La société civile communiste en Pologne et en Hongrie avant et aprés 1989

Les sociétés civiles polonaise et hongroise sont d’habitude présentées comme des forces non négligeables dans la lutte contre le régime communiste. Cependant, dans les deux pays, les anciennes organisations de masse, certes transformées, jouent aujourd’hui un rôle prépondérant au sein de ces mêmes sociétés civiles. Bien que leur nombre soit limité, elles y occupent une position importante à en juger par leurs moyens financiers, le nombre d’adhérents, de bénévoles et d’employés. Autrement dit, tout comme les partis jadis communistes, ces organisations ont su réussir dans les nouvelles conditions. Comment cela a-t-il été rendu possible et quels moyens leur permettent de rivaliser avec d’autres organisations de la société civile ? Cette question ouvre des pistes intéressantes pour discuter, dans des termes plus généraux, la problématique de la conversion de la nomenklatura communiste en Europe centrale. Sous le régime communiste, le leadership des organisations de masse faisait partie de la nomenklatura. Après 1989, non seulement ces organisations ont-elles bien réussi la période de transition, mais aussi leurs dirigeants ont connu une amélioration de leur situation financière par rapport aux années 1980. Cela permet d’examiner la circulation des anciennes élites de la nomenklatura dans le contexte de la transition postcommuniste.     

Genre,suicide et sexualité(s) en Algérie

According to a popular and widespread belief, suicide is a rare phenomenon, if not absent at all, in Muslim societies. It is considered as a sociologically irrelevant because of the cognitive power and efficacy of religion. This idea is reinforced by the upheaval of suicide bombings and terrorism, the clamour of which conceals the phenomenon of civil suicide. This article will explore civil suicide through interviews held in Algeria, in which suicide is described as a more feminine, young and rural phenomena. These three dimensions are marginal in social science studies on ‘Islamic’ suicide, which are mainly centred on a Durkheimian analysis – that is to say an analysis which considers suicide as an essentially urban and male phenomenon, far from gender issues and conformed to dominant regimes of discourse.     

Eléments pour une sociologie des études féministes en Europe centrale et orientale

Women's/gender studies were established in the Eastern European post-communist countries during the 1990s, as a new field of academic research and higher education. Works produced in this framework are often used as expert studies and aim to contribute to the improvement of the condition of women in that region, being at the core of the social and political reconstitution programs during the post-communist era. They were established by agents who were simultaneously active in different social spheres (scientific space, civil society associations, or institutionalized politics) and who exemplarily personify the multisituated feminism of the globalization era. These studies criss-cross national and international levels as well as scientific and militant logics. Hence they seem a pertinent entry to study the reconstruction of social sciences, the emergence of new academic topics, the international circulation and the importation of scientific questions and, finally, the recomposition of the academic elites within the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The article begins with a general point about the East-European context of the 1990s, when the socio-economic degradation of women's condition met a widely-spread rejection of feminist ideas due to their ideological manipulation by the socialist regimes. Then a zoom on the Romanian case allows us a reflection on the construction of the ‘women's issue’ during the post-communist transition, when several types of agents involved in the democratization reforms make theirs the transnational concern for women's rights. Finally, on the basis of these preliminary ideas, some research axes and working hypotheses are presented, such as: the sociology of gender studies as a new academic discipline, in a perspective inspired by the social history of social sciences; the sociology of the international circulation of feminist ideas and of the dynamics of East–West intellectual debates on the topic of women's condition in the post-communist countries; the analysis of the multiplying bureaucratic uses of ‘gender’ consequences.     

Lottery marketing in Québec and social deprivation: excessive exposure,insufficient protection?

In 2008, the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) undertook a research programme on lotteries. The preliminary qualitative exploratory component enabled us to observe the diversity and ubiquity of lottery advertising to which the vast majority of the population is exposed, including minors and non-players. The aim of a second component was to better comprehend the relationships between exposure to lottery marketing, lottery purchasing habits, attitudes towards gambling, and socio-economic vulnerability indicators. The study's data was collected by a polling firm from a representative sample of adults in the Québec population (n = 2001). Our survey revealed significant links between exposure, gambling behaviour and certain socio-economic indicators: for example, individuals with lower levels of education more often play the lotteries and spend the most on them. In addition, a greater number of people who are less educated and from a low-income household considered that lottery advertising was very or excessively present in their daily lives and that the amount of advertising has increased in recent years. From the perspective of creating healthy environments and protecting vulnerable populations, legislative measures to control the quantity, location and contents of gambling marketing would be promising preventive measures.     

