Suchergebnisse

La situación social actual en América Latina se caracteriza no sólo por déficits estrictamente económicos, sino también, y como consecuencia de los primeros, por déficits en áreas clave vinculadas con la vida cotidiana de la mayoría de la población. El aumento en la magnitud y profundidad de los procesos de pauperización en la región se ha intensificado en la última década resultando en una serie de círculos viciosos sociales y económicos (crecimiento relativo y absoluto de la pobreza que afecta con especial énfasis al sector infantil; la creciente feminización de la pobreza; incremento en índices delictivos, etcétera) que implican a las políticas públicas emprendidas con vistas a, paradójicamente, solucionar los problemas, a este panorama han contribuido algunos mitos que reconstruye el autor como la teoría del derrame, la perspectiva reduccionista del desarrollo, la concepción de gasto social y no de inversión social, entre otros. Este trabajo se propone llamar la atención acerca de la necesidad de abrir y explorar sistemáticamente las vinculaciones entre situación social/respuestas posibles/marcos culturales. Su objetivo está limitado a presentar el tema para invitar a su indagación detallada. Para ello se trazará un perfil sumario de la situación social de la región; se identificarán los mitos bloqueadores de la superación de los problemas y, por último, se señalarán líneas de trabajo sobre posibles aportes desde lo cultura] para la comprensión de la problemática social.

Progress in the mass media make them some of the most effective instruments of cultural penetration into Third World countries. The result is destruction of the "fabric of national identity," as the Third World countries encounter totally irrelevant cultural patterns from outside. One of the major problems facing the societies of economically less powerful countries is their dependence. Because of the shortage of social scientists in Third World countries, a greater effort should be made to push studies on important subjects, implying more regular publication. The social sciences in the Third World can be said to focus upon developmentism. The Third World social science periodical must "get on to new ideas" as an originator, as well as develop them. Constraints on this development include what can be called "academic colonialism," which compounds weaknesses of the immature & vulnerable social science enterprise. In the DISCUSSION, Stephen J. Joyce (OECD, Paris, France), feels one must look at the evolution of the social sciences in the Third World in its historical perspective. Akinsola Akiwowo states that the fact that one wants to apply the inward/outward-looking principle does not free one from attacks of social scientists, or of journalists. John Peristiany (Social Research Centre, Nicosia), feels that one of the major contributions that the UN social scientist can make to the country he serves is to raise funds to attract social scientists to his country. R. Perrotta Bengolea & Irving Louis Horowitz (Rutgers U, New Brunswick, NJ), agree that there have been many important contributions from social scientists in Latin America. Peter Lengyel (International Social Science Journal, Paris, France), states that although the situation of social scientists in developed countries is fragile, there are mechanisms to integrate the specialist, such as a wide range of established professions for social scientists. Akiwowo encourages publication of social science journals by undergraduates. R. Lent.

Urban spaces are areas where routes, activities, and people, including visually impaired persons (VIPs), intersect. Most urban research on VIPs focuses on wayfinding. However, the experience of urban spaces is not limited to utilitarian functions and also includes people's lived experiences and random social encounters. To understand how a broader range of activities, experiences, and encounters may be better enabled, VIPs have participated in multi-method research including interviews, word games, walking interviews, and diary recordings in central Melbourne. Results not only indicate a broad range of unmediated conflicts between VIPs' mobility needs and key aspects of intense street life but also reveal opportunities that are potentially hidden in random encounters in public spaces.

The government's regime of target setting for public services has been subject to increasing criticism. The number of targets, who sets them and the interactions between the target setter and user have been challenged in reports from the Audit Commission. This article reports on the findings of an experiment in which a Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) approach was used to define suitable targets for change and the improvement of service outcomes in one integrated mental health residential rehabilitation service. The paper describes in detail the type of information which was elicited from a Solution-Focused questionnaire containing 'the miracle question' which was distributed to both service users and staff. In particular, the discussion focuses on the advantages of using the approach as a management tool for translating the experientially based responses of both service users and staff into measurable practical action.

Draws on a 1993 survey of adults in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia, & Slovakia (N = 4,500+ in each country) to examine everyday social inequality in postcommunist Central & Eastern Europe. Living conditions are operationalized in terms of material & cultural consumption, & their possible demographic & structural determinants are investigated. Variations among countries (eg, Hungary's greater inequality of living conditions) are partly accounted for by type & age of economic transformation, continuing strength of the old distributive hierarchy, & importance of the informal economy. Intranational differences are explained only moderately by income (moreso in Hungary & Poland) & are significantly related to education & class. Class & occupation are particularly useful for analyzing inconsistent consumption; eg, high cultural combined with low material consumption is most common among certain white-collar professions, while market-oriented employment is associated with high material but low cultural consumption.

OBJECTIVES Smoking is related to income and education and contributes to social inequality in morbidity and mortality. Socialisation theories focus on one's family of origin as regards acquisition of norms, attitudes and behaviours. Aim of this study is to assess associations of daily smoking with health orientation and academic track in young Swiss men. Further, to assess associations of health orientation and academic track with family healthy lifestyle, parents' cultural capital, and parents' economic capital. METHODS Cross-sectional data were collected during recruitment for compulsory military service in Switzerland during 2010 and 2011. A structural equation model was fitted to a sample of 18- to 25-year-old Swiss men (N = 10,546). RESULTS Smoking in young adults was negatively associated with academic track and health orientation. Smoking was negatively associated with parents' cultural capital through academic track. Smoking was negatively associated with health orientation which in turn was positively associated with a healthy lifestyle in the family of origin. CONCLUSIONS Results suggest two different mechanisms of intergenerational transmissions: first, the family transmission path of health-related dispositions, and secondly, the structural transmission path of educational inequality.