A long life with a particular signature: life course and aging for people with disabilities

What does it mean to live a long life and grow old with disabilities? Or to be an aging parent and still be a caregiver to a disabled adult child? These are questions discussed in this article, the aim of which is to show how a life course perspective adds insight to the lived experience of disability and ageing of adults with disabilities. It is argued that the time concept is fundamental to the understanding of the lives of disabled people. Results are presented which challenge established knowledge regarding disability policies, autonomy, body, biographical disruption and prerequisites of active aging.     

"为艺术而艺术":一场审美现代性的扩容运动

“为艺术而艺术”观念在发展流变过程中表现出了审美现代性的努力方向和内在矛盾性。它首先是在艺术自律过程中出现的,具有艺术的独立性精神和否定立场;其次它是在反抗资产阶级日常生活中提出来的,其对应面是为艺术而生活,因此体现为一种艺术的实践方式;最后,它才是一种形式主义的审美观念。在日常生活审美化的当下语境里,重提“为艺术而艺术”具有深刻的现实意义。     

Components of a Dialogue

Note from the editors of Literaturnoe obozrenie: As we know, readers in our country, including readers of criticism, are extraordinarily diverse. In your work do you aim at a particular type of reader rather informed in the field of literature, or at one who still has to be presented fundamentals? At the youthful reader, or one with a certain experience of life and spirit? At an individual with particular predilections, enthusiasms, interests; at one who fundamentally shares your convictions or, on the contrary, at a person differing from you, but whom you would like to "convert"? What qualities (not merely as a reader) would you like to "cultivate" in your reader?     

Work Life and Social Fulfillment: Does Social Affiliation at Work Reflect a Carrot or a Stick?*

Objectives. Work life and home life appear to be in increasing competition for scarce time and attention. Does the workplace offer a social haven for people? And if so, for whom is it most attractive? Or does the increasing affiliation with work life result from heightened job insecurity, which demands that employees focus on work in order to keep their jobs? Methods. In this article we analyze a unique data set incorporating all book‐length workplace ethnographies (N=149) to address these questions. This data set provides rich measures of social life at work and related correlates. Results. We find that rich social lives are common at work and that these correlate strongly with fulfillment, pride, and meaning in work. Well‐paid employees are much more likely to experience a rich social life at work than are lower‐level employees. Job security appears to be a relative constant, unrelated to the richness of social life on the job. Men are more socially involved at work than women, reflecting their greater average involvement in work life relative to family life. This relationship, however, does not hold net of controls, suggesting that it reflects underlying differences in the jobs men and women hold. Conclusions. These findings suggest a bifurcated labor force in which upper‐status employees reap both greater material and greater social rewards from their jobs and, as a result, are more drawn to work, and to workaholism, than lower‐status workers.     

"Never right, never wrong": child welfare and social work in England and Sweden

When are parents “unfit” to care for their own children? As in many other countries, social workers in England and Sweden have the unenviable task of forming such judgments. On behalf of society at large, social workers must balance the rights of parents to provide continuing care with the responsibilities of the state in ensuring adequate care of children. They are involved in professional judgments which are also inherently political. In both England and Sweden social workers are able to seek legal orders which, if granted, permit compulsory removal of children against the wishes of parents. In such cases social workers are centrally involved in processes which remove ordinary rights of citizenship from their fellow members of society. The rights of parents and children, together with the responsibilities of the state to each class of citizen, are clearly in focus: intervention in family life requires both grounds and legitimation. But what is the basis of intervention in the two societies? Social work practices in Sweden and England suggest very different answers to this question. In explaining these differences it is necessary to address much broader variations of social and political culture in the two societies. In so doing, variations in social work practice can be located in different cultural values and systems of legitimation. Instabilities and pathologies of professional practices can also be identified within both England and Sweden. These too are quite different in the two societies.     

从就业制度的角度解读《绝对信号》

以往人们经常从艺术创新的角度评价《绝对信号》,却很少有人关注这部作品是如何反映当时社会生活的,这既不符合高行健本人"真实是文学颠扑不破的最基本的品质"的理解,也不符合艺术内容与形式相结合的必然规律。事实上,这部无场次试验话剧再现了1976-1982年间特殊的"接班"就业制度,逼真地刻画了青年们不同的人生道路抉择。     

Helping a Victim or Helping the Victim: Altruism and Identifiability

Although it has been claimed that people care more about identifiable than statistical victims, demonstrating this identifiable victim effect has proven difficult because identification usually provides information about a victim, and people may respond to the information rather than to identification per se. We show that a very weak form of identifiability—determining the victim without providing any personalizing information—increases caring. In the first, laboratory study, subjects were more willing to compensate others who lost money when the losers had already been determined than when they were about to be. In the second, field study, people contributed more to a charity when their contributions would benefit a family that had already been selected from a list than when told that the family would be selected from the same list.     

