(The Graduate) School (of Social Work) and Society

A learning paradigm for teaching social work research is offered as an alternative to the consumership models, the researcher as technician models, and the integration of research into other curriculum areas. The model presented adheres closely to the principle of knowledge-guided practice and ties knowledge about knowledge to the practice demands of the profession. The result is a highly integrative experience for the student. The last course has become a model for an integrative seminar.     

Youth (and) Violence

Youth violence is a major concern. Everyday the news and entertainment media feeds the public a fresh supply of school shootings, stabbings at house parties and random gun violence involving young people. These narratives do not just entertain, they fundamentally alter our existence. But, should they? Are our fears warranted? This essay considers how youth violence shapes our ontology, that is, the way we view and interact with our world. Towards this end, I examine the prevalence of violence in North American society. However, before sliding into this discussion, I highlight the nuances involved in asking the question, ‘what is violence’? Next, I ask what is the aetiology or ‘causes’ of violence? This section surveys a variety of experts on the subject including: Freud, sociologists, criminologists and philosophers. I conclude by suggesting that violence is irreverent and to begin an exegesis requires that we, all of us, avow all life.     

A (Pragmatic) Defense of (Some) Science

In this commentary, a response to MacKendrick (2017), I examine the dilemma that recent science activism poses for sociologists of science. How can we maintain their critical integrity while condemning the anti‐science actions of the Trump administration? I propose that sociologists of science engage in two exercises to marshal a qualified defense of science. First, we should unpack what we might mean by the “science” we wish to defend. Then, we should begin to articulate grounds for defending that science commensurate with the urgency of the moment. I draw inspiration from American pragmatist philosophy to develop one such defense.     

Digitally Mediated (Dis)embodiment

This article aims to demonstrate that the philosophical anthropology of the German philosopher Helmuth Plessner (1892-1985) enables us to gain a better understanding of the experiential presuppositions and implications of information and communication technologies, such as telepresence and virtual reality, than we can obtain through interpretations that start from a dualistic, Cartesian ontology. With the help of Plessner's concept of "excentric positionality', developed in Stages of the Organic and Man (1928), Hans Moravec's Utopian claims about the possibility of disembodied existence in cyberspace are criticized and an alternative, more adequate interpretation is presented. It is argued that the corporal "poly-excentric positionality' that is inherent in the human experience of telepresence and virtual reality, radicalizes the existential " homelessness' which characterizes human life.     

Work(ing) out

The recent marketing of new genetic tests for popular genealogy is one significant interface between the science of new genetics and public culture in the West. These new commodities offer to situate individuals within global patterns of human genetic diversity, locate genetic origins and sort out true biological relatedness from practised kinship. Taking two cases of recent attempts to popularize genetic tests in popular genealogy, this paper considers how ideas of gender, reproduction, nation, ‘race’ and relatedness are being shaped by and deployed within their discourses of genetic kinship. In these efforts to geneticize genealogy, the idiom of kinship and the gendering of narratives of reproduction and descent are used to make these tests meaningful and to distance them from ideas of ‘race’ and ethnicity. Discourses of family relatedness provide a grammar for translating the complexities of new genetics into public culture. At the same time, geneticized genealogy produces new versions of genetic kinship, in the form of Y-chromosome genetic brotherhood, Mitochondrial DNA clan membership and global genetic kinship. Yet, notions of genetic kinship also provide cultural resources for the making of personal and collective identities in a myriad of ways and with diverse implications for the politics of ‘race’ and national belonging.     

Dissolving (in)effective partnerships

This paper studies the problem of partnership dissolution in the context of asymmetric information. Past work shows that the initial share allocation, interdependence of partners’ valuations, and asymmetric control all affect the possibility of efficient dissolution. In this paper, I show, in a novel class of “cooperative” partnerships characterized by ex ante interdependence of valuations, that effectiveness is significantly more important than the initial share allocation. Intuitively, as the effectiveness of cooperation between partners (and thus partnership value) increases, the gains from dissolving decrease but the informational rents remain constant, so efficient dissolution is more difficult to achieve. For sufficiently high effectiveness, efficient dissolution is impossible for any initial share allocation. For sufficiently low effectiveness, however, efficient dissolution is possible for all initial share allocations. The possibility of efficient bargaining depends on the initial share allocation only for moderately effective partnerships.     

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

SUMMARY

This article is a consideration of the implications for the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology in social work practice as a tool for improved visualization of social and economic inequalities. Along with a brief, general introduction to GIS, overviews are included of the historical uses of geographic mapping, as well as current applications of GIS technology in social work practice, education, and research. Specific illustrative examples of GIS-gener-ated maps are presented.     

