Work In Modern Society Research Articles

METHODOLOGICAL JUSTIFICATION OF THE GERONTOLOGICAL CARE PRACTICE IN SOCIAL WORK: SOCIOLOGICAL AND DIDACTIC ASPECTS

The article reveals methodological approaches to the scientific study of the content of gerontological assistance to clients of social services as a direction of professional social work and a segment of university social education. A conceptual justification is given for the synthesis of sociological and didactic aspects of understanding gerontological social work in modern society. A theoretical and methodological analysis of socio-cultural factors of gerontological assistance to clients of social services and controversial issues of training future social workers in universities in technologies of gerontological assistance to the population is carried out.

Labor Market Transformation: Implications of Technological Change in Society 5.0

Society 5.0 is resulting in transformation across a wide range of sectors, including manufacturing, education, healthcare, and services. Through the adoption of artificial intelligence, machines can carry out tasks that previously could only be performed by humans, resulting in significant changes in the types of jobs and skills available in the labor market. This research aims to detail and identify how technological changes affect the labor market, as well as explore solutions and strategies to capitalize on opportunities and deal with challenges that arise from these changes for society’s overall well-being. This research uses a literature study method with a predictive approach. The results showed that in the era of Society 5.0, people must improve their skills through education and training to adapt to the changes. Cross-sectoral cooperation between the government, the private sector, and the community is crucial. Joint efforts to formulate supportive policies and innovation in creating new sustainable jobs are vital to mitigating the negative impacts and harnessing the positive potential of technological change in the labor market. This research is expected to have a significant impact, ranging from policy development to improving social welfare, by comprehensively understanding how technology affects life and work in modern society.

Electroacupuncture at BL15 attenuates chronic fatigue syndrome by downregulating iNOS/NO signaling in C57BL/6 mice.

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) has a high incidence due to the increased pressure of daily life and work in modern society. Our previous clinical studies have found the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) on CFS patients, however, the mechanism of EA on CFS is still unknown. In this study, we investigated the effects of EA on cardiac function in a CFS mouse model to explore its underlying mechanism. The mice were randomly divided into three groups: control, CFS, and CFS mice receiving EA (CFS + EA). After behavioral assessments and echocardiographic measurement, blood and heart tissue of the mice were collected for biochemical tests, and then we evaluated the effects of EA on the CFS mouse model when nitric oxide (NO) levels were enhanced by l-arginine. The results showed that EA ameliorated the injured motor and cardiac function. Meanwhile, EA also inhibited increased expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) at heart tissue and the serum NO levels in mice subjected to sustained forced swimming stress. Furthermore, the NO level in serum increased with l-arginine administration, which blocked the effects of EA on CFS mice. This study suggested that EA could improve the motor function and cardiac function in CFS mice and its effects may be associated with the down-regulation of iNOS/NO signaling.

Socioreadaptation of young single mothers in the conditions of crisis centers (on the example of Almaty)

This article considers the relevance of the work of crisis centers and centers of «Mother’s House» located in Almaty. Crisis centers occupy a special place in the social adaptation of young single mothers. Public organizations and private foundations make a significant contribution to the support of mothers who find themselves in a difficult life situation in Kazakhstan. The main purpose of this article is to consider the work of effective implementation of socio – psy- chological support for young mothers and to analyze the social adaptation of young single mothers in the «Mother’s House» who are in difficult life situations. The center helps young mothers to adapt to the environment, awaken the mother’s love for the child, feel parental responsibility, create conditions for studying, new professions or occupations, solve the problem of employment. The method of research of the article is the analysis of the work of crisis centers and centers of «Mother’s House» located in Almaty, monitoring of young mothers living in crisis centers, conducting interviews with 18 mothers and participating in a questionnaire from 33 mothers. During the analysis, we got acquainted with the algorithm and stages of work on the social rehabilitation of young mothers during their stay at the center. The analysis reveals the need to solve the problem of single mothers in the system of social work in modern society, the importance of state support for the work of crisis centers. The center provides mothers with everything necessary in life and specialized assistance for their children  to overcome maternal depression, however, it can be concluded that young mothers need financial, medical, legal, psychological, social assistance, continuing education, professional development, child rearing, housing, material support, getting rid of stigmatization in society. Key words: single young mother, «Mother’s House», social rehabilitation, early pregnancy, social orphanhood, socioreadaptation.

