Showing papers in "Clinical Sociology Review in 1997"

On Reconstructing Trust: Time, Intention, and Forgiveness

Abstract: The central focus of this paper is the mechanisms that ordinary people use in their everyday lives to manage relations that have included trust violations. Trust violations provide the impetus for strong emotional experiences. Many relationships recuperate from significant violations of trust, although in a changed form. Our data, gathered from ten in-depth interviews, indicated that on those occasions where individuals deemed the relationship worth salvaging, our respondents and their violators participated in a negotiation process that included the following components: the passing of time, an assessment of the seriousness of the violation and the intent of the other, the offering of an apology, and the rendering of forgiveness. Trust is an orientation to self, other, and relationship whose existence provides the framework for the possibility of intense emotional experiences such as love and hate. These experiences provide a motivating force and goal for the construction, maintenance, and destruction of interpersonal relationships which comprise the fabric of society. INTRODUCTION Trust is an orientation toward self, other, and relationship whose existence provides the framework for the experience of strong emotions such as love and hate. As in Kemper's (1978, 1987) social relational theory of emotion, we suggest mat specific structural dimensions of relationships can provide the

Clinical Sociology and the Individual Client

Abstract: Clinical sociology has a large, albeit under-appreciated, role to play in helping individual clients. The types of problems addressed by helping professionals can be classified in four major areas, namely physiological problems, moral problems, problems in living, and role problems. These are respectively best dealt with by medical, social control, problemsolving, and resocialization solutions. Clinical sociology can contribute to each of these owing to its expertise in social support, socialization, resocialization, emotional competence, and moral competence. As we approach the new millennium, it is remarkable mat the potential which sociology possesses for aiding individual clients who are troubled by personal problems has yet to be fully realized (Straus 1985). While psychology, medicine, and social work are solidly established, clinical sociology languishes in a backwater peopled chiefly by the sociological cognoscenti. The public has learned about the benefits of family therapy, art therapy, and even dance therapy, but the utility of a sociological perspective in addressing personal distress remains largely undiscovered. Given that much individual adversity can only be understood, or overcome, by recognizing its social dimensions, mis is an astonishing failure. In fact, clinical sociology speaks to a panoply of problem areas with a full quiver of unique interventions (Rebach and Bruhn 1991). For several decades now it has been expanding its domain of application, including areas ordinarily considered non-social. In this paper I will essay to outline the full

The Organization as a Person: Analogues for Intervention

Abstract: Attempting to understand an organization as though it were a person can offer insights into how organizations grow, develop, prosper, falter, and regenerate or decline Several analogues are offered to be used as an addition to a consultant's approach in determining what is right and wrong with an organization in planning an appropriate intervention, if needed The author suggests that a clinical sociologist has a role in promoting the health of organizations and in preventing problems, as well as in intervening to solve problems Every organization, large or small, complex or simple, is "person-like"; it has a life history, life cycle, and personality It experiences life events and crises, adapts to change and to stress, interacts and may merge with other organizations, and experiences various degrees of health throughout its life Although an organization is a collection of individuals, each of whom possesses unique characteristics, it is more than a blending together of the personal attributes of its members Each organization has developed its own vision, mission, and structure, which gives it a unique personality An established organization tends to recruit and retain members who "fit in" with its vision, mission, and structure In healthy, productive organizations, the organization's leaders and its members reinforce each other's beliefs and behavior in their mutual pursuit of the organization's goals and objectives Members help maintain an organization's unique culture and quality of life

Hearts on Fire: An Exploration of the Emotional World of Firefighters

Abstract: Firefighting ranks among the nation's most hazardous and stressful occupations. As emergency rescue workers, firefighters are often called on to intervene and mitigate tragic and traumatic emergencies. In an effort to assist these emergency workers, several stress intervention models are currently employed in the contemporary fire service. However, most work from an individual perspective rather man employing sociological systems perspectives. This essay introduces insights into the emotional world of firefighters, the types of incidents that elicit the most intense emotions in them, and how they cope with and manage these emotions through the utilization of personal, experiential, social, and work support systems. Further, this article discusses how the sociologist might better prepare himself/herself to effectively enter mis work culture, design and implement interventions, and what those interventions should emphasize. Introduction "Firefighting tanks among the most stressful occupations in the American workplace" (Gist and Woodall 1995:763). However, the quality of information surrounding the matter is open to expansion in order to make positive and lasting intervention more probable. We are all constantly attempting to make sense of our world. Firefighters are no exception. The unique feature of the firefighters' emotional world is that their attempts to make sense of the world at large and their work world are in many ways

The Social Reconstruction of Emotions: Insights from Members of a 12-Step Community

Abstract: Common among many approaches to the study of emotions that are emerging across disciplines is the fundamental proposition that emotions \"are emergent properties of social relations and sociocultural processes\" (McCarthy 1994: 269). Consistent with Berger's (1977) assessment of ideas, emotions–their meanings and associated behavioral counterparts–are believed to succeed in history by virtue of their relationship to specific social processes. Hence, as Steams and Steams (1994) observed, emotions have histories that are a part of every individual's socializing environment Emotions, then, are social things that are learned and can be relearned (McCarthy 1989). As in Power (1984), this paper positions the emotions as a critical component of the socialization process. It then endeavors to establish the equally critical role of emotions in the process of resocialization–the intentional effort to transform one's subjective reality (Berger and Luckmann 1966)–as experienced among members of a 12-Step group for Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOAs). Following McCarthy's (1994) lead, this analysis proceeds from a social constructionist standpoint as informed by culture theory. As such, it is believed mat \"emotions are best grasped as objects of investigation within the domain of cultural forms and meanings\" (McCarthy 1994: 268). The context of this analysis is the contrasting cultural domains of a family with parental alcoholism and an ACOA community. The goal is two-fold: first, to better understand how culture matters in the way emotions are \"differentiated, socialized, and managed socially\" (McCarthy 1994: 269); and secondly, to investigate the relationship between an individual's emotional experience, subjective reality, and overarching experience of self.

