This article argues that memoirs from within a humanistic sociological framework can provide a measure of balance sometimes lacking in accounts reliant entirely on contemporary…
Abstract
This article argues that memoirs from within a humanistic sociological framework can provide a measure of balance sometimes lacking in accounts reliant entirely on contemporary documentation. Evidence from the case brought in 1943 against the junior teacher system in South Australian schools, while persuasive, provides practically the only evidence for any subsequent history of the period. Memoirs of former junior teachers from this time, however, present quite different views on several of the major charges against the system and generally illustrate certain benefits in lengthy periods of practical experience. Juxtaposing these accounts provides for a better balanced and more useful account of a generally neglected period of educational history. Such a re‐visioning is timely in view of increasingly widespread concern about the practical side of teacher training and calls from within training circles for a significantly longer introduction of trainees to the realities of the classroom.
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Michael Francis Doyle, Megan Williams, Tony Butler, Anthony Shakeshaft, Katherine Conigrave and Jill Guthrie
The purpose of this study is to describe what a sample of men in prison believe works well for the delivery of prison-based group alcohol and other drug (AoD) treatment programs…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to describe what a sample of men in prison believe works well for the delivery of prison-based group alcohol and other drug (AoD) treatment programs. The authors hope the findings will help inform future practise in AoD program delivery in prison.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative research paper reporting on a thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with 30 male prisoners on their perspectives on AoD group treatment approaches.
Findings
Results indicate that matching readiness and motivation to start treatment is important for group success. Program content must be relevant and delivered by empathic facilitators who maintain confidentiality. It would be advantageous if one of the program facilitators was a peer with personal experience of overcoming an AoD use disorder.
Originality/value
According to the authors’ knowledge, this is one of few qualitative studies into the delivery of AoD treatment for men in prison and the only study of its kind in Australia. The consumer perspective is an important element in improving quality of treatment provision.
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In this paper, I demonstrate an alternative explanation to the development of the American electricity industry. I propose a social embeddedness approach (Granovetter, 1985, 1992…
Abstract
In this paper, I demonstrate an alternative explanation to the development of the American electricity industry. I propose a social embeddedness approach (Granovetter, 1985, 1992) to interpret why the American electricity industry appears the way it does today, and start by addressing the following questions: Why is the generating dynamo located in well‐connected central stations rather than in isolated stations? Why does not every manufacturing firm, hospital, school, or even household operate its own generating equipment? Why do we use incandescent lamps rather than arc lamps or gas lamps for lighting? At the end of the nineteenth century, the first era of the electricity industry, all these technical as well as organizational forms were indeed possible alternatives. The centralized systems we see today comprise integrated, urban, central station firms which produce and sell electricity to users within a monopolized territory. Yet there were visions of a more decentralized electricity industry. For instance, a geographically decentralized system might have dispersed small systems based around an isolated or neighborhood generating dynamo; or a functionally decentralized system which included firms solely generating and transmitting the power, and selling the power to locally‐owned distribution firms (McGuire, Granovetter, and Schwartz, forthcoming). Similarly, the incandescent lamp was not the only illuminating device available at that time. The arc lamp was more suitable for large‐space lighting than incandescent lamps; and the second‐generation gas lamp ‐ Welsbach mantle lamp ‐ was much cheaper than the incandescent electric light and nearly as good in quality (Passer, 1953:196–197).
Sunday O. Obi and Stephanie L. Obi
Every successful program needs someone to champion its cause. This also applies to programs for students with disabilities. It is upon this person's shoulders that responsibility…
Abstract
Every successful program needs someone to champion its cause. This also applies to programs for students with disabilities. It is upon this person's shoulders that responsibility falls for initiating the steps to bring disability programs to fruition at an institution. Support services are typically coordinated by this full-time staff member who is responsible for providing students with disabilities a variety of “academic adjustments” that are mandated under Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act. Again, this law requires that post-secondary institutions make modifications to their academic requirements and ensure that they do not discriminate against a qualified student with a disability (Frank & Wade, 1993; Simon, 2001). These modifications may include appropriate academic adjustments such as the provision of course substitutions, adaptation of instruction methods, alternate exam formats, and modifications in the length of time for the completion of requirements; or the provision of auxiliary aids, such as taped texts, sign language interpreters, guide dogs, use of tape recorders, readers or writers, and access to adaptive technology (see Pavone & Rotatori, 1994). The individual who provides these core supports is often instrumental in linking students with disabilities with other support services on campus (e.g., writing laboratory, math tutorial, and academic development center) (Smith, 2004).
The phenomenon of “women in combat” is not such a novel one; it however has shattered the dominant perception of women as peaceful and nonviolent people. Indeed, it resulted in…
Abstract
The phenomenon of “women in combat” is not such a novel one; it however has shattered the dominant perception of women as peaceful and nonviolent people. Indeed, it resulted in critical questions being raised as to why women are involved in patterns of extreme violent behavior, such as suicide bombers. In the wake of insurgent activities by an Islamist group in Nigeria (Boko Haram (BH)) in recent times, the feminization of terror that has come to characterise the activities of this group has generated much concern. Although there may not be easy answers as to why women are involved in terrorism in Nigeria, the threat that such a scenario poses to security is real, deserving a credible and scientific explanation. To investigate this phenomenon, data was gathered by the survey method, which conforms more to a qualitative research design. The data sources were determined through purposeful sampling technique and instruments such as interviews, focused group discussions (FGDs), and non-participant personal observation. Applying the feminist theory of international relations (IR) as the tool for analysis, the author seeks to unravel the hidden propositions about gender. Among the findings was evidence that the shift by BH to include women in its operations was in response to increased pressure on its male operatives. Since deception is key to the tactics employed by BH, the eradication of terror in Nigeria could be brought about by the identification and prevention of possible deceptive moves by the insurgents.
