The Ugly Laws Schweik, Susan
05/2009, Volume:
3
eBook
In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, municipallaws targeting "unsightly beggars" sprang up in cities across America. Seeming to criminalize disability and thus offering a visceral ...example of discrimination, these ugly laws have become a sort of shorthand for oppression in disability studies, law, and the arts.In this watershed study of the ugly laws, Susan M. Schweik uncovers the murky history behind the laws, situating the varied legislation in its historical context and exploring in detail what the laws meant. Illustrating how the laws join the history of the disabled and the poor, Schweik not only gives the reader a deeper understanding of the ugly laws and the cities where they were generated, she locates the laws at a crucial intersection of evolving and unstable concepts of race, nation, sex, class, and gender. Moreover, she explores the history of resistance to the ordinances, using the often harrowing life stories of those most affected by their passage. Moving to the laws' more recent history, Schweik analyzes the shifting cultural memory of the ugly laws, examining how they have been used - and misused - by academics, activists, artists, lawyers, and legislators.
Since the Middle Ages, the figures of poverty and marginality have aroused ambivalent reactions within French society, permanently torn between compassion and fear. The long nineteenth century did ...not escape these prejudiced feelings against the beggar and the vagrant, taking on an unprecedented dimension in the years 1880-1890 when the question of recidivism became acute. Faced with this "army of crime", experts of all kinds - alienists, doctors, psychiatrists, criminologists, magistrates, police officers and journalists - took up this burning social issue in a climate of insecurity and collective psychosis. They accuse them of all the evils and plagues (contagious diseases, petty crime, theft, prostitution, etc.) to explain the reasons why they indulge in this asocial state, placing them outside the dominant social norms. Thus, behind these discourses of exclusion and hatred, revealing a medicalization and a criminalization of wandering, the analysis of these impoverished and marginalized men and women reveals a more nuanced social reality that is linked to the working classes vulnerable to economic upheavals and the vagaries of life.
The increasing phenomenon of street children aiding visually challenged beggars and the risk factors involved in such activity is of much concern to social workers in Nigeria. With low investment in ...social protection for vulnerable children, a large number of children are constantly involved in income‐generating activities on the street. This study through in‐depth interviews explored the experiences of children who aid visually challenged beggars in a semi‐urban city in Nigeria. Findings based on lived experiences are thematically discussed in this study. Well‐coordinated social protection measures can keep vulnerable children off the street and within the safety net of their family.
The study set out to analyse the differences in the characteristics and spatial distribution of urban beggars in Sanglah, Denpasar City. It employed survey research for data collection by ...observation, structured interviews with a questionnaire, and documentation. These data were later processed and analysed in a quantitative descriptive manner. The results show that, based on religion, there were two groups of beggars, namely Muslim and Hindu. Spatially, the Hindu beggars disregarded the religion of the people they implored, whereas the Muslim beggars would only target the houses and shops owned by Muslims. Those two class of beggars differ in languages, bagging duration, daily-earning, clothing, and sympathy-drawing strategy during the panhandling.
Research Question (RQ): Occupational health and safety (OH&S) is an important cornerstone of social development and one of the key elements of modern organizations' operations. Therefore, our primary ...research question was whether the number of organizations with the ISO 45001:2018-certified OH&S system affects the number of accidents at work in EU member states. Purpose: The primary purpose of our research was to obtain the answer to our research problem. In addition, the research examined possible correlations between accidents at work, number of employed persons in EU member states and number of organizations certified to ISO 45001:2018. Method: The analysis was based on the Eurostat data on the number of accidents at work and the number of employed persons in the 27 EU member states, as well as on data of International Organization for Standardization, on the number of organizations certified to ISO 45001:2018 in 2020. The ESAW methodology was applied to calculate the incidence rate and the ISO 45001:2018 certificate rate. Statistical processing of numerical data was done by means of the Minitab software, while the obtained results are shown in bar charts. The set hypotheses were tested by calculating the Spearman's correlation coefficient »rs« and by regression analysis. Results: In 2020, 2,738,920 accidents at work were recorded in EU member states, 3,355 of which were fatal. In absolute terms, the highest number of non-fatal accidents was observed in Germany, while the number of fatal accidents was the highest in Italy. The highest incidence rate of non-fatal accidents was recorded in Denmark, while that of fatal accidents was observed in Cyprus. In 2020, there were 30,849 organizations in the EU with the OH&S system certified to ISO 45001:2018, with Italy being the country with the highest number of certificates issued per 100,000 employed persons. It was established that there is a correlation between the number of accidents at work, number of employed persons, number of ISO 45001:2018 certificates, incidence rate and ISO 45001:2018 certificate rate. The main finding of our research is that the number of organizations certified to ISO 45001:2018 does affect the number of accidents at work in EU member states. An increase in the number of certified organizations results in a decrease in the incidence rate. Organization: The research provides information on the number of accidents at work and the number of issued ISO 45001:2018 certificates in EU member states. However, the major finding for organizations is that by implementing the OH&S management system certified to ISO 45001:2018 they can reduce the number of accidents at work. The results of our research may stimulate noncertified organizations to obtain certification. Society: The findings of our study can provide a basis for society and, in particular, legislators to strengthen the measures in terms of incentives for organizations to opt for ISO 45001:2018 certification of their OH&S systems, resulting in the reduction of accidents at work. Originality: The study examined the current 27 EU member states and was based on the latest publicly available Eurostat data on accidents at work in 2020. In terms of exploring the impact of the OH&S management system certified to ISO 45001:2018 on the number of accidents at work, our study is the first of its kind in the EU. Limitations / further research: The study was limited to the EU area and the latest publicly available Eurostat data on accidents at work in 2020, which were only studied in terms of non-fatal and fatal accidents. It would be useful to extend the study to the geographical area of Europe and to address the industries in which organizations operate. In particular, we suggest that the analysis be conducted over several consecutive years, which would enable the study of the trend of the effect of the ISO 45001:2018-certified OH&S system on the number of accidents at work.
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