Suchergebnisse

Describes a longitudinal cohort analysis of 698 individuals born in 1955 in Kauai, HI, following them from the perinatal period through midlife (age 40). Focus was on evaluating the long-term impacts of perinatal complications, poverty, & adverse childrearing conditions on child development & later-life adjustment. Similar to findings from other longitudinal research, results indicated that perinatal complications were related to serious physical &/or psychological developmental problems only when combined with chronic poverty, parental psychopathology, or poor rearing conditions in the home. Among those at high risk because of these environmental conditions, three clusters of protective factors were identified that prevented adverse developmental outcomes: (1) affectional ties with parental substitutes, (2) at least average intelligence & scholastic competence & positive temperamental attributes, & (3) an external support system, eg, youth or church groups. Follow-up data collected during early adulthood & at midlife are reported, revealing several other factors that helped individuals overcome adverse beginnings in life. Policy implications & recommendations for future research are summarized. 22 References. K. Hyatt Stewart

Explores the issue of the widow's pension & charity in interwar Australia, drawing on an analysis of the records of the Charity Organization Society in Victoria & the views of charity workers. That the survival of the family preoccupied the state rather than the plight of widows seems to be informed by the fantasy of finding the perfect mother with the pension designed to prevent further family fragmentation & keep the mother in the home. The expectation that children would provide for their families dated from the early 19th century & is also fueled by fantasies about motherhood, children, & the family that framed the attitudes of interwar charity workers who, along with the state, assumed an emotional bond between children & widows. The interwar period evidenced much resistance to this assumption on the part of children. The 1930s professionalization of social work ushered in a shift that led to more actual listening to women & attempted directing of their behavior rather than merely observing their economic situation. It is argued that professionalization did not transform the extant moralism, but lent a new language through which to frame poverty. Analysis of studies on the role of silence or denial in families as protection from stigma or legal condemnation underpins a discussion of the impact of gossip & rumor in deriving the assumptions about poor families; at issue is how silence, secrecy, & evasion were interpreted by charity workers who viewed such behavior as deceitful & deceptive. In this light, workers employed shame to obtain information from widows & exert their sociopolitical power. In terms of legislation & charity work, familial notions of the responsible mother & doting children were enforced. However, neither widows nor children conformed to these ideas, & actual family relations were rife with the kind of fragmentation the state sought to ameliorate via the widow's pension. J. Zendejas

Explores the issue of the widow's pension & charity in interwar Australia, drawing on an analysis of the records of the Charity Organization Society in Victoria & the views of charity workers. That the survival of the family preoccupied the state rather than the plight of widows seems to be informed by the fantasy of finding the perfect mother with the pension designed to prevent further family fragmentation & keep the mother in the home. The expectation that children would provide for their families dated from the early 19th century & is also fueled by fantasies about motherhood, children, & the family that framed the attitudes of interwar charity workers who, along with the state, assumed an emotional bond between children & widows. The interwar period evidenced much resistance to this assumption on the part of children. The 1930s professionalization of social work ushered in a shift that led to more actual listening to women & attempted directing of their behavior rather than merely observing their economic situation. It is argued that professionalization did not transform the extant moralism, but lent a new language through which to frame poverty. Analysis of studies on the role of silence or denial in families as protection from stigma or legal condemnation underpins a discussion of the impact of gossip & rumor in deriving the assumptions about poor families; at issue is how silence, secrecy, & evasion were interpreted by charity workers who viewed such behavior as deceitful & deceptive. In this light, workers employed shame to obtain information from widows & exert their sociopolitical power. In terms of legislation & charity work, familial notions of the responsible mother & doting children were enforced. However, neither widows nor children conformed to these ideas, & actual family relations were rife with the kind of fragmentation the state sought to ameliorate via the widow's pension. J. Zendejas