从"移民文学"到作家本土化--写在《黑龙江文学通史》出版之前

在黑龙江文学史上 ,“借才异代”的移民文学成为主流。这些移民作家主要是因罪发配的“流人”及其家属 ,还有以各种原因滞留或客籍的知识分子。他们的文学创作 ,支撑着黑龙江文坛的半壁江山。移民带来各地的先进文化 ,促进南北地区和与周边国家的文化交流 ,使黑龙江的地域文化具有开放性和兼容性 ,而且给文学创作广泛吸收异地经验 ,提供了丰厚的精神资源。黑龙江移民文学的繁荣 ,是人才政策开明、开放结出的硕果 ,也与中国知识分子爱祖国、爱人民的赤诚之心有关。移民文学现象是黑龙江文化的一种特色。既要看到移民作家对黑龙江文化的启蒙和开发带来的效益 ,又要看到“流人文化”中潜藏着消极的“恋乡守根”和“回归故土”的流亡意识。 2 0世纪 80年代以后 ,本土作家成长起来 ,替代了移民作家 ,这是黑龙江文学发展史上的一次飞跃。可以预见到的是 :未来的黑龙江文学将更加开放 ,更具活力 ,其乡土特色更浓。     

Characteristics of the Way of Life of Adolescents

The way of life, intentions, and values of the adolescents of Russia have been written about extensively both in the mass publications and in specialized youth journals. For the most part, these writings have to do with a group that is not very large—the young people of the capital city, who have considerably more opportunities for entertainment and education than their peers elsewhere in Russia and are better informed about world trends in music, fashions, and cinema. An article was published last year that described the plans and aspirations of the upper-grade students of schools in Moscow. The present article continues the topic, analyzing generational attitudes and values. The article makes use of the findings of an all-Russian survey which was conducted by the All-Russian Center for Public-Opinion Research in June 1998 among adolescents between the ages of sixteen and nineteen; 419 people were surveyed.     

"Political Islam" and Western Society

The term "political Islam" sounds strange to people who are not familiar with Muhammad's teaching: how can a religion be political? To a Muslim—for whom religion is inseparable from politics, the state, and from all spheres of a person's life—this formula seems equally strange, but for a different reason entirely. After all, in Islam there is no division into secular power and spiritual power; in fact, the Church as an institution does not even exist. The Christian formula "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's" [Matthew 22:21] is unacceptable to Islam; and the Muslim rulers, beginning with the caliphs, have embodied both spiritual and secular power at the same time. From a Muslim standpoint, Islam's political influence is a natural phenomenon.     

Evaluating a Case of Parent Separation in Social Services Through a Text Analysis: Clinical and Health Implications

Abstract

The assessment of the family system is very complex, as several factors have to be taken into account: The number of people involved (one or more children), the involvement of other partners, and the presence of legal disputes. Although evaluation practices have increased considerably, it remains difficult for services to prove their effectiveness. The questions that have guided this work have concerned how much and how do the discourses (discursive repertoires) produced by the conflicting parents change as a result of an intervention by the Service? And how much is it possible to evaluate the change in short texts? We used the Methodology for the Analysis of Computerised Text Data (MADIT) methodology that makes it possible to analyze the texts produced by the parents after the Service consultancy. The text is acquired through 14 emails sent by each parent to the other. The results showed that it was possible to detect a change in the repertoires used by the two parents to make decisions regarding their child. This data could increase the use of evaluation in the Services, reducing costs and evaluating change also by email. Future research could apply this methodology in situations where the conflict has not yet exploded and has not had an impact on children.     

Children forever: The search for origins among Chilean adults who were adopted

There has been a global increase in the number of adults who were adopted 1 1 To make the text more readable, we use the term “adult adoptee” rather than our preferred term “people who were adopted.” We prefer the latter term because it does captures our understanding that adoption is a practice and a life experience and not necessarily a permanent fixture of the identities of people who were adopted.
searching for their origins. This trend has promoted the interest of social sciences researchers, as well as carry out the obligations of states to provide specialized services. In this article, we present some results from the first qualitative study that explores the experiences of some Chilean adults who were adopted and searched for their origins in Chile through the National Service of Minor's Search for Origins Program. The narratives of the participants show that, in spite of legislative changes, a series of barriers and contradictions continue to exist, which make it difficult to guarantee the right to know one's origins. The legal and technical frameworks and practices analysed show how difficult it is to dismantle the “clean break” principle. They also highlight the persistence of the image of adoptees as “minors” who need the “protection” of their parents or professionals. We discuss the different challenges to be considered by researchers, practitioners, and policy‐makers involved in adoption policies and practices.     

Planning Problems in the "Third World"

Is it worthwhile for the liberated countries to try to plan the process of economic development? Several decades ago, this question was the subject of animated debate in both scientific and political circles. At the beginning of the sixties, life itself removed this question from the agenda: over seventy countries of the "third world" adopted national planning programs of development. But discussion on the problems of planning in the developing countries is no less acute. The fact of the matter is that a very large number of planning programs have not justified the hopes placed in them. Why has this been the case? In the opinion of some specialists, the reason must be sought in the shortcomings of the selected forms and methods of planning. Others see the root of the evil in the weakness of the organizational and administrative apparatus. A third group believes that one cannot expect the plans to be effective if extensive socioeconomic reforms are not carried out simultaneously.     

