‘It’s good but it’s not enough’: the relational geographies of social policy and youth mentoring interventions

Developing a critical analysis of the relational and situated practices of social policy, this paper draws on an evaluation of an early intervention project in Scotland (UK) where volunteer adult mentors supported young people ‘at risk’ of offending or antisocial behaviour. Contributing to ‘enlivened’ accounts of social practice, we explore how practices of mentoring developed through the co-presence of mentor and young person in the often transitory spaces of care which characterized the ‘diversionary activities’ approach in the project. We expand the notion of the relational in social practice beyond the care-recipient dyad to include wider networks of care (families, programme workers, social institutions). The paper explores how such social interventions might both be ‘good’ for the young people involved, and yet recognize critiques that more individualized models of intervention inevitably have limitations which make them ‘not enough’ to deal with structural inequalities and disadvantages. Acknowledging the impacts of neoliberalism, we argue critical attention to diverse situated relational practices points to the excessive nature of engagement in social policy and provides scope for transformative practice where young people’s geographies can be ‘upscaled’ to connect to the realms of social policy and practice.     

Fires at Neumark-Nord 2, Germany: An analysis of fire proxies from a Last Interglacial Middle Palaeolithic basin site

Few sites with evidence for fire use are known from the Last Interglacial in Europe. Hearth features are rarely preserved, probably as a result of post-depositional processes. The small postglacial basins (<300?m in diameter) that dominate the sedimentary context of the Eemian record in Europe are high-resolution environmental archives often containing charcoal particles. This case study presents the macroscopic charcoal record of the Neumark-Nord 2 basin, Germany, and the correlation of this record with the distinct find levels of the basin margin that also contain thermally altered archaeological material. Increased charcoal quantities are shown to correspond to phases of hominin presence—a pattern that fits best with recurrent anthropogenic fires within the watershed. This research shows the potential of small basin localities in the reconstruction of local fire histories, where clear archaeological features like hearths are missing.     

Book reviews

CHINA

SOW‐THENG LEONG. Migration and Ethnicity in Chinese History: Hakkas, Pengmin, and their Neighbors. Tim Wright, ed., G. William Skinner, Maps and introduction. Illustrations, maps, tables, index, character list. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997. xxiii, 236 pp. A$69.95, hardcover.

BONNIE S. McDOUGALL and KAM LOUIE. The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century. London: Hurst, 1997; Gosford: Bushbooks, 1998. Acknowledgments, introduction, further reading, glossary, index, vi, 504 pp. A$39.95, paper.

XIAOBO LU and ELIZABETH J. PERRY (eds). Danwei: the Changing Chinese Workplace in Historical and Comparative Perspective . Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1997. 270 pp. US$72.95, hardcover; US$34.95, paper.

JAPAN, KOREA

SYDNEY GIFFARD. Japan Among the Powers, 1890–1990. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994, 1997. xxii, 218 pp. Abbreviations, introduction, author's note, glossary, index. US$35.00, hardcover; US$15.00, paper.

KATHERINE H. S. MOON. Sex Among Allies: military Prostitution in U.S.‐Korea Relations. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. xiii, 240 pp. Preface, acknowledgments, abbreviations, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. US$47.50, hardcover; US$16.50, paper.

SOUTH ASIA

JAMAL J. ELLAS (trans and intro). Death Before Dying. The Sufi Poems of Sultan Bahu. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. 145 pp. Acknowledgments, introduction, bibliography, index of first lines. US$45.00, hardcover; US$14.95, paper.

AJIT K. NEOGY. Decolonization of French India: liberation Movement and Indo‐French Relations 1947–1954. Pondicherry: French Institute of Pondicherry, 1997. xxviii, 299 pp. Foreword, preface, endnotes, appendixes, bibliography, index, resume. US$37.00, paper.

SURESHCHANDRA SHUKLA and REHKLA KAUL (eds). Education, Development and Underdevelopment. New Delhi: Sage, 1998. US$39.95, hardcover.

EMMA TARLO. Clothing Matters: dress and Identity in India London: Hurst & Company, 1996. xxi, 360 pp. Illustrations. £40.00, hardcover; £19.95, paper.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

KEVIN Y. L. TAN and LAM PENG ER (eds). Managing Political Change in Singapore. London: Routledge, 1997. xii, 228 pp. £45.00, hardcover.

