MODELS OF INTERVENTION IN WORK WITH GROUPS

Three models of social work intervention are presented with a focus on worker-client interaction and the conceptual frame of reference for these models. The essential features and contemporary practices of each model are reviewed, as well as implications for achieving a consistent practice orientation. The reader is asked to locate his/her stance in order to work toward an internally consistent practice in working with groups.     

Performance of procrastinators: on the value of deadlines

Earlier study has shown that procrastination can be explained by quasi-hyperbolic discounting. We present a model of effort choice over time that shifts the focus from completion of to performance on a single task. We find that being aware of the own self-control problems may reduce a person??s performance as well as his or her overall well-being, which is in contrast to the existing literature on procrastination. Extending this framework to a multi-task model, we show that interim deadlines help a quasi-hyperbolic discounter to structure his or her workload more efficiently, which in turn leads to better performance. Moreover, being restricted by deadlines increases a quasi-hyperbolic discounter??s well-being. Thus, we provide a theoretical underpinning for recent empirical evidence and numerous casual observations.     

Absolute and relative risk aversion: An experimental study

Kenneth Arrow posed the hypotheses that investors reveal decreasing absolute risk aversion (DARA) and increasing relative risk aversion (IRRA). It is very difficult to empirically test these two hypotheses since one needs to analyze an investor's investment decisions at various points in his/her economic life cycle as the investor's wealth varies. An experimental study is conducted to test these two hypotheses when the subject's wealth varies depending on his/her investment performance. The experiment involves an actual money gain or loss which is indexed to the individual's investment performance. It is found that DARA is indeed strongly supported, but IRRA is rejected.     

Coherent decision analysis with inseparable probabilities and utilities

This article explores the extent to which a decision maker's probabilities can be measured separately from his/her utilities by observing his/her acceptance of small monetary gambles. Only a partial separation is achieved: the acceptable gambles are partitioned into a set of belief gambles, which reveals probabilities distorted by marginal utilities for money, and a set of preference gambles, which reveals utilities reciprocally distorted by marginal utilities for money. However, the information in these gambles still enables us to solve the decision maker's problem: his/her utility-maximizing decision is the one that avoids arbitrage (i.e., incoherence or Dutch books).     

中国城市居民的配偶家庭与精英地位获得

本文利用CGSS2006的数据,基于不同类型资本继承与转化的特点,考察了配偶父亲的社会经济地位对城市居民精英地位获得的影响,结果显示：第一,由于文化资本的传递需要长时间累积,配偶父亲的文化资本对个体成为专业精英没有帮助;第二,在中国,政治资本依然是具有支配性作用的,更容易转化为经济资本,但经济资本难以转化为政治资本;因此,配偶父亲的政治资本有助于个体成为市场精英,反之则比较困难。第三,资本的使用可能存在边际收益递减规律,婚后配偶的父亲带入的异质性资本效用可能会强于已被多次使用的父亲资本,因此,婚后配偶的父亲的社会经济地位对个体精英地位的获得具有更强作用。此外,配偶的父亲的影响对于不同性别的个体而言有所差异,虽然精英代际转化同时适用于不同性别,但精英代际继承更适用于男性。     

Across Time and Beyond Skin: Self and Transgression in the Everyday Socialization of Shame among Taiwanese Preschool Children

This study examines the construction of the culture-specific self through a form of seemingly harmful socializing practices among young Taiwanese children. Spontaneous daily family interactions have been systematically and longitudinally videotaped in seven families and events of shame are found to occur regularly at all datapoints. One third of these events occur in chains, involving multiple episodes about the child's transgressions committed at different times, mostly in the here-and-now, followed by reenactments of the past and expectations for a better self in the future. While in nearly half of the episodes, some authority is explicitly invoked to judge the child's behaviors, family members are always co-present with the child and ready to share his/her transgression and shame. Findings of analyses on spatiotemporal and relational markers in these situated events suggest a dynamic and fluid view of the self and a holistic treatment of multi-leveled contexts.     