"In this chapter we seek to explore poverty and deprivation in Germany, drawing out comparisons between the western and eastern parts of the country. The first main section of the chapter reviews some of the existing evidence on poverty rates and risks, focusing in particular on the 1990s but also setting this evidence within the pre-unification context. The second main section then turns to the analysis of the European Community Household Panel data, and again makes comparison between the west and the east in respect of poverty and deprivation across our four main risk groups." (Text excerpt, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Explores the spatialization of temporality through the theme of modernity's search for a center that holds. Following Arnold Gehlen (1980), a center that holds is seen as an eternal problem for human beings because of their characteristic poverty of instincts. This silencing of our instincts, which is not natural but cultural, is the necessary other side of humankind's being a "bunch of possibilities." Thus, the basic contradiction at the heart of human existence involves "systemness," a substitute set of instincts for our species, on the one hand, & "contingency," the open-ended more existential side of the human condition, on the other. Neither systemness nor contingency is inevitable; humans are a complex amalgam of both & must learn to live with this ambivalence. It was in response to this need for a center that the notion of identity as characteristic of the self initially emerged in the seventeenth century. Nineteenth-century elites tried to provide a center that held for all, based on individualism, choice, & democracy, & incorporated in the nation-state. With the imminent demise of the nation & its supersession by the new global order, there has been a turn to community in postmodernity, & a shift toward an ethos in which constraint is not an unmitigated disaster. 10 References. V. Rios

Introduces the volume on both the social & economic impact of late 1990s welfare reform acts in the US & UK. Neither the worst-or best-case scenarios have occurred: caseloads have declined but not poverty levels. This book's concern is not with the traditional quantifiable effects measured by policy analysis so much as with the significance of political theory for understanding the effects of welfare reform. Particular emphasis is given to John Rawls's ideas about justice. Next the volume's contributors are introduced, followed by summaries of the individual papers. References. K. Coddon

Introduces the volume on both the social & economic impact of late 1990s welfare reform acts in the US & UK. Neither the worst-or best-case scenarios have occurred: caseloads have declined but not poverty levels. This book's concern is not with the traditional quantifiable effects measured by policy analysis so much as with the significance of political theory for understanding the effects of welfare reform. Particular emphasis is given to John Rawls's ideas about justice. Next the volume's contributors are introduced, followed by summaries of the individual papers. References. K. Coddon

Offers personal reflections on the origins & development of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) since the author's initial involvement with it as a graduate student in 1972. The origins of the project in then-President Lyndon Johnson's "War of Poverty" & its growth as one of the main instruments used to assess the economic health of the nation's households are chronicled. Stages in the processes of goal setting, proposal writing, questionnaire development, & data collection & analysis are outlined; methodological changes over the years are also documented. The wealth of data provided by the PSID on family composition, residential location, income sources & amounts, & employment patterns have provided fresh insights into the nature & trajectory of the family life cycle, as well as been used to compare patterns on the bases of gender, race, & other sociodemographic variables. Policy & programmatic uses of the PSID findings are described, along with encouraging efforts by other countries to replicate the PSID panel design in their own socioeconomic research. The author's application of economic & policy insights from her PSID experience to her new research on human development is recounted. 5 Tables, 37 References. K. Hyatt Stewart

Data for an analysis of a successful housing movement in downtown Mexico City was obtained from fieldwork in 1967/68 & 1971/72, as well as follow-up work in both 1987 & 1997. Research included 65 in-depth interviews with local community/political leaders, formal interviews with 100 residents, numerous informal conversations, observation of group meetings, & perusal of numerous documents. Conceptual understandings of the dynamics of popular protests are discussed to develop a framework for identifying conditions under which movements initiated by people with few material or political resources may be successful. The case history of the inner-city slum area called 'El Centro' describes poorly serviced, dilapidated housing owned by absentee landlords who hoped to drive out residents in order to develop their properties. Destruction of much of the housing in a 1985 earthquake served as an impetus to move local resistance from efforts to defend their rights as tenants, to demands for the government to expropriate the property & build new housing. The political & material consequences of the successful mobilization are discussed. 19 References. J. Lindroth

