Public Dying: Death in the Media and Jade Goody

Abundant in books, on television, in film, on the internet, and in newspapers and magazines, in the twenty-first century death is hugely accessible. Within recent years, sociologists have responded to this visibility by examining death in the media, including its role and status in popular culture and ‘public mourning’, seen for example following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997. This article considers a third strand of death in the media that requires sociological attention: public dying. Drawing on the extensive media coverage of reality TV personality Jade Goody’s dying and subsequent death in early 2009, the article examines the way in which Goody’s dying illustrated how it can be commodified.     

The Vulnerabilities of Children whose Parents have been Sexually Abused in Childhood: Towards a New Framework

Correspondence to Carol-Ann Hooper, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK. E-mail: cah13{at}york.ac.uk Summary Concerns about the parenting capacity of adults with a historyof childhood sexual abuse have often been framed in individualizingand pathologizing ways. This paper draws on qualitative researchwith twenty-four women survivors of childhood sexual abuse todevelop a new framework for understanding the possible vulnerabilitiesof their children that may help inform anti-oppressive practice.The framework places the mother-child relationship in its broadercontext, taking account of the role of the immediate family,the extended family, the community and the state. Within eachlevel of context we identify the range of issues that couldcontribute to children’s vulnerability, elaborating theprocesses involved. Some issues recur within different contexts,for example the impacts of survivors’ issues around attachment,and others connect across contexts, such as the impact on childrenof deterioration in their mothers' mental health when appropriateservices are not available. All of these issues may affect survivors’well-being and access to social support and hence their abilityto care effectively for their children. Ways of supporting bothsurvivors and their children involving greater collective responsibilityfor children, effective collaboration between mental healthservices and child-care services, and professional responseswhich take account of contextual issues are identified.     

Paul Willis and the Scientific Imperative: An Evaluation of Learning to Labour

This article evaluates the methodological philosophy and strategy of Paul Willis's classic, Learning to Labour. We use King, Keohane, and Verba's Designing Social Inquiry as a litmus test, showing how Willis's work meets, diverges from, and innovatively reconstructs good social science research. Drawing from Learning to Labour and Willis's writings on methodological issues, as well as key texts on the science of sociology, this article evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of a reflexive method and the potential this method holds for qualitative work in sociology.     

Examining the effectiveness of health and safety committees and representatives: a review

The establishment of a health and safety committee in the workplace and/or the appointment of an elected health and safety representative is believed to foster employee participation and consultation in the workplace. Despite an emphasis within the Australian occupational health and safety legislation towards employee participation in relation to health and safety issues, there is little known about the effectiveness of the strategies used to involve workers in health and safety matters in the workplace. There is anecdotal evidence published in relation to the implementation of health and safety committees and their effectiveness in the Australian workplace. Few opinions however are substantiated by empirical evidence. Significantly more research has been conducted on the role of health and safety representatives in Australia. This paper presents the findings of a review of the literature and identifies the factors that are considered to impact on the effectiveness of workplace health and safety committees and representatives. Several factors are described as being fundamental to the effective performance of committees and representatives. These factors include management commitment, communication, training and information, union involvement, the infrastructure of an organisation, committee processes and the involvement of professional experts. It is concluded that the effectiveness of health and safety committees in Australia is unexplored and it is unknown if these committees achieve the purpose for which they were established. Recommendations are made for future research to be conducted to test the current anecdotal evidence and assumptions associated with the operation and effectiveness of health and safety committees.     

Features of occupational rehabilitation systems in Australia: a map through the maze

This review contributes to the limited literature on systems of occupational rehabilitation in Australia. Occupational rehabilitation is defined and features of occupational rehabilitation systems within the workers' compensation framework are described. Common features include: (a) the trend to workplace management, (b) preferred rehabilitation program settings and (c) widespread acceptance of some identified principles of occupational rehabilitation. Other features such as roles of stakeholders and participants, relationship of rehabilitation providers and employers, and the services provided have a number of variations in the Australian systems. Similarities and differences between features of Australian and North American systems are noted. Implications for occupational rehabilitation providers are discussed, and recommendations for practice and future research are made.     

Symptoms of Mental Health Problems: Children’s and Adolescents’ Understandings and Implications for Gender Differences in Help Seeking

Amidst concerns that young people’s mental health is deteriorating, it is important to explore their understandings of symptoms of mental health problems and beliefs around help seeking. Drawing on focus group data from Scottish school pupils, we demonstrate how they understood symptoms of mental health problems and how their characterisations of these symptoms as ‘rare’ and ‘weird’ informed participants’ perceptions that peers, teachers and parents would respond to disclosure in stigmatising ways. Consequently, participants suggested that they would delay or avoid disclosing symptoms of mental health problems. We highlight subtle gender and age differences and outline implications for policy and practice.     

Even the ‘Rich’ are Vulnerable: Multiple Shocks and Downward Mobility in Rural Uganda

Poverty data rarely capture processes of change, limiting our ability to understand poverty trajectories at the individual or household levels. This article uses a household survey, village‐level participatory studies and indepth life‐history interviews to examine people's poverty trajectories and to identify what drives and maintains chronic poverty. Composite shocks can propel previously non‐poor households into severe and long‐term poverty. Poverty is hard to escape, and people born into chronically poor households find few opportunities for accumulation and wealth creation. The analysis highlights the importance of poverty interrupters, including the end of conflict and the re‐integration of internally displaced people, and suggests that state‐led interventions would be needed to provide real opportunities to the chronically poor.