Sociological Concepts of Time in Life-Course Studies

Social change is multi-dimensional which is measured against space, time, speed, direction, content and impact. Social change occurs because of culture, conflict, idealistic factors, the need for adaptation, environmental factors, economic and political factors, demographic changes, and social movements and change. The process of social change in contemporary Ethiopia is related to the history of transition of the country from the feudal system to the socialist revolutionary government and then to ethnic-based federal system of government. One of the social actions that contributed for the formation of new social order during the socialist regime in Ethiopia was the mass campaign against illiteracy through adult learning program. Post 1991 Ethiopia has entertained immense and rapid social changes reflected in the citizens socio-economic, political and cultural changes. Social work is supposedly responding to a social change process by unfolding and revisiting its teaching curricula and practice models to fit into the current needs of social change. According to advocates of structural social work, social change and social movements are the cores of social work action to overcome the root causes of injustice and oppression. In Ethiopia, like any other developing countries, social work is a very new profession. In contrast to the existing challenges of lack of professionalization of social work, there are promising efforts exerted in Ethiopia where social work becomes responsible for social change. However, social work in Ethiopia is in its early stage to evaluate its contribution for social change.

People hedonically adapt to most changes, but they adapt more slowly to some changes than to others. This research examines hedonic adaptation to income changes, and asks whether people adapt more slowly to social or temporal income changes. Four experiments, manipulating the actual pay rate of online workers, find that people adapt more slowly to social income changes (e.g., a decrease in others' income but not in one's own income) than to temporal income changes (e.g., an increase in everyone's income). This pattern holds for both negative changes (Experiment 1) and positive changes (Experiments 2, 3, and 4) and can be explained by a differential-consideration account (Experiment 3). These results suggest that in the short run, both temporal and social changes influence one's hedonic experience, but in the long run, what influences one's hedonic experiences is how much one earns relative to how much others earn, and not how much one earns now relative to how much one earned in the past. This research enriches the existing literature on hedonic adaptation, and on social versus temporal changes, and yields practical implications for the impact of income changes on subjective well-being over time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

This volume--an outgrowth of the annual meeting of the Claremont Symposium on Applied Social Psychology--focuses on examples of social change and community action, and the processes at work in creating change. The presenters engaged each other and the audience in thinking about how best to create and sustain social change. This volume represents a product of their cumulative insight, research results, and perspectives, including chapters from each of the symposium presenters, as well as a few selected chapters from other noted scholars. Taken as a whole, the volume is highly accessible and presents findings from provocative and programmatic research that offer illuminating lessons for anyone interested in attempts at community change, civic participation, and social action. Processes of Community Change and Social Action provides cutting-edge and complementary approaches to understanding the causes and effects of broad civic participation. The contributors to this volume are all distinguished researchers and theorists, well known for their work on different aspects of processes of community change and social action. They address topics related to service learning, social movements, political socialization, civil society, and especially volunteerism. This unique interdisciplinary collection appeals to social, personality, community, and developmental psychologists, sociologists, and public health researchers. It also should be of considerable interest to practitioners of social action and individuals working to create social change.

Sociology: Making Sense of the Social World

Recovery From Schizophrenia: A Concept in Search of Research

Introduction to the Special Issue on Social Justice, Liberation, and Action

As a theoretical orientation, the life course brings a contextual, dy namic, and temporal perspective to studies of families and lives in the past and present. Building upon literature reviews in the mid-1970s, this essay examines some elementary distinctions of life-course analysis, including the links between age, temporality and the life course; the dynamics of interdependent lives; and the unit of analysis problem. Emerging conceptual and research approaches to the household exemplify these distinctions. The relation between social change and the life course remains one of the more central and challenging areas of life-course study.