Sociological Aspects of Volunteering

The article analyzes the essence of volunteering from the point of view of relations and processes considered at the level of society as a whole. The essence of the concept of "volunteering" in sociological discourse is revealed, the main aspects of volunteering are noted, the importance and necessity of volunteer work in modern society are shown. The dynamics of volunteering as a community and social institution is considered, the types of volunteer activities, the functions of the external and internal orientation of the social community of volunteers are highlighted. The transformations of the nature and content of different types of volunteer activities are revealed.

Resolving the ‘jobs-environment-dilemma’? The case for critiques of work in sustainability research

ABSTRACT Modern-day work is a central reason for unsustainability, and its transformation is therefore key for sustainability. A recurring manifestation of this issue is the ‘jobs-environment-dilemma’, a trade-off arising due to severe ecological impacts caused by work on the one hand, and the structural constitution of modern industrial society as work-centred and work-dependent on the other. We draw on interdisciplinary literature from environmental sociology and related fields to analyse both aspects: distinct factors of ecological problems associated with modern work, and various dimensions of structural dependence on work in modern society. We find that this conflict, and the fundamental role that work plays for unsustainability, are not sufficiently addressed and remain unresolved issues in sustainability research. To change this, we propose the conceptual approach of ‘postwork’ or critiques of work to open up a new perspective on the work-environment problem. We introduce postwork theory and discuss different ways in which ecological postwork perspectives and arguments can contribute to understanding and resolving entrenched sustainability issues. Finally, we briefly illustrate existing postwork politics and practices. While clearly contested, there is renewed momentum for social change towards a sustainable society which would benefit from addressing work and critiques of work.

A Study on Ergonomics for Employee Wellness

The nature of work in modern society is changing rapidly, and competition in the job market is getting more intense. This requires competence from workers and demands them to update their knowledge, skills, and attitudes in order to remain productive and retain their attractiveness in the job market. On the other hand, skillful employees are a company’s most important competitive assets, and so it is worth to up- skill the employees by providing training at regular intervals on process and also on governing themselves from workplace illness. Thus the present study is an attempt to create awareness on ergonomics that impact employee performance. The significance and prominent role of ergonomics is reviewed by discussing its association with other scientific disciplines and by ascribing types of ergonomics and its principles and applications towards employee wellness.

Introduction

The articles in this issue examine science fiction in literature and film from the vantage point of critical theory and sociology. In their initial form, the articles by George Lundskow, Sarah MacMillen, Charles Thorpe, and Harry F. Dahms were presentations given at the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Midwest Sociological Society in Chicago, April 17–20, 2019. The overarching theme of the conference was “Queering/Querying Bodies.” The theme of the session in which the above authors presented their work was “Science (Fiction), Utopianism, and Critical Theory,” organized by Lauren Langman, Department of Sociology, Loyola University. The articles by Lawrence Hazelrigg and Roberto Ortiz were added once a special issue became a distinct possibility. The first three articles of this issue, by Dahms, Hazelrigg and Lundskow, examine examples of science fiction in film and/or television, while the others, by Thorpe, MacMillen, and Ortiz, examine prominent literary works.The first article, by Harry F. Dahms, serves as an introduction to this issue, as it raises a number of general issues relating to the relationship between science fiction, critical theory, and sociology; Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014) and Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival (2016) provide a foil for critiquing systems of social relations that have become hindrances on the ability of humans to be self-possessing beings who are able to face proliferating challenges in constructive fashion. In the second article, by Lawrence Hazelrigg, Terry Gilliam’s Brazil (1985) functions as a means to highlight problematic features of the kind of administrative logic that is at work in modern societies. The third article, by George Lundskow, examines an entire range of examples from film and television that draw attention to tensions surrounding forms of resistance and revolution in the early twenty-first century.The fourth article, by Charles Thorpe, critically examinines Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy. The fifth article, by Sarah MacMillen, presents a critique of aspects of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland, especially insofar as motives that inspired and were spelled out in her work foreshadowed dilemmas that the #MeToo movement has been confronting. The fifth and final article, by Roberto Ortiz, employs Kim Stanley Robinson’s New York 2140 to shed light on links between financialization and climate change.

