The consequences of love: young people and family practices in difficult circumstances

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of sociological work exploring the importance and meaning of kinship. Much of this work has criticized the ‘individualization’ thesis according to which changes in family structures over time have been interpreted as reflecting a fundamental decline in family values. Highlighting continuities as well as change in family life, this work has also suggested ways to move beyond the individualization debate and to develop alternative frameworks for the study of contemporary families and personal life, notably through the analysis of related practices. For various reasons, this recent work has focused primarily on the experience and practices of adults in ‘ordinary’ rather than more difficult family circumstances. This article aims to complement this work by focusing on the difficult family experiences of young people affected by parental substance use. It is argued that it is important not to lose sight of such experiences in order that sociological thinking reflect the diversity of family practices and the resources available to support them, including at younger ages. In addition, the importance of developing concepts or a language facilitating the exploration and communication of the emotional and symbolic significance of these practices is emphasized.     

Gender Differences in Self-Conscious Emotions and Motivation to Quit Gambling

Considerable gender differences have been previously noted in the prevalence, etiology, and clinical features of problem gambling. While differences in affective states between men and women in particular, may explain differential experiences in the process of gambling, the role of affect in motivations for quitting gambling and recovery has not been thoroughly explored. The aim of this study was to examine gender differences within a sample of problem gamblers motivated to quit with or without formal treatment, and further, to explore the interactions between gender, shame and guilt-proneness, and autonomous versus controlled reasons for change. Motivation for change and self-conscious emotional traits were analyzed for 207 adult problem gamblers with an interest in quitting or reducing their gambling (96.6 % not receiving treatment). Overall, gender differences were not observed in clinical and demographic characteristics. However, women exhibited greater shame [F(1,204) = 12.11, p = 0.001] and guilt proneness [F(1,204) = 14.16, p < 0.001] compared to men, whereas men scored higher on trait detachment [F(1,204) = 7.08, p = 0.008]. Controlling for demographic and clinical characteristics, general linear models revealed that autonomous motivation for change was associated with higher guilt-proneness, greater problem gambling severity, and the preparation stage of change; whereas controlled forms of motivation were significantly associated with higher shame-proneness and greater problem gambling severity. No gender effects were observed for either motivation for change. These findings suggest that the process of change can be different for shame-prone and guilt-prone problem gamblers, which may impact behavioral outcomes.     

From Iraq to Katrina and Back: Bureaucratic Planning as Strategic Failure,Fiction, and Fantasy

Bureaucratic planning is a complex sociocultural process rife with vested interests, contradictory aims, and internal conflicts. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the US occupation of Iraq, contemporary media discourses on planning have downplayed this complexity and diverted attention away from a more nuanced understanding of planning as a sociological process. In this article, I show how policy and press debates regarding bureaucratic planning in Iraq and New Orleans are rooted in technocratic and rationalist perspectives, constituting a kind of modernist faith. These contemporary discourses are often one‐dimensional, failing to consider the conflicts, contradictions, and counter‐intuitive outcomes that are inherent in planning in complex situations, including urban reconstruction, military occupation, and disaster response. I show how flawed approaches in the present are deeply linked to the past, connecting Iraq and Katrina to a detailed ethnographic case study on failed urban planning in colonial Zanzibar. Even though the three cases of Iraq, Katrina, and Zanzibar differ across time, context, and conditions, they reveal that bureaucratic planning is best understood as a multidimensional strategic practice that is intrinsically shaped by sociocultural forms. Plans may ostensibly fail in one sense and yet still produce quite enduring effects. They may remain ‘fictions’ at one level but still wield real impact. And even if they are informed by fantasy, bearing little utility from a functional perspective, plans still serve as performative and persuasive acts, informed by political ends.     

Permanently ‘in process’: the intersection of migration,work identity and the reality of human resource development in the South African context

This article explores the experiences of skilled Zimbabweans who migrate, only to experience de-skilling upon securing employment in South Africa (SA). This is due to various factors such as insufficient bridging social capital and xenophobia and is exacerbated by the inability of the Human Resource Development Strategy for South Africa (HRD-SA) to cater for their employment needs. The article is based on qualitative research conducted within a phenomenological paradigm with Zimbabwean migrant women residing in Port Elizabeth, SA. The Zimbabwean context is discussed, as well as the mixed migration methods utilized and the subsequent negative effect that deskilling and under-employment have on the self-identity. It is argued that work constitutes an important signifier of identity, yet the HRD-SA and practice excludes migrants from achieving their potential, thus resulting in brain waste and downward status mobility. In the final section implications for HRD practice are discussed and recommendations made.     

