an article by Malcolm Carey (University of Chester, Warrington, UK) published in Ageing & Society Volume 39 Issue 8 (August 2019)
Abstract
This paper critically examines service user participation and involvement for older adults. It concentrates on research and community-led engagement for older people, and maintains that despite extensive support and expansion, participation offers a complex form of governance and ideological control, as well as a means by which local governments and some welfare professions seek to legitimise or extend their activities.
Some of the paradoxes of participation are discussed, including tensions that persist between rhetorical claims of empowerment, active citizenship and democratic engagement, on one hand, despite tendencies towards risk-aversion, welfare retrenchment and participant ambivalence, on the other.
The paper also highlights practical problems in relation to participative research and community involvement, and questions arguments that participation may challenge the authority of welfare professionals.
Critical theory is drawn upon to contextualise the role of participative narratives within wider welfare, including its role in moving debate away from ownership or redistribution while masking and validating policy-related goals which can counter many older people's needs.
Tension is also noted between participation projects represented as resources to support ageing identities as opposed to those representing technologies for social regulation and conformity.
Showing posts with label empowerment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label empowerment. Show all posts
Tuesday, 27 August 2019
Monday, 29 April 2019
Conflict resolution in community development: Are the benefits worth the costs?
an article by Cristina Asenjo Palma (University of Edinburgh, Scotland) published in Critical Social Policy Volume 39 Issue 2 (May 2019)
Abstract
In the UK, conflict resolution strategies have become increasingly popular within community development practice. Conflict resolution has been used to prevent homelessness, tackle neighbourhood disputes, address family conflict, facilitate community involvement, address discrimination and reduce anti-social behaviour.
The promise of conflict resolution is that confidential and informal processes of ‘justice from below’ might better reconcile community interests, improve relationships and promote social change. Within the field of community development, these promises have been widely vaunted.
However, outside community development, conflict resolution has been subject to extensive criticism.
This article draws upon debates in legal scholarship to discuss four criticisms in particular: that conflict resolution disadvantages vulnerable groups, undermines social justice, suppresses legitimate grievances and mistreats public issues as private problems. It then considers these criticisms in relation to community development practice and explores potential solutions.
Abstract
In the UK, conflict resolution strategies have become increasingly popular within community development practice. Conflict resolution has been used to prevent homelessness, tackle neighbourhood disputes, address family conflict, facilitate community involvement, address discrimination and reduce anti-social behaviour.
The promise of conflict resolution is that confidential and informal processes of ‘justice from below’ might better reconcile community interests, improve relationships and promote social change. Within the field of community development, these promises have been widely vaunted.
However, outside community development, conflict resolution has been subject to extensive criticism.
This article draws upon debates in legal scholarship to discuss four criticisms in particular: that conflict resolution disadvantages vulnerable groups, undermines social justice, suppresses legitimate grievances and mistreats public issues as private problems. It then considers these criticisms in relation to community development practice and explores potential solutions.
Thursday, 28 February 2019
Why Spirituality is Good for Your Mental Health
a post by Monique Hassan for the Spirituality & Mental Health blog [brought to us by World of Psychology]
Spirituality, or being concerned about your connection to the human spirit and the light all around us, is beneficial and uplifting for our overall mental health and quality of life. The secular world often looks at spirituality as hocus pocus when dealing with mental health or physical concerns, but the truth is the human body is not a car, it is more than just mechanics.
Technology and science are needed and beneficial, but they are not the solve-all that some people hope they are. We have a growing disconnection from that sacred light and love within our bodies, even our physical environments have grown into more concrete and steel with less nature and beauty. This lack of spirituality leaves a void; which we fill with overeating, anxiety, sex, money, fighting, career or some other placeholder which we shove into that void thinking we are doing just fine.
Spirituality or Religion
To be clear, spirituality and religion are not the same thing although they do interact. Religion is organized, has standards and provides structure to someone on how they should interact with and grow their spirituality. While spirituality is very individualized and resides within our hearts, no one has access to that spiritual core except for the one who created it. We can think of religion as more external and spirituality as internal. One impacts the other, one can feed off of the other or hurt the other, but they are not the same.
