Valoración del riesgo de reincidencia en violencia contra la mujer en las relaciones de pareja: importancia del apoyo social

Resumen

Una de las estrategias preventivas recomendadas en el ámbito de la violencia contra la mujer en las relaciones de pareja, es la valoración del riesgo de reincidencia. Sin embargo, es escasa la investigación en torno a qué variables se relacionan con la valoración de riesgo realizada por los profesionales. En este trabajo, a partir de la información obtenida de 291 hombres penados por violencia de género, se analizaron las relaciones de diversas variables psicológicas, actitudinales y sociales, con dos medidas posibles de valoración de riesgo que pueden obtenerse a partir del SARA (Spousal Assault Risk Assessment); el Sumatorio de Factores de Riesgo de Reincidencia y la Valoración Global de Riesgo. El modelo de ecuaciones estructurales estimado mostró que las variables actitudinales y psicológicas utilizadas en el estudio se relacionaban significativamente con el Sumatorio de Factores de Riesgo, mientras que únicamente la impulsividad y las variables sociales se relacionaron significativamente con la Valoración Global de Riesgo. En la discusión se subraya la importancia del apoyo social y comunitario en la evaluación del riesgo de reincidencia.     

Predicting attitudes and behavioural intentions towards social entrepreneurship: the role of servant leadership in young people / Predicción de las actitudes y las intenciones conductuales hacia el emprendimiento social: el papel del liderazgo de servicio en los jóvenes

: Social entrepreneurship (SE) refers to the development of innovative projects whose main aim is not individual profit but the transformation of society. The issue is particularly important for promoting youth development and participation. This research offers insights from two studies designed from a multi-dimensional perspective analysing attitudes and behavioural intentions towards social ventures built upon the constructs of servant leadership and lifestyles. Results of Study 1 indicated that servant leadership is a key predictor of attitudes and behavioural intentions towards social entrepreneurship, while having a violent lifestyle is negatively associated with these attitudes and intentions. Study 2 showed that servant leadership style predicted attitudes towards social entrepreneurship over and above other types of leadership (i.e., transformational, transactional and laissez-faire). These studies demonstrate the importance of considering servant leadership and relational styles as key factors in predicting attitudes and behavioural intentions regarding social and active participation of young people. Limitations of the study and applications to designing interventions aimed at improving attitudes and behavioural intentions towards social entrepreneurship are discussed.     

‘Only Connect’: Unifying the social in social work and social media

‘Only Connect…live in fragments no longer’

(E.M. Forster, Howards End).

This paper utilises ‘Only Connect’, the epigraph from Forster’s novel ‘Howards End’ as the starting point for exploring the challenges and opportunities of integrating social networking with relationship based social work practice. The paper discusses the more deleterious implications of social networking, whilst assuming a deliberately optimistic stance to uncover ways in which the opportunities afforded by online space can be utilised effectively within social work education and practice. Whilst recognising that social networking platforms are transforming constantly, the paper adopts Kaplan’s definition of social media as a ‘group of internet based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0’. Whilst much of the discussion within the paper relates to Twitter and Facebook, two of the most endemic international social networking platforms, it is also applicable to myriad forms of social networking. The paper begins with a discussion of UK professional conduct cases and explores these both within Klein’s concept of splitting and historical attitudes to new technologies. Drawing from emerging research data and other examples, the positive relational practices educed by social media within social work education and practice are emphasised and discussed. The paper concludes by highlighting Forster’s plea for connection and recommending that social work embraces the renewed opportunities provided by online networking.     

Semejanzas y diferencias de género en las actitudes hacia las demandas del mercado laboral

Resumen

A pesar de las acciones desarrolladas durante los últimos años en el terreno legal, político, económico y cultural para favorecer la equidad y la paridad de género, es probable que en el ámbito psicosocial aún persistan ciertas diferencias psicológicas y actitudinales entre hombres y mujeres que, por su propio carácter implícito e informal, resultan poco visibles y difíciles de detectar pero sobre las que, sin duda, merece la pena investigar. Con esta intención, presentamos este trabajo en el que se analizan, a través de un cuestionario de elaboración propia, las semejanzas y diferencias de género existentes en una muestra de 438 jóvenes universitarios en relación con las actitudes hacia las actuales demandas del mercado laboral. Los resultados obtenidos son interpretados a la luz de los tres principales modelos teóricos desarrollados en este campo (modelo del género, modelo del trabajo y modelo integrado) y nos muestran cómo hombres y mujeres coinciden en las valoraciones que realizan sobre dichos requerimientos, atribuyen a las mismas razones la imposición en el mundo laboral de estas demandas y, finalmente, también convergen en las características profesionales que desearían, y por tanto, elegirían si se les diera tal oportunidad.     

