Women Who Work: The limits of the neoliberal feminist paradigm

This article examines Ivanka Trump's Women Who Work, arguing that it represents the newest permutation of the neoliberal feminist subject. After providing an overview of the recent emergence of neoliberal feminism, I explain why the book should be considered part of the wider cultural landscape in which this variant of feminism has increasingly become commonsensical. I then turn to demonstrate how Women Who Work construes the ideal female subject not only as generic human capital but also incites her to invest in herself constantly, where activities ranging from professional workshops through hobbies to friendships are understood as practices that appreciate the value of the self. The conversion of women into generic rather than gendered human capital remains, however, incomplete, since the ideal of a happy work–family balance continues to serve as a push back to the wholesale erasure of traditional notions of sexual difference. Finally, I highlight that neoliberal feminism is erasing other long‐standing divisions and political differences. Not only does the private–public divide collapse, but so, too, does the distinction between one's private self and one's public enterprise as the self itself becomes an enterprise. This dual process of collapse and reconfiguration shapes the newest neoliberal feminist subject, the main protagonist of Trump's Women Who Work.     

Elementary School-age Children's Attitudes Toward Children in Same-Sex Parent Families

As numbers of families with same-sex parents increase in the United States, children are more likely to encounter diverse family structures. Given that young children can demonstrate in-group bias, prejudicial attitudes, and social exclusion, it is important to understand how children perceive their peers in diverse families. To our knowledge, no studies have assessed elementary-school-age children's attitudes about same-sex parent families. Here, 131 elementary school students (M_age = 7.79 years; 61 girls) viewed images of same-sex (female and male) and other-sex couples with a child and then were asked about their perceptions of these families, particularly the children. Results indicated participants' preferences toward children with other-sex versus same-sex parents. Developmental and practical implications about children's attitudes toward sexual minority parent families are discussed.     

Open Dialogue: Frequently Asked Questions

Open Dialogue is an approach to working with people and their families experiencing psychosocial distress. Interest in Open Dialogue in Australia has been growing recently, raising questions about its adaption and implementation to local contexts. This article is an attempt to answer some of the frequently asked questions we have encountered in training and discussions about Open Dialogue. We attempt to provide responses to questions of how Open Dialogue is different to what is done already, how it fits with current approaches, how you know if you are doing it, whether it is passive or just about doing reflections, issues about including the social network, and concerns about the evidence base. This article aims to present a variety of viewpoints in relation to these questions and to hopefully further discussions on how Open Dialogue can be implemented and adapted to Australian health care and social care contexts.     

Parents’ perspectives of social support and social cohesion in urban contexts of diversity

Although provisions for young children are increasingly considered as ideal places to foster an inclusive and socially just society by embracing issues of social support and social cohesion, there is no in-depth understanding of the role these provisions can play in enabling supportive and cohesive encounters in contexts of diversity. Even more striking is the absence of parents’ voices in this discussion. Based on an analysis of qualitative interviews with 18 parents who use childcare services in urban contexts of diversity, our findings show the relevance of ephemeral contacts with diverse people that could offer bridging opportunities in terms of social connectedness to familiarise within diversity while decoding the other in urban contexts of diversity. However, neither bonding nor bridging contacts appear as self-evident. Our research shows that the role of childcare services might be vital in creating light and temporal communities as the prerequisite for social cohesion to flourish, in both individual as well as collective dimensions.     

Everything for the Children: Orphans Growing Up in Informal Adoptive Families in China

Most orphaned children in China are cared for by their extended families or become state wards under the guardianship of child welfare institutions. Some exceptions are children who are found and cared for by families in the community, without a formalized adoption or foster relationship. In some locations, institutions now accept guardianship for these children and support the informal adoptive family to continue to care for them. This article examines the outcomes for these children as they became young adults by comparing these 12 children raised within the system as they approach or have approached young adulthood (now aged 16–40 years-old). Some of the participants were either informally adopted or lived in institutional care. The results of this study found that the family environment was more conducive to the young people’s wellbeing as they approached or entered adulthood. The participants raised in informal care appeared to be treated similar to the biological children in these families. When the institution formalized the state guardianship responsibility, it also meant the families had state resources for support to protect the children’s rights to economic security, education, health care, and social participation. This practice by the institution supported the addition of informal adoption, as one step closer to permanency than foster care. Future implications include considering this option to help promote the family system assisting these children, families, and the state.     

