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There is little research into what happens to blind and partially sighted young people as they make the transition from compulsory education into further and higher education, and employment. This article describes a longitudinal study which is tracking the progress of 78 young people with visual impairments in England and Wales as they make this transition. Early findings are presented in relation to the experience of 47 of these participants who had recently completed their General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) (age 16 years) and made the transition to life beyond compulsory education. All of them remained in some form of education. The majority reported having enjoyed their studies, achieved well in their GCSE examinations, and had experienced positive transitions. There are some areas of concern: many did not appear to have engaged with the more formal pre-transitional preparation processes of 'transition review'; there was evidence of the young people being restricted in participating in part-time work; and some were reserved about applying to university in the future due to tuition fees.

While traditionally Plato has been read as a critic of democracy and an advocate of philosopher-kingship, a number of more recent interpretations have argued that Plato's views about these issues changed over the course of his life. Several scholars argue that Plato shifts from an authoritarian outlook in "middle period" dialogues, such as the Republic, to a more democratic view in "late" dialogues, such as the Laws. In contrast to these scholars, this article argues that Plato's attitude towards authority and democracy is consistent in his "middle" and "late" periods. I show that Plato defines law as the writing of political experts, and that the Laws turns to written law as a second-best method for instituting the rule of the wise. This interpretation enables us to understand the Laws as a dialogue about the political use of writing, which helps illuminate some of the more peculiar features of the Laws and account for its place in the Platonic corpus.

Abstract
This paper uses a significant increase in the minimum wage in Spain between 2004 and 2010 as a case study to analyse the effects on the individual probability of losing employment, using a large panel of social security records. We show that this individual approach is important, as the possible effects for different types of individuals may differ from other estimates in the literature, based on aggregate or firm-level data, hence complementing them. Our main finding is that older people experienced the largest increase in the probability of losing their job, when compared with other age groups, including young people. The intuition is simple: among the affected (low-productivity) workers, young people are expected to increase their productivity more than older ones, who are in the flat part of their life-cycle productivity curve. Consequently, an employer facing a uniform increase in the minimum wage may find it profitable to retain young employees and to fire older ones.

Abstract

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AbstractSociologists tend to view rural culture as an inertial force, committing members to past cultural patterns which, in turn, inform their present courses of action. By emphasizing such cultural stasis, we obscure how members of cultural enclaves negotiate, recommit to, or revise certain cultural traditions. This article explores how rural culture is in dialogue with changing external contexts. Drawing on interviews I conducted among a small group of German‐heritage farmers in southern Wisconsin, I find that farmers select legal arrangements, entrepreneurial actions, and traditional male succession in order to fulfill the "yeoman" goal of keeping the farm in the family name. I explore how the narratives farmers develop about the cultural priority of transferring the home‐farm to a new generation allow sociological insight into their creative negotiations between cultural traditions and a greatly altered context of agricultural production. I argue that this dialogue between a historically persistent cultural tradition and very present pressures of agricultural production makes a significant contribution to the dynamics of modern rural life.

In this article the theme of human agency is approached from the concrete standpoint of independent living. Leaving the parental home at a young age stands out as a significant life event—one which brings about more freedom, but also new responsibilities. To frame the analysis of the age group in this study, youth, I use the concept 'emerging adulthood', which suggests an age from late teens through mid- to late–20s. The article draws on research, which data were collected in the Helsinki metropolitan area during the years 2010–11 in the context of an outreach project targeted for young people who have no place to study or work, and cannot find the services they need. According to this study, a general and significant challenge in independent living is to adjust to being self-reliant. This abstract challenge was manifested in the young people's ability to master basic daily living and routines, social relationships and broader cultural and social expectations and norms.

AbstractThe term "depillarization" ("ontzuiling") emerged in the Netherlands during the 1970s to proclaim the end of a society dominated by "pillarization" ("verzuiling"). In breaking away from the past, a groundbreaking renewal of religious and civic life through secularization and individualization was proclaimed or deplored. As hopes of an emancipation from the past subsided in the face of a considerable continuity, depillarization became a narrative of loss and frustration. This article shows how metaphors of disaggregation such as depillarization have produced an inability to conceptualize contemporary society, accompanied by a distortion of the past as the "other" of the present. It demonstrates how such metaphors may become dominant through their ability to incorporate competing visions of social order and the integration of scholarly and popular discourse. In conclusion, this article proposes to overcome the narratives of disaggregation by interpreting post‐war history as a gradual transformation from the ideals and practices of heavy communities to those of light communities in the domains of politics, civil society and religion.

The transnationalization of genre has been an unavoidable phenomenon in world cinema. This paper looks at the encounter of one of the most transnationalized genre of Hollywood, that is horror, upon its encounter with Balinese local specificities that are portrayed in Indonesian film. This paper argues that horror has been in an active interaction in cinematically framing the Balinese culture. However, some elements of horror looks unease in the sense that it tends to exclude some indispensable elements to Balinese culture. The paper takes on the gap between the position of Rangda – the Balinese goddess – in Balinese culture and films. In the Balinese culture, Rangda is portrayed as the dark element that completes the ideal circle of life, while in the horror film Mystics in Bali (1980), Rangda is portrayed simply as a mere evil. In the course of reading this, the paper conducts a comparative strategy to show that such a phenomenon is not unique to Indonesian cinema, but also to the other geographies that are in a constant critical interaction with Hollywood.

