Gary Craig

Citizenship, Exclusion and Older People

Debates about the meaning of citizenship have grown since the election of the first New Labour government. These debates have tended to focus on the governments assertion of the central role of work in defining the status of citizen, a stance which has increasingly been criticised for devaluing unpaid work such as caring or volunteering. However, the position of those beyond labour market age – older people – has rarely been examined in relation to how citizenship might be defined. At the same time, the concept of social exclusion, heavily utilised by New Labour to characterise those at the margins of society, has at best an ambiguous relevance to older people. This article, based on an exploration of the social, financial and other impacts of additional benefit income for older people, examines how these two concepts might be understood in relation to the position of older people and sketches out what some of the defining characteristics of citizenship might be for them.

Towards the Measurement of Empowerment: The Evaluation of Community Development.

Community development is enjoying something of a revival worldwide. At the same time, however, governments are increasingly concerned to evaluate the effectiveness of community development programs. While the literature has grown concerning the evaluation of public spending programs in general, in the recent context of a mixture of a financial squeeze on public expenditure, consumer-led service responses, and a managerialist approach to service provision, much of the language and techniques of these evaluative approaches is inappropriate to community development given its particular emphases on process and participation. The article reviews current debates on evaluation of public services, identifies the elements of most relevance to community development, and suggests a framework for moving towards a model of best practice.

‘Cunning, Unprincipled, Loathsome’: The Racist Tail Wags the Welfare Dog

Britains stance towards ethnic minorities has been janus-faced: developing an increasingly repressive and restrictive stance towards immigration , and – supported by a strident media – portraying minorities and migrants as undermining British culture and values, ‘sponging’ on the welfare state . Immigrants have been characterised as ‘cunning’, ‘loathsome’, ‘unprincipled’ and likely to ‘swamp’ British culture. Domestic policies of successive governments apparently balanced this stance with ‘community’-based initiatives, from race relations policies, community relations policies to present community cohesion policies. These have not fundamentally addressed the racism inherent in immigration policy and practice. The consequence is that the welfare of Britains minorities – measured by outcomes in every branch of welfare provision – has largely been disregarded by the British state. Despite some liberal initiatives aimed at improving the lot of Britains minorities, the racism inherent in policy and practice persists.

Visibility, Immobility and Stigma: Young People's Use of Sexual Health Services in Rural Areas†

Teenage pregnancy has become a major policy issue, for which young people are often publicly held solely responsible. However, a combination of factors substantially increases the risks of conception faced by young people engaging in early sexual activity. This article reports the main findings of a study of teenage pregnancy in linked seaside and rural areas, focusing on the experiences and perceptions of young people living in rural localities. They identify the issues of immobility, visibility and attitudes of stigma as affecting their ability to access sexual health services. The young people highlighted issues for service and policy development and the behaviour of professionals, both within schools and from sexual health services. Education, social and health services and the voluntary sector have important roles to play in responding to their needs.

Unequal Partners? Local Government Reorganization and the Voluntary Sector

British local government has recently undergone its most far-reaching reorganization for twenty-five years. The impact of this reorganization was considerable within local authorities but it also substantially affected other organizations with which they worked at a local level. This paper explores the perspectives of voluntary sector organizations involved in social care: a set of actors which, prior to reorganization, had been encouraged by central and local government, through notions of partnership and through community care legislation, to undertake more direct roles in service delivery, consultation and strategic planning. During the consultative period prior to reorganization, many voluntary organizations reported that they had been marginal to the process. Reflecting on the process of reorganization itself, many voluntary organization respondents commented that it had been disruptive and provoked considerable anxiety. Post-reorganization, voluntary organizations felt that rebuilding of relationships was necessary and that the promise of partnership had meant little in practice at a time of potential crisis for local.

The privatization of human misery

Government policy in recent years has led to a full understanding of the scope of poverty being eroded from public consciousness. Although research has demonstrated a growth in poverty, in width, depth and concentration, and the mapping of that poverty is far more precise than hitherto, effective poverty research is hampered by two processes. First, government policies have driven many of the poor out of official statis tics. Second, government has increasingly manipulated aspects of the research process, including the compilation and use of official statistics, thereby also obscuring the extent of poverty. This article argues the need for an independent accountable national statistical service.

