Commentary on the paper by Ino and Glicken, “treating Asian American clients in crisis: A collectivist approach.”

Abstract

This was written in response to the article by Ino and Glicken titled “Treating Asian American Clients in Crisis: A Collectivist Approach.” Their paper presented six cases using the concept of a Collective Self in treating these clients in crisis situations. This commentary will elaborate on some of the significant differences between the Eastern cultures that have given rise to a Collective Self and the more individuated sense of Self that emerged in the West. Likewise, briefly discussed are the differing nature of the transference, countertransference, confidentiality and nature of the problem/solution.     

Commentary on “The Effects of Financial Incentives in Experiments: A Review and Capital-Labor-Production Framework”

Journal of Risk and Uncertainty -     

(Mis)Construal Processes for Contingent Valuation Questions: A Commentary on “Construal Processes in Preference Assessment”

Journal of Risk and Uncertainty -     

From “State and Society” to “Institutions and Life”: A Shift in the Study of Social Change in China

Abstract

The term “institutions and life” is proposed as an alternative perspective to “state and society.” Here, “institutions” refers to formal institutions set up in the name of the state and supporting its agents at various levels and in different departments in the exercise of their functions. “Life” refers to the everyday activities of social beings, involving not only the interests, powers and rights-based claims of expedient production and life strategies and techniques, but also relatively routine popular mores and informal institutions. The purpose of constructing and applying this perspective is to probe the complex mechanism of the interaction between living subjects and the agents of formal institutions in institutional practice and thereby analyze the actual logic and changing direction of China’s formal institutions and explore the mechanisms behind changes in mores so as to grasp the main thread running through China’s modern nation building.     

Defensible Preferences and the Public: Commentary on “Measuring Constructed Preferences Towards a Building Code” by Payne,Bettman and Schkade

Journal of Risk and Uncertainty -     

Commentary on “Economic Preferences or Attitude Expressions?: An Analysis of Dollar Responses to Public Issues” by Kahneman,Ritov and Schkade

Journal of Risk and Uncertainty -     

The New “Bridge to Adulthood”: Searching for Meaning and Cohesion in the Nexus of “Hook-ups,” Internet Porn,and Instant Messages

The transition from adolescence to young adulthood has sometimes been referred to as the “bridge to young adulthood.” This period is critically important for consolidating identity and for developing a deeper capacity for sexual and nonsexual intimacy. However, widening reliance on cyber technology, social media websites, and instant text messaging, in combination with newly emerging patterns of sexual relations and recreational drug and alcohol use, has complicated the navigation of the developmental transition to young adulthood. We review psychoanalytic theory pertaining to the transition from adolescence to adulthood with a focus on Erikson’s theory of psychosexual/psychosocial epigenesis in order to explicate the developmental tasks specific to this transition. This developmental stage will also be examined through the lens of developmental neurobiology. Recent theorizing on Internet-mediated sexuality will be discussed as it relates to the case studies presented. Case material will demonstrate difficulties with the transition to adulthood, manifested in part-object relating, and the use of cyber-mediated and compulsive sexuality to resolve dysphoric self-states.     

A Proposition about Nonliterary Characters:Analysis on the Limitations of the Conceptof“20~(th) Century Chinese Literature”

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A Model for Implementing an Evidence-Based Practice in Student Fieldwork Placements: Barriers and Facilitators to the Use of “SBIRT”

ABSTRACT

This article reports on focus group data analysis that was used to understand initial, largely positive outcomes from a university-based initiative to disseminate and implement an evidence-based practice (EBP)—Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment for Substance Use (SBIRT)—into student fieldwork placements, which are usual care social work settings. Focus groups were conducted with three groups of stakeholders involved in the ongoing project: social work department faculty (n = 10), bachelor- and master-level social work students (n = 8), and social work fieldwork instructors (n = 6). Dimensional analysis of the focus group data yielded results indicating that dissemination and implementation of SBIRT was influenced by agency- and school-level factors and perceived fit between the EBP and individual professional identity, intrapersonal characteristics, and timing. The resulting model, developed through the focus group analysis, is offered and shows how these factors interacted and affected training, supervision, and use of the EBP. The model provides social work educational programs and agencies a working tool for diagnosing and proactively addressing barriers and breakdowns in the EBP implementation process. Future research that tests the model as a diagnostic tool and generates knowledge about its influence in developing competent evidence-based practitioners is indicated. Future focus groups in relation to this initiative are needed to better understand these barriers and facilitators in the EBP implementation process and their critical roles in the process of translating SBIRT into standard social work practice.     

Meeting (or not) at the street level? A literature review on street‐level research in public management,social policy and social work

This literature review analyses the adoption and development of a street‐level perspective in public management, social policy and social work. The last years have seen a prominent revival of a perspective based on Michael Lipsky's street‐level bureaucracy approach in the debates conducted within all three disciplinary fields. Based on 71 key publications in public management, social policy and social work, the review analyses the adoption of the street‐level bureaucracy approach during the period 2005–2015, pointing out the main themes of the debate within, as well as overlaps and differences between, the three disciplines. The findings show the potential of better integrating the different perspectives and taking stock of the articulated debate. Lastly, the review discerns a common viewpoint for further street‐level research, emphasising its importance for the critical analysis and understanding of street‐level work as a vital dimension of responsive and accountable institutions and as a decisive moment to shape positive policy outcomes on the ground. Key Practitioner Message: ? The use of discretion by frontline practitioners and their role as policy actors on the ground has become an important focus of research; ? This literature review shows that the debate has gone far beyond discussing discretion as an all‐or‐nothing issue, pointing out both positive and negative aspects of discretion and developing comprehensive frameworks to explain the use of discretion at the street‐level; ? However, street‐level research has traditionally rather neglected the notion of professionalism. The social work literature brings in the perspective of professionalism; more research efforts are needed to better explore and explain how professionalism matters in relation to challenges and dilemmas of different policy and practice fields.     

