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Legislating The Family: Heterosexist Bias In Social Welfare Policy Frameworks, Amy Lind

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article addresses the effects of heterosexist bias in social welfare policy frameworks on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals and families in the United States. It discusses the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), federal definitions of family and household, and stereotypes about LGBT individuals. It argues that poor LGBT individuals and families lack full citizen rights and access to needed social services as a result of these explicit and implicit biases.

Adoption In The U.S.: The Emergence Of A Social Movement, Frances A. Dellacava, Norma Kolko Phillips, Madeline H. Engel

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The Adoption Movement, which has been evolving in the U.S. since the late 1970s, is now fully formed. As a proactive, reformative social movement, adoption has reached the organizational, or institutional, stage. Evidence is seen in the roles assumed by government and voluntary agencies and organizations, as well as other systems in society, to support adoption, and in the extent to which adoption has been infused in the American culture, making it a part of our everyday landscape. Implications of the adoption movement for the helping professions are discussed, as is its impact on increasing cultural and racial diversity in …

Review Of Western Welfare In Decline: Globalization And Women's Poverty. Catherine Kingfisher. Reviewed By Silvia Borzutsky., Silvia Borzutzky

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Catherine Kingfisher, Western Welfare in Decline: Globalization and Women's Poverty. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003. $49.95 hardcover, $21.95 papercover.

Making A Cyber Literacy Connection From The Storage Room To The College Room, Paula Boxie

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

What roles can colleges and universities play in serving the many young adults whom our public school systems fail? This article sheds light on how one university was able to make a literacy connection with students attending an Alternative High School (AHS). This connection enabled AHS students and teacher candidates to effectively carry out a writing project in cyberspace. Data indicated that as the AHS students worked closely with their mentors, they became more aware of literacy strategies they needed to construct meaning and were able to recognize and appreciate quality writing. Thus, creating more partner-ships between higher institutions and …

Examining And Predicting College Students' Reading Intentions And Behaviors: An Application Of The Theory Of Reasoned Action, Lydia Burak

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This study examined the recreational reading attitudes, intentions, and behaviors of college students. The theory of reasoned action provided the framework for the investigation and prediction of the students' intentions and behaviors. Two hundred and one students completed questionnaires developed according to the guidelines for the construction of standard theory of reasoned action questionnaires. The instrument assessed students' attitudes, outcome beliefs, subjective norms, and normative beliefs, as well as intentions and behaviors regarding recreational reading. The constructs of the theory explained 35-38 percent of the variance in students' intentions. Attitudes toward recreational reading provided the strongest and most significant contributions.

Reading Horizons Vol. 45, No. 2

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Complete issue of Reading Horizons volume 45, issue 2.

The Welfare Myth: Disentangling The Long-Term Effects Of Poverty And Welfare Receipt For Young Single Mothers, Thomas P. Vartanian, Justine M. Mcnamara

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study investigates the effects of receiving welfare as a young woman on long-term economic and marital outcomes. Specifically, we examine if there are differences between young, single mothers who receive welfare and young, single mothers who are poor but do not receive welfare. Using the 1968-1997 Panel Study of Income Dynamics, our findings suggest those who receive welfare for an extended period as young adults have the same pre-transfer income over a 10 to 20 year period as those who are poor but do not receive welfare as young adults. While we found some differences between the two groups …

Review Of Assessing Outcomes In Child And Family Services: Comparative Design And Policy Issues. Anthony N. Malucchio, Cinzia Canali And Tiziano Vecchiato (Eds.) Reviewed By Sherill Clark., Sherrill Clark

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Anthony N. Maluccio, Cinzia Canali and Tiziano Vecchiato (Eds.) Assessing Outcomes in Child and Family Services: Comparative Design and Policy Issues. Hawthorne, NY: 2003. $49.95 hardcover, $24.95 papercover.

Review Of Newcomers To Old Towns: Suburbanization Of The Heartland. Sonya Salamon. Reviewed By Joseph Deering., Joseph A. Deering

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Sonja Salamon, Newcomers to Old Towns: Suburbanization of the Heartland. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. $35.00 hardcover.

Social Work And Aging In An Aging Society: Education, Policy, Practice And Research. Barbara Berkman And Linda Harootyan (Eds.)., Judie Svihula

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Barbara Berkman and Linda Harootyan (Eds.), Social Work and Health Care in an Aging Society: Education, Policy, Practice and Research. New York: Springer Publishing Co., 2003. $ 52.95 hardcover.

Public Pensions: Gender And Civic Service In The States, 1850-1937. Susan M. Sterett., James Midgley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Susan M. Sterett, Public Pensions: Gender and Civic Service in the States, 1850-1937. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003. $ 39.95 papercover.

