Defending the city

Abstract

In ‘Defending the City’ George Pattison seeks to defend the modern city against the charge — made, for example, by Graham Ward — that it is a merely secular phenomenon. Instead, he argues that, in its essence, it is multi‐dimensional and pluralistic, representing a range of diverse possibilities, creative as well as destructive. Also, the modern city is shown to anticipate the essential features of the postmodern city. The argument is illustrated by references to Pugin's critique of architectural eclecticism, to Dostoevsky's invocation of the fantastical reality of St. Petersburg, to Kierkegaard and to Murnau's film Sunrise. It is claimed that the best Christian response to the city is to defend, not to subvert, its pluralism.     

Defending White Scientific Masculinity

While many feminist and postcolonial scholars have analyzed the post-9/11 politic in the United States, few have focused on the anthrax “attacks” that followed the 11 September 2001 World Trade Center disaster. The FBI search for the perpetrator of the 2001 anthrax mailings was an important node in US national security discourse making – it culminated in the fingering of a white male government biodefense scientist and cast doubt on the role of scientific expertise in provisioning national security. This article argues that while “white scientific masculinity” was put into question, it was simultaneously shored up as a nationalist symbol of protection against bioterrorism. This article traces shifts across the three FBI-led profiles of the anthrax perpetrator, along with concomitant news media coverage: the white male “loner” nonscientist, the white male “loner” amateur scientist and finally the white male biodefense scientist. Using a cultural studies approach, this article details how at each successive investigatory stage profilers mobilized hegemonic discourses to re-instantiate the authoritative status of white scientific masculinity in US national security. This analysis offers an important dimension to feminist and postcolonial critiques of the symbolic and institutional investment in white masculinity during the War on Terror.     

Defending illusions: the institution's struggle for survival

Based on participant observation and other qualitative data collected at 15 institutions for the mentally retarded, this study is directed to determining how institutional officials deal with outside criticism of their facilities. Over the past decade and a half, the legitimacy of institutions for the retarded has been challenged by professionals, courts, parent groups, and the media. Officials have reacted to outside criticism by developing new legitimating myths, increasingly sophisticated impression-management techniques, and detailed rationales for the all-too-visible discrepancy between goals and practices. Thus, this paper is concerned with the symbolic nature of the institution's struggle for survival.     

Public Accounts: Defending Contested Practices

Little attention has been paid to how actors account for controversial institutional conduct or contested practices. Relying on a content analysis of letters to the editor, I explore how actors operating in the Habermasian “public sphere” justify the contested practice of linking Native American symbols with sports teams, and suggest that in their rejection of challengers to their definitions of the situation, authors create public accounts. Consisting primarily of justifications rather than excuses, these accounts are of four types: “denial of injury,” “assertion of benefit,” “claim of authority,” and “rejection of challenge.” For those who wish to conduct comparative analyses of contested practices, these concepts may prove useful.     

Immigration and learning: the vulnerable age*

Cet article poursuit la discussion d'un effet originellement rapporté par Inbar et Adler (1976a). Cet effet suggére que les jeunes agés de six à onze ans sont probablement plus vulnérables à certaines crises dans leur environement que ne le sont les enfants qui sont ou bien plus jeunes ou plus agés. En particulier, il a été documenté que les enfants qui immigrent durant cette periode de leur enfance ont une nette tendence a faire plus tard moins d'études universitaires que leurs congènéres. Cet effet a été maintenant repliqué pour le Canada. Dans leur communication originelle traitant de l'existence d'un age vulnérable, les auteurs de la communication ont montré que le phénomène n'est pas affecté par l'ordre de géniture. Les analyses presentées dans cet article suggérent que l'effet est independant de la cohorte d'age, du niveau socio-economique des parents, et de la culture d'origine. Il appert, toutefois, que pour l'échantillon Canadien l'effet n'est répliquable que pour les garçons. Les implications qu'a l'existence d'un age critique, tel que l'effet est prisentement documenté, sant discutées. The present paper is a follow-up of the serendipitous finding reported by Inbar and Adler (1976a). This finding suggests that children from about six to eleven years old may be more vulnerable to crises in their environment than are either younger or older youths. In particular, children who immigrate during this period have been shown to exhibit later a significantly smaller rate of college attendance. This finding is shown to be replicated for Canada. In the original report on the Vulnerable Age phenomenon the authors have presented evidence to the effect that the finding is independent of birth-order. The present analysis suggests that it is independent of age cohort, parental ses, and culture of origin. At the same time it would appear that in the Canadian sample the finding holds essentially for males only. The implications of the Vulnerable Age Phenomenon as it presently stands are discussed.     

