The Politics of Social Research: A Social Research Strategy for the Community Health,Education and Welfare Movement

The experience of the author led to a consideration of the political nature of social policy oriented research, with a view to developing a strategy which might overcome some of the dissatisfactions experienced with traditional research approaches. Traditional approaches, largely because of their technical nature, have meant a neglect or diminution of those precise characteristics which have characterized the ‘community’ orientation among health and welfare workers. There is a clear need for a research strategy which reflects these characteristics. Such a strategy is proposed. A brief historical perspective is also included to give a context in which such research styles have operated over the past ten years in Australia.     

Disability as the Basis for a Social Movement: Advocacy and the Politics of Definition

Many people with disabilities do not identify themselves as disabled or choose not to be part of a politically active community of disabled persons. This paper discusses both the barriers to the formation of a social movement of disabled people and the ways in which these barriers have been overcome. The role of public policy in the evolution of this movement is discussed, as are the current status and prospects of the disability rights movement.     

街头·行为·艺术: 性别权利倡导和抗争行动形式库的创新

2012年被媒体称为中国“女权行动元年”。通过考察这一年发生的“占领男厕所”、“受伤的新娘”、“上海地铁反性骚扰”和“光头姐抗议教育部”等产生广泛社会影响的性别事件,文章分析了街头行为艺术作为一种新的抗争行动手法在当代中国社会的形成和发展。相比近年来抗争政治研究整体蓬勃发展的局面,国内学界对抗争行动形式库的研究较为缺乏。本文首先对这一领域的理论视角和相关研究进行了梳理和评述,然后简要呈现街头行为艺术在中国抗争政治景观中的兴起。文章的主体部分围绕这一抗争行动手法的三个关键词——街头、行为和艺术,结合近年倡导性别平权街头行动的实证资料,详细阐述了它们各自对于抗争行动的意义及其对实施效果的影响。最后,文章提出从政策改变、参与动员和文化变迁三个层面,评估运用街头行为艺术进行诉求表达和政策倡导的成效。     

The Movement for Communist Labor and the Improvement of Social Relationships

The movement for communist labor is an outstanding phenomenon of Soviet life today. The CPSU Central Committee has observed that "the appearance of this movement, at a time when our country has begun the all-out building of a communist society, is natural and necessary. The ground for it was prepared by the entire course of the building of socialism, the tremendous triumphs of the socialist economy, the unprecedented rise in the education and culture of the Soviet people, and the improvement in its wellbeing." (1)     

Global Topographies: The Spiritual, the Social and the Geographical in the Missionary Movement from the West

The modern missionary movement has contributed profoundly not only to changing the religious topography of this globe—approximately one-third of the world's population is Christian now—but also, often enough, it has changed the social topography as well. Missionary activity is still one of the major agents of global transformation in the twentieth century. This paper looks at some of the driving machines of transformation, namely the images, visions, and concepts of time, space and global social change that were produced within the missionary movement as part of its spiritual topography. Three motivational trends are identified, each of which represents a fundamentally different way of approaching non-western space and time and thus leads to different models of missionary social intervention: the emancipative-integrationist approach, the racist-imperialistic attitude, and the egalitarian-inversionist trend. The overall findings of this paper are, perhaps, more or less ambivalent: visions of human salvation and global social change, missionary or other, are historically powerful. Necessary as they are for the life of humankind, global visions ought to be handled with care. They need to be tested and discussed, particularly with those who are targeted.     

Exploring strategies for re-engaging children and young people in learning while living in out-of-home care in the Northern Territory,Australia

The education of children living in out-of-home care (OOHC) has been a long-standing concern for children and their carers, policy-makers and researchers who have long highlighted the issue of low educational attainment and disengagement among children in care. This study investigates the strategies and practices used within a pilot programme based in the Northern Territory, Australia, that aims to re-engage children living in OOHC with education and training. Drawing on qualitative interviews with programme stakeholders, including educators, carers, child and family welfare workers, as well as an analysis of programme and client documentation, this study explores the programme's strategies to achieve re-engagement. The findings highlight the role of agile child-centred practice responding to the learning needs of participants, a focus on the ‘educational futures’ of students, as well as liaison and advocacy with schools and stakeholders on behalf of children in supporting re-engagement in education settings. Barriers to successful re-engagement include limited consideration of the cultural needs of children across education and OOHC systems, in particular the disruptive impact of OOHC placement changes, as well as programme discontinuity.     

Families on the move in China: challenges,strategies, and implications

We studied 12 migrant families who lived on the outskirts of Beijing, conducting participant observations and in-depth interviews between July 2008 and December 2009. Adopting the family strengths perspective, we identified the strategies employed by the migrant population to manage family life, the reliance on family networks for help and support, and their means of coping with the lack of equal access to state-provided benefits and services. We argue that migrants and their families should not be the target of policy or practice interventions – despite the unequal treatment, they cope with various difficulties, survive the migration process and succeed in adjustment and adaptation to the migrant life – rather, the divisive hukou system and the associated unequal distribution of benefits and services require fundamental reform.     

On hope,loss, anger,and the spaces in between: Reflections on living with/in adoption and the role of the social worker

This article explores the findings of a study on the role of the social worker in adoption with a focus on ethics, concentrating on the perspectives of adopted people, birth parents, and adoptive parents. Their reflections challenge policy attempts that are framed around “new beginnings” for children. The focus on hope in such policy projects fails to understand that hope inevitably coexists with anger and loss. The concept of ethical trespass, with its recognition of the inevitability of harm, is explored in terms of its possibilities for recognizing the lived realities for multiple stakeholders. The mitigation of ethical trespass requires social work practices that are characterized by humility, honesty, and reflexivity.     