Euthanasia on trial: examining public attitudes toward non-physician-assisted death

This study investigated the influence of various contextual effects on the decisions of subjects evaluating a case of nonphysician-assisted suicide. Subjects viewed a videotaped deposition of an individual emotionally or nonemotionally describing how he assisted in the death of his terminally ill wife by disconnecting her respirator or shooting her in the head. The deposition was followed by jury instructions that outlined the duties of the subject and, in some cases, was followed by a nullification instruction that informed the subjects of their right to ignore the law in this case if they felt it would culminate in an unfair verdict. After viewing the videotape, subjects were asked to rate the guilt of the individual as well as their confidence in this rating. Results indicate that the means of death and the type of instruction significantly affect guilt ratings. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

瑕疵出资股东的股东权利及其限制的分类研究:规范、解释与实证

股东权利虽以股东身份为基础,但取得股东身份并不当然享有完整的股东权利,如股东存在出资瑕疵,其股权应当受到限制,且这种限制具有正当性。一般来讲,比例股权与股东出资以及股东自身利益的关系较非比例股权而言要更为密切,在股东瑕疵出资的情况下,对其比例股权进行相应的限制,具有制度上的合理性、法理上的正当性与现实上的可行性。因此,对于瑕疵出资股东,其比例股权的行使应根据其瑕疵出资的实际情况而受到相应限制,原则上应按照其实缴的出资比例行使;而非比例股权则不应受到限制而均可以完整享有并行使。关于瑕疵出资股东权利限制的此等一般性标准得以确立后,具体到个案涉及的各项股权的限制及实现该限制的路径,还需要司法基于公平正义之原则分别处理。     

Empirical evidence of two-attribute utility dependence on probability

We investigate utility dependence on probability using a new methodology that examines how indifference statements vary with the probability of obtaining times and costs of individual trips. Of 127 subjects, 8 supplied 3 (out of 3) sets of indifference statements consistent with probability independence. Those subjects with 2 or more sets of indifference statements violating probability independence exhibited a systematic dependence, in that knowing the direction of a subject's violation in one set of indifference statements would increase the likelihood of his or her violating other sets of indifference statements in the same direction. Data show that this systematic violation of dependence should not be attributed to artifacts of the experiment.     

家、工厂与中国现代个体的诞生 对《茧》中人物生活世界的分析

《茧》是费孝通在《江村经济》后完成的一部英文小说，具有丰富的纪实与理论意涵。对《茧》的先行研究主要集中于社会经济与家庭结构的分析，较少探讨小说中最重要的人物情感与心态变化的意义。本文通过引入“生活世界”的概念与视角，对小说中人物的情感与心态变化过程进行分析，发现费孝通通过塑造宝珠的形象，展现了他理想的中国现代个体的诞生过程，即，现代个体在家（即“茧”）与工厂的意义重叠与张力中得以真正成长，随之确立的是基于现代个体而成立的新的生活世界的结构。在这个结构中，家既是个体的养育之所，也是个体的动力之源与安居之所。王婉秋的形象则展示缺少真实的家的个体可能呈现的纠结状态。这两个形象的对照，真正揭示了费孝通所理解的中国人与中国社会由传统走向现代的复杂可能性。     

Work histories and workers’ failure to satisfy pension contribution requirements: A comparison of Mexico and Uruguay

Comparing Mexico and Uruguay, this article examines the work history of workers and the challenges they face to satisfy the minimum contribution period for eligibility to receive a contributory old-age pension. Administrative data on work histories is used to formulate a survival model aimed at estimating hazard rates of entering and transitioning out of a given contribution status. This model is then used to perform a Monte Carlo simulation to forecast contribution histories. Results suggest that the hazard rate is negatively associated with the length of a worker’s spell in his or her current status and warn that, both in Mexico and Uruguay, a significant group of workers will find it difficult to gain entitlement to a contributory pension in old age. The manner in which each of these national systems has addressed the challenges associated with low contribution densities may explain the two countries’ very different coverage results.     

Matching children and substitute homes: some theoretical and empirical notions

Matching describes the process of selecting the substitute home for a child who needs to be placed away from the care of his/her birth parents. However, very little theorizing is done about matching and there is also a lack of systematic investigation into models of practice currently in use. Most importantly, very little is known about front‐line matching practices in different socio‐historical child welfare contexts. This paper aims to explore the concept of matching by addressing it theoretically and empirically as a decision‐making practice in social work. Based on the analysis of phone interviews (49) and focus group interviews (five groups with 18 child welfare practitioners) in Finland, we claim that matching includes a high degree of navigation: decision‐making balances between professional discretion, legal norms and principles, subjective views of the children and their parents as well as the economic and bureaucratic conditions of the service provision administration in the municipality. Navigation is shadowed by uncertainty and compromises. The analysis suggests that the notion of matching needs further analysis as it plays an important role in child welfare decision‐making. The interplay between front‐line practice and the socio‐historical context needs to be further addressed.     

