Social Work Commons^™

Public Voices And Public Policy: Changing The Societal Discourse On "Welfare", Vicki Lens

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Much of the public discourse on welfare reform is subjective and value laden, a composite of socially constructed stories and myths that support the dominant ideology. This article reports on a study that examines the language used by government officials, poverty experts, advocates and others to discuss welfare reform. Statements made about welfare reform were extracted from the Washington Post and the New York Times and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Dissecting the public language of welfare provides insight into how prevailing ideologies are communicated and reinforced, and how they can be changed.

Review Of Social Work Practice With Immigrants And Refugees. Pallassana, R. Balgopal (Ed.). Review By Frederick L. Ahearn, Jr., Frederick L. Ahearn Jr.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Pallassana, R. Balgopal (Ed.). Social Work Practice with Immigrants and Refugees. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. $49.50 hardcover, $21.00 papercover.

Review Of A Prelude To The Welfare State: The Origins Of Workers' Compensation. Price V. Fishback And Shawn Everett Kantor. Review By Christopher R. Larrison, Christopher R. Larrison

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Price V. Fishback and Shawn Everett Kantor, A Prelude to the Welfare State: The Origins of Workers' Compensation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. $37.50 hardcover

Tripping On The Color Line: Black-White Multiracial Families In A Racially Divided World. Heather M. Dalmage.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Heather M. Dalmage, Tripping on the Color Line: Black-White Multiracial Families in a Racially Divided World. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2000. $50.00 hardcover, $20 papercover.

International Social Work: Professional Action In An Interdependent World. Lynne M. Healy.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Lynne M. Healy, International Social Work: Professional Action in an Interdependent World. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. $32.95 papercover.

Liberation Sociology. Joe R. Feegin And Hernan Vera.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Joe R. Feegin and Hernan Vera, Liberation Sociology. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001. $28 papercover.

Discrimination And Human Capital: A Challenge To Economic Theory & Social Justice, Richard K. Caputo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article reports findings of a study using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) to test the rational choice theory that discrimination discourages investments in human capital. Nearly 60% of the study sample (N=5585) reported job-hiring discrimination (race, nationality, sex, or age) between 1979 and 1982 and they were found to invest more in job training programs and additional schooling between 1983 and 1998 than those reporting no such discrimination. White males were found to have the greatest advantage over black males and females in regard to job training and over black females in regard to additional schooling. Findings …

The Poverty Of Hard Work: Multiple Jobs And Low Wages In Family Economies Of Rural Utah Households, Christina E. Gringeri

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The combination of paid work and poverty, or near poverty, is a growing problem in the United States, one of which is often accentuated by residence in rural, low-wage communities where underemployment is more prevalent than in metropolitan areas. This paper examines the experiences of sixty rural families with inadequate employment using data from ethnographic interviews with a particular focus on the strategies they use to meet their family's needs in spite of low-wage work.

Connecting Personal Biography And Social History: Women Casino Workers And The Global Economy, Jill B. Jones, Susan Chandler

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Economic globalization has been described as the "most fundamental redesign of the planet's political and economic arrangements since as least the industrial revolution" (Mander, 1996). This article explores its implications in the lives of a group of women casino workers. Based on a qualitative study in which data were collected from key informants, focus groups of community leaders and professionals, and in-depth interviews with women casino workers themselves, the study attempts, in the spirit of C. Wright Mills (1959) and social work's tradition of person-in-environment, to connect "the patterns of [individual] lives and the course of world history."

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 …

Review Of New Arenas For Community Social Work Practice With Urban Youth: Use Of The Arts, Humanities, And Sports. Melvin Douglas. Reviewed By Julian Chow, Julian Chow

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Melvin Delgado. New Arenas for Community Social Work Practice with Urban Youth: Use of the Arts, Humanities, and Sports. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000, $21.50 papercover.

