bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The quest for community: From the Settlement Movement to the Griffiths Report: an historical perspective
Authors: Pinker Robert
Published: May 2018

In this chapter, Robert Pinker considers the more recent debates about community care as a key policy idea for social care by focusing on the recovery and cultivation of community that were on display in London in the 1880s in the Settlement Movement, and, in particular, at Toynbee Hall. Toynbee Hall, according to Pinker, was representative of the cross-currents of ideology and interest which were to transform the state–civil society relations in the formulation of British social welfare policies during the twentieth century. Pinker discusses some general issues with respect to formal social services and informal care in Britain. He also describes the community care programme at the University of Kent that focused on the decentralisation and specialisation of social work services for elderly people living in the community. Finally, he comments on the Griffiths proposals for community care and their implications for local authority personal social services.
The experience of citizenship: a generational perspective
Authors: Pinker Robert
Published: May 2018

In this chapter, Robert Pinker introduces the three institutional features which have come to make up citizenship — civil rights, political rights and social rights — by analysing T.H. Marshall's concept of citizenship from a generational perspective. He first considers Marshall's models of citizenship and ‘democratic welfare capitalism’, Michael Oakeshott's views on social policy and his notion of the state, and Max Weber's distinction between what he calls ‘formal’ and ‘substantive’ rationality. Pinker then explains how Marshall's concept of citizenship could be useful in understanding the everyday and subjective experience of citizenship at the level of everyday ‘life across the life cycle’. He also discusses the ways in which ordinary people secure their well-being and their welfare in everyday life, typically through means such as social services, the market, informal care and voluntary action. Finally, he describes the relationship between rationality and the sentiments of charitable discretion.
The politics of early intervention and evidence
Authors: Gillies Val , Edwards Rosalind , Horsley Nicola
Published: May 2018

This chapter takes a critical look at assumptions that ‘the wrong type of parenting’ has biological and cultural effects, stunting children's brain development and passing detrimental social values and behaviour down the generations. It draws out assertions about foundational, determinist brain development and attachment in the early years as the basis and rationale for interventions to ‘save’ children from poor parenting, and then subject them to critique. The chapter also explores the history of understandings of children, family and parenting, and the implications for society, and looks at contemporary understanding that poor parenting results in substandard future citizens who are not fit for the economy of today's world.
In whose best interests?
Authors: Gillies Val , Edwards Rosalind , Horsley Nicola
Published: May 2018

This chapter analyses the intricate network of interests and their agendas that characterise social policy provision generally, focusing down on social investment in children's services and the early intervention field. In particular, the chapter looks at three key stakeholder groups with interests in early intervention: business, politicians and professionals, and their interlinked alliances and partnerships. It examines how corporate money, power, and influence have pervaded various children's services, from child protection work to family and early intervention initiatives to education services. This occurs through ‘philanthrocapitalism’ — an amalgam of an economic rationale of early intervention coupled with moral notions of social philanthropy.
Introduction
Authors: Breeze Beth
Published: May 2018

The Introduction chapter explains why a study of the social characteristics and daily practices of fundraisers is necessary and timely. A growing number of charitable organisations are shown to be pro-actively seeking voluntary income in a context of reduced income from other sources and a shortage of qualified and experienced fundraisers. The scarcity of fundraising talent is described as a global problem, and one that is exacerbated by the critical and cynical environment in which fundraisers operate. The efficacy of fundraising, such that most donations are prompted and solicited, is highlighted and linked to the argument that research attention needs to shift from the donors to the askers, which is the purpose of the rest of this book.
Homicide and media: ‘realities’ and ‘representations’
Authors: Yardley Elizabeth
Published: May 2018

This chapter considers existing criminological insights into homicide and identifies the key themes and perspectives that emerge at the intersection of homicide and mainstream media. We might think of perpetrators like Derek Medina, Randy Janzen and Amanda Taylor as aberrations who are fundamentally different from the rest of us, or make sense of their social media posts in relation to the crimes they committed as simply another manifestation of their transgression. However, all three individuals have lived out their lives in the same world as us. Before they were killers — and indeed afterwards — they were ‘prosumers’ of mediated representations of homicide, as we all are. The chapter first addresses questions of definition, scale and nature before examining how the field of criminology has made sense of homicide in media in terms of what emerges as important and what is missing from such analyses.
Approach to the study
Authors: Yardley Elizabeth
Published: May 2018

