Grooming for Success? The Impact of Adolescent Society on Early Intergenerational Social Mobility

The attainment of initial status in adult society involves a series of transfers between distinct systems of adolescent stratification. The social and cultural resources of the childhood family may be converted into status within informal adolescent society and within the formal school system. In turn, family resources and status accrued during adolescence influence educational attainment and income in early adulthood. In this article, the outlines of these processes are specified in a structural model and tested in a nationally representative 12-year follow-up sample of high school sophomores in the United States. The findings in general support the validity of the model for White, Black, and Hispanic males and females.     

The Effects of Marital Culture and Social Structure on Marital Aspirations and Attitudes in “Fragile Families”

This research brings together insights from the fields of sociology and social work, providing an integrated study of marriage as a cultural and structural institution. The goals of the study are twofold: first, to empirically assess the predictive power of cultural versus structural elements of marital aspirations and attitudes among “fragile families”; second, to determine if the aforementioned relationship and outcomes differ by immigrant status. The results offer more support for the role of structure than the function of culture, suggesting that rather than demonizing disadvantaged families for having “defective” cultural values, policy planners and human service providers should recognize the importance of educational attainment and economic productivity in fragile families. Even populations most disposed to hold more “traditional” views of marriage and family life are constrained by the realities of structural disadvantage.     

Doomed to Extinction? The Nature and Future of Volunteering for Meals-on-Wheels Services

Meals-on-wheels services in Ireland and elsewhere rely heavily on volunteers to operate. Meals-on-wheels services that draw extensively on volunteers’ contributions both benefit from and augment social capital within communities. Based on interviews with voluntary and paid meals-on-wheels coordinators and staff carried out in early 2007, this article examines: (1) the recruitment and retention of volunteers; (2) motivations for volunteering; (3) the nature of the contributions of volunteers; and, (4) the future role of volunteering within the service. The article argues that volunteerism in meals provision for older adults in Ireland is in crisis. The recruitment and retention of volunteers may be improved if service providers gain a better understanding of the motivations of volunteers and develop strategies to ensure that volunteers have an opportunity to engage in work that corresponds to their original motivations, which includes enhancing the social capital of their communities.

Who Is in Charge? Social Inequality in Different Fields of Volunteering

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - Volunteering in civil society organizations (CSOs) is sometimes idealized as welcoming arena for everybody. Prior...     

Sari and Jeans? Indian Women in a US Company: The Impact on Their Lifestyle,Social Role and Self-Perception

Arguing from the interface of Cultural Studies and Political Science, the following article investigates a specific effect of globalization in India: the impact of Indian women’s employment in a US company on their social role and self-perception. On the basis of comprehensive questionnaires and interviews, the study aims to assess possible socio-economic and cultural transformations by examining in detail the women’s work satisfaction, their responses to the influences of a foreign culture, the impact of their employment on their private lives as well as - in reverse - on the corporate culture of the company. The findings should not only be of interest to academics, but also of practical interest to economists and the business world.     

The Effect of Twitter Use on Politicians’ Credibility and Attitudes toward Politicians

This study examined how Korean young adults evaluate the use of Twitter by Korean politicians, perceive politicians’ credibility, and evaluate politicians who use Twitter, and the relationships among these 3 variables. Although respondents gave slightly positive, but nearly neutral, answers to questions regarding Twitter use, perceived credibility, and overall evaluation of politicians, the model represented by these 3 variables fits the responses of young Korean voters. In other words, this study shows that attitudes toward the use of Twitter by Korean politicians positively influenced perceived credibility, which, in turn, positively influenced attitudes toward Twitter-using politicians. In addition, attitudes toward Twitter use directly influenced attitudes toward politicians in a positive way. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in this article.     

The Dark Side of Art’s Social Turn: Towards a Discourse on the Impact of Art’s Use of Social Forms Upon the Social

The recent “social turn” in art, in which art favours using forms from social life above its own, has been extensively discussed. Relational Aesthetics by Nicolas Bourriaud, Conversation Pieces and The One and the Many by Grant Kester, essays by Claire Bishop who supplies the term “the Social Turn,” and her recent publication Artificial Hells, are now as important to the field as the art they scrutinise. Ironically, however, when this discussion regards the implications of the “turn”, it habitually addresses the effects of this development from – and for – art’s point of view, overlooking the way in which artists’ inroads into social life may be differently regarded in the social realm. As much as this represents a failure to illuminate a particular area for knowledge, it also signifies a failure to take art’s revalorised commitment to the social to its ethical conclusion: such, from two perspectives, is the “dark side” of art’s social turn. This article seeks to mitigate these oversights. In particular, it looks at art in which an artist undertakes another person’s professional work. Considering the effects of this on those whose practices are appropriated, I propose a consultative approach, involving ethnographic and empathetic modes of address. Consequently, this article does not present an answer to the question it poses, “how do professionals in the social realm see art’s appropriations of their practices?” but rather, a framework for approaching that.     