Influence of gender self-schema and type of service-oriented NGOs on volunteering activity / Influencia del autoesquema de género y del tipo de servicios de las ONG en las actividades de voluntariado

The feminization of service-oriented NGOs on volunteering needs to consider gender differences when exploring the system of volunteer motivations. This study examines the relationship of these motivations with gender self-schema and type of service-oriented NGOs. For this purpose, 160 volunteers from 21 Spanish NGOs completed a questionnaire. The results show that, once the effect of time spent volunteering was removed, there was a significant effect of gender self-schema in relation to motivation and there was a significant interaction effect between gender self-schema and type of NGO. Specifically, masculine volunteers were less motivated than feminine, androgynous and undifferentiated persons. Also, masculine people working with the elderly were the least motivated volunteers and androgynous people working in service-oriented NGOs dedicated to children and adolescents were the most motivated individuals. The results indicate the relevance of androgyny in understanding volunteering, as well as the importance of promoting non-sexist educational proposals to increase men’s participation in these activities.     

Representaciones del impacto de la situación de desempleo en las prácticas familares

Resumen

Este trabajo pretende contribuir a la comprensión de los factores que explican la ausencia de cambios en las prácticas familiares tradicionales. Se presentan dos estudios. El primero examina las representaciones del empleo y desempleo. El segundo analiza el impacto que un indicador objetivo de disponibilidad y de recursos (el desempleo) provoca en las representaciones de las prácticas familiares y en el tipo de explicaciones evocadas para su justificación. Los resultados sugieren que: (a) se atribuye a los dos cónyuges una mayor participación en las tareas familiares y una menor participación en las decisiones familiares en la situación de desempleo; (b) los hombres recurren, más que las mujeres, a justificaciones relacionadas con las diferencias entre los sexos y con los papeles tradicionales de género para explicar el desempeño de los cónyuges desempleados; (c) la participación del cónyuge masculino desempleado es, sobretodo, explicada por razones de justicia y de satisfacción, que se relacionan con el bienestar de la familia y el bienestar personal; y la participación del cónyuge femenino desempleado es justificada por motivos de tiempo libre.     

From social representations to action: proximity and the relation between social representations of the development of intelligence and authoritative parenting style / De las representaciones sociales a la acción: proximidad y relación entre las representaciones sociales del desarrollo de la inteligencia y un estilo parental democrático

A well-established body of literature holds that the construction of social representations of intelligence is guided by the subjective inexplicability about the target-topic and by the social identities of subjects. Within the general framework of the sociogenesis of social representations, this article aims to explore the role of social positions in organizing an individual’s reported action towards the object of representation. A theoretical model which examines the relations between social representations of the development of intelligence, parental goals and the authoritative parenting style was tested in sub-samples of educators, which included 227 mothers, 117 fathers and 122 mother-teachers. Structural equation modeling procedures indicated, as hypothesized, that specific socio-cognitive dynamics are relevant in shaping the patterns of relations with the object of representation, suggesting that these dynamics are a result of the organization of multiple discourses where content, social positions and behavioural interaction are strongly intertwined. Theoretical contributions of findings are discussed.     

La importancia de las redes sociales de apoyo en la integración del enfermo mental en la comunidad

Resumen

Este trabajo analiza la importancia de las redes sociales de apoyo en la integración del enfermo mental en la comunidad. Se analizan las características de las redes sociales de las personas con desórdenes psiquiátricos. Se discute la importancia que tiene una red social de apoyo adecuada como un componente fundamental para la permanencia del enfermo mental en la comunidad y se subraya la relevancia de intervenciones dirigidas al fortalecimiento y reconstrucción de la red de apoyo social de las personas que padecen o han padecido enfermedades mentales. Finalmente se examina la contribución de estrategias de intervencion dirigidas tanto a los pacientes como a sus familiares como los grupos de autoayuda y los programas comunitarios de apoyo en el ámbito de la salud mental.     

