Toward Rigor and Relevance in US Social Work Education

Abstract

After reviewing the major changes taking place in American higher education, the present paper discusses a select number of challenges confronting US social work education. These challenges are broadly characterized as those of rigor and relevance. The paper presents the author's reflections on the best ways to meet these challenges and stresses the promotion of research and social innovations as important foci for social work education.     

The Symbolic Dilemmas of Suburban Poverty: Challenges and Opportunities Posed by Variations in the Contours of Suburban Poverty1

Poverty has increased significantly in U.S. suburbs since the 1990s. What we know about suburban poverty is largely limited to demographic and economic information. Building off the organizational perspective approach, I use in‐depth interviews with nonprofit, antipoverty organizations in eight Pennsylvania suburbs to better understand the suburban poverty experience. My focus is on how organizations compete for external resources. By working directly with the poverty problem while also working in broader metropolitan political and economic fields of decision making, this “middleman” role ( Marwell, 2007 ) gives us insights into contemporary poverty dynamics for suburbs. I find that how suburban organizational leaders perceive the challenges they face, and what strategies they adopt to confront such difficulties, revolves around symbolic dilemmas posed by the history, distribution, and politics of poverty in the suburbs. Symbolic dilemmas cluster around three different situational contexts of poverty in the suburbs. I use this to develop a three‐part typology of suburban poverty: symbiotic suburbs, skeletal suburbs, and overshadowed suburbs. This typology has implications for future research and for policymakers interested in developing tools to appropriately address this pressing issue.     

The Mother‐Citizen and the Working Girl: First‐Wave Feminist Citizenship Claims in Canada and Discursive Opportunities for Twenty‐First Century Childcare Policy

L'État providence Canadien est déséquilibré: leader mondial dans certains domaines de l'investissement social—plus particulièrement en soins de santé et enseignement supérieur—il traîne dans d'autres domaines de la dépense d'aide sociale, y compris les politiques de garde d'enfants. Nous constatons qu'aujourd'hui la résistance dans la plupart des régions du Canada à la politique de garde d'enfants universel a des racines historiques profondes. Elle est de fait intégré dans le cadre même du bien‐être social canadien: le contrat de citoyenneté sociale. Nous employons une approche de “bas en haut” sur l'état du bien‐être en nous concentrant sur la façon dont les acteurs collectifs, en particulier, les féministes de la première vague et leurs contemporains au sein des organisations du mouvement ouvrier, ont encadrées et caractérisé la citoyenneté sociale féminine; Nous constatons que l'exclusion de l'adhésion des femmes employées tronque les possibilités discursives par lesquelles des revendications pour des provisions universelles de bien‐être sociale pourraient être apportées. Canada's welfare state is lopsided: while leading the world in some areas of social investment—most notably health care and higher education—it is a laggard in other areas of social welfare spending, including childcare policies. We find that policy resistance to universal childcare in most regions of Canada today has deep historical roots and is, indeed, embedded into the very framework of the Canadian welfare state: the social citizenship contract. We employ a “bottom‐up” perspective on the welfare state focusing on how collective actors, in particular, first‐wave feminists and their contemporaries within labor movement organizations, framed and characterized female social citizenship in ways that excluded employed women from full membership and, in this, truncated discursive opportunities by which claims for universal welfare state provisions could be made.     

Detection of outliers in simple circular regression models using the mean circular error statistic

The investigation on the identification of outliers in linear regression models can be extended to those for circular regression case. In this paper, we propose a new numerical statistic called mean circular error to identify possible outliers in circular regression models by using a row deletion approach. Through intensive simulation studies, the cut-off points of the statistic are obtained and its power of performance investigated. It is found that the performance improves as the concentration parameter of circular residuals becomes larger or the sample size becomes smaller. As an illustration, the statistic is applied to a wind direction data set.     

Locating Zombies in the Sociology of Popular Culture

In this essay, focusing primarily on the cinema of the walking corpse, I provide an overview of zombie studies and suggest potential avenues for sociological inquiry into zombie phenomena. I argue that zombie films, comic books, novels, video games, and the like can be seen as significant cultural objects that reflect and reveal the cultural and material circumstances of their creation. Despite emanating from complex culture‐producing institutions and (arguably) capturing extant social anxieties, sociology has remained quiet on zombie phenomena. Issues of significance, history, and definition are discussed. I then locate three avenues of inquiry ideally suited to the sociological toolkit: symptomatic analysis of content, production, and audience response and interaction. I conclude by calling for a multipronged sociological analysis into “zombie culture.”     

