The 'Dole or Drudgery' Dilemma: Education, the Work Ethic and Unemployment

Before the recession, Labour ministers claimed that much unemployment in the UK was voluntary. While social policy authors have repeatedly countered such claims by stressing that unemployed people generally possess a strong work ethic and employment commitment, their accounts typically neglect the role that choosiness in job search behaviour plays in deciding individuals' employment status. Fifty in‐depth interviews with both unemployed and employed respondents exposed considerable diversity in attitudes towards ‘dole’ (being unemployed and claiming unemployment benefits) and ‘drudgery’ (doing less attractive jobs). The more educated were more likely to prefer ‘dole’ to ‘drudgery’ (this was also found using National Child Development Study survey data), yet they usually found jobs despite their greater choosiness. Those with very low educational attainment often desperately wanted jobs but could not find them due to their low employability – which might offer an explanation for the often replicated (yet paradoxical) finding that unemployed people generally exhibit a strong work ethic and pro‐employment attitudes and behaviours. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the scope for many Jobseeker's Allowance claimants to increase their net income by undertaking an unattractive job is greater than social policy authors often imply. The question of ‘who must do the least attractive jobs?’ has been neglected by both social policy academics and policy‐makers.     

Association Between Unemployment Duration and Depression in the SouthWest Region of Turkey: A Cross-Sectional Study

ABSTRACT

Unemployment has risen as an effect of globalization in the country of Turkey. To date, no studies have examined the association between the duration of unemployment and perceived mental health. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the association between the duration of unemployment and the incidenence of depression among citizens in the southwest region of Turkey. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to 908 unemployed individuals. The questionnaire gathered sociodemographic characteristics and employment-related circumstances. To measure mental health, a depression inventory was administered and group-wise t-tests and logistic regressions were conducted. The findings show that long-term unemployed persons had more episodes of depressive moods in the past 12 months when compared with the group of the short-term unemployed. In addition, depression levels were higher among the long-term unemployed compared with the short-term unemployed. It was estimated that the duration of unemployment and the measurement of depression had a positive correlation. Risk factors that increased depression in the short-term unemployed were gender (female), older age, and greater periods of unemployment. However, higher education, income, and having social insurance significantly decreased the risk of developing depression for both the short-term and the long-term unemployed. Future recommendations include supportive counseling to increase motivation levels and developing strategies to handle periods of unemployment.     

Maternal Depression, Child Care and the Social Work Role

Correspondence to Michael Sheppard, Principal Lecturer, Department of Applied Social Science, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA. Summary This article reviews findings on the relationship of maternaldepression and child care problems, a relationship which haslargely been ignored in social work. These findings are of particularimportance in view of the philosophy in the Children Act 1989that the best place to bring up a child is usually with theirfamily and the duty of local authorities to promote this. Thefindings consistently identify a clear relationship betweenemotional and behavioural child care problems and maternal depressionshowing that depression is likely to affect the mother's childcare abilities and also her perceptions of the child's behaviour.These have important implications for education, training andpractice, and these are discussed.     

Returning to Normality: Substance Users' Work Histories and Perceptions of Work During and After Recovery

Correspondence to Andreas Cebulla, National Centre for Social Research, 35 Northampton Square, London EC1V 0AX, UK. E-mail: a.cebulla{at}natcen.ac.uk Summary New service provisions designed to improve the employment prospectsof former substance users will enhance the roles and responsibilitiesof Drug Action Teams (DATs), Jobcentre Plus offices and otherproviders and co-ordinators of support services for substanceusers. This paper discusses the findings of a study of 30 currentand former drug and alcohol users, exploring past substanceuse histories and current employment aspirations. The researchinforms new policy initiatives designed to assist substanceusers’ entry or return to work. Differences in presentperceptions of work-readiness were observed, which reflectedusers’ perceptions of the nature of their addiction. Theattribution of blame for the substance dependency to either‘the drug’ or the individual’s psychologywas a critical influence on users’ work-readiness assessments.Work was perceived to benefit recovery from substance dependency.The evidence suggests that substance users’ return towork might be helped by their staged (re-) introduction to thelabour market as well as encouraging the primary labour marketto employ (more) recovering substance users. The research highlightedthe need for joint working between employment services and DATsto help substance users into work and to support their recovery.It also highlighted the need for mutual understanding and recognitionof each collaborator’s expertise.     

