Digital Commons Network^™

Review Of Creating Positive Systems Of Child And Family Welfare: Congruence With The Everyday Lives Of Children And Parents. Gary Cameron, Marshall Fine, Sarah Maiter, Karen Frensch, And Nancy Freymond (Eds.). Reviewed By David Tobis., David Tobis

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Gary Cameron, Marshall Fine, Sarah Maiter, Karen Frensch, and Nancy Freymond (Eds.), Creating Positive Systems of Child and Family Welfare: Congruence with the Everyday Lives of Children and Parents. University of Toronto Press, (2013), 352 pages, $56 cloth, $27.96 paperback.

Review Of Youth Work: An Institutional Ethnography Of Youth Homelessness. Naomi Nichols. Reviewed By Melinda Mccormick., Melinda Mccormick

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Naomi Nichols, Youth Work: An Institutional Ethnography of Youth Homelessness. University of Toronto Press, (2014). 158 pp., $24.95, paperback.

Introduction To The Special Issue: New Scholarship In Institutional Ethnography, Paul C. Luken, Suzanne Vaughan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Twelve years ago the Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare (JSSW) published a special issue devoted to institutional ethnography, “Institutional Ethnography: Theory and Practice” (Winfield, 2003). This alternative sociology, founded by Dorothy E. Smith, begins from the standpoint of the experiences of particular, active subjects and sets out to discover and describe the social relations shaping those experiences (Smith, 1987, 2005, 2006). JSSW, dedicated to publishing new, cutting-edge theoretical and methodological articles, was the first academic journal to devote a special issue to this new mode of inquiry used to investigate the social world. Over the ensuing years, the number …

Interrogating The Ruling Relations Of Thailand’S Post-Tsunami Reconstruction: Empirically Tracking Social Relations In The Absence Of Conventional Texts, Aaron Williams, Janet Rankin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper discusses methodological strengths and challenges in doing institutional ethnographic (IE) research in communities devastated by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Southern Thailand. IE is a mode of inquiry used to describe institutional mechanisms of reconstruction, aid, and recovery and to show how recovery efforts affected real people and communities over time. The chaotic nature of a disaster zone, combined with the more common difficulties of conducting research in a developing region relying on a translator, posed various challenges in the conduct of this IE study. Textual data, one of the important tools used in IE research, were …

(Un)Safe At School: Parents' Work Of Securing Nursing Care And Coordinating School Health Support Services Delivery For Children With Diabetes In Ontario Schools, Lisa Watt

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Using institutional ethnography and its approach to mapping institutional sequences (Smith, 2005; Turner, 2006), this paper examines the social organization of School Health Support Services (SHSS) for children with diabetes in Ontario schools. The inquiry starts with my own situated experience as a mother of a child with diabetes starting kindergarten, and the trouble of securing the health supports necessary to care for my child’s health and safety while she is at school. The paper takes up two specific texts—the Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) Referral Form and the CCAC Medical Orders for Services at School—to explore and describe how …

Review Of This Changes Everything: Capitalism Vs. The Climate. Naomi Klein. Reviewed By Sheila D. Collins., Sheila Collins

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate. (2014). Simon & Schuster. $30 (hardcover), 576 pages.

Towards An Institutional Counter-Cartography Of Nurses’ Wound Work, Nicola Waters

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Under the banner of continuous quality improvement, process mapping has become an increasingly routine feature of healthcare administration. Driven by demands to improve efficiency through standardization, nurses’ knowledge of their often-unpredictable work is routinely changed to fit within graphical representations that depict it as objectively controllable. Tensions that arose as I attempted to apply my knowledge as a specialist nurse in the rapidly changing area of outpatient wound clinics formed the direction for my institutional ethnography (IE) inquiry. As a student new to IE, I encountered challenges as I tried to explain to my informants how Dorothy Smith’s alternative sociology …

Review Of Inequality In The Promised Land: Race, Resources, And Suburban Schooling. R. L'Heureux Lewis-Mccoy. Reviewed By Paul L. Tractenberg, Paul Tractenberg

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

R. L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy, Inequality in the Promised Land: Race, Resources, and Suburban Schooling. (2014). Stanford University Press. $24.95 (hardcover), 232 pages.

Review Of Out In The Union: A Labor History Of Queer America. Miriam Frank. Reviewed By Ann S. Holder., Ann S. Holder

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Miriam Frank, Out in the Union: A Labor History of Queer America. (2014). Temple University Press. $54.50 (hardcover), $29.95 (paperback), 240 pages.

Review Of It's Not Like I'M Poor: How Working Families Make Ends Meet In A Post-Welfare World. Sarah Halpern-Meekin, Kathryn Edin, Laura Tach, & Jennifer Sykes. Reviewed By Vanessa D. Wells, Vanessa Wells

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Sarah Halpern-Meekin, Kathryn Edin, Laura Tach, & Jennifer Sykes, It’s Not Like I’m Poor: How Working Families Make Ends Meet in a Post-Welfare World. (2015). University of California Press. $29.95 (paperback), 304 pages.

