Reviews of The New Political Economy of Disability by van Toorn & Disability and Neoliberal State Formations, by Soldatic

Two recent disability studies monographs from Routledge devoted in part to the Australian state and its policies with respect to disabled people break exciting new ground in analyzing the economic marginalization of disabled people and how to empower them. Both volumes are creative, well-researched, and thoughtful contributions to disability studies because of the questions they pose and the insightful, novel ways they encourage us to think about the questions.

School Dropout Determinants in Rural Communities: The Effect of Poverty and Family Characteristics

This article presents the results of a quantitative research in a Romanian rural community, which aimed to analyze how the socio-economic conditions and family type can influence the phenomenon of school dropout. The results of our research are also confirmed by the results of other specialized studies that highlight the fact that 1 in 2 children living in rural Romania are at risk of poverty and socio-economic marginalization. Or, poverty and socio-economic marginalization, to which we can add the family profile (especially the parents’ level of education), are the main determinants of the school dropout of children living in rural communities. In order to verify this hypothesis, our research was conducted on a sample of 363 people from a rural community in South-Western Romania, which is in line with the national demographic trends existing in the rural communities exposed to marginalization and poverty: a decreasing birth rate in the last 5 years, a high mortality (above county average), a negative natural growth, a high share of the illiterate, a high share of people whom children are facing difficulties in access to education etc.

The Relevance of Women’s Economic Marginalization to Recidivism

This study examines whether changes over time in women’s criminogenic needs, particularly their financial needs, predict recidivism. In a 9-year longitudinal study, 304 women were interviewed repeatedly during 4.5 years after probation/parole began. Women provided data on both their gender-specific and gender-neutral criminogenic needs. Women’s average standing on each need and an index of their change in the need over time were computed and used to predict subsequent recidivism over the 3.4 years after the final interview. Women whose financial needs decreased were less likely to be rearrested and convicted relative to other women. The findings highlight the importance of considering a multifaceted and gender-specific definition of economic marginalization in both theory and practice. At the policy level, there is a need to reduce justice-involved women’s financial needs. In addition, further longitudinal research should be conducted to understand how different type of changes in women’s lives impact recidivism.

The Religious Experience Communal Prayer and Group Identity

This chapter describes the religious experience in sectarian environments as expressed by the participants themselves. This chapter provides essential texture to the analysis by allowing worshipers to speak for themselves. Using responses from open-ended interview questions in both Lebanon and Iraq, it reveals the ways in which communal worship promotes sectarian solidarity and group-centric political preferences. The Lebanese interviews illustrate the link between communal worship and political preferences. Distinct themes emerged between sects; while communal prayer heightened sectarian identity for all sects, each sect reported different political messages. For Christians, the emphasis was on preserving their community's privileges in a changing political landscape. For Sunnis, the emphasis was on avoiding divisions imposed from outside. For Shi`a, political messages stressed political and economic marginalization and called for an end to the sectarian system. In each of these cases, interviews indicated that religious-political messaging in places of worship clearly reflects political circumstances and sectarian interests, a relationship explored in-depth in subsequent chapters.

Marginalized primary education in Saponda Village, Soropia District, Konawe Regency: Study of socioeconomic and transportation limitations

This study proposes to contribute information in the form of a description of the limitations of economic and transport affect the marginality of primary education. The research is a qualitative descriptive study with the location of the study in Saponda Village Soropia District Konawe Regency. The collection of data obtained through interviews, observation and documentation. The data used are primary data obtained directly through the interview process, interviews and secondary data obtained through the village profile Saponda. The results of the study found that the form of economic marginalization community is due to the lack of government attention in efforts to improve the welfare of the community, mostly as traditional small fishermen. Moreover, limited transportation has an impact on the mobility of teachers to Saponda also limited. Besides, the public desire to deliver his son to obtain a decent education outside the village Saponda also limited. Therefore, political governments need to pay more attention to the socio-economy and transportation, especially the Bajo tribe community.

The “Othering” of Latin Jazz

This chapter discusses various ways the Caribbean and Latin American music styles continued to share a common history with jazz from the 1940s to the 1960s, intersecting, cross-influencing, and at times seeming inseparable, as each has played seminal roles in the other’s development. Three case studies are discussed: the collaboration of Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo, the Jazz Samba recording by Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz, and Mongo Santamaría’s “Watermelon Man” recording. In much of the jazz literature, these musicians and their seminal roles have been diminished or downright ignored. This chapter explores the reasons for these omissions and the systematic “othering” of Latin jazz. It examines the forces at play in their continued exclusion; explores how this omission is tied to the economic marginalization of jazz, racism, nationalism, tensions between art and popular music, and canon construction; and identifies what is at stake when Latin jazz is included.