State-Society-Culture Dynamics

--> Asking (begging would be more a propos) for a project involvement, I asked my onetime boss and partner Litoy to include me in his planning projects. The ones that he had at the time were looking for a gender sociologist, so we got to talking about theories of gender in development. Jokingly, he asked if I still subscribed in WID (women in development), meaning of course that that theory was passé. He proceeded to name Mosher, the UN gender framework, and if you know Litoy, some other fifty thousand “new” theories that an up to date sociologist worthy of being a member of his team should know. Unable to resist, I asked him if he came across queer theory, and “we are souls, so we don’t have sex and we don’t have gender” theory. Obviously he didn’t. And that, dear blog followers, is the crux of this post. We can construct and deconstruct and then reconstruct theories and anti-theories about anything, in particular today about gender and its role in development planning...

--> In a country of thousand islands, you’ll have water: tons and tons of it. If all this water isn’t stocked, used, harnessed and conserved, you’ll have problems: more tons and tons of it, as in floods, or so few tons of it, as in drought. The recent history of the Philippines is an exciting tale of the power and terror of water. My ancestral home stands next to a creek, which during heavy rains overflows its banks and floods a “delta” that it forms with the Danio branch of the San Francisco River. This delta, which is actually a flood plain for both creek and river, was once a lush greenland of wild fruits and trees, and nesting ground for wild birds and reptiles (it was near the water, after all). Fortunately for our home, it stands on the left bank of the creek, which from its channel bed slopes steeply upwards, so that the rising floodwaters are pushed back to the delta, which results in its annual flooding and submergence. That there is no limit to the rapacity ...

When reading studies on the effect of different drugs on illness, I notice that cost per mg is rarely considered. For over a year, I have been reading relative effectiveness of antihypertensive medication, specifically Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) Inhibitors against Angiotensin II Receptor Blockers (ARB) and their comparative strengths on lowering both systolic and diastolic pressures, and it is always a wonder to me why, for example, Telmisartan at 80 mg is compared to Enalapril at 10 mg, when the cost of one drug relative to the other is so large. This question is relevant because pharmacological effects of each drug clearly vary with dose: Telmisartran at 40 mg has differential effectiveness compared to 80 mg; and so also for Enalapril at 10 mg against 20 mg. I am hoping for some comments to this blog from biochemists or cardiovascular specialists because I am clearly puzzled. If dose is operationalized as mg/dL for example, shouldn't a comparative effects study ...

I remember arguing with David about the necessity of normalizing my variables by transforming them using standard procedures such as logarithmic transformation. True to his generation of applied statisticians, David did not see anything wrong with “normalizing” variables which were skewed, truncated, or otherwise not normally distributed. And I, also true to form, always the maverick, argued against it, feeling “instinctively” that information would be lost in the process of transforming raw variables which were distributed in their native form, that is, as originally observed. Our intellectual dispute was rooted in the need to use the General Linear Model (GLM), specifically, multivariate numerical and categorical regressions to model and predict the impact of multiple spatial moves on cumulative fertility of Filipino women. The GLM, while possessing amazing versatility in modeling sociological phenomena like demographic processes, is hostage to the demands of parametric ...

If only for the spectacle of “effect sizes” of public health policies, there could not be a more appropriate statistic than deaths to mothers per 100,000 live births. This indicator implicates sanitation, hygiene, medical skills and technology, which are all functions of the developmental state. It not only indexes public economic resources, but also to where these resources are put to use. A full length essay on this aspect of the developmental process will have to wait. Meanwhile, I can vouch for the spectacle of Vietnam, recovering from its gruesome war wounds, an erstwhile socialist economy, embarrassing the blatantly capitalist Philippines, also among the oldest “democracies” of Asia. Singapore the winner in the developmental race, is clearly kindest to its mothers, and Malaysia and Thailand are front runners. These three are worthwhile models of public health and reproductive policies, but what about the rest? the year is 2008, and the data are provided by UNESCAP, 201...

Instead of a conversation, I am using the opportunity in the form of a comment on my previous post on ` College Education: US Racial Groups and Sex in the United States, 2000-2010’ to post another blog entry.  To address the comments adequately, I decided against a rapid two statements reply. First, here is the comment: “Did you test for the significance of your statistics? I am Hispanic, a woman, and an American. I have a PhD, two Master's degree (sic), and speak 6 foreign languages. I also know other Hispanics like me. I demand to know to what extent your findings are likely to be artifacts of biased sampling Latina2012” Dr. Latina2012, your second sentence suggests you doubt the statistical report and summary because you yourself, as a Hispanic, are highly educated (congratulations on your multiple advanced degrees; you did not however, state in what subject/areas. And I wonder from which institutions?) I too have a PhD (University of Southern California, Department...

The US Census reports the percent of US population, aged 25 and above, with college education (successfully attained) throughout the years [in this post, from 2000 to 2010]. To make comparisons across racial groups easier I averaged the levels through these years.  The results are interesting. First the Asians, as a broad racial group have the highest rate of college education compared to the rest of the US population. This has always been true throughout the entire period.  At least half of the Asian population of ages 25 and above have college degrees, compared with barely a third of Whites, which is the racial group ranking next, followed by Blacks, and lastly, the Hispanics. When broken down into the sexes, several interesting patterns can be seen.  Both Asian and White men have more college degrees than women; this pattern is reversed for Blacks and Hispanics whose women have more college degrees than men. I note also striking gender differences among t...

In the survey year 2002, when asked as to the orientation of sexual attraction, females of ages 18 to 44 said that 85 percent of them were attracted only to the opposite sex, so that we may infer that the remainder, 15 percent, were either bisexually or homosexually attracted.  The comparative figures for men were 92 percent heterosexually attracted, so that 8 percent were either bisexually or homosexually attracted.  In the survey year 2006-2008, only 83 percent of American young females were exclusively attracted to the opposite sex, thereby increasing the percent attracted to the same sex.  American men displayed an opposite trend, because in the later survey period (2006-2008), 93 percent were attracted to the opposite sex, decreasing the percent bisexually or homosexually attracted to 7 percent.  In both sexes, there were less than 1 percent who were “not sure”. However, when directly asked to identify the gender category to which they belonged, the percen...

The US Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports comprehensive and nationally representative survey data on sexual predispositions and behavior among Americans aged 15 to 44 in two time periods: in the year 2002 and the years 2006-2008 (National survey of Family Growth). Here, I comment (only) on the divergences (and seeming contradictions) between the prevalence of homosexual acts, homosexual attraction and sexual identity among young Americans. I would be gratified if anyone says that a critique like this can contribute to the dialogue on gender and sexuality, or less ambitiously, to aid policy analysis and implementation of health measures and improve practices. But to be honest, I do it to practice my research analytical skills. As an instructor on research design and statistics, I might also put this up as an example of logical deconstruction and argumentation. I am particularly interested in validity and reliability of resp...