The Global Uprising of Labour? The Korean Labour Movement and Neoliberal Social Corporatism

The role of organized labour as expression of dissent or social resistance to neoliberal economic globalization has attracted increasing scholarly interest. Several writers have argued that we are witnessing the emergence of a ‘global uprising of labour’. In particular, reference is made to the labour movements of the industrializing semiperiphery, such as South Korea, South Africa, and Brazil, which are argued to show a way forward for the labour movements of the North. Such analysis as above, however, focuses on only one aspect of labour movements at the expense of their larger historical context and position within the capitalist world system. By privileging the strictly ‘global’ level of analysis, it ignores a key transformation in the nature of national state-society configurations in the semiperiphery, i.e. the general trend towards both democratization and neoliberal restructuring. Through examining the case of South Korea, I argue that the transition from developmental authoritarianism to neoliberal democracy has dramatically narrowed the terrain from which militant unionism might be expected to emerge. Since the 1980s, the Korean labour movement has undergone a transformation from a militant and almost revolutionary movement, to being co-opted, albeit imperfectly, into the new capitalist democracy. Thus, the threat of neoliberal restructuring has led not to resistance but to labour to seeking a role as responsible partner to government and business in pseudo-social corporatism forums, despite the fact the striking thing about Korean industrial relations is the absolute absence of prerequisites for such a system of social agreement politics. This co-optation reflects general political conditions in the semiperiphery, where simultaneous processes of democratization and neoliberal restructuring have made the assumption of unified resistance to globalization more problematic.     

The Impact of Corruption and Poverty on NGO–Business Collaboration in Mexico

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - We examine the likelihood of collaboration between NGOs and business in persistent intense social contexts. Using social...     

Blinded by the Spite? Path Model of Political Attitudes,Selectivity, and Social Media

Despite fears that selective exposure and selective avoidance could deepen polarization and negatively affect the democratic process, few studies have directly studied this phenomenon. This study explores whether selective exposure and avoidance to blogs, social network sites, and Twitter directly influence confidence in Congress and the president or more indirectly through polarization. This study suggests that fears of selective exposure, selective avoidance, and polarization infecting the democratic process appear overstated. First, polarization was positively related to confidence in Congress and the president. Second, selective exposure to social media sites strengthens confidence in the president and in Congress. Twitter boosts confidence in Congress. Third, selective avoidance had a negative influence on other measures, which suggests people seek both information that challenges their views as well as ones that supports them. Finally, selective exposure and avoidance proved weak indicators of polarization. Instead, strength of partisanship is the stronger predictor of confidence in Congress and the president.     

Do Candidates Run as Women and Men or Democrats and Republicans? The Impact of Party and Sex on Issue Campaigns

Previous work on the campaigns of women and men has tried to identify whether these candidates campaign for office by focusing on or downplaying gender-stereotyped issues and personality traits. We continue that investigation with a unique data set that uses all campaign advertisements created by almost 400 candidates for Congress in 2010. In examining whether candidate sex or political party identification are the primary influences on the issues candidates present to voters, we determine that all candidates, women and men, campaign as strategic politicians, crafting campaigns around the issues of the day and adopting partisan perspectives on those issues. We find no evidence that women or men attempt to “play to” gender stereotypes in their advertisements.     

The Relationship Between Perceived Hookup Attitudes and Negative Hookup Consequences: Do Perceived Attitudes of Close Friends Matter?

