Integrating Group Dynamics Training and the Education and Development of Social Work Students

Summary This paper explores experience of the development of a groupdynamics workshop in a post-graduate course for student socialworkers. The background to the workshops is outlined with referenceto students, course staff and consultant staff. A brief summaryof different conceptual approaches to group dynamics trainingis offered in order to clarify terminology and methods. Importantconclusions concerning the design and operation of the workshopsare drawn and emphasis is placed on an analysis of the multiplerole situation of student social workers, choosing appropriatelearning designs, and making these explicit     

The Limits of Radical Social Work

Summary Doubts raised by research evaluation of traditional caseworkhave been increased by the perception by radical social workersthat some clients' difficulties derive from their involvementwith state machinery rather than personal capacity or circumstances,and that many can be helped by working collectively with othersin their community rather than striving alone in a dependentrelationship with a caseworker. Radical aspirations, however,assume that all clients have the capacity to overcome theirdifficulties and that none are so damaged as to be able realisticallybarely to cope with them. The radicals' doubts about the usefulnessof individual support and emphasis on collective self help raisethe danger of neglecting those who are unable to participateeffectively and gain from such efforts.     

The political ideology of the Canadian capitalist class

Cet article expose les résultats d'une étude nationale faite en 1977 et portant sur les personnes occupant des postes exécutifs dans les plus grosses corporations canadiennes et les compagnies de grosseur moyenne ainsi que sur les politiciens et fonctionnaires des échelons supérieurs fédéraux, provinciaux et municipaux et sur les chefs de syndicats ouvriers. Le personnel de direction dont il est question, a pris des positions considérable plus à droite que l'élite de l'Etat et encore plus à droite des syndicate en ce qui a trait aux politiques de bien-être social, aux relations industrielles, à l'intervention du gouvernement dans l'économie, à l'investissement à l'étranger et aux taxes d'affaires. Quoiqu'on ait trouvé des différences idéologiques systématiques entre les personnes clef des corporations moyennes et majeures, entre les corporations d'industries différentes et les cor porations à contrôle canadien et étranger, il ressort que les différences idéologiques au sein de la classe capitaliste sont considérablement moins étendues qu'entre le personnel dirigeant des corporations et l'élite de l'Etat. Ces découvertes prêtent peu de support au capitalisme monopoliste et à d'autres théories qui suggèrent qu'il existe des divisions idéologiques majeures au sein des classes capitalistes. This paper presents the results of a 1977 national survey of the executives of the largest Canadian corporations, executives of medium size companies, top level federal, provincial and municipal politicians and civil servants, and trade union leaders. On questions about social welfare policy, labour relations, government intervention in the economy, foreign investment, and taxation business executives took positions considerably to the right of the state elites and far to the right of the trade unionists. While, there were some systematic ideological differences between the executives of large and medium size corporations, of corporations in different industries and of Canadian and foreign-controlled corporations, the ideological differences within the capitalist class were considerably smaller than the differences between the corporate executives and state elites. These findings lend little support to monopoly capitalist and other theories which suggest that there are major ideological divisions within national capitalist classes.     

CHERRIES, LEMONS, AND THE FTC: MINIMUM QUALITY STANDARDS IN THE RETAIL USED AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY

The FTC initially considered two forms of regulation in the used automobile market, requiring dealers to either certify or warrant the mechanical condition of each automobile sold. Since the regulation would have been imposed only on dealers and not on private sellers, its effectiveness was dependent on the magnitude of the induced shift of sales into the private market. Accordingly, this paper employs a gametheoretic model to examine the theoretical conditions under which society could be expected to benefit from either regulatory alternative. Among other things, it is concluded that a socially beneficial minimum quality standard may not exist in some situations.     

THE EMPIRICAL RELIABILITY OF MONETARY AGGREGATES AS INDICATORS: 1983–1987

It is widely believed that monetary aggregates have failed to predict economic performance over 1983-87. This paper observes that the traditional definition of money (M1 lessother checkable deposits, or M1A) shows no evidence of structural change, and yields lower prediction errors for both real GNP and inflation over 1983-87Q2 than the errors obtained using M1 or M2. If there is a mystery, it is not why MIA has done so well, but why economists abandoned it for M1 or what was once called M1B (currency, demand deposits, and other checkable deposits).     

The Fruits of Cultivation Analysis: A Reexamination of Some Effects of Television Watching

A set of items from the General Social Survey for 1975 and 1977measuring alienation and fear of walking near one's home atnight, which were claimed by Gerbner et al. (1978a) to be relatedto heavy television watching, are reanalyzed with simultaneouscontrols for age, sex, race, income, education, hours workedper week outside the home, church attendance, membership involuntary associations, and population size. The effects oftelevision watching on responses to these items which were claimedby Gerbner et al. are largely absent in this analysis. Itemsin the same data set used by Gerbner et al., but not includedin their analysis are analyzed using the technique above, withresults that fail to support the contention of Gerbner and hisassociates. The implications of these findings for a cultivationtheory of television effects are discussed.