This chapter outlines the ontological, epistemological and methodological considerations of the empirical research reported in this book and proposes a new approach towards analysing media in crime, termed Ethnographic Media Practice Analysis for Criminology (EMPAC). It also explains the rationale for the selection of the three cases to which EMPAC has been applied: the murder of Jennifer Alfonso, the Janzen familicide, and the murder of Charles Taylor. After establishing the view of the social world that this study proceeds from, the chapter discusses the approach to understanding that social world — or epistemology. The objective is to identify what tools and techniques would be most appropriate for making sense of the social media confessions of homicide perpetrators.
The regulatory aesthetics of co-production
Authors: Evans Penny , Piccini Angela
Published: May 2018

This chapter examines three case study projects that came out of University of Bristol and Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC) collaboration. Within those projects, it looks at the positioning of arts practices as knowledge producing, rather than instrumental or facilitative. The chapter addresses some of the issues around collaboration and regulation, and analyses how arts-based projects are shaped through institutional structures. KWMC and the University of Bristol have been collaborating across a number of research projects over the past decade. KWMC works with media artists to engage citizens often excluded from decision-making and research through exploring local, national, and international issues in order to co-produce and co-design the testing of ideas, products, and technologies.
Community finance: the emergence of credit unions in London
Authors: Jones Paul A , Howlin Michelle
Published: May 2018

Inspired by a strong sense of social mission, credit unions in London, as elsewhere in Great Britain, have a long commitment to serving people on low-incomes. Recognised by the UK Government as key players in providing financial services to those marginalised by mainstream financial providers, credit unions have received significant political support and public financial investment to expand their services in low-income communities. This has been particularly important in times of austerity and hardship and of change to the welfare benefits systems. This chapter focuses on the historic development of credit unions in London, and explores how they have endeavoured to resolve the tension inherent in remaining true to their social and co-operative values and at the same time in ensuring their economic stability and independence. It discusses the background of credit unions in the capital, the challenges they have faced over the years and how they are endeavouring to reform as professional financial co-operatives serving a wide and diverse membership. East London Credit Union (ELCU) was founded by local volunteers inspired and motivated by their Christian faith to make a difference in the local community. The chapter reflects on ELCU’s mission and social commitment to assist people through hard times and the way in which has endeavoured to tackle austerity through business success.
The Tafel and food poverty in Germany
Authors: Werth Sabine
Published: May 2018

Founded in 1993 by four women in Berlin, Germany, the Berliner Tafel is Germany’s oldest food rescue organization. The Tafel concept was quickly replicated and eventually developed into a nationwide network. Today, the Berliner Tafel has approximately 1,800 volunteers who tirelessly work to collect surplus food and deliver it to those in need throughout the city. The organization supplies over 300 social initiatives ranging from homeless shelters to soup kitchens and operates 45 food distribution points, Laib und Seele, in partnership with churches and the regional radio and television network. The Berliner Tafel supports more than 125,000 people in need every month with quality food that would otherwise have been unnecessarily thrown away. After the organization’s primary mission of rescuing food had adequately matured, the decision was taken to branch out and impact the lives of the children and youth of Berlin by establishing the KIMBA programme, which aims to teach young people from all backgrounds the value of food, good nutrition and the importance of sharing a meal together. Through all these activities the Berliner Tafel bolsters the fabric of German society by supporting vulnerable citizens while simultaneously having a positive impact on the environment and encouraging solidarity within and among Berlin’s diverse communities.
Individualism and community in historical perspective
Authors: Lawrence Jon
Published: May 2018

This chapter argues that we need to stop seeing individualism and community as irreconcilable opposites, and stop fixating on idealised and nostalgic models of face-to-face community. Commentators tend to romanticise local, face-to-face forms of community at the expense of looser forms of social relationship that may be equally rewarding and equally likely to strengthen social cohesion. They also tend to gloss over the darker-side of forced community, ignoring the fact that people actively sought to escape such environments once the opportunity arose. As lived experience community has changed rather than diminished. New technologies, from the car and the telephone to web-based social networking, have made it easier to sustain relationships rooted in genuine affection rather than simply in proximity. Indeed, it has never been easier to reconcile the urge for privacy and personal freedom with social connectedness. It is not that we have suddenly become individualist – the historic roots of individualism run deep in British culture. Rather, in recent decades many of the important corporate and communal facets of society and polity have been hollowed out, leaving individualistic impulses much less constrained. We should read the widespread nostalgia for community that runs through our culture as resistance to this process; as evidence that people want to find a way to reconcile personal freedom – the right not to have to conform to others’ expectations – with a deeper sense of social connection. Instead of lamenting the world that is lost, we need to focus our energies on maximizing the opportunities for people to enjoy both personal freedom and fulfilling, socially connected lives.
Mapping agri-environmental knowledge systems
Authors: Oreszczyn Sue , Lane Andy
Published: May 2018

