Trends in the History of Vocational Guidance

In this article, the relationships between vocational guidance and vocational education, employment counseling, career guidance, and career counseling are explored. Also examined are the wide‐ranging federal and state policies that have stimulated and shaped the professional history of vocational guidance, vocational policy, and contemporary terms.     

THE ARCHIVE STATE AND THE FEAR OF POLLUTION: FROM THE OPIUM WARS TO FU-MANCHU

This article considers the relationship between the production of a British imperial archive on China and the global politics of empire over the last century and a half. Drawing upon the theoretical work of Bruno Latour, Gayatri Spivak and Thomas Richards,the archive is explored as a coherent set of material practices designed to decode and recode China and other colonized territories. Imagined as an interface between knowledge and the state, the British archive required the establishment of an epistemological network designed to generate knowledge on China. The knowledge so produced was then used to manipulate local scenes and to provide intelligence in ‘the Great Game’, the continuing contest with Russia over domination in Central Asia. Because of its desire for comprehensive knowledge of other peoples and places, the archive also generated its own phantasms, ones which threatened to undermine and destroy empire. This process of self-haunting is explored through the figure of Fu-Manchu, a discernible mutation of epistemological empire, and linked to the cold war which emerged on the Eurasian landmass after 1945.     

Attentional Bias in Problem Gambling: A Systematic Review

Attentional bias has been the subject of extensive empirical investigation in connection with chemical addictions, and it has been demonstrated in users of several different substances. The findings show that substance users seem to notice and attend to substance-related stimuli more readily than non-substance-related stimuli. Less is known, however, about attentional bias in pathological gambling. This systematic review investigates the existing empirical evidence on attentional bias in problem and pathological gamblers. Eleven studies were identified and evaluated following a literature search. Key findings are that problem and pathological gamblers seem to exhibit attentional bias toward gambling-related stimuli across different measuring paradigms, although some negative findings were reported. Recommendations aimed at improving research on this topic include better validation of measures, the inclusion of manipulations of craving level, and adding variations in gambling severity as a variable, as well as gambling preference. Research on therapeutic procedures aimed at reducing attentional bias is also recommended.     

Stories of (Social) Distress: Applied Narrative Analysis and Public Policy for the Homeless

Recent attention to the use of social science research in the formation of social policy highlights the role of narratives in the mediation of the relationships between research and practice, science and policy. This paper demonstrates the value of applied narrative analysis in revealing the function of narratives in this mediation. Public debate over a universal “right to shelter” for homeless persons in Washington D. C. is the central case study. The results illustrate the usefulness of applied narrative analysis in the study of social distress and in the forging of new links between research and policy.     

The Relationship Between Sexual Minority Verbal Harassment and Utilization of Health Services: Results from Countywide Risk Assessment Survey (CRAS) 2004

In this article we examine the prevalence of and associations between sexual orientation–based verbal harassment and reported utilization of health services across levels of sexual orientation in a diverse sample of adult recipients of Los Angeles County–funded HIV-related health and social services. Thirty-two percent reported they had experienced verbal harassment, the majority (80.3%) of whom identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB). Those who reported being verbally harassed received significantly more services overall than those who were not verbally harassed, and service utilization varied by sexual orientation. These findings inform future efforts to identify and assess social discrimination in health and social service settings.     

What Is Valued in Gay and Lesbian Specific Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment?

Little is known about what gay and lesbian clients value about culturally specific alcohol and other drug treatment programs. This study involves a sample of clinical staff and former clients (N = 40) of four culturally specific alcohol and other drug treatment programs to clarify what is addressed and deemed valuable for the specific needs of gay and lesbian clients. Through the lens of the recovery capital conceptual framework, this qualitative research emphasizes resiliency and the supports necessary for long-term recovery. Results indicate three major themes that make this type of treatment valuable: (1) a separate treatment unit or facility, (2) a safe and supportive therapeutic milieu, and (3) specific tailored treatment approaches. Findings are discussed to include implications for ways to improve services for this all too often understudied population of potentially vulnerable individuals who can benefit from culturally sensitive care.     

Social Work Students,other Graduate Students,and Issues of Student Protest

In the rise and development of student activism, little has been done to compare the attitudes and interests of social work students with those of other types of students. This paper reports the results of a survey of graduate students at the University of Michigan concerning major issues of student protest. Among the social work students a trend toward some of the most militant postures is noted, along with substantial apathy. This should be regarded as a challenge rather than a threat to social work education and the profession.     

“Hookups”: Characteristics and correlates of college students' spontaneous and anonymous sexual experiences

This study focused on a specific risky practice common among contemporary college students: the hookup. Hookups are defined as a sexual encounter which may or may not include sexual intercourse, usually occurring on only one occasion between two people who are strangers or brief acquaintances. The aim of this study was to determine the relative importance of a variety of social and psychological predictors in understanding differences among undergraduate students who had never hooked up, those who had hooked up without sexual intercourse, and those who had hooked up with sexual intercourse. Analyses revealed that, as predicted, social, individual, and relational psychological variables helped to explain the variance among college students' varied hookup experiences. By examining the full range of sexual involvement characteristic of the casual sexual phenomenon of hooking up within a multivariate model, we were able to achieve a more differentiated understanding of college students' casual sexual experimentation.     

Performance Evaluations as Gender Barriers in Professional Organizations: A Study of Auditing Firms

Gendering processes often take the form of organizational subtexts, that is, seemingly gender‐neutral practices that have gender implications. The purpose of this article is to study performance evaluations, which, based on management by objectives systems, may appear neutral, but tend to be based on male norms of what is regarded as good performance. We analysed the careers and performance evaluations of 391 newly licenced Swedish auditors, using an open‐ended question survey. In this industry 50 per cent of new employees and 92 per cent of partners are men. Even in the early stages of their careers, there are notable differences between women and men. The women achieved less and show lower career ambitions and expectations as well as greater intentions to leave the auditing industry. Performance evaluations are also perceived differently, men focusing on what is evaluated (reflecting the perceptions of those at higher hierarchical levels) and women focusing on who does the evaluating and how.