Gender Gaps in Educational Outcomes Among Children of New Migrants: The Role of Social Integration from a Comparative Perspective

This article reviews current research on gender gaps in educational outcomes among children of new migrants (first, 1.5, and second generations) from a comparative cross‐national perspective. The article examines potential explanations for why gendered differences in educational outcomes among immigrants (vis‐à‐vis non‐migrants) continue to occur, focusing on individual, schooling, and institutional factors. For example, while gender gaps in expectations and aspirations as well as some cognitive outcomes are increasing (reading ability is considerably higher among females) and shrinking in specific subjects (e.g. math and science ability is slightly higher among boys), that process often has been less explored within and across immigrant vis‐à‐vis non‐immigrant students. We show that in some countries, gender gaps among disadvantaged ethnic minorities (in relation to other groups) continue to persist and are exacerbated by institutional factors. These disadvantages vary not only across different educational systems and at different rates over time but also are based on students' social background. Overall, we argue that these educational inequalities are key to understanding not only the socioeconomic and future political adaptation of migrants and their children but also future social policy developments in the European Union context.     

Environmental awareness and energy problems in Croatia

The article discusses the results of sociological research on environmental awareness in Croatia. A strong anti‐nuclear attitude is present, especially with respect to radioactive waste. Education is by far the strongest determining variable: those of high educational qualifications are critical in general as well as vis‐à‐vis specific issues, yet not necessarily critical in a negative sense.     

CONTRACTS AS RENT‐SEEKING DEVICES: EVIDENCE FROM GERMAN SOCCER

Recent theoretical research has identified many ways how contracts can be used as rent‐seeking devices vis‐à‐vis third parties, but there is no empirical evidence on this issue so far. To test some basic qualitative properties of this literature, we develop a theoretical and empirical framework in the context of European professional soccer where (incumbent) teams and players sign binding contracts which, however, are frequently renegotiated when other teams (entrants) want to hire the player. Because they weaken entrants in renegotiations, long‐term contracts are useful rent‐seeking devices for the contracting parties. However, they reduce the likelihood of (mutually beneficial) transfers, which generates a trade‐off in the spirit of Aghion and Bolton (1987). Using a data set from the German “Bundesliga,” our model predictions are broadly confirmed. (JEL L14, J63, L40, L83)     

Intentions and realities in rehabilitation service in Denmark

We used Danish register data on rehabilitation benefits paid from 1994 to 2005. The purpose was to compare actual payments of rehabilitation benefits with intentions in the law. Legally, rehabilitation benefits should be used for providing living expenses during a planned rehabilitation period facilitating the recipients' return to the labor market. We found that one third of recipients were paid for less than 3 months, and half of remaining recipients had time gaps in their payments. The findings indicated that rehabilitation benefits were not paid only for planned rehabilitation periods, and that not all recipients followed the legally required plan.     

Social Work Education in a Hostile Environment: Programs under Academic Attack

This paper examines the various administrative and structural positions of undergraduate social work programs vis a vis other academic disciplines in liberal arts colleges. Causes of departmental dissension both indicating and contraindicating separation are examined. Special emphasis is placed on those programs that find themselves operating in a hostile atmosphere or in one that places them at a disadvantage in their efforts to achieve and maintain program excellence. As undergraduate social work programs move toward greater structural autonomy and healthier educational environments, procedures for dealing with the academic hostility and attack are outlined.     

Back under the Microscope: Insights from Evidence on Budget Support

This article analyses evidence for each of the expected benefits of budget support in turn, and finds the biggest improvements in the pro‐poor nature of public expenditure and public financial management. More modest improvements are noted in the predictability of aid and the burden of transaction costs, while less is known about the real effects on domestic accountability. Underlying them all is an assessment that programmes are incapable of ‘buying’ reforms. Drawing on the analysis, seven areas are highlighted where budget support design can be strengthened vis‐à‐vis its original rationale.     

Intervention options: Participation in work activities for people with schizophrenia

Vocational rehabilitation is a method by which people with disabilities are able to learn skills and receive supports that are necessary to take part in work activities. Vocational rehabilitation interventions can be used in a wide variety of settings with many different populations of people with disabilities, including those with schizophrenia. However, there is little available research to help guide clinicians to identify which vocational rehabilitation intervention methods may be the most effective for their clients. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this paper is to identify what is the best practice for obtaining and maintaining participation in work activities for people with schizophrenia. STUDY DESIGN: This paper reviewed sixteen previously conducted studies (seven specific solely to schizophrenia) to identify which vocational rehabilitation method is the best practice to aid those with schizophrenia to obtain and maintain participation in work activities. RESULTS: The reviewed literature suggests that there are a variety of vocational rehabilitation intervention methods that may be effective treatment interventions. The effective interventions were those programs that had a client-centered approach and enabled the client to play an active role in his/her vocational rehabilitation. CONCLUSION: With this study review, clinicians will be able to examine a variety of successful client-centered vocational rehabilitation methods that may aid in helping their clients with schizophrenia to obtain and maintain participation in work activities.     

