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International studies using the European Social Survey (ESS) reveal higher support for Universal Basic Income (UBI) in poorer countries with less generous welfare systems, and among individuals with lower income and education, and leftist political leanings. We present data from the 2019−20 Australian Survey of Social Attitudes mirroring the ESS question. Australia falls in the middle of European opinion, with 51% supporting a UBI, increasing slightly during the onset of Covid-19. We also find higher support among two different groups: (1) those facing greater 'material' precarity, including younger, low-income, unemployed, suburban renters, and (2) those who have more post-materialist concerns, including Green-left voters and those favouring redistributive values. Unlike in other countries, higher education predicts more support, while homeownership predicts less. The article concludes with challenges to introducing UBI to Australia, including potentially contradictory strategies for different support bases (material vs post-material), ongoing commitments to means-testing, and negative framing in the media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global diaspora of Chinese migrants maintains vital economic, social and cosmopolitan connections between China and many Western countries. These migrants face the challenge of navigating and building social capital within Western host countries. Previous studies show that Chinese networks make use of pre-existing strong guanxi ties based on shared cultural expectations to support members. However, the thinness of guanxi networks in foreign countries raises doubts about their capacity to support the migration experience. This study uses qualitative interview data to show that both Chinese migrants and non-migrant Australians use strong ties to acquire resources, such as favours. However, Chinese migrants also make use of weak guanxi ties to seek favours in ways Australian non-migrants typically do not. This indicates a more important role for weaker – or what we call peripheral – ties in Chinese migrant guanxi networks than previous studies suggest, but also points to a lack of alternative resources amongst Chinese migrants struggling to build non-guanxi social capital ties with non-migrant populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging evidence suggests COVID lockdowns have not only increased the social problem of loneliness but widened the 'loneliness gap' between the most and least lonely people. Qualitative investigation can reveal why this gap might have increased, for whom, and whether the loneliness gap will remain long term. Using multi‐wave qualitative survey data conducted during Australia's 2020 lockdown period and beyond, we examine personal experiences of interaction transitioning out of lockdown. We find substantial and uneven impacts of COVID lasting well beyond lockdown. Participants reported heightened loneliness attributable to: physical isolation, health anxieties, ceased activities, reduced connection quality, and poor motivation. COVID also created new interactive difficulties for singles, those with physical and mental disabilities, their carers, and those with low social capital. There was also reported 'pruning' of social networks (i.e. reduced bridging, increased bonding social capital), and evidence that increased digital interaction did not substitute for lost physical contact. Younger people also experienced isolating COVID‐induced life disruptions (e.g. travel, university attendance etc). Findings suggest COVID has increased potential long‐term inequalities in loneliness, highlight the post COVID risks faced by vulnerable groups, and suggest caution in advocating digital solutions as a panacea for diminished physical interaction in the post‐pandemic world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Loneliness is becoming recognised as an important social issue with health and well‐being consequences. The recent and ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic has likely impacted loneliness through increased social isolation, though the effects may vary across urban and rural locations, where the dynamics of social capital, community cohesion and community divide are likely to differ. This paper consequently examines the different and compounding impacts of isolating disasters, such as bushfires and pandemics, on social capital and loneliness in urban and rural areas of Australia. This article compares experiences of loneliness in rural/regional and urban areas of Australia moving from the aftermath of the 2019–2020 bushfires into the COVID‐19 pandemic. Semi‐structured interviews provide a complex insight into how loneliness is experienced across different locations. The key findings included a higher sense of social divide exacerbating loneliness in rural communities, higher levels of loneliness among participants who lived alone in either area. It was concluded that loneliness was experienced extensively among those who were single and/or lived alone, regardless of their geographical location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social network dynamics are complex in the context of Chinese overseas migration because of the unique dynamics of guanxi, which are distinctly different from 'Western' social capital. The few migration studies comparing guanxi and social capital suggest that the former largely consists 'strong ties', while the latter is comprised of 'weak ties'. However, most apply only a cursory comparison of one network facet. We review core literature in the two fields to contrast what each says about network norms, structures and practices. We find that: (i) guanxi is characterised by dynamics of 'face' and renqing ; (ii) guanxi has core and peripheral aspects that grant it bonding and bridging qualities; (iii) weak ties in social capital networks are more beneficial for acquiring non-redundant resources, and for joining civic/voluntary associations; (iv) while strong, face-based guanxi ties better mobilise valuable resources, these ties are rarely transformed into social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contradictory work environments of new economies in late modernity are associated with a range of emotional experiences, requiring diverse emotion management strategies. Late modernity offers the capacity to pursue happy, safe, rewarding, and meaningful work for the privileged few; a potential trade-off between stressful meaningful and boring precarious work for a greater number; and the prospect of