bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Delta Coverage: The Analytics Journey to Implement a Novel Nurse Deployment Program
Authors: Helm Jonathan E. , Shi Pengyi , Drewes Mary , Cecil Jacob
Published: October 2024

This paper introduces the Delta Coverage (DC) analytics program, an innovative solution to address the nursing shortage crisis. The program designs a new flexible nursing role supported by an accompanying analytics model for dynamic nurse staffing. Using advanced data analytics, the DC program dynamically allocates flexible nurses across multiple hospitals in response to geographical and temporal nurse demand variability. The DC analytics suite integrates a nurse-demand forecast using a deep generative model and a stochastic optimization for optimal on-call and deployment decisions. A pilot study demonstrated that the DC program reduced understaffing incidents by 17% compared to traditional travel nurse solutions, with projected annual savings of $2.5 million for the partner hospital and over $1.5 billion nationally. These results highlights the potential of the DC analytics program to transform nurse staffing practices on a broader scale.
The Adult Orthodontic– Restorative Interface. Part 1: Concepts of Treatment and Presenting Challenges
Authors: Bryce Graeme , Smith Robert , Stagles Christopher
Published: October 2024

This is the first article in a three-part series that discusses joint orthodontic–restorative care for the adult patient. Part 1 presents an overview of the clinical presentations, challenges and strategies that may be employed to treat this complex patient group.

CPD/Clinical Relevance: The reader should be able to describe a care pathway, with potential associated complications, for the provision of adult orthodontic–restorative treatment.
Electrosurgical Adjunct for Soft Tissue Management of the Paediatric Dental Trauma Patient
Authors: Roocroft Lucy , Srinivasan Vidya
Published: October 2024

The interface between dental restorations and the neighbouring soft tissue is of key significance for restorative success and longevity. Trauma-related enamel–dentine fractures are frequently present with the restorative challenge of subgingival margins and little remaining tooth structure. This report looks at two paediatric dental trauma patients with extensive crown fractures resulting in subgingival margins, which posed a poor long-term tooth survival. Electrosurgery was used before definitive composite restorations to allow for supragingival margins and access. Each patient attended the Child Dental Health Department at the University of Manchester Dental Hospital for assessment and treatment provision.

CPD/Clinical Relevance: This article identifies electrosurgery as an increasingly useful adjunct to restorative management of traumatized permanent incisor teeth in paediatric patients.
Considerations for the Management of Early Complications in Bone Regeneration: A Case Report
Authors: Delgado Gonzalo , Meza‑Mauricio Jonathan , Valdivia Erick , Vergara‑Buenaventura Andrea
Published: October 2024

This case report evaluates the possible reasons for early complications after guided bone regeneration, as well as options for their management. A thorough evaluation prior to surgery will help determine appropriate planning. Each clinician should be aware of the goals and possible limitations of the treatment to be performed to ensure optimal patient care. The management of the membrane, early exposure and contamination with a second bone augmentation surgery provided a sufficient amount of bone to place a dental implant in a correct three-dimensional position.

CPD/Clinical Relevance: The correct approach for the management of the complications for regenerative bone therapy is highlighted.
Endodontics: The Sequel or the Surgical
Authors: Pandya Jay-Krishan , Walker Lucy , Edwards David
Published: October 2024

This narrative review considers the common clinical dilemma of choosing from non-surgical root canal re-treatment (NSRCreT), surgical root canal re-treatment or dental extraction. While orthograde root canal treatment is generally successful, cases with unresolved symptoms or persistent infection prompt the need for orthograde root canal re-treatment or surgical intervention. The latter involves microsurgery, reserved for suitable cases. Deciding on the appropriate treatment requires a holistic understanding of the patient, the existing dentition and specific tooth factors. This article discusses insights into decision-making, fostering optimal endodontic care and successful treatment outcomes.

CPD/Clinical Relevance: Knowledge of current recommendations regarding non-surgical root canal re-treatment, extraction or referral for apical surgery is useful knowledge.
The Dynamics of Young Fatherhood
Authors: Neale Bren , Tarrant Anna
Published: October 2024

