TROUBLES TALK AND COUNSELING DISCOURSE

Counseling is a pervasive activity in contemporary institutional life. This article focuses on the ways in which troubles—as socially constructed realities—are talked into being in two counseling settings: a British hemophilia center that counsels individuals who have become HIV-positive through the transfusion of infected blood products and a family therapy center in the United States. Drawing upon conversation analytic studies of "troubles talk," three major topical and interactional continuities in the two settings are revealed. They involve trouble definitions, trouble remedies, and accessing the social contexts of clients' troubles. Using ideas from Foucault, the article analyzes counseling as a professional technology for inciting troubles talk. As such, counseling functions as one of a variety of institutional discourses within which troubles talk may be elicited and organized, power moves, and people may be constructed as objects of power. The article thus serves as an initial attempt to synthesize strands of Foucauldian and conversation analytic work at an empirical, rather than purely theoretical, level.     

Family togetherness and the suburban ideal

An examination of the history of suburbanization in the United States shows that the suburban ideal has, from its beginnings, been associated with a vision of family togetherness, meaning that husband, wife, and children choose to spend their leisure time with one another. While the migration to the suburbs has been in part fueled by a desire to escape the mix of classes and ethnic groups of urban areas, and by government- and market-shaped economic incentives, the suburban ideal has stressed finding an environment in which family ties can be strengthened. The social and spatial structure of suburbia promotes familial isolation through a lack of public space and through an emphasis on home maintenance and home-centered entertainments. It is argued that by providing such optimal conditions for togetherness, suburbia may actually undermine familial harmony by exacerbating the strain of trying to live up to an essentially unattainable ideal.     

ONE FIRM, TWO LABOR MARKETS: THE CASE OF McDONALD'S IN THE FAST-FOOD INDUSTRY

Students of industrial sociology have noted theoretical and empirical inadequacies in dual-economy and dual-labor market theories, and have called for revisions in these perspectives. A single case, McDonald's in the fast-food industry, is analyzed as a vehicle towards reformulation. It is argued that, as a center retailer, McDonald's contains elements of both primary and secondary labor markets, and that this dualism is a partial function of its economic structure that contains both core and peripheral elements. The job hierarchies, hiring practices, compensation, training, and control systems all evidence elements of both primary and secondary markets. The external validity of these findings is explored, and implications for dual-economy and dual-labor market theories and research are developed.     

Violent families and the rhetoric of harmony

Observing that the violent realities of family life belie the social rhetoric of harmony, most sociologists recommend 'demythologizing' the family. This paper challenges that view, arguing that social rhetoric must be analysed rather than debunked. The sense-making activities of actors who engage in violent family events are identified as a strategic site for such an analyses. The paper explores the ways in which the rhetoric of family harmony is routinely sustained and reproduced. Two kinds of supports are considered (i) macrosocial supports, which sustain family rhetoric by integrating it into a wider system of collective representations; and (ii) microsocial supports which sustain family rhetoric by embodying it in the accounts of family members.     

Application of TQM principles to the utilization management process

Application of the philosophy and principles of TQM and CQI to utilization management within an institution necessitates an in-depth review of the systems and processes of the flow of inpatients throughout their stay. This encompasses a total systems perspective, beginning with the admitting process and going through the discharge process. TQM and CQI philosophies identify that the most significant and costly inefficiencies are due to faulty systems and processes, not individuals. Applying this management strategy to a health care institution requires a detailed review and analysis of processes by which service is delivered and requires evaluation of the outcomes of patient care and patient satisfaction.     

Immigrant unemployment: the Australian experience

"Between 1980 and 1996 both male and female immigrants experienced higher unemployment rates than Australia-born workers....A multivariate analysis is used in this article to examine unemployment rate differentials between Australia-born and immigrants from English-speaking countries and immigrants from non-English-speaking countries. A feature of the analysis is decomposition of unemployment rate differences between birthplace groups into a component attributable to the different characteristics of the birthplace groups (e.g. different mean levels of education) and a part that is viewed as an impact associated simply with being foreign born." (EXCERPT)     

Impact of the Adoption of Tobacco-Free Campus Policies on Student Enrollment at Colleges and Universities,North Carolina, 2001–2010

Abstract

Objective: College and university administrators have expressed concern that adoption of tobacco-free policies may reduce applications and enrollment. This study examines adoption and implementation of 100% tobacco-free campus policies by institutions of higher education on applications and enrollment. Participants: North Carolina private colleges and universities and public community colleges. Analysis was conducted in 2011. Methods: Student enrollment and application data were analyzed by campus type to determine (a) if there was a difference in student applications and enrollment before and after policy implementation, and (b) if there was a difference in student applications and enrollment for campuses with versus without a policy. Results: No significant differences were found in student enrollment or applications when comparing years prior to and following policy implementation or when comparing with institutions without 100% tobacco-free campus policies. Conclusions: The authors found no evidence that 100% tobacco-free policy adoption had an impact on student enrollment or applications.