A Postmodern Critique of Societal Discourses of Male Violence in Interpersonal Family Relationships: A Balancing Act for Social Work

In recent years, treatments of family violence have tended to be built around conventional discourses suggesting that men are major initiators in instances of interpersonal violence. Utilizing a postmodernist analysis, we assess societal discourses that continue to give life to this narrow conceptualization of interpersonal violence. We also examine literature suggesting that both men and women resort to violence to resolve relationship difficulties and suggest that a more holistic and inclusive approach to understanding interpersonal violence is critical for social workers committed to social justice and a balanced understanding of the contextual nature of human problems.     

Social expenditures and public administration: are local social assistance costs in Sweden a matter of organisation?

Minas R. Social expenditures and public administration: are local social assistance costs in Sweden a matter of organisation?
Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 215–224 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This study examines the connection between organisational factors and local social assistance expenditures in Swedish municipalities. The organisation of social assistance units, particularly those for the intake of social assistance inquirers, and the possible implications for local social assistance costs are highlighted. The study is based on interview data from medium‐sized Swedish municipalities combined with register data covering the years from 1997 to 2001. The results show that socioeconomic factors have an overall dominant effect, but also that organisational factors co‐vary with local social assistance expenditures. The results show a cost‐reducing effect for special intake units: firstly, when these units are analysed together with other forms of specialisation and secondly, when staff resources are taken into account. Thus, specialised intake organisation by itself does not play a cost‐reducing role, but does so in combination with certain other factors that characterise the internal organisation of the social welfare office.     

No place called home: the causes and social consequences of the UK housing ‘bubble’

This paper examines the key causes and social consequences of the much debated UK ‘housing bubble’ and its aftermath from a multidimensional sociological approach, as opposed to the economic perspective of many popular discussions. This is a phenomenon that has affected numerous economies in the first decade of the new millennium. The discussion is based on a comprehensive study that includes exhaustive analysis of secondary data, content and debate in the mass media and academia, primary data gathered from the monitoring of weblogs and forums debating housing issues, and case histories of individuals experiencing housing difficulties during this period. This paper is intended to provide a broad overview of the key findings and preliminary analysis of this ongoing study, and is informed by a perspective which considers secure and affordable housing to be an essential foundation of stable and cohesive societies, with its absence contributing to a range of social ills that negatively impact on both individual and collective well being. Overall, it is argued that we must return to viewing decent, affordable housing as an essential social resource, that provides the bedrock of stable individual, family and community life, while recognizing that its increasing treatment as a purely economic asset is a key contributor to our so‐called ‘broken society’.     

Learning to negotiate network relations: social support among working mothers living in poverty

This study promotes our understanding of the complex and dynamic role that social support networks play in the everyday life of working mothers living in poverty, by focusing on the processes of negotiation involved in the creation, maintenance and mobilization of social ties. It is based on semi-structured interviews with 12 Israeli-Jewish working mothers who participated in an economic empowerment workshop. Findings indicate that the participants received much social support from relatives, friends and community activists. However, they further reveal the hard hidden work of negotiation and the process of learning involved in obtaining support. Particularly important in this context of poverty was the need to learn how to ask for support by overcoming feelings of shame and concerns about respectability, and to reduce social burdens by, among other things, refusing to participate in the ‘gift economy’ and limiting constraining social relationships. Finally, this study shows how the seemingly divergent interpretations of negotiation in social-exchange theory and symbolic interactionism (reaching an agreement that maximizes benefits versus preserving the relationship) often converge in everyday life situations.     

The Guidance Function of Cases of Misappropriation of Public Funds in Transitional China—With the Reference to Criminal Trial of the Supreme People’s Court of China as a Sample of Analysis

相对于贪污、受贿等传统型腐败犯罪, 挪用公款罪不是常态性罪名, 而是针对社 会转型刑法应对的成果。该罪的立法、司法过程中存在着诸多纠结, 这使得判例参考 的价值凸显。最高人民法院十分重视对该罪判例的公布, 这为现实裁决提供了指导和 参考作用。最近10年所公布挪用公款罪判例折射出司法的重心是: 注重主体身份的实 质公务性、从形式合理性理解“归个人使用”、慎重解释“公款”的内涵。判例公布 在有利于同案同判的同时, 也成为促进理论与实践的助推器。

关键词: 腐败犯罪 挪用公款 社会转型 判例 ?刑事审判参考?

Compared with the traditional offenses of embezzlement, bribe-taking and so on, the misappropriation of public funds is not a routine charge but a result of the response of criminal law to social transition. The fact that a number of difficulties have arisen in legislative and judicial procedures relating to this offense makes the value of case reference material significant. The Supreme People’s Court of China attaches great importance to the publication of cases of misappropriation of public funds, which offer guidance and reference for real-life adjudication. Cases publicized in the last decade reflect a judicial emphasis—they focus on the official nature of the duties performed by the subject, on understanding “for individual use” from the viewpoint of formal rationality and on a cautious interpretation of the connotations of “public funds.” Publicizing such cases facilitates reaching the same verdict in similar cases and at the same time acts as a catalyst for the advancement of theory and practice.     

论现代企业的社会责任

企业在对股东负责的同时,还要承担对利益相关者、社会、国家等的社会责任。中国企业社会责任问题比较严重的主要表现在劳工权益、消费者权益、环境保护、慈善公益事业、企业创新力不足等方面。中国企业社会责任建设首先应从观念上明确企业承担社会责任是大势所趋,树立正确的社会责任意识,同时要完善企业承担社会责任的内外部环境,构建和谐的劳动关系,走环境保护和节能减排的可持续发展之路,提高企业自主创新能力,吸纳安置就业,促进社会和谐稳定。     

“空间、空间生产”五问——对张之沧教授几个观点的质疑

既然空间是物质的存在方式,它就不可能具有主观性、意识性,也不可能是精神的存在方式。先在的、外在于人类实践的自然空间不可能是人创造的。我们在改造自然的同时,也改变了自然事物的原有空间形式,新的空间形式是适合于人类生活的。但我们不能创造物质本身,只能改变物质的具体形态,因而,我们也不能创造空间本身,只能创造具体事物的空间形式。社会存在是物质的高级存在方式,社会存在的空间形式可以称之为社会空间。但"社会空间"不表示这种空间具有社会性。社会存在包含着自然存在,不是自然存在的存在是非存在。社会空间实际上是社会存在的自然物质基础具有的空间形式。空间是物质的自然属性而非社会属性,"社会空间"不具有社会性。空间的生产只是生产的一个方面,不能用"空间生产"的概念代替"物质生活资料的生产"和"生产方式"的概念,应当从生产方式来理解人类历史和帝国主义、霸权主义在空间上的扩张、争夺。     

浅析教师职业的社会价值

教师职业的神圣与重要性由来已久,在不同的历史发展阶段和不同的国度,人们都给予了热情的讴歌。在转型和比较浮躁的社会大背景下,社会呼唤教师更高的职业操守,这是从另一个侧面反映了教师职业的社会价值。     

实践唯物主义的创立及现实意义

在马克思之前,柏拉图、亚里士多德、黑格尔等哲学家对社会历史活动都有自己的看法和理解,但他们都没找到历史活动的规律,对实践的认识也只是停留在或知识或是道德活动或是精神的层面。马克思创立的实践唯物主义,揭示了社会历史发展的规律,强调了实践活动在社会历史发展中的重要作用。