Critical Social Policy current issue

Forced marriage in the UK: Religious, cultural, economic or state violence?

Chantler, K., Gangoli, G., Hester, M. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:38:52 PDT

Our paper is based on a qualitative empirical study of forced marriage in the UK and offers a multidimensional view which challenges four key points that are currently central in the forced marriage debate. First, the study explores the problematic of current UK and European Union policies on preventing forced marriage which focus on raising the age of sponsorship and marriage age for non-EU nationals migrating to the UK. Second, current conceptualizations of forced marriage focus on consent at the entry point into marriage. In contrast, survivors of forced marriage, and women’s organizations experienced in providing services to this group, both attach equal importance to exiting (forced) marriages. Third, within the forced marriage debate, South Asian and Muslim communities are perceived as being largely responsible for forced marriages, whilst our research demonstrates that the range of communities in which forced marriage occurs is much wider. Fourth, forced marriage is often seen as a product of a ‘backward’ culture or religion in a pathologizing manner. The narratives in our study illustrate the interplay between culture, religion, poverty and state practices including immigration practices which points to the need for a more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of forced marriage. We end our paper by outlining measures that could be put into place to support women experiencing forced marriage.

Regeneration works? Disabled people and area-based urban renewal

Edwards, C. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:39:41 PDT

Disabled people are increasingly being drawn into the UK Labour government’s strategy to address area-based deprivation through projects which focus on employability as a means of tackling social exclusion. This paper draws on a case study of an employment project aimed at young people with learning difficulties funded as part of the Single Regeneration Budget, to explore how such projects operate in the context of area-based renewal, and with what gains, if any, for disabled people. The case study suggests that the perceived contribution of the project — and people with learning difficulties — to the area was as much about social regeneration, as building a local economy through the creation of active workers. Whilst being part of the SRB seemed to offer some opportunities for participation, the parameters of the policy itself — including its spatiality — acted to circumscribe some of the potential linkages with broader area renewal processes and the potential benefits for project participants, thus raising questions about New Labour’s social inclusion agenda.

New Public Management, care and struggles about recognition

Dahl, H. M. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:40:28 PDT

New Public Management (NPM) is usually perceived as a homogeneous discourse. However, when we examine it by looking at micro-politics in municipalities and understand its consequences drawing on the voices of home helpers, the picture is more complex and ambiguous. NPM is seen as disciplining paid public elderly care by limiting and forming the understandings applied through two combined but different logics: a usually dominant logic of details and a usually minor logic of self-governance. The bottom-up study presented here investigates the translation — the understanding and application — of these two logics in two different Danish municipalities that are strategically chosen to illustrate differences along the continuum of NPM translations. It asks which logic the home helpers feel is most dominant and relates the results to feelings of recognition and misrecognition as well as to strategies of resistance. The analysis applies feminist theories of recognition and care, and its findings are based on focus group interviews and feminist discourse analysis.

Removing barriers to work: Building economic security for people with psychiatric disabilities

Morrow, M., Wasik, A., Cohen, M., Elah Perry, K.-M. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:40:56 PDT

Using findings from two studies conducted in British Columbia, Canada, that examined income and employment supports for people with psychiatric disabilities we argue that economic security is essential for mental health recovery, and that supported employment and social enterprise models are well suited to support these goals. We contend that the aims and values underlying neo-liberalism, with its attendant welfare state restructuring, undermine the progressive vision of recovery and the practice of citizenship for people with psychiatric disabilities.

Structuring governance: A case study of the new organizational provision of public service delivery

McDermont, M., Cowan, D., Prendergrast, J. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:58:54 PST

Drawing on research findings concerning the new management structures and paradigms in the range of services formerly provided within the public sector, this paper reports on research conducted into the governing structures of a newly registered social landlord, formed to take over a local authority’s housing stock. Using a variety of ethnographic methods, the research looked at the ways in which the members of the governing body translated understandings of neutrality into their everyday practices and how expertise was constructed by the members themselves as well as their perceptions of each other’s expertise. We conclude by relating the findings of our research to other literature on citizen participation and argue that these elements of neutrality and expertise lie in tension with, and constrain, effective participation.

Wild guesses and conflated meanings? Estimating the size of the sex worker population in Britain

Cusick, L., Kinnell, H., Brooks-Gordon, B., Campbell, R. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:41:02 PDT

This paper reports the number of sex workers in Scotland and England who are in contact with specialist services for sex workers. Then, using methods and multipliers derived from the frequently quoted Kinnell study (1999) the paper provides various updated estimates of the wider population of sex workers. We point out the limits of our estimates and the methodological difficulties of estimating the size of this hidden population. The paper argues that many claims about sex work made by politicians and the media are misleading especially where they conflate sex work with trafficking and abuse.

Review: Housing Market Renewal and Social Class Chris Allen Routledge, London, 2008, 248pp, ISBN 978--0--415--41561--3, {pound}22.99 (pbk)

Mooney, G. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:41:08 PDT

Review: The Education Debate Stephen J. Ball Policy Press, Bristol, 2008, 242pp, ISBN 978--1--86134--920--0, {pound}12.99 (pbk)

Elley, S. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:41:10 PDT

Review: The McDonaldization of Social Work Donna Dustin Ashgate, Aldershot, 2007, 189pp, ISBN 978--07546--4639--6, {pound}55 (hbk)

Carey, M. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:41:11 PDT

Review: Policing and the Legacy of Lawrence Nathan Hall, John Grieve and Stephen Savage (eds) Willan, Cullompton, 2009, 320pp, ISBN 978--1--84392--505--7, {pound}22.00

Murji, K. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:41:11 PDT

Review: Co-Production and Personalisation in Social Care: Changing Relationships in the Provision of Social Care Susan Hunter and Peter Ritchie (eds) Jessica Kingsley, London, 2007, 167pp, ISBN 978--1--84310--558--9, {pound}18.99 (pbk)

Fyson, R. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:41:12 PDT

Review: Children, Families and Social Exclusion: New Approaches to Prevention Kate Morris, Marian Barnes and Paul Mason Policy Press, Bristol, 2009, 161pp, ISBN 978--1--86134--965--1, {pound}21.99 (pbk)

Welshman, J. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:41:12 PDT