Teaching social work students

The evolution of the training methods described in this paper was based on a search for relevant material, in the eyes of the student as well as the lecturer. The cornerstone of our method was to create simulations of applied situations taken from student placement experiences, and tease out both the communication elements and the central issues relating to a number of particular social work concepts. In creating explicit linkage with placement experience, the principle of student choice, in terms of identifying situations and themes appropriate for simulation, was of importance. At the same time, we would emphasize the importance of the earlier social skills and social work inputs in the course, in laying a necessary foundation for the development in the student of an ability to benefit from the broader strategy adopted in the thematic approach.     

Changes in At-Risk American Men's Crime and Substance Use Trajectories Following Fatherhood

Fatherhood can be a turning point in development and in men's crime and substance use trajectories. At-risk boys (N = 206) were assessed annually from ages 12 to 31 years. Crime, arrest, and tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use trajectories were examined. Marriage was associated with lower levels of crime and less frequent substance use. Following the birth of a first biological child, men's crime trajectories showed slope decreases, and tobacco and alcohol use trajectories showed level decreases. The older men were when they became fathers, the greater the level decreases were in crime and alcohol use and the less the slope decreases were in tobacco and marijuana use. Patterns are consistent with theories of social control and social timetables.     

Screening procedures using quadratic forms

In quality control, a performance variable having a two-sided specification limit is common for assessing lot quality. Sometimes it is difficult or impossible to measure the performance variable directly; for example, when testing is destructive, expensive, or when the performance variable is related to the lifetime of the product. However, it may happen that there are several concomitant variables which are easily measured and which correlate highly with the variable of interest. Thus, one may use measurements on these variables to select or screen product which will have a high conditional probability of meeting product specification. We consider this situation when all variables have a joint multivariate normal distribution and the specification limits on the performance variable are two-sided.     

The self as the locus of morality: A comparison between Charles Taylor and George Herbert Mead's theories of the moral constitution of the self

This paper provides a critical comparison of two leading exponents of the relationship between morality and selfhood: Charles Taylor and George Herbert Mead. Specifically, it seeks to provide an assessment of the contribution each approach is able to make to a social theory of morality that has the self at its heart. Ultimately, it is argued that Taylor's phenomenological account neglects the significance of interaction and social relations in his conceptualisation of the relationship between morality and self, which undermines the capacity of his framework to explain how moral understandings and dialogic moral subjectivity develop in a world of shared meaning. I then argue that Mead's pragmatist interactionist approach overcomes many of the flaws in Taylor's framework, and offers a grounded conceptualisation of the relationship between self and morality that is able to provide a basis for a properly social account of moral subjectivity.     

The new left,Jeremy Corbyn and the war of position: a new coherence or further fragmentation?

ABSTRACT

This article assesses the emergence of the new groups, organizations and protests that have emerged since the financial crisis and asks whether we can understand these as a fresh development where diverse movements fashioned through different ideological departure points have moved towards a form of convergence in which a wider hegemonic project can be fashioned, or whether in fact such proclamations are effectively another form of ‘wishing thinking’ in terms of left-wing renewal is concerned. In line with recently argued work, it suggests that for the left to look to overcome the ideological obstacles that plagued its twentieth century development, it needs to provide a wide/open set of principles that look to contest dominant norms of the neoliberal order that exist at the many levels of civil society. In this way a ‘war of position’ (to borrow from Gramsci) needs to be forged that looks to avoid charges of ‘elitism’ and ‘fragmentation’ that had seen the left to fail as a coherent alternative since the cold war. Whilst the new left has forged forms of contestation at the civil level (for example Occupy and the ESF) and more recently at the Political level (with Sanders, Corbyn and Syriza/Podermos), it has yet to form a consistent and coherent war of position to neoliberal capitalism.     

The Portable Community: Mobility and Modernization in Bluegrass Festival Life

Drawing from six years of ethnographic field research, I examine participants' involvement in bluegrass music and festival culture in the American West. Participants left their community‐starved home neighborhoods to cultivate what I refer to as “portable communities”: temporary forms of mobile gemeinschaft community that participants found in multiple settings. Festivalgoers articulated a consistent vocabulary of intimacy, inclusion, and simplicity when describing their continued involvement in this setting. They described their involvement as driven by a quest for intimate community, open and equal social relations, and simple living, elements they found in short supply in their daily lives. Whereas traditional community forms depend on residential stability, these participants intentionally cultivated and supported alternatives that emerged in response to participants' geographic mobility.     

The marketing approach to purchasing

The determination of supply and demand is a complex problem to which both sides of the equation must contribute. Although marketing departments have organized themselves to provide such a contribution to data, purchasing has done little to promote its contribution to demand forecasting. Until it does the equation will remain not merely complex but insoluble.A continuous inter-change between marketing and purchasing, supplier and customer, is essential for improving the accuracy of longer range forecasting and for logistical co-ordination of investment planning. The corporate plans of manufacturing organizations, at least, should reflect these considerations.     

Communication between Managers and Staff in the NHS: Trends and Prospects

The importance of the role of communication in the success of individual performance in social and business life is now widely recognized. Within organizations, effective internal communication between managers and staff is vital to organizational success. This is particularly so during periods of change, when staff uncertainty increases and there is an increased need for greater amounts of information and more frequent communication. Staff in the NHS have recently experienced some quite dramatic changes in their working practices. This paper therefore examines the current state of communication within the NHS and the implications which this poses for the overall functioning of the organization. In particular, the relationship between communication and the motivation of staff is described. The nature of communication audits, the main research approach used to assesses communication effectiveness, is then delineated, and areas of the NHS chosen for analysis by this means are proposed. The results of a series of audits are summarized. Problems in information flow, use of information sources and channels, the timeliness of information exchanged, the extent to which people send information to each other and the quality of working relationships are identified. The implications of these findings for the NHS and general views of management are considered.