Continue reading
Spirituality, or being concerned about your connection to the human spirit and the light all around us, is beneficial and uplifting for our overall mental health and quality of life. The secular world often looks at spirituality as hocus pocus when dealing with mental health or physical concerns, but the truth is the human body is not a car, it is more than just mechanics.
Technology and science are needed and beneficial, but they are not the solve-all that some people hope they are. We have a growing disconnection from that sacred light and love within our bodies, even our physical environments have grown into more concrete and steel with less nature and beauty. This lack of spirituality leaves a void; which we fill with overeating, anxiety, sex, money, fighting, career or some other placeholder which we shove into that void thinking we are doing just fine.
Spirituality or Religion
To be clear, spirituality and religion are not the same thing although they do interact. Religion is organized, has standards and provides structure to someone on how they should interact with and grow their spirituality. While spirituality is very individualized and resides within our hearts, no one has access to that spiritual core except for the one who created it. We can think of religion as more external and spirituality as internal. One impacts the other, one can feed off of the other or hurt the other, but they are not the same.
Continue reading
Monday, 28 January 2019
When rhetoric does not translate to reality: Hardship, empowerment and the third sector in austerity localism
an article by Hulya Dagdeviren (University of Hertfordshire, UK), Matthew Donoghue (University of Oxford, UK) and Alexis Wearmouth (Queen Mary University of London, UK) published in The Sociological Review Volume 67 Issue 1 (January 2019)
Abstract
Austerity localism powerfully explains dynamics of (dis)empowerment at the local level, especially regarding the autonomy and accountability of local authorities and third sector organisations (TSOs) in the UK. Yet these dynamics at institutional level have also a clear impact on individuals, especially the socio-economically vulnerable.
This is especially true in a time of cost-containment and welfare retrenchment.
This article addresses a gap in the literature by focusing not only on TSOs but also on the experiences of vulnerable individuals under austerity localism. The discussion is centred on two types of TSOs: foodbanks and advice/advocacy organisations.
Drawing upon primary qualitative data from three locations in England and Wales, the article argues that the emphatic rhetoric of empowerment within austerity localism, which others have shown to be problematic at the institutional level, does not translate into real-world empowerment for service users and other vulnerable individuals.
In making the argument the article contributes to work on expanding the analytical scope of austerity localism, as well as further exploring the roles and prospects of TSOs in the current long period of austerity in the UK.
Full text (PDF 18pp)
Abstract
Austerity localism powerfully explains dynamics of (dis)empowerment at the local level, especially regarding the autonomy and accountability of local authorities and third sector organisations (TSOs) in the UK. Yet these dynamics at institutional level have also a clear impact on individuals, especially the socio-economically vulnerable.
This is especially true in a time of cost-containment and welfare retrenchment.
This article addresses a gap in the literature by focusing not only on TSOs but also on the experiences of vulnerable individuals under austerity localism. The discussion is centred on two types of TSOs: foodbanks and advice/advocacy organisations.
Drawing upon primary qualitative data from three locations in England and Wales, the article argues that the emphatic rhetoric of empowerment within austerity localism, which others have shown to be problematic at the institutional level, does not translate into real-world empowerment for service users and other vulnerable individuals.
In making the argument the article contributes to work on expanding the analytical scope of austerity localism, as well as further exploring the roles and prospects of TSOs in the current long period of austerity in the UK.
Full text (PDF 18pp)
Friday, 6 April 2018
Achieving Disability Equality: Empowering Disabled People to Take the Lead
an article by Laufey Löve, Rannveig Traustadóttir and James Gordon Rice (University of Iceland, Iceland) published in Social Inclusion Volume 6 Number 1 (2018)
Abstract
Achieving disability equality calls for transformative changes to society’s structures and norms. Recognizing the central role of disabled people and their organizations in this restructuring, and the call of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) for their full inclusion in all legal and policy decisions relating to their rights, this article focuses on how disability groups and organizations regard their ability to effect changes in line with the CRPD.
