Book Review. Cristina Gavriluță, Negativul cotidianului [The negative of the daily], Editura Universității „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, 2017, Iași, pp. 253, ISBN 978-606-714-371-3

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THE PHILIA PROJECT – FOR THE SUCCESSFUL INTEGRATION OF THE YOUNG THROUGH THEIR EMPOWERMENT AND SOCIAL NETWORK DEVELOPMENT

The Philia+ project has been approved for funding within the Erasmus + Programme. Several partners from Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal and Romania (from higher education and social work institutions) have worked to support the academic success and social inclusion of (pre)adolescents aged 13-18 in foster care, and to enhance, preserve and develop their support networks. Training programmes were held for teachers, trainers and researchers involved in the project, as well as for students and social work professionals and young people in difficulty in the care of associations and organizations providing them social and psychological support. The aim has always been to change their position according to the theoretical DPAPC (empowerment of individuals and communities) framework and to the methodological RAC (collaborative research-action) framework, in order to enable them to understand the mechanism of the social determinism of success and failure and to enhance their support networks. We managed to create two training modules, teasers of experienced testimonies (focus groups, comprehensive conversations), educational films for the two modules, educational films on accompanying Roma and unaccompanied minors.

STUDENTS, NEWS AND DECISION-MAKERS IN THE STATE OF EMERGENCY

The global epidemiological context has caused various social and behavioural changes among the population. This article measures the confidence of Romanian students towards political and non-political communicators, present in the media space during the alert period. Furthermore, the ways of informing them and the effects of “fake news” will be highlighted. Analyses of an online survey show that institutions of power and science benefit from a higher degree of trust compared to political ones. Students are informed from official sources and are aware of the negative effects of fakenews and also appreciate differently the trust offered to the institutions in relation to their nominal representatives. The study had as respondents students from all university centers in Romania (N=1013), being implemented between April and May 2020.

DESISTANCE AND VICTIM PROTECTION IN ROMANIA: COLLABORATION BETWEEN PROBATION AND PRISON FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE PROGRAMME ‘REDUCING THE RISK OF RELAPSE’

Criminologically, the psychosocial and educational perspectives on the person who commits acts of aggressiveness, including sexual abuse, are based on several theoretical models of intervention, which are included in the bio-pathological, psychological and sociocultural perspectives. This is the very premise of the assisted desistance as a succession of stages developed within the criminal trial, and taking risk management as the fundamental principle applied in the custodial and probation system. Firstly, this article starts from a case study conducted in the Romanian probation system, which is presented at the “Fifth International Conference Multidisciplinary Perspectives in the Quasi-Coercive Treatment of Offenders. Probation as a field of study and research: From person to society” (2016). Secondly, it reflects the collaboration between prison and probation in the primary and secondary desistance using the programme ‘Reducing the Risk of Relapse’ (RRR) after prison, which uses the complementary ‘risk, needs and responsivity’ (RNR) model with the “Good Life Model” (GLM) based on combining the principle of individual responsiveness with that of social responsibility. Our arguments are – in the sense of highlighting the importance of individualizing the sanction – focusing on the contextualized narrative identity, from secondary desistance to ensure the continuity of the post-sentence rehabilitation and the protection of the crime victim.

CURRENT SUICIDAL SITUATIONS WITHIN THE ROMANIAN AREA

This article has been focussed on presentation of an older sociological issue – committing suicide /killing oneself – within new interpretative contexts specific to current Romanian society. The argumentation is therefore developed towards attracting three sustainable conclusions: a. right to property over one’s own body should not metamorphose into individual’s right to kill himself; b) no matter how many logical arguments we might have for committing suicide as a normal fact, it will naturally remain a pathological social fact; c. social actions against suiciding cannot otherwise be but ante factum. Consequently, social actors should be informed and get awareness on suicidal risk factors within the environment they are living in. This last aspect shall occupy the most part of the pages of this article. The conclusion of the whole approach is that no matter how many justifications, excuses and mitigating circumstances we may find, the suicidal act cannot be otherwise but traumatising and condemnable to society.

