Epistemological problems and the personality and social system in social psychology

If we understand social psychology to be an area where sociology and psychology overlap, or more precisely where we try to explain interaction on the basis of psychological and sociological propositions and concepts, we have singled out a field that should be quite challenging not only in theory and method but in the fundamental questions it raises for both sociology and psychology. Actually, the discipline is not that well integrated and is constituted by such disparate approaches as reinforcement theory, field theory, role theory, small group theory, game theory and psychoanalysis. Many sociologists have abandoned the field altogether. Nor have the proponents of these sub-fields made much effort to consolidate, integrate or reconcile their methodologies. Epistemological questions have been notably absent and only now have arguments from the philosophy of science point of view reemerged to revive the critical and potentially fruitful methodological discussions of earlier theorists (F. Allport; Lewin; Mead; Simmel) and their more recent followers (Homans; Malewski). After considering epistemological problems dealing with the generality of theory and explanation, behavioristic vs. action approaches, operational and model structural implications, we want to argue for a better understanding of social system variables besides those of the personality system and of system theory in general. In our discussion we use examples from the area of sport because it composes a complex system, that is not too difficult to observe at the same time that it shows in relative clarity all of the different levels of an action system. It has, furthermore, many features of an almost experimental design in a natural field. In so far it is a model area to allow due consideration for our demand that social psychology rediscover the method of field studies. This will help to reverse the trend characterized by a general neglect of theory that has resulted from behavioral dogmatism and the expedience of research pragmatism based mostly on two-variable linear models. This is not to say that we disfavor rigorous research design and data analysis - to the contrary. We just want it to be done in the context of broader theoretical concerns and in clear recognition of the pitfalls of operationalism and the merits of action theory.     

A study of social distance in the implementation of the national minority social work in Xinjiang

Abstract

As a subfield of social work studies, social work for ethnic minorities has drawn the attention of academics and practitioners in recent years. In Mainland China, hardly anyone is involved in social work concerning ethnic minorities, and barely a handful of practical research papers on ethnic minority social work are available. This paper seeks to study practical social work for ethnic minorities from the perspective of social distance. It describes the major social distance scales and the main causes behind the formation of social distance, as well as several strategies in response to the social distance in ethnic minority social work.     

Public perceptions of social workers and social work in the Republic of Croatia

Throughout the war and the post-war period, the field of social work in Croatia has developed at an accelerated rate. The involvement and assistance from international agencies and individuals created numerous fora for exchange, collaboration and mutual learning among all the helping professions. The research process represented a collaborative effort of faculty, lecturers and students in the Study Center for Social Work in the University of Zagreb's Faculty of Law. The sample was convenient, composed mainly of the urban population of Croatia. The instrument consists of two main parts, one regarding the content of a social worker's work, and the other regarding the attitudes toward that profession. We believe that the results of our study demonstrate that social work, as a profession, is relatively well known among the citizens of Croatia. Those markers pertaining to the attitude towards social work profession, which are negative in nature, are ranked by our participants as lowest in importance on the scale.     

Focused participation in social work and social action

Focused participation proposes that total participation by clients of social work and communities involved in social action is no participation if it neglects the severe blocks on capacity to participate imposed by oppressed life experience and poverty. Workers should take on the responsibility for including a planned program of participation in every intervention focused on what is most important to the client or community members. Case examples in residential care for elderly people, a child advocacy service concerned with the closure of children's homes, cutting a voluntary organization's budget and family social work illustrate the main points of focused participation.     

扩大社会保障覆盖面实现社会公平

党的十六届五中全会对社会主义和谐社会建设做出了全面部署,强调“要以扩大就业、完善社会保障体系、理顺分配关系、发展社会事业为着力点,妥善处理不同利益群体关系,认真解决人民群众最关心、最直接、最现实的利益问题。”其中,完善社会保障体系作为一个重要的着力点,而在社会保障制度建设中,目前群众要求最为强烈的是扩大社会保障覆盖面,将更多的社会成员特别是中低收入者纳入社会保障体系。多年以来,尽管我们做了很多努力,但社会保障的覆盖面还是太窄,多数城镇职工未能享有社会保险,而广大农民则基本上被排斥在社会保障体系之外。这种情…     

Issues in the development of social work information systems: the case of hospital social work departments

Information systems have been proposed as a valuable resource for promoting the efficient and effective operation of hospital social service departments. However, the development and implementation process must overcome the tensions inherent to collection and utilization of structured information by social work practitioners. These include the need for quantified data about qualitative phenomena, compatibility with existing work routines, compatibility with norms and perceptions of information needs at different levels, and potential versus actual utilization of the data. The authors examine these issues and present strategies for dealing with them, in the context of a project to develop a country-wide information system for social work departments in general hospitals in Israel.     

