‘Baptism of Fire’: The First Year in the Life of a Newly Qualified Social Worker

This paper describes research commissioned by Skills for Care South West to identify and track the learning and development needs of newly qualified social workers through their first year of employment. The perceptions of 22 newly qualified social workers based in statutory settings are reported concerning the effectiveness of the social work degree (England), their induction and probationary periods and their progress towards post-qualifying social work education as part of their continuing professional development. The perspectives of line managers, people who use services and carers are also discussed. Findings from the research suggest that the social work degree has been well received by most newly qualified social workers and highlights the perceived importance of a statutory placement for social work degree students. Key social work practice skills that require further development are identified and a rationale is presented for greater investment in the induction and probationary periods of newly qualified social workers.     

The shifting ‘stages’ of performance: a study of ‘Chavang Kut’ festival in Manipur

Chavang Kut, a post-harvesting festival in Manipur, represents an important cultural expression of the Chin-Kuki-Mizo group of people. The article looks at the participation of the Thadou community in the celebration by tracing their performative historiography. In the past, the celebration was primarily important in the religio-cultural sense. The rhythmic movements of the dances in the festival were inspired by animals, agricultural techniques and showed their relationship with ecology. Today, the celebration witnesses the shifting of stages and is revamped to suit new contexts and interpretations. The traditional dances which forms the core of the festival is now performed in the out-of-village settings and are staged in a secular public sphere. While used by the state as a political project to bring unity amongst the different communities of Manipur, recent socio-political occasions showed how it is used as a site of contestations against the state.     

Children’s conceptions of the word ‘disabled’: a phenomenographic study

The aim of this study was to investigate the qualitative differences in children’s conceptions of the word ‘disabled’. Two hundred and thirty children, aged 7–12 years of age, were instructed to make a drawing of what came into their minds when they heard the word ‘disabled’. A brief written commentary on their drawing was also requested. The drawings and comments showed that the children had a positive attitude towards the word ‘disabled’. They drew and commented that a disability had medical causes, a technical device was a prerequisite for disabled people, a disability had social consequences and that a disabled person needed support. The children also explained that there were obstacles which impaired disabled people’s performance of activities. Access to some environments and being an active part of society was limited for some disabled people.     

Reflections on engaging with an advisory network in the context of a ‘sensitive’ research study

This article surfaces issues about the often-used but widely under-reported practice of working with advisory fora. We critically reflect on our experiences working with an advisory network when co-designing a research study about a ‘sensitive’ subject. We discuss the following: 1) How the network evolved as a matter of ethical and pragmatic choices; 2) Potential issues when discussing sensitive issues ‘outside’ of the participatory or participant context; and 3) Practical and epistemic issues involved in (not) ‘taking’ advice. We suggest that although sensitive research is more conventionally aligned with more ‘radical’ forms of participatory practice, advisory networks can present a useful and sometimes more appropriate form of inclusion and engagement for some advisors and for some types of research study. The article should, therefore, be of interest to a wide range of academic and practice-based health and social care staff and, in particular, those who plan to use advisory fora in their work.     

The fourth age and the concept of a ‘social imaginary’: A theoretical excursus

This paper explores the idea of the ‘fourth age’ as a form of social imaginary. During the latter half of the twentieth century and beyond, the cultural framing of old age and its modern institutionalisation within society began to lose some of its former chronological coherence. The ‘pre-modern’ distinction made between the status of ‘the elder’ and the state of ‘senility’ has re-emerged in the ‘late modern’ distinction between the ‘third’ and the ‘fourth’ age. The centuries-old distaste for and fear of old age as ‘senility’ has been compounded by the growing medicalization of later life, the emergence and expansion of competing narratives associated with the third age, and the progressive ‘densification’ of the disabilities within the older institutionalised population. The result can be seen as the emergence of a ‘late modern’ social imaginary deemed as the fourth age. This paper outlines the theoretical evolution of the concept of a social imaginary and demonstrates its relevance to aging studies and its applicability to the fourth age.     

