performed two days after the last conflict. Locomotor activity was strongly reduced after social defeat. There were no differences between the single and double defeat group. To assess the effects of social defeat on subsequent social behaviour, a second experiment was performed in which experimental animals were confronted with an unfamiliar non-aggressive rat two days after a single or double conflict. Social defeat resulted in a reduction of social contact with the unfamiliar conspecific. There was no difference between the single and double conflict group. In the third experiment, the effects of social conflict on food intake, body weight and saccharine preference were measured. Food intake was not affected after a single conflict, but in the double conflict group food intake was decreased for several days. Body weight gain was decreased after both single and double social defeat. The decrease was stronger in the double conflict group. Water intake and saccharine preference were not significantly affected. This study revealed that social defeat in rats causes pronounced changes in various behaviours and body weight. Different aspects of behaviour are differentially affected by defeat with respect to the magnitude and time course of the changes induced. Moreover, different behavioural parameters are differentially sensitive to repetition of the stressor.     

EXPATRIATES' PSYCHOLOGICAL WITHDRAWAL FROM INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS: WORK, NONWORK, AND FAMILY INFLUENCES

Integrating the expatriate adjustment and employee turnover literatures, we develop a model of expatriates' decisions to quit their assignments. This model explicitly considers the role of adjustment, the project-based nature of international assignments, and the importance of several nonwork and family context factors in this withdrawal process. We test this model with a sample of 452 expatriates and a matched subsample (providing multiple sources of data) of 224 expatriates and spouses, living in 45 countries. Consistent with domestic turnover research, multiple regression analyses indicated that the work-related factors of job satisfaction and organizational commitment were significant predictors of expatriate withdrawal cognitions. We also found support for the direct, indirect, and moderating influence of nonwork satisfaction and several family context variables (i.e., family responsibility, spouse adjustment, spouse overall satisfaction, and living conditions) on decisions of expatriates to quit their assignments. Implications for both organizational withdrawal and international HRM researchers and practitioners are discussed.