The green factor: Unpacking green job growth

Drawing on data from the Labour Force Survey of the United Kingdom (2011–14), this article estimates the number of green jobs in Scotland and identifies change over time, using a methodological framework that can be applied to any region, based on ISCO‐08 and O*NET. The findings highlight the value of charting changes in green jobs based on inclusive rather than “purist” definitions to better capture the broader impact of greening on jobs. The findings also indicate a need for greater analytical attention to issues of green job quality and inclusive green job growth.     

Reduce rework,improve safety: an empirical inquiry into the precursors to error in construction

A positive association between rework and safety events that arise during the construction process has been identified. In-depth semi-structured interviews with operational and project-related employees from an Australian construction organisation were undertaken to determine the precursors to rework and safety events. The analysis enabled the precursors of error to examined under the auspices of: (1) People, (2) Organisation, and (3) Project. It is revealed that the precursors to error for rework and safety incidents were similar. A conceptual framework to simultaneously reduce rework and safety incidents is proposed. It is acknowledged that there is no panacea that can be used to prevent rework from occurring, but from the findings presented indicate that a shift from a position of ‘preventing’ to ‘managing’ errors is required to enable learning to become an embedded feature of an organisation’s culture. As a consequence, this will contribute to productivity and performance improvements being realised.     

‘Playing’ doctors and nurses? Competing discourses of gender,power and identity in the British National Health Service

This paper adopts a feminist poststructuralist approach to demonstrate the ambiguities and complexities which exist in the relationship between work and subject. Recent studies in organizational sociology have argued that the discourses of work, and changing working cultures, have had a powerful effect on the production of subjectivities. New forms of working behaviour have been constructed as desirable, which often draw on personal qualities such as gender. This paper draws on research conducted with doctors and nurses in the British National Health Service to reveal the ambiguities which exist in the ways in which individuals position themselves in relation to these discourses. The discourses of work and organization are constantly mediated through, and destabilised by, the intertextuality that exists with competing discourses such as those of professionalism, gender, home and performance. Although organizational discourses are clearly powerful in the construction and performance of subjectivities, the interplay between discourses means that these are constantly destabilised and undermined.     

Ruth Benedict's Original Wartime Study of the Japanese

Abstract  Benedict's classic work on Japanese society, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (1946). is still cited frequently in studies on Japanese society and culture, despite the fact that it is now nearly 50 years since it was published. However, although this book has exerted enormous influence on subsequent generations of scholars, her research into the work on the Japanese that preceded the writing of Chrysanthemum . is virtually non-existant. This paper first traces the process through which Benedict progressed during her war-time study of cultures at a distance. It then examines the eventual report she wrote on the Japanese and the significance of this report. Benedict's report, which stresses the importance of "giri to one's name" within the code of Japanese ethics but devotes very little space to the discussion of "shame". raises questions about the excessive attention devoted to repetitive references concerning her depiction of Japan as a "shame culture" by numerous social scientists.
As this paper demonstrates through a consideration of her background research, the importance placed on the concept of "shame culture" by others was not shared by Benedict herself.     

Mental Health Policy in Northern Ireland

Mental health policy in Northern Ireland has moved through a number of phases during the past seventy years. This article examines some of the developments during each of these phases in the context of political factors which had an effect on policy formation and implementation. The services which existed in 1921 were deeply rooted in the lunacy legislation and provision of nineteenth century Ireland. The political uncertainty and financial stringency, which characterized the following two decades, resulted in a situation of almost complete stagnation in those services. The contribution of Northern Ireland during the Second World War guaranteed a financial commitment by Britain to the building of a comprehensive health service in the post-war era. The expansion in mental health services was unprecedented. The relative stability of this era was shattered by the political “troubles” of the 1970s and the imposition of “direct rule” from Westminster. Though advantageous to health service development at first, this has now led to tighter central controls and the further loss of local autonomy. In policies dictated from Westminster, Area Boards moved towards a reduction in psychiatric beds to 1,500—the level of provision in 1870. History tells us that the needs of mentally ill people have not had a significant impact on services in the past. Will the future be any different?     

Probation Training: The Experience of Learners and Teachers

Qualifying training in probation is under review and likely to be substantially changed. This article draws on a small scale study of current training arrangements designed to explore the views of trainee probation officers, practice development assessors and university tutors regarding which elements of the current Diploma in Probation Studies framework most support learning. Their comments focus on the organisational ownership of training, time and learning, the teacher–learner relationship, teaching methods and equality of access. It is argued that probation training is best supported by a series of linked qualifications across grades, integrating practice‐based and academic learning delivered through a ‘blended learning’ model.     

Investigating Norms of Listening in Classrooms

Previous research into listening has tended to focus on individual processing rather than on how sociocultural contexts mediate the nature and quality of listening. This article draws on a study involving observations of listening lessons conducted by ten English teachers regarded as skilled practitioners, interviews with these teachers and with 40 of their students. It focuses on presenting interview findings which point to the need to take account in any discussion of listening of the varied and complex demands of social transactions and of the norms governing these transactions in particular classroom settings.     

Understanding disabling barriers: a fruitful partnership between Disability Studies and social practices?

Disabled people are regularly denied their human rights, since policies and laws are hard to translate literally into practice. This article aims to make connections between social practice theories and Disability Studies, in order to understand the problems faced by disabled people, using different methods to look in detail at how practices are shaped and how disabled people get excluded. Disabled people are active agents in making change, both informally on an everyday basis and through formal actions. Thus we also suggest that the insights of disabled people could bring a fresh perspective to social practice theories, by troubling the taken-for-granted in our everyday lives.