Family support in practice: voices from the field

This paper revisits core family support messages for social work practice in working with children and families, linking to findings from high-profile child protection cases in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Drawing on a comparative study where these identified practice messages were explored through the lens of testimony of family support workers in the UK and Ireland, these core messages are examined. Operating with hard-to-engage children and parents, we hear how families and family support worker colleagues now view the core functions of child and family work across both jurisdictions (Ireland and England). The authors argue that by naming a more detailed set of practices that are deemed as most useful by families, based on the benefits and challenges of intensive family support work, key messages arise that have major resonance for social work and multiagency practice into the future. A basic message from this study is that valuable lessons on engagement and intervention with families can be drawn for professionals by examining the practice elements of this group of paraprofessionals in the child and family arena. This paper adds to debates on the role of support and intervention in social work and family support work.     

Analysis of social innovation on social networking services

ABSTRACT

Social network services are allowing more social connectivity and making possible sharing information and knowledge of a different nature. This article analyses if social workers related to active social policies from Malaga province (Spain) are using social network services to share information and knowledge and if there is a mirror between online and offline relationships. Since it is an experimental model, through virtual ethnography and through social network analysis methodology, we observed the presence, connectivity and analysed the structure of relationships that keep 235 professionals from 52 organizations in Facebook®. Moreover, the model uses the statistical technique of modularity for detecting online communities, which are compared with distribution of professionals in their organizations. Results show how social network services applied to social intervention are massively and frequently used by professionals. On the other hand, the detected communities reflect existence of analogy between online and offline relationships. The online structure shows a high degree of cohesion and how certain professionals have higher capacity of influence and diffusion depending on position in the online structure. It argues about the opportunity to incorporate social network services towards social intervention as a manner of social innovation to improve cooperation and diffusion of information and knowledge.     

The frontline delivery of activation: workers’ preferences and their antecedents

This article intends to contribute to the increasing body of academic literature on the frontline delivery of activation policies. In line with the broader literature on frontline work, this literature focuses attention on frontline delivery practices and preferences and how these can be explained. Activation work is an interesting case in this context, because activation workers’ jobs designs vary considerably and workers have a diversity of educational backgrounds (including but not limited to social work) in the many countries that have implemented activation policies. This article looks at workers’ preferences rather than actual delivery practices. It analyses how job design and educational background are related to workers’ preferences concerning servicing clients, managing activation workers and spending time on various activation-related activities. Although the findings of the research that are presented in the article show that educational background and job design play only a modest role as antecedents of workers’ preferences, future research into this issue remains interesting. For it may help to increase our insights into the optimal match between what activation aims to achieve and how the provision of activation is organized on the one hand, and workers’ skills/qualifications and job design on the other hand.     

Contestation on Reddit,Gamergate, and movement barriers

This article investigates how the social media site Reddit hindered the collective action efforts stemming from the Gamergate controversy. Using forum posts from two time-points, one early in the movement and another six months later, this work describes how the Reddit platform impeded movement efforts over time. More specifically, we examine how the nature of Reddit discussions created barriers to each of three key movement processes: narrative construction of collective identity, framing, and boundary work. We argue that unlike social media platforms such as Facebook, some sites–Reddit in this case–may negatively impact movement success depending on its structure. We also discuss the importance of differing ICT structures and implications for online interactions more generally.     

Beyond bureaucracy and entrepreneurialism: Examining the multiple discursive codes informing the work,careers and subjectivities of management graduates

This paper examines how discursive codes and demands associated with ‘bureaucratic and entrepreneurial regimes’ of work and career organization shape the work, careers and subjectivities of management graduates. The study is based on an analysis of 30 narratives of management professionals who graduated from an Austrian business school in the early 1970s or 2000s. Its insights suggest that variegated discursive codes manifest in the graduates’ articulated professional practices and subjectivities, thereby challenging established assumptions regarding the organization of work and careers. While the practices and subjectivities of the 1970s graduates are often informed by codes and demands ascribed to ‘entrepreneurialism’, those of the 2000s graduates are infused with several codes commonly portrayed as ‘bureaucratic’.     

Social work and hospitality: An oral history of Edith Stolzenberg

ABSTRACT

Edith Richman Stolzenberg (1913–2004) was the first woman to be hired as a social worker in Hartford Public High School in Hartford, Connecticut. In a career that spanned 60 years and much of 20th-century social welfare history, she was motivated by the social justice tradition of her Jewish upbringing and the religious value of hospitality to advocate for children and families. As we enter a harsh new era for social services, this oral history explores the radical possibilities for integrating social work goals and religious values.     

Social work and pastoral counseling: Empowering each other

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the divergent outcomes which can result from counseling services offered pastorally versus clinically. As faith leaders often have greater direct access than social workers to supporting religious populations, it is important to explore the intersection between religious pastoral support and clinical social work. Presenting six scenarios from the author’s own experiences as both a rabbi and social worker, this article processes each scenario first through the pastoral lens of an Orthodox rabbi, followed by the clinical lens of a social worker or other mental health professional. The client outcomes which are produced from each modality are radically different. This contrast demonstrates the distinction between the goals, values, and training of each profession, and highlights importance for future work to be done in linking religious and pastoral training to mental health services, as well as broadening the scope of cultural competence for social workers and therapists who may engage with tight-knit religious populations.     

移动舆论场:高校宣传思想工作的新场域

作为意识形态领域的新兴角力场,移动舆论场在改变高校师生生活方式和价值取向的同时,也对新时期高校宣传思想工作提出了新的挑战.要占领意识形态高地,高校必须科学认识移动舆论场的内涵,积极研究和判断形势,利用好移动舆论场的情境创设、具象传播、动态调节、隐性型塑、社交渗透等方面优势,通过思维转变、话语转型和载体融合,切实增强高校宣传思想工作的有效性.     

社会主义敬业精神的传统､本质和中国特色

劳动强度、劳动时间、劳动创造性是构成劳动的三个基本维度.但传统敬业精神往往以劳动强度和劳动时间作为主要评价标准,体现为“热爱、勤勉、克制”等工作作风.随着知识经济时代的到来,社会主义敬业精神也由传统的以道德定位向现代的价值定位方向转变,劳动的创造性或者创新性工作日益成为评价劳动者敬业精神的重要尺度,与此相对应,“创新”成为社会主义敬业精神的本质.中国特色的敬业精神是社会主义敬业精神民族化和时代化的反映,它以创新为核心,是“实干作风、奉献思想、追求卓越”三者高度的统一.     

Parents' Family Time and Work Schedules: The Split‐Shift Schedule in Spain

This study used data on couples from the 2003 Spanish Time Use Survey (N = 1,416) to analyze how work schedules are associated with family, couple, parent–child, and non‐family leisure activities. Spain is clearly an interesting case for the institutionalized split‐shift schedule, a long lunch break rooted in the traditional siesta that splits the workday between morning and evening. Results showed strong negative associations between the split shift and both family and parent–child activities. The evening shift was negatively associated with couple and family time, but not with parent–child time. Women spent much more time than men in parent–child activities for all work categories, and they were more responsive to the spouse's work hours. Men were substantially more active than women in non‐family leisure, considering both individuals' and their spouses' work schedules. Altogether, this study has important implications for scientific and public policy debates.