The making of ‘the elderly’: Constructing the subject of care

The provision and arrangement of care for elderly people is one of the main challenges for the future of European welfare states. In both political and public discourses elderly people feature as the subjects who are associated with particular needs, wishes and desires and for whom care needs to be guaranteed and organised. Underlying the cultural construction of the care regime and culture is an ideal type model of the elderly person. This paper analyses the discursive construction of elderly people in the discourses on care in Austria. An understanding of how elderly people as subjects, their wishes and needs and their position within society are constructed enables us to analyse, question and challenge the current dominant care arrangements and its cultural embeddings. The paper demonstrates the processes of silencing, categorisation and passivation of elderly people and it is argued that the socio-discursive processes lead to a particular image of the elderly person which consequently serves as the basis on which the care regime is built.     

The voluntary sector in ‘the information society’: a study in division and uncertainty

At a time of rapid social, political and economic change in Britain, voluntary and community groups are being encouraged to assume a more prominent role in general welfare provision. Accordingly, their need to know has never been more acute. Yet the information environment of the voluntary sector is also in a state of flux and transition. Profound changes in the institutional world of information provision hold significant implications for the way voluntary and community groups seek and disseminate information. In this paper these structural changes are outlined and the findings presented of an extensive investigation into information needs and usage in the voluntary sector.     

‘This is a stage’: A study of public relations practitioners’ imagined online audiences

Public relations (PR) practitioners are among those cultural intermediaries who privilege symbols, products, and communication rituals in society. Through interviews (n = 26) and analysis of practitioners’ Twitter accounts, this study considers how members of this field identify their personal social networking site audiences and how these behaviors are implicated in the performance of their online identity. Findings indicate practitioners feel pressure to use personal social media in accordance with field-constrained norms and that an “occupational publicness” pressure requires them to be visible online outside of the workplace. The persistent specter of public criticism from audiences and the prioritizing of organizational interests above their own self-expression limits performances of PR practitioners’ authentic selves online.     

The role of public relations in a counterhegemony: A case study of the 1968 poor people’s campaign

This study examined the role of public relations in Antonio Gramsci’s concept of cultural hegemony, specifically in a counterhegemony. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s preparation for the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign serves as a test case on how public relations can help subordinate groups confront a hegemony. This paper suggests that Gramsci’s philosophy provides an analytical heuristic for researching instances of contestation. Examining counterhegemonic campaigns offer public relations practitioners a means both to think about and to intervene in the world more effectively.     

‘Civilising’ the Roma? The depoliticisation of (anti-)racism within the politics of integration

This essay questions the enduring difficulties of addressing racism within the current politics of integration in Europe, with a specific focus on the Portuguese context. The analysis centres on integration initiatives to promote employability among the Portuguese Roma and the ways in which they are rationalised by employment gatekeepers and decision-makers. This rationalisation depoliticises racism by constantly shifting the focus to the presumed characteristics of the ‘other’, re-enacting white-privileged notions of nationhood, Portugueseness and Europeanness. Accordingly, projects based on ‘activation of social competences’, ‘empowerment’ and ‘interculturality’ are implemented as a civilising and disciplinary programme aimed at correcting the presumed deficiencies in ethnically marked populations. The analysis aims to contribute towards a much needed debate on the notion of integration and the re-articulation of the historical legacies of racism in contemporary European democracies.     

Life becoming body: On the ‘meaning’ of post human evolution

Abstract

In this essay I contest the view that evolution can be conceived as a cosmic entity working out a plan of increasing negentropic complexification. The problems associated with this view, characteristic of a great deal of contemporary speculation, are outlined in section I. In section II I go on to further problematise current constructions of technics and machines and provide an alternative ‘machinic’ model of the play of entropy and evolution. In section III I examine the aesthetic praxis of Stelarc as a site in which the ‘meaning’ of post‐human evolution can be productively contested and illuminated.     

“The Story of My Life”: AIDS and ‘Autobiographical Occasions’

Talk and ‘telling’ have assumed prominent roles in preventing HIV and promoting life with the disease at the start of the twenty-first century. Our concern in this paper is to show how social structures and circumstances shape the narrative productions of HIV positive patients whose lives are institutionally managed. We consider what ‘telling’ means when young women with few economic resources are encouraged or mandated to talk about themselves by case managers, researchers, therapists, welfare workers, and clinic staff. We organize our analysis around three such ‘autobiographical occasions’: disclosures to intimate partners prompted by agents of the state; employment opportunities in which women are hired to tell others about living with HIV as peer educators or outreach health workers; and research interviews. We argue that storylines about living with HIV have been laid down by powerful social actors whose illness experiences do not reflect those of many poor patients. These formulations constitute an ‘archive’ which organizes institutional practices and discourses. These matter not only because they provide patients with a language through which to render their actions meaningful, but because they shape the everyday experience of HIV outside the clinic, the welfare office, and the therapy session.

