DISABILITY AND PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT: A PREDICTION OF FAILURE AND A PROPOSAL FOR CHANGE

This article will argue that recent disability services legislation has selectively interpreted the concepts of normalisation and integration to focus on employment for people with an intellectual disability as a major policy goal. It will be contended that the nature of the contemporary labour market is such that this goal cannot be fulfilled and therefore that the aim of enhancing quality of life cannot be achieved. The article recommends an approach to the reorientation of policy which is based upon a critical analysis of the cultural position of people with disabilities. In this regard, the notion of cultural productivity is introduced as a framework within which some solutions may be found.     

Another Tale of Two Tails: On Characterizations of Comparative Risk

We characterize the classes of utility functions that are consistent with different notions of mean preserving spreads introduced in the literature. This gives rise to a unified approach and extension of some definitions of increasing risk, including the concepts of Rothschild and Stiglitz (1970) and Landsberger and Meilijson (1990a,b). The main idea is to restrict the centers of the mean preserving spreads to an arbitrary subset.     

Spiritual assessment in aging: a framework for clinicians

Older adults may benefit from clinical conversations about the role of spirituality in their lives, but social workers and other helping professionals often do not have an understanding of where to proceed beyond initial questions of whether spirituality and/or religion are important and if so, what religious preference is held. Much has been written about definitions of spirituality and religion, but the literature has not yet provided a clear focus on ways to assess whether these are integrated positively or negatively in the lives of older adults. This article identifies eleven domains in spirituality that might be assessed. Within each domain an explanation is provided as well as a brief discussion of the rationale for including it in the classification. Sample interview questions and an illustrative vignette are included. Together these eleven domains build an important framework and resource for spiritual assessment with older adults.     

Beyond Difference: A Biologist's Perspective

This piece addresses some of the challenges to social scientific thought originating from the field of evolutionary psychology and from social scientists committed to making biological arguments an important component of the sociological discussion of gender. I provide my own biological perspective on these contemporary discussions, noting especially the different kinds of explanatory value one can expect from particular kinds of argument. I also call for the application of stricter scientific standards to arguments about the evolution of sex differentiated human behaviors. I introduce some basic genetic concepts, such as the norm of reaction, which focus attention on the interaction between genes and environment during intra-generational development. Finally, I challenge the idea that there is a necessary correlation between hormone levels and reproductive behavior in vertebrates.     

Spiritual Assessment in Aging

Summary

Older adults may benefit from clinical conversations about the role of spirituality in their lives, but social workers and other helping professionals often do not have an understanding of where to proceed beyond initial questions of whether spirituality and/or religion are important and if so, what religious preference is held. Much has been written about definitions of spirituality and religion, but the literature has not yet provided a clear focus on ways to assess whether these are integrated positively or negatively in the lives of older adults. This article identifies eleven domains in spirituality that might be assessed. Within each domain an explanation is provided as well as a brief discussion of the rationale for including it in the classification. Sample interview questions and an illustrative vignette are included. Together these eleven domains build an important framework and resource for spiritual assessment with older adults.     

Practice Teaching Guidelines for Learning Ethnically Sensitive, Anti-Discriminatory Practice: A Canadian Application

Correspondence to Gayla Rogers, Faculty of Social Work, The University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive N.W., Calgary, AB Canada, T2N 1N4. Summary Canadian social work educators, in recognizing the importanceof preparing students for anti-oppressive practice, can lookto developments in the United Kingdom for direction and guidance.Recent changes to education policy statements in Canada haveincluded the requirement that social work students graduatewith the knowledge, values and skills to be ethnically sensitivepractitioners. The Canadian equivalent to practice teaching,the field practicum, is an ideal venue to learn about multi-culturaldifferences, oppression, and how to combat institutional andindividual racism, sexism and ethnocentrism. However, such learningmust be explicitly and purposely developed. Thus, guidelineshave been suggested to promote the establishment of an ethnicallysensitive, anti-discriminatory practice teaching process. This paper discusses how concepts and practices derived in Britaincan be applied in a Canadian context to help course instructors,tutors, practice teachers and students build effective learningexperiences for the multi-cultural realities and struggles oftoday. These guidelines can be used by both Canadian and Britishsocial work courses and include questions to be raised at keypoints throughout the practice teaching process to ensure thefocus and attention to ethnically sensitive, anti-discriminatorypractice is maintained. The guidelines were derived from a synthesisof British concepts and practices combined with a review ofselected North American and British literature and the experiencesof two practice teaching projects in one social work coursein Canada. The projects involved practice teaching placementswith a community development project that had a multi-culturaland multi-racial focus and the experience of a native studiesconcentration with a practice teaching component. From a Canadianperspective this combination facilitates a step forward andprovides a framework which has a timely practical application.     

