Arbeitslos oder erwerbsunfähig?

An international comparison of unemployment rates suggests a poor performance of the German labour market. Based on comparative analyses for Germany, the Netherlands, France, Denmark, the UK and the United States the paper tries to show that a more sophisticated picture can be drawn by taking additional forms of non-employment (e.g. disability, retirement or out of labour force) into account. For this purpose data from the “European Social Survey” (ESS) and the survey “Citizenship, Involvement and Democracy” collected in 2004 and 2005 is analysed. While “unemployment” plays a dominant role in Germany, people with comparable demographic characteristics and similar health status are increasingly classified as “permanently disabled” in the other countries. The results stress that an international comparison of labour market performance and especially a comparison of the effectiveness of labour market and social policy reforms should not only rely on employment and unemployment rates. Taking alternative forms of non-employment into account can increase our knowledge and understanding of functional differences of labour markets in Europe and the United States.     

Religious Dynamics and Marital Dissolution: A Latent Class Approach

Past research on religious homogamy has struggled to distinguish whether religiosity or homogamy has a stronger impact on preventing a marital dissolution. To rectify this problem, I use a latent class approach to compare couples with various forms of partner religiosity and similarity. Based on 707 newlywed couples from the Marriage Matters survey (1998–2004), I discovered four latent classes: “holy” couples (both partners are highly religious), “nonattending” couples (both partners identify as religious but don’t regularly attend services), “unbalanced” couples (the wife is religious but the husband is not), and “secular” couples (both partners are not religious). Findings indicate that holy, nonattending, and unbalanced couples experience less odds of divorce compared with secular couples, suggesting that religiosity in a variety of forms is more important than partner similarity in avoiding divorce.     

Critical Thinking and Creativity in a Social Work Diversity Course: Challenging Students to “Think Outside the Box”

The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) mandates that all accredited social work programs teach critical thinking skills. Doing so can be a daunting task because asking thoughtful questions and challenging the status quo are actions not often affirmed or rewarded. This article describes a human behavior social work diversity course that fulfills the CSWE's requirement by challenging students to think critically, engage in self-reflection, and utilize creativity while interacting with issues of race and ethnicity, gender, disability, and sexual orientation. The overall goal of the course is to teach students to “think outside the box.”     

Using the Internet for scientific publishing: <Emphasis Type="Italic">FQS</Emphasis> as an example

Since the “Public Library of Science” launched its first open-access journals and the “Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities” has been released in 2003 and found enormous attention, the claim for open access—to make publicly funded journal articles available for the public—started to reach German scientists too. But still no experience has been made with electronic publishing in general and more specifically with open-access publishing. One consequence is that the potential capacity of open access—the (inter) national and (trans) disciplinary visibility and accessibility of scientific output—is not sufficiently used by German researchers. Ways to successfully establish an open-access journal are presented in this article by referring to “Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum:Qualitative Social Research” (FQS) as an example: after introducing the current state of FQS traditional and innovative ways of publishing are being discussed which had been employed while developing FQS and which helped FQS to become the most important electronic journal in the field of qualitative research.     

The Lies That Bind: Heteronormative Constructions of “Family” in Social Work Discourse

The social work profession has an enduring history of commitment to American families; in fact, it has often led the way in embracing alternative family arrangements. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) families are gaining more political visibility and lobbying for rights and protections from which they were previously excluded. Therefore, this study is an analysis of social work's contemporary, defining representations of LGBTQ families. Twelve LGBTQ “family” research studies were culled from the database Social Work Abstracts, and subjected to queer discourse analysis in order to illuminate how these alternative family forms are being constructed within the discipline. This analysis details the multiple ways in which heterosexual norms are privileged throughout the research studies. For example, the heterosexual family is often constructed as an unchallenged index for psychological health, appropriate partnering, and child rearing practices, social acceptability, and general normative behavior. LGBTQ relationships often earn their “family” designations by their ability to approximate these legible, heteronormative “family” characteristics. As such, this queer discourse analysis indicates that LGBTQ families are ultimately invited to join, but not to change, the traditional terms of “family,” thus making the social work research less of an exploration of alternative family forms and more of an endorsement of same-sex, nuclear families.     

