TVA,Appalachian underdevelopment,and the post‐industrial era

Shortly after World War II, the Appalachian coal industry underwent a dramatic transformation which, with hindsight, we can understand as part of a shift in the American economy from an industrial to post‐industrial economic base. A decade of change related to this transformation suggests that the post‐industrial era can create new forms of poverty, new forms of gender‐related inequality, and can exacerbate differences among regions and between rural and urban areas. This conclusion stems from the examination of the policies of the Tennessee Valley Authority from World War II to 1960 which stimulated changes in production processes, the work force and communities of coal mining regions that we now recognize as adverse consequences of de‐industrialization. The TVA's policies aggravated the negative consequences of economic transformation, including inducing competition among regions with depressed economies and surplus labor pools, a result which resembles the global economic competition of our own time. This history tempers the early optimism of analysts of the post‐industrial period by calling attention to the costs of de‐industrialization for working people, their families and communities.     

FAMILY POLICIES IN FRANCE AND GERMANY

Welfare state literature almost always positions France and Germany in the same category, that of conservative–corporative regimes. Family policies, in particular, have much in common: both are explicit and generous in terms of taxation system and family allowance schemes. However, France strongly differs from Germany with regard to childcare policy and public support to mothers’ employment. France, along with the Scandinavian countries, leads the European Union in public childcare provision. In Germany, despite recent changes, there are still considerable gaps, at least where children under three years of age are concerned and the ‘male breadwinner/female part-time carer’ model is being actively promoted. However, there is a growing discordance between the aspirations of young German women with regard to paid work and the norms and values that still govern childcare and caring time policies. Therefore, a host of institutional and cultural factors shape the level and terms of mothers’ labour force participation in both countries. The impact of motherhood has a stronger effect on employment patterns in Germany than in France. French mothers are more frequently employed on a full-time basis and at the same time have more children than their German counterparts.     

Post-war labour migration in Western Europe: an overview

The author outlines trends in labor migration in Europe since World War II and discusses changes in migration policy. Attention is given to policies toward foreigners during economic recessions and to the components of change in the foreign population. Freedom of movement among the member states of the European Community is discussed, and likely future developments are considered. (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

Unions,politicians, and the public interest: Retrenchment in the public sector

The growth of the public sector that has continued nearly unabated since the end of World War II is coming to an end. This apparently will set the stage for a classic confrontation between public sector unions, vote-maximizing politicians, and the general public. Using an employment multiplier approach, we show that the conflict is largely illusionary. Because of a fortunate coincidence, retrenchment in the public sector is likely to be carried out so that no one group will be grievously offended.     

Women and mental health: the interaction of job and family conditions.

Current research on the effects of wives' employment on their well-being focuses on the determinants of those effects. Most studies have used a gender model that concentrates on family conditions as mediators. In contrast, studies of the effects of employment on men typically use a job model and focus on work rather than family conditions as determinants. To understand fully the impact of employment on women, these models should be combined. We predict that certain work and family conditions interact, specifically, that the degree of control at work moderates the effects of demands in the family. Using two data sets on community mental health, we have found some support for this hypothesis.     

Going Back to Civvy Street: a historical account of the impact of the Everest and Jennings wheelchair for Canadian World War II veterans with spinal cord injury

In February 1945, the Canadian government agreed to provide the Everest and Jennings folding, self-propelled wheelchair to all World War II veterans with spinal cord injury. These wheelchairs replaced wooden and wicker invalid wheelchairs that were usually assigned to hospital wards rather than to individuals. Veterans with spinal cord injury were among the first group of Canadians to use these wheelchairs to participate in community life. By 1947, Canadian veterans had demonstrated that it was possible to return to education, employment and leisure activities using a wheelchair. Drawing on oral history interviews and archival research, this paper provides an account of the introduction of folding, self-propelled wheelchairs into Canada following World War II. It discusses the impact of these wheelchairs on the life experiences of veterans, and outlines the strategies used by these early pioneers to live and work in communities that had neither expected nor planned for individuals using wheelchairs.     

Employment outcomes of former foster youth as young adults: The importance of human, personal, and social capital

In spite of a prevailing policy focus, little is known about the employment outcomes of former foster youth during early adulthood and the factors associated with those outcomes. We explore how former foster youth who aged out of care in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa are faring in the labor market at age 24 and what explains variability in employment and wages for these youth. We utilize multilevel models to analyze youth's employment using four waves of the Midwest Study. Our findings point to a critical need to better understand and address barriers to education, causes of substantial racial disparities, and characteristics of family foster homes that facilitate youths' employment. We find that youth who remain in care past age 18 attain higher educational credentials which translate into better employment outcomes. This research also highlights the need for policies directed at current and former foster youth who become early parents.     

