Clubs as vehicles for inclusion in the urban fabric? Immigrants and elitist associational practices in Antwerp, 1795–1830

In both migration studies and sociocultural studies of associational practices, membership of voluntary associations has been considered as a vehicle for inclusion in the urban fabric. In migration studies, on the one hand, attention has been focused primarily on migrants’ own organizations, revealing questions about the role of these organizations as obstacles or incentives for social embedding in the new living environment. Associational studies, on the other hand, have emphasized social practices and social differences between clubs, without taking into account the impact upon immigration. This article brings together both historiographical traditions, and emphasizes the structural and socio-cultural elements of incorporation processes. The research investigates a group of immigrant-businessmen and their participation in club life in Antwerp between 1795 and 1830, asking whether associational life was used as a vehicle for inclusion, or whether access was only feasible when other inclusion mechanisms had been successful. By situating the timing of any entry into club membership in relation to other aspects of their personal and professional life-course, it becomes clear that access was preceded by other social mechanisms. Indeed, even for wealthy businessmen, mechanisms of exclusion existed as a consequence of existing social hierarchies amongst voluntary associations in Antwerp.     

Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans: What Might a Sociological Embeddedness Perspective Offer Disaster Research and Planning?

The Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans situation was commonly called a "natural disaster"—an anomalous "event" that disrupted lives, spaces, and organizations. Research and planning attention then focused on particular aspects of the event and on restoring order. In contrast, sociologists and similar-thinking scholars have increasingly viewed disaster situations from multiple locations and histories, often using systems theory. Here, reanalysis of empirical material from ethnographic research in New Orleans pre- and post-Katrina suggests that a sociological embeddedness perspective illustrates the dynamic seamlessness of past, present, and future economic contexts and social actions. The perspective's constitutive concepts of weak, strong, and differentiated ties highlight the role of local knowledge, intermediary-led workforce networks, and sustained participatory planning in creating a robust economic environment. Toward this end, disaster research, planning, and theory building could incorporate network tie assessments into social vulnerability protocols, compare embeddedness with other perspectives, and learn from related international experiences.     

Discharge procedures for mentally ill people The perspectives of professionals and former psychiatric patients on their quality of life

This article draws on literature about the quality of life and social relations to integrate a number of key concepts. Fifty-three former patients were interviewed to give their opinion on their quality of life. Almost as many professionals gave their opinion on the same issue. According to the former patients, the quality of life was influenced by duration of and stigma attached to mental illness, being without work, financial difficulties, inability to exert influence over their own situation and negative expectations of the future. Illness patterns seemed to be the all-pervading issue concerning the professionals' views on the former patients' quality of life. A social psychological analysis of these disparate views made it clear that they bring about contrasting claims; the professionals demanded continuation of a patient role whereas the former patients mostly wanted to find some means of embarking on ordinary useful lives.     

个人价值观与社会工作价值观之整合——社工之专业自我的形塑路径初探

每一个社会工作者首先是作为普通的个人而存在的,尔后才逐渐作为专业自我而存在。在长期的社会生活过程中,作为个人而存在的存在者都会基于其所处文化,形成一套自我主动或潜意实施的个人价值观,这将天然地与社会工作之无差别对待生命的人本主义价值观存在或多或少的张力或冲突。对此,本文尝试以拟亲属化和主体意识投射两种手段之架构,来做个人价值观与社会工作价值观之整合的努力,以期探寻一种社工之专业自我的形塑路径。     

个人价值观与社会工作价值观之整合——社工之专业自我的形塑路径初探

每一个社会工作者首先是作为普通的个人而存在的，尔后才逐渐作为专业自我而存在。在长期的社会生活过程中，作为个人而存在的存在者都会基于其所处文化，形成一套自我主动或潜意实施的个人价值观，这将天然地与社会工作之“无差别对待生命”的人本主义价值观存在或多或少的张力或冲突。对此，本文尝试以“拟亲属化”和“主体意识投射”两种手段之架构，来做个人价值观与社会工作价值观之整合的努力，以期探寻一种社工之专业自我的形塑路径。     

Family councils in nursing facilities: strategies for effective participation

This article provides an overview of the role of family councils. The contributions of the three groups that play a significant role in the development and support of family councils, relatives and friends of the facility's residents, facility administration and staff, and local advocacy organizations, are discussed. The role of the staff advisor, generally the facility social worker, is a major key to a successful council. Barriers that impede family council success are identified, and strategies that improve effectiveness are presented. Family councils play an important part in improving the quality of lives of long-term care residents.     

