Cyclical Evolution of the Global Right

An understanding of the current right‐wing national and transnational social movements can benefit from comparing them to the global and national conditions operating during their last appearance in the first half of the twentieth century and by carefully comparing twentieth‐century fascism with the neofascist and right‐wing populist movements that have been emerging in the twenty‐first century. This allows us to assess the similarities and differences, and to gain insights about what could be the consequences of the reemergence of populist nationalism and fascist movements. Our study uses the comparative evolutionary world‐systems perspective to study the Global Right from 1800 to the present. We see fascism as a form of capitalism that emerges when the capitalist project is in crisis. World historical waves of right‐wing populism and fascism are caused by the cycles of globalization and deglobalization, the rise and fall of hegemonic core powers, long business cycles (the Kondratieff wave), and interactions with both Centrist Liberalism and the Global Left. We consider how crises of the global capitalist system have produced right‐wing backlashes in the past, and how a future terminal crisis of capitalism could lead to a reemergence of a new form of authoritarian global governance or a reorganized global democracy in the future.     

Residential segregation in Australian cities: a literature review

"In this review of literature dealing with the postwar immigrant experience in urban Australia, some of the key interpretations of residential segregation are assessed. The article focuses on studies which have examined ethnic clusters formed by southern Europeans in Sydney and Melbourne and more recently by Indochinese refugees. Much of the analysis to date has been based on measuring static residential patterns rather than social interaction, and the need to question the significance of ethnic concentrations which sometimes characterize the early stages of immigrant adaptation is suggested."     

The Functionalist Perspective on Social Inequality: Some Neglected Theoretical and Conceptual Roots*

This paper outlines the origins of the functionalist perspective as it was used by American social scientists to explain social inequality during the first four decades of the twentieth century. The author then argues against the assumption that the basis for development of the perspective is found in the work of Parsons and his students who applied Parsons’general framework to studies of social inequality in complex industrial society. Instead, it is suggested that the research of social anthropologists, such as Robert and Helen Lynd and W. Lioyd Warner, was equally important to the development of the functionalist perspective. The author further argues that early twentieth-century British social anthropology, with its strong ties to Durkheimian functionalism, greatly influenced the direction of studies on social inequality. The paper concludes with a discussion of the intellectual ancestries between these theoretical pioneers and Parsonians and offers an explanation why Parsons’work dominated sociology during a critical period of the discipline's development.     

Moving Towards Happiness?

We add to the literature on the driving forces of international migration. While the existing literature establishes that income differences, migration costs and certain other factors (e.g. climate or human rights) affect the migration decision, we focus on the broader role of non‐pecuniary factors. We include well‐being measures in a standard model of bilateral migration flows and enrich the analysis further by testing the effects on migration of inequality in happiness within a country. Our findings that both the mean and standard deviation of happiness – in both origin and destination countries – help explain bilateral migration flows over and above any income effect, indicates the need to incorporate both pecuniary and non‐pecuniary factors when modelling migration choices.     

Truth-in-sentencing, law enforcement, and inmate population growth

This paper presents the empirical estimation of an econometric model of the flow of prisoners into a state correctional system. Specifically, an econometric model was built to control for the number of parolees, the probability of admission to the state system, the size of the state population, the unemployment and poverty rates, the number of law enforcement officers within the state, and the state-wide “truth-in-sentencing” law, which requires convicts to serve at least 85% of their sentences. One primary result was that increases in the number of law enforcement officers has generated a decline in the growth rate of the prison population. This suggests that a “deterrent effect” is created when more police are placed on the beat. Furthermore, the results indicate that the truth-in-sentencing law has also slowed the rate of inmate population growth. This finding may reflect the growing trend for courts to hand down nontraditional sentences and to adjust prison sentences to reflect a constant “real time” of incarceration by crime.     

Preparedness for Field Education Placement: Social Work Students' Experiences in Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is seen by many to be one of the most troubled countries in the world today; it is challenged by infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, by violence—both in the home and in the broader community—as well as by the difficulties associated with responding to communities who are largely rural, remote and inaccessible. It is in this context that the profession of Social Work exists and in which students undertake their fieldwork practicum. The University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) is the primary provider of Social Work education in the country. This small study sought to investigate third-year UPNG Social Work students' reflections on their first fieldwork experience and their perceptions of preparation. Twenty-three students provided data via a written questionnaire. Content analysis revealed that most students felt only ‘just prepared’ for placement. While many highlighted the value of communication skills to them during fieldwork, there was considerable uncertainty about the role and nature of Social Work, with administrative duties seeming to dominate. Students were, however, clear about improvements; these focused primarily on the sequencing of the curriculum, to ensure that they had covered core learning materials prior to placement. The implications for practice and the challenges to implementation are discussed.     

WAR PROGRAMMING: The Propaganda Project and the Iraq War

The invasion of Iraq was justified to the American people by a sophisticated propaganda campaign that reflected a think tank's vision for a new foreign policy. One objective of this article is to set forth a theoretical argument for analyzing modern propaganda campaigns as a feature of mass-mediated discourse crafted by think tanks and highly organized claims makers. We propose that the current structure of policy and critique is now institutionalized and formatted as War Programming, which connects criticism within a narrative sequence, including critiques and reflections about journalistic failings. The scope of the action is so immense that it precludes and preempts its critique. The second objective is to show how the rationale for the invasion was developed as a "public conspiracy" over a decade by the members of the Project for a New American Century (PNAC). The third aim of this article is to describe and clarify why the PNAC plans for Iraq and an imperialist foreign policy received very little news media coverage. Qualitative content analysis of news materials suggests that the news sources and media shared a logic and perspective about "timely and entertaining news." The PNAC plan was not publicized by the major news media because it fell outside the focus of the Bush administration's propaganda campaign to demonize Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein, who was held to be responsible for attacks on the United States. The implications of such a well-organized propaganda campaign for future news coverage of war are discussed.