When risks turn to uncertainties: insights from the food markets in China and in Japan

The paper explores the relationship between risks and market organisation by means of two case studies. After defining the two concepts, it analyses how risks influence the functioning of markets, by means of the theory elaborated by Knight (1921). The Knightian focus on the role of judgments in risks analysis implies that the concept of rationality has to be enlarged beyond the rational choice theory. Similarly, markets cannot be defined anymore as simply an equilibrium between supply and demand: they are a special type of institution. Therefore, the analysis centres on how people make decisions and apprehend risks in relation to market structures. In the rest of the paper, two of the most prominent food safety crises in recent years are analysed based on this conceptual framework: the milk powder crisis in China (2008) and the sanitary crisis following the Fukushima nuclear accident (2011). It is shown that they represent two types of market risks, one generated by the food market organisation and the other one related to the definition of the product quality.     

Determinants of social assistance caseloads for employable single adults without dependants in Canada

Government officials like the idea of just a small number of households in their respective jurisdiction receiving social assistance. A large number is seen as costly to the public treasury, and declining caseloads are generally viewed as a mark of success for both the economy and the government of the day. But what factors account for the size of a Canadian province's social assistance caseload? This article aims to shed light on this question, with a focus on single adults without dependants (and without serious disabilities) during the 1989–2017 period. One important finding is that when the value of social assistance benefit levels for this group increases by 1% in a province, the social assistance caseload for this demographic rises by 0.457%. Put differently, there is indeed an important behavior response associated with higher benefit levels. In response, we propose that provincial officials budget for higher take up levels when they increase benefit levels for this household group.     

Dialectics

Dialectics (Greek dialektike [tekhne] - the art of conversation, from dialegomai - I conduct a conversation, I reason) is the theory and method of cognition of reality, the science of the most general laws of development of nature, society and thought. The term "dialectics" has had different uses in the history of philosophy. Socrates regarded dialectics as the art of revealing the truth through the clash of opposing opinions, a means of conducting scholarly conversation leading to true definitions of concepts (Xenophon, Vospominaniia o Sokrate [Memorabilia], IV, 5, 12). Plato termed dialectics a logical method which, when employed in the analysis and synthesis of concepts, provides knowledge of that which truly exists - the idea - the movement of thought from lower to higher concepts. The Sophists put the word "dialectics" in bad odor, calling it the art of presenting the false and dubious as the true (Aristotle, Rhetoric, II 24, 1402 a 23), while the Megarians called dialectics the art of dispute (Plato, The Sophist, 253 DE). In Aristotle's philosophy, dialectics is a means of proof when one begins from propositions that are obtained from others, and the truth of which is unknown. Aristotle distinguished 3 types of inference: apodictic, which is suitable for scientific proof; dialectic, which is employed in argument; and eristic. In dialectical proof the point of departure is probable judgments, from which one arrives at probable conclusions. It is only by accident that truth may be found by dialectical inference. Eristic inference is inferior to dialectic, for it leads to conclusions that are only apparently true (Topika, II, 100 a 27). In medieval philosophy the term "dialectics" was employed in the widest variety of meanings. Duns Scotus called dialectics a special teaching on the real; while Abelard called it the art of distinguishing between truth and falsehood (Dial., p. 435). The term "dialectics" was employed in the sense of "logic" and sometimes it was understood to be the art of discussion.     

Welfare consequences of the Swedish disability service system

It has been frequently discussed whether the Swedish disability service system is efficient and whether it meets the demands of equity. The costs of the system for support and service were recently estimated to be USD 11 billion. This article describes the welfare situation for disabled people compared with the general population in Sweden. The Swedish disability service system has managed to provide disabled people with a disposable income over the subsistence minimum in Sweden, but also in the same range as for the general population. In other welfare parameters, disabled people appear to have great welfare losses compared with the general population. Evaluations of handicap technologies (such as service and support) aiming to reduce or compensate for these welfare losses have to meet the requirements of equity and efficiency of the Swedish disability service system.     

