The effect of maternal employment on adolescents' transition to young adulthood

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between multiple characteristics of maternal employment, parenting practices, and adolescents��� transition outcomes to young adulthood. The research addressed four main research questions. First, are the characteristics of maternal work (i.e., hours worked, multiple jobs held, work schedules, earnings, and occupation) related to adolescents��� enrollment in post-secondary education, employment, or involvement in neither of these types of activities as young adults? Second, are the work characteristics related to parental involvement and monitoring, and are the parenting practices related to adolescents��� transition outcomes? Third, do parental involvement and monitoring mediate any relationships between the characteristics of maternal employment and adolescents��� transition outcomes? Finally, do any associations between characteristics of maternal employment and parenting practices and adolescents��� transition outcomes vary by poverty status, race/ethnicity, or gender? To address these research questions, secondary data analysis was conducted, using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) from 1998 through 2004. The study sample consisted of 849 youths who were 15 through 17 years of age in either 1998 or 2000, and were 19 through 21 years of age when their transition outcomes in young adulthood were measured four years later. Multinomial logistic and ordinary least squares regression models were estimated to answer the research questions. Study findings indicated that of the maternal work characteristics, mothers��� multiple jobs held, occupation, and work schedule were significantly related to the youths��� transition outcomes. When mothers held multiple jobs for 1 to 25 weeks per year, and when mothers held jobs involving lower levels of occupational complexity, their youths were more likely to experience employment rather than post-secondary education. Adolescents whose mothers worked a standard work schedule were less likely to experience other types of transitions than post-secondary education. With regard to the effects of maternal employment on parenting practices, none of the maternal work variables were related to parental involvement, and only one variable, mothers working less than 40 hours per week, was negatively related to parental monitoring. In addition, when parents were more involved with their youths��� education, the youths were less likely to transition into employment and other types of transitions rather than post-secondary education. The parenting practices did not mediate the relation between the significant work variables (holding multiple jobs, work schedule, and occupation) and youths��� transition outcomes. Finally, none of the interactions between maternal work characteristics and poverty status, race/ethnicity, and gender met the criteria for determining significance; but in a series of sub-group analyses, some differences according to poverty status and gender were found. Despite the lack of mediation and moderation, the findings of this study have important implications for social policy and social work intervention. Based on the findings, suggestions are made in these areas to improve working mothers��� lives and their adolescents��� development and successful transition to adulthood. Finally, directions for future research are discussed.

Jisc CAN case study: Student Digital Ambassadors for Digital Literacy at London School of Economics

Student Digital Ambassadors for Digital Literacy at London School of Economics case study. Student Ambassadors for Digital Literacy (SADL) is a programme coordinated by Learning Technology and Innovation and LSE Library and open to LSE undergraduate students. It has been running since 2013, when it started as a pilot in two academic departments. LSE is a specialist social science institution, research led with a relatively small undergraduate population (approximately 4500 students). Students study across the social sciences in quantitative subjects such as economics, maths and statistics, and qualitative subjects such as social policy, international history and anthropology. The student population is highly international and LSE has an excellent rating for graduate employment. LSE Students Union offer support and promote SADL which aims to develop students digital literacies, but provides an opportunity to understand more about what their needs might be.

Seeing Turkish state formation processes: Mapping language and education census data

Language provides an interesting lens to look at state-building processes because of its cross-cutting nature. For example, in addition to its symbolic value and appeal, a national language has other roles in the process, including: (a) becoming the primary medium of communication which permits the nation to function efficiently in its political and economic life, (b) promoting social cohesion, allowing the nation to develop a common culture, and (c) forming a primordial basis for self-determination. Moreover, because of its cross-cutting nature, language interventions are rarely isolated activities. Languages are adopted by speakers, taking root in and spreading between communities because they are legitimated by legislation, and then reproduced through institutions like the education and military systems. P��draig ����� Riag��in (1997) makes a case for this observing that ���Language policy is formulated, implemented, and accomplishes its results within a complex interrelated set of economic, social, and political processes which include, inter alia, the operation of other non-language state policies��� (p. 45). In the Turkish case, its foundational role in the formation of the Turkish nation-state but its linkages to human rights issues raises interesting issues about how socio-cultural practices become reproduced through institutional infrastructure formation. This dissertation is a country-level case study looking at Turkey���s nation-state building process through the lens of its language and education policy development processes with a focus on the early years of the Republic between 1927 and 1970. This project examines how different groups self-identified or were self-identified (as the case may be) in official Turkish statistical publications (e.g., the Turkish annual statistical yearbooks and the population censuses) during that time period when language and ethnicity data was made publicly available. The overarching questions this dissertation explores include: 1.What were the geo-political conditions surrounding the development and influencing the Turkish government���s language and education policies? 2.Are there any observable patterns in the geo-spatial distribution of language, literacy, and education participation rates over time? In what ways, are these traditionally linked variables (language, literacy, education participation) problematic? 3.What do changes in population identifiers, e.g., language and ethnicity, suggest about the government���s approach towards nation-state building through the construction of a civic Turkish identity and institution building? Archival secondary source data was digitized, aggregated by categories relevant to this project at national and provincial levels and over the course of time (primarily between 1927 and 2000). The data was then re-aggregated into values that could be longitudinally compared and then layered on aspatial administrative maps. This dissertation contributes to existing body of social policy literature by taking an interdisciplinary approach in looking at the larger socio-economic contexts in which language and education policies are produced.

