Social Risks (social + risk)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Kinds of Social Risks

  • new social risk


  • Selected Abstracts


    Social Risks and Child Development in South Africa: A Nation's Program to Protect the Human Rights of Children

    AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 3 2003
    Oscar A. Barbarin PhD
    Poverty, violence, social inequality, rapid urbanization, the HIV epidemic, and an erosion of traditional values create a challenging environment for development in South Africa. The nation has responded with a range of efforts to promote child welfare, often through efforts to strengthen family functioning. The nation's struggles, failures, and successes at safeguarding the developmental rights of children and providing for their needs offer lessons to others about what can and must be done if they are to live up the obligations assumed as signatories to the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child. [source]


    A Global Review of New Social Risks and Responses for Children and their Families

    ASIAN SOCIAL WORK AND POLICY REVIEW, Issue 1 2009
    Shirley Gatenio Gabel
    Given global demographic and social trends, the need for new policy and program responses is essential. This article identifies and describes new and traditional social risks affecting children and their families in both industrialized and developing countries by region. Traditional risks continue in the developing as well as the industrialized countries but the extent and scale are very different and the problems are far more severe in developing countries. In addition, new risks are now evident and new policy responses are emerging. Attention to the new risks is increasing, with growing investment in services and policies facilitating the reconciliation of work and family life and non-traditional families. The citizens of many developing countries experience new risks as well, but their capacity to confront and address these risks is also more limited. [source]


    A cross-national examination of consumer perceived risk in the context of non-deceptive counterfeit brands

    JOURNAL OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR, Issue 1 2008
    Dr. Cleopatra Veloutsou
    This study investigates the relationships between six identified dimensions of perceived risk and the overall risk, and also their explanatory power to the overall risk when purchasing counterfeit brands in two different contexts. Using a self-administered instrument, a total of 525 responses were collected, 230 from the UK and 295 from China. The results support the hypothesised significant interrelationship between the dimensions of perceived risk in both contexts. However there are some differences. The models have a different exploratory power, with the one based on the British sample being stronger, while a somewhat different combination of the risk dimensions seems to predict the overall risk in each context. The psychological risk is the only dimension of risk that with no doubt contributes to the formation of the overall risk in both contexts. Although one could argue that when purchasing counterfeits social risk could be an issue, the evidence reported in this study does not support the view. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Developing a successful sector sustainability strategy: six lessons from the UK construction products industry

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2008
    Ian Holton
    Abstract Sector sustainability strategies can provide frameworks to help business sectors identify and manage economic, environmental and social risks in an integrated way, and unlock opportunities to improve competitiveness and enhance reputation. They can also help trade associations to become more effective champions for their members; however, little research has been undertaken on their development. Current best practice guidance simply provides frameworks for managing the strategy development process. To add to this guidance, the context, purpose, process and content of three strategies from the UK construction products industry have been investigated. Strategy context and content were found to be unique; it is therefore not considered feasible to develop a generic sector sustainability strategy. However, six lessons have been identified with respect to strategy purpose and process, which may improve the chances of success of a sector sustainability strategy. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ON THE INDIGENOUS ESTATE: A PROFIT-RELATED INVESTMENT PROPOSAL

    ECONOMIC PAPERS: A JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECONOMICS AND POLICY, Issue 3 2005
    Jon Altman
    This article assesses the state of commercial development and resource management on Indigenous land in remote Australia. Indigenous landowners control significant assets,over one million square kilometres of land,often with substantial resource rights and income earning potential. The inactivity and missed opportunities on the Indigenous estate are of such magnitude as to represent a major risk both for Indigenous landowning communities, in terms of their future economic and social well-being, and for national and international interests in terms of ecological vulnerability. The article explores the role of government as risk manager in such circumstances and outlines the principles that might underpin any intervention program targeted to the commercial development of Indigenous land. Using the analytical framework for profit-related loans and elements of an existing venture capital support programme, the Innovation Investment Fund Program, we outline the hypothetical skeleton of a new investment scheme to assist development and natural resource management on the Indigenous estate. Our proposal can be conceptualised as a profit-related loan scheme or as a form of capped public investment. It seeks to address key elements of the market failure that exists in relation to financing development on remote Indigenous land, provides incentives for greater private sector investment, and ensures that commercial and social risks are shared equitably between government, private sector investors and Indigenous-owned corporations to avoid problems of adverse selection and moral hazard. [source]


    Evaluation of the participant-support method for information acquisition in the "Multiplex Risk Communicator"

    ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATIONS IN JAPAN, Issue 9 2009
    Tomohiro Watanabe
    Abstract In this paper, we propose a smooth risk communication support method for the Multiplex Risk Communicator. There has been a diversification of the social risks to the information-based society, leading to complex social issues, and risk communication is necessary in order to solve the complicated social problems that arise concerning stakeholders with various levels of knowledge and differing standards regarding risks. We introduce a portal system that assists participants to achieve an optimal combination of countermeasures. The characteristics of the proposed method are: first, to classify the stage when participants acquire information; second, to enable smooth transitions during the information acquisition stage; and third, to support information acquisition by offering information portals. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn, 92(9): 24,35, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecj.10092 [source]


    Social Changes and Welfare Reform in South Korea: In the Context of the Late-coming Welfare State

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF JAPANESE SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2009
    Sung-won Kim
    Abstract The Korean welfare state is facing diverse pressures and challenges due to changing economic, social, and demographic circumstances: prevalence of the service economy, labor market flexibility, weakened family function and increase of untraditional families, lowest fertility rate and the most rapid ageing of the population among OECD countries, and so forth. These challenges, which indicate new types of social risks, have been stimulating a series of discussions on welfare reform in Korea. The old social risks such as retirement, ill health, poverty, and unemployment have not disappeared because of insecure or inadequate welfare, and now these risks are even intertwined with the so-called new social risks. Thereby the Korean welfare state is facing complicated reform tasks. This study attempts to analyze the structure and context of these challenges in Korea, and to explore the various driving forces that have formulated Korean welfare reform in recent decades. Through the above analyses, this study will shed light the characteristics of welfare reform in Korea as a late-coming welfare state. [source]


    New avenues to be opened for social protection in the Arab world: the case of Egypt,

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 1 2004
    Markus Loewe
    This article looks at social protection in the Arab world. Giving the example of Egypt, it asks why poverty is so widespread and why , despite the country's numerous social protection systems , social risks are a major contributing factor to it. It concludes that reforms are due. The existing systems are well funded but inefficient and more to the benefit of the better-off than the poor. A reform approach is proposed which builds on both conventional and more innovative strategies: campaigns should be launched to raise public awareness of social risks; social assistance spending should be increased; and the operating public pension schemes should be reformed. At the same time, new avenues have to be opened to meet the specific needs of informal sector workers who have extreme difficulty in being covered by social insurance or social assistance. To this purpose, micro-insurance is a promising approach for the Arab-world region. [source]


    New social risks in postindustrial society: Some evidence on responses to active labour market policies from Eurobarometer

    INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY REVIEW, Issue 3 2004
    Peter Taylor-Gooby
    One result of the complex economic and social changes currently impacting on state welfare is the emergence of what may be termed "new social risks" as part of the shift to a postindustrial society. These concern access to adequately paid employment, particularly for lower-skilled young people, in an increasingly flexible labour market, and managing work-life balance for women with family responsibilities engaged in full-time careers. They coexist with the old social risks that traditional welfare states developed to meet, which typically concern retirement from or interruption to paid work, in most cases for a male "breadwinner". New social risks offer policymakers the opportunity to transform vice into virtue by replacing costly passive benefits with policies which mobilize the workforce, arguably enhancing economic competitiveness, and reduce poverty among vulnerable groups. However, the political constituencies to support such policies are weak, since the risks affect people most strongly at particular life stages and among specific groups. This paper examines attitudes to new social risk labour market policies in four contrasting European countries. It shows that attitudes in this area are strongly embedded in overall beliefs about the appropriate scale, direction and role of state welfare interventions, so that the weakness of new social risk constituencies does not necessarily undermine the possibility of attracting support for such policies, provided they are developed in ways that do not contradict national traditions of welfare state values. [source]


    Including Adults With Intellectual Disabilities in Research: Scientists' Perceptions of Risks and Protections

    JOURNAL OF POLICY AND PRACTICE IN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES, Issue 4 2009
    Katherine E. McDonald
    Abstract Social and cognitive characteristics of adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) place them at risk for inappropriate inclusion in or exclusion from research participation. As we grapple with how to include adults with ID in research in order to secure their right to contribute to scientific advancements and be positioned to derive benefit from ensuing knowledge, it is critical to consider scientific gatekeepers' perspectives on risks of and protections for including adults with ID in research. We surveyed 199 Institutional Review Board members and intellectual disability researchers in the United States to identify their perceptions of specific risks and necessary protections in (hypothetical) research studies. The research studies varied as to whether they included adults with ID in the research sample and the level of harm to which research participants were exposed. Results suggest that identification of psychological, social, and legal risks and necessary protections varied by the disability status of the sample, the level of risk, and the role of the person reviewing the study. For example, participants identified more psychological, information control, legal, and social risks in higher harm research studies. Participants reported a need for more protections in high-harm studies as well as studies that included adults with ID. In some instances the nature of identified risks and protections and respondents' characterization of these risks and necessary protections suggested concerns related specifically to adults with ID. Implications for practice, policy, and future research related to access to research participation are discussed. [source]


    Initiating Sexual Experiences: How Do Young Adolescents Make Decisions Regarding Early Sexual Activity?

    JOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, Issue 4 2005
    Tricia M. Michels
    Understanding how young adolescents make decisions to engage in early sexual activities is vital for intervention efforts aimed at fostering positive youth development and reducing the negative outcomes of adolescent sexual behavior. In-depth interviews with 42 suburban, mostly White, ninth-grade adolescents (52% females, mean age=14.1, SD=.45) elicited accounts of their early sexual decisions. We adapted grounded theory methodology to build a model of sexual decision making from the adolescents' narratives. Six dominant categories emerged: contextual factors (relationship and personal characteristics), consideration of risks and benefits, boundary setting, boundary communication, the sexual experience, and evaluation. Our model of early sexual decision-making processes, developed from the perspectives of young adolescents, highlights active consideration of health and social risks and benefits, as well as the generation of options regarding sexual activity. The model also shows that young adolescents set clear boundaries of sexual limits and evaluate sexual experiences, suggesting a dynamic process of decision making. [source]


    Legal Weapons for the Weak?

    LAW & SOCIAL INQUIRY, Issue 4 2001
    Democratizing the Force of Words in an Uncivil Society
    First Amendment absolutists and proponents of speech regulation are locked in a normative stalemate over the best way to diminish racial "hate speech." I argue that this stalemate can be overcome by considering a more expansive theory of the "force of words" and the risks the right of free speech entails for individuals. Drawing on a cultural theory of symbolic power, I discuss the merits and limitations of two recent texts which redefine hate speech as discriminatory conduct. As an alternative to this strategy, I develop an analytical framework for describing the social risks the right of free speech entails, and propose juridical and deliberative-democratic remedies that might redistribute and attenuate these risks. Cultural and legal theory can find common ground in the analysis of the undemocratic effects of symbolic power. Such common ground can be achieved if legal theorists consider the force of words as a problem for democracy and if cultural theorists consider the resources provided by democratic institutions and practices for the redistribution of the social risks of speech [source]


    A Global Review of New Social Risks and Responses for Children and their Families

    ASIAN SOCIAL WORK AND POLICY REVIEW, Issue 1 2009
    Shirley Gatenio Gabel
    Given global demographic and social trends, the need for new policy and program responses is essential. This article identifies and describes new and traditional social risks affecting children and their families in both industrialized and developing countries by region. Traditional risks continue in the developing as well as the industrialized countries but the extent and scale are very different and the problems are far more severe in developing countries. In addition, new risks are now evident and new policy responses are emerging. Attention to the new risks is increasing, with growing investment in services and policies facilitating the reconciliation of work and family life and non-traditional families. The citizens of many developing countries experience new risks as well, but their capacity to confront and address these risks is also more limited. [source]


    Birth outcomes for teenage women in New South Wales, 1998,2003

    AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 4 2006
    Stephen ROBSON
    Abstract Background:, Pregnancy and childbirth in teenage women are associated with obstetric and social risks, and there is evidence that the birth rate among teenagers in rural and remote areas of Australia is not in decline. The combination of non-urban residence and young age at delivery might define a subgroup of women at special risk of adverse birth outcomes. Aims:, To compare birth outcomes of New South Wales (NSW) teenagers residing in rural and remote areas with those living in larger centres with greater access to services. Methods:, Outcomes for all singleton deliveries to teenage women living in NSW during the period 1998,2003 were reviewed. The women's place of residence was assigned an ARIA (Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia) classification according to remoteness and access to services. Analysis included obstetric factors (such as parity), and smoking status. Logistic regression analysis was undertaken to examine the impact of maternal factors on obstetric outcomes. Results:, During the study period, 21 880 teenage women had singleton deliveries. Babies of teenage mothers in very remote areas had higher rates of preterm birth, small-for-gestational age and stillbirth. Rates of smoking were higher in more remote areas, and smoking correlated with preterm birth and stillbirth. Conclusions:, Teenagers living in remote areas of NSW face a higher risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes than their urban cousins. [source]