Defending the American Dream: Coverage of the Jonathan Pollard Spy Case

This article contemplates the journalistic coverage of American espionage as an attempt to maintain consonance with broader cultural discourses about what it means to be an American. Tracking the American press coverage of the Jonathan Pollard spy case, the article demonstrates that the press turns espionage into a phenomenon upholding fundamental American beliefs in openness, sincerity, and straightforwardness. It shows that, rather than represent espionage as a phenomenon embodying deceit, secrecy, and immoral action, the press turns espionage into a phenomenon that communicates that one is what one says one is and that one's self presentation reflects one's insides. Ultimately, however, this representation of espionage undermines a full understanding of how—and why—spying works in culture.     

Care for vulnerable and disadvantaged children in the Czech Republic

The problematic issue of care for vulnerable and disadvantaged children in the Czech Republic, highlighted in this article, stems from the large number of children in institutional care. Workers from the Department for Social and Legal Child Protection (OSPOD) may get involved if there are factors in the family jeopardising the child's healthy development that cannot be improved, and institutional care may be recommended. This article discusses factors that influence and many times complicate the worker's job and are often the reason for an adversely high number of children living without a family. Attempts to reunite children with their biological families are complicated by the fact that the family situation rarely improves. Therefore children returning to live with their own families face the same conditions they were previously removed from. A more positive option for some children placed in institutional care is adoption or long-term foster care. However, many children continue to spend their whole childhood in a care home. The authors describe the care system in the Czech Republic and point out its weaknesses and some controversial facts. They also discuss and evaluate the ‘National Action Plan’, a government policy document, which articulates aspirations and obligations for all government departments and organisations involved in the Czech childcare system.     

Building alliances: Defending immigrant rights in rural Oregon

Political participation in the rural United States has often been narrowly defined within the confines of electoral politics. Increasingly, participants in rural US social movements have highlighted the shortcomings of democracy defined purely in terms of electoral politics in favour of a more participatory model of politics that focuses on the social and cultural rights of those who are often formally or informally excluded from the liberal definition of citizenship. This article highlights the process of claiming rights as cultural citizens in a political context where there are efforts through the formal political system—usually in the form of ballot referendums at the state or local level—to further limit the rights of specific constituencies such as gay, lesbian and transgendered individuals or immigrants. A second focus of this article is on the dynamics of solidarity and alliance building between different kinds of social movements acting in concert to push for cultural rights and then formal rights for each other's constituencies. The article specifically seeks to illustrate how two organizations that share quite different constituencies and agendas can effectively collaborate in regional and state-wide campaigns in the rural state of Oregon, while also honestly discussing their differences and difficulties in working together.     

Defending the Family,Defending the Faith: An Analysis of The Family: A Proclamation to the World,Religious Identity,and the Politics of Same-Sex Marriage in a Mormon Community

In this article, we apply Peter Berger's theory of religion as a social construct to learn how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon Church) advances a heteronormative view of family relationships in the United States using a document titled The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Furthermore, applying cultural studies theory, we examine how believing Mormons negotiate the tension that arises when their secular values compete with those expressed by Church leaders. We argue that, although the Proclamation addresses a number of issues, the Church offers a closed text that emphasizes war narratives in which same-sex marriage is portrayed as a threat to LDS identity and the heteronormative family. This closed text is further legitimized by emphasis on the authority of Church leaders as oracles of God. The study participants largely accept the dominant narrative, and those who reject it, do so with some trepidation.     