One of the most effective ways of dealing with social problems is getting rid of the cause of the problem, not just finding a remedy for the result. Social Action in Group Work provides a useful overview of the history, philosophy, theory, and practice of social group work and action in the promotion of societal change. It shows practitioners how to use their skills effectively to achieve social change. This helpful book incorporates ideas developed in social movements, identifies their contributions to social group work practice, and illustrates effective practice in case experience with specific examples. It provides a much-needed understanding of the need for and process of social action, along with new ideas for theory building, teaching, and practice in group work. Numerous case examples from a variety of different settings become models that will be extremely useful for social work students, educators, professionals, and those who work directly with groups.This invigorating book is divided into three sections, each with a unique focus, and tied together by overlapping concepts, theories, and models. The first section, Ideas of Social Action, examines the history of social action in group work and proposes an integrated global framework for social work organization, education and practice. Advocacy and Empowerment, the middle section, is replete with case examples. The third section, Principles and Practice, explores the application of social group work in a variety of situations, including inter-ethnic conflict and a group of homeless men and women. Together, the sections make a strong stand for a more sensitive, empowerment oriented practice and for more advocacy by the worker and group. Everyone involved or interested in the process of social change through social action with groups will find Social Action in Group Work a wealth of practical information.

The term is currently in vogue in social work, indicating a renewed interest in practice approaches that seek to increase client control over the social and organizational environment. Although the term may be relatively new, the goal of client empowerment is steeped in the social work tradition, particularly in the origins of social group work. Toseland and Rivas (1984) contrasted the diagnosis and treatment focus of the Charity Organization Societies with the focus of the settlement houses, which groups as an opportunity for citizens to join together to share their views, to gain mutual support, and to exercise the power derived from their association for social (p. 40). Group work, as practiced by the settlement house workers, emphasized the use of groups to promote education, peer group association, and community change. In the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, as group work became influenced by the professionalization movement in social work, interest gradually shifted to more remedial and psychotherapeutic group approaches (Brown, 1991; Toseland & Rivas, 1984). As group services began to be offered in more clinically oriented settings, the influence of psychoanalytic theory on group practice became stronger. Increasingly, group work was focused on diagnosis and treatment more than on education, socialization, and social change (Alissi, 1980). The pendulum swung back again during the turbulent decade of the 1960s, when social work rediscovered its historic link to social reform (Fisher, 1987). Group work educators such as Papell and Rothman (1966) and Wiener (1964) articulated and refined the social goals model of group work that emphasized participatory democracy, cultural diversity, and social change. The 1960s also saw the emergence of the social action model of community organization practice. Although it differed in methodology and the size of the target systems, community organization's social action model and group work's social goals model both emphasized the redistribution of power to disenfranchised community or group members. Since the 1960s, the social change perspective in social work has largely been overshadowed by remedial approaches emphasizing pathology and individual change. Whereas the mutual aid focus of group work's reciprocal model (Gitterman & Shulman, 1986; Schwartz, 1961) represents a departure from this trend, its primary emphasis is on interpersonal growth rather than social change. Practitioners working with oppressed client groups have recently begun to develop empowerment-oriented practice approaches that emphasize the shifting of power and resources to consumers of services (Breton, 1988; Cohen, 1989; Cox, 1988; Parsons, 1988; Solomon, 1985). The groups described by these authors represent creative extensions of the reciprocal model in which increased power and control, along with mutual aid, are primary goals. The empowerment intervention strategies used by these groups were described by Cox (1988) as those methodological approaches which mobilize consumers of services, their families and communities toward (a) self-care and (b) authentic involvement in the creation of a better environment. The transfer to clients of knowledge and skills necessary for accomplishing these tasks through the use of group work strategies is an essential component of such interventions. (p. 112) Cox (1988) stressed the importance of the personal as political and viewed the focus of group activity as covering a continuum from private issues to public troubles (Schwartz, 1974). From this perspective, a social action group can enhance the physical and mental health of individual participants, and a group focused on self-care can evolve into a potent force for social change (Cohen, 1988; Cox & Longres, 1981). The literature reflects a growing interest in empowerment-oriented groups for homeless clients (Berman-Rossi & Cohen, 1988; Breton, 1988; Glasser & Suroviak, 1988; Lee, 1986). …

