Same-Sex Marriage: A Construct in a Quest for Ecological Validity

The Kitzinger and Wilkinson's ASAP paper serves as the foundation for this discussion of the same-sex marriage construct. The major focus of this discussion is, "What needs to occur in order for ecological validity to be achieved?" First, there needs to be some concerted attention paid to the entire spectrum of close relationships (at both the positive and the negative end of the continuum) before the same-sex marriage construct is fully embraced. Next, some attention needs to be paid to the diversity of viewpoints/beliefs/attitudes that exists concerning same-sex marriage within the ethnically and culturally diverse LGBT communities.     

Foundations of Feminism: How Philanthropic Patrons Shaped Gender Politics*

Objectives. Although recent research has documented the contributions of philanthropic foundations as “patrons” of the major identity movements, scholars know very little about the specific ways foundations have influenced these movements' development and impact. This study examines the role of foundations in shaping the U.S. women's movement of the 1960s–1980s, in particular the role that foundations played in deciding which of its claimsmakers—and by extension, its claims—would be sustained. Methods. The study is based on an original data set of nearly 6,500 foundation grants to women's groups, or for women's causes, from 1970 to 1990. It examines shifts in the types of groups that received foundation grants and in the female interests that these groups represented. Results. Philanthropic patrons were central to transforming women from servants of society into claimants against the state. Likewise, foundations played a critical role in segmenting U.S. womanhood into politically relevant subgroups (civic stewards, battered women, lesbians, etc.) with ever narrower policy claims. Conclusions. By legitimizing identity subgroups and their policy agendas, foundations played an important role in the development of special interest politics in the second half of the 20th century. In this way, professional grantmakers have constituted a critical yet overlooked force behind the construction of U.S. hyperpluralism, in the process diminishing the capacity of gender to unite women in common cause.     

Suffering and the Quest for Meaning

No abstract available for this article.     

Governmental Rationales for Installing Electronic Information Systems: A Quest for Responsive Social Work

Various authors have argued that electronic information systems (EIS) do not necessarily improve the responsiveness of social work. One of the main reasons given for these failings is the flawed implementation of EIS by professionals. However, we argue that the ongoing debate fails to be explicit about governmental rationales for installing EIS. This article presents the findings of a content analysis that aimed to uncover the governmental rationales for installing EIS in the Flemish child and welfare protection (CWP) system. Our analysis revealed three clusters of rationales. The first cluster supports the use of EIS as an instrument to better match supply and demand. The second cluster shows that the gathered data also serve as an instrument for accountability. A third cluster focuses on the aim of creating more uniformity. Based on our analysis, we argue that it is not flawed implementation that impedes the development of responsive social work; rather, the governmental rationales themselves are flawed.     

在比较中呈现革命读《中国城市的消费革命》

自从1978年改革开放以来,随着社会主义市场经济的发展,在中国发生了一场遍及各个领域的消费革命。不少中外学者对这场消费革命作了精辟的论述(James L.Watson,1998;Merle Goldman,1999;Jun Jing,2000;David L.Shambaugh,2000;Perry,Elizabeth J.&Selden,Mark,2000;等),其中对当今中国经济消费领域作了全新的、系统的、纪实的研究,填补了该领域研究不足的,当数《中国城市的消费革命》(The Con-sumer Revolutionin Urban China)一书的出版(参见《Durable Inequality》一书的作者Charles Tilly对该书的评论,见英文版的封底)。由美国…     

Philanthropy in America: A History

Shulamith Shahar, Childhood in the Middle Ages (1990), xi + 342 (Routledge, London and New York, £35.00).

François Billacois, The Duel: Its Rise and Fall in Early Modern France, edited and translated by Trista Selous (1990), 252 (Yale University Press, £22.50).

Ann Kussmaul, A General View of the Rural Economy of England, 1538–1840 (1990), xiv + 216 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, £30.00).

Donna T. Andrew, Philanthropy and Police. London Charity in the Eighteenth Century (1990). xi + 220 (Princeton University Press. Princeton, N.T., $32.50).

Dick Kooiman, Conversion and Social Equality in India. The London Missionary Society in South Travancore in the 19th Century (1989), vii + 236 (Free University Press, Amsterdam, n.p.).

Judith Rowbotham, Good Girls Make Good Wives: Guidance lor Girls in Victorian Fiction (1989), x + 301 (Basil Blackwell, Oxford, £30.00, paperback £9.95).