Program evaluation of trauma-informed yoga for vulnerable populations

BackgroundTrauma is highly prevalent among vulnerable populations, including those who are incarcerated, in treatment for substance use, or seeking mental health services. Trauma-informed yoga seeks to create a safer yoga practice for individuals with a trauma history and may improve emotional and physical wellbeing. Thus, we conducted an evaluation of a trauma-informed yoga program to gain insight into participant experiences.MethodsTrauma-informed yoga classes were led by trained volunteers and held in three sectors that work with vulnerable populations: corrections and reentry, substance use treatment and recovery, and community and mental health. Data were collected via anonymous survey using a retrospective pre-post design. The survey instrument captured reasons for student participation and perceived effects of yoga on emotional and physical wellbeing.ResultsStudents were motivated to participate in yoga classes by expectations of physical, mental, and spiritual benefit. Students reported perceived improvements in emotional and physical wellbeing and greater use of self-regulation skills after starting yoga.ConclusionOur findings suggest trauma-informed yoga is perceived as beneficial by vulnerable individuals, especially those in the correctional system or recovering from substance use. Our results support the value of offering trauma-informed yoga in institutionalized and community settings. Improvements in emotional and physical wellbeing warrant formal study.     

The collaborative professional: towards empowering vulnerable families

This article describes the authors' journey in an attempt to understand why considerable efforts of professionals working with vulnerable families are not compensated by better results. The authors propose guidelines to support professionals to develop a collaborative approach, which would empower them as well as the families they work with. The guidelines focus on the front-line professionals, whose main tasks include (i) promoting their own resilience (and of other professionals involved) through reflection and supervision; (ii) building up a trusting relationship with families, which can be achieved by being flexible and informal, providing instrumental support, using time in active, extensive and intensive ways and (iii) promoting and reinforcing small positive family achievements during the course of the intervention. The proposal poses a challenge to professionals' actions and expertise as well as to agencies, being simultaneously a response to their aspirations to do better.     

Defending Diversity,Sustaining Consensus: NGOs at the Beijing Women's Conference and Beyond

SUMMARY

This article discusses access to and involvement of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China, in September 1995. It also looks at the impact on consensus-building of the growing diversity of NGOs participating in these global UN events and at the effect on the international women's movement of the frustrations and difficulties faced in the follow up to Beijing as agreements have been reopened or rolled back. In this climate, women activists and feminist analysts are questioning the future viability of the United Nations as a political space for women's organizing, and under conditions of rapid globalization, are increasingly divided on strategies for implementation and activism.     

Food insecurity and housing instability in vulnerable families

Reducing the prevalence of household food insecurity has been a long-standing objective of the federal government. Previous research has found many negative consequences of food insecurity for families and households but has not examined its relationship with housing instability. Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, difference-in-difference models show that food insecurity is associated with housing instability. The association remains statistically significant after accounting for potential selection and unobserved heterogeneity using propensity score matching and excluding households that experienced prior housing instability from the sample. Examining potential mediating factors, I find that material hardship explains about half of this association. These findings suggest that maintaining a strong social safety net would reduce the risk that families experience material hardship and housing instability, which may also reduce the risk of homelessness.     

From the streets to assisted living: perceptions of a vulnerable population

The rapid growth of assisted-living facilities is paralleled by the necessity to understand the needs of the people living in them. A hallmark challenge for individuals who are poor and disabled, and often marginalized from mainstream society, is maintaining integrity and being a whole person, rather than a sum of broken parts. A key to maintaining this integrity is the ability to find stable housing and support systems. The inner-city assisted-living facility in this study is unique in that all of its residents are funded by Medicaid. The residents have complex needs related to histories of homelessness, mental illness, drug and/or alcohol addiction, and chronic illness. The purpose of this study was to explore the needs of this vulnerable population as they adapt to a new home and a new concept of assisted, yet independent, living. Structured interviews with key informants and oral survey questionnaires with residents provided quantitative and qualitative data about physical and mental health status, social support, perception of control, psychological wellbeing, and life satisfaction. This study provided valuable insights into the challenges inherent in providing a high quality of life in assisted living for a vulnerable population with diverse needs.