Innovación tecnológica,factores psicosociales y estrés en el puesto de trabajo: un estudio empírico

Resumen

Se realizó una investigación sobre el impacto de la innovación tecnológica de pantalla de ordenador sobre el nivel de estrés y otras variables relacionadas, en dos grupos de sujetos que se diferenciaban exclusivamente en la utilización o no de pantalla de ordenador en su trabajo. Los análisis mostraron diferencias entre los grupos en rendimiento, absentismo y conflitto de rol, aunque no se confirmaron totalmente las relaciones entre las variables estudiadas. Se discuten las implicaciones de los resultados para este tema de investigación.     

Control social subjetivo y valores culturales: estudio transcultural experimental sobre el efecto oveja negra y un estudio de campo sobre el 11-M

Resumen

Un estudio experimental en seis naciones y regiones confirma la tendencia a sobre-valorar a los miembros del endogrupo que realizan conductas normativas así como la tendencia paralela a devaluar más fuertemente a los miembros del endogrupo nacional que no cumplen con una norma altruista—en comparación con personas de un exogrupo o efecto Oveja Negra (EON). Las personas más en desacuerdo con valores de Poder y creencias de Dominación y más de acuerdo con valores de Benevolencia tienden a mostrar EON debido a que atribuyen más la conducta a causas internas. Sujetos más de acuerdo con valores de Conformidad de Schwartz y creencias autoritarias de la escala RWA de Altmeyer tienden a evaluar mejor al sujeto normativo del endogrupo. El estudio de campo muestra que la tendencia central de los sujetos fue a valorar con la misma negatividad a un colaborador endo que exogrupal con el atentado del 11-M. Las personas que respondieron con un estilo EON se caracterizan por menores creencias de dominación social medidas por la escala SDO de Sidanius et al. y autoritarias (menor RWA) y más valores de Benevolencia. Se concluye que el EON caracteriza a personas igualitarias y cohesivas, individualistas horizontales y cooperativos, mientras que el favoritismo endogrupal caracteriza más a sujetos que viven en contextos culturales colectivistas y jerárquicos, de creencias más conservadoras.     

Individual social capital: Accessibility and mobilization of resources embedded in social networks

The objective of the present paper is to characterize the structure of individual social networks and to provide new insights into the underlying mechanism of individual social capitalization process. In particular, we put to the test three main assumptions underlying Lin’s seminal explanatory model of individual social capital determinants (Lin, 2001). We analyzed the results of an extensive and specifically designed survey on personal networks in Spanish society (OSIM, 2011). Our findings, based on the use of Principal Component Analysis (PCA), regression and structural methods allow us to complement Lin’s general model distinguishing accessibility and mobilization of social resources. Furthermore, the empirical evidence suggests the need for introducing a significant distinction between instrumental-expert and expressive mobilization. Finally, our analysis allows us to identify the main determining factors of both forms of capitalization of personal relations.     

Teaching social policy to social work atudents: a critical reflection

Local and international evidence suggests that professional social work education often fails to effectively prepare graduates to implement social policy objectives within their everyday practice. This paper critically analyses the development of social policy subjects within one particular Australian social work course. Particular attention is drawn to subject objectives, content, reading material, teaching methods and assessment. Some suggestions are made for new educational initiatives that could potentially lead to more effective social policy practice.     

Social education and social pedagogy: reclaiming a Scottish tradition in social work

Social pedagogy is the discipline underpinning work with children and youth across most of Europe. The concept has struggled to find a place within social work in the English-speaking world, partly because of difficulties in translation and partly as a result of different welfare traditions. In particular there is a limited conception of education within the Anglo American Saxon tradition and a consequent bifurcation of education and care. This article argues that ideas enshrined within social pedagogy have a resonance with Scottish approaches to social welfare, which culminate in the Kilbrandon Report of 1964. We argue that there are recurrent themes in the Scottish tradition with roots in the Reformation and the Scottish Enlightenment. Foremost amongst these is the focus on education as a vehicle for both individual improvement and social cohesion. Social pedagogy or social education offers an integrating conceptual base from which to develop models of social work practice which promote social wellbeing through socio-educational strategies. The current review of social work in Scotland offers opportunities to reclaim a socio-educational tradition.     

