The third way: the renewal of social democracy

The article reviews the book "Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other," by Sherry Turkle.

Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.

The main ethnic minorities in Britain arise from postcolonial migrations from the West Indies and the Indian subcontinent. South Asians adopted survival strategies based on the family, religion, and ethnic community, whereas Afro-Caribbeans initially adopted more outgoing and integrative strategies. Both groups have been subject to similar levels of racial discrimination in the fields of employment and housing. The rate of imprisonment of black people is currently seven times that of whites or South Asians. The theory that this disparity is mostly caused by cumulative bias at the various stages of law enforcement and criminal process is implausible in the light of the fragmentary evidence available. There is evidence that law enforcement targets black people, that certain stages of criminal process are biased against them, and that apparently neutral criteria used by the criminal justice system work to their disadvantage; but these effects are small compared with the disparity in rates of imprisonment. Despite conflicting evidence from a major self-report study, it is likely that the actual offending rate is substantially higher among black people than among other groups.

Ethnic Origins, Crime, and Criminal Justice in England and Wales in Ethnicity, Crime and Immigration: Comparative and Cross-National Perspectives: Crime and Justice: A Review of Research

Research shows that being a target of organizational incivility is associated with negative outcomes, including declines in job satisfaction, physical health, and psychological well-being. Two studies (90 property management company employees; 210 undergraduate students) were conducted to examine whether 2 types of social support—emotional and organizational—act as buffers of the relationship between incivility and outcomes in workplace and academic contexts. Two types of incivility were also examined: general workplace incivility and gendered incivility. Consistent with the hypotheses, the results of both studies indicated that employees and students who experienced higher levels of incivility reported better outcomes when they felt organizationally and emotionally supported. Implications for organizations are discussed.

Experiencing Incivility in Organizations: The Buffering Effects of Emotional and Organizational Support

Health and social services

Levels of mental illness amongst prisoners are high, but little is known about the situation of those serving community sentences. More information is needed at a time when the UK Department of Health is seeking to improve mental health service access for all offenders. To estimate the prevalence of both current and lifetime mental illness, an epidemiological survey was conducted on individuals under probation supervision in Lincolnshire, England. Assessment included the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Inventory and other measures of mental health. We estimate that around 39% of individuals in this probation population are suffering from current mental illnesses, anxiety disorders being the most common. Furthermore, around 60% have substance abuse problems and around 48% have personality disorders. Lifetime mental illness, co-morbidity and dual diagnosis were also found to be high. In common with other groups of offenders, the prevalence of mental health problems in those serving community sentences i...

Probation and mental illness

Violence against doctors provides an illuminating context for studying medicalisation and its limits in the management of deviance. The paper examines the emergence of such violence as a policy issue in England, with particular reference to general practitioners (GPs) in the National Health Service. Recent guidance exhorts doctors to exercise 'zero tolerance' with respect to acts of violence. The emphasis is on risk management and protecting victims rather than on resolving the perpetrators' problems. The paper argues that this policy frame is consistent with recent claims from criminologists that there is a new 'turn' in penal policy, away from rehabilitation and addressing the needs of individual offenders. However, responses of individual GPs, obtained through a postal questionnaire sent to c.1000 GPs and in-depth interviews with a sub-sample, suggest that doctors are not 'zero tolerant' in responding to attacks. But nor are they medical imperialists seeking to include all perpetrators within their professional jurisdiction. Rather, they exercise professional discretion about behaviours which often fall into a 'grey area' between 'illness' and 'crime', and about individuals who are not clearly categorisable as either 'sick' or 'bad'.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1467-9566.00309

Violence against doctors: a medical(ised) problem? The case of National Health Service general practitioners

Social Work in a Multi-Racial Society

. Little attention has been paid by those seeking to understand nationalism to Weber's writing on class, status and party. These concepts can be used to analyse the groups which carry the nationalist idea outside the narrow circle of intellectuals and we use the example of Welsh nationalism to illustrate how this can be done. In our example the group in question is a status group which has a basis in class. The character of Welsh nationalism reflects the character of this status group – the ‘Welsh class’– and the changes (for instance in public policy and in the law) produced by nationalist agitation have been of most benefit to members of this status group. In terms of Weberian theory this nationalist activity can be understood as the activity of a status group which is monopolising resources through social closure.

Class, Status and Party in the Analysis of Nationalism: Lessons from Max Weber

National guidance in England exhorts Clinical Commissioning Groups [groups of general practices established to organise delivery of National Health Service (NHS) care in their local area (CCGs)] to commission healthcare for those living in the community who are serving non-custodial sentences called 'community orders'. This includes 'approved premises' - accommodation providing enhanced supervision for offenders and individuals on bail who may present a high risk of harm to the public. In this national survey of CCGs in England, we compared the extent to which healthcare services were commissioned for probationers in 2014 with similar data we collected in 2013. A freedom of information (FOI) request was sent to all CCGs (n = 212) and Mental Health Trusts (organisations commissioned to provide health and social care services to individuals with mental health disorders) (n = 53) in England. Mental Health Trusts were included as they were known to fund mental health services for probation as part of their block funding allocations. A small number of basic questions were asked. The response rate was good with 65% of CCGs (n = 137) and 68% (n = 36) of Mental Health Trusts responding. The findings show that the proportion of CCGs commissioning healthcare for probation reduced from 7% to 1%, with 20% of CCGs stating that funding healthcare for this group was the responsibility of the NHS England Area Teams. There was also a reduction in the proportion of Mental Health Trusts funding healthcare for probation but from a much higher baseline, that is from 70% to 61%. The prevalence of mental health disorders in probation is high, so it was of concern that only 12% of Mental Health Trusts provided a service to support approved premises and just 32% provided clinics in probation. The results are discussed within the context of the NHS reforms and the government's plans in England to reform probation.

David Denney

Papers

Probation and mental illness

Violence against doctors: a medical(ised) problem? The case of National Health Service general practitioners

Social Work in a Multi-Racial Society

Class, Status and Party in the Analysis of Nationalism: Lessons from Max Weber

NHS commissioning in probation in England - on a wing and a prayer.