Suchergebnisse

This article explores relationships between social workers' political ideologies and the effects on practice. Self-administered surveys from 294 licensed social workers in a mid-Atlantic state generated quantitative and qualitative data on whether and to what extent their ideologies influenced professional practice. Findings suggest that while social workers largely believe that their political ideology is separate from their practice, those who identified with more liberal political ideologies claim they used their ideologies more in practice than those who were more conservative. Additionally, strategies for monitoring political ideology in practice are shared. Implications for practice include the need for practitioners' increased awareness of their political ideologies and the profession's responsibility for establishing venues in which the ideology -- practice link can be explored and debated.

This article examines whether a high number of neighborhood associations within a community promotes or hinders civic health and offers two concepts for civil society scholarship: the insular civil society organization (CSO), which is primarily or solely committed to internal development and membership cultivation, and nonreciprocal civility, which captures the absence of relational ties between such CSOs. Based on the analysis of two urban neighborhoods in Baltimore, Maryland, the authors found that a high number of neighborhood associations reflect community-level factionalism, primarily manifested through resource competition and turf conflict. This was apparent despite strong consensus among community residents on key community issues and concerns. Possiblereasons for this factionalism are identified, the consequences of such divisiveness for civic health are examined, and suggestions for addressing the limitations posed by insular associations are offered.