Gay Affirmative Practice: A Model for Social Work Practice with Gay,Lesbian, and Bisexual Youth

Gay affirmative practice has recently been introduced into the social work literature as a culturally sensitive model for working with gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) adults, however, this model has rarely been applied to practice with GLB youth. In this article, the authors review the literature to present the main tenets of gay affirmative practice, outline the challenges that GLB youth face, and delineate the environmental and individual strengths that can be enhanced to promote well-being. The authors then apply the gay affirmative practice model to GLB youth, offering concrete information about the specific knowledge, attitudes, and skills that social workers should acquire to better serve the unique, yet diverse, needs of GLB youth.     

Communicating Global Activism

Many observers doubt the capacity of digital media to change the political game. The rise of a transnational activism that is aimed beyond states and directly at corporations, trade and development regimes offers a fruitful area for understanding how communication practices can help create a new politics. The Internet is implicated in the new global activism far beyond merely reducing the costs of communication, or transcending the geographical and temporal barriers associated with other communication media. Various uses of the Internet and digital media facilitate the loosely structured networks, the weak identity ties, and the patterns of issue and demonstration organizing that define a new global protest politics. Analysis of various cases shows how digital network configurations can facilitate: permanent campaigns; the growth of broad networks despite relatively weak social identity and ideology ties; transformation of individual member organizations and whole networks; and the capacity to communicate messages from desktops to television screens. The same qualities that make these communication-based politics durable also make them vulnerable to problems of control, decision-making and collective identity.     

对我校科研发展状况的分析及思考

文章以广东工业大学“九五”期间科技投入与产出的统计数据为基础,描述了学校的科研状况,在分析其不足的同时,认为可通过制定合理的科研发展目标和发展战略、积极发挥科研管理的职能、注重“产学研”结合、巩固和建设几个有较大影响的重点学科等对策来提高学校的科研水平。     

教育技术系统方法在幼儿教育中的应用个案

运用教育技术系统方法开展教学活动,对于幼儿教育同样适用,在幼儿教育中使用系统方法,整合信息技术,让幼儿从小接受多角度、全方位的思维训练。现以一次成功运用系统方法的幼教实践活动作为案例,提取其中的主要步骤进行分析,抛出幼儿教育推广系统方法之砖。     

对社会工作的现状调查与分析——以绍兴市为例

对绍兴139名社会工作的管理和从业人员进行了调查,发现绍兴市社会工作存在人才数量不够、素质不高、结构不合理,社会管理中介组织发展缓慢以及管理政策不配套等三个方面的主要问题。为加强社会工作,应从加强组织领导、健全各项机制、培育民间组织、加强宣传引导等四个方面入手。     

中国城市化与社会结构变迁

文章从社会学角度探讨了过去30年以来中国的城市化及其引发的社会结构变迁。文章指出，在过去30年中国的城市化经历了飞速的发展，进入了快速城市化阶段，离基本城市化阶段越来越近，但由于中国独特的城乡制度以及行政管理体制，中国城市化呈现两种模式——主动城市化模式和被动城市化模式，并呈现多种城市化主体，而政府和企业则是中国城市化的主导性主体。这背后最主要的动力机制还是制度和利益，彰显出中国社会结构变迁趋势：在利益机制驱使下，中国社会渐渐地形成了城乡差别不断扩大、城市内部分化明显的利益分配格局；由于缺乏公开、公正、民主的配置机制，各个城市化主体之间的博弈大多屈从于弱肉强食的“丛林法则”，从而导致各种暴力冲突、相互仇视的问题，这在一定程度上破坏了城市社会运行秩序特别是支撑这些秩序的信任机制，显现出相当严重的合法性危机，对未来中国的城市化提出了严峻的挑战。为此，文章提出了中国未来城市化的几种可能的路径。     

Risk,trust and knowledge networks in farmers’ learning

This study reports on New Zealand dairy farmers’ access to and use of information as mediated through conditions of risk and trust within the context of their interpersonal social networks. We located participants’ reports of their information use within their perceived environments of trust and risk, following Giddens's [1990. The consequences of modernity. Polity Press, Stanford, CA] typology of trust and risk in pre-modernity and modernity. The research participants were constant users of interpersonal and print information from numerous sources, and monitored their incoming data in the light of strategic needs, reflecting their roles as both farming practitioners and business owners. Socio-spatial knowledge networks (SSKNs) combine individuals’ explanatory cognitive models of information acquisition and use with a micro-geographical analysis of their interpersonal networks. The participants showed characteristics of pre-modern, modern and even post-modern society in respect of their use of complex interactional forms, as well as a blending of individualistic and communitarian practices and concerns in their professional and personal lives.     

The availability of personal and external coping resources: Thier impact on job stress and employee attitudes during organizational restructuring

This study examines the relationships among personal coping resources, social support, external coping resources, job stressors and job strains in a sample of 110 American Telephone and Telegraph employees undergoing a major organizational restructuring. The study expanded on a model suggested by Ashford (1988) by defining another category of coping resources that employees may draw upon to deal with the stressors and strains which occur during major organizational changes. External coping resources were defined as those which provided employees with a sense of 'vicarious control' in stressful situations. Results indicated that personal coping resources, social support and external coping resources had a direct effect upon job stressor and strain levels. No 'buffering' effect of these coplng resources was found. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that external coping resources added to the prediction of job stressors and strains even when pertonal coping resources and social support were entered first into the prediction questions.     

A pilot study of the contribution of empathy to burnout in Salvation Army Officers

Although empathy has been found to distinguish effective counsellors from less effective counsellors, human services professionals who continually experience negative emotional reactions to the feelings that clients express in counselling may be at risk of developing burnout. This study examined the hypothesis that emotional empathy rather than cognitive empathy is associated with burnout. The sample of human services professionals consisted of 71 Salvation Army Officers. Multiple regression was used to investigate whether the dimensions of empathy could predict three aspects of burnout: personal accomplishment, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. The first regression analysis indicated that personal distress and empathic concern were significant predictor of personal accomplishment. The second analysis indicated that personal distress was a significant predictor of emotional exhaustion. The third indicated that empathic concern was a significant predictor of depersonalization. Although these results support the hypothesis, personal distress was negatively associated with personal accomplishment, whereas empathic concern was positively associated with personal accomplishment. The small size of the sample may have influenced the reliability of the findings. A multidimensional approach to the role of empathy in counselling may help human services professionals to manage their emotional reactions when they engage in counselling with distressed clients.     

高校大学生社会实践活动功能初探

高校大学生社会实践活动作为一种生动有效的培养人才的重要途径,已经显示出它在大学生的思想教育、专业学习和能力培养等方面的综合效益。其基本功能主要表现在五个方面,即思想教育功能、深化教学功能、实践检验功能、社会服务功能、劳动助学功能。