The making of an egalitarian elite: school ethos and the production of privilege

Research on privilege and education often focuses on institutions that are elite in a rather traditional way, for example schools that instruct the children of the upper classes according to a reproductive logic that reinforces existing inequalities. The present article addresses the fostering of advantage from the angle of a more ambiguous case. The Global College, a municipal Swedish upper secondary school specialized in environmental issues and global justice, offers an empirical prism for discussing the cultivation of elite identification through the formative potential of an egalitarian ethos. The relation between ethics and class is examined, not only in terms of how moral stands are classed, but also by investigating into the productive capacities of such orientation. Through extensive ethnographic fieldwork, the study unfolds how a possible tension between egalitarianism and elitism resolves into a productive relation whereby the students’ incarnation of ethico‐political ideals becomes a means for developing agency, confidence, entrepreneurial skills and an overall sense of ease.     

The Diversity Imperative: The Effects of Local Economic Structure and Social Capital on Local Philanthropy

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - Philanthropic endeavors are a form of institutionalized collective action that enhances a community’s capacity to...     

The Enhancement Imperative: The Evolutionary Neurophysiology of Durkheimian Solidarity

Durkheimian solidarity, especially in regard to religion, is reanalyzed in terms of recent developments in the neurosciences and evolution. Neurophysiological studies indicate that religious arousers can piggyback on reward circuitry established by natural selection for interpersonal attachments. This piggybacking is rooted in uneven evolutionary changes in cognitive capacities, emotional arousal capabilities, and preconscious screening rules for rewarding arousal release. Uneven development means that only a special class of enhanced arousers embedded in macro social structures can tap some of the reservoirs of expanded arousal release protected by these screening rules. It becomes imperative that part of collective social life offers these special arouser packages. Beginning with religion and inequality, the social construction of enhanced arousers leaves a trail across human history. However, this trail is not quite what Durkheim had in mind.     

The Imperative of Place: Homicide and the New Latino Migration

Prior research finds that Latino immigration reduced violence. We argue that this is because they settled in traditional immigrant areas. But recent migrants settled in new destinations where the immigration–violence link is more complex. Contrary to previous findings, we observe that (1) Latino homicide victimization is higher in new destinations; (2) Latino immigration increases victimization rates, but only in new destinations and only for Latinos entering after 1990, when they fanned out to new destinations; and (3) Latino deprivation increases victimization only in new destinations because, we speculate, these new areas lack the protective social control umbrella of traditional destinations. Thus, the “Latino paradox” may be less useful than time‐honored sociological frameworks for understanding the link between Latino immigration and violence.     

Building cultural competence: A systematic evaluation of the effectiveness of culturally sensitive interventions with ethnic minority youth

Growing diversity within the US population accentuates the need for the development and implementation of culturally competent services in the field of child welfare. Despite this, few studies exist that examine the effectiveness of culturally sensitive interventions (CSIs) with ethnic minority populations, who are considerably more at risk of developing psychosocial problems including substance and alcohol abuse, delinquency, low academic achievement, and poor self-esteem. With the demand for evidence-based practice it is imperative that we examine the effectiveness of CSIs designed to prevent and treat youth problems. The main goal of this review was to systematically analyze the methodology of recent CSI research with populations of ethnic minority youth in order to evaluate each intervention's ability to adhere to existing standards of evidence-based practice. The fifteen CSI studies examined in this review illustrate progress in their attempt to adhere to the methodological rigor required of evidence-based practice. This review encourages the field of child welfare to position itself analogously with and embrace the movement toward building cultural competence by further investigating the effectiveness of culturally-sensitive interventions with ethnic minority youth.     

Building an expanded learning time and opportunities school: principals' perspectives

Four principals from New York City, Los Angeles, and Houston share their schools' journeys of how they expanded learning time and opportunities to best meet their students' academic and developmental needs.     

The role of a bio-ecological assessment system in writing a culturally sensitive report: The importance of assessing other intelligences

This article shows how the bio-ecological assessment system is applied in assessing a child's cognitive intelligence beyond a psychometric intelligence test. The authors conceive of intellectual behavior as an inextricable bio-ecological phenomenon and argue for an assessment system consistent with this conception. The recognition that there are many types of intelligences (such as musical and bodily kinesthetic) is discussed. The article presents a cursory review of how to assess the other intelligences of a child and how to incorporate this into a culturally sensitive report. A case sample via a psychological report demonstrating this model is presented with the goal of showing how the psychological status of minority children can be enhanced if psychologists adopt an integrated approach to assessment by way of a bio-ecological model. The case presented is that of a child with deficient cognitive functioning on the psychometric tests, but advanced functioning on the “Other Intelligence Assessment Measure.” Diagnostic impressions are given and implications for report writing and interventions are suggested.     

