Conceptualizing Religion and Spirituality: Points of Commonality, Points of Departure

Psychologists' emerging interest in spirituality and religion as well as the relevance of each phenomenon to issues of psychological importance requires an understanding of the fundamental characteristics of each construct. On the basis of both historical considerations and a limited but growing empirical literature, we caution against viewing spirituality and religiousness as incompatible and suggest that the common tendency to polarize the terms simply as individual vs. institutional or 'good' vs. 'bad' is not fruitful for future research. Also cautioning against the use of restrictive, narrow definitions or overly broad definitions that can rob either construct of its distinctive characteristics, we propose a set of criteria that recognizes the constructs' conceptual similarities and dissimilarities. Rather than trying to force new and likely unsuccessful definitions, we offer these criteria as benchmarks for judging the value of existing definitions.     

Beyond “linking knowledge and action”: towards a practice-based approach to transdisciplinary sustainability interventions

ABSTRACT

The imperative to “link knowledge and action” is widely invoked as a defining characteristic of sustainability research. The complexities of sustainability challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss mean that linear models of knowledge and action, where knowledge is produced first (by researchers) then “applied to” action (by policy actors), are considered insufficient. Researchers have developed more dynamic, open-ended and collaborative forms of policy engagement such as transdisciplinary and co-production research. Although promising these approaches often remain captive to linear assumptions that hinder their transformative potential. We contribute by providing a relational model of knowledge and action rooted in contemporary practice theory. A practice-based approach suggests the primary task of participants in transdisciplinary interventions is to find workable solutions to situations of dynamic complexity that are fundamentally indeterminate and unpredictable. Knowledge is not “applied to” action, but drawn upon, produced and used from within the situation at hand, allowing researchers and policy actors alike to better harness the emergent character of situational developments and outcomes. A practice-based approach provides a conceptual language that captures the experienced complexities of intervening for sustainability, reconfigures the nature of “actionable knowledge,” and identifies appropriate modes of evaluation for transdisciplinary and co-produced research.     

Ideas and actors in policy processes: where is the interaction?

Several influential frameworks in the field of policy analysis explicitly acknowledge that the role of ideas is as important as the role of actors in analyzing and understanding policy and policy change. An issue of principal interest in this body of literature concerns the interaction between ideas and actors. This article argues that, regardless of important contributions from previous research, the literature can be enriched by new analytical tools that further our understanding of the complex interplay between ideas and actors in policy-making. The article outlines a dynamic approach to policy analysis, which has proven fruitful in producing high quality empirical research in a Swedish case of policy on prostitution. Three new analytical dimensions are specified and operationalized: (1) the political institutionalization of frames, analyzing how the influence and content of ideas change over space and time in policy-making; (2) the mechanisms of institutionalization and assignment of jurisdiction through which ideas become part of the political context and work restricting and enabling for actors; and (3) risk-taking and limitation as unintended consequences of actors' involvement and strategic action in the construction of meaning.     

Social inclusion: an interplay of the determinants of health - new insights into elder abuse

Social and economic exclusion and inclusion are receiving growing attention and study in North America for their usefulness as a conceptual framework that addresses the many dimensions of poverty and inequality in our society. A discussion of social and economic exclusion/ inclusion flows naturally out of the population health field in which the social determinants of health have become well-established over the last twenty years or more. The determinants of health provide a broad and inclusive outline within which to situate prevention, early detection and effective intervention of the abuse of older persons. A Social Inclusion Lens offers exciting possibilities for addressing the issue of elder abuse and neglect.     

A Kaupapa Māori,culturally progressive,narrative review of literature on sport,ethnicity and inclusion

ABSTRACT

This Kaupapa Māori narrative review identifies themes in literature concerning sport, ethnicity and inclusion, from an indigenous ‘culturally progressive’ perspective. Scholars suggest that sport influences national identity and in Aotearoa/New Zealand, rugby is a rich site for examining such connections. Inclusiveness within sport is an expressed desire, although the academic scrutiny on this is limited. This study identifies and examines themes within literature (2008–2017), using a ‘Ngā Poutama Whetū’ culturally progressive review process, contributing nuanced understandings from the content. Results suggest that racist othering, representations and practices of ethnic minority exclusion are a reality in sport, although, locally, at least, the ‘cultural climate’ in sport strives for greater ethnic inclusivity. Conclusions suggest that current research in this domain is largely theoretical, insofar as challenges to organisations, power and privilege. However, future research should explore participants’ lived experiences at the intersections of ethnicity and inclusion in sport.     

