Life-course effects on marital disruption

Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, between 1969 and 1978, the change in the percentage of marital disruption among 3372 families is decomposed into: (1) an increase of 1.7 percent due to the direct effects of age at first marriage; (2) a decrease of 1.1 percent from changes in the relative age at first birth; and (3) a 2.7 percent increase stemming from changes in the internal structure of the families. The maldaptation of concepts from the life-course perspective is demonstrated to have led to the expectation of somewhat different findings, and for the confusion regarding the roles of life-cycle and life-course events in precipitating marital instability. The results strongly suggest the use of greater discretion in the formulation and use of different classes of events within the life-course framework.     

Public Policy and Diffusion of Innovation

Marketers have traditionally studied diffusionof innovation with a primary focus on theindividual consumer as a unit of analysis, themajor types of findings being characteristicsof adopter categories and opinion leadership. We propose that this perspective is notadequate from a macromarketing perspective, inwhich the goals are to set public policy forsocietal good or to create an environment whichenables the diffusion of an innovation in a waythat no single marketer could do alone. Insetting public policy which can enable (orinhibit) diffusion of innovation for societalgood, a system composed of a mass socialinfrastructure, a competitive infrastructure,and a technical infrastructure should beconsidered.     

A paradox of social change: how the quest for liberation reproduces dominance in higher education and the field of social work

Transformative societal change rests upon challenging the status quo with the constant work of self-implication. Self-implication in the neo-colonial processes at work within state structures is not easily noticed, nor easily discussed, regardless of one’s social location among various dimensions of privilege and oppression. In both higher education and the profession of social work, one of the major barriers to advancing the social change needs of groups who come from a multiplicity of differences is the still prevalent overemphasis on essentialism and identity-based politics, which was originally inspired and promoted by the anti-racism social movement. The anti-racism movement needs to take into consideration the overarching power of neo-colonialism and hegemonic masculinity that influences and affects the overall discourse, structures and social processes in human relations. Differences across the spectrum of one’s identity carry inherent contradictions, tensions and paradoxes, such that no one can claim innocence regarding whose voice should be heard at a particular moment or within a particular spatial or institutional context.     

An exploration of the differential usage of residential childcare across national boundaries

The use of residential placements for children needing out‐of‐home care remains controversial. This article considers the discourse of ‘residential’ and ‘institutional’ care before describing, mainly through administrative data sources, the wide variations in group‐care usage in different jurisdictions. In some countries, its use is minimal, with foster care, kinship care and in some cases, adoption being the preferred options. This is not so in other countries where a high percentage of children in care are in residential placements. There is also diversity in the type of residential services, ranging from small group homes to large institutions. The challenges inherent in making process and outcome comparisons across national boundaries are explored. The authors concur with those who argue for more systematic ways of describing and analysing the aims and characteristics of residential settings. Only then can meaningful comparisons be made between outcomes from group‐care regimes in different jurisdictions.     

Citizens' views in four jurisdictions on placement policies for maltreated children

Citizens' opinions on child protection public policy are a key dimension of the legitimacy of a political order. We have conducted a survey vignette on a representative sample of citizens (N = 4,003) in England, Finland, Norway, and California, USA. The findings show that citizens' opinions are clearly in favour of adoption (75%) rather than long‐term foster care (25%). Context may partly explain the findings, as the responses of the majority of Anglo‐American respondents are in line with practice in their countries but for the Nordic respondents, there is a substantial discrepancy between citizens' opinions and on‐going child protection practices.