This book presents new insights into the unfolding lives of young fathers (those who enter parenthood before the age of 25). It draws on dynamic data from a qualitative longitudinal study (Following Young Fathers, 2010-15), and associated projects, that traced the lives of a mixed sample of young men from a Northern industrial city in the UK through the early years of fatherhood. Part 1 (Young Fatherhood, Contemporary Knowledge and Debate) reviews how young fatherhood is constituted, drawing on international research evidence (chapter 1) and UK policy responses (chapter 2). It reveals how young fathers (and young parents more generally) are viewed as a social problem; the related deficit model of understanding, that assumes that they are feckless and run away from their responsibilities; and an alternative social engagement framework, which shows a commitment among many young men to ‘be there’ for their children. The qualitative longitudinal methodology adopted for this research (Chapter 3) offers unique insights into the complex causal pathways that shape the varied experiences of these young men. The empirical chapters (Part 2, Living Young Fatherhood) explore how young men attempt to establish a parental role and identity, and the relational, socio-economic and environmental factors that impact on this process. Part 3 (Supporting Young Fathers: Lived Experiences and Policy Challenges) explores and re-shapes the landscape of professional support for young fathers. The final chapter brings the findings together, examines the citizenship of young fathers, and makes the case for compassionate social policies that can more effectively support them and their families.
Researching young fatherhood through time
Authors: Neale Bren , Tarrant Anna
Published: October 2024

This chapter documents the qualitative longitudinal design of the Following Young Fathers study. This methodology enables insights into how the lives of young fathers unfold through time, and sheds light on the complex causal processes that shape their parenting journeys. The participatory ethos used to engage with these young men and with a sample of practitioners from different agencies, is also detailed here. The chapter sets out the varied socio-economic and relational characteristics of the young men (well/poorly resourced, partnered/single, resident/non-resident) and the purposive sampling strategy used to recruit them. The vexed question of whether this is a ‘representative’ sample of young fathers is also addressed. The related studies that make up the Following Young Fathers programme are also outlined: a qualitative secondary analysis of FYF data (conducted under Tarrant’s Men, Poverty and Lifetimes of Care study); a recent follow up of a small sub-sample of the young men (conducted under Tarrant’s Following Young Fathers Further study); and a one-year practitioner initiative (Responding to Young Dads) based on a model of co-producing knowledge across the research/practice interface. This initiative drew on key findings from the FYF study to pilot new forms of professional practice.
Teacher education and the enterprise narrative
Authors: Ellis Viv , Gatti Lauren , Mansell Warwick
Published: October 2024

Chapter Two begins with an explanation of the cultural-historical approach taken and how that is integrated with a critical political economy analysis. As essential background, histories of the teacher education systems in the USA, England and Norway are presented, particularly in relation to the different types of welfare state. Colonisation, slavery and segregation; nation-and empire-building; and the industrialisation of an historically agricultural, communitarian society are all shown to be key factors in how the institutions and practices of teacher education have developed. Two cases that exemplify the power of the enterprise narrative in teacher education reform are presented: the Academy of Urban School Leadership in Chicago and the construction of ‘experts’ from a cast of policy entrepreneurs in England.
Introduction
Authors: Abrahams Jessie
Published: October 2024

This chapter introduces the reader to the book by briefly visiting the author’s experience of schooling to explain the initial motivation for this research. This chapter also introduces the initial research questions and provides some detail around key concepts and the limitations of what is and is not said in this book. This chapter includes an overview of the structure of the remainder of book.
Option blocks that block options (GCSEs)
Authors: Abrahams Jessie
Published: October 2024

This chapter looks at the opportunity structures in each school which serve to enhance or restrict pupils’ chances of fulfilling their aspirations. This is done through a consideration of the different General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) subject combinations available to pupils in each school and the implications of this in relation to the ‘value’ attributed to pupils. GCSE ‘option time’ is framed as a key moment in which young people make ‘life directing choices’ which will either open up or shut down future pathways. This chapter interrogates the concept of ‘choice’, highlighting how Eagles Academy pupils, as well as having a limited range of subject options, are faced with a timetable blocking system which further restricts their choices. In contrast, the Grand Hill and Einstein High pupils experience a wide and unrestricted landscape of subject options.
Aim lower: leashing aspirations and internalising notions of (in)ability
Authors: Abrahams Jessie
Published: October 2024

In this chapter I consider the question of what happens when aspirations are raised (Chapters 3 and 4) but opportunity structures remain unequal (Chapters 5 and 6). This chapter explores the key role of careers advisors, as they work to re-orient and realign aspirations. In doing so they play a central role in intervening to sweep up the resultant mess of the contradictory messages sent out by policy makers. While all careers advisors engage in aspiration work, the form this takes is different in each school. This chapter considers the emotional and affective experience of aspiration work (Brown, 2011), exploring the different and classed ways in which young people internalise the meritocratic messages inherent in their interactions with careers advisors.
Low-income Female Teacher Values and Agency in India
Authors: Samuel Ruth
Published: October 2024

