Spare the rod and spoil the child: Samoan perspectives on responsible parenting

Abstract

Cultural groups hold different beliefs, values and understandings that shape the way people parent. From a Samoan perspective, raising children as good citizens involves ensuring that children know how to behave appropriately. If necessary, there is a place for reasonable physical discipline. Moreover, many believe that the way western parents and teachers relate to children is socially irresponsible. This paper explores Samoan understandings of responsible parenting. It argues the case for cultural difference in approaches to parenting, and for the emergence of a ‘third space’ in which cultural groups negotiate the globalizing pressures of Western values. The paper draws on an emerging research literature and interviews with students, teachers and parents in Samoa. The study has implications for educators, social workers and policy makers in New Zealand and other Pacific Rim countries where Samoans form a significant proportion of a rapidly growing Pacific population.     

高校后勤社会化改革研究

高校后勤社会化改革已进入关键时期 ,目前正面临后勤基础设施建设高速发展与后勤管理体制改革相对滞后 ,后勤资产、人员剥离与收费体制建立以及对后勤实体的有效监督与有限支持等一系列严峻问题 ,文章对此进行了有益探讨     

Does Infant Cognition Research Undermine Sociological Theory? A Critique of Bergesen's Attack on Durkheim

This article discusses how the results of infant research challenge the assumptions of the classical sciences of social behaviour. According to A.J. Bergesen, the findings of infant research invalidate Durkheim's theory of mental categories, thus requiring a re‐theorizing of sociology. This article argues that Bergesen's reading of Emile Durkheim is incorrect, and his review of the infant research in fact invalidates his argument. Reviewing the assumptions of sociology in the light of the findings of infant research, it is argued that the real challenge is to formulate a research strategy that combines the findings of the two sciences.     

Work/life balance policy in Germany: Promoting equal partnership in families

Across the OECD, public policies seek to support parents in achieving their desired work/life balance. This article introduces the background to and issues at stake in promoting equal partnerships in families in Germany. Families in Germany face considerable challenges to spending more time together and achieving a more gender‐balanced reconciliation of work and family life, as paid work hours for fathers are long on full‐time jobs and many women are in part‐time jobs. Family policy can play an important role and Germany has made substantial progress in supporting families ahead of and after the birth of a child. Important in this regard are the parental leave reforms of 2007 and 2015 and the extension of childcare supports that better enable fathers and mothers to combine work and family commitments. The article assesses recent developments in family policies in Germany while also drawing from the experiences of countries with longstanding policies to support work/life balance and strengthen gender equality.     

Is it possible to create a politically engaged,contextual psychology of disability?

Until recently disability studies has ignored questions regarding the psychological nature of oppression. Proponents of the social model have viewed such concerns as diversionary, diluting their emphasis on material and economic barriers to inclusion. This paper argues that the discipline’s role of reflecting and interrogating disablism will remain incomplete and lacking in transformative power without undertaking a psychological conceptualisation of disabled personhood. Some prior attempts at elaborating the social model to include the psychological realm have been presented; these are critiqued, and argued to lack truly psychological conceptualisation. Preliminary ideas regarding a proposed psychology of disablism are presented. The focus of this work will be the exploration of bi-directional links between disablist ideology and disabled subjectivity, operationalised through interpersonal and institutional processes of lifelong socialisation. Reflections towards development of the under-theorised notion of internalised oppression are presented. Conclusions are that a combination of critical psychoanalytic insights and the participatory methods of liberatory and feminist psychology hold promise in driving disability transformation.     

The effect of Phase One training on young recruits' personal and professional development in the British army

This paper focuses on young men in the British army and their attitudes towards, and experiences of, Phase One basic training. The research, which took place in 2008–2011, used a longitudinal design. Using mixed methods, the findings draw on qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 26 young trainees, and interviews and quantitative survey data with 1518 recruits, with an average age of 19.6 years. It reports on recruits’ motivations for enlisting and then tells a story of socialisation, transition and change from both civilian to soldier and from adolescent to man. Drawing on Goffman's theory of the ‘total institution’ the research is centred around two contexts – the outside training ranges and the indoor barracks. It argues that the army has a set of highly effective structures and processes that socialise individuals into the culture of the military organisation. By the time they pass out of Phase One training, recruits are in the possession of a set of norms, values, knowledge and skills, and have not only been transformed into competent members of the military organisation, but have also begun to take on and construct new forms of self-image and identity.     

