The place of local social realities in developmental work

There have long been attempts to humanize the conduct of development by taking into account the mental and cultural constitution of those amongst whom it is to occur. Very largely, these have been unsuccessful owing in part to the conception that has been used of the things of which account has to be taken. In consequence, developmental thought has remained mechanistic and impersonal generally and corresponding problems afflict development practice. Seeing this approach exemplified in the two articles by Rondinelli and Mandel (1981a, 1981b) the author takes issue with it. He argues in the light of experience with health planning and medical practice that fresh attention should be given both to understanding local social realities and to the way in which development work could be related to such realities. In the process the author suggests that the value of the approaches characteristic of social anthropology should be more widely recognized.     

The social security earnings test and work incentives

The labor supply and benefit claiming incentives provided by the early retirement rules of the Social Security Old Age benefits program are of growing importance as the Normal Retirement Age (NRA) increases to 67, the labor force participation of Older Americans rises, and a variety of reforms to the Social Security system are considered. Any reform needs to take into account the effects and rationale of the Social Security Earnings Test and the Actuarial Adjustment Factor, which are likely to be widely misunderstood due to the relatively little attention paid by policymakers and researchers to the fact that Americans are willing to work while receiving benefits. We describe these incentives and emphasize that individuals who claim benefits before the NRA but continue to work, or return to the labor force, can reduce the early retirement penalty by suspending the collection of monthly benefits if they earn above the Earnings Test limit. We then argue that the Earnings Test can be distortionary and is costly to administer, and that these characteristics are inflated by the lack of information given to Older Americans regarding the consequences of working while receiving retirement benefits. We present results from statistical models of labor force exit behavior using data from the Health and Retirement Study showing the relevance of these incentives, and investigate the importance of informational asymmetries among beneficiaries regarding benefit withholding using a dynamic life‐cycle model of labor supply and benefit claiming. We then use the latter framework to compare the behavioral and welfare implications of a removal of the Earnings Test to the policy of providing more information regarding the Earnings Test and the adjustment of the rate of benefit pay to Older Americans. © 2007 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management     

新社会阶层的参政诉求是做好统战工作的积极因素

新世纪新阶段,努力做好对新社会阶层的统战工作,充分认识和发挥新社会阶层的作用,是能否实现全面建设小康社会奋斗目标的关键之一。认真分析新社会阶层的特点,有针对性地开展工作,才能充分发挥新社会阶层在我国改革、发展、稳定及构建社会主义和谐社会中的作用。     

转型期环境管理方式的变革初探

我国正处于社会转型时期,生产方式没有完全转变,城镇化速度快,资源与环境面临着很大压力.必须改革环境管理体制,加强制度创新,扩大公众参与力度,建立起符合科学发展观要求,有利于建设环境友好型和资源节约型社会的环境管理方式.     

新社会组织党建工作研究——以山东省青州市为例

加强新社会组织党建工作是扩大党的群众基础,提高党的执政能力,构建和谐社会的必然要求。新社会组织的产生以及运行有其必然的历史条件和独特的方式。对新社会组织进行有效的党的组织管理,必须深入调查,全面掌握。了解其存在的现状,查找其存在的问题,分析原因,制定措施,真正达到巩固党的执政基础,促进新社会组织自身健康发展的目的。     

Innovative work behaviour in the public sector: The roles of task characteristics,social support,and proactivity

This study examines the roles of task characteristics, organisational social support, and individual proactivity on innovative work behaviour (IWB) in the public sector. Analysing empirical data from 154 employees from a government agency in Australia, we found that task characteristics, organisational social support, and proactive personality have a positive impact on IWB. Proactive personality is also found to be a moderator in the relationship between task characteristics and IWB. The findings suggest the need to design human resource practices that better identify proactive and innovative job applicants in the recruitment and selection process. Further, we highlight the requirement to organise and design work that recognises the need to develop social support to improve IWB. The implications of the study for further research on IWB are discussed.     

Teaching Obama: history,critical race theory and social work education

ABSTRACT

Barack Obama's first autobiography, Dreams from My Father (1995), explores themes of race and identity up to the late 1980s in the life of the first African American president. The book emphasizes Obama's personal struggle as the son of an interracial couple, and the social and environmental context that shaped his growth and transformation. Using the tools of critical race theory, Freeman illustrates how Obama's autobiography can be used in the classroom to explore an individual's developing racial consciousness in the 1970s and 1980s, and as a prism through which students can understand what it means to live in the post-civil-rights-movement era. Obama's life history illuminates how the ideas and meanings of racial progress in the United States are contested and struggled over on a daily basis at both the micro and macro level.