bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Canada's Social Security Review
Authors: Doyle Robert 
Published: December 2016

Canada's social security system is a patchwork quilt of relatively discreet and uncoordinated programs built up over many decades. While constitutional responsibilities for income security and social services rests with the provinces, federal program initiatives were seen to be eroding the provincial responsibilities and causing confusion between federal and provincially financed programs. The Review of Social Security attempted to comprehensively evaluate the ‘system’ of programs in Canada to correct deficiencies.Financing and respective government responsibilities were also examined. The three year review did not result, in the author's opinion, in sufficient changes in the social security system ‘for the benefit of all Canadians’. The failure to adequately confront employment (unemployment) issues was one gap. Another was the failure to implement changes in income supplementation for the working poor. Tangible results included the introduction of a new Social Service Act which permits cost sharing, and increased cooperation between and among departmental officials and ministers. The Canadian experience contains lessons for the development of joint social policies between state and commonwealth governments in Australia.
Trends in Violent Crime and Public Concern
Authors: Kraus J. 
Published: December 2016

Socially, the most damaging of all the effects of violent crime was said to be its indirect ‘terrorising’ effect, generating public fear and disrupting the functioning of the community. The blame for aggravation of this effect is often placed on over‐reporting and sensationalization by the mass media. The study aimed to determine if there is an objective basis for a growing public concern about increases in crimes of violence in New South Wales, or if this concern is a product of certain forms of publicity given to violence, and to identify targets for social intervention.A formal analysis of a decade's trends in violent crimes against the person and property crimes showed the following: among adults more males commit murder and major assault, and more females major assault; among juveniles, more males commit assault, serious robbery, and malicious damage, and more females assault and malicious damage; more offences of major assault, robbery, and arson are reported to the police, but there is no increase in reported rapes and known homicides; there is no increase in the vandalization of school property; the only judicial reflection of public concern about violent crime is a slight increase in the length of sentence given for robbery.In a critical discussion of the findings, increases in violent crime reported to the police were singled out as justifying public concern. The most serious concern, however, is warranted by the increasing juvenile violence which is consistent with trends observed in most Western countries. The difficulty was pointed out of translating this concern into social action, in the absence of any coherent theoretical or empirical framework within which to identify priority targets. There is a need for a multifactorial approach to provide a rational basis for dealing with the problem of violent crime.
The Availability of Birth Control: Victoria 1971–1975
Authors: Betts Katharine 
Published: December 2016

Effective methods of birth control became more available in Victoria between 1971 and 1975. The possible effects of this on unplanned and unwanted fertility should be taken into account in explanations of the general decline in fertility of the period.However, all methods did not become more available for all people. Unmarried people, poorer people, and migrants were disadvantaged, especially in so far as contraception was concerned. Continuing problems in gaining access to suitable methods of contraception may help to explain a persistence of unwanted fertility, either aborted or carried to term.
Chopping and Changing Medibank
Authors: Duckett S. J. 
Published: December 2016

Part 2: An Interpretation of the Policy Making ProcessThe changes to the health insurance scheme which were announced and implemented in 1976 provide an opportunity to analyse the policy making process in Australia. Two paradigms are used to analyse this process: pluralist and marxist. It is concluded that the marxist paradigm is the more useful in trying to understand the 1976 Medibank changes.
The Problems with Social Indicators
Authors: Taylor Richard W. 
Published: December 2016

Researchers often use social indicators in their analysis of community problems and the subsequent proposals.However these researchers rarely consider the constraints placed on these indicators by construction and measurement problems. Some of these indicators are reviewed with particular reference to conceptualization of social phenomena and the intrusion of values. In the latter regard comment is made on the use of social indicators by political decision makers and policy planners.
Families on Television: A Content Analysis
Authors: Stewart Donald E. 
Published: December 2016

An analysis of television programs telecast during peak viewing hours in Melbourne over one week uncovered the pattern of representation of family life. This version of family life was then compared with official statistics of the Australian population and families to highlight the discrepancies between reality and the mediated world of television.Several clear trends were observed. Programs were male‐dominated, middle‐aged biased, white Anglo‐Saxon and largely middle‐class oriented. Considerable discrepancy was apparent between family structures in the real world and the media world of family types. Further, analysis of marital relationships, sexual division of labour, ageing, and an evaluation of values reinforces a traditional conservative aura. It is considered that the dominant program formulae fail to recognise new social realities, and that orthodox family stereotypes could be affecting decisions made by policy makers.
Hostel Care for Elderly People: The Association with Hospital and Nursing Home
Authors: Lefroy R.B. , Hobbs M.S.T. , Page J. 
Published: December 2016

