The Institutionalization of COSSA: An Innovative Response to Crises by American Social Science

Over the past seventy-five years, separate disciplinary associations have been created for each of the social sciences in the United States. As a consequence, cooperation among the associations has only been periodic and delimited. These associations have been primarily focused on member services and have been less concerned than the biological and physical science associations with issues of governmental science policy.
The first Reagan budget was constructed to reduce the already sparse research support by the federal government for the social sciences. That intent mobilized the national social science community to develop collective and coordinated action. Building on a latent structure that had emerged from the common Washington location of the disciplinary associations, the Consortium of Social Science Associations was institutionalized to make a response. COSSA's initial success minimized some of the potential negative consequences. That success suggested the value of such cooperative efforts and also confirmed the necessity of the continuation of COSSA in the future.     

“And then AIDS came along”: A life course turning point and sub-cohorts of older gay men

Research on life course turning points focuses on heterosexuals. Scholars acknowledge that the early AIDS epidemic was a period of crisis for current older gay men, and that this period has shaped and will likely continue to impact their lives. However, few studies have considered the range of early AIDS-related experiences within this group. In this article, I use a life course perspective and in-depth interviews with 40 gay men (60+) in Atlanta to address the following questions: (1) How did current older gay men's experiences vary during the AIDS years? (2) What social factors shaped this variation? I identified three AIDS-related sub-cohorts, which were defined by how participants' social and spatial relationships to urban gay communities influenced their experiences of personal loss, community loss, personal support, and community support between 1981 and 1996. The results suggest that scholars and service providers interested in how early life experiences impact later life should consider the divergent early AIDS-related experiences within the group “older gay men.”     

Revisiting the sociology of identities and selves with discursive resources

In recent years, a growing body of multidisciplinary research has used the concept of the discursive resource. Discursive psychologists, communications scholars, and sociologists have all used this concept. Discursive resources are clusters of categories supplied by culture that present explanations for past and future activities, provide individual and collective identities for self‐construction, and enable and constrain texts. In this essay, I describe how this research contributes to sociological theorizing of identity, and make some recommendations for researchers who wish to use these concepts or improve these concepts. Studies using the concept of the discursive resource contribute to sociological theorizing of identity by showing how discursive resources are related to important features of social life such as future talk; collective identities; space and time; and complex and political divisions of labor, culture, and postmodernity. I then conclude by suggesting that future research analyze the social distribution of discursive resources across different kinds of social environments.     

AIDS funding and the rhetoric of scarcity

This article describes the “rhetoric of scarcity,” a viewpoint that focuses on the inadequate past support for and the uncertain future of AIDS funding. This view is at variance with the consistent rise in financial support for AIDS and with the criticism from some quarters that AIDS is being overfunded relative to other diseases. The rhetoric of scarcity expressed by members of the AIDS community is distinctive but not unique to HIV/AIDS and can be traced to qualities of the epidemic and the ways in which nonprofit organizations obtain their funds.     

My New Zealand lesbian studies through time and times

In this article Alison J. Laurie reflects on her political activism and how it informs her academic scholarship and research interests relating to lesbian studies in New Zealand. She concludes that her desire for social change and commitment to lesbian community development inspired her early activism and has continued to inform her activism as well as her academic research and writing. She discusses her involvement in lesbian and gay organizations and campaigns, in New Zealand, Scandinavia, the United States and the United Kingdom, and the ideas that have informed and influenced her work. She pioneered the first lesbian studies courses in New Zealand, initially through community education, and from 1990 for university credit, and considers the contribution these courses can make. Finally, she reflects on several of her articles, book chapters and books considering how her work has developed during the past 50 years.     

Intergenerational Impact of the AIDS Pandemic in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

This paper articulates and assesses the intergenerational impact of the AIDS pandemic in Nigeria based on literature reviews and mailed surveys. The findings reveal that, with the advent of colonialism in the 19th century, the wave of modernization, and the new idea of nuclear family system, intergenerational bonds and relationships were weakened to an extent. But the arrival of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and its steady increase worsened the situation. Intergenerational relationships have been affected to the extent that bonds between generations are collapsing. The AIDS pandemic creates social isolation and stigmatization of the infected and affected population. Since the middle generation is mostly infected, the older and younger generations who depend on them suffer most of the consequences. Some efforts have been made by the government and non-governmental organizations to address the increasing rate of infection. But little has been done to mitigate the impact of the pandemic especially on intergenerational relationships. As a possible solution, this paper suggests some intergenerational programming and policy approaches to address the problem, and achieve better intergenerational relationships in Nigeria at this time of crisis.     

Reflecting on partdime private practice: Is it worth it?

Abstract

Gradual, but not so subtle, changes in Australia's political and welfare cultures have meant that over the past I0 years social workers have been showing a greater interest in private practice as a legitimate aspect of the profession. This paper presents some of the major practical considerations required for a part-time practice to be successfully initiated and maintained. The author uses her own experience as an example and explores the personal, professional and commercial decisions she has made in such a practice over the past 16 years.     

