Ending aging in the Shteyngart of Eden: Biogerontological discourse in a Super Sad True Love Story

This article broaches the topic of biogerontology as presented in Gary Shteyngart's dystopic novel Super Sad True Love Story (2010) from the perspective of cultural and literary gerontology and examines how the novel manages to challenge predominant discourses in the field of scientific anti-aging studies, especially the notion that old age is a disease that can be cured. It compares the novel's presentation of biogerontological knowledge to current developments in the field, using Cambridge biogerontologist and immortality prophet Aubrey de Grey's book Ending Aging (2007) as an example. Based on the assumption that cultural criticism can and should impact scientific and medical research on aging, this paper asks whether (the analysis of) fictional texts can be seen as a cultural critical intervention into the ageism so often openly displayed in scientific discourses.     

Approaching Reason's Edge: "Nonsense" as the Final Solution to the Problem of Meaning

It has been noted that in order to make sense of the world, members must rely upon their assumption that Reality is noncontradictory in nature. This paper examines cases where members are confronted with what to them are irreconcilable contradictions. It is shown that through the use of concepts such as "nonsense," members allow irreconcilable contradictions to count as evidence of a noncontradictory Reality.     

The Heart of the Story:

No abstract available for this article.     

Theory as Story: A Postmodern Tale

After locating postmodernism in its historical and epistemological contexts, this article takes the postmodern position that the behavioral theories that have informed clinical social work practice over the last century are stories with texts written by authors whose place in historical time, life experience, and personal proclivities shaped both the plots of the stories and the manner in which they were told. A review of the most influential theory-stories lays the groundwork for addressing two questions: What can postmodernism do for clinical social work? And what can clinical social work do for postmodernism?     

AgJOBS: New Solution or New Problem?

Over half of the workers employed on U.S. farms are not authorized to work in the United States. An historic compromise between employer and worker advocates in September 2003 would legalize some currently unauthorized workers and make it easier for farmers to obtain guest workers, but is unlikely to change the farm labor market, so that the percentage of unauthorized workers is likely to climb again.     

Mead's Solution to the Problem of Agency*

The question of agency is central to several important debates in contemporary sociology. Unfortunately, discussions of agency can become embroiled with issues related to free will and dterminism. George Herbert Mead developed an approach to agency that avoids unsolvable metaphysical problems about free will and determinism. This paper presents Mead's work relevant to agency, revealing both Mead's method and the details of his theory. First, it shows how Mead followed the basic methods of behavioristic psychology, which require that abstract philosophical and psychological concepts are defined in terms of the actual behaviors involved. A strict focus on behavior helps in avoiding metaphysical impasses when dealing with such complex issues as decision making and choice. Second, the paper presents an overview of Mead's specific theories about awareness, meaning, decision making, choice, creativity, and social responsibility, showing how he analyzed these concepts in terms of the central nervous system, language, inner conversation, taking the role of others, reflective intelligence, the “I” and the “me”, and related concepts.     

Child Abuse on the Internet: Ending the Silence

The Melbourne Health (MH) Social Work Residential Care Team (RCT) was established in 2002 as a new and innovative approach to aged care. The service employs three full-time social workers and an Allied Health assistant with previous experience in aged care. The RCT works across the MH continuum of care with inpatients recommended for residential care. The service is predominantly patient- and family-focused, but is also consultative to meet the education needs of MH staff and the community. This paper discusses the MH Social Work Residential Care model, reviews data collected since RCT implementation and the benefits shown for patients, their families and interdisciplinary staff. This paper discusses pressures and factors that impinge on the ability to discharge patients to residential care and explores recommendations for ongoing clinical practice as well as recommendations that the RCT has submitted to management for further consideration.     

The Two Faces of Counseling: Or is it Three?

The nature of career counseling, counseling, and psychotherapy is considered, as is the use of the terms counseling and psychotherapy in the works of Carl Rogers as illustration of the cause of confusion in our terminology. It is suggested here that there are two kinds of counseling, situational and personal, and that these are not dichotomous but rather a continuum.     

Rights To Health—Or Medicine: The Health Promotion Perspective

The right to perfect health—something that in its fullest sense is unattainable—and the right to pursue it can distract us from achievable goals that take into account the inevitability of disability and death and the necessity of providing people with the capacities and rights that will enable each person to cope with their own imperfections.     

新型贸易业态的现状、问题与对策

新型贸易业态如电子商务贸易商、贸易中间商、供应链管理商等的发展与上海建设国际贸易中心、发展服务经济的战略目标高度契合,能够提高上海参与经济全球化的层次与能级。当前,新型贸易业态发展还存在不少瓶颈,如制度建设相对滞后,不适应刚性的政府行业管理体制,与其他相关行业（如物流、金融等）的对接还不够顺畅等。上海发展新型贸易业态,要完善制度环境,推进与贸易便利化相关的税收、市场准入、监管、法律法规等制度建设;健全管理体制,按照新型贸易业态发展的趋势,打破部门分割的局面,形成适应时代要求的管理框架;抓好与金融、物流等产业的对接,促进产业融合发展。     

The Prophecy that Never Fails: On the Uses and Gratifications of Horoscope Reading*

Several studies have revealed the growing popularity of astrology columns, which has brought astrology to a mass level never in its long history enjoyed before. The widespread exposure of astrology columns in newspapers and magazines is studied in the present research, according to the “uses and gratifications” approach originally developed by mass communication scholars, in an attempt to reveal the need gratified by them. Using different anxiety scales and measures of horoscope usage–exposure, regularity, and acceptance—the possible sets of relations between anxiety level, fatalism, and horoscope use are tested following the log-linear procedure. The results only partially confirm the hypothesis: exposure and regularity of readership are shown to be significantly related to several anxiety dimensions, while acceptance of horoscope predictions is related to locus of control, but not directly to anxiety. Finally, the compatibility of horoscopes to the readers' needs is analyzed by the elements of contents, social setting of exposure, and the medium's attributes. This study supports a claim of the uses and gratifications approach, which sees modern media encroaching upon older means of satisfaction of social and psychological needs. Fulfilling this function, horoscopes are the prophecies that never fail.