Social exclusion in Europe: some conceptual issues

In the late 20th and early 21st century, social exclusion has become something of a trope around which is pegged justifications for various reforms. The notion of social exclusion has found its way into the lexicon of all major global governance institutions. How has this happened, and what are its implications for scholars of contemporary welfare reforms? In this article, we consider the ‘rise and rise’ of the discourse of social exclusion, with particular reference to its development as a policy paradigm within the European Union. We note that its initial iteration was anchored in a functionalist discourse of social organisation but that this was quickly challenged both by post‐structuralist and post‐colonial perspectives and by research findings that undermined the view of mainstream institutions as fundamentally integrative and inclusive in nature. The debate about social exclusion, we suggest, is simultaneously a debate about the historical and social dynamics of European modernity.     

Social inclusion,exclusion, and well‐being in Australia: meaning and measurement

This paper begins by examining the social inclusion agenda that formed the centrepiece of the social policy agenda of the Australian Government between 2007 and 2013. It discusses several features of the agenda, including its objectives (as articulated by the government) and some of the administrative and bureaucratic mechanisms that were put in place to assist with its development and implementation. Although no formal assessment of the impact of the agenda is attempted, some of the ways in which such an agenda could make a difference are identified. The paper then summarises the social inclusion indicator framework developed by the Australian Social Inclusion Unit with assistance and advice from the Australian Social Inclusion Board, and compares its structure and content with the frameworks developed by two of Australia's leading social research institutes. Finally, data from two national surveys of poverty and social exclusion are used to examine recent changes in social exclusion and the association between the severity of exclusion and levels of subjective well‐being. These latter results show clearly that subjective well‐being is consistently lower among those who experience the greatest degree of social exclusion, suggesting that exclusion as identified and measured reflects external constraints rather than internal preferences.     

以可行能力视角看待障碍:对现有残障模式的反思与探索

残障研究经历了个人模式-医学模式-社会模式的发展历程,社会模式对残障产生的原因进行了革命性的解释,大大推进了残障人士权益的发展。但上述模式都将关注点放在障碍产生的原因上,而这可能会强化原因与作为影响的障碍之间的固定联系,进而加重刻板印象以及弱势地位等问题;此外,以原因区分障碍的做法并不能准确地反映人们在现实中遭遇的障碍,在认识、分析和处理障碍方面也存在一些困难和缺陷。因此,我们应当尝试将关注点从障碍产生的原因转向障碍本身,以可行能力受限或者受损看待障碍,将原因和障碍真正“解绑”,从而超越“医学模式-社会模式”“社会隔离-社会融合”“优势-劣势”这些不合理的二元对立。基于这样的转变,我们可以为消除障碍找到更加精准、更具有整体性且更加有效的办法。     

Citizenship through education. A comment on Social exclusion in Europe: some conceptual issues

This contribution deals with the integrative model underpinning contemporary European social policy. It was conceived as a comment on the article by O'Brian and Penna, addressing the same topic and published in this issue of IJSW . The author looks at processes of social inclusion/exclusion through the lens of political theory and the notion of citizenship, which is at its core. Based on this approach, the comment provides a perspective that in many respects is complementary to the conceptual analysis presented by O'Brian and Penna in their article.     

The impact of microcredit on small firms in Brazil: A potential to promote investment,growth and inclusion

Over the past decades, microfinance has become a pillar of economic development policies. However, despite the great popularity of micro-credit programs, the results of empirical studies are mixed. Thus, more research is needed to help us understand how effective microfinance is in achieving poverty reduction, economic development, and financial inclusion. This paper contributes to the literature by relying on a unique dataset from one of the biggest Fintech companies in Brazil to study the impact of microcredit on small firms’ outcomes. Using a difference-in-difference approach, we find that access to credit increases monthly revenues and profits by nearly 4.5%. We show that the effects are stronger for women-led businesses and less experienced entrepreneurs. In addition, we find that credit renewal strengthens the benefits of credit access. We discuss several policy implications from our results. In particular, the permanent availability of credit – as opposed to one-time/short-term interventions -- has greater potential to generate virtuous cycles of ever more reinvestment and growth, indicating larger gains from relaxing borrowing constraints in the long run.     