Does acclamation equal agreement? Rethinking collective effervescence through the case of the presidential “tour de France” during the twentieth century

This article discusses the integrative function frequently assigned to festive events by scholars. This function can be summed up in a proposition: experiencing similar emotions during collective gatherings is a powerful element of socialization. The article rejects this oft-developed idea according to which popular fervor could be an efficient tool to measure civic engagement. It raises the following question: what makes enthusiasm “civic”, “patriotic”, “republican” or simply “political”? Based on a study of French presidential tours in France from 1888 to 2007, this article casts a different light on the topic. The enthusiasm of the crowds interacting with the successive French presidents is not civic because an inquiry may find “patriotism” into participants’ minds. It can be called civic simply because the forms and meaning of the festive jubilation, which may be summarized into the formula: “if spectators applaud, it means they support,” necessarily preexist its multiple manifestations.     

Jeopardy,Consciousness, and Multiple Discrimination: Intersecting Inequalities in Contemporary Western Europe

Theories of intersectionality argue that individuals with multiple minority statuses often face mistreatment that stems from multiple, interlocking systems of inequality. King (1988) refers to this phenomenon as “multiple jeopardy,” and argues that those who experience multiple jeopardy often develop a “multiple consciousness”—an awareness of multiple systems of inequality working with and through one another. This study analyzes recent survey data to assess perceived multiple jeopardy and its relationship to multiple consciousness in the context of contemporary Western Europe. Findings provide support for intersectionality, as individuals who hold multiple minority statuses are more likely than others to perceive having personally experienced multiple forms of discrimination, and are more likely to view multiple discrimination (discrimination based on multiple social statuses) as a widespread social phenomenon. Controlling for other factors, personal experiences with multiple forms of discrimination (“multiple jeopardy”) are associated with greater multiple consciousness. Personal experiences with discrimination based on a single dimension of inequality (“single jeopardy”) also facilitate multiple consciousness, however, though not to the same degree. The conclusion highlights the importance of intersectionality for future research and policy concerning discrimination.     

The Absence of the Ordinary in 2020 Presidential Politics: What Politicians Communicate

As the 2020 American presidential election approaches, it is worth thinking about the current electoral moment in terms of lessons from the recent and not-so-recent past. This article begins with an unlikely analysis. Ordinary life captures the attention of citizens who vote but do not spend their lives 24/7 on social media or cable news or public radio. Ordinary people do not spend their time discussing social policy over dinner. Ordinary people go to dinner—not dinner parties. The ordinary people are the path to victory in any political contest. This article explores the “ordinary” and its relation to politics.     

Forms of politicization in the French literary field

Using Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of “fields,” this article proposes a model of analysis of the forms of politicization in the literary field based on the French case. In France, during the first half of the twentieth century, the writer has embodied the figure of the “Intellectual.” The first claim is that the politicization of the French literary field resulted from three factors: the autonomy it gained in the nineteenth century, its lack of professional development, and the competition with the newly emerging professions. These factors, joined to the specific features of the literary activity, account for the writers’ most typical mode of politicization: prophesying. This analysis adapts the Weberian concepts of “charismatic power” and of “prophetism” to the intellectual field, in the way suggested by Pierre Bourdieu’s interpretation of Max Weber’s theory of religion. The second claim is that the forms of politicization of writers depend on the position they occupy in the literary field: the way of being a writer conditions the way one engages in the political sphere. Four figures of committed writers are distinguished: the “notabilities,” the “aesthetes,” the “avant-garde,” and the “writer-journalists.”     

