Child and family social work: organizational context and identity

In the years since 1948, child and family social work has, to differing degrees at different times, sought to identify itself with a national centrally directed service, with the local service organization, with its clientele and with an independent source of professional regulation. Changes in the organizational context in which the work has been carried out over this period have affected the prospects for the development of a secure identity. The effects of the following are considered: national structures, particularly in relation to children's departments between 1948 and 1971; the corporate local authority; the managerial function in social services departments; social care; specialization; the detailed scrutiny of practice; care management and the Children Act 1989.     

Supporting families of origin: an exploration of the influence of the Children Act 1948

The 50th anniversary of the Children Act 1948 is an opportunity to look back at the evolution of child care practice in England and Wales. This paper traces the development of social work practice aimed at supporting families of origin. It highlights the transition of the concept of prevention from a narrow focus on the prevention of admission to care, to the wider understanding of family support reflected in the Children Act 1989. Some of the challenges to policy and practice supporting families are identified and it is argued that the retreat from prevention in the 1970s is most evident in the subsequent investment in the child rescue ideology of the 'permanence movement'. The paper draws attention to the intentions of the Children Act 1989 to redress the failures and deficiencies of earlier practice by its emphasis on supporting families of children in need. It highlights current concerns that practice aimed at supporting families of origin continues to be marginalized by an emphasis on child protection and argues for a renewed commitment to section 17, Children Act 1989.     

Wittgenstein,Durkheim, Garfinkel and Winch: Constitutive Orders of Sensemaking

This paper proposes an approach to the question of meaning and understanding based on the idea of constitutive rules and their relationship to the social objects they are used to create. This approach implicates mutual attention as an essential aspect of the social processes constitutive of social objects and mutual intelligibility. Social objects as such include the meaning, perception and coherence of things, identities and talk, etc. There is a relatively unexplored but important line of argument in sociology that has, from the beginning, explained the coherence and mutual intelligibility of social objects and associations in terms of constitutive practices and social facts. This line of argument begins with Emile Durkheim (1893) and carries through the work of Harold Garfinkel to current studies of work and interaction, human computer interaction and talk. The argument is that we use constitutive practices (Constitutive rules or constitutive background expectancies) to create social objects and make coherent and shared meanings. To act is in this sense for Garfinkel ([1948]2006) to “mean”. Explaining the consistency of social objects and orders in terms of constitutive orders, rules, or practices is an approach that meets the challenges posed to social science and philosophy by Ludwig Wittgenstein (1953 ), Peter Winch (1958 ) and Paul Grice (1989 ).     

Femininity, Sexuality and Professionalism in the Children's Departments

Correspondence to ReadingLasses, Wigtown, Galloway, DG8 9EH. Summary Noting the significance of women in management in the localauthority children's departments (1948–72) and the preoccupationwith women in management during the 1990s, the authors comparethese two periods. In particular, they focus upon the discoursesof femininity which shape the ways in which women as managersand as professionals are talked about, understood and analysed.The argument, presented from a feminist post-structuralist perspective,is based on an analysis of data generated through interviewswith women who were significant in the children's departments(as children's officers or members of the children's committees)between 1948 and 1972. The paper shows that the ways in whichfemininity is constructed, socially and through women's subjectivities,act as powerful mechanisms through which women are controlled,but also present opportunities to women for resistance and change.     

The Social Psychology of Physical Disability: 1948 and 1988

The editor of JSI's 1948 special issue on the social psychology of physical disability recalls some of the circumstances associated with its creation. He epitomizes the Zeitgeist in this field in 1948 and 1988, speculates on the influence of the JSI issue in the changes that occurred over those 40 years, and discusses several variables that may influence further developments by the year 2000.     

LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYMENT,EMPLOYMENT ATTITUDES AND MENTAL HEALTH

The effect of long-term unemployment and employment attitudes on mental health of 99 unemployed people in New Zealand were investigated in 1989 and again one year later. Each participant was interviewed in-depth on employment attitudes, and the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale(RSE) together with a demographic questionnaire were administered. The results indicated that the percentage of people who in 1989 wanted employment and of those who were interested in training had decreased within one year, whereas the percentage of people who stated having alternatives to employment increased. The group who felt unable to work stayed the same in size. Good mental health was associated either with re-employment or with those who had alternatives to employment. Poor mental health was evident in those still wanting employment and in those who felt unable to work. The implications of these findings regarding governmental policies are outlined.     

UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN AUSTRALIA, 1950–89

Although the incidence of unemployment in Australia is well established, the causes of unemployment remain controversial. Various putative causes for unemployment exist, including the unemployment benefits system. The present study sought to estimate the impact of the generosity of Australian unemployment benefits on the measured unemployment rate of three recipient groups, single adult males over 21, married males, and married males with two children, for the period 1950 to 1989 inclusive. The results of this statistical exercise are largely consistent with similar work done in Australia and elsewhere; namely, that while unemployment benefits did increase the measured rate for unemployment during the period 1950 to 1989 to a statistically significant degree, other stronger influences on unemployment were evident.     

