The 1996 Research Assessment Exercise and the Response of Social Work Academics

Summary In 1996 the Higher Education Funding Council undertook the fourthResearch Assessment Exercise (RAE) in universities in England,Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Performance in researchis a crucial measure in university departments because it hasdirect implications for funding, but some doubt that the criteriaused are appropriate measures of quality of research. Many factorshave an impact on the way that research by social work academicsis presented in the RAE. After the 1996 RAE, the Joint UniversityCouncil Social Work Education Committee undertook a survey ofdepartments which teach social work to try and elicit responsesto the assessment exercise which might inform preparations forthe next RAE.     

MEASURING THE WELFARE GAIN FROM PERSONAL COMPUTERS

The welfare gain to consumers from the introduction of personal computers (PCs) is estimated. A simple model of consumer demand is formulated that uses a slightly modified version of standard preferences. The modification permits marginal utility, and hence total utility, to be finite when the consumption of computers is zero. This implies that the good will not be consumed at a high enough price. It also bounds the consumer surplus derived from the product. The model is calibrated/estimated using standard national income and product account data. The welfare gain from the introduction of PCs is 2%–3% of consumption expenditure. (JEL E01, E21, O33, O47)     

Modeling Role Enactment: Linking Role Theory and Social Cognition

In our dynamic social world, a premium is placed on the individual's ability to innovate and to change ( Giddens 1984 ; Sewell 1992 ; Simmel 1955 ). Yet traditional role theory has difficulty accounting for innovation, leaving unanswered the question of how individual level negotiations affect social‐structural processes (see Callero 1994 ). This study addresses this tension by linking role theory with social cognition. By positioning behavior and cognition as two interrelated continuums, I stretch the meaning of role enactment to include 4 role typologies. I utilize these typologies as a heuristic to chart the processes through which individuals adapt to and affect a role performance over time. I conclude by outlining how sociocognitive role typologies aid social researchers in accounting for individual efficacy in response to social‐structural situations.     

As gentle as little lambs: images of Huron and Montagnais-Naskapi women in the writings of the 17th century Jesuits

Les indiens Hurons et Montagnais-Naskapi qui ont vécu en Nouvelle France au 17e siècle, représentent un cas très intéressant pour 1'étude des mécanismes qui déterminent la construction et la mise en oeuvre de définitions de la Femme. Pendant la première moitié du 17e siècle, ces indiens ont subi une conversion par les missionaires jésuites. L'intention de ces jésuites était de transformer les membres de ces sociétés traditionnelles en bons catholiques francisés. Cette transformation impliquait une redéfinition des images de la Femme, de L'Homme et de leurs relations. Cet article examine ces images qui se trouvent dans les rapports annuels que chaque supérieur de mission envoyait en France et à Rome. Il recherche également L'origine de ces images dans la doctrine catholique. Il s'intéresse enfin, aux fondements de pouvoir, qui ont permis aux jésuites de parvenir ensuite, à la réalisation de ces nouvelles images de la Femme, de L'Homme et de leurs rapports dans ces deux sociétés Huron et Montagnais-Naskapi. The 17th century Huron and Montagnais-Naskapi Indians of New France provide an interesting case study of the mechanisms involved in the construction and implementation of definitions of women. During the early to mid-17th century both the Huron and the Montagnais-Naskapi were proselytized by Jesuit missionaries. It was the Jesuits' intent to transform both these groups into loyal, Catholic, Frenchified citizens. That transformation required a redefinition of the nature of women, men and their interrelations. This paper examines the images of Huron and Montagnais-Naskapi women found in the Jesuit Relations, the annual reports sent to France and Rome by the Superior of the mission in New France. It looks at the origins of those images in French Catholic doctrine and traces the dynamics of power that ultimately enabled the Jesuits to successfully implement those images in Montagnais-Naskapi and Huron societies.     

WHY DOESN'T SOCIETY MINIMIZE CENTRAL BANK SECRECY?

Societies have incentives to design institutions that allow central bank secrecy. This paper illustrates two of these incentives . First, if society tries to constrain secrecy in one way, central bankers will try to regain lost effectiveness by building up secrecy in other ways. Therefore, we may wind up accepting types of secrecy that appear preventable because reducing them would lead to higher costs . Second, if the social trade-offs between policy objectives change over time, the public may directly prefer greater central bank secrecy so that it will be surprised with expansionary policies when it most desires them.     

Origins of the New Thinking

On March 19, 1969, the Full Bench (Plenum) of the RSFSR Supreme Court adopted a resolution "On Judicial Practice in Cases of Crimes Comprising Vestiges of Local Customs" [O sudebnoi praktike po delam o prestupleniiakh, sostavliaiushchikh perezhitki mestnykh obychaev].     

Quebec and the Irish Catholic Relief Act of 1778: An Institutional Approach

Abstract The following attempts to clarify the origins and character of the "movement" toward Catholic emancipation in the British empire by examining the negotiation of two early relief measures, the Quebec Act (1774) and the Irish Catholic Relief Act (1778), from an institutional perspective. It explores how institutions structuring Anglo-Quebec and Anglo-Irish political relations affected policy outcomes in each case, and what influence the Quebec case had on the Irish act four years later. While the Quebec Act offered a response to the Catholic question that was to assist supporters of the Irish bill, both were hard won against the inertia of institutional precedent. Neither act was accompanied by indications that greater freedoms were forthcoming. An institutional analysis thus challenges leading approaches that can represent the "movement" toward Catholic emancipation as more spontaneous and less contested than is sustained by actual events.     

Ethics Instruction Increases Graduate Students' Responsible Conduct of Research Knowledge but not Moral Reasoning

The purpose of this study was to assess the short-term effectiveness of ethics courses in enhancing responsible conduct of research (RCR) knowledge and moral judgment among graduate students in health-related disciplines. Forty-eight graduate students completed a questionnaire about research experience, knowledge and judgments about appropriate research practices, and a standardized test of moral judgment at the beginning and end of a semester-long ethics course. Knowledge about RCR but not moral judgment increased significantly in some areas. The results are discussed in terms of implications for RCR instruction and of future research designed to improve RCR instruction.     

Participation and Child Protection: The Importance of Context

Correspondence to Karen Healy, Department of Social Work, Social Policy and Sociology, University of Sydney, New South Wales, 2006, Australia. Summary This paper examines the effects of discourses about participationon child protection practice. The paper critiques the prevalentconceptualizations of participation on the grounds that, often,these ideals have been imported from other disciplines withoutdue regard for the specificities of child protection practice.Initially, the critique is focused on how participatory discourseshave resisted adaption to the child protection field. For example,participation and paternalism are often paired dualistically,with the consequence that participation is seen as an unquestionablegood, whilst practices that do not conform to this ideal areassociated with paternalism and considered to be antitheticalto just child protection practice. By examining some of thetypical responses, within the child protection literature andamongst child protection professionals, to the prevalent discoursesabout participation it is argued that these discourses haveactually thwarted the development of participatory processesin child protection work. This is because these discourses donot engage with the expectations associated with child protectionwork, particularly the use of statutory power that such practicedemands. The final part of the paper identifies how post-structuraltheory, particularly the work of Foucault, can highlight anddismantle some of the assumptions about power on which participatorymodels have rested and allow for the development of a participatoryethos which is receptive to the specificities of child protectionwork.