Local Chapter Outposts: A Dilemma for Federated Social Movement Organizations*

Although there has been a significant shift toward decentralized forms of social movement organizations (SMOs), the federated form is still quite active and deserves further study. In particular, the role of the local chapter in relation to its national office can be explored from new angles for additional insights into federated SMOs. I address the specific issue of isolation that is problematic for some chapters of federated SMOs. I consider these chapters to be “outposts”; isolated from national headquarters geographically, socially, culturally, politically or due to communication barriers. This outpost status creates specific difficulties over control, autonomy, coordination, and resources. “SMO Outposts” are often not able or willing to carry out national goals, strategy or tactics in the prescribed manner expected from headquarters. However, SMO Outposts may also experience unexpected opportunities. My typology of SMO Outposts clarifies their characteristics and presents the challenges and opportunities they encounter under various modes of isolation. This provides for a fuller assessment of the success, organizing capability and adaptation of federated SMOs.     

A Theory of Thinking: A Theory of Desiring

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on aspects of what is broadly known as countertransference in centering on the psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion’s explicit theory of thinking as constituting an implicit theory of desiring. I make a distinction between the discursive terms “thoughts,” “thinking,” “desires,” “desiring,” “wants,” and “craving” and tease out their relationship to one another for clinical practice. I explore how thinking and desiring operate in and around frustration and suggest that the thinking apparatus is not just a mechanism for dealing with thoughts but also is a way of transforming wants into desires. I separate out desires and the desiring apparatus, as Bion does with thoughts and thinking, and argue that thinking is inextricably linked to desiring and thoughts to desires. The interpretative act, moreover, constitutes the analyst’s acting on desire, whereas acts of projective identification are bound up with craving. I demonstrate the potential uses of this theory by discussing it with reference to two published clinical examples.     

The Wish to Know/The Wish Not to Know: Curiosity and the Primal Scene

ABSTRACT

This article explores the developmental experience of curiosity and how it relates to the primal scene. Bion’s concepts of K and –K, alpha function, and containment are used to think about the wish to know and the wish not to know (or to “titrate” knowing). Clinical vignettes trace the experience of curiosity as it plays out in the analytic relationship, and they illustrate instances when thinking becomes confused and boundaries collapse in response to “too much” information. Curiosity, when worked through, may become an analytic object, a vehicle for intimacy, and a possible third position between K and –K, one that leads the way toward creativity and play.     

Addressing Wife Abuse in Mexican Immigrant Couples: Challenges for Family Social Workers

SUMMARY

In blended families, the two parents have a unique challenge to develop a united front (“WE”) in the face of “us” and “them” thinking. Without such a united front, the children will naturally manipulate the situation and further divide the blended family. The key to successful step-parenting is the development of a solid “WE” between two parents so that the whole family works together as a unit. Practical suggestions are given for development of this united front so that step-parenting can become a positive experience.     

Intersexuality: On Secret Bodies and Secrecy

The article problematizes the treatment of intersex as a secret within the medical and family systems. Under the biosocial assumption that the “intersexual” body is pathological and requiring immediate surgical and hormonal regulation, intersex individuals are made to undergo a process of transforsexation, that is, the violent production of a normative masculinity or femininity by means of invasive clinical practices. In this process absolute secrecy serves as a central factor for the success of normalization. We argue that not only does “the secret” of intersex bodies become an active factor in the normalization of sex but also paradoxically it is counteracted by the body, which does not “speak” the language of “the secret” and continues to reproduce new forms of intersex combinations in response to ongoing medical intervention. Our analysis is based on case histories told by 6 mothers of intersex children and by 11 intersex adults, stories in which secrecy has been an essential theme in the process of transforsexation imposed by doctors and followed by the parents. Secrecy, even more than the surgery itself, was, in the experience of intersex adults, a great cause of confusion, anger, mistrust, and criticism. Because of secrecy, intersex children are thus deprived of a language to name their experience or interpret the sense of their body.     

Sexual Assault on College Hookups: The Role of Alcohol and Acquaintances

This article takes a new approach to the study of college sexual assault by conducting an analysis of female students’ most recent “hookup.” By isolating a particular hookup event and examining the features of that event, I am able to examine predictors of sexual assault during hookups. My analysis focuses on the implications of alcohol consumption and knowing a male partner before a hookup, while controlling for multiple individual, school, and situational characteristics, using data from the Online College Social Life Survey collected 2005–2011. In my sample, 2.4% of women experienced sexual assault during their most recent hookup. Results show women do not experience an increased risk of physically forced intercourse until they have consumed nine or more drinks. In addition, women were more likely to report sexual assault during a hookup with a man they did not know well. Together, these findings suggest that men are more likely to assault women who are drunk, possibly because the double standard has made them respect such women less, or because they target women who are likely unable to resist or recall what happened. It also appears that the “in‐network stranger” may be the individual most dangerous to women in college hookups.     

