Building ‘cowshed cultures’: A cultural perspective on the promotion of stockmanship and animal welfare on dairy farms

Improving animal welfare is an important part of the development of the agricultural industry, particularly at a time when intensification and the encroachment of factory-style production systems is making the maintenance of human-animal relations increasingly difficult. Animal science deals with the issue of improving stockmanship by focusing on the relationships between attitudes and behaviour, under the premise that improved attitudes will lead to improved behaviour. From an analysis of 42 interviews with owners, sharemilkers and workers on dairy farms in New Zealand we present a different view, seeing behaviour instead as part of a self-reinforcing culture in which animals, humans and the physical structure all contribute to the development of farm specific ways of doing and being. We further suggest that changing one stockperson's attitude alone is insufficient to ensure a change in the culture as other actors – including animals and non-human actors – reinforce any existing culture that has developed, making both attitudinal and behavioural change difficult. We conclude by discussing the key importance of designing farm systems and structures that promote positive interactions between animals and humans and suggest that this, rather than simply promoting knowledge and attitudinal change, is likely to be the most effective way of maintaining stockmanship in the face of an industrialising agriculture.     

Social insurance and children: The relationship between Social Security,economic well-being,and family context among child recipients

The relationship between social insurance, which provides families protection against certain risks, and child economic security is understudied. Using the 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) matched to Social Security Administration benefit records, this article investigates the economic welfare effects of the child component of the US Social Security program. We examine how the poverty rate of child beneficiaries would change, absent Social Security income, and how heavily the family incomes of these children rely on it, by family characteristics. Our findings reveal that Social Security plays an important role in mitigating economic insecurity among children deprived of a wage-earning parent through disability, death, or retirement. Family structure, earnings, and employment status are identified as key factors moderating the effect of Social Security on child recipients’ financial circumstance.     

集体耕作制时期农村人口增长分析

通过文献参阅,运用现代经济学和社会学相关理论和方法,探索性地分析集体耕作制时期,农地产权残缺、社会的高度封闭性及平均分配主义的影响和中国农村人口的快速增长。改革开放30年来,影响中国农村人口快速增长的诸因素和人口低生育水平反弹的压力基本消除。面对人口长期负惯性增长的新趋势,中国应及时调整生育政策。     

我国南北中三城市农民工社会保障比较分析

近年来,由于我国政府的重视,我国农民工的社会保障取得了长足的发展。但各地区农民工的社会保障程度还存在很大的差异。分别从我国南、北、中部地区选择三个有代表性的城市——深圳、苏州、长春,根据问卷调查数据对其农民工社会保障状况进行比较分析。无论是农民工的社会保障程度,还是各地农民工关切的具体问题,都存在明显的地域差异。从政府的角度制订农民工政策不能全国"一刀切",应该区别对待并分类指导。政府应有重点、分层次地建立农民工社会保障制度,北方省份应该充分借鉴南方省份关于农民工的法律保障、养老和子女入学等方面的经验和对策。     

Multiculturalism and welfare state integration: Swedish model path dependency

The present article offers an account of Swedish integration policies in the post-war period. The theoretical purpose is to assess Christian Joppke’s hypothesis that recent trends of integration policy convergence have rendered the national model approach analytically useless. The analysis shows that Sweden deviates, in some important respects, from the European trend by not formulating demands that link integration achievements to immigrants’ access to fundamental rights. The conclusion is that the Swedish case does not support Joppke’s hypothesis, but rather indicates that path dependency of national models is a valid explanation to ongoing developments. It is argued that the Swedish exception should be understood as an expression of the persistent impact of a policy logic according to which integration requires that all citizens have equal and universal access to certain fundamental rights. The article builds on general comparisons with European policy developments and uses Denmark as a more specific reference point.     