This chapter draws on the authors' experiences over many years of investigating knowledge exchange processes across three research projects that mostly dealt with agri-environmental knowledge systems with contentious issues for stakeholders (farmers, policymakers, researchers, businesses and NGOs) to explore. The first project discussed considers UK farmers' understandings of new technologies and the influencers on them. This work is then taken forward into subsequent projects that analysed complex knowledge flows in a number of different contexts—agriculture, health, food, international development, and hedgerow management systems. The authors reflect upon how the use of diagramming and relationships with participants in their research methods evolved through the three phases of the first project and into the subsequent projects.
Using visual approaches with Indigenous communities
Authors: Berardi Andrea , Mistry Jay , Haynes Lakeram , Jafferally Deirdre , Bignante Elisa , Albert Grace , Xavier Rebecca , Benjamin Ryan , de Ville Géraud
Published: May 2018

This chapter portrays the development of a research program involving a number of phases and funded projects over the longer term. The authors depict a lay expertise model of development where local people promote their own solutions to environmental problems. They comment on the way their methodological approach changed over the 15 years of researching with indigenous forest communities in Guyana to find solutions to their complex environmental issues. Their initial expert-led approach, using quantitative methods, became increasingly participatory as more appropriate qualitative and visual methods were employed. The chapter shows how such techniques can be used to overcome communication barriers and how they can aid the interactions between academic researchers and non-academic researchers and between local people and policymakers. The chapter also shows how research and visual techniques may be used not simply to empower local communities to take action themselves but to take ownership, offering the potential for longer term outcomes.
Conclusions
Authors: Lane Andy , Oreszczyn Sue
Published: May 2018

This chapter draws the themes of the book together and, in particular, reflects on the use of the mapping techniques used by the various authors in the book in helping the research process. It highlights key aspects and outcomes from the case studies, and considers the lessons that may be learned for researching environmental sustainability. It discusses mapping, environmental sustainability, systemic practices, participatory research, and methods and methodology. It concludes that although mapping or diagramming is a valued and valuable parts of research praxis into environmental sustainability, this is not the only or better way to do research. The authors express hope that the book inspires readers to apply mapping in complex environmental situations.
Measuring poverty in the UK
Authors: Gordon David
Published: May 2018

All politicians from all political parties in the UK agree that poverty is ‘bad’ things which should be reduced/eradicated.There is political unanimity about this, however, there is also often passionate contestation about the causes and solutions to poverty and, in particular, who is to blame for poverty. This chapter both describes the Poverty and Social Exclusion project’ methodological approach and draws on over 200 years of poverty research to reach the following conclusions: 1) Poverty is not behaviour – most poverty has a structural cause; 2) Poverty is not a disease – you cannot catch poverty from your parents nor transmit it to your friends, relatives or children; 3) The underclass is a persistent myth – which has never existed; 4) Redistribution is the only solution to child poverty – only adults can provide the resources that children need. Failure to learn these lessons from research invariably results in ineffective and inefficient anti-poverty policies such as the £1 billion Troubled Families programme.
The impoverishment of youth: poverty, deprivation and social exclusion among young adults in the UK
Authors: Fahmy Eldin
Published: May 2018

The 2008 economic crisis and subsequent austerity policies have had profoundly damaging impacts for young adults across Europe in ways which threaten to seriously undermine their capacity to make successful transitions to adult independence.Nevertheless, reliable evidence on youth living standards and living conditions in the wake of these cataclysmic events has been scarce.This chapter provides new evidence on the nature, extent and social distribution of vulnerability to poverty and social exclusion amongst young adults in the UK. The work described here updates earlier analyses of the 1999 PSE-GB study using a comparable methodology. The chapter therefore examines trends in poverty and wider forms of social exclusion for young adults over the 1999-2012 period.These data reveal a dramatic increase in youth material and social deprivation over this period and, using a range of different measures, a rise in the extent of youth poverty which requires urgent policy action.
Improvement for some: poverty and social exclusion among older people and pensioners
Authors: Patsios Demi
Published: May 2018