Disseminating the Administrative Version and Explaining the Administrative and Statistical Versions of the Federal Poverty Measure

Abstract: This article describes how the author, a federal employee, disseminates and explains the poverty guidelines (the administrative version of the federal poverty measure, used in determining eligibility for certain programs) and other povertyrelated information, responding to 1312 public inquiries in 1996. The article reviews federal programs and some non-federal activities using the poverty guidelines; the principal categories of people who make poverty inquiries; and some of the questions most commonly asked. One common question is "How was the poverty line developed?" The author has prepared a detailed account of the development and history of the poverty thresholds (the original version of the poverty measure), as well as a history of unofficial poverty lines in the U.S. between 1904 and 1965; these papers are disseminated in response to public inquiries on those subjects. The article discusses several findings about the development of poverty lines in the U.S. as a social process. * An earlier version of this article was presented at the annual meeting of the Sociological Practice Association in Arlington, Virginia, in June, 1996. I an indebted to Jan Fritz for encouraging me to prepare and present that version. I am indebted to two anonymous reviewers for suggesting further topics to address in the published version of the article. The views expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not represent the position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Sociological Variables Affecting Clinical Issues: A Comparison of Graduate Distance Education Sites

Abstract: This study examined the differences between students residing in urban and rural areas while enrolled in a graduate practice methods course taught via two-way interactive television. A questionnaire was administered to sixty-six students which assessed sociodemographic characteristics, current practice topics, practice approaches, and diversity issues. Rural offcampus students were found to reside in significantly smaller communities than the urban-based university campus students, and viewed several clinical issues as having more relevance to their future practice. Further, on-campus students were significantly younger than their rural counterparts, were more ethnically diverse, and placed more emphasis on the relevance of course material to address ethnicity, physical disability, and religiosity. Qualitative findings revealed mat the university site was the most supportive of privatization. The applicability of urbanized course content across rural sites was discussed, and implications for clinical sociology were provided. Sociology and social work have historically shared compatible goals and philosophies. Academic institutions of higher learning often facilitate this shared vision, as these disciplines may be grouped together in departmental Address correspondence and reprint requests to Billy P. Blodgett, Ph.D., Department of Sociology and Social Work, 134 Gries Hall, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Michigan 49885. Telephone: 906/227-2197, FAX 9067227-1212. E-mail: bblodget@nmn.edu. An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the Sociological Practice Association, Annual Meeting, Rosslyn-Virginia, 6/6/96.

Intervention in the Classroom: A Cautionary Tale

Abstract: "A careful analysis of the teacher-student relationship at any level, inside or outside the school, reveals its fundamentally narrative character... The teacher talks about reality as if it were motionless, static, compartmentalized, and predictable. . . The outstanding characteristic of the narrative education, then, is the sonority of words, not their transforming power" (Freire 1984: 57). Guided by a commitment to the accuracy of Freire's appraisal of the student-teacher relationship, I decided to practice a "liberating pedagogy" in my classroom. My report on this action shows that students are often less than receptive to such pedagogical strategies. Their lack of receptivity is explored, leading to the humbling fact that intervention in the classroom is a fragile process. There is a rich history of pedagogues attempting to create "appreciation" for the "other " in their classrooms. Some report what I have labeled "small interventions." For example, Karlene Faith when teaching a class on "American Criminal Justice and Minority Groups" states that her students, criminal justice system workers, were "generally open to the subject" and in the end "most of us involved came through the experience with heightened sensitivity" (1977:64-67). Similarly, Ray Michalowski (1977) when reporting his practicing of "a gentle pedagogy" with criminology students from a conservative Southern milieu found its effects to be mixed: some students remained committed to a "strict individualistic ideology," some adapted a

Humanizing Sociological Thought and Practice

Abstract: This paper introduces a practical application of sociology. It attempts to do so as a modest effort in perceiving varied images of the human and of society. It makes available, as interventions for the treatment of individual crises and for empirical verification, a set of presuppositions about the features and consequences of human social nature. The preponderance of social scientific theories and practices found in the literature have a commonality germane to the definition and resolution of social problems horizontal change. An optional theory and corresponding set of practices espousing vertical change focus less on the maintenance and content of the social self or ego, and more on the process and outcomes of identification with it The latter emphasis is a version of clinical humanism not found in the rhetoric constituting sociological practice. Introduction The domain of sociology called "clinical sociology" includes a circumscribed set of features that distinguish it from other sub-fields of sociology (Bruhn and Rebach 1996; Kallen 1995; Eve 1994; Glass 1991; Fein 1990; Berg and Smith 1985; Cocozzelli 1987; Fritz 1985; Freedman 1984; Strauss 1984; Swan 1984). Jonathan A. Freedman, in a recollection of Saul *An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, NY, NY, August 16-20, 1996. Direct correspondence to: Lynn Mulkey, Assoc. Prof. of Sociology, University of South Carolina, Beaufort, 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, SC 29902; (803) 521-4166; (803) 785-3354 (home/fax); E-mail: MULKEY-LM@SC.EDU.