Punitive benefit sanctions,welfare conditionality,and the social abuse of unemployed people in Britain: Transforming claimants into offenders?

A defining feature of U.K. welfare reform since 2010 has been the concerted move towards greater compulsion and sanctioning, which has been interpreted by some social policy scholars as punitive and cruel. In this article, we borrow concepts from criminology and sociology to develop new interpretations of welfare conditionality. Based on data from a major Economic and Social Research Council-funded qualitative longitudinal study (2014–2019), we document the suffering that unemployed claimants experienced because of harsh conditionality. We find that punitive welfare conditionality often caused symbolic and material suffering and sometimes had life-threatening effects. We argue that a wide range of suffering induced by welfare conditionality can be understood as ‘social abuse’, including the demoralisation of the futile job-search treadwheel and the self-administered surveillance of the Universal Jobmatch panopticon. We identify a range of active claimant responses to state perpetrated harm, including acquiescence, adaptation, resistance, and disengagement. We conclude that punitive post-2010 unemployment correction can be seen as a reinvention of failed historic forms of punishment for offenders.     

Tapping your way to success: using Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) to reduce anxiety and improve communication skills in social work students

By the nature of their professional training and practice placements, social work students are prone to situations provoking the onset of anxiety. A programme of academic and placement support, termed the ‘Skills Lab’, provides help and support for students to develop their communication skills and prepare for their practice placements and transition into professional social work practice. Skills Lab evaluations indicated a high level of appreciation, linked with a strong sense of apprehension and anxiety, which some students report has negatively affected their performance. To address student anxiety, a pilot study using Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) was developed. EFT is an intervention, which may potentially be effective in reducing academic anxiety and enhancing public speaking. This mixed-methods pilot study measured participants’ (n = 45) subjective distress and anxiety before and after using EFT. Subjective distress/anxiety was invoked through a 15-min assignment lecture. Twelve of the 45 students also participated in one-one interviews to elaborate on their experiences of EFT. Quantitative findings indicated participants reported significantly less subjective distress and anxiety after using EFT. Qualitative findings indicated three themes whereby participants found EFT calming, relaxing and helpful; considered the transferability of EFT in other settings; and proposed some of the mechanisms of EFT’s action.     

Les Écossais en France: a modern diaspora?

This paper examines the contemporary Scottish diaspora living and working in France. It considers the makeup, origins, drivers and influences of the diaspora, as well as considering the attitudes and behaviour of the diaspora itself. Through face to face interviews the paper considers the identity held by individuals within the diaspora, organisations they are (or are not) involved with and how they interact with the host country. It also considers diaspora attitudes held towards the homeland, and towards contemporary socio-political events taking place within Scotland today. The paper discusses the modern nature of the diaspora, the strong sense of national identity it holds, and how the Scottish Government may not be connecting with this diaspora at all.     

Second-Generation Outcomes of the Great Migration

The mass migration of African Americans out of the South during the first two-thirds of the twentieth century represents one of the most significant internal migration flows in U.S. history. Those undertaking the Great Migration left the South in search of a better life, and their move transformed the cultural, social, and political dynamics of African American life specifically and U.S. society more generally. Recent research offers conflicting evidence regarding the migrants’ success in translating their geographic mobility into economic mobility. Due in part to the lack of a large body of longitudinal data, almost all studies of the Great Migration have focused on the migrants themselves, usually over short periods of their working lives. Using longitudinally linked census data, we take a broader view, investigating the long-term economic and social effects of the Great Migration on the migrants’ children. Our results reveal modest but statistically significant advantages in education, income, and poverty status for the African American children of the Great Migration relative to the children of southerners who remained in the South. In contrast, second-generation white migrants experienced few benefits from migrating relative to southern or northern stayers.     

Reinvigorating Research on Gender in the Workplace Using a Positive Work and Organizations Perspective*

Gender inequality is a widespread organizational challenge, however, research on gender in the workplace suffers from stagnation in mainstream management research. A positive work and organizations perspective has the capacity to augment problem‐focused gender research with new approaches to boosting gender equity. Yet, contributions that utilize such a perspective are sparsely spread across nearly two decades’ time and dozens of journals with differing disciplinary foci. This paper aims to reinvigorate gender research in management research by consolidating insights that have emerged through the application of a positive perspective. Therefore, we systematically review articles published in 21 management and psychological journals between 2001 and 2016. Four main themes emerged as drivers of gender research from a positive perspective: performance, social integration, well‐being, and justice/moral matters. The contributions within these themes highlight pathways to organizational flourishing through positive diversity and inclusion behaviors and practices. Thus, this paper provides a conceptual map for navigating and planning further research.     

NEIGHBORHOOD DISADVANTAGE AMONG RACIAL AND ETHNIC GROUPS:

We compare the neighborhood characteristics of native- and foreign-born blacks, whites, Hispanics, and Asians in 1970 and 1980. We broaden the locational attainment literature by emphasizing three contrasts: between black and nonblack groups, between native black and nonblack immigrant groups, and among black groups. Consistent with previous evidence, we find a clear spatial disadvantage for black groups relative to nonblack groups, and for native blacks compared to nonblack immigrant groups, in both years. However, our study reveals a slight advantage for foreign nonHispanic blacks (e.g., Afro-Caribbean immigrants) among the black groups throughout the time period. Our results break new ground by extending the analysis of racial and ethnic variation in residential attainment back to 1970, providing an earlier benchmark against which current patterns of residential attainment can be compared.     

Social Support as a Potential Moderator of Adolescent Delinquent Behaviors

The issue of juvenile delinquency continues to concern both policy makers and parents. Engaging in negative behaviors or activities that are not socially acceptable can have serious implications for adolescents' physical, emotional, and social development. Therefore, it is important that human service practitioners working with adolescents understand those factors that influence their delinquent behavior in order to develop effective interventions. This paper reports the findings of a study of self-reported delinquent activity among a sample of 779 adolescents who attended middle schools in a large urban city in the southwest United States. The study examines the relationships between delinquent behavior, social support, and a variety of other psychosocial factors. The implications of those relationships for human service practice and research are discussed.     

Unpaid work in the community: An account of becoming a community activist

Academics, policy makers, and practitioners are slow to listen to the needs and experiences of poor people, even about their experiences of poverty [P. Beresford & S. Croft (1995) It's our problem too! Challenging the exclusion of poor people from poverty discourse. Critical Social Policy Issue, 44/45, 75-95]. Angela is a young middle-aged British woman who has survived numerous traumatic personal, family and social experiences. She has read copies of this journal and is convinced that discussions between academics, professionals, policy makers and poor people will lead to better mutual understanding, a view reflected in a recent multinational project [ATD Fourth World (1999) Introducing the knowledge of people living in poverty into an academic environment: Synopsis. London: ATD Fourth World UK]. Through discussions with one of the editors, Angela has contributed this account which highlights the emotional aspects of being at the receiving end of public services as well as of becoming active in a community.