The occurrence of happy and traumatic events in the life of common people

Until recent times, psychology and the social sciences have paid only limited attention to the positive aspects of human life. The present article aims to review psychological and epidemiological studies about the occurrence of happy and traumatic events in the life of common people, critically discussing their findings and suggesting new research directions. Overall, it has emerged that most people report having experienced at least one traumatic event in their lives; on the other hand, moderate happy experiences may occur with a daily frequency. Unfortunately, the studies conducted thus far suffer from methodological limitations as they did not consider extremely happy events and collected data about happy and traumatic events separately. The author emphasizes the necessity to jointly investigate the prevalence of both happy and traumatic events. Hopefully, this will permit to achieve more reliable indicators of quality of life, thus contributing to increase researchers’ understanding of what makes human existence joyful and sorrowful.     

Socially excluding housing support to homeless substance misusers: two Swedish case studies of special category housing

This article discusses special category housing for homeless addicts, based on case studies of two different housing programmes and using both qualitative and quantitative data. The staff and residents were interviewed about their experiences of the programmes. Longitudinal data were collected on various indicators of substance misuse and the frequency of contact with the social services at different levels. Our findings show that special category housing has positive direct effects on the housing stability of the residents and their feelings regarding their quality of life, but not on their substance misuse. However, the increased housing stability seems to be more a direct effect of their staying on the programme, rather than a long-term effect. Furthermore, although their quality of life improves, the residents still experience a lack of belonging and feel that their lives lack meaningful content. The choice of special category housing as an intervention model thus seems to perpetuate rather than prevent social exclusion and can possibly be described as an expression of 'institutionalised resignation'.     

Coordinating community organizations in urban China

Since its introduction in the 1980s, China's housing privatization reform has gradually transformed urban residents into private homeowners, and reinforced disparities in housing allocation and living conditions. Various studies have analyzed the mobilization of private homeowners in newly built, upscale apartment complexes. Using data from field observations and in-depth interviews conducted in five low-income, urban neighborhoods in Beijing in 1999–2000, this article investigates the shifts in the organizational and power structure in older, working-class communities. The article describes the changing status of traditional and newly developed organizations and agencies within these neighborhoods, and analyzes the underlying reasons for the displacements and conflicts they experienced. Drawing on the author's subsequent fieldwork with community organizations in the USA in 2001–2002, the article suggests means of coordinating community organizations in low-income, urban neighborhoods in China, and discusses the opportunities and challenges for the social work profession in its attempts to deliver social services and advocate social justice.     

Coordinating community organizations in urban China

Since its introduction in the 1980s, China's housing privatization reform has gradually transformed urban residents into private homeowners, and reinforced disparities in housing allocation and living conditions. Various studies have analyzed the mobilization of private homeowners in newly built, upscale apartment complexes. Using data from field observations and in-depth interviews conducted in five low-income, urban neighborhoods in Beijing in 1999–2000, this article investigates the shifts in the organizational and power structure in older, working-class communities. The article describes the changing status of traditional and newly developed organizations and agencies within these neighborhoods, and analyzes the underlying reasons for the displacements and conflicts they experienced. Drawing on the author's subsequent fieldwork with community organizations in the USA in 2001–2002, the article suggests means of coordinating community organizations in low-income, urban neighborhoods in China, and discusses the opportunities and challenges for the social work profession in its attempts to deliver social services and advocate social justice.     