Inequalities in students’ union leadership: the role of social networks

Drawing on a national survey of students’ union officers and staff, and a series of 24 focus groups involving both union officers and institutional senior managers, this article explores the characteristics of those who take up leadership roles in their (higher education) students’ union. We show that, in several areas – and particularly in relation to gender, ethnicity and age – union leaders do not represent well the diversity of the wider student body. In explaining these inequalities, we argue that friendship groups and other peer networks play a significant role in determining who does and does not take up leadership positions. Moreover, as friendship groups are often formed on the basis of ‘differential association’ and are thus frequently socially homogenous, inequalities tend to be perpetuated. Wider institutional cultures and societal norms are also implicated.     

Reactivating the ‘communist hypothesis’: Alain Badiou and social work

It has been argued that Alain Badiou could contribute to social work's engagement with social theory. This paper critically responds to this assertion and identifies some of the theoretical problems associated with Badiou's core conceptualisations. Divided into two sections, it will begin by outlining his main thematic preoccupations and will go on to focus on his interpretation of the significance of Saint Paul, the apostle. The second half of the paper will dwell on Webb's attempt to connect Badiou to social work so as to disrupt focal ideas on ‘diversity’ and ‘difference’. This section will conclude by critically exploring Badiou's comments on children, children's rights and abuse. Although, so far receiving no attention in the social work literature, his interventions on these matters are problematic in that they imply that children lie outside the ‘one world’ politics that he promotes. Despite such criticisms, it is concluded Badiou's theorisation needs to be included within the academic literature of European social work.     

Contextualizing the meaning of respect: the case of evangelicals in Brazil / Contextualización del significado del respeto: el caso de la comunidad evangélica de Brasil

This article examines the meaning of respect for evangelicals in Brazil. We were particularly interested in the roles which the recognition of equality, achievements and needs would play in the respect experiences of members of this religious minority. With regard to the sources of respect our focus was on Brazilians as a superordinate ingroup and on five different outgroups. As expected, equality recognition emerged as the dominant principle governing intragroup respect. Intergroup respect, however, was governed primarily by the principle of need recognition, especially in relations with religious outgroups. The principles of achievement and equality recognition also played a role in intergroup respect, but only in relations with secular outgroups. Implications for religious groups’ struggles for respect in modern society are discussed.     

La calidad de vida. Juicios de satisfacción y felicidad como indicadores actitudinales de bienestar

Abstract

This article argues that institutional apologies are rituals that can be conceived from a neo-Durkheimian viewpoint as external social tools of collective emotion, which allow people to assume collective guilt and shame, increase agreement with reparatory behaviors, and reinforce social cohesion. The review of studies presented in this monograph shows that an apology reactivates and intensifies collective emotions, mainly of shame and guilt, above and beyond merely reminding people of past misdeeds, and increases support for reparation. Shame and sorrow fuel and support reparative tendencies. Finally, salience of past collective violence together with an apology improves social climate to some extent, enhances intergroup reconciliation by decreasing prejudice and improving intergroup contact, and helps to reconstruct in-group collective memory in a more critical way. Changes in collective emotions and representations of the past mediate the positive effects of apologies on reparation and social cohesion.     

Social perception of intimate partner violence according to the motivations and sex of the aggressor and the ideology and sex of the observers / Percepción social de la violencia de pareja en función de las motivaciones y sexo del/a agresor/a y de la ideología y sexo de los/as observadores/as

We studied how the sex of the aggressor and their motivations for attacking influence the social perception of intimate partner violence, as well as the sex of the observer and their sexist ideology. University students read a scenario in which both members of a heterosexual couple harmed each other owing to controlling or reactive motivations. After that, they were asked to identify the motivations of each partner and estimate the seriousness of what occurred, the number of aggressions described and the frequency of this kind of episode in real life. The results showed that the men and women properly identified the motivations underlying the aggressive behaviours, considered control violence more serious than reactive violence, and perceived more of the first kind of aggression. However, the men estimated a lower frequency of these episodes in real life, especially episodes of control violence. The ambivalent sexism of the men is related to these assessments. These results are particularly important with regard to the debate on gender symmetry/asymmetry in intimate partner violence.     

