‘Shooting a line’?: Field sports and access struggles in Britain

With the demise of productivism a new settlement between farmers, landowners and the state is being forged. The new emphasis on the consumption of rural space and the marketing of environmental goods means that access issues are, once again, prominent. The paper seeks to examine the recent history of the relationship between field sports interests and the demand for greater access. Then, drawing upon findings from the Game Management Project, it suggests that such interests do not constitute an especial constraint, whereas increased attempts to commoditise the countryside may, in contrast, be profoundly inimical. The protection and enhancement of particular rights is of more pressing concern than the achievement of a generalised ‘right to roam’.     

Can welfare and labour market regimes explain cross‐country differences in the unemployment of young people?

No single institution can reduce (long‐term) youth unemployment. Welfare and labour market institutions function as “bundles”, through multiple inter‐institutional synergies. Based on a focused literature review for theory and on cluster analysis for empirics, the author identifies five such regimes across the EU‐27 and estimates their effects on the youth unemployment ratio and on long‐term youth unemployment. The most helpful institutional arrangement for young people in the labour market would be a combination of strong dual apprenticeship embedded in a corporatist labour market regime with high levels of social security, active labour market policy, and spending on education and childcare.     

Convergence or divergence? A comparative analysis of CSR communication by leading firms in Asia,Europe, and North America

Through the lens of the communicative institutionalism and an extensive content analysis of corporate websites, this study compared corporate social responsibility (CSR) institutional messages by firms across three macro regions. The findings show that Asian firms do not present significant differences in how they expose their orientation to sustainability (i.e. “CSR identity” messages) than Western counterparts. However, Asian firms seem significantly less inclined to engage in CSR messages concerning “organization and management”, messages on “CSR interactivity” and those regarding “CSR as business case” compared with European firms. The difference between Asian and North American firms mostly concerns the former’s less salient use of “business case” messages for CSR. The comparative study sheds light on the pattern of CSR crossvergence across the West and East, reflecting hybridized CSR expressions across forms of CSR institutional messages.     

Double emigration: geographical and cultural? The participation of Italian women in the German labour market

Already at the beginning of the fifties on the initiative of Italy, negotiations began between the Italian and German governments for the recruitment of migrant-workers, which ended in 1955 with a bilateral agreement between the two countries. Through this recruitment policy and because of the labour-market (Industry and Building) the Italian migration was composed prevalently of men. Female immigration happened in the setting of family reunification and less as an independent movement project. After years of stagnation of italian emigration in the eighties it may also be noted that, since the early nineties, there has been a revival of immigration to Germany. This and modernisation processes in Italy changed the gender composition of the Italian immigration flow to Germany: the distance between male and female immigration is decreasing. A peculiarity of the Italians in Germany is the low occupational participation of women in comparison with other women from EU countries. However, we could observe regional differences, which depend on the migration typologies and the dominating economic structure in the areas. The paper will analyse this different aspects (immigration-processes, migrant-typologies and labour-market participation) by female Italian migrants.     

Can balance exercise programmes improve balance and related physical performance measures in people with dementia? A systematic review

This review presents the physical performance outcomes of randomised trials investigating exercise programmes that included balance exercise for older people with dementia. A systematic literature search through five computerised bibliographic databases until February 2009 was carried out. Of 1,038 potentially relevant published articles, only seven met the inclusion criteria and were extracted. Findings from the review for a total of 632 participants showed that almost all of the included studies addressed exercise or physical activities as the main intervention; however, only two of the studies focused on balance exercise. The effect size values varied from no effect (0.00) to a large effect (3.29) of the interventions for a range of physical performance outcome measures. Findings also suggest that it is feasible to conduct exercise programmes with older people with dementia. However, further studies with more specific exercise designed to improve balance performance in order to prevent falls are required for older people with dementia.     

Ethical Violations: What Can and Does Go Wrong in Child Custody Evaluations?

