Political Science Commons^™

Factors Influencing The Political Activity Of Social Workers: A Comparative Study Among Swiss And United States Social Workers, Tobias Kindler, Jason Ostrander

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Various international and national social work ethical principles call social workers to participate in politics, yet not much research exists in the field of a political social work. Little is known about the actual voluntary political engagement of social workers as well as factors influencing their political activity. Especially, few studies with an international comparison focus have been conducted. Consequently, this study used cross sectional survey design to better understand the factors influencing the political activity of social workers in Switzerland (n = 1242) and in the United States (n = 3033). The results indicate that the political activity of …

Who Is In The “We”? Interrogating The African Union’S Agenda 2063 And Youth Political Participation., Job Shipululo Amupanda J.S

International Journal of African Development

Most analyses of the African Union (AU) focus on the politics of the state and presidents. There are very few analyses that focus on aspects such as youth development. This article departs from that tradition. It argues that although the youth were always part of important historical developments in Africa, they have remained on the periphery. In recent times, particularly since the transformation of the Organization of African Unity into the AU in the 2000s, the youth development agenda has begun to receive attention at the policy level. In 2015, the AU through Agenda 2063 went a step further by …

Indigenous Knowledge And The Development Debate In Africa, Fidelis Ewane, Samson Ajagbe

International Journal of African Development

This research employs Bourdieu’s theory of habitus to explain the disposition of the donor community to integrate indigenous knowledge systems and practices into development projects. The theory’s objectivist perspective specifies the mechanism that links structural conditioning to social practice and regularities. It holds that power is culturally and symbolically created, and it is constantly re-legitimized through the interplay of agency and structure. This facilitates an analysis of the development field as social space characterized by indigenous and donor power relations. It argues that the reinforcement of indigenous knowledge as the main channel for development will generate transferable local capacities and …

Book Review: Courtrooms And Classrooms: A Legal History Of College Access, 1860-1960, Mark A. Addison

Journal of College Access

Issues of college access are increasingly met with resolutions within social and economic contexts. Models such as cost of production output, and race and socioeconomic-conscious strategies form the basis of such analyses (Jenkins & Rodriguez, 2013; Henriksen, 1995; Treager Huber, 2010; Schmidt, 2012). We can expect retooling and reinventing of such models with increasing college costs and changes in student demographics.

Sub-Regionalism Within The African Union: Does It Enhance Regional Integration?, Sandra Ochieng'-Springer

International Journal of African Development

The African continent renewed its commitment to regional integration in the post-1990s period in keeping with the global changes at the time. As part of this revitalization, the Organisation of African Union was transformed to the African Union which has broader aims, and sub-regionalism was also embraced with the establishment of regional economic communities that act as stepping stones to greater regional integration. Both continental and sub-regional efforts have placed emphasis on economic integration with states as key players in the integration projects. The relationship between these two groupings is complex as the AU, which is meant to coordinate the …

When War Is Peace: Peacebuilding In An Era Of Warfare, Josh Berkenpas

The Hilltop Review

A first step in constituting an international regime of peace is to construct a reliable cross-national map of the global order supporting continuous warfare. I examine the case of the conflict in Syria as a demonstration of the truly global nature of the conflict and the way that a multitude of state, corporate, and non-state actors are profiting from the war. I develop a case study of the war in Syria in order to highlight the nature of “new war” and the complexity of the situation, including the issue of arming rebels by the U.S. and other states. I follow …

Assessing Access To Social Services In Emerging Systems: A Conceptual Approach, Steven G. Anderson, Meirong Liu, Xiang Gao

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

There has been considerable concern about systemic factors that serve as access barriers for vulnerable groups in need of services, but conceptual and empirical work related to such issues have been limited. This article presents a new conceptual approach for considering and assessing access, which we call the “Funnel Framework”. The framework is explicated abstractly, and is illustrated with use of the U.S. child care subsidy system. We argue that the framework can usefully guide the analysis of access to any social benefit system, and can be helpful to administrators and program developers as they design and implement benefit systems.

Examining Human Capital Capacity’S Influence On Human Development And Poverty Reduction In Sub-Saharan Africa, Theodore J. Davis Jr.

