Disastrous social theory: lessons from New Orleans

Contemporary social theory struggles to deal with disasters not just because of epistemological shortcomings regarding the continued dualistic nature of its dealings with social phenomena and events, relegating disasters to the real of “extraordinary events,” but also because it has effectively foreclosed on its ability to deal with social reality. The latter is less the consequence of epistemic shortcomings but itself a social by-product of the institutionalization of social thought in the academy. Divorced from an ability to come to terms with social reality, because it lacks both an empirical grounding and a sense of urgency to understand that which lies outside the comfort zone of academic life, social theory is left rather aimlessly afloat amid a sea of debris that signals that the apocalypse has already happened

The effects of recombination rate on the distribution and abundance of transposable elements

Transposable elements (TEs) often accumulate in regions of the genome with suppressed recombination. But it is unclear whether this pattern reflects a reduction in the efficacy of selection against deleterious insertions or a relaxation of ectopic recombination. Discriminating between these two hypotheses has been difficult, because no formal model has investigated the effects of recombination under the deleterious insertion model. Here we take a simulation-based approach to analyze this scenario and determine the conditions under which element accumulation is expected in low recombination regions. We show that TEs become fixed as a result of Hill–Robertson effects in the form of Muller's ratchet, but only in regions of extremely low recombination when excision is effectively absent and synergism between elements is weak. These results have important implications for differentiating between the leading models of how selection acts on TEs and should help to interpret emerging population genetic and genomic data

Influence of a small fraction of individuals with enhanced mutations on a population genetic pool

Computer simulations of the Penna ageing model suggest that already a small fraction of births with enhanced number of new mutations can negatively influence the whole population.Comment: 10 pages including 6 figures; draf

The unpaid parental leave standard: what standard?

The provision of paid maternity leave has been a key focus in Australian policy debates around work/family balance. It has been assumed that the unpaid parental leave standard on which paid maternity leave would build functions as an effective, albeit limited, minimum standard. Drawing on recent research we question the effectiveness of this standard in practice, focusing in particular on the 'return to work guarantee' that is central to providing continuity of employment for women. We examine how this guarantee is undercut by dismissal, redundancy and having no job to return to as well as being placed in an inferior job on return to work. While the expansion of rights in paid maternity leave is a necessary precondition towards to achieving equality for Australian women, urgent action to ensure full compliance with the existing minimum standard for unpaid parental leave is required

Getting gender on the agenda: The tale of two organisations

PURPOSE - This paper aims to explore emerging issues in the application of the "dual agenda" model of gender equitable organisational change aimed at improved work life outcomes in two large Australian organisations. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH - The research project used the collaborative interactive action research (CIAR) methodology that underpins the dual agenda change approach. Within both organisations, a multi-method approach was used, including formal interviews, focus groups and ethnographic-style observation and interaction, as well as the analysis of a wide range of organisational documentation. The paper focuses on the challenges both for the researchers and the organisations in keeping gender on the agenda, drawing on the identification of work practices and work-life policies that impede organisational effectiveness and gender equity and the subsequent work culture diagnosis for each organisation. FINDINGS - The way in which the "gender problem" within an organisation is framed is strategically important. An understanding of "gender" as "women" not only marginalises gender equity as a business goal and its links with organisational effectiveness, but also works to silence men's interests in better work/life outcomes. A refocusing on the "ideal worker" was found to be more inclusive not only of men but also valuable in highlighting the ways in which organisational work/life policies may be undercut by business pressures and long hours, poor job design or management discretion. However, challenges remain in linking gender equitable organisational change to organisational effectiveness, especially in organisations which are restructuring and contracting in size. ORIGINALITY / VALUE - Provides a frank account of the challenges in making the links between gender equity, organisational effectiveness and work life issues that is valuable for both academics and practitioners. The "dual agenda" approach is methodologically important as it engages both "outsider" academics and "insider" organisational members in an action research process directed at gender equitable organisational change

The decent work agenda and the advancement of gender equality: for emerging economies only?

The International Labour Organization's Decent Work Agenda offers a valuable alternative to the traditional framing of most contemporary employment regulation. It moves beyond the standard employment relationship to include workers in non-standard employment and the attainment of gender equality has a central place, illustrated in the ILO's 2009 campaign around 'gender equality at the heart of decent work'. While most OECD countries have endorsed the Decent Work Agenda (DWA), few have taken it up at the domestic level, apparently seeing it as something of benefit to emerging economies only. Our article draws on interviews with key government, employer, union and civil society stakeholders in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and an analysis of relevant policy documents to tease out this 'othering' of the DWA and how different understandings of gender (in)equality relate to views about its utility in the national context. We argue that assumptions that the DWA has little to offer developed economies represent a missed opportunity to rethink the gendered policy underpinnings of domestic employment regulation that are shaped by and contribute directly to gender inequality

Multilevel work-family interventions: Creating good-quality employment over the life course

Poor-quality jobs have significant costs for individual workers, their families, and the wider community. Drawing mainly on the Australian case, the authors' focus is on the structural challenges to work-life reconciliation and the multiple-level interventions necessary to create quality employment that supports workers to reconcile work and family over the life course. The authors argue that interventions are necessary in three domains: at the macrosocial and economic level, in the regulatory domain, and in the workplace domain. The nature and success of these interventions is also critical to gender equality and to responding to the changing gender and care composition of the workforce across OECD countries

Part-time of what? Job quality and part-time employment in the legal profession in Australia

This article examines the quality of part-time employment for solicitors in private practice in Australia. Although full-time jobs based on long hours are dominant in the legal profession, part-time jobs

'If I had a family, there is no way that I could afford to work here': juggling paid and unpaid care work in social services

Drawing on three case studies in each of Australia, New Zealand and Scotland, this article explores how care workers employed in the social services sector negotiate their unpaid care responsibilities in the context of lean work organization and low pay. For younger workers, the unrelenting demands of service provision and low pay made any long-term commitment to working in social services unrealistic, while many female workers experienced significant stress as they bent their unpaid care responsibilities to the demands of their paid work. However, male workers, less likely to have primary caring responsibilities, appeared less troubled by the prioritizing of paid over unpaid care work and less likely to self-exploit for the job. At the same time, there is a widespread acceptance across different national and organizational contexts that the work/family juggle is a personal responsibility rather than a structural problem caused by the demands of underfunded and overstretched organizations