Marginalised Mothers: Exploring Working Class Experiences

Successive moral panics have cast poor or socially excluded mothers - associated with social problems as diverse as crime, underachievement, unemployment and mental illness - as bad mothers. Their mothering practices are held up as the antithesis of good parenting and are associated with poor outcomes for children. Marginalised Mothers provides a detailed and much-needed insight into the lived experience of mothers who are frequently the focus of public concern and intervention, yet all too often have their voices and experiences overlooked. The book explores how they make sense of their lives with their children and families, position themselves within a context of inequality and vulnerability, and resist, subvert and survive material and social marginalisation. This controversial text uses qualitative data from a selection of working class mothers to highlight the opportunities and choices they face and to expose the middle class assumptions that ground much contemporary family policy. It will be of interest to students and researchers in sociology, social work and social policy, as well as social workers and policymakers.

The Worsening of the employment and work conditions and its relationship to the self-perceived health in European working population. Relevance and effects of the latest socioeconomic crisis

The recent crisis of the capitalistic economic system has altered the working conditions and occupations in the European Union. The recession situation has accelerated trends and has brought transformations that have been observed before. Changes have not looked the same way in all the countries of the Union. The social occupation norms, labour relations models and the type of global welfare provision can help underline some of these inequalities. Poor working conditions can expose workers to situations of great risk. This is one of the basic assumptions of the theoretical models and analytical studies of the approach to the psychosocial work environment. Changes in working conditions of the population seems to be important to explain in the worst health states. To observe these features in the current period of economic recession it has made a comparative study of trend through the possibilities of the European Working Conditions Survey in the 2005 and 2010 editions. It has also set different multivariate logistic regression models to explore potential partnerships with the worst conditions of employment and work. It seems that the economic crisis has intensified changes in working conditions and highlighted the effects of those conditions on the poor health of the working population. This conclusion can’t be extended for all EU countries; some differences were observed in terms of global welfare models.

Selecting an IMC Career: Influences, Choices and Destinations

Integrated marketing communication incorporates both customer and non-customer stakeholder groups. While the literature commonly refers to this distinction as marketing communication and corporate communication, respectively, and practitioners accept the need for these roles, this study aims to explore the student perspective. US-based research suggests that students are more interested in marketing communication activities such as promotion that target customer stakeholders, and less interested in corporate communication activities that target non-customer stakeholders including employees, investors, and government (Bowen, 2003). The findings of this study match its US counterpart, and present implications for both the education and practice of marketing communication

Working at the interface : the descriptive relevance of Grunig and Hunt’s theories to public relations practices in south east Queensland schools

This article examines the relevance of James Grunig and Todd Hunt’s (1984) theories to public relations practitioners’ roles in south east Queensland schools. It focuses in particular on the two-way symmetric model in this context. The geographical boundaries of the research mean that this article is intended primarily as an exploratory, descriptive analysis of a specific area rather than an exhaustive treatise on the general topic of public relations in Australian schools. However, it is hoped that it will prove useful in identifying bases for further study and discussion.

Orals ain't orals : how instruction and assessment practices affect delivery choices with prepared student oral presentations.

Despite an ostensibly technology-driven society, the ability to communicate orally is still seen as an essential ability for students at school and university, as it is for graduates in the workplace. The need to develop effective oral communication skills is often tied to future work-related tasks. One tangible way that educators have assessed proficiency in this area is through prepared oral presentations. While some use the terms oral communication and oral presentation interchangeably, other writers question the role more formal presentations play in the overall development of oral communication skills. Adding to the discussion, this paper is part of a larger study examining the knowledge and skills students bring into the academy from previous educational experiences. The study examines some of the teaching and assessment methods used in secondary schools to develop oral communication skills through the use of formal oral presentations. Specifically, it will look at assessment models and how these are used as a form of instruction as well as how they contribute to an accurate evaluation of student abilities. The purpose of this paper is to explore key terms and identify tensions between expectations and practice. Placing the emphasis on the ‘oral’ aspect of this form of communication this paper will particularly look at the ‘delivery’ element of the process.

‘Beijing bling’: creative details and consumer choices in contemporary China : an interview with Hung Huang

This edited interview with Hung Huang, CEO of China Interactive Media Group (CIMG), was conducted by Lucy Montgomery in Beijing on 12 August 2005. It was done as part of the ARC Discovery research project, Internationalising Creative Industries: China, the WTO and the Knowledge Economy, led by John Hartley. That project is investigating the development of creative industries in China by focusing on a number of creative services including fashion magazines. Huang’s group publishes five fashion magazines in China, including i-Look, Youth International (Qingnian Yizu), which is the Chinese edition of Seventeen (originally founded by TV-Guide mogul Walter Annenberg), and the Beijing and Shanghai versions of London’s Time Out. It also produces TV programs under the same media brands. The company is based in the stylish Bauhaus-designed former factory 798-Space in the district of Dashanzi, Beijing (see www.798space.com). Huang went to school in Greenwich Village and graduated from Vassar College in New York. She is the daughter of Zhang Hanzhi, who was Mao Zedong’s personal English teacher, and stepdaughter of Qiao Guanhua, Foreign Minister of China during the 1970s at the time of the Nixon visit. Her book My Abnormal Life sold 200,000 copies in China.

Inter-agency working : good intentions and interaction dynamics

This paper explores inter-agency working and examines the implications of inter-agency operations for delivering multi-domain service outcomes. Cross-agency collaborative approaches to service delivery are suggested to provide the vehicle for achieving integrated service and policy goals. However, it is argued these need to be crafted ‘fit’ for purpose’ and may not be the requisite approach for all joint purposes. Moreover, some commentators suggest that the optimism about these partnership arrangements and cross-agency actions to resolve complex multi-dimensional problems may be misplaced and propose that further research into the actual rather than desired consequences of these arrangements may find that, at times, partnership working creates negative effects. While collaboration and partnerships are often framed as the way to achieve real breakthroughs in service delivery across agencies, there remain key challenges to interagency working. As more and insistent calls for agencies and other community actors to work together in resolving complex social problems are heeded, the implications of working across organizational boundaries need to be further investigated. This paper investigates cases of inter-agency programmes to understand the dimensions and limitations of inter-agency working. The paper concludes by offering a framework for better inter-agency working that has applicability across all sectors.

The aptitudes of allied health professionals working in remote communities

This study aimed to identify the aptitudes required in allied health professionals working in three different service delivery models serving remote locations in Northern tropical Australia. Eighteen allied health professionals including," dietetics, diabetes educators, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, psychology, podiatry, social work and speech pathology participated in this exploratory study using a narrative approach. A range of aptitudes were identified and themed under the following headings: (1) being organized but flexible, (2) cooperation and mediation, (3) culturally aware and accepting communicators, (4) knowing the community (5) resourcefulness and resilience and (6) reflectivity. Limiting factors were also deduced. Three of the themes are discussed in this paper. The study found that allied health professionals working in remote settings identified as important personal attributes not necessarily valued in metropolitan settings. Recruitment processes and education programs need to recognize the importance of personal attributes as well as professional skills.