宋代音乐民间化走向研究

宋代是音乐创作及表演中心转向民间、民间音乐表现活跃的转型时期,表现在内容上贴近百姓生活,参与表演者阶层广泛,演艺场所层次多元化,民间创作形式丰富,引起文人士大夫的关注,城市市民成为音乐消费的主体,在中国古代音乐文化发展中起了承上启下的作用,影响深远。     

Evocative Objects: the Role of Architecture in Creating a Habit of Mind

The aim of this article is to ask how architectural spaces work on those who occupy them. Using the example of the carved wooden roof bosses in the Upper Hall of Jesus College, Cambridge, I will investigate how objects could have been used to implement and enhance a late medieval/early renaissance “habit of mind.” It is my belief that certain objects could be defined as evocative objects because they evoke ways of being in certain spaces. In other words, they provide a framework, or a stage setting for particular actions. I argue that the carved bosses prompted the maintenance of specific actions that would have been known from other parts of college life. In doing so they sustained the established relationships among the community of fellows, juvenes, and staff. Among the scholars shared ways of being created a common experience given meaning by the academic standards of their day. This organization of categories of experience into truths created a version of shared reality which was central to the college as a social community.     

Creating Spaces: Exploring the Role of Cultural Knowledge as a Source of Empowerment in Models of Social Welfare in Black Communities

Summary Research data continue to indicate that black communities aredisproportionately represented across social welfare statistics.The Macpherson Report (1999) considered the impact of institutionalracism and the various ways in which these contingencies affectthe life chances of black families and individuals. Black community-basedorganizations have responded to these challenges through culturallyconstructed interpretative frameworks in shaping and definingsocial welfare activities. Through a critical reading of culturalelements and products they have utilized cultural knowledgeas a source and means of empowerment. These are important sitesof empowerment that reject deficit approaches to embrace culturallyaffirming models located in cultural knowledge and lived experiences.In this way, black communities have engaged in an active processof revitalization, cultural renewal and regeneration. This articleexplores models of social welfare in black community-based organizationsand draws on a research study conducted by the author, whichexamines the role and saliency of cultural knowledge in shapingsocial welfare delivery. Research findings reveal the ways inwhich black agency is sometimes located in culturally constructedways to reflect on daily lives and experiences. Cultural knowledgeacted as a vehicle in framing action-orientated communal strategiesfor social and educational change.     

网络场域、文化认同与劳工关注社群:基于话题模型与社群侦测的大数据分析

基于“网络与文化”和关系社会学的理论,本文指出网络场域与所沟通的文化内容之间存在互构关系。本文使用话题模型分析了关注劳工议题的用户所发布的51 288条博文,结果显示,劳工话题大致涉及以下几方面：文化与公益、工人的困境与问题、维权行动与工人组织、制度与劳工权。对用户间互动模式的社群侦测揭示了5个主要社群,结合社群关注的议题,作者将其称为：工人家园社群、工人维权社群、工人文化社群、劳工制度关注社群、工人权益关注社群。本文进一步指出劳工研究领域的两个新趋势：（1）随着新生代工人群体的壮大,工人文化与城市融入等议题受到较多关注;（2）微博促进研究者与劳工组织的互动,在一定程度上有助于后者从制度层面反思工人的境况。最后,本文讨论了大数据分析在网络文化与社会心态研究中的应用。     

‘Pushing buttons‘: an evaluation of the effect of Aboriginal income management on commercial gambling expenditure

The Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007 was a radical intervention into the lives of Aboriginal residents of the Northern Territory, Australia. One of the intervention's key measures was income management – a scheme designed to limit the range of goods and services that may be purchased with social security payments. The aim of income management was to curb 'anti‐social behaviours' such as excessive gambling and alcohol consumption. In this paper, we specifically test the efficacy of income management in reducing the amount spent on commercial gambling. To achieve this we conduct an interrupted time series analysis with deflated monthly electronic gaming machine (EGM) expenditure data from July 2002 to July 2010 for hotels and clubs in the towns of Alice Springs and Katherine. We find a negative association between income management and EGM revenues for only one gambling venue in each town. However, local complexity in the form of segregated markets along temporal, spatial and racial lines, along with other policy confounders, may obscure the effects of the macro‐policy intervention. We conclude by making suggestions for locally‐based responses to problematic forms of risky consumption that may be more sensitive to local geographies.     

