Kinship and Economic-Rational Migration: a Comparison of Micro- and Macro-level Analyses*

Social theorists have thought of economic-rational migration as a requisite of modern society which leads to the dispersion of kin and weakening of kin ties. Census data on State Economic Areas and survey data on migration from a small community are used to examine economic and kinship influences on migration at the micro- and macro-levels. The macro-level data show a “rational” pattern of migrant dispersion. However, the microlevel data show an extensive tendency, especially among working-class migrants, to follow the paths of siblings and other kin predominantly because of the information they supply on working and living conditions. Thus, at the micro-level, migration is a blend of rational concerns about work and reliance on kin in finding it. Numerous small kinshipbased chain migration streams flow to a variety of destinations, producing a macro-level pattern of dispersion that appears rational and that meets the migration requisite of modern society.     

Micro-Level Intervention: A Frame of Reference and a Practice Model

This paper attempts to show that a philosophical redefinition of the locus of social problems demands a fundamental change in micro-level intervention. A framework and model are introduced that describe a reconceptualization of social work practice rooted in the social-welfare-through-social-change philosophy. Four types of worker activity provide the framework for micro- and macro-level specialization. A micro-level intervention model is then defined in terms of four practice principles: (1) accountability to the client, (2) following the demands of the client task, (3) maximizing environmental supports, and (4) proceeding from an assumption of least content.     

Making It In and Making Out: Women in Professional Occupations in Britain and France

The relationship between gender, work and organization in professional occupations can be shown to vary according to different work environments and national contexts. The career patterns of women in chartered accountancy and law in Britain and France are explored in different types of organization in order to determine whether the societal structuring of these occupations is gendered and whether women fare better in small professional practices or large bureaucratic organizations. The findings are derived from a comparative study which combined macro-level data with in-depth qualitative analysis of work and family life histories of a small number of women professionals. While women in the two countries and two occupations were found to share many of the same problems in establishing and pursuing a career, the evidence suggests that women in France may have a marginal advantage over their British counterparts, not so much because they have access to more extensive statutory employment rights but rather because they are more often employed in small practices where they are able to use their independence and their control over working conditions and work-time arrangements to structure their careers according to their own requirements and interests.     

“Mapping Social Justice”: Integrating Policy Practice Across the Curriculum

ABSTRACT

The National Association of Social Workers and the Council on Social Work Education identify social justice as a guiding principle of the social work profession, yet there is little consensus in the field of what the term actually means and how it can be achieved. Master of Social Work programs are likewise struggling with how to educate students on social justice and prepare them to engage in macro-level advocacy after graduating. This article examines how one student-led social justice initiative at a school of social work is seeking to increase student engagement in macro-level social justice work through the use of targeted advocacy alerts. This article explores the project’s development, implementation, first-year feedback, and modifications made to provide other MSW programs a blueprint to adopt their own version of the project. Findings suggest that the targeted alert model may be successful in engaging clinical MSW students in social justice advocacy.     

How do macro- and micro-level changes interact in the emergence of educational outcomes?

This article uses data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) to examine how the composition of tertiary degree holders by social origin has changed across cohorts during a period of massive educational expansion. It also investigates how changes in the composition of social origins affect the proportion of downward mobility of children from academic families. The results of the empirical analysis reveal a surprising paradox: On the one hand, the rising share of children from academic families across cohorts has contributed to an increasing share of children from academic families among tertiary graduates. This is because of both the macro-level proportion of children from academic families and the micro-level probability of these children to obtain a tertiary degree have increased across cohorts. Thus, these macro-level and micro-level changes have reinforced each other. On the other hand, this change in the composition of social origin has also contributed to an increasing proportion of children from academic families who are downward mobile in successive cohorts. This is because the macro-level share of children from academic families has increased more across cohorts than their downward mobility risk has decreased at the micro level. Thus, macro-level changes were stronger and went in opposite direction to micro-level changes.     

On the Utility of Robust and Resampling Procedures1

Abstract Kassab (1990) makes an important methodological contribution by urging the use of robust regression methods in the study of community economic impacts and by indicating the utility of the bootstrap in assessing standard errors in robust regression. By introducing the notion of a contaminating distribution, we reconcile differences between her claim that ordinary least squares (OLS) regression is biased when outliers are present and standard linear model theory that does not make assumptions about the shape of the residual distribution in proving OLS an unbiased estimator. The contaminating distribution provides a framework for rural sociologists to link their statistical assumptions to a substantive understanding of the phenomena being studied. We suggest an alternative regression estimation strategy that may be more robust than the technique she uses. We also discuss an approach to bootstrapping that is more appropriate for macro-level social indicator data than the one she describes. An appendix discusses the software available for implementing these methods.     