An Examination Of The New York State Workers' Compensation Reform Act Of 2007, Julia Ostrov

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Workers' compensation, a critical safety net for injured and ill workers in the form of medical care and wage replacement benefits, emerged on the heels of the Industrial Revolution as the first extensive social insurance program in the United States. Over the past two decades, workers' compensation policy in New York State has followed a national trend of severe retrenchment in benefits to workers. This paper takes as its focus an examination of the most recent workers' compensation reform legislation in New York, and provides a discussion of the important role social workers can play in promoting social justice within …

Reframing New Frontiers For Indigenous Peoples, Hilary N. Weaver

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper examines colonial and Indigenous perspectives on frontiers. The United States context is used to further focus on the historic impact of the frontier on Native Americans. This is followed by a discussion of how boundaries and frontiers might be reframed in more balanced ways that respect the sovereignty of Indigenous nations. Examples are presented from child welfare and casino gaming to illustrate contemporary interactions across boundaries.

Social Work Advocacy: Professional Self-Interest And Social Justice, Mary Ellen Brown, Michelle M. Livermore, Annahita R. Ball

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study employed an analysis of the advocacy-related resources and materials available through the 50 NASW state chapter websites. Results revealed that a large number of states had no information about advocacy on their websites (42%). One third of the mission statements reviewed contained language indicating that advocacy was part of the chapter mission, while nearly as many included no content related to advocacy or social justice on their homepages. Nearly two thirds of the websites contained no resources, tools or links to help with advocacy practice, promotion or education. Thirteen advocacy themes emerged, which represented policy issues within the …

Relationship-Based Justice For Gender Responsive Specialty Courts, Margaret H. Lloyd

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Family drug courts (FDCs) have existed in the U.S. since 1994. Since that time, dozens of studies have found evidence that FDCs improve child welfare outcomes compared to traditional dependency courts. The level of sophistication of this research has stalled, however, arguably because the theoretical foundations of the approach are underdeveloped. The social psychological theory of procedural justice can predict and explain outcomes in treatment courts better than therapeutic jurisprudence. However, in light of evidence suggesting that gender impacts treatment court outcomes, procedural justice alone falls short as the mechanism of change in family drug courts, because women constitute the …

Race–Gender Differences In The Impact Of History Of Heavy Drinking On Current Alcohol Consumption During The Transition To Adulthood, C. André Christie-Mizell, Whitney Laster Pirtle, Benjamin D. Tyndall, David M. Merolla Phd

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

American youth transitioning to adulthood consume more alcohol than in any other period of the life course. This high level of consumption can result in serious consequences, including lost productivity, death and disability, sexual assault, and addiction. Nevertheless, relatively little is known, especially by race and gender, about how prior history of heavy drinking (e.g., in late adolescence) impacts drinking in young adulthood. Utilizing data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1994-2004) for African Americans, Latinos, and Whites (N = 2,300), we found that Whites and Latinos drink more than African Americans, and men report drinking more than women. …

Review Of Reconciling Work And Poverty Reduction: How Successful Are European Welfare States? Bea Cantillon And Franz Vandenbroucke (Eds.), And Activation Or Workfare? Governance And The Neo-Liberal Convergence. Ivar Lødemel And Amilcar Moreira (Eds.). Reviewed By James Midgley, James Midgley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Bea Cantillon and Franz Vandenbroucke (Eds.), Reconciling Work and Poverty Reduction: How Successful are European Welfare States? Oxford University Press (2014), 464 pages, $40.00 (hardcover). Ivar Lødemel and Amilcar Moreira (Eds.),

Activation or Workfare? Governance and the Neo-liberal Convergence. Oxford University Press (2014), 384 pages, $59.99 (hardcover).

Review Of The Power Of The Past: Understanding Cross-Class Marriages. Jessi Streib. Reviewed By Mary Ann Kanieski, Mary Ann Kanieski

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Jessi Streib, The Power of the Past: Understanding Cross-Class Marriages. Oxford University Press (2015), 290 pages, $24.95 (paperback).

Review Of Failure To Flourish: How Law Undermines Family Relationships. Clare Huntington. Reviewed By Mark E. Courtney, Mark Courtney

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Clare Huntington, Failure to Flourish: How Law Undermines Family Relationships. Oxford University Press (2014), 352 pages, $45.00 (hardcover).

Review Of Human Rights And Adolescence. Jacqueline Bhabha, Ed. Reviewed By David Tobis, David Tobis

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Jacqueline Bhabha, Ed., Human Rights and Adolescence. University of Pennsylvania Press (2014), 376 pages, $69.95 (hardcover).