Implementing a strengths perspective in child welfare and protection: a challenge not to be taken lightly

Although it can be observed that the popularity of a strengths perspective in social work is increasing, social work researchers have articulated the necessity to gain empirical knowledge about actual social work practice that claims a strengths perspective. We explore the findings of recent research into a strengths-oriented pilot project in the field of child welfare and protection in Flanders (the Flemish speaking part of Belgium), in which we examined whether the strengths-oriented discourse in social work actually took place in the relationship between social workers and families in practice. The research reveals an ambiguous picture of the ways in which the strengths perspective can be implemented in practice, because social workers walk a tightrope between responsibilizing and governing families. We argue that the implementation process needs a conceptual and theoretical foundation that goes beyond mere eclecticism. We also argue that this demands a broadening of the focus of strengths-oriented social work from a relational to a political level, as this strengths-oriented social work practice remains situated within the broader social, economic, and political context.     

Parent-worker relationships in child welfare social work: a Belgian case study

The involvement of parents within child and family social work has become an important research topic during the past few decades. Within this research, a lot of attention is paid to partnership, which is recognised as a dominant concept in current thinking about the parent–worker relationship in present-day practice. The debate on parent–worker relationships, however, seems to be mainly focussed on the individual relationship between the parent and the social worker. Based on a historical analysis of policy documents on a Belgian child and family welfare service, this article offers a historical and sociopolitical contextualisation of the current debate on the parent–worker relationship. The analysis reveals that sociopolitical ideas about the responsibilities of the state, the community and the private family have induced a continuous reflection on which children and parents should be seen as the most appropriate clients for a particular service, as well as an ongoing development of diagnostic instruments to legitimise inclusion and exclusion of families within child and family social work. Consequences for parent–worker relationships in child and family social work are discussed, as well as some implications for future research on child and family social work practices.     

One step further from detected contradictions in a child welfare unit—a constructive approach to communicate the needs of social work when implementing ICT in social services

Unintended consequences were detected when a new client data system was taken into use in a child welfare unit in the City of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. This paper describes how social work was practiced during this period of change and analyses the phenomena involved. The concept of agency is central in the theoretical frame of this research. The data consist of written documents, participatory observation and the researcher's cooperation with the unit. Based on the data and by using the tools of semiotic sociology, the period of change was described in the form of four intersecting and parallel stories, each with a specific theme. These stories formed the basis for more theorising in which models of action theories were used. The results of this study showed that in the situation of inadequate human resource allocation for social work the data system took on a role of an agent. There was evidence of unintended consequences on the basic task in child welfare as the data system affected the work processes.     

Better practices in parent engagement: lessons from the USA and England

This paper undertakes an international comparison of parent engagement in the USA and England. Research from both countries is reviewed to establish the extent to which parent engagement is achieving the benefit of an improved fit between need and services and what, if any, differences exist between the experiences of parents in the USA and England. Despite some unique differences, research from both countries identifies similar experiences among parents. Those studies indicate that parent engagement is not yet contributing to the provision of services that are more timely, appropriate, or adequate in meeting parent need. The barriers to achieving a better fit between needs and services are explored and system-wide issues that limit the effectiveness of engagement with parents are discussed. The paper presents the Munro Review of Child Protection in England as a catalyst for change in improving the child welfare system's approach to parent engagement and establishing a better fit between needs and services. Consideration of the applicability of the Munro Review findings to the USA child welfare system or replication of such a review is proposed.     

A lattice of participation: reflecting on examples of children's and young people's collective engagement in influencing social welfare policies and practices

The article introduces four case studies from Wales, France and Finland and explores the situated, intergenerational and dynamic nature of collective participation in child welfare settings. Collective participation is conceived of as a process of engagement in which children and young people have some influence over the initiation or direction of a project; and as seeking a product, or outcome. The case studies represent a range of forms of collective engagement and highlight some key resources which supported children's participation (communicative spaces, time, money, knowledge, social position, attitudes, social networks, institutional commitment, equipment, food and transport). Challenges encountered in achieving effective participation in different nations within Europe are also identified, related to generation barriers and the distribution of resources. These elements are used to construct a lattice of participation: a model for conceptualising children and young people's collective engagement in participatory projects. The model provides a tool for visualising how, at different stages of a project, actors (children, young facilitators, adults and institutions) exercise influence by directing the use of different resources, such as finance and time. It invites reflection on why influence is limited in some stages of a participatory project, and how it is supported in other stages.