REVISITING THE SOUTHERN CULTURE OF VIOLENCE

This analysis revisits the Southern culture of violence thesis. Several limitations of prior research are addressed by probing for a cultural influence on situation- and race-specific rates of homicide in both rural and urban communities. Negative binomial regression analyses of county-level homicide and census data indicate that the density of Southern-born whites is positively associated with white argument-based homicide rates in rural areas. When this relationship is examined outside of the spatial boundaries of the South—a critical test for a regionally based cultural influence on violence—the results are identical. We interpret these findings as suggestive of a cultural influence and situate them in a discussion of the broader theoretical state of research on regional variations in violence.     

REVISITING THE AGENT OF SOCIAL CONTROL ROLE: IMPLICATIONS FOR SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT

The agent of social control role and its responsibilities and goals provide an important function in social work practice. Workers in varied positions often combine this role with others that define the profession. Yet in the not too distant past, a debate arose as to whether this role, focusing on promoting and protecting the general welfare of society, could be congruent with also fostering the improved functioning and self‐determination of individual clients. Periodically, this topic emerges to challenge the appropriateness of these dual activities in satisfactorily and equitably serving both constituents.

Within the field of substance abuse, court‐mandated referrals have established a need for practitioners to perform social control tasks to monitor and report clients' compliance with and progress in treatment. This has created a conflict for many who consider their practice to be client‐centered. This article will explore the dilemmas experienced in attempting to simultaneously carry out both roles and the guidance provided from the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics. In addition, proposed strategies to reduce the duality of difficulties will be summarized.     

REVISITING KEY ISSUES ABOUT COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR,ORGANIZING, AND ROLE ENACTMENT

This article addresses the benefits of using a structural code and a role analysis framework for conducting organizational research in the context of a disaster. In the present article, I apply that code and framework to Thomas Forrest's earlier analysis of a organization, the Interfaith Emergency Center (IEC), that emerged during the Detroit civil disturbance of 1967. Kreps' structural code is applied to the same set of interviews and documents that constituted the database for Forrest's original case study (Disaster Research Center data archives). I first document the origins and restructuring of the IEC using the structural code. I then perform a role level analysis that builds on Bosworth and Kreps' three dimensional framework. That framework addresses the expectational, relational, and behavioral dimensions of role enactment. Revisiting Forrest's original study results in a more theoretically rich analysis of how and why the IEC emerged in the way that it did during the emergency period.     

CHAPTER 13: Analytic Essay:

No abstract available for this article.     

CHAPTER 6: The Family Crisis:

No abstract available for this article.     

Chapter 8: AIDS Service Organziations:

AIDS Service Organizations (ASOs) adopted a mission that included advocacy for public policy and private service agency response to the AIDS epidemic, prevention education efforts and provision of personal social services to people with AIDS (PWAs). This mission was shaped by stigmatization and marginalization of PWAs, the inadequate response of governments and health and social service agencies, the developing relationship between ASOs and diverse populations, especially communities of color, and by developments in medical research and treatments for HIV disease. ASOs thus emerged as new contexts of helping and as such had to create organizational structures appropriate for the problems faced, arrange for constructive relationships between helpers and those receiving services, and establish and maintain constructive relationships between the ASO and the larger community. Future challenges facing these new contexts of helping are discussed.