An Overview of Three Models of Marital Therapy

In this article three models of Marital or Couples Therapy are described. Framo's approch to working with couples illustrates Psychoanalytic Theory, Stuart — Social Learning Theory, and White — Systems Theory. For each model, the theory and the ensuing practice are discussed, with attention to the factors that lead to change, assessment, interventions, the role of the therapist. Each is placed within the Bernal and Baker (1979) level of intervention framework. Strengths of each model are highlighted. Each therapist's own style in session is described.     

Pushed or pulled? Entrepreneurial behaviour among immigrants as a strategy to cope with negative social identity

Migratory movements are one of the most remarkable demographic, social and psychological phenomena in today’s world. For the people involved, these migrations pose a radical change in environment and in their lives as they face adaptation to new perceptions, values and behaviours. All these lead to major challenges and repercussions for their personal and social identities. Using the Theory of Social Identity as our interpretative framework, together with a qualitative methodology based on semi-structured interviews, we have researched the entrepreneurial behaviour seen in 94 immigrants. We show the strategies adopted by these immigrants for personal mobility, social creativity and social competition to cope with the negative social identity derived from the occupational segregation and socio-labour exclusion they experience in the labour market and as mechanisms for psychosocial adaptation to the social, political, economic and labour characteristics in their environment.     

Evolutionary Evaluation: Implications for evaluators,researchers, practitioners,funders and the evidence-based program mandate

Evolutionary theory, developmental systems theory, and evolutionary epistemology provide deep theoretical foundations for understanding programs, their development over time, and the role of evaluation. This paper relates core concepts from these powerful bodies of theory to program evaluation. Evolutionary Evaluation is operationalized in terms of program and evaluation evolutionary phases, which are in turn aligned with multiple types of validity. The model of Evolutionary Evaluation incorporates Chen's conceptualization of bottom-up versus top-down program development. The resulting framework has important implications for many program management and evaluation issues. The paper illustrates how an Evolutionary Evaluation perspective can illuminate important controversies in evaluation using the example of the appropriate role of randomized controlled trials that encourages a rethinking of “evidence-based programs”. From an Evolutionary Evaluation perspective, prevailing interpretations of rigor and mandates for evidence-based programs pose significant challenges to program evolution. This perspective also illuminates the consequences of misalignment between program and evaluation phases; the importance of supporting both researcher-derived and practitioner-derived programs; and the need for variation and evolutionary phase diversity within portfolios of programs.     

Instructional Design: Bridge to Competence

Competency-based education emphasizes precision and rigor in instructional development. Social work educators surveyed reported differential success in implementing key instructional development elements. They reported success in specifying instructional objectives and developing related assessment procedures. They faced frequent obstacles in the systematic design of instruction; that is, in building bridges to competence for the learner. A theoretical framework is proposed to guide instructional design strategies. Three interrelated constructs are developed: learning task characteristics, learning environment characteristics, and learner characteristics. Approaches for operationalizing each construct are identified. Design strategies emerge from matching learner and learning environment characteristics to optimize performance on differentiated learning tasks.     

Evaluating development programs: building joint activity

There has been an increasing plea for a participatory approach to development programs. It is argued that for programs to be sustainable, they need to be conceptualized, negotiated and run by all stakeholders jointly. Concurrent with this trend, there has been an increasing demand for program evaluation strategies, which encompass an evaluation of the nature and level of participation of the different stakeholders in the program. This paper proposes a theoretical framework for such evaluation and subsequently provides a practical illustration. Engeström's notions of ‘activity system’ and ‘learning by expanding’, are proposed as a framework for the evaluation of participation and an action evaluation methodology is suggested as the practical tool within such framework. The paper presents a case study of a conservation education program in Africa, which operationalizes the proposed theoretical framework.     

