Social (dys)welfare within a hostile state

Beneath the wide differences between Australian Aborigines and British Gypsies lie similarities in their experiences of the state in general and the 'welfare' state in particular. Both groups' history of oppression includes persecution, assimilation and genocide, all variations on the theme of the destruction of a minority group's existence and culture. Their relationships with land which diverge from the dominant capitalist/colonialist norm are treated as a threat by the majority. Cultural genocide has taken the form of state control of children, leading Aborigines and Gypsies to fear state social work services. These services fail to understand, respect and respond to different cultural values, lifestyles and strengths, and the resulting 'dyswelfare' has had damaging impacts, including the devastation of Aboriginal family structures, and collusion with the failure to provide sites for Gypsies. Social work educators have a responsibility to consider these experiences and their implications. In any attempt by social work to promote rather than undermine these minorities' rights, the voice of the groups must be at the forefront of change, and organisational structures and priorities transformed at local and national levels. Theoretical tools to assist these changes are available from anti-oppressive and cross-cultural practice, and citizenship and human rights perspectives.     

Gender and the Glass Ceiling at Work

The glass ceiling is a popular metaphor for explaining the inability of many women to advance past a certain point in their occupations and professions, regardless of their qualifications or achievements. In this article, we review sociological research on glass ceiling effects at work. We discuss the current state of the glass ceiling, methodological and theoretical concerns with research in this area, and a number of the key factors that contribute to the creation and maintenance of glass ceiling effects, including selection effects, cultural capital, homophily, networking, gender stereotypes, gender discrimination and occupational segregation, and characteristics of organizations. We conclude with a discussion of research that is aimed at lessening gendered glass ceiling disparities in the workplace.     

A Study of Alcohol Use by Designated Drivers Among College Students

Abstract

Objective: College students tend to drink while serving as a designated driver (DD). The predictors of alcohol use by DDs among college students were examined. Participants: Participants were 119 undergraduate students in introductory psychology courses who had experience with DD use. Methods: Survey data were analyzed to examine the predictors of planning components of DD use, such as choosing a DD before drinking and choosing an abstinent DD, and the relations of these components to alcohol use by DDs. Results: History of DD use, friends’ willingness to be the DD, frequency of riding with a driver who drank and drove, and age of drinking onset were associated with planning components of DD use. Among the planning components of DD use, choosing a DD before drinking was significantly related to less alcohol use by DDs. Conclusions: Increasing awareness of the planning components of DD use could deter alcohol use by DDs among college students.     

Building a youth-led movement to keep young people out of the adult criminal justice system

Through the lens of the Youth Art & Self-empowerment Project (YASP), this article explores the impact that the adult criminal justice system has on young people and how young men and women in Philadelphia are organizing to challenge that system. YASP has developed an innovative model for supporting and training young people in Philadelphia's adult jails and recently released from the adult jails to build a youth-led movement to repeal adult transfer laws in Pennsylvania. Through stories of personal experience and collective struggle, this chapter illustrates the power of young people taking back control of their city, their state, and their own destinies.     

Embedding Local Places in Global Spaces: Geographical Indications as a Territorial Development Strategy

Geographical indications (GIs) are place‐based names that convey the geographical origin, as well as the cultural and historical identity, of agricultural products. GIs are unique, in that they provide a means of ensuring that control over production and sales of a product stays within a local area, but at the same time they make use of extralocal markets. Although control over GIs largely rests with local actors, GIs are nested in wider regional, national, and international networks; and the passage from local to extralocal markets introduces new costs and benefits and new relations of power into the supply chain. The degree to which GI protection spurs development and protects local environmental and cultural resources depends on the structure of the GI legislation and on the territorial context in which protection is embedded. Using a commodity‐chains approach, I compare two GI production systems, tequila in Mexico and Comté cheese in France, in order to develop a theory of the factors that contribute to more sustainable, equitable GI production systems. I argue that three key differences in the design of the GI schemes help to explain the varying effects of the two cases: (1) the manner in which supply‐chain actors define quality, (2) the way that the GI valorizes the terroir of the region, and (3) the strength and cohesion that the collective organizing body exhibits. Moreover, the institutional and political context in which GI supply chains “touch down” plays a critical role. Contrary to a conceptualization of GIs as compatible with a purely market‐oriented model, my comparison of these two cases indicates that some level of state involvement, in order to level the playing field and empower small farmers, is a necessary, although not sufficient, precondition for successful and sustainable GIs.     

‘If kids don't feel safe they don't do anything’: young people's views on seeking and receiving help from Children's Social Care Services in England

This paper presents findings from qualitative interviews with 24 young people (11–17 years) who have been referred to Children's Social Care Services in England. The paper explores young people's experiences of help seeking and their experiences of receiving help for maltreatment through statutory agencies. A central finding is the importance of relationships for young people when seeking and receiving help. It is through trusting relationships with professionals that young people are most likely to disclose maltreatment and/or engage with services. The paper concludes that young people's expectations and needs are not always met by the current safeguarding system and that the system needs to become more child‐centred if it is to address the concerns maltreated young people have consistently voiced through research.     

Maintaining solidarity across generations in New Zealand: Support from mid‐life adult to ageing parent

Abstract

This paper establishes the key factors influencing functional solidarity—the material and emotional support mid‐life New Zealanders provide to an ageing parent or in‐law. Using the theoretical framework of intergenerational family solidarity, empirical analysis draws on the 1997 Transactions in the Mid‐Life Family survey of individuals aged 40–54. Results indicate that mature, adult children with no partner and living far from their parent are the least likely to provide emotional and in‐kind help and will be more hesitant to offer emotional support to in‐laws compared to their own parents. Adult children of Christian background, and possibly those who are homemakers and not employed, are more likely to provide in‐kind help, but those in rural areas are less likely. Surprisingly, ill health, a large household, being employed, and continuing to provide help to a young adult child who has left home do not necessarily hinder the respondent in helping an ageing parent. The argument that intergenerational relations are increasingly subject to compromise as mid‐lifers face unprecedented demands for support from other generations needs critical consideration. Further analysis should consider the cultural significance of intergenerational transactions, and how they may be influenced by the cognitive‐affective dimensions of intergenerational family solidarity.     

The humanities unplugged

The business of keeping ‘Native eating houses’ has roots in the earliest days of the mining camp on the Witwatersrand and for the past century Native eating houses have constituted an important institution in the everyday lives and experience of the city's working classes. The task in this paper is to reconstruct the emergence, rise and recent demise of the Native eating house trade in Johannesburg. Issues of concern include the struggles surrounding early licensing and organization of eating houses; locational conflict over eating houses as noxious facilities; and, the progressive decline of the trade with the growth and strengthening of new competitive food sources for Black workers in Johannesburg.