服务学习:社会工作专业能力培养的过程——一次《社会行政》课程教学的实践

社会工作专业的本质属性是"助人"。因此,社会工作专业教育的目标就应以培养学生的助人能力为根本,而实践则是培养学生能力的主要途径。笔者以社会工作专业方法课《社会行政》教学过程中的一次实践为基础,系统总结"服务学习"模式运用在社会工作专业教育过程中的设计思路以及学生在此过程中的能力提升表现,并在此基础上反思了"服务学习"模式运用在社会工作专业教学过程中的注意事项。通过相关的探索和探讨,藉以促进"服务学习"模式与社会工作专业教育更加全面地契合。     

探索新颖的研究视角:基于社会工作本土化的文献综述

社会工作诞生于西方的社会环境中,其理念、理论、原则、实务模式和技巧都体现了西方的宗教理念、福利国家思想等,这种具有西方色彩的助人模式被引入中国后,要经历全方面和漫长的本土化过程。学界对于社会工作的本土化问题也作过不少的探索。本文对前者有关社会工作本土化的研究进行文献综述,通过这种方式对于以往研究社会工作的视角进行一定的整合,进而寻求一种更为新颖的视角去探索社会工作在中国的本土化问题。     

探索新颖的研究视角:基于社会工作本土化的文献综述

社会工作诞生于西方的社会环境中,其理念、理论、原则、实务模式和技巧都体现了西方的宗教理念、福利国家思想等,这种具有西方色彩的助人模式被引入中国后,要经历全方面和漫长的本土化过程。学界对于社会工作的本土化问题也作过不少的探索。本文对前者有关社会工作本土化的研究进行文献综述,通过这种方式对于以往研究社会工作的视角进行一定的整合,进而寻求一种更为新颖的视角去探索社会工作在中国的本土化问题。     

The Great Migration to the North and the “Black Metropolis” of the early twentieth century: A reevaluation of the role of Black community size

By some accounts, large Black populations in northern cities aided Blacks’ employment in occupations of the “Black Metropolis” at the start of the Great Migration. Yet, the present study, analyzing Census data, refutes these accounts. Blacks’ odds of employment in such occupations – for example, mass media and cultural expression – were often greatest in major northern cities with the smallest Black populations, consistent with the proposition that small and stable minority communities avoid intense discrimination. Overall, however, there is little evidence that Black population size substantially affected Blacks’ employment in Black Metropolis occupations.     

Financial Hardship and Shame: A Tentative Model to Understand the Social and Health Effects of Unemployment

Correspondence to Ulla Rantakeisu, Centre for Public Health Research, University of Karlstad, S-651 88 Karlstad, Sweden. E-mail: ulla_rantakeisu{at}kau.se Summary Young unemployed people in six local communities in Sweden wereinterviewed to test the assumption that variations in the socialand health effects of unemployment could be seen as a functionof financial hardship and of experiences of shame. The resultsindicate that there seems to be a link between the health andsocial effects of unemployment, on the one hand, and the degreeof financial hardship and the number of shaming experienceson the other. The group of unemployed people who suffered agreater degree of financial hardship and also experienced agreater number of shaming experiences seemed to exhibit thepoorest health, reported deteriorated health to a greater degreethan other groups, experienced negative changes in their lifestyle,did less in their free time, and had lower self-confidence thanother unemployed persons. The opposite applied for those whoexperienced less financial hardship and less pressure in termsof experiences of shaming. Against this background, we haveformulated a theoretical model based on financial circumstancesand social bonds; a model that could have a wider value in explainingsocial and health problems.     

孔子论成功的行为品质之修持——《论语·雍也篇第六》解读

《论语》的第六篇《雍也篇第六》共28章，主要讲君子或为政者的美德以及应如何修行以成其美德：不仁则非德也；不利于成功，则非智也；仁且智才是美德或成功的行为品质。孔子对弟子的一些行为予以了评点，或者对弟子在修行上直接予以教诲，讲怎样做才是对的或妥当的；本篇出现了“中庸”（仁且智，无过无不及，恰到好处）一词，一个人行事仁且智，达到无过无不及的状态，就是中庸。     

Reversing the Negative Experience of Unemployment: A Mediating Role for Social Policies?

This article examines why unemployment is often experienced in a profoundly negative way, and explores the potentially mediating role of social policies. Three dominant theories of unemployment are described, which are often treated as competing, mutually exclusive explanations of the deleterious effects of unemployment. Subsequently, and through drawing upon a qualitative study of unemployed people, it is argued that all three theories are of worth and can be synthesized into a broader explanation of the experience of unemployment as an overarching process of loss. Three forms of loss are identified: loss of agency; loss of the functions of paid work; and loss of social status. The article then explores how these forms of loss can be both ameliorated and intensified through social policy interventions. Concluding, it offers policy recommendations to increase the efficacy of social policies in reversing the negative experience of unemployment, with the conclusion that this will require significant reform of the UK welfare state.