VOLUNTEER WORK AS A FACTOR OF PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF FUTURE SOCIAL WORKERS

The article is devoted to the consideration of the main aspects of volunteer work as a factor of personal and professional development of the future social worker. The purpose of the article was to identify and characterize the components of personal and professional development of the future social worker in the course of volunteer work. In order to achieve this goal, a number of methods were used: study and analysis of the Laws of Ukraine, regulations of domestic and international organizations, philosophical, pedagogical and psychological literature to identify the problem in science, and determine the place and role of volunteer work in modern society; synthesis, induction, deduction, comparison, generalization and systematization of research results, which allow to identify and characterize the components of personal and professional development. The components of personal and professional development of the future social worker in the course of volunteer activity are determined and characterized: cognitive, value-motivational, organizational-communicative, and psychological. It is established that the participation of students in volunteering helps participants: gain confidence in the future professional sphere; form the ability to adapt to various life situations; promote the acquisition of practical skills, the availability of which is valued in professional activities (negotiation, ability to work in a team, adaptation to unusual working conditions, organization, responsibility, leadership skills, resilience, etc.); acquire the ability to give tasks, gain specific knowledge, be a member of the team. It is proved that volunteer work can be considered as a social practice of students majoring in “Social Work”, which can be implemented not only on the basis of public organizations, but also in higher education institutions during classes and extracurricular activities.

Introduction

The articles in this issue examine science fiction in literature and film from the vantage point of critical theory and sociology. In their initial form, the articles by George Lundskow, Sarah MacMillen, Charles Thorpe, and Harry F. Dahms were presentations given at the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Midwest Sociological Society in Chicago, April 17–20, 2019. The overarching theme of the conference was “Queering/Querying Bodies.” The theme of the session in which the above authors presented their work was “Science (Fiction), Utopianism, and Critical Theory,” organized by Lauren Langman, Department of Sociology, Loyola University. The articles by Lawrence Hazelrigg and Roberto Ortiz were added once a special issue became a distinct possibility. The first three articles of this issue, by Dahms, Hazelrigg and Lundskow, examine examples of science fiction in film and/or television, while the others, by Thorpe, MacMillen, and Ortiz, examine prominent literary works.The first article, by Harry F. Dahms, serves as an introduction to this issue, as it raises a number of general issues relating to the relationship between science fiction, critical theory, and sociology; Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014) and Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival (2016) provide a foil for critiquing systems of social relations that have become hindrances on the ability of humans to be self-possessing beings who are able to face proliferating challenges in constructive fashion. In the second article, by Lawrence Hazelrigg, Terry Gilliam’s Brazil (1985) functions as a means to highlight problematic features of the kind of administrative logic that is at work in modern societies. The third article, by George Lundskow, examines an entire range of examples from film and television that draw attention to tensions surrounding forms of resistance and revolution in the early twenty-first century.The fourth article, by Charles Thorpe, critically examinines Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy. The fifth article, by Sarah MacMillen, presents a critique of aspects of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland, especially insofar as motives that inspired and were spelled out in her work foreshadowed dilemmas that the #MeToo movement has been confronting. The fifth and final article, by Roberto Ortiz, employs Kim Stanley Robinson’s New York 2140 to shed light on links between financialization and climate change.

