Through a dynamic analysis of the interplay between structure and agency, this article explores the factors shaping an inclusive approach to labour market activation for clients who experience multiple barriers to work. While previous studies argue that ‘street-level bureaucrats’ (SLBs), such as advisers and job coaches, have minimal agency to shape the services they deliver, the pilot programme that is the focus of this article allowed SLBs greater discretion to support clients and to use their entrepreneurial skills to build relationships with local employers. However, the unresolved tension between personalisation and swift labour market insertion meant that SLBs often reverted to engrained employability interventions that simply prepare clients to compete for low-wage entry-level jobs. We argue that the ‘policy closure’ around a work-first model of activation in the UK constrains social innovation among SLBs, and limits the freedoms of citizens to navigate their own transitions into paid work.
This article explores how attitudes towards different types of sexual relationships have changed over time. Data from the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (1990, 2000 and 2010) are used to investigate whether people living in Britain have become more (or less) tolerant of one night stands, same-sex relationships and extra-marital relations, and whether any observed changes result from period or cohort effects. While attitudes towards same-sex relationships became far more tolerant between 1990 and 2010, the pattern was not the same for one night stands or extra-marital relationships. Based upon these results the article argues that the proposition made by individualisation theory regarding the loosening of traditional norms is far too simplistic when talking about change over time in intimate life. It is argued instead that a more nuanced theory of social change is required, consistent with the finding that some norms are strengthening rather than weakening. The article also claims that certain elements of individualisation theory might in fact be consistent with the strengthening of those norms.
Drawing on institutional theory, this paper advances understanding of how restructuring practices are shaped by the organisational and institutional context and the concerns for legitimacy. Longitudinal case study findings from UK local government suggest a pattern of incremental deviance where repeated cutbacks are legitimised through a narrative of continuous improvement. This results in increased labour flexibility, work intensity and managerialism within services. We argue that the lack of resistance to change can be explained by the steady desensitisation of workers to repeated cutbacks as opposed to the inherent fairness of management actions. Through context‐specific research the theoretical and empirical distinctions between responsible and pure restructuring, and soft and hard Human Resource Management policies, are challenged.
The study uses data from an online survey of parish churches carried out in 2013 for the Church of England. It obtained a sample of 1,480 clergy, mainly stipendiary. As expected from previous studies, there were relatively high frequencies of psychological types marked by introversion, intuition, feeling and judging. Gender differences were small. Clergy also provided self-assessments of their abilities in a number of areas related to parish ministry.Personality has substantial effects on these leadership strengths, although the types that have positive associations are often not those most commonly found among Anglican clergy.A single scale can be created for most of the qualities (including managing, motivating, innovating, etc.), but empathising and connecting do not belong on the same dimension. If clergy are to be deployed effectively, it may be desirable to distinguish between positions calling for good general leaders and those where the emphasis is on pastoral work.2 Psychological types and self-assessed leadership skills of clergy in the Church of England
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