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Mutual Aid (mutual + aid)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	60%
Psychology	40%

Selected Abstracts

Geographical Variations in the Nature of Undeclared Work

GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2004
Colin C. Williams
Abstract Inspired by a stream of cultural economic geographical thought that has sought to deconstruct the view that monetary transactions are everywhere market-like and profit-motivated, this paper seeks to reread the nature of undeclared work. Conventionally, such work has been seen as epitomising unbridled profit-motivated market-like monetised exchange, and depictions of the geographical variations in its character have distinguished only between various types of profit-motivated informal employment in different area types. Drawing upon detailed empirical evidence from eleven deprived and affluent localities in urban and rural England, however, it is here displayed that universally portraying undeclared work as a form of profit-motivated informal employment over-simplifies and obscures its spatially variable nature and heterogeneous meanings. Although undeclared work in affluent locality types and urban areas is more likely to be market-like and conducted for profit-motivated purposes, undeclared work in deprived locality types and rural areas is revealed to be much more a form of mutual aid conducted for kin, neighbours and friends and embedded in non-market motives. The outcome is not only a refiguring of the geographical variations in the nature of undeclared work but also clear evidence of the need to investigate other mainstream economic spaces so as to explore further the heterogeneous and spatially variable nature of monetised transactions. [source]

Transformational change: A historical review

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2004
William L. White
Recovery from alcoholism can occur through a process of psychological death and rebirth. Generating a new person within a body once occupied by another, transformational change (TC) stands as a life-defining experience demarcating before (old self) and after (new self). The TC experiences of 7 individuals (Handsome Lake, John Gough, Francis Murphy, Jerry McAuley, Bill Wilson, Marty Mann, and Malcolm X) are presented here. Their recoveries from addiction catalyzed larger abstinence-based mutual aid, advocacy, or religious/cultural revitalization movements. Psychotherapists are encouraged to respect the healing power of the TC experience, avoid aborting the TC experience via superficial amelioration of its more disquieting manifestations, interpret the TC experience in ways that solidify and sustain the change process, and help bridge the TC experience and the construction of a new identity and lifestyle. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol/In Session. [source]

Exploring social capital in rural settlements of an islander region in Greece

JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
Anastasia Zissi
Abstract This paper reports on a large scale cross-sectional study examining subjective perceptions of community social life held by a randomly selected sample of residents (n,=,428) in all small rural settings (n,=,89) of the region of North Aegean Sea. The notion of social capital was used as a conceptual tool in order to explore different aspects of the relational life of contemporary rural communities. This study has two aims: First to provide an account of rural residents' perceptions of village life in terms of interpersonal support, mutual aid, trust, social cohesion and community competence, and second to examine the suitability of the social capital notion within the specific cultural context. A combination of data collection procedures and a range of sources were employed, such as key informants, rural residents and researchers' field observations. The findings indicate that small farming communities of high devotion with deep roots and strong sense of belonging face severe demographic imbalance and experience low civic power given the limited links with external agents. The mainstream notion of social capital as an unconditionally beneficial factor is thus questioned. The findings call for revisiting its relevance across communities with varying capacities and needs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

African Independent Churches in Mozambique: Healing the Afflictions of Inequality

MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2002
James Pfeiffer
The recent explosive proliferation of African Independent Churches (AICs) in central Mozambique coincided with rapid growth of economic disparity in the 1990s produced by privatization, cuts in government services, and arrival of foreign aid promoted by Mozambique's World Bank/International Monetary Fund Structural Adjustment Program. Drawing on ethnographic research in the city of Chimoio, this article argues that growing inequality has led to declining social cohesion, heightened individual competition, fear of interpersonal violence, and intensified conflict between spouses in poor families. This perilous social environment finds expression in heightened fears of witchcraft, sorcery, and avenging spirits, which are often blamed in Shona ideology for reproductive health problems. Many women with sick children or suffering from infertility turn to AICs for treatment because traditional healers are increasingly viewed as dangerous and too expensive. The AICs invoke the "Holy Spirit" to exorcise malevolent agents and then provide a community of mutual aid and ongoing protection against spirit threats. [Mozambique, social inequality, African Independent Churches, intrahousehold, health] [source]

Hispanic Farmers and Farmworkers: Social Networks, Institutional Exclusion, and Climate Vulnerability in Southeastern Arizona

AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 3 2009
Marcela Vásquez-León
ABSTRACT In the U.S. Southwest, prolonged drought may force those most dependent on water to abandon their livelihoods. By focusing on Hispanic farmers and farmworkers, in this article I examine how ethnicity and other factors compound risk and create highly vulnerable groups. I use the concept of "social capital" to understand how the critically vulnerable access resources embedded in informal social networks of mutual aid to reduce their vulnerability. By contrasting their situation to that of Anglo farmers, I explore how social networks emerge as a result of diverse socioeconomic and ethnic contexts. Under a more permanent scenario of increased aridity, a better understanding of the risk management mechanisms deployed by vulnerable groups sheds light on how collective approaches build resilience and on the role of policy in promoting or inhibiting these approaches. I seek to contribute to discussions about the importance of sociocultural dynamics and policy decisions to improving society's adaptive capacity. [source]