Economy,Society and Welfare: A Study in Social Economics. Joseph S. Berliner. New York,Praeger Publishers, 1972. 216 Pages, $13.50. Hardbound

This paper calls on schools of social work to provide more workers for practice in rural settings. It reviews the basic character of rural areas and the need for systematic intervention and program development to alter the disproportionate amount of social and economic problems existing there. The use of rural settings for student practice is reviewed, including concepts such as the community of communities, models for designing practice experiences, the role of the educator, and positive features and barriers found in providing social services.     

Exchange rate regimes and the cross-country distribution of the 1997 financial crisis

We study variations in the severity of the 1997 financial crisis in a sample of 25 developing countries. We use both currency depreciation and stock market returns as crisis measures. Our key findings are that countries that started 1997 with an exchange rate peg experienced significantly greater currency depreciation and significantly lower stock returns than would be predicted from the levels of various macroeconomic indicators.     

The Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug Development Model: a case study in Bayesian clinical trial simulation

The development of a new drug is a major undertaking and it is important to consider carefully the key decisions in the development process. Decisions are made in the presence of uncertainty and outcomes such as the probability of successful drug registration depend on the clinical development programmme. The Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug Development Model was developed to support key decisions for drugs in development for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. It is configured to simulate Phase 2b and 3 trials based on the efficacy of new drugs at the end of Phase 2a, evidence about the efficacy of existing treatments, and expert opinion regarding key safety criteria. The model evaluates the performance of different development programmes with respect to the duration of disease of the target population, Phase 2b and 3 sample sizes, the dose(s) of the experimental treatment, the choice of comparator, the duration of the Phase 2b clinical trial, the primary efficacy outcome and decision criteria for successfully passing Phases 2b and 3. It uses Bayesian clinical trial simulation to calculate the probability of successful drug registration based on the uncertainty about parameters of interest, thereby providing a more realistic assessment of the likely outcomes of individual trials and sequences of trials for the purpose of decision making. In this case study, the results show that, depending on the trial design, the new treatment has assurances of successful drug registration in the range 0.044–0.142 for an ACR20 outcome and 0.057–0.213 for an ACR50 outcome. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘I Can't Put a Smiley Face On’: Working‐Class Masculinity,Emotional Labour and Service Work in the ‘New Economy’

The growth of the ‘service economy’ has coincided with the large‐scale detachment from the labour market of low‐skilled men. Yet little research has explored exactly what it is about service work that is leading such men to drop out of the labour market during periods of sustained service sector employment growth. Based on interviews with 35 unemployed low‐skilled men, this article explores the men's attitudes to entry‐level service work and suggests that such work requires skills, dispositions and demeanours that are antithetical to the masculine working‐class habitus. This antipathy is manifest in a reluctance to engage in emotional labour and appear deferential in the service encounter and in the rejection of many forms of low‐skilled service work as a future source of employment.     

The educational attainment of young women: Role model effects of female high school faculty

To test for the presence of role model effects of female high school faculty and professional staff on young women in high school, we estimate several models of educational attainment for young women using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Exposure to female high school faculty and professional staff has a positive impact on the educational attainment of young women. This result, combined with our finding that female faculty and professional staff have no significant impact on the educational attainment of young men, supports a female role model hypothesis.     

REVIEWS

Anderson, S., & Middleton, V. (2005). Explorations in privilege, oppression, and diversity .
Catherall, D. R., (Ed.). (2004). Handbook of stress, trauma and the family .
Sprenkle, D. H., & Piercy, F. P. (Eds.). (2005). Research methods in family therapy     

The Characteristics of Children with a Disability Looked After away from Home and their Future Service Needs

Correspondence to Professor Roy McConkey, School of Nursing, University of Ulster, Newtownabbey, N. Ireland BT37 0QB. E-mail: r.mcconkey{at}ulster.ac.uk Summary Little is known about the characteristics of children with disabilitieswho meet the British legal definition of ‘looked after’children. Data were obtained on 108 such children living withinone geographical area in Northern Ireland and who spent 90 daysor more in a 12-month period living away from the family home.However, this figure may under-estimate the numbers, given thedifficulties in tracking children aged over 14 years who wereadmitted to hospitals on a short- or long-term basis. The medianage of the children was 14 years; most had learning disabilitiesallied with challenging behaviours, communication difficulties,autism and some were technologically dependent. Many of theirfamilies experienced a range of problems. One-third of the childrenwere accommodated in various residential settings but half ofthese placements were in hospital or adult residential accommodation.However, there were marked differences in the services providedto this client group by the four provider agencies. Future serviceneeds included increased respite breaks for families and theprovision of both more residential placements and more appropriateaccommodation, especially for teenagers. The dilemmas in reconcilingthe need for local, but specialized, service provision are discussed.     

Perspectives of Aboriginal issues among non‐Aboriginal residents of rural Victorian communities

Racism, in various forms, remains a dominant feature in Australian society. Aboriginal Australians are commonly targets of racial discrimination. However, understanding racism is difficult given that racial attitudes vary towards particular groups of people, across place and time and are difficult to measure. This paper presents responses of residents across four rural shires in Victoria to questions about attitudes towards Aboriginal people/issues. Responses indicated that attitudes towards Aboriginal people were diverse and that individuals varied in their attitudes on specific items. There were subtle differences between the four sites and association between demographic characteristics and some items in particular sites. This suggests that respondents are inconsistent in their attitudes relating to Aboriginal people/issues and that there are place‐based influences on these attitudes. We conclude that the many varied understandings of racism and Aboriginal Australians allow the discourses of exclusion, disempowerment and othering to be maintained.