Reading,Writing, and Revolution: Facilitating Social Activism in First Grade

This article examines how teachers can develop a sense of social activism in students through critical multiculturalism. Drawing upon data from a nine-month participant observation study of a first-grade public charter school classroom in central California, this article highlights how teachers can integrate critical multiculturalism within an elementary classroom by connecting artists' lives to social issues to raise awareness of social injustices, promote critical reflection and consciousness, and develop a sense of social activism. Particular attention is paid to how teachers can incorporate this curriculum into their own classrooms.     

Jazz in Social Interaction: Personal Creativity,Collective Constraint,and Motivational Explanation in the Social Thought of Howard S. Becker

Although symbolic interactionist studies are often thought to abandon motivational explanation in favor of a focus on social process, the interactionist tradition has usefully employed two deterministic themes. One is inherent in the appreciation of the actor's inescapable sense of interactional significance for behavior that will be socially witnessed. A second deterministic theme appreciates external constraints on the individual's perception and generation of social acts. The former shapes all work in symbolic interactionism. The latter has been developed most consistently in the work of Howard S. Becker. Without addressing the matter as such, Becker has worked with a series of ideas about constraint on individual motivation, ideas that are harmonious with the interactionist's understanding of personal creativity in social action. His writings invite a reconsideration of the supposed antagonism between the appreciation of interactive process and the understanding of motivational constraint. Becker's work on motivation is also notable for outlining a theory of increasing constraints through the life cycle, constraints which, if appreciated by the actor, carry paradoxically liberating implications. The distinctive interplay of personal creativity and collective constraint in his thought is succinctly captured by the metaphor of jazz in social interaction.     

Sociology and Art: An Interview with Howard S. Becker

This is an interview with Howard S. Becker, and the focus is sociology and art. In this interview, Howard S. Becker talked about many interesting and important topics such as his sociological lineage, his difference with the estheticians Arthur Danto and George Dickie, traditional sociologist of art such as Lukacs and Goldmann, his Tactile Art Group, the universality of his art worlds, Richard A. Peterson and his production of culture perspective, the sociology of “sociology of art” in America, French sociologists of art, and his own art life, and so on.     

Learning from Experience: Recollections of Working with Howard S. Becker

Howard S. Becker is, and has been, a major figure in contemporary sociology, especially within the symbolic interactionist perspective. This discussion describes my initial encounter with Howie in the mid‐1960s and moves to identify the substantive and methodological areas in which he has had major impact. I then briefly outline various ways in which the foci of my own work have been shaped by Becker's instruction and example.     

Owning (up to) Reflective Writing in Social Work Education

Reflective learning has an established place within social work education but there has been little debate around the nature and purpose of reflective writing as a distinct genre in the context of written academic assessment. Where writing has been discussed in relation to reflection it has been for the purposes of supporting learning rather than academic assessment. This paper draws upon research undertaken with a group of social work students and tutors at The Open University UK together with the work of Watson, both of which identify student difficulties with reflective writing. Research from the field of academic literacies is presented to open up a debate within social work education about the place of reflective writing as a tool for learning and assessment. In doing so, it shares the experiences of one institution, The Open University UK, of working towards greater clarity in the teaching and assessment of reflective practice through writing.     

Social Welfare: Values,Means, Ends,Donald S. Howard. New York: Random House, 1969. 512 Pages. $8.50 Hardbound

Because of a general decline in applications to schools of social work in recent years, student recruitment has grown in importance. This article, based on questionnaires sent to schools and on the authors' experience, explores recruitment issues for both BSW and MSW programs and proposes a model recruitment effort.     

Review Essay: (Mis-)Reading/(Re-)Reading Marx

Qualitative Sociology -     

The Contradiction of Helping: Inuit Oppression(s) and Social Work in Nunavut

Significant differences in privilege, material resources, and decision-making power exist between Inuit and Qallunaat (or non-Inuit) in Canada’s Nunavut Territory. Holding serious implications, the disproportionate advantages afforded Qallunaat require an examination of the relationship between social work and the State (as employer). The role of credentialism and professionalism in the maintenance of neocolonial relations reveals a professional paradox and a barrier to pursing the objective of social justice within the profession. The transition experienced by Inuit—from a predominantly hunting culture to the logic of industrial capitalism—necessitates an examination of the role Qallunaat social workers have played and continue to practice within this transition and in the institutional structures that protect their interests.     

