Who volunteers?

Summary The 1990 NHS and Community Care Act outlined an extended rolefor volunteers and voluntary organizations in the provisionof services for disabled adults and older people. In broad terms,the Act assumed an untapped pool of volunteers, ready to contributeat little additional cost to the provision of care. More recentpolicy developments, including Millennium Volunteers (ScottishOffice 1997) have made similar assumptions. For organizationswhich involve volunteers, the expectations of their increaseduse in service provision present considerable challenges, notleast in attracting new recruits and retaining existing volunteers.The research presented in this paper builds on previous workto explore the current practice and organization of volunteeringand to examine critically how far the reality matches the politicalrhetoric about the role of volunteers in the mixed economy ofcare. The paper begins with a critical review of recent policyand practice in volunteering to set the context which providedour key questions. The research methodology is briefly describedand the findings from a survey of 117 active volunteers workingwith adults with learning difficulties, mental health problemsand physical disabilities, and with older people in the Northof Scotland are presented. The research examines the demographyand personality profiles of the volunteers. It examines theirperceptions of volunteering as these relate to motivation, recruitment,selection, training, support, rewards and reasons for leaving.Finally, it examines volunteers' perceptions of the organizationof volunteering. The results are reviewed in relation to thepolicy assumptions about volunteering in the mixed economy ofcare.     

论姚燮的山水词

姚燮山水词有多种面貌和寄寓.居所、园林环境的山水词,多词章婉丽、情致懿雅之作.游观、羁旅中的山水词,有的写景气象阐大,展示了壮阔的境界和襟怀;有的写景清雅,心境恬适;较多的词则以写山水景物慰客愁、证鸿爪,寄偃蹇、羁旅的人生况味,骚雅微婉.题写画意的山水词,再现了画境,并在非现实的词境中展示了人格和生活理想,具有清旷、萧然、闲适之美;词中有画,擅长意象取用和意象组合,讲究色彩效果和远近高低虚实等构图技巧,并重视整体浑融的效果.     

Totalitarianism in America? Robert Nisbet on the “Wilson War State” and Beyond

This article examines Robert Nisbet’s claim that the first totalitarian experiment of the twentieth century occurred not in the Soviet Union or in Nazi Germany, but in the United States during the First World War. Totalitarianism appeared in the form of mass propaganda, surveillance and repression. It was accompanied by a messianic desire of Woodrow Wilson and his team to transform America into a “national community.” By 1920, American totalitarianism was effectively at an end but, claimed Nisbet, it left a legacy of centralization that, over successive Democratic and Republican administrations, has stripped the Republic’s citizens of social authority and independence; the political trumped the social. Nisbet’s depiction of American totalitarianism is contrasted with Hannah Arendt’s argument that totalitarianism, thus far in history, is restricted to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union under Stalin.     

党的三代领导人与西部大开发

解放50多年来,以毛泽东、邓小平、江泽民为核心的党的三代领导人十分关注西部地区的发展。为了推动西部地区的经济发展和现代化建设,他们进行了艰辛的探索和伟大的实践,在不同的历史时期,采取了不同的政策措施,提出了不同的发展战略,时西部地区的经济发展产生了深远的影响。以江泽民为核心的第三代中央领导集体作出西部大开发的战略决策,将会进一步推动西部地区经济的腾飞。     

浅析台商投资与浙江经济发展

浙江作为长江三角洲的重要组成部分,在吸收利用台资方面具有独特的优势,为促进浙江经济和长江三角洲区域经济发展做出了应有的贡献。通过分析台商投资浙江的特点与发展趋势、台商投资对浙江经济发展的影响,就如何提高利用台资水平、加强浙台经济合作提出了建议。     

Hospitals' newest challenge: designing in quality

The job of producing high-quality products is even more difficult for health care providers than it is for those in manufacturing, where the quality movement began. As a part of the service industry, health care providers are in the position of producing products and delivering services at the moment of sale. Our task is to improve the quality of all of these simultaneous and interrelated processes. Traditionally, health care providers have made efforts to improve their products and services without realizing the impact that could be made by also improving resources, processes, and outcomes. This article is an overview of the new direction we have been taking: Retrospective review. Critical pathways. Building quality into all areas (resources, processes, products and services, and outcomes). Focused study of outcomes). We foresee a further evolution that will lead to exciting new methods for understanding and delivering high-quality care.     

The image of the veil in social theory

Theory and Society - Social theory draws energy not just from the concepts it articulates but also from the images it invokes. This article explores the image of the veil in social theory. Unlike...