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Articles 1 - 13 of 13
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Measurement Of Childhood Poverty In The United States And Its Enduring Influences, Zi Yang
Measurement Of Childhood Poverty In The United States And Its Enduring Influences, Zi Yang
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
This paper measures childhood poverty in the United States and classifies it into three degrees based on different durations – persistent poverty, chronic transient poverty, and non-chronic transient poverty – using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data and actual poverty thresholds in the United States. Then I examine the enduring influences of different types of childhood poverty on future performance, including academic achievement, income, and criminal behavior, utilizing OLS and logistic models as well as Mincer wage functions. The regression results show that childhood poverty has a negative impact on schooling years and earnings. Living in poverty increases …
Neoliberalism, Piven And Cloward's Bargaining Theory, And Wages In The United States, 1965-2006, Thomas W. Volscho
Neoliberalism, Piven And Cloward's Bargaining Theory, And Wages In The United States, 1965-2006, Thomas W. Volscho
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
The political economy of the United States during the last thirty years has been described as neoliberal. Part of the neoliberal turn involves reducing or eliminating income support programs such as AFDC/TANF, waging war against organized labor, and increasingly conservative (i.e., neoliberal) public policies. Following an analysis by Lewis (2001) which showed that wages increased in response to higher average monthly AFDC payments, I update and expand this test of Piven and Cloward's bargaining power theory of wages by looking at other factors which may influence worker bargaining power: unions, interest rates, policy liberalism, and economic growth. I use time-series …
From Plant Closure To Reemployment In The New Economy: Risks To Workers Dislocated From The Declining Garment Manufacturing Industry, Cynthia Rocha
From Plant Closure To Reemployment In The New Economy: Risks To Workers Dislocated From The Declining Garment Manufacturing Industry, Cynthia Rocha
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
The current study investigates financial and emotional consequences to workers as the U.S. economy continues to shift from a manufacturing to a service economy. One hundred eighty-eight garment workers were surveyed before their plant closed in 1998 and six months later to assess reemployment opportunities, financial difficulty and emotional well-being. All workers experienced some financial difficulty after the plant closed, with single parents reporting the greatest financial difficulty. Workers who became immediately reemployed lost an average of $2.41 in wages per hour. Sixteen percent of the sample lost their health insurance. Overall depression and anxiety scores declined over six months, …
Social Work And Labor: A Look At The North American Agreement On Labor Cooperation, Constance Phelps
Social Work And Labor: A Look At The North American Agreement On Labor Cooperation, Constance Phelps
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
The North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC), a side agreement to NAFTA, provides an instructive example of an attempt to link global trade to labor standards. While this side agreement was created in order to bolster the internationalization of trade, it has brought Labor, human rights groups and governments together to scrutinize and challenge the ways that each NAFTA member country ensures the provision of basic health, safety, and human rights on the job. Effective enforcement of the Agreement will come only with political pressure from a wide variety of groups interested in improving quality of life for workers …
Contested Workplace: The Case Of The Strike Of The United Food And Commercial Workers Union Versus Meijer, Barbara Thomas Coventry, Marietta Morrissey
Contested Workplace: The Case Of The Strike Of The United Food And Commercial Workers Union Versus Meijer, Barbara Thomas Coventry, Marietta Morrissey
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
This paper examines the struggle between labor and management at four, newly-opened supermarket/discount stores, culminating in a strike. It considers workplace control as an issue in the strike and its resolution. Edwards' typology of workplace control is reviewed, along with other indirect forms of control explored in recent literature. Workers complained most stridently about direct control mechanisms. Workers' objections to technical and bureaucratic control played only a minor part in workers' decision to strike and the work stoppage's outcome. Indirect controls, including customer and gender-specific control mechanisms, were seldom questioned or acknowledged by workers. On the other hand, both the …
Protecting Women's Jobs: Unions And Deindustrialization, Marietta Morrissey
Protecting Women's Jobs: Unions And Deindustrialization, Marietta Morrissey
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
This paper explores the impact of union membership on a group of unskilled women workers at a public university in a midwestern city. Although the region has experienced high levels of unemployment in recent years, women subjects have been relatively insulated from job loss. Consistent with other research findings on the consequences of unionization, interviews with 18 women indicate that their job tenure is long, tendency to exit jobs low, and wages and benefits relatively good. African-American and white women have slightly different employment histories, however, reflecting patterns of discrimination and occupational segregation in the work place. Regional economic change …
