Negotiating deficiency: Exploring ethnic minority parents' narratives about encountering child welfare services in Norway

Evaluating the participatory opportunities for service users within social welfare institutions is a pressing issue. In this article, we explore a group of ethnic minority parents' experiences with child welfare services (CWS) in Norway. A strong narrative theme was deficiency positioning—how lacking a Norwegian normative set of knowledge and skills challenged the parents' opportunities to participate. We analysed how deficiency positioning was perceived, negotiated, and contested in the parents' accounts, and 4 themes emerged: (a) learning to parent, (b) contesting expert knowledge, (c) learning to be a client, and (d) constructing CWS deficiency. Nancy Fraser's concept of “participatory parity” was applied to explore how current institutional structures may enable and limit parents' participation. The analysis provides insight into agencies and informants' sense‐making processes as well as the diverse resources and strategies that parents draw upon in the CWS encounter. Furthermore, we argue that an interplay between a strong focus on “parenting skills” and bureaucratic and economic structures positions ethnic minority parents as deficient, thus providing powerful mechanisms for marginalization. Implications for case work and institutional levels are discussed.     

Hybridization in China's elder care service provision

Although the party‐state has embarked on a mission to increase elder care services, evaluating this development according to different sectors demonstrates certain challenges. Official statistics do not include sector‐specific information, and while provider websites suggest that elder care services are largely in public hands, Chinese experts argue that they are mostly “civilian‐run.” How can we explain these discrepancies in data on Chinese elder care? Drawing on the concept of hybridization and triangulating quantitative and qualitative data, I argue that the party‐state's efforts to “socialize” elder care provision has resulted in hybridization within the industry which blurs the line between care providers and obfuscates the stark role of the state in elder care service provision. During the implementation of state‐initiated hybridization, providers misclassify their ownership type to benefit from financial incentives or circumvent political control, resulting in even greater hybridization and fragmentation on the ground.     

Participation of Disabled Children and Young People in Decision Making Within Social Services Departments: A Survey of Current and Recent Activities in England

A survey of all social services departments in England was undertakenin order to identify and investigate current work concerningthe participation of disabled children within decision makingregarding their own care and in service development. Developinga culture of, and good practice in, children’s participationis integral to government policy. Results demonstrate that disabledchildren are being involved in a range of decision-making areas;however, participation is not yet embedded or sustained acrossall social services departments, and the involvement of disabledchildren at a higher strategic level is still rare. The participationof disabled children needs further development including moreevidence on which factors can support and promote disabled children’seffective participation.     

舆情变动规律初论

舆情是指在一定的社会空间内,围绕中介性社会事项的发生、发展和变化,作为主体的民众对作为客体的国家管理者产生和持有的社会政治态度。因此,它的基本内容可以理解为民众在社会政治方面的群体心理活动。在本质上,舆情则是民众与政府之间利益关系的一种复杂体现。舆情的产生、变化和结束有其自身的规律性。从它的产生看,它是国家管理者“生产”或“管理”的中介性社会事项,包括各类政策、法规、制度、措施以及领袖形象和社会问题等诸多的复杂内容刺激的直接结果;从它的变化和结束看,舆情是随着刺激它产生的各类社会事项的变化和结束的情况而变动的。但是,舆情作为政治性很强的群体心理活动,它的变化和结束又有着自身复杂多变的规则和轨迹:舆情的主要持有者或主体本身的基本构成和政治素质,都会对他们的群体心理活动的具体情形产生影响;民众对过去的一个社会事项曾持有的社会政治态度,会部分地“残留”在他们对一个新的社会事项的心理反应之中。掌握舆情变动规律,对“建立社会舆情汇集和分析机制,畅通社情民意反映渠道”具有重要意义。     

一般信任模式的跨部门差异及其中介机制: 基于2010年中国综合社会调查的研究

本文基于“市场”与“国家再分配”两种不同制度环境的讨论,利用中国综合社会调查2010年的数据,运用倾向值匹配方法处理潜在的选择性误差,考察了不同部门中个体的一般信任水平。结果显示,相比私有部门（外资企业和私营企业）,在公共部门中工作的个体呈现了更高的一般信任水平。进一步的分析表明,政治参与水平和相对剥夺感作为中介于工作部门与一般信任水平之间的解释机制是显著的,在公共部门中工作的个体不仅在态度上对内在政治效能感有更高的认定,而且也能积极参与居委会社区的选举。这些特征极大提升了他们的一般信任水平。此外,公共部门中的个体在社会地位与经济地位上所持有的较低的相对剥夺感也有助于其建立更高的一般信任水平。     

从自治到保甲--近代北京郊区的乡村政治

从晚清开始,国家权力逐渐深入农村。京郊政治的近代转型建立在国家力图榨取社会财富服务于战争的基础之上。在自治时期,增加附加税等榨取财富的方式,促成了农村以看护青苗为主要功能的自发自治组织———青苗会的巩固和壮大,以寺庙为公共空间的地方政权名变而实未变。自日伪落实保甲以后,为村民服务的地方社区领袖逐渐分化,部分人成为政府搜刮民脂民膏的工具。村庄旧有的文化网络被打破,地方行政最终被收编,保甲制彻底破坏了农村的自治组织。在这些变迁中,地方社会与国家行政的博弈值得深入探究。     

Putting the ‘public’ into public service delivery for social welfare in South Africa

Mubangizi BC, Gray M. Putting the ‘public’ into public service delivery for social welfare in South Africa Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 212–219 © 2010 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of SocialWelfare. The privatisation of some essential services in South Africa has raised severe difficulties for those for whom the idea of fees for services is quite foreign and who, in any case, cannot afford to pay for services. The government has developed several initiatives to educate people about the need to pay for services provided by local government, the largest of which was the Masakhane fees‐for‐services campaign. This article describes two recent initiatives that seek to engage local citizen participation, namely, Integrated Development Plans and izimbizo (or traditional forums). These are examined along with the challenges faced by local government in promoting citizenship participation in service delivery within a decentralised system of governance. The article concludes with some recommendations on how citizen participation can be enhanced so as to make the ‘public’ visible in public service delivery and thus improve social welfare services.     

公共财政与国家财政

公共财政与国家财政是人们对财政发展不同阶段的具体认识,公共财政包含在国家财政的内涵之中,是市场经济条件下的国家财政,所以应实行公共财政改革。     

冲突与达鹄:公众参与视野下的长三角公共冲突事件分析——基于2010-2012年的案例

以2010-2012年发生在长三角的公共冲突事件为例,运用案例比较分析方法,对公众参与和公共冲突事件的关系进行分析。研究发现:长三角地区的公共冲突事件起因多与公众的经济权益受损相关,作为中间变量,社会公众往往以非制度化参与致使冲突升级为"威胁","迫使"上级政府出面协调各方利益并终止公共冲突。分析表明:赋予并落实公众公共事务参与权利,有助于解决中国当前面临的公共冲突问题。     

政府、产业环境、顾客与企业合作创新

合作创新是企业突破系统边界的外部技术协同活动,外部环境通过政府支持、行业竞争程度、竞争企业战略相似性、顾客参与等因素对合作创新系统及其绩效产生影响。通过对山东省、山西省、北京市等地的139家企业进行问卷调查,以合作创新绩效为因变量,政府支持、行业竞争程度、竞争企业战略相似性、顾客参与度为自变量,采用因子分析、多元回归分析等方法进行实证研究,发现政府支持度、产业竞争程度、顾客参与度三个变量与合作创新绩效呈正向促进关系,而竞争企业战略相似性则与合作创新绩效呈反向关系。