You Get What You Vote For: Electoral Determinants of Economic Freedom

While several cross-sectional studies (La Porta et. al. 2002, Norton 2002) examine institutional and cultural determinants of economic freedom, changes in economic freedom remain unexamined. I construct a measure of median voter preferences and find changes in voter preferences for economic freedom to be a significant determinant of changes in economic freedom in a panel of 25 OECD countries. The voter preference measure is robust to several alternative specifications, including the addition of institutional variables.Economic Freedom, Median Voter, Manifesto Data, Voter Preferences,

Exploring the nature of intimate relationships: A Māori perspective

The 2002 World Report on Violence states that violence occurs in about 70 percent of intimate relationships (Krug, Dahlberg, Mercy, Zwi, & Lozano, 2002). New Zealand research indicates that more than a quarter of relationships have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV), with Māori (Indigenous people of New Zealand) women three times more likely to experience IPV in their lifetime. Utilising Kaupapa Māori (Māori-centred approach) and narrative methodologies, this paper explores the nature of intimate relationships from a Māori perspective, investigating how Māori initiate intimate relationships, attempt to maintain positive intimate relationships and when applicable, exit intimate relationships. The findings from two case studies reveal that intimate relationships involve identity negotiation and an incorporation of cultural values. Communication processes are highlighted as a facilitating factor of intimate relationships

Cultural Tourism

The second edition of Cultural Tourism is a well-structured and comprehensive text focused on the relationship between cultural tourism and cultural heritage management. The book has been substantially revised since its first publication in 2002 (McKercher & du Cros 2002) and now includes many new sections, case studies and relevant examples from almost every single corner of the world. Aimed at students, researchers and practitioners of tourism and cultural heritage management alike, the book examines the problematic relationship between these two conflicting camps and illustrates how their respective goals can be put together to achieve sustainable cultural tourism

Is the semiosphere post-modernist?

This paper provides arguments for and against M.Lotman’s (2002) contention that Y.Lotman’s seminal concept of semiosphere is of post-modernist (post-structuralist; Posner 2011) orientation. A comparative reading of the definitional components of the semiosphere, their hierarchical relationship and their interactions is undertaken against the two principal axes of space and subjectivity in the light of Kantian transcendental idealism, as inaugural and authoritative figure of modernity, the Foucauldian discursive turn and the Deleuzian (post) radical empiricism (sic), as representative authors of the highly versatile post-modernvernacular. This comparative reading aims at highlighting not only similarities and differences between the Lotmanian conceptualization of the semiosphere and the concerned modernist and postmodernist authors, but the construct’s operational relevance in a post-metanarratives cultural predicament that has been coupled with the so-called spatial turn in cultural studies (Hess- Luttich 2012)

Research into literacy and technology in primary classrooms: an exploration of understandings generated by recent studies

Whilst much has been written about the implications for ‘literacy’ for practices surrounding digital technologies (Gee, 2000a; Luke and Carrington, 2002; Snyder, 1998), there has been surprisingly little research investigating new literacies in primary classrooms (Andrews, 2003; Labbo and Reinking, 2003: Lankshear and Knobel, 2003). This review examines the kinds of understandings that have been generated through studies of primary literacy and technology reported during the period 2000-2006. It uses Green’s distinction between ‘operational’, ‘cultural’ and ‘critical’ dimensions of primary literacy (Lankshear and Bigum, 1999; Snyder, 2001) to investigate the focus and methodology of 38 empirical studies. It explores ways in which research may be informed by assumptions and practices associated with print literacy, but also highlights the kinds of studies which are beginning to investigate the implications of digital texts for primary education. The paper concludes by arguing for further ethnographic and phenomenological studies of classroom literacy practices in order to explore the complex contexts which surround and are mediated by digital texts

Examining 'window dressing' : the views of black police associations on recruitment and training

