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Flinders Social Monitor
In 2006-7 the Flinders Social Monitor is using the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (AuSSA) to monitor changes in social life and examine their impact on everyday lives in South Australia. Each Social Monitor covers SA attitudes toward a particular subject, ranging from work, government spending and taxes, migration, business, families, crime, and Australia's place in the world.
AuSSA is a biennial mail survey that gathers opinions from approximately 4,000 Australians aged 18 or above who are selected randomly from the Electoral Roll. In 2005, the Flinders Social Monitoring and Policy Futures Network commissioned a special sample of South Australians resulting in 1,019 SA respondents.
About 25 people attended the launch of Flinders Social Monitor held on November 9 2006. At the launch, Bill Martin provided an overview of the commissioning of the survey and how it is being used by our members. Carol Tilt spoke about her Flinders Social Monitor 'Community Activism on Social, Political and Environmental Issues'. Carol has produced another Flinders Social Monitor on Trust in Big Business which was issued late November. Andrew Parkin also spoke about the Monitor that he and Leonie Hardcastle produced about 'Expanded Immigration Program More Welcome in South Australia'.
In the picture (from left to right): Dr Debra King (Research Fellow with the Flinders Social Monitoring and Policy Futures Network), Professor Andrew Parkin (author, with Dr Leonie Hardcastle, of the Flinders Social Monitor No 3), Professor Bill Martin (Leader of the Flinders Social Monitoring and Policy Futures Network) and Associate Professor Carol Tilt (author of the Flinders Social Monitor No 2).
Dynamics of Work and Labour Markets
Meetings of this thematic research group were held on June 16 and 30 at 11.00 am - 12.30 pm in room 013 SSN. We have a very broad understanding of the types of research that might fall under this heading - work and workplaces, work and organizations, work and leisure, work and labour markets, work and identity, work and relationships, work cultures, the organisation of work etc etc. The aim of the thematic group is to encourage individual and collaborative research, maximise the research impact of research conducted, and further develop Flinders' expertise in this field. The Network has some resources to stimulate the development of these aims.
If you have an interest in one or more of these areas, we are inviting you to join us. Please RSVP to Debra King, email: deb.king@flinders.edu.au
Paid Care: Now and in the Future
On the 10th and 11th of April 2006, the Network hosted an Academy for Social Sciences in Australia workshop on Paid Care: Now and in the Future. With presenters from philosophy, political science, sociology and demography there was plenty of interdisciplinary discussion. The audience of decision-makers in policy and industry, and several early career researchers with an interest in this area of research also engaged in the debates. From the wide-ranging discussions several issues were raised in relation to the direct and indirect policy implications surrounding the provision of paid care services.
The main focus of the workshop was on explicating the meaning and nature of paid care in Australia, this included
- Identifying what is distinctive about paid care services, and the assumptions underlying normative and empirical debates
- The different arrangements that enable the provision of different types of care, eg private agreements, government services, corporate ownership
- The ways in which the relational, emotional and moral aspects of care are enabled or not when care is provided by paid carers
- The organisational structures that support the provision of different aspects of care (eg physical, health, emotional, relational)
- Paid carers experience of the work they do
In addition to these issues, the question of the supply of paid care workers and the link between paid and unpaid care were discussed.
Here are the program and abstracts of the papers presented. |
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