In order to achieve its purpose a hostel should have a clearly defined association with both acute hospital and nursing home. This report is a study of the reasons for separation of residents from a hostel over a period of four years; it included temporary admissions to an acute hospital situation and permanent transfer to a nursing home. It is estimated that one nursing home place is needed for every three residents in this kind of hostel.Thirty‐six of the 79 residents in a hostel with 32 places had a total of 58 temporary admissions to an acute hospital situation during the four year period.Thirty‐three (42 per cent) of the 79 residents needed transfer to a nursing home during the study period. Analysis was made of the time spent (person years) in each institution. Although 42 per cent of the residents needed transfer from hostel to nursing home they spent approximately 75 per cent of their time in the hostel.
Aboriginal Drinking: A Case Study in Inequality and Disadvantage
Authors: Healy Bill , Turpin Tim , Hamilton Margaret 
Published: December 2016

This paper examines an aspect of social inequality experienced by Aboriginal people living in a remote Queensland mining town. We contend that non‐Aboriginal perceptions and attitudes of Aboriginal drinking behaviour contribute directly to structural inequalities within the Mount Isa community.Social drinking in the township is, for reserve‐dwelling Aborigines, restricted mainly to one bar in one hotel and adjoining park and river bank area. The restrictions are preserved through both overt and covert discrimination. Aboriginal inebriation and excessive drinking are therefore more visible to the wider community and more accessible to police prosecution than that of any other ethnic group in the town.Although White folk tales concerning Aboriginal drinking often contain fear about acts of violence and crime directed towards the White community, soundly documented incidents are rare. This paper argues that the persistence of such attitudes is at the heart of a symbolic differential between the White and Black community in Queensland. Moreover, problems within the Aboriginal community that can be directly related to the excessive consumption of alcohol must also be seen as a product of these White reactions and perceptions.
The Economics of the Arms Race
Authors: Barlow Kerry 
Published: December 2016

The current arms race between the two superpowers is but one manifestation of a permanent arms economy in each of those countries. The reasons for each country developing such arms economies are different however, with economic mechanisms being of crucial importance in the United States, and historical/ political reasons being of over‐riding importance in the Soviet Union.For the rest of the world, the outcome of the growth of such arms economies has been catastrophic. Global inflation, serious misuse and under‐employment of resources, and world trade imbalances have been the economic consequences. The social and moral outcomes, especially as they affect Third World countries, have been devastating.
Policing Victorian Public Transport: Extending the Police Domain
Authors: Corns Chris , Simpson Brian 
Published: December 2016

In Victoria, responsibility for policing the public transport system was recently transferred to the Victoria Police, the official rationale for this development relied on the notion of a crime crisis and the need for a ‘crackdown’ on transport security.However, a more convincing explanation for this transfer can be found in Transport Department mismanagement, bureaucratic bungling, and alleged criminal activities of railway investigation officers. On a broader and more disturbing level, this case is consistent with an increasing capacity of the State to extend formal control into new social sites under the guise of controlling a ‘crime crisis’.
Drink‐driving and Adolescent Lifestyles: Re‐Thinking Policy
Authors: Papadakis Elim , Moore Anya 
Published: December 2016

The difficulty of evaluating the effectiveness of programmes to tackle road safety is well‐known. Understandably most funds are spent on programmes (like manipulation of the physical environment and law enforcement) which are directed towards all road users rather than targeted at specific groups.In this paper we are concerned with the need to develop strategies for tackling the problem of drink‐driving among a highly vulnerable group, namely young people. After examining the problem of drink‐driving amongadolescents, we review some ofthe explanations for this phenomenon and consider their strengths and weaknesses. We take issue with the argument that only crude measures involving reductions in exposure to risk have any hope ofsuccess with young drivers. Our central argument is based on two distinct areas of research. The first has specifically identified adolescents asa vulnerable group. Thesecond hasdemonstrated the distinctive character of adolescent lifestyles. The paper attempts to demonstrate that drink‐driving forms an integral part of the lifestyles of many adolescents. Educational and ‘lifestyle’ interventions should therefore focus specifically on adolescents and consider the diversity of lifestyles and social groups within this broad demographic category. We also draw attention to economic interests, social pressures and the politics ofroad safety legislation that imply constraints on policy change.
Non‐genetic Mothers and Their ‘Own’ Children: Infertility and IVF Donor Birth
Authors: Hallebone Erica L. 
Published: December 2016

