Australian Journal of Social Issues最新文献

Robodebt cultures and useful idiots: Why Robodebt was not a techno-failure

IF 2 2区社会学

Australian Journal of Social Issues Pub Date : 2025-01-16 DOI: 10.1002/ajs4.383

Paul W. F. Henman

{"title":"Robodebt cultures and useful idiots: Why Robodebt was not a techno-failure","authors":"Paul W. F. Henman","doi":"10.1002/ajs4.383","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.383","url":null,"abstract":"Australia's Robodebt scheme is now internationally infamous for how not to use automation in government. Belying heightened concern with artificial intelligence, Robodebt involved traditional, relatively simple computer algorithms to automate the identification and pursuit of alleged historical welfare debts. Yet, it was based on a false legal premise. This paper argues that rather than a technical failure, Robodebt was intentional, motivated by political imperatives, aided and abetted by an overly responsive public service culture. Engaging with the literature of organisational wilful ignorance, it is argued that these political and public service cultures were constituted by useful idiots, who acted as foils to keep the illegal scheme running for 4 years. Drawing on the Report of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme, the paper identifies a range of practices through which strategic wilful ignorance of Robodebt's unlawfulness was actively constituted. Such practices, particularly well-versed in the senior echolons of the public service, include feigning ignorance, studious nonresponse and not asking questions, telling untruths and giving ambiguous information, advising informally, not sharing and withholding information, and individual and institutional bullying. Documenting the concrete mechanisms of wilful organisational ignorance contributes to better understanding of this phenomenon and helps remedial action.","PeriodicalId":46787,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Social Issues","volume":"60 1","pages":"4-20"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajs4.383","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143849180","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Gender and educational patterns in the demand and supply of grandparent childcare in Australia

IF 2 2区社会学

Australian Journal of Social Issues Pub Date : 2024-11-12 DOI: 10.1002/ajs4.366

Lyn Craig, DongJu Lee, Myra Hamilton, Virpi Timonen, Elizabeth Adamson

{"title":"Gender and educational patterns in the demand and supply of grandparent childcare in Australia","authors":"Lyn Craig, DongJu Lee, Myra Hamilton, Virpi Timonen, Elizabeth Adamson","doi":"10.1002/ajs4.366","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.366","url":null,"abstract":"Grandparents are an important source of childcare worldwide, but international patterns vary. We examine how demographic characteristics of parents, and of grandparents, factor into grandparent care provision considering the cultural assumptions and policy settings Australian families live within. Using the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, we identify determinants of both the demand for and the supply of grandparent childcare in Australia (4266 grandparents and 9822 parents). Results suggest that grandmothers and mothers, as much or more than fathers and mothers, balance their reciprocal participation in employment and childcare. University-educated grandmothers are more likely to provide regular childcare (at least once a week) and university-educated mothers are more likely to draw upon it, inconsistent with research in other countries. It appears grandparents are stepping in as both “mother savers” and “system savers,” suggesting a need for more public policy support for Australian working mothers to capitalise on their increasingly high educational attainment.","PeriodicalId":46787,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Social Issues","volume":"60 1","pages":"251-269"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajs4.366","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143849115","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

A love letter to Black people or anti-white propaganda? ‘Black (non-Indigenous) people's reflections’ on the role of the #BlackLivesMatter movement in Australia