Research suggests that the perceived hookup attitudes of close referents are generally a poor predictor of hookup behavior and likely a poor direct predictor of negative hookup consequences. The current study aimed to examine three intervening variables as mediators of the relationship between the perceived hookup attitudes of college students’ close friends and negative hookup consequences (e.g., regret, embarrassment). Self-report data were collected from 589 heavy-drinking college students from three midsized universities. The results indicated that students’ own attitudes toward hooking up, motivation to hook up, and self-reported number of hookup partners significantly mediated the relationship between the perceived hookup attitudes of close friends and negative hookup consequences. The perceived hookup attitudes of close friends were positively associated with participants’ attitudes toward hooking up. Participants’ attitudes toward hooking up were positively associated with social-sexual motivation to hook up. Elevated social-sexual motivation to hook up was positively associated with hooking up with multiple partners, with hooking up with multiple partners positively associated with negative hookup consequences. A better understanding of the predictors and mediators of negative hookup consequences has the potential to inform prevention and intervention efforts.     

Development and Validation of the Social Worker’s Attitudes Toward Disability Scale

Interdisciplinary doctoral education is being strongly encouraged by government agencies (e.g., the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health) and universities. This position is predicated on the idea that integrating the perspectives of different disciplines is necessary for developing meaningful answers to complicated social problems. The purpose of this brief teaching note is to describe the development of a new interdisciplinary PhD program at Tulane University. The program is called City, Community & Culture, and it confers degrees in social work, sociology, and urban studies.     

Social Workers’ Attitudes Towards and Engagement in Self-Disclosure

This article reports on a study of social workers’ engagement in self-disclosure. Consistent with theory and research, participants limited their use of personal self-disclosure but were more willing to be transparent with clients. Yet, the social workers in this study did not always feel prepared by their education to appropriately engage in self-disclosure nor did they believe their use of this skill was grounded in theory or research. Many of the participants also didn’t feel comfortable talking about self-disclosure in supervision or with colleagues. Findings suggest that more attention should be devoted to teaching social work students about appropriate use of self-disclosure, particularly its different manifestations and its indications and contraindications. The findings also underscore the need for more open and direct discussion of this set of skills in supervision and consultation.     

The End of Football and Fiesta? Social Insurrection and National Identity in Twenty-First-Century Brazil

ABSTRACT

Carnaval and futebol (football) have both been central to the construction of Brazil in the imagination of global audiences. This includes contributing to stereotypes of Brazil as a country of peaceful, festive, and sensualized people, even though historically Brazilian Carnaval and football have always been sites of social contestation and popular participation in the construction of collective identity. In recent years, Brazil has burst onto the global stage as a key player due to its economic rise, its more proactive international diplomacy, and its venture as the host of major global sport events. Protest and political violence have erupted on the streets of Brazil in a manner quite at odds with the circulating reports on the ‘success story' of Brazil. A combination of the country's increasing global prominence and developments in media and communication technologies of the global era means that global and local audiences have access to more detailed, nuanced, and grounded information about Brazil than has ever been possible before. This moment of intensified visibility has brought Brazil's imagined identity (both within Brazil and within the global imaginary) to a turning point; one where national symbols such as Carnaval and football are declining in relevance. In this article we argue that due to this combination of forces, Carnaval and football, at least in their manufactured forms that are visible to global audiences, no longer have the popular potency within Brazil that they once did, but have rather become what Bakhtin would call ‘mere spectacles’. We consider Carnaval and football within historical and contemporary context drawing upon a variety of sources, including secondary literature and mainstream and alternative media reports.     

Career Sidestep,Wage Setback? The Impact of Different Types of Employment Interruptions on Wages

We examined the wage implications of different types of wage employment interruptions in a sample of 44,384 Belgian employees. The employment interruption types included are family leave, unemployment, self‐employment, educational leave and a category other interruptions (for example, travel, voluntary work). We conduct separate analyses for men and women. Results indicate that unemployment spells and family breaks are penalized by lower subsequent wages, while the wage impact of self‐employment spells and educational leave is insignificant. Family breaks and unemployment spells were found to be more harmful for men than for women. Implications of the results and directions for future research are discussed.     

Mystery or Typical Teen? The Social Construction of Academic Engagement and Disability

A qualitative study of academic engagement of five high school students labelled mentally retarded describes strategies of student participation and non-participation, and teacher perceptions. These students were non-verbal or inarticulate, and functioned in an environment of competing formal and informal assessments of their participation and understanding in the academic environment. Teachers' informal assessments of student participation revealed how the students challenged the conventional categories employed by teachers. The examples show the power of educators' perceptions to reveal or obscure student engagement.     

Volunteering and Policy Makers: The Political Uses of the UK Conservative Party’s International Development Volunteering Projects

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - What motivates a political party to develop overseas development volunteering projects for members? How do such activities...