Roles and responsibilities define a woman’s status within Indian society. They are mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters and often within a subordinate position professionally.
This book shares new research that highlights the life histories and varied experiences of low-income female teachers that emphasises the feminine perspective within the teaching profession in India. It explores low-income female teacher’s speech and syntax as a crucial resource in which agency, freedom and empowerment is enacted within a strong oral tradition in India. It demonstrates how this socially and economically marginalised group navigate their roles and social spaces to develop relational agency and embed their authority. It shows how their values and beliefs shape attitudes to aspiration, achievement, and freedom of choice. It concludes with recommendations for policy and improvements to reflective practice in teaching.
Introduction
Authors: Gregory Lee , Iafrati Steve
Published: October 2024

This chapter provides a brief introduction to the topic of this book. It considers the topicality of debates around citizenship and diversity, exploring ongoing tensions (primarily in the UK context). Attention is given to the impact of the Black Lives Matters campaigns, the inequalities exposed by COVID-19 and the developing cultural war around trans people to illustrate that there are ongoing tensions around diversity, discrimination and a failed application of equal citizenship status. The chapter concludes with a brief overview of the structure and subsequent chapters within the book.
Statutory exclusion from social security: experiences of migrants in the UK
Authors: Pinter Ilona
Published: October 2024

Poverty among children in migrant families in high-income countries has increasingly received attention from scholars. But the role that immigration policies themselves play in driving poverty is less well understood. Using existing evidence, this chapter considers the intersections between child poverty, race, ethnicity, nationality and immigration status. It examines how domestic immigration policies, particularly the ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) framework – which systematically and intentionally excludes migrant families from mainstream social security benefits – act to create and sustain poverty and material deprivation among children living in the UK. The author argues that social policy debates on inequality, social security and poverty must recognise the statutory exclusions created by immigration restrictions to understand how and why some children grow up in poverty in the UK. With more children in migrant families becoming excluded by NRPF restrictions in recent years, these effects are likely to increase in the future.
Disadvantaged, discriminated against and ignored: the experiences of Romani and Gypsy Travellers
Authors: Crew Teresa
Published: October 2024

Romani and Gypsy Travellers face some of the starkest inequalities across the social policy spectrum of any minority group, and their lived experience is one of prejudice and discrimination. This chapter outlines these long-standing inequalities before examining the impact of austerity policies and the COVID-19 pandemic. The chapter ends with an examination of how we can tackle these inequalities.
‘You mean, my theoretical rights?’ Exploring service shortfalls and administrative (in)justice among homeless trans people
Authors: England Edith
Published: October 2024

Homelessness is an extreme form of privation. The UK is internationally unusual in offering a statutory right to assistance, while Wales further enhances this right with explicit integration of anti-discrimination protections. This is critical for trans people, whose rights to access services in accordance with their gender identity has, at the time of writing, been subject to intense dispute, both in the UK and internationally. However, reflecting an international turn within welfare systems to individualistic, competitive approaches, Welsh homelessness systems now centre private markets as a solution for homelessness. I argue that, while legislative and political inclusion is critical, this is undermined by increasing conditionality. Legislative advances will not ensure equality for those with protected characteristics unless societal, economic and legislative structural barriers are addressed.
Male domestic violence victims’ experience of healthcare services
Authors: Quinn-Walker Natalie
Published: October 2024

Many victims of domestic abuse feel unable to report their experiences due to the stigmatisation or disbelief they may experience. Male victims further struggle due to society’s gendered expectations of masculinity. These embedded societal structure issues create barriers for male victims to report their abuse. This chapter will explore the experience of men undergoing domestic violence and their access to health services. The research provided men with the opportunity to share their stories of abuse and their perceptions regarding medical support (for injuries) and/or of reporting their abuse. The chapter considers the adequacy of support for male victims when seeking medical attention and reviews the types of injuries suffered. In addition, it considers the events and interactions with service providers experienced by men when reporting abuse/presenting visual physical injury to consider experiences of stigma that create barriers to accessing support.
Introduction: The Conservative governments from Cameron to Sunak (2015–23)
Authors: Bochel Hugh , Powell Martin
Published: October 2024

This period from 2015 to 2023 was remarkable in a number of respects, including the events of the Brexit process and the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Conservative governments being headed by five prime ministers and a similar rapid turnover of ministers. It also saw at least the first three prime ministers claiming to use social policy to reduce inequality, whether in the form of Cameron’s ‘Big Society’, May’s ‘burning injustices’ or Johnson’s ‘levelling up’. However, in each case, it was difficult to see how policy change, let alone outcomes, matched the rhetoric. The chapter highlights the impact of both ideology and ‘events’ (in particular the effects of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic) and divisions within the Conservative Party. Drawing on a broad typology of philosophical political dimensions, the chapter suggests that it was unclear if policy and outcomes matched rhetoric, but also there were clear ideological preferences for reduced public expenditure (‘austerity’) and a smaller welfare state among many leading Conservatives.
The Conservatives and public spending since 2015
Authors: Ellison Nick
Published: October 2024

