This book provides fresh perspectives on the state of policy practice. Leading scholars explore such vital conceptual topics such as how to impact social justice, what the strengths-based perspective means to policy practitioners and how to bridge the all-too common gap between community organizing and direct practice in social work. Other esteemed academics address topics including how to use technology to impact social justice, what the impacts of the recent changes in the United States' Supreme Court will be, how to conceptualize the impact of ex-prisoners' re-entry into society and how to better include marginalized populations in the policy practice. The volume closes with two pieces relating to students: using service learning to increase knowledge of macro interventions and integrating social capital analysis into policy practice. Each topic is thoroughly covered by experts, using the latest scholarly material available. The reader will come away with a new perspective on the many areas where social work is involved, needed and effective in making positive change in the world. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Policy Practice.

This book provides a source of innovative theories and data for researchers grappling with social justice methodology and research methods in an environment constrained by funding agendas. This book foregrounds and promotes creativity and imagination within a critical frame of reference to challenge the status quo. It invites people into creative spaces for thinking about and researching 'the social'. With/in these spaces both the processes of social justice research (methodology) and the presentation of the research (re-presentation) are seen as being intertwined. This book explores methodologies which include, but are not limited to: writing as inquiry; performance ethnography; emotional geographies; arts-based inquiry; autoethnography; evocative inquiry; reader's theatre. This may include poetry, monologues, art, music, dance, and other creative mediums. Many of these methods are not new per se. What is new is the blurring of traditional research boundaries, for example between the social sciences and the arts, and the initial movement of these methods from the margins to the mainstream in the search for more successful ways to effect social justice outcomes. This book was published as a special issue of the International Journal of Social Research Methodology.

This book examines the foundation and progress of the Rochester Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative (RMAPI). Poverty has once again become a major issue in American cities, and nowhere more so than Rochester, which has one of the highest rates of poverty in the nation. RMAPI was established to reduce poverty, yet in the five years since its formation the poverty rate is essentially unchanged. Analyzing the reasons behind its failure, this book argues that the very nature of the organizational framework is part of the problem, and that RMAPI's project is caught up with contradictory imperatives of neo-liberal welfare reforms. More than just a study of local interest, the book uses Rochester as a case study to illuminate the limits of the neo-liberal approach to poverty. It will appeal to all those interested in political science, urban politics, community studies, welfare policy and public administration.

What social factors contribute to the tragic state of health care in Africa? Focusing on East African societies, this book is the first to investigate what role religion plays in health care in African cultures. Taking into account the geopolitical and economic environments of the region, the authors examine the roles played by individual and group beliefs, government policies, and pressure from the Millennium Development Goals in affecting health outcomes. Informed by existing related studies, and on-the-ground interviews with individuals and organizations in Uganda, Mozambique and Ethiopia, this interdisciplinary book will form an invaluable resource for scholars seeking to better understand the links between society, multi-level state instruments, and health care in East Africa.

In a groundbreaking longitudinal study, researches studied seven similar social housing neighbourhoods in Ireland to determine what factors affected their liveability. In this collection of essays, the same researchers return to these neighbourhoods ten years later to see what's changed. Are these neighbourhoods now more liveable or leaveable? Social Housing, Disadvantage and Neighbourhood Liveability examines the major national and local developments that externally affected these neighbourhoods: the Celtic tiger boom, area-based interventions, and reforms in social housing management. Additionally, the book examines changes in the culture of social housing through studies of crime within social housing, changes in public service delivery, and media reporting on social housing. Social Housing, Disadvantage and Neighbourhood Liveability offers a new body of data valuable to researchers in Ireland and abroad on how to create more equitable and liveable social housing.

This comprehensive collection provides a fascinating summary of the debates on the growth of institutional care during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Revising and revisiting Foucault, it looks at the significance of ethnicity, race and gender as well as the impact of political and cultural factors, throughout Britain and in a colonial context. It questions historically what it means to be mad and how, if at all, to care.