障碍研究论述与社会参与：无障碍、通用设计、能力与差异

障碍研究在过去40年的发展奠定了其对公共政策影响的基础。障碍者社会参与的责任逐渐由以往个人承担与调适，转向社会与国家承担。本文简述西方国家障碍研究的两个主要论述--社会模式与普同主义取向，对比这两个主要论述所衍生出的政策：由早期的无障碍设施到通用设计，至最近的能力取向。障碍者参与社会生活与活动是其基本权利的一部分，这项权利内涵具有积极性，需要政府与社会投入资源，改善外部社会结构与环境，使环境对障碍者更为友善，为其社会参与权利提供保障。     

A Philosophical Foundation of Non-Additive Measure and Probability

In this paper, non-additivity of a set function is interpreted as a method to express relations between sets which are not modeled in a set theoretic way. Drawing upon a concept called “quasi-analysis” of the philosopher Rudolf Carnap, we introduce a transform for sets, functions, and set functions to formalize this idea. Any image-set under this transform can be interpreted as a class of (quasi-)components or (quasi-)properties representing the original set. We show that non-additive set functions can be represented as signed σ-additive measures defined on sets of quasi-components. We then use this interpretation to justify the use of non-additive set functions in various applications like for instance multi criteria decision making and cooperative game theory. Additionally, we show exemplarily by means of independence, conditioning, and products how concepts from classical measure and probability theory can be transfered to the non-additive theory via the transform.     

Three stories,two visions: the West and the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway in Canadian culture

Many now think the Canadian nation-state is entering a phase in its development that can be described as “postmodern” (Porter, 1995, pp. 91–106). Throughout the 1990s we have heard much talk of “asymmetrical federalism,” “bilateral federalism,” “successor states” and Quebec/ROC (Rest of Canada) polarities (Watts, 1991, pp. 1–7). In this time of constitutional and political ferment, commentators postulated the existence of as many as “seven incipient nations” within the borders of the present Canadian polity (Mahler and March, 1991, p. 16). There are resonances here within the field of literary criticism. Linda Hutcheon and Marion Richmond’s Other Solitudes: Canadian Multicultural Fictions (1990) highlight factors of paradox, contradiction, and extreme irony in the Canadian situation, factors they see as central to the postmodern world view. This paper examines two works of Canadian popular culture analyzed against E. J. Pratt’s Towards the Last Spike (1952) in an effort to suggest that a postmodern style may have something to offer our sociopolitical debate. The television dramatization of Pierre Berton’s two-volume work on the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, The National Dream (1974), and the Canada Day Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) special “Murray McLauchlan’s Floating Over Canada” represent, with Pratt, two differing visions of Canada. The McLauchlan effort, I hope to show, when set against Berton and Pratt, represents an implied postmodern critique of modernism’s romantic faith in technological efficiency and cultural tradition. McLaughlan’s antiintentionalism and playfulness, I argue, offer a useful way to represent some of our present dilemmas and may even provide reasons for optimism about problems that have plagued Canadians for years.     

DISABILITY: A STATE OF MIND?

Many people believe that discriminatory social attitudes are the fundamental cause of disablement. In this view, attitudinal change is regarded as the key to the emancipation of disabled people from the social oppression of disability. However, historical materialists, such as Abberley (1991a) and Oliver (1990), have rejected psychological accounts of disability on the ground that they fail to recognise the socio-economic causes of disablement. This article presents an historical materialist critique of the ‘attitudinal’ explanation of disability. The argument has three parts: the first reviews the recent application of historical materialist principles to the question of disability; the second considers the importance of space as a source of disablement; and the final part of the discussion is a report on recent research that has applied the materialist viewpoint to the study of disability in past societies.     

理论化与制度精神——由《占有、经营与治理：乡镇企业的三重分析概念》引申的几点思考

《占有、经营与治理：乡镇企业的三重分析概念》一文是近期中国社会学研究中基于中国经验的一种有意义的理论化尝试。研究者以理想型的方法构建了一个多重概念框架,力图呈现和解释作为总体现象的乡镇企业的多维面相和总体意义,揭示其展现出来的改革时代的制度精神。这项研究所呈现出的总体研究视角、概念框架与经验问题的相互作用的方法论取向,不仅体现了研究者所提出的“重返经典社会科学研究”的主张,而且对于推动中国社会学研究的理论化颇具意义。尽管该研究在总体概念框架的论述和对乡镇企业的制度精神的阐发等方面尚显不够,但依然体现了运用适当的经典社会科学概念解释中国经验问题的可能性及其有效性。     

