Michael B. Kleiman

Participation and Feelings of Political Efficacy: An Examination of the Transference Model.

According to this model, then, feelings that the young develop toward authority figures, for instance in the family or school, are likely to be transferred to the larger political sphere. The widespread adoption of the transference model seems traceable, in large measure, to the findings reported in Almond and Verbas book, The Civic Culture, which received considerable attention from social scientists.4 Almond and Verba utilized the transference model in analyzing the processes whereby people develop a sense of political competence or the belief in their ability to exert some influence over political decisions which affect their lives. In a five-nation study, Almond and Verba found that adults in their sample who remembered participating in family decision-making tended to feel more politically competent than those who did not. Furthermore, informal participation in the school was found to be associated with a sense of competence in that those who remembered that they felt free in complaining

Support for the Medical Profession among the Aged

National survey data are utilized to delineate areas of confidence among the aged in the medical profession. Four key specifying variables were used in the analysis—race, sex, socioeconomic status, and size of community. Findings indicate that confidence in medical leaders is lowest among that group which in past studies has been found to visit the doctor most often: the elderly of low socioeconomic status. This finding suggests that improvement in the medical care received by the aged could be an important first step in restoring the elderlys confidence in medical leaders.

Six perspectives on the ethics of access to health care

A brief overview of six articles which address ethical considerations in the allocation of medical resources: N. Daniels on the obligation of physicians in the distribution of health care; D. Ozar on the right to health care; J. Humber on the involuntary commitment and treatment of the mentally ill; N. Bell on triage and the allocation of scarce medical resources; C. Kaufmann on health policy in the U.S., Great Britain, and the U.S.S.R.; and C. Perry on the right of public access to cadaver organs.