Resilience as Effective Functional Capacity: An Ecological-Stress Model

This article presents the premise that resilience rests on an ecological-systems conceptual base that explains how people adapt to stress and maintain their daily functioning. The resilience ecological-stress model presented here uses the ecological-systems perspective, commonly known as the person-environment approach, as a unifying, overarching framework to describe an integrated approach for social work research, education, and practice. It evolved over two decades as theory related to ecological systems theory and risk and resilience approaches were synthesized into a coherent whole.     

The Modern Poor: On the Sociological Position of Social-Aid Clients

Abstract

The social-aid institution has been analyzed almost exclusively from a social problems approach, aiming at the understanding of social aid clients as a social problem. This article views them from a different angle, as a sociological category occupying a unique position in society. Following Simmel, we deal here with those who are poor in a social sense, i.e., anyone receiving public assistance. It is the acceptance of social assistance which makes clients into a specific sociological stratum. The specific kinds of rules and roles involved in any society's public assistance system are thus seen to produce the sociological position of the clients. With goalmotivated assistance, clients tend to be by-passed. With relationship-motivated assistance, the increasing formalization of modern society has made clients and practioners equal in one important sense—both are subordinated to the same rules and regulations.     

The Gate-Trait/Contextual Approach to Assessment

Abstract

Social workers are increasingly employing self-report inventories in both clinical practice and research. However, a framework for interpreting the results of these instruments based upon a person-environment interactional model of human behavior is lacking. This paper outlines a psycho-social approach for interpreting self-report test data: the Gate-Trait/ Contextual model. This approach suggests that scores on self-report inventories represent an interaction between the context of the testing situation and higher-order individual difference variables, referred to as Gate-Traits, through which the testing environment is interpreted. Gate-Traits act as filters between the internal structure of the individual and the environment. Gate-Traits influence perceptions of the testing environment and the adoption of a self-presentational strategy. Cultural background, gender and public/private self-consciousness are potential Gate-Traits warranting further study.

Individuals are not passive participants in the assessment process; rather, they actively mold their responses based upon their interpretation of the testing context. The testing context includes the purpose of assessment, the relationship between the administrator and the informant, and the test items themselves. All of these contextual variables provide cues concerning the consequences associated with responding in a particular manner. Social workers are urged to make use of their unique training in human behavior theory to conceptualize person-environment interactions when interpreting data from self-report inventories.     

Applying Theories of Person-Environment Fit to the Transition From School to Work

This article describes potential contributions of theories of person-environment fit to understanding of the transition from school to work. The authors review basic assumptions of person-environment fit theories and how the theories can be applied to the school-to-work transition. An earlier version of this article was presented by the senior author at the 1997 annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, Illinois.     

When Should Differences Make a Difference:

This study criticizes the Supreme Court's current approach to constitutional gender equality and suggests a new type of review for gender-based classifications under the equal protection clause. The debate over acceptable gender classification hsa forced the Court to decide whether distinctions on the basis of gender-specific physical characteristics discriminate on the bsais of gender, whether legislation on the basis of generalized physical characteristics is discriminatory when applied to individuals who deviate from the average, whether states reinforce sex role stereotypes when legislating on the basis of gender-specific physical characteristics, and whether legislation that purports to benefit women actually serves to further inequality. In wrestling with this issues, especially the last, the Court has also been forced to explain both logically and legally why racial classifications are different from gender classifications The purpose of this study is twofold: the first objective is to argue that the Supreme Court should adopt an approach to legally sanctioned gender differentiation that would review gender classifications with the same hostility as racial classifications; related to this is the second objective, which is to show that a strict-scrutiny equal protection analysis is compatible with a special treatment approach for pregnancy benefits legislation. The two tasks will be undertaken by presenting critiques of the Court's current approach to gender equity and by suggesting an alternative direction for gender-based equal protection doctrine, one that will accomodate positive pregnancy legislation.     

