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Diverse narratives and practices concerned with “vulnerability” increasingly inform how a range of social issues are understood and addressed, yet the subtle creep of the notion into various governance arenas has tended to slip by unnoticed. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of vulnerability in responding to longstanding and on-going dilemmas about social precariousness and harm.

Drawing on in-depth qualitative research into how vulnerability was operationalised in services for “vulnerable” young people in an English city, prominent narratives of vulnerability are traced, which operate in relation to a variety of often-dissonant service user responses.

The paper shows the governance of vulnerability as a dynamic process, informed by policy developments and wider beliefs about the behaviours of “problem” populations, interpreted and modified by interactions between practitioners and young people, and in turn shaping lived experiences of vulnerability. Patterns in this process illuminate how vulnerability narratives re-shape long-running tensions at the heart of social welfare interventions between a drive to provide services that might mitigate social precariousness and an impetus towards regulating behaviour.

The paper argues that although gesturing to inclusivity, the governance of vulnerability elaborates power dynamics and social divisions in new ways. Resulting outcomes are evidently varied and fluid, holding the promise of further social change.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the common vaccine equity practices expressed by United States (US) governors in their COVID-19 press conferences—with a specific focus on equitable vaccine distribution and overcoming vaccine hesitancy—in order to provide an understanding of gubernatorial cultural competency during the vaccine administration phase of the pandemic.

This article employs a qualitative content analysis of the COVID-19 press conferences held by US governors from November 1, 2020, to August 14, 2021, to inductively identify themes in socially equitable and culturally competent vaccine administration strategies and rhetoric.

The article finds that common strategies aimed at providing equitable access to vaccines and combating vaccine hesitancy in communities of color include utilizing data to target communities where vaccines are needed, meeting people where they are at by working with community leaders and organizations, addressing language concerns, educating skeptics and appealing to communitarian and familial values. The findings also show that US governors tended to embrace a general prioritization lens rather than focusing on the unique needs of communities of color, with scant attention paid to the historical instances of public health discrimination that have influenced vaccine hesitancy within such communities.

This article provides an understanding of the equitable and culturally competent messages and strategies conveyed by sub-national leaders during the vaccination phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Small and emerging business failure rates are high for numerous reasons. Government regulation has been cited as a contributing factor, yet literature documenting the actual effects of government regulation on small business is limited. The purpose of this paper is to clearly outline the regulatory compliance costs and effects on small businesses in the California dairy industry.

This paper applies a public choice framework to the history of dairy regulation and performs a case study on a small business, The White Moustache (TWM). The case study traces the burdens and costs of state dairy regulations placed on TWM as they sought the necessary permits to sell their artisan yogurt.

Strict and unresponsive regulation restricted TWM from selling their product. To comply with state dairy regulations, the direct costs to TWM would have increased by 70 percent. In addition, regulation caused two and a half years of delay before the company decided to leave the state. California’s dairy regulations place burdens on small dairy businesses that work as a strategic barrier to entry in the marketplace.

This case study highlights the direct effects that strict and unresponsive regulation can have on entrepreneurs and emerging businesses through a case study. Improving the understanding of how regulation affects small business can highlight new paths forward and help improve the small business failure rate in the USA.

Computer matching is a mass surveillance technique involving the comparison of data about many people, which have been acquired from multiple sources. Its use offers potential benefits, particularly financial savings. It is also error‐prone, and its power results in threats to established patterns and values. The imperatives of efficiency and equity demand that computer matching be used, and the information privacy interest demands that it be used only where justified, and be subjected to effective controls. Provides background to this important technique, including its development and application in the USA and in Australia, and a detailed technical description. Contends that the technique, its use, and controls over its use are very important issues which demand research. Computing, telecommunications and robotics artefacts which have the capacity to change society radically need to be subjected to early and careful analysis, not only by sociologists, lawyers and philosophers, but also by information technologists themselves.