Protest in an Information Society: a review of literature on social movements and new ICTs

New Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are changing the ways in which activists communicate, collaborate and demonstrate. Scholars from a wide range of disciplines, among them sociology, political science and communication, are working to understand these changes. The diversity of perspectives represented enriches the literature, providing an abundant repertoire of tools for examining these phenomena, but it is also an obstacle to understanding. Few works are commonly cited across the field, and most are known only within the confines of their discipline. The absence of a common set of organizing theoretical principles can make it difficult to find connections between these disparate works beyond their common subject matter. This paper responds by locating existing scholarship within a common framework for explaining the emergence, development and outcomes of social movement activity. This provides a logical structure that facilitates conversations across the field around common issues of concern, highlighting connections between scholars and research agendas that might otherwise be difficult to discern.     

A Pedagogical Approach to Engaging Social Work Students in Research

Attitudes of US-based students in graduate-level social work master's in social work (MSW) toward required research courses often appear ambivalent, but developing an effective pedagogical approach to research could have lasting implications on students, educators, and the field. This article uses Bandura's social learning theory (SLT) to provide a framework for successfully engaging MSW students in the content of an introductory research class. This article outlines the thinking behind and the strategies used to engage students in the course content.     

Voter Decision Making 1972 and 1974

A panel study of decision making by Ohio voters found differencesbetween the 1972 and 1974 general election campaigns in termsof attributes the voters used to choose candidates, when theychose, and how difficult their choices were to make. The studyexplored relations between.these differences and found variationsbetween the campaigns in voters' attention to and discussionof the campaigns, and in their uses of mass media. Difficultyof decision making in particular was highly associated withcertain campaign information-seeking behaviors, suggesting thatmass media and other political information sources may be usedin specific ways by voters experiencing difficulty.     

Making 'Anti-Social Behaviour': A Fragment on the Evolution of 'ASBO Politics' in Britain

The British Association of Social Workers has actively opposedAnti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs). It is the contention ofthis article that there is a pressing need to interrogate factorswhich are influencing and driving the ASBO agenda during theperiod of New Labour in Britain. The discussion begins by referringto the significance of keywords and phrases in social work andsocial policy. This is followed by an examination of the recent(re)appearance of concern about ‘anti-social behaviour’.A critical overview of the White Paper Respect and Responsibility:Taking a Stand against Anti-Social Behaviour (Home Office, 2003a)is then provided. It is then argued that Tony Blair and formerhome secretary, David Blunkett, played distinctive roles increating Britain’s ASBO politics. This, moreover, is apolitics which potentially narrows social work’s roleand purpose.     

‘Where are you from?’: Identifying place1

Many social research projects, such as interviews, focus groups, and surveys, take local place as a given: they choose participants from a particular place, take this place as background for what the participants say, ask them about place‐related issues, and correlate responses with different places. But people can identify places in different ways, in geographical or relational terms, and in different levels of scale. This study analyses passages in focus groups in which participants say where they are from, shows that participants generally take the question and answer as routine, and then shows the ways the interaction develops when this routineness is broken, amended, or called into question. When a participant revises their statement of where they are from, they adapt to what they see as the knowledge and stance of their interlocutor, they re‐present themselves, and they create possibilities for further talk, defending, telling stories, or showing entitlement to an opinion. I argue that the ways people answer this question, interactively, can tell us about them, and us, as well as about their map of the world.     

A Book Review Essay: Varieties of Civil Society: Citizenship,Identity and Global Regimes of Governance in a European Context

Public Organization Review -     

The Ageing of Australia: Fiscal Sustainability,Intergenerational Equity and Inter‐temporal Fiscal Balance

Australian public policy makers are presently confronted with significant demographic changes that will profoundly affect the formulation of rational economic and social policy over the long term. This paper seeks to outline the potential impact of this demographic change and place it in historical perspective. The challenges posed by an ageing population for fiscal policy are explored and it is stressed that policy inertia will invite severe costs in future. It is argued that an appropriate policy stance should be developed in the context of a framework for inter‐temporal fiscal balance not only to focus on long‐run fiscal sustainability, but also to include considerations of intergenerational equity.