Vulnerability to Violence: A Contextually-Sensitive, Developmental Perspective on African American Adolescents

Spencer's Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST) is presented as a theoretical framework to analyze potential effects of being a victim or co-victim of a violent crime. Data are presented from a sample of African American adolescents residing in a Southeastern metropolitan area. Victims (n = 20) and non-victims (n = 332) are compared on their self-reporting of clinical symptoms normally associated with violent or traumatic experience during middle childhood and early adolescence. Results suggest that observed symptomatology may not be solely attributable to actual victimization. Discussion includes possible mechanisms by which factors such as cognitive developmental status, physical and social context, and previous victimization of the adolescent or a family member of the adolescent can influence symptomatology.     

The Role of Housing Managers in the Implementation of Community Care

This article will outline the response of housing management to the implementation of community care policy in the North East. It will locate housing's role within the broader development of community care policy, and briefly review the reasons for housing's relatively late arrival as a key partner, alongside social services and health, in the planning and delivery of services. Using information gathered from interviews with housing professionals, part-time housing students, voluntary organizations, and workers within health and social services, it outlines and evaluates five main factors which appear to be affecting the successful integration of housing management into the process of planning and delivering community care services in the North East.     

‘If I Had a Family,There Is No Way That I Could Afford to Work Here’: Juggling Paid and Unpaid Care Work in Social Services

Drawing on three case studies in each of Australia, New Zealand and Scotland, this article explores how care workers employed in the social services sector negotiate their unpaid care responsibilities in the context of lean work organization and low pay. For younger workers, the unrelenting demands of service provision and low pay made any long‐term commitment to working in social services unrealistic, while many female workers experienced significant stress as they bent their unpaid care responsibilities to the demands of their paid work. However, male workers, less likely to have primary caring responsibilities, appeared less troubled by the prioritizing of paid over unpaid care work and less likely to self‐exploit for the job. At the same time, there is a widespread acceptance across different national and organizational contexts that the work/family juggle is a personal responsibility rather than a structural problem caused by the demands of underfunded and overstretched organizations.     

Practice Change in Child Welfare: The Interface of Training and Social Work Education

This article examines perceptions of the relationship between professional education and workplace training among a select group of public child welfare employees who pursued graduate social work education during a period of major practice change at their agency. Focus groups were conducted with representative members of graduating cohorts as students completed their studies to explore the connections and distinctions between their professional education and the workplace training that introduced case practice reform. Experienced caseworkers, supervisors, and management-level staff, study participants were well situated to contemplate the changes in process at their agency. They offered insights into the progress of reform and the challenges of sustaining change as well as their roles as professional social workers in carrying reforms forward.     

Modeling the mental health service utilization decisions of university undergraduates: A discrete choice conjoint experiment

Objective: We modeled design factors influencing the intent to use a university mental health service. Participants: Between November 2012 and October 2014, 909 undergraduates participated. Method: Using a discrete choice experiment, participants chose between hypothetical campus mental health services. Results: Latent class analysis identified three segments. A Psychological/Psychiatric Service segment (45.5%) was most likely to contact campus health services delivered by psychologists or psychiatrists. An Alternative Service segment (39.3%) preferred to talk to peer-counselors who had experienced mental health problems. A Hesitant segment (15.2%) reported greater distress but seemed less intent on seeking help. They preferred services delivered by psychologists or psychiatrists. Simulations predicted that, rather than waiting for standard counseling, the Alternative Service segment would prefer immediate access to E-Mental health. The Usual Care and Hesitant segments would wait 6 months for standard counseling. Conclusions: E-Mental Health options could engage students who may not wait for standard services.     

‘A sort of whirlwind’: mapping the changing geography of Presbyterian religious observance in Ireland

Since the European Reformation and the colonisations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Ireland has evolved a distinctive religious geography which had profound implications for its political development in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, leading ultimately to the division of the island along explicitly religio–territorial lines in 1921. Troubled Geographies, a major project funded under the auspices of the Arts and Humanities Research Council's ‘Religion and Society’ programme was the first attempt to seek to understand patterns of change in the island's complex geography of religious settlement in the period since the Great Famine of the mid-nineteenth century up to the most recent published censuses for both Northern Ireland and the Republic. This paper will present findings from a smaller spin-off project funded by the British Academy, which digitised records of attendance at Presbyterian churches across the island over the last 150 years, enabling us to assess how patterns of practice were affected by the momentous events of the period, including partition, civil war, two world wars, the vicissitudes of the global economy and the Troubles of the more recent past. In addition, the use of new quantitative materials such as those in the Presbyterian records enables us to reflect on how patterns of substantive religious practice reflect those on nominal religious affiliation available from successive censuses from either side of the border.