This chapter focuses on several key areas of poverty and social exclusion experienced by older people and pensioners using B-SEM. Analyses by pensioner household type (n=2,296) show differences in older adults’: access to material, economic and social resources; participation in common social activities and civic and political participation; and quality of life. Younger pensioners (particularly couples) are least likely to report lower resources and exclusion from participation, and more likely to report higher quality of life. In contrast, older and single (particularly female) pensioners are most likely to report lower levels of economic and social resources and lower scores on participation and quality of life sub-domains. Although the general position of pensioners has improved over the past decade, the findings conclude that this has not been the case for all pensioners. The policy situation explaining some of these disparities and the implications for further policy action are discussed.
Towards an employment strategy of inclusive growth
Authors: Schmid Günther
Published: May 2018

The inclusive growth agenda prioritises a broad based, employment centred pattern of growth as a foundation of social development. Welfare goals cannot be pursued solely through taxes and transfers ‘after the economic event’. The focus must also be upon the predistribution of economic endowments such as human capital, on the distribution of opportunities within the labour market as well as the wages and conditions of the workforce. This means raising the general level of education and training in the workforce, promoting inclusion of marginalized employees, encouraging transitions between various employment relationships over the life course, and ensuring the potential of social mobility.
Inclusive growth and social investments over the life course
Authors: Kvist Jon
Published: May 2018

Globally, policymakers are promoted social investments as a reform strategy to increase individuals’ capacities and national economic growth. This chapter establishes a framework consisting of generational, life-course perspectives on social investments and inclusive growth. The generational perspective brings out that social investments involve horizontal redistribution, underpin the productive and reproductive social contract between generations, and the increased diversity within generations. The life-course perspective demonstrates how social issues and social investments in one life stage depend on the situation in prior life stages and affect the situation in later life stages and, possibly, in multiple dimensions.
The end of revisionism?
Authors: Pierson Chris
Published: May 2018

This chapter argues that the starkest of the institutional problems facing social democracy now is a growing inability to win elections. Added to this was the challenge of a long-term decline in the industrial wing of social democracy. Historically, social democracy has been the politics of the labour movement, and a key component of this movement has always been trade unions and their members. While that relationship was not always as close as it was in the British or Swedish cases, trade unionism was almost always the ‘other half’ of social democracy. However, the 1980s were a time of loss for this ‘other side’ of social democracy. Trade unions were becoming increasingly feminised, more focused in the public sector and drawing in increasing numbers of middle-class public service members.
Social democracy and the populist challenge
Authors: Cuperus René
Published: May 2018

This chapter explores how European social democracy is threatened to be undermined and overrun by radical left-wing competitors and right-wing populist opponents. The pan-European rise of right-wing populism has had far-reaching consequences. First of all, the political and public agenda has shifted from a socioeconomic perspective to a cultural perspective. Right-wing populism is ‘culturalising’ all political issues, and is characterised by a nativist focus on putting its ‘own people first’. Second, right-wing populism portrays and demonises social democracy as forming the elite ‘which betrays ordinary people’. It also depicts social democratic parties as being simply parties for migrants. By doing so, right-wing populists deliberately seek to distance traditional social democratic voters from social democratic parties. Third, the rise of right-wing populism is increasing opportunities for right-wing or Conservative governments.
Revolution, culture and society
Authors: Powell Fred
Published: May 2018

The chapter critically assesses the representation of the Irish revolution and its social context. It contrasts the modernist influences of both the labour movement and the women's movement with the growing ascendancy of nationalism in both its cultural and political forms. Ultimately, the political set the revolutionary agenda, producing a conservative state and society, shaped by capitalism (mainly based on land ownership), religion, and nationalism. However, other key events in the Irish revolution point to a much more complex narrative. These include the 1913 Lockout of unionised workers in Dublin, the Limerick Soviet in 1919, and the organisation of the women's movement in a variety of forms. The Irish revolutionary narrative was undoubtedly a contested space, even if its memorialisation has largely focused on the 1916 Rising and the nationalist narrative. The chapter argues that there were competing narratives of the Irish revolution that need to be fully acknowledged in its analysis and memorialisation.
Religious nationalism, sectarianism and anti-semitism
Authors: Powell Fred
Published: May 2018

This chapter examines the efforts of the new Irish Free State to construct a socially integrated culture. This would be shaped into a socially conservative communitarian form inspired by Catholic corporatism, cultural nationalism, and rejection of modernity. Young people were targeted in the post-revolutionary climate of social and cultural conservatism. The education system was used to promote cultural segregation. Censorship and women's subordination dominated the cultural landscape, with reproductive rights and divorce suppressed in an increasingly patriarchal traditional society. The 1937 Constitution enshrined the new social policy principles in the basic law of the country. In the end, the state bureaucracy proved resistant to openly changing Irish governance.
Framing strategies in referendums from below
Authors: Porta Donatella della , O’Connor Francis , Portos Martín , Ribas Anna Subirats
Published: May 2018