Trajet��rias de inser����o e RSI : impactos dos trabalhos da institui����o Salvaterra

Disserta����o de Mestrado, Ci��ncias Sociais, 30 de Setembro de 2016, Universidade dos A��ores.

As Santas Casas da Miseric��rdia na Rep��blica Brasileira 1922-1945

O principal objectivo desta disserta����o �� o de conhecer um pouco melhor o processo de implementa����o das Santas Casas de Miseric��rdia no Brasil, dando especial ��nfase �� sua expans��o durante o per��odo de consolida����o da Rep��blica brasileira, mais concretamente entre 1922 a 1945. A necess��ria contextualiza����o levou a pesquisa sobre as Miseric��rdias at�� �� fase colonial e imperial do Brasil, acabando por demonstrar que as mesmas se fortaleceram no segmento de assist��ncia m��dica, durante o per��odo em an��lise, tomando o Estado brasileiro dependente das suas actividades. Este trabalho discute ainda o imagin��rio social da caridade e filantropia e a forma como tais preceitos configuraram a assist��ncia m��dico-social no pa��s. ABSTRACT; This dissertation aims to better know the implementation process of the Santas Casas de Miseric��rdia in Brazil, highlighting their expansion during the Republic, mainly between 1922 and 1945. For a better historical contextualization the study explores the Brazil's colonial and imperial phases, demonstrating that the Miseric��rdias progressively strength their power in the medical assistance segment, becoming the State dependent of their activities. The dissertation also discusses the philanthropy and charity's collective social imagery, as well as the way in which such concepts shaped the medico-social assistance in the country.

A house, not a home? Examining the use of the private rented sector to resolve homelessness in Scotland

Changes to homelessness legislation in post-devolution Scotland have resulted in an expansion of rights for homeless households seeking formal assistance from local authorities. These changes have led to Scotland���s homelessness arrangements being considered among the most progressive in Europe. In recent years, however, the Scottish Government has increasingly promoted homelessness prevention and Housing Options approaches as a means by which homelessness might be avoided or resolved without recourse to statutory rights. As part of that, they have promoted greater use of the private rented sector (PRS) as a key housing option, with the potential to meet the needs of homeless households. The arguments made to support use of the PRS have much in common with arguments for privatisation in other areas of social policy, notably greater choice for the individual promoting better welfare outcomes, and competition among providers encouraging improvements in quality of service provision. Critics have argued that such benefits may not be realised and that, on the contrary, privatisation may lead to exclusion or act to worsen households��� outcomes. This thesis considers the extent to which the PRS has been utilised in Scotland to accommodate homeless households, and the consequences of this for their welfare. The thesis uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. To examine trends in the use of the PRS, it presents quantitative analysis of the data on the operation of the statutory system and Housing Options arrangements, and of data from a survey of local authority homelessness strategy officers. To examine the consequences of this for homeless households, the thesis uses qualitative research involving face-to-face interviews with 35 homeless households across three local authority areas. This research considers the extent to which households��� experiences of homelessness, housing need and the PRS reflect the arguments presented in the literature, and how settled accommodation has impacted on households��� ability to participate fully in society. The research found an increasing but still limited role for the PRS in resolving statutory homelessness in Scotland, with indications that the PRS is being increasingly used as part of the Housing Options approach and as a means of resolving homelessness outside the statutory system. The PRS is being utilised to varying degrees across different local authority areas, and a variety of methods are being used to do so. While local authorities saw clear advantages to making greater use of the sector, a number of significant barriers including affordability, available stock and landlord preferences - made this difficult in practice. Research with previously homeless households in the PRS similarly found broadly positive experiences and views of the sector, particularly with regard to enabling households to access good quality accommodation in desirable areas of their choosing, with many households highlighting improvements relating to social inclusion and participation. Nevertheless, concerns around the security of tenure offered by the sector, repairs, service standards and unequal power relations between landlord and tenant persisted. As such, homeless households frequently expressed their decision to enter the sector in terms of a trade-off between choice and security.