The use of table saws in the United States is associated with approximately 28,000 emergency department (ED) visits and 2,000 cases of finger amputation per year. This article provides a quantitative estimate of the economic benefits of automatic protection systems that could be designed into new table saw products. Benefits are defined as reduced health‐care costs, enhanced production at work, and diminished pain and suffering. The present value of the benefits of automatic protection over the life of the table saw are interpreted as the switch‐point cost value, the maximum investment in automatic protection that can be justified by benefit‐cost comparison. Using two alternative methods for monetizing pain and suffering, the study finds switch‐point cost values of $753 and $561 per saw. These point estimates are sensitive to the values of inputs, especially the average cost of injury. The various switch‐point cost values are substantially higher than rough estimates of the incremental cost of automatic protection systems. Uncertainties and future research needs are discussed.

Criminal organizations have a strong influence on social, political, and economic life in Italy and other parts of the world. Nonetheless, local populations display collective passivity against organized crime, a phenomenon known as omertà. Omertà is linked to the concepts of honor and masculinity. That is, in order to fit ideological constructions of manliness, individuals should display indifference toward illegal activities and should not collaborate with legal institutions. In two studies, we investigated the link between endorsement of a masculine honor ideology and collective action intentions against criminal organizations (antimafia). Study 1 (N = 121) involved a Northern Italian sample, and Study 2 (N = 301) involved a Southern Italian sample. Across studies, results showed that endorsement of masculine honor ideology was associated with lower willingness to engage in social activism against criminal organizations. This relationship was mediated by attitudes toward criminal organizations (Study 1 and 2) and, in line with the notion of omertà, by lower levels of collective motive and more anxiety about interacting with police (Study 2). Directions for future research are discussed.

This article uses discursive psychology and conversation analysis to examine a Swedish online forum thread in which participants, who present as women on long-term sick leave, make gender equality relevant when discussing housework. Doing housework can challenge the legitimacy of the sick leave, and as a woman, one risks being categorized as a "housewife." Such a categorization can work to undermine sick leave legitimacy and is also problematic given norms of gender equality in Sweden. In the studied data, such inferences are managed by invoking a (male) partner in accounts for housework or by humorous and ironic gendered categorizations. The analysis focuses on how this is done in the fine details of the interaction, showing how sick leave legitimacy is managed within a normative framework of gender equality. The study provides a practically oriented approach to the gendered aspects of sick leave legitimacy and sheds light on the delicate interplay between gender equality and sick leave in everyday life.

The economic crisis and the policies proposed in response to it have held the attention of news media for many years. This article argues that the frequent use of the term 'crisis' as a catchphrase signals the presence of a journalistic frame, which possesses both generic and issue-specific features. The crisis-frame is analytically described along the four structural dimensions identified by Pan and Kosicki, using both content analytical arguments and close reading of characteristic passages. The crisis-frame is shown to have intersected with other local discursive constructs like the reform of the state or the problems of unemployment and migration. The article thus discusses substantive features of the news media of an Eastern European country, on which framing research is notoriously scarce. At the same time, it also contributes to the wider theoretical debate surrounding frame analysis, by describing how a media issue takes on generic features and becomes applicable to various topics and spheres of life.

We investigated the dimensionality of employer brand in the Chinese context and developed a scale to assess its underlying dimensions. We conducted 4 focus-group interviews to explore the domain content and components of employer brand. Based on the qualitative interviews, we conducted
a survey (N = 912) to develop and validate the employer brand scale. The results revealed a 5-dimensional structure of employer brand in the Chinese context, which implied that explicit functional factors predominate the Chinese employer brand rather than the functional-symbolic structure
of that prevails in the Western context. Among the 5 dimensions, work-life effectiveness and organization mark seemed unique to the Chinese context while the other 3 dimensions were similar to those found in the Western context. Testing of a 29-item scale representing the 5 dimensions showed
good psychometric properties. This research contributes to the understanding of employer brand and how it is perceived by job applicants in a culture outside of the Western world.

AbstractWhile much is known about youth struggles after reintegration into the home and community settings following stays in out‐of‐home care, little is known about appropriate supports for aftercare, or parent (see Note ) and youth perceptions during this critical transition period. This study seeks to begin to address these questions through surveys evaluating youth (n = 48) and parent (n = 48) perceptions of (i) transition planning, family preparedness and aftercare; (ii) youth preparedness for the transition period across major life domains (e.g. education, health care, relationships); and (iii) the importance of specific aftercare supports and services. Results indicate differences between youth and parents on perceptions of need for continued supports, likelihood of participation in aftercare programs; and youth preparedness for success in relationships, family and independent living domains. In contrast, similarities were found on youth and parent ratings regarding the importance of specific services and supports, with both groups indicating supports in education as most important and supports in mental health as least. Study limitations, future research and implications are provided.

The corporate megachurch represents a pecuniarily driven institution that both emphasizes marketing for the purposes of constant growth, and focuses on the manufacture and delivery of consumer-centric goods and services. This article draws on the theory of the non-place as conceptualized by Augé, who argues that the non-place is a direct effect of contemporary capitalism's incessant incursion into ever more areas of life. The non-place refers to any variety of transitory sites that lack historical, cultural, or geographic reference points, and while they seem to be everywhere one is left with the sense of being 'nowhere' in particular. One such place that lacks distinguishing features and fails to provide any contextual reference is the corporate megachurch. Because of its strategic work to distance itself from traditional Christian churches and focus instead on creating homologies with entertainment, self-help, and retail, the non-place church normalizes the banality of consumer capitalism.