The Role Of Social Capital In Reclaiming Human Capital: A Longitudinal Study Of Occupational Mobility Among Displaced Steelworkers, Allison Zippay

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper examines the employment and income effects of job training, education, and social network contacts over a l0-year period among a random sample of steelworkers who lost jobs to plant closings in the early 1980s in a manufacturing community in Western Pennsylvania. First interviewed in 1987, a majority of the 102 respondents were unemployed or underemployed. A second round of interviews was conducted in 1997 with 87 of the original respondents to examine changes in income and employment status, the types of training and education that had been pursued over the course of 10 years, and their use of …

Adolescence And Old Age In Twelve Communities, Pranab Chatterjee, Darlyne Bailey, Nina Aronoff

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper disputes the theory of universal stages of development (often called the epigenetic principle) asserted by Erikson (1963; 1982; 1997) and later developed in detail by Newman & Newman (1987, p. 33). It particularly disputes that there are clear stages of adolescence (12-18), late adolescence (18-22), old age (60-75), and very old age (75+). Data from twelve communities around the world suggest that the concept of adolescence is socially constructed in each local setting, and that the concept of late adolescence is totally absent in some communities. Further, the stage of old age (60-75) is much shorter in some …

Serving The Homeless: Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Homeless Shelter Services, George M. Glisson, Robert L. Fischer, Bruce A. Thyer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The effects of homeless assistance services at the local level are tremendously difficult to ascertain. In this study, a four-month sample of homeless persons served by a local homeless shelter and case management program were contacted nine to eleven months after receiving services. The findings suggest that the program had some initial success in assisting the homeless clients to locate housing within the first year after leaving the shelter. However, the housing costs paid by these formerly homeless were quite high, with nearly three-quarters of them spending forty percent or more of their income on housing.

A Time Series Analysis Of The Effect Of Welfare Benefits On Earnings, Michael Anthony Lewis

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Policy analysts Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward have put forth a bargaining power model of earnings. More specifically, they have argued that the higher workers' bargaining power, the higher their earnings and the higher the level of welfare benefits, the higher workers' bargaining power. Thus, based on Piven and Cloward's model, one would predict a positive relationship between welfare benefit levels and earnings. Using time series data I test Piven and Cloward's model and find support for it. The policy implications of my findings are discussed.

Review Of The Gender Division Of Welfare: The Impact Of British And German Welfare States. Mary Daly. Reviewed By Rebecca A. Van Voorhis, Rebecca A. Van Voorhis

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Mary Daly, The Gender Division of Welfare: The Impact of British and German Welfare States. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. $64.95 hardcover, $23.95 papercover.

Review Of Care Work: Gender, Labour And The Welfare State. Madonna Harrington Meyer (Ed.). Reviewed By Diana M. Johnson, Diana M. Johnson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Madonna Harrington Meyer (Ed.), Care Work: Gender, Labor, and the Welfare State. New York: Routledge, 2000. $85.00 hardcover, $23.99 papercover.

Robbing Drug Dealers: Violence Beyond The Law. Bruce A. Jacobs

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Bruce A. Jacobs, Robbing Drug Dealers: Violence Beyond the Law. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter, 2000. $19.95 paperback.

Family And Community Integrity, Joshua Miller

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Family and community are two of the most significant social institutions in the development and daily lives of individuals. This article offers a model to conceptualize the relationship between family and community derived from research conducted in Holyoke, Massachusetts between 1995 and 1997, and inspired by Erik Erikson's concept of individual integrity. A brief profile of the City of Holyoke is presented followed by a discussion about the relationship between family and community, including consideration of the relevance of group membership and social identity, and the importance of social cohesion and community efficacy. The research results are presented within a …

Group Work's Place In Social Work: A Historical Analysis, Janice Andrews

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper uses a political/economic lens to explore the relationship of social group work to the larger social work profession. The author studied the group work collection at the Social Welfare History Archives, the journal THE GROUP from the 1940s and 1950s, the proceedings of the re-born group work organization, Association for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups, and interviewed several prominent group workers who were active in social group work from the 1940s. The author concludes that group work's decision to merge with NAS W in 1955 provided the hoped-for professional identity. However, there were consequences for group …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 28, No. 4 (December 2001)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• THE POVERTY OF HARD WORK: MULTIPLE JOBS AND LOW WAGES IN FAMILY ECONOMIES OF RURAL UTAH HOUSEHOLDS - Christina E. Gringeri
• FAMILY AND COMMUNITY INTEGRITY - Joshua Miller
• GROUP WORK'S PLACE IN SOCIAL WORK: A HISTORICAL ANALYSIS - Janice Andrews
• THE IMPACT OF PRIVATIZED MANAGEMENT IN URBAN PUBLIC HOUSING COMMUNITIES: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PERCEIVED CRIME, NEIGHBORHOOD PROBLEMS, AND PERSONAL SAFETY - Stan L. Bowie
• SERVING THE HOMELESS: EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF HOMELESS SHELTER SERVICES - George M. Glisson, Robert L. Fischer, and Bruce A. Thyer
• THE ROLE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL IN RECLAIMING HUMAN CAPITAL - Allison …