Child custody evaluations can have a significant impact on the adjustment and well-being of children and family members. Custody evaluators must be qualified and held to the highest professional standards. The authors of this article review custody evaluations and often witness inadequate and unprofessional evaluations. In this article, ethical mistakes seen regularly are highlighted. Many mistakes occur when cases are complex and include allegations of child maltreatment or intimate partner violence. Therefore, it is important that custody evaluators be trained in family and child psychology, attachment dynamics, psychological assessment, child abuse, and intimate partner violence. Child custody work needs to be monitored closely to ensure that mistakes can be eliminated in order to avoid unnecessary harm to children and families.     

‘I know,I can,I will try’: youths and adults with intellectual disabilities in Sweden using information and communication technology in their everyday life

This study introduces how technology and humans are part of relationships that influence agency among people with disabilities. It aims to focus attention on the use of, and access to, information and communication technology (ICT), and agency among youths and adults with intellectual disabilities. The study draws on empirical research conducted with youths and adults with intellectual disabilities, as well as staff at a day centre. It shows that by drawing upon interests, previous experiences, and cooperating in ICT activities the participants’ agency changed. Also, it shows how disability is relational and how it can be influenced by ICT. An interdisciplinary approach is adopted to interpret the findings and to explore: How do people of different ages with intellectual disabilities experience the use of ICT in their everyday lives? Are people with intellectual disabilities able to influence their level of activity by using ICT? And if so, in what ways?     

Framing European integration in mediated public spheres: an increasing nationalization and contestation of European issues in party political communication?

This article proposes a claims-making analysis of party political communication over Europe in mediated public spheres in France, Ireland, the UK and Spain between 1993 and 2006. It demonstrates that office-seeking parties and especially the representatives of the executive power generally dominate Europeanized debates. In contrast, peripheral parties and other party actors such as party MPs and extra-parliamentary politicians face significant difficulties in obtaining visibility and resonance for their Europeanized frames. The empirical and longitudinal analysis also shows the prevalence of claims directed towards the EU level and of nationalized debates over Europe. Overall, even though critical engagements with Europe have progressed over time, the domination of mainstream parties and party actors in framing European integration and the pro-European consensus between office-seeking parties nevertheless limit the potential for contestation on European matters.     

Measuring Constructs in Family Science: How Can Item Response Theory Improve Precision and Validity?

This article provides family scientists with an understanding of contemporary measurement perspectives and the ways in which item response theory (IRT) can be used to develop measures with desired evidence of precision and validity for research uses. The article offers a nontechnical introduction to some key features of IRT, including its orientation toward locating items along an underlying dimension and toward estimating precision of measurement for persons with different levels of that same construct. It also offers a didactic example of how the approach can be used to refine conceptualization and operationalization of constructs in the family sciences, using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (n = 2,732). Three basic models are considered: (a) the Rasch and (b) two‐parameter logistic models for dichotomous items and (c) the Rating Scale Model for multicategory items. Throughout, the author highlights the potential for researchers to elevate measurement to a level on par with theorizing and testing about relationships among constructs.     

Can children and young people be empowered in participatory initiatives?: Perspectives from young people's participation in policy formulation and implementation in Ghana

Empowering children and young people is often cited as the goal of participation. However projects that seek to empower children and young people show little attempt to define what empowerment means. There is an implied but inadequately explored conceptual link between participation and empowerment. This paper explores the link between participation and empowerment by discussing a research with 15–17 year young people involved in two participatory initiatives in Ghana. The paper discusses the various typologies of children's participation and the concept of power, and concludes that participation does not lead to empowerment. Therefore the increasing theorisation of children and young people's participation as empowerment is flawed. The paper argues that children and young people's participation should instead be conceptualised as recognition and dialogue.     