This chapter examines the framing strategies in referendums from below in Scotland and Catalonia. It considers how the current context of economic austerity, along with the crisis of political legitimacy, have paved the way for the emergence of social justice and democratic-emancipatory frames with higher potential for resonance across audiences (and, therefore, for mobilisation) — to the detriment of other types of frames: the national-identity frame, the socioeconomic frame and the political frame. It shows that the Catalan and Scottish social movements have strategically avoided the traditional nationalist frame in order to expand the movement and avoid being assimilated with other national European movements. It also highlights how the campaigns for self-determination in Catalonia and Scotland shifted their frames towards broader political, economic and social issues to legitimise their discourses, relating their arguments to the national-identity, socioeconomic and political frames.
Capacity building with BME groups
Authors: Ware Phil
Published: May 2018

This chapter examines community capacity-building processes in relation to the UK black and minority ethnic voluntary and community sector (BME VCS), focusing on a specific project in Birmingham, the UK's second-largest city. The project, Birmingham Skills Training Reaching Organisations and Neighbourhood Groups (B.STRONG), ran from 1998 to 2011 and was evaluated at regular intervals. B.STRONG covered the whole of Birmingham, although at certain times it prioritised certain areas of the city due to limited funding sources, and employed between two and eight staff. The chapter looks at the experiences of BME community groups in their engagement with community capacity-building processes and the wider ‘mainstream’ VCS. It also looks at the current situation for community capacity building for the BME VCS in the longer term, given the current context of recession, government austerity measures, and the reduction of funding possibilities.
sampad: working with arts and culture
Authors: Sondhi Ranjit
Published: May 2018

sampad is a South Asian arts and heritage organisation based at the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham, UK, that develops high-quality dance, music, drama, literature, poetry, crafts performances, and events based on traditions drawn from the countries of the Indian subcontinent to engage in a creative intercultural dialogue with all sections of Britain's increasingly diverse society. Through the language of art, it explores the relationship between traditional and emerging identities, between established and popular art forms, within and between different religious, cultural, and social groupings, and between settled communities and new migrants to create the basis for a wider and more informed debate in wider civil society about the construction of community and identity in the modern era. This chapter explores the extent to which sampad has met its aims and objectives. sampad's formal mission statement now is to connect people and communities with British Asian arts and heritage and to play a proactive role in the creative economy.
Career choice: like mother, like daughter
Authors: Armstrong Jill
Published: May 2018

This chapter demonstrates that mothers in high-status career roles are, in most cases, the primary influence over their daughters' career expectations. The mothers with careers in the study often acted in ways that fitted the description of mentoring and many were said by their daughters to be role models. Ways in which the daughters' attitudes to work were guided and shaped by their mothers with successful careers included a substantial number of this sample following their mothers into the same or similar careers, having the same work values, and having doors opened to their careers by their mothers. This suggests that the daughters have absorbed from their mothers that work can be interesting, enjoyable and satisfying, and that they should aim for a career that delivers them these qualities.
Daughters’ aspirations for working motherhood
Authors: Armstrong Jill
Published: May 2018

This chapter focuses on the aims and aspirations of the daughters with regards to combining work with motherhood. Almost all of the daughters who were child-free anticipated having children and had ideas about how they wanted to shape their careers around motherhood. A clear majority of the daughters also anticipated (or were) working part-time. The chapter then discusses the facets of the contemporary culture of motherhood that means many women who have embarked upon professional and managerial careers think about substantially cutting their working hours. A dominant belief is that part-time work gives you the ‘best of both worlds’. In essence, good parenting is being measured by time spent at home versus time spent at work — despite the daughters' belief that they were well mothered by career women working much more than part-time hours.
Introduction
Authors: Bailey Nick , Bramley Glen
Published: May 2018

This chapter provides an introduction to the volume. It sets out the historical development of the PSE approach to the measurement of poverty and social exclusion, and summarises the economic and social context within which the latest survey took place. The definition and measures of poverty covered by the survey are presented, as is the approach to defining and measuring social exclusion. The chapter concludes with an outline the structure of the rest of the book. An appendix provides technical details on the surveys.
Poverty, social exclusion and civic engagement
Authors: Fahmy Eldin
Published: May 2018

