Shifting boundaries: Doing social science in the 1990s—A personal odyssey

Drawing on my own 40 years as a social scientist, I argue, as have others in recent years, that rather than a contaminant, one's own biography can be a useful tool in social analysis. I place my personal struggle with this issue in a larger cultural context and point to a shift in the boundaries between public and private, which has profound implications for the way we teach, write, and do research.Presidential address delivered at the Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meetings, Baltimore, Maryland, March 19, 1994.     

Are persons with disabilities included in the Colombian peace process?

This article follows on from our previous one about the armed conflict in Colombia and its relationship with disability. We seek here to explore the ways in which people with disabilities are starting to be involved in the peace process with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP), and the avenues there are for representative organizations of disabled people to have a louder voice in Colombia. Currently, while legal and human rights approaches are important, people with disabilities in Colombia do not generally have the resources to fight for their own rights. However, there could be opportunities in the negotiations currently with the National Liberation Army (ELN) to include a specific focus on the rights of people with disabilities.     

Working with the enemy? Social work education and men who use intimate partner violence

This article examines service user involvement in social work education. It discusses the challenges and ethical considerations of involving populations who may previously have been excluded from user involvement initiatives, raising questions about the benefits and challenges of their involvement. The article then provides discussion of an approach to service user involvement in social work education with one of these populations, men who use violence in their intimate relationships, and concludes by considering the implications of their involvement for the social work academy.     

Family Therapy into the 21st Century: Can we Work our Way out of the Epistemological Maze?

Family therapy is a generic term used to describe a paradigm within the helping professions that encompasses a range of competing approaches which share a common view about the importance of family to maladaptive behaviours and disorders. The various family therapies have evolved rapidly over the last three decades, at a time when society has been attuned to innovation, and eager to try new products. Thus, they soon found a niche in the partial void created by the demise of some of the previously dominant psychological paradigms. While collectively the family therapies have been demonstrated to be generally efficacious as a treatment approach, the last two decades have witnessed an avalanche of theorising and conceptualising that has created an epistemological maze through which practitioners must find their way. In this paper we ask whether this trend is moving the family therapies too far away from the core issues involved in the helping professions.     

Can we create a therapeutic relationship with nursing home residents in the later stages of Alzheimer's disease?

1. Despite their entrance into advanced illness, the majority (83%) of participants in the study displayed evidence of having begun a therapeutic relationship with their assigned advanced practice nurse. 2. With one exception, those participants who did not evidence development of the relationship had severely limited speech, perseverative speech, or did not speak at all. 3. It is time to challenge the assumption that individuals in the middle and later stages of Alzheimer's disease are not good candidates for developing a therapeutic relationship.     

Whom do we lose? The case of dissimilarity in personal networks

Previous research finds that individuals tend to form ties with similar others much more often than with dissimilar others. However, we know relatively little about tie loss and to what extent this is driven by (dis)similarity. In this paper, we argue that ties to persons who are dissimilar with regard to gender, age, ethnicity, and education are lost faster than ties to similar persons – and we test three explanations for this faster decay of ties with dissimilar others: lack of meeting opportunities, preferences for similarity, and lower network embeddedness. To test these explanations, we analysed two waves of the Survey on the Social Networks of the Dutch (SSND, 2007, 2014). These SSND-waves contain comprehensive longitudinal panel data on ego networks of 441 respondents, who were interviewed about a wide range of relationships, their alters’ sociodemographic characteristics, where and when they met their alters, as well as how and whether they maintain these relationships. We modelled tie loss by event history analyses. Results show that ties to persons who were dissimilar are more likely to be lost faster, and that tie loss occurs mostly in the early years of a relationship. However, meeting opportunities, preferences for similarity, and network embeddedness are unable to explain why ties to dissimilar others are lost faster. We conclude that dissimilarity is a powerful driver of tie loss, and that more arguments and research are needed to fully understand the underlying mechanisms.     

