A reexamination of sex differences in job preferences

Previous research has found conflicting answers to the question of whether males and females share similar preferences for various job characteristics. It is difficult to determine if the different findings are due to the different populations sampled, the various methodologies employed, or to a real change in the phenomenon itself. This study essentially replicates earlier work by having 130 male and 84 female college students rate the importance of 10 job characteristics for both themselves and members of the opposite sex. Both sexes rated motivators as important, but females also placed importance on the hygienes. Males tended to underestimate the importance of the motivators for females, while females overestimated the importance of hygienes for males. The subject's sex could be predicted by both the importance for self and importance for opposite sex ratings, contrary to the earlier study. The difference in results and interpretation was shown to be due to the type of analyses used. Additionally, it was found that females' job preferences were related to their mothers' educational achievement.     

THE JEWISH POLICEMEN OF EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LONDON

There were tens of thousands of Jewish Londoners in the eighteenth century. Contemporary magistrates Henry Fielding and Patrick Colquhoun blamed these Jews for increases in crime. They made no mention of the many Jewish peace officers who patrolled the city. Fielding and Colquhoun situated Jews as part of the crime problem and not the policing solution. Historians have likewise discussed Jewish criminality and ignored the role of Jews in combating crime in the eighteenth century. However, there was an entire group of Jewish men who both enforced the law and used the law to their own advantage: peace officers and thief-takers. In fact, throughout the eighteenth century Jewish men and women were involved in the policing of the city in official, quasi-official, and unofficial capacities. There were practical reasons for having Jewish constables. There was a select number of occupations that brought Jewish men and women into association with their gentile neighbours. Jewish peddlers, porters, and dealers naturally came in contact with a variety of people. Importantly, there was another vocation that similarly allowed Jewish men to participate in the wider London world: policing. Jewish and gentile peace officers co-operated and worked together in companionship not seen in other trades. This paper examines the activities of Jewish peace officers and thief-takers, to shed light on both the dynamics of eighteenth-century policing and on the nature of the Jewish community.     

Growing awareness of gender in urban policies

This article discusses issues from the Women in the City Conference held in October 1994 in Paris. The conference was organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Urban Affairs of the Territorial Development Service. An OECD report "Shaping Structural Change--The Role of Women" was published in 1991. This report argued that economies were not benefiting fully from women's contributions to economic growth and social development. Also, the "systemic nature of gender-based inequalities and the need for systemic solutions" was encouraged. The Secretary General urged OECD work groups to include the issue of the role of women. The conference was organized to this end. The conference demonstrated the progress made in women's international leadership and policy participation. However, the conference also indicated that the representation of women in urban decision making and planning groups was too low in member countries. Some urban changes involving urban women were a concern. 1) Women's participation in the labor force increased to 60%, and these women are required to provide the household budget. 2) Two parent households declined and single parent households, mostly women, increased. 3) Single person households increased and many were elderly and female. 4) OECD country populations were aging. These aforementioned trends place greater responsibilities on women. Urban policies impact on women's daily lives. Women are seeking policy changes related to women's transportation needs, access to affordable housing, improved house and community environments, security, more responsive services, economic development for women, and culture and leisure. Women's participation in public life can be improved through the expansion of child care facilities, legal changes, provision of gender-sensitive information, and new forms of urban governance that are more responsive and accessible to women.     

Central and peripheral vision in early infancy

The size of the effective visual field during the first weeks of life is found to depend on two factors: It increases with age, but it contracts in the face of competition from ongoing activity such as fixation of a central stimulus or non-nutritive sucking.     

Book reviews

SILVERSTEIN, A. (Ed.). Human Communication: Theoretical Explorations. Chichester, John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1975. £ 7.00.

NEWTON, G. and Riesen, A. H. (Eds.). Advances in Psychobiology. Vol. 2. New York: john Wiley & Sons. 1974. Pp 330. £ 12.00

FELDMAN,C. F. et at. The Development of Adaptive Intelligence. San Francisco: Jossey Boss. 1974. Pp. 142 £ 8.75

YARROW, L. J.,Rubinstein, J. L. and Pedersen, F. A. Infant and Environment. New York: Halstead Press. 1974. Pp255. £ 8.65

FREEDMAN, D. G. Human Infancy: an Evolutionary Perpective. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 1974. Pp. 212. £ 7.00

FOSS, B. (Ed.0. New Perspectives in Child Development. Harmondsworth: Penguin Education. 1974. Pp. 265. £ 1.00

LEWIS, M. and Rosenblum, L. (Eds.). The Origins of Behaviour,vol. 2, The Origins of fear. New York: John Wiley and Sons. 1975. £ 9.70

PIAGET, J. and Inhelder, B. The Origin of the Idea of Chance in Children. London: Routledge & kegan Paul. 1975. Pp. 249. £ 5.25

INHELDER, B. Sinclair,H. and Bovet, M. Learning and the Development of Cognition. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1974. Pp308. £ 4.95.

PEILL, E. J. Invention and Discovery of Reality. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. 1975. Pp. 203. £ 6.50

ALCOCK, J. Animal Behaviour: An evolutionary approach. Sunderland, Mass.: sinauer Associaters. 1975. Pp547. £ 6.60

GREGORY, R. L. Concepts and Mechanisms of Perception. duckworth & Co. Ltd. 1974. Ppxi+669. £ 18.00

MANIS, M. An Introduction to Cognitive Psychology. Belmont: Broks/Cole. 1971. Pp. vii+318. £ 4.75

KOGAN, A. B. (Ed.). Current Problems in Neurocybernetics. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons 1975. Pp. 147. £ 8.35     

Research Ethics in Japanese Higher Education: Faculty Attitudes and Cultural Mediation

Principles of research ethics, derived largely from Western philosophical thought, are spreading across the world of higher education. Since 2006 the Japanese Ministry of Education has required universities in Japan to establish codes of ethical conduct and ensure that procedures are in place to punish research misconduct. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 13 academics in a research-intensive university in Japan, this paper considers how research ethics is interpreted in relation to their own practice. Interviewees articulated a range of ethical issues connected with data gathering and interpretation, applying for and using research funds, relationships with peers and research subjects, and the dissemination of results. The paper also explores the effect of personal values and cultural norms on the Japanese interpretation of research ethics identifying the impact in terms of the treatment of graduate research students and decision-making processes.     

Communism,Universalism and Disinterestedness: Re-examining Contemporary Support among Academics for Merton’s Scientific Norms

This paper re-examines the relevance of three academic norms to contemporary academic life – communism, universalism and disinterestedness – based on the work of Robert Merton. The results of a web-based survey elicited responses to a series of value statements and were analysed using the weighted average method and through cross-tabulation. Results indicate strong support for communism as an academic norm defined in relation to sharing research results and teaching materials as opposed to protecting intellectual copyright and withholding access. There is more limited support for universalism based on the belief that academic knowledge should transcend national, political, or religious boundaries. Disinterestedness, defined in terms of personal detachment from truth claims, is the least popular contemporary academic norm. Here, the impact of a performative culture is linked to the need for a large number of academics to align their research interests with funding opportunities. The paper concludes by considering the claims of an alternate set of contemporary academic norms including capitalism, particularism and interestedness.