对孔子“仁”的心理机制分析

讨论中国人的观念系统在很大程度上离不开儒家思想，分析儒家思想要从孔子开始。孔子因“德命”受挫而形成“时命”观，“时命”观挑战了“以德配天”的思想，这需要更为本源的终极观来应对。孔子在内外心理框架的互动中，反思体悟而形成“仁”的终极观。在此理念的支配下，向内修德凝道而“内圣”，向外践行“仁政”而“外王”，内外并重以获得充沛丰盈的生命意义感。     

Poverty, Social Exclusion and the Politics of Disability: Care as a Social Good and the Expenditure of Social Capital in Chuadanga, Bangladesh

People labelled with disabilities in Chuadanga, Bangladesh, are denied equitable access to social networks and formal services. In terms both of funding future formal service programmes and of designing community‐based outreach programmes, this lack of access is not a simple reflection of one's impairment but a facet of the social exclusion and stigma that is culturally ascribed to disability in Chuadanga. We utilize a social model to focus on the cultural processes initiated by the onset of illness or impairment. Our participants are drawn from four types of diagnosed disability: blindness, orthopaedic impairment, hearing impairment and mental disorder. Although this inquiry is in line with Daly's focus on how future spending on formal services to promote care and equity in Europe can be helped by searching out information that is often ignored, the particular focus of this study is Chuadanga and the research questions incorporate a disability studies perspective. The authors consider care as a social good and an expenditure of social capital, in reviewing findings from a recent empirical study of disability and employment in the Bangladesh district of Chuadanga. Regardless of disability, poverty can be a morally and socially devastating ordeal. However, the authors conclude that the added loss of social solidarity and equitable access, due to the social exclusion and stigma of disability for the families concerned, make it statistically far less likely that they will access formal services or be able to escape poverty.     

Do public services influence patterns of informal care? Informal networks and public home care in three Swedish municipalities

Whether an individual receives home care services depends on two factors: the functional disability of the care recipient and the caregiver's gender, when the living arrangements of the care recipient are controlled. Data from this longitudinal study of social networks and home care organization in 3 municipalities in Sweden show that care recipients with a severe disability received more home care services than others. In cases where the main caregiver lives together with the care recipient, the public services are adjusted to the family situation and are independent of the functional disability of the care recipient. Care recipients who live with the primary caregiver receive less formal help than do care recipients who live alone. When the primary caregiver does not live together with the care recipient, the public services are adjusted to the functional disability of the care recipient and are independent of the primary caregiver's gender. Care recipients supported by a male helper received more formal help than care recipients supported by a female helper. Those supported by a female helper received more informal help. Various models of relationships, supplementation and complementation between informal care and public services are discussed. The dependence on public home services is high. Assistance with basic activities of daily living is the first area requiring complementary contributions from the public services. A special type of kin independene was found, related to the function of public services in a modern and gender-equal society. The results provoke a discussion on research design as well as comments on welfare policy and gender equality in the transformation of the welfare state.     

Culture and context: exploring attributions and caregiving approaches of parents of children with an intellectual disability in urban India

We utilized a sociocultural lens and a qualitative approach to examine causal attributions and caregiving approaches of parents of children with an intellectual disability in a mid‐sized Indian city. Sixteen mothers and three fathers participated in a semi‐structured interview. Findings elucidate participants' active processing of the cause of their child's intellectual disability. They seemed to simultaneously draw upon religious, biological and situational factors to construct an explanation. As far as caregiving approaches, most parents reported moving away gradually from mainstream medicine to alternative medicine and physiotherapy and from regular education settings to special schools. The themes highlight the role of sociocultural factors and also cross‐cultural similarities in parental causal attributions and caregiving approach. The findings are discussed in the context of implications for social work practice and policy in India.     

The utilitarian contract: A generalization of Rawls' theory of justice

In a series of major papers culminating in A Theory of Justice, John Rawls constructs an alternative to utilitarianism by developing a social contract theory of moral and political philosophy. Unfortunately, Rawls formulates the two basic principles upon which the theory rests in such a way as to restrict (unduly) the contract theory's applicability (see Section I). In this paper we present a more general discussion of the theory of justice that avoids the problems of Rawls' formulation and yet retains the important idea of justice as fairness and the contractarian approach (Section II). Later it is argued that this more general theory constitutes a bridge between the pure utilitarian theories and the social contract doctrines (Sections V and VI). The theory's advantages are demonstrated by applying it to a problem discussed by Rawls, intergenerational equity, and comparing the two solutions (Section III). Further comparisons are made and inferences drawn in the concluding three sections.Without implicating them, we would like to thank James M. Buchanan and David Lyons for comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

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