Attitudes toward immigrants in Luxembourg. Do contacts matter?

The number of immigrants in Luxembourg is approaching the number of native-born population. This demographic change raises questions concerning social inclusion, social cohesion, and intergroup conflicts. The present paper contributes to this discussion by analyzing attitudes toward immigrants and their determinants. Controlling for key individual characteristics, we examine how the intensity of core contacts between nationals and inhabitants with migratory background affects attitudes toward immigrants among three groups of Luxembourg residents: natives, first-generation immigrants, and second-generation immigrants. The results indicate that attitudes toward immigrants depend significantly on the origins of the residents of Luxembourg. Natives adopt the most negative stance toward immigrants; they are followed by second-generation and first-generation immigrants. Attitudes of second-generation immigrants are closer to those of the native population than to those of first-generation immigrants. Core contacts appear to play the most important role in the case of first-generation immigrants. The more connected the first-generation migrant to the native population, the more negative his/her opinion of immigrants.     

Juvenile justice sentencing: Do gender and child welfare involvement matter?

For young people who come into contact with the juvenile justice system, how they are sentenced following an arrest may profoundly influence the course of their development and adjustment as adults. Much of the research to date has focused on racial and ethnic disparities in juvenile justice sentencing policies and practices, and less is known about sentencing disparities based on other youth characteristics. Using Los Angeles County administrative data, this study investigates the effects of gender and child welfare statuses on sentencing for young people who are arrested for the first time (N = 5061). Results indicate that both young men and women are sentenced more harshly dependent upon the disposition, such that girls were more likely to be sentenced to group homes compared to boys, but boys were more likely to be sentenced to correctional facilities compared to girls. Child welfare-involved youth with a recent placement history are prone to more punitive sentences compared to their non-child welfare counterparts. Further, child welfare young women were not more likely to be sentenced to a harsher disposition compared to child welfare young men or non-child welfare young women. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

Do Nonprofit and For-Profit Social Enterprises Differ in Financing?

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - This study is an empirical investigation of the survey data from 109 social enterprises, nonprofit and for-profit, in...     

Formal and Informal Social Organization: Do Geography,Structural Inequality,and Other Forms of Social Organization Matter?

Neighborhood social organization is one way that neighborhoods matter for residents, as well as an intervention opportunity for macro practitioners. Neighborhood social organization encapsulates how neighborhoods differentially organize, both formally and informally. We tested whether neighborhood structural inequality, types of social organization, and spatial clustering were associated with both formal and informal neighborhood social organization. Formal and informal social organization were mutually reinforcing. Formal social organization, measured by organizational participation, predicted informal social organization. In multivariate spatial analysis, organizational participation was also influenced by adjacent neighborhoods. Practitioners should consider how adjacent neighborhoods could affect place-based interventions.     

Determinants of remittances in Egypt: Do macroeconomic instability and oil price matter?

Emigration and resulting voluminous remittance inflows have been noticeable features of the Egyptian economy since the 1960s. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of remittances – primarily the role of both macroeconomic instability and oil price – in Egypt. Using autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing procedure, we estimated a remittance determination equation over the period from 1980 to 2015 and found that: (1) macroeconomic instability in Egypt and increases in international oil prices promote remittances; (2) GDP growth rate in the host countries and depreciation of domestic currency spur remittances; (3) financial development is inversely related to remittances, implying that remittances and financial development are substitutes; (4) GDP growth in the home country is not significantly associated with remittances.     

Social Interaction: Do Non‐humans Count?

A growing body of research suggests that non‐humans play a central role in many social interactions – not simply as objects used by humans as interaction props, but as fully participating agents of action. In this essay, I examine these innovative ideas, reviewing survey data that documents this trend and theoretical and empirical work that seeks to better understand it.     

