Managing fat bodies: Identity regulation between public and private domains

This paper analyzes the relationship between public andprivate domains in contemporary Danish organizationsby examining their increasing focus on the personalhealth situation of employees, and, more specifically,their body weight. This paper combines literature onidentity and management with governmentality-inspiredresearch on risk, morality and the body. The aim of thispaper is to show that overweight people are perceived as“risk identities”, i.e. problem people who automaticallycall for personal management. The author demonstratesthat besides the unintended effect of categorizing overweightemployees as problem people, this managementgoal also run counter to the declared value regardingrespect for diversity in contemporary organizations.Based on in-depth interviews with managers and recordedtalks between health consultants and overweightemployees, this paper emphasizes processes thatsubordinate employees and restrict their autonomy

Vibeke Asmussen & Steffen Jöhncke (red.): Brugerperspektiver. Fra stofmisbrug til socialpolitik?

Anmeldes af Nanna Mik-Meyer &nbsp

Organizational Professionalism: Social Workers Negotiating Tools of NPM

This article examines how social workers and managers perceive meaningful work and expertise in six care and treatment facilities in Denmark. Based on 29 interviews with social workers (n=22) and managers (n=7), the article shows how New Public Management-inspired tools such as scoring schemas align with social work values such as “client-centeredness” and working with the individual welfare recipient face-to-face. The article finds that fitting social work into organizational schemas changes the work practices of social workers and also the way members of this profession define meaningful work and expertise. In addition, the article also finds that scoring schemas cause conflicts among social workers regarding the character of expertise when values of social work (to meet a welfare recipient’s need) must be aligned with NPM-inspired values of organizations (to meet managers’ demand for documentation)

PERSONLIG UDVIKLING – en frigørende proces eller social kontrol i danske revalideringscentre?

Denne artikel stiller skarpt på socialarbejderes mål om at understøtte en personlig udvikling hos klienten. Artiklen forsøger at vise, at dette mål ofte afstedkommer store problemer hos klienten, der for det meste ikke selv beskriver et behov for at udvikle sig personligt. Med afsæt i et symbolsk interaktionistisk perspektiv viser forfatteren, at det typisk er en række eksterne, sociale forhold, der bevirker, at socialarbejdere koncentrerer sin indsats om dette mål. En central pointe i artiklen er således, at den ofte problemfyldte interaktion mellem socialarbejder og klient (som forfatteren udforsker) skal søges forklaret (og forbedret) ved at fokuserer på konteksten for det sociale arbejde. Denne kontekst er – blandt andet – defineret ved den ulige relation, der definerer mødet mellem klient og socialarbejder

The role of laughter

The topic of social work does not normally inspire laughter. So it is perhaps not surprising that research into the culture of social work rarely pursues its humorous aspect—the role of irony and laughter, for example. But if Michael Mulkay (1988) is right in suggesting that the domain of humor allows contradictory worlds to coexist, then this topic warrants a closer look. After all, no one would deny that social work involves a measure of contradiction

Disability, sameness, and equality: able-bodied managers and employees discussing diversity in a Scandinavian context

This article contributes to research examining the work situations of employees with disabilities. This is performed by demonstrating how able-bodied norms affect the work lives of employees with cerebral palsy in Danish work organizations. Thus, this article investigates how able-bodied managers and employees talk about their co-workers with cerebral palsy and examines the narratives of diversity among able-bodied managers and employees when they discuss the work situation of their colleagues with cerebral palsy. The empirical point of departure is 6 weeks of participant observations in 2 work organizations along with interviews conducted in 13 work organizations with 19 managers and 43 colleagues who work with an employee with cerebral palsy on a daily basis. The article finds two dominating narratives regarding diversity that have to do with being either ‘different but the same’ or ‘just different’. These two narratives relate to the highly praised value of equality in Scandinavia

Seaweed Hydrocolloid Production: An Update on Enzyme Assisted Extraction and Modification Technologies

Agar, alginate, and carrageenans are high-value seaweed hydrocolloids, which are used as gelation and thickening agents in different food, pharmaceutical, and biotechnological applications. The annual global production of these hydrocolloids has recently reached 100,000 tons with a gross market value just above US$ 1.1 billion. The techno-functional properties of the seaweed polysaccharides depend strictly on their unique structural make-up, notably degree and position of sulfation and presence of anhydro-bridges. Classical extraction techniques include hot alkali treatments, but recent research has shown promising results with enzymes. Current methods mainly involve use of commercially available enzyme mixtures developed for terrestrial plant material processing. Application of seaweed polysaccharide targeted enzymes allows for selective extraction at mild conditions as well as tailor-made modifications of the hydrocolloids to obtain specific functionalities. This review provides an update of the detailed structural features of κ-, ι-, λ-carrageenans, agars, and alginate, and a thorough discussion of enzyme assisted extraction and processing techniques for these hydrocolloids

Højrup, Thomas & Klaus Bolving (red.): Velfærdssamfund – velfærdsstaters forsvarsform?

Anmeldes af Nanna Mik-Meyer & Karen Lund Peterse

DNA-Based Identification and Chemical Characteristics of <i>Hypnea musciformis </i>from Coastal Sites in Ghana

This work reveals new, important insights about the influence of broad spatial variations on the phylogenetic relationship and chemical characteristics of Ghanaian Hypnea musciformis—a carrageenan-containing red seaweed. DNA barcoding techniques alleviate the difficulty for accurate morphological identification. COI barcode sequences of the Ghanaian H. musciformis showed &lt;0.7% intraspecies divergence, indicating no distinct phylogenetic variation, suggesting that they actually belong to the same species. Thus, the spatial distribution of the sampling sites along the coast of Ghana did not influence the phylogenetic characteristics of H. musciformis in the region. The data also showed that the Ghanaian Hypnea sp. examined in this work should be regarded as the same species as the H. musciformis collected in Brazilian Sao Paulo (KP725276) with only 0.8%–1.3% intraspecies divergence. However, the comparison of COI sequences of Ghanaian H. musciformis with the available COI sequence of H. musciformis from other countries showed intraspecies divergences of 0%–6.9% indicating that the COI sequences for H. musciformis in the GenBank may include different subspecies. Although samples did not differ phylogenetically, the chemical characteristics of the H. musciformis differed significantly between different sampling locations in Ghana. The levels of the monosaccharides, notably galactose (20%–30% dw) and glucose (10%–18% dw), as well as the seawater inorganic salt concentration (21–32 mg/L) and ash content (19%–33% dw), varied between H. musciformis collected at different coastal locations in Ghana. The current work demonstrated that DNA-based identification allowed a detailed understanding of H. musciformis phylogenetic characteristics and revealed that chemical compositional differences of H. musciformis occur along the Ghanaian coast which are not coupled with genetic variations among those samples