趣说social work

《中国社会工作》杂志2013年5月下期有一篇题为《社会工作专业化的早期探索》的文章，该文基于历史的视角，分别从“专业社会工作者”、“专业知识及其教育和培训”、“专业实务”三方面回顾了我国社会工作的专业化历程，脉络清晰，理论与现实紧密交织，     

What is a social pattern? Rethinking a central social science term

Theory and Society - The main aim of this article is to start a discussion of social pattern, a term that is commonly used in sociology but not specified or defined. The key question can be phrased...     

Liberté syndicale et négociation collective dans l'économie des plateformes: de la mobilisation des travailleurs à l'approche axée sur les droits de l'homme

L'étude porte sur l'exercice de la liberté syndicale et du droit de négociation collective dans l'économie des plateformes. Après avoir commenté plusieurs exemples de mobilisation collective des travailleurs des plateformes dans le monde, l'auteur plaide pour l'adoption d'une approche axée sur les droits de l'homme de ces deux garanties, que divers instruments internationaux consacrent, et que de nombreux tribunaux nationaux et internationaux ont utilisées pour justifier leurs décisions. C'est pour lui la seule façon de protéger tous les travailleurs, indépendamment de leur situation au regard de l'emploi, dans un monde du travail en mutation.     

Job satisfaction in social services in Crete,Greece: social workers’ views

This research-based article presents the results of a study examining job satisfaction among social workers in public social services in Crete, Greece. It focuses on their overall job satisfaction, as well as on their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with intrinsic, extrinsic and organisational work aspects. The results of this study suggest that while respondents experienced a quite high level of overall satisfaction with their job, other indicators of job satisfaction showed that the level of job satisfaction was not so high. The main sources of respondents’ satisfaction were intrinsic work aspects while the main sources of dissatisfaction were organisational and extrinsic work aspects. Respondents’ job satisfaction was found to be significantly correlated with: the years of unemployment before respondents first worked as social workers, the number of social workers working in the organisation, and their intention to leave or change their present job.

     

Évaluation du rattrapage de la croissance chez les garçon d'âge préscolaire ayant souffert pendant une longue période de négligence et de maltraitance psychologique

Objective. To assess the catch-up growth of long-term physically neglected and emotionally abused preschool male children who have entered foster residential care and remained 1 year after initial placement.Method. Longitudinal study over a 7-year period (1994–2001). So that a child was eligible for the study, three selection criteria were included: (1) aged between 24 and 48 months at the time of entry into residential facility, (2) having sufffered both long-term (more than 6 months) physically neglected and emotionally abused, and (3) having stayed in foster care for 1 year after initial placement. Weight, height, and head circumference were established upon entry and re-assessed 1 year after initial placement, calculating the annual growth velocity. Results were compared with normal regional longitudinal standards of reference (Z score). Student's t test was used to assess statistically significant differences.Results. During the study perior, 87 children aged between 24 and 48 months (54 male/33 female) were admitted to residential facility after having suffered both long-term physical neglect and emotional abuse. Nevertheless, only 20 children (23 % of the total admissions) met the third selection criteria (having remained 1 year after initial placement). Of these children, all were males and at placement they were between the ages of 30 and 42 months, with an average age of 36 months (1.9 SD). At placement, the analysed parameters were below the normal standards, showing a statistically significant differences for height (Z score - −1.29; p = .008) and weight (Z score = − .75; p = .038). The annual growth velocity for all parameters was above the normal standards showing a statistically significant difference for height (Z score + 1.43; p = .009). One year after initial placement, the significant differences for height (Z score = 68; p = .102) and weight (Z score 31; p = .435) with respect to the normal standards disappeared, though still remained below, showing a significant catch-up growth for height (improvement height Z = +.61 SD).Conclusions. At placement, the both long-term physically neglected and emotionally abused preschool age male children showed a mild form of chronic malnutrition with growth failure was reversible after the first year of stay, which demonstrates that this delay in growth was secondary to nutritional and psychosocial factors. Placement in foster residential care was beneficial for the catch-up growth of these patients.     

