Alike but different: the understanding of rituals among Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus in Denmark

ABSTRACT

This article will discuss the meaning(s) of rituals among Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus in Denmark with special focus on the second generation. It will use Roy A. Rappaport's theory on ritual both as communication and as a basic social act, but it will also, in line with Jan Assmann and Hervieu Legér, understand the ritual as a storing place of collective memory. It will give a short outline of what can be called the institutionalisation but also the placemaking of the Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu tradition in Denmark, but the empirical focus will be on the chariot procession (Tēr), which attracts thousands of participants every year. The Tēr procession is an example of continuity and change. Continuity because the participants try to reproduce the ritual as they know it from Sri Lanka, however, changed so it fits into or communicates with the new setting.     

Historical development and characteristics of social work in today's China

Social work education has experienced three stages since its introduction to China in the 1920s: introduction, abolishment and reinstatement. Theoretically, there are four types of social work in China: official–educational, official–practical, voluntary–educational and voluntary–practical. In practice, all four types of social work have not necessarily been embodied in each developmental stage, and the order of their historical development is not the same as the order of their logical development; i.e. some types are lacking in some of the stages. Each type of social work has its own characteristics, which are integrated into each development stage. Today, Chinese social work faces two major interrelated tasks: the professionalisation and the institutionalisation of social work. The former refers to the development of standardisation in Chinese social work; the latter has to do with the development of the social welfare institution in general and the development of institutional welfare in particular. In general, the dramatic development in Chinese social work largely depends on the accomplishment of the two tasks.     

Institutionalising a cross-sectional policy area? Ministerial competences for migrant integration in EU member states

Migrant integration is a cross-sectional policy issue and its governance involves a network of actors operating on different regional and government levels. Its emergence as a distinct policy area in many European democracies has reinvigorated the role of state actors, particularly at the national level. National governments face a growing need to coordinate formerly disparate domestic integration measures, yet they are also encouraged by increasing activities and resources that have evolved at the EU level. From an institutional perspective, this spread of both norms and resources is likely to result in the emergence of new governmental actors assigned with these tasks. Yet, little scholarly attention has so far been dedicated to the comparison of ministerial competences for migrant integration across Europe and their relation to integration policies. The paper addresses this gap in a comparative study, presenting data on the ministerial competences in 27 EU member states and Switzerland between 2010 and 2014 and linking them to data on migrant integration policies using the MIPEX dataset. The findings show no general European trend towards top-level institutionalisation and instead reveal substantial differences between Western and Eastern European democracies associated with the respective patterns of integration policies.     

Institutional woes of participation: Bulgarian disabled people’s organisations and policy‐making

This paper presents a critical study of the participation of Bulgarian disabled people’s organisations in the policy‐making process on a national level. It describes how the ‘representatives’ of disabled Bulgarians become depoliticised and even depersonalised when their participation becomes institutionalised through the National Council on Integration of People with Disabilities. It is argued that such an instance of ‘participation’ actually sustains the status quo of underdevelopment and dependency. A parallel is drawn with the concerns of the British disability movement. The paper ends by suggesting some tentative solutions to the highlighted problems.     

The specialisation of needs-assessment in Swedish municipal care for older people: the diffusion of a new organisational model

The 1990s were characterised by strong pressure for organisational reform at the municipality level in the Swedish welfare provision. In social care services for older people, care management reform was one of the many proposals circulating. Within a short time span, a large number of municipalities had implemented this new model and this paper reports and analyses the process of change. A key finding was that the success of the new organisational model was ascribed to new problem-solving functions and a lack of internal (professional) resistance.     

Rehabilitation,reintegration and recidivism: a theoretical and methodological reflection

ABSTRACT

The reintegration of ex-offenders into the community has emerged as a key concern of the criminal justice system as prison populations have increased globally. High recidivism rates indicate that prisons have not adequately prepared many prisoners for life after prisons. There are three issues this article explores: first, to unpack the theoretical and methodological issues in understanding the nebulous concept of ‘recidivism’; second, to provide a critique of the ‘risks–needs–responsivity’ model which has formed the basis of prison rehabilitation; and third, to suggest ways to mitigate the effects of institutionalisation to achieve positive rehabilitation and reintegration outcomes.     

‘It feels as if time has come to a standstill’: Institutionalised everyday lives among youth with a mental illness

This paper focuses on the everyday lives of young people with a severe mental illness living temporarily at a social psychiatric housing facility in Denmark. In the paper we take a temporal approach to the analysis of this and we draw on Henri Lefebvre’s work on rhythm analysis to investigate the differences between the rhythms of everyday life within the institution and the rhythms of what is perceived as the everyday life of ‘ordinary’ youth. We also show how digital technologies play a central part in these institutionalised everyday lives by creating connections as well as disruptions between different time-spaces. Centrally, we point to the positive and negative consequences this has for the young peoples’ sense of self. Empirically, the paper is based on a four-month ethnographic fieldwork at the housing facility in 2014.     

Factors associated with loneliness among the institutionalised elders in Shanghai,China: the role of social support

Studies have shown that loneliness is increasingly prevalent among the aged, especially those who live in institutions. This study examines the role of social support and differences in loneliness among institutionalised elders, using a face-to-face questionnaire interview in a Shanghai institution. Results show that the prevalence of loneliness among participants was relatively high. Gender, subjective appraisals of relationship with nurses, frequency of being visited by children, frequency of being visited by friends, and subjective appraisals of relationship with roommates were significant predictors of loneliness. The quality of social support was indicated as a significant factor for predicting loneliness rather than its quantity. It is striking that frequency of being visited by children was found to be positively associated with loneliness. This counterintuitive finding suggests that the function of family for those institutionalized elders may be negative under China’s cultural norms, beliefs, and perceptions, which is incongruent with theoretical assumptions in Western countries.