The Other Italian Experiment: Neighbourhood Social Work in the Health and Social Services

Summary Following recent legislation, most social workers in Italy arenow responsible for giving a service to the population of agiven geographical area rather than to any particular categoryof client. The findings suggest that there is some experimentationwith regard to the organisation and composition of neighbourhoodteams and that the trend, not without problems, is towards socialworkers becoming the ‘gatekeepers’ to financialand other resources in the Social Service Sector for the localpopulation.     

Disconnections and exclusions: professionalization,cosmopolitanism and (global?) civil society

In this article, we address the ways in which theories and practices of cosmopolitanism and professionalization intersect in the sphere of global civil society. We emphasize the experiences of grassroots development activists, arguing that although they have so far been pivotal to the legitimacy of these spaces and discourses, such activists are increasingly absent from the practices of global civic spaces. We explore this process of change over time using the example of grassroots health promoters in Peru, explaining it in terms of the articulation of neoliberal processes of professionalization with a particularly neoliberal version of cosmopolitanism. We argue that the two are mutually reinforcing and produce a particularly narrow, and arguably less cosmopolitan, rendition of global civil society, with implications for the possibility of building critical and transformative encounters across difference as a foundation for more equitable ideas and practices of development and democracy.     

The transnational work of kinship and caring: Bengali–British marriages in historical perspective

Abstract In this article, based on ongoing research carried out in Bangladesh since the mid‐1980s and field‐work in London in the late 1990s, I take a historical approach to the analysis of transnational Sylheti marriages. By showing how the form of these marriages has changed since the mid‐twentieth century, I argue that transnational migration is itself highly fluid. The role of wives in maintaining transnational links is central to the account. I focus in particular on the wives of ‘first‐generation’ migrant men who came to Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, and whose families were generally reunited in Britain by the 1980s. By describing the household and caring work of these wives both in Sylhet and London, I demonstrate that rather than being ‘dependants’ of their migrant husbands, women have been central to the success of migrant households. The rewards of transnational connectedness have, however, come at a cost — long‐term separation from loved ones. Isolation and loneliness have been hallmarks of the experiences of these earlier generations of women.     

Changing Behaviour in a Residential Group Setting for Elderly People with Learning Difficulties

Correspondence to Ms K. Cigno, Department of Social Policy and Professional Studies, University of Hull, Hll HU6 7RX. Summary Group living is not an easy situation for residents and staff.A client with a long history of institutionalized care and aggressivebehaviour proves to be a challenge to care staff who attemptto improve the quality of her life and that of her fellow residentsthrough a behavioural intervention aimed at reducing the numberof disruptive incidents and increasing the use of social skillsand activities for this client. The results indicate a lesseningof incidents of ‘unreasonable behaviour’ and anincrease in self-esteem. The appropriateness of this approachto elderly clients' problems is discussed.     

GOVERNING A GROUNDWATER COMMONS: A STRATEGIC AND LABORATORY ANALYSIS OF WESTERN WATER LAW

We examine strategic behavior in groundwater depletion within the setting of state governance of groundwater resources in the American West. Solving a dynamic common-pool resource model for its optimal solution and its subgame perfect equilibrium provides benchmarks for behavior observed in laboratory experiments. Three forms of legal rules—common-pool depletion with a "rule-of-capture" to establish ownership (absolute ownership doctrine), entry restrictions (prior appropriation doctrine), and stock quotas (correlative rights doctrine—are examined in terms of their impact on individual strategic behavior in laboratory experiments.     

Consumer Views of a Family Centre Drop-In

Correspondence to Katy Cigno, Department of Social Policy and Professional Studies, University of Hull, HU6 7RX Summary The family centre Drop-in is a phenomenon which has developed,often in a haphazard way, at the ‘soft end’ of socialwork, mostly in the voluntary sector. Nevertheless, the literatureand the results of a small case-study argue that it has an importantplace in the lives of a wide range of families and is a partof community support networks. For some users, it provides avital alternative to social work help, or an essential supplementto it. Users' views indicate that a Drop-in achieves its broadaims of helping to prevent family breakdown by relieving isolation,of providing a welcoming environment where people can make friendsand children can play, of promoting self-esteem through itsactivities and encouraging users to help each other. There arelimits to how many families can benefit at any one time. Userslike most the relaxed family atmosphere and being able to helpand be helped informally. They are most critical of gossip,cliquiness and dependency among the users. ‘It is exactly what I wanted. I loved going ... You mix.It's very important to have friends. When I could have half-killed[child] there was someone to take her off me. We helped oneanother. We got involved with each other and each other's children.’     

The Fate of Former East German Police in Reunified Germany, 1990–1996: The Dialectics of Inclusion and Exclusion

This article analyzes the vetting of former East German police in Berlin and Brandenburg in the context of the former East Germany's transition to democracy and German unification. Police are one of the most critical and sensitive sectors of the civil service and typically, along with teachers, among the first groups to be vetted in the context of democratic transitions. The German case illustrates the often unpredictable and inconsistent approaches to vetting that led to very different outcomes throughout the East. It identifies several factors that influenced vetting and employment prospects for former East German police officers. These included political geography, who did the vetting, how a candidate's past was interpreted (whether aggravating or mitigating circumstances were weighed), the institutional arrangements for vetting, state‐mandated guidelines or criteria for determining suitability, and timing.     

Reflections From the Field: the Experience of Former CSS and CQSW Students

Summary The research reported in this paper is based on the findingsof a postal questionnaire survey with former students who had,over the last seven years, successfully completed either theCertificate in Social Service (CSS) or the Certificate of Qualificationin Social Work (CQSW) at one institution of higher education. The purpose was to collect data in a systematic way about employmentcircumstances, career development, aspirations, reflectionson the course and views of the future of education for socialwork and social service. For many of these areas a lack of comparableBritish studies is noted. The findings would seem to indicate that the type of qualificationobtained is an important variable where work setting, clientgroup, perceived professional status, job choice and attitudeto certain aspects of the course are concerned. Both groupswere largely supportive of a single award for social work throughfull-time education and training, but were ambivalent aboutthere being different routes to this qualification.