Early-life mortality clustering in families: A literature review

Research on early-life mortality in contemporary and historical populations has shown that infant and child mortality tend to cluster in a limited number of high-mortality families, a phenomenon known as ‘mortality clustering’. This paper is the first to review the literature on the role of the family in early-life mortality. Contemporary results, methodological and theoretical shortfalls, recent developments, and opportunities for future research are all discussed in this review. Four methodological approaches are distinguished: those based on sibling deaths, mother heterogeneity, thresholds, and excess deaths in populations. It has become clear from research to date that the death of an older child harms the survival chances of younger children in that family, and that fertility behaviour, earlier stillbirths, remarriages, and socio-economic status all explain mortality clustering to some extent.     

流动人口计划生育管理服务体系的缺陷与对策

流动人口计划生育管理服务工作是当前我国人口计生工作的难点。通过论述我国流动人口计划生育管理服务体系存在的理论缺陷、管理体制缺陷、融入缺陷、制度缺陷、机制缺陷、资源缺陷和手段缺陷,从战略层面、发展层面、工作层面提出提高流动人口计划生育管理服务效能的系列对策,以期能够破解困扰全国多年的流动人口计划生育管理服务难题。     

社会文化变迁对婚姻家庭的影响及趋势

婚姻家庭既是人类文化的积淀,是社会文化的载体,也是传递社会文化的重要组成部分。在人类发展的历史长河中,婚姻家庭与社会文化变迁密切相关,社会文化变迁以各种方式影响着婚姻家庭的建立、形成与发展。以社会文化变迁为视角,通过对社会文化变迁与婚姻家庭的建立、形成与发展之间的互动关系的历史考察,从婚姻家庭形式、婚姻家庭制度、婚姻家庭观念、婚姻家庭习俗、婚姻家庭关系等方面探讨人类社会文化变迁与婚姻家庭变化发展之间的内在关系,揭示人类社会不同历史阶段社会文化变迁及其特点对人类社会婚姻家庭建立、形成与发展的影响,探索社会文化变迁与婚姻家庭变化规律,探寻在当代社会文化交汇、冲突、融合加快趋势下,社会文化变迁与婚姻家庭变化的趋势。     

村级女计生专干的困境分析

我国人口形势目前呈现出前所未有的复杂局面,人口计生工作重点难点在农村。根据实际需要。很多地方提倡每个行政村配备至少一名女性担任村级计生专干。当前研究界极少对该群体进行研究。处于人口计生网络网底的女性计生专干在工作中面临着工作不专、责任大权力小、招怨气、无保障等诸多困难。究其原因在于。她们时常面临角色冲突（边缘的工作角色、强者的社区期待、矛盾的家庭角色）;受传统的性别观和生育观束缚;相关政策有待完善;自身工作能力和素质有待提高等方面。由此建议。在村级女计生专干的队伍建设中完善培训机制、引入竞争机制、强化管理机制、落实待遇机制、创新激励机制。     

转型期撒拉族婚姻家庭价值观变迁探微

二十世纪八十年代以后,撒拉族社会、经济、文化结构开始转型,民众的婚姻家庭观念出现了从传统向现代转化的趋势.通过研究笔者发现:传统文化、传统性因子依然是影响撒拉族婚姻、家庭观的主要因素,现代文化、现代性因子也已进入撒拉族婚姻家庭观念之中,使得撒拉族婚姻家庭价值观呈现出传统与现代的互动、融合的特点.