International Journal of African Development

The aim of this paper is to examine and expand our focus on human capital capacity building as a foundation for poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa. The data showed significant differences in the human capital capacity building characteristics as measured by demographic, education and gender equality characteristics. In analyzing select human capital capacity building markers, the findings suggest that the educational indicators were among the strongest in explaining the variation in human development in Sub-Saharan Africa. The findings showed that gender inequality was a serious inhibitor of human development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Overall, the Sub-Saharan nations with the lowest level …

Welfare Reform In The States: Does The Percentage Of Female Legislators In State Legislatures Affect Welfare Reform Policies?, Lee W. Payne

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

My research tests the proposal that female legislators have issue specific political agendas and that female representation may affect these issues. Welfare is an issue that affects women and children to a larger degree than it does men. To test this hypothesis I use three measures of welfare sanctions and one measure of overall welfare environment as dependent variables. Results indicate that the level of female legislators does not have the expected impact on two of the three sanction policies, but it does have the expected impact on the overall welfare environment.

The Masaryks Of Czechoslovakia: Contributions In Sociology, Social Welfare And Politics, Rebecca L. Hegar

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article profiles contributions to sociology, social welfare and politics by members of the Masaryk family of Czechoslovakia, with primary emphasis on the career of Alice G. Masaryk (or Masarykovd), an applied sociologist and founder of Czech social work. As the daughter of Tomdi G. Masaryk, an academic philosopher and early sociologist who became the first President of Czechoslovakia in 1918, her life and work are inextricably linked with the country's history and with one of the remarkable families of their era. Research for this articlei nvolved searchingl iteraturef rom several disciplines and reviewing historical publications and documents from relevant …

Specialists, Generalists, And Policy Advocacy By Charitable Nonprofit Organizations, Heather Macindoe, Ryan Whalen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Previous research finds modest levels of engagement in policy advocacy by charitable nonprofits, despite legal regulations permitting nonprofit advocacy and the significance of public policy to nonprofit constituencies. This paper examines nonprofit involvement in policy advocacy using survey data from Boston, Massachusetts. Nonprofit participation in policy advocacy is associated with professionalization, resource dependence, features of the institutional environment, and organizational characteristics such as size and mission. Drawing from population ecology theory, we examine an additional aspect of organizational mission: whether a nonprofit serves a specialized or general population. We find that nonprofits serving specialized populations are more likely to participate …

Fear Vs. Facts: Examining The Economic Impact Of Undocumented Immigrants In The U.S., David Becerra, David K. Androff, Cecilia Ayón, Jason T. Castillo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Undocumented immigration has become a contentious issue in the U.S. over the past decade. Opponents of undocumented immigration have argued that undocumented immigrants are a social and financial burden to the U.S. which has led to the passage of drastic and costly policies. This paper examined existing state and national data and found that undocumented immigrants do contribute to the economies of federal, state, and local governments through taxes and can stimulate job growth, but the cost of providing law enforcement, health care, and education impacts federal, state, and local governments differently. At the federal level, undocumented immigrants tend to …

Imagining Women In U.S. Politics: The Problem Of Sisterhood In The Long 1960s, Sara Bijani

The Hilltop Review

The gendered expectations of the masculinist political establishment of the long 1960s made it difficult for women to define their own unique terrain as politicians. Even with the guarantee of formal political rights firmly in place, women's status as second class citizens persisted throughout the long 1960s. Often, women were forced into frames that defined their political interests around their embodied sex, rather than the needs of their constituents. This imagined construction of women as a separate subject class established a fundamentally unequal platform for women's participation as first class citizens of the United States. While ideological differences between male …

A Generation Of Isolation: Cuban Political Economic Policies, Elba Marcell Rivera Rodriguez

The Hilltop Review

Cuba is not only the largest island in the Greater Antilles, but also the only communist island in the Caribbean. This country has been governed by the Marxist-Leninist ideology for more than fifty years. Although the Cuban economy has not shown significant development since January 1, 1959, i.e. when the Revolutionaries came to power, it is presenting a new economic capacity-the tourism industry, which could drive the nation to a modern economic growth.