1 IntroductionThe last twenty years has brought rapid social, political and economic changes which have transformed the structure of society in many countries around the world, and especially in our region. A brief overview of these changes is sufficient to explain and justify attempts in recent years to reform education in most European countries. After the society clearly and profoundly changed it became necessary to reform education systems to be flexible, compatible with contemporary issues, and able to successfully tackle these challenges and the new realities.Education plays the most important role in the development and progress of an individual. It affects their social status and is the most important factor in economic prosperity and social emancipation. From a sociological point of view, the improvement of education does not happen solely because of individual needs, but originates and develops to meet the needs of the society. The educational system of any society is important for the overall social system. In static societies, the key function of the educational system is the transmission of cultural heritage to future generations. However, in today's modern world, education must respond to a number of other challenges and needs that it faces on a daily basis.Regardless of the level of development of society, education should be one of the most important social activities. Quality education is the main driving force of social progress. Today however, it is recognized that the most developed countries invest much more in education and different types of research in comparison to developing countries or underdeveloped countries.2 Changes in Educational SystemsCompetition for economic, military, and other forms of domination led to continuous analysis and re-evaluation of educational systems and the adoption of specific strategies for improvement with the aim of survival in the race for dominance. One of the most striking examples that authors constantly refer to is the competition between the United States and Russia in space exploration, especially after the Russian launch of Sputnik.Education is a key factor in social development. Social changes come with the collective transformation of individuals. Education is a process that allows all individuals to effectively participate in social activities and to contribute to social progress. Education systems then, have incalculable importance. Bringing about social change has a number of challenges however: professional, technical, social, moral, etc. These challenges require new standards and new approaches to training teachers both during faculty training as well as during their continuous professional development, because they have to be continuously trained in order to successfully face all the new challenges.After analysing the existing educational system, experts suggest specific needs for the transformation and harmonization of education systems, to new demands caused by social changes. Underscoring these needs, Patil (2012) suggests the following very common deficiencies in the current educational systems:(1) The present education does not generate or fortify the type of knowledge that is relevant to our changed society.(2) The technology associated with a particular body of knowledge is inappropriate to our stage of development in terms of its employment potential or investment demands.(3) Education has failed to provide a value-framework which may prepare committed politicians, bureaucrats, technocrats, and professionals, on whom our nation can depend for a sophisticated system of support services, which will take the country to the highest level.The European concept of the new society, and its gradual application of those needs for the users of new educational services along with modern understanding of the role of education prepare teachers to face new demands within the education system. …

