Using critical social theory to develop a conceptual framework for comparative social work

This paper sets out a conceptual framework for comparing and contrasting social work within nation-states and across international boundaries. The framework is "situated" theoretically within a (late)modernist understanding of events within advanced capitalism and draws primarily on Habermas' critical social theory. The authors apply this framework to explicate the development of social work in Northern Ireland, a region in which high levels of political conflict mark it out as a site of local, national and international interest. It is suggested that the ideas developed from the case study have relevance for the social professions in other countries, particularly where social conflict is in evidence.     

'Lifeworld', 'System' and Family Group Conferences: Habermas's Contribution to Discourse in Child Protection

Habermas’s critical social theory has been challengedon a range of fronts. However, the authors see merit in hismediation thesis as set out in the seminal text, Between Factsand Norms (1996). Adopting a pragmatist defence of the thesis,we review and demonstrate the effectiveness of what we believeis a coincidental expression of some of its main tenets—TheFamily Group Conference in Child Protection. Drawing furtheron Habermas’s work, we then proceed to re-work aspectsof the conference’s core processes, thereby accentuatingthe possibility of empowering dialogue between its key participants:the families (who embody the ‘lifeworld’) and thesocial work professionals (who represent the ‘system’).In the final section, we argue that moral practice in childprotection must be safeguarded by communicational proceduresthat explicitly address issues relating to the use of powerand the need for ‘recognition’ between subjects.     

Risk filtering, ranking, and management framework using hierarchical holographic modeling.

This paper contributes a methodological framework to identify, prioritize, assess, and manage risk scenarios of a large-scale system. Qualitative screening of scenarios and classes of scenarios is appropriate initially, while quantitative assessments may be applied once the set of all scenarios (hundreds) has been prioritized in several phases. The eight-phase methodology is described in detail and is applied to operations other than war. The eight phases are as follows: Phase I, Scenario Identification-A hierarchical holographic model (HHM) is developed to describe the system's "as planned" or "success" scenario. Phase II, Scenario Filtering-The risk scenarios identified in Phase I are filtered according to the responsibilities and interests of the current system user. Phase III, Bi-Criteria Filtering and Ranking. Phase IV, Multi-Criteria Evaluation. Phase V, Quantitative Ranking-We continue to filter and rank scenarios based on quantitative and qualitative matrix scales of likelihood and consequence; and ordinal response to system resiliency, robustness, redundancy. Phase VI, Risk Management is performed, involving identification of management options for dealing with the filtered scenarios, and estimating the cost, performance benefits, and risk reduction of each. Phase VII, Safeguarding Against Missing Critical Items--We examine the performance of the options selected in Phase VI against the scenarios previously filtered out during Phases II to V. Phase VIII, Operational Feedback-We use the experience and information gained during application to refine the scenario filtering and decision processes in earlier phases. These eight phases reflect a philosophical approach rather than a mechanical methodology. In this philosophy, the filtering and ranking of discrete scenarios is viewed as a precursor to, rather than a substitute for, consideration of the totality of all risk scenarios.     

Has the World Really Survived the Population Bomb? (Commentary on “How the World Survived the Population Bomb: Lessons From 50 Years of Extraordinary Demographic History”)

In his PAA presidential address and corresponding article in Demography, David Lam (Demography 48:1231–1262, 2011) documented the extraordinary progress of humankind—vis-à-vis poverty alleviation, increased schooling, and reductions in mortality and fertility—since 1960 and noted that he expects further improvements by 2050. However, although Lam briefly covered the problems of global warming and pollution, he did not address several other major environmental problems that are closely related to the rapid human population growth in recent decades and to the progress he described. This commentary highlights some of these problems to provide a more balanced perspective on the situation of the world. Specifically, humans currently are using resources at an unsustainable level. Groundwater depletion and overuse of river water are major problems on multiple continents. Fossil fuel resources and several minerals are being depleted. Other major problems include deforestation, with the annual forest clearing globally estimated to be an area the size of New York State; and species extinction, with rates estimated to be 100 to 1,000 times higher than background rates. Principles of ecological economics are presented that allow an integration of ecology and economic development and better potential for preservation of the world for future generations.     

Value-at-risk support vector machine: stability to outliers

A support vector machine (SVM) stable to data outliers is proposed in three closely related formulations, and relationships between those formulations are established. The SVM is based on the value-at-risk (VaR) measure, which discards a specified percentage of data viewed as outliers (extreme samples), and is referred to as \(\mathrm{VaR}\) -SVM. Computational experiments show that compared to the \(\nu \) -SVM, the VaR-SVM has a superior out-of-sample performance on datasets with outliers.     

Seasonal Patterns of Reproduction in Matlab,Bangladesh

In Bangladesh twice as many births occur in December as in July. This paper examines the seasonal patterns of the risks of conception, fetal loss and return of menses post partum in a longitudinal study of 2,300 women in 14 villages of Matlab, Bangladesh. Life tables were estimated for each month of entry event and then ‘period’ life tables were constructed with the risks for a given calendar month. Confirming the results of earlier studies, risks of resumption of menses were higher in November and December, regardless of time elapsed since the last birth. Similarly, there are increased conception risks in the period from February to April for all fecundable women. The time of lowest fetal loss and stillbirth risks is in the cool season, though this variation makes only a minor contribution to the overall seasonality of births. The pattern of fecundability estimated from data on coital frequency did not match the pattern estimated from reported conceptions; these discrepancies imply possible seasonal changes in other parameters of fecundability besides intercourse.     

Discussion of Paper by Warman and Rousseau

The story of trauma, in contemporary culture, has shifted, from one of painful, formative experience, to one of injustice and the imperative to rectify an untoward event. Journalists, politicians, and memoirists have become adept at making a narrative of trauma, at finding the story that focuses away from the experience of the wounds to the injustice of having been wounded. As a result, people tend to seek stories of suffering that have a beginning, middle, and, most important, an end, rather than stories of suffering that are not dramatic, that are not moral, but that have a lasting impact. People coming for therapy or analysis, too, look for the dramatic explanation for their suffering, to be the hero in their own narrative. And those of us who treat the sufferers too often protect ourselves from the universality of pain by looking for the trauma story. In recent therapeutic culture, the trauma story has been of a formulaic kind, which is in keeping with our culturally preferred relationship to trauma.

In this article, I draw from two treatments to illustrate the power of our cultural trauma narrative and my own implication in it.     

Building resilience in a children's home: results from an action research project

This paper reports on the findings of an action research project aimed at building resilience in young people in a residential children's home. Daniel and Wassell's six domains for promoting resilience in young people were adopted as a conceptual framework to guide the residential social workers as they engaged in successive cycles of reflection and action. Two core areas were explored: (a) the approaches deemed to be helpful in building resilience; and (b) the background factors that enabled and constrained the social workers' interventions. The findings showed that the participants acted creatively to use resources and tools both within the system of State‐mandated parenting and the informal, meaning‐oriented world of the young people.