Separate Schools: Gender,Policy, and Practice in Postwar Soviet Education

Christopher F. Black, Italian Confraternities in the Sixteenth Century (1989), xiv + 321 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, £35.00).

Ralph Houlbrooke, English Family Life, 1576–1716: An Anthology from Diaries (1988), xiv + 268 (Basil Blackwell, Oxford, £14.95).

Judith Moore, A Zeal for Responsibility: The Struggle for Professional Nursing in Victorian England, 1868–1883 (1988), xvii + 214 (University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, $23.00).

Dieter Fricke, Handbuch zur Geschichte der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung 1869 bis 1917 (1987), 2 vols, 1468 (Dietz Verlag Berlin, East Berlin, DM 58). [Handbook for the History of the German Labour Movement, 1869–1917].

Diane Langmore, Missionary Lives. Papua, 1874–1914 (1989), xxiv + 408 (University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, $28.00).

Christine Collette, For Labour and For Women: The Women's Labour League, 1906–1918 (1989), iii + 225 (Manchester University Press, Manchester, £29.95).

Sebastian Balfour, Dictatorship, Workers, and the City. Labour in Greater Barcelona since 1939 (1989), viii + 288 (Oxford University Press, Oxford, £30.00).     

美国种族限制性契约的司法判决与种族隔离的松动

在20世纪前期,种族限制性契约是美国白人实行种族隔离最主要的制度性措施。在关于限制性契约的判决中,对"州政府行为"的解释是一个关键,因为联邦宪法第14条修正案的制约对象是各州政府,而不是私人行为。在1948年以前,大多数州法院将州法院的司法判决排除在州政府行为之外,从而便利了州法院对种族限制性契约的纵容。在黑人、民权组织和某些政府部门的斗争之下,1948年联邦最高法院将州法院的判决也包含在州政府行为之中,从而制止了州法院对限制性契约的纵容。此后,对州政府行为的解释日益扩大,对限制性契约的控制更严,从而在美国种族隔离的藩篱中打开了一个缺口。     

Between Two Motherlands: Nationality and Emigration among the Greeks of Bulgaria, 1900–1949

Nicholas Rogers, Whigs and Cities: Popular Politics in the Age of Walpole and Pitt (1989), xii + 440 (Clarendon Press, Oxford, £40.00).

Frank O'Gorman, Voters, Patrons, and Parties: The Unreformed Electorate of Hanoverian England, 1734–1832 (1989) xiv + 445 (Clarendon Press, Oxford, £40.00).     

论别尔嘉耶夫的马克思主义观

别尔嘉耶夫是19世纪末20世纪初俄国白银时代著名的宗教哲学家,他从宗教存在主义的立场出发对马克思主义有着自己的解读,并在对苏联时期马克思主义的分析和评价中阐明了自己的马克思主义观。他认为苏联时期的马克思主义过分强调客观必然性,忽视了人自由的本质和创造性的使命,从而造成了人之主体性的缺席,这种思想观点与20世纪新马克思主义具有诸多契合之处。     

Regulating child care: from the Children Act 1948 to the present day

This article reflects selectively on the development of the legal regulation of child care practice in England and Wales since the Children Act 1948. Two main themes are identified: the burgeoning burden of the statutory responsibilities of local authorities throughout the period, and the controls more recently imposed on the discretionary exercise of statutory powers. The impact of the latter on particular areas of practice is discussed within the context of the growing influence of international treaty obligations, the concept of children's rights, and the outcomes of research on the legal framework of child care practice.     

Gender, racial, and ethnic disclosure in NIH K-Award funded diabetes and obesity clinical trials

In 1993, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) passed The Revitalization Act (Subtitle B) which mandated that all NIH funded clinical trials have "appropriate representation" of minority and women subjects. Our aim was to evaluate the impact of the mandate by examining the reporting and inclusion of minority and female subjects into NIH K-Award funded clinical trials, addressing the minority predominant diagnoses of diabetes and clinical obesity. Using the CRISP search engine and PUBMED, we selected publications published by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) K-grant recipients during 1989-2004, associated with all the diabetes and obesity clinical trials. Studies were stratified into three timeline categories (1989-1993, pre-mandate; 1993-1996, post-mandate, and 1997-present, well past mandate) to evaluate trends in the recruiting of minorities and women before, during, and after the passing of the Revitalization Act. Of the 165 papers, only 37% disclosed race, a number that did not improve over time (p=.15), whereas 92% disclosed gender. Clinical trials that focused on females increased across the 3 timeframes (p < .001) for diabetes studies but not obesity studies. Overall, disclosure of race declined over the 3 timeframes whereas individually, the disclosure of African Americans improved.     

