Latent Class Models in action: Bridging social capital & Internet usage

This paper explores how Latent Class Models (LCM) can be applied in social research, when the basic assumptions of regression models cannot be validated. We examine the usefulness of this method with data collected from a study on the relationship between bridging social capital and the Internet. Social capital is defined here as the resources that are potentially available in one’s social ties. Bridging is a dimension of social capital, usually related to weak ties (acquaintances), and a source of instrumental resources such as information. The study surveyed a stratified random sample of 417 inhabitants of Lisbon, Portugal. We used LCM to create the variable bridging social capital, but also to estimate the relationship between bridging social capital and Internet usage when we encountered convergence problems with the logistic regression analysis. We conclude by showing a positive relationship between bridging and Internet usage, and by discussing the potential of LCM for social science research.     

Patience moderates the class cleavage in demand for redistribution

Previous studies on class voting have yielded mixed results linking income and demand for redistribution. Why do some poor people oppose redistribution, while some rich people support it? This article argues that an individual's level of patience, an important personal characteristic that influences how people calculate immediate and distinct outcomes, may moderate the effect of class on redistributive preference. In a one-shot game, redistribution between the rich and the poor is zero sum. When people extend their time horizons, however, the poor see the possibility of upward mobility, while the rich emphasize future losses, such as unemployment and economic instability. Consistent with the hypotheses, analyses of the 2014 Cooperative Congressional Election Study and a representative Taiwanese dataset from 2016 reveal a clear class cleavage in demand for redistribution among impatient poor and rich respondents, but the cleavage between their patient counterparts diminished. This pattern of convergence extends previous studies on upward mobility and risk perception theory.     

阶层固化背景下底层青年的“中国梦”

时至今日,社会各个阶层的固化趋势渐趋严重,很大程度上成为中华民族复兴历程上最大的拦路虎,这不能不引起我们的关注和重视。而广大的新世纪底层青年正是在这一背景下踏上历史舞台,展开各自的人生传奇。当代底层青年面对着日益严峻的阶层固化态势,他们的崛起之路变得愈加坎坷和艰难。他们要破茧而出,打破阶层藩篱,实现逆袭,获得职业成功,必须把握该阶层的特点、构成,并依赖政府、社会各方面的参与和努力,更重要的是,个人的奋斗和坚持是不可或缺的。     

Devolution in a ‘Stateless Nation’: Nation‐building and Social Policy in Scotland

The implications of the 2011 Scottish election and the proposed referendum on Scottish independence for the future of social policy across the devolved UK are profound but far from certain. It is crucial to understand not only the historical nature of this conjuncture but to develop an adequate conceptual understanding of the place of social policy in the dialectic between state and nation in Scotland. To this end, we critically examine theories that depict Scotland as an essentially ‘stateless nation’ in the light of recent developments. In so doing, we examine the implications for social policy of the changing character of statehood in Scotland, the nature of civil nationalism, and the problem of legitimacy in Scotland for the UK as a multinational state. As the architecture of statehood is re‐negotiated, strong centrifugal pressures are being created for a more distinct divergence of social policy in Scotland from the rest of the UK regardless of the outcome of the independence referendum. Policy‐making is ensnared in a series of tensions, not just between Westminster and Holyrood but also, more broadly, tensions between competing principles of social justice and territorial justice, and competing demands between welfare nationalism and competitive nationalism.     

Class participation as a pedagogical tool in social work education

Class participation is an essential part of the social work pedagogy. However, active student engagement in classes is inconsistent and varies based on factors such as social backgrounds, educational background, and individual characteristics. Instructors often evaluate participation based on frequency of verbal contributions. Evaluation criteria are often unarticulated or difficult to measure, presenting numerous challenges for instructors and students alike. A model of reflective self-assessment of participation by students, paired with timely instructor feedback is put forth in this paper to mitigate these concerns. The steps in this model include initial self-assessment, goal setting, midterm review, and a final review. The process of continuous self-evaluation and problem-solving is discussed as strategies that aid the process of class participation. Three instructor touch points are suggested: at the goal-setting stage, the midterm review, and the final grade. Throughout the paper, connections to social work practice and social work pedagogy are highlighted. This model has yet to be implemented in a social work school’s curriculum. Challenges in the implementation and resolution of those challenges are also presented. This model suggests ways to enhance opportunities for student engagement and integration into graduate programs, in addition to fostering valuable skills for future practice in the field.     

