Giving Voice to Black Children: An Analysis of Social Agency

In the last decade, a new sociology of childhood has made importantcontributions to our understanding of children as social agentsshaping their daily lives in various contexts and situations.Although social difference and diverse childhood experienceshold a central place in these new paradigms, several researchershave noted the neglect of black¹ children in mainstream researchagendas, with little attention paid to their lived experiencesin social institutions. This conceptual paper begins with abrief discussion exploring the intersections between black children,marginalization and childhood studies. The following sectionreviews ongoing concerns implicated in the high presence ofblack children in public care. By applying theories about childhoodto children in public care generally and specifically to blackchildren, this paper advocates participatory approaches to incorporatenew initiatives in working with black children in public care.     

Dare to Care: Exploring the Relationships between Socio-Moral Climate,Perceived Stress,and Work Engagement in a Social Service Agency

Abstract

Human service professionals working in an interpersonal violence social service agency are at increased risk of experiencing emotional burnout, compassion fatigue, and high levels of stress, which may reduce work engagement, increase turnover, and ultimately negatively affect client outcomes. However, a positive organizational climate has the potential to buffer the negative effects of perceived stress on work engagement. Socio-moral climate is a behavioral-based organizational construct that assumes that workplace practices and procedures can impact employees’ attitudes and behaviors. This exploratory study (N?=?41) investigates the relationships between perceived stress, work engagement, and socio-moral climate in a social service agency serving survivors of interpersonal violence, comparing employees with direct interactions with clients in a shelter to those with indirect contact at a different location. Results of moderation analyses show that socio-moral climate significantly predicts higher work engagement, while perceived stress is negatively associated with work engagement; however, the interaction effect was not significant and there were no differences in perceived stress between both employees. Further research should continue to investigate the role of socio-moral climate on employee work engagement in social service agencies, which could improve the quality of services for their clients.     

Questioning Contingency in Social Life: Roles,Agreement and Agency

Structure/agency theories presuppose that there is a unity to structure that distinguishes it from the (potential) diversity of agents' responses. In doing so they formally divide the robust social processes shaping the social world (structure) from contingent agential variation (agency). In this article we question this division by critically evaluating its application to the concept of role in critical realism and structural functionalism. We argue that Archer, Elder‐Vass and Parsons all mistakenly understand a role to have a singular structural definition which agents may then diverge from. Drawing on the work of Gross, Mason and McEachern we argue instead that if agents diverge in their conceptions of what role incumbents should do, there is no single role definition, but rather a range of diverse role‐expectations. Acknowledging this can help us to understand variation in role behaviour, with different incumbents potentially being more exposed to some expectations than others. We argue that considering roles in this way can extend the ability of social scientists to identify robust social processes shaping role behaviour and decrease the extent to which they need to call on contingent factors in such explanations.     

Debate: Social resistance and the absent utopia: comments on Hartley Dean's article Social rights and social resistance

This article focuses on conceptual and methodological problems in the transition from normative conceptions of social rights to more general strategies of social policy. In a discussion of Hartley Dean's article Social Rights and Social Resistance, the author argues that relevant rights strategies within social policy in general transcends the traditional dichotomy, assumed by Dean, between structural approaches and more agent-oriented approaches. In line with this, arguments are presented for the view that the denial of strategies concerning social rights, categorised as opportunistic or anarchistic by Dean, necessitates the formulation of realistic and substantial goal for strivings within social policy. Furthermore, the author claims that the conceptual elaboration of social rights does not in itself have any definite and direct consequences for the field of social policy, where material and symbolic power is more relevant. To transcend the criticised approaches of anarchism and opportunism, there still remains to be formulated a strategy of action.     

Harre's Social Philosophy and Political Philosophy: A Social Scientific Critique

In his article, “Saving Critical Realism,” Harre (2009 ) relates his revised philosophy of science to a social philosophy concerning the nature of society, and to a political philosophy regarding the nature of freedom and reform. I argue that his social philosophy and political philosophy rest upon an individualistic sense of society and freedom. I demonstrate that his individualism is factually and politically untenable. (I shall not comment on his philosophy of science, although the errors in his social and political philosophies make it suspect.) I counterpose an alternative social philosophy and political philosophy that are based on a structural model of society, freedom, and social change. My critique demonstrates how social science can adjudicate claims of structuralist vs. individualist social and political philosophy. It also argues that social science must constitute the basis for formulating political ideals of freedom and social organization if these are to be viable.     