Why Do People Vote? A Psychological Analysis of the Causes of Voter Turnout

A great deal of scholarship has explored why some democratic citizens vote while others do not. This article reviews that literature through a lens presuming that a person's likelihood of turning out on election day is a multiplicative function of his or her ability to vote, her or her motivation to vote, and the difficulty of obtaining the needed information and carrying out the behavior of voting. We conclude that (a) turnout is made more difficult and less likely by onerous registration procedures; (b) turnout is more likely among some demographic groups because of greater motivation or ability or less difficulty; (c) the social setting in which a person lives and the psychological dispositions he or she possesses can affect turnout by shaping motivation, ability, or difficulty; (d) characteristics of a specific electoral contest can inspire or discourage turnout; and (e) canvassing and interviewing people about an election can increase turnout, but preelection polls and election-day outcome projections do not. Consequently, an individual citizen/s turnout behavior is a joint function of his or her social location, his or her psychological dispositions, the procedures involved in voting, and events that occur at the time of each election .     

Is specialization desirable in committee decision making?

Committee decision making is examined in this study focusing on the role assigned to the committee members. In particular, we are concerned about the comparison between committee performance under specialization and non-specialization of the decision makers. Specialization (in the context of project or public policy selection) means that the decision of each committee member is based on a narrow area, which typically results in the acquirement and use of relatively high expertise in that area. When the committee members’ expertise is already determined, specialization only means that the decision of each committee member is based solely on his/her relatively high expertise area. This form of specialization is potentially inferior relative to non-specialization under which the decision of each committee member is based on different areas, not just his/her relatively high expertise area. Given that the expertise of the committee members is already determined but unknown, our analysis focuses on non-specializing individuals whose decision is based on a decision rule that does not require information on the decision-making skills. Under these realistic assumptions, non-specialization is shown to be preferable over specialization, depending on the aggregation rule applied by the committee. The significance of our approach is not limited to the specific results that we obtain. Rather, it should be viewed as a first step toward a deeper examination of the role of individual decision makers in enhancing the performance of collective decision making.     

The Interhuman and What is Common to All: Martin Buber and Sociology

Martin Buber was close to sociology and sociologists from his university years on and in 1938 was head of the new Department of Sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Although influenced by Ferdinand Toennies, and George Simmel, he went beyond them in his philosophy of the "interhuman" from which standpoint he also criticized Max Scheler. Focal social concepts of Buber's are "the interhuman"_the dialogical relationship between persons that entails "inclusion," or "imagining the real," making present, and confirmation (compared here with the social psychology of George Herbert Mead); the "essential We" or common cosmos that each helps to build by speech-with-meaning from his or her unique stance; the distinction between the "political principle" of government and the "social principle" of fellowship and social spontaneity; and the philosophy of community that led Buber to a federalistic socialism and the vision of restructuring society into a "community of communities".     

Potential Space: Knowing and Not Knowing in the Treatment of Traumatized Children and Young People

This paper illustrates some contributions of psychoanalyticallybased thinking in social work practice with children and youthremoved from their homes due to severe maltreatment or incapacityof parents. It is suggested that when working with severelydeprived and traumatized children, the therapist should holdin mind the lacking of rapport with primary caretakers, andthe need of the child to form meaningful and intimate relationsin his or her future life. Psychoanalytically based thinkingenriches the treatment process by offering new ways for understandingof the patient’s needs, aiming to reach the child’ssubjective experience and re-establishing his sense of selfand a meaningful rapport with an other. The concept of ‘potentialspace’ and the area of experience (Winnicott, 1953/1975)will be described with elaboration on its variety and use intheory and practice, focusing on two major themes: the dialecticsof knowing and not knowing, and the search for selected material.A clinical illustration is presented to show these dynamicsas they appear in the clinical process and the therapeutic session.The material was selected from supervision of graduate socialwork students involved in therapeutic work with children.     

