Cultural Traditions and the Scandinavian Social Policy Model

This article assesses the extent to which cultural interpretation may be useful in understanding social policy models. By surveying cultural traditions, the study explores the context in which the Scandinavian social policy model was developed. The study investigates the institutional legacies of Scandinavian agrarian societies and identifies certain cultural traits, making observations as to their implications for the social policy model. The study does not intend to establish any “causal relation” between specific historical phenomena and the modern welfare states, but regards cultural traditions as forming the “contextual basis” for the operation of a welfare state system. Hence this is not merely a case study of Scandinavia, but a methodological undertaking that could play a significant role in broadening the scope of the study of social policy.     

Class-competent social work: a preliminary definition

The article seeks to present a theoretical framework for defining class-competence in social work practice. Social work has made significant progress in enhancing practice competence with respect to contextual factors that transcend social class such as gender, culture, race and ethnicity. But this positive development in overcoming the rigid view, which framed class as the sole explanation of diversity, has obscured the current impact of social class differences in social work practice. This article takes a critical look at the historical approach of the profession to class issues, extends the boundaries of the social class concept beyond its narrow economic dimensions, discusses the relevance of addressing class issues in light of current challenges in social work practice and, lastly, proposes a preliminary definition of class-competent social work practice.     

Multiculturalism or Cosmopolitanism： How Can We Describe and Understand the Diversity of the World？

过去数十年来,多元性的文化、社会和政治图景演变甚巨;然而我们却仍未找到一种话语来描述、界定、理解、解释和研究当代世界的超级多元性。关于多元性的社会思想和政治行动大多受制于民族主义方法论和多元文化主义框架;然而,对此应该提出质疑。和民族主义方法论相对的世界主义方法论,是观察多元性问题富有前景的视角。另外,对规范的、哲学意义上的“世界主义”和作为一种结构现象及社会科学研究项目的“世界化”进行区分是非常必要的。我们可以把哲学及规范意义上的世界主义与世界性社会科学结合起来,构建一种世界性的现实主义。     

Modeling Contextual Effects in Developmental Research: Linking Theory and Method in the Study of Social Development

This special section was inspired by the recent increased interest and methodological advances in the assessment of context‐specificity in child and adolescent social development. While the effects of groups, situations, and social relationships on cognitive, affective and behavioral development have long been acknowledged in theoretical discussions of social development, empirical research has largely relied on the assessment of individual differences rather than contextual differences in these processes—perhaps due to the fact that advanced data analytic techniques are required to access contextual dependencies in such data. While still developing, best practice data analytic techniques enable us to access the ‘social’ of social development in more precision today than ever before. In this special section we examine three of these techniques through the work of our invited authors.     

The Culture of Academic Disciplines and the Sociopolitical Attitudes of Students: A Test of Selection and Socialization Effects*

Objective. Using cross‐sectional and panel data, this article estimates to what extent the association between students' choice of academic discipline and their sociopolitical attitudes is due to socialization and selection effects. Methods. This is done on the basis of seven incoming cohorts of students and one panel of students. Changes in the panel are controlled for contextual influences by comparing them to a control group. Results. Both selection and socialization effects are observed. The first are, however, much stronger than the second. Conclusions. Although the literature, and particularly the more popular literature, highlights socialization effects, these turn out to be very modest. Future research should address the questions of how and why students select academic disciplines in a way that establishes strong relations between those disciplines and their sociopolitical attitudes.     

Queering Data Collection: Using the Life History Calendar Method With Sexual-Minority Youth

ABSTRACT

A challenge for research with sexual-minority youth is to capture their unique stories in a way that heightens understanding of lived experience and promotes the development of culturally relevant programs and policies tailored for this population. One data collection approach that may be particularly useful for research with sexual-minority youth is the life history calendar (LHC) method. The LHC provides a visual, calendar-based assessment of life events and behaviors anchored by contextual cues to enhance retrospective recall. The purpose of this article is to examine the utility of the LHC method with sexual-minority youth and its potential to address three methodological and conceptual challenges: developmental complexity, shifting and evolving identities, and timing. The LHC method is illustrated using three studies conducted by the author as case examples. Findings suggest that the LHC offers several potential benefits for research with sexual-minority youth including its adaptable and flexible structure, capacity to assess event timing and sequence, mixed-methods capability, and its ability to engage and empower youth to co-create the interview process. Strengths and limitations of the LHC method and implications for research and practice with sexual-minority youth in a range of social service settings are discussed.     