non-meaningful, precarious work for many in the new economy characterised by short-term contracts, gig work, precarity, and anxiety. This study draws on data from the 2015–16 Australian Social Attitudes Survey to examine workers' emotions in various combinations of meaningful and precarious employment, and the degree to which these emotions are managed. It finds that it is best to have secure meaningful work, worst to have highly precarious work, and slightly better to have safe but alienating than risky meaningful work, in terms of avoiding often hidden negative emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employment services are commonly provided in network settings, but it is rare to find social policy analyses of how unemployed people search for jobs through networks. In a germinal analysis of social networks and employment, Mark Granovetter argued that "weak ties" (less familiar contacts) are more important to finding employment than are "strong ties" (family and friends). This is because weak ties provide more novel job‐relevant information. Scholarship since Granovetter has predominantly supported the opposite argument, namely, that strong ties are more important for the unemployed, because they are more plentiful and thus provide more information in aggregate. Findings are also generally coloured by the focus being on "informal" networks or personal contacts. "Formal" networks, as represented most cogently by employment service providers, are absent or underestimated in most social network studies. On the basis of a qualitative study of 80 long‐term unemployed people in Australia, incorporating analysis of both informal and formal networks, we argue that although "strong informal" ties are vital to job search, it is also important to consider "weak formal" ties, which can be complementary if and where service organizations are able to supply positive case management experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social networks play an important role in helping people find employment, yet extant studies have argued that unemployed 'job-seekers' rarely engage in 'networking' behaviours. Previous explanations of this inactivity have typically focused on individual factors such as personality, knowledge and attitude, or suggested that isolation occurs because individuals lose access to the latent benefits of employment. Social stigma has been obscured in these debates, even as they have perpetuated stereotypes regarding individual responsibility for unemployment and the inherent value of paid work. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 80 unemployed Australians, this article argues that stigma-related shame is an important factor in networking decisions. First, it demonstrates that stigma is ubiquitous in the lives of the unemployed. Second, it identifies withdrawal from social networks and disassociation from 'the unemployed' as two key strategies that unemployed people use to manage stigma-related shame, and shows how these strategies reduce networking activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current research on emotions represents a broad church of methodological approaches. The essays in this special issue will investigate how social emotions inform research across numerous disciplinary fields and methodological approaches. This introduction will set out the social dimensions of emotions like shame, anger, anxiety, empathy and pity from a specifically sociological perspective. In sum, this will work to counter tendencies that individualise emotions as purely subjective or cognitive phenomena, and to demonstrate how the significance of social emotions is not restricted to any singular discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The teaching profession offers meaningful, stimulating work that accords with teachers' sense of professional pride and identity, but is also synonymous with high levels of stress, conflict (and associated emotions such as anger and shame) and ultimately, attrition. The degree to which teachers within a national population 'up-manage' the former or 'down-manage' the latter emotions is unknown. This study utilises new data from the Australian Survey of Emotions and Emotion Management (SEEM) to examine emotions and emotion management among teachers, and workers in comparable service roles, such as health care and customer service, in contemporary Australian society. It finds that teachers exhibit great natural happiness, but also experience and hide (through surface-acting) high levels of stress. Teachers also experience high levels of anger compared to other professions, though they usually manage this successfully through deep acting strategies. These findings imply that teachers are generally happy and professionally committed to (and proud of) their work, but at the cost of managing significant levels of stress and conflict. We discuss the implications for teacher professional development, initial teacher education and policy, and the need to investigate anger/shame dynamics and management in future research into pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary governments employ a range of policy tools to 'activate' the unemployed to look for work. Framing unemployment as a consequence of personal shortcoming, these policies incentivise the unemployed to become 'productive' members of society. While Foucault's governmentality framework has been used to foreground the operation of power within these policies, 'job-seeker' resistance has received less attention. In particular, forms of emotional resistance have rarely been studied. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 80 unemployed welfare recipients in Australia, this article shows that many unemployed people internalise activation's discourses of personal failure, experiencing shame and worthlessness as a result. It also reveals, however, that a significant minority reject this framing and the 'feeling rules' it implies, expressing not shame but anger regarding their circumstances. Bringing together insights from resistance studies and the sociology of emotions, this article argues that 'job-seeker' anger should be recognised as an important form of 'everyday resistance'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mobility and agency of the unemployed have rarely been examined together in welfare administration. Mobility research has much to offer the (im)mobility of low-skilled and unemployed workers. The article begins by critically examining dominant public discourse and policy reforms that stigmatise the assumed immobility of the