The Psychoneuroendocrinology of (Sexual) Aggression

Summary

The contours of the psychoneuroendocrinology of (sexual) aggression are becoming clearer. The sex difference in aggression originally directed attention to androgens, but the role of androgens has been difficult to substantiate. Rather novel is the insight that (sexual) aggression may be viewed as a maladaptive stress response. The stress response system is composed of psychological elements (the interpretation and labeling of threats), the neural system, that subserves this interpretation, and finally the endocrine system permitting the organism to react to threats with a physical response such as flight or fight, and as such is vital for our self-protection. Aggression may be viewed as an inappropriate and exaggerated response to a perceived threat. The stress system is largely tuned by early life experiences. Both psychological and biological elements can be identified in the stress response system, allowing both psychotherapeutic and pharmacological approaches to treatment.     

Imag(in)ing Women's Agency

The use of images is central to Amnesty International's 2004 campaign ‘Stop Violence against Women’. Looking at how Amnesty International uses images to show women's agency reveals a conflation of the terms sex and gender. Despite its best efforts, Amnesty International's goal of empowering women ultimately remains out of reach because it fails to read violence against women in a gendered context. Through interviews and analyses of the images, this article claims that Amnesty International's concept of agency is trapped in a heterosexist, masculinist grammar that perpetuates non-agential articulations of women in human rights discourse. This article offers an alternative reading of gender and agency that contextualizes violence, opening up spaces in human rights discourse to begin to look at what causes individuals to resort to violence and at how violence may be perpetrated because of the presence of particular genders.     

A (macro) sociology of fear?

A proper sociological approach to fear is of both empirical and theoretical significance in understanding late modern society. Normally fear has been explored psychologically, as one of the emotions, but recently a sociology of emotions has begun to emerge. Furthermore, there have also been attempts to examine fear macro‐scopically, arguing for the existence of a distinctive ‘culture of fear’ in contemporary societies. Furedi's argument to this effect is explored here, suggesting the need for a more systematic theorising of fear in its social contexts. Via an analysis of the elementary characteristics of fear, a model is constructed of the ‘parameters of fear’. This model serves as a guide to the classes of phenomena within which fear is constituted and negotiated. It is also used to further examine the virtues and failings of ‘culture of fear’ approaches to fearfulness in modern societies.     

Anthropological Takes on (Im)Mobility

In this introduction, we outline the general conceptual framework that ties the various contributions to this special issue together. We argue for the importance of anthropology to “take on” mobility and discuss the advantages of the ethnographic approach in doing so. What is the analytical purchase of mobility as one of the root metaphors in contemporary anthropological theorizing? What are the (dis)advantages of looking at the current human condition through the lens of mobility? There is a great risk that the fast-growing field of mobility studies neglects different interpretations of what is going on, or that only patterns that fit the mobilities paradigm will be considered, or that only extremes of (hyper)mobility or (im)mobility will be given attention. The ethnographic sensibilities of fieldworkers who learn about mobility while studying other processes and issues, and who can situate movement in the multiple contexts between which people move, can both extend the utility of the mobilities approach, and insist on attention to other dynamics that might not be considered if the focus is first and last on (im)mobility as such. In this special issue, we do not want to discuss human mobility as a brute fact but rather analyze how mobilities, as sociocultural constructs, are experienced and imagined.     

A Tapestry of Edgelands: Defining Carceral Edgeland(s) in Masafer Yatta (Firing Zone 918)

The carceral edgeland occupies a unique position. At times, it is acknowledged; at others, it remains unseen by those outside its boundaries. In cases where the edgeland is architectural, such as a prison or a detention center, it can prompt viewers to consider the power dynamics exercised within. This article, however, is concerned with the possibilities for the edgeland to be moveable and embodied. Focusing on the transformation of the area of Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank into a military training zone, the article shifts the discourse from the connection between the edgeland and the symbolic power of carceral architecture to suggest alternative carceral edgelands: the occupying edgeland, wherein the moveable and embodied converge to form a tapestry of edgelands. The Israeli military presence varies in intensity, yet the result is the realization of Achille Mbembe's ‘infrastructural warfare’ (2003) that manifests through the moveable edgeland, and second, the embodied edgeland that is enacted by the military personnel who symbolize the state. In Masafer Yatta, the army's long-term presence has had an impact on the communities that evokes Lauren Berlant's ‘political depression’ (2011). Building on Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts' recognition of multitudinous edgelands (2012), this article suggests that there can be multiple carceral edgelands at one site, all of which facilitate exclusion and political depression through enclosure, whether through fences, walls, or moveable checkpoints.     

