Suchergebnisse

Auf der Grundlage einer konstruktivistischen Theorie der Identität untersucht der Autor den mit dem Ende der Apartheid in Südafrika einhergehenden sozialen Wandel. Um zu verstehen, wie sich Identitätsstrukturen mit den übrigen Institutionen des Landes veränderten, analysiert er drei politisch-soziale Konflikte: den Soweto-Aufstand 1976, die Debatte über die Verfassungsreform 1983-84 und die Kriminalität nach dem Ende der Apartheid. Er versucht so zu zeigen, wie "Identitäts-Etiketten" (identity labels) den sozialen Diskurs strukturieren, wie soziale Aktivität durch diese Strukturen organisiert wird und wie sich die Etiketten und die von ihnen ausgehende Macht im Verlauf des Übergangsprozesses verändert haben. (DÜI-Sbd)

Asymmetric relations among stakeholders create challenges in participatory evaluation processes. Power and conflict may hinder equal and genuine communication about the value of the practices evaluated. Guidelines to deal with these sociopolitical challenges are scarce and usually focus on the need for evaluators to remain distant or to handle resistance. In this article we discuss the use of a specific interpretation of responsive evaluation as an approach to foster dialogues among stakeholders in politically laden contexts. We aim to illustrate how asymmetric relations can be dealt with constructively, focusing on inclusion of marginalized groups, mutual learning and good dialogue. Two reflective case narratives are presented of responsive evaluation projects in settings with marginalized groups (client councils in elderly care and psychiatric clients with severe drug abuse). We reflect on the role of the evaluator in these contexts and discuss the justification for the active engagement of evaluators to enhance practice improvements.

Social thought on alcoholism can be classified into various traditions, all of which have ignored the literature on social movements. In the instance of what is known as the disease model, critics claim the approach ultimately blames the alcoholic. The argument is presented that the social movement perspective suggests that the victim of what passes as the politics of social policy formation will be the organization, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). It is noted that some describe AA affiliations as resulting in social policy successes while others warn that professionals in the alcoholism field must rid themselves of AA's influence. The controversy surrounding the Rand Report (Armor et al., 1978) is examined in that context. The findings related to the differential treatment effectiveness of AA and professional treatment are re-examined, which indicated that the Rand study could have been interpreted as a document favorable to AA. This discussion is concerned with why AA was denied what could have been a major victory.