What Is a Social Enterprise? Revising Old Concepts and Interviewing Social Entrepreneurs

The concept of social enterprise (SE) has been developed by an emerging and collective effort of scholars over the world. However, a comprehensive meaning of ‘SE,’ which embeds traditional knowledge of organizational management has potential to be explored further. Due to the relevance of ‘SE’ in the contemporary society, new conceptual and practical insights are desirable. This study proposes to shed light on building up a definition for ‘SE’ that is inspired by existing definitions of organization and ‘SE’ and rely on real-world evidence. Literature review and comprehensive interviews with social entrepreneurs were conducted. Data analysis defines ‘SEs’ as an autonomous organization managed in a participative way and created by and for the community, with a relatively identifiable boundary, that strives to generate social wealth, and for this, produces goods and/or services that guarantee its financial viability, consequently, its continuity. Its integration into its environment generates consequences guided by social, economic, and environmental goals.     

Do Canadian Social Workers Practice Advocacy?

Involvement in advocacy and social action activities by direct practitioners as well as community organizers is essential if social workers are to develop the capacity to oppose economic and social oppression. Little is known, however, about advocacy as a component of social work practice or those factors which determine whether a social worker engages in such activities. Although a number of researchers have examined the prevalence of advocacy practice among social workers in the United States, no similar studies of advocacy have been conducted among Canadian social workers. The author examines the prevalence of case, self-help, and class advocacy practice among social workers in southwest Ontario. The prevalence of social action-related activities (lobbying for legislation, protests, and involvement in politics) is also assessed.     

Civic Engagement and Civic Literacy Among Social Work Students: Where Do We Stand?

Civic engagement is pivotal to the survival of the social work profession and to our historic role in shaping the social contract. Recent studies report declining rates of civic engagement and civic literacy among Americans. This article, which was presented at the Policy Conference 2.0, examines civic engagement and civic literacy among social work students at a medium-sized program in the western United States. Findings from this study indicate that these students are more likely to be engaged in volunteering and fundraising than in politically oriented activities. Results suggest that understanding of government and democratic processes lead to more civic engagement.     

The location of placement and juvenile delinquency: Do neighborhoods matter in child welfare?

This study aims to advance the knowledge base by investigating where foster youth are placed in terms of neighborhood characteristics and whether specific neighborhood characteristics were associated with delinquency for adolescents in the child welfare system. This study followed the placement experiences of 2360 foster youth in Chicago from birth to 16 years of age. The study used State administrative data, census data, and the community survey of the Project of Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. The results indicated that foster care placements cluster in neighborhoods characterized by high concentrated disadvantage, low ethnic heterogeneity, low collective efficacy, prevalent neighborhood disorder and violent culture. The results indicated that neighborhood ethnic heterogeneity is positively associated with delinquent offending. The implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Do norms matter for firm boundaries?

Even though norms have been integrated in the formal theory of the firm, we have not seen a clear-cut relationship between norms and firm boundaries. In a simple game of relationship specific investments, I show that the parties’ reputation for being trustworthy may be decisive for optimal asset ownership.     

Promoting Good Behavior: Does Social and Temporal Framing Make a Difference?

Social marketing research grows increasingly relevant in the face of persistent modern problems; this study examines how social and temporal framing might influence the effectiveness of social marketing campaigns. By featuring diverse contexts, this study addresses both individual and prosocial behaviors. With a basis in self-referencing and psychological distance research, as well as social dilemma theory, the authors derive hypotheses about social and temporal framing effects. A between-subjects experiment, incorporated into an online survey among a large student sample, reveals the relevance of temporal framing for enhancing intentions to change both individual and prosocial behaviors. Social framing influences behavioral intentions especially in the prosocial condition. The category of behavior determines the effectiveness of social marketing related to that behavior. However, the small effect sizes and lack of globally interpretable effects indicate that social and temporal framing do not make relevant differences in social marketing effectiveness.     

Social Work and Social Justice: What Are We Fighting For?