As Nurith Levi explains in her Epilogue, this book grew out of a conference that took place in Berlin in October 2018, entitled “Supporting Human Dignity in a Collapsing Field.” The title was chosen to give a voice to those from Africa, the Middle East, and South America who fled their countries and landed in European nations as immigrants. It also explores the impact of long-term conflicts—such as those between the Ukraine and the Soviet Union and the Catholics and Protestants in the north of Ireland/Northern Ireland—on individuals: refugees, immigrants, soldiers, newspaper reporters, and psychotherapists, as well as on families, communities, and countries (Rosie Burrows calls such conflicts “chronic pathologies,” 213). For Levi, this book is a collection of articles by Gestalt practitioners sharing their experiences of being embedded in a collapsing field and analyzing them from both theoretical and personal perspectives. I agree with her that this book is a demonstration of how the Gestalt approach in action contributes to social change.Two features stand out with regard to the organization of the book. First, there is just enough structure to provide continuity between the articles and the sections, so as to invite easy reading but not homogenize the various writers’ experiences. The individuals’ voices come through clearly. The second aspect concerns the writers’ identity as Gestalt practitioners. Despite differences regarding formal roles, degrees, and circumstances, all the writers carry a Gestalt-based philosophy of how to be in the world and how to treat people. It seems obvious that this Gestalt perspective helped to carry them through their powerful, often challenging experiences. Each writer displays a type of resilience that, although not unique to our approach, certainly courses through its philosophical veins. As Gianni Francesetti mentions in his foreword, this is a book about activists, that is, Gestalt practitioners who have had the courage to leave the consulting room to enter into the heart of traumatic environments. He presents a strong case that, overall, the world is getting better. Many if not most of us, however, deal with a perceived reality that the world is getting worse. And, of course, there are many advantages for holding this pessimistic perspective (Melnick and Nevis 2017). Francesetti asks us to hold both: “We cannot change the past, but we can heal the solitude of people who have experienced that past” (14). These relational experiences “open up new presents”; he adds: “We as humans have a fundamental need not to be stuck, but to transform suffering, to assimilate and then move on” (14).In their introduction, the editors describe the origin of the book, having grown out of a conference sponsored by the Human Rights and Social Responsibility Committee of the European Association for Gestalt Therapy (EAGT), whose goal is to bring the Gestalt approach out of the clinic and into real-life situations. The conference was attended by Gestalt practitioners from various countries, age groups, and professional affiliations. The editors describe how the conference organizers built community right from the start by minimizing fixed hierarchy, as all participants pitched in, from shopping and managing registration, to organizing and participating in the societal events. To their credit, the editors promoted diversity in the writings in terms of content and style. The book contains a range of articles from the theoretical to the highly personal.In a preliminary section, “Before Part I,” Dieter Bongers’ piece entitled, “Paul Goodman’s Heritage: Relevance for Today,” offers a homage to Goodman as a primary shaper of the Gestalt social change movement. There has long been a debate as to who, among the founders, was most responsible for our social change roots and values. Clearly, Frederick Perls and paul Goodman had much in common. Both were outrageous, brilliant, and passionate. Bongers makes a strong case for Goodman, and I have to agree with him. PerIs, though often expressing concerns over social issues, was not a social activist, did not work systemically, nor did he theorize beyond individual therapy. In contrast, Goodman lived his social activism. Perls, in fact, tried to limit Goodman’s influence in the Gestalt world, viewing him as “too radical” (personal communication with Erving Polster, 2020).Three articles in Part I, “Political Conflict, War, and Aftermath,” deal with the impact of war and postwar in Ukraine and Crimea and its effect on four different populations: wounded combatants, newspaper writers, asylum seekers, and psychologists. The authors discuss what it is like to be “influencers of the field,” while being outside of it. For Gestalt practitioners, this ability to move in and out is quite ordinary, but in a collapsing field it becomes more difficult to maintain. As the authors imply, war knows no favorites and, to their credit, all the contributors allow themselves to be impacted while displaying the courage to describe that impact.In “The Maidan Syndrome or the Mechanism of the Formation of the Collective Trauma,” Olena Levchuk describes her experience as a crisis psychologist in the Ukraine. She discusses how a “funnel of trauma” is formed and divides it into three phases similar to those described by other writers in this collection (see summary below). I particularly appreciated Levchuk’s highlighting of the sense of professional helplessness that can emerge when working with traumatized people in the midst of what seems to be an unending war. Unable to disengage and relax, individuals are often left in shock, disequilibrium, and disassociation.In the second article, “Do Those Who Have a Voice for Others Have a Voice About Themselves? Journalists Mental Health and War,” Tatyana Konrad and Natalya Stotetskaya discuss their psychotherapeutic work with journalists covering the military events in East Ukraine and in the annexed Crimea from 2013 to 2018. They hypothesize that journalists, because of their constant immersion in conflict environments, are at high risk of developing acute stress disorder. They address how we, as Gestalt practitioners, can apply our theory and ourselves to support individuals going through seemingly unending suffering through no fault of their own. My caricature of journalists as being primarily “off the screen” as they convey information and cover events was immediately challenged. As Gestalt practitioners, we understand that we are always “of” the field, and that there is no such thing as a bystander. No one is “off the screen.” Because of this common perception of journalists as “outsiders,” it is not surprising that journalists experiencing trauma often do not experience acknowledgment and support.1 The authors and their colleagues intervened by mobilizing a diverse array of assistances, including training on wartime trauma, the psychology of displaced people, the families of the deceased and their loss of support, support for children of immigrants, and prevention of burnout. One interesting format involved organized public lectures to help teach new creative tools.Svitlana Efimova and Liliia Zhyvotovska, in “Peculiarities in Providing Psychotherapeutic Assistance to Combatants with Adjustment Disorders,” focus on the wounded soldier and how to combat mental trauma. Like many of the other writers, they articulate the importance of providing “just enough” support in order for soldiers to understand their reactions and learn to recover their ability to self-regulate.In “From Yugoslavian Wars to Middle East Refugee Crisis: Insights and Transfer of Knowledge and Experience,” Iskra Pejić, Jasenka Pregrad, and Tia Tomiša detail their work with victims of the Yugoslavian war and the Middle East refugee crisis. Their model, based on Gestalt principles, is a multilevel effort to provide a variety of supports as individuals make their way out of trauma. They highlight the importance of helping to restore dignity to refugees’ lives. I particularly endorse their caution regarding the use of the paradoxical theory of change in dealing with trauma. There are instances when increased awareness is not useful. I also appreciated their work at different levels of system, for example, teaching educators to work with immigrant children, and their focus on group work.Olena Levchuk completes this section with her essay, “What’s Wrong? Reflections of a Crisis Psychologist,” in which she describes having to deal with traumatized individuals’ sense of almost hypnotic apathy that often permeates the psyche of people who have spent much of their lives under repressive regimes. It is, as she says, “the mentality of the colonized” (82), a type of inherent apathy and lack of robustness.A “Passage from Part I to Part II” offers a series of poems by Greet Cassiers. They fit in well, capturing the raw experience of traumatized individuals. Cassiers is able to delve beneath the exterior, compassionately capturing the sense of loss and loneliness, of bruising and darkness, and of diminished desire, out of which spring seeds of hope.Part II, “Migration and Refugee Crises,” focuses on Gestalt practitioners working with refugees in different settings. In “Crossing Borders and Boundaries: Towards an Encounter (Working on the