‘Western hegemony’ in the social sciences: fields and model systems

This paper discusses the role of privileged research objects (‘model systems’) in producing patterns in transnational knowledge production. In its approach it follows Bourdieu's call to focus on contexts of production and forces internal to disciplines as well as his insistence on practice. Learning from work in science and technology studies it also considers material objects of knowledge and spaces of knowledge-production. It discusses the case of sociology and argues that conventions surrounding privileged research objects matter relatively independently of authors’ national origin or field-position. Examining model systems, I argue, can contribute to our understanding of how some well-established inequalities are produced and reproduced. This focus adds specific stakes to the debates about global knowledge production: we can discuss the problem of neglected cases in ways that are not always included in current reflections that draw on general political – rather than specifically knowledge-political – categories.     

Freedom as self-transgression: transformations in the ‘governmentality’ of social work

This article takes as its starting point the growing prominence of what might be called ‘neo-philanthropic’ forms of knowledge in social work during recent years. Inspired by Foucault's concepts of genealogy and governmentality, the article presents an historical analysis including eighteenth century poor policies, philanthropy in the late nineteenth century, welfare planning in the 1960s and the emergence of neo-philanthropic social work from the 1980s onwards. The article argues that the recent rediscovery of concepts and techniques invented by late nineteenth-century philanthropy breaks with traditional welfarist forms of knowledge and practices of social work. As a result, it seems that social work is now to foster new kinds of subjects and create new types of communities. This development indicates that a more profound transformation of the welfare state and its conception of citizenship might be taking place.

The article draws upon the PhD thesis entitled The Genealogy of Social Work: The Struggle to Turn the Poor and Marginalized into Free Persons by the author.     

Satisfaction with the country and well-being: future expectations / Satisfacción con el país y bienestar: expectativas acerca del futuro

The role of expected personal well-being in the perception of the improvement (or deterioration) in living conditions and country satisfaction is analysed, as well as the relationship between the latter and life satisfaction and personal happiness. A national sample of N = 10,654 participants was used, collected through probabilistic, stratified, two-stage and cluster sampling. They responded to the Mexican Encuesta Nacional de Gastos de los Hogares (National Household Spending Survey, ENGASTO), which measures the spending on goods and services, aspects related to satisfaction with life and the country, and expectations of future personal well-being. Correlational analyses show positive associations between perceptions of the country and its expected development on the one hand and participants’ well-being on the other. Expectations of future personal well-being show indirect effects for both the relationship between the perception of improvement (or deterioration) of living conditions and country satisfaction, and the relation between the latter, happiness and life satisfaction.     

Child protection decision-making: social workers’ perceptions

ABSTRACT

Decision-making is located at the heart of social work as a core professional activity, because much of what social workers do concerns decisions about future courses of action. Drawing on elements of the learning together systems model and Falkov’s Systemic Family Model, this study investigated social workers’ perceptions regarding how child protection decisions are made. Evidence was drawn from a constructivist–-interpretivist qualitative research design, involving 16 semi-structured interviews with qualified and experienced social workers and 20 direct, non-participant observations of child protection meetings. Evidence from the study suggests that professionals and family members do not rely entirely on the guidance on the threshold criterion of the likelihood and significance of risk of harm when making decisions. Instead, they use discretionary intuition and analytical judgement, involving multidimensional criteria which includes consensus between professionals and with family members; individual professional’s state of mind; other agencies and professionals’ priorities as well as external factors such as the availability of resources. Conclusion can be drawn that existing guidance on decision-making is inadequate, hence the discretionary use of a combination of intuitive heuristics and analytical thinking in a complementary manner. This study, therefore, contributes to considerable conceptual clarity regarding the complex child protection decision-making process.     

Developing social work students’ professional identity: the role of England’s Professional Capabilities Framework

ABSTRACT

Developing professional identity is a key aim of social work education. This paper argues that the Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF) – a holistic, capability approach to student assessment used in England’s social work education programmes – is ideally placed to promote the development of students’ professional identities. The paper discusses two research studies, each of which was stimulated by significant policy changes in England’s social work profession. The author draws out the implications of both studies for supporting social work students to develop their professional identities. It is concluded that the PCF is valued by practice educators as an assessment and teaching tool, while acknowledging that its future is uncertain due to the lack of continuity impacting on England’s social work profession. This paper is equally of relevance for social work educators outside the UK who may be developing and evaluating their assessment approaches and also for those experiencing the impact of rapid policy changes in their own countries.