Although political equality is a basic democratic principle, citizen participation in political and civic life remains highly unequal. This chapter sheds new light on social inequalities in political participation by examining the relationship between poverty and participation in political and civic life in the UK today. Whether using subjective measures, low income, deprivation, or the combined PSE approach, this chapter shows that poverty is associated with lower levels of participation in politics and lower levels of associational activity amongst UK adults. Civic and political participation is known to be strongly associated with positive perceptions of political efficacy. This chapter confirms these findings. Moreover, it shows that people experiencing poverty are also somewhat less positive about their ability to influence local decisions and political issues than better-off respondents. Taken together these findings point to the continued exclusion of people experiencing poverty from full participation in political and civic life. Beyond voting, political participation is an uncommon experience for many in the UK. Reducing inequalities in participation (including socio-economic inequalities that underpin them) should be prioritised in ensuring that rights to an equal say in political decisions are realised in practice.
A framework for urban integration: the case of Buenos Aires
Authors: Deneulin Séverine , Lépore Eduardo , Mitchell Ann , Suárez Ana Lourdes
Published: May 2018

This chapter examines how the capability approach is being integrated into the policies and priorities of the local government of the federal city of Buenos Aires in Argentina. It first considers three specific insights of the capability approach that are particularly relevant for urban integration policies: multidimensional and multisectoral perspective on policy; an institutionally integrated vision of wellbeing; and agency focus. It then explores each of these insights in the context of urban inequality reduction policies in Buenos Aires. In particular, it analyses the dynamic interaction between youth employment and education in informal settlements, and territorial characteristics; the role of civil society organisations in the dynamics of capability expansion in informal settlements; and the role of culture and religion in promoting agency and capability expansion. The chapter concludes with a summary of some of the features of ‘capability-promoting policy’ in the fragmented and unequal context of the Latin American city.
Informal workers and human development in South Africa
Authors: Conradie Ina
Published: May 2018

This chapter examines how the human development approach and the capability approach can be used to inform policy formulation by considering the case of social insurance for informal workers in South Africa. It begins with a discussion of the nature of the human development approach and the capability approach and the ways they can be used in the formulation of social policy. It then describes a short background study of poverty and problems in contemporary South Africa before outlining a policy proposal for social protection of informal workers in South Africa, based on human development and capability expansion. This proposal involves a savings plan based on the Mbao scheme in Kenya that might alleviate poverty. The chapter argues that this savings plan may help address the cycle of over-indebtedness among the poor and the emerging lower middle class in South Africa.
Introduction: meeting future challenges with past lessons
Authors: Polonenko Leah McMillan , Besada Hany
Published: May 2018

This book examines the progress, challenges and lessons of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs were adopted during the 2000 Millennium Summit of the United Nations to address the various dimensions of poverty such as hunger, disease, and exclusion while promoting gender equality, education and environmental sustainability. The book considers whether the MDGs were effective in transforming the narrative around poverty and its many dimensions through multilateral organisations, identifying what worked and what needs to change in the context of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. It also discusses the changing nature of poverty and inequality as well as the role of state and increasingly non-state actors, including civil society groups, in shaping the debate around accountability, progress and inclusiveness. This chapter provides an overview of the impact of globalisation on the MDGs, criticisms of the MDGs, and the Post-2015 Development Agenda. It also explains the purpose and plan for the book.
Developmental crises affecting the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal achievements in Bangladesh: a critical perspective
Authors: Ahmed Saleh
Published: May 2018

This chapter examines the developmental challenges faced by Bangladesh during the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and how the country attempted to overcome them. The MDGs were conceptualised with the aim of reducing some of the world's major human development challenges by 2015. However, a number of contemporary global challenges, such as economic recession and environmental degradation, made it difficult for some countries to achieve the MDGs by 2015. This was particularly true for the poor and marginalised populations in the Global South. The chapter first provides an overview of the history, achievements and challenges of the MDGs before discussing the challenges within the Bangladesh context, including: a large population, massive poverty, inequality, global environmental changes, weak governance and confrontational politics, politically motivated communal and ethnic violence, weak civil society and unstable economy. It also considers the potential success of the Post-2015 Development Agenda taking into account all future challenges.
Outlook for global development finance: excess or shortage?
Authors: Sheng Andrew
Published: May 2018