Poverty and experiences of insecurity. A qualitative interview study of 25 long-standing recipients of social security

The purpose of this study is to explore experiences of insecurity among people living in relative poverty in an affluent welfare society. Twenty-five long-standing recipients of social security were interviewed. The study finds that poverty and related factors give rise to a sense of insecurity to which respondents react affectively with apprehension and anxiety. Respondents, all of whom live in the same Norwegian town, report multiple causes of their emotions, and adopt numerous psychological methods to address their sense of insecurity. The study's findings are discussed in light of theories of needs and emotions and contextual and methodological factors.     

思想史视野中的质性研究:以方法意涵的构建为例

本文尝试从思想史视角反思质性研究方法,以揭示被结构视角遮蔽的研究过程,从而探讨一种直面内心的反思性社会科学研究方式。思想史视角强调回到文本去阐释书写者赋予研究方法以意涵的思想过程。本文以“推论”“充分必要性”与“意义”等三种方法论立场中的方法意涵构建过程为例展现这样的思想过程：方法论如何引导了对特定研究方法的选择;当方法论与现实情况存在差距时,书写者如何在原有方法论立场中发展对质性方法新的理解以捍卫方法论的合理性;书写者如何在强调与其他立场的区分中发展对方法的理解。本文由此揭示了看似相同的方法背后所蕴含的巨大意涵和实践差异。一种围绕“意涵”展开的方法知识系统将有可能被建立起来。思想史视角为反思性的质性方法知识构建提供了可以付诸实践的路径。     

Technical complexity,regionalism, and decision-making: Case processing outcomes in EPA's toxic substances program

In this article, I explore the effect of the technical complexity of decisions on the nature of the relationship between agents and their political leaders and contextual pressures. I examine this within the regional context of The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) toxic substances enforcement. The results suggest that case characteristics are important in both routine and complex cases. Moreover, responsiveness toward national and regional preferences occurs to some extent in all models. With more technically complex decisions, however, this responsiveness is more pronounced and diversified. This lends support for hypotheses derived from a bounded rationality theory of agency actions.     

Sickness and disability benefit programmes: What is driving policy convergence?

In this paper we explore the reasons for the apparent convergence in sickness and disability policies across the OECD, asking whether and to what extent policy convergence should be seen as a product of policy learning. We conclude that convergence is the result of policy imitation more than policy learning and that learning (from past mistakes) is more likely within countries than across borders. Given limited evidence on what really "works", when it comes to designing policies that both provide adequate income security and still encourage labour-force participation, governments look abroad or to bodies like the OECD for possible models and ideas to underlie a reform. However, translating those ideas into workable policies requires great sensitivity to the institutional and political-economic context — especially the role of the social partners and the nature of policies in existence. When it comes to policy implementation, such contextual learning may be crucial.     

Multiculturalism or Cosmopolitanism: How Can We Describe and Understand the Diversity of the World?

过去数十年来, 多元性的文化、社会和政治图景演变甚巨; 然而我们却仍未找到 一种话语来描述、界定、理解、解释和研究当代世界的超级多元性。关于多元性的社 会思想和政治行动大多受制于民族主义方法论和多元文化主义框架; 然而, 对此应该 提出质疑。和民族主义方法论相对的世界主义方法论, 是观察多元性问题富有前景的 视角。另外, 对规范的、哲学意义上的“世界主义”和作为一种结构现象及社会科学 研究项目的“世界化”进行区分是非常必要的。我们可以把哲学及规范意义上的世界 主义与世界性社会科学结合起来, 构建一种世界性的现实主义。

关键词: 超级多元性 民族主义方法论 多元文化主义 世界主义 世界化

Over the last decades the cultural, social and political landscapes of diversity are changing radically, but we do not even have the language through which contemporary superdiversity in the world can be described, conceptualized, understood, explained and researched. Many of the social thoughts and political actions on issues of diversity are now dominated by methodological nationalism and multiculturalism which, however, have to be called into question. As opposed to methodological nationalism, methodological cosmopolitanism is a promising lens through which to look at questions of diversity. And it is essential to draw an essential distinction between “cosmopolitanism” in a normative philosophical sense and “cosmopolitanization” as a structural phenomenon and as a social scientific research programme. Philosophical and normative cosmopolitanism can be combined with cosmopolitan social science to create a cosmopolitan realism.     