Over the past eight years, Conservative governments have struggled to develop a coherent approach to public spending. Their difficulties have much to do with a persistent, and unresolved, tension between neoliberal and One Nation attitudes to the state and public expenditure. In the context of an overview of public spending since 2015, this chapter considers the implications of this internecine disagreement. Although the Conservatives have had to deal with significant challenges (COVID-19, Ukraine), not all of which, unlike Brexit and its associated ills, have been self-imposed, efforts to address them have lacked consistency. This underlying instability, epitomised by the extraordinary turnover of prime ministers and chancellors since the Brexit referendum, has led not only to some particularly chaotic ‘political moments’, but also to a failure to confront the difficulties facing the UK’s public services.
Equalities and the Conservatives: the widening of social divisions?
Authors: Rummery Kirstein
Published: October 2024

This chapter focuses on the Conservative governments’ record on equalities by looking at the impact of their social policies on Black and minority ethnic (BAME) groups, women and disabled people. Employment, education, social care and welfare benefits in the period between 2017 and the 2020–21 pandemic, which laid the foundations for the widening inequalities and the differentiated impact of COVID-19 on these groups, are examined. More generally, the disparities between the findings on racial inequalities of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities and the Centre for Research in Race and Education at the University of Birmingham are explored, as well as data on gender and disability inequalities. The issue of how and why BAME groups, women and disabled people bore the brunt of changes to working, caring, health and social care during the pandemic is discussed, and the chapter concludes with social policy lessons that need to be taken on board in a post-pandemic welfare state to prevent further widening of inequalities.
The Conservative governments, devolution and social policy
Authors: Gray Ann Marie
Published: October 2024

This chapter assesses social policy and devolution during the period of the UK Conservative governments since 2015. This period is dominated by two developments: the UK exiting the European Union (EU) and the COVID-19 pandemic – both of which have brought into sharp focus the overlaps and entanglements in responsibilities which emerged over the 20 years of devolution. The more divergent approaches to social policy in the devolved administrations apparent over the period of the Coalition government continued under the Conservatives, and the extent and impact on a range of policy areas is assessed, particularly in Scotland and Wales, where governments made use of enhanced devolutionary powers. In Northern Ireland, the collapse of the Assembly for three years resulted in the Conservative government only intervening on a small number of matters. Brexit and the process and arrangements for exiting the EU, including future financial arrangements and allocation of powers, ignited debates about a second independence referendum in Scotland. The chapter considers the implications of Brexit and of the COVID-19 pandemic, which also exacerbated frustration in Scotland and Wales about the Barnett formula and Treasury control, and the potential impact of the result on the May 2021 elections in Scotland and Wales.
Scottish police reform and localism
Authors: Malik Ali
Published: October 2024

This chapter examines the early development of modern police forces and the concomitant local police governance structures in Scotland. This analysis serves to demonstrate the strong appeals to localism in Scottish policing and governance discourse. This commitment to localism is embedded in Scotland’s approach to policing, emphasising community-oriented policing and a broad social welfare role. The chapter analyses Scottish police reform in the context of police reform, restructuring, and reorganisation across Central and Northern Europe. While austerity became the catalyst for change, Scottish police reform was driven by weaknesses in local governance structures and the need for a more harmonised national policing framework.
Conclusion
Authors: Malik Ali
Published: October 2024

This chapter summarises the arguments made throughout the book and provides some concluding thoughts in the context of police governance in Scotland. It also offers some forward-looking suggestions in relation to the role of knowledge and expertise in police and policing governance. The framework of epistocracy provides ways in which knowledge-based governance can be envisioned in various other governance contexts.
The Enlightened Social Worker
Authors: Forrester Donald
Published: October 2024

The Enlightened Social Worker seeks to understand why there is so often a gap between the aspirations of social work to be a helping profession guided by principles of social justice and the reality of practice, which is often characterised by tension and conflict. The book develops an account of social work that is grounded in the Enlightenment tradition of individual rights. It sees social workers as typically involved when rights are in potential conflict. In doing so social work is an essential profession, with social workers both protecting the rights of individuals and contributing to creating a humane, kind and just society. From this foundation the book seeks to articulate theories and practices that provide a strong basis for working with the tensions that are an endemic feature of practice. This includes chapters on direct work, assessments, key theories for rights-focused work and moving beyond working with the individual.
Social work: tensions, conflicts and rights
Authors: Forrester Donald
Published: October 2024