论社工介入未成年人犯罪审前社会调查制度的必要性

社会调查制度是少年司法制度的重要组成部分,旨在保护犯罪儿童的合法权益及促进其健康成长。社会调查员是考察社会调查工作的重要指标,从目前我国社会调查制度开展的情况来看,社会调查员的组成复杂,专业能力有待提升。本文从社会调查工作的内在属性谈起,梳理了目前社会调查员的组成状况,并在分析社会工作专业优势的基础上,倡导社会工作专业积极介入社会调查工作,从而完善我国少年司法制度及儿童权益保护工作。     

The impact of the use of the social welfare services or social security benefits on attitudes to social welfare policies

Muuri A. The impact of the use of the social welfare services or social security benefits on attitudes to social welfare policies
Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 182–193 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This article investigates the attitudes of citizens and clients to social welfare services and social security benefits. The data come from a Finnish national survey conducted at the end of 2006. First, the article overviews the previous welfare‐state studies relating especially to the theoretical perspectives of self‐interest and legitimacy. The empirical analysis indicates (i) that a different operation of self‐interest can only weakly explain the differences in attitudes between services and benefits; (ii) that there is general support for Finnish social welfare services and social security benefits, which, however, is mixed with growing criticism among women and pensioners who are supposed to benefit most from the welfare policies; and (iii) that such determinants of attitude as gender, use and, to some extent, lifecycle have become as important as class‐related factors such as income and education.     

The return of the political in social work

This article is a follow-up to our article 'Revisiting social work as art' and in part a response to Karen Healy's reply [both published in IJSW 17(2)]. It is, however, also a significant extension of this material since it engages with more general concerns about the critical project that is intrinsic to social work. Social work is not just about self-foundation based on knowledge, values and skills formation, but also about self-assertion. Crucially, it is through this notion of self-assertion that social work can be best understood as an agent of change. This transformative aspect of social work is our central focus. We are not concerned with structural conditions of power and domination but with theorising what a transformative politics would look like for social work using the lens of the French political philosopher Alain Badiou as a conceptual medium for permitting the return of the political for social work.     

The social consequences of the AIDS epidemic: a challenge for the social sciences

The Social Science Research Council is analyzing the social consequences of the AIDS epidemic from the viewpoint of developing society's coping mechanisms and policies. Since neither drugs nor vaccines for AIDS are available, the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine have urged that social service research be directed at the areas of education and policy and also at discrimination against AIDS patients and high-risk minorities, such as homosexuals and intravenous drug users. Education is essential in order to effect behavioral changes among these groups as well as to forestall panic among the public. The AIDS epidemic comes at a time when public health emphasis was shifting from communicable disease to chronic degenerative disorders, and problems, such as the possible need for isolation wards are reappearing. Moreover, the total cost of caring for AIDS sufferers is expected to be between 8 and 16 billion pounds sterling by 1991. As AIDS patients become unemployed, they lose their insurance benefits, and the cost of their care reverts to Medicaid and state revenues. Research needs to be done as to the degree to which voluntary health agencies will be able to help. The AIDS epidemic also affects civil rights. Some federal agencies and the armed forces screen applicants for AIDS seropositivity. The army, which traditionally has recruited from inner city minorities, has found that up to 2% of applicants are HIV seropositive, and foreign governments are beginning to object to the stationing of US soldiers in their countries. Answers must be provided for all of these and other social issues if we are to cope with the social effects of the AIDS epidemic.     

On the structuralist constraints in social scientific theorizing

Several case studies and theoretical reports indicate that the structuralist concept of a constraint has a central role in the reconstruction of physical theories. It is surprising that there is only little theoretical discussion on the relevance of constraints for the reconstruction of social scientific theories in the literature. Almost all structuralist reconstructions of social theorizing are vacuously constrained. Consequently, constraints are methodologically irrelevant.In this paper I reconstruct three cases selected from social scientific theorizing. The first case is a generalization of Gross, Mason and McEachern's (1958) role expectation conflict theory, which is a qualitative theory. The second case is Cohen and Lee's (1975) quantitative theory of social conformity, which essentially utilizes the theor of Markov chains. The third case is the explanation schema of folk psychology which is one of the most important methodological frameworks in the social sciences.In all the three cases important constraints emerge. From an epistemological point of view it seems that the related constraints work as higher-order laws. In any case, purely conceptual arguments are insufficient to justify them.The three cases,mutatis mutandis, cover nearly all types of social scientific theorizing, so that in my view constraints play a crucial methodological role in the social sciences precisely as they have in the natural sciences.     

迈向自主的澳门社会科学--《社会科学发展在澳门》序

澳门社会科学的发展和提升,是澳门社会取得长久进步和发展的保证,尤其对澳门的和谐共存理念及其制度安排进行研究,很有可能在既有的理论框架和观点之外开放出一条新的理论路径;而这种“深度研究”,须以澳门社会科学发展的自主性为依凭。澳门社会科学的发展,以澳门社会背景因素为起点,由澳门基金会引领,以高等院校、科研机构和学术团体为组织依托和机制载体,并受实证主义社会科学观的支配。要建构澳门社会科学真正的自主性品格,还必须对澳门问题做深入的理论思考,并做出研究上的知识增量。     

Christian democracy, social democracy and the paradoxes of earnings-related social security

This article compares the retirement policies of Belgium and Sweden in order to reveal the different incentive structures built into the pensions systems prevailing in countries that are taken to represent different approaches to welfare capitalism. It addresses the question of why in a Christian Democratic welfare state that is said to grant pensions rights on the basis of merit and past work performance one can find extremely low labour-force participation rates among elderly workers, while in a Social Democratic welfare state that is supposed to grant pension rights relatively independent of past labour-market performance, one can find quite high participation rates amongst that section of the labour force. This apparent paradox is explained in terms of the different purposes of the early-retirement schemes in the two countries: in Belgium they were primarily part of a strategy to combat (youth) unemployment, in Sweden they had more to do with reforms that sought to accomplish a 'humanisation of work' by softening the abrupt transition from work into retirement.