Suchergebnisse

This study deals with the qualities of professionalization of public child welfare. Its relationto general social policy is emphasized. The potentials of welfarism are explored as a part ofthe study of crisis of legitimacy and rationality prevalent in welfare systems.The special situation of child welfare in Iceland with a large variation in local socialservices forms an important background of the work. This is related to sociologicaltheorizing and a position taken turns against viewing professionalization as an accumulatingprocess of power as well as the opposite, the blindness of belief in extensive professionalismas a means for creation of "the good life". The line of "family-state-individual" is traced inrelation to the emergence of social work. Child welfare is found to be imprisoned bytradition, since the idea behind children's placement is not thoroughly explored. The issueof a noted technifying and expansive tendency of professional action in cases of child abuseand custodial disputes is treated. A biased treatment of the family is here called "the childwelfare trap". The search for qualities in what traditionally is identified as "bad parenting" infoster care is suggested to be a potential to transcend central dilemmas of the field.A documentation study of poor relief and the support of mothers in the capital of Iceland,Reykjavik of th e 1930's showed an early coexistence of administrative and client-centeredapproaches. In a survey of records on children's placements in the capital of Icela nd,Reykjavik, it was confirmed that this work in an organization with professional employeeswas predominantly bureaucratic and not child-centered, also other results were similar asfound in Nordic studies. In an interview study of two small towns a passivity was shown toprevail in a laymen dominated child welfare practice at the cost of c hildren's needs, whileschool and day care provided support for families. Three significant achievements emergingin interplay with professionalization of social child care, found valid for the Icelandic çase,are seen as having lead to an increased societal sensitivity to deal with human problems.This has created a new acknowledgement of children's right to well-being despite seriouspractical limitations. Due to coexistent conflicting professional practices, a relative absenceof reg ulation and modernizing of services occurring simultaneously with the revision ofwelfarism, a space of action is presumed to exist for shaping of an outline of new practices.Theoretically opposing views on professionalization act as a kind of negative dialectic, onecentered on reproduction of existing practice, the other by presenting a gloominess of anempty-handed doctrine. The analyses of societal changes and child welfare are seen asfrequently ignoring the search for potentials to hand over power to children, not only bygender-blinaness, but by an age-neutrality which excludes children. The "deepening ofwelfare state crisis" is presumed to constitute a required possibility of a new kind of selfreflectionamong professionals. It is suggested that qualitative aspects of commonlyaccepted societal dichotomies will be challenged by the revision of welfare systems and thatthis creates a potential of a reshaping of pr actices, including the support-control dilemmaof c hild welfare. ; digitalisering@umu

Over the past 100 years psychology has become increasingly professionalized. Emerging from a scientific discipline at the beginning of the century, it has rapidly became a professional field with psychologists working in health, education, and organizational settings as practitioners. A number of measures of this increased professionalization are discussed: increased length of education and training, greater specialization and specialist training, pressures for regulation and laws for psychologists, the development of ethical codes, and a greater institutionalization of psychology. Professional organizations for psychologists play a key role in the professionalization of the discipline. However, the path followed is the traditional path of the traditional professions, and questions are raised about the appropriateness of this for the next century.

Traces the historical patterns of medical professionalization in the Scandinavian countries, drawing on statist analyses in the literature. Three spheres of medical authority in state-profession relationships are identified: state-doctor relationship, internal interactions in the medical profession, & external dynamics of the profession, eg, division of labor & gender stratification. It is shown that the medical profession has been integrated into state formation since the 16th century, meaning that hospital doctors achieved dominance in the profession, but alternative practitioners, eg, midwives, survived. Relations between the profession & the state were strengthened with the introduction of social democracy in the post-WWII period. Efforts to introduce market principles into the health care system will likely be shaped by the historical medical profession-state relationship, however, it is still premature to properly assess the impact of new reforms. 2 Tables, 50 References. D. M. Smith

Professionalization & related words have become the normative way of describing developments in political campaigning & communication in recent years. Reflecting on recent articles in Press/Politics, the authors assert that the use of such terms are confusing & provide little detail as to the actual changes in the nature & conduct of campaigning, when these changes took place, & what forces drove the changes. 16 References. D. Weibel

Explores the political class in Switzerland, particularly in light of its lack of a professional parliament & the combination of direct democracy, federalism, consociationalism, & the militia ideal in Swiss politics. The history of the militia principle & professionalization in political institutions is recounted. The institutional environment necessary for political class development & an evaluation of the Swiss political class are provided, with commentary on the public perception of the militia system & the Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung). The potential of institutional reform & appropriateness of the "political class" label to Switzerland are appraised. 3 Tables, 33 References. L. Collins Leigh