Policing, collective action and social movement theory: the case of the Northern Ireland civil rights campaign

In this paper we examine the relationship between social movements and the police through an analysis of the Civil Rights Movement (CRM) which emerged in the late 1960s in Northern Ireland. Following della Porta (1995) and Melucci (1996) we argue that the way in which episodes of collective action are policed can affect profoundly both levels of mobilization and the orientation of social movements. We also submit that the symbolic and representational dimensions of policing can be a significant trigger in the stimulation of identification processes and collective action. The paper concludes by questioning some of the assumptions contained within social movement theory, and their applicability to divided societies such as Northern Ireland.     

AIDS,travel and migration: legal and human rights aspects

This article discusses the legal and human rights aspects of AIDS, travel, and migration in Africa. Restrictions upon migration and travel in the context of HIV/AIDS have directed attention on the jeopardy of free international movement and the need to uphold it. International travel and migration have been blamed for introducing HIV and restrictions imposed to prevent the import of such disease. Contemporary legal and administrative barriers to free movement of people across national borders are similar to the physical barriers imposed to prevent the spread of diseases in past centuries. However, physical barriers failed to prevent the international spread of diseases and legal and administrative barriers have been proven ineffective. Meanwhile, responses to HIV/AIDS set patterns for other health-related issues and to affect the entire legal framework of international travel and migration. Based on previous studies, data on migratory flows and numbers of travelers and migrants are scarce in Africa. Migrants represent more or less 10% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa or 35 million persons, including some 60 million refugees.     

Precarious beauty: migrant Chinese women,beauty work,and precarity

This study focuses on precarious labor, in particular, the experiences of a group of internal migrant women working in a beauty shop in South China. The study aim is to elucidate the ways in which migrant Chinese women negotiate the demands of work and life that help to shape the imaginations and aspirations of modern city dwellers. Women factory workers, it is argued, leave other employment for work in the aspiring Chinese beauty industry, which promises significant facets of modern identity such as urban status, cosmopolitanism, and upward mobility. Their work, nevertheless, remains fundamentally precarious because of not only low wages and limited job security but also the construction and circulation of femininity and assumptions about gender normality in both work and family. The precarious work also indexes the ambivalent relationship between the national affect of hope and the fragility of individual potentiality under neoliberal ethos.     

Policing Disaster: An Analytical Review of the Literature on Policing,Disaster, and Post‐traumatic Stress Disorder

A large body of research findings suggests that law‐enforcement officers are confronted with erratic, periodic, and unpredictable high‐stress experiences in the line of duty. There is also an increasing amount of research on police as first responders to disasters and their mental health. Recent high‐stress events, like the social disorder generated by Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, and the violence at Newtown, created a unique matrix for stressors on police officers who may not have had much training to deal with the associated disorder or much social support to draw upon when confronting the residual emotional and mental traumas that they experienced as a result. In this context, we conduct an analytical review of the literature on police stress in instances in which officers have responded to disasters. Moreover we discuss the extant research related to rates of post‐traumatic stress disorder, the effects of PTSD and related diagnoses on the personal and professional lives of officers, and the sources of social support available to them in the aftermath of trauma‐inducing events. We conclude with a summary of current research and a critique of what is missing in the literature including attention to subclinical PTSD, proper training, the lack of attention to institutional screening for PTSD vulnerability, and the dearth of evaluation research on “what works” in disaster preparedness for police officers.     

Moral boundaries and national borders: Cuban marriage migration to Denmark

The discussion of marriage migration in Denmark primarily has focused on citizens of immigrant descent (‘New Danes’) who marry partners from their ancestral homeland (often Turkey or Pakistan). This type of marriage migration was the target of the strict Danish family reunification policy instituted in 2002. This article examines the genealogy of the morality underpinning the family reunification policies and asks whether the rules actually promote this moral agenda or have unintended consequences. Empirically, I shift the focus from immigrant Danes to native Danes who marry Cubans. Finally, while little attention is paid to the non-western country involved, transnational marriages always involve two nations. This article investigates how state policies on both ends of this migration trajectory shape moral-territorial borders that transnational couples navigate.     