Teachers' Beliefs And Practices Of Vocabulary Instruction With Social Studies Textbooks In Grades 4-8, Wanda B. Hedrick, Janis M. Harmon, Philip M. Linerode

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This investigation focused on the vocabulary beliefs and instructional practices of social studies teachers in intermediate and middle school grades as well as their use of teachers' manuals. Using a self-reporting survey to measure these beliefs and practices, we found some discrepancy between what teachers believe about vocabulary learning and their actual instructional practices for supporting vocabulary in teaching social studies. While their reported beliefs appear to mirror what is currently accepted as effective vocabulary instruction, their reported practices reflect more traditional notions like those found in many social studies textbook manuals. While all teachers surveyed held many beliefs and …

"Curiously Uninvolved": Social Work And Protest Against The War In Vietnam, Susan Kerr Chandler

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article reviews four leading social work journals from 1965-1975 for content on the War in Vietnam and the social issues arising from it. It finds that social work's major journals carried nearly no articles, letters, editorials, or short subjects related to the war and concludes that the dominant discourse constructed in the journals excluded meaningful engagement with the war or protest against it.

Examining The Relationship Between Community Residents' Economic Status And The Outcomes Of Community Development Programs, Christopher R. Larrison, Eric Hadley-Ives

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In designing and implementing community development interventions the economic status of targeted participants is a demographic characteristic worth considering. The findings from this research indicate that even within the limited economies of rural Mexican villages there are variations in economic status that affect the ways in which the outcomes of community development programs are perceived. The poorest of the poor are likely to be less satisfied with development projects than those with average or better-off economic status. This is true whether a development project uses a bottomup approach or a top-down approach. The more participatory approach does not attenuate the …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 31, No. 4 (December 2004)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• "CURIOUSLY UNINVOLVED": SOCIAL WORK AND PROTEST AGAINST THE WAR IN VIETNAM - Susan Kerr Chandler
• LEGISLATING THE FAMILY: HETEROSEXIST BIAS IN SOCIAL WELFARE POLICY FRAMEWORKS - Amy Lind
• EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNITY RESIDENTS' ECONOMIC STATUS AND THE OUTCOMES OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS - Christopher R. Larrison, Eric Hadley-Ives
• THE BENEFITS OF MARRIAGE RECONSIDERED - Barbara Wells, Maxine Baca Zinn
• MEASURING AND INDIGENIZING SOCIAL CAPITAL IN RELATION TO CHILDREN'S STREET WORK IN MEXICO: THE ROLE OF CULTURE IN SHAPING SOCIAL CAPITAL
• INDICATORS - Kristin M. Ferguson
• THE WELFARE MYTH: DISENTANGLING THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF POVERTY AND WELFARE …

The Benefits Of Marriage Reconsidered, Barbara Wells, Maxine Baca Zinn

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper suggests that analyses of marriage experience take into account both structures of inequality and context. Although marriage is widely viewed as producing economic well-being and family stability, this analysis of a sample of White rural families finds the likelihood of realizing these benefits to be closely related to social class position. Marriage failed to produce these benefits for many working class and poor families. Although gains in economic self-sufficiency are viewed as an explanation for White women's perceived retreat from marriage, the limited opportunity structure for women in this rural place provides a context in which women continue …

Measuring And Indigenizing Social Capital In Relation To Children's Street Work In Mexico: The Role Of Culture In Shaping Social Capital Indicators, Kristin M. Ferguson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Drawing from social capital theory, this study assessed the relevance of existing conceptions of social capital-largely from the United States and Canada-in the Mexican context, in an effort to contribute novel variables to the street-children literature. Using a cross-sectional survey design, 204 mothers of street-working and non-working children were interviewed within one community in Monterrey, Nuevo Le6n, Mexico. Factor analysis was used to corroborate the internal construct validity of two dimensions of social capital: family social capital and community social capital. Findings reveal that culture can play an influential role in how social capital indicators are defined and measured.