SHARIFAH ZALEHA SYED HASSAN and SVEN CEDERROTH. Managing Marital Disputes in Malaysia: Islamic Mediators and Conflict Resolution in the Syariah Courts. £40.00, hardcover; £15.99, paper.

KEVIN HEWISON (ed). Political Change in Thailand: democracy and Participation. London and New York: Routledge, 1997. xv, 301 pp. US$29.99, paper.

ANN KUMAR. Java and Modern Europe: ambiguous Encounters. Richmond: Curzon Press, 1997. viii, 472 pp. US$52.00, hardcover.

MARTIN STUART‐FOX. A History of Laos. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1997. A$80.00, hardcover; A$24.95, paper.

MARTIN STUART‐FOX. The Lao Kingdom of Lan Xang: rise and Decline. Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 1998. A$22.50, paper.     

Adding Hydrogen to the Isotopic Inventory—Combining δ13C, δ15N and δ2H Stable Isotope Analysis for Palaeodietary Purposes on Archaeological Bone

Few papers using hydrogen stable isotope analysis for human palaeodietary reconstruction purposes have been published and the usefulness of this additional dietary indicator is highlighted here. The hydrogen stable isotope results provide evidence for the continued exploitation of aquatic resources throughout the prehistory of the Limfjord area in Denmark, which is supported by FRUITS estimates using three (CNH) isotopic proxies. While aquatic dietary input has been identified in Mesolithic and Viking Age individuals before, our results show that, in fact, this continued throughout the periods in between (Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age), albeit on a small scale.     

An Empirical Test of Social Choice Theories of Disequilibrium

This paper is an empirical test of 'institution-free' theories of democratic procedures exemplified by Kenneth Arrow and William Riker. 'Social choice' theorists claim that instability is the likely result of a pure majority-rule institution, but such a claim has not been subjected to a great deal of empirical scrutiny. In this paper I test the arguments of social choice theory using the American Continental Congress (1774-89) which was, perhaps, the most democratic legislative institution that has ever existed. I conclude that there is a strong possibility of instability in democratic institutions.     

Using Decision Tree Induction Systems for Modeling Space‐Time Behavior

Discrete choice models are commonly used to predict individuals' activity and travel choices either separately or simultaneously in activity‐scheduling models. This paper investigates the possibilities of decision tree induction systems as an alternative approach. The ability of decision trees to represent heuristic decision rules is evaluated and a method of capturing interactions across decisions in a sequential decision model is outlined. Decision tree induction algorithms, such as C4.5, CART, and CHAID, are suited to derive the decision rules from empirical data. A case study to illustrate the approach considers decisions of individuals when they are faced with the choice to combine different out‐of‐home activities into a multipurpose, multistop trip or make a trip for each activity separately. Data from a large‐scale activity diary survey are used to induce the decision rules. Possible directions of future research are identified.     

Worker Endowments and the Effects of Institutions on Earnings Realization: A Cross-National Comparison

In this study we investigate how differential institutions, and their observance within regional labor markets, impact potential earnings realization. We investigate institutional linkages to labor market outcomes by means of cross-nation comparisons between the United States and the Netherlands. In this regard, better job-matching (information) programs, higher relative unemployment benefits and minimum wages, and a greater prevalence of both trade unionism and collective bargaining likely work to the favor of Dutch workers, and in turnaugment their reservation wages during job search. The predictable outcome of higher earnings realization among Dutch workers is tested econometrically by frontier estimation.     

Wage Effects of Unemployment Duration and Frequency

This paper analyzes the wage effects of unemployment duration and frequency for different regional labor market situations in The Netherlands using a simultaneous equations approach. The main finding is that unemployment duration has a significant negative effect and the frequency of unemployment a significant positive effect on wages in the core regions with relatively low unemployment rates. In the periphery with relatively high unemployment rates no significant effects of unemployment duration and frequency are found. It is argued that in the core regions unemployment duration is primarily viewed as a personal indicator of low productivity whereas in the periphery it is attributed to the situation in the regional labor market.     

The Return of Zipf: Towards a Further Understanding of the Rank-Size Distribution

We offer a general-equilibrium economic approach to Zipf's Law or, more generally, the rank-size distribution—the striking empirical regularity concerning the size distribution of cities. We provide some further understanding of Zipf's Law by incorporating negative feedbacks (congestion) in a popular model of economic geography and international trade. This model allows the powers of agglomeration and spreading to be in long-run equilibrium, which enhances our understanding of the existence of a rank-size distribution of cities.