Livelihoods and chronic poverty in semi-arid Zimbabwe (abstract only) March 1, 2003 Explores explanations for the high levels of chronic poverty in remote rural areas of Zimbabwe including food security, education and...
Is Social Capital the Key to Inequalities in Health? (abstract only) January 1, 2003 The argument is made that income inequality, social capital, and community health may all be consequences of larger macro-level social...
While there is evidence that caste as a religiously sanctioned system in India is declining, caste organization and identity remain important sources of social capital for rural elites. Drawing on fieldwork on the Jat caste in Uttar Pradesh, the continuation of traditional dominance through political and social networks is examined.
The effects that social capital, including civic participation and parental and community involvement in education have on the effectiveness of investments in education are examined. Social capital can improve the efficiency of investments in human capital. This finding indicates a need to design institutions that will help build social capital at the family and community level. Such institutions will make investments in education more cost effectiveness.
Married couples who have children are better committed and the likelihood of their getting a divorce is relatively low. The relationship between stability in a marriage and fertility is crucial but often ignored. The chances of marital dissolution are higher when there are no children to think for. Consequently, a rise in the rate of divorce also means a fall in fertility within marriages.
This article summarizes a survey conducted by the authors in Georgia, covering a random sample of individuals receiving TANF. The authors specify Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), or its contemporary Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), as those welfare programs they consider throughout the article. It is the position of the Larrison, Nackerud and Risler that welfare recipients are too often considered to be young, single mothers, often minorities. Based on their survey results, the authors find that while this group of recipients does exist, there are several other types of recipients that are neglected or ignored because of this common stereotype.
Alternative ways to dedicate family income to the general welfare are explored. The U.S. Government allows families to contribute to the general welfare in two different ways: through charitable donations or through paying estate taxes. Family wealth can be divided into two categories: personal capital that can be left to the family's heirs, and social capital which the family must contribute to the general welfare. Using charitable donations as opposed to taxes can provide families with more spendable income if financial planning is done carefully.
Social interactions, on the household and societal level, are incorporated into consumer demand analysis. Different characteristics are ascribed to different individuals and simple tools of economic theory are used to analyze consumer demand. Interfamily distributions are considered and family members tend to act to maximize family income in their own self-interest.
Holocaust survivor research is brought into the mainstream of sociological inquiry through the story of two brothers. Stories reveal how individuals survive in extreme conditions and these situations illuminate the relationships between agency and structure in instances where the tension between them is heightened. Gradual adoption to German occupation afforded them the opportunity to develop skills for survival later on.
This article examines the distributional effects of macro economic and political changes in three villages in North-Western Vietnam. Using semi-structured interviews, the author presents his findings and discusses the patterns of differentiation and the mechanisms that cause them, concluding with implications for the understanding of post-socialist transformations.
The role of familiar and school related social capital in improving educational performance of children from poor families is discussed. Social capital for poor children needs to be enhanced if their educational performance is to be improved. Social capital can provide these children with a sense of connectedness, well being, academic initiative and knowing. The out of school lives of poor children need to be improved along with in school conditions programs to bloster families and neighborhoods can create an atmosphere in which students have a sense of wellbeing and a desire to learn.
The author believes that joining the individual orientation of the economist with the group rationality of the sociologist will produce better frameworks for analysis. The preferences taken as given by economists and vaguely attributed to "human nature" or something similar-the emphasis of self-interest, altruism toward kin, social distinction, and other enduring aspects of preferences-may be largely explained by the selection over time of traits having greater genetic fitness and survival value. However, survival value is in turn partly a result of utility maximization in different social and physical environments.
