Neuroscience in Social Work Practice and Education

Abstract

In the past two decades, advances in neuroscience research have revolutionized the scientific community's understanding of branehavior connections. Social work is now taking note of this trend. Specialists in substance abuse, addiction, and co-occurring diagnoses are beginning to relinquish long-held beliefs in mind-body dualism in favor of a truly integrated biopsychosocial understanding. This article identifies challenges related to social work and argues that neurobiological knowledge is essential for a biopsychosocial understanding of substance abuse and addiction, other mental disorders, co-occurring conditions, and human behavior. It gives examples of drawing on neurobiological knowledge for practice applications. These include educating users, families, and providers about neurobiological aspects of substance abuse (psychoeducation); using neuroscience research on mental illness and addiction to develop integrated approaches for dually diagnosed persons; and considering a range of medication options to alleviate cravings and reduce relapse.     

The Costs of Thinking About Work and Family: Mental Labor,Work–Family Spillover,and Gender Inequality Among Parents in Dual‐Earner Families

One of the aspects unaccounted for in previous assessments of employed parents ‘distribution of time is the mental dimension of tasks and demands. This aspect, referred to as mental labor, is conceptualized as the planning, organization, and management of everyday activities. Using the experience sampling method, a unique form of time diary, and survey data from the 500 Family Study (N = 402 mothers with 16,451 signals and 291 fathers with 11,322 signals), this study examined the prevalence, context, and emotional correlates of mental labor among parents in dual‐earner families. Results show that fathers reported thinking more frequently about job‐related matters than mothers but these concerns did not spill over into unpaid work. By contrast, mothers’ job‐related thoughts tended to spill over into unpaid work and free‐time activities. When engaging in mental labor, mothers and fathers were equally likely to think about family matters, but these thoughts were only detrimental to emotional well‐being in mothers. Among both mothers and fathers, paid work was relatively insulated from thoughts about family matters. Overall, findings highlight mothers’ double burden and suggest that mental labor may contribute to mothers’ emotional stress and gender inequality among dual‐earner families.     

从功能性收入看中国收入分配的不平等(英文)

中国收入分配的不平等在很大程度上表现为功能性收入分配的不平等,即随着经济的发展,工资性收入占国民收入的比例越来越小,而现阶段中国二元经济结构下的无限劳动力供给则是其主要原因。在一个具有凯恩斯主义特征的非均衡动态模型框架下,我们的分析表明,劳动力的无限供给,不仅使工资无法对劳动力市场的供求状况进行反应,而且使劳动生产率和物价变化对工资的影响也不敏感。这意味着,当存在着劳动生产率的提高或由经济增长所带动的物价上涨时,工资的提高不够显著,从而由经济增长或劳动生产率的提高所带来的利益大部分转化为利润而非工资。基于此,要彻底扭转中国收入分配恶化趋势,根本途径仍然是保持经济的高速增长,加快工业化和城市化进程,从而使农村剩余劳动力能够尽快被吸收。     

The role of social work in the field of mental health: dual diagnoses as a challenge for social workers

This paper provides a discussion about the relevance of medical terminology within the social work context. The authors use the example of dual diagnoses to argue for less stigmatised attitudes toward people who become, in the process of help, labelled as people with dual diagnoses. It sets out that using medical terminology in the field of social work is more often a strategy to exclude people from the system of help than as a moment of providing adequate help. It is concluded that social workers do not need the knowledge about diagnoses – knowing the diagnosis is important only as information that illustrates users’ specific experience and perception of reality, the available resources and obstacles that people face in their everyday life. The planning of a social work intervention should be based on an operational definition of everyday life, e.g. how people live through the day, what are the important and valued roles they play in life, what are their wishes and needs.     

公司机会认定的比较考察和构建

公司机会规则禁止公司经营管理人员篡夺属于公司的商业机会谋取私利，对于不属于公司的商业机会则不作限制。因而，如何判断某一商业机会是否属于公司所有，就成为正确适用该规则的核心和关键。公司机会规则作为起源于荚关判例法的一项制度，经过数年来的发展，逐渐趋于完善。分析美国理论界的公司机会认定标准，对于我国司法实践中如何正确适用这一规则具有重要的指导意义。     

企业性质的伦理学思考

企业是以利益、契约和义务为纽带，通过商品与资本的创造与经营获取适当利润的协作组织。企业并不是单一的经济实体，而是既具有经济性又具有伦理性的二重性实体。因为，企业的各种关系既是经济关系也是伦理关系，企业的目标既包括经济目标也包括伦理目标，企业的信用既包括经济信用也包括伦理信用。由此，企业各个层面的活动均不可能也不应该摆脱伦理道德的约束，人们对企业的任何经济行为都可以也应该进行伦理的评判。     

A Missing Voice

Abstract

Contemporary gay and lesbian social service literature still heavily focuses on White middle/upper-class issues and uses an isolated and fixed concept of homosexuality. As a result, the discourse has only a limited applicability to people with “dual” or “multiple” identities, accentuating the power of those who control the discourse and the oppression of those with “dual” or “multiple” identities. Using Asians as a case example, I argue that the lack of published articles about Asians in contemporary gay and lesbian social service literature is the result of the different worldviews of Asian and White queers. However, this deficiency is sustained by social structures that are saturated with White middle/upper-class values. Implications of this situation and some directions for social change are discussed.     

双重困境下社会工作教育的应对与改革

20多年来，中国社会工作及其教育在人才培养、组织建设、理论研究、实务领域拓展及制度建设等方面都获得了快速的发展，取得了极大的成绩。但其存在的问题也是不容质疑和忽视的。我们把这些问题归纳为社会工作专业化和职业化的双重困境，由此构成严重制约着社会工作进一步健康发展的环境系统。为此，需要从社会工作研究、教学改革、政府支持等层面，通过社工界内部的作为和政府及社会外部条件的改善去积极应对，这是社工走出困境的必然选择、，     

Shift Work,Role Overload,and the Transition to Parenthood

This article examines how the work hours, work schedules, and role overload of working‐class couples are related to depressive symptoms and relationship conflict across the transition to parenthood. Data are from 132 dual‐earner couples interviewed 5 times across the transition. Multilevel modeling analyses revealed that working evening or night shifts, as opposed to day shifts, was related to higher levels of depressive symptoms. For mothers only, working rotating shifts predicted relationship conflict. Increases in role overload were positively related to both depression and conflict; working a nonday shift explained variance in depression and conflict above and beyond role overload. Results suggest that for new parents, working nonday shifts may be a risk factor for depressive symptoms and relationship conflict.     

广义政治论三题

《广义政治论》一书提出了“社会政治”、“主体社会主义”和“人民宪政”三个概念。对它们的理解,“社会政治”应体现为非阶级斗争的政治、大众的政治和非意识形态的政治;双重转型背景下的主体社会主义是一种政治经济制度,即社会主义市场经济,其社会主义性质体现为政府培育市场、政府实现市场所无法实现的社会公平、国家保持适量的国有经济并使其保持效率;中国缺乏西方式的宪政传统,但中国以“三个代表”为特征的执政理念比西方的宪政更为积极,更有利于实现人民的利益,人民宪政是一条符合中国国情的宪政道路。