Meeting (or not) at the street level? A literature review on street‐level research in public management,social policy and social work

This literature review analyses the adoption and development of a street‐level perspective in public management, social policy and social work. The last years have seen a prominent revival of a perspective based on Michael Lipsky's street‐level bureaucracy approach in the debates conducted within all three disciplinary fields. Based on 71 key publications in public management, social policy and social work, the review analyses the adoption of the street‐level bureaucracy approach during the period 2005–2015, pointing out the main themes of the debate within, as well as overlaps and differences between, the three disciplines. The findings show the potential of better integrating the different perspectives and taking stock of the articulated debate. Lastly, the review discerns a common viewpoint for further street‐level research, emphasising its importance for the critical analysis and understanding of street‐level work as a vital dimension of responsive and accountable institutions and as a decisive moment to shape positive policy outcomes on the ground. Key Practitioner Message: ? The use of discretion by frontline practitioners and their role as policy actors on the ground has become an important focus of research; ? This literature review shows that the debate has gone far beyond discussing discretion as an all‐or‐nothing issue, pointing out both positive and negative aspects of discretion and developing comprehensive frameworks to explain the use of discretion at the street‐level; ? However, street‐level research has traditionally rather neglected the notion of professionalism. The social work literature brings in the perspective of professionalism; more research efforts are needed to better explore and explain how professionalism matters in relation to challenges and dilemmas of different policy and practice fields.     

Excluding Children: Autonomy, Friendship and the Experience of the Care System

The concept of social exclusion is increasingly important in policy and research but has rarely been addressed from a child-centred perspective. Childhood is a social experience in itself, one that has its own norms and customs, and where the demands of participation and inclusion may be considerable, likewise the costs of exclusion. This paper explores the meaning and experience of social exclusion for children by focusing on a particular group of children and young people, those 'looked after' in the public care system. The sample involved children who had minimal contact with their parents, and who although not currently materially poor were vulnerable to a high future risk of experiencing poverty. They thus provided a valuable opportunity to explore some of the relational aspects of social exclusion. Using in-depth interviews to explore the meaning of friendship in their lives, the study revealed the importance of social relationships for these children, andin particular the impact of the care system on their capacity to make and sustain social networks. The findings suggest that the relational aspects of poverty are not just consequences of material poverty but can have a dynamic of their own, one that may have a particular resonance for children. This has implications not just for children in the care system, but also for children in families, where family poverty and the restricted social and economic integration of parents may also have an impact on children's capacity for developing social relationships and wider social networks.     

The role of family centres in reducing social isolation in deprived communities

Social exclusion and isolation are worldwide social and health concerns with negative effects becoming exacerbated in deprived communities. There is limited understanding related to the role of community‐based centres in reducing social exclusion and isolation, so the aim of this research was to explore the role one family centre had in improving social inclusion in a deprived community in Glasgow, Scotland. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was utilized to analyse interviews from 10 parents to explore their lived experiences of creating and developing social networks through family centre attendance. Findings indicate that attending the family centre positively impacted on social inclusion and social support for all parents interviewed. Relationships created in the centre were proposed as being meaningful, non‐judgemental and produced social capital—rooted in reciprocity and trust. Findings can inform services that aim to reduce social isolation in deprived communities.     

Contested Interpretations of Economic Inequality Following Hurricane Katrina

Americans are deeply divided over the meaning of the poverty and racial exclusion revealed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Media accounts of the hurricane riveted, angered, and depressed many Americans, but did not lead to a national consensus in favor of new policies to fight poverty and economic inequality. This article considers theories and research evidence that may help to explain this failure. Self-serving and group-serving biases lead many economically advantaged Americans to assign responsibility for poverty to individual actors, ignoring systemic factors. Motivated reasoning to justify existing economic and political systems and to maintain belief in a just world leads many, of all socioeconomic statuses, to explain economic inequalities as the result of purely individual factors. Media coverage of the hurricane may inadvertently have deflected attention from systemic causes of poverty by focusing attention on individual actors in the wake of the storm.     