This introductory chapter explores the gap between definitions and theories about social work and the realities of practice. It introduces the idea of human rights, emphasising their contested nature. It is argued that focusing on the idea of contested rights provides a more grounded way of understanding social work but is still an inspiring vision for what social work is and could be.
Liberty, helping and protection
Authors: Forrester Donald
Published: October 2024

This chapter focuses on rights to individual liberty, and the ways in which they require a profession such as social work. The “Harm Principle” that individuals should be free to do what they wish provided they do not hurt others, underlies liberal society. Yet what of those who may not have capacity to exercise such freedom, such as children and others who social workers often work with? The chapter explores the nature of risk and protection, the dilemmas and tensions this creates and how workers can and should work with such difficulties. The idea of a “ladder of consequences” is introduced as both a reflection of the realities of practice and a heuristic that has the potential to be used appropriately or inappropriately. The contrast between this complex and challenging work and simplistic approaches to helping is highlighted throughout by a child protection case study.
Assessment, formulations and rights
Authors: Forrester Donald
Published: October 2024

Formulation is introduced as a way of developing working theories in social work assessment. The theory and practice of formulation are introduced, and additional considerations for a rights focused formulation are presented. The practice of formulation is then illustrated through an extended case study.
Working with individuals and families
Authors: Forrester Donald
Published: October 2024

Moving on from assessment to how to work with individuals, this chapter considers how social workers could and should have rights focused conversations. Throughout the nature of practice is examined with examples from interviews between social workers and actors playing parents. The tendency of social workers to take on authority positions and to be vague about the focus of the work are identified. Suggestions for authoritative and purposeful practice are made and illustrated through case examples, with many being inspired by the spirit and technique of motivational interviewing. The chapter finishes with a section on working with capacity issues.
Introduction: Aristotle’s curse
Authors: Powell Fred , Scanlon Margaret , Leahy Patrick , Jenkinson Hilary , Byrne Olive
Published: October 2024

The introductory chapter explores the landscape of educational disadvantage. It contextualises the core conceptual issues in the book and provides an intellectual rationale and overview of the book. In this chapter the origins of Western society are explored through an analysis of the ideas of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. The seminal contribution of Pierre Bourdieu to understanding educational inequality in modern society is introduced.
The psycho-politics of meritocracy: IQ + effort = merit?
Authors: Powell Fred , Scanlon Margaret , Leahy Patrick , Jenkinson Hilary , Byrne Olive
Published: October 2024

This chapter examines the moral principle of merit and its limitations. We argue that meritocracy has provided a metafiction for public policy based on a philosophy of equality of opportunity that does not withstand critical analysis. The chapter suggests alternatives such as equality of condition that are more likely to achieve social justice.
Understanding police legitimacy and public confidence
Authors: O'Reilly Carina
Published: October 2024

This chapter explores the overlapping concepts of confidence and legitimacy. It discusses the academic research into these concepts, how they are defined and what activities can support them or damage them. It also looks at demographic differences in levels of public confidence in the police. It then explores how this research was used to build the early trials of Reassurance Policing which evolved into the Neighbourhood Policing Programme.
Themes and future directions
Authors: O'Reilly Carina
Published: October 2024

The final chapter brings together the themes developed in the rest of the book and looks to the future. This discussion highlights the importance of both the policy landscape and the internal strategic focus of the police. The chapter argues that the unmooring of neighbourhood policing from its original purposes risks leaving it without the organisational support needed for the model to function effectively. However, the need to legitimate policing’s coercive function requires effective neighbourhood policing and an understanding of the importance of relationships with partners and communities.
Critique of the Political Economy of Poverty (CPEP), Part 1: on different answers to the question of the constitutive elements of the good/full life
Authors: Boltvinik Julio
Published: October 2024

This chapter shows the lack of any satisfactory answer on the constitutive element(s) of the good life. Utility, opulence/real-income, Rawls’s primary goods and the capability approach (CA) are critically assessed. I adopt Rawls’s (expensive and offensive tastes) critique as well as Sen’s (cheap tastes) one, which defeat utilitarianism. I develop a critique of Neoclassical Consumer Theory (NCT), endorsing Penz’s critique and adding mine that shows that NCT rejects N but reintroduces them surreptitiously and does not resist the introduction of N. Some of its axioms are invalid for poor and upper classes and would work only for needless beings (robots). I address Sen’s CA, endorsing critiques that view it as an empty theory that requires specification and substantiation, minimises humans’ passive side and overvalues freedom. My own critique adds that it is mechanistic: functionings depend only on income and entitlements, that is, on consumption of G&S; it is a theory of capabilities without capacities, in which possessing commodities is the unique capacity. I criticise Nussbaum’s CA, which is different from Sen’s and much closer to my New Paradigm (NP), on two grounds: the non-problematisation of capitalism through concepts as alienation and her reduction to capability of all good-life elements. The chapter ends synthesising my New Paradigm of Poverty and Human Flourishing (NPPHF).
Reflections on faith-based abortion advocacy as the US faces a future without Roe : a conversation with Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
Authors: Ruttenberg Rabbi Danya , Turtle Kellie
Published: October 2024

