Social Justice & Technical Efficiency: The Role of Digital Technology in Boston\u27s 311 System

Does digital technology help or hinder the realization of social justice in government services? Applying theories of distributive justice, we analyzed 10-year data from Boston\u27s 311 system (for residents to make requests for non-emergency services) paired with data from the American Community Survey. We found that, as residents used the system\u27s digital channels (website and mobile app) more frequently, they submitted more requests. However, such technical efficiency from digital channel use, to our surprise, exacerbated the disparities between high-income and low-income communities in request volume. This unexpected finding may be explained by the uneven channel use trajectories and distributions of repeat users in different communities, as our additional analysis shows. These results not only have exposed previously hidden inequalities but also may help reconcile different theories of distributive justice. Practically speaking, technical efficiency and social justice should be balanced when employing digital technology in coproducing government services

Focusing the Conceptualization of Erotophilia and Erotophobia on Global Attitudes Toward Sex: Development and Validation of the Sex Positivity-Negativity Scale

Previous measures of erotophobia/erotophilia like the Sexual Opinion Survey (SOS) assessed gut-level positive-negative affective and evaluative reactions to a wide range of sexual stimuli, resulting in purposefully diverse item content. Although an effective strategy, the item content of existing erotophilia/erotophobia scales is now potentially too generalized, encompassing what have since developed as an array of more focused constructs in the current literature like attitudes toward (1) casual sex, (2) pornography, (3) non-heterosexual orientations (e.g., homophobia), and (4) masturbation. The current study therefore sought to evaluate existing scales and to develop a conceptually focused measure of sex-positivity and sex-negativity using a distinct strategy designed to obviate the need for overly generalized (and potentially imbalanced or confounding) item content. Using responses from 2,205 online respondents (82% Caucasian, 66% heterosexual, 50% female) completing an item pool of 158 items, the current study employed a combination of classic test-theory analyses (e.g., exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses) and Item Response Theory (IRT) analyses to develop a psychometrically optimized scale–the Sex Positivity-Negativity (SPN) scale. The SPN scale demonstrated: (1) a stable 2-subscale structure distinguishing sex-negativity from sex-positivity, (2) consistently high levels of internal consistency across 31 demographic subsamples, (3) more discriminant than convergent validity with existing erotophilia scales given its novel focus, (4) discriminant validity with more specific sexual attitudes, (5) greater levels of power and precision for detecting differences between individuals, (6) stronger links to individual, sexual, and relationship functioning than existing scales, and (7) incremental validity over the SOS for predicting change in relationship dynamics over 6 months. The findings therefore suggested that the SPN scale is a conceptually-focused measure of sex-positivity and sex-negativity offering researchers a comparatively short and effective tool. Implications are discussed