Related link: The Society for the Social History of Medicine
eBook available with sample pages: 0203025784

This book takes a historical approach to analyse ideologies, policy approaches and development systems that have constructed the paradigm of international social development. It aims to review the social construction of "development" by tracing the historical dynamics of the modern ideologies and political economy of industrialization, colonization, the Cold War, and globalisation; to examine the process of reconstruction of development as "social development" based on alternate ideologies and alternate policy approaches and review the roles played by the development systems; and to trace the history of social policy approaches from welfare to rights-based, universal, comprehensive and preventative social policies for social development, and identify the roles played by non-government organizations and the social work profession.

This research-based volume presents a substantive, panoramic view of ways in which Australia and countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America engage in educational programs and practices to transform the learning processes and outcomes of their students. It reveals and analyzes national and global trajectories in key areas of educational development, and enhances readers' understanding of the nature and complexity of educational transformation in a global context. The book's comprehensive analysis of factors associated with transforming education within globally representative geographical, cultural, and political contexts contributes to critical scholarship; its discussion of individual country findings and cross-country patterns has significant implications for educational practitioners and leaders. The volume has direct practical relevance for educational practitioners and leaders, policymakers, and researchers, as nations remain in dire need of effective ways and means to transform their respective educational systems to (1) more ably realize educational equity, (2) make learning relevant to an increasingly diverse overall student populace, (3) ensure individual and general prosperity, and (4) promote substantive global collaboration in developing the new economy.

Experiment and Experience is a collection of critical essays on twenty-first-century women-authored literature in France. In particular, the volume focuses on how contemporary women's writing engages creatively with socio-political issues and real-life experiences. Authors covered include well-established names, the 'new generation' of writers who first came to the fore of the French literary scene in the 1990s and whose work has now matured into an important oeuvre, as well as new emerging writers of the 2000s, whose work is already attracting scholarly and critical attention. Within the overarching theme of 'experiment and experience', the contributors explore a range of issues: identities, family relations, violence, borders and limits, and the environment. They consider fiction, autobiography, writing for the theatre, autofiction and other hybrid genres and forms. Their analyses highlight difficult issues, refreshing perspectives and exciting new themes at the start of the new millennium and moving forward into the coming decades.

The volume is a selection of the most incisive analyses related to the issues of gender and social transition that appeared in the pages of the quarterly East European Politics and Societies. The articles look at what was happening to women in the changing East European societies and propose new perspectives on the history of the region. Articles cover many countries and come from a period of twelve years - 1994 to 2006 - when the efforts of introducing gender into East European studies were most intense. The volume shows the trajectory leading from the introduction of the lens of gender into the East European studies to the moment at which the tools of gender analysis were applied without apology to the research on East European politics, law, history, culture and economy.

Infancy is a time of rapid growth, when brain plasticity is at a maximum. Event-related potentials (ERPs) are one of the few methods that can easily and safely be used to study this process, and have led to exciting discoveries about human brain functioning and the neural basis of cognition. Over recent years, there has been a massive rise in the level of interest in ERPs and this book considers the advantages which they offer to researchers and clinicians. In particular, it looks at the benefits of this form of neuroimaging as a non-invasive tool for detecting impairments in brain and cognitive development very early in life. The potential use of ERPs for clinical settings is also explored in detail. The contributions are all from eminent researchers in the field and represent the latest thought on the topic. Infant EEG and Event-Related Potentials explains the basics of event-related potentials for those less familiar with the procedures and terminology, as well as offering a valuable handbook of the latest theories and empirical findings for those working in the field. This will be a valuable source for those interested in developmental psychology and neuropsychology, and for clinicians interested in application of ERPs.

First published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Although several decades of feminist social action have made significant progress to the social, economic and political condition of many women, change has been uneven and there remain considerable advancements to be made globally. This valuable third edition updates some of the perennial issues that women face for today and looks at new arenas of difficulty, including digital exclusion, sustainable community development and environmental justice.

