El diagnóstico de la crisis de la cultura en España: del recorte público a la crisis sistémica

Desde su invención en los años cincuenta, la política cultural ha sido objeto de análisis y reflexión por parte de las ciencias sociales. No obstante, en España presenta una serie de características diferenciadoras frente a las democracias occidentales europeas como consecuencia del periodo franquista. Con la recuperación de la democracia España adquiere el paradigma dominante de una política cultural democrática basada en la libertad, el pluralismo y el derecho a la cultura. Sin embargo, tras décadas de gobiernos democráticos el diagnóstico de la política cultural en España presenta rasgos de crisis sistémica, además de los efectos de la crisis global financiera de inicios del siglo XXI. En este contexto, los autores diagnostican, aplicando la metodología Delphi y recurriendo a fuentes secundarias, un conjunto de discursos sociales y narrativas que parecen funcionar como recursos cognitivos solucionistas en la esfera artística y cultural y que no están exentos de contradicciones y aporías, fruto de su contraste empírico.

Crisis of work as a social integration factor

This article analyzes the process of deterioration of the work as a source of social rights and as a social integration element. The context of this process is the passage of a wage-labour society with stable employment to other where the labour relations are deregulated. This aim was tackled by means of quantitative and qualitative techniques. Secondary sources of statistical information were used together with interviews to experts of the institutional sphere. The results of this research show the emergence of a new exclusive model of social cohesion based on intensification and generalization of social inequalities and job insecurity. In this new model of social cohesion, it is noted that the integration strategies of people have less and less support from Government and people are neglected. This process appears in the four spheres that classify the social exclusion risks factors: the structural, the institutional, the relational and the individual.

From labelling to social aid for immigrants in the 21st Century

Migration is as old as humanity, but since the 1990s migration flows in Western Europe have led to societies that are not just multicultural but so-called «super-diverse». As a result, Western towns now have very complex social structures, with amongst others large amounts of small immigrant communities that are in constant change. In this paper we argue that for social workers to be able to offer adequate professional help to non-native residents in town, they will need balanced view of ‘culture’ and of the role culture plays in social aid. Culture is never static, but is continually changing. By teaching social workers about how to look at cultural backgrounds of immigrant groups and about the limitations of then role that culture plays in communication, they will be better equipped to provide adequate aid and will contribute to making various groups grow towards each other and to avoid people thinking in terms of ‘out-group-homogeneity’. Nowadays, inclusion is a priority in social work that almost every social worker supports. Social workers should have an open attitude to allow them to approach every individual as a unique person. They will see the other person as the person they are, and not as a part of a specific cultural group. Knowledge about the others makes them see the cultural heterogeneity in every group. The social sector, though, must be aware not to fall into the trap of the ‘inclusion mania’! This will cause the social deprivation of a particular group to be forgotten. An inclusive policy requires an inclusive society. Otherwise, this could result in even more deprivation of other groups, already discriminated against. Emancipation of deprived people demands a certain target-group policymaking. Categorized aid will raise efficiency of working with immigrants and of acknowledging the cultural identity of the non-natives group. It will also create the possibility to work on fighting social deprivation, in which most immigrants can be found.

El autocuidado y apoyo social de mujeres de un proyecto de seguimiento mamográfico en Porto Alegre/Brasil

Objective: Identify preventive self-care practices and analyze the configurations of the network support for women with and without breast cancer registered in a mammography-monitoring project from Porto Alegre/Brazil.Method: a mixed sequential delimitation was performed, which expanded the results of the quantitative step (cross and correlation section) in a qualitative step (narrative interviews). 37 women diagnosed with breast cancer (group 1) and 72 without this diagnosis (group 2 – monitoring) participated. The following instruments were used: Assessment Questionnaire Self-care Ability (ASA-A) and Assessment Questionnaire Perceived Social Support and Community. There were performed descriptive analysis and comparison of means (t test and ANOVA) between the two groups. To deepen the understanding of the data, we selected four women with breast cancer with extreme levels on the scale of Social Support to participate in the biographical narrative interviews.Results: the analysis indicate that women who had breast cancer have better self-care practices than the women from the monitoring project (t = 1.791, P = 0.027). As for the analysis of social support, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups. All participants have an average level of perceived social and community support. It was highlighted by the qualitative data that it was after the diagnosis of breast cancer that women lived self-care aspects they had not previously experienced.Conclusions: the self-care was significantly bigger in the group of women with breast cancer, where the cancer diagnosis was a trigger to increase self-care.

Diagnóstico del rendimiento académico de estudiantes de una escuela de educación superior en México

El objetivo del artículo es realizar un diagnóstico sobre la percepción de los factores que intervienen en el rendimiento académico de los estudiantes de cinco carreras universitarias en una escuela de educación superior en México, para así reconocer las áreas de oportunidad que permitan sugerir políticas y estrategias para elevar su rendimiento. Se utilizó una muestra de 1651 estudiantes, se obtuvieron los datos a partir de un cuestionario con treinta preguntas que estudian la percepción del rendimiento académico en escala tipo Likert. Se realizó un análisis factorial exploratorio que permitiera reducir los datos, facilitar la interpretación y validar el instrumento. Se identificaron tres factores: a) el rol de los profesores, b) la evaluación y c) la motivación de los estudiantes. Se llevó a cabo un análisis comparativo por carrera. Se encontró que los estudiantes perciben que la mayoría de los maestros no se preocupan por la condición de los jóvenes en situación de reprobación. Además, casi no motivan y carecen de expresiones de sentimientos de orgullo por los logros académicos de los estudiantes. La mitad de los participantes piensa que los docentes no cubren el temario en su totalidad. Se detectó que los estudiantes poseen una alta motivación siendo esto positivo porque son alumnos dedicados y responsables. Se concluye realizando una serie de sugerencias y explicando las implicaciones que tiene este trabajo para las instituciones de educación superior.

Del pictograma a la imagen: herramientas de comunicación y lenguaje en personas con síndrome de Asperger a través de recursos visuales para la inclusión social

Se presenta en este texto, una introducción al Síndrome de Asperger y aquellas características que lo distinguen, con el fin de conocer un poco más, en qué consiste este Trastorno Generalizado del Desarrollo (TGD). Además, se pretende facilitar cuales son las herramientas de comunicación y lenguaje más aptas para la enseñanza y aprendizaje del sujeto, haciendo hincapié en los recursos visuales, audiovisuales y artísticos como herramientas de aprendizaje para su inclusión social en cualquier ámbito de la sociedad (colegios, institutos, asociaciones, universidades o administraciones).