社会工作研究的人文精神——对以实证主义为导向的美国社会工作研究的批判

长期以来,国际社会工作研究常常倾向于以实证主义和经验主义为基础的研究导向,特别是在美国,"基于证据"的研究方法在社会工作领域十分流行。随着全球化的推进和人们生活方式的现代化,社会工作研究所面临的问题更为复杂,其解决方法单纯依靠各种技术处理的手段来展开是远远不够的,我们在讨论这些问题时,要强化其价值导向。这要求我们在讨论社会工作研究的问题上,把我们的关注点从证据、技术手段和职业标准扩展到价值观、人文精神和对全球化问题的关注等方面,以此来推进国际社会工作的发展。     

The Effect of the Mobbing on Organizational Commitment in the Hospital Setting: A Field Study

ABSTRACT

Mobbing includes any kind of systematic behaviors, such as threats, humiliation, and violence, committed by an employee against his or her colleagues, subordinates, or managers. In recent years, reoccurring and persistent mobbing behaviors that result in a power imbalance between harasser and victim are increasing. These unethical behaviors can affect organizational commitment, employee efficiency, motivation, job satisfaction, and potential staff burnout. To measure this concept a questionnaire was given to 320 administrative staff in a university hospital in Ankara, Turkey. Significance was noted between mobbing and affective responses and continuance of employment. In addition, findings support that the majority of the respondents (79%) reported experiencing mobbing and of these 32% reported that these behaviors continued for a duration of 2–5 years. Reasons for these types of behaviors in the work environment included: job stress, administrative/supervisor/management problems, and work performance. The majority of the respondents who were victims did nothing in response. In closing, a correlation analysis was conducted to specifically address the relationship between mobbing and organizational commitment and no significant relationship was found. Reasons for these responses are discussed along with suggestions and practice implications.     

A New Social Service Professionalism? The Development of Social Work Theory in Germany

This paper examines the developments in German social work theory from the 1970s to the 1990s. It starts with an analysis of socio-economic relations which have given rise to a division of society as well as a consumerist approach of "service orientation" for the social services which presents a challenge both for social work theory and professional practice.
Against this background, major themes in the development of social work theory are identified. The authors observe a trend towards a greater recognition of the individual and her or his life-world. Although presented in the ideological context of neoliberalism, they argue that the core of the consumerist approach of "service orientation"– the privileging of the consumer – provides a basis for a paradigm shift in social work theory which will be an adequate response to "reflexive modernization" of society if taken out of the consumerist context and reformulated for the public services.
In the final section of the paper the authors present an outline of a theory of ldquo;social work as service" as a professional mode of action in the public sector of social service provision. It starts from a conceptual analysis of the service relation, examines the structural elements of the service context and discusses the necessary societal conditions. It is the thesis of the paper that the dialectical relationship of professional and service user represented in the conceptualization of social work as service will be the foundation for a new professionalism.     

‘Street‐level Bureaucracy’ Revisited: The Changing Face of Frontline Discretion in Adult Social Care in England

This reassessment of the continuing significance of Lipsky's (1980 ) work on ‘street‐level bureaucracy’ for frontline decision making is based on a retrospective review of the author's research on assessment practice in adult social care in England. The studies span the past two decades during which time successive governments have restructured and modernized social services departments. When these were established in 1970, they represented the high watermark of bureau‐professionalism – a mode of administration which dominated social welfare at the time Lipsky was writing. The subsequent dismantling of bureau‐professionalism calls into question the validity of his findings, and the author draws on her own research to assess conflicting views about the impact of social care reforms on the discretion which social workers exercise as street‐level bureaucrats. She concludes that the distinct types of discretion to emerge from her findings, represented in a taxonomy, are shaped by the differing micro environments of frontline practice which, in turn, affect the relative force of managerialism, professionalism and user empowerment in countering the defensive exercise of discretion described by Lipsky. Whilst her analysis affirms the continuing significance of Lipsky's analysis, it also points to the need for some revision to accommodate major shifts in welfare administration since the publication of his work. She highlights the potential relevance of these insights for investigating the next planned transformation of adult social care, personalization, as well as for the implementation literature more widely.