Top Ten Challenges for Understanding Gender and Aggression in Children: Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?

This essay identifies ten significant methodological challenges for understanding aggression and gender. In light of the recent explosion of research on indirect/relational/social aggression, it seems important to clarify gaps in our current understanding and to identify promising methods by which better answers might be found. The discussion begins with basic issues of definitions, contexts and subtypes, moves on to points concerning sampling and measures, and addresses whether current evidence warrants deciding that girls are as aggressive as boys. We conclude that although research has shown that the majority of girls' aggression takes indirect/relational/social forms, it is premature to conclude that boys do not also engage in these behaviors. We caution against assuming that physical and indirect/relational/social aggression are comparable in their developmental origins and consequences, and urge researchers to consider that fully understanding indirect/relational/social aggression might require different conceptual frameworks and research methods.     

The Ecology of Suicide in an Australian Metropolis: The Case of Sydney

The ecological patterns of suicide in metropolitan Sydney are described and policy recommendations made. Some inferences about the association of urbanization with suicide are suggested.     

Measuring Infant‐Mother Attachment: Is the Strange Situation Enough?

The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of a new procedure for assessing infant-mother attachment. Sixty children (34 in child care) and their mothers were seen in the Strange Situation (SS) at 17 months and in a new attachment assessment, the California Attachment Procedure (CAP), which does not involve mother-child separations, at 18 months. Overall, children were more likely to be classified as secure in the CAP (83% vs. 67%), but this was particularly true for children with experience in routine nonmaternal care. Of the children in nonmaternal care who were insecure in the SS, 91% were secure in the CAP, whereas of the maternal-care children who were insecure in the SS, only 44% were secure in the CAP. Attachment security in the CAP was more highly correlated with observed maternal sensitivity than was attachment security in the SS, particularly for children in nonmaternal care.     

Everyday Sexism: Evidence for Its Incidence, Nature, and Psychological Impact From Three Daily Diary Studies

Three daily diary studies were conducted to examine the incidence, nature, and impact of everyday sexism as reported by college women and men. Women experienced about one to two impactful sexist incidents per week, consisting of traditional gender role stereotypes and prejudice, demeaning and degrading comments and behaviors, and sexual objectification. These incidents affected women's psychological well-being by decreasing their comfort, increasing their feelings of anger and depression, and decreasing their state self-esteem. Although the experiences had similar effects on men's anger, depression, and state self-esteem, men reported relatively fewer sexist incidents, suggesting less overall impact on men. The results provide evidence for the phenomena of everyday prejudice and enlighten our understanding of the experience of prejudice in interpersonal encounters from the perspective of the target.     