Abstract

A cardinal value of social work practice is social justice. Social justice ranks as the second of five values that underpin the Code of Ethics of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW. However, although social work's commitment to promoting social justice is laudable and, indeed, may even be a distinguishing feature of the profession, precisely what kind of social justice does social work espouse? The answer to this question remains unclear. Views about the nature and scope of social justice stem from broader conceptions of justice that not only differ from, but may also conflict with, each other. Therefore, it is important not only for social work to be clear about the type of social justice that it currently advocates, but also to ensure that it is one that the profession seeks to defend and maximise. It is argued that the choice must be as egalitarian as possible. Indeed, it must be radically so. Otherwise, what is social work fighting for?     

Social epigenetics: a science of social science?

Epigenetics has considerable potential to transform social science by embedding mutually regulative reciprocal connections between biological and social processes within the human activities it studies. This paper highlights common epigenetic methods and outlines practical considerations in the design of ‘social epigenetics’ research addressing the identification of biomolecular pathways, statistical inference of causality, conceptualization of the environment as a biochemical event, heritability of epigenetic alterations and intergenerational accountability, and concept of time implied by attempts to capture complex, non-linear gene-environment interactions. Finally, we reflect on the social epigenome as a conceptual space and try to identify barriers to translation, and practical and ethical issues raised by epigenetics research. In order for social epigenetics and social science to contribute to the emergence of this putative ‘science of social science’ and to capture meaningful human experience they will both need to change significantly.     

Why Do Social Workers Become Policy Actors?

The study examines factors related to social workers’ involvement in policy practice by examining their engagement in legislative advocacy in Israel. Based on the three components of the Policy Practice Engagement Framework—opportunity, facilitation and motivation—the study focused upon a group of social workers who were actively involved in legislative advocacy as part of their professional job. In order to learn more about their features and the circumstances of their legislative advocacy, they were asked about their testimonies and were then compared to a group of social workers who have never participated in the deliberations of legislative committees. The sample consisted of 190 social workers evenly divided between the two groups. The findings underscore that the intersect of opportunity, facilitation, and motivation created a context that encouraged the involvement of social workers in a specific form of policy practice. The study findings emphasize the opportunity and facilitation components of the framework over the motivational.     

How and Why Do Social and Sustainable Initiatives Scale? A Systematic Review of the Literature on Social Entrepreneurship and Grassroots Innovation

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - Social and sustainable initiatives generally start small and need to scale to create substantial impact. Our systematic...     

Journalism and Social Science: A New Relationship?

This article argues that the use of social science perspectivesand methods by journalists is not a recent phenomenon, but onewhich began to develop long ago within the dominant humanisticphilosophy of professional journalism. Changing definitionsof news in recent times, however, are likely to enhance therole of the social sciences in both professional journalismand journalism education, especially as some journalists seekto move beyond the reporting of specific, isolated events toproviding a context which gives them meaning. If journalisticand social science methods are to become more closely wedded,one very important condition, in addition to interest by editorsand availability of talent, is financial support from thosewho own and control mass media.     

Use of evidence-based interventions in child welfare: Do attitudes matter?

Implementation of evidence-based programs in child welfare has progressed slowly, with the majority of services in child welfare settings lacking empirical evidence for effectiveness. In other settings, research has identified providers' attitudes about evidence-based practices (EBPs) as a potential barrier to adoption of EBPs. As little research has focused on the role of attitudes in influencing use after training in an EBP in child welfare, the potential for attitudes to impede implementation efforts in child welfare is unclear. This study addressed this question in a sample of 55 caseworkers and therapists randomly assigned to enhanced support to use an EBP following training or a training-only condition. Information on providers' use of the intervention after training and their attitudes about EBPs were measured for up to five time points. Results indicate that attitudes did not predict providers' use of the EBP, and attitudes did not change overall or in the enhanced condition that provided greater exposure to the intervention. Providers perceived of requirements to use a practice as more influential in their use than their openness to EBPs. However, those who were more open to EBPs were more likely to participate in implementation support after the training, suggesting that openness facilitates participation in activities that support use of a new intervention.