Learning to Collaborate: An Application of Activity Theory to Interprofessional Learning Across Children's Services

This paper investigates the pedagogy of a continuing professional development (CPD) programme to develop interprofessional learning (IPL) and collaborative practice for professionals across children's services, using a framework underpinned by Activity Theory. The aim of the study was to establish which pedagogical features enabled successful interprofessional learning and subsequent changes in collaborative, interprofessional practice. Activity Theory was used as a theoretical framework to analyse and identify the ways in which pedagogy impacts upon the development of collaborative practice. The qualitative study found that pedagogies designed to harness the ‘multi-voicedness’ of activity systems and the contradictions of multi-disciplinary practice can be used to inspire learning and practice change. From our analysis, ‘community’ and ‘division of labour’ were important contextual influences on the learning process. We propose that the ideas underpinning Activity Theory are useful guiding principles when looking at the design of CPD that aims to build collaborative, multi-disciplinary practice across agencies and professionals in children's services.     

Education for a sustainable future? Students’ experiences of workshops on ethical dilemmas

ABSTRACT

The goal of education for sustainable development (ESD) is to promote the values, behaviors, and lifestyles that are needed to find solutions to global economic, social, and environmental challenges. Social work and social work education have an important role to play in ESD, and poverty reduction, health, and well-being are important issues for social work as well. UNESCO, as well as the provisions of the Sweden’s Higher Education Ordinance, emphasizes the importance of higher education in meeting the future challenges to creating a sustainable society. Social work education at Örebro University has a long tradition of collaboration with service user organizations, for example by holding workshops on ethical dilemmas. This article describes these workshops and explores the students’ experiences of them. Four themes were identified: the perspective of ‘the other’ (and my own role), the importance of a nonjudgmental approach, the complexity of ethical dilemmas, and awareness of the complexity of social work. The workshops give the students a platform where they can gain practical knowledge and experience. Through the workshops, the students began to reflect on their own inner ethical compass, as well as on their own role and the challenging nature of social work.     

Strategic role of public relations in enterprise strategy,governance and sustainability—A normative framework

The purpose of the study was to suggest a normative framework for the development of an organization's enterprise (societal role/stakeholder) strategy, indicating its relationship with governance, sustainability, and CSR. The normative framework contains two dimensions: Enterprise strategy is developed within the context of enterprise governance as well as social and environmental sustainability and responsibility, to achieve the organization's strategic non-financial goals (the sustainability dimension). Corporate strategy is developed within the context of corporate governance as well as economic sustainability and responsibility, to achieve strategic financial/economic goals (the business dimension). PR/communication management plays a strategic role in enterprise strategy development but a support role in corporate strategy development. The development of enterprise strategy necessitates a Triple Bottom Line approach to strategic management.     

A critical note on the role of the capability approach for sustainability economics

Can sustainability economics profit from the fusion with Amartya Sen's capability approach, thereby gaining solid normative foundations and wider applicability? We argue that this fusion is mistaken to the extent that the capability approach is essentially a static normative framework while sustainability economics demands a systematic long-term view with focus on wide-ranging societal change. These demands are best realized by taking an evolutionary perspective that focuses on the evolution and development of societies.     

Gender differences among Czech youth in prejudice towards minorities

Using a large survey of Czech high school students (n?=?1103), aged 15–20 years, this paper explores youth prejudice to a wide range of minority groups (n?=?21) where family, school, and community contexts are taken into account. General Structural Equation Models are used to explore the determinants of prejudice for 21 minorities using a comparative explanatory framework where the focus is gender differences in prejudice to minorities are examined using three social theories: Social Dominance Theory (SDT), the Theory of Gendered Prejudice (TGP), and Gender Role Beliefs (GRB). This research shows that gender plays a strong role in expressing prejudiced attitudes where females express (a) less prejudiced attitudes toward the Roma, black Africans, Gays and those with mental or physical disabilities, and (b) more prejudiced attitudes towards the homeless, Vietnamese, Muslims, and lesbians. This gendered pattern is explained in terms of insights from SDT, TGP, and GRB.     