Post-war immigration in the United States and the state of Minnesota: the process of entering an all-American community

The author focuses on characteristics of Polish immigrants in Minnesota in the years since World War II. Particular attention is given to the immigrants' adaptation to the American way of life and to democratic institutions after being accustomed to centralized power in a socialist system. "This article is based on participant observation, publications concerning immigration to the United States, and unstructured interviews with newcomers from Poland and other Eastern European countries." Distinctions are made among the characteristics of Polish-Americans, pre-World War II immigrants, war immigrants, and those who have come during the last 20 years, including groups that the author identifies as the "calculated-decision" immigrants, the post-Solidarity immigrants, and the "adjusted visitor" immigrants. Consideration is given to the demographic characteristics, legal status, education and employment, and territorial mobility of 35 Poles living in Minnesota who were interviewed by the author. (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

COHORT DIFFERENCES IN THE TRANSITION TO MOTHERHOOD:

Although research has found that educational attainment is a major predictor of age at first childbirth, this association may not be consistent across cohorts. In this article, we examine the adult transitions of four cohorts of married white women (N = 306), born between 1907 and 1933, including in our life course model not only education but also employment before marriage. As hypothesized, employment before marriage is the best predictor of the age at first childbirth among women entering adulthood prior to the end of World War II. In contrast, women in the early postwar years were moderately more likely to postpone childbearing due to educational pursuits.     

International adoptions: the quiet migration

This study is concerned with the adoption of foreign children by persons in developed countries since World War II. Data from the United States and Sweden are used to illustrate the changes in countries of origin that have occurred over time. "In the 1940s most foreign children who were adopted came from Europe. During the next two decades a shift to adopting from Asia occurred, and in the 1970s Latin America became a major source area." The contribution of foreign adoption to international migration flows is considered.     

From Exclusion to Inclusion? The Legal Treatment of 'Foreigners' in Contemporary Japan

This article provides a survey of postwar Japan's policy toward 'foreign' settlers, focusing on the case of 'zainichi Koreans'-Koreans who were taken forcefully, or migrated voluntarily, from Korea to Japan during the Japanese occupation of Korea (1910-45) and settled down in Japan after World War II, and their descendants residing in Japan. The article explores how the Japanese government and society have treated them since the end of World War II, thus showing that Japan's policy toward foreign settlers has been changing from one of 'exclusion' to one of 'inclusion,' though there still remain some institutional barriers.     

The New Chinese Migrants in France

Like the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, France is one of the major centres of Chinese migration in Europe. Chinese sojourners arrived in France at the beginning of the twentieth century and the 1911 census showed the presence of 238 Chinese in the country. From 1900 to World War I, this little community remained heterogeneous in its socio‐economic and professional composition (Archaimbault, 1952). Changes in this community occurred during World War I when the lack of labourers led the French Government to recruit 140,000 Chinese workers (Wou, 1939). The 2,000 to 4,000 Chinese who remained in France after the war constituted the basis of a Chinese community in France. In the 1920s, they were joined by some 2,000 student labourers (Wang, 2001; Bailey, 1988). From the 1920s to the 1940s, Zhejiang immigration in France rose until World War II and the rise of the communist party in China stopped the movement. Yet, Chinese immigration did not cease. Migrants of Chinese origin arrived essentially from the old French Indochina (Viet Nam‐Laos‐Cambodia) (Le, 1995). Immigration from these countries increased in the 1970s when different conflicts occurred. From the late 1970s to the early 1980s, France also saw the arrival, albeit in smaller numbers, of Chinese from Hong Kong and Taiwan, family members of citizens of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The new wave of Chinese migration from PRC started in the mid‐1980s and grew steadily until now, with some peaks, e.g. in the mid‐1990s. Recent fieldwork in France approached this community, in particular, those living in France with a precarious administrative status (asylum seekers or clandestine migrants). In general, the situation of the population covered by this fieldwork was still precarious. Although the paper does not include other categories such as students, entrepreneurs, or researchers, it is nevertheless possible to gather some details on the basis of French official data and reports. The following sections deal with the growing Chinese presence in France, and their precarious status. Most recent research tends to show a diversified Chinese migrant population profile; it also shows that they are still primarily active in the French ethnic Chinese market. In the initial stages of migration, the Chinese migrants continue to maintain links with China and sometimes with Chinese communities in Europe.     

Canada's response to refugees

"This paper traces types and numbers of refugees to Canada since World War II. As policy and practices have evolved considerably in that period a brief review of key developments precedes the discussion of Canada's response to the current refugee situation."     

‘A commitment to cultural pluralism’. Diversity practices in two Amsterdam venues: Paradiso and De Meervaart

Cultural policy has traditionally had close ties with the construction of the society as a nation state, which has been marked by its built-in tendency towards cultural homogenisation. Post-World War II, multicultural societies pose profound challenges to these traditional forms of cultural policy. Although, in the last decades, western democracies have been designing cultural diversity plans, this does not mean that governmental policies have successfully been translated in institutional practice. In the Netherlands, mainly established cultural institutions have failed to integrate diversity into their core business. Yet, there have been a few exceptions that continue to make attempts to adapt their programmes to address new populations. In this article, we use Parekh’s view of a multiculturalism that reconciles unity and diversity, as a heuristic device that allows us to explore and examine the bottom-up diversity policies and practices of two Amsterdam-based cultural institutions: Paradiso and De Meervaart.     