New Public Management et professions dans l’État : au-delà des oppositions, quelles recompositions ?

More and more reforms in public administrations are being conducted that are based on the principles and instruments of “new public management”. They have set off protest and collective actions by several professional groups in various sectors (health, education, justice, social work, research…), whence questions about the future of professional groups in public services, in particular about their autonomy, which these reforms threaten. The opposition between this new public management and certain professional groups, is not the final explanation to draw from an analysis of this situation. Should these changes be seen as the decline of professional groups and of their autonomy, as a mutation of professional models, an overhaul of professionalism, etc.? These questions, which current events in France and Europe have raised, are a matter for ongoing sociological thought. They are approached empirically, from the field, using varied scales of analysis and research. Forms of tension between this new public management and professional groups are explored.     

Implications of work and community resources and demands for marital quality

Based on a resources and demands approach, this study explores the effects of time in paid work, level of community participation, and work and community subjective resources and demands on three components of marital quality: activities with spouse, marital disagreements, and marital happiness. The analysis is based on data from 1,033 married dual-earner parents with a child aged 10-17 interviewed for the 1992-1994 US National Survey of Families and Households. The results indicate that fathers with the lowest levels of paid work hours and participation in community-professional organizations have the highest level of activities with spouses. A similar result is found for mothers with the lowest levels of participation in religious organizations and organized youth activities. Mothers' and fathers' community satisfaction is positively associated with two components of marital quality, whereas negative work spillover and economic strain show negative relationships with all three components. The paper is a first step in understanding the combined effects of work and community resources and demands on marital quality. Basée sur une approche de ressources et d'exigences, cette étude analyse les effets du temps sur le travail rémunéré, le niveau de participation à la communauté et les ressources subjectives du travail et de la communauté et des exigences sur trois composantes de la fonction conjugale: les activités avec le conjoint, les désagréments conjugaux et le bonheur conjugal. L'analyse se base sur les données de 1,033 parents mariés tous deux exerçant une profession et ayant un enfant entre 10 et 17 ans, interrogés pour l'étude Nationale des Familles et des Foyers aux états-Unis pour la période 1992-1994. Les résultats indiquent que les pères avec les niveaux les plus bas d'heures de travail rémunérés et de participation aux organisations de la communauté professionnelles ont le niveau le plus élevé d'activités avec leurs épouses. Un résultat similaire a été trouvé pour les mères ayant les niveaux les plus bas de participation à des organisations religieuses et des activités de jeunesse organisées. La satisfaction communautaire des mères et des pères est positivement associée aux deux composantes de la fonction conjugale, alors que les retombées d'un emploi négatif et la crise économique montrent les relations négatives avec toutes les trois composantes. Le document est un premier pas dans la compréhension des effets combinés du travail et des ressources et des exigences de la communauté sur la fonction conjugale.     

Le diable et les prolétaires. Le travail dans les mines de Potosi, Bolivie

For miners in Potosi, Bolivia, mining is more than a victory for acquiring underground wealth thanks to hard work and human know-how. This intrusion into an underworld understood to be the dwelling-place of ancestors, devils and wild forces is a ritualized activity, both a pilgrimage and an initiation. Learning the job and doing the work are conditioned by the diabolic divinity of the mineral world indwelling the miners' bodies. Mine work is examined from the angle of workers, bodily experiences so as to explore both the quite intimate grounds of the occupational identity of miners and the imagery that, in the Andes, emerged with miners as a social category distinct from the peasantry.     

Tackling inequalities in political socialisation: A systematic analysis of access to and mitigation effects of learning citizenship at school

This article tackles the issue of social inequalities in voting and identifies how and when differences in learning political engagement are influenced by social background in the school environment between the ages of 11–16 in England. Using Latent Growth Curve Modelling and Regression Analysis on the Citizenship Education Longitudinal (CELS) data this research identifies two elements that influence the political socialisation process: access to political learning and effectiveness in the form of learning in reducing inequalities in political engagement. The results show that there is unequal access by social background to learning political engagement through political activities in school and through an open classroom climate for discussion. However, there is equal access by social background to Citizenship Education in schools and this method of learning political engagement is effective at the age of 15–16 in reducing inequalities in political engagement.