Social Work Commons^™

An Exploration Into Individual Development Accounts As An Anti-Poverty Strategy, Timothy G. Reutebuch

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A non-random, cross-sectional sampling procedure was utilized in this study to determine what factors are related to households choosing to utilize Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) as a means to escape poverty. Surveys from 111 households were collected from September 1997, to April 1999, in seven Ohio counties to elucidate the relationship between the level of assets in working poor households and selected household demographic variables, and the decision on whether or not to actually participate in an IDA program. Findings revealed that households 1) with more than one wage earner and 2) with higher levels of education are more likely …

The Impact Of The Economy And Welfare Policy On Welfare Accessions: Implications For Future Reforms, Vicky N. Albert, William C. King

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This longitudinal study analyzes the impact of labor market conditions and welfare policies accompanying the 1990s waivers granted by the federal government to California and the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWOA) on families entering welfare (accessions). A time series model was specified for analyzing the number of families entering welfare from January 1983 to December 1998. The findings suggest that in 1998 under PRWOA, all else constant, there were fewer case openings. Prior to the PRWOA, policy shifts of the 1990s did not have an impact on case openings. The findings also show that under economic recovery …

A New Perspective On Families That Receive Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (Tanf), Christopher R. Larrison, Larry Nackerud, Ed Risler

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A review of the scholarly literature shows that a number of analyses of welfare are mistakenly based upon the premise that the overwhelming majority of welfare recipients receive benefits because they are young single women who are undereducated and caring for a child either born out of wedlock or abandoned by divorce/separation. The term welfare can encompasses a number of social programs (e.g. Food Stamps, state general assistance programs, Medicaid), but in this paper it refers specifically to Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) or its contemporary Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). In an attempt to calibrate the …

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.

The Ins And Outs Of Welfare-To-Work: Women As They Enter And Exit A Nursing Assistant Employment And Training Program, Brenda Solomon

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

By participant observation and follow up interviews (at three intervals post-graduation), this study explores the multiple work accountabilities arranging women's everyday lives as they enter and exit a welfare-to-work nursing assistant employment and training program. Work and family demands, and male partners' and children's reactions to the women's participation in labor arrangements outside the home are complicated by children's chronic illnesses and partners' disabilities and unemployment situations. From this consideration, the author argues that there is an incomplete gender shift in welfare policy. While it creates clear obligations to family and work for women trainees, the policy produces uncertain consequences …

Review Of Children As Partners In Health: A Critical Review Of The Child-To-Child Approach. Pat Pridmore And David Stephens. Review By Terri Combs-Orme, Terri Combs-Orme

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Pat Pridmore and David Stephens, Children as Partners in Health: A Critical Review of the Child-to-Child Approach. New York: Zed Books, 2000. $ 59.95 hardcover, $22.50 papercover.

Ordering Lives: Family Work And Welfare. Gordon Hughes And Ross Ferguson (Eds.)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Gordon Hughes and Ross Ferguson (Eds.), Ordering Lives: Family Work and Welfare. New York: Routledge, 2000. $18.95 papercover.

The Juvenile Court And The Progressives. Victoria Getis

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Victoria Getis, The Juvenile Court and the Progressives. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2000. $34.95 hardcover.

The Transition From Afdc To Prwora In Florida; Perceptions Of The Role Of Case Manager In Welfare Reform, Adela Beckerman, Leonard Fontana

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Welfare reform was implemented in Florida with the passage of WAGES. WAGES' emphasis on support services in preparation for employment portends to be a radical transformation of the "eligibility compliance" organizational culture that had developed under AFDC. Interviews with welfare staff focused on whether WAGES' offices were able to develop the organizational culture and methods of frontline practice needed to implement the goals of welfare reform legislation. The interviews indicate an emerging organizational culture in which case managers readily identify with the mantra of welfare reform. The interviews also indicate a discrepancy between the importance of the case manager role …

Assets, Future Orientation, And Well-Being: Exploring And Extending Sherraden's Framework, Marcia Shobe, Deborah Page-Adams

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Reducing the incidence and impact of poverty has been central to social work practice since the birth of the profession (Addams, 1910; Franklin, 1986). The prevailing anti-poverty paradigm holds that well-being is almost exclusively dependent upon income. Social work scholar and educator, Michael Sherraden (1988; 1991) suggests a new anti-poverty paradigm whereby combined income and asset building initiatives may improve the well-being of poor households. Sherraden (1991) suggests that assets have positive effects on well-being, including future orientation. The extended conceptual framework suggested here further specifies that future orientation has a direct role in its relationship with assets and well-being.

