Dependency or Self-Reliance? The Contradictory Case of Work in UK Small Business Families

The focus of this article is a relatively neglected area of social and family policy: its relationship with small business. Economic policy makers have encouraged enterprise, particularly in the form of small business, as a solution to problems of competitiveness and economic growth. The article uncovers what an enterprise culture actually means for some of those families who first embarked upon business ownership in the 1980s in the UK Using data from a qualitative study, it contends that, in contradiction to the enterprise rhetoric, for micro-businesses owners and their families, values of self-reliance and dependency often are found as opposite characteristics necessary for the success of a small business. A recent survey of micro-businesses in contrasting British regional economies suggests that such experiences are likely to be found amongst a substantial proportion of micro-businesses.     

Mothers of disabled children: in mourning or on the march?

A traditional psychoanalytic view of parenting a disabled child emphasises responses of shock, grief and depression. Parent activists and social model disability authors dismiss such accounts as destructive and prejudiced, foregrounding structural barriers to accessing services and resources. Further, psychoanalysis is criticised for its anachronistic, ideologically uncritical discourse. Each position brings valuable insights as well as silences. This paper seeks to overcome an assumption of mutual exclusivity by creating a new synthesis, drawing on the work of Winnicott and Kittay. Conclusions are that it is both possible and necessary to allow for ambivalent feelings within parents, while attending to the external, material realities of contextual factors.     

Does the Amount of Time Mothers Spend With Children or Adolescents Matter?

Although intensive mothering ideology underscores the irreplaceable nature of mothers' time for children's optimal development, empirical testing of this assumption is scant. Using time diary and survey data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement, the authors examined how the amount of time mothers spent with children ages 3–11 (N = 1,605) and adolescents 12–18 (N = 778) related to offspring behavioral, emotional, and academic outcomes and adolescent risky behavior. Both time mothers spent engaged with and accessible to offspring were assessed. In childhood and adolescence, the amount of maternal time did not matter for offspring behaviors, emotions, or academics, whereas social status factors were important. For adolescents, more engaged maternal time was related to fewer delinquent behaviors, and engaged time with parents together was related to better outcomes. Overall, the amount of mothers' time mattered in nuanced ways, and, unexpectedly, only in adolescence.     

Religion: friend or foe of the aging?

Religion can be a guide in the quest of older adults for a fuller understanding of their lives and purposes as they cope with the diminishments brought about by aging.     

Who Writes the “Therapeutic Story” of Families in Extreme Distress: Overcoming the Coalition of Despair

ABSTRACT

When families in extreme distress come to social workers, the enormity of their needs often stresses the workers. The problems which these families face often require material and personal resources in excess of what the agency can provide. This places the worker in a position of being under pressure from both sides the clients and the organization. In these situations, the workers and families together can become subject to a coalition of despair. It is characterized by exhaustion and losing hope that therapeutic change is possible. A way to overcome or avoid the coalition is proposed.     

The role of usability in the evaluation of accidents: human error or design flaw?

This article aims to highlight the role of consumer products companies in the heart and the extent of accidents involving these types of products, and as such undesired events take part as an agent in influencing decision making for the purchase of a product that nature on the part of consumers and users. The article demonstrates, by reference, interviews and case studies such as the development of poorly designed products and design errors of design can influence the usage behavior of users, thus leading to accidents, and also negatively affect the next image of a company. The full explanation of these types of questions aims to raise awareness, plan on a reliable usability, users and consumers in general about the safe use of consumer products, and also safeguard their rights before a legal system of consumer protection, even far away by the CDC--Code of Consumer Protection.     

Learning Strategies of Highly Educated Refugees in the Netherlands: Habitus or Calculation?

In an analysis of 25 semi‐structured interviews with highly educated asylum seekers and refugees in The Netherlands, we have traced their learning strategies, the stability of their educational and professional career patterns between home and host country, the calculative nature of the choices made in this context and the influence of family ties. In the analysis, we explored the fit of two competitive theoretical perspectives: Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory and the biographical approach. The respondents showed a surprising degree of stability with regard to their career patterns, calculation with regard to educational choices was weak and there was a strong influence of family ties. From these results, it would seem that the field theory shows a better fit than the biographical approach. Longitudinal research is needed to test this hypothesis in more rigorous ways. Moreover, the research has pointed at omissions and ambivalences with regard to the relationship of changes in field structures and habitus change, the relative relevance of mental and material conditions for human agency in the work of Bourdieu. In the analysis, several variables specifically related to the situation of refugees and asylum seekers could be traced that additionally explain the findings.     

Lost in Translation? Embracing the Challenges of Working With Families From a Refugee Background

This article describes the difficulties a mainstream family therapy service experienced in working with families from a refugee background. The experience of six therapists and five bicultural workers, who are also the referring agents, was captured in focus groups, and the reflections that emerged shaped a four‐part approach for working with families from a refugee background. Live consultation, either by the family therapist or bicultural worker, is suggested as a way to marry the expertise of family therapists who are not cultural ‘insiders’ with the ‘lived experience’ and cultural expertise of bicultural support workers. The process of reflecting on therapeutic failure resulted in several principles for working therapeu‐tically with families with a history of refugee trauma, unmet resettlement needs and family relationship challenges. These include maintaining a flexible approach to therapy, ascertaining a clear understanding of the referral context, defining an explicit therapeutic contract from the first session, being mindful of the important role that language plays and terminating therapy if it is contra‐indicated.     

Children in self-care: Homeless in the afternoons or socially provided for?

This study examines the adaptation of children in self-care compared with children in adult-care to out-of-school relationship contexts and solitude. Thirty-six French children aged 9–11 years were interviewed about their out-of-school activities and responses to solitude. The theoretical framework integrates Weiss' (1974) notion of relational provisions and Valsiner's (1984, 1987) constraint theory to understand individual adaptation in the social and solitary contexts of self-care. Triangulation of quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed complexity and variability of the structural organization and children's adaptation in self-care contexts. Although self-care children reported more activities outdoors alone than did adult-care children, the development of the capacity to be alone may protect children's psychological well-being. Moreover, the inherent structure of self-care, i.e., parental absence, demanded that children lead the promotion of their own development in self-care contexts. In a few extreme instances, children were indeed homeless in the afternoon.This study was carried out with the Self-Care Research Team including Professors Janine Beaudichon, Pierre Coslin, and Annick Cartron of theLaboratoire de Psychologie du Developpement et de L'education de L'enfant, Universite Paris V, La Sorbonne and was funded by the French Ministry of Education.     

Alienation in the United States: Uniform or Group-Specific Change?

“Alienation,” in the sense of disenchantment with core institutions of society, increased after the mid-1960s. Most accounts hold that the rise in alienation was uniform across all groups. This paper evaluates the hypothesis of uniform change using data from the Harris Polls. We find evidence of both short-term and long-term shifts in patterns of alienation. Blacks and low-income people are less alienated under Democratic than under Republican administrations. Over the long term, increases in alienation have been larger among women and people without a college degree.

Privatization of Social Security in the United Kingdom warning or exemplar?

This study draws lessons for the debate about the proposed partial privatization of Social Security in the United States based on evidence from the United Kingdom. The British case suggests that privatization may lead to a reduction in the pension burden on the national budget if combined with substantial cuts in benefits. Such reforms may have positive effects on the economy, but any such benefits would come at a price that would include much higher administrative costs, exposure to stock market fluctuations, increased inequality, and potentially lower pension benefits for many low-wage workers, particularly women.