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Anthony R. Hatch, Marik Xavier-Brier, Brandon Attell and Eryn Viscarra
This chapter uses Goffman’s concept of total institutions in a comparative case study approach to explore the role of psychotropic drugs in the process of…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter uses Goffman’s concept of total institutions in a comparative case study approach to explore the role of psychotropic drugs in the process of transinstitutionalization.
Methodology/approach
This chapter interprets psychotropic drug use across four institutionalized contexts in the United States: the active-duty U.S. military, nursing homes and long-term care facilities, state and federal prisons, and the child welfare system.
Findings
This chapter documents a major unintended consequence of transinstitutionalization – the questionable distribution of psychotropics among vulnerable populations. The patterns of psychotropic use we synthesize suggest that total institutions are engaging in ethically and medically questionable practices and that psychotropics are being used to serve the bureaucratic imperatives for social control in the era of transinstitutionalization.
Practical implications
Psychotropic prescribing practices require close surveillance and increased scrutiny in institutional settings in the United States. The flows of mentally ill people through a vast network of total institutions raises questions about the wisdom and unintended consequences of psychotropic distribution to vulnerable populations, despite health policy makers’ efforts regulating their distribution. Medical sociologists must examine trans-institutional power arrangements that converge around the mental health of vulnerable groups.
Originality/value
This is the first synthesis and interpretive review of psychotropic use patterns across institutional systems in the United States. This chapter will be of value to medical sociologists, mental health professionals and administrators, pharmacologists, health system pharmacists, and sociological theorists.
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Leam Craig, Kevin Browne, Ian Stringer and Anthony Beech
The assessment of risk of recidivism in sexual offenders is fundamental to clinical practice. It is widely accepted that, compared with actuarial measures of risk, unaided…
Abstract
The assessment of risk of recidivism in sexual offenders is fundamental to clinical practice. It is widely accepted that, compared with actuarial measures of risk, unaided clinical judgment has generally been found to be of low reliability. Consequently, the literature has shown a surge in actuarial measures. However, a major difficulty in assessing risk in sex offenders is the low base rate, leading to an increased likelihood of making a false positive predictive error. To overcome this, risk assessment studies are increasingly using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC), which displays the relationship between level of risk and decision choice. This note summarises the methodological issues in measuring predictive accuracy in assessing risk of re‐offending in sexual offenders, and identifies from the literature both static and dynamic risk factors associated with sexual offence recidivism.
The oil and gas industry has developed in south Louisiana over the last hundred years, first in the salt domes and coastal marshes, then out onto the Outer Continental Shelf, and…
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The oil and gas industry has developed in south Louisiana over the last hundred years, first in the salt domes and coastal marshes, then out onto the Outer Continental Shelf, and most recently in the deep and ultradeep waters off the shelf. Communities such as New Iberia and Morgan City have grown with the cyclical industry, experiencing prosperous upturns and difficult downturns. Many of the forces these communities have to contend with are outside their control, including the effects of globalization and corporate restructuring common to advanced capitalism. This paper provides an overview of communities and capitalism in south Louisiana.
Scholars typically assume that rights-based movements have generalizable impacts upon social inequalities; yet inequality reduction may be unequally distributed across space. By…
Abstract
Scholars typically assume that rights-based movements have generalizable impacts upon social inequalities; yet inequality reduction may be unequally distributed across space. By focusing on the American civil rights movement – a movement oriented toward achieving equal opportunity for people of color, especially Black Americans in the US South – this research evaluates whether reductions in racial inequality were contingent upon an active local movement presence or if all areas benefited equally. Census data from periods before and after the civil rights movement (1950 and 1980) are utilized to construct a measure of racial inequality change, focused upon high school graduation and management occupation employment rates. The presence of “the Big Four” civil rights organizations (the Congress of Racial Equality [CORE], the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP], the Southern Christian Leadership Conference [SCLC], and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee [SNCC]) in Southern counties helps to explain this change in racial inequality. Counties which had certain civil rights organizations were more likely to experience a greater reduction in racial inequality than counties that didn't have such organizations. Education equity improved in counties that were less Black, more urban, had HBCUs, and CORE or SNCC organizational presence.
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Future global leaders need to develop global leadership competencies (GLCs) to tackle the complexities of globalisation, not just to learn about them. While most programmes in…
Abstract
Future global leaders need to develop global leadership competencies (GLCs) to tackle the complexities of globalisation, not just to learn about them. While most programmes in university settings focus on study-abroad or out-of-classroom experiences to develop these competencies, it is argued that well-designed on-campus learning methods can develop GLCs successfully. This chapter reports on a course design that effectively develops these competencies in the classroom using team-based learning (TBL) (Michaelsen & Sweet, 2008). The course aims to help students practise three competencies deemed essential for global leaders: (1) the ability to demonstrate self-awareness; (2) the ability to communicate effectively when working in multicultural teams and (3) the ability to think critically. The chapter argues that using TBL to develop GLC is particularly effective, as the instruction method offers a fixed, clearly defined set of practice, i.e. weekly individual and group test, team collaboration and peer feedback that works as a semester-long experiential learning teamwork activity where the students practise, reflect and develop their GLC. The chapter provides an account of the course design, activities and assignments implemented and discusses its effectiveness. It aims to be useful for instructors who want to implement an innovative, student-centred course on global leadership.