Programa shortstop: a culturally focused juvenile intervention for Hispanic youth

Culturally sensitive juvenile delinquency and substance abuse interventions are relatively limited and unavailable to many first-time Hispanic juvenile offenders. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a culturally focused juvenile and substance abuse intervention program for first time Hispanic youth offenders. The intent of the program was to decrease juvenile recidivism and increase substance abuse resistance. Programa Shortstop is a family based intervention designed for Hispanic youth ages 9-17. The intervention was delivered to 352 youth and at least one parent/caregiver over the 5-year study period. For intervention youth, the results of the recidivism study (n = 321) indicated that 89% of youth participating in Programa Shortstop between 1995 to 1997 were not rearrested within one year of completing Programa Shortstop. Additionally, statistical paired t-test analysis found that the intervention model had a positive effect on legal knowledge and school related factors associated with substance abuse and delinquency. Parent participants demonstrated significant increases in knowledge related to substance abuse and the legal system.     

Building collaboration between school and parents: issues for school social workers and parents whose young children exhibit violent behaviour at school

This research explores the perceptions of 60 parents whose children, aged from three to nine, had been involved in bullying, as defined under the Safe Schools Act and the Code of Conduct. Some of these children had been suspended from school, while others were potential candidates for suspension. These parents were recruited from Ottawa's two French-language school boards to participate in qualitative interviews between June 2000 and June 2002. The aim of this research was to cast new light on the perceptions of parents and schools with regard to their relationships, and on the role of school social workers in maintaining and enhancing collaborative partnerships.

The desire of some parents to be involved in the decisions concerning remedial action taken to address their child's aggressive behaviour touched a raw nerve in some schools. Nonetheless, when schools and parents ultimately recognize the daily challenges that both parties face, and a shared plan of action develops therein, the path to effective collaboration becomes clear. Early intervention on the part of school social workers gives them an edge in their efforts as mediators. They seize every opportunity to initiate different collaborative approaches between schools and parents, so that the issue of bullying can be handled in a more respectful way for everyone.     

Building the community school movement: vision, organization, and leadership

On a local level, creating and sustaining community schools requires leadership from local government, schools, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. These groups must provide the fuel and direction to move the community school strategy forward along a common vision and with strategic methods for financing. At the federal level, it must continue to build constituency for community schools if it is to succeed, although the community school movement has made great strides in recent years. There is not now a coherent federal framework to support the community school vision. The proposed Full Services Community Schools legislation would build a national constituency and legislate key principles advocated by the Coalition for Community Schools: developing districtwide community school strategies, focusing on results, and improving coordination of funding streams.     

Diversity with a Difference:

No abstract available for this article.     

The Imperative of Male Inclusion: How Institutional Context Influences World Bank Gender Policy

This article examines the role of institutional context in shaping policy agendas through a case study of the World Bank's gender lending in Ecuador. Using interviews with employees and analysis of policy texts I explore the complex institutional location of Bank gender policymakers, identifying two key constraints on their policy output: (1) the pressure to frame gender policy as increasing productivity and efficiency; and (2) the pressure to frame gender policy as producing complementary sharing between men and women. Given that the efficiency constraint has been much debated in feminist Bank scholarship I explicate the complementarity constraint in more detail. Specifically, I argue that the institutional pressure to define gender policy through a complementary focus on couples led poor men to become hyper-visible as irresponsible partners, and as the crux of the gender policy problem. In turn Bank gender policy was focused on efforts to change them, by encouraging their loving attachment to family and willingness to do domestic labor. I see cause for concern in the dominance of these policy preferences, and I consider how to facilitate their contestation in closing.     

Not Ethnic Enough: The Cultural Identity Imperative in International Adoptions from China to Canada

Based on a qualitative research of adoptions from China to Canada, this article analyses changing attitudes and approaches to racial and ethnic differences in adoptive kinship in the last few decades. I argue that culture celebration labour over children adopted from China is shaped by the contemporary Canadian culturalist ethos, the Orientalist imagination, and the Asian model minority stereotype. The cultural identity imperative, a core component of multicultural governmentality, perceives culture as an object, demands non‐white Canadian subjects with rooted belongings, and operates in ways that sanctions and incorporates, as it depoliticises and subordinates.     

The Ecology of Diversity in Organizational Settings: Lessons from a Case Study

This paper advances a social ecological perspective on the resources necessary to support workplace diversity. It is based on observations from an ongoing organizational case study which used a collaborative inquiry process. We worked with insiders to establish a project steering team, conducted 36 confidential interviews, and met with work units to assess diversity-related concerns. The complex case portrait that emerged illuminates four lessons about the ecology of workplace diversity: (1) the influential role of organizational history and tradition in shaping current diversity dynamics, (2) the importance of understanding how participants' experiences of events may differ, (3) the power of informal organizational processes, and (4) the connections between individual, organizational, and broader cultural values. We discuss these lessons in the context of a three-part definition of support for effective diversity which includes representational, interactional, and cultural components. The goal is to further our understanding of the factors that support or hinder workforce diversity so we may more effectively create settings that are supportive of diversity.     