Organizational culture,climate and person-environment fit: Relationships with employment outcomes for mental health consumers

Although the effects of organizational culture, climate and person-environment fit have been widely studied in the general population, little research exists in this area regarding consumers of mental health services. This research focuses on organizational culture, climate and person-environment fit and their relationship to employment outcomes for mental health consumers. It also examines specific components of organizational culture which are both desired and perceived by mental health consumers. Thirty-six (N=36) consumers were recruited into one of two groups: individuals who were employed at the time of the study and those who had recently left their jobs. Instruments used were the Workplace Climate Questionnaire (WCQ) and the Organizational Culture Profile (OCP). Significant differences were found between groups along the dimensions of organizational culture/climate and person-environment fit. Although few differences were found between groups with regards to desired workplace characteristics, many differences in perceived characteristics were found. The findings point to the importance of assessing the organizational culture/climate and its congruence with individuals' value systems as part of the work integration process.     

When Do Papers Matter? An Institutional Analysis of Undocumented Life in the United States

This article assesses how two key institutions differentially shape immigrants’ relationship to their rights in American society. We draw on over 200 in‐depth interviews to argue that there is a stark difference between how schools encourage undocumented youth to view themselves as equal members of US society and how undocumented workers are marginalized in the workplace. We find that even as schools track and stratify students, they also foster a culture of meritocracy between documented and undocumented youth. Schools ultimately render immigration status irrelevant as undocumented youth learn to navigate the primary institution of this stage of their lives. Conversely, immigration status is central to the experience of undocumented workers, who develop a particular set of survival skills that help them live and work successfully in the United States without being detected while also erecting a barrier between themselves and any additional rights they may be afforded.     

Sketching as Autoethnographic Practice

This article is an “autoethnographic sketch” that “draws out” substantive observations about the “sketchy” character of concepts such as identity, theory, self, and society. Using vignettes from my experiences as an art student, post‐structuralist theory, and symbolic interaction, I render a brief sketch of how autoethnography and other representations of self can be conveyed in a layered process. The materials in each vignette may not seem to be consistent with or related to the other layers, but as each layer is superimposed on the others, an image or impression emerges from the whole. By presenting these materials in this way, the format or metaphor of sketching offers autoethnographers the possibility of doing analysis and evocation, while leaving open other interpretive possibilities. Artificial closure is not imposed on the final product. I also briefly sketch how self and society exist sous rature and in différance to each other, thus making autoethnographic sketching a useful tool for symbolic interactionists and other observers of society.     

Unions and unequal pay: The establishment of the “family wage”

Equal pay laws in many OECD countries establish the right of men and women to equal pay for work of equal value. Nevertheless, during the first half of the 20th century, before the enactment of equal pay laws, employers and unions in several countries promoted unequal pay through “family wage” arrangements. This article seeks to improve understanding of the historical and sociological origins of “family wage” arrangements through both comparative research and in‐depth historical archival research on family wage arrangements in Israel. It shows that unions played a complex role in promoting family wage arrangements. While their action refected their patriarchal understanding of society, they were also guided by socialist principles.     

Participatory art within,against and beyond financialization: benign pessimism,tactical parasitics and the encrypted common

This essay examines three critical artists who orchestrate participatory spectacles and experiences as a means of challenging neoliberal financialization, an overarching paradigm and process that is reshaping economics, politics, society and culture. Critical art, I argue, can offer us a particularly insightful vantage point on these transformations. This is not, as it is usually supposed, because art has some lofty transcendental perspective above society; rather, it is precisely because art is already so deeply integrated into finance and financialization. Not coincidentally, “participation” appears as a keyword for the restructuring of both art and finance today, which I argue is key to understanding the challenges, limits and potentials of even avowedly critical participatory art, with lessons for cultural production more broadly. In order to analyse and draw broader lessons from the three artworks in question, I identify each with a strategic paradigm: benign pessimism, tactical parasitism and the encrypted common. These strategies, I argue, emerge within, against and beyond financialization and can help complicate our approach to its complex cultural politics.     