Disability activisms: social model stalwarts and biological citizens

The Disabled People’s Movement (DPM) in the UK rejects the view that disability is an illness. For the DPM it is the social processes of discrimination and oppression that create the material circumstances out of which solidarity and politicisation arise. The DPM has also been shy about impairment, arguing that it is generally irrelevant to the issue of disability and that a clear distinction between impairment and disability is necessary if disability is to be understood as a basis for identity politics. The biological citizens that support embodied health movements use impairment, genetic status, biomedical diagnosis and classification as calling cards that signal their claims to identity. Whilst the DPM has challenged medical hegemony and scientific ideas, many ‘biosocial’ groups embrace the specialised medical and scientific knowledge associated with their ‘condition’, particularly where it might be used to enhance their claims to citizenship. This paper argues that disability activism in the UK is bifurcating. It addresses the difference in perspective and action between the ‘social model stalwarts’ of the DPM and biological citizens that organise politically around particular diagnostic labels.     

The psychological goods on clinical social work: a content analysis of the clinical social work and social justice literature

The purpose of this content analysis was to evaluate the extant literature on clinical social work and social justice. In July 2009, an online search of the university databases EBSCO Host (1988–2009) was conducted to identify articles on clinical social work and social justice. Thirty-six peer reviewed journal articles were identified and extracted. The majority were non-empirical articles (75%) published in the United States (94%) over a 21-year period from 1988 to 2009. Overall, clinical social work practice was described as psychological and/or sociopolitical interventions that had a direct and/or indirect effect on psychological and sociopolitical level social justice outcomes. Theories and practices consistent with social justice were advanced. These findings suggest that clinical social work's promotion of psychological well-being remains an underdeveloped area in the scholarly and research literature. In this era of professional educational reform, additional research and professional training on social justice based clinical social work practice is warranted.     

Founder's background as a catalyst for social entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship has a long history of practice worldwide. However, the concept has become widely popular among researchers over the last two decades. Despite this popularity, less is known about the process, which leads to becoming a social entrepreneur. Barendsen and Gardner's study shows that many social entrepreneurs have traumatic experience in their early lives; however, there are no supporting studies investigating the impact of the background of founders on the founding decision of their entities. Because of that we utilized the models of theory of planned behavior as well as the concept of imprinting to explain the process that leads to entrepreneurial behavior. The purpose of our study is to investigate the life stories of some Turkish social entrepreneurs, and to explore which factors in these people's backgrounds may have contributed to their decisions to establish their foundations.     

Political attitudes, social participation and social mobility: a longitudinal analysis

It is often suggested that the political attitudes and social participation which have underpinned the welfare-state democracies have depended on large amounts of upward social mobility. The demographic heterogeneity of the service class, according to this view, induced in them a willingness to lead a common political project seeking to establish a common social citizenship. As the amount of upward mobility stagnates or even begins to fall, it has then further been claimed that there might emerge a degree of ideological closure in the service class that might erode their commitment to civic values. The 1958 British birth cohort study is used to investigate this question. Longitudinal data are invaluable here because they allow us to distinguish between two hypotheses: that upward mobility as such has induced in the service class certain attitudes and propensities to participate, or that the more important influence is the early socialization through which upwardly mobile people went. The conclusion of the analysis is that, although the civic values of the service class have not depended on upward mobility, this is much more true of cognitively able people than of others, and so is dependent on the somewhat meritocratic basis of selection into the salariat.     

Working with social complexity in a neoliberal society: challenges for social work in Estonia

This article deals with Estonian social workers' perspectives on the fundamentals of the social work profession in a society where radical social, political, and economic changes have occurred within a very short period of time. Estonia typically figures as a model country, sometimes as a positive model, sometimes as a negative one, but according to most commentators, Estonia has pursued social and economic transformations in a particularly dramatic way. Social workers have recognized that radical changes have created new types of problems and social work should deal with vulnerable people and families under uncertain and unforeseeable conditions. Estonia is a challenging example to understand social work in the context of a neoliberal market society. It is therefore necessary to find out what the new challenges for the development of social work as a profession are. This article explores a ‘direction’ toward which social work in Estonia is developing, focusing mainly on the influence of the Estonian political context. The results of the research are relevant to the entire social work profession, insomuch as they address questions about the essence of social work and the ethical principles of the social work profession in society and how they can be strongly influenced by neoliberal thinking and increasing complexity.     

