Practice chains of production and consumption : mediatized practices across social fields

The argument developed in this paper is that a focus on practice provides some resolutions to methodological problems facing Bourdieuian scholarship in education. In order to develop Bourdieu's work on practice to account for the interactions between practices, this paper presents a conceptualization of practice as chains of production and consumption. The first part of the paper reviews the account of practice offered by Bourdieu both embedded in practice games and as field effects. The second part of the paper introduces practice chains of production and consumption as a way to conceptualize practice by drawing on a case involving print journalists' involvement with policy makers over the course of an Australian policy review. The final section presents a discussion of this conceptualization and highlights the potential of the concept for further research in understanding the processes of educational policy development.

Perspectives of a nurse, a social-worker and a psychiatrist, regarding patient assessment in acute inpatient psychiatry settings : a case study approach

This case study explores what informs and organizes the assessment of patients, as undertaken by a nurse, a social worker and a psychiatrist in public, metropolitan, acute mental health service settings. The research data are the transcripts of in-depth interviews with three experienced practitioners, one from each of the three disciplines. The analysis draws on Foucauldian concepts: discourse as constructed through practices of discipline and the gaze. We explored examples of taken-for-granted assessment practices and their interplay with discourse. The findings suggest that participating practitioners use language in assessment in ways that support the powerful discourses of the professional disciplines. The competing discourse of management, associated with industry and economics, is evident in hospital admission processes, dictating the times and places of assessment. Professional and management discourses both effectively marginalize the perspective of another player in assessment, the patient.

Assessing the validity of impact pathways for child labour and well-being in social life cycle assessment

Background, aim and scope: Assuming that the goal of social life cycle assessment (SLCA) is to assess damage and benefits on its ‘area of protection’ (AoP) as accurately as possible, it follows that the impact pathways, describing the cause effect relationship between indicator and the AoP, should have a consistent theoretical foundation so the inventory results can be associated with a predictable damage or benefit to the AoP. This article uses two concrete examples from the work on SLCA to analyse to what extent this is the case in current practice. One considers whether indicators included in SLCA approaches can validly assess impacts on the well-being of the stakeholder, whereas the other example addresses whether the ‘incidence of child labour’ is a valid measure for impacts on the AoPs.

Materials and methods: The theoretical basis for the impact pathway between the relevant indicators and the AoPs is analysed drawing on research from relevant scientific fields.

Results:   The examples show a lack of valid impact pathways in both examples. The first example shows that depending on the definition of ‘well-being’, the assessment of impacts on well-being of the stakeholder cannot be performed exclusively with the type of indicators which are presently used in SLCA approaches. The second example shows that the mere fact that a child is working tells little about how this may damage or benefit the AoPs, implying that the normally used indicator; ‘incidence of child labour’ lacks validity in relation to predicting damage or benefit on the AoPs of SLCA.

Discussion: New indicators are proposed to mitigate the problem of invalid impact pathways. However, several problems arise relating to difficulties in getting data, the usability of the new indicators in management situations, and, in relation to example one, boundary setting issues.

Conclusions: The article shows that it is possible to assess the validity of the impact pathways in SLCA. It thereby point to the possibility of utilising the same framework that underpins the environmental LCA in this regard. It also shows that in relation to both of the specific examples investigated, the validity of the impact pathways may be improved by adopting other indicators, which does, however, come with a considerable ‘price’.

Recommendations and perspectives: It is argued that there is a need for analysing impact pathways of other impact categories often included in SLCA in order to establish indicators that better reflect actual damage or benefit to the AoPs.

Media pressures and corporate disclosure of social responsibility performance : a case study of two global clothing and sports retail companies

This paper investigates the social and environmental disclosure practices of two large multi-national companies, specifically Nike and Hennes and Mauritz. Utilising a joint consideration of legitimacy theory and media agenda setting theory, we investigate the linkage between negative media attention, and positive corporate social and environmental disclosures. Our results generally support a view that for those issues attracting the greatest amount of negative media attention, corporations react by providing positive social and environmental disclosures. The results were particularly significant in relation to labour practices in developing countries – the issue attracting the greatest amount of negative media attention for the companies in question.

Social entrepreneurship and experiential learning

Social enterprises and entrepreneurship are about accountability not just to commercial imperatives but to the wide range of stakeholders in a social enterprise, potentially an area of great tension. Social responsibility is about a commitment to society or community, entrepreneurship is usually understood to provide a business outlook on the enterprise - it needs to be sustainable commercially and balanced carefully.
To educate the modem or millenniallearner (born after about 19t1O and grappling with burgeoning youth needs for creative employment developmem) into developing a small to medium enterprise with a social responsibility, modem postgraduate coursework programs have looked closely at experiential learning. This provides a transformative learning through workplace-based projects and strategic business conceptuaUsing. This paper will include a case study of two postgraduate coursework units New Ventures in Creative Enterprise, and Building Creative Teams, part of a Masters in Communication/Creative Enterprise. These provide experiential learning about strategic planning for startup creative businesses, and work-based projects which build on interpersonal skills for ongoing success.

Not waving but drowning : case studies in work identity of new university academics

Eight case studies of academics at a new multi-campus, multi-state Catholic university form the basis of the research. A particular focus is examining how the academics struggle to construct their work identity against the global higher education background of changing government policies, reduced funding and major shifts in thinking about the functions of universities; and also the background of within-university changes: its new research-orientation, its particular form of corporate managerialist administration.

Gilles Deleuze : the problem of aesthetic constructions with case studies on the architectural projects of Louis Kahn

Analyses the late aesthetic writings of philosopher Gilles Deleuze, arguing that : Deleuze continuously refers to modern art and architecture as models of modernist thinking; his method can serve in the analysis and creation of architecture; this can be demonstrated through analysis of the work of architect Louis Kahn.

Critical social work : an introduction to theories and practices

A comprehensive introduction to the most widely used approach to social work theory and practice. It offers a systematic overview of core theories and practice issues in challenging domination and oppression.

Cross-field effects and temporary social fields : a case study of the mediatization of recent Australian knowledge economy policies

This paper utilizes Bourdieu's conceptual frame to examine the mediatized effects of policy processes concerned with the growth and support of knowledge industries in Australia. These policies span education, science, research and other knowledge industries (such as venture capital firms and intellectual property law). The paper argues that some policy processes are best represented as temporary social fields. The nature of these fields can be described by the kinds of cross-field effects that they produce, A case study of an Australian knowledge economy policy, The chance to change, and associated policy processes demonstrates the broad analytic capacities of Bourdieu 's conceptual frame for policy analysis, when combined with the concepts of cross-field effects and temporary social field developed here.

Social work and welfare education without discrimination : are we there yet?

The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has identified education as one of five crucial issues relating to the settlement of African Australians into the Australian community from a human rights perspective (AHRC 2009:5). In this paper I advocate that social work and welfare work in Australia are placed in important and multi dimensioned positions in relation to our complicities, responsibilities and potentialities with this educational human rights issue. As a Technical and Further Education (TAFE) welfare and University social work educator, I offer an outline of the ‘mutual respect inquiry approach’ that developed between myself and Southern Sudanese Australian students as a basis for discussion, reflection and change. I seek to stimulate thinking and action, particularly among those welfare work and social work educators, practitioners and students who identify as critical and anti-oppressive, to consider how these approaches can be realised and reshaped in practice to enhance not only Southern Sudanese Australians' right to education that is 'without discrimination', but indeed all students in our diversity.