Reforming Supplementary Benefit: The impact on claimants

The Government bill to reform social security will become an Act in 1986, and is planned for implementation in April 1987. One of the most significant areas for change will be the supplementary benefit scheme, which now has some four million claimants, and supports over seven million people. It will be replaced by the income support scheme, which will differ in important respects from the current provision. The review of the SB scheme, set up by Norman Fowler, was the second major review of the scheme in less than a decade. The first review was set up by the Labour Government in 1976 and culminated in major changes introduced by the Conservative Government in the Social Security Act 1980. This article examines what impact the 1980 scheme had on claimants, on their standard of living, on their understanding of the scheme and on the extent to which the scheme meets their needs. It then goes on to examine whether the Fowler Act will meet some of the criticisms of the 1980 reforms and, in particular, if it will improve the position of claimants.     

From Where I Stand I Can Almost See Society,or The Ups and Downs of Social Research

In a hierarchically structured society such as ours, the problem of the place the student of society occupies vis-à-vis those he or she studies is of critical importance. Several social scientists have recently appealed to their colleagues to turn their focus away from those at the bottom of the structure and to spend more time studying those at the top. The present article discusses the pitfalls of exclusively ‘upward’ or ‘downward’ research.     

Sinking,swimming and sailing: experiences of job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion in child welfare employees

The authors conducted a mixed‐method study after a previous study of child welfare employees revealed a subgroup exhibiting surprisingly high levels of both emotional exhaustion (EE) and job satisfaction (JS). This subgroup included direct service workers, supervisors and managers. As these findings appeared to conflict with previous studies, we re‐reviewed the literature and undertook the current study to account for the co‐existence of EE and JS. We explored and compared this subgroup with two others: workers who found their work satisfying without experiencing high levels of EE and those whose high levels of EE were associated with low JS. Using a survey that included several standardized measures with 226 employees and semi‐structured interviews with a criteria‐based subsample of 25, we explored the role that personality, career expectations, coping styles, stage of life, education, gender and social networks play in outcomes for individual employees. Analyses of quantitative and qualitative data yielded a profile for each subgroup, offering insights into the subjective experiences of workers within individual, social and organizational contexts. These findings have implications for recruitment, training and support of child welfare workers.     

Prison sexology: Two personal accounts of masturbation,homosexuality, and rape

As revealed in two unrelated reports from prison inmates, the sexology of all‐male incarceration subdivides into masturbation, wet dreams, and partner contacts in association with heterosexual imagery; consenting homosexual pairing with one partner exclusively androphilic and the other bisexual; coercive partnerships with one partner dominating but not injuring the other and neither being permanently and exclusively androphilic; and violent homosexual rape. The long‐term outcomes of prison celibacy and homosexuality are not presently known. These outcomes need to be studied systematically and prospectively. It is suggested that it is illogical to punish sex offenders by incarcerating them in an environment that breeds sex offending. A system of conjugal visitation, and possibly of family living in prison, is a more logical, and probably the only alternative to institutionalized sexual brutality and homosexuality that is situationally evoked.     

Neither Silent nor Invisible: A Comparison of Two Participative Projects Involving Older Lesbians and Gay Men in the United Kingdom

This article offers a comparative review of two participative projects involving older lesbians and gay men (OLG) in different parts of the United Kingdom. Both projects set out to promote local networks of OLGs, support and facilitate their input and commentary on local services and act as a prototype model of consultation that might be taken up and used in other areas. The authors review some of the challenges and achievements of each project and critically compare the two initiatives. Discussion of each stage of the projects includes an appraisal of the relative strengths and weaknesses of their different elements. Emphasis is placed upon the concern to involve OLGs at every level and stage of each project and how this was achieved. Reference to relevant policy provides a backdrop to a discussion of the practical considerations in setting up time-limited projects of this nature. Consideration of some of the outcomes of each project with emphasis upon the implications for utilising similar participative approaches in future consultation and inclusion initiatives is provided.     

A Collaborative Student Affairs and Faculty Health Assessment and Intervention Initiative

Abstract

The authors describe a collaborative partnership forged between faculty and student affairs staff to improve student health at a large urban university. They examine skills and reward structures of each constituency and the stages of the collaboration in the context of 2 theoretical models. A comprehensive data collection and dissemination process in the campus community provided goals for the initial stage of the partnership, leading to implementation of campus initiatives that use the reciprocal skills of each stakeholder. Outcomes of the collaboration included (1) a working relationship between faculty and student affairs staff, (2) increased dialogue with high-level administrators, (3) more coordinated campus efforts to decrease high-risk drinking, (4) use of outcome measures for implementing and evaluating health programs, and (5) an opportunity for interdisciplinary research. The authors offer suggestions for implementing the process on other campuses.     

Sex,Communication Structures and Role Specification

Abstract

This study investigates variations in male and female approaches to leadership in small discussion groups. Three aspects of leadership are investigated: (1) the nature of participation in the turn-taking system (cf. Duncan, 1972), (2) leadership role specialization (cf. Burke, 1967) and (3) the differential bases of attribution of leadership by sex. Data are obtained from 10 four-member groups, each composed of two males and two females. In half of the groups a male was appointed as coordinator, while a female was appointed as coordinator in the other half. Results indicate no differences between male and female coordinators in the number of turns taken in the discussions, but near significant differences in providing back-channel feedback to current speakers and in turn-collaborations, with male coordinators engaging in more of these activities than non-coordinators, and female coordinators engaging in fewer of these activities than non-coordinators. In terms of leadership role specialization, both male and female coordinators engage in more task oriented behaviors compared with non-coordinators, however, male coordinators also engage in more social-emotional activity while female coordinators engage in less social-emotional activity compared with non-coordinators. Finally, females are attributed leadership primarily on the basis of their directiveness while males are attributed leadership primarily on the basis of their task contributions and are denied leadership on the basis of their integrative contributions. The implications of these findings for sex role differences in leadership are discussed.     

Discount-neutral utility models for denumerable time streams

This paper formulates and axiomatizes utility models for denumerable time streams that make no commitment in regard to discounting future outcomes. The models address decision under certainty and decision under risk. Independence assumptions in both contexts lead to additive or multiplicative utilities over time periods that allow unambiguous comparisons of the relative importance of different periods. The models accommodate all patterns of future valuation. This discount-neutral feature is attained by restricting preference comparisons to outcome streams or probability distributions on outcome streams that differ in at most a finite number of periods.