Conflict Mediation and Resolution: the contribution of social psychology

Following an already widespread movement in North America, networks of mediators are being established in Europe. These mediators offer their services to the civil community in order to solve minor conflicts through negotiation rather than through penal action. By presenting the contribution of social psychology to conflict mediation, this article asserts the necessity of adopting a constructivist vision of conflict, by which the mediator will try to reconstitute the different perspectives of the actors vis‐à‐vis the conflict situation and then negotiate a common mode of interaction which can be accepted by all the parties.     

Underground Markets as Fields in Transition: Sex Work in New York City

Most ethnographers visualize their fieldwork study vis‐à‐vis their long‐term commitment to a bounded sociospatial context—an “ecology.” In this manner, the majority of ethnographic studies are presented as studies not only of practices but also of recognizable physical ecologies that breathe life into the practices—for example, homes, ghettos, firms, schools, and so on. In the pages that follow, I consider the ways in which the status of place has shifted in urban sex work. The shifting commerce of sexual services in New York enables me to open up a set of methodological issues about the role of space in ethnographic work. One in particular is at the core of this paper: namely, because so many ethnographic labors begin with the selection of a field site, what conceptual issues arise that fieldworkers must pay attention to vis‐à‐vis that decision? For example, the field site may change, the field site may itself be shaped by wider societal forces, and it may be simply dissolve over time. How does any of this impact a technique that is premised on the dependability of “sitting” so that others may be dependably followed? I draw on the notion of “strategic action fields” to present an alternative analytic framework, one more useful for the challenges ethnographers face.     

Content validity and utility of the Assessment of Work Performance (AWP)

In the area of work rehabilitation, many decisions about future interventions for the client are based on the results of various kinds of assessments. Therefore, it is important that the assessment instruments used are adequate, useful, and reliable. The purpose of this study was to investigate the content validity and utility of the instrument Assessment of Work Performance (AWP) which is used to assess an individual's observable (working) skills during work performance, i.e. how efficient and appropriate a client performs a work activity. A questionnaire was answered by 67 respondents who used the AWP in various work rehabilitation settings in Sweden. The result indicates content validity and utility for the AWP that supports further testing of the instrument.     

When considering vocational rehabilitation: describing and comparing the Swedish and American systems and professions

Rehabilitation of functionally impaired in Sweden and the United States is compared and contrasted. Found is that there are fundamental differences in strategies. The Swedish system most often uses a medically oriented multidisciplinary team approach. The US system most often uses a single individual, the vocational rehabilitation counselor, to work with functionally impaired in helping them return to work. Emphasized is that a vocational rehabilitation counselor uses a unique array of skills that is not duplicated in Sweden by a single profession. Suggested is that a single person with a range of skills can more economically provide vocational rehabilitation services to those with functional impairments; whether this is practical for Sweden is yet to be determined. In contrasting the two systems it was evident that the US system has been in operation for a much longer time and that the Swedish system is maturing. Noted is that the governments of both countries are feeling pressure regarding funding of vocational rehabilitation. This is affecting the level and quality of services. The authors advocate wider contact between Swedish and US university-level training programs in rehabilitation. Felt is that each system has strengths and knowledge that can be used to benefit the other.     

DO TERRORIST ATTACKS IMPACT EXCHANGE RATE BEHAVIOR? NEW INTERNATIONAL EVIDENCE

This study examines whether terrorist attacks affect bilateral exchange rates. Using historical 10‐minute exchange rate data for 21 countries' currency vis‐à‐vis the U.S. dollar, we show that exchange rate returns of all countries are statistically significantly affected by terrorist attacks. Some exchange rates appreciate and some depreciate following a terrorist attack, some currencies experience exchange rate reversals while others experience a persistent effect. Generally, the effect declines but persists as terrorist attacks become stale information. (JEL F31, F37)     

Participatory ergonomics and design of technical assistance

This work describes the experience of application of a procedural initiative, which aimed to identify and address technical assistance needs progressively in therapy and rehabilitation activities. The proposal theoretical axes are the basics of participatory ergonomics and interdisciplinary work, was raised with the intention of addressing important issues for the entire design process including: perception, attention, memory and human being comfort, and the interrelationships that create objects in the context in which they are used. This project was done in collaboration with leading institutes for the rehabilitation of Colombia: Cirec and Roosevelt, through two investigative stages: a first ethnographic stage, during which were observed one hundred forty four (144) procedures of rehabilitation and therapy to build a bank of assistive technology needs, justified on the project observation variables. And a second stage of action research in which they were designed elements that facilitate the implementation of rehabilitation procedures efficiently. Currently being developed experiential situations in different hospitals to examine the reliability of the proposed solutions.     