Effect of different light-dark schedules on estrous cycle in mice, and implications for mitigating the adverse impact of night work.

Approximately 20% of workers in developed countries are involved in night work. Nevertheless, many studies have strongly suggested that night-work-induced chronic circadian misalignment increases the risk of a diverse range of health problems. Although a relation between night work and irregular menstrual cycles has been indicated epidemiologically, a direct causal link remains elusive. Here, we report that repetitive reversal of light-dark (LD) cycles triggers irregular estrous cycles in mice. The findings showed that the estrous cycle remained irregular for more than four weeks after the mice were returned to regular LD cycles. Importantly, the magnitude of the negative impact of reversed LD cycles on the estrous cycle, or more specifically the decreased number of normal estrous cycles during the observation period, was dependent on the difference in the frequency of LD reversal. Presently, no clear solution to prevent night-work-mediated menstrual abnormalities is available, and reducing night work in modern society is difficult. Our findings indicate that optimizing work schedules could significantly prevent menstrual problems without reducing total night-work time.

A Biopolitics of Immaterial Labor

This article examines Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s and Paolo Virno’s use of Michel Foucault’s notions of ‘biopower’ and ‘biopolitics’ with respect to today’s hegemony of immaterial labor, i.e. work without an end product. In spite of relatively infrequent references to work, Foucault formulates these notions in markedly economic terms: biopower is inextricable from work because, unlike punitive power that represses and disciplines life, it cultivates life by fostering an efficient, productive and active population. Drawing attention to a shift in emphasis in Hardt and Negri’s and Virno’s accounts of work and biopower – from a diagnostic analysis of labor practices to immaterial labor’s latent political possibilities – it is argued in the article that what gets lost in this shift is Foucault’s insistence on questioning the role of work in modern society. Work is not an inherently valuable activity, but, as current contradictions that have emerged with immaterial labor demonstrate, a product of mechanisms which endow it with its present status as the central organizing principle of both social and personal life.

<i>Building Power: Architecture and Surveillance in Victorian America</i> (review)

Reviewed by: Building Power: Architecture and Surveillance in Victorian America Elaine Jackson-Retondo (bio) Anna Vemer Andrzejewski Building Power: Architecture and Surveillance in Victorian America Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2008. 272 pages. 77 illustrations. ISBN 1-57233-631-5, $39.00 HB More than three decades after the English translation of Michel Foucault's Surveiller et Punir; Naissance de la Prison was published in the United States (Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison), the nature of power and the discourse and the role of discipline and surveillance in modern society posited by Foucault continue to frame scholarly discussion and debate in a range of fields. Anna Vemer Andrzejewski's Building Power is one of the latest works in the field of architectural history to engage Foucault's study. Andrzejewski offers a breadth of particularity to the scholarly study of surveillance and discourse. Andrzejewski steps outside the realm of penal institutions to examine how and to what degree surveillance and discourse inform the design and use of space in different building types from the mid-nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries in the United States. While Andrzejewski uses building types to ground her study in specific spaces in the Victorian United States, the crux of her analysis rests on types, or what Andrzejewski terms the "dominant intent" of surveillance. She argues that the dominant intent of surveillance and discourse determines the role surveillance plays in the design and use of space, as well as how surveillance is physically incorporated into a particular building or space, resulting in multifarious manifestations of surveillance. In other words, the dominant intent and discourse, not the building type, are the primary factors that inform specific surveillance techniques. Andrzejewski selects four dominant intents to organize the main chapters of her book—discipline, efficiency, hierarchy, and fellowship. The framework further emphasizes that the primary subject of her study is the varied use and forms of surveillance rather than specific building types in which they were implemented; however the distinctions made between discipline, efficiency, hierarchy, and fellowship are not entirely clear, a shortcoming that undermines the stated goals of her study. In her introduction Andrzejewski suggests that the intents of surveillance that she has identified are inherently different and fall outside the "context of discipline" and Foucault's understanding of surveillance and modern society. The claim to go beyond Foucault's understanding is the basis for one of the primary goals of her study. She states the following: Foucault linked surveillance to modernity through the early-nineteenth-century prison, claiming the visual relationships at work there exemplified those that proliferated subsequently throughout modern institutions and everyday life. Although I agree with Foucault's contention that surveillance is inextricably linked with the rise of modernity, the panoptic and disciplinary manifestations he described illustrate only one aspect of surveillance. Foucault's coupling of surveillance and modernity is reconsidered and refined in the chapters that follow through discussions about how gazes worked through different kinds of modern spaces outside the context of discipline. (6-7) Contrary to these claims, I believe many scholars would agree that Foucault did not argue that the link between surveillance and modernity grew out of, or occurred subsequent to, the birth of the prison; rather, the prison was identified by Foucault, in the words of social theorist David Garland, "as the place where modern techniques of control are revealed in their full unbridled operation," with surveillance being one of these modern techniques.1 The prison, and more specifically the panopticon, was not the source of the surveillance-modernity link; rather, it epitomized the forms of power and control that were at work in modern society. Furthermore, Foucault understood that his study of prisons did not capture all aspects of surveillance or other techniques of control. He said as much in a 1977 inter-view: "A whole history remains to be written of spaces—which would at the same time be the history of powers (both these terms in the plural)—from the great strategies of geopolitics to the little tactics of the habitat, institutional architecture from the classroom to the design of hospitals."2 Nevertheless, these points do not lessen the value of Andrzejewski...