Greek Islands),” Ioanna Alexia, Nikos Gionakis, Ioannis Goumas, Katerina Kaisidou, and Joanna Kato describe their approach to supporting front line volunteers, refugees, and professional workers on the Greek Islands, and their experience in forming an interventionist team. The authors discuss the difficult task of working with cultural and subcultural differences such as old versus recent arrivals, young versus old, valuing introspection and slow change versus speed and activism, omnipotence versus helplessness, groundedness versus frustration, self-sacrifice versus self-care, anger versus guilt, and chaos versus structure.Joanna Kato, in “Supervising (Supporting) Front Line Workers: Reflecting on Process,” also writes of her experience of being immersed in the quick changing and often chaotic environment of migration. She discusses her use of Gestalt concepts such as “here and now,” and contact and staying with people’s experience, but also describes the toll that workers pay for this immersion, such as disassociation, “doing more,” and the physical symptoms that often emerge. Importantly, she highlights the near impossibility of assimilating traumatic experiences that happen every day, and at the end having to accept the fact that there is rarely a solution or sense of closure.Martina Čarija and Jasenka Pregrad, in “What is the Figure? An Example of a Field and Changes of Figures in a Refugee Transit Country,” also discuss how to support refugees in a complex, polarized field when the definition of what a refugee is, and what the environment (Croatia) is, exist in a state of constant change. Their goal is trauma support, focusing on the caricatures and changing perceptions of refugees and helpers. Like many others in this volume, these writers talk about polarization as an ongoing issue.In “Contextualizing Therapist Self-Care in Therapeutic Work with Refugees,” Katharina Stahlmann and Deirdre Winter focus on therapist self-care while doing individual and group therapy with refugees in Berlin. They highlight the difficult task of connecting with clients, while not being too strongly impacted by them, lest it result in their own hopelessness and powerlessness. Because refugees bring in issues different from those the therapists are used to, the situation minimizes the effectiveness of traditional self-care techniques and exacerbates the difficulty of separating the work from their personal lives. These factors include urgency, cultural differences, complexity of trauma, poor or no pay, and a traumatizing, often dehumanizing, environment currently occupied by many of the refugees.Gabriele Blankertz, in “Shaping Change Through Dialogue with Responsibility for a Common Future,” discusses her inner process when working with Arab refugees over a four-year period. She describes the slowness of building trust that begins with finding a translator, having individual talks, dining together, cooking, and sharing stories. Once trust is established, she is able to discuss a series of issues involving gender, relatedness, conflict, understanding of psychological dynamics, and personal goals. Individual work is supported by a series of workshops with specific foci designed to help participants deal responsibly with personal and societal challenges and conflicts. She details a group program designed to develop internal understanding (self-awareness), as well as skills to address the refugees’ ever-changing situation.In Part III, “Gestalt Approach in Broader Social and Political Contexts,” the authors strive to grapple with situations different from immigration, war, and resettlement. In “The Trauma of Generational Poverty: Healing at the Contact Boundary,” Sara Hendrick discusses how generational poverty can be viewed as an unfinished relational situation. Potential causes include feelings of rejection, noncompliance, loneliness, humiliation, shame, and inferiority. Common results often include a deep difficulty to trust and attach, damage to brain structures, and somatic complaints. As a result, people move into a survival mode, resulting in isolation and alienation. She describes the responses from a physiological and a developmental perspective.Rosie Burrows in “Therapeutic and Leadership Lessons from Belfast: A Framework for Ethical Practice,” focuses on how her lived experiences in the north of Ireland/Northern Ireland have informed her views of the impact of long-term cultural trauma on relationships, leadership, and power dynamics. Like many of the other contributors, she integrates Gestalt methods with other forms; also, like others, she combines individual and group methods with experiential, nonverbal expression that goes beyond words. She talks about transgenerational trauma and body memory, as well as the importance of somatic approaches and neurological understanding in working with transgenerational trauma. Her goal is to create cultures “where we are emotionally and physically safe enough and encouraged to make mistakes, rather than shamed, blamed, and punished” (184).In “Politics as Therapy, Therapy as Politics? Contributions and Challenges of Gestalt Therapy Interventions in the Context of Social and Environmental Injustices,” Marien González Hidalgo draws on her research in Mexico to describe her experience as an environmental activist and a trainee in Gestalt therapy. She outlines how Gestalt-based interventions can support social and collective action concerning environmental conflicts and inequities. Challenging the commonly held Gestalt belief that personal growth is a means to social transformation, she discusses how, in a traditional way, therapy will not lead to increased social awareness and activism. Instead, she suggests adding content and experiences to form a bridge to a more sophisticated understanding of activism, one in which increased personal awareness results in social activism and political empowerment. In summary, these articles strive to frame the experience of Gestalt therapists working with traumatized individuals. In part, the experience is similar to what most psychotherapists do every day. One major difference, however, is that these therapists often join their clients in their “collapsing field,” thus having also to manage their own responses of living in the traumatic situation. The experience of “being” so relentlessly immersed in the situation adds a level of complexity not found in the traditional psychotherapeutic situation. As such, these therapists are forced personally to deal with the oftentimes “clash of cultures” which, if not generating the trauma, certainly does not help alleviate it.The authors see as critical the need to address the loneliness and isolation that often accompany trauma, that is, a tendency to hide and move into solitude. The task of the trauma psychologist is gently to bring the client back to the present, often utilizing group therapy and group support. Heartfelt empathy is essential and includes an acknowledgment that they cannot “put themselves in their client’s shoes.” As many of these authors attest to, the psychologist needs to appreciate that the “collapsed field” is so big and powerful that awareness, rather than being helpful, can sometimes be detrimental.Most of the authors here break the traumatic experience into stages: during, immediately after, and later on. The first experience—shock/desensitization—is a type of frozenness, immobilization, and disassociation. They recommend a slow beginning process, where trust in a therapeutic relationship can be established. Psychoeducation and normalization of the condition is essential, as are gentle techniques such as yoga in order to bring the body back slowly. In the second stage, the response phase, unfiltered and uncensored emotional reactions that are not tied to rationality often emerge. Rage, depression, and irrationality frequently occur. Many times, a prime psychotherapeutic goal is to promote self-regulation to reduce anxiety, and to increase the ability to control one’s emotions. Once trust is established, mindfulness, body work, visualization, and art therapy are useful as responses to negative emotions. The third, “later on” stage involves the processing of the experiences. This is when emotions diminish and hopefully become integrated. The work more closely resembles traditional psychotherapy, as experiences are “chewed over” and slowly recede into the individual’s ground. The authors point out that these “phases” are not linear. In truth, individuals move back and forth, and stages often overlap; thus, it is the therapist’s responsibility to meet clients where they are, and to supply the right amount of support.In short, this book, based on Gestalt principles, serves as a guide to managing cultural trauma, primarily from a client/therapist perspective. As such, it is an important contribution. Hinted at, but not developed, is how to create different types of interventions that go beyond the individual and impact the wider fields. This expansion would involve intervening more globally in traumatized and traumatizing systems. I believe that our process approach has the capacity to move beyond the individual and take on this immense task: to look forward to the continued development of our method to address social change more fully.