Shifting categories,changing attitudes: A boundary work approach in the study of attitudes toward migrants

Considerable research exists that examines attitudes toward migrants. Most studies are quantitative, relying on surveys or survey experiments, but a growing body of literature explores such attitudes from a qualitative perspective. At the same time, the study of symbolic boundaries and how people use cultural repertoires of meanings to draw distinctions between “us” and “them” is increasing. This review looks at research, both quantitative and qualitative, which has put these two streams of work into conversation with one another. We organize this work along three dimensions: (1) the micro-level of individuals and their life-worlds; (2) the meso-level of negotiation among the moral communities of civil society; and (3) the macro-level of institutions and policy. We also highlight those studies that cut across levels. By doing so, we help bridge the quantitative/qualitative divide. Studying attitudes toward migrants through the concept of symbolic boundaries allows us to apply a more sensitive and meaning-centered approach toward attitude formation, contestation and change and to explore the linkages to available cultural repertoires.     

Immigration and the ethics of choice

"This paper begins by developing a language for ethical discourse on immigration and then examining the extent to which choices may be made at the micro-level and at the macro-level. States and individuals are examined as actors who are variously described as making choices or being choiceless. The concepts of cultural distance, reciprocity, the role of the individual and of the state and their interrelationships are evaluated in the perspective of choice. Whether an ethics of immigration can be successfully developed hinges on the degree of choice that individuals and state have or perceive themselves to have."     

The Emergence and Stability of Groups in Social Networks

An important puzzle in social network research is to explain how macro-level structures emerge from micro-level network processes. Explaining the emergence and stability of structural groups in social networks is particularly difficult for two reasons. First, because groups are characterized both by high connectedness within (group cohesion) and lack of connectedness between them (group boundaries). Second, because a large number of theoretical micro-level network processes contribute to their emergence. We argue that traditional social network theories that are concerned with the evolution of positive relations (forces of attraction) are not sufficient to explain the emergence of groups because they lack mechanisms explaining the emergence of group boundaries. Models that additionally account for the evolution of negative ties (forces of repulsion) may be better suited to explain the emergence and stability of groups. We build a theoretical model and illustrate its usefulness by fitting stochastic actor-oriented models (SAOMs) to empirical data of co-evolving networks of friendship and dislike among 479 secondary-school students. The SAOMs include a number of newly developed effects expressing the co-evolution between positive and negative ties. We then simulate networks from the estimated models to explore the micro-macro link. We find that a model that considers forces of attraction and repulsion simultaneously is better at explaining groups in social networks. In the long run, however, the empirically informed simulations generate networks that are too stylized to be realistic, raising further questions about model degeneracy and time heterogeneity of group processes.     

Crime, shame, reintegration, and cross-national homicide: a partial test of reintegrative shaming theory

Reintegrative shaming theory (RST) argues that social aggregates characterized by high levels of communitarianism and nonstigmatizing shaming practices benefit from relatively low levels of crime. We combine aggregate measures from the World Values Survey with available macro-level data to test this hypothesis. Additionally, we examine the extent to which communitarianism and shaming mediate the effects of cultural and structural factors featured prominently in other macro-level theoretical frameworks (e.g., inequality, modernity, sex ratio, etc.). Findings provide some support for RST, showing homicide to vary with societal levels of communitarianism and informal stigmatization. However, while the effects of modernity and sex ratio were mediated by RST processes, suppression was indicated for economic inequality. Implications for theory and research are discussed.     

Evaluating the Economic Impact of Casino Liberalization in Macao

This paper aims to evaluate the economic impact after Macao decided to liberalize its gaming industry. By analysing both objective data of official statistics and subjective data of the perceptions of quality of life, we painted a picture of mixed blessings. Although objective indicators showed strong economic growth in terms of a rise in per capita GDP and public revenue as well as a decline in unemployment rate, subjective indicators revealed that local residents were less than optimistic about their own employment outlook and did not perceive any improvement in their overall economic situation. While casino liberalization brought forth tremendous economic gain, the general population did not subjectively feel the benefits. An integrative analysis of both objective and subjective indicators would therefore allow us to look closer how residents?? lives in the micro-level could have been adversely affected by the prosperous economic outlook at the macro-level.     

Identifying and Navigating Social and Institutional Challenges of Transgender Children and Families

The purpose of this article is to highlight the voices and lived experiences of four families and their transgender children (male to female). The methodology consists of a qualitative case study approach and ethnographic research methods over the course of 1 year. With a focus on mezzo and macro-level issues, the results of this article illustrate some of the ways that these families navigate their child’s transition, the social challenges that they experience from a society that adheres to the gender binary, and institutional challenges that this community faces in the realms of education, religion, medicine, and mental health. A discussion follows of the ways in which social workers can promote the health, happiness and the well-being of gender-variant children and their families within the community. We conclude with advocating for re-conceptualizing rigid and binary definitions of gender and challenging institutions that perpetuate oppression against trans children and their families.     