Independence or Protection - does it have to be a choice? Reflections on the abuse people with learning disabilities in Cornwall

This commentary will use recent events in Cornwall to highlight the ongoing abuse of adults with learning disabilities in England. It will critically explore how two parallel policy agendas ��� namely, the promotion of choice and independence for adults with learning disabilities and the development of adult protection policies ��� have failed to connect, thus allowing abuse to continue to flourish. It will be argued that the abuse of people with learning disabilities can only be minimised by policies which reflect an understanding that choice and independence must necessarily be mediated by effective adult protection measures. Such protection needs to include not only an appropriate regulatory framework, access to justice and well-qualified staff, but also a more critical and reflective approach to the current orthodoxy which promotes choice and independence as the only acceptable goals for any person with a learning disability.

Emerging Gender Regimes and Policies for Gender Equality in a Wider Europe

This article addresses some implications for gender equality and gender policy at European and national levels of transformations in family, economy and polity, which challenge gender regimes across Europe. Women���s labour market participation in the west and the collapse of communism in the east have undermined the systems and assumptions of western male breadwinner and dual worker models of central and eastern Europe. Political reworking of the work/welfare relationship into active welfare has individualised responsibility. Individualisation is a key trend west ��� and in some respects east ��� and challenges the structures that supported care in state and family. The links that joined men to women, cash to care, incomes to carers have all been fractured. The article will argue that care work and unpaid care workers are both casualties of these developments. Social, political and economic changes have not been matched by the development of new gender models at the national level. And while EU gender policy has been admired as the most innovative aspect of its social policy, gender equality is far from achieved: women���s incomes across Europe are well below men���s; policies for supporting unpaid care work have developed modestly compared with labour market activation policies.Enlargement brings new challenges as it draws together gender regimes with contrasting histories and trajectories. The article will map social policies for gender equality across the key elements of gender regimes ��� paid work, care work, income, time and voice ��� and discuss the nature of a model of gender equality that would bring gender equality across these. It analyses ideas about a dual earner���dual carer model, in the Dutch combination scenario and ���universal caregiver��� models, at household and civil society levels. These offer a starting point for a model in which paid and unpaid work are equally valued and equally shared between men and women, but we argue that a citizenship model, in which paid and unpaid work obligations are underpinned by social rights, is more likely to achieve gender equality.

Future Selves: Career choices of young disabled people

There is growing recognition that gaining the views of young people is crucial for understanding issues that affect their lives. However, to date, very little is known about the way in which disabled children, make sense of their identities, and create a sense of their past and their imagined futures over time. This three year study, funded by the European Social Fund, and conducted by Dr Sonali Shah and colleagues at the University of Nottingham, used various methods to explore how physically disabled students, in full-time special or mainstream education, make choices concerning their occupational futures. It identified the factors that shape their educational and career related choices and chances, and explored how social relations, social processes, and social policies influenced the extent to which their aspirations were achieved. This study presents disabled children and young people as critical social actors who are telling their own stories of how social structures and processes shape their choices and aspirations for their future selves. It illustrates the importance of consulting children and young people about issues concerning their lives, and not rely solely on adults��� conceptions of childhood. The young disabled people���s experiences and views can be used to develop a new flexible system which offers the benefits of mainstream and special education, and facilitates young disabled people���s self-determination to make choices to participate in and contribute to their independent futures.

Gender and East Asian Welfare States: from Confucianism to Gender Equality

How can we understand the gender logic underpinning the welfare states/systems of East Asia? Does the comparative literature, which has largely been concerned with western Welfare states, whether in The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (Esping-Andersen 1990), or in gender-based analysis of the male breadwinner model (Lewis 1992, 2001, 2006), have anything to offer in understanding the gender assumptions underpinning East Asian welfare states? Are the welfare systems of East Asian countries distinctive, with Confucian assumptions hidden beneath the surface commitment to gender equality? We will use the (mainly western) comparative literature, but argue that Confucian influences remain important, with strong assumptions of family, market and voluntary sector responsibility rather than state responsibility, strong expectations of women���s obligations, without compensating rights, a hierarchy of gender and age, and a highly distinctive, vertical family structure, in which women are subject to parents-in-law. In rapidly changing economies, these social characteristics are changing too. But they still put powerful pressures on women to conform to expectations about care, while weakening their rights to security and support. Nowhere do welfare states��� promises bring gender equality in practice. Even in Scandinavian countries women earn less, care more, and have less power than men. We shall compare East Asian countries (Japan, Korea, Taiwan where possible) with some Western ones, to argue that some major comparative data (e.g. OECD) show the extreme situation of women in these countries. Some fine new qualitative studies give us a close insight into the experience of mothers, including lone and married mothers, which help us to understand how far the gender assumptions of welfare states are from Scandinavia���s dual earner model. There are signs of change in society as well as in economy, and room for optimism that women���s involvement in social movements and academic enquiry may be challenging Confucian gender hierarchies.

