Support for Climate Change Policy: Social Psychological and Social Structural Influences*

Abstract We investigated preferences for climate change mitigation policies and factors contributing to higher levels of policy support. The sample was comprised of 316 Michigan and Virginia residents, all of whom completed mail surveys. Of the eight policies proposed to reduce the burning of fossil fuels, respondents overwhelmingly indicated they would not support a gas tax, while support was highest for shifting subsidies away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable energy strategies. With the exception of taxes on gasoline and “gas guzzlers,” a majority of respondents supported all other mitigation policies. Multivariate analyses revealed that greater trust in environmentalists and less trust in industry, greater recognition of the consequences of climate change, higher income, being black, and older age were predictive of greater policy support. Personal values (e.g., altruism), future orientation, and political affiliation were strong predictors of policy support but only indirectly via worldviews and environmental beliefs.     

Commitment to Social Change:

The purpose of this paper is to examine commitment as it relates to the pursuit of social change. This is done through the analysis of accounts by veterans of their involvement in feminist social movement organizations (FSMOs). They convey their stories of commitment to the feminist movement with language that one might use to describe an intimate relationship. The collective voice suggests considerable sacrifice and dedication. It also reveals a deep belief that they were betrayed by movement beneficiaries. This sense of betrayal is rooted in the expectation that movement commitment would increase as attacks by the New Right on the FSMOs rose. The paper concludes with discussion of the relevancy of studying commitment to social change for both micro and macro social work theory and practice.     

Children's Participation,Childhood Publics and Social Change: A Review

Progress in the implementation of children's participation rights in England is reviewed and situated within a broader agenda of social change. The article argues that much of the energy for ‘change for children’ has resided within a governance pathway across policy, practice and research. An alternative perspective is offered by re‐connecting children's rights debates to those of social movements and asking whether childhood publics are possible, what they might look like and where they might be found. It is concluded that a cross‐national and longitudinal perspective grounded in everyday life is likely to provide a more nuanced understanding of the change for children.     

Psychological Contributions to Social Struggle

Social struggle arouses strong emotions, yet little systematic attention has been paid to the best ways of handling these emotions in interpersonal relations. We explore oppression as involving identification with the aggressor on the part of the weak and projection upon a primed vulnerable other on the part of the strong. These processes lead to fusion between the oppressed and the oppressor. These are common divisions in the handling of anxiety, anger, guilt, and self-hatred, and confusion about one's own desires in the reciprocal processes created by the weak and the strong. Some suggestions are offered for dealing with these.     

Responses to Homelessness in Australian Cities: Social Worker Perspectives

Abstract

Responses to homelessness in Australia are provided by a range of government and nongovernment services. The present study examined the experiences of social workers within these diverse services. The article discusses how social workers make meaning of their professional identity and responses to homelessness in contemporary practice and policy settings. The findings of a qualitative study of 39 social workers employed in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney are analysed from a social constructionist perspective. The practice dilemmas for social workers interviewed related to the dominating influence of the contemporary political and economic climate, the managerial requirement of organisations, and the personal and professional tensions these political and organisational contexts created.     

Social Change: Nader Style

This paper examines the connection between social work and public interest work and reports on an attempt to synthesize the two disciplines in a class for undergraduate social welfare majors. The approach to social change developed by Ralph Nader and his associates provides a new model for social workers concerned about social action and social research. After students understand the theoretical and practical linkages and possible power alliances between social work and public interest work, they can become involved directly, experiencing the model and effecting change simultaneously.     

Social Change and Social Policy in China: National Adaptation to Global Challenge

As a part of designed human intervention against social problems, social policy has to respond and adapt to social changes. In this article, the author aims to discuss social changes that occurred in the past decade in China (including economic, demographic, and cultural changes) and relate them to relevant social policies formulated by the Chinese government to address the concerned social issues. To interpret the roles of the state, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and the community in tackling social problems in the changing context of the market economy and globalization, the author attempts to provide a theoretical explanation on the emergence of social policy in China in a new era and to further re-assess the concept of the welfare regime in East Asian countries.     

Household Responses to Major Economic Change in Poland: A Theoretical Framework

This paper presents the outlines of a model for cross-sectional examination of household responses to major societal events developed in the context of the economic transition in Poland and other Eastern European countries. Assumed in the model is the idea that households have relatively stable norms and values that are used to evaluate conditions in various life domains. When major economic changes produce imbalances between (a) norms and values, and (b) domains conditions, the household engages in predictable, understandable responses in the form of adjustment, adaptation, or regeneration.