Gender balance in the workforce and abortion attitudes: A cross-national time-series analysis

This article explores the relationship between gender balance in the workforce and attitudes towards abortion worldwide. Studies on macro-level conditions related to abortion attitudes overlook the role of gender balance in the workforce—specifically the degree of female representation in a country's workforce. There are strong reasons why this factor could shape abortion attitudes. We argue that such a gender balance creates necessary conditions to break with traditional, anti-abortion ideology and facilitates dissemination and public acceptance of pro-choice views. We test this argument with two different datasets - the Integrated Values Survey and three waves of the International Social Survey Programme—along with two outcomes: general tolerance towards abortion and tolerance towards abortion for pregnant women of low income. Using three-level random intercept models and multiple controls for individual and country-level conditions, the results support our hypothesis: In countries with higher gender balance in the workforce, individuals display higher tolerance towards abortion.     

Reviews

This paper links participant observation as a research method to the assessment of student social workers' practice through observation. In order to provide students with opportunities to demonstrate their competence to the best of their ability without diminishing the quality of their service to users, the observer must be able to function at different points along the continuum between participation and observation. The styles recommended for this purpose are: ” the quiet participant in energetic groups; ” the interested observer in quiet activities; and ” the respectfully distant observer of conversations. Comparisons between this research method and the practice of observation highlight the marginalisation of service users. Key issues include: ” fully informed consent; ” conditions for intervention by the observer; ” respondent validation; and ” ownership of assessment reports. Micro- and macro-level strategies to remedy these issues are considered. The distinction between collaboration and partnership is considered. Examining the position of service users as participants in research highlights a hierarchical web of power relations in observation. Whilst this can be addressed in individual practice, such practice can only be fruitful in a culture that truly values service users as partners in social work education.     

Poverty and the Daily Lives of Infants

It has been amply demonstrated that poor children suffer disadvantages as compared to their more advantaged peers. This paper examines important aspects of infants’ daily experiences in a southeastern city in the United States in order to illustrate differences between poor and non-poor infants. “Poor” infants were compared to their “non-poor” counterparts on the quality of parenting they received; quality of their home environments; relative health and safety; stability, structure, and predictability of their daily lives; and exposure to diverse experiences in the community. Findings reveal that poor infants are at a consistent disadvantage across all domains when compared to their more affluent counterparts. These daily deficiencies might be conceptualized as the mechanisms through which poverty exerts its negative effects. This paper shifts the focus from macro-level variables such as larger economic and social factors to the cumulative effect of deficiencies at the micro-level. Intervening to ameliorate the micro-level deficits that are most modifiable may lessen the cumulative risk and provide some small avenues toward resilience for the most disadvantaged and at-risk infants.     

Migration,Poverty, and Risk of HIV Infection: An Application of Social Capital Theory

A majority of current HIV/AIDS interventions are designed primarily after individual-based public health models and pay little attention to the socioeconomic environment in which HIV transmission occurs. This article focuses on outlining how migration acts as a conduit for disease transmission in South Africa and then proposes a macro-level prevention model based on social capital theory, thus then supplementing current prevention literature. It is based on the argument that social disruption and stresses from migration lead to sexual interactions during the migration periods that amplify the risk of HIV transmission among migrants.     

Migration information campaigns: How to analyse their impact?

Information campaigns aim at discouraging potential migrants from leaving their countries irregularly. This article discusses how to analyse the impact of such campaigns by identifying different research lines in the literature. The impact of migration information campaigns may be explored by, firstly, focusing on transnational migratory data and inter-state relations (the macro-level); secondly, by investigating their impact on narratives within societies (the meso-level); and, finally, by investigating the micro-level of their influence on migratory decision-making. At each level, scholars face considerable methodological challenges to filter out the impact of campaigns. This article suggests that a promising research avenue is to analyse more widely the narratives and information sources upon which (potential) migrants rely. Opening up the research focus may avoid the risk of over-emphasising the impact of information campaigns by only looking at them. It allows to better understand which sources of information actually influence migratory behaviour.     

Transnationalism and vocabularies of motive in international migration: the case of Israelis in the United States

"The great body of recent work on international migration has generally considered immigration as a permanent movement and explored the phenomenon from either a micro or macro perspective. Transnationalism offers a new model that integrates these dichotomized views. This paper uses the perspective of transnationalism to explore the motives of Israeli immigrants in the U.S. Integrating insights from both micro and world systems perspectives, findings emphasize the importance of personal and macro-level networks as well as Israelis' international culture and experience as both facilitating and giving meaning to their presence in the United States."     

The Role of Social Networks in the Recruitment of Youth in an Islamist Organization in Pakistan

Drawing on data from 40 qualitative interviews, this article examines how young people are connected with one influential Islamist student organization in Pakistan. It provides deeper insight into the micro-level mechanisms and processes by which new members are approached and drawn closer to the particular organization. Findings reveal that young people who joined this organization did not necessarily do so because of their ideological affinity, political or social grievances or because of macro-level events occurring in the national or global arena, such as the U.S.-led war on terror. Rather, they predominantly ended up in the organization because of their friends and acquaintances who were activists in the organization.