Young People’s Perception Of Being Safe – Globally &; Locally

Giddens explores, in Modernity and Self-Identity, our preoccupation with risks in modern social life and the disparity between perceived risks and actual prevalence of life-threatening dangers [Giddens, A.: 1991, Modern and Self-Identity. Self and Society in Late Modern Age (Polity Press, Cambridge), p. 115]. Modern technologies have made global information accessible around the world; real time news communiqués about unfolding situations are displayed directly into the home environment through television and the internet. Global issues and local events intermix, blurring worldwide issues and threats with local realities. This research explored the everyday life of young people in two Australian rural communities, their community affiliation, sense of belonging and feeling safe in the local rural community. The research was exploratory in nature and based on a survey of 751 young people aged between 14 and 21 years, all being students at local secondary high schools. Feeling safe was of concern for both female and male young people: females indicated a higher tolerance towards strangers and cultural diversity, but at the same time, they felt less safe in the local community. These findings are discussed in relation to a 1989–1990 study of 13- to 21-year-old urban Australian and Swedish young people. The study explored young people’s experiences of scary events in mass media, in their home environment and among themselves. The findings signify the need for a holistic approach to identify social indicators to describe the grounds for young people feeling unsafe and the need to take into consideration local community circumstances, the global milieu and conflicts as portrayed in news, documentary and entertainment mass media.     

"If I'm not allowed to put my family first": challenges experienced by women who are caregiving for family members with dementia

In this study of 26 employed, West Texas women caregivers, we found that women worried that they would not be able to give their family members the care they deserved because of the multiple demands placed on them. Women actively negotiated working conditions to achieve flexibility. Women who did not have access to flexibility often changed jobs until they had working conditions that provided it. Work provided a respite and a chance to feel some measure of control. In spite of the importance of work to them, these women paid costs for balancing both roles.     

Unity and Diversity: Challenges to an Expanding Canadian Autoworkers' Union*

Afin d'enrayer la chute du nombre de leurs adhérents, les syndicats élargissent leur base en procédant à des réorganisations et en fusionnant avec d'autres syndicats. Prenant comme exemple le syndicat des Travailleurs canadiens de l'automobile (TCA), cet article montre que, pour tirer parti de leur base élargie, les syndicats doivent soutenir les demandes diverses et opposées de leurs membres tout en créant une unité interne. Au fur et à mesure que les syndicats recrutent des membres dans de nouveaux groupes de travailleurs, ces défis sont de plus en plus difficiles à relever. L'identité collective et la structure organisationnelle des syndicats sont des facteurs décisifs lorsqu'il s'agit de déterminer les critères d'intégration des nouveaux membres. L'article conclut que le TCA s'est engagé dans une restructuration organisationnelle et culturelle hâtive et hasardeuse, qui, à l'avenir, pourrait l'empêcher de mobiliser le soutien de ses membres en vue d'atteindre ses objectifs. In response to declining memberships, trade unions are expanding their membership base by organizing the unorganized and by merging with existing unions. Through an examination of the Canadian Autoworkers' Union, this paper argues that to reap the benefits of greater size, unions must be able to represent the diverse and competing claims of their expanding membership while at the same time being capable of building internal unity. These tasks become more difficult as unions seek membership among new groups of workers. The paper argues that unions' collective identity and organizational structure are critical factors in determining how new union members are brought into a new union. The paper concludes that the CAW has embarked on a rapid and uneven course of organizational and cultural change, the result of which could be future problems for the CAW in mobilizing collective support for its goals.     

Closing the gap between planning and control

Top management responsible for setting objectives, determining organizational purpose and developing appropriate structures are almost always far removed from the harsh realities of implementing plans and subsequent operational control. This paper explores two traditional responses to the problems of planning and control before explaining ways and means for integrating the functions through using the Expectations Approach which appears to offer a bright future for a career in planning and control, and also a constructive aid to the Board wishing to translate strategy into detailed operational programmes. Furthermore, it must be emphasized that in a rapidly changing social, political and industrial relations environment, the integration of planning and control becomes more critical unless planning is to become merely an expression of pious hope rather than a means of achieving the desired future.     

Consumer‐directed care for older Australians: Are resources identified on the Web adequate to support decisions about home‐based care packages?

