Exploring the Ebbs and Flows of Community Engagement: The Pyramid of Engagement and Water Activism in Two Canadian Communities

In this article, we share results from a comparative study exploring the dynamics of community engagement surrounding local water advocacy organizations in two Canadian communities. Although emergent local issues and the perception of crisis triggered some short-term community engagement, social factors such as collective identity, a sense of community, and sense of efficacy appear to be more important for sustaining and deepening engagement. Drawing on the results, we show how the pyramid of engagement, by depicting activist engagement as a multilevel, developmental process, can serve as a useful tool for community engagement scholars and practitioners alike.     

Action!: Student-Generated Videos in Social Work Education

Experiential learning is a vital aspect of social work education, particularly for teaching community practice. The literature, however, provides few examples of technology-based experiential assignments that educators can implement in their classrooms. This exploratory study examined an innovative student-generated video assignment developed for a social work community practice course. Thirty-seven former students spanning three distinct semesters completed an online survey of closed- and open-ended questions. Findings indicate the video assignment enhanced understanding of community practice and provided a unique diffusion factor. Participants appreciated how the video assignment differed from traditional assignments by offering opportunity for praxis, creativity, and acquisition of technological skills. Educators should note the challenges of student-generated videos to maximize their educational benefit and sustain student receptivity to such assignments. Teaching video-making skills has implications for post-graduation employment in the human service sector.     

Surviving in “Localistic Communitas”: Endogenous Multicultural Community Organizing among Migrant Workers in Post-Socialist China

ABSTRACT

Based on 5 months of ethnographic fieldwork and 43 in-depth interviews with villagers of T Township, the author uncovers an emerging approach of endogenous multicultural community practice in the cities where the villagers have migrated to work. Cadres and villagers transplant their localistic networks to the new urban contexts while transforming hierarchical and clientelistic personal ties into more horizontal relations of comradeship. Through these redefined ties, they manage to transcend the persisting boundaries of village units, class status, and lineage institutions that segment the rural society, and succeed in mobilizing community resources to fight for urban survival and social justice. Although neither community service nor the social work profession is fully institutionalized in contemporary China, innovative organizing is appearing in grassroots communities in response to sweeping social changes. This article draws academic attention to these community practices and discusses their implications for the future development of strength-based social work and social services in post-socialist China.     

我国慈善事业发展态势及其法律体系建构研究

近些年来,我国慈善事业发展态势良好,但也存在一些不和谐因素。分析其中原因,除了传统低层面的慈善意识影响以外,慈善法律制度体系的缺失恐是主要原因。具体表现在我国慈善事业中专门的慈善组织法律规范、慈善行为法律激励机制、慈善活动法律监管制度和可操作的法律规定的缺乏。为促进慈善事业的发展,可采用集中立法模式,建立以《慈善法》为基础的慈善事业法律体系,具体就是要进一步制定和完善关于慈善组织设立、慈善行为实施、慈善信用法律保障、慈善活动国家激励、慈善行为责任担当等内容的法律体系。     

组织残疾人、儿童乞讨罪若干疑难问题研究

组织残疾人、儿童乞讨罪是《中华人民共和国刑法修正案(六)》第17条新增的一项侵犯公民人身权利的犯罪,在罪名、犯罪主体与犯罪对象、客观方面及罪数形态、罪的界限及与《治安管理处罚法》的衔接方面不仅在理论上存在争议,而且在司法层面上也未能澄清一些疑惑,对这些问题进行理论上的探讨,无疑对于打击利用他人进行乞讨等犯罪行为具有极为重要的意义。     

Union organizing effort and success in the U.S., 1948–2004

While union density in the public sector has increased in recent decades, private sector union density in the U.S. has declined steadily since the mid-1950s. Scholars have evoked a variety of explanations to account for the decline in union membership, but substantially less attention has been devoted to understanding the contribution of the union organizing process as governed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). In this paper, we focus on two aspects of this process: union organizing effort (the effort to establish union representation elections to organize non-unionized workers) and union organizing success (success in winning union representation elections). Using annual time series data for the U.S. from 1948 to 2004, we show that there has been a long-term decline in both union organizing effort and union organizing success, which likely contributes to declining union density. We focus on three explanations for these changes: the political–legal environment for unions, deindustrialization and globalization, and employer opposition to unionization efforts. We find that each of these factors contributes to organizing effort and success and conclude with a discussion of the implications of this research for future mobilization efforts.     

Community Development with Emerging Ethic Communities

With the approach of the twenty-first century, community professionals will find minority communities an emerging phenomenon of increasing importance. Professionals need to relate to these communities in new and creative ways. This paper builds on the analysis of Rivera and Erlich (1984), describing a number of recent events and changing conditions significant to minority communities. The importance of ethnic competence is discussed in terms of community practice. Finally, a proposal for a national and local strategy to improve practice and professional education is described.     

Wages Due Lesbians: Visibility and Feminist Organizing in 1970s Canada

In this article I look at the emergence of Wages Due Lesbians, a lesbian group that was part of the Marxist feminist group Wages for Housework in Canada. In presenting Wages Due as a historical case study, I re‐visit the notion of ‘visibility’ in relation to lesbian motherhood in Canada in the 1970s through an examination of struggles for welfare, child custody, and against violence. Through this case study I present the shifting ideas regarding respectability and homosexuality from the 1970s to today.     

应用写作教学的新取向

应用写作能力是现代人的基本能力之一。新时期的应用写作教学，应重视应用写作基础理论的学习，加强教学例文库的建设，鼓励学生“摹写”，组织专项活动，强化写作的实践性。     

Coordinating Theory,Evidence, and Practice:

Concern about the harmful effects of industrial toxins has resulted in growing numbers of citizens fighting against toxic exposure in their communities. This paper describes key concepts derived from theories used to examine collective action in response to the threat of toxic exposure. These concepts are defined, synthesized into a theoretical framework, and illustrated. The framework provides an organizing perspective that social workers can use to respond to the problem of toxic exposure. The framework is one step toward advancing theory and research for organizing communities to respond to toxic exposure and other social problems when collective action is a viable response.