Changing the narrative: the role of frontline worker attitudes and beliefs in shaping dementia-friendly services in England

Applying the main principles of the social model of disability as a guide, this article argues that the attitudes and beliefs of staff and volunteers employed in frontline service delivery can play an important role in the achievement of dementia-friendly communities, particularly through influencing the types of services offered. This position is supported by findings from an evaluation of an awareness-raising intervention run by Age UK, aimed at organisations which provide services for people living with dementia in England. The article contributes to an understanding of the cultural climate within frontline service delivery, which is often neglected in favour of discussions around meeting more immediate care and support needs. More specifically, the article reflects on whether there is a need for an additional conceptualisation within the discourse around dementia-friendly communities which ensures inclusion of the cultural environment.     

“The GCR and the Role of Development Actors with Refugees: A Game‐Changer,or More of the Same?”

This article considers the Global Compact for Refugees (GCR) in light of the increased role of development actors with refugees. It questions whether the GCR is a “game changer” in how it engages development actors in refugee situations, or more of the status quo, whereby development actors are involved with refugees in ad hoc and indirect ways. The article argues that the GCR is a potential game changer because it initiates changes relating to financial, rhetorical and coordination mechanisms that further engage development actors in refugee situations. While it is too early to judge the effectiveness of the GCR fully, the article highlights examples where progress has been made and identifies other areas for potential progress. The article also underscores challenges, noting that the GCR is not designed to respond to all of these obstacles, and that behaviours engrained in development and humanitarian actors may impede potential progress.     

The Criminalization of Muslims in the United States, 2016

The criminalization of Muslims—framing an Islamic religious identity as a problem to be solved using state crime control logic—is undeniably in process in the United States. Local, state, and federal statutes target Muslims for surveillance and exclusion, and media sources depict Muslims as synonymous with terrorism, as others have shown. This paper analyzes the public’s role in the criminalization of Islam, which I call “cr-Islamization.” Drawing on in-depth, qualitative interviews in a major Southwest city during the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, I detail how the majority of 144 politically, racially, and economically diverse interviewees talk about Muslims as a potential “racial threat,” using “fear of crime” language indicative of the mass incarceration era. This suggests that criminalization theory should be central to sociological studies of Muslims in the contemporary United States, and that criminalization rhetoric remains powerful, despite mainstream enthusiasm for criminal justice reform. I argue that criminalization’s power might reside in its ability to mutate in the “post-racial” era. The mechanisms supporting crimmigration, the criminalization of black Americans, and cr-Islamization are related but not identical. Muslims are religiously and racially subjugated, but more economically secure compared to other criminalized groups. This paper’s findings should prompt scholars to re-examine the relationships between racialization, criminalization, religious subjugation, and economic exploitation in the twenty-first century United States.

     

Sex counts: An examination of sexual service advertisements in a UK online directory

Internationally, sex work research, public opinion, policy, laws, and practice are predicated on the assumption that commercial sex is a priori sold by women and bought by men. Scarce attention has been devoted to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning (LGBTQ) sex working as well as women who pay for sex. This is as much an empirical absence as it is a theoretical one, for the ideological claim that women comprise the “vast majority” of sex workers is rarely, if ever, exposed to empirical scrutiny. Focusing on the UK, we address this major gap in evidence in order to challenge the gendered and heterosexist logics that underpin contemporary debates. We do so by presenting large-scale data gained from the quantitative analysis of 25,511 registered member profiles of an online escort directory. Our findings point to heterogeneity rather than homogeneity in the contemporary sex industry including in terms of gender identity, sexual orientation, and advertised client base. For example, while two-thirds of advertisements self-identify as “Female,” one in four are listed as “Male;” less than half list their sexual orientation as “Straight;” and nearly two-thirds advertise to women clients. Our study thus challenges prevailing heteronormative assumptions about commercial sex, which erase LGBTQ sex workers and other non-normative identities and practices, and which we argue have important political, practical, and theoretical consequences.     

Effects of temperature and habitat complexity on an urban tree pest (Tinocallis kahawaluokalani), natural enemies,and predation services in the city

Urban Ecosystems - Trees provide many ecosystem services in our urban environments. However, city trees are often stressed by pests and hot urban temperatures. Our research highlights how...     

The Intergenerational Transmission of Union Instability in Early Adulthood

Research on the intergenerational transmission of divorce should be expanded to incorporate disrupted nonmarital cohabitations. This study (a) examined the transmission of union instability from parents to offspring using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, (b) replaced binary variables (divorced vs. nondivorced) typically used in this literature with count variables (number of disrupted unions), (c) relied on independent sources for data on parents' and offspring's union disruptions to minimize same‐source bias, (d) assessed the mediating role of theoretically derived variables (many not previously considered in this literature), and (e) incorporated information on discord in intact parental unions. Parent and offspring union disruptions were positively linked, with each parental disruption associated with a 16% increase in the number of offspring disruptions, net of controls. The mediators collectively accounted for 44% of the estimated intergenerational effect. Parent discord in intact unions was associated with more offspring disruptions.     

Generation,resistance, and survival: African-American children and the Southampton Rebellion of 1831

The Southampton Rebellion of 1831, Nat Turner’s Rebellion, stands as the most famous slave rebellion in American History. Historians have studied the rebellion extensively often focusing on Turner’s biography, the incident’s violent sequence of events, and the wide social, cultural, and political impact of the rebellion. The most recent scholarship on the Southampton Rebellion focuses on the wider community that produced the violent event that resulted in the death of nearly 60 whites and an uncountable number of people of color. African-American children made up a significant demographic in antebellum Southampton. They were present everywhere, just as children were present in most antebellum communities. Yet their appearances in the trial records associated with the Southampton Rebellion are all but unstudied. The Southampton Rebellion was not the result of Nat Turner’s singular genius focused on immediate results. It was a rebellion constituted in the community with future liberation in mind. Children, the literal embodiment of slavery’s future, then were necessarily included and involved. This article engages the extensive court documents associated with the Southampton Rebellion’s aftermath to investigate the possible role of children in the rebellion and their significance to the resistance of enslaved communities.     

A social work re-reading of students as consumers

The concept of student as consumer highlights significant shifts in what Canadian students pay for their education and how this transition has shaped their relationship with learning as well as their overall expectations for, and participation in, the project of higher learning. Consumerism in social work education reflects broader trends towards academic capitalism in Canadian universities and is a result of neoliberal ideology reshaping higher education. In this paper, we explore student and faculty participants’ reflections on the impact of consumerism on progressive social work education, exploring how participants use the term to make sense of their experiences and how doing so reshapes progressive social work education itself.     

Adolescent Adaptation to Parental Incarceration

This qualitative transcendental phenomenological study considered the lived experience of having a parent or parental figure incarcerated during one’s adolescence. The study analyzed 15 in-depth, in-person, semi-structured interviews with six participants between the ages of 18 and 29 from the city of Chicago. Textural-structural analysis indicated five separate results: the influence of parental incarceration on the developmental experience, the emotional influence of parental incarceration, the social influence of parental incarceration, the spiritual influence of parental incarceration, and the three key aspects of the experience (truth, the kind of relationship the participant had with the incarcerated parent, and the availability of an attuned subsequent caregiver). The analysis indicated that an adolescent’s adaptation to the world after experiencing this phenomenon fell into one of three spheres of adaptation. A number of clinical and social justice implications were identified along with avenues for future research to better understand the phenomenon and how it affects those who experience it.