Impact of older adults' mobility and social participation on life satisfaction in South Korea

South Korea has been experiencing rapid population aging. In an aging society, the need for healthy lives is greater. Two of the fundamental factors to enable independent and active life for the elderly are mobility and social participation. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between older adults’ mobility, social participation, and quality of life in South Korea. We used data from the 2017 National Survey of Older Koreans conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs and applied hierarchical regression. The major finding was that older adults’ mobility had a positive impact on their life satisfaction. After controlling for older adults’ mobility, social participation was positively associated with life satisfaction regardless of the place of residence. The findings of this study not only make a valuable contribution to further research on mobility and social participation but also provide new insight into improving older adults’ quality of life.     

"Religion is the finding thing": an evolving spirituality in late life

This paper discusses some important dimensions of faith and of the social contexts surrounding faith that are illustrative of continuity and growth in spirituality in the lives of older adults. Examples of an evolving spirituality emerge in the analysis of a recent qualitative research study that probed the nature of religious experience among thirty-one community-dwelling elders and fifteen elders residing in long-term care facilities. Face-to-face interviews with these forty-six older adults and with seven people who directed or assisted with formal and informal programs of faith comprise the empirical base for this paper. The seven people, I refer to them mnemonically as faithreps, worked in various ways in the long-term care settings to provide programs involving faith to older adults. The faithreps came from a range of educational and religious backgrounds and are not accurately or handily categorized. An evolving spirituality is shaped by the older person's links to the structural and the socio-relational contexts that have been created through interaction in the past as well as through interaction in the present. Moreover, the interaction of older adults and faithreps encourages spiritual growth because as social actors engaged with one another over a sustained period of time in an institutional setting, questions and dialogue about life and its meaning are regularly evoked. The social interactions that foster spiritual evolution may be an admixture of the secular and the sacred. Such socio-relational contexts were once part of the naturalistic settings of daily life among the old, but now must emerge through the efforts and planning of others. The salience of faith among present cohorts of older adults sensitizes us to the necessity of devoting more consideration to optimal ways of strengthening and building contexts that are conducive to the evolution of spirituality.     

珠三角不同类型社区的社会组织发展特点比较分析——以中山市为调研个案

社区社会组织在加强社区管理、推进社区自治、培育社区文化、推进社区公益方面日益凸显其独特的优势与功能。但由于各社区的经济发展程度、居民的结构、文化基础等方面的差别,不同类型的社区其社会组织发展的状况、特点以及发展中遇到的困难等也各不一样。文章以中山市为调研个案,对珠三角的不同类型社区社会组织发展状况及存在的问题进行了比较分析。     

Mutual benefit societies in Indonesia

We do not know when or how mutual benefit societies first appeared in colonial Indonesia, but there is evidence that they were part of the lives of at least some of the ordinary people in the towns and cities by the last quarter of the nineteenth century. By the 1910s they were common in workplaces and kampung, the often less than salubrious parts of the towns and cities where wage labourers and their families lived. Large numbers of people joined and some of them handled significant sums of money. For many people, they were an essential help in coping with daily life on small incomes with no capacity to save and with the ever-present threat of loss of work, sickness or death. The relationships between mutual benefit societies, labour unions political parties and other voluntary organizations which would contribute to Indonesian nationalism is of particular interest. Clearly, to be involved in, and to be seen to be involved in, mutual aid was important for all these urban organizations.¹     

Discharge procedures for mentally ill people: The perspective of former psychiatric patients on their primary social network, quality of life and future life expectations

This article on literature about social networks and social support in order to integrate a number of key concepts and findings that must be considered in research about the social conditions of mentally ill people. Interviews with 53 former psychiatric patients were carried out to get their perspective on their social network, quality of life and future life expectations. The duration of and stigma attached to mental illness, being without work and gender seemed to have the most influence on the primary network. The same issues, except for gender, together with place of residence, financial difficulties and inability to exert influence over one's own situation influenced the respondents' quality of life and their expectations of the future. These findings are analysed and discussed from a social psychological perspective.