Facilitating Future Planning for Ageing Adults with Intellectual Disabilities Using a Planning Tool that Incorporates Quality of Life Domains

Abstract

When ageing families of an adult with a lifelong disability embark on a process of planning for the future, they generally think in terms of making hard and fast decisions about: (1) where the person with the disability is going to live when “the time comes”; and (2) who will take on their direct care. However, there is common trepidation among many families when it comes to launching their son or daughter with a lifelong disability. Generally, many families ignore, neglect, or simply do not engage in making any formal plans at all. When ageing families do make plans, they often focus only a place to live. This can mean that other significant aspects of a person's life (i.e., quality of life factors) are negated or neglected. Reviewing population demographics for both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, it was ascertained that a sizable number of parents will be aging in the near future and that some formalized assistance for future planning was needed. To this end, a planning instrument, What the Future Holds, was developed in order to help families and other carers with planning for the future and involving a variety of quality of life domains, including health, financial, vocational, social, civil, and residential well-being.     

Older bisexual people: Implications for social work from the ‘Looking Both Ways’ study

There is a growing social work literature about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) older people. However, research and guidance are predominantly based on the experiences of older gay men and, to a lesser extent, older lesbians. There is little to help practitioners work with older bisexual people. The Looking Both Ways study aimed to contribute to this gap in knowledge. We undertook in-depth purposely sampled qualitative interviews with 12 people aged over 50, all of whom have bisexual relationship histories and half of whom also currently identify as bisexual. There were three main findings. First, biphobia (prejudice against bisexual people) impacts on older people with bisexual histories in ways that may affect their well-being in later life. Second, concerns around receiving care are similar in some ways and different in others from the concerns of lesbians and gay men. Third, people with bisexual relationship histories may have developed strong support networks and resilience, factors that may be very beneficial in later life. Three recommendations for social work professionals were identified: 1) understand biphobia, 2) recognize the legitimacy of concerns about receiving care, and 3) ask about support networks rather than assuming family support.     

机构照料青少年社工介入案例分析

机构照料中的青少年是社会中常见的特殊群体,他们一方面由于特殊的生活经历,在行为模式、感情认知、心理倾向等方面存在偏差;另一方面机构照料存在一些缺陷,很难保证他们的健康成长。为使他们正常成长,社工的介入在此显得十分重要。本文作为社工介入该群体的一个案例,运用团体社会工作的方法,从优势视角出发,帮助T市康教中心来自不完整家庭的的七名青少年,发掘潜能,提高能力,以此实现"助人自助"。     

From probability to proof: The respective roles of scientific reviews and the non‐scientific press in the publicizing of medical research and its clinical applications

Can and should clearly denned distinctions between probability and proof be offered to the public by the mass media in response to popular demand for the latest medical information? Isn't the need to know both legitimate and ever‐more pronounced?

The pressure for prompt public disclosure of clinical trial or medical research results emanates from a variety of highly vocal sources (the patients themselves, the investigators, the business world, the new academic commentators, the mass media, the healthy population and its requirement for “healthful”; life styles). And yet in spite of all this pressure, clinical research but rarely moves forward with a giant leap. Reasonable solutions in view of balanced and equitable release of information both to and by mass media have been proposed in editorials highlighted by the best‐known medical journals. On the one hand, the critical importance of the mass media in transmission of medical knowledge to the scientific community has been stressed. On the other hand, the highly decisive role of the best‐known medical journals in the furthering of objective release of clinical research or trial results has been corroborated by several recent initiatives of best‐known medical journal editors. A great step forward in dealings between medical journals and the mass media was approved in London in 1993 by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, by dint of four main recommendations. These balanced and equitable recommendations may at one and the same time: stimulate legitimate public demand for access to important medical information without unreasonable delay; and prevent that media reports on scientific research lead to wide‐spread dissemination of premature and inaccurate conclusions.     

谈期刊应遵守的宣传纪律

期刊是思想文化阵地的重要组成部分之一 ,在弘扬和传播优秀文化 ,帮助人们树立正确的世界观、人生观、价值观和理想信念 ,提高民族素质等方面 ,有着重大作用。正因如此 ,党和政府十分重视期刊事业 ,提供了大量人力、物力、财力资源 ,为期刊打下了坚实的物质基础 ;为期刊从业者提供宽松的政治环境 ,使之有着纵横驰骋的天地。同时 ,为确保期刊出版导向的正确 ,使之真正代表中国先进文化前进方向 ,党又为期刊工作制定了一些宣传纪律、制度。期刊工作在遵守办刊法规的同时 ,还必须模范遵守宣传纪律 ,这是社会主义期刊的性质及其党性原则所决定的