In a previous issue of this journal, Ellis Cashmore (2002 Cashmore, E. 2002. ‘Behind the window dressing: minority ethnic police perspectives on cultural diversity’. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 28(2): 327–41. [Taylor & Francis Online], [CSA], [Google Scholar] ) discussed two key issues currently confronting police constabularies in England and Wales: the recruitment of minority ethnic officers and civilian staff, and the impact of diversity training now in place for all police officers. Cashmore argued that not only are these policies ineffective in enhancing cultural diversity within constabularies, but that they are harmful, presenting a false outward image of effective action. This article examines Cashmore's arguments and develops them in light of findings from recent research on Black Police Associations (BPAs) in England and Wales. Our findings firstly suggest that, because of heavy involvement with these initiatives and the close relationship BPAs have developed with senior management (in comparison to non-BPA members), they must be considered in any discussion of minority ethnic recruitment and diversity training. In addition, the majority of the officers we interviewed were supportive of current recruitment and training programmes. Secondly, we argue that BPAs are helping to change the nature of the overall police culture to a certain extent. Many minority ethnic officers no longer feel they must downplay their ethnicity as members of constabularies

A Francophile in the North Cascades

The fields of cultural studies and environmental studies are often disconnected. Even the tagline, ‘act locally, think globally’ tends to refer to realizing how local ecological processes are related to global processes (Thomashow, 2002). Culture is left out of this interpretation of the phrase. I believe that in order to address global environmental issues cultural awareness needs to be part of the solution. My experience with learning French language and culture has convinced me that second language acquisition can be an effective way to bring cultural studies into the world of environmental studies

British Cultural Studies

Cultural Studies is dead! Its spiritual home, the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) in Birmingham, had to close its doors in 2002, not quite forty years after its inauguration in 1964. In the USA, where British Cultural Studies found a new home (cf. entry III.3), loud demands for "Stopping Cultural Studies" can be heard (Warner and Siskin), and plans for a life at "The University After Cultural Studies" are already being made. (Such was the title of a plenary panel at the seventh annual meeting of the Cultural Studies Association in Kansas City in 2009.) What would it mean, however, to stop doing cultural studies? Would it mean that we stop analysing the texts, films, plays, images, and songs that contribute to our cultures? Does it mean that we no longer examine the artefacts and symbols that form (British) ways of living? It does not

International student subjectivities: biographical investments for liquid times

The international student as an object of study has typically been understood through the frame of cultural identity, mapped back to notions of fixed, static notions of cultural difference. In contrast, this study seeks to understand how the practice of international study has emerged as an increasingly popular ‘biographical solution’ (Beck 1992, Bauman 2002) in order to pursue imagined career trajectories in a globalised and competitive world. Informed by recent studies of middle class strategy in Asia (Pinches, 1999) and the transnational Chinese diaspora (Ong 1999, Ang 2001) that challenge essentialist accounts of timeless Asian values and East-West binaries, the paper analyses interview data collected from ‘Asian’ international students attending preparatory programs at an Australian university. Specifically, the paper discusses the disciplinary formation of the ‘international student’ – the take-up of self-Orientalizing discourses (Ong, 1999), and engagement in practices of auto-ethnography (Pratt, 1998). In addition, the paper explores students’ critiques of, and resistances to Orientalist discourses, and pragmatic willingness to submit to local demands to further their longer term goals. Preparatory programs emerge not so much as life-changing locations but rather necessary transit lounges, for the acquisition of cultural distinctions along their life routes

Technological Change and Innovation in Consumer Magazine Publishing: a UK-Based Study

This paper presents the results of research undertaken between 2002 and 2004 into the impact of technological change on the UK consumer magazine industry. The findings highlight patterns of innovation, both in the range of products (most notably monthly magazine titles) and the structure of organisations and work practices, which have tended to elude much of the contemporary debate within the “cultural industries” approach adopted in the media studies discipline. Instead, our analysis makes use of insights from the innovation literature to highlight the impact of technological discontinuities on the capabilities of both incumbent firms and new entrants. It also highlights the important and growing role that is being played in innovation-led industries through the adoption of organisational practices that find their origins in the traditions of project-based firms