The paper deals with the relationship between academic, applied and practical knowledge in the field of applied psychology, which has the potential to contribute to economic and social development. The aim of the analysis is to make an initial insight into the dominant topics and social relevance of research activities in the field of work psychology in Serbia in the period of significant social changes (1995-2019). The material for the analysis consisted of abstracts of papers in the field of work psychology, which were presented at two leading national conferences - Empirical Research in Psychology and the Meeting of Psychologists of Serbia (N = 657). The thematic analytical procedure was used for the construction of the code system used for defining the criteria for collecting relevant data. Exploratory sequential design and comparative longitudinal analysis were used for data processing. The general conclusion based on qualitative data analysis suggests the existence of social relevance of research activities in the field of work psychology in this period. The results of the analysis were also considered from the perspective of some recent models of strategic planning and social development. The obtained results indicate the emergence of new topics and areas, as well as the existence of a link between significant social changes and research activities in the field of work psychology in this period. Some elements of the new paradigm of the positive human resource development practice are highlighted. The paper concludes with discussing the broader theoretical-methodological and practical implications of the obtained findings for work psychology.

Social work is a profession that seeks to enhance the well-being of all people and promote social justice and social change through a range of activities, such as direct practice, community organizing, social and political action, and policy development. However, the current literature suggests that the profession's focus on social justice and social action are weakening, replaced by individualism and therapeutic interventions. This article examines data derived from a survey of 188 National Association of Social Workers members from Maryland; Virginia; and Washington, DC, to explore levels of social action participation among social workers and determine whether identifying as a macro-level practitioner would predict higher levels of social action activity compared with being a micro-level practitioner. Findings indicate that social workers in this sample engage in only a moderate level of social action behavior. In addition, identifying oneself as a mezzo- or macro-level practitioner predicts increased frequency of social action behavior. Implications include emphasizing the importance of social action in schools of social work and practice settings and adequately preparing social work professionals to engage in social action.