unemployed. Drawing on empirical data from in-depth interviews with people on income support payments in Australia, it then offers a critical view on the mobility decision-making processes of these job-seekers. Building on previous research concerning the politics of mobility, it shows that structural inequalities impact mobility choices, making relocation difficult for many job-seekers. At the same time, it highlights the localised mobility that job search now involves, complicating orthodox associations between mobility and power – as well as assumptions that job-seekers are immobile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Governments increasingly promote employment through social networks (whether via formal job networks or informal personal networks). However, they rarely account for how weak-tie "bridging" networks and strong-tie "bonding" networks differentially affect employment outcomes. Given criticism that (usually weak-tie bridging-focussed) formal job networks are overly focussed on finding entry-level (i.e. any) jobs, it is imperative to understand the impact of strong and weak ties on securing work with good conditions, or of meaning to the worker. Such links are poorly understood in the present literature. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses national Australian survey data to assess whether support from close "friends" or distant "acquaintances" is associated with employment outcomes such as finding any work or "meaningful" work. Findings: The results show that relatively distant ties (close acquaintances) and emotional support from friends are each associated with reduced chances of being an unemployed/discouraged worker. Stronger ties (close friends) are associated with better chances of a having a "meaningful" job. Practical implications: More attention should be paid to tie strength dynamics and meaningful employment outcomes in the delivery of employment services. In particular, a role for active "close-tie brokers" in promoting networks should be investigated, instead of expecting/pushing the unemployed to rely on either extremely close or distant connections. Originality/value: This is the first study to find a link between network type and meaningful work, which has important implications for the delivery of employment services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research focusing on the management of emotion features prominently in studies of employee attrition, gender inequality and workplace satisfaction, but rarely in research on worker solidarity. Against a backdrop of increasing individualisation within late modern society, research about workplace management of emotion has become bifurcated along sociological or organisational psychology lines. Within the sociology literature, management of emotion is theorised as a commercialised, relational and (often) alienating experience. Within organisational psychology literature and research, the emphasis is on harnessing individual traits and skills (e.g. emotional intelligence) to regulate emotions for increased productivity and employee retention. In this article, the authors call for a new research agenda that prioritises the examination of solidarity between workers alongside the analysis of emotion management. This call is based in a critical reading of the sociological and organisational psychology scholarship addressing the management of emotions. Through the example of teaching work, the authors provide a critique of scholarship on workplace strategies that promote highly individualised understandings of managing emotions through resilience training and other simplified techniques. They argue that workplaces should recognise the dangers of uncritically adopting individualised strategies for managing emotions, and propose a research agenda that seeks to understand how emotion management can affect worker solidarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent quantitative investigations consistently single out considerable gender variations in the experience of loneliness in Australia, and in particular how men are especially prone to protracted and serious episodes of loneliness. In 2017 the Director of Lifeline implicated loneliness as a significant factor in suicide among Australian men – currently three times the rate of suicide among women. Compared to women men also struggle to talk about loneliness or seek help from a range of informal and professional sources. We know very little about men's experience of loneliness or why they are so susceptible to it currently and research is urgently needed in order to design specific interventions for them. To date, psychology has dominated the theoretical research on loneliness but in this article we argue that sociology has a key role to play in broadening out the theoretical terrain of this understanding so as to create culturally informed interventions. Most researchers agree that loneliness occurs when belongingess needs remain unmet, yet it is also acknowledged that such needs are culturally specific and changing. We need to understand how loneliness and gender cultures configure for men; how they are located in different ethnic, class and age cohort cultures as well as the changing social/economic/spatial/public/institutional bases for belonging across Australia. Theoretical enquiry must encompass the broader social structural narratives (Bauman, Giddens and Sennett) and link these to the changing nature of belonging in everyday life – across the public sphere, the domestic sphere, work, in kinship systems, housing and settlement patterns, associational life, in embodied relationships and online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A governance networks literature that uses social network analysis has emerged, but research tends to be more technical than conceptual. This restricts its accessibility and usefulness for non-quantitative scholars and practitioners alike. Furthermore, the literature has not adequately appreciated the importance of informal networking for the effective operation of governance networks. This can hinder inter-disciplinary analysis. Through a critical review, this article identifies four areas of challenge for the governance networks literature and offers four corresponding, complementary sets of concepts from the social network analysis field: (a) the difference between policy networks and governance networks, (b) the role and status of people in governance networks, (c) the ‘dark side’ of networks and the role of power differentials within them and (d) network evaluation and the question of ‘what