The use of focus groups in rehabilitation research

In this article, the authors explore the applications of focus groups to rehabilitation and disability research. Key issues in designing focus group research (e.g., methodological considerations, strategies for conducting focus groups, data analysis procedures) are highlighted. The authors then discuss specific considerations for conducting focus groups with people with disabilities. The article concludes with a review of three research studies in rehabilitation that used a focus group methodology.     

The role of technology in reconfiguring volunteer management in nonprofits in Hong Kong: Benefits and discontents

There is plenty of evidence demonstrating that volunteering generates benefits for individuals and society at large. However, the role of technology used in recruiting, managing, and retaining volunteers in nonprofits is underexplored in East Asia. Drawing from in‐depth interviews with representatives of eight nonprofits, we examine how technology reconfigured volunteer management in nonprofits, identify its limitations and shortcomings, and discuss strategies in which technology can be utilized to enhance the effectiveness of volunteer management. We found, through this study, that the use of technology reconfigured key aspects of volunteer management: improving recruitment by enlarging and diversifying the volunteer pool; enhancing precision and speed of volunteer matching; improving nonprofits’ ability to recruit professionals; and reducing overall administrative burden of volunteer management within these nonprofits. However, challenges in volunteer management resulting from technology uptake were also observed, including resistance among frontline staff to adopt technology, and volunteer accountability and quality assurance. Specifically, it was found through this study that the extent to which nonprofits are able to effectively utilize technology in volunteer management is contingent on how well volunteer managers are able to actualize the notion of capacity optimization, create a friendly volunteer environment, and build rapport with volunteers. Implications for enhancing organizational capacity in volunteer management vis‐à‐vis the role of technology in the third sector are further discussed.     

Features of occupational rehabilitation systems in Australia: a map through the maze

This review contributes to the limited literature on systems of occupational rehabilitation in Australia. Occupational rehabilitation is defined and features of occupational rehabilitation systems within the workers' compensation framework are described. Common features include: (a) the trend to workplace management, (b) preferred rehabilitation program settings and (c) widespread acceptance of some identified principles of occupational rehabilitation. Other features such as roles of stakeholders and participants, relationship of rehabilitation providers and employers, and the services provided have a number of variations in the Australian systems. Similarities and differences between features of Australian and North American systems are noted. Implications for occupational rehabilitation providers are discussed, and recommendations for practice and future research are made.     

Americans’ Perceptions of Commitment to Strong Families Across Race and Ethnic Groups

Theories of prejudice examining perceptual differences of in-groups and out-groups, such as social dominance and group threat perspectives, have found them to be important in generating hegemonic identity formations. This study uses data from the General Social Surveys to explore how these hegemonic group perceptions influence attitudes toward stronger families using race and ethnic groups as proxy measures where Whites are considered the in-group. A modified ecosystemic-interactionist approach along with elements from group threat and social dominance theories as support was used to investigate the underlying premise that group membership influenced respondents’ perceptions of their own family vis á vis others. Overall, the study found support for the underlying premise that membership influenced group perceptions, group knowledge, and group beliefs about commitment to strong families. Additionally, these findings suggest that groups develop most of their beliefs and subsequently their attitudes from limited interaction with those they perceived to be in the out-groups. Other social factors, including media portrayals, geographic propinquity, and education, also play a role in group perceptions, group knowledge, and group beliefs about commitment toward strong families. They support the social dominance and group threat theories that give rise to hegemonic structure within the United States.     

Metacognition and Multicultural Competence: Expanding the Culturally Appropriate Career Counseling Model

The authors focus on the significance of the counselor's cultural contexts in effective career interventions vis‐à‐vis the incorporation of multicultural metacognition. They briefly summarize and critique extant career counseling models for racial/ethnic minority clients and then describe an expanded model for career counseling that incorporates metacognition processes for addressing counselor‐related cultural factors.     

Freedom or happiness? Agency and subjective well-being in the capability approach

Human agency is a pivotal part of freedom and happiness. This article outlines two aspects of agency – power and control and self-establishment of goals – and situates it in the capability approach and vis a vis SWB. One can view the CA as an integration of ‘agency’ and ‘outcome’ oriented approaches. When agency is possible, it has primacy. When not, it is valued achievements (among others SWB) that acquire importance. Therefore agency is key for understanding how SWB fits in the general policy framework as a valued outcome. Two important functions of SWB information in this respect are outlined: as a frame of problem and as a signalling device on the effectiveness of policy.     

The basics of nonparametric statistics

This article introduces readers to the data analytic sub-paradigm of nonparametric statistics. The authors begin with an explanation of how and under what circumstances nonparametric statistics are used, then describe specific nonparametric techniques which are commonly used in social science research. Examples from the contemporary rehabilitation literature are provided throughout the article.