This chapter analyzes women’s religious and social activism in the Arab Gulf states, with attention to the varied ways Gulf women are negotiating religious, social, and political norms and expectations and redefining their societal roles. Specifically, it examines the myriad strategies deployed by women in the Gulf to renegotiate and resist gender norms, focusing on women’s religious and social activism in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain. Women’s resistance in the Arab Gulf has taken both direct and subtle forms, with some women defying legal and social boundaries to fight for increased political and social rights and others working through existing political and social structures to affect gradual social change. Situating Gulf women’s choices in the region’s contemporary sociopolitical context of rapid development and social change, this chapter highlights how Gulf women are skillfully (re)negotiating gender roles in their nations through political participation, religious engagement, and organized political and social media activism.

The papers in this special section are revised contributions to one of the Conversations in the Disciplines funded by the State University of New York and the SUNY College at Plattsburgh, held in Plattsburgh on October 7–9, 2007. This discussion, titled “The Origins of Agriculture,” brought together scholars with diverse perspectives and methodological approaches on the origins of agriculture. My perception is that the many perspectives and methodologies are not in sufficient contact with one another, and my goal in organizing this collection for the SUNY Conversation and for this special section in Current Anthropology was to generate cross-fertilization of ideas. The areas in question include ancient health, paleopathology, paleonutrition, paleodemography, evolutionary theory, genetics, political prehistory, social organization, climatology, human behavioral ecology, archaeobotany, and Neolithic demographic transition theory. As these papers demonstrate, the conversation was successful to a degree in that regard, even though, as is inevitable, we reached no consensus. My perspective was then and is now that such widespread common events require relatively simple common core events and causes. To argue otherwise defies the odds of coincidence given the enormously widespread complex sequences of events occurring in parallel but independently in so many regions of the world. I suggested that we resembled the proverbial blind men, each describing an elephant from the perspective of his or her own incomplete experience. (Hence the reference to elephants in some accompanying papers.) I still insist that there is an “elephant,” or common core of events, despite our various incomplete perspectives; however, many participants do not agree that the elephant or core understanding exists. What follows is my own perspective on the problem, modified and updated by more recent research and, most recently, by participation in the conversation. I take pride of place as organizer and also as the person providing the most primitive, albeit drastically updated, hypothesis. In The Food Crisis in Prehistory (Cohen 1977), I proposed