论卢梭社会契约中的"公意"

"公意"是卢梭社会契约思想的核心概念,他试图通过代表人民公共利益的"公意"来建立理想的政府。但是由于他对"公意"概念的阐述很含混,所以引起了很多争议。文章通过对卢梭社会契约思想中"公意"的作用的考察,得出"公意"即是自由的结论,围绕"公意"的认识和选择,需要对人民启蒙;"公意"倾向于导致集权或多数人的暴政;"公意"是通过政府迫使人们做出的选择,这几个问题展开论述,并对"公意"进行反思。     

The Nature of Social Responsibility: Exploring Emancipatory Ends

Social responsibility (SR) initiatives within a corporate environment (CSR) continue to be met with deep scepticism. My concern is with exploring this scepticism, which I argue is due to there being more to the underlying objectives of SR than has previously been investigated. I begin by outlining and substantiating my project as a social ontological enquiry, one in which I unpack key concepts to reveal the nature of SR. These ontological findings then underpin my argument that SR is problematically grounded in liberalist thinking, and CSR is in fact just one manifestation of SR. I advance the thesis that SR has emancipatory ends, of meeting human needs and flourishing, and that it is best explicated using feminist care ethics. The argument is then focussed on both shoring up and advancing the emancipatory project of SR. The scepticism of interest is revealed to be the incongruity between care and business; that businesses are deemed as being incompatible with SR, at least in their present capacity. Any claims to the contrary by the business community are branded inauthentic and the aforementioned scepticism ensues. The paper concludes with a brief discussion concerning implications for CSR initiatives and future changes and developments are considered.     

社会生活中的具体与抽象——兼论“过程-事件分析”

常人方法学对行动的策略性与局部性的研究是以默认行动的索引性,尤其是以抽象索引为基础的,这一点体现了它与帕森斯社会学的衔接关系,但常人方法学在后来的发展中逐渐放弃了对抽象索引的考虑,陷入了孤立强调行动者能动性的个人主义。一种完备的社会本体论应兼顾抽象索引和行动者能动性两种要素,并且应认识到抽象索引在型塑社会进程中的基础地位。以这种本体论来看,在中国大陆学界颇具影响的“过程-事件分析”也存在孤立地研究行动的问题,因其忽略社会抽象性的一面,从而大大限制了该策略的解释力。通过理论梳理,本文认为,在方法论上,可将社会学对于社会抽象性的分析概括为四种策略,其中有展示策略和解释策略之分。     

Fully Unconscious and Prone to Habit: The Characteristics of Agency in the Structure and Agency Dialectic

While the human agent must have the capacity for reflexivity, intentionality and consciousness, the same agent must also be affected by the social world in which she lives: herein lies the essence of the structure and agency dialectic. This paper argues that while some realists are in principle committed to a dialectical relationship between structure and agency, there is some dissonance between this commitment and the concepts of agency that they develop. I highlight the exclusion of the unconscious and habit from realist notions of agency and argue that this oversight serves to unbalance the dialectic between structure and agency thereby leading to the over‐empowerment of agency. The concepts of agency developed by Margaret Archer, Anthony Giddens and Pierre Bourdieu are discussed in this paper. Archer's concept of agency is argued to focus exclusively on reflexivity whilst neglecting to include the unconscious and habit. Giddens is shown to develop a much improved concept of agency, which includes the unconscious, however, his rejection of the independent causal powers of structure and agency problematises his commitment to the dialectic. A much improved approach to theorising agency, developed within a critical realist framework, is offered drawing on Bourdieu's concept of habitus. The paper concludes with a discussion of gender, and considers how the unconscious and habit can help to better understand the myriad ways in which gender functions in society.     

Questioning Consilience and Autonomy in Self-Determination Theory: A Critique and Hermeneutic-Phenomenological Alternative

This paper offers a theoretical analysis of Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and its claims regarding human autonomy. Self-determination theorists have advanced a form of self-regulated, engaged behavior (i.e., autonomy), founded upon on a consilient account of human motivation that assumes multiple, hierarchical levels of organization and causation (e.g., biological, psychological, and social). Autonomy, from this perspective, is taken to emerge from underlying biological mechanisms, but also able to exert its own causal effects in the world as a unique psychological phenomenon. We contend that in theorizing this way, self-determination theorists have invoked a mixed discourse of mechanism and autonomy that leaves important questions unanswered, perhaps most importantly those concerning how autonomy as a kind of volition can fit coherently in the mechanistic account of world that they advocate. We then offer an alternative perspective based upon the work of various hermeneutic-phenomenological thinkers in philosophy and psychology. This alternative perspective conceptualizes human phenomena such as autonomy and motivation in agentic terms, emphasizing meaningful participation in possibility-laden contexts of everyday practices.     

Entangling the social: Comments on Alexander Wendt,Quantum Mind and Social Science

Alexander Wendt suggests that an emerging field of research on quantum consciousness may have important implications for our understanding of the social world as well. He wants us to consider that the operations of the brain are not “classical” but rather quantum‐mechanical, and that this sheds light on the social worker as well. This article casts doubt on these claims. First, the idea of panpsychism (all physical things possess features of consciousness) is implausible on its face. Second, the findings of “quantum decision theory” are much more limited than Wendt recognizes. Third, the biological quantum effects currently subject to investigation are limited in their application to brains and persons by unavoidable limits of time and space scale on quantum effects. The “brain as quantum computer” or “brain as wave function” theory is very implausible given current knowledge.     