The US has a long history of faith-based advocacy for reproductive rights. From the activities of the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion in the years before Roe v Wade, the campaigning and lobbying of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, or the involvement of Black faith leaders in the Reproductive Justice movement. This chapter takes the form of an in-depth interview in which Rabbi Ruttenberg discusses her experiences mobilising the Jewish community to activate around abortion justice, the basis of her personal commitment to the issue and her articulation of abortion justice from within a religious framing. The chapter explores the legacy of Jewish clergy participation in abortion advocacy in the US, the National Council of Jewish Women’s work in this area, and the challenges they face in a Christian-dominated political and religious landscape. As years of rollback in reproductive healthcare come to a head with the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade, Rabbi Ruttenberg discusses the response from faith communities. She reflects on the opportunities that exist for Jewish congregations to impact the public discourse on abortion and her hopes and fears for the future of reproductive health, rights and justice in the US.
Seeds of hope in progressive Christian discourse on abortion in Northern Ireland
Authors: Turtle Kellie
Published: October 2024

Despite evidence elsewhere of well-developed liberal faith conversations on abortion, such discourse has remained largely invisible in Northern Ireland. In March 2020, for the first time, faith leaders from across the Christian denominations in Northern Ireland engaged in constructive dialogue with secular prochoice groups in order to have nuanced discussions on abortion and explore their own theological, ethical and pastoral responses. Framed by research undertaken by Ulster University and facilitated by organisers with grassroots reproductive rights group Alliance for Choice, the engagement process provides a case study of the development of progressive faith discourse on abortion in a religiously conservative society. This chapter reflects on the methodology, analyses the contextual influences and explores the potential impact on both the public abortion discourse and the changing policy landscape.
Faith Voices for Reproductive Justice in Northern Ireland
Authors: Turtle Kellie
Published: October 2024

In this chapter participants from the faith leaders’ engagement project, introduced in Chapter 11, explain in their own words what motivated them to become involved in the project and the impact it had on them. In so doing the chapter presents the nuanced, complex dynamics that shaped participants’ lives and brought them to the point of stepping into the unknown to engage with abortion from a faith perspective. From experiences as queer people of faith to the growing pressure as a clergy member to pick a side in the abortion debate, these reflections provide insight into the context within which people of faith in a conservative society formulate views on abortion.
Conclusion
Authors: Turtle Kellie , Bloomer Fiona
Published: October 2024

The concluding chapter reflects on the research evidence, scholarly analysis, case studies, and reflections on praxis, presented by academics, theologians and practitioners in the edited volume. Applying the theoretical lenses of reproductive justice and lived religion, the editors propose three thematic areas that will be useful for the development of further scholarship and praxis. These are critical engagement with theology and doctrine; mapping faith values and challenges; and modelling effective interventions. The chapter expresses hope that the work contained within this volume will have a depolarising effect on abortion discourse and serve to mitigate the impact of abortion stigma, particularly on those within faith communities.
Welfare state nationalism, family reunification and forced migrants’ strategies to surpass structural violence
Authors: Nordberg Camilla , Hiitola Joa , Kara Hanna , Jäppinen Maija
Published: October 2024

This chapter investigates the consequences of the administrative restrictions imposed on family reunification processes in contemporary Finland. Drawing on the notion of welfare state nationalism, the chapter looks at how structural barriers to family life are manifested at different stages of the family reunification process, how forced migrants combat these barriers and how welfare service structures and actors assist or hinder these personal processes. Three constructed cases are drawn from ethnographic data produced in two different research projects and consisting of observation diaries and interviews with social work practitioners and service users. The results discuss the troublesome dynamics of coloniality, racialisation and structural violence that materialise in normative structures of welfare policy and practice.
Contesting universalism in Finnish health and social services: experiences of migrant parents with a disabled child
Authors: Heino Eveliina , Kara Hanna , Lillrank Annika
Published: October 2024