New managerialism in the academy: Gender bias and precarity

In the era of global competition, academic institutions are increasingly being managed as efficient organizations where early career academics are the most vulnerable group in the academic hierarchy. We use gender budgeting to deconstruct the financial and managerial processes and procedures in a selected academic institution in Iceland. Drawing on multiple data collection methods, we argue that new managerialism enhances the precarious position of early career academics, especially women and those in the more feminized fields. Furthermore, we show that the system's bias in favour of so‐called hard science generates gendered consequences for early career academics. We demonstrate this structural gender bias in each of the first three stages of an academic career: PhD, postdoc and other temporary positions, and assistant professorship. By highlighting the gendered consequences of new managerialism, we want to direct attention to the need to include a gender perspective in the budgeting and all the decision‐making processes in academic institutions.     

Tightening the focus: moral panic, moral regulation and liberal government

The purpose of this article is to tighten the focus of moral panic studies by clarifying and elaborating on an analytical framework that conceptualizes moral panic as a form of moral regulation. The first part of the article explains why moral panic should be conceptualized as a form of moral regulation. The second part presents a rejoinder to Critcher's (2009) critique of the widening focus of moral panic studies. The third part elaborates on the conceptual relationship between the sociologies of moral panic and moral regulation by offering fresh insights into the sociological and political importance of moral panic as a technique of liberal government.     

Rights and the role of family engagement in child welfare: an international treaties perspective on families' rights, parents' rights, and children's rights

According to international human rights treaties, what rights do family members, parents, and children have in family engagement in child welfare decision-making? A socio-legal analytical approach produces a typology of rights, then applies the typology to eight countries' approaches to family engagement to show that strong bundles of rights are available in some countries, but not in others. This study reveals international treaties have articulated many rights necessary to family engagement, but some rights are missing.     

Policing cities: Incivility,disorder, and societal transformations

Over the past 30 years, we have been witnessing a rise in incivility policing across western but also non-western cities. The term “incivility policing” refers to bans and exclusion aimed at drinking alcohol, begging, loitering, sitting in public, and many other kinds of subcriminal conduct. Scholars have observed an increasing readiness to demand legal “solutions” aimed against these kinds of conduct. In this paper, I review two major strands of scholarship dealing with the origins of these calls: First, a rising punitiveness and a “law and order” mentality, inspired by the Broken windows theory and Zero tolerance policies. Second, privatization of space and the rising influence of private actors over public spaces are discussed with references to the concepts of neoliberalism, revanchism, and the right to the city. The effect of incivility policing on vulnerable groups is examined using the example of homeless people in public space. In the final part, I suggest new factors which could help us understand the rise in incivility policing: These include general trust, everyday trust, and the imaginaries of community.     

New trade formations: precarity,pragmatic cosmopolitanism and long‐distance trade in the Caucasus

For many ordinary people responding to ongoing post‐Soviet precarity, domestic and transnational trade has become a common choice of livelihood. This article is about the small and medium sized traders who deal in cheap Chinese commodities in the Caucasus –particularly in Georgia and Armenia. It introduces the notion of ‘trade formations’ to account for the multiple ways in which cross‐cultural trade and microfinance practices, as well as stereotypes about national and regional groups and trading minorities, highlight the role of trust, reputation and everyday diplomacy in long‐distance commercial networks. While current trade networks are rooted in the cultures of trade practised under the Soviets, dispositions of pragmatic cosmopolitanism and defensive nationalism often determine who may or may not respond to post‐Soviet precarity by turning to transnational trade, embracing political and religious diversity, and overlooking hostilities, past and present.     

Research on Women in Policing: A Look at the Past,Present and Future

There are more women employed by police agencies today than ever before. Their role and workplace experiences have changed significantly from the time that they were first employed as police matrons in the late 1800s‐early 1900s. This article covers the history of women in policing. It provides an overview of past and contemporary research focused on female police officers. A trend found in the contemporary research reveals that there are many similarities among male and female police officers. This trend is interesting as policing has traditionally been a male dominated profession in the United States.     

Privacy and privilege: Patients', professionals', and the public's rights

Conflict between the individual's right to privacy and the public's right to know is increasing as insurance companies and other third parties are demanding more information about patients and clients and data banks are storing it for retrieval and later use. Social workers are ethically bound to protect the privacy of their relationships with patients and clients and the confidentiality of their communications. But there are situations in which the obligation to society is deemed greater than the individual's right to privacy, and even in states in which their patients' and clients' communications are granted privilege by law, the social worker can be required by law to divulge confidential information or risk being held in contempt of court. This paper will discuss the individual's right to privacy, privilege and its exceptions, and present examples of court decisions related to these issues.