Social Policy for Social Work: A Teaching Agenda

Though social justice is a central goal of the social work profession,the actual involvement of social workers in social change isvery limited. Moreover, training in social policy and policypractice in schools of social work is minimal. As such, practitionerslack the tools needed to analyse existing social problems andpolicies and to enable them to intervene in the policy processin order to better serve the needs of service users. This articleseeks to further social policy teaching within social work educationby engaging in a survey of the existing literature on the subjectand by offering a detailed programme for integrating this subjectinto the social work training system. The literature surveythat serves as a basis for this programme includes a reviewof studies on the dilemmas linked to social policy teaching,on the goals and content of social policy courses in socialwork and on preferred teaching methods in this field.     

Social-Cognitive Factors in Childhood Social Anxiety: A Preliminary Investigation

The present study addresses the social cognition of socially anxious children, with particular emphasis on their ability to understand others' mental states in interpersonal situations. The heterogeneous sample used in this preliminary investigation consisted of 63 primary school children in England and the USA. The English children were from a mainstream classroom of 8- to 9-year-olds, while the children from the USA ranged in age from 6 to 11 years and had been selected by school district officials for a variety of social interaction difficulties. All children completed measures of social anxiety, shy negative affect, and various social-cognitive abilities, and teacher ratings of social skills were additionally available for the USA subgroup. Results showed that feelings of social anxiety are not associated with any basic deficit in the understanding of recursive mental states which concern facts about the physical world. However, there was evidence that socially anxious children—particularly those with high levels of shy negative affect—do experience specific social-cognitive difficulties in understanding the links between emotions, intentions, and beliefs in social situations. Providing further support for this link, socially anxious children were rated by their teachers as poorer than non-anxious children only on social skills that require insight into others' mental states. Directions for further examination of this complex interplay between cognitive and emotional factors in the development of social anxiety are discussed.     

Alzheimer's in the Workplace: A Challenge for Social Work

It is estimated that 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease or a related disorder (ADRD) with approximately 500,000 of these persons younger than 65. Moreover, the number of people affected by the disease will increase 350% by the middle of this century. Although research exists on organizational policies with regard to caregivers, very little is known about how organizations deal with employees themselves who show symptoms of ADRD. This article reports on a pilot study of employers' responses to dementia as it impacts both caregiving employees and employees who themselves show signs of cognitive impairment.     

Social Work Practice for Social Development in Bangladesh: Issues and Challenges

Social work addresses social issues that constrain the betterment of a community. However, social work practice is struggling to deal effectively with the development challenges of Bangladesh. Based on a literature review and the experiences of the authors, this paper explores the emerging issues where social work practice is anticipated as a promising alternative for bringing sustainable social development in Bangladesh. Simultaneously, the paper discovers the limitation of social work practice in Bangladesh addressing these challenges.     

The Independent Social Work Agency: A Report on the First Year of an Experiment in Social Casework

Summary The authors present an account of their experiences in organizinga research project to explore aspects of the need and demandfor social work through the use of an independent fee-payingagency. Some of the problems encountered in setting up the projectand the agency are discussed, along with some observations onthe first year's work in the agency.     

Social inclusion in research: reflecting on a research project involving young mothers in care

This article considers social inclusion in research by reflecting upon a project involving young mothers in care, which used grounded theory methodology (GTM) to theorise their situations and emphasise their voice, a key issue in inclusion, and yielded mixed outcomes. GTM dealt poorly with inclusivity and was supplemented by a feminist orientation. This also failed young mothers. They were included by sitting on an Advisory Com-mittee, being paid an honorarium and assisting in disseminating results. These efforts were unable to overturn power dynamics that privileged researchers' ownership of the findings, and enabled them to benefit from doing research and their rela-tionship with funders. The attempt to change policies and practices that served clients badly was thwarted by an election that brought in a régime with different goals. The young women authored their own stories and spoke authoritatively of their experiences. However, inclusion was not fully secured in and by the research process. Their positioning as research subjects curtailed their potential in this regard.     

外来工社会排斥感探析——基于社会网络的视角

本研究发现，珠三角外来工感受到的经济排斥较其感受到的心理排斥强烈。从社会关系网络角度来看，外来     

Social security coverage extension: A review of recent evidence

This article reports the findings of 13 studies undertaken as part of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) project on “Examining the existing knowledge on coverage extension”. It reviews recent evidence that highlights how cash benefits and health‐care coverage, financed on the basis of contributions or tax revenue or both, can be extended and maintained in low‐, middle‐ and high‐income countries. The article also highlights a number of priority areas and issues for coverage extension, including realizing improved protection for informal‐economy and migrant workers.     

社会冲突与阶级意识——当代中国社会矛盾研究

如何认识和分析社会主义建设时期的社会矛盾,实际上存在着三 种路径: 第一种是"阶级斗争"的分析方法,它的基本假设和断定是,社会主 义时期的一切社会矛盾,归根结底是无产阶级和资产阶级的阶级斗争 的反映,共同的阶级就意味着共同的社会地位和共同的利益,后者又进 一步意味着共同的社会意愿、共同的社会态度和共同的社会行动。在 这种逻辑推论下,中国在改革开放前的很长一个时期,"以阶级斗争为