This interdisciplinary volume aims to deepen and enrich the reader's understanding of children's lives in the Global South. At a time when provision for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is expanding across the globe, this book highlights issues around early childhood development as well as exploring the importance of including local traditions, culture and knowledge in developing professional practices in the sector. A range of international contributors, including key scholars in the field of early childhood, draw on topics identified for discussion at the Early Childhood in Developing World Contexts International Conference, held at University College Cork, Ireland, in 2011. Much of the exciting research being undertaken in this area remains unrecognized, and the volume aims to communicate some of the important debates currently taking place. The essays are organized into three broad themes: children's lives and livelihoods; early years policy and practice; and language and culture.

This volume brings together multiple diverse perspectives from around the globe on quality of life and community well-being from a place-based perspective. It provides both conceptual and applied explorations across disciplines, ideas and perspectives to foster more interest and research in community well-being. Topics include surveying at the community level, child friendly communities, collective impact, grieving, and happiness. Those working in the areas of public policy, community development, community and social psychology, as well as planning and development will find this volume particularly useful for the array of perspectives, research, and analytical approaches presented.

This book provides the first comprehensive information and detailed data on the welfare systems of all twenty-seven EU member states and offers the reader an invaluable introduction and basis for comparative welfare research. The introductory chapter summarizes the actual debate about welfare states and welfare (state) regimes, gives an overview on current welfare (state) research and analyses the main recent developments necessitating a new focus on European Welfare Systems. The twenty-seven chapters on the welfare systems of the member states are written on the basis of a common structure by experts from the individual states. An additional chapter analyses the current social and welfare policies of the EU and focuses on the interplay and limits between European and national social policies. Two concluding chapters provide (a) a first comparative analysis on the basis of all twenty-seven European Welfare Systems and (b) a theoretical reflection both arguing for and venturing the idea of politically limited pluralism in European welfare politics.

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. Single parents face a triple bind of inadequate resources, employment, and policies, which in combination further complicate their lives. This book - multi-disciplinary and comparative in design - shows evidence from over 40 countries, along with detailed case studies of Sweden, Iceland, Scotland, and the UK. It covers aspects of well-being that include poverty, good quality jobs, the middle class, wealth, health, children's development and performance in school, and reflects on social justice. Leading international scholars challenge our current understanding of what works and draw policy lessons on how to improve the well-being of single parents and their children.

Over the last 250 years, the global capitalist system has been responsible for rapid economic growth and technological change. The consequent increase in production of an ever-changing and expanding range of products and services has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and deprivation. This book suggests, however, that the primary purpose of current production and distribution is not to satisfy human needs but to create profit for the owners of capital that in turn has devastating consequences for the environment and for vulnerable people. Multidisciplinary in perspective, contributors to this volume addresses issues of inequality which affect both developed and developing countries. While they are concerned with the framework of income distribution they also explore the wider dynamics of capitalist systems of production and consumption and examine the dimensions of inequality from both an economic and socio/cultural perspective. The book has three key themes: relations between technologies, inequalities and exploitation; issues surrounding technologies and development; and the nature of technologies and their associated opportunities in the face of the future. That future is contested, and in the present context of persistent inequalities, a debate about where we might be going and how we might get there is crucial. This book makes a trenchant and challenging contribution to this debate.

For many, caring for a chronically ill family member is "the right thing to do," but it is also often a source of emotional hardship, physical stress, and social isolation. In response, skill-building, coping, and psychoeducational programs have emerged to help caregivers meet the changes and challenges in their - as well as the patients' - lives.

"Education and Support Programs for Caregivers "reveals the diversity of the caregiver population as well as their experiences and needs, and it introduces an empirically solid framework for planning, implementing, and evaluating caregiver programs. The book synthesizes current trends, exploring the effectiveness of different types of programs (e.g., clinic, community, home based) and groups (e.g., peer, professional, self-help), and how supportive programs lead to improved care.

