Selecting for Social Work

Summary Social work courses need to spell out the characteristics andconsequences of particular selection procedures, as a prerequisiteof improvement. This article reports a survey of applicantsfor a postgraduate social work course, where entry is determinedby two independent, individual interviews. Previous social workexperience and the candidate's degree subject emerged as importantcorreiates of selection. Paired interviewing appeared to operatein an impartial fashion, with a high degree of consistency betweeninterviewers of different kinds, and an absence of hierarchyin resolving conflicts. However, the outcome of interviewingwas partially contingent upon the degree of agreement betweeninterviewers on their initial, individual assessment of thecandidates' suitability.     

Agency Decentralization: Planning and Assessment

Summary Criteria are examined for the location of area offices in SocialServices Departments, drawing on the monitored experience ofdealing with voluntary callers to an area office in the ProbationService. Changes were observed in numbers of voluntary callersand the kinds of problems presented, together with developmentsin inter-agency relationships. The caller's subjective feelingsregarding the accessibility of the agency were found to be importantdeterminants of agency use. Implications are drawn out for planningdecisions in local authorities     

Prisoners' children and politics: an aetiology of victimisation

SUMMARY. Very little attention has been paid to the needs of prisoners' children, in spite of the large numbers involved. Whilst to some extent this is due to the hidden nature of the problem, it is also influenced significantly by the fact that the justice system - based on concepts of acquitting the innocent and punishing the guilty - cannot afford to accept publicly that many tens of thousands of children are punished more by the sentence than is their imprisoned parent. Often the prisoner's child may also suffer more than the victim of the parent's crime. Media attention to the sentencing of a mother by Judge Pickles brought into the open a subject which is mostly hidden or ignored. This article explores the issues and argues for a new approach     

Rishtas: adding emotion to strategy in understanding British Pakistani transnational marriages

Abstract The popularity of transnational marriages that in most cases involve first cousins or other kin distinguishes Pakistanis from other British South Asian groups. In this article we explain the popularity of such marriages. We seek to complement accounts that stress kinship obligations and socio‐economic strategy by showing that transnational marriages are also motivated by the emotional ties of kinship. Central to this analysis is a focus on the Urdu/Panjabi concept of rishta, which conveys ideas about a ‘good’ match and about emotional connections between people. Our attention to emotional discourse between siblings, between parents and children and between prospective spouses in the context of marriage arrangements augments the understanding of what is at stake for those involved in transnational marriages. Our analysis also complements accounts that emphasize parental exegesis by offering a multigenerational perspective.     

PENSIONS AND WAGE PREMIA

We hypothesize that the magnitude of the pension-wage compensating differential should vary by sector, because sectoral differences in firms 'technologies result in cost differences in providing non-wage benefits'. Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, we find that the pension-wage compensating differential is smaller in the union sector and large firms than in small, nonunion firms. Controls for sectoral selectivity do not alter the results. Thus, workers at unionized and large firms pay a lower implicit price for their pensions either because pensions have productivity-enhancing effects, or because these firms pay workers economic rents via pensions. (JEL 532, J31, 541)