The AIDS Epidemic and Migrants in South Asia and South-East Asia

Migrant vulnerability to AIDS is an important public health care issue. After having listed some characteristics of the epidemic in Asia and their link with migration, the article describes some of the disease's consequences on economic sectors that employ migrants and lists preventive measures (regulatory, sectoral, microeconomic) that have been taken to counter the spread.     

ETHNOMETHODOLOGY AND SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM: A CRITICAL COMPARISON OF TEMPORAL ORIENTATIONS*

For some time, sociologists have called for the study of the temporal characteristics of social life. Ethnomethodology and Symbolic Interactionism are two sociological theories which have begun to develop analyses of social timing. In this report, exemplary research efforts from each perspective are examined and evaluated along the temporal dimensions of the past, order, sequence, and the future. It is shown that research methods are key in elaborating or hindering the study of temporality. Specifically, Symbolic Interactionists' strategies have allowed a rich temporal orientation to be developed and specified whereas strategies employed by Ethnomethodologists have resulted in research that is confined to the immediate realm of experience and thereby have been narrow in temporal scope.     

A Review of: “Producing Sperm Sperm Counts: Overcome by Man's Most Precious Fluid. By Lisa Jean Moore.”

This paper offers a preliminary conceptualization of the psychological structure of AIDS‐related attitudes among American adults and describes some of the social and psychological factors that affect those attitudes. Data were collected first from participants in focus groups in five U.S. cities and then from respondents in a national telephone survey. Two major psychological dimensions of attitudes were observed consistently. The first dimension, labeled COERCION/COMPASSION, includes judgments about the extent to which AIDS is viewed as highly contagious and requiring containment, through coercion if necessary. It also includes attributions of blame to people with AIDS. The second dimension, PRAGMATISM/MORALISM, includes judgments about the extent to which AIDS is viewed as controllable through research, public education and governmental sponsorship of behavior‐change programs. The two attitude dimensions are not highly correlated. Regression analyses suggest that the two dimensions have different social and psychological antecedents and that these antecedents differ between White and Black Americans. Using the two factors, a tentative typology of responses to the AIDS epidemic is presented. Implications for AIDS education and policy are discussed.     

HIV Risk in Gay and Lesbian Adolescents

Adolescents, regardless of sexual orientations, are not increased risk for HIV infection. Although the number of infected adolescents remains small, the number of adolescent AIDS cases is approximately doubling each year. This suggests that the rate of HIV infection among adolescents is expanding in a similar fashion to that seen among gay men in the early years of the epidemic. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for understanding the problems of HIV infection as it related to the gay and lesbian adolescent. This framework is grounded in developmental theory, though key social, political, economic, and policy factors which are believed to contribute to the infection of HIV among gay and lesbian adolescents will also be presented. It will be argued that social practitioners who are working in the HIV and AIDS arena would do well to reexamine the paradigm, which governs existing practice methodology.     

Projects and Possibilities: Researching Futures in Action

How can we understand the social impact of cognitions of a projected future, taking into account both the institutional determinants of hopes and their personal inventiveness? How can we document the repercussions, often contrary to intentions, “back from” such projected futures to the production and transformation of social structures? These are some of the questions to be addressed by a cultural sociology that attempts to look seriously at the effects of a projected future as a dynamic force undergirding social change. In this essay I discuss some of the reasons why the analysis of the future has been so neglected in sociological theory and research, and then sketch a possible framework for reincorporating it that specifies some of the cognitive dimensions of projectivity. In the process, I will show how a focus on future projections can help us make a link between cognition and action in a manner that has so far been neglected in the sociological literature.     

Community reaction to persons with HIV/AIDS and their parents: an analysis of recent evidence from Thailand

We systematically examine community reaction to persons living with HIV/AIDS (PHAs) and their older parents in Thailand. We focus on parents as well as PHAs because parents are major providers of care for their ill adult children. Our analyses are based on several sources of recently collected survey and qualitative data from a wide range of perspectives. We find important variations in community reaction to PHAs and their families, but overall these reactions are much more positive than is widely assumed. We conclude that much existing research on community reaction to AIDS neglects both a rich body of social theory on stigma and a strong tradition of population-based empirical research in sociology. Much existing research also fails to adequately distinguish between key aspects of the social settings where most AIDS cases occur and the social settings where most of the stereotypes surrounding AIDS-related stigma have originated. A closer marriage between empirical and theoretical approaches to social stigma is required to advance our understanding of this critically important dimension of the AIDS epidemic.     

Book reviews

The need to provide an evaluation of policy implementation is an integral part of almost all work carried out by organizations. Accordingly, many social science researchers will undertake some form of evaluation work during their careers. For many, this task will prove relatively unproblematic. However, for some, evaluation research may pose a number of difficulties. This reflexive article explores one area of concern, focusing as it does on some of the consequences and problems that emerge when researchers undertaking evaluations become involved in the consequences of their work.     