Intimate Partner Violence And Use Of Welfare Services Among California Women, Rachel Kimerling, Nikki Baumrind

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The current study is a population-based investigation of the association between past-year exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) and current welfare use, while also accounting for the effects of other violence experienced in adulthood and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These data indicate that acute exposure to intimate partner violence is significantly over-represented among women currently on welfare. However, it appears to be a woman's cumulative exposure to interpersonal violence and associated symptoms of PTSD that are uniquely associated with welfare participation. These data highlight the prevalence of violence against women and its consequences for this population. Results suggest …

Cleavage In American Attitudes Toward Social Welfare, William M. Epstein

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Opinion polls probing both the narrow and broad senses of social welfare among Americans indicate hardly any substantial differences over crucial social sentiments among a variety of groups with at least theoretically divergent interests: rich and poor, men and women, blacks and whites, a variety of ethnic groups, union and nonunion households. The items mainly concern the provision of welfare to the poor through AFDC, now TANF, and Food Stamps but also cover OASDHI. Consistently over more than sixty five years of systematic opinion polling, there is an astonishing consensus, so large in fact that it may undermine any effort …

Review Of Why I Burned My Book And Other Essays On Disability. Paul K. Longmore. Reviewed By Juliet Rothman., Juliet C. Rothman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Paul K. Longmore, Why I Burned My Book and Other Essays on Disability. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2003. $69.50 papercover.

Review Of Crime, Control And Social Justice: A Delicate Balance. Darnell F Hawkins, Samuel L. Meyers, Jr. And Randolph N. Stone (Eds.). Reviewed By Elizabeth Pomeroy., Elizabeth C. Pomeroy

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Darnell E Hawkins, Samuel L. Myers, and Randolph N. Stone (Editors). Crime Control and Social Justice: The Delicate Balance. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2003. $79.95 hardcover.

Review Of The Persistence Of Poverty In The United States. Garth L. Mangum, Stephen L. Mangum And Andrew M. Sum. The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle Class Mothers And Fathers Are Going Broke. Elizabeth Warren And Amelia Warren Tyagi. Reviewed By James Midgley., James Midgley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Garth L. Mangum, Stephen L. Mangum and Andrew M. Sum, The Persistence of Poverty in the United States. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. $19.95 papercover. Elizabeth Warren.and Amelia Warren Tyagi, The Two-income Trap: Why Middle Class Mothers and Fathers are Going Broke. New York: Basic Books, 2003. $26.00 hardcover.

Seasons Such As These: How Homelessness Took Shape In America. Cynthia J. Bogard., Robert Leighninger

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Cynthia J. Bogard, Seasons Such as These: How Homelessness Took Shape in America. Hawthorne, NY: Aldyne de Gruyter, 2003, $41.95 hardcover, $21.95 papercover

Drugs, Alcohol And Social Problems. James D. Orcut And David R. Rudy (Eds.)., Sean R. Hogan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for James D. Orcutt and David R. Rudy (Eds.), Drugs, Alcohol, and Social Problems. Lanham, MD: Rowan and Littlefield, 2003. $72.00 hardcover, $29.95 papercover.

Regressive Taxation And The Welfare State: Path Dependence And Policy Diffusion. Junko Kato., Michael Courville

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Junko Kato, Regressive Taxation and the Welfare State: Path Dependence and Policy Diffusion. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. $55.00 hardcover.

The Greatest Literacy Challenges Facing Contemporary High School Teachers: Implications For Secondary Teacher Preparation, Mary B. Campbell, Margaret M. Kmiecik

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Secondary teachers face significant challenges in their efforts to increase the literacy levels of adolescents. Encouraging teachers to speak out about these challenges and to recommend initiatives that may improve literacy practices for adolescents is vital for future reform efforts. This study examines the questions: "What are the greatest literacy challenges facing high school content area teachers?" and "What will help to diminish these challenges?" The data collection questionnaire was distributed to teachers in eight high schools throughout the greater Chicago area. A discussion of the findings suggests compelling directions for secondary teachers and teacher educators.

Matching Instructional Design With Vocabulary Instruction, William Dee Nichols, William H. Rupley

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Instructional design is an integral part of a balanced approach to teaching vocabulary instruction. The goal of this paper is to reflect on several lessons using research-based vocabulary strategies, and to present thinkalouds that detail the steps in matching instructional design with those strategies, in order to reach the learning outcome. Vocabulary instruction should encourage students to make associations and accommodations to their experiences and provide them with varied opportunities to practice, apply, and discuss their word knowledge in meaningful settings. The ultimate goal of teaching vocabulary is for the students to expand, refine, and add to their existing conceptual …

Reading Horizons Vol. 45 No. 1

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Complete issue of Reading Horizons volume 45, issue 1.

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 …

Review Of Evaluation In Child And Family Services: Comparative Client And Program Perspectives. Tiziano Vecchiato, Anthony N. Malucchio And Cinzia Canali (Eds.). Reviewed By Victor Groza., Victor Groza

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Tiziano Vecchiato, Anthony N. Malucchio and Cinzia Canali (Eds), Evaluation in Child and Family Services: Comparative Client and Program Perspectives. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter, 2003. $49.95 hardcover, $24.95 papercover.