IF 2 2区社会学

Australian Journal of Social Issues Pub Date : 2024-09-05 DOI: 10.1002/ajs4.357

Kathomi Gatwiri, Marcelle Townsend-Cross

{"title":"A love letter to Black people or anti-white propaganda? ‘Black (non-Indigenous) people's reflections’ on the role of the #BlackLivesMatter movement in Australia","authors":"Kathomi Gatwiri, Marcelle Townsend-Cross","doi":"10.1002/ajs4.357","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.357","url":null,"abstract":"#BlackLivesMatter activism is a contemporaneous manifestation of a centuries-old resistance against anti-Black racism. This paper analyses diverse perceptions about the #BlackLivesMatter movement's purpose, significance and potential utility in the Australian context. Our analysis of the #BlackLivesMatter highlights how the movement harnessed the power of social media to deploy counternarratives to white supremacy on a global scale through sharing stories of anti-Black discrimination and making visible the hidden and subtle conditions, practices and attitudes that embolden racial violence. Focussing on Black non-Indigenous people's understandings of the #BlackLivesMatter movement in Australia, findings reveal that the movement improved racial discourse, raised awareness about the experiences of Black people in Australia and challenged the ‘superdiversity- multicultural- melting pot’ narrative that often obscures the insidious ways in which white supremacy produces and sustains anti-Black, colour-blind everyday racisms. Scepticism about the movement was also raised about the very real risk of the movement being “co-opted” by whiteness in an attempt to capitalise on its popularity.","PeriodicalId":46787,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Social Issues","volume":"60 1","pages":"60-74"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajs4.357","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143849113","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Mentors and sponsors: Making a difference for racially and culturally minoritised academics in Australian universities

IF 2 2区社会学

Australian Journal of Social Issues Pub Date : 2024-09-02 DOI: 10.1002/ajs4.360

Kathomi Gatwiri, Zoë Krupka, Samara James

{"title":"Mentors and sponsors: Making a difference for racially and culturally minoritised academics in Australian universities","authors":"Kathomi Gatwiri, Zoë Krupka, Samara James","doi":"10.1002/ajs4.360","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.360","url":null,"abstract":"Mentorship and sponsorships play a significant role in faculty experiences, career trajectories, well-being and academic success in higher education. In this study, 23 racially and culturally minoritised (RACM) academics were interviewed about their experiences working in Australian universities, and all spoke about the key importance of their mentoring experiences. Mentorship was understood as both enabling and constricting, with unspoken rules of conduct and an embedded hierarchical relationship that could perpetuate the exclusion of both marginalised scholars and scholarship. In this paper, the theory of practice architectures, part of a wider ‘practice turn’ within education and the social sciences, was used to conceptualise the qualitative analysis of how mentoring arrangements are experienced by RACM academics in Australian universities. Here, we view academic mentoring as a social architectural practice whose power is articulated in discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements and enacted through language (sayings), actions (doings) and relationships (relatings). This study offers insight not only into the structural and experiential landscape of mentoring for RACM academics but also provides an opportunity to envision pathways for its transformation.","PeriodicalId":46787,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Social Issues","volume":"60 1","pages":"75-93"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajs4.360","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143849049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Promoting the social in psychosocial recovery: Interviews with Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme participants

IF 2 2区社会学

Australian Journal of Social Issues Pub Date : 2024-08-19 DOI: 10.1002/ajs4.364

Joy Roberts, Victoria Stewart, Maddy Slattery

{"title":"Promoting the social in psychosocial recovery: Interviews with Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme participants","authors":"Joy Roberts, Victoria Stewart, Maddy Slattery","doi":"10.1002/ajs4.364","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.364","url":null,"abstract":"Social connection is a central element in mental health recovery and has been found to have a significant impact on the health and well-being of individuals. This study examines the experiences of social connectedness for people accessing National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) support for psychosocial disability. Interviews were conducted with eight NDIS participants. The study's findings suggest that people with psychosocial disabilities experience limited social connections and small social worlds. While NDIS support relationships were seen as important facilitators in increasing social engagement, these relationships may also limit opportunities for participants to extend their social connections beyond these professional support contacts. The impacts of participants' illnesses were identified as major barriers to establishing social connections and further research is needed to identify effective interventions that reduce social isolation in this population. This study highlights the role the NDIS can play in supporting social connection and inclusion for participants. Further consideration regarding the role of NDIS support relationships and NDIS-funded interventions in supporting the social connectedness of participants is needed.","PeriodicalId":46787,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Social Issues","volume":"60 1","pages":"287-301"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajs4.364","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143849324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Intermittent urgency and states of deferral—Or, how many houses for a mine?

