Quality of life of dependent elderly people in Romania. University Publishing House, Bucharest, 2020. Mihaela Ghența, Aniela Matei, Luise Mladen-Macovei, Elen-Silvana Bobârnat

The book Quality of Life of Old Dependent People in Romania presents a part of the research results obtained during 2018-2020 in the research project with the same name. In the context of a pronounced process of population ageing and raising needs of social services for old people, the publication of this volume becomes very important. The book contains a comprehensive review of the literature regarding quality of life in old age, the results obtained during the research on old dependent people in Romania and measures of social policy developed in the process of consultation of experts in the field using the Policy Delphi method.

A book about a “legacy”: “In honorem Sanda Golopenția”, Spandugino Publishing House, Bucharest, 2020. Zoltán Rostás and Theodora-Eliza Văcărescu (editors)

This essay tries to capture the essential aspects highlighted by the 50 authors whose the texts are included in the anniversary publication “In honorem Sanda Golopentia”. The authors, who are experts in their respective scientific fields, are addressing the complex work of Sanda Golopentia, whose oeuvre spans six decades and consists of studies of sociology, linguistics, theatre, ethnology and autobiographical testimonies, and which is considered to have “a comfortingly consistent and durable presence within Romanian culture”.

The psychosociology of advertising. About visual ads. Pro Universitaria Publishing House, Bucharest, 2021. Septimiu Chelcea

This publication follows nearly a decade of a second edition of the book entitled: „The Psychosociology of Advertising. About visual aids”. Today, when it comes to visual advertising, a revision of the text is required. The pace of knowledge in all fields is accelerating: new theories are constantly emerging, hypotheses are being put forward and a wealth of observational facts and results of scientific experiments is being disseminated through books and journals in print and online. It is nearly impossible for any single human being to understand the universe of knowledge. What we can expect is to get as clear a picture as possible of our area of research, but never a complete understanding of it.

Appreciative Case Management: Using the Social Constructionism in Social Intervention

The article presents a research in the field of case management, experiencing two forms of it: problem-centered case and appreciative case management. For this, an experiment carried out on a six-month period, during which time we verified the results obtained by applying two different supervision models, problem-oriented supervision and appreciative supervision. Based on parallel process, the case management was changed. For this experiment ten cases were identified with various degrees of risk in child abandonment. When the appreciative case management was applied, the studied cases showed better results compared to the cases that were managed based on problem. In the case of services aimed at preventing child abandonment, it can be seen that the classical intervention focused on problem, lasting less than three months, has no positive effect on the clients’ situation. This practically means that in such circumstances, the financial, human and material resources used for an intervention that lasts less than three months are wasted without significant results. The appreciative case management produces tangible results after a shorter period of time by comparison to the classical intervention. This can be seen in the results obtained within the experiment, which are due to the use of the appreciative approach in intervention. Focusing on problems in social work and the attempt to solve them may sometimes not result in their resolution; the orientation towards identifying deficiencies and dysfunctionalities yields poorer results than the appreciative intervention and preserves the problem.

Social and economic profitability of alternative measures to detention face to face with the visibility of the Romanian national probation system

20 years after the issue of Ordonnance 92/2000 which was establishing the need to provide services for the social reintegration of offenders and supervision for non-custodial sanctions, called from 2006 probation services, a national study was carried out on the visibility of probation system among citizens. The respondents were all the probation services Chiefs in the country and their opinion confirmed the hypothesis that the National Probation System, ignoring the recommendations of the Committee of Ministers of European Council, don't have a promoting strategy nither the concern for creating a recognizable image among the other actors involved in the justice act. Consequently, the field has so far failed to gain full consideration within the Romanian Criminal Justice System and visibility among citizens, although after 2014 when the New Criminal Code started to be applied, the number of offenders attended by probation services was tripled and the staff's attributions war extended. The article is structured in two parallel planes, first showing the social and economic benefits of alternative detention measures supervised by probation services in the light of the costs of incarceration and the second showing the unfair lack of visibility of these benefits and the unknown activity carried out by probation counselors for the social reintegration of offenders.