Consumer‐directed care (CDC) was introduced as part of aged care policy reforms in Australia in 2012. CDC aims to promote choice and control for people with complex needs who need home care and supports. While more choices may bring benefits, information and resources are needed by people to navigate new and complex care‐related decisions. In 2017, we identified the resources available to support consumers of the new CDC Home Care Packages (HCP) program via an Internet search. Forty‐six resources were analysed to assess the adequacy of information to inform care choices. General information was most frequently found, but information to guide specific choices, such as choosing or changing service providers, was limited. Accessibility of information was limited for non‐English speakers and for people with low literacy or reduced capacity for decision making. No training opportunities were identified, and only one non‐partisan organisation offered support for decision making. Overall, the information and supports analysed were not adequate to assist older people to make choices to ensure consumer direction of care. There is an urgent need to improve the quality and accessibility of information and provide training and support for choice, particularly for those with limited decision‐making capacity, such as those living with dementia.     

Weekend Work and Leisure Time With Family and Friends: Who Misses Out?

The authors explored links between weekend work and leisure time shared with partners, children, other resident/nonresident family, and friends, using the Australian Bureau of Statistics Time Use Survey 2006. Drawing a sample of employed persons (n = 3,903), they tested associations between weekend work and shared leisure time on the day of work and to see whether shared leisure time is made up on other days over the following week. Analyses were stratified by three family types: (a) couples without children, (b) couples with children, and (c) singles without children. For all groups, weekend work was associated with significantly less shared leisure time on days worked. Some weekend workers (e.g., part‐time employees, men) recouped some shared leisure time (notably with friends) over the following week, but most did not. Indeed, for some forms of shared leisure—most importantly, with partners and children—there were further negative associations on weekdays.     

Television crime series,women police,and fuddy-duddy feminism

This essay argues that Prime Suspect has become a canonical text for feminist television studies and that Helen Mirren's performance of Lynda La Plante's creation has provided an influential template for television, and the broader culture, to imagine what a senior female police officer is like. So Jane Tennison is important not only within the depicted world of the “canteen culture” of the police in Prime Suspect, but also within the broader context of television production where she has demonstrated that crime shows with female leads can be extremely successful. Juxtaposing Prime Suspect with two later “girly” British TV police series, I ask how we might approach the “daughters of Jane Tennison” found in series such as Ghost Squad (2005) and Murder in Suburbia (2004–2006). Are these “postfeminist” shows? I argue that attention to these programmes can productively inform our understanding of what is entailed for women in not being “fuddy-duddy,” and my comments thus engage, in the continuing debate about the utility and periodisation of the notion of “postfeminism.”     

The militarisation of English schools: Troops to Teaching and the implications for Initial Teacher Education and race equality

This article considers the implications of the Troops to Teaching (TtT) programme, to be introduced in England in autumn 2013, for Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and race equality. TtT will fast-track ex-armed service members to teach in schools, without necessarily the requirement of a university degree. Employing theories of white supremacy, and Althusser’s (1971 Althusser, Louis. 1971. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses.” In Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays, edited by, Althusser Louis, New York: Monthly Review Press. Accessed September 10. http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1970/ideology.htm [Google Scholar]) concept of Ideological and Repressive State Apparatus, I argue that this initiative both stems from, and contributes to, a system of social privilege and oppression in education. Despite appearing to be aimed at all young people, the planned TtT initiative is actually aimed at poor and racially subordinated youth. This is likely to further entrench polarisation in a system which already provides two tier educational provision: TtT will be a programme for the inner-city disadvantaged, whilst wealthier, whiter schools will mostly continue to get highly qualified teachers. Moreover, TtT contributes to a wider devaluing of current ITE; ITE itself is rendered virtually irrelevant, as it seems TtT teachers will not be subject specialists, rather will be expected to provide military-style discipline, the skills for which they will be expected to bring with them. More sinister, I argue that TtT is part of the wider militarisation of education. This military-industrial-education complex seeks to contain and police young people who are marginalised along lines of race and class, and contributes to a wider move to increase ideological support for foreign wars - both aims ultimately in the service of neoliberal objectives which will feed social inequalities.