Administrative justice and the control of bureaucratic decision-making: A study investigating how decision-makers in local authority education departments respond to the work of redress mechanisms

This socio-legal thesis has explored the factors responsible for explaining whether and how redress mechanisms control bureaucratic decision-making. The research considered the three principal institutions of administrative justice: courts, tribunals, and ombudsman schemes. The field setting was the local authority education area and the thesis examined bureaucratic decision-making about admissions to school, home-to-school transport, and Special Educational Needs (SEN). The thesis adopted a qualitative approach, using interviews and documentary research, within a multiple embedded case study design. The intellectual foundations of the research were inter-disciplinary, cutting across law, socio-legal studies, public administration, organization studies, and social policy. The thesis drew on these scholarly fields to explore the nature of bureaucratic decision-making, the extent to which it can be controlled and the way that learning occurs in bureaucracies and, finally, the extent to which redress mechanisms might exercise control. The concept of control was studied across all its dimensions ��� in relation both to ex post control in specific cases and the more challenging notion of ex ante or structuring control. The aim of the thesis was not to measure the prevalence of bureaucratic control by redress mechanisms, but to understand the factors that might explain its presence or absence in a particular area. The findings of the research have allowed for a number of analytical refinements and extensions to be made to existing theoretical and empirical understandings. 14 factors, along with 87 supporting propositions, have been set out with the aim of making empirically derived suggestions which can be followed up in future research. In terms of the thesis��� contribution to existing knowledge, its comparative focus and its emphasis on the broad notion of control offered the potential for new insights to be developed. Overall, the thesis claims to have made three contributions to the conceptual framework for understanding the exercise of control by redress mechanisms: it emphasizes the importance of ���feedback��� in relation to the nature of the cases referred to redress mechanisms; it calls attention to the structure of bureaucratic decision-making as well as its normative character; and it discusses how the operational modes of redress mechanisms relate to their control functions.

L���influence de l���am��nagement linguistique sur l'orientation des travaux de terminologie �� l���Office qu��b��cois de la langue fran��aise (1961-2004)

La terminologie, telle quelle se pratique au Qu��bec depuis une cinquantaine d'ann��es, s'inscrit dans un projet d'am��nagement linguistique qui vise �� faire du fran��ais la langue d'utilisation commune sur le territoire qu��b��cois. La mise en ��uvre de ce projet a ��t�� confi��e �� l'Office qu��b��cois de la langue fran��aise. Dans le cadre de la pr��sente th��se, nous ��valuons l'influence de l'am��nagement linguistique sur l'orientation des travaux de terminologie �� l'Office qu��b��cois de la langue fran��aise de 1961 �� 2004. Notre objectif principal est de montrer que le projet d'am��nagement linguistique a engendr�� une intense activit�� terminologique �� la suite de l'adoption de diverses lois linguistiques au cours des cinquante derni��res ann��es. Plus pr��cis��ment, nous analysons l'impact de ces lois sur le d��veloppement de la pratique de la terminologie. Pour ce faire, nous avons propos�� six p��riodes qui caract��risent les travaux de terminologie de l'Office qu��b��cois de la langue fran��aise de 1961 �� 2004. �� l'int��rieur de ces six p��riodes, nous analysons les mandats que les lois linguistiques ont confi��s �� l'Office et leurs r��percussions sur l'orientation de ses travaux terminologiques. �� l'instar de la probl��matique que nous avons esquiss��e au d��but de cette th��se, les r��sultats de notre recherche r��v��lent que la pratique de la terminologie est li��e au projet de soci��t�� que le Qu��bec s'est donn�� pour assurer la d��fense du fran��ais sur son territoire. En outre, l'adoption des lois linguistiques a favoris�� le d��veloppement de la pratique de la terminologie. Cette pratique a ��volu�� en fonction des diff��rents mandats confi��s �� l'Office qu��b��cois de la langue fran��aise qui a mis au point une m��thodologie de travail en terminologie. C'est dans le cadre de l'am��nagement linguistique que la terminologie s'est d��velopp��e au Qu��bec et qu'elle est devenue l'instrument cl�� de la mise en ��uvre du projet d'am��nagement linguistique qu��b��cois.