The article draws on qualitative interviews with leaders of disability organizations and activist groups in Iceland in 2016 and 2017. The findings reflect frustration among the leaders with what they perceive to be a lack of sustained progress in the decade since the country signed the CRPD.
In their view, this period has been characterized by a lack of meaningful involvement of disabled people in policymaking, and a lack of political will and interest in disability affairs, which has resulted in stagnation.
As a result, leaders of disabled people’s organizations have begun to change their strategies and are taking steps to redefine their approaches, and reframe the issues and dialogue with authorities in a more progressive manner, demanding to have more say in the process of change.
Full text (PDF 8pp)
Abstract
Achieving disability equality calls for transformative changes to society’s structures and norms. Recognizing the central role of disabled people and their organizations in this restructuring, and the call of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) for their full inclusion in all legal and policy decisions relating to their rights, this article focuses on how disability groups and organizations regard their ability to effect changes in line with the CRPD.
The article draws on qualitative interviews with leaders of disability organizations and activist groups in Iceland in 2016 and 2017. The findings reflect frustration among the leaders with what they perceive to be a lack of sustained progress in the decade since the country signed the CRPD.
In their view, this period has been characterized by a lack of meaningful involvement of disabled people in policymaking, and a lack of political will and interest in disability affairs, which has resulted in stagnation.
As a result, leaders of disabled people’s organizations have begun to change their strategies and are taking steps to redefine their approaches, and reframe the issues and dialogue with authorities in a more progressive manner, demanding to have more say in the process of change.
Full text (PDF 8pp)
Sunday, 10 December 2017
3 Empowering Ways to Reframe Anxiety: Work With It, Not Against It
a post by Melissa Renzi for the Tiny Buddha blog
“If I take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely, I will free myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life—and only then will I be free to become myself.” ~Martin Heidegger
If you are a lifelong anxiety warrior like me, you’ve been on a journey of ups and downs.
Anxiety fills our whole bodies. Tension. Heart pounding. Sometimes I feel like my heart must be visibly pulsating so much so that if there are others around, they can see it.
There are varying levels and types of anxiety, including clinical disorders. But the thing that we have in common is that at times we feel intense despair—like the world is caving in on us. We can feel literally stuck and life may even feel meaningless.
But what if anxiety isn’t always negative? What if we could begin to see it differently?
I’m going to share with you three archetypes that I use to cognitively reframe anxiety. Seeing anxiety in these ways has helped me feel more empowered in my journey.
Continue reading
“If I take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely, I will free myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life—and only then will I be free to become myself.” ~Martin Heidegger
If you are a lifelong anxiety warrior like me, you’ve been on a journey of ups and downs.
Anxiety fills our whole bodies. Tension. Heart pounding. Sometimes I feel like my heart must be visibly pulsating so much so that if there are others around, they can see it.
There are varying levels and types of anxiety, including clinical disorders. But the thing that we have in common is that at times we feel intense despair—like the world is caving in on us. We can feel literally stuck and life may even feel meaningless.
But what if anxiety isn’t always negative? What if we could begin to see it differently?
I’m going to share with you three archetypes that I use to cognitively reframe anxiety. Seeing anxiety in these ways has helped me feel more empowered in my journey.
Continue reading
Saturday, 30 September 2017
Teaching giants to learn: lessons from army learning in World War II
an article by Max Visser (Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands) published in The Learning Organization Volume 24 Issue 3 (2017)
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discuss the “truism” that learning organizations cannot be large organizations and, conversely, that large organizations cannot be learning organizations. This paper analyzes learning in the German and US armies in the Second World War, based on a four-dimensional model of the learning organization.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper entails a secondary analysis of historical and military sources and data.
Findings
It is found that the German and US armies differed in learning capacity, which can be plausibly, but not exclusively, related to differences in the battlefield performance between those armies in the Second World War.
Research limitations/implications
The research scope of the paper is limited to the analysis of two particular armies in the Second World War. Implications of theory reside in the importance of organizational learning capacity and its dimensions for learning in current organizations.