Social Exclusion and Double Jeopardy: The Management of Lone Mothers in the Market–State Social Field

The popular version of social exclusion has given rise to various forms of welfare-to-work initiatives in most developed capitalist nations. Social inclusion, therefore, is commonly assumed to be achieved through paid work. The delivery of social welfare through employment activation programmes is consequential, as it necessitates an unusual cooperation between the welfare state and the labour market. With a focus on Ontario Works, a relatively mature example of Canada's residualized social welfare services, this article is an empirical analysis of the social space in which the state and the market merge – by design – and the resulting processes and outcomes of social exclusion that operate for women who parent alone. I begin with a brief review of the most popular concept of social exclusion, and the pre-eminent place of paid work in related social policy responses, followed by a consideration of the ideological context producing and reinforced by work-first programmes. Our attention is turned to a reconfigured notion of social exclusion as process and outcome, spontaneously set in motion and self-perpetuating in the fused market–state social field. Through a case study of lone mother experiences of Ontario Works, the specific ideological practices through which welfare-to-work strategies operate to keep women in their place are described. I argue that the analysis of the market-state as a unified social field – ordered according to the paired ideologies of market neo-liberalism and conservative 'family values'– is necessary for conceiving policy responses that are effective in interrupting the dynamic process–outcome iterations of social exclusion.     

A Critique of the Concept of Social Exclusion and its Utility for Australian Social Housing Policy

The paper reviews the usefulness of the concept of social exclusion for Australian social housing policy. We draw on recent theoretical and empirical research from Europe and the UK to develop a critique of the concept of social exclusion. It is argued that any assessment of social exclusion needs to distinguish between its utility as an academic explanatory concept and its political deployment to justify new forms of policy intervention. Policy targeting anti‐social behaviour through increasingly more punitive means, for instance, is often justified on the basis that it ameliorates the problems of social exclusion experienced by tenants residing in public housing estates. We conclude that, in spite of the limitations of social exclusion as an analytical concept, for political and pragmatic reasons it is likely to become an important component of the emerging Australian housing policy agenda.     

On units of Analysis and Creativity Theory: Towards a “Molecular” Perspective

This article addresses the issue of units of analysis and atomistic models in psychology taking creativity research as a case study. A classic typology in this area, initially proposed by Rhodes (1961), distinguishes between the four P's of creativity: person, process, product, and press (environment). Continuing an effort to rewrite this basic language of the discipline from a cultural psychological perspective in the form of five A's (actor, audience, action, artefact, affordances), the discussion here focuses on bringing relationships to the fore within this framework and problematising strict distinctions between each of the five elements. A closer look at the five A's of creativity, drawing on theoretical considerations and illustrated by interviews with creators working in different domains, reveals the permeable borders surrounding these units and challenges clear divisions between actors and audiences, action and artefacts, actors and artefacts. In the end, it is argued that creative phenomena cannot be properly understood and studied outside of their integrated and dynamic totality defined as a creativity complex. Implications of adopting this “molecular” perspective for theory and methodology are discussed.     

Social exclusion and neighborhood support: a case study of empty-nest elderly in urban shanghai

The phenomenon of empty-nest elderly (ENE) has become a significant social issue in China. In this research on ENEs in urban Shanghai, a coastal city in China, case studies were undertaken through in-depth semistructured interviews to examine the social exclusion risks ENEs may face and the influence of neighborhood support on such risks. The results show 5 aspects of social exclusion ENEs are experiencing. Moreover, the neighborhood has the potential for providing different forms of support to reduce social exclusion risks. The research and service implications of our findings for promoting the holistic well-being of ENEs in China are discussed.     

The Analysis of the Borders of the Social World: A Challenge for Sociological Theory

ABSTRACT: In order to delimit the realm of social phenomena, sociologists refer implicitly or explicitly to a distinction between living human beings and other entities, that is, sociologists equate the social world with the world of living humans. This consensus has been questioned by only a few authors, such as Luckmann, and some scholars of science studies. According to these approaches, it would be ethnocentric to treat as self-evident the premise that only living human beings can be social actors. The methodological consequence of such critique is a radical deanthropologization of sociological research. It must be considered an open question whether or not only living human can be social actors. The paper starts with a discussion of the methodological problems posed by such an analysis of the borders of the social world, and presents the results of an empirical analysis of these borders in the fields of intensive care and neurological rehabilitation. Within these fields it must be determined whether a body is a living human body or a symbol using human body. The analysis of these elementary border phenomena challenges basic sociological concepts. The relevant contemporary sociological theories refer to a dyadic constellation as the systematic starting point of their concept of sociality. The complex relationship between at least two entities is understood as the basis of the development of a novel order that functions as a mediating structure between the involved parties. Based upon empirical data, I argue that it is necessary to change this foundational assumption. Not the dyad but the triad must be understood as the foundational constellation. This implies a new understanding of the third actor, which is distinct from the concepts developed by Simmel and Berger and Luckmann.