Shared housing among young adults: avoiding complications in domestic relationships

One pathway by which young adults in the Western world are navigating housing difficulties is to pragmatically share costs by living or flatting with peers. The current study sought to add to the limited literature on this lifestyle through the application of discursive psychology to understanding the social dynamics of relationships in the intimacy of these households. Data was drawn from interviews with experienced New Zealand house sharers aged 20–35. Analysis is presented of two spontaneous discourses, which emerged, both dealing with competing tensions on the merits of living with couples or single people and friends or strangers. Whereas couples are not averse to sharing with other couples, single people tend to elect to share with unattached individuals. Favouring friends as housemates was the norm among town dwellers, while city folk were more open to flatting with strangers. Talk was driven by the unquestioned value associated with having a working living arrangement, demonstrating the acute awareness young adults have of potential problems that can destabilise or sustain domestic harmony. Valuable insight is provided into the complexity of shared housing relationships as well as contemporary young adulthood.     

Gender,polychronicity, and the work–family interface: is a preference for multitasking beneficial?

This study examined how polychronicity, or the preference to do several things concurrently, was related to work and family overload, work–family conflict, and outcomes in the work, family, and life domains (i.e. turnover intent, family, and life satisfaction). Using conservation of resources theory as a framework, polychronicity was conceptualized as a resource that could be used to reduce work and family overload. The participants were 553 employed parents from Canada and the US. Results indicated that polychronicity was related to lower work overload. Lower work overload was related to lower work interference with family conflict, lower turnover intent, and higher family and life satisfaction. We also examined gender differences and found that, although women scored significantly higher than men on family overload and family satisfaction, and significantly lower than men on life satisfaction, there was no mean gender difference on polychronicity. In addition, the path coefficients in the model were not significantly different for men and women.     

‘Hypernudge’: Big Data as a mode of regulation by design

ABSTRACT

This paper draws on regulatory governance scholarship to argue that the analytic phenomenon currently known as ‘Big Data’ can be understood as a mode of ‘design-based’ regulation. Although Big Data decision-making technologies can take the form of automated decision-making systems, this paper focuses on algorithmic decision-guidance techniques. By highlighting correlations between data items that would not otherwise be observable, these techniques are being used to shape the informational choice context in which individual decision-making occurs, with the aim of channelling attention and decision-making in directions preferred by the ‘choice architect’. By relying upon the use of ‘nudge’ – a particular form of choice architecture that alters people’s behaviour in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives, these techniques constitute a ‘soft’ form of design-based control. But, unlike the static Nudges popularised by Thaler and Sunstein [(2008). Nudge. London: Penguin Books] such as placing the salad in front of the lasagne to encourage healthy eating, Big Data analytic nudges are extremely powerful and potent due to their networked, continuously updated, dynamic and pervasive nature (hence ‘hypernudge’). I adopt a liberal, rights-based critique of these techniques, contrasting liberal theoretical accounts with selective insights from science and technology studies (STS) and surveillance studies on the other. I argue that concerns about the legitimacy of these techniques are not satisfactorily resolved through reliance on individual notice and consent, touching upon the troubling implications for democracy and human flourishing if Big Data analytic techniques driven by commercial self-interest continue their onward march unchecked by effective and legitimate constraints.     

Can the Secular Be the Object of Belief and Belonging? The Sunday Assembly

In public discourse and much sociological research individuals are considered secular if they do not hold religious beliefs or belong to any religious group. But can the secular itself become an object of both belief and belonging? Can secular people develop self-understanding and existential purpose in communal contexts that engage a religious model? To explore these questions I investigated the Sunday Assembly, a new network of secular congregations. Based on two years of research including fieldwork at the London, San Diego, and Chicago Assemblies, in-depth interviews with 21 Assemblers, and analysis of video-recorded Assembly services, this study examines the interactional, meaning-making dynamics of what I term communal secularity. I explore the broader question of belief, morality, and belonging in an increasingly complex secular-religious landscape through an analysis of the congregational activity of this newest iteration of the growing secular community. Having distilled thematic categories from an inductive analysis of the talk, practice, and other elements of congregational culture at the Sunday Assembly, this study reveals the social interactions, functions, and symbolic practices that frame participants experiences and express secular values and belief systems. I argue the secular can become an object of a nonsupernaturalist sacred, and that congregants engage interactions and meaning structures, both explicitly and implicitly, that parallel, coalesce with, and in several ways depart from, traditional religious congregations. My research reveals how secular beliefs can both function and fulfill in ways typically credited to religion. As such, the secular should not refer exclusively to the lack of religiosity, but should acknowledge the diversity of contemporary secular forms, some of which embrace a religious character. Implications of communal secularity for the broader community are discussed, and I suggest additional vistas of research as part of the emerging scholarly literature in this area.     