Lights of disenchantment: a study of Max Weber’s thesis on the ‘disenchantment of the world’ from the perspective of visual studies

At the end of 1917, during a conference at Munich University, the German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920) made a bold announcement: ‘The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization and intellectualization and, above all, by the “disenchantment of the world”.’ In this article, I provide an interpretation of the notion of ‘disenchantment of the world.’ Subsequently, I present visual material that might further illuminate Weber’s idea. In the third part, I strictly concentrate my attention on one argument suggested by Weber: in ‘disenchanted’ societies ‘mysterious incalculable forces do not come into play anymore.’ Through two exemplary sculptures by the Danish artist Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1884), I continue my visual excursus on the ‘disenchantment’ thesis by connecting Weber’s account on the intellectualisation of religious world-views with the autonomisation of the aesthetic sphere. The overall ambition of this article lies in providing an introductory account to an important intellectual problem and historical process through visual and textual analysis.     

Frustrations or moving forward? Ukrainian social work within the ‘hybrid war’ context

Based on interviews and desk review this paper explores social work activities during the on-going armed conflict on the territory of Ukraine with regard to theoretical framework of a multidimensional ‘hybrid war’. The study defines the key groups of war-affected population and looks at a variety of interventions during different stages of the warfare (2014–2016). The paper argues that during the armed conflict Ukrainian social services and social workers have been unprepared to act in emergency situations and political conflicts. A number of structural and ethical complexities have been identified, including value conflicts. The paper suggests possible ways of ensuring social work responses to the emergency situations during warfare within the context of the newly developed professional social work.     

The ‘Harmonization’ of Islam with the Neoliberal Transformation: The Case of Turkey

The end of the Cold War brought about a great uncertainty in relation to the geopolitical order. The prevalence of this neoliberal model of development had as a prerequisite the integration of countries other than the traditionally developed and powerful nations of the West. As a consequence, the developing or the less economically developed economies were the ones appearing to acquire ‘renewed’ importance. A fundamental aspect of these repercussions was the triggering of ideological debates over the compatibility of Islam with this stage of capitalist development. One major axon of these debates was the ‘desecularization’ of capitalist modernization and the integration of Islam in the new global order. This article examines the case of Turkey in this framework. It analyses how the ‘Conservative Democracy’ programme of the Justice and Development Party is ‘harmonizing’ Islam with the transformation of the country and how this transformation is presented with ‘local colours’, being more acceptable and creating the new hegemony in Turkey.     

‘The AISH review is a big joke’: contradictions of policy participation and consultation in a neo‐liberal context

Responsive and appropriate disability policy is ideally developed through the participation of individuals with disabilities. Using a case study methodology, we have examined the policy review process for a disability income programme in Alberta, Canada. We examined questions of participation and consultation and compared individual and agency involvement. Participation was characterized by sustained interactions with government, face‐to‐face collaboration and transparency. Consultation involved short‐term interactions by invitation only, limited input and was more typical in policy construction. In this study individual involvement was more likely to be consultative, while agency involvement was more participatory. In terms of policy outcomes, neither model was more effective. Instead, the government adhered to its original intent, responding in terms of neo‐liberal ideals of independence and autonomy.     

The ‘Freshman 5’: A Meta-Analysis of Weight Gain in the Freshman Year of College

Abstract

Objective: (1) To use the available research to estimate the amount of weight gained by college freshman during their first year of college. (2) To identify potential predictors of freshman weight gain. Methods: A meta-analysis was conducted in November 2008. The analysis focused on articles published in English scientific journals between 1985 and 2008 available on the MEDLINE, Web of Science, and PsycINFO databases and excluded studies of weight change over periods beyond freshman year. Results: Twenty-four studies met the inclusion criteria. Based on a pooled sample of 3,401 cases, mean weight gain was 3.86 (95% confidence intervals [CI] = 3.81–3.91) lbs. Potential contributors to gain were recent dieting, high baseline weight, and psychological stress. Conclusions: The first year of college is a period of vulnerability for weight problems. Further research is needed to better understand freshman weight gain and devise appropriate prevention strategies based on predictors of gain.