Mental Health Needs Of Tanf Recipients, Layne K. Stromwall

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper reports findings of a study of female Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) and non-recipients ages 18-40, receiving behavioral health services in the rural Southwest in 1998-9. TANF recipients (N = 119) were more likely to be seriously mentally ill than non-recipients (N = 370), suggesting that a subgroup of TANF recipients may face significant barriers to employment given the new TANF regulations. The author argues that responsibility for recognizing the needs of TANF recipients for behavioral health services is shared by both the public welfare and behavioral health systems. Suggestions for meeting this challenge in both systems …

The Other Side Of The Desk: Former Welfare Recipients Who Now Work For "The System.", Cheryl Cheek, Kathleen W. Piercy

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Within the framework of identity theory, twenty female former welfare recipients who are currently human service workers discussed how their past experiences affected current service provision and their views of the welfare system. Semi-structured interviews were used, and data were coded and analyzed using the multistage process designed by McCracken (1988) for long interviews. Respondents discussed how their experiences made them more empathetic towards their clients and gave them insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the past and present welfare systems. Results show support for identity theory by showing how past identities affect present ones.

Private Food Assistance In A Small Metropolitan Area: Urban Resources And Rural Needs, Joseph J. Molnar, Patricia A. Duffy, Latoya Claxton, Conner Bailey

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Food banks and other private feeding programs have become an institutionalized component of the social welfare system in over 190 urban areas in the U.S. More recently, private food assistance has gained importance in rural areas as well. The density and capacity of agencies to serve the poor is higher in urban areas than in sparsely populated rural locales where distance and dispersal tend to be barriers to supplying and accessing donated food. Rural food distribution strategies thus must be qualitatively different than those in larger communities, because of the smaller-scale, more informal distributional system. Little is known about how …

Review Of Black Working Wives: Pioneers Of The American Family Revolution. Bart Landry. Review By Tracey Mabrey, Tracey Mabrey

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Bart Landry, Black Working Wives: Pioneers of the American Family Revolution. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000.

Review Of The Politics Of Gay Rights. Craig A. Rimmerman, Kenneth D. Wald, Clyde Wilcox (Eds.). Review By John F. Longres, John F. Longres

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Craig A. Rimmerman, Kenneth D. Wald, Clyde Wilcox (Eds.), The Politics of Gay Rights. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. $68.00 hardcover, $19.00 papercover.

Review Of Loving Across The Color Line: A White Adoptive Mother Learns About Race. Sharon E. Rush. Review By Jill Duerr Berrick, Jill Duerr Berrick

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Sharon E. Rush, Loving across the color line. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2000. $23.95 hardcover.

Review Of Back To Middletown: Three Generations Of Sociological Reflections. Rita Caccamo. Review By Robert D. Leighninger Jr., Robert D. Leighninger Jr.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Rita Caccamo, Back to Middletown: Three Generations of Sociological Reflections. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000. $45.00 hardcover.

Review Of The Task Planner: An Intervention Resource For Human Service Professionals. William J. Reid. Review By Catheleen Jordan, Catheleen Jordan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

William J. Reid, The Task Planner: An Intervention Resource for Human Service Professionals. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. $49.50 hardcover, $22.50 paper cover.

America's Struggle Against Poverty In The Twentieth Century. James T. Patterson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for James T. Patterson, America's Struggle Against Poverty in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge. MA: Harvard University Press, 2000. $18.95 papercover.

Lost Fathers: The Politics Of Fatherlessness In America. Cynthia R. Daniels (Ed.)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Cynthia R. Daniels (Ed.), Lost Fathers: The Politics of Fatherlessness in America. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000. $16.95 papercover.

A Poverty Of Imagination: Bootstrap Capitalism, Sequel To Welfare Reform. David Stoesz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for David Stoesz, A Poverty of Imagination: Bootstrap Capitalism, Sequel to Welfare Reform. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2000. $19.95 papercover, $50.00 hardcover.

Review Of Open Moral Communities. Seymore J. Mandelbaum. Reviewed By Alice K. Johnson, Alice K. Johnson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Seymour J. Mandelbaum. Open Moral Communities. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000. $30.00 hardcover.