Becoming a Trustworthy Profession: Doing Better Than Doing Good

Abstract

Social work is a relationship-based profession. For this reason, social work professionals need to be perceived as trustworthy by those with whom we work. This address outlines the nature and importance of trustworthiness and the specific issues the social work profession faces in relation to the question of trustworthiness. I argue that scandals in human services and faith-based institutions as well as pressures associated with new public management create further challenges to achieving trustworthiness. The address discusses how the profession can enhance its trustworthiness through increasing our capacity to articulate professional purpose, committing to professional excellence and to being courageous in speaking out about abuses of power that impact on the lives of people who use our services.     

Climate Change Adaptation: Community Action,Disadvantaged Groups and Practice Implications for Social Work

This paper explores community-level action in relation to socially based climate change adaptations for vulnerable citizens—older people in particular. While awareness of risk and adaptation has increased in various institutions across Australia, the translation of awareness into action is limited, particularly in the area of socially based adaptive measures for the most vulnerable. Through content analysis of local government documents in two major Australian cities, this paper assesses the extent of action and identifies trends and strategies in relation to social adaptation. Findings indicate varying levels of action and some examples of “best practice,” but overall, evidence indicates more effort is needed at the community level. The role of the social work profession in challenging and broadening discourse is also explored especially in terms of highlighting the social impacts of climate change in future policy development, community action, and initiatives.     

A Model for Aging in Place in Apartment Communities

The purpose of this article is to introduce a theoretical model for an aging-in-place housing specialist for those living in congregate housing facilities. A “needs assessment” tool is outlined to help facilitate the successful implementation of a Health and Aging Residential Service Coordinator (HARSC), both from a research perspective and from implementation of training curriculum for this specialized population. A model that provides both on- and off-site services is hypothesized to be most effective.     

Gambling disorder and suicidality within the UK: an analysis investigating mental health and gambling severity as risk factors to suicidality

Greater severities of gambling behaviour and poorer mental health have been identified in the literature as risk factors for suicidality within gambling disorder (GD) populations. This is the first known study within the UK to use empirical data, taken from a UK treatment clinic for GD (National Problem Gambling Clinic, UK) to explore the associations between current suicidality (thoughts and plans) and measures assessing gambling severity and mental health. Self-report data from 122 participants were collected during the intake process at the clinic through a variety of methods including the use of questionnaires and a standardized 90-minute interview with a psychologist. Reported suicidality was high (current suicidal thoughts [28.7%] and plans [6.6%]), yet only one measure of gambling severity (estimated total losses) was found to be inversely associated with suicidality. Indices of poorer mental health were found to have a greater association with suicidality than measures of gambling severity, and a logistic regression analysis identified depressive symptomology and a history of psychiatric disorder in the participants’ family as significant factors associated with suicidality. Overall, within GD populations, factors associated with poorer mental health rather than gambling severity are seemingly a greater risk factor in patients with suicidality.     

Proposing an Initiative Research Methodology for LGBTQ+ Youth: Photo-Elicitation and Thematic Analysis

ABSTRACT

A framework for approaching lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+ (LGBTQ+) youth is presented that honors their voice. This methodology utilizes participant-driven photo elicitation as a qualitative data collection method, and then integrates thematic analysis. A brief review of current literature is provided to outline gaps, which establish the need to expand effective research methods with LGBTQ+ youth. Photo elicitation is explained with discussion specific to use with LGBTQ+ youth. Thematic analysis is identified and explained as an analytic approach. Challenges of implementing this methodology are discussed with attention to ethical concerns.