This chapter examines how universalism is implemented in practice in the contemporary Finnish public health and social services by analysing the service experiences of 20 migrant parents of a disabled child. The focus lies on the structures and practices in the services that frame the everyday lives of migrant parents. The analysis reveals systematic limitations based on implicit bias. Monolingual practices, standardised services and asymmetrical relationships between parents and professionals appear to be connected with universalistic practices that limit parents’ agency in many ways while they struggle to contact, find and use information about services. More inclusive health and social care services require recognising and addressing the different needs of a diverse population.
Silence so loud it hurts: racialisation, erasure and future-building in Finnish social work
Authors: Hubara Koko
Published: October 2024

This chapter explores the complexity of the erasure of racialisation in Finnish social work. Narrated from a personal standpoint, Hubara outlines how the silences surrounding race in Finnish social work have an impact on racialised people. Arguing that social work must do the ‘work’ to find solutions, Hubara proposes concrete steps that the profession can take to build new futures.
Counter-archiving as a decolonial pedagogy of collective care
Authors: Sawyer Lena , Clarke Kris , Osei-Kofi Nana
Published: October 2024

Three academics moving and living in Nordic countries and the West Coast of the US explore practices of city walking as a means of challenging colonial public archives. City walks from Gothenburg, Sweden and Fresno, California, are scrutinised as examples of decolonial social work pedagogy that build on Yoon-Ramirez’s (2021) notion of sensory and experiential learning as well as Sharp’s (2016) concept of ‘wake work’. The practice of wake work, which entails counter-archiving, is a decolonial pedagogy that challenges and attempts to rupture the colonial narratives and spatial mappings that erase specific communities’ histories and contributions to our collective spaces. By moving collectively through city space and counter-archiving public art, monuments and various geographic locations through dialogues, we aimed to make visible the everyday salience of colonial history in these city spaces.
Post-professional social work? Decolonising social work professionalism through the engagement of community health workers
Authors: Raittila-Salo Saana
Published: October 2024

In contemporary post-professional times, social work expert knowledge and authority have been challenged by the new managerialism, proletarianisation and technocratisation. This chapter responds to the potential of broadening the scope of social work to incorporate para- and non-professional lay practitioners from within local communities in social service delivery. Post-professionalisation is experienced, in this way, as an opportunity to renew social work professionalism, and not necessarily as a threat. This chapter provides a case study that examines community health work in peri-urban Maputo City, Mozambique, illustrating that the widespread adoption of Western state-directed social work and its modernist ideas of professionalism, are ill suited for many countries of the Global South. The community health worker engagement model proposed here is applicable to Nordic countries, but to try to transfer the model, the prevailing ideas of social work professionalism need to be decolonised.
Decolonising mindfulness, mindful decolonisation and social work futurities
Authors: Bird Michael Yellow , Hatton-Bowers Holly
Published: October 2024

In this chapter, our goal is for Finnish social workers to understand the health-promoting benefits and significance of mindfulness for systems change. We present information regarding the use of mindfulness interventions to support social worker healing and practices, share the ways that decolonised mindfulness can engage practitioners in systems thinking and change, and offer mindful meditations for students and practitioners to use. We encourage both social work students and practitioners to use mindfulness to promote their own individual health and well-being and also to engage in wise judgements that collectively lead to social workers being good ancestors to future generations.
Conclusion
Authors: Clarke Kris , Lee-Oliver Leece , Ranta-Tyrkkö Satu
Published: October 2024

The conclusion to the edited volume, Decolonising Social Work in Finland: Racialisation and Practices of Care, identifies the main themes in the book. The book examines how colonial structures, systems, knowledge and ways of being still influence society and social work practices in Finland. In pointing out the myriad ways that asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants inhabit precarious circumstances amid welfare state nationalism and homonationalism, the authors call for a more emancipatory Finnish social work praxis. It argues that decoloniality is not a vague futurism, but rather a practice that requires practitioners to imagine and design pathways for learning, engaging, revising and responding to the everyday ways that colonial ideology is rooted in systems of welfare.
Bodies of Change: Menopause as Biopsychosocial Process
Authors: Throsby Karen , Roberts Celia
Published: October 2024

This chapter takes off from the observation that menopause in human beings is still understood in the prevailing biomedical discourse as a period of decline, failure, loss and ending, a construction which limits not just the questions we can ask about menopause but also how we answer them. Instead, we need to understand menopause through a biopsychosocial lens and specifically as a transition; as well as reframing it as an experience that is significantly inflected by an individual’s social context and their psyche. This allows us to include the bodies of those who currently do not count in prevailing discourse and ensuing policy and practice around menopause, and to understand that there is no such thing as THE menopause.
Workplace Policies, Menopause and Flexible Working: The Need for a More Collective Approach
Authors: Parry Jane
Published: October 2024