Reviews

This article seeks to stimulate debate around the relationship between Post‐Qualifying Social Work education and social work practice. Whilst initially welcomed as a positive development for the continuous professional development of qualified social workers, the author questions if in a work climate increasingly dominated by concerns about meeting global market forces PQSW education has the potential to support discriminatory and oppressive practice and undermine social work values?Higher education in England has been given the task by the General Social Care Council to develop Post‐Qualifying Social Work (PQSW) education that delivers both academic and vocational learning as national occupational standards, workforce planning and concerns around globalisation drive professional development. Indeed, a positive selling point for the PQSW framework is its apparent ability to bring together practitioners' career choices with professional development, employers' workforce planning strategies and the government's modernisation agenda for public service provision. However, could a system of education designed to meet such a variety of agendas undermine social work practice and reduce higher education to primarily providing programmes designed to meet regulatory requirements rather than professional social work that promotes an anti‐discriminatory and anti‐oppressive approach to practice? The article concludes that whilst evidence suggests PQSW education does make a positive difference to practitioners and their organisations, debate is still required to ensure it supports agreed social work values and a commitment to anti‐oppressive and anti‐discriminatory practice.     

Current theoretical and political perspectives of Western sociological theorists

While sociological theorists frequently express concern about theoretical fragmentation and the politicization of sociology, little research has been done to demonstrate the actual state of the field. In an earlier study of sociologists in general, Sanderson and Ellis (1992) found a high degree of theoretical fragmentation and a close correspondence between sociologists’ political views and their theory preferences. The current study extends this line of analysis to sociological theorists. Data gathered from over half of the members of the American Sociological Association (ASA) Theory Section show sociological theorists to be enormously divided with respect to their preferred theoretical perspectives, their conceptions of the most important social theorists, and their stance on modern theoretical debates and controversies (such as the virtues of postmodernism). As was the case with sociologists in general, political ideology was the strongest correlate of theory choice, and gender was less closely related to theory choice than would be expected. From these data, a picture is painted of the current state of social theory as we approach the next millennium. Jane T. Lord received her M.A. degree in sociology and her Ph.D. in rhetoric and linguistics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She is currently teaching at the Community College of Allegheny in Pittsburgh. He is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters, and has authored or edited five books, the most recent of which is Social Transformations: A General Theory of Historical Development, expanded edition (Rowman and Littlefield, 1999). His book Synthetic Materialism: A Unified Evolutionary Theory of Human Society will be published by Rowman and Littlefield in the near future.     

Sustainable Learning for Sustainability

Abstract

Sustainability issues are appearing with increasing frequency. Education for global sustainability, therefore, must achieve long-term maintenance of resources. For successful sustainability education, a novel learning process must be developed that converts didactic perspectives and designs into sustained deep learning. Incorporating neurobiological mechanisms, such as conscious explicit-declarative and unconscious implicit-procedural learning constructs, psychosocial attention, and value-based motivation, is necessary to make learning sustainable, ensuring successful adaptation to the environment. The authors derive a generalizable, sustained, deep-learning framework from neurolinguistic research concerning language acquisition in autism that transcends many current learning paradigms and provides heuristics to develop pedagogic strategies for global sustainability.     

Enhancing social work student learning: converging Bronfenbrenner,Bourdieu and practice learning

ABSTRACT

Social work student field placements can be complex, challenging and demanding for the practice educator and student. In this paper a model of practice education is explored that incorporates the theoretical constructs of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework and Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital and field. Through the application of these constructs, the practice educator can enhance the student’s learning and development in three distinctive ways. These will be explored and presented as a model that facilitates the practice educator in supporting the student during their placement and in the preparation for professional practice.     

Environmental Sustainability and Social Work: A Rural Australian Evaluation of Incorporating Eco-Social Work in Field Education

Climate change poses significant threat to the wellbeing of global society. Addressing this change has as yet generated no fixed blueprint for social work practice and education. This paper reports on a formative evaluation of one Australian initiative to address this transformative opening in social work field education. Prompted by service users' and workers' experience of the impact of drought, a rurally located social work course team amended the field education curriculum to include a focus on Environment and Sustainability. This learning goal was added to the existing learning goals derived from the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) Practice Standards. Students and field supervisors were surveyed on their experience of meeting this new learning goal. While most expressed confidence in understanding the concepts involved, they clearly lacked assurance in interpreting these in practice encounters. Considering their qualitative input suggests that this topic is making a transition from being on the margins of social work to becoming mainstream. Their open-ended responses indicate that the incorporation of environmental sustainability into practice is at a threshold stage of development. Further enactment of eco-social work at the local level is concluded to be supported by using a transformative learning framework in facilitating critical reflection and collaborative dialogue for effective change.     