Estado, crise econômica mundial e a centralidade do trabalho

O presente artigo debate a atual crise econômica, procurando abordar os seus reflexos no mundo do trabalho, como também rediscutindo a relação entre estado, sociedade e mercado na tentativa de elucidar modelos jurídico-normativos e formas políticas historicamente aplicadas, discussão esta que passa pela necessária redefinição da fronteira entre o público e o privado, principalmente sob a ótica da nova e criticada atuação estatal de injeção de recursos públicos para salvar indústrias e empresas financeiras em dificuldades, em notável contraponto ao discurso do estado mínimo. Assim, busca apresentar algumas causas e efeitos da flexibilização produtiva, enfocando o debate sobre a centralidade do trabalho na sociedade moderna.

The Function of Social Work

• Summary: The author uses the systems theory of Niklas Luhmann to provide a concise description of the evolution of the forms of social help from the level of interaction (archaic society) to that of organizations (modern society). • Findings: The most important result is that social work can be seen as a social system (function-system) with its own exclusive function that cannot be replaced by any other (function-) system. The reason for this is that every function-system of society occurs as a special kind of communication. Through the identification of an exclusive code of communication the present work demonstrates that professional social work is an essential function-system of society. Social work expands self-referentially, and without internal constraints, by continuously scanning the environment for those already in need as well as for potential new cases of need. • Applications : Modern social workers have to reflect their daily actions. This can be shown with the help of some historical and sociological knowledge of the forms of mutual help. By integrating some of the discoveries that are introduced here into the research and curricula of social work, the present work raises the level of the current debate and provokes a detailed discussion of the future of social work in modern society.

The Concept of Labor: Marx and His Critics

Marx conceives of labor as form-giving activity. This is criticized for presupposing a productivist model of labor which regards work that creates a material product — craft or in- dustrial work — as the paradigm for all work (Habermas, Benton, Arendt). Many traditional kinds of work do not seem to fit this picture, and new immaterial forms of labor (computer work, service work, etc.) have developed in postindustrial society which, it is argued, necessitate a fundamental revision of Marx's ap- proach (Hardt and Negri). Marx's theory, however, must be understood in the context of Hegel's philosophy. In that light, the view that Marx has a productivist model of labor is mistaken. The concept of immaterial labor is unsound, and Marx's ideas continue to provide an illuminating framework for understand- ing work in modern society. In the labour-process . . . man's activity, with the help of the instruments of labour, effects an alteration, designed from the commencement, in the material worked upon. The process disappears in the product, the latter is a use-value, Nature's material adapted by a change of form to the wants of man. Labour has incorporated itself with its subject: the former is materialized, the latter transformed. — Marx, 1961, 180