Sociological social work: a cartoon

I trace an account of social work—and sociology—that I believe holds a promise for re-forming the relationship between the two. I develop the argument in two ways. First, taking 1920s Chicago as a case study, I will attempt ‘a history of the present’ to suggest how the relationship between sociology and social work came to be as it is. I will suggest that the practice of some (both familiar and forgotten) people in 1920s and 1930s sociology and social work is best explained as a form of ‘sociological social work’. Second, after tracking this genealogy, I suggest an agenda for sociological social work that consists of straining to enact certain kinds of inter-disciplinary relationships, developing methodological social work practice, hearing occasional sociological frontier conversations and shared theorising. I illustrate how these arguments challenge both sociology and social work and both theory and practice.     

Integrating welfare economics in social work curriculum: a Malaysian case

This paper makes a case for why welfare economics should be integrated and taught in social work courses, taking Malaysia a case in point. This is mainly a conceptual paper and secondary data are used to further support the arguments. Commencement of professional social work in Malaysia dates to 1946, to address the socio-economic problems of the Malaysians and migrants at that time. Social workers need a multi-pronged approach that is crucial to address the human problems that includes psychological, social, political, cultural and economic at micro and macro levels. Most of the problems referred to the social workers stem from poverty, unemployment, low access to material resources and corrupt governance practices coupled with unjust economic policies. Keeping in view the diverse economic needs and strengths of the clients referred to social workers, it is necessary that social workers are equipped with appropriate skills that include broader understanding about political economy. This paper argued that integration of welfare economics in the social work curricula is an urgent need considering the Malaysian economic development, austerity measures and the proactive role that social work as a human rights profession could play in the Malaysian society.     

Effective social education of exclusion: contributions from social pedagogy

The objective of this research was to identify effective strategies for socio-educational intervention with adolescents aged 12–16 years in a situation of social risk and provide some proposals from the field of social pedagogy. The research was conducted in three autonomous regions of Spain—Madrid, Galicia and Catalonia—between 2011 and 2013 and used the grounded theory approach. Thirty one practitioners and 19 adolescents participated in the focus groups and interviews. The main results suggest central strategies related to the empowerment and participation of adolescents, resilience and the flexible planning of interventions, with relevant implications for practice and policies.     

New social intervention technologies as a challenge in social work: IFSW Europe perspective

ABSTRACT

This study aims at analyzing the degree of training, use, and practice of the new technologies among the social work professionals in their work environment and at finding out their main reluctance or reservations to a more intensive use of ICTs in the performance of their tasks. For this purpose, a structured and closed questionnaire has been sent to the chairpeople of the professional organizations’ members of the International Federation of Social Workers Europe (IFSW Europe), which also includes Turkey and Israel. The reason for this choice lies in the fact that the representatives for the professional organizations have a privileged view on the situation of the profession from a global perspective and are the key informants on the current situation surrounding the social workers. This study allows us to know, among other results, that the success of ICTs among the professionals will depend on their ability to adapt to the specific professional nature of the social worker in the intervention domain. However, the uncertainty regarding the security of the personal data treatment, regarding the increase of the non included or paid work hours, and also, regarding the increase of professional stress are key factors explaining the reluctance of some professionals to a more intensive use of ICTs.     

Patterns of evolutions of social enterprises in France: a focus on work integration social enterprises

The objective of this paper is to characterize the patterns of emergence and evolution of social enterprise in France with a focus on work integration social enterprises (WISEs). After a review of the history of social and solidarity economy practices, identifying the processes that brought these practices to develop, we discuss the boundaries of the notion of social enterprise in the French case. We then briefly present the historical evolution of work integration. On that basis, two models of social enterprise applied to the case of work integration are extracted, crystallizing crucial tendencies. The limits and prospects of social enterprise in the field of work integration in France are discussed in the conclusion.     