The Sociology of Expertise: The Distribution of Social Fluency

Expert knowledge is an essential component of modern society. It is also a potentially difficult topic for sociology because of the importance sociology attaches to culture and context. The sociology of science has emphasised the continuity between scientific expertise and more traditional forms of knowledge. Whilst this suggests an increasing 'democratisation of expertise' is desirable, it also risks erasing the idea of expertise itself. This might be particularly detrimental for sociology as it restricts the role of sociological inquiry to examining how expert status is attributed rather than understanding what expertise is. This paper describes these developments and contrasts them with other approaches in which expertise appears less important. It concludes by setting out a new approach to expertise that respects the role of culture in generating knowledge but, by stressing the importance of socialisation and experience, argues for a more nuanced conception of expertise as both real and unequally distributed.     

Infant Mortality and Racially and Culturally Sensitive Care:

This paper addresses a public health issue-infant mortality-of which society has been aware since at least 1900. However, this issue does not receive the public and professional attention given to many other public health issues. The aim of this paper is to review the problem and present a synopsis of initiatives that have been taken to reconsider and revive, from a social work perspective, the person-environment concern, focus, and commitment to reduce infant mortality, especially among Blacks and other racial-ethnic minorities. The proposal calls for the help of inter-related and reinvigorated micro, mezzo, and macro levels of social work intervention in conjunction with the intervention of other professions, government officials, community leaders, and consumers of services.     

Approaches to civil society in authoritarian states: The case of China

Both civil society in China and research on Chinese civil society have developed profoundly over the last three decades. Research on Chinese civil society can be classified into two categories: a structure‐oriented approach and an agency‐oriented approach. Both approaches acknowledge the state's dominant position in restricting the political space for civil society engagement, but they differ in their understanding of state–civil society relations. A key concern within the structure‐oriented approach is to analyze how the autonomy of civil society organizations is shaped by their structural position vis‐à‐vis the state. Agency‐oriented scholars, on the other hand, reject the analytical focus on structural autonomy. Instead, they build on a more nuanced understanding of the authoritarian yet nonmonolithic context in China and analyze how civil society organizations develop specific strategies to be able to operate within their restricted political space. In particular, agency‐oriented scholars have analyzed two ways in which organizations exercise agency: by strategically developing formal or informal ties with state actors and by bringing their engagement into the public sphere to raise awareness and express their voice. What could be further developed in the agency‐oriented approach is, however, a deeper understanding of the political dimensions of civil society agency.     

Divorce in the Kibbutz:

This study examines the main determining factors in the decision to divorce among 100 kibbutz members. The data and the conclusions are based on extensive open-ended and structured interviews. It is suggested that analysis of the reasons of divorce in the Israeli commune will contribute towards a better understanding of the intrinsic causes of divorce in modern society, since in the kibbutz the decision to terminate a marriage is based on the quality of the marital relationship per se, markedly unhindered by economic, legal or religious considerations. Following divorce, both husband and wife are assured full economic security, with equal rights as to the continued co-parenting of the children.     

What does learning by listening bring to citizen engagement? Lessons from a government program

In public relations research, the concept of engagement is often theorized but seldom observed in practice. This research focuses on what public leaders learn when they undertake actions centered on learning by listening to society to implement governmental citizen engagement programs. Taking an inductive grounded approach to data analysis which draws on tools and methods of grounded theory as well as including a review of key concepts from public relations literature, a reflexive analysis of an action learning intervention involving the members of a provincial government was conducted. Results show that, when reflecting on interaction with stakeholders of the program, government members: increase their knowledge about both sides of the public organization-society relationship; become more sensitive to what listening is and implies, and, hence, more supportive of two-way communication; are challenged about the authenticity of the motivations behind their listening; become more aware of ways in which they work to build social capital; and, subsequently, increase their willingness to act together with society. This paper shows that reflection on the real implementation of engagement programs gives policy makers a better understanding of normative assumptions, and hence it instantiates public relations theories and concepts about engagement. By identifying acting-by-listening as integral to citizen engagement, it presents implications for the study and practice of public relations in public sector organizations.     