Gambling among culturally diverse older adults: a systematic review of qualitative and quantitative data

Culturally diverse older gamblers may face multiple jeopardies and socially structured challenges. In this first systematic review of empirical evidence of gambling in this population, the authors examined both quantitative and qualitative studies published between 1996 and June 2016. A thorough search of 7 databases yielded 18 articles with a total sample of 11,296 culturally diverse older adults. The review revealed contrary findings on the correlation between gender, education, income and gambling behaviour. Early onset was more frequently found among older adults who belonged to a culture that promoted tolerance of gambling activities; however, some developed a gambling habit after they had moved to a western society. Using an analytical framework, the authors demonstrate interrelated factors: enabling factors (cultural acceptance of gambling, supportive social networks, accessibility to gambling facilities and venues, and external cues); motivational factors (desire for excitement and winning money, coping with boredom, and stress due to structural issues); and buffering factors for culturally diverse older gamblers . Both environmental and personal factors could be triggered as buffers between gambling and culturally diverse older adults. In light of the motivational and enabling factors, practitioners and policy makers may need to step beyond focusing on ‘correction’ during intervention.     

The Parent University Program: Factors predicting change in responsive parenting behaviors

Few evidence-based parenting programs exist for children under the age of three and even fewer have been rigorously evaluated in comparison to parenting programs for older children. The Parent University Program (PUP), was developed to serve parents with children birth through three who lived in southwest Baltimore. Parent-child dyads (N = 86) participated in the parenting program with the goal of increasing responsive parenting skills.Participants of the PUP showed a significant increase in responsive parenting behaviors. Participants in this open trial study who completed pre-test, post-test, and follow-up assessments showed a significant change from clinical to non-clinical status after attending the PUP. Neither the type of facilitator nor the number of hours attended showed an association with changing parenting behaviors. The age of the child was associated with the change in responsive parenting. Parents of older children in the birth to three age range had higher scores at pre-test and showed less change over time. The results of this study suggest that the Parent University Program was associated with positive change in responsive parenting behaviors for parents with children birth through three years of age.     

Learning about fishery management: Evaluation of a contextualized responsive evaluation approach

This article discusses the extent to which a responsive evaluation (RE) approach contributed to learning by stakeholders in a case of high complexity. Fishery management in Grand-Popo, Benin is characterized by ambiguity, that is contrasting views among fishery stakeholders about what should be done, why, how, where, and when to resolve fishery problems like the depletion of fish-stock and absence of income alternatives. It was also characterized by great gaps (mismatches) between interventionists’ plans and actions, despite generations of interventions and evaluations of their effectiveness. The RE approach aimed at facilitating interactions between interventionists and fishing people to stimulate learning and hence reduce the ambiguity and mismatches. In this article, we take distance and evaluate the results of this action research approach. We found that in the interaction some learning indeed occurred. The fishing people learned among others that intervention resources are limited and that they should organize themselves to lobby for and monitor interventions to solve their problems. Interventionists learned that they could share knowledge about their roles and limited resources with fishing people so that the latter could lobby for more resources. Fishing people however, did not learn to adopt more sustainable fishing practices. Also, interventionists did not learn to influence politicians and financial partners themselves for sufficient resources. Both categories of stakeholders developed ideas for how to collaborate to improve fishery management. We conclude that although some single-loop, double-loop and social learning occurred, the learning was limited and reflect on the related challenges for RE in natural resource management.     

The design of a contextualized responsive evaluation framework for fishery management in Benin

The main question addressed by this article is how to adapt the responsive evaluation (RE) approach to an intervention context characterized by repetition of ineffective interventions, ambiguous intervention action theories among stakeholders, and high complexity. The context is Grand-Popo, a fishing municipality located on Benin's southwest Atlantic coast. The fishery management interventionists and the fishing communities in the municipality all espoused concern for the sustainable improvement of fishing actors' livelihood conditions, but differed about the reasons for this livelihood impairment, and about what should be done, when, where, and by whom. Given this ambiguity, we identified RE as a promising action research approach to facilitate dialogue and mutual learning, and consequently to improve stakeholders' ability to resolve problems. However, this approach seems to have some shortcomings in the Grand-Popo context, regarding the repetitive ineffectiveness of interventions, high complexity, and uncertainty. Therefore, based on our empirical study, we add three dimensions to the existing RE framework: historical analysis to deal with routine interventions, exploration and discussion of incongruities of action theories to trigger double-loop learning, and system analysis to deal with complexity and uncertainty. This article does not intend to address the implications or impact of this adapted RE framework. Instead, we suggest some criteria and indicators for evaluating whether the proposed amended RE approach has assisted in resolving the fishery problems in Grand-Popo after the approach has been applied.