From closed ranks to open doors: Elaine and John Cummings' mental health education experiment in 1950s Saskatchewan

During late 1951 and early 1952, married couple, social biologist Elaine Cumming and psychiatrist John Cumming, led a mental health education experiment in Indian Head, Saskatchewan. The study, which was intended to inform strategies toward deinstitutionalization, sought to determine if attitudes regarding mental illness could be changed through commonly used educational practices. It was shaped by the shared interests of powerful philanthropic, charitable, psychiatric, academic and governmental bodies to create healthier citizens and a stronger democratic nation through expert knowledge. However, in addition to the disappointing findings indicating that attitudes remained unchanged, the town appeared to close ranks against the research team. Nonetheless, the Cummings' later association with sociologists at Harvard University enabled them to interpret the results in a way that lent the study credibility and themselves legitimacy, thus opening the door to their careers as very successful researchers and policy-makers.     

From lesbian heroine to devoted wife: or, what the stage would allow

Plays written by English women on the same historical subject appeared in 1696 and 1841. The earlier play, written in a period of active feminism, features Agnes de Castro as a lesbian heroine, probably the first in English stage history. The second, written in the age of Solomon Grundy, characterizes de Castro as a self-sacrificing, devoted heterosexual wife. Since both plays were written by women who would now be defined as lesbians, the treatment of the heroine seems more a reflection of audience than author. Study of the two plays with their sources and their authors' lives reveals much about audiences and the pressures a homophobic society can exert on lesbian artists who write for a living.     

Self‐presentation in sociolinguistic interviews: Identities and language variation in Panambi, Brazil

This paper contributes to recent work examining the role of identity, and in particular the uses of language for self‐presentation and the expression of individual identity, through the analysis of two sociolinguistic interviews from a community of German origin in southern Brazil. Drawing from a quantitative study of variation in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, we conducted a detailed analysis of the interviews of two women of different ages and social backgrounds. We first describe the social, cultural and historical context of the interviews, and then discuss how our two speakers use their linguistic resources to express varied, and at times conflicting, aspects of their identities. More specifically, we show how our participants seem to maintain certain in‐group, German‐linked features, yet also use out‐group or Brazilian features in order to index both the (local) German and (regional) Brazilian aspects of their identities. Our data and analysis highlight how participants' identity and language use patterns can be better understood through close analysis of the content of their discourse.     

Parents and Educators: Dialogue and Development Through Partnership

SUMMARY. This paper describes an approach to working with parents which emphasises the parents' own learning process and which might be termed ‘developmental partnership’. By this is meant a relationship in which not only are the parents explicitly acknowledged as the primary educators of their own children but also that, through a process of mutual enquiry into the activities and development of these children, parents, educator and children learn and work together. A number of issues are raised about working in ‘developmental partnership’ with parents, including the role of the unconscious in relationships focused upon learning.     

Editorial

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations -     

Challenging Dominant Discourses: Peer Work as Social Justice Work

ABSTRACT

People with mental illnesses are overrepresented in the criminal justice system, and discourses concerning the medical model, criminalization, and criminality dominate the intervention landscape for this population. Using a critical postmodern lens, 45 in-depth interviews with peer specialists who had incarceration histories were analyzed to understand how they approach their work. Peer specialists with incarceration histories constructed new identities through their training and peer work by valuing experiential knowledge. Even in the face of power differentials, they challenged dominant discourses directly and indirectly and advocated for various forms of help for the people with whom they worked.     

Interpersonal trust and voluntary associations: examining three approaches

The relationship between interpersonal trust and membership in voluntary associations is a persistent research finding in sociology. What is more, the notion of trust has become a central issue in current social science theorizing covering such diverse approaches as transaction costs economics or cognitive sociology. In different ways and for different purposes, these approaches address the role of voluntary organizations, although, as this paper argues, much of this thinking remains sketchy and underdeveloped. Against an empirical portrait of this relationship, the purpose of this paper is to assess such theorizing. We first set out to explicate major approaches to trust in economics, sociology and political science, using the non-profit or voluntary organization as a focal point. We then examine the various approaches in terms of their strengths and weaknesses, and, finally, identify key areas for theoretical development. In particular, we point to the social movement literature, the social psychology of trust, and recent thinking about civil society.     

Body Image Disturbances and Predictors of Body Dissatisfaction Among Hispanic and White Preadolescents

This study assessed ethnic and gender differences in ideal body size, body dissatisfaction (BD), and the relationship between BD and various predictors (e.g., body composition indicators and cardiorespiratory fitness). The sample consisted of 190 White and Hispanic preadolescents aged 10–13 years. Demographic, percent body fat (%BF), body mass index (BMI), body image variables, and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) were examined. A significant Gender × Ethnicity interaction was found for ideal body size (p < .05), with Hispanic girls preferring the thinnest figures and Hispanic boys the largest figures, compared to their counterparts. No significant gender or ethnic differences in BD were observed. After controlling for demographic and cultural variables, increased %BF and BMI scores predicted greater BD, whereas CRF did not.