An assessment of predictors of student peer evaluations of team work in the capstone campaigns course

The role of peer evaluations of team work in the capstone, campaigns class is investigated. An assessment of the scores on a 16-item, quantitative assessment of student contributions to their team in a campaigns class indicated that students are extremely positive when evaluating their team members. Means for the 16 evaluation items ranged from 1.44 to 2.19 on a 1–7 scale. The evaluation items were regressed with two overall evaluation measures in the form of the “pay” students would receive from other individuals or the group mean payment. The statistically significant predictors for both dependent variables are identified.     

Estimating a sensitive proportion through randomized response procedures based on auxiliary information

Randomized response techniques are widely employed in surveys dealing with sensitive questions to ensure interviewee anonymity and reduce nonrespondents rates and biased responses. Since Warner’s (J Am Stat Assoc 60:63–69, 1965) pioneering work, many ingenious devices have been suggested to increase respondent’s privacy protection and to better estimate the proportion of people, π _A , bearing a sensitive attribute. In spite of the massive use of auxiliary information in the estimation of non-sensitive parameters, very few attempts have been made to improve randomization strategy performance when auxiliary variables are available. Moving from Zaizai’s (Model Assist Stat Appl 1:125–130, 2006) recent work, in this paper we provide a class of estimators for π _A , for a generic randomization scheme, when the mean of a supplementary non-sensitive variable is known. The minimum attainable variance bound of the class is obtained and the best estimator is also identified. We prove that the best estimator acts as a regression-type estimator which is at least as efficient as the corresponding estimator evaluated without allowing for the auxiliary variable. The general results are then applied to Warner and Simmons’ model.     

Blood on the tracks: Critically re‐reading a government occupational health and safety inquiry

This paper brings to light forms of interpretive closure embedded in a Government inquiry into rail industry occupational safety and heath. The paper shows how particular interpretive moves by the Inquiry had the effect of obscuring a critical analysis of economic and political relations. The analysis uses publicly available documentary data and is undertaken using interpretive and political economic forms of analysis in a multiple framework approach.     

浅析学校社工方法介入高校班级心理委员培训

本文将学校社会工作专业手法引入到学生工作中的班级心理委员培训中,借鉴相关的工作方法,进行一些初步的探索,主要体现在培训心理委员在解决学生发展性问题时运用团体社会工作方法,培训心理委员在解决学生个别问题中运用个案社会工作方法以及培训心理委员在协调各类资源为同学服务过程中运用社区社会工作方法。实践证明,把学校社工方法应用到班级心理委员培训中,可以发挥其特有的优势。     

The Hobo Anomalous: Class,minorities and political invention in the Industrial Workers of the World

This article is an analysis of minority political invention in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Against the tendency in recent social and cultural theory to dichotomize class and difference, it argues that it was in and through the IWW's formulation of class that minority political and cultural invention occurred. Using the framework of Deleuze and Guattari's minor politics, the article shows how the IWW's composition in the simultaneously diffuse and cramped plane of work operated against the major political identities and subjects of worker, immigrant, American, citizen and 'people', and towards the creation of minority political knowledges, tactics and cultural styles premised on the condition that 'the people are missing'. Seeking to understand the IWW's modes and techniques of invention, the article explores the general plane of IWW composition, its particular political and cultural expressions (in songs, manifestos, cartoons and tactics), and its minor mode of authorship. The article focuses in particular on two aspects of IWW minority composition, the itinerant worker, or hobo, and the politics of sabotage.