FROM BULLYING TO CYBERBULLYING IN THE CONTEXT OF ONLINE EDUCATION

The specialty literature is remarked by the presentation of negative facts and phenomena, some of which are particularly serious, such as bullying and cyberbullying. Authors such as Olweus (1993), Smith and Sharp (1994), Rigby (2007), Belsey (2005), Shariff (2009), etc. draw the attention to two categories of people, the ones who abuse and the ones who are victims of the aggression. The online school also brings along the extension of the cyberbullying phenomenon. In previous years, traditional bullying started in school and continued in the online environment, but now all the interaction has been transferred to the cyber environment. We note phenomena such as: cyberbullying, cybermobbing or cyberstalking etc., and we could say that they seem to occur in the online environment in a kind of avalanche that exceeds our imagination whereas the phenomenon is explained primarily by the impossibility to trace the perpetrator. The article presents ways to prevent the phenomenon of bullying and cyberbullying, as well as legislative and institutional aspects, intervention measures aimed at reducing the phenomenon of bullying, directly or virtually, especially at the national level.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRUST IN MEDIA AND FAKE NEWS: A SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH

Although the existence of fake news can be found in the last decade, this subject succeeded to impose and gain coverage among the current research topics, becoming important through the harmful effects it can produce, but also through its continuous dynamics and evolution. Through this paper we aim to present some theoretical perspectives on the phenomenon of fake news, then we will aim to make the connection between fake news and trust in the media (in any of its type, mass-media or new media). Through the theoretical analysis we aim to develop some hypotheses and subjects which could lead to future research. Therefore, by the present analysis – which has as scope the exploration of the possible relations between the population’s trust in the media and fake news – we focus on developing a theoretical framework, so that possible results could enhance a better knowledge and combatting the negative effects of this phenomenon.

THE SOCIAL VALUES ATTACHED TO THE TIKTOK SOCIAL PLATFORM OF THE AGE CATEGORY 50+. A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

This paper analyzes the social values through which users over the age of 50 identify with the new TikTok social platform. Although the other online social networks are mainly aimed at a young audience, the TikTok application has overcome this barrier and included the age segment of over 50 years in the categories targeted by it. The ease with which one can make their proper creations and the intuitiveness of the application has made that two years after the launch of the new social platform a quarter of its users are in a more tangible age category of novelty and online interaction. The reality shows that a social application does not contradict people from early youth at all, and if you provide them with sufficiently clear tools to express themselves, they will take advantage of them and make their genuine creations. The present approach is based on existing data about the application in question and focuses on illustrating some values that emerge from the case study on TikTok.

SOCIETAL AND EXISTENTIAL ISSUES OF AGEING IN CONTEMPORARY FRENCH SOCIETY

This article aims to present an overview of the issues surrounding ageing in contemporary French society. Firstly, it sets out the issues that are at the heart of public policy and that constitute the major current orientations of old age policies. Secondly, it discusses other societal issues that are not considered by public policies. In the third part, it adopts a micro-sociological point of view to look at the existential issues of ageing for people who are getting on in years. Finally, the conclusion provides an opportunity to discuss a fourth issue, which concerns the structuring of research in the Human and Social Sciences on ageing.

NINTH GRADE STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF ADMISSION, CAREER PATH AND SUCCESS IN LIFE. CASE STUDY REGARDING THE FIRST DUAL VOCATIONAL SCHOOL IN ALBA COUNTY

Choosing a career and career path is very important and difficult for many young secondary school graduates, especially since very few students in Romanian schools benefit from personal and professional counseling and guidance during their high school years or in the period immediately preceding the enrollment in the high school or professional cycle. In this sense, even if in many county events are organized in which each school promotes its educational offer, after the end of the admission process and enrollment of students, too little emphasis is placed on the reasons that led high school graduates to choose a certain educational institution. This study accomplished in a technological high school in Alba County captures exactly this aspect, while highlighting students' perceptions about success in life, counseling and career guidance, as well as the factors they consider to be determinants of academic and professional success. This educational unit was not chosen by chance, here operating the first dual vocational school in Alba County and among the first of its kind in the country.