How Can One be a Boxer? : Pain and Pleasure in a Manila's Boxing Camp

This paper is an ethnographic account of daily life at a boxing gym in Manila in the Philippines. My book, Rokaru Boxer to Hinkon Sekai conducts a social analysis of three different topics in order to grasp the lives of Manilan boxers on both theoretical and empirical grounds—namely, daily life at a boxing gym, an international boxing market structure in which Filipino boxers are consumed as underdog roles, and the daily life in Manila's squatter areas to which the boxers are closely tied. The current study limits its examination to daily life in a boxing gym. Most of the unique characteristics that influence Filipino boxing can be found in the live-in residencies of its gyms. The gym is a place for training and living. It is not only by training but also as a result of various aspects of their life here that young men are able to become boxers. Unlike the gym in the African American ghetto described by Loïc Wacquant, participating youths in Filipino boxing come from the absolute lowest tiers of society. The youths live in boxing camps where every aspect of their daily live is strictly regulated, and thus are they inscribed with the rules that must be observed in this sport. This study is an examination of the pains and pleasures of life at one such boxing camp.     

Aspirations and Setbacks of Working Children in Addis Ababa: Can They Realise Their Futures?

Based on interviews with 45 children, this article looks at the life situations and aspirations of working children in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, including their hopes, efforts and struggles to make their dreams come true. Pushed by the need for survival, the children work and nearly half go to school. They demonstrate agency, taking care of themselves, supporting families and aspiring to change their lives. However, they also face challenges that make achieving their aspirations difficult. The authors argue that agency alone is not sufficient to help them realise their aspirations unless buffered by supportive structures and systems.     

“Tell Me So That I Can Help You”: Private Information and Privacy Coordination Issues in the Context of Eldercare

In order to provide competent care to aging parents, adult children, and older parents must renegotiate long-standing privacy boundaries that allow caregivers access to parents’ private information. It is reasonable to surmise that caregivers encounter privacy coordination issues when attempting to care for their aging parent. This study utilizes Communication Privacy Management theory to explore what content is considered private and what privacy coordination issues arise in the context of eldercare. Results from 27 in-depth interviews with adult children caring for an aging parent suggest that information concerning parents’ future care, health and well-being, and (in)capabilities were marked private. The findings also detail three disruptions to privacy coordination, including parental caregivers’ ambivalence toward managing parents’ care-related information. Critical implications of the study are discussed, which include how privacy turbulence may be a functional catalyst for boundary recalibration.     

Do ISO:9001 standards and EFQM model differ in their impact on the external relations and communication system at schools?

Implementation of Quality Management Systems (QMS) has increased greatly in recent years at a wide variety of institutions. The main purpose of this work is to evaluate and compare the impact of having implemented ISO:9001 standards and the EFQM model on the communication system and external relations at schools. This was done by applying a validated evaluation instrument to 2901 subjects of 116 schools in 4 Spanish Autonomous Communities. The results show that the QMS have a medium-high level of impact on the communication system and a moderate level on the external relations dimension. Furthermore, schools with EFQM feature significantly higher levels of impact on the dimensions studied than schools implementing ISO standards. Significant differences were found in the levels of impact as a function of the number of years of implementation and the type of funding received, among other variables. In addition, an interaction effect was found between the type and size of schools in regard to their external relations.     

Inequality of opportunity and (unequal) opportunities in the youth labour market: How is the Arab world different?

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) labour market is emblematic of widespread youth unemployment and high discouragement rates, experiencing disproportionately high levels of unemployment among educated young people. Using ILO School-to-Work Transition Surveys for Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia, the authors explore whether this is related to inequality of opportunity or to deeper structural characteristics that create a mismatch between skill demand and supply on the labour market. The low availability of high-skilled jobs and the low value placed on skills gained through the system of vocational training are found to have high explanatory power.     

Can producers and consumers of color decolonize foodie culture?: An exploration through food media in settler colonies

In this paper, I examine the “Home Cooking” episode of Netflix series Ugly Delicious, and the “Toronto Truths with Foodies of Colour” episode of award-winning Racist Sandwich podcast to uncover their mediation of a foodie and cosmopolitan person of color identity. By paying close attention to biographical details and the foregrounding of certain aspects of foodie and racialized identities, this paper addresses the question of performativity when it comes to food adventuring by using the mediated lens of the two chosen food shows. Are the hosts (and the semiotics of the programs) potentially challenging the archetype of the adventurous meat-eating white male, or reinforcing the same by letting certain people into the fold? This analysis is necessary to understand if producers and consumers of color who are vested in exploring different food cultures through their practices do this any differently from dominant cultures.