Review Of Social Work Education: Its Origins In Europe. Katherine Kendall. Creating A New Profession: The Beginnings Of Social Work Education In The Unites States. Leslie Leighninger. Reviewed By James Midgley, James Midgley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of Katherine Kendall, Social Work Education: Its Origins in Europe. Alexandria, Council on Social Work Education,2000. $21.95 papercover and Leslie Leighninger, Creating a New Profession: The Beginnings of Social Work Education in the United States. Alexandria, Council on Social Work Education, 2000. $18.95 papercover.

A Short History Of Sociological Theory. Alan Swinglewood

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Alan Swinglewood, A Short History of Sociological Theory. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000. $65.00 hardcover, $24.95 papercover.

E. Franklin Frazier's Theory Of The Black Family: Vindication And Sociological Insight, Clovis E. Semmes

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Despite many accolades, E. Franklin Frazier, the first African American to be elected to the American Sociological Society, is also an object of scorn. Specifically, some accuse Frazier of a view that blames the ills of the Black community on female-headed households, illegitimacy, and family disorganization. Some also accuse Frazier of characterizing the Black family as broken and pathological and the opinion that families must be formal and nuclear in order to be viable. This paper argues that these representations of Frazier are mistaken and offers a more accurate and holistic portrayal of Frazier's sociological judgements and theorizing regarding the …

Work Values Of Students And Their Success In Studying At The Study Centre For Social Work In Zagreb, Croatia, Mladen Knežiević, Marija Ovsenik

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Work values are relatively common and permanent goals that we want to achieve through our professional roles. According to a number of research studies, work values are acquired relatively early in the process of socialization, and they are relatively strong and unchangeable. In this article we investigate the question, whether among the students of social work there is any relation between such gained work values and success in studying. The results show that the value of altruism, which most characteristically distinguishes social work as a profession, is significantly correlated with success in studying. On the other hand, the correlation between …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 28, No. 2 (June 2001)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• E. FRANKLIN FRAZIER'S THEORY OF THE BLACK FAMILY: VINDICATION AND SOCIOLOGICAL INSIGHT - Clovis E. Semmes
• BIRACIAL SENSITIVE PRACTICE: EXPANDING SOCIAL SERVICES TO AN INVISIBLE POPULATION - Ronald E. Hall
• WORK VALUES OF STUDENTS AND THEIR SUCCESS IN STUDYING AT THE STUDY CENTRE FOR SOCIAL WORK IN ZAGREB, CROATIA - Mladen Knezevic and Marija Ovsenik
• FROM PLANT CLOSURE TO REEMPLOYMENT IN THE NEW ECONOMY: RISKS TO WORKERS DISLOCATED FROM THE DECLINING GARMENT MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY - Cynthia Rocha
• BEYOND THE RANK AND FILE MOVEMENT: MARY VAN KLEECK AND SOCIAL WORK RADICALISM IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION, 1931-1942 - Patrick …

Changing Patterns Of Acute Psychiatric Hospitalization Under A Public Managed Care Program, Christopher G. Hudson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study evaluates changes in patterns of acute psychiatric hospitalization under Massachusetts' Medicaid-funded Mental Health and Substance Abuse (MMHSA) carve-out program. The data consists of the Case Mix Database, for FY 1996 and FY 1997, compiled by the state's Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, on all acute hospital episodes in the state. Key comparisons involve hospital utilization during the nine months preceding the 1996 implementation of the current expanded carve-out program and the subsequent 15 months of its implementation. Secondary comparisons are made between patients funded by the state's two major Medicaid programs, its behavioral carve-out and its …

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.

Beyond The Rank And File Movement: Mary Van Kleeck And Social Work Radicalism In The Great Depression, 1931-1942, Patrick Selmi, Richard Hunter

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In this article we critically examine the radical views and actions of Mary van Kleeck during the Great Depression. As the Director of Industrial Studies for the Russell Sage Foundation, van Kleeck was arguably the most prominent radical woman affiliated with social work during the Great Depression; however, current scholarship has limited her contributions to social work's radical minded rank and file movement. In this study, we redress this situation through an analysis of her work both within and without the rank and file movement. We pay special attention to her efforts to promote social planning, organized labor, and advanced …