Options to liberalize Social Security disabled widow(er)s benefits

Each month, 200,000 widows and 6,000 widowers receive Social Security disabled widow(er)s benefits, each benefit averaging about $550. Among the most economically at-risk Social Security beneficiaries, their benefits are permanently reduced. This paper reviews the legislative history of the disabled widow(er)s benefit, identifying key decisions that gave shape to this benefit. Social Security program data and six years of Current Population Survey data (March Annual Demographic Files, 1995-2000) are used to profile the economic status of current and potential disabled widows. The analysis, including comparison with other widows, provides strong evidence of economic need among disabled widows with, for example, 44% of disabled widow beneficiaries, ages 50-59, having below-poverty incomes compared with 15% of like-aged non-disabled widows. We conclude that serious consideration should be given to extending eligibility to all widow(er)s disabled before the normal retirement age; to providing a benefit equal to 100% of the deceased spouse's private insurance amount (PIA); to eliminating the unnecessarily restrictive seven-year rule; and to protecting beneficiaries from losing their eligibility to Medicaid. Even in the context of today's heated Social Security debate, we suggest that a rare opportunity may exist to garner bipartisan support for meaningful, low-cost improvements, in a benefit that primarily targets women.     

The U.S. Criminal Justice System: A Role for Radical Social Work

ABSTRACT

Characteristics of the current United States criminal justice system include mass incarceration at a rate higher than that of any other Western country, extraordinarily long sentences, rampant racial discrimination, and discrimination against all low-income persons. The impact of this system goes beyond devastation of those subject to supervision of the system to their families, communities, and society at large. This article analyzes the current criminal justice system relative to neoliberalism and ongoing reform efforts. The possible roles of radical social work in facilitating reforms and connecting criminal justice advocacy and issues to larger structural issues as well as direct practice strategies are explored.     

Foreign Scientists at the National Institutes of Health: Ramifications of U.S. Immigration and Labor Policies1

This article describes the findings of a study undertaken to shed light on some of the factors that determine the employment of foreign biomedical scientists in the United States by examining their presence at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH was selected as the focus of the study for its unique combination of characteristics. It is a federal agency with the ambiance of academe that carries out biomedical research and training internally while supporting like activities externally through grant‐ and contract‐based linkages with a host of academic institutions and biotechnology firms in the United States and abroad. Over a two‐year period, in‐depth interviews were conducted with more than 200 stakeholders at the NIH campus and elsewhere, as well as ethnographic observations. The study identified several hitherto unreported important functions that NIH plays in facilitating the inflow of talented foreign scientists to meet its manpower needs and those of the broader national economy.     

Serving the U.S. Work Force: A New Constituency for Schools of Social Work

Almost 90 million working people and their families have great unsatisfied needs for services. They pay for most present and potential U.S. human service structures in at least seven ways. Working people constitute a great challenge and potential growth area for the profession and for schools of social work. Developments in present industrial social work and social work education are discussed in this paper. Specific new proposals are presented. These include suggestions for meeting urgent needs and opportunities during the economic crisis.     

Research Orientations and Sources of Influence: Agricultural Scientists in the U.S. Land‐Grant System*

Abstract This research builds on the work of Busch and Lacy, who have written extensively about the sources of influence on the choice of research problems in the agricultural sciences at land‐grant universities. Employing data from a 1995–1996 nationwide survey of land‐grant agricultural scientists, I use multiple regression techniques to investigate the relative importance of 19 sources of influence on agricultural scientists engaged in six research areas: productionist‐oriented, sustainable agriculture, environmental, basic, consumer‐oriented, and rural community‐oriented. The first objective of this paper is to revisit and assess many of Busch and Lacy's findings about the influences on land‐grant agricultural scientists. I find that different types of land‐grant research are influenced by distinct combinations of factors. The second major objective is to extend Busch and Lacy's work by spotlighting the significant influences on sustainable agriculture research. My multivariate findings show that this research appears to exhibit influences that reflect its dual productionist and environmental character.