The Jewish-Palestinian Encounter in a Time of Crisis

For over two decades the School for Peace at Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam has been bringing together Jews and Arabs for dialogue workshops. This article examines the unique approach that the School for Peace has developed over the years in the light of existing theory in the field and of existing research in the field of social identity construction and majority-minority relations. The article then shows how processes that take place in our encounter workshops may even shed light on the Jewish-Palestinian conflict from 1948 until today. Understanding these processes is essential to any attempt at building a more humane society based on equality and justice between the two peoples.     

Wearing corset,losing shape: The euro's effect on trade imbalances

When does trade become a one-way relationship? We study bilateral trade balances for a sample of 18 European countries over the period from 1948 through 2008. We find that, with the introduction of the euro, trade imbalances among euro area members widened considerably, even after allowing for permanent asymmetries in trade competitiveness within pairs of countries or in the overall trade competitiveness of individual countries. This is consistent with indications that pair-wise trade tends to be more balanced when nominal exchange rates are flexible. Intra-euro area imbalances also seem to have become more persistent with the introduction of the euro, some of which is linked to labor market inflexibility. Reviewing the direction of imbalances, we find that bilateral trade surpluses are decreasing in the real exchange rate, decreasing in growth differentials, and increasing in the relative volatility of national business cycles. Finally, countries with relatively higher fiscal deficits and less flexible labor and product markets exhibit systematically lower trade surpluses than others.     

Reintegrative Shaming, Shame, and Criminal Justice

This study tested the implication of reintegrative shaming theory (RST) ( Braithwaite, 1989 ) that social disapproval (shaming) has an effect on the emotions that offenders feel. Interviews were conducted with 720 participants who had recently attended a court case or family group conference in the Australian Capital Territory, having been apprehended for driving while over the legal alcohol limit. Analyses show that shame-related emotions were predicted by perceptions of social disapproval, but that the relationship was more complex than expected. Differences between the shame-related emotions may have implications for theory. Comparisons between the court cases and family group conferences were consistent with expectations that restorative justice interventions would be more reintegrative, but also showed that they were not perceived as less stigmatizing.     

Generalized Expected Utility, Heteroscedastic Error, and Path Dependence in Risky Choice

We evaluate the fit of several generalized expected utility models under homoscedasticity and three different heteroscedastic error structures for the data set first reported in Hey and Orme (1994). Standard chi-squared tests are used for nested tests, and both the Akaike (1973) information criterion and its consistent version (Hurvich and Tsai, 1989) are used for non-nested ranking of these models. A testing framework is developed that explicitly accounts for the path-dependent nature of the model selection problem. Not only does the selection of preference models depend on the error structure assumed, but the reverse is also true: the selection of the error structure depends on the preference structure assumed. An erratum to this article is available at .     

A longitudinal study of some dimensions of socioeconomic development: Turkey 1948–77

Aspects of socioeconomic development in Turkey between 1948 and 1977 are studied through the use of obliquely rotated principal compenents. The results indicate that long-term developmental trends, which appear in the cross-sectional studies of Adelman and Morris, were slowed down by problems of sociopolitical integration during the sample period. In addition, the analysis shows that multivariate techniques such as compenent analysis can be used at the initial stages of theory construction in the field of socioeconomic development. The hypotheses developed via these methods are testable by others that use the deductive approach.     

Similarity and preferences in the space of simple lotteries

A. Rubinstein's similarity-relation approach to decision making under uncertainty is extended by introducing a new concept of correlated similarity relations. It is shown that every expected utility preference is consistent with the -difference similarity relation on the prize space and some correlated similarity relations on the probability space, and that a similarity relation on the prize space and correlated similarity relations on the probability space overdetermine the preference (in A. Rubinstein's sense).Earlier versions were presented at the Edwin Smart Symposium on Games and Economic Behavior, Ohio State University, 1989, the ESEM 1989 Meeting, the EEA 1989 Meeting, the Workshop on Rational and Boundedly Rational Principles of Strategic Behavior, Universität Bielefeld, 1989, and the ASSET 1991 Meeting. We wish to thank the comments received from the participants in those meetings and the stimulating suggestions of S. Ch. Kolm, R. D. Luce, and an anonymous referee. Financial support from the Universidad del Pais Vasco-Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, DGCYT (PS 87-0039) and Gobierno de Navarra are gratefully acknowledged.     

It was more difficult than we thought: a reflection on 50 years of child welfare practice

This article discusses the struggle in the years since the Children Act 1948 to establish a sense of confidence and direction in the practice of social work with children and families. It argues that although there were important achievements in the early years and many examples of sensitive and committed practice in the period under review, the service has not fulfilled its early promise. It has failed to develop a coherent, indigenous theoretical framework for practice. The reasons for this and some of its consequences and the opportunities which now arise for professional refocusing are discussed.