Strategic self-management: the new youth challenge

Individualization has been a much debated topic in youth research for decades now. Getting a good education and choosing the right one is one of the manifold ways young people deal with late-modern individualization challenges. Based on in-depth interviews with 12 young students aged 17–20 years in the Danish Gymnasium we investigate how young people make sense of, and deal with, these challenges by focusing on how they handle and reflect on their educational biographies. We employ The General Activity Theory to sensitize our contextual understanding of individualization in relation to the youth perspective. Based on our data analysis, this study contributes theoretically by further-developing the concept of ‘strategic self-management’ in an educational context. We conclude that this concept is suitable for encapsulating how young people make sense of, and deal with, their educational biographies facing the new youth challenges. The study thus contributes with an enhanced sensitivity in relation to understanding some of the contemporary challenges of young people whose choice about education echo into their future work life.     

The new people of power: The backgrounds and careers of top labor leaders

In this profile of the personal backgrounds and careers of top labor leaders, data indicate that they have followed a long and steady climb from their working-class backgrounds through the ranks of the union hierarchy. Similarities between labor leaders’ backgrounds and careers and those of earlier leaders are provided. Preparation of this article was supported in part by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 93. Opinions expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official views or endorsement of AFSCME. The author expresses his thanks to Professor George Strauss for very helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

The new challenge to academic freedom

Academics have developed principles and policies of academic freedom during the last century in order to protect intellectual inquiry from ideological and political interference. One recent academic freedom case is compared to several earlier in the century in order to illustrate how threats to academic freedom have changed in recent decades. Most importantly, threats now come primarily from within rather than outside academe. Even the best academic freedom policies provide scant protection when an institution fails to enforce them and when the professorate fails to insist that they be enforced. Threatened individuals must then turn to external parties for protection. However, such appeals for outside assistance invite the very political interference that academic freedom policies were originally developed to deter. Academics thus risk losing what they collectively fail to protect.Based on a paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Sociological Society, Chattanooga, Tennessee, April 3, 1993.Co-director of the Delaware-Johns Hopkins Project for the Study of Intelligence and Society.     

The mental health dimension in the new social work degree: starting a debate

The Mental Health in Higher Education Project (mhhe) aims to increase networking and debate about the learning and teaching of mental health, both within and across the disciplines and professions in higher education. Despite the recent prominence that has been given to mental health in terms of policy development and new practice models, there has so far been little discussion as to what should constitute the mental health component of the new social work degree that is currently being introduced in England. This paper sets the context for the debate and reports on the outcome of an mhhe workshop on this theme held at the 2003 Social Work Education Conference in Warwick.     

The new dropout challenge: bridging gaps among students, parents, and teachers

Interview and survey data reveal significant disconnects among the insights and perspectives of dropouts, parents, teachers, and administrators on the causes and solutions to the dropout challenge. Many educators, for example, do not see boredom as a factor for most dropouts, while young people who drop out see it as the central cause. The author argues that if these disconnects are not more fully understood and bridged, they will continue to set back efforts to keep more students in school and on track to graduate ready for postsecondary education. Models for how communities can engage these constituencies in productive dialogue and transformative action are included in reports and in Grad Nation, a guidebook that helps communities tackle their dropout crises.     

The race dimension in child protection: Some prompts for practice

Abstract

This paper attempts to collect some experience and some research concerning racial dimensions in current social work practice. It also grapples with the problem of fear. It is written from the perspective of social services workers, who distinguish themselves from other professional colleagues concerned with child abuse in two important respects. Firstly, they carry specific statutory responsiblity for the welfare of children, and therefore have extensive powers over the lives of family members. Secondly, as part of local government, Social Services Departments are at the forefront of conveying societal and political as well as professional attitudes and values into their work with some of the most disadvantaged people in the communities they serve. In urban areas these communitities contain many people with little or no clout, or people who do not realize that they could have a say in how services are delivered.     

Adolescent sexual behaviour: the challenge for adults

SUMMARY. This paper considers adult responses to the changing patterns of teenage sexual behaviour. Using comparative material from other western countries, sex education, public policy and the use of statistics are discussed in the light of these social changes. The paper concludes by underlining the urgent need for adults to respond positively to the challenges presented by the sexuality of the young