Over the 1980s in Western societies which have used new reproductive technologies, there has been intense argumentation about connected philosophical, ethical and economic issues. This research on I.V.F. donor egg (i.e. ‘non‐genetic’) motherhood is based on qualitative data from partial life histories of twelve women having children by this technology through a Melbourne infertility programme. Methodology, interpretation and discussion place it within both critical social and feminist personal identity theoretical frameworks.None of the respondent women but all except one of their respective partners are the biological parents of a total of ten children already born at the data collection stage, and in three well‐established pregnancies. Two‐thirds of the respondents used ‘unknown’ donor ova. ‘Known’ donors were typically the recipients' sisters. Many of these Australian births represent world ‘firsts’ in medical technical applications.In biographical accounts, the focus was on experiences of social pressure towards parenthood, of infertility and medical treatment, and attitudes of openness or secrecy about using donated ova. While socially and technologically acquired parenthood added a highly‐desired dimension to their social identities, a sense of loss appeared to persist in most of the women's personal identities. Where a policy of secrecy towards relatives and friends about use of reproductive technology and gamete donation was maintained, this loss was reinforced by a feeling of social isolation.
Reproducing Women's Nature: Media Constructions of IVF and Related Issues
Authors: Noble Carolyn , Bell Phillip 
Published: December 2016

This paper presents a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the way the Australian press constructed the issues related to conceptive technologies (IVF and IVF‐surrogacy particularly) during the period when the technologies were most visibly controversial. It asks how medical technology, the profession, ethical debates and research were presented, focussing on the representation of women's bodies, ‘motherhood’, and consumerist conceptions of medical solutions to infertility.Moral, ethical and political issues, including feminist critiques of conceptive technologies and medical power were found to be presented in limited and partial ways ‐ by the ‘medical‐miracle’ (human interest) or the ‘experts‐debate‐legal‐issues’ genres of press report. In text and in photographs, the press showed mothers and babies as the (positive) products of technology. Women were shown reacting, in emotional terms, to the productive power of technology. Men were active, protective, expert, and the source of rational, abstract talk. The press relied heavily on proponents of the technologies for their news stories. The results are discussed in terms of Foucault's general analysis of the history of discourses of sexuality and feminist critiques of conceptive technologies.
THE BOYS IN BLUE AND THE BAD BLUE BOYS: A CASE STUDY OF INTERACTIVE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE POLICE AND ETHNIC YOUTH IN WESTERN SYDNEY
Authors: Hughson John 
Published: December 2016

The paper draws on ethnographic fieldwork undertaken with a group of young men known collectively as the Bad Blue Boys (BBB)1. These young men use the supporting of a soccer team (Sydney United in the national league) as a means of parading nationalistic allegiance to their parent's homeland, Croatia. Given the history of crowd conflict at Australian soccer matches and the current trends within soccer officialdom to move the sport away from its traditional affiliation with ethnic communities, it is inevitable that the BBB have come into confrontation with agents of social authority, such as the police, during an afternoon at the football. The participant observation aspect of the research is used to discuss the interaction between the police and the BBB at soccer matches, while interviews with members of the BBB are recounted to reveal group attitudes held about the police.The paper is written to articulate with other academic contributions which have investigated the relationship between youth from non‐English speaking backgrounds (NESB) and the police in contemporary Australian urban contexts. A leading contributor to such studies, Janet Chan, has commented, ‘Australian research specifically on police‐ethnic youth relations [paints] a negative portrait’ (Chan 1994, p. 176). The portrait painted by the present study is intended for comparison with such research. At the outset it must be stressed that the findings are peculiar to the study and that no great claim is made for extrapolation. However, this is not to say that the study does not reflect trends in relations between NESB youth and police in Australian cities. On the contrary, a conclusion will be drawn which argues that ethnographic studies of particular ethnic youth groupings and subcultures facilitate a social mapping of police youth relations.
WHO'S NOT PAYING THEIR FAIR SHARE: PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF THE AUSTRALIAN TAX SYSTEM
Authors: Braithwaite Valerie 
Published: December 2016