This chapter presents an outlook for global development finance and asks whether we have an excess or shortage of available resources for the implementation of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. It begins with a discussion of current and future sources of development finance, with a focus on both products and institutions, including long-term institutions capable of funding development. Future sources include foreign capital in the form of foreign direct investments (FDI), foreign portfolio investments and foreign aid, as well as the domestic sector. The chapter then reflects on the future of development finance, emphasising three paths: deepening capital markets in emerging market economies (EMEs); meeting the strategic objectives of institutional investors such as pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds and Islamic finance; and innovating the financing of investment. The G20 development strategy, the impact of technology on development finance, and implementation issues on financing of climate change are also analysed.
Economic security of young people leaving care
Authors: Shang Xiaoyuan , Fisher Karen R.
Published: May 2018

This chapter talks about the economic security of young people with and without disabilities leaving state care as they reach adulthood. It examines the effect of the scarce policies, including the impact on the economic independence of the young people. Some of these reasons were due to the exclusionary childhood experiences in state care. Other reasons were due to the inadequate responses to their needs and preferences in this transition stage of their young adult lives, which had the effect of continuing to exclude them from the economic and social opportunities expected of other young people. In the worst cases, irrespective of their personal capacity, it would seem unlikely that some of these young people will ever leave state care, suspending them in the status of never becoming independent adults.
State support for children in informal care
Authors: Shang Xiaoyuan , Fisher Karen R.
Published: May 2018

This chapter focuses on the implications of informal care relationships for children as they become young adults. These issues are important for the larger questions about good types of alternative care that benefit the well being and outcomes for children and young people in care and as they prepare to leave care. The chapter considers the advantages and disadvantages of informal care compared to institutional care, the role of government in supporting or prohibiting informal care, and the implications for social policy change to support these traditional arrangements. It also shows how, in recent years, China has more publicly recognized its policy responsibility to these children, as scandals even resulting in children's deaths have gained a profile in public media.
Growing up in institutional family group care
Authors: Shang Xiaoyuan , Fisher Karen R.
Published: May 2018

This chapter discusses how, in addition to formal foster care in families, some state child welfare institutions also provide alternative care in family groups with a paid house mother on the site of the institution. This type of alternative care raises questions about whether this grouping is sufficient to simulate the benefits of family based care in relation to outcomes for children when they are growing up, and the impact on their transition to adulthood. The chapter looks at the experiences of seven young people in one city who had lived in this arrangement. It considers the differences for these young people during their childhood and as they prepared for possibilities to leave the family group care in the institution.
Policy implications for young people leaving care in China
Authors: Shang Xiaoyuan , Fisher Karen R.
Published: May 2018

This chapter reviews how the Chinese and international communities are sharing understanding about good practice in alternative care while children are growing up, particularly by prioritizing long-term family-based support. They are also changing alternative care practices to support children during their childhood and as they reach young adulthood, so that they are prepared emotionally and practically to live independently as adults in the same ways as their peers, away from state control. The chapter also looks at the policy and practice changes in China for the generation of young people who grew up in state care over the last 20 years, when alternative care was beginning to shift away from institutional care and recognize the rights of children and young people to an inclusive childhood and adulthood.
Ways of understanding family practices across contexts
Authors: Phoenix Ann , Vennam Uma , Walker Catherine , Boddy Janet
Published: May 2018

This chapter explores the situated, dynamic, and relational complexities, and of the ways in which space, place, and time intersect with meanings of environment in the everyday lives of children and families. It sets out to disrupt assumptions of Minority to Majority world learning, and homogenising notions of cross-national in/comparability, through a methodological approach designed to create an analytic conversation across diverse contexts within and between India and the UK. The chapter focuses on the relationality and materiality of everyday lives, devising a multi-method approach in order to capture the interconnectedness of family lives and practices. It uses a common world approach that seeks to avoid the unhelpful binarisations of big and small or ‘global’ and ‘local’ environments, which act as a barrier to understanding.
Introduction: Welcome to Valdemingómez
Authors: Briggs Daniel , Gamero Rubén Monge
Published: May 2018

The introductory chapter sets the scene for the book and in it context is given to the main participants, Juan and Julia, and how we came to know them. Thus, we reflect on the relatively little research which exists on Valdemingómez, its location with regard to the city, give some clues to its spatial and social aetiology and present our case for a new form of empirical, theoretical and methodological analysis. We reflect honestly and openly about our methodology and offer the reader a concise description of structure of the book’s chapters.
Post dependency: What next?
Authors: Briggs Daniel , Gamero Rubén Monge
Published: May 2018