Introduction: Migration and Differential Labour Market Participation

Recent major political developments, including Brexit and the US presidential elections, have been strongly associated with public concerns around levels of immigration. Much of this has centred on the role of migrants in the low-skilled sectors of the economy and concerns that they have displaced members of local communities from jobs and depressed wage levels. This is despite compelling evidence that immigrants rarely take jobs from native workers in OECD countries (Constant, 2014 ) and that in the long run, the wage and employment effects of immigration in the 1990s and in the 2000s were small and always positive for less educated workers of all OECD countries (Docquier et al ., 2014 ). Recent UK specific studies have found that the impact on wages is considered to be relatively small (Dustmann et al ., 2013 ; Nickell and Salaheen, 2015 ). Notwithstanding this evidence, hostility to migrants and migration more generally has become increasingly overt, as reflected in a substantial rise in ‘race’ hate crimes before and following the referendum on the UKs membership of the EU in 2016 (Burnett, 2017 ).

Preface: Defining Community and Its Development

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) was introduced in the 1980s for the treatment of therapy-resistant neurological disorders, and has been applied since 2000 on an experimental basis for the treatment of therapy-resistant psychiatric disorders. Since its introduction, DBS has evolved into a well-accepted therapy to treat patients with movement disorders, but the use of electrical stimulation to intentionally alter emotion, motivation, and cognition of psychiatric patients often causes amazement and even disbelief. Neurosurgery for the treatment of psychiatric disorders has always been and still is surrounded by controversy. The relation between DBS and psychiatry is fascinating because it is both appealing and threatening. First, DBS for the treatment of psychiatric disorders is attractive because it offers an ultimate treatment option for a group of seriously ill, untreatable psychiatric patients. Second, the risk of the operation is relatively small and the technique renders the possibility of continual adjustment, which is an important issue for psychiatric patients. Finally, DBS has the potential to increase our understanding of the brain pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders; it offers a view into the pathological brain. DBS is also threatening because psychiatric disorders are less discrete and objectifiable conditions than movement disorders. Second, psychiatric symptoms are more intimately connected with a person’s identity and integrity than motor symptoms, therefore raising more challenging ethical issues. Finally, the boundary between treatment and enhancement in psychiatry is vague. Altering cognition, emotion, and motivation is an intended goal in psychiatry and not a side effect, and may result in changes beyond the natural self. In the past decade, DBS has been applied in obsessive–compulsive disorder, major depressive disorder, Tourette syndrome, and addiction. The results have consistently shown a promising success rate. However, the number of patients treated world-wide is still only limited and most reports deal with small-scale studies or case reports. Moreover, little is still known about how DBS acts in psychiatry, emphasizing the need for translational animal studies. The purpose of this book is to conduct the first comprehensive overview of DBS in psychiatric disorders, with a particular emphasis on the relation between preclinical animal studies and clinical patient studies. The book starts with the basic

Implementing the Child Support Act

Abstract The 1991 Child Support Act is one of the most controversial pieces of recent legislation. This paper traces the origins and objectives of the legislation and describes the first three years of its implementation by the Child Support Agency. As well as documenting official monitoring of the Agency‘s performance, the paper draws on a longitudinal study of lone mothers undertaken between March 1993 and March 1995. It will be argued that, in implementing the Act, the drive to reduce social security expenditure on lone parents became a paramount objective. This has deeply compromised the legislation’s other objectives and undermined popular support for the Act itself. It is now far from certain whether the legislative and administrative changes introduced since the Act came into effect can satisfy its many critics.

Migration and Differential Labour Market Participation: Theoretical Directions, Recurring Themes, Implications of Brexit and Areas for Future Research

Extensive research in a number of disciplines, including economics, social policy, sociology, geography and management have been undertaken relating to migrant participation in the labour market. Given the highly topical nature of migrant employment in Western Europe and the US, the aim of this brief review is to draw together some of the more recent attempts to theorise on the presence of migrants in the labour market, discuss some of the recurrent themes that have emerged from empirical research in this area, consider some of the main implications for policy-making in what now seems likely to be known as the post-Brexit era and outline areas for future research. In doing so, the intention is to contribute to further inter-disciplinary theory-building and to a more nuanced understanding of the complexity of this highly politicised area and the implications of migrant employment for policy and future research.