Single mothers or women in single parenthood (WISP)? A report and reflection on the development of a brief marital metaphor questionnaire (MMQ-10)

Metaphor is embedded with representations of both experience and longing and can go far beyond problem representations in exploring marital experience. This paper reports the development of a marital metaphor questionnaire and its use with 123 Chinese single mothers. Lower marital satisfaction does correlate with their ratings of marital experience, but not with their general attitude toward marriage. The implications are discussed as to how marital metaphors could be used as an effective tool to engage clients on sensitive topics, reveal hopes and strengths, and how empirical studies can be conducted in a stigma-free and strength-based orientation.     

A Sociological Analysis of the “Strong Central,Weak Local” Pattern of Trust in Government: Based on Three Stage Tracking Data after the Wenchuan Earthquake*

Individual and community social capital have had a significant impact on the gap between trust in higher-level governments and trust in local governments. A model including data from thirty villages gathered after the Wenchuan earthquake discovered that “the size of the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) greeting network,” “the size of the official network at/ above township level,” and “trust in fellow villagers” all had a considerable negative effect on the gap between trust in higher-level and local governments. Building individual and community social capital is conducive to establishing a balance between trust in different layers of government; individuals and communities who cooperate with each other have more channels for solving their economic and livelihood issues. Social capital can lead to a significant improvement in the effectiveness of resource matching and utilization involving governments and other sectors of society as well as increasing interaction with government. This can enhance trust in local governments and narrow the gap between trust in higher-level and local governments.     

How effective do families of non–English‐speaking background (NESB) and child protection caseworkers in Australia see the use of interpreters? A qualitative study to help inform good practice principles

Little empirical research has been conducted in Australia on what constitutes as effective practice with interpreters in child protection matters. This study aimed to address this gap. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 29 non–English‐speaking background (NESB) client families and 17 child protection caseworkers (as part of a larger study). Four examples of good practice (e.g. accurate translation) and 14 examples of ineffective practice emerged. The examples of poor practice were consequently grouped as issues with: (i) interpreters (e.g. inaccurate translation); (ii) caseworkers (e.g. insufficient time); (iii) NESB families (e.g. refusing to use an interpreter); and (iv) resources (e.g. insufficient face‐to‐face interpreters). As expected, the results largely replicate the (scant) national and international literature, indicating that features of good practice, and barriers to them, are similar across multicultural countries. This paper does however argue that training for interpreters dealing in such sensitive matters and training for caseworkers on working effectively with interpreters seem to be at the heart of good practice. This study is significant because it draws on the richness of data that qualitative methods offer to identify the full range of relevant variables and provide empirical support for principles of good practice.     

Systematic Innovation,Comprehensive Development and Going Global: Some Thoughts on the Construction of an Innovation System for Philosophy and Social Sciences in China during the “12th Five-year Plan” Period

Abstract

30多年来,中国思想解放、改革开放的伟大实践推动着哲学社会科学的创新取得了五大成就, 开启了理论创新的时代。“十二五” 时期, 中国哲学社会科学研究将步入系统创新的新阶段, 将从个别观点、个别结论的创新转换到基础理论、理论体系和方法论的创新; 从单一学科、单一视野的创新转换到综合创新、交叉创新和新学科群的崛起; 从无序竞争转换到有序推进。作为创新型国家建设的重要内容, 哲学社会科学创新体系、创新能力建设与自然科学同为 “鸟之两翼” 、“车之两轮” , 同样重要。中国哲学社会科学创新规划应当强化“国家意识”、建立“国家目标”、设立 “国工程” 。系统创新、全面发展、走向世界, 这是当代中国哲学社会科学的基本任务。关键词: 哲学社会科学 创新体系 创新能力 学科群

In the past three decades, the great practice of intellectual emancipation and reform and opening up in China has given rise to five achievements in philosophical and social science innovation, opening a new era of theoretical innovation. The 12^th Five-year Plan period (2011-2015) will witness the arrival of a new stage of systematic innovation in philosophical and social science research: innovation in individual opinions and conclusions will develop into innovation in fundamental theories, theoretical systems and methodologies; the innovation of individual disciplines and perspectives will give way to the rise of new groups of subjects and to innovation based on synthesized and interdisciplinary studies; and disorderly competition will be replaced by orderly progress. As an important component in the construction of an innovative nation, the building of an innovation system and innovation capacity is as important in philosophy and social sciences as in their counterpart, the natural sciences; they are like the two wings of a bird or two wheels of a cart. Our innovation plan for philosophy and social sciences should strengthen “national consciousness,” establish “national aims” and launch “national projects.” Systematic innovation, comprehensive development and going global constitute the basic tasks of contemporary Chinese philosophy and social sciences.