IF 2 2区社会学

Australian Journal of Social Issues Pub Date : 2024-08-19 DOI: 10.1002/ajs4.363

Liam Grealy, Kirsty Howey, Tess Lea

{"title":"Intermittent urgency and states of deferral—Or, how many houses for a mine?","authors":"Liam Grealy, Kirsty Howey, Tess Lea","doi":"10.1002/ajs4.363","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.363","url":null,"abstract":"This paper traces the temporal tactics of continually renewed coloniality—where some impasses are made to appear insurmountable while others demand swift solutions—in relation to housing and mining at Borroloola in Australia's Northern Territory. Distinct policy and regulatory regimes encourage analyses that set housing and mining apart. Yet together they signal the settler state's simultaneous remedial and extractive orientations to remote Aboriginal communities. Mining leeches into housing, and housing is a promise extracted from late liberal recognition, for community members forced to wait for promised amenities while fighting for long-term environmental protections. The analysis demonstrates the central significance of temporal control to settler colonialism: by selectively deferring action; by producing the appearance of actions that are not actually taken; and by intervening to expedite processes that serve the interests of extractive capital. We argue that the confection of intermittent urgency to intervene is a key feature of the deferrals enacted by Australian settler governance, as it rations remedial solutions and displaces harms into mortgaged futures.","PeriodicalId":46787,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Social Issues","volume":"60 1","pages":"94-111"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143849323","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Implementing the HEALing Matters program in residential out-of-home care: Evaluation of carers' commitment to promoting healthy lifestyle behaviours 在家庭外寄宿护理机构中实施 "HEALing Matters "计划：评估照顾者对促进健康生活方式行为的承诺

IF 2 2区社会学

Australian Journal of Social Issues Pub Date : 2024-08-12 DOI: 10.1002/ajs4.359

Rachael Cox (nee Green), Kostas Hatzikiriakidis, Ruby Tate, Lauren Bruce, Madelaine Smales, Addison Crawford-Tagliaferro, Luke Patitsas, Emma Galvin, Helen Skouteris

{"title":"Implementing the HEALing Matters program in residential out-of-home care: Evaluation of carers' commitment to promoting healthy lifestyle behaviours","authors":"Rachael Cox (nee Green), Kostas Hatzikiriakidis, Ruby Tate, Lauren Bruce, Madelaine Smales, Addison Crawford-Tagliaferro, Luke Patitsas, Emma Galvin, Helen Skouteris","doi":"10.1002/ajs4.359","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.359","url":null,"abstract":"HEALing Matters is an online professional development training program being implemented across the Victorian out-of-home care sector. HEALing Matters uses a trauma-informed philosophy to guide carers' understanding of the link between young people's healthy lifestyle behaviours and improved physical and psychosocial outcomes. This article reports the findings of a qualitative evaluation, which sought to understand whether participation in HEALing Matters fostered a sense of commitment, dedication and/or the introduction of new practices to create a healthy “home.” Semistructured interviews were conducted with 27 residential carers who completed the training and transcripts underwent thematic analysis. Four major themes evidencing healthy lifestyle behaviours were developed: (1) promotion of a healthy eating environment, (2) making physical activity a habit, (3) building connection through food and physical activity and (4) improved predictability and consistency. Implementation of HEALing Matters facilitated positive changes in health behaviours, supported carers to use food and activity to provide responsive caregiving and created a sense of safety and security through the introduction of household routines. The findings emphasise the importance of upskilling carers in preventative health practices and approaches to best support the health and well-being of young people in care.","PeriodicalId":46787,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Social Issues","volume":"59 3","pages":"705-728"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajs4.359","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142435397","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

The language of belonging: The role of symbolic language in shaping social identity and public perceptions of police gender targets