In this chapter, we examine why these people are unable to escape this form of permanent destitution – living in Valdemingómez, homeless, taking heroin and cocaine and amassing numerous health problems. We relate this to a gradual erosion of their emotional, psychological and physical faculties and how this has been facilitated by the meagre forms of support given to them along the way. Personal markers of the self are instead measured against the physical and visual degeneration of other people around them and regulated by the ideological figure of the “machaca”. Because many, we suggest, have spent many years in denial of their situations, when prompted to face up to this, almost all struggle. We point out here that all this collectively interferes with the commitment required of them by the treatment system, which in itself, is snared with further barriers and challenges such as long waiting lists, poor housing placements and substandard work options. The majority then simply return to drugs and to Valdemingómez passing time before their inevitable death. This process we call the “personal surrender”.
The Clarke and Kershaw Reports
Authors: Holmwood John , O’Toole Therese
Published: May 2018

This chapter addresses the Clarke and Kershaw reports. In each report, much stands or falls on the idea that an ‘Islamic ethos’ is, in itself, problematic. This is a misunderstanding, one that is allowed to arise because neither report systematically addresses the issue of the nature of the religious requirements on schools. Indeed, notwithstanding that educational advisers from the DfE were part of the Clarke Report, it repeatedly refers to schools without a faith designation as ‘secular’. There is a further assumption in each report, too, that an ‘Islamic ethos’ would be ‘intolerant’, with the Clarke Report describing the Muslim Council of Britain's guidance on meeting the needs of Muslim pupils in state schools as a document about ‘Islamification’, although it is, in fact, a document designed to facilitate integration.
Formation of Arrested States in Natural Di- and Trioctahedral Smectite Dispersions Compared to Those in Synthetic Hectorite — A Macro- and Microrheological Study
Authors: Pilavtepe M. , Delavernhe L. , Steudel A. , Schumann R. , Willenbacher N. , Emmerich K.
Published: May 2018

The effect of natural clay-mineral properties on the rheological behavior of dispersion is very important in new geotechnical and industrial applications. The colloidal behavior of natural clay minerals with various octahedral structures was investigated using macro- and microrheological measurements and compared with the behavior of synthetic hectorite. In the present study montmorillonite (dioctahedral smectite of Volclay), natural hectorite (trioctahedral smectite of SHCa-1 Source Clay), and the synthetic trioctahedral smectite Laponite®, with lateral layer dimensions of 277, 100, and 30 nm, respectively, were used. The structure formation, kinetics of aging, and broad bandwidth viscoelastic response (10-2 — 106 rad/s) of their dispersions were obtained using mechanical shear and squeeze flow rheometry combined with diffusing wave spectroscopy (DWS) and multiple particle tracking (MPT) microrheology. State diagrams were determined at inherent pH considering the clay-mineral and NaCl concentrations as well as the kinetics of structure formation and sample aging. Due to the larger mean layer diameter and greater layer-charge density of natural clay-minerals, their sol—gel transitions occurred at higher solid and NaCl concentrations than those of Laponite®. Structure formation was faster at pH < pHPZC,edge than at pH > pHPZC,edge (point of zero charge at the edge). The long-term aging of natural clay-mineral samples was less pronounced in the glass state than in the gel state, in contrast to the findings for Laponite®. The storage modulus, G’, of clay-mineral dispersions in arrested states remained essentially constant in a wide frequency range (up to 100 rad/s), as expected. The corresponding plateau value of G’ depends on the number of particle contacts per volume and, hence, increased with decreasing particle size at a given concentration. The dissipation mechanisms determining the high-frequency loss modulus, G", however, are independent of particle size and, accordingly, the high-frequency crossover of G’ and G" shifted to higher values when the particle size decreased. The MPT data revealed structural refinement on the submicrometer length scale during the aging of weak hectorite gels, which was similar to the results for Laponite®. No refinement, however, occurred for montmorillonite in the glass or strong gel state.
Culture as soft power: Digital branding by Catalonia, the Basque Country and Scotland
Authors: Johnson Melissa A.
Published: May 2018

The purpose of this article is to emphasize autonomous and separatist regions in the nation branding and public diplomacy communication literature, and to highlight how promoting culture can convey soft power. In particular, the short article illuminates the practical aspects of branding: especially the visual element that has received limited attention in prior public diplomacy studies. Examples from government websites of Catalonia, the Basque Country and Scotland are used to illustrate the concepts. The examples counter concerns that nation branding homogenizes global cultures. In fact, emphases on cultures convey distinctive identities. The three regions’ soft power is also generated by communicating ideals such as innovativeness, collaboration, social justice and government transparency. As the Catalan crisis indicated, branding is vital to both international and domestic audiences to achieve public diplomacy goals.