Equality,fairness and limits of diversity

Most western societies today are multi‐ethnic and multicultural. As such they need to determine the range of permissible diversity and develop a consensus on what an equal and fair treatment of minorities implies. This paper takes some of the controversial minority practices and analyzes the debates they provoked in Britain. It ends by suggesting how best to reconcile the community's desire to preserve its identity with the demands of fairness and equality.     

Senior Gambling: Risk or Reward?

For a growing number of older adults, a day outing to a local casino has become one of the more enjoyable and accessible opportunities for socialization and entertainment. Unfortunately, for some older adults this growing pastime increases their risk for developing a gambling problem or, worse yet, a gambling addiction. The consequences of problematic gambling behaviors for individuals living on a fixed income require greater attention by social work researchers, practitioners, and providers of senior services. The development and implementation of a Gambling Education Workshop for older adults attending senior centers in a large metropolitan area, along with qualitative interviews with a sample of workshop participants, are reported in this article. Among the findings from this project are the needs for greater awareness of the risk factors associated with problematic gambling, as well as greater awareness among older adults about the consequences associated with gambling.     

Towards a multicultural democracy: some thoughts on the recent Indian elections

Abstract The surprising defeat of the BJP in May's elections is evidence of longterm trends in India's politics. Welcomed by the diaspora with mixed feelings, the results inspire confidence in India's progress towards a mature multicultural democracy. The elections demonstrate that India is a far more diverse and pluralistic country than previous elections might have suggested and that Indian democracy successfully mirrors the country's ideological spectrum. In place of Hindu nationalism and the religious card, one finds a unique political leadership drawn from the country's minorities and shaped by India's synthetic culture.     

A conversation on madness: Foucault and Ripa

Written as a fictitious dialogue between two of this generation’s most prolific social theorists, this unique analysis explores the similarities and divergences of Michel Foucault’s and Yannick Ripa’s scholarship on madness. During an imagined meeting at a local café, a spirited dialogue emerges addressing mutual agreement and unwavering criticism of each author’s perspective of how madness was constructed and managed throughout the classical and Victorian eras. Ripa’s primary motive is to challenge Foucault for ignoring the feminine critique within his over-arching theories of social and patriarchal systems of control. On the other hand, Foucault’s vested interest is to explore Ripa’s narrowed historical scope that he feels was essentially built upon his own scholarship without acknowledgement. Drawing upon a comparative study of Foucault’s History of Madness and Ripa’s Women and Madness, the two theorists engage in a revealing conversation about aspects of political economy, shifting roles of religious ideology, gender effects, the social construction of insanity, and the historical methods of incarceration.     

Pathways to age-friendly communities in diverse urban neighborhoods: Do social capital and social cohesion matter?

ABSTRACT

Using a social capital and social cohesion lens, we reposition the concept of civic engagement among older adults to examine pathways for building age-friendly communities. We analyzed data drawn from a Community-Based Participatory Research study in the Southern U.S. that explored lived experiences of older adults, age 55 and above, who participated in individual interviews (n = 15) and six focus group discussions (n = 45) to examine their perceptions of social identity, social connectedness, and civic engagement geared toward an age-friendly city. Findings indicated that several older adults had access to social networks and socially invested resources, thereby having opportunities for civic engagement and building age-friendly neighborhoods. However, social, cultural, linguistic, and structural barriers were more evident among certain diverse ethnic populations. Marginalized low-income minorities and immigrants, such as Hispanic participants, felt the lack of social cohesion among the larger society limited their ability to give back, thus decreasing their civic engagement activities. In contrast, Caucasian and African-American older adults were able to contribute to the political process through more civic participation activities. We provide implications for examining the role of social capital and social engagement to bolster civic engagement among older adults in building age-friendly communities.     

Supporting Critical Multicultural Teacher Educators: Transformative teaching,social justice education,and perceptions of institutional support

ABSTRACT

In most teacher education programmes in Canada and the United States, educators’ opportunities to develop equity-related skills are concentrated into single ‘multicultural’ courses. These courses tend to have a conservative or liberal orientation, focused on appreciating diversity or cultural competence, rather than a critical orientation, focused on preparing teachers to address inequity. In this study, based on a survey of instructors of multicultural and intercultural teacher education courses in Canada and the US (N = 186), we examined the relationship between the criticality of their multicultural teacher education courses and their perceptions of institutional support for the values they teach. We found a negative relationship between the two – the more critical the instructors’ approaches, the less institutional support they perceived.     