The Impact Of Work History On Economic Security At Old Age Among Africans In South Africa, Martha Tshitshi S. Mbatha
The Impact Of Work History On Economic Security At Old Age Among Africans In South Africa, Martha Tshitshi S. Mbatha
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
Work histories of most Africans in South Africa determine whether or not they will be poor at old age. To illustrate this point, the author uses the literature and data collected from elderly Africans. Findings show racial discrimination in education and in the labor market as resulting in the concentration of the majority of Africans in low paying jobs. Low wages and the absence of a national pension scheme prevent most Africans from saving for their retirement. African workers constitute the largest percentage of the working poor in South Africa. Their circumstances are unlikely to change even after retirement. At …
Perceived Stress, Social Support And Survival: North Carolina Farm Operators And The Farm Crisis, Michael D. Schulman, Paula S. Armstrong
Perceived Stress, Social Support And Survival: North Carolina Farm Operators And The Farm Crisis, Michael D. Schulman, Paula S. Armstrong
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
The current farm crisis draws attention to the sources and consequences of the stress process among farm operators. Using panel data from statewide surveys of North Carolina farm operators collected during a period of economic and ecological crisis, the relationships among perceived stress, social support, and survival in agriculture are investigated. Analyses reveal that while the level of perceived stress has no relationship with survival, social support has a significant impact upon both social psychological (plans to remain in farming) and behavioral (continuing as a farm operator) dimensions of survival in agriculture. Perceived social support increased plans to remain in …
Work And Welfare: How Industrialists Shaped Government Social Service During The Progressive Era, Cynthia Hamilton
Work And Welfare: How Industrialists Shaped Government Social Service During The Progressive Era, Cynthia Hamilton
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
This article focuses on the welfare work of industrialists which was developed as a mechanism for fighting trade unionism during the Progressive era. This focus is designed to place welfare in its proper perspective within the political economy and to identify its political and economic functions. The article concludes that industrial welfare was one of the instruments used in creating a work ethic in the United States and one of the mechanisms of social engineering both in and outside of industry.
The Relationship Between Social Work And Labor Unions: A History Of Strife And Cooperation, Shulamith Lala Ashenberg Straussner, Norma Kolko Phillips
The Relationship Between Social Work And Labor Unions: A History Of Strife And Cooperation, Shulamith Lala Ashenberg Straussner, Norma Kolko Phillips
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
The historical relationship between social work and organized labor has been an ambivalent one, with fluctuations paralleling historical changes in social and political values. This paper examines the changing nature of the relationship, with emphasis on the period from the 1870s to the 1940s. While today's relationship is a mutually beneficial one, the fragile nature of the link between organized labor and the social work community cannot be ignored, particularly in light of the increasing involvement between social work and private industry
The Immobility Of Low-Paid Workers, Marshall I. Pomer
The Immobility Of Low-Paid Workers, Marshall I. Pomer
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
This paper extends the labor segmentation perspective on unequal job access. Analyzed here are Census data on the occupational mobility of low-paid workers during the period 1965 to 1970. Upward mobility, defined as movement from a low-paid to a mainstream stratum, is far more common for white men than for women and blacks-even after controlling for differences in age, education, and type of low-paid job. A worker's particular low-paid occupation also strongly affects chances of entering the mainstream stratum. The dominant paradigm for quantitative research on social stratification is questioned, and social policies are suggested.
The "Guestworker" As Metaphor: In Clarification Of Social Economic Contradictions And Systemic Crisis., Stephen I. Woods
The "Guestworker" As Metaphor: In Clarification Of Social Economic Contradictions And Systemic Crisis., Stephen I. Woods
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
In May 1979 the French National Assembly passed legislation giving the government sweeping powers to expel foreign workers. Yet neither the government nor the employers really want to send most of the immigrant workers home, and thereby lose them as a source of cheap labor for both public and private enterprise. It is likely that the employers hope to use the new legislation to keep foreign workers in a state of permanent insecurity, to discourage them from protesting against their low pay, poor working conditions and the racism they encounter daily. Indeed, employers would like to see foreign workers treated …
Toward A Full Employment Policy: An Overview, Alvin Kogut, Sylvia Aron
Toward A Full Employment Policy: An Overview, Alvin Kogut, Sylvia Aron
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
Unlike more advanced welfare states, the U.S. has not committed itself to a full employment policy: the full dimensions of unemployment are not revealed and the "manpower" programs reflect a welfare philosophy. While constraints to such a commitment remain formidable, the developments around Humphrey-Hawkins may be a start.