This article has been revised by the author. The revised version is available as a supplement at the link below.

Are Institutions The Answer? Mitigating Sectarian Protest In Divided Nations, Matthew P. Arsenault

The Hilltop Review

Ethnic violence has increased exponentially in the decades following World War II. As such, it is imperative that cures for the unique ills found in divided societies be discovered. This article seeks to quantitatively investigate the efficiency of formal political institutions in curbing ethnically-based violent protest in divided societies. As such, the dependent variable is the level of violent protest, while the independent variables include: a parliamentary system of government, a proportional representation electoral system, and a federated system. It is my contention that such institutions will significantly lessen incidents of ethnically-motivated violent protest. In addition, this article concludes with …

Political Economy, Moral Economy And The Medicare Modernization Act Of 2003, Judie Svihula

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Through the lens of political and moral economy, I examined the dominant values and actors in the legislative process of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. In my content analysis of federal hearings, I found that witnesses from government agencies, Congress and think tanks had almost equal presence at the hearings. Witnesses who were invited by Congress to testify at the hearings expressed twice as much support for private interests than for the general Medicare population or low-income beneficiaries. Few expressed concern for the uninsured population. Witnesses offered almost four times as many expressions of support for market rationalism than …

Presidents, Profits, Productivity, & Poverty: A Great Divide Between The Pre- & Post-Reagan U.S. Economy?, Richard K. Caputo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper examined profits, productivity, and poverty in the United States from 1961 through 2002. Results indicated that the "great divide" thesis regarding the U.S. economy before and after the Reagan administration depends on which measure of the economy is the focus of attention. In addition, on some measures where before and after differences were detected, the nature of those differences was paradoxical. Corporate profits as a share of national income, for example, were highest in Democratic rather than Republican administrations and despite the increased income inequality of the post-Reagan years, individual and family poverty rates remained relatively constant after …

Restorative Justice, Responsive Regulation, And Democratic Governance, Paul Adams

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Restorative justice has been a central tradition of justice in most, perhaps all societies prior to the emergence of the modern, central state power with its bureaucratic-professional systems and its emphasis on retribution, deterrence, and, sometimes, re- habilitation. Its revival as a new social movement in modern states offers a new paradigm for addressing the key questions in social work and social welfare of the relation of formal to informal systems of care and control, and of empowerment to coercion. Restorative justice may be defined in terms of process- one whereby all stakeholders come together to resolve how to deal …

The National Domestic Workers Union And The War On Poverty, Elizabeth Beck

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article explores values, strategies, and tensions found within the War on Poverty and examines a War on Poverty-supported initiative, the National Domestic Workers Union (NDWU). The article makes the argument that the NDWU is illustrative of the War on Poverty in that each held structurally based descriptions of poverty and individually based prescriptions. The article explores the relationship of domestic service to the institutions of racism, classism, and sexism and how the ND WU strategies of training, service, and, advocacy-like those of the War on Poverty-sought to address the needs of individual domestic workers while circumventing larger and more …

Declarations Of Dependency: The Civic Republican Tradition In U.S. Poverty Policy. Alan F. Zundel

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Alan E Zundel, Declarations of Dependency: The Civic Republican Tradition in U. S. Poverty Policy. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2000. $16.95 papercover.

The Historical Uniqueness Of The Clinton Welfare Reforms: A New Level Of Social Misery?, Larry Patriquin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This essay argues that the 1996 reforms to the American welfare state have no historical precedent. They are not a return to "the poorhouse era" and are radically distinct from Great Britain's new poor law of 1834, to which they are often compared. America is the first advanced capitalist country to jettison a significant element of its welfare state and, as such, is moving into waters that are uncharted and dangerous.

Review Of The Struggle For Control Of Public Education: Market Ideology Vs. Democratic Values. Michael Engel. Reviewed By Leon Ginsberg, Leon Ginsberg

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Michael Engel, The Struggle for the Control of Public Education, Market Ideology vs. Democratic Values. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2000. $54.50 hardcover, $19.95 papercover.