This chapter considers the poor fit between workplace policy and menopause considerations in UK organizations, coming at these issues through the lens of flexible work and its utilization in workplaces. It is argued that organizational offers around flexible work would be improved by becoming more responsive, and managers more adept at designing and monitoring flexible working arrangements. This chapter contributes to human resource management (HRM) knowledge by looking at the gap that has emerged between a legislative framework that could potentially support menopause transitions and more routine workplace decision-making that lacks the nuance to accommodate diverse working arrangements. It is argued that intersectional theory offers mileage in developing more effective psychological contracts that acknowledge changing and varied needs associated with menopause and normalizes the accommodation of these within workplace practice.
Subculture, Scene, Lifestyle, or Movement? Conceptualizing Straight Edge from Insider and Academic Perspectives
Authors: Haenfler Ross
Published: October 2024

In this chapter, I reflect on my long-term study of straight edge to demonstrate connections and disjunctions between participants’ perspectives and sociological concepts used to understand them. Straight edgers variously interpret their refusal of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs as an individual/personal commitment and as a collective challenge/social movement. Some view their abstinence as part of recovery from substance use disorders, others as part of a radical political project. Straight edgers routinely discuss their collective identity in terms of subculture, scene, lifestyle, and movement. Each of these parallels an academic concept with a long history, meant to illuminate patterns of social phenomena. I show how each provides tools useful to the sociological analysis of straight edge. While concepts guide and emerge from both the research process and the interpretation of data, more important is the emergent meaning-making that transcends conceptual boundaries. Rather than make a strong case for the best concept, I argue that the complexity of straight edgers’ lived experience warrants multiple conceptualizations. Finally, I show how an ethnographic, inductive research process, incorporating a variety of data sources and sites, helps develop sociological concepts while also revealing their limitations.
Ghosts in the Machine: (Post)subculture and the ‘Problem’ of Contemporary Youth
Authors: Bennett Andy , Bennett Daniel
Published: October 2024

The purpose of this chapter is to consider how the interpretive lens of the (post)subcultural researcher squares with the hefty legacy of the subculture–post-subculture debate—if we are any closer to uncovering more fine-grained insights into the lifeworlds of ‘youth culturalists’ or if we are still in the business of creating these lifeworlds on behalf of youths? The chapter is based on a series of reflections on my own career as a youth culture researcher and an ongoing series of conversations with my son in which the then and now of youth cultures is invariably a topic of discussion. I claim no universal truths in this account. It is instead an opportunity to reassess what myself and other youth researchers have suggested about the nature of youths and their cultures and to ponder all of this in the context of an era where youth culture is as much a historical terminology as something that bespeaks a contemporary status quo for young people.
The Dynamic Meaning of Subculture among DIY Indonesian Musicians
Authors: Sutopo Oki Rahadianto
Published: October 2024

In this chapter, I continue and critically contextualize the subculture versus post-subculture debates using my long- term study of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Indonesian musicians by investigating the dynamic meaning of music subculture across their different career stages and its interlinkages with the changing socio-historical and cultural context. This research followed a change toward empirical work, rather than relying heavily on the polished theoretical discussions as suggested by the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. The life stories of four DIY musicians reveal the ambiguous character of subcultural careers amidst everyday political-economic realities in Indonesia. During the amateur stage, DIY Indonesian musicians interpret music subculture as a space to accumulate valuable forms of material and symbolic skills suitable to build and develop into professional careers. During the professional stage, DIY Indonesian musicians interpret music subculture as a space to maintain sustainability of their music career under the uncertain and risky conditions of the culture industry. The narratives of DIY Indonesian musicians unveil the everyday politics of the post-Reform era which I described as the politics of ‘survival of the fittest’ with ambiguous qualities.
J.K. Gibson-Graham: Feminist Geographies and Diverse Economies
Authors: Babakordi Zara
Published: October 2024

The feminist economic geographer, J.K. Gibson-Graham, has had a critical role in shaping, imagining and reimagining the ‘economic’ beyond its conceptualization via normative centring of capitalist-oriented practices. Through the concept of ‘diverse economies’, Gibson-Graham has helped visualize a plurality of non-capitalist economic practices, all of which are critical and crucial in shaping the lives of individuals and communities around the world. Remittances – often involving financial transfers across geographies – are one such example of a non-capitalist economic practice, connecting communities within the institution of the ‘global household’. But the concept of ‘diverse economies’ has been challenged to expand its theoretical remit, recognizing not just the potential for liberation, but the ways in which diverse economic practices represent a mode of survival for people of colour mediating racial capitalism and colonial injustices. This chapter pays attention to a non-capitalist practice of remittance that, while sharing similarities with diverse economic practices across geographies, is uniquely shaped by a local environment mediated by racial capitalism, colonialism and apartheid – ‘Black Tax’.