IF 2 2区社会学

Australian Journal of Social Issues Pub Date : 2024-08-05 DOI: 10.1002/ajs4.358

Katelyn Davenport-Klunder, Kelly Hine, Robert Fleet

{"title":"The language of belonging: The role of symbolic language in shaping social identity and public perceptions of police gender targets","authors":"Katelyn Davenport-Klunder, Kelly Hine, Robert Fleet","doi":"10.1002/ajs4.358","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.358","url":null,"abstract":"Gender-targeted recruitment in policing has elicited varied public responses. This study explores public sentiment toward policing gender targets using a symbolic interactionist and social identity approach. A sentiment analysis was conducted on 5447 comments extracted from a Facebook recruitment campaign targeting women. The study revealed a nearly equal distribution of positive and negative language in the comments, with high levels of trust and fear, and notable expressions of anger and sadness. Positive sentiments utilised terms like “equality” and “merit” indicating support for gender targets as a means to promote gender equality and career opportunities for women. Conversely, negative sentiments centred on discrimination. Findings underscore how individuals construct meaning around gender and interpret gender-target initiatives in policing through the sentiments expressed in online interactions. This research contributes to a nuanced understanding of public discourse surrounding gender targets, highlighting the importance of tailored recruitment and educational campaigns to promote inclusivity and effective gender-targeted initiatives.","PeriodicalId":46787,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Social Issues","volume":"60 1","pages":"353-371"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajs4.358","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143849112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Work incentives in Australia: The distribution of effective marginal tax rates for working-age Australians in 2023 澳大利亚的工作激励机制：2023 年澳大利亚适龄劳动者的实际边际税率分布情况

IF 2 2区社会学

Australian Journal of Social Issues Pub Date : 2024-07-27 DOI: 10.1002/ajs4.356

Ben Phillips

{"title":"Work incentives in Australia: The distribution of effective marginal tax rates for working-age Australians in 2023","authors":"Ben Phillips","doi":"10.1002/ajs4.356","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajs4.356","url":null,"abstract":"Effective marginal tax rates are of interest to policymakers due to the concern that high rates lead to disincentives to work, particularly for secondary earners in couple families and single parents who pay personal income tax and lose government welfare payments as their private income increases. Hypothetical models of the tax and welfare system demonstrate the possibility of high effective marginal tax rates particularly for secondary earners in lower income families where personal income tax intersects with the loss of means-tested welfare payment. This paper estimates effective marginal tax rates across the whole working-age population, rather than for hypothetical families, using a microsimulation model based on a nationally representative sample of Australians. These distributional estimates suggest that high and very high effective marginal tax rates are relatively rare and that most persons of a working-age face rates that are relatively modest. The paper extends previous work on distributional effective marginal tax rates to include the impact of formal childcare and the higher education loan program.","PeriodicalId":46787,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Social Issues","volume":"60 1","pages":"126-142"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajs4.356","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141798096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Cryptocurrencies: Who is vulnerable and what are the vulnerabilities? 加密货币：谁容易受到攻击？

IF 2 2区社会学

Australian Journal of Social Issues Pub Date : 2024-07-21 DOI: 10.1002/ajs4.351

Levon Blue, Congcong Xing, Thu Pham

{"title":"Cryptocurrencies: Who is vulnerable and what are the vulnerabilities?","authors":"Levon Blue, Congcong Xing, Thu Pham","doi":"10.1002/ajs4.351","DOIUrl":"10.1002/ajs4.351","url":null,"abstract":"Australians are embracing new forms of digital finance products and services, which includes purchasing cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). There has been an increase in investment scams associated with cryptocurrencies. In this article, we sought to understand from cryptocurrency and NFT investors, who is vulnerable and what vulnerabilities exist. We surveyed 745 Australians aged 18 and over who have purchased cryptocurrencies or NFTs. We used sociological perspectives of consumer vulnerability that focus on internal and external factors to analyse our findings. We found that both socioeconomic advantaged and disadvantaged Australians are vulnerable. The vulnerabilities include concerns over security, unsolicited advice, limited options for learning, and insufficient financial and IT literacy. The findings suggest that online financial education is needed from trusted independent sources to help combat scams and to keep Australians and their crypto assets safe. We recommend that more opportunities to educate individuals about alternative forms of financial products are offered in compulsory, vocational and higher education settings.","PeriodicalId":46787,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Social Issues","volume":"60 1","pages":"143-175"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajs4.351","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141818785","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0