Practical implications
The paper has clear practical implications for large organizations wishing to become effective and responsible learning organizations.
Originality/value
This is among the first organizational papers to analyze army learning in the Second World War and to derive lessons from that analysis for current large organizations.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discuss the “truism” that learning organizations cannot be large organizations and, conversely, that large organizations cannot be learning organizations. This paper analyzes learning in the German and US armies in the Second World War, based on a four-dimensional model of the learning organization.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper entails a secondary analysis of historical and military sources and data.
Findings
It is found that the German and US armies differed in learning capacity, which can be plausibly, but not exclusively, related to differences in the battlefield performance between those armies in the Second World War.
Research limitations/implications
The research scope of the paper is limited to the analysis of two particular armies in the Second World War. Implications of theory reside in the importance of organizational learning capacity and its dimensions for learning in current organizations.
Practical implications
The paper has clear practical implications for large organizations wishing to become effective and responsible learning organizations.
Originality/value
This is among the first organizational papers to analyze army learning in the Second World War and to derive lessons from that analysis for current large organizations.
Wednesday, 1 March 2017
Empowering the People: Public Responses to Welfare Policy Change
an article by Anna Bendz (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) published in Social Policy & Administration: an international journal of policy and practice Volume 51 Issue 1 (January 2017)
Abstract
How and when does welfare policy contribute to shape public opinion?
This article departs from the policy feedback research tradition and seeks to contribute to the understanding of how policy influences public opinion (public responsiveness). The argument here suggests that personal experiences in terms of empowerment condition the dynamics between policy and opinion.
The empirical case concerns the implementation of a consumer's choice model in Swedish primary health care, which resulted an intended increase in private health care centres. In this case, empowerment is assumed to be enhanced by increased exit options and freedom of choice. The specific question in the analysis is whether citizens who have empowering experiences, as a consequence of the reform, are more likely to be positive towards further privatization of welfare services.
The results show few effects in general, but there seems to be a correlation between the experience of exiting and more positive attitudes towards privatization.
Full text (PDF 19pp)
Abstract
How and when does welfare policy contribute to shape public opinion?
This article departs from the policy feedback research tradition and seeks to contribute to the understanding of how policy influences public opinion (public responsiveness). The argument here suggests that personal experiences in terms of empowerment condition the dynamics between policy and opinion.
The empirical case concerns the implementation of a consumer's choice model in Swedish primary health care, which resulted an intended increase in private health care centres. In this case, empowerment is assumed to be enhanced by increased exit options and freedom of choice. The specific question in the analysis is whether citizens who have empowering experiences, as a consequence of the reform, are more likely to be positive towards further privatization of welfare services.
The results show few effects in general, but there seems to be a correlation between the experience of exiting and more positive attitudes towards privatization.
Full text (PDF 19pp)
Friday, 20 March 2015
Literacy, learning and identity: challenging the neo-liberal agenda through literacies, everyday practices and empowerment
an article by Vicky Duckworth (Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK) and Angela Brzeski (Runshaw College, Leyland, UK) published in Research in Post-Compulsory Education Volume 20 Issue 1 (March 2015)
Abstract
In the UK, further education (FE) colleges play a key role in providing literacy programmes.
This article draws upon our research in FE, with a focus on literacy, learning and identity, to explore how different learners are positioned differently depending on the value of the literacy practices they bring with them from home. Indeed, it is generally considered that recognising the literacies that learners bring into the classroom is an effective strategy to teaching and learning because purposeful and meaningful learning builds and expands on learners’ prior knowledge and experience to shape and construct new knowledge rather than seeing the learner as an empty vessel ready to be filled by the tutor.
Learning is seen as a social activity embedded in particular cultures and contexts where assessment is based on the learners demonstrating competence in achieving specific learning outcomes. The achievement of these learning outcomes is situated in the learners’ real life and everyday practices.
The paper concludes that New Literacy Studies and critical approaches to education are important to challenging prescriptive pre-set curriculum literacies driven by a neoliberalism agenda and to empowering learners in and out of the classroom.