Front Matter

Michigan Law Review

No abstract provided.

Is Community-Based Work Compatible With Data Collection?, John W. Murphy, Berkeley A. Franz, Karen A. Callaghan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Although community-based projects have introduced a successful model for addressing many social problems, less consideration has been given to how such projects should be evaluated. This paper considers whether the philosophy underlying community-based practice is compatible with data collection. Specifically at issue is whether empirical indicators are helpful to summarize a project. Although having valid knowledge is important, this paper makes a distinction between merely collecting data versus understanding the course of a project. The key point is that community participation requires a unique perspective on how knowledge is negotiated and interpreted.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 42, No. 4 (December 2015)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Table of Contents

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: EMPIRICISM. - Robert D. Leighninger, Jr.

IS COMMUNITY-BASED WORK COMPATIBLE WITH DATA COLLECTION? - John W. Murphy, Berkeley A. Franz, and Karen A. Callaghan

IMPACT OF COMMUNITY INVESTMENT IN SAFETY NET SERVICES ON TRAJECTORIES OF UNSHELTERED HOMELESSNESS AMONG VETERANS - Ann Elizabeth Montgomery, Jamison D. Fargo, and Thomas H. Byrne

EBB AND FLOW: A MULTIPLE STREAMS POLICY ANALYSIS OF CHANGE IN KANSAS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE POLICY - Emily Bell-Sepulveda, Juliana Carlson, and Sara Rust-Martin

CAN PEOPLE EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS ACQUIRE FINANCIAL ASSETS? - Allison De Marco, Molly De Marco, Alexandra Biggers, Maggie West, Jonathan Young, …

Impact Of Community Investment In Safety Net Services On Rates Of Unsheltered Homelessness Among Veterans, Ann Elizabeth Montgomery, Jamison Fargo, Thomas H. Byrne

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Unsheltered homelessness among veterans has declined rapidly since 2009; however, more than one-third of veterans experiencing homelessness stayed in places not meant for human habitation during 2014. Research has identified a negative relationship between federal spending on the social safety net and community level rates of homelessness, but not specifically for veterans. The present study assessed whether investment in veteran-specific safety net resources predicted changes in the rate of unsheltered veteran homelessness. Increases in Veterans Affairs (VA) medical care expenditures were significantly associated with a decline in unsheltered veteran homelessness, perhaps explained by additional VA resources aimed at identifying and …

Ebb And Flow: A Multiple Streams Analysis Of Change In Kansas Domestic Violence Policy, Emily Bell-Sepulveda, Juliana Carlson, Sara Rust-Martin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

State domestic violence legislative interventions shape the way states define and respond to domestic violence. In 2010, Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson signed into law Substitute House Bill 2517, which included a strategy to track domestic violence offenders from the time of arrest through the court system, and an expansion of the statutory definition of domestic violence. The following policy analysis uses a multiple streams framework to examine this policy change, including the motivations and actions of key policy entrepreneurs. We also discuss the implementation of the bill as passed and implications for domestic violence victims and policy activists in other …

Roles Of Government And Community Support, Flood Experience, And Flood Education In Livelihood Resilience, H. R. Tewari, P K. Bhowmick, Melinda Mccormick

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Flooding is a perennial problem in the state of Bihar, India with devastating impact on the livelihood of people. In spite of the government's measures of flood mitigation, households continue to live with suffering on account of severe damage to their material and non-material assets. In this background, the objectives of the study are: (1) to explore the differential role of the community and government support in livelihood resilience; (2) to assess the impact of flood experience and flood education in livelihood resilience; and (3) to explore the impact of level of education, reflected in average years of schooling of …

Separation, Visitation And Reunification: Michigan Child Welfare Reform And Its Implications For Siblings, Angela M. Moe, Jessica A. Church

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Removal of children from abusive or neglectful families is an unfortunate but necessary aspect of child protective services, and the separation of siblings can be especially traumatic. This paper examines the Dwayne B. v. Snyder Modified Settlement Agreement (MSA), the result of a class action lawsuit regarding the management of the child welfare foster care system by the Michigan Department of Human Services. The MSA contains several mandates regarding the handling of siblings, though various measures of compliance remain unmet. Through field observations and interviews within the Michigan foster care system, we identify several factors prohibiting effective sibling care.

Review Of Social Security Works! Why Social Security Isn't Going Broke & How Expanding It Will Help Us All. Nancy J. Altman & Eric R. Kingson. 135 Reviewed By Helen Lachs Ginsburg, Helen Lachs Ginsburg

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Nancy J. Altman & Eric R. Kingson, Social Security Works! Why Social Security Isn't Going Broke & How Expanding It Will Help Us All. New Press (2015), 320 pages, $16.95 (paperback).