Société de travailleurs et dérive du politique vers le totalitarisme chez Simone Weil et Hannah Arendt

Does the emergence of economic activity in the public sphere mean that it is possible to make a distinction between the private sphere and the public sphere ? For Hannah Arendt, the answer is no. What totalitarian regimes have homogenised is not the private sphere and the public sphere, but private life and public life. As she explains, the condition for the existence of a true public space, i.e. a political space, is freedom from worrying about the necessities of life, be it work or on a economic level. Simone Weil proposes another approach to the problem. While she agrees with Hannah Arendt on the causes and effects of totalitarianism, for Simone Weil the predominance of economic activity or work in modern society does not necessarily threaten the existence of a genuine political-public space. For both authors, the public sphere (political) and the private sphere (economic) must be rigorously defined, but while Arendtian metaphysics favour the public sphere, Weilian determinism enables us to reflect more on the private sphere. Thus, in spite of totally divergent metaphysical standpoints, both of them not only oppose Marx, but also another phenomenon -the socialisation of economic activity.

Professional insecurities: A guide to understanding and career management

Professional insecurities include the expectation that one’s job or career, and all that depends upon it, are at risk through denial of tenure, dismissal from an official position, or other sanctions for non-compliance with established practices. The expanding subdivision of work in modern society exacerbates professional insecurities by precipitating conflicts of conscience and by proliferating practices that are often ambiguous and incompatible, but nevertheless must be taken seriously because they are expected to be enforced with severe sanctions. This article suggests how the problem of professional insecurities might be understood and managed by aspiring policy scientists especially, and by others as well. There are no universal or final solutions to the problem, but there are better working solutions for particular persons and situations if we are intelligent enough to find them through applications of central theory.

Beyond `Gulags Western Style'?

Nils Christie in Crime Control as Industry has suggested that our spiralling prison populations, particularly in the United States, represent a move `towards gulags western style'. In much the same way that Zygmunt Bauman sees modernity itself as creating the possibility for the Holocaust, so for Christie the current `gulagization' of the West is not an aberration of modern society but is something that occurs naturally within it. While sympathetic to Christie, this article seeks to extend some of the themes of his book. In particular, it suggests that we may already be moving into an area of penal control that takes us `beyond the gulag'. The gulag itself may no longer be a sufficient modality of punishment to absorb the punitive sentiments now at work in modern societies. What we thus find is the supplementation of modern penal sanctions by new forms of legal and extra legal punishments that privilege community involvement and interests over those of bureaucratic rationalism, leading to an uncertain and fragmented penal terrain. While, for Christie, there is the hope that at some point the basic good sense of ordinary people will prevail and counter the trends that the forces of modernity have made possible, it is argued that there is no essentialized goodness to human values and public sentiment: unleashing them may only add to the spiral of penal control.

Mariners, Renegades, and Castaways: C.L.R. James and the Radical Postcolonial Imagination

What is the nature and role of intellectual work in modern society? How is the role of the intellectual to be defined and discussed? What is the relation ship of the intellectual to popular culture, popular life, and the wish fulfill ment of the masses? These are critical questions that the postcolonial intel lectual, C.L.R. James, addressed in his theoretical writings. This article offers an assessment of James, focusing sharply on his discussion of the intellectual activism and the way in which the intellectual is represented in his work. The author attempts to draw out the insights of James in detail, pointing to their internal tensions and contradictions but also to their value and relevance to issues of intellectual work on the terrain of the contempo rary public sphere, where the discourse on intellectual activism has all but atrophied in recent years.