In The Service Of Market Socialism: The Quest For A Welfare Model In China, Bong-Ho Mok, Jitong Liu

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The socialist market economy in China has brought about impressive economic growth. It has also resulted in serious social problems such as unemployment, deteriorating family relations, prostitution, and poverty among the disadvantaged groups. This paper discusses a welfare model proposed by the Chinese Government to contain the destabilizing effects of the social problems and to serve the newly adopted market socialism. The authors argue that although this welfare model is still very much residual by western standards, it is a big step forward in building a modern Chinese welfare system.

Legislators' Perceptions About Poverty: Views From The Georgia General Assembly, Elizabeth L. Beck, Deborah M. Whitley, James L. Wolk

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study sought to explore legislators perspectives about causes of poverty. Members of the Georgia General Assembly rated the importance of 10 behavioral and structural explanations of poverty, and indicated whether they thought poor women and children would be better served under AFDC or TANF. Whereas all groups of legislators found behavioral explanations moderately important, there was significant variation by race, gender, and political party about the importance of structural explanations of poverty. Support for several structural explanations of poverty correlated with a preference for AFDC, but no correlations were found with behavioral explanations. This study holds implications for affecting …

The Framing Of Political Advocacy And Service Responses In The Crime Victim Rights Movement, Frank J. Weed

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper analyses two major aspects of the mobilizing frames found among local organizations in the crime victim rights movement. A national survey of 301 organizations demonstrated that organizations shape their service/action responses in terms of three conceptualizations of the "victim problem." These conceptualizations clearly influence the pattern of service programs found in different types of organizations. In addition it is shown that some types of organizations are more oriented to political advocacy than others; yet all types of organizations are more apt to be involved in political action if their staff members are oriented to "victim rights" framed as …

Review Of Small Change: Domestic Policy Under The Clinton Presidency. David Stoesz. Reviewed By James Midgley, Louisiana State University., James Midgley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

David Stoesz, Small Change: Domestic Policy under the Clinton Presidency. New White Plains, NY: Longman, 1996. $25.00 papercover.

The Impact Of Market Economy Transition On Social Security And Social Welfare In Poland, Morgan A. Tracy, Martin B. Tracy

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The development of certain facets of Poland's social protection system since the collapse of state socialism in 1989 is analyzed using a comparative policy process analysis model. Particulara ttention is given to the programs of social assistance, child-care and family benefits, and old-age pensions in the Polish context. On the basis of the analysis it is argued that policy makers should give greater consideration to Poland's unique historical and cultural experience relative to addressing social issues.

The Political Activity Of Social Workers: A Post-Reagan Update, Mark Ezell

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article reports the findings of a survey that examined the political activism of social workers and what changes may have occurred in their political participation during the Reagan years. Social workers are politically active largely by writing letters to public officials but also by discussing political issues with friends, by belonging to politically active organizations and by attending political meetings. In addition, a substantial proportion of social workers make campaign contributions and get involved in candidate elections. Among social workers, those with the highest educational degrees, those who are NASW members, those who are in macro type jobs, and …

The Fall Of The Industrial City: The Reagan Legacy For Urban Policy, David Stoesz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The Reagan presidency reversed a half-century of federal aid to cities. Poor minority comnnunities were particularly hard-hit, since this was accompanied by a white flight to the suburbs and the replacement of better paying industrial jobs requiring little education with poorer paying service jobs requiring iore education. Meanwhile wealthy communities prospered. To address urgent social problems, urban politicians are advocating strategies such as industrial policy, public entrepreneurship, and guerrilla welfare.

Unhousing The Urban Poor: The Reagan Legacy, Beth A. Rubin, James D. Wright, Joel A. Devine

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The Reagan era was characterized by the popularity of individual level explanations and market based solutions for a range of social problems, including homelessness. We argue that such an approach was inadequate and may, in fact, have toorsened the housing situation. We claim that homelessness is fundamentally a housing problem linked to two key trends of the 1980s: the increasing rate of poverty and the declining supply'f low-income housing. Market approaches to housing policy have resulted in housing policies by default: gentrification, condo conversion and displacement as well as tax policies that explicitly favor the nonpoor. Those policies gehred towards …