White Ethnic Diversity and Community Attachment in Small Iowa Towns

Objectives . This study examines the relationship between white ethnic diversity and community attachment in 99 small Iowa towns. Methods . Our data come from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Rural Development Initiative (RDI) at Iowa State University. The RDI data, which consist of interviews with approximately 110 people in each of the 99 towns, are used to develop a community attachment score for each town. These scores serve as the dependent variable in ordinary least squares regression models to assess the extent to which ethnic diversity is related to attachment. Results . The findings show that towns with high levels of white ethnic diversity tend to have low levels of community attachment. Moreover, residents of diverse towns tend to view their communities with more suspicion and tend to be less involved in community activities than citizens in more homogeneous towns. Conclusions . Looked at narrowly, these results indicate that white ethnic diversity may be detrimental to community building in small Iowa towns. More broadly, the findings provide support for the idea that white ethnic diversity is alive and well in America.     

Does Campus Diversity Promote Friendship Diversity? A Look at Interracial Friendships in College*

Objectives. One of the hopes of having diverse campus environments is that the daily interaction with students from different backgrounds will promote interracial understanding and friendship. However, it is not clear to what extent interactions and friendships are multiracial. This article examines the impact of college characteristics, social distance felt toward other groups, and precollege friendship diversity on the formation of interracial friendships in the first year of college. Methods. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen, I examine how college characteristics, social distance felt toward other groups, and precollege friendship diversity affects the formation of interracial friendships in the first year of college. Results. The results show that while precollege experiences and initial attitudes do have an impact on the formation of interracial friendship in college, campus racial/ethnic diversity is also important in predicting friendship heterogeneity. Minorities have higher predicted friendship diversity than whites, but this difference nearly disappears in the most diverse schools due to the interactive effects of school diversity on friendship diversity for white students. Conclusions. This research provides evidence of the social benefits of assembling a diverse student body, particularly for white students, and can add to the debate over the continuation of affirmative action policies.     

Estimating the Effects of Residential Mobility: A Methodological Note

This article reviews the methodological challenges of estimating a causal association between mobility and children's cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. Utilizing a comprehensive set of empirical articles published in the past 25 years that employ quantitative methods, it describes the limitations of previous studies and the innovative ways that researchers have attempted to deal with them. The concept of mobility is inconsistently operationalized along four dimensions: school versus residential, distance, timing, and frequency. Imprecise operationalization conflates different forms of mobility, which have differential effects on development. Attempts to estimate a causal association between mobility and development suffer from three sources of bias: selection, contextual shifts, and contemporaneous instigating events. (a) Methods that account for unobserved differences between mobile and nonmobile children have consistently shown smaller or even positive effects of mobility. (b) Moving can have a positive or negative effect on children's ecological contexts in ways that are systematically correlated with child development. (c) Moves are frequently catalyzed by changes in family structure and employment. The article concludes with recommendations for future research. Researchers should continue to engage fixed- and random-effect, matching, and instrumental variable techniques, each of which makes the question of causality explicit.     

Educating undergraduate group workers: increasing confidence through experiential learning

This article documents the results of a study examining the extent to which undergraduate social work students attained increased confidence in group work facilitation. Social work students participated in 8-week experiential groups with the expressed purpose of exploring their own viewpoints and experiences of diversity. The study highlights the application and effectiveness of experiential learning theory in social work education Results indicate students perceived enhanced self-assurance in group leadership. Outcomes also denote increased sensitivity to issues of diversity. As a consequence, students expressed a commitment to continuing their education regarding cultural diversity. Implications for group work training and culturally competent practice are incorporated.     