(Auto)Ethnography and cycling

This article discusses the formation, salience and reformation of everyday bodily routines and resources in relation to cycling; it also examines how we can study them ethnographically in different places. I discuss forms of embodied, sensuous and mobile ethnography that can illuminate how routines, habits and affective capacities of cycling are cultivated and performed. The article argues that autoethnography is particularly apt at illuminating the embodied qualities of movement, and it sits within established ethnographies of ‘excising’ and ‘mobile bodies’. In the second part of the article, I draw upon ongoing autoethnographies of cycling in a familiar place (my hometown, Copenhagen) and by learning to cycle ‘out-of-place’ (in London) and ‘in-a-new–way’ (when commuting long distance on a racer bike). The study challenges static notions of the body by analysing how cyclists’ (and researchers’) affective capacities develop as they practice cycling.     

Gendering (Trans)National Advocacy

Whether lauded or deplored, transnational organizing among non-governmental organizations (NGOs) generally, and women's NGOs specifically, is recognized as an active player in debates about international economic policy. In this article, I turn attention toward one consequence of women's transnational NGO organizing that has been under-analyzed: the impact that transnational activism has on domestic political organizations and opportunities. The recent increase in activism on gender and policies of free trade in the USA is the product of women's transnational political organizingover the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In the case of NAFTA, theoretical insights about the ways that gendered categories undergird the economy were made visible by and through the transnational advocacy in which feminists engaged.And, this article indicates, these transnational advocacy efforts have helped to shift the domestic political terrain of women's organizing in the United States. I argue that as women's rights advocates in the United States were confronted with the realization that the nexus between gender and trade policy was important to many women's rights and feminist activists around the world, they began to question why the gendered implication of trade policy did not hold a comparable place in the US feminist arena. Thus, changes in the domestic political landscape of non-governmentalactivismmay be one of the longest lasting (and most overlooked) consequences of transnational political engagement.     

American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA) Spring 2004 Reference Group data report (abridged)

Assessing and understanding the health needs and capacities of college students is paramount to creating healthy campus communities. The American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA) is a survey instrument developed by the ACHA in 1998 to assist institutions of higher education in achieving this goal. The ACHA-NCHA contains approximately 300 questions assessing student health status and health problems, risk and protective behaviors, access to health information, impediments to academic performance, and perceived norms across a variety of content areas, including injury prevention; personal safety and violence; alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use; sexual health; weight, nutrition, and exercise; and mental health. Twice a year, the ACHA compiles aggregate data from participating institutions in a reference group report for data comparison. Results from the Spring 2004 Reference Group (N = 47,202) are presented in this article.     

Screening for Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) Among a Heterogeneous Group of WSW(M)

ABSTRACT

Objectives: This study explored predictors of STI screening among a heterogeneous group of women who have sex with women and men. Methods: Following bivariate analyses, a multivariate logistic regression model was conducted to assess the relationship between testing and sociodemographic, relationship characteristics. Results: The majority of participants reported not receiving STI screening in the past year. Gender expression, and not sexual orientation, was a significant predictor of screening. For each increase in masculinity, participants had lower odds of receiving an STI test. Conclusions: More research is needed to understand how gender expression of WSW(M) relates to preventative health behaviors.     

Sex(ualities) and Symbolic Interaction

What goes on sexually has to be placed in a context of meaning. This might seem a very simple and obvious idea. And yet this is what makes it so important: most people still cannot see sexuality in this way. We continue to think of our sexualities as remaining firmly locked in the chains of biology. Whereas for humans surely the biological is really the least interesting aspect of our sexuality. So, whilst there remain huge armies of sexologists studying the biological in its various guises, the radical importance of the social still fails to find its proper place in the study of the sexual. —Ken Plummer, “Memoriam for Bill Simon” (2001)     

(RE)AFFIRMING RACE:

This article combines insights from the social construction of reality tradition and recent works on audience ethnography to explore the ritualistic process by which racial boundaries are continually policed, (re)affirmed and (re)produced. The so-called black-white divide in perceptions of the O. J. Simpson double murder trial serves as the case study. This case is understood as a classic media event in which different societal groups struggle to privilege particular understandings of reality, to either maintain or improve their statuses in society. Two ten-member groups—one group black, one white—were tracked over the course of the criminal trial. Findings outline how "raced ways of seeing' figured in the process by which the groups attributed meanings to the case and case-related media constructions. Study conclusions consider the implications for "evidence,' epistemology, and contemporary U. S. race relations.