From local to global: Making social policy more effective for rural community capacity building

Abstract

In the context of a discussion of globalisation this paper examines developments in social policy aimed at building civil society and enhancing social capital. It notes that policy driven by a desire for minimal government intervention and market dominance has resulted in a clear disadvantage in rural Australia and growing inequities between urban and rural communities. Clearly poverty has a postcode and overwhelmingly the postcodes are rural. At the same time the demography of ‘rural’ Australia is changing as the inland empties and the coastal regions experience population overload with its accompanying environmental problems. This paper discusses the need for more effective targeted involvement of the state in rural policy development if we are to preserve quality of life, address inequities and overcome the divide between city and country. There is a strong role for social work in forging rural community development. However, the profession has to be much more politically astute in its dealings with governments and community groups if it is to carve out a central role. Strategies are discussed to develop such a role.

Margaret Alston is an Associate Professor in social work and is Director of the Centre for Rural Social Research at Charles Sturt University, New South Wales. She is a Director for the Foundation for Australian Agricultural Women, a member of the Advisory Board for the Social Sciences Unit, Bureau of Rural Sciences, a member of the Board of General Practice Education Australia and on the Editorial Committee for Australian Social Work     

Evolutionary Theory and Neuroscience: An Explanatory Theory for Social Work

Evolutionary theory and neuroscience are recommended as a foundational theory for social work. Advantages of evolutionary theory include explanatory power, suggestion of interventions to beginning social work practitioners, and accommodation of more specific theories of human behavior. The explanatory power of neuroscience is also discussed, along with its evidence base and compatibility with the strengths perspective and destigmatization work of the profession. Connections between evolutionary theory, neuroscience, and social work values are also discussed.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: Who Should Know What? Social Science, Privacy and Ethics by J. A. Barnes. Ideology and Cultural Production by M. Barrett et al. (eds) Injustice—The Social Bases of Obedience and Revolt by Barrington Moore J.P. Schooling in Decline by Gerald Bernbaum (ed.) The Restructuring of Social & Political Theory by Richard J. Bernstein Land and the National Question in Ireland, 1858–82 by Paul Bew Sociology and Psychology, Essays by Marcel Mauss The Jewish Intelligentsia and Russian Marxism by Robert J. Brym Fictions and Ceremonies: Representations of Popular Experience by David Chancy Susan Sontag, Introduction to The Art of Revolution 96 Posters from Cuba. Edited by Dugald Stermer The Social Construction of Mind: Studies in Ethnomethodology and Linguistic Philosophy by Jeff Coulter A Just Measure of Pain: The Penitentiary in the Industrial Revolution, 1750–1850 by Michael Ignatieff Museums of Madness: The Social Organization of Insanity in 19th Century England by Andrew Scull The Social Theory of Claude Lévi-Strauss by Alan Jenkins Cities Unlimited by Leslie Kilmartin and David C. Thorns Thrillers: Genisis and Structure of a Popular Genre by Jerry Palmer Social Systems and the Evolution of Action Theory by Talcott Parsons Action Theory and the Human Condition by Talcott Parsons Contemporary Society and the Growth of Leisure by Kenneth Roberts The Child and Death by Olle Jane Z. Sahler (ed.) Who Divorces? by Barbara Thornes and Jean Collard Sociolinguistic Patterns in British English by Peter Trudgill (ed.) Classes, Strata and Power by W. Wesolowski     

Knowledge cybernetics: a new metaphor for social collectives

Abstract

Knowledge cybernetics is principally concerned with the development of agents like autonomous social collectives that survive through knowledge and knowledge processes. Deriving from epistemological antecedents created by Stafford Beer and explored through notions of ontology by Eric Schwarz, a new form of knowledge management arises that is connected with the notions of Marshall and her new radical classifications for knowledge. These ideas can be closely associated with concepts of lifeworld and the ideas of communicative action by Habermas, and leads to a useful knowledge cybernetic framework. This has the capacity to relate to and develop a variety of what might be thought of as otherwise disparate theories that can ultimately be expressed in terms of knowledge.