Contextualizing case reviews: A methodology for developing systemic safeguarding practices

This paper introduces a systemic methodology for reviewing professional responses to abuse between young people. The approach, “contextual case reviewing,” draws upon constructivist structuralism to assess the extent to which safeguarding practices engage with the social and public contexts of abuse. The paper conceptually compares the methodologies of contextual case review and other serious case review methods before drawing upon findings from 2 studies, which used the contextual case review methodology to explore the extrafamilial nature of peer‐on‐peer abuse and the ability of child protection practices to engage with this dynamic. Thematic findings from these studies regarding the practical interpretation of “significant harm” and “capacity to safeguard,” as well as their use within child protection assessments, are used to challenge conclusions of other case reviews, which imply that child protection procedures are sufficient for safeguarding young people. Contextual case reviews suggest that safeguarding practices, and the legislation that underpins them, are culturally, procedurally, and organisationally wedded to the context of the home, whereas insufficiently engaged with extrafamilial contexts of significant harm. The application of these issues require interrogation if social work systems are to provide sufficient mechanisms for safeguarding young people and families at risk of significant harm.     

A multilevel analysis of the determinants of willingness to pay to prevent environmental pollution across countries

This paper discusses the extent to which individual and contextual level factors influence the likelihood of individuals’ willingness to pay (WTP) to prevent environmental pollution. A multilevel probit regression framework was set up to explain WTP to prevent environmental pollution. We use data from the World Values Survey (WVS), which contains socio-economic and socio-demographic information, and merged it with country level covariates. Compared to many previous studies, our dataset encompasses a more indepth set of individual level covariates. We find that rich people, individuals with higher education, as well as those who possess post-materialist values are more likely to be concerned about environmental pollution. This study reveals that in developed countries, 90% of country variation in WTP to prevent environmental pollution can be explained by individual characteristics. This portion reduces to 80% in the case of developing countries. An interesting feature in our study is the ability to investigate the effect of contextual factors on individuals’ willingness to contribute for the environment. We observe that both democracy and government stability reduce individuals’ intention to donate to prevent environmental damage mainly in developed countries.     

What Makes for Successful Groupwork? A Survey of Agencies in the UK

Summary This paper reports the findings of a survey of Social ServicesDepartments, Probation Services and the major voluntary agenciesin the UK. The survey aimed to shed light on the factors whichpromote successful groups in social work and probation agencies.The survey did not attempt to map the extent of current groupwork.A questionnaire was piloted in a Social Services Departmentin northern England with social work and social care practitionersparticipating in ‘The Groupwork Project’, a trainingand development programme which continues to have as its aimthe establishment of a groupwork service in a mainstream socialservices agency. The survey was designed to be illuminativeand exploratory rather than conclusive. In this paper, the authorsreflect on the research process and on the findings of the survey.These findings point to the complexity of factors consideredsignificant to the success of a group, and to the importanceof contextual factors in establishing and sustaining a groupworkservice.     

Methods for Studying the Structure of Social Representations: A Critical Review and Agenda for Future Research

This article deals with the methodologies commonly used in the framework of the structural approach to social representations. It concerns free and hierarchical evocations, the characterization questionnaire, the similarity analysis, the basic cognitive schemes model, the attribute‐challenge technique and the test of context independence. More than a simple review of these methodologies, it offers a critical approach concerning the problems encountered and related to: thresholds or “cutoff points” used to diagnose the structure (core vs. periphery) and the accuracy of the structural diagnosis, grouping methods employed to reduce the corpus of verbal associations, the dilemma between reliability and feasibility, especially in field research, the adequacy and number of modalities of response in the framework of the structural diagnosis. Following this evaluation, this article suggests potential solutions to overcome these methodological limitations. Moreover, as methodological issues are closely related to theoretical questions, the link between social representation theory and identity approaches is discussed.     

Linguistic competence/language access services (LAS) in end-of-life and palliative care: a social work leadership imperative

Despite the mandated and moral imperative to advance linguistic competence in all health care contexts, leadership that addresses this area of practice and study in end-of-life and palliative care is not readily obvious. Because social work is ideally suited to lead efforts to advance linguistically-accessible end-of-life and palliative care, social workers are encouraged to assume the challenge. This article focuses on topics that are elementary yet central to discussions on language diversity and leadership initiatives to advance language access in end-of-life and palliative care contexts: importance and function of language, extent of language diversity, inequity related to language diversity, mandates and standards related to language access, and approaches and competencies that contribute positively to language access.