Does administrative data reflect individual experience? Comparing an index of poverty with individually collected data on financial well-being in a multi-ethnic community

The Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) uses administrative data to count children living in households in receipt of both in-work and out-of-work means-tested benefits and provides small area ranking as an indicator of child poverty in neighbourhoods. Benefit take-up rates within an area will affect its reliability. We aimed to examine benefit take-up rates and compare area ranking by the IDACI with ranking using individually reported data across areas of varying ethnic composition. Mothers living in areas with high minority ethnic density were less likely to report claiming a benefit than those in majority White or mixed areas, despite reporting lower incomes. The correlation between self-reported material difficulties and worsening IDACI rank was much lower in areas characterised by minority ethnic populations. Further investigation into the performance of area-based deprivation measures in areas with high minority ethnic density is needed

What are the living conditions and health status of those who don't report their migration status? a population-based study in Chile

BACKGROUND: Undocumented immigrants are likely to be missing from population databases, making it impossible to identify an accurate sampling frame in migration research. No population-based data has been collected in Chile regarding the living conditions and health status of undocumented immigrants. However, the CASEN survey (Caracterizacion Socio- Economica Nacional) asked about migration status in Chile for the first time in 2006 and provides an opportunity to set the base for future analysis of available migration data. We explored the living conditions and health of self-reported immigrants and respondents who preferred not to report their migration status in this survey. METHODS: Cross-sectional secondary analysis of CASEN survey in Chile in 2006. Outcomes: any disability, illness/accident, hospitalization/surgery, cancer/chronic condition (all binary variables); and the number of medical/emergency attentions received (count variables). Covariates: Demographics (age, sex, marital status, urban/rural, ethnicity), socioeconomic status (education level, employment status and household income), and material standard of living (overcrowding, sanitation, housing quality). Weighted regression models were estimated for each health outcome, crude and adjusted by sets of covariates, in STATA 10.0. RESULTS: About 1% of the total sample reported being immigrants and 0.7% preferred not to report their migration status (Migration Status - Missing Values; MS-MV). The MS-MV lived in more deprived conditions and reported a higher rate of health problems than immigrants. Some gender differences were observed by health status among immigrants and the MS-MV but they were not statistically significant. Regressions indicated that age, sex, SES and material factors consistently affected MS-MVs’ chance of presenting poor health and these patterns were different to those found among immigrants. Great heterogeneity in both the MS-MV and the immigrants, as indicated by wide confidence intervals, prevented the identification of other significantly associated covariates. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to look at the living conditions and health of those that preferred not to respond their migration status in Chile. Respondents that do not report their migration status are vulnerable to poor health and may represent undocumented immigrants. Surveys that fail to identify these people are likely to misrepresent the experiences of immigrants and further quantitative and qualitative research is urgently required

'Crânement beau tout de même': still life and Le Ventre de Paris

This essay revisits the relationship between Zola's descriptive techniques and painting by taking a detailed look at Le Ventre de Paris, and at one particular genre of painting, still life. The argument involves dissolving the easy identification between the painter Claude Lantier and the narrator in order to reveal the presence of visions of Les Halles other than Claude's quasi-Impressionist one, to which much critical attention has been devoted. In a series of close readings of the visual descriptions, this essay reveals the presence of a Rococo aesthetic, implying parallels between the Second Empire and the eighteenth century; by exploring Florent's perspective on Les Halles in particular, it uncovers vanitas imagery and memento mori in which 'nourriture' is 'pourriture'. To read Le Ventre de Paris is thus to be placed in a position analogous to that of the spectator in Holbein's The Ambassadors, with its notorious anamorphosis; for, as the narrative perspective shifts between Claude and Florent, and as the descriptions evoke Impressionist, Rococo and early modern aesthetics, so the death's head flickers disconcertingly in and out of view

Pré-histoire d’un emblème des Lumières : l’aveugle-né de Montaigne à Diderot

L’avènement des Lumières se voit confirmé par la venue à la lumière d’un aveugle de naissance. L’événement est supposé pour la première fois dans la deuxième édition de l’Essay concerning Human Understanding de Locke, traduit pour la première fois en français par Pierre Coste en 1700 : Supposez un aveugle de naissance, qui présentement homme fait, auquel on a appris à distinguer par l’attouchement un cube et un globe, du même métal, et à peu près de la même grosseur, en sorte que lorsqu’il to..

Paradoxe sur le portrait : autoportrait de Diderot en Montaigne

Cet essai se propose d’étudier les deux textes du Salon de 1767 dans lesquels Diderot discute de la façon dont il se voit figuré dans ses portraits, l’un fait par Van Loo, l’autre par Madame Therbouche. Diderot joue à contester l’image de lui qu’offre le portrait de Van Loo, dont il dit qu’elle le fait ressembler à « une vieille coquette », à « un secrétaire d’état » plutôt qu’au « pauvre littérateur », au « philosophe » qu’il entend incarner. Mais inversement, il joue à ruiner, par une sugge..

L’aveugle qui suit l’aveugle qui suit l’aveugle qui suit l’aveugle

Au deuxième paragraphe de sa Lettre sur les aveugles, Diderot présente « l’aveugle-né du Puiseaux » en ces termes : [C]’est un homme qui ne manque pas de bon sens ; que beaucoup de personnes connaissent ; qui sait un peu de chimie, et qui a suivi, avec quelques succès, les cours de botanique au Jardin du Roi. Il est né d’un père qui a professé avec applaudissement la philosophie dans l’université de Paris. Il jouissait d’une fortune honnête, avec laquelle il eût aisément satisfait les sens qu..