Learning pattern of social work students: a longitudinal study

Research on learning patterns of social work students is scare. This longitudinal study addresses this issue by employing mixed methods of quantitative and qualitative study design to understand the learning pattern of students throughout their undergraduate social work studies. Six rounds of quantitative data collected by structured questionnaires and four rounds of qualitative data collected by focus group interviews have been conducted at an interval of every 6 months to track the learning pattern and to evaluate the continuous impacts of social work education on students. Results indicate that although students’ evaluation on the curriculum was positive and with significant difference in mean scores, paired sample t-tests found no significant difference between time 1 and 6 of all outcome variables. With regard to students’ change in attitude, acquisition of knowledge and skills, results indicate a ‘U-shape’ trend and a fluctuating learning pattern with a rebound in different outcome variables toward the end of the three-year study. Qualitative data echoes the findings and reveals that students go through the confused freshman stage, to disillusioned in practicum and finally with enriching experience upon graduation. The paper discusses meanings and implications of student learning pattern to social work education.     

An opportunity for the social and employment activation of social assistance clients: an example of the effectiveness of a project implemented in Poland

Social and employment activation of individuals at risk of social exclusion gains in significance if it results in their more active attitudes. An increasing number of systemic projects currently implemented by social assistance centres (SACs) in Poland provide a great number of people with an opportunity to take steps to improve their circumstances. The research objective was to assess the results of the project called ‘Use Your Opportunity’, implemented by the SAC in Andrychów, in order to draw conclusions concerning the forms of assistance offered as a part of social and employment activation scheme. The research encompassed 79 individuals before and after their participation in the project in 2010 and 2011. It has been found that the participation in the project and contact with the specialists definitely contributed to the SAC clients' greater knowledge about the way in which they function in the society, their abilities and limitations and also their life skills and employment opportunities. There is no doubt that systemic projects implemented by the SACs in Poland significantly increase the opportunity for their clients to receive support that is not only limited to financial help, which has been common practice so far, but also grants access to the otherwise inaccessible training and specialist counselling services.     

Attitudes of social work students towards older people

Demographic ageing is a challenge for many countries. Even though Turkey has a relatively younger demographic composition, the proportion of the older people (65+) within the population is rapidly increasing. Within this framework, older people are becoming more important clients for both social work students and social workers in Turkey. This study aims to reveal the attitudes of social work students towards older people and determine the various factors that affect their views on older persons. In the scope of the project, Kogan's Attitude Towards Old People Scale was applied to 419 social work undergraduate students at a university located in Central Anatolia. The findings showed that social work students scored a mean of 130.96 and they generally had positive attitudes towards older people. The correlation between year of study, gender and age was not statistically significant. However, having lived mostly in urban areas was positively correlated with the mean Kogan scores and this finding was found to be statistically significant. Exposure to personal contact with older people at both the personal and professional levels was influential in shaping attitudes about the older people.     

Guanxi,social capital theory and beyond: toward a globalized social science

Western theoretical traditions can benefit from systematic engagement with non‐Western concepts: This is shown through an analysis of the Chinese concept guanxi. After considering the general nature of guanxi, including its possible association with corrupt practices and its particular cultural characteristics, the paper goes on to identify the elements of its general form which have universal representation. The possibility of conceiving guanxi as a variant form of social capital is explored. This shows the way in which both the expressive and instrumentalized forms of guanxi indicate otherwise neglected aspects of social and economic relationships not always recognized and addressed by analogous terms current in social theory but which are none the less important for its advancement.     

From pillar to post: Women and social work studies in the 21st century

Abstract

A decade or so after the acknowledgement and inclusion of women's issues in mainstream social work courses, we find the circumstances in which such education occurs have changed. The 'third wave' of feminism has revisited the feminist agenda of the 1960s and 1970s; there has been a paradigm shift in what tertiary education is perceived to offer; and global theories have been replaced by post modern interpretations. This article discusses the impact of these changes for social work education drawing on the authors' experiences with the 'Women and Social Work' elective subject in the Bachelor of Social Work Degree at the University of New South Wales, Australia. This elective was popular until the mid 1990s when it failed to attract students. The authors reflect on their experience of teaching the subject and their understanding of current feminism to identify a way forward in the attempt to rekindle student enthusiasm for feminist understandings and provide education which will further the emancipatory project of social work.