works’ in network management. The article argues that a less technical, more accessible account of social network analysis offers an additional lens through which to view governance networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based in a novel ‘meta-reflexive’ review of sociology of emotions (SoE) articles, we suggest that there are two primary SoE theoretical traditions that function within geographic silos: the USA is distinctly social psychological, while in the UK and Australia, SoE is more aligned with the humanities. In both traditions, parallel calls are emerging for interdisciplinarity and further engagement with physiological and pre-personal elements of emotion. Based in Archer’s and Bourdieu’s concepts of reflexivity, we assert the merits of reflexively examining SoE, and then identify key changes in SoE that have emerged across time and geography. Using Kuhn’s work on paradigm shifts, we conclude that SoE is entering a stage of growth and change, and raise important questions about the subdiscipline’s future direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise in the network society might lead to a decline in face-to-face contact as people substitute it with more mediated forms, or an increase in both face-to-face and mediated contact as complements, with unknown consequences for social support. This article examines trends in social contact, mediated contact (phone, online, etc.), and social support in 2002, 2006 and 2010, using aggregated ABS General Social Survey data. Results show an aggregate decline in face-to-face contact and rise in mediated contact in Australia between 2002 and 2010, but no aggregate decline in perceived social support, and a strong positive individual-level association between both forms of contact and social support. There are, however, signs of an emerging class-based digital divide, with low-income older men and less educated respondents reporting lower levels of mediated contact and social support by 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population surveys of emotion offer great potential to understand subjective wellbeing, though most do not reveal how emotions other than happiness and satisfaction impact on daily lives. This article presents a case study analysis of data from Kahneman and Krueger’s (2006) Princeton Time and Affect Survey to demonstrate that the choice of emotions or affects measured in surveys does matter in determining wellbeing in contexts such as those in which gender plays an important role. It finds that that tiredness and interest (excluded from Kahneman and Krueger’s wellbeing construct) comprise a large part of American women’s but not men’s unpleasant education, unpaid housework, and childcare. The article concludes by suggesting that the most appropriate method for establishing a “minimum” set of emotions is to conduct survey-based “audits” of emotions experienced in daily activities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While events associated with the global financial crisis ( GFC) had a profound impact on real family incomes and well-being in many rich countries, impacts in Australia were relatively minor. One reason for this was the massive policy response by the Australian government at the outset of the GFC, which pumped billions of dollars into the pockets of low and middle income families. This article examines the impact of this stimulus on child poverty in Australia in the context of longer-term policies on income support for families with children. We show that the emphasis of longer-term policy has been to moderate support for families with children and that, since the mid-1990s, rates of relative child poverty have not fallen. We find that while the impact of the stimulus was to reduce child poverty, the underlying trajectory of policies towards family assistance and child poverty in Australia has not changed, and therefore there is no expectation that child poverty will continue to fall in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Australian young people have a high prevalence of mental health problems but low rates of service use. This article examines whether the Australian National Youth Mental Health Foundation, headspace, has helped redress this through providing youth-specific services. Method The article compares headspace service use demographics with population data from the Australian Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing from 2007. Results Headspace has improved access relative to the population, particularly among males and socially and economically excluded young people. Conclusions Despite overall successes, certain ethnic and age groups appear under-represented and in need of more careful targeting by youth mental health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is unclear how much gendered social exclusion and disconnection reflects a problem or a preference. Women may prefer market-disengagement despite the risk of exclusion from ‘normal’ social activities through financial incapacity, and men may prefer market-engagement despite the risk of disconnection from informal social networks. This article examines these issues amongst Australian men and women. It finds women, particularly single and low-income mothers, are more socially excluded, and men, particularly single middle-aged men, are the most socially disconnected, after preferences. Future policy should be cognisant of contact preferences, intra-household support dynamics, long work hours and prevailing gender norms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent findings that partnered and single fathers have less social contact than nearly all other types of men and women (Patulny, 2011) suggest that fatherhood brings the risk of a loss in men's social networks. This in turn risks a significant reduction in social support, particularly amongst men who separate and lose the bonding social capital resources of their female partners (Emerick, 2006). This paper examines social contact, efficacy and support amongst separated and partnered men and fathers using the 2006 Australian Bureau of Statistics' General Social Survey. Results show that fatherhood is not associated with any loss in social contact and support amongst married or de facto men. However, amongst separated men, fatherhood is associated with greater social contact, but less social support and efficacy in decision-making related to family and friends. The paper concludes that separated fathers feel less supported and empowered than partnered fathers, partnered mothers, or separated mothers; that this is