Can we ‘transform our world’ without affecting international power relations? A political analysis of the United Nations development agenda

The Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals are the latest instalments of a development endeavour started by the United Nations (UN) after WWII. This article conducts a discourse analysis of the UN development agenda, drawing on Laclau and Mouffe’s post-Marxist thought – which combines post-structuralist discourse analysis and Marxist (Gramscian) political analysis. The essay exposes the ontological tenets underlying the UN’s agenda, and how it conditions the way social issues are understood and addressed. It explains how the agenda conceals the political dimension of development and sustainability debates. Rather than ‘transform our world’, the UN development agenda (1) hinders practices that would truly transform it in terms of more emancipation and justice, and (2) subtly reinforces the power dynamics that sustain the status quo in which underdevelopment, poverty, inequality, and exclusion emerged.     

The world we have made? Individualisation and personal life in the 1950s

This paper focuses on a fundamental problem with individualisation theories – the assumption that contemporary personal lives are radically new and different from those in the past. This is a particularly important issue for individualisation theories because they essentially depend on the idea of epochal, even revolutionary, historical change. Empirically, I examine the experience of personal life in Britain in the late 1940s and early 1950s (where a number of excellent sources exist) and compare it with today. Looking first at the personal life of gay and lesbian people, and of heterosexual spouses, I find substantial, but not unambiguous, ‘improvement’– in terms of equality, openness and diversity – over the period. But this improvement does not necessarily mean transformation in how people think about their personal lives and how they ought to conduct them. The paper goes on, therefore, to examine ‘tradition’ and ‘individualisation’ through the lens of ideas around extra‐marital sex and divorce. Rather than some duality between ‘traditional’ and ‘individualising’ people in the two periods, I find that how people thought, and the range of their thoughts, about how to conduct personal life seem similar in 1949/50 to the present day – given the debates and issues of the time. In both periods the married, older and more religious were the more ‘traditional’, and the young and the more professional were more ‘progressive’. But the bulk of both samples were ‘pragmatists’, holding practical views of what was reasonably proper and possible in adapting to, and improvising around, their circumstances.     

Perceptions of the narrative of the ‘other’ among Arab and Jewish adolescents in Israel: between peace talks and violent events

One of the major challenges for the process of peace building is to overcome the rigid structure of the socio‐psychological repertoire that accompanies it. Our longitudinal study examined one element of this repertoire among Jewish and Arab adolescents in Israel: the cognitive legitimacy and the emotional reactions toward the historical narrative of the opponent. We focused our question on the impact of the socio‐political context and the role of the violent reality in the development of these perceptions among youth. Data were collected in four stages (1999–2000, 2002, 2004, and 2007) among various samples of Arab and Jewish high school students (10th and 12th graders). The results showed that among the Jewish adolescents, the readiness to legitimate Palestinian narratives significantly decreased during violent periods. Among the Arab students, the impact of their difficult status as a Palestinian minority in the State of Israel is reflected in their relatively high level of readiness to accept both narratives. The results are discussed from social, cultural, and developmental perspectives with a focus on the role of the conflictual reality itself in the development of the socio‐psychological repertoire among youth.     

Can personal narratives heal trauma? A consideration of testimonies given at the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission

This study investigates the therapeutic effects of narratives and linguistic expression in people who have suffered trauma. The kind of trauma considered is that which took place as a result of politically related violence in the South African liberation struggle, and the narratives and language discussed are selected from testimonies given during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Certain linguistic criteria identified by Pennebaker as predictors of successful therapeutic outcomes in the narratives of individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder are applied to excerpts from the TRC testimonies. Linguistic analysis validates Pennebaker’s findings to some extent, but the investigation concludes that while linguistic expression may demonstrate cognitive processing and facilitate coherence, it is not enough to enable healing. Many factors, not only articulation, interact to determine the extent to which individuals can be healed. Some trauma is so intense that it cannot be verbalised at all.     

Outcomes for the sociology of mental health: are we meeting our goals?