Abstract
In the UK, further education (FE) colleges play a key role in providing literacy programmes.
This article draws upon our research in FE, with a focus on literacy, learning and identity, to explore how different learners are positioned differently depending on the value of the literacy practices they bring with them from home. Indeed, it is generally considered that recognising the literacies that learners bring into the classroom is an effective strategy to teaching and learning because purposeful and meaningful learning builds and expands on learners’ prior knowledge and experience to shape and construct new knowledge rather than seeing the learner as an empty vessel ready to be filled by the tutor.
Learning is seen as a social activity embedded in particular cultures and contexts where assessment is based on the learners demonstrating competence in achieving specific learning outcomes. The achievement of these learning outcomes is situated in the learners’ real life and everyday practices.
The paper concludes that New Literacy Studies and critical approaches to education are important to challenging prescriptive pre-set curriculum literacies driven by a neoliberalism agenda and to empowering learners in and out of the classroom.
Thursday, 27 December 2012
Bridging the Digital Divide: Enhancing Empowerment and Social Capital
an article by Diane Marie Charleson (Australian Catholic University) published in Journal of Social Inclusion Volume 3 Number 2 (December 2012)
Abstract
In the contemporary world, the digital divide constitutes a significant inequality and thus poses a very real problem of social justice – this being particularly the case for those already burdened with disadvantage and marginalisation.
As part of its commitment to Social Justice the Australian Catholic University runs a Catalyst Clemente program.
Catalyst-Clemente provides people experiencing multiple disadvantage with university-level education by means of a program that aims to break the cycle of poverty, inequity and social injustice for less-advantaged and marginalised Australians.
In this paper I will explore the processes and outcomes from a unit that I taught in 2011 as part of this program. The unit was titled Introduction to Media Production, and its focus was New Media and New Media production. I will examine in particular the positive outcomes that emerged from this unit in relation to the empowerment of the individual learners that I observed during the course of the unit.
This was largely a result of their introduction to, and production of, new media and the transformative role this took in helping to bridge their digital divide. On the basis of this experience I will argue therefore that the digital divide can be bridged but this requires not only access to technology by disadvantaged students but more important by an engagement with content creation.
In explaining how this empowerment came about I will also examine the teaching methods and learning partnerships and styles that contributed to this.
Full text (PDF 14pp)
Tuesday, 4 December 2012
Care, empowerment and self-determination in the practice of peer support
an article by Anne Scott and Carolyn Doughty (University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand) published in Disability & Society Volume 27 Issue 7 (December 2012)
Abstract
The concept of ‘care’ has been fraught with negative connotations within the disability movement; the concepts of empowerment, choice and control have been developed as alternatives. The peer-support movement in the mental health sector draws from this tradition, and is uncomfortable with the provision of care.
Drawing on the feminist ethic of care, we will argue in this paper that ‘care’ – in the sense of caring about, rather than caring for – should be seen as fundamental within peer support. The practice of peer support evidences a kind of ‘care’ that does involve some interdependence, and taking of ‘responsibility’.
The challenge is to make this a ‘responsibility towards’, rather than a ‘responsibility for’. If this is successfully achieved, care can indeed become acknowledged as part of ‘standard peer support’, and the basis for the development of autonomy and self-determination.
Abstract
The concept of ‘care’ has been fraught with negative connotations within the disability movement; the concepts of empowerment, choice and control have been developed as alternatives. The peer-support movement in the mental health sector draws from this tradition, and is uncomfortable with the provision of care.
Drawing on the feminist ethic of care, we will argue in this paper that ‘care’ – in the sense of caring about, rather than caring for – should be seen as fundamental within peer support. The practice of peer support evidences a kind of ‘care’ that does involve some interdependence, and taking of ‘responsibility’.
The challenge is to make this a ‘responsibility towards’, rather than a ‘responsibility for’. If this is successfully achieved, care can indeed become acknowledged as part of ‘standard peer support’, and the basis for the development of autonomy and self-determination.
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