Racial Identity–Related Differential Attributions of Inadequate Responses to Hurricane Katrina: A Social Identity Perspective

This study examines the attribution of responsibility for the problematic response to Hurricane Katrina in the fall of 2005. Based on social identity theory, the study compared the attribution with racism and non-racism factors (situational vs. dispositional attributions) between African American and European American students (n = 505). As hypothesized, African American identity was related to greater racism attribution, even after controlling for demographics, faith factors, and cognitive-emotional reactions to the hurricanes. European American identity was associated with more executive-responsibility attributions, but the effect vanished after adjusting other factors. The study underscores the importance of acknowledging group identity rather than an overarching American identity in exploring the race effect after a national collective trauma. The consequential implications for disaster planning, future research investigation, and social service delivery are discussed.     

An exploration of social & emotional factors impacting well-being in women who have sex with women (WSW)

Abstract

“Women who have sex with women” or WSW have unique perspectives within the LBGTQ spectrum. The purpose of this study included documenting perceptions, feelings, and experiences among WSW. Thirty-seven women participated in six focus groups, ages ranged from 20–64 years. Responses were transcribed and thematically coded. Four themes emerged as influencing factors: shame and fear, community, gender roles, and normalcy. Each major theme produced minor themes providing a context within major themes. Results offer valuable insights that can assist community members, health professionals, and scientists to better appraise the disparities and stigma impacting social and emotional well-being among WSW.     

Fiddling while the planet burns? COP25 in perspective

ABSTRACT

With fires, storms, social protests, and climate strikes sweeping the world, 2019 should have been a tipping point in how the world responds to global heating. This was the backdrop to the COP25 climate change summit which took place in Madrid in December 2019. This paper assesses the outcomes of the meeting and the path towards the critically important meeting in Glasgow at the end of 2020. It analyses and explains the key points of contention over levels of ambition, the rules which should govern global carbon markets and sensitive issues such as loss and damage associated with the impacts of climate change. The analysis is situated within a broader geopolitical and economic context of right-wing populism, deepening forms of marketization and financialization of responses to climate change and against a background of a world increasingly feeling the effects of the climate crisis.     

Children forever: The search for origins among Chilean adults who were adopted

There has been a global increase in the number of adults who were adopted 1 1 To make the text more readable, we use the term “adult adoptee” rather than our preferred term “people who were adopted.” We prefer the latter term because it does captures our understanding that adoption is a practice and a life experience and not necessarily a permanent fixture of the identities of people who were adopted.
searching for their origins. This trend has promoted the interest of social sciences researchers, as well as carry out the obligations of states to provide specialized services. In this article, we present some results from the first qualitative study that explores the experiences of some Chilean adults who were adopted and searched for their origins in Chile through the National Service of Minor's Search for Origins Program. The narratives of the participants show that, in spite of legislative changes, a series of barriers and contradictions continue to exist, which make it difficult to guarantee the right to know one's origins. The legal and technical frameworks and practices analysed show how difficult it is to dismantle the “clean break” principle. They also highlight the persistence of the image of adoptees as “minors” who need the “protection” of their parents or professionals. We discuss the different challenges to be considered by researchers, practitioners, and policy‐makers involved in adoption policies and practices.     

Reality check. Evaluating a school-based gang prevention model

The Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) program is a school-based gang prevention initiative developed in 1991 through the collaborative efforts of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, and the Phoenix Police Department. Uniformed law enforcement officers, certified as G.R.E.A.T. instructors, teach the 9-week curriculum to middle students. In 1994, the National Institute of Justice funded a national evaluation of the G.R.E.A.T. program. The process evaluation component of this larger study is reported. First, results of on-site observations of the G.R.E.A.T. Officer Training program, including an overview of the training activities, and the authors' assessment of the training process are reported. Second, observations of the implementation of the program by officers at six sites are reported. Of primary concern was whether the program delivered to students was similar to the program taught to the officers during the G.R.E.A.T. Officer Training.     

Juggling and Dealing: The Creative Work of Care Package Purchasing

In conventional diagrams of the new service delivery process, assessment of need is linked to purchase by a single line or arrow; the implication is that purchase follows more or less logically and directly from assessment. This paper focuses on the complex creative work that goes on in the "space" between assessment of need and purchase of service, and the changing influences on that work. "Purchase" is deconstructed to reveal the complex processes and calculations involved, and the ways in which budgets "free" resources and markets influence the final outcome. The paper describes the effects on care package construction and purchase of changing policies, budget arrangements and financial limits; it goes on to outline the difficulties and complications in using information on unit costs in purchasing. Unit costs are only part of a complex equation in which prices are negotiated and total cost juggled in the context of budgets, financial limits, real accessibility and balanced by quality considerations. It is suggested that talk of "playing shops" and use of "off-the-shelf" services underestimates the complexity of care package construction and purchase. Micro-purchase of care services has more in common with dealing and juggling than with lifting standardized, packaged, pre-priced goods off shelves in Sainsbury's.     

GENDER AND HEGEMONY IN FASHION MAGAZINES:

Women's responses in the context of focus groups to fashion photographs and clothing advertisements in Vogue magazine and to a brief questionnaire eliciting their attitudes toward clothing and fashion are used to examine the nature and extent of hegemonic influences in fashion. Participants' sources of information about fashion suggest that the authority of the fashion press is limited. The magazine's conceptions of women's roles as expressed in its fashion photography fit a model of "conflicted" hegemony characteristic of American media and popular culture in general. Empowered by the cultural context of conflicted hegemony, women were generally critical of fashion photographs. Their responses to photographs were influenced by their acceptance of traditional norms of feminine demeanor but varied by age and race. They rejected the magazine's orientation toward the use of fashionable clothing for postmodernist roleplaying in favor of a modernist outlook.     

Did Australia’s Baby Bonus Increase Fertility Intentions and Births?

In May 2004, the Australian government announced a “Baby Bonus” policy, paying women an initial A$3,000 per new child. We use household panel data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (N = 14,932) and a simultaneous equations approach to analyze the effects of this bonus on fertility intentions and ultimately births. The results indicate that opportunity costs influence intentions and births in predictable ways. Fertility intentions rose after the announcement of the Baby Bonus, and the birth rate is estimated to have risen modestly as a result. The marginal cost to the government for an additional birth is estimated to be at least A$3,000 per new child. We use household panel data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (N = 14,932) and a simultaneous equations approach to analyze the effects of this bonus on fertility intentions and ultimately births. The results indicate that opportunity costs influence intentions and births in predictable ways. Fertility intentions rose after the announcement of the Baby Bonus, and the birth rate is estimated to have risen modestly as a result. The marginal cost to the government for an additional birth is estimated to be at least A126,000.     

The Capacity of Community‐Based Organizations to Lead Local Innovations in Welfare Reform: Early Findings from Texas

Community‐based organizations (CBOs) are now cast among the lead actors in welfare reform. But do they have adequate capacity to perform this critical leadership function? Early findings from fifteen state‐funded projects in Texas show that state planners must carefully assess the capacity of a CBO to initiate and sustain an innovation at the local level. The authors examine six organizational variables that predict success or failure: goals, management, technology, funding, community involvement, and performance.