In this paper I argue that a fruitful discussion of the choice of outcomes in the sociological study of the social antecedents of mental health problems would benefit from a consideration of the goals that we are trying to achieve. The most clearly articulated goal is that of uncovering those aspects of society that produce harm. I examine the premises of the current conceptual framework--the stress paradigm--in light of its ability to fulfill this goal, and I discuss the implications for the types of outcome measures we use.     

Can we find solutions with people? Participatory action research with small organic producers in Andalusia

This paper reports on an experiment linking science with people. Taking as a paradigm the holistic scientific approach fostered by agroecology, we present a methodological proposal for the implementation of participatory action research in rural areas. Our aims were various: to solve a specific problem, i.e. the exclusion of small- and medium-scale organic farmers from the official certification system; to find solutions collectively through an exchange of knowledge between researchers, technicians, producers and consumers; and to generate endogenous social change in rural areas through processes based on local skills and collective creativity. This paper examines the methods applied, and provides a participatory reflexive analysis of those methods. Both the keys to the success and the constraints are analysed, in order to conclude the contributions that agroecology and PAR processes can make to sustainable and innovative research proposals.     

Multicultural education in Cyprus: A pot of multicultural assimilation?

In this paper, we attempt to answer the question: "is the Cypriot educational system a melting pot of every alien civilization and a kettle of cultural assimilation that perpetuates biases, clichés, racist behaviours and cultivates the idea that the different have no place among us?" We closely examine the case of a girl from Iran in a Cypriot primary school, using naturalistic observation models of research. Through the analysis of two vignettes, we attempt to answer the question posed above. We simultaneously reflect critically on the situation of multicultural education in Cyprus, while presenting its prospects for the future.     

Can groups solve the problem of over-bidding in contests?

This study reports an experiment that examines whether groups can better comply with theoretical predictions than individuals in contests. Our experiment replicates previous findings that individual players significantly overbid relative to theoretical predictions, incurring substantial losses. There is high variance in individual bids and strong heterogeneity across individual players. The new findings of our experiment are that groups make 25% lower bids, their bids have lower variance, and group bids are less heterogeneous than individual bids. Therefore, groups receive significantly higher and more homogeneous payoffs than individuals. We elicit individual and group preferences toward risk using simple lotteries. The results indicate that groups make less risky decisions, which are possible explanations for lower bids in contests. Most importantly, we find that groups learn to make lower bids from communication and negotiation between group members.     

Empowering,invasive or a little bit of both? A reflection on the use of visual and narrative methods in research with migrant sex workers in South Africa

Although migration plays a critical role in the economic landscape of the world, government officials and researchers do not sufficiently include migration and/or migrants in research studies and development policies. In South Africa, many migrants – both internal and cross-border – engage in informal livelihood strategies, including sex work (see Richter et al. 2012). Currently, the bulk of research that is being conducted in South Africa in the areas of migration and sex work rely heavily on the use of traditional research approaches and focus mainly on concerns surrounding issues of public health, with increased attention to HIV (for example, see SANAC 2013; Scheibe, Drame and Shannon 2012; Scorgie et al. 2011). While this work is invaluable, there is a need for research that can counter the stigma that sex workers overwhelmingly face in light of HIV/AIDS. Participatory visual and narrative research approaches – as part of mixed method study designs – that examine the lived experiences of migrant sex workers can provide important insights that ‘move beyond the polarized and simplistic arguments that have circulated in South African about migrant sex workers’ (Nyangairi and Palmary, 2014, 132). This methodological approach makes important and necessary contributions to national and international discourses on migration and sex work (see Oliveira and Vearey 2015). In addition, these methods provide a unique platform where the normative discourses that portray migrants as a homogenous vulnerable and apolitical group of people can be contested (Palmary 2006). In this article, I present and discuss three participatory visual and narrative research projects that have been conducted with migrant men, women and transgender persons who sell sex in two Provinces of South Africa and examine the suitability of these approaches.     

The development of education indicators for measuring quality in the English-speaking Caribbean: How far have we come?