‘Another Europe is possible’? Labour and social movements at the European social forum

The first European Social Forum (ESF) held in Florence, Italy from 6 to 10 November 2002 brought together a diverse array of so-called ‘anti-capitalist’ movements including trade unions, new, radical unions and social movements to contest the agenda of neoliberalism as it is presented within and beyond processes of European integration. This article evaluates the ESF and the possibilities for cooperation between labour and social movements in forming joint strategies against neoliberalism. It is often assumed—rather than demonstrated—that established trade unions are an obstacle to more radical contestatory practices of direct-action social movement resistance. With detailed empirical analysis, the article assesses whether there was a continuation of reformist practices within unionist activities at the ESF allied with a focus on the often-contrary sensibilities of social movement opposition. The activities and joint strategies of labour and social movements at the ESF are therefore examined, not least their resistance to both neoliberalism and its ultimate extra-economic enforcement through military power as evidenced by the war on Iraq. Whilst conclusions about the efficacy of future cooperation are cautious it appears that the horizons of resistance are expanding not only within Europe but also at the global level.     

The distant core: social solidarity,social distance and interpersonal ties in core–periphery structures

We examine three hypotheses at the foundation of theories concerned with the organization of social space and social solidarity in differentiated groups. The most important of these hypotheses is that interpersonal ties between actors in different positions of a social structure foster social solidarity; however, the theories are silent on the question of whether this effect of interpersonal ties is maintained regardless of the distance that separates the positions of two actors in the group’s social space. In addition, the current zeitgeist on the organization of social space hypothesizes that interpersonal solidarity and ties are negatively associated with the distance that separates the positions of actors in social space. Although interpersonal ties foster solidarity, social distance reduces the likelihood of interpersonal ties and solidarity. Our evidence suggests unqualified support only for the first hypothesis. Surprisingly, the expected negative effects of social distance on interpersonal ties and solidarity appear to be properties of particular forms of social organization and are not ubiquitous implications of social differentiation. These negative effects are more or less pronounced (even reversible) in core–periphery structures depending upon the distance between the core and peripheral positions in the social space of the group.     

Organisational factors, individual characteristics and social support: what determines the level of social support?

A large body of research has linked social support to health, but there are fewer studies that have focused on factors that influence the level of social support available and/or perceived by employees in different organisations. This cross-sectional study therefore investigated the relationship between on the one hand, organisational, individual and socio-demographic factors and on the other, the level of social support at the workplace, i.e., the degree of supervisor support and a supportive work atmosphere. Organisational variables (job demands, job control, job content), individual (self-esteem, mistrust) and socio-demographic variables (type of employer, occupational position, age, gender and educational level) were used as independent variables in the analyses. The sample consisted of 16,144 individuals at a variety of different organisations in Sweden, who had responded to a questionnaire covering different psychosocial and psychological stress factors ("the Stress Profile"). Multiple hierarchical regression analyses were performed separately for each of the two dependent variables, which yielded almost identical results, and indicated that organisational determinants, particularly perceived job control, had the largest impact on the degree of social support.     

The social dynamics of the “Nigerian Taliban”: fresh insights from the social identity theory

Although the ongoing terrorism of the “Nigerian Taliban”, widely known as “Boko Haram”, in northeastern Nigeria has elicited numerous works, there is yet to be an analysis that adequately accounts for the social dynamics of the group’s identity and belonging in the Nigerian polity. This paper is the first systematic attempt to draw on the social identity theory to develop a conceptual discourse that explains the relationship between religion in Nigeria as a force of mobilisation as well as an identity marker, and to show how its politics, practice and perception are implicated in the resilient insurgency of Boko Haram. Along the way, the paper considers the social dynamics of poverty and relative deprivation in northern, especially northeastern, Nigeria, and their contributions to the escalating terrorism of Boko Haram.