Families in Poverty in the 1990s: Trends,Causes, Consequences,and Lessons Learned

During the 1990s, poverty rates in the United States remained relatively stable despite a robust economy in which unemployment and inflation were at their lowest points in many years. Approximately 13% of individuals, 11% of families, and 19% of children lived below the poverty line in 1998, a decline of only 1% or less for each of these categories since 1990. These high rates of poverty result in many severe consequences. This essay reviews the research and theoretical and conceptual developments during the past decade, including: (a) a background on how the poverty line was developed; (b) general research themes in the 1990s; (c) the causes of the virtually unchanged poverty rate; (d) the consequences of poverty, particularly for children; and (e) the lessons we have learned from research over the past decade, with some directions for the future.     

DILEMMAS IN RESEARCH: ISSUES OF VULNERABILITY AND DISEMPOWERMENT FOR THE SOCIAL WORKER/RESEARCHER

Qualitative research ethics discussions have established a sound knowledge and practice base which advises on the protection and rights of the research informants. This paper, although supporting the primacy of informant safety, will highlight less visible research debates. The potential for vulnerability and harm of the social work researcher will be explored. The value of achieving heightened empathy and emotional resonance with research participants is considered as a process which the author suggests is likely to increase the richness of the research data, but also may accentuate researcher vulnerability or distress. The author's experience of doing personal research with vulnerable informants, and of being a social work research supervisor, will be used to reflect on processes and practices which she claims may make social work researchers particularly vulnerable to conflict and distress. Data from her recent research which explored the experiences of social work researchers will be used to illustrate these issues.     

Persistence of an exclusionary model: Inequality and segmentation in Mexican society

Beginning in the 1980s, Mexico's social and labour policies took a neoliberal turn which exacerbated inequalities, poverty and social exclusion. The change of policy course that has occurred over the past decade has so far failed to bring about a critical review of the country's economic model and its social consequences. The role of the State has been systematically cut back; social services have been outsourced to the market; and informal family‐based social protection has gained ground. Mexico's social model has thus been reduced to a system that is almost exclusively concerned with protection for those living in extreme poverty.     

Clinical services to persons with AIDS: The parallel nature of the client and worker processes

Social workers working in the area of AIDS confront individuals struggling with a plethora of issues and problems related to an AIDS diagnosis.Especially important to this work is the interplay of themes between the worker and client; a parallel process emerges that provides both insight and potential dilemmas for the social worker. While the worker may attempt to maintain a posture of disciplined subjectivity, she is confronting in the professional relationship a situation that intimately touches the core of her own identity.Through a case presentation from practice in an AIDS clinic, this paper will examine the parallel nature of the client and worker processes. Key issues will be identified and potential responses will be considered.     

Digital methods in a post-API environment

ABSTRACT

Qualitative and mixed methods digital social research often relies on gathering and storing social media data through the use of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). In past years this has been relatively simple, with academic developers and researchers using APIs to access data and produce visualisations and analysis of social networks and issues. In recent years, API access has become increasingly restricted and regulated by corporations at the helm of social media networks. Facebook (the corporation) has restricted academic research access to Facebook (the social media platform) along with Instagram (a Facebook-owned social media platform). Instead, they have allowed access to sources where monetisation can easily occur, in particular, marketers and advertisers. This leaves academic researchers of digital social life in a difficult situation where API related research has been curtailed. In this paper we describe some rationales and methodologies for using APIs in social research. We then introduce some of the major events in academic API use that have led to the prohibitive situation researchers now find themselves in. Finally, we discuss the methodological and ethical issues this produces for researchers and, suggest some possible steps forward for API related research.     

Cracks in a policy paradigm – poverty reduction and social security: the case of Belgium

Poverty reduction rests on the mechanisms of horizontal and vertical solidarity and on prevention and repair of social risks. In this contribution, we argue that in contemporary welfare states the poverty-reducing capacity of existing social security systems has inherent limitations. Focusing on Belgium, we present and discuss empirical indications of a persistent (over a period of at least 30 years) decline in poverty reduction through social transfers, particularly among households who are highly dependent on such transfers. Firstly, we show that prevention and repair have failed to contribute to a reduction in the proportion of work-poor households who are highly dependent upon social security and face a high (rising even) poverty risk. Secondly, we find that given the fragmentation of social risks – in terms of both ex post poverty outcomes and ex ante social stratification – horizontal redistributive mechanisms through risk pooling have become less obvious, especially in respect of unemployment. Thirdly, it appears that the mechanisms of vertical solidarity also face inherent limitations. In a final section we summarise some important research questions for the future and potentially worthwhile policy avenues to resolve the question of how social policy-making might succeed in the future where it has failed in the past.