Families Pass Money and Opportunities Down: Adolescent Constructions of Social Class

Poverty is a prevalent issue addressed by social workers and other helping professionals. When working to engage citizens in anti-poverty efforts, it is necessary to understand how people conceptualize social class. In this qualitative study, the grounded theory method is utilized to understand how adolescents describe and define social class. Adolescents view family of origin socioeconomic status, higher education opportunities, and social mobility as key factors that shape individual socioeconomic status.     

Developing cultural competence for social work with families living in poverty

Social workers need to have a good understanding of the cultural contexts within which the families they are working with are living. Whilst each context will be unique in many respects, the majority of families involved with social workers will share the experience of living in impoverished circumstances. At a time when levels of family poverty are rising rapidly in the UK and many other European countries as a result of a global financial crisis followed by economic recession and major cuts in public spending, it is particularly important that social workers understand the impact of poverty on the lives of the adults and children with whom they are engaged. One of the best ways of developing an understanding of any aspect of culture is to listen to people talking about their lives. Using a combination of research evidence based on the first-hand accounts of parents and children, and analysis of selected practice examples drawn from anti-poverty social work in England, the key elements of culturally competent practice for social work with families living in poverty are identified.     

我国政府扶贫机制再造研究

目前我国政府在农村的扶贫效率日渐低下,其中一个重要原因就是政府扶贫体制的组织效率低下。为了设计出一个激励相容的扶贫机制,以提高政府扶贫效率,本文在考虑了各种实际情况下,运用委托代理理论,对中央政府与地方政府扶贫制度进行了重新设计。文章认为中央政府应对地方政府进行激励,并且其绩效考核的标准不仅包括贫困人口减少的数量,还应包括其他变量(如当地自然条件、经济环境等),同时在扶贫资金的拨付上,采取分期付款的方式,以应对由于生命周期的缘故而导致的地方政府不合作行为。     

Access to Mental Health Services: The Struggle of Poverty Affected Urban Children of Color

It is estimated that, in the United States, one in ten children and adolescents suffer from illness severe enough to cause some level of psychosocial dysfunction. Urban children, and in particular low-income children of color, are at greater risk of developing mental health problems, and are less likely to receive effective child mental health services. Prompt and effective access to mental health services by urban children of color is a critical direct practice and social policy concern. This article provides an overview of significant barriers to mental health care experienced by poverty affected urban children of color and their families. It also addresses a broad range of practice and policy issues that need to be raised in order to ensure competent delivery of mental health services for children living in urban environments. The role of social work in assisting poor urban children of color to access and benefit from mental health services is stressed. Manny John González, D.S.W., is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service.     

南疆扶贫开发中尚需研究的几个问题

调研报告从资料与理性分析相结合角度,对南疆扶贫开发资金投向与管理、扶贫项目的科学论证、移民开 发政策、生态环境协调发展、基础设施建设、产业结构调整等尚需研究的几个问题进行了阐述,并提出了相应的政 策建议。     

Variance estimation for a low income proportion

Summary. Proportions below a given fraction of a quantile of an income distribution are often estimated from survey data in comparisons of poverty. We consider the estimation of the variance of such a proportion, estimated from Family Expenditure Survey data. We show how a linearization method of variance estimation may be applied to this proportion, allowing for the effects of both a complex sampling design and weighting by a raking method to population controls. We show that, for data for 1998–1999, the estimated variances are always increased when allowance is made for the design and raking weights, the principal effect arising from the design. We also study the properties of a simplified variance estimator and discuss extensions to a wider class of poverty measures.     

数字金融、数字鸿沟与多维贫困

以互联网为基础的第三次技术革命,推动了数字金融的发展,对居民经济行为的影响巨大,因而也可能具有减贫作用。本文首次利用中国数字普惠金融发展指数和中国家庭追踪调查(CFPS)的匹配数据,通过克服内生性的工具变量估计,探讨了数字经济发展对家庭多维贫困的影响。然而,与预期不同,本文的初步研究发现数字金融发展提升了贫困发生的概率,也加深了多维贫困的程度,且影响逐年增大。不过,进一步研究表明,数字金融发展可能存在结构性问题:数字金融发展给能够接触到互联网的居民带来便利以及机会,挤占了未能接触到互联网的居民原先所可能获得的资源,这种数字鸿沟使得位于贫困线附近和贫困线以下的居民由于数字金融的发展而愈加贫困。观察背后机制发现,数字金融发展主要导致了面临数字劣势的贫困居民失业概率的提升。因此,在推进数字金融发展的同时,应着力提高金融服务的覆盖率和可得性,尤其对于农村的贫困人口而言,积极应对数字经济对就业市场的挑战,引导其成为脱贫攻坚的重要支撑。     

On the underestimation of migration’s income and poverty impact

In estimating the impact of migration on income and poverty, most existing studies have overlooked the fact that migration changes the size of the household. The ‘corrected’ impact that accounts for changes in household size is presented analytically and is estimated on the basis of data from nationally representative household surveys in Albania and Ghana. The analysis considers three poverty measures and four groups of migrant households: those with internal, international, internal and international, and internal and/or international migrants. The ratio of the corrected to the uncorrected impact on per capita income for Ghana (Albania) averages from 2.7 to 4.5 (2.5–3.8), and the ratio for the poverty impact averages from 2.6 to 4.4 (2.1–6.4). Thus, abstracting from changes in household size may result in a substantial underestimate of the impact of migration on income and poverty.

Understanding the Complexity of Attitudes of Low-Income Single Mothers Toward Work and Family in the Age of Welfare Reform

This article explores the ideas of low-income single mothers on certain aspects of welfare reform, namely the Marriage Promotion Act, which uses funds for the formation and maintenance of two parent families. Drawing on research with former and current welfare recipients, the author explores how the mothers felt about certain welfare reform policies while trying to understand their current work and family arrangements. Two main ideas behind welfare reform were to encourage paid work and two parent families. While the mothers acknowledged that having access to a second wage earner would help themselves and their children realize a life less complicated by monetary issues, they expressed anger and frustration at being encouraged to marry. Welfare reform dictates that families receiving assistance take personal responsibility for their low-income lives and that paid work is essential to moving a family out of poverty. The stories from the mothers interviewed for this study suggest that while they valued work and wanted to work, to combine work with being a “good mother” was difficult to accomplish. Ultimately, what these mothers suggest through their experiences is the contradiction of welfare reform—paid work does not necessarily provide independence and marriage to another wage earner also undermines independence.