Survey Research and Southern Politics: The Implications of Data Management

With an identical data base—the SRCICPS election studiesconducted over the 1952–1976 period—scholars arriveat conflicting conclusions about the future politics of theSouth. One problem is alternative regional definitions—thesurvey category Solid South (which includes the states of theformer Confederacy minus Tennessee) or the combined categoriesSolid South and Border South. Another problem is the choiceto analyze native whites, whites, or all election participants.Based on data presented here, these choices are not neutral;rather, they influence the research findings. If the intentis to build upon the aggregate data-based research of Key andothers, one should use the Solid South definition. Moreover,if the intent is to predict about the future politics of theSouth, one should analyze all election participants.     

Community Social Work in a Market Environment: A British-American exchange of technologies and experience

Correspondence to Roger Hadley, Department of Applied Social Science, Cartmel College, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YL Summary Community social work, which flourished in Britain in the late1970s and through much of the 1980s, has been sidelined in recentyears by the combined development of market-oriented policiesand managerialism. However, certain recent initiatives in humanservices in the USA, a country which has moved far further towardsa contract culture than Britain, show that some American practitionersare increasingly critical of the perceived limitations of theirown system and are now seeking to borrow from earlier Britishexperience in making it more integrated, localized and community-oriented.This paper explores the example of an American county humanservices agency which has moved in this direction and considersits relevance for the survival and future development of communityoriented social work and social services in the quasi-marketenvironment which is emerging in Britain.