Social Change and Social Policy in Japan

This paper aims to present and discuss social change and social policy in Japan after the mid-20th century from a sociological viewpoint. Japanese social change and social policy from the mid-20th century onward can be categorized into three models in chronological order: escape from mass poverty by means of industrialization, improvement of the social security system to establish a welfare state, and parallel progress of aspiration for a welfare society and workfare. Defined concretely, these are (1) the period that established and improved social security, which started immediately after the end of World War II and ended in 1973, when Japan began to suffer from low growth after enjoying high growth; (2) the period in which finance for social security was adjusted, halfway through which the country experienced a bubble economy; and (3) the period after the 1990s, in which the structural reform of social security went hand-in-hand with labor policy and the advent of globalization. In each of the three periods, the direction of social policy was affected by factors that caused changes in such areas as industrial structure (the decline of agriculture), demographic structure (an aging society), and family structure and work pattern (the growing trend of nuclear families, single-person households, and irregular employment). In Japan, life security now attracts increasing attention, and employment security rather than social security has been the central issue. As it is greatly affected by globalization, employment security grows less conspicuous and makes the vulnerability of social security grow more conspicuous. Social policy has the potential to become an area with which to struggle for national integration and fissures between social groups.     

From Exclusion to Inclusion? The Legal Treatment of ‘Foreigners’ in Contemporary Japan

This article provides a survey of postwar Japan's policy toward ‘foreign’ settlers, focusing on the case of ‘zainichi Koreans’–Koreans who were taken forcefully, or migrated voluntarily, from Korea to Japan during the Japanese occupation of Korea (1910–45) and settled down in Japan after World War II, and their descendants residing in Japan. The article explores how the Japanese government and society have treated them since the end of World War II, thus showing that Japan's policy toward foreign settlers has been changing from one of ‘exclusion’ to one of ‘inclusion,’ though there still remain some institutional barriers.     

Family Well-Being Between Work,Care and Welfare Politics

Summary

This article examines how policy-relevant aspects such as gender equality, work load and relationship qualities affect family well-being. The analysis aims at identifying the constellation of factors that can explain family life satisfaction using data drawn from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP). Despite the fact that Norwegian welfare policies have a strong emphasis on supporting gender equality and mothers'employment, the study finds a gendered pattern in parents'work and family lives. Family well-being is shown to be influenced by family internal factors, such as time pressure, the quality of close relations, and level of conflict. This in turn provides input for national policy-making.     

Children of Divorce and Single-Parent Lifestyles:

Both the increased frequency of divorce and the resultant increase in single-parent households have experienced dramatic increases since World War II. In many instances, divorce is a major disruptive experience that imposes primary impact upon all family members. Characteristically, various levels of adjustment are required of family members amid experiences that are novel and for which those involved are possible not well prepared. It may be that our efforts can be besf directed toward providing a reframing approach to parents and children experiencing divorce. For instance, there is evidence that children from single-parent families are good decision makers and that they have strengths and maturities associated with their experiences related to divorce. It seems to our advantage as professionals to be able to facilitate the cognitive reframing of parents and children in such a way that hopefulness and a sense of assurance and control can be implemented and sustained. The purpose of this article is (1) to integrate what is known about divorce-associated responses in children; (2) to promote a reframing approach in focusing on that which may be evaluated as positive and contributing to present well-being and future successes of those children; and (3) to guide practitioners as they work both programmatically and in direct service with children of divorce.     

The contemporary U.S. women's movement: An empirical example of competition theory

We use competition and resource mobilization perspectives to explain the rise of the contemporary U.S. women's movement. Our competition framework proposes that economic and sociodemographic changes since World War II increased competition between women and men in the marketplace. This increased competition provided motivation for the women's movement. We find support for this framework with national quantitative time-series data.     

Leave policy in the Nordic welfare states: a ‘recipe’ for high employment/high fertility?

Predicted population decline and labour shortages in European welfare states are directing attention to policy strategies that might increase women's employment and fertility rates. In this context, the Nordic welfare states’ blend of high female employment rates and relatively high fertility levels stands out from others. These patterns are accompanied by comprehensive work–family policies indicating that policy reform is a main explanation. A core element in Nordic work–family policies is generous leave of absence arrangements for parents. In scrutinising leave policy in a Nordic context, the analysis in this paper emphasises that the current situation is a result of processes that have taken a long time to unfold, and that leave policy reforms interact with labour market developments and cultural institutions of family formation in shaping women's social practices.