Telling Others How You Live—Refining Goffman's Stigma Theory Through an Analysis of Housing Strugglers in a Homeowner Nation

This article revisits Goffman's stigma theory from the perspective of housing studies. We elaborate on Goffman's approach by exploring how housing tenure can work as a proxy for moral character. We interviewed twenty‐seven people who are excluded from access to homeownership in two cities in Norway, which is a “homeowner nation.” These individuals are unable to enter the dominant “homeowner class” for different reasons, including drug‐dependency, mental illness, refugee background, low socioeconomic status; thus, they must access housing through other tenures; private renting or social housing. To many of them, housing becomes a stigma, in Goffman terms, an “undesired differentness.” Social housing is known to carry stigma in Norway. It was thus a paradox, that those with the softest differentness—private rental—were most likely to practice (Goffman:) “information control” over their housing situation. Goffman's theoretical apparatus, and his distinction between the discreditable and the discredited in particular, helped us make this paradox comprehensible. Through this analysis, refinements to Goffman's theory were discovered. We suggest that “multiple stigmas,” which was not seen clearly by Goffman himself, should be a key notion in stigma studies. We use this notion to distinguish between possible sub‐types to the discredited‐discreditable distinction.     

A shift in Western development agency thinking? The case for second best

This review essay illustrates a turn in Western development agency thinking in two recent publications intended for development agencies and African “reformers,” by authors with long careers in Western development institutions. Both publications explicitly reject – at least for the short to medium term – a comprehensive “good governance” approach to development. Subsequently, a publication entitled Violence and Social Orders, authored by three American scholars with an interest in the role of institutions in historical change, is reviewed since it is a crucial influence in the consolidation of this turn in thinking. This new Western approach is more restrained in its ambition to introduce new governance institutions in the developing world. This implies that it is prepared to tolerate what it considers to be imperfections in both the state and the market, viewing these as a second best result (in the short to medium term) in exchange for greater chances of realising positive development outcomes over the long term.     

“Embodying” dirty work: A review of the literature

This article reviews the growing literature on dirty work, i.e., work that is seen as disgusting or degrading and argues for a more “embodied” understanding of such work. It points to a tendency in the literature to focus on the nature of the task or role and on social and moral dimensions of the work at the expense of its material and embodied aspects. The latter are discussed through three, interrelated themes: “embodied suitability” whereby forms of dirty work are seen as suitable for some “working bodies” and not for others; “staining” which is presented as both a material and a symbolic process; and the role of work practices in both supporting and undermining ideological constructions around the work. The article concludes by arguing for a more comprehensive approach which includes both the material and the symbolic into accounts of such work.     

Not So Great Expectations: Sex and Housewives in Hong Kong

The study explores the life of married women who are being described as having “good,” “normal,” “blessed” sexuality. The case of si-nais (housewives) in Hong Kong shows that we can never assume that married women (or any social category) are privileged by virtue of their status on the sexual hierarchy. The blessings of social respectability apparently enjoyed by these women may work to enable or hinder women's expression of their erotic desires and sexual fulfillment, depending on their special social circumstances. These women's imagination and experience of good sex is composed of a multitude of components. Women may feel good because they can achieve other psychological and social aims that are important in their lives (which could be related to the maintenance of marriage or the peace of the family). Women may feel good because of the erotic satisfaction that they derive from different pursuits including interests, leisure or other intimate relationships, rather than sexual fulfillment in terms of orgasm or physical pleasure. Women may reformulate their pleasures variously at different stages of their lives. Social respectability, orgasm, emotional intimacy, or any other specific element, may all enter or leave the formula for good sex.