"The German welfare state has a number of programmes and instruments in place that ameliorate the Impact of the economic crisis. Overall its social insurance schemes are robust and their financial condition seems to be healthier than only a few years ago. Nevertheless, the current economic recession constitutes a 'stress test' for welfare state arrangements. Should the recession last long and Iead to a considerable increase in unemployment, the Government will be forced to increase social insurance contributions, raise the subsidies to the social insurance funds from general revenues or cut entitlements. For those ineligible for the earnings-related unemployment insurance benefits the Government provides a monthly means-tested unemployment assistance benefit of about E 350 (for an individual) plus housing allowance. However, it has to be mentioned that the poverty rate has increased from 12% in the Tate 1990s to 18% in 2005. A more differentiated analysis Shows that low-wage work has increased significantly; furthermore, the percentage of poor among the unemployed had risen by almost 15 percentage points, i.e. even before the comprehensive reform of the unemployment insurance scheme was implemented in 2004, whilst the poverty rates for pensioners and single parents have only 'marginally' increased or stayed constant (see table 4). It remains to be seen whether the current recession will lead to a further increase in relative poverty or inequality, or whether the recent increase in inequality will even decline, during the current recession." (Text excerpt, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Data for an analysis of a successful housing movement in downtown Mexico City was obtained from fieldwork in 1967/68 & 1971/72, as well as follow-up work in both 1987 & 1997. Research included 65 in-depth interviews with local community/political leaders, formal interviews with 100 residents, numerous informal conversations, observation of group meetings, & perusal of numerous documents. Conceptual understandings of the dynamics of popular protests are discussed to develop a framework for identifying conditions under which movements initiated by people with few material or political resources may be successful. The case history of the inner-city slum area called 'El Centro' describes poorly serviced, dilapidated housing owned by absentee landlords who hoped to drive out residents in order to develop their properties. Destruction of much of the housing in a 1985 earthquake served as an impetus to move local resistance from efforts to defend their rights as tenants, to demands for the government to expropriate the property & build new housing. The political & material consequences of the successful mobilization are discussed. 19 References. J. Lindroth

In the coming decades in the process of globalization the position of the USA and Europe will weaken, while the role of developing countries will increase. The role of the two largest emerging economies – China and India – will be of special significance.
What future will these fast-growing giants face? The demographers
agree that pretty soon India will lead the world in population and thus surpass China, while China will encounter serious population ageing. But economic and political scenarios of the future are quite different: from resounding success and world leadership to collapse caused by demographic and socio-political troubles.
Which of them is more feasible? In the present article I analyze the Chinese and Indian development models separately and comparatively and make prognosis of their perspectives in the twenty-first century. Such an analysis could be helpful for understanding Russia's ways of development.

"The use of the concept 'underclass' has been the subject of considerable debate among scholars of urban poverty. Many question the meaning of the term and its value as a social category, and react critically to the way the term has been appropriated by those intellectuals and journalists whose ideological views and orientations strongly influence their perceptions of the urban poor (Hughes 1989; Aponte 1990; Katz 1993; Gans 1995; O'Connor 2001). However, in their critical commentary the scholars of urban poverty do not address, in theoretical terms, the scientific import of the concept 'underclass;' that is, its role in the description, explanation and prediction of social behavior. Rather they object to the way the term is used to label a subgroup of the urban poor whose cultural traits are thought to be different from those of the larger society. In this paper, the author considers whether a theoretically defined concept of underclass - as opposed to the nonsystematic and atheoretical usages - can be helpful in social scientific discourse. But first, by way of background, let him examine briefly the various ways the term 'underclass' has been used in published writings down through the years." (excerpt)

Principal characteristics of political corruption are illuminated, & the prevalence of corruption in developing nations is addressed. Ronald Wraith & Edgar Simpkins's (1963) moralizing approach to defining political corruption is critiqued. Analysis of examples of corruption throughout the mid-20th century reveals that certain individuals perceived these behaviors as perfectly legitimate; consequently, the contention that all forms of political corruption are necessarily harmful is questioned. Four criteria for determining whether behaviors constitute political corruption are presented, eg, identifying the corrupt behavior & exploring its short- & long-term effects. Three characteristics of developing states that actually encourage political corruption include an undeveloped national interest, existence of extreme poverty or socioeconomic inequality, & ease in which corruption can be hidden. Also, the effects of public morality on a developing nation's economic growth are considered in the context of developing African states. J. W. Parker

"Sociologist and gardening activist Elisabeth Meyer-Renschhausen recounts the movement of urban gardening/urban farming in postmodern societies. She starts with Michelle Obamas kitchen garden in Washington, D.C., which she considers a symbol for sonne of the aims of the movement and continues from there to reflect the development of urban farming in the United States and Germany. To Meyer-Renschhausen, urban farming is part of a historical movement against the industrialized food production since the 19th century whose members and aims warrant analysis. Meyer-Renschhausen focuses especially an the social problems of postmodern societies such as unemployment and the rise of poverty. From her point of view, gardening returns as an important (mostly female) practice not only to guarantee individual subsistence, but also to develop collaborative forms of work and to form sustainable economies for the welfare of 'one world'." (publisher's description)