Education evaluation has become increasingly important in the English-speaking Caribbean. This has been in response to assessing the progress of four regional initiatives aimed at improving the equity, efficiency, and quality of education. Both special interest groups and local evaluators have been responsible for assessing the progress of education and providing an overall synthesis and summary of what is taking place in the English-speaking Caribbean. This study employed content analysis to examine the indicators used in these education evaluation studies since the declaration of the Caribbean Plan of Action 2000–2015 to determine these indicators’ appropriateness to the Caribbean context in measuring education progress. Findings demonstrate that the English-speaking Caribbean has made strides in operationalizing quality input, process, and output indicators; however quality outcome indicators beyond test scores are yet to be realized in a systematic manner. This study also compared the types of collaborative partnerships in conducting evaluation studies used by special interest groups and local evaluators and pinpointed the one that appears most suitable for special interest groups in this region.     

‘Back to our Roots?’ Re-visiting psychoanalytically-informed baby and young child observation in the education of student social workers

While there is a well-established literature on psychoanalytically-informed baby and young child observation in social work education, little has been published recently. This paper reviews the rationale for its use, evaluating its impact on students’ learning in the light of contemporary policy and practice contexts facing social work education. Analysis of feedback gained from a recent cohort, identifies three ways in which learning through baby and young child observation contributes: firstly, students encounter and learn about the complexity of child development from the direct experience of observing and secondly, observing facilitates the development of important skills for practice; students’ ‘use of self’. Thirdly, through observing, students describe how they develop the capacity to take-up and sustain a professional role. Well-structured teaching and learning through observation is therefore shown to provide a rigorous, theoretically-grounded contribution to the training of university-based social work students entering this complex and challenging professional field.     

Teaching philosophies and practices in social work education: do the core competencies influence our consciousness?

Assessing the mechanisms by which EPAS core competencies are embodied in classroom teaching is important for comprehensively examining EPAS’ success. This case study of one program presents emergent findings about perceptions of teaching, and the influence of core competencies, derived from interviews conducted with faculty members at a graduate social work program. Participants were asked about their teaching philosophies and practices, and the influence of social work core competencies in framing their philosophies and practices. Four primary themes emerged: (1) engaging students in learning, (2) linking the classroom and field, (3) critical thinking, and (4) core competencies are not evident at a conscious level. Participants described strong ambiguity about how the core competencies consciously influence teaching approaches, while clearly stating goals for interacting with students, integrating field experiences in the classroom, and helping students build critical thinking skills. Implications for social work education are described.     

What shall we do with the cyclic profile?

A Condorcet method for a single-seat preferential election is defined by the way it handles cases without a Condorcet winner. Such cases are described in terms of cyclic candidate triples. Sometimes election theory considers intricate patterns of intersecting cyclic triples. In practice, cyclic triples are rare, but they may be created as part of strategic voting against a Condorcet winner. This strategy, often called burying, is difficult to apply, but critics will detect a missed opportunity and regard it as a punishment for honest voting. A new Condorcet method, SV, lets a cyclic triple be won by the candidate with the smallest opportunity to defeat a Condorcet winner this way. A new geometric model allows visual comparison of the opportunities under various methods.     

SCHOOLING THE INFORMATION SOCIETY? The place of the information superhighway in education

Despite a history of educational resistance to technology, the internet and, in turn, the information superhighway, have been popularly heralded as having the potential to transform schools the world over. In doing so there has been a conspicuous lack of critical examination of the information superhighway's role in education. This article therefore contrasts popular conceptions of the 'educational' superhighway with the likely social and cultural implications of the 'wired' school. From this perspective the article first examines three central claims that are popularly made about the information superhighway in education: namely, the unbridled access to information it will afford teachers and learners; the potential for interactive communication with other individuals; and the equality it will imbue. These popular discourses are then contrasted with two fundamental characteristics of the information superhighway which are often overlooked by its advocates: the different quality of learning experienced 'on-line' and the educational implications of the inherent economic nature of the emerging information superhighway. The article then concludes by suggesting an alternative approach to examining the implementation of the information superhighway in an educational context.