The Impact Of Privatized Management In Urban Public Housing Communities: A Comparative Analysis Of Perceived Crime, Neighborhood Problems, And Personal Safety, Stan L. Bowie

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A quasi-experimental design with non-equivalent groups assessed the impact of privatized management on crime and personal safety in large public housing communities in Miami, Florida. A randomly-selected sample (N = 503) of low-income African Americans living in 42 different housing "projects" were surveyed. Privatized sites had greater mean values for break-ins and thefts (m = 2.03, S.D. = 1.47, p<.01) and vacant apartment usage. Publicly-managed sites had higher mean values for shootings and violence (m = 2.52, S.D. = 1.67, p<.01). While there were no statistically significant differences in perceived personal safety, publicly-managed respondents expressed greater satisfaction with police services. Privatized management did not result in significantly more positive outcomes and social services utilization was associated with less violent crime. Implications are discussed for public housing crime, federal housing policy, and future research.

Review Of Family Experience With Mental Illness. Richard Tessler And Gail Gamache. Reviewed By James W. Callicutt, James W. Callicutt

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Richard Tessler and Gail Gamache, Family Experiences with Mental Illness. Westport, CT: Auburn House, 2000. $19.95 papercover.

Review Of The Course Of Gay And Lesbian Lives: Social And Psychoanalytical Perspectives. Betram J. Cohler And Robert M. Galatzer-Levy. Reviewed By Ronald J. Mancoske 215 The Gender Division Of Welfare: The Impact Of British, Ronald J. Mancoske

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Bertram J. Cohler and Robert M. Galatzer-Levy, The Course of Gay and Lesbian Lives: Social and Psychoanalytical Perspectives. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. $50.00 hardcover.

Risk, Trust, And Welfare. Peter Taylor Gooby (Ed.)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Peter Taylor Gooby (Ed.), Risk, Trust and Welfare. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000. $69.95 hardcover.

Paths To Success: Beating The Odds In American Society. Charles C. Harrington And Susan K. Boardman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Charles C. Harrington and Susan K. Boardman, Paths to Success: Beating the Odds in American Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000. $19.95 papercover.

Visions Of Charity: Volunteer Workers And Moral Community. Rebecca Anne Allahyari

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Rebecca Anne Allahyari, Visions of Charity: Volunteer Workers and Moral Community. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000. $45.00 hardcover, $17.95 papercover.

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.

Using Tanf Sanctions To Increase High School Graduation, Ronald Harris, Loring Jones, Daniel Finnegan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The School Attendance Demonstration Project (SADP) was aimed at encouraging AFDC teens to attend school and finish high school. The project used a combined approach of the financial incentive in the form of a penalty for non-attendance, and the provision of social services. SADP tracked the school attendance and graduation status of eligible teens (n=997) in the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD). The study utilized a control group with random assignment. Data indicated that SADP did not effect graduations. The findings seem to indicate that atrisk teens from families receiving public assistance have on-going problems with securing an education …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 28, No. 3 (September 2001)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS - SPECIAL ISSUE: EVALUATION OF TANF

• THE IMPACT OF THE ECONOMY AND WELFARE POLICY ON WELFARE ACCESSIONS: IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE REFORMS - Vicky N. Albert and William C. King
• THE TRANSITION FROM AFDC TO PRWORA IN FLORIDA: PERCEPTIONS OF THE ROLE OF CASE MANAGER IN WELFARE REFORM - Adela Beckerman and Leonard Fontana
• A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON FAMILIES THAT RECEIVE TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES (TANF) - Christopher R. Larrison, Larry Nackerud and Ed Risler
• THE HISTORICAL UNIQUENESS OF THE CLINTON WELFARE REFORMS: A NEW LEVEL OF SOCIAL MISERY? - Larry Patriquin
• AN EXPLORATION INTO INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT …