SOCIAL PROGRESS AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS: Toward a Sociology of Gloom

Although significant social progress characterized the twentieth century, sociologists usually avoid acknowledging progress for fear of encouraging complacency about social problems. In four paradoxical ways, progress raises concern about social problems. The paradox of perfectionism is that optimistic beliefs in social perfectability highlight failures to achieve perfection and thereby foster pessimism. The paradox of proportion is that reducing large problems makes smaller problems seem relatively larger. The paradox of proliferation is that social progress encourages recognition of a larger number of problems. Finally, the paradox of paranoia is that progress fosters fears of social collapse. Sociologists need to consider the consequences of downplaying progress.     

Patient assessment of engagement with students in an interprofessional student-run free clinic for individuals experiencing homelessness

The development and validation of a patient exit interview tool, the Interprofessional Clinic Homeless Satisfaction with Student Engagement Survey (ICHSES), and its incorporation in the administration of an interprofessional, co-curricular program, the Community Homeless Interprofessional Program (CHIP) is described. Incorporation of patient satisfaction with student engagement during interprofessional training experiences serving individuals who are homeless has not been previously published. At CHIP, medical, pharmacy and social work students engage with individuals experiencing homelessness in a church and faculty-supervised environment. The students provide basic health assessment, education, and referrals to community resources. Once the interaction with the students is complete, patients are asked to participate in an exit-interview using the ICHSES. Questions in the ICHSES focus on engagement with the students and the patient’s perception of the assistance they received. Based on survey responses by 220 patients, the 5 question ICHSES showed high reliability (Cronbach’s alpha?=?0.77). The ICHSES survey could be utilized in similar clinics engaged in serving the homeless.     

An analysis of conservation attitudes and awareness around Kaziranga National Park,Assam, India: implications for conservation and development

Kaziranga National Park and World Heritage Site, Assam, India, situated in a region with a large and diverse human population, was recently expanded due to its global importance for the conservation of many endangered species. Here, we develop detailed demographic and socio-economic profiles of residents around Kaziranga to study conservation attitudes and awareness using a semi-structured survey of 590 households in 37 villages. Results show high variation in attitudes and awareness as a function of ethno-religious group, educational level, and socio-economic and immigration status, indicating more and different needs for economic interventions within some communities than others. We found a high degree of conservation awareness, but most people expressed negative conservation attitudes and almost all lost crops to wildlife. We highlight the complexity of conflict in the area and present a basis for electing a microsite planning approach for conservation and development in areas characterized by high ethnic diversity, high human population densities, and land-dependent large mammals that pose economic risks. The findings imply that highly localized development schemes and participatory approaches to resource management at the village level, coupled with greater efforts at education, are especially needed to achieve conservation and development goals in such cases.     

Migrants in the closet: LGBT migrants,homonationalism, and the right to refuge in Serbia

This case study examines the accommodation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual (LGBT) migrants both de jure, in law, and de facto, in practice, in Serbia. The Balkan passage was a critical gateway for migrants throughout the 2015 European migrant crisis. Wedged between Eastern and Western politics, Serbia in particular faces pressure to promote LGBT rights arising from its candidacy for EU accession. The plight of LGBT communities seeking asylum is animated by interviews conducted with service providers working with these migrants in Serbia. The findings reflect the challenges of accommodating LGBT migrants in view of Serbia’s geopolitical dynamics, while situating this community’s rights in the broader human rights and legal discourse of continental Europe. Recommendations to service providers working with queer migrant communities are provided.     

Science as a Strategy for Social Work

For more than one hundred years, various forms of science have been promoted to boost social work’s status as a profession. Evidence-based practice and talk about the science of social work are only the most recent manifestations of this pattern. Counter to this trend, this article argues that the latest upsurge of interest in scientific social work is no more likely than any of its predecessors to address the problems of the profession. Beginning with a linguistic analysis of the words science and scientific as positive signifiers, the article traces social work’s long history of science talk as a means of reassuring funding agencies and bolstering the profession’s status. Drawing on a critique of this discourse as the latest example of abstracted empiricism, it then contends that while scientific social work can only rarely capture what occurs in the field, its attempt to do so actually undercuts practitioners’ professional judgment and discretion. Last, after rejecting science talk as counterproductive, the article concludes with recommendations for an alternative strategy that might better position social work to reconcile its advocacy of social justice with its concerns about its professional status.     

Land ownership,the subsistence constraint,and the demographic transition

We develop a novel model of fertility choice predicting an increase and subsequent decrease in fertility levels without introducing a quality–quantity tradeoff, mortality changes, or urbanization. The model highlights the roles of a subsistence constraint and non-wage income deriving from the ownership of land. We show that the sign of the effect of the wage rate on fertility depends on whether non-wage income is greater or less than a minimum consumption level. Suggestive evidence supporting the model, on changes in fertility from 1851 to 1891 across French départements, is provided. Finally, we embed our static model in a model of endogenous growth, and provide a numerical illustration of the working of the model.     

Committee Decision Making in Organizations: An Experimental Test of the Core

One concept that has been widely supported in experiments on predicting the outcome of majority-rule voting committees is the Core, the set of alternatives that cannot be defeated by any other in a binary contest. Unfortunately, the applicability of these experiments to organizations is limited by a set of rigid controls intended to ensure that the experiments are internally valid. This paper tests the Core in a laboratory environment that relaxes these controls. The Core is found to be highly predictive under these relaxed conditions, thereby enhancing confidence in its external validity.     

Interpreting MSHA Citations Through the Lens of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems: Investigating Their Impact on Mine Injuries and Illnesses 2003–2010

Since the late 1980s, the U.S. Department of Labor has considered regulating a systems approach to occupational health and safety management. Recently, a health and safety management systems (HSMS) standard has returned to the regulatory agenda of both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Because a mandated standard has implications for both industry and regulating bodies alike, it is imperative to gain a greater understanding of the potential effects that an HSMS regulatory approach can have on establishment‐level injuries and illnesses. Through the lens of MSHA's regulatory framework, we first explore how current enforcement activities align with HSMS elements. Using MSHA data for the years 2003–2010, we then analyze the relationship between various types of enforcement activities (e.g., total number of citations, total penalty amount, and HSMS‐aligned citations) and mine reportable injuries. Our findings show that the reduction in mine reportable injuries predicted by increases in MSHA enforcement ranges from negligible to 18%. The results suggest that the type and focus of the enforcement activity may be more important for accident reduction than the total number of citations issued and the associated penalty amount.     

Popular Hazards and Policy Rhetoric

Popular hazards are common activities that involve some risks of harm, such as driving a car, possessing or shooting a gun, drinking alcohol, or smoking marijuana. In each of these cases, many millions of Americans engage in the activity, but only a small fraction of them harm themselves or other people. Because the activity is so common, the number harmed may be substantial, although more serious harms tend to be much more infrequent than less serious harms. Social policy debates almost always focus on some particular popular hazard, yet we can see rhetorical similarities—parallel arguments—in how advocates frame what are understood to be very different social issues. Thus, discourse about legalizing recreational marijuana use tends to invoke claims that are quite similar to those opposing further gun control. The category of popular hazards allows us to recognize parallels in policy debates about seemingly unrelated social issues. Focusing on the underlying policy issue—balancing popularity and hazardousness—encourages considering alternative ways to construct social policies.