Data from the Community Hopes, Fears and Actions Survey are used to examine how pervasive the view is that the more privileged in society are failing to pay their fair share of tax, to understand the beliefs that underpin such perceptions, and the reforms that are needed to open dialogue with the Australian public about the issue. Support is found for five hypotheses. Economic self‐interest provides a partial explanation for perceptions of vertical inequity, but more important are disillusionment with the Australian democracy and perceptions of insufficient procedural justice from the tax office. Values about how Australian society should develop also play a part. Those looking for a more equal, caring and compassionate Australia perceive there to be a high level of vertical inequity. Such perceptions are not shared by those aspiring to an Australia that pursues competitive advantage either economically or politically.Tax authorities are brokers for social order and harmony in democracies. They can not determine the policies that are supposed to deliver these goals, nor the rules by which individuals are expected to contribute to the government coffers. But they carry responsibility for making it all happen — collecting taxes and providing government with revenue. As such, their integrity is pivotal to smooth democratic functioning.Integrity for a tax authority involves having purposeful and sound goals, appropriate and ethical procedures for pursuing such goals, and processes allowing reflection and evolution of their operation in response to the democratic will (Braithwaite 2003). This paper is a contribution to the process of reflection on how the tax system is working for its citizens. Its purpose is to investigate the extent to which the Australian community believes that their tax authority is pursuing one of its goals, collecting revenue, in a sound and purposeful way. Three questions are addressed: (a) Are different social groups in our society paying their fair share of tax? (b) What are the experiences and aspirations lying behind public perceptions that some groups do not pay their fair share? and (c) Do perceptions of fairness shape the direction in which Australians want to see tax reform progress?
Family Size and the Gendered Division of Unpaid Work: Implications for Fertility Decisions in Australia
Authors: Wright Paula 
Published: December 2016

Low fertility in Australia has been attributed to social factors which encourage women to devote more time to market work and reduce the number of children they have. This paper explores whether women might have fewer children because they experience a gendered division of unpaid household and childcare work. It uses ABS time use data to analyse the time spent by men and women in unpaid household and childcare, and finds an unpaid workload for women that is greater with additional children, and a relatively consistent workload for men across all family sizes.Controlling for the amount of paid work also suggests that the additional time spent, and increased share of unpaid workload experienced by women, is independent of time spent in paid work. This is consistent with the suggestion that women might restrict the number of children they have in order to control their unpaid workload.
Partnership and participation: contradictions and tensions in the social policy space
Authors: Keevers Lynne , Treleaven Lesley , Sykes Chris 
Published: December 2016

Partnerships and participation seem to be the order of the day. Yet, for many community organisations, this way of ordering the social policy space is contradictory, creating practice tensions that increase the complexity of local service systems. Such changes impact community organisations in a politics that needs to be made visible if they are to be able to act in the interests of their members and service users.We therefore outline the social policy space currently constituted by four major discourses: neo‐liberalism, managerialism, new paternalism and network governance as they intersect and interact chaotically, reshaping participation and partnerships between government, community service organisations and local communities. We then examine how policy as a technology or set of mechanisms is discursively creating contradictions and practice tensions within which community organisations engage for social justice.
More than Just DNA – Tax, Welfare and the Family. An examination of the concept of family in the Tax Transfer system, with particular reference to family benefits
Authors: Hodgson Helen 
Published: December 2016

One of the core issues taken into account in tax transfer systems is the family circumstances of a particular recipient. Family tax transfer payments may be delivered through either the tax or the welfare system. However, the fundamental requirement is that there is a family, maintaining children. The concept of what is a family is a social rather than a legal construct. While marriage and spouse have legal definitions, family structures evolve and change over time.In this paper I explore the concept of family as it is used in the Australian income tax and welfare legislation. I consider the impact of the legislative construct of family on the entitlements to tax credits, and whether the definition of family is appropriate to ensure that the benefits improve the equity of the taxation system, and properly reflect the structure of the contemporary family unit.
Citizenship, Civic Engagement and Property Ownership
Authors: Donoghue Jed , Tranter Bruce 
Published: December 2016

In this paper we examine the relationship between citizenship, civic engagement and property ownership in Australia. We draw upon nationally representative survey data to examine this relationship by focusing upon empirically accessible issues. We examine the civic implications of different housing tenures, or what Troy (2000) refers to as the level of ‘citizen competence‘, and the tension between (private) ownership and (public) engagement in terms of membership and participation in a range of clubs and organisations.Lower levels of participation in charitable organisations among mortgage holders compared to people in other housing tenures questions the link between home buying (that is equated with private ownership), and a strengthening of community life. However, low participation rates in a clubs and organisations by public tenants, indicates that levels of social exclusion are higher in ‘residual’ public housing communities.
The great (Australian) property crime decline
Authors: Weatherburn Don , Halstead Imogen , Ramsey Stephanie 
Published: December 2016

AbstractBetween 1973/74 and 2000, rates of robbery, break and enter, motor vehicle theft and most other major forms of theft rose almost without interruption. Between 2000 and 2009, recorded rates of robbery in Australia fell by 63 per cent, recorded rates of burglary fell by 57 per cent, recorded rates of motor vehicle theft fell by 62 per cent, and recorded rates of all other forms of theft fell by 37 per cent. This article considers possible explanations for the fall in theft and robbery in light of the available evidence. It argues that a reduction in heroin dependence, improvements in economic outcomes, increases in the risk of arrest and imprisonment, and improved vehicle security are likely to have been significant contributors to the decline.