Social capital and the impact of the recent economic crisis: Comparing the effects of economic and fiscal policy developments

In this contribution, we offer an analysis that evaluates the impact of the recent financial and economic crisis on social capital. An economic crisis offers a unique chance to study people's associational lives, volunteering, network-making, and trust-building under duress. Theoretical perspectives on the relationship between social capital and economic development emphasize a reciprocal relationship between the two. Therefore, we hypothesize that if economic performance is compromised, this might lead to an erosion of social capital. More importantly, however, we also argue that states can actively intervene by means of fiscal policy measures. We will illustrate our approach by comparing 29 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries before and after the crisis. Using qualitative comparative analysis, we demonstrate that imperatives related to fiscal policy stimuli provide leverage on social capital development.     

Crisis as challenge: counselling counsellors,persons living with HIV / AIDS and survivors

Although the AIDS pandemic has catastrophic implications for all levels of South African society, it can be viewed as an opportunity to face the inevitability of human mortality with dignity rather than fear and denial and to rebuild shattered communities. This article discusses issues pertaining to counseling HIV-infected persons, the counselors themselves, and families and social groups affected by AIDS-related deaths. Counseling of HIV/AIDS patients is supportive in nature, with a focus on here-and-now issues such as unfinished business, reconciliation with family members, finding meaning in daily activities, and preserving a sense of personal control. This process can be obstructed, however, by distrust of authority figures, anger at experts who fail to cure the disease, and an internalized sense of shame and inferiority. The effectiveness of AIDS counselors depends on their ability to recognize and resolve personal conflicts triggered by HIV-positive clients, including feelings about death, helplessness, overidentification, and discomfort with sexual issues. Most South Africans will face bereavement and have to go through a mourning process for friends and relatives. Complicated and delayed grief reactions triggered by new and continuous losses can be expected. Involvement of community members in the grieving process, whether as helpers, volunteers, professionals, or recipients of service, offers South African society an opportunity for development of a new culture of compassion.     

Social Empathy: A Model Built on Empathy,Contextual Understanding,and Social Responsibility That Promotes Social Justice

ABSTRACT

A model of social empathy is described where social empathy is defined as the ability to more deeply understand people by perceiving or experiencing their life situations and as a result gain insight into structural inequalities and disparities. The three components of the model—individual empathy, contextual understanding, and social responsibility—are explored and explained. Social empathy provides a framework for more effective social policies that address disparities and support social and economic justice for all people. Social workers are well positioned to enhance social empathy, and application and suggestions for further enhancement and research are provided.     

Tough Love: Social Work, Social Exclusion and the Third Way

Summary This article argues that New Labour's priorities for socialinclusion through employment, and for strenthening civil society,have relegated public-sector social work to a limited role inassessing and managing risks. However, as failures in the government'stop-down, regulatory approach emerge, there will be new opportunitiesfor a broader-based version of the profession to contributeto a more progressive programme.     

Prototypes for modern living: planning,sociology and the model village in inter-war Romania

This article reassesses the concept of the ‘model village’ in the context of inter-war debates about rural development in Romania and in Europe more widely through the story of Dioti, a small locality in south-western Romania that was reconstructed as a model village after a great fire in 1938. Imagined by Dimitrie Gusti, the founding father of Romanian sociology, and realized under the auspices of the authoritarian King Carol II, Dio?ti was the outcome of a longer process of imagining a model of rural modernization for Romania that was tightly connected to and influenced by international agendas of reforming and improving rural living conditions. This project offers an opportunity to examine the interplay between the local, national and international levels of rural modernization as they were shaped by the disciplines of architecture, rural planning and sociology. Finally, the article also engages with the concept of the model itself, asking how and why models of rural living were used to produce or manage social change.     

The Effects of a Creative Dance and Movement Program on the Social Competence of Head Start Preschoolers

The effects of an eight‐week instructional program in creative dance/movement on the social competence of low‐income preschool children were assessed in this study utilizing a scientifically rigorous design. Forty preschool children from a large Head Start program were randomly assigned to participate in either an experimental dance program or an attention control group. Teachers and parents, blind to the children's group membership, rated children's social competence both before and after the program, using English and Spanish versions of the Social Competence Behavior Evaluation: Preschool Edition. The results revealed significantly greater positive gains over time in the children's social competence and both internalizing and externalizing behavior problems for the experimental group compared with the control group. Small‐group creative dance instruction for at‐risk preschoolers appears to be an excellent mechanism for enhancing social competence and improving behavior. The implications for early childhood education and intervention are discussed.     

Two Post-Qualifying Courses in Social Work: the views of the course members and their employers

Correspondence to Alan Rushton, Course Tutor, Southwark Social Services, Fieldwork and Community Services, The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ. Summary Social workers who had completed two practice oriented post-qualifyingprogrammes were sent questionnaires asking them to evaluatetheir courses and to report on their subsequent careers. A selectedsub-sample was then interviewed and their current line managerscompleted questionnaires on their views of the training. Findingsare presented on their evaluation of both academic and practiceaspects of the programme. Levels of satisfaction were foundto be linked with the characteristics of course members. Somedifficulties were experienced in applying the new learning onre-entry to full-time work.     

Social Citizenship Rights and the Welfare Circle Dilemma: Attitudinal Findings of Two Chinese Societies

This paper places social citizenship momentum into the context of squaring the welfare circle for examination. Citizenship is a powerful world-level organizing principle especially by the minority groups for their claim of equal treatment. The squaring of welfare circle refers to the need of the governments to constrain their budgets but also meet the rising demands from and needs of their people. This comparative study looks at the attitudinal findings of two Chinese societies of Hong Kong and Taiwan to see whether or not the cultural factor can mitigate the momentum of social citizenship rights and the demand side of the welfare circle. Implications for social policy are also discussed.