AN EVOLUTIONARY MODEL OF TASTE FOR RISK

Economists take tastes as given. However, tastes must be derived from biological models of evolutionary survival; we exhibit those tastes which served to make our ancestors survive. In particular, economists have no theory which explains observed behavior towards risk; rather, we take behavior as a datum. In this paper we present a model which explains risk seeking by adolescents and risk aversion by mature males as the result of an evolutionary mechanism.     

Self-determination and Paternalism in Community Care: Practice and Prospects

Correspondence to Dr Chris Clark, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, Adam Ferguson Building, George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LL, Email: Chris.Clark{at}ed.ac.uk Summary Self-determination is long established as a key principle ofsocial work ethics, but has seldom been the subject of empiricalresearch. This article reports on a qualitative study of theprinciples and beliefs of community care social workers in alocal authority. It is shown that, while workers retain strongattachment to traditional ideas about self-determination, theyalso appreciate that paternalistic intervention is sometimesjustified. The more recently fashionable concept of empowermentappears to have had little useful impact. The paper argues that,while the persistence of self-determination is a strength ofsocial work and should be defended, traditional practice ethicsare weak on the political issues embedded in community care.Five key issues are identified: the threat to individualizedservice under care management; the problematic determinationof mental competence; social ambivalence about the extent offamily responsibility for dependent adults; the threat to equityarising from variable interpretations of self-determination;and the excessively elastic interpretation of empowerment.     

Informal Carers of Adolescents and Adults with Learning Difficulties from the South Asian Communities: Family Circumstances, Service Support and Carer Stress

Corrrespondence to Chris Hatton, Research Fellow, Hester Adrian Research Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK. Summary On the basis of a total identification survey in two metropolitanboroughs, 54 people from the south Asian communities caringfor people with learning difficulties aged 14 or over were interviewedregarding family circumstances, service supports and levelsof stress. In general, families were living in circumstancesof material disadvantage and reported a high need for services,due to a lack of informal support and the considerable supportneeds of many of the people with learning difficulties. Carerawareness and receipt of specialist intellectual disabilityservices were, however, low. A lack of information and staffwith appropriate language skills, coupled with a general neglectof the cultural and religious needs of service users and carers,appeared to result in low service uptake and low levels of satisfactionwith services. Eight per cent of carers reported levels of stressindicative of psychiatric problems, and also reported high levelsof contact with health services. There was some evidence thatservices were not allocated according to need; carers with lowhousehold incomes reported higher levels of stress, but carerswith higher household incomes received a wider range of services.The implications of these findings for services are discussed.