Reflections on the Concept and Measurement of Global Civil Society

This paper argues that the current academic debate about global civil society has reached a point where some assessment or reflection could be useful for informing the course of future research in the field. Behind this call for an assessment is the very nature of the debate and emerging gaps and weaknesses that together produce a potential slow-down in generating new knowledge and understanding of global civil society. There are several shortcomings to the current research approach: the failure to take account of other civil society traditions; the failure to address the relationship between global civil society, conflict, and violence; and, most critically, the neglect of the notion of civility, both conceptually and empirically. The balance of the paper then explores the implications of this new assessment of global civil society research.     

The dynamics of multicultural values of Banuroja community in building social integration a socio-cultural ethnographic study in Gorontalo

ABSTRACT

This research is prompted by the researchers’ concern with the problems of this nation that seem to have no end, as can be seen in the various social conflicts related to ethnicity, religion, and race, due to intolerance to the diversity of society. Therefore, it is important to build social integration in this multicultural society through the preservation of cultural values, as has been practiced by the community of Banuroja. This research aims to describe the dynamics of the multicultural values of Banuroja people in building social integration in their community. The research approach is qualitative by using ethnographic study method. The results illustrate that the dynamics of the multicultural values of Banuroja community can build social integration in society in terms of: 1) Emphasizing the identity of cultural diversity; 2) Accepting and understanding the cultural diversity; and 3) Applying the principles in a multicultural social life, e.g., sensitivity and equality.     

Generation and discourse in working life stories

Following Mannheim's ( 1970 ) Problem of Generations, many scholars have warned of the analytical and political risks of conflating generation with cohort. Yet the temptation persists, as relying on cohort is a convenient method of dividing a population to study it. This article proposes that cohort is only convenient if the objective is understanding generations as definitive groups of people. It suggests a supplementary objective: understanding generation as a matter of discourse. Qualitative data from interviews with 52 Canadians illustrates how the discursive forms of generation in their stories render difference, human agency and social change in atomistic or voluntaristic terms. The most extreme manifestations of this theme appear related to the perception of generational conflict. Guided by James' principle of pragmatism, this article maintains that understanding generation as a discursive, historically contingent ‘thought’ with ‘effects’ is as important as understanding its structural form and contents.     

Theorizing equal opportunity in Muslim majority countries

This article offers an interdisciplinary and transnational review of feminist, management and Islamic literatures to develop an understanding of philosophical theorization and institutional framing of equal opportunity in employment in Muslim majority countries (MMCs). The review suggests that ‘the mainstream’ western literature on gender and equal opportunity, along with its secular orientation, may not capture the complexity of gender and equal opportunity in MMCs. Through integrating Islamic writings and gender scholarship, the article examines how equal opportunity theorizing may be advanced by Islamic philosophies and interpretations. In particular, it presents two concurrent principles of gender relations in Islam, for instance, equality and difference of women and men. While Islamic scholars generally agree that women and men are equal because both are created by one God, there are two competing interpretations with respect to the principle of difference between women and men. The first is an egalitarian interpretation which advocates affirmative action in women's favour, and the second is a patriarchal interpretation which supports women's subordination to men. We present this discussion and use it to develop our understanding of equal opportunity or lack thereof in MMCs.     

Lifelong Learning: A Dyadic Ecological Perspective

This paper examines lifelong learning in differentiating it from formal education, and emphasizes multiple theoretical perspectives in doing so. The theoretically based approaches emphasized here include contextualism and the multi-layered nature of the environment, the dialectics of interactions among students and instructors, the zone of proximal development, and person-environment fit. Examining lifelong learning from these perspectives deepens our understanding of such learners and has implications for future research examining lifelong learning, as well as for the design and implementation of interventions designed to foster positive intergenerational relationships.