Supervision evaluation and legislation - a case study

Social work has always played a dominant role in shaping child welfare and child protection policy throughout the world. At the beginning of the twentieth century Hungary created one of the first and best laws for child protection. Since that time society, social work, and the political climate have changed significantly. The research discussed in this paper tries to show the implication of current political and ideological trends for social welfare of the children via social work methods. During the period of so-called socialism in Hungary, state care was the dominant form of child protection. After the transition to democracy new forms of child protection - including the provision of services by NGOs - became available. One such agency is the Child Protection Foundation that provides 'substitute' or 'deputy' parents (and social work) for families who are temporarily unable to care for their children. The agency's child welfare social worker needs specialized knowledge and skills relevant to the population and their problems. The knowledge base was developed and strengthened by supervision. A programme evaluation showed that out of 25 families more than 95% could care for the child at home after three years in the programme. Implications of the results of the new child protection law of 1997 are discussed. Auf der ganzen Welt hat die Soziale Arbeit sowohl bei der Ausgestaltung wohlfahrtsstaatlicher Politiken und Angebore für Kinder als auch in Bereich des Kinderschutzes schon imer eine dominante Rolle gespielt. Zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhundets wurde in Ungarn eines der ersten und auch besten Kinderschutzgesetze geschaffen. Seit dieser Zeit haben sich die Gesellschaft, die Soziale Arbeit und auch das politische Klima entscheidend verändert. Die in diesem Aufsatz diskutierten Forschungsergebnisse veruschen die Implikationen der gegenwärtigen politischen und ideologischen Trends für die Wohlfahrtspolitik und -angebote für Kinder im Rahmen sozialarbeiterischer Mothoden und Strategien aufzuzeigen. In der Phase des sog. Sozialismus stellte die staatliche form der Fürsorge die vorherrschende Weise des Kinderschutzes in Ungarn dar. Nach dem Übergang zur Demokratie wurden neue Formen des Kindersschutzes, einschließlich der Beretistellung von Diensten durch Nicht-Regierungsorganisationene verfügbar. Eine solche Einrichtung ist die Stiftung Kinderschutz, die 'Ersatz-' oder 'stellvertretende Eltern' (und auch soziale Arbeit) für solche Familien zur Verfügung stellt, die zeitweilig nicht für ihre Kinder zu sorgen in der Lage sind. Im Hinblick auf die Population und ihre Problemlagen benötigen die Sozialarbeiter dieser Einrichtung sowohl relevantes Spezialwissen wie auch Handlungskompetenzen. Die Wissenbasis wurde vermittels Supervision entwickelt und konsolidiert. Eine Evaluation des Programmes hat gezeigt, daß durch die Teilnahme am Programm über einen Zeitraum von drei Jahren 95% der Familien in der Lage waren, zuhause für ihr Kind zu sorgen. Abschließend werden die Implikationen des neuen Kinderschutzgesetzes von 1997 diskutiert. El trabajo social siempre ha jugado en todo el mundo un papel dominante en la configuración de las politicas de bienestar y de protección de infancia. Desde entonces la sociedad, el trabajo social y el clima politico han cambiado de forma significativa. Le investigación presentada en este articulo intenta mostrarla implicación de las actuales tendencias politicas e ideológicas sobre el bienestar social de la infancia a través de los métodos de trabajo social. Durante el periodo del ilamado socialismo en Hungria, la intervención del estado fue la forma predominante de protección social. Después de la transición hacia la democracia se dispuso de nuevas formas de protección a la infancia - incluyendo los servicios ofrecidos por ONG -. Una de estas agencias es la Fundación para la Protección de la Infancia, que provee de padres 'sustitutos' y servicios de trabajo social para las familias que temporalmente no pueden hacerse cargo de sus hijos. El trabajador social del ámbito de la infancia en la agencia necesita unas destrezas y conocimientos especificos aplicables a esta población y sus problemas. Estos conocimientos son desarrollados y fortalecidos a través de la supervision. Una evaluación de programa mostró que, en un grupo de 25 familias, el 95% pudo hacerse cargo personalmente de sus hijos después de tres años en el programa. Se analizan las implicaciones de los resultados de la nueva ley de protección a la infancia de 1997. Le travail social a tougjours joué un rôle dominant dans la formation des politiques de protection de l'enfance à travers le monde. Au début du siècle, c'est en Hongrie que fut créée l'une des premières et des meilleures lois de protection de l'enfance. La recherche décrite dans cet article concerne l'impact des courants politiques et idéologiques actuels sur la protection de l'enfance à travers les méthodes de travail social. Durant la période de soi-disant socialisme en Hongrie, la protection de l'enfance était prise en charge par l'Etat. Après la transition vers la démocratie, de nouvelles formes de protection de l'enfance - y compris les services dispensés par les ONG - sont devenues disponibles. La Fondation pour la Protection de l'Enfance est un organisme de ce type; elle propose, paralellement au travail social, des parents 'de substitution' ou 'délégués' pour les familes qui sont temporairement incapables de prendre soin de leurs enfants. Les travailleurs sociaux de cet organisme ont besoin de connaissances spécialisées et de savoir-faire se rapportant à cette population et à ses problèmes. Les connaissances de base ont été développées et renforcées par le suivi. Un programme d'évaluation a prouvé que sur 25 families, 95% pouvaient s'occuper de ses enfants à la maison après 3 années de ce programme. Les conséquences des résultats de la nouvelle loi de protection de l'enfance sont débattues.