Romanian social workers facing the challenges of neo-liberalism

ABSTRACT

With a history of almost 90 years, professional social work in Romania once flourished up until World War II. The Communist Party disbanded the profession in 1968 and it was reinstated after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. Within the context of the socio-economic transition from a centralised to a free-market economy, Romanian social policy and social work have evolved from a Marxist/socialist-type ideology, one that advocates for state intervention, to a libertarian/neo-liberal-type ideology, which promotes both state withdrawal from welfare provision and individuals taking responsibility for their own welfare. These two trends continue to co-exist subject to sometimes divergent forces such as international institutions and internal Romanian social pressures. Using a qualitative approach, we explore how Romanian social workers are adapting to the neo-liberal realities and identify three types of perceived challenges: 1. those related to regulation, 2. linked with collaboration in social work activity and 3. those related to the social worker-client relationship. Under neo-liberal pressures, the social worker's role of agent of social change becomes marginalised in daily practice, leaving little power to influence agency policies that negatively impact clients.     

Amassing rural power in the fight against fracking in Maryland: A report from the field

ABSTRACT

Social workers can mobilize vulnerable populations to shape policy decisions about industrial practices that could have adverse impacts on their wellbeing. One such practice is hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” to extract oil and natural gas from shale rock deposits. There is scant social work literature on mobilizing opposition to fracking despite a proliferation of literature from other disciplines. This article documents the campaign in Maryland that led to the adoption of the first legislative ban on fracking in a U.S. state with shale gas reserves, using social movement theory to identify factors that led to this successful outcome.     

Overcoming the ‘tyranny of the urgent’: integrating gender into disease outbreak preparedness and response

ABSTRACT

This article contributes to discussions on the gender dimensions of disease outbreaks, and preparedness policies and responses, by providing a multi-level analysis of gender-related gaps, particularly illustrating how the failure to challenge gender assumptions and incorporate gender as a priority at the global level has national and local impacts. The implications of neglecting gender dynamics, as well as the potential of equity-based approaches to disease outbreak responses, is illustrated through a case study of the Social Enterprise Network for Development (SEND) Sierra Leone, a non-government organisation (NGO) based in Kailahun, during the Ebola outbreak.     

习近平关于青年工作重要论述的科学指引与实践要求

习近平关于青年工作重要论述既是对马克思主义青年观一脉相承的理论发展，也是结合中华民族优秀传统文化和中国青年工作的特点所形成的实践创新。通过习近平关于青年工作重要论述理论来源和基本内涵提供的科学指引，从历史维度明确了强化青年时代责任的要求是增强对中国道路、中国理论和中国制度的认同感和责任感，与时代同向同行；从现实维度明确了提升社会适应能力的要求是构建全员全程全方位的育人格局，增强意识形态建设；从青年成长个人维度明确了完善综合素质的要求是在对青年特性和社会地位正确认识的基础上激发其奋斗热情。由此形成进一步发展青年事业的实践路径，即通过筑牢意识形态防线，增强新时代青年的使命担当；优化青年人才培养和选拔模式，提高青年适应社会发展的能力；提升青年综合素质，实现人的全面发展。     

贵州黔南州传统民族特色村寨保护与开发利用研究

贵州省黔南州布依族苗族乡村聚居区在传统民族特色村寨保护与开发利用工作中取得了较大的成效，积累了大量的成功经验，但也存在一些问题及不足：民族特色村寨保护与开发意义的认知有待提升；政府对民族特色村寨保护与开发利用的刚性规划缺失；开发的民族特色村寨功能单一；黔南少数民族传统特色文化的总体情况呈现复兴、衰退和变异并存；民族特色文化精品的培育顶层支撑不足；民族特色村寨开发与传统民族文化融合度不够；对传统特色老旧民宅价值认识不足。针对以上问题，首先应着力提升黔南州民族特色村寨保护开发格局，争取纳入国家改革试验规划；其二，抓住大数据与智慧乡村建设的时机，率先推进民族地区乡村治理现代化示范；其三，创新投融资体制机制，构建“民族特色村寨资源资本化金融服务平台”；其四，探索乡村房屋租赁权跨区域流通的体制机制，不断提升农民的物权收益；其五，加大民族特色村寨品牌建设力度，增加特色村寨旅游产品附加值；其六，完善村寨文化资源资产化经营监管体系，构建村寨文化资源保护利用长效机制。     

Precarious belonging: blindness,masculinity, and work in Polish young adult literature of the 1970s and 1980s

ABSTRACT

This article explores the relationship between disability, identity, and productivity in two Polish young adult novels published under state socialism: Jak trudno kocha? (How difficult it is to love) and Spotkania (The meetings). How Difficult it is to Love by Jerzy Szczygie? (1976) tells the story of a young blind man who, after living many years “unproductively” with his mother, decides to study and work. Published in 1986, Klementyna So?onowicz-Olbrychska’s novel The Meetings also focuses on a blind male teenager who leaves his hometown to live with other blind students at a residential school where he plans a future profession. The two works are concerned with the processes of becoming disabled and becoming a part of the blind community. Crucially, it is productivity – the main value in a socialist state – that participates in the formation of disability identity and enables disabled men to form separate communities and workshops for disabled people.     

Child Care Arrangements,Division of Household Labor and Other Employment Based Familial Predictors of Marital Adjustment Among Husbands of Employed Females in Pakistan

The primary purpose of the current study was to investigate the influence of division of household labor, child care arrangements, wife’s financial contribution, work-schedule of wife, perception of wife employment and wife’s work preference were contributing to marital adjustment of husbands of working married women. Additionally, it explored the role of wife’s financial contribution, perception of wife’s employment and wife’s work preference in formation of marital adjustment among husbands of working women. The data were collected through a self-structured questionnaire from 283 husbands of employed married women with one year of marital duration and at least one child. The data were collected from the city of Gujrat, province of Punjab, Pakistan. Factor analysis was run for reliability and validity analysis was executed to examine the validity of the existing scales used in the current study. Multiple linear regression analysis was used for model fit. Division of household labor, child care arrangements, wife’s financial contributions, wife’s work-schedule, the perception of wife’s employment, and wife’s work preferences contributed to the marital adjustment of husbands of working married women. Our results seemed to reflect fluctuating dimensions of gender role ideologies among families. Incorporating new predictors of marital adjustment into literature of marriage and family has been a sociological significance of the current study.