potentially detrimental to their wellbeing and mental health; and that social engagement policies for men should be expanded with a greater focus on recently separated fathers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Partnerships among service providers are an important aspect of human service delivery, including in the early childhood and family service sector. There is extensive international literature on factors contributing to partnerships - also termed service coordination, collaboration or integration - but little evidence of partnership outcomes exists where partnerships are a funded and mandatory component of large-scale programmes. This paper reports findings from an evaluation of the Australian Government's Communities for Children (CfC) programme. Under CfC, partnerships were mandated and funded, and the evaluation findings show that the programme resulted in an increased number of agencies working together to support families with young children (0-5 years) and that working relationships between agencies improved. The effectiveness of these partnerships depended on funding for partnership activities and on organisational and practical factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There have been few evaluations of national area-based interventions. This study evaluated the early effects of Communities for Children (CfC) on children and their families and whether the effectiveness differed for more disadvantaged families. Methods: A quasi-experimental cohort study in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities in Australia. Mothers of children aged 2--3 years participated at wave 1; 1488 children in CfC communities and 714 children in comparison communities. Outcome measures included child health and development, family functioning and parenting, and services and community. Results: After controlling for background factors, there were beneficial effects associated with CfC. At wave 3, in CfC areas children had higher receptive vocabulary (mean difference (MD) 0.25, 95% CI --0.02 to 0.51; p=0.07), parents showed less harsh parenting (MD --0.14, 95% CI --0.30 to 0.02; p=0.08) and higher parenting self-efficacy (MD 0.11, 95% CI 0.00 to 0.21; p=0.04). Fewer children living in CfC sites were living in a jobless household (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.32 to 0.95; p=0.03) but children's physical functioning (MD --0.26, 95% CI --0.53 to 0.00; p=0.05) was worse in CfC sites. For children living in households with mothers with low education there were reduced child injuries requiring medical treatment (MD --0.61, 95% CI --0.07 to --1.13; p=0.03) and increased receptive vocabulary (MD 0.57, 95% CI 0.06 to 1.08; p=0.03). Conclusions: CfC showed some benefits for child receptive vocabulary, parenting and reducing jobless households and two adverse effects. Children living in the most disadvantaged households also benefited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social trust is an important phenomenon, but the influence of important time-based measures upon trust has not been examined. Such measures include social contact and anti-social activity, such as television watching, which allows for the co-presence of other people. This paper reports on associations between trust and weighted means of co-present 'social' time (defined as time spent in various 'social' activities) and co-present time spent watching television, using the Australian Time Use Survey, 2006. It finds that trust is associated with social time spent in the co-presence of 'strangers' predominately from outside the household, and that TV watching in the co-presence of 'familiars'-friends and family-is negatively associated with trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to show that numerous studies have advanced social capital research over the past decade. Most studies have accepted the theoretical distinction between bonding and bridging social capital networks. Many, however, tend to agglomerate empirical research under the one catch-all social capital concept, rather than classifying it according to the bonding/bridging distinction. Furthermore, most studies make little distinction on the basis of methodology, between qualitative and quantitative approaches to investigating social capital. These omissions need to be addressed. Design/methodology/approach - This paper reviews definitions and applications of bridging and bonding social capital, classifies empirical studies according to each network type, and produces a further breakdown according to methodological approach. Findings - The result is a four-part "grid" of social capital research, encompassing bonding and bridging, and quantitative and qualitative aspects. This paper finds that most qualitative research examines non-excludable and excludable goods and is relevant to bonding social capital, whilst most quantitative analysis looks at civic networks and norms of trust, and relates to bridging social capital. Research limitations/implications - Results advance the task of clarifying and measuring social capital. Practical implications - Further development of the bridging/bonding social capital conceptual pair should allow for a more precise measurement of a community, or region. Originality/value - No review paper to date captures the above empirical and methodological "grid" clearly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To demonstrate how a budget standards framework can provide valuable information on the income needed by older Australians to attain a specific standard of living in retirement. A budget standard is derived by specifying the items required to achieve a specific standard of living and pricing them to estimate how much is needed to buy them. This paper updates earlier estimates and develops a new comfortably affluent but sustainable (CAS) budget that represents the lifestyles and aspirations of self-funded retirees. Initial updating was in line with movements in the consumer price index, followed by revisions guided by data on actual expenditure patterns and by three sets of focus group interviews with 21 people aged between 61 and 76 years. The low cost standard for a 70-year-old women living alone in September 2003 was $253 a week. The modest but adequate standard is $330 a week, while the new CSA standard is $611 a week. The paper demonstrates that employing both quantitative and qualitative dimensions is necessary to give credibility to the complex task of estimating the income needed to attain a specific standard of living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]