Disabled people's self-organisation: a new social movement?

This article will examine the ways in which disabled people, world-wide but especially in the USA and Britain, have emerged as a coherent political force in the last 20 years. Furthermore, in looking at disability from the perspective afforded by new social movement arguments, I wish to explore the implications of this development: the fact that disabled people in the 1990s are 'doing it for themselves', and to develop comparisons between the disabled people's movement and the movements of black people, women, and gays and lesbians, for autonomy, recognition and resources. I will suggest that new social movement theory, while useful in the analysis of environmentalism, post-materialism, and some varieties of nationalism, cannot fully grasp the essence of liberation politics.     

Pre-service teachers use of and attitudes toward alcohol and other drugs

Drug attitude and use assessment of 598 undergraduate students revealed attitudinal differences between anticipated occupation groups and drug use patterns that paralleled prior studies which used college student samples. Results are discussed as they pertain to the education of those planning to enter the teaching profession.     

Buzzes and barriers: young people's attitudes to participation in the arts

SUMMARY: This article draws on evidence collected through interviews with 700 young people between the ages of 14 and 24 in five different regions of England. Material from this source is used to construct a tentative typology of attitudes towards participation in the arts. This typology contains a set of twelve positive attitudes (or motivations) associated with arts involvement, followed by a set of eight negative attitudes which emerge as barriers to participation. In addition, an attempt is made to identify those positive attitudes which most frequently appeared to accompany high levels of involvement in the arts. It is suggested that a self-identity or self-expression motive (‘I participate in the arts because it's how I define myself, it's a means of self-expression’) and a physiological motive (‘I participate in the arts because of feeling a real buzz’) are particularly evident among arts enthusiasts.     

Disabled people's access to social work education--ways and means of promoting environmental change

Disabled people are under-represented among social workers. It is argued that this results in lack of diversity in the workforce and in reduced opportunities to make service delivery more inclusive. An audit tool is outlined which can be used to identify barriers and strengths at DipSW programme, university site, agency site and individual student level to disabled people entering social work education. Completed audits could then form the basis of DipSW Programme Development Plans or curriculum plans for individual students, as required. Review mechanisms at the different levels would help ensure that attention to planning and action does not get lost. Assessment issues and aspects of the practice teacher/student/tutor relationships are also discussed. Disability equality training is seen as a central component of audit and provision. The need for proactive, not reactive, policies is made clear.     

Public attitudes toward the identification and reporting of alleged maltreatment cases among social groups in Israel

Objectives

To identify what types of behaviors are defined as child maltreatment by the Israeli public, and which types of incidences are seen as justifying reporting to the authorities. The study examines to what extent these views are different among social groups in the Israeli society (e.g., Arabs and ultra-Orthodox).

Methods

A telephone survey was conducted among a representative sample of 812 adults in Israel, with an oversampling of additional 50 ultra-Orthodox Jews. A series of 12 scenarios was presented to respondents who indicated whether each of them was a case of maltreatment and whether it justified reporting to authorities.

Results

There was strong consensus among the participants that some scenarios indicate maltreatment. These scenarios related to all types of maltreatment and were associated with potentially severe harm. The tendency to justify reporting is weaker than the tendency to see them as cases of maltreatment. Further, there is a correspondence (although not a perfect one) between to what extent scenarios are judged as more indicative of maltreatment and the extent to which they are seen as justifying reporting. Both Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews tend to see more maltreatment than Jews in general and non ultra-Orthodox Jews in particular, except for using corporal punishment to “educate” an insolent child. No consistent differences were found between these groups in their justification for reporting.

Conclusions

There are indications that the underlying dimension which determines the identification of cases as maltreatment and justifies reporting is the severity of the potential harm to child, rather than the type of maltreatment (i.e., physical, sexual, neglect or emotional). The authors suggest that public campaigns should be tailored to address the different attitudes and perspectives of different social-cultural groups.     

Beautifully Imperfect: Using Facebook to change a population's attitudes toward marriage

This study uses focus groups and content analysis to understand the dialogic efficacy of Facebook as a platform for a government-initiated public communication campaign to promote marriage in efforts to reverse low birth rates in Singapore. The findings suggest a weak use of dialogic strategies by the campaign organizers who use Facebook as a channel for one-way communication with little realization of the social networking site's dialogic potential.     

Development of a short-form scale of public attitudes toward homelessness

How do urban Americans regard the problem of homelessness? Recent surveys by pollsters and social scientists seem to document a “backlash” during the 1980s, with public sentiment shifting from sympathy to resentment. The U.S. Supreme Court, for example, recently upheld a controversial 1990 New York City law forbidding poor people from panhandling in the city's subways. This study was designed to develop a brief, reliable, valid scale to more precisely assess public attitudes toward homelessness (acronym PATH), which future researchers can use to more exactly chart changes and correlates of public opinion toward homelessness. Here, a cross section of 222 adults in New York City responded to a 38- item survey containing PATH and five other brief scales. Analysis of responses found general support for four initial hypotheses: (1) There was indeed a remarkable diversity of public opinion, from 3 to 20 points on the 0– 20- point PA TH Scale, ranging from profound sympathy to anger and disgust. (2) A short- form of MacDonald's Poverty Scale correlated only modestly with one's PATH score (r=+0.49) that, along with respondents' comments, suggests these two forms of social distress may now be viewed quite separately in the American psyche. (3) Psychometrically, the 5- item PATH proved to be high in internal reliability (α=0.74), and in construct validity, with significant correlations with 4 other items. (4) Results so far indicate at least some personality basis for PATH. As expected, those most sympathetic to the homeless were significantly lower in authoritarian personality (r=?0.24) and in belief in a just world (r=?0.13). Unexpectedly, PATH correlated negatively with Social Desirability (r=? 0.15, p < 0.05). Potential uses of this PATH scale are explored, along with the notion of important distinctions in poverty and homelessness as two increasingly separate forms of social distress.     