Cultural heroism: Mihail Manoilescu. On the work of Pantelimon, Cristi, Mihail Manoilescu. Corporate doctrine. Oscar Print, Bucharest, 2021

Dr. Pantelimon's book is a witness to our times: it refers to an essential work at a critical moment. Dr. Pantelimon provides us with an almost complete synthesis of the omnia work of the great economist, sociologist, publicist, engineer, and politician, finally, the great Romanian, Mihail Manoilescu. Why is the work in question so important? Because it is a reality management technique, without which we will not be able to make the leap from the orbit of underdevelopment to that of development. The study is focused on the chapter structure as well the metastructure of the book – the main ideas and concepts of the overall Manoilescu’s work. We shall discuss on protectionism, corporatism, autarchy, orthodoxy and corporatism etc.

The inequitable transition to the high school system. Case study: high school admission in Bucharest, Romania

The main objective of this article is to analyze the interaction between the principle of proximity in the enrollment process to primary school and the high school admission mechanism from an educational equity perspective. Specifically, I conduct a case study in which I analyze how the type of school graduated by a student in Bucharest influences the type of high school at which she will be admitted, given the present system of allocation. As such, I am interested in identifying the extent to which the school where the student is enrolled (when parents, theoretically cannot choose, as it is dependent on the street where they reside) can represent an explanatory factor for the probability to be admitted at a particular high school (a stage when parents and students can manifest their preferences for a school/specialization).

An international career rooted in the Gustian school. Acad. Mihail M. Cernea at the age of 90

Sociologist Michael M. Cernea, after a successful professional career in Romania, his native country, continued his work at the World Bank, in Washington, starting in 1974. He founded the department of sociology and influenced the perspective on social security within the Bank. Cernea was awarded the Bronisław Malinowski and Solon T. Kimball prizes for his scientific achievements, and he was elected member of the Romanian Academy. He is considered one of the most important thinkers in the fields of sociology of development and applied anthropology.

Post-socialism: conceptual evolution and future perspectives. A critical analysis

Burawoy (1999), Eyal (2001), Berdahl (2006), Cervinkova (2012) and others have proposed the concept of „postsocialism” as a way of describing the gap between socialism and capitalism. But, in a world marked by “rearrangements, reconfigurations and recombinations that yield new interweavings of the multiple social logics” (Stark, & Bruszt, 1998) what does postsocialism entail? This article aims to provide an overview of the different perspectives regarding the meaning of postsocialism, by bringing together and examining ideas represented in the theoretical literature. Starting from the idea of reframing the understanding of the past, this analysis explores postsocialism, as a process, from four perspectives: imitation, involution, emergence or zombie socialism. The critique serves as a starting point for future directions in postsocialism conceptualisations, in order to better understand the present based on the past.

Opportunities to optimize socio-educational support services accessible to students with learning difficulties in primary school

In Romania, since 1989, new trends have emerged in terms of transforming the educational system, so that it becomes accessible to all and offers equal opportunities for the beneficiaries of education. The aim of this research is to provide a multidimensional image of the socio-educational support environment accessible to students with learning difficulties/specific learning disabilities integrated in mainstream primary education in Oradea, from the perspective of the information, opinions and visions provided by primary education teachers and special pedagogues. The questionnaire based survey conducted among teachers in mainstream education allowed to obtain an overview of the issues analyzed in terms of opinions and evaluations. The focus group interview with participation of expert stakeholders aimed to obtain information from the social actors involved through their expertise and/or professional activity in the educational inclusion of students with learning difficulties. The overall picture of the research denotes that schools can provide specialized educational services for students in need, with only a small minority of schools not having the necessary conditions to provide these services. However, the research also shows that due to lack of knowledge or motivation, a significant share of the surveyed teachers do not use the various compensatory measures put forward in the national methodological recommendations that would contribute to improving students' chances. Primary school teachers would need, in this regard, to gain more expert knowledge from innovative models, experiences and good practices in the field.