A {{10}}-Approximation Algorithm for a Generalization of the Weighted Edge-Dominating Set Problem

We study the approximability of the weighted edge-dominating set problem. Although even the unweighted case is NP-Complete, in this case a solution of size at most twice the minimum can be efficiently computed due to its close relationship with minimum maximal matching; however, in the weighted case such a nice relationship is not known to exist. In this paper, after showing that weighted edge domination is as hard to approximate as the well studied weighted vertex cover problem, we consider a natural strategy, reducing edge-dominating set to edge cover. Our main result is a simple -approximation algorithm for the weighted edge-dominating set problem, improving the existing ratio, due to a simple reduction to weighted vertex cover, of 2r _WVC, where r _WVC is the approximation guarantee of any polynomial-time weighted vertex cover algorithm. The best value of r _WVC currently stands at . Furthermore we establish that the factor of is tight in the sense that it coincides with the integrality gap incurred by a natural linear programming relaxation of the problem.     

The Intersectionality of Postsecondary Pathways: The Case of High School Students with Special Education Needs

Utilisant des données du Toronto District School Board, cette étude examine les parcours postsecondaires des étudiants qui ont besoin de services d’éducation de l'enfance en difficulté. Nous observons les parcours qui mènent au collège ainsi que ceux menant à l'université et nous nous servons de régression logistique multinomiale à plusieurs niveaux afin de situer nos résultats dans le contexte du cycle de vie. Nos résultants démontrent que les étudiants qui ont besoin de services d'éducation de l'enfance en difficulté ont moins de chances d'accepter une offre d'une université mais plus de chances d'accepter une offre d'un collège. Nous analysons un groupe de facteurs connus et bien documentés qui influencent le parcours postsecondaire afin de connaître leur rôle quant au parcours des étudiants qui ont besoin de services d'éducation de l'enfance en difficulté. Nos résultats démontrent que le niveau d'éducation des parents, le revenu du quartier, la race et la filière scolaire ont tous un impact sur le parcours postsecondaire de cette population étudiante. Using data from the Toronto District School Board, we examine the postsecondary pathways of students with special education needs (SEN). We consider both university and college pathways, employing multilevel multinomial logistic regressions, conceptualizing our findings within a life course and intersectionality framework. Our findings reveal that having SEN reduces the likelihood of confirming university, but increases the likelihood of college confirmation. We examine a set of known determinants of postsecondary education (PSE) pathways that were derived from the literature and employ exploratory statistical interactions to examine if the intersection of various traits differentially impacts upon the PSE trajectories of students with SEN. Our findings reveal that parental education, neighborhood wealth, race, and streaming impact on the postsecondary pathways of students with SEN in Toronto.     

Health Care Decision Making for Unbefriended,Incapacitated Adults: A Value-Committed Policy Transfer Analysis

Adults who lack decisional capacity and known family or friends to serve as their health care agent are an increasing concern. This article examines the transferability of Texas and Florida legislation, which stipulates the persons eligible to serve as health care decision makers for unbefriended, incapacitated adults in the absence of an advance directive. Texas §313.004 allows for a clergyperson to serve in this role, whereas Florida Ann. §765.401 allows for a social worker with the requisite licensure or training. The authors provide a critical comparative value-committed analysis of the factors that influence state legislation that addresses the needs of unbefriended adults.     

School Reintegration and Perceived Needs: The Perspectives of Child and Adolescent Patients During Psychiatric Hospitalization

Youth hospitalized with psychiatric illness often experience disruption in their school attendance. Knowledge from the youths’ perspective of concerns for returning to school after hospitalization is very limited. Exploring youths’ concerns for school reintegration may inform transition practices for youth with psychiatric illness. The purpose for this study was to explore youths’ concerns for school reintegration and to report their perceived needs for support before leaving hospital. A questionnaire was developed to capture qualitative perceptions and quantitative self-reports of youths’ concerns for school reintegration. Child and adolescent patients accessing in-patient psychiatric care completed surveys containing open-ended questions about their concerns and service needs at discharge, and self-ratings of their concerns for their studies, friends, other students and emotions. One hundred and sixty-one youth (mean age 15.41, SD 1.4; 75% female; 57% with a primary diagnosis of major depression) reported considerable concerns about anticipated social situations at school, academic standing, feeling overwhelmed with school and great difficulty with managing their emotions. Youth identified a need for ongoing supports from mental health professionals and school personnel, social support from friends and family, and educational assistance or modifications. High rates of intense worries reported about school issues and school reintegration suggest this vulnerable population may benefit from increased attention to transition planning. Two important developmental domains, social development and educational outcomes, appear at-risk and this risk highlights the need for a greater emphasis on continuity of care.