Policy Space: What,for What,and Where?

This article examines how developing countries can use, and enlarge, existing policy space, without opting out of international commitments. It argues that: (i) a meaningful context for policy space must extend beyond trade policy and include macroeconomic and exchange‐rate policies that will achieve developmental goals more effectively; (ii) policy space depends not only on international rules but also on the impact of international market conditions and policy decisions taken in other countries on the effectiveness of national policy instruments; and (iii) international integration affects policy space through several factors that pull in opposite directions; whether it increases or reduces policy space differs by country and type of integration.     

Readiness for Career Choices: Planning,Exploring, and Deciding

One of Super's most important contributions has been in explicating those developmental tasks that involve planning, exploring, and deciding, processes known collectively as readiness for career choices. The authors review existing means of conceptualizing and operationalizing the various aspects of readiness, as well as innovative practice applications that have emerged from this work. Next, selected elaborations and extensions of the readiness construct are described. Finally, future directions for theory and research on readiness are presented with a particular emphasis on the promise of considering contextual issues, motivational factors, and an expanded measurement perspective in subsequent inquiry and practice.     

Digital Ethnography for Sociology: Craft,Rigor, and Creativity

Qualitative Sociology - This special issue gathers empirical papers that develop and employ digital ethnographic methods to answer core sociological questions related to community, culture, urban...     

Homeless Microaggressions: Implications for Education,Research, and Practice

ABSTRACT

Homeless individuals, often marginalized, are a group not yet explored in the microaggressions literature. However, research indicates that homeless individuals experience discrimination in a variety of contexts by well-meaning providers. This article outlines several microaggressive themes based on the current literature. The themes posited here include the following: Sub-human Status; Invisibility; Aesthetically Unappealing; Criminal Status/Dangerous; Assumption of Mental Illness; Assumption of Substance Abuse; Laziness; and Intellectual Inferiority. The manifestations and messages conveyed within each theme are discussed. Implications for social work education/training, research, and practice based on the themes are delineated.     

Dialing for Dollars: Opportunities,Justifications, and Telemarketing Fraud

Opportunities for deviant economic exploitation grew significantly in the second half of the twentieth century. Drawing from interviews with forty-seven fraudulent telemarketers, this article describes the backgrounds and pursuits of one type of deviant actor that has stepped forward to exploit these opportunities. The men and women interviewed for this research were reared in middle-class, disproportionately managerial and entrepreneurial families. Their class and family backgrounds provided them with high, but ill-defined, expectations for material success. Their preparation for successful conventional careers was unremarkable. As a result, they were predisposed to economic activities that required few credentials but provided a high income. Once involved in and aware of the deviant nature of their endeavors, continuation in fraud was facilitated by the income it produced and the lifestyle it permitted, by self-definitions enhanced by their manipulative abilities, and by acquisition and use of a vocabulary of motive that deflected blame. An augmented version of sociological strain theory provides an analytic vantage point from which to examine the backgrounds, aspirations, and perspectives of those involved in fraudulent telemarketing.     

Introduction: The aging workforce: challenges for societies, employers, and older workers

The aging of the baby boom cohorts poses challenges for societies, employers, and the baby boomers themselves: Will societies be able to sustain an exponentially increasing number of retirees and older workers? Will employers be prepared to accommodate an aging workforce, especially in times of economic recession? Will aging baby boomers desire and be able to postpone retirement and remain in their career jobs or seek bridge employment or be forced to do so out of financial necessity?     

Depression, anxiety, and religious life: a search for mediators

We examine several potential mechanisms linking religious involvement to depressive symptoms, major depression, and anxiety. Logistic and OLS regression estimations test five sets of potential psychosocial religion mediators: perceived attitudes toward and motivations for attendance; positive and negative religious coping; religious attitudes, beliefs, and spirituality; congregational support and criticism; and interpersonal and self-forgiveness. Compared to attending services less than once a month or never, attending services once a week but no more is associated with fewer depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms. Hypothesized mediators, including meaning, interpersonal and self-forgiveness, congregational criticism, social attendance beliefs, and negative coping are independently associated with one or more mental health outcomes.     

Socioeconomic Indexes for Occupations: A Review, Update, and Critique

Following a review of the history and sources of socioeconomic indexes for occupations, we estimate a new set of indexes for 1990 Census occupation lines, based on relationships between the prestige ratings obtained by Nakao and Treas in the 1989 General Social Survey and characteristics of occupational incumbents in the 1990 Census. We also investigate theoretical and empirical relationships among socioeconomic and prestige indexes, using data from the 1994 General Social Survey. Many common occupations, especially those held by women, do not fit the typical relationships among prestige, education, and earnings. The fit between prestige and socioeconomic characteristics of occupations can be improved by statistical transformation of the variables. However, in rudimentary models of occupational stratification, prestige-validated socioeconomic indexes are of limited value. They give too much weight to occupational earnings, and they ignore intergenerational relationships between occupational education and occupational earnings. Levels of occupational education appear to define the main dimension of occupational persistence across and within generations. We conclude that composite indexes of occupational socioeconomic status are scientifically obsolete.     

Remembering,Apologies, and Truth: Challenges for Social Work Today

Abstract

In 2003, over 41?000 families with accompanying children throughout Australia were assisted by homeless services. Sole fathers with children in their care who are homeless are a minority group within this overall population of homeless families and, as such, little is known about their experiences of homelessness and fathering. The present paper reports on an exploratory study of sole fathers with children in their care who were homeless in the Australian Capital Territory. The study identifies the fathers’ pathways into and experiences of homelessness, and the fathers share their stories of what it means to be a sole father. The paper identifies the issues fathers may experience when dealing with homelessness and fatherhood. An increased understanding of these experiences can contribute to the development of further research and improved practice with such families.     

Crime,Politics, and Punishment: Criminological Research for Political Sociologists

As a sociologist studying the intersection of crime, punishment, and politics, it is often surprising to me how many aspects of political sociology and the study of crime and punishment overlap, and yet, there is often limited cross‐fertilization of the two fields. For the sake of brevity in this discussion, I refer to those who study crime, deviance, law, criminal justice, and punishment as criminologists. My goal is to provide an extremely brief “primer” on criminology for political sociologists, in the hopes that a short reading of some issues and research in criminology may stimulate additional theorizing and research, as has so often happened when I have read political sociological work. To do this, I begin with a brief discussion of overlaps in political sociological and criminological perspectives. Following this, I highlight some examples of criminological research which incorporates politics, and would likely interest political sociologists, Then, I highlight a hot button issue in criminology – sex offenses – and suggest some ways that political sociologists could examine recent legislation on sex offenders and conclude with brief discussions of a few additional areas of overlap for the two disciplines.