Coverage includes:

Improving service delivery of education and support programs to underserved caregivers.Cultural, ethnic, and gender issues in conducting caregiver education and support groups.Utilization patterns (e.g., a key to understanding service needs).E-health, telehealth, and other technological developments in caregiver services.Evaluating the effectiveness and sustainability of programs.Recommendations for future practice, training, policy, and advocacy.

"Education and Support Programs for Caregivers" offers a wealth of insights and ideas for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students across the caregiving fields, including psychology, social work, public health, geriatrics and gerontology, and medicine as well as public and education policy makers.

This book reviews how local social and employment policy fields react to the European Social Fund (ESF) to determine the role of the ESF in local activation policies. Drawing on both sociology and political science literature on welfare state reforms, the author examines what shapes local policy reactions to ESF and what effects these reactions have on change in local policy fields. Comparing data from 18 local case studies across 6 European countries, and deploying an innovative mixed-method approach, the book presents comparative evidence on everyday challenges in the context of the ESF and discusses how these findings are applicable to other funding schemes.

First Published in 1998. This is Volume VIII of an eighteen volume library of Sociology on Public Policy, Welfare and Social Work and includes a study on the professional task in welfare practice. The book covers objectives of the welfare professions and gives guidance in this vocation, techniques, training and skills and comments on the themes of reassurance, faith, political commitment and reform, as well as the concept of treatment in non-medical settings.

First published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The Everyday of Memory explores manifestations of the communist past in the everyday lives of Eastern Europeans today. Representing a wide range of disciplines including cultural studies, film studies, urban studies, sociology, media, literature and art, the contributors to this book question the myth of a homogeneous Eastern European identity (as opposed to its historical Western counterpart). At the same time, they insist that those who experienced communism have a 'right to remember', and that their memories offer an alternative to the project of globalizing capitalism. The volume presents a critique of the current withdrawal of Eastern European politics from discussion of the communist past, in which the latter tends to be regarded as an obstacle to the neoliberal transition to democracy. As the book's microstudies of the everyday life of memory show, communism has never been isolated from its capitalist nemesis: the two systems have been intertwined in the post-Enlightenment interplay of the humanist ideals that underpin the modernist project. Through a close observation of the unconstrained ways in which memory works, this book offers an insight into the paradoxes of the two ideological powers which posited the subservient homo sovieticus against the civilized homo economicus. The book also invites debate about the contemporary relevance of the ideological polarization of communism and capitalism.

Contemporary Issues in the Sociology of Race and Ethnicity: A Critical Reader occupies, expands, and challenges the issues raised by critical race theory. Fleshing out the theoretical pillars of Critical Anti-Racist Theory (CART) as its central organizing framework, this text responds to the central issue of race in terms of public and academic discourses, meta-narratives, and its implications for social policy. Drawing from popular culture, this edited collection features a variety of real-world analyses, from media bias to contentious Africentric school programs. This collection serves as a timely and accessible text for academic and wider audiences. In addition to outlining the philosophical underpinnings of CART, the text considers how this theory may inform current socio-political dynamics in a wide, globally-reaching range of areas. This book could be used in the undergraduate and graduate levels in these disciplines: Anthropology, Diaspora Studies, Education, Ethnic Studies, Law, Multiculturalism Studies, Politics, Social Work, and Sociology.

In China, social development has fallen far behind economic development. This book looks at why this is the case, and poses the question of whether the conditions, structures and institutions that have locked China into unbalanced development are changing to pave the way for the next stage of development. Based on an empirical examination of ideological, structural and institutional transformations that have shaped China's development experiences, the book analyses China's reform and development in the social domain, including pension, healthcare, public housing, ethnic policy, and public expenditure on social programs. The book moves beyond descriptive analyses to understand the role of broader changes in shaping and redefining the pattern of development in China.