Trends in attitudes toward abortion: 1972-1976

Trends in attitudes toward abortion are examined over the 1972-1976 period. While an overall tendency of more liberal attitudes is noted, important differences over time are apparent by gender, education, occupational prestige, and religiosity.     

Travel journalists’ attitudes toward public relations: Findings from a representative survey

The impact of public relations on emerging fields such as travel journalism has not gained much attention, despite the broader growth of lifestyle journalism, and its particular dependence on PR. This study reports the findings of a representative survey of Australian travel journalists, focusing on their views of PR. Results show that travel journalists are wary of PR, although they believe they can be relatively immune from its influence and see some PR activities as quite useful. Cluster analysis identifies three distinct groups based on their views of PR, which range from a positive attitude to strong criticism. Their backgrounds and differences are explored, pointing to gender, job status, and background in mainstream journalism as main determinants for differences.     

Self-concept and attitudes toward adoption: a comparison of searching and nonsearching adult adoptees

This study showed that nonsearchers and searchers are different from each other on almost every measure that was applied. Research on and experience with searching adult adoptees should not be applied to nonsearching adult adoptees. Likewise, research on and experience with nonsearching adult adoptees should not be generalized to searchers . The results of this study do not support the belief that adoptees, in general, have low self-concepts and identity conflicts, or that adoptees need information about their biological families and reunions to resolve their identity conflicts. Although the sample of pre- and post-reunion searchers was small, reunions did not make a significant difference in self-concept or identity conflicts, as measured by the TSCS . The results of this study do not support the theoretical bases often cited to justify open records. Specifically, adult adoptees in this study do not have negative self-concepts, did not experience poor adoptor - adoptee relationships, and the majority did not experience revelation of adoptive status as disruptive or late. Although significant differences exist between the comparison groups, an important finding is that of all the adult adoptees, the majority scored above the sixtieth percentile on the TSCS and had positive scores on the Attitude Toward Parents Scales. Furthermore, they were happy growing up, with only 12% reporting being unhappy. These findings support the conclusions of Day [1979] and Norvell and Guy [1977] as well as the belief that adoption is a legitimate way of building families.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Permissive attitudes toward sexual behaviors: A clarification of theoretical explanations

Theory and research regarding permissive or nonpermissive attitudes toward sexual behaviors have contained apparent contradictions: Those maintaining that men and women differ in permissiveness rely on differential socialization theory; those maintaining that men and women share a common level of permissiveness suggest new cohort‐wide values as the explanation; and, discounting male/female differences, permissiveness has been held to vary by degree of involvement in familial or courtship processes. Questionnaire responses of 138 college students' attitudes toward seven sexual situations were analyzed by respondents' sex, class standing, attitude toward divorce, courtship status, and perception of parents' marital happiness. Results provided support for each of the theoretical explanations. Permissiveness varied by each of the independent variables and by specific sexual behaviors (e.g., premarital sexual intercourse, cohabitation, communal living, the nexus between pre‐ and extramarital sex and marital happiness, and the connection between each spouse's infidelity and divorce). Thus, simple theoretical explanations of permissiveness or its absence appear to be unwarranted. Behaviors must be specified and background variables must be taken into account.     

Factors associated with attitudes toward intimate partner violence: a study of women in Zambia

Demographic, social, and empowerment factors associated with attitudes toward intimate partner violence (IPV) were investigated in a random sample of women (n = 5,029) aged 15-49 years in Zambia. Data was retrieved from the Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2001-2002 (2003). The findings indicated demographic, social, and structural differences in attitudes toward IPV. Married/previously married and less educated women, employees in the agricultural sector, and women with a history of IPV were more likely to tolerate IPV. In addition, structurally disempowered women (i.e., women lacking access to information and autonomy in household decisions) were more likely to justify IPV than more-empowered peers. Most variables remained significant even when possible confounding was adjusted for using a logistic regression. The findings are discussed and implications for prevention as well as methodological issues considered.     

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.     

Disability identity and attitudes toward cure in a sample of disabled activists

This study investigates the assumption that disabled people want improvements in their functional abilities, or complete cures. Contrary to this assumption, many disabled activists are found to have attitudes in which they refuse treatment that promises a cure. In order to explain this attitude, different sources of disability identity are isolated as potential predictor variables. A multivariate model reveals that self-identity related to a personal affirmation of disability is a significant predictor of refusal of treatment, as is the age of onset of disability. Implications for interactions with medical professionals and utility-based modeling of medical treatment seeking are discussed.