Toward an agency-centered iterative approach to social movement repression

There is a significant amount of research that analyzes the consequences of repression on social movement mobilization. Yet most studies do not examine the strategic agency of protesters, who can avoid, minimize, or transform punitive sanctions. In this article, I call for an agency-centered approach that highlights the iterative dynamics between protesters and agents of repression, emphasizing that the consequences of repression are largely shaped by activists' responses. Reviewing the literature on this topic, I summarize common methods of repression used by both the state and private citizens—such as information gathering, planting provocateurs, legal harassment, and direct violence. I also discuss movement counter-methods for muting the impact of repression, which include tactical shifts, decentralized organizational structures, and obstructing surveillance technologies, among others. While researchers have documented typical methods of social control, we must also capture protesters' tool kit of strategic responses that enable movements to persist during periods of repression.     

Resource use of rural low-income families caring for children with disabilities

The Personal Responsibility Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, Pub.L. 104-193 (PRWORA) was passed creating the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program. Since the passage of PRWORA, many families were able to leave the welfare rolls while those remaining on welfare were likely composed of families facing barriers to leaving, such as caring for children with disabilities. This project addresses the gaps in knowledge regarding low-income families caring for children with disabilities by conducting qualitative research investigating the resources used by these families to find and keep employment and child care. The study used a sample from a research project entitled ‘Rural Families Speak’ and examined the data of 26 families caring for children with disabilities. Analysis resulted in policy recommendations for increasing the efficacy of the programs designed to help these families.     

Text and Data Mining: Searching for Buried Treasures

The focus of this edition of “The Balance Point” is text and data mining (TDM). The column editor invited Professor Michelle Alexopoulos from the University of Toronto to coauthor the column. Alexopoulos has completed several major TDM projects and gained considerable knowledge and expertise in the field. The authors conclude that TDM is an important research tool for most disciplines and is growing in importance. As such, libraries and librarians will need to develop new services and partnerships to meet the changing research needs of their constituencies.     

The Role of Non‐profit Organizations in the Mixed Economy of Welfare‐to‐Work in the UK and Australia

This article charts the development of welfare‐to‐work policies and compares and contrasts the traditions of delivery in the UK and Australia. We find that in the UK, employment services and social security benefit administration have been dominated by the central state, traditionally affording a key role to civil servants as direct delivery agents. However, in federal Australia, mixed economies of welfare‐to‐work operate in the different states, there is a far greater role for social services and non‐profit organizations are firmly established as key providers of frontline employment services. Since the late 1990s, UK welfare reforms have been gradually following the Australian lead in contracting non‐state actors as delivery agents. As this trend seems set to continue and intensify, we examine the Australian experience in order to reflect on the role of non‐profits in policy reform.     

The Social Work Role in Reducing 30-Day Readmissions: The Effectiveness of the Bridge Model of Transitional Care

The hospital experience is taxing and confusing for patients and their families, particularly those with limited economic and social resources. This complexity often leads to disengagement, poor adherence to the plan of care, and high readmission rates. Novel approaches to addressing the complexities of transitional care are emerging as possible solutions. The Bridge Model is a person-centered, social work-led, interdisciplinary transitional care intervention that helps older adults safely transition from the hospital back to their homes and communities. The Bridge Model combines 3 key components—care coordination, case management, and patient engagement—which provide a seamless transition during this stressful time and improve the overall quality of transitional care for older adults, including reducing hospital readmissions. The post Affordable Care Act (ACA) and managed care environment’s emphasis on value and quality support further development and expansion of transitional care strategies, such as the Bridge Model, which offer promising avenues to fulfil the triple aim by improving the quality of individual patient care while also impacting population health and controlling per capita costs.     

Positive Changes in Perceptions and Selections of Healthful Foods by College Students After a Short-Term Point-of-Selection Intervention at a Dining Hall

Abstract

Objective: Determine the effects of a short-term, multi-faceted, point-of-selection intervention on college students’ perceptions and selection of 10 targeted healthful foods in a university dining hall and changes in their self-reported overall eating behaviors. Participants: 104 college students, (age 18–23) completed pre-I and post-I surveys. Methods: Pre-survey collected at dining hall in April 2007, followed by 3-week intervention then post-survey collected via email. Healthy choice indicators, large signs, table tents, flyers and colorful photographs with “benefit-based messages” promoted targeted foods. Response rate to both surveys was 38%. Results: Significantly more participants reported that healthful choices were clearly identified in the dining hall after the intervention. Over 20% of participants reported becoming more aware of healthful food choices in the dining hall after the intervention. Significant increases in self-reported intake were reported for cottage cheese and low-fat salad dressing, with a trend toward increased consumption of fresh fruit. Seven of the 14 assessed eating behaviors had significant changes in the desired direction. Increased awareness of healthful foods was the top reason for self-reported changes in overall eating behaviors. Conclusion: Short-term, multi-faceted, point-of-selection marketing of healthful foods in university dining halls may be beneficial for improving college students’ perceptions and selections of targeted healthful foods in the dining hall and may improve overall eating behaviors of college students.     

The Booker Prize: A Bourdieusian Perspective

Abstract

Excellence is everywhere. At the heart of the performance‐centred, technocratic language of business, sport and the university, the ubiquity of excellence is accompanied by a transparency of effects that mean nothing but nevertheless manage to transform practices within and between all cultural and corporate institutions. Tracing the notion of excellence associated, in the nineteenth century, with culture and humanity, this paper addresses the implications of its usage in recent decades for ideas concerning the contemporary role and status of the university in order to theorise the upheavals in social and economic thinking that underlie recent cultural transformations.     

Creating the park cool island in an inner-city neighborhood: heat mitigation strategy for Phoenix, AZ

We conducted microclimate simulations in ENVI-Met 3.1 to evaluate the impact of vegetation in lowering temperatures during an extreme heat event in an urban core neighborhood park in Phoenix, Arizona. We predicted air and surface temperatures under two different vegetation regimes: existing conditions representative of Phoenix urban core neighborhoods, and a proposed scenario informed by principles of landscape design and architecture and Urban Heat Island mitigation strategies. We found significant potential air and surface temperature reductions between representative and proposed vegetation scenarios: 1) a Park Cool Island effect that extended to non-vegetated surfaces; 2) a net cooling of air underneath or around canopied vegetation ranging from 0.9 °C to 1.9 °C during the warmest time of the day; and 3) potential reductions in surface temperatures from 0.8 °C to 8.4 °C in areas underneath or around vegetation.     

Pornography Actresses: An Assessment of the Damaged Goods Hypothesis

The damaged goods hypothesis posits that female performers in the adult entertainment industry have higher rates of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), psychological problems, and drug use compared to the typical woman. The present study compared the self-reports of 177 porn actresses to a sample of women matched on age, ethnicity, and marital status. Comparisons were conducted on sexual behaviors and attitudes, self-esteem, quality of life, and drug use. Porn actresses were more likely to identify as bisexual, first had sex at an earlier age, had more sexual partners, were more concerned about contracting a sexually transmitted disease (STD), and enjoyed sex more than the matched sample, although there were no differences in incidence of CSA. In terms of psychological characteristics, porn actresses had higher levels of self-esteem, positive feelings, social support, sexual satisfaction, and spirituality compared to the matched group. Last, female performers were more likely to have ever used 10 different types of drugs compared to the comparison group. A discriminant function analysis was able to correctly classify 83% of the participants concerning whether they were a porn actress or member of the matched sample. These findings did not provide support for the damaged goods hypothesis.