Social Stratification Research Articles

Foraging for the future: traditional culinary uses of wild plants in the Western Himalayas–Kashmir Valley (India)

BackgroundIn the intricate tapestry of food security, wild food species stand as pillars, nourishing millions in low-income communities, and reflecting the resilience and adaptability of human societies. Their significance extends beyond mere sustenance, intertwining with cultural traditions and local knowledge systems, underscoring the importance of preserving biodiversity and traditional practices for sustainable livelihoods.MethodsThe present study, conducted between February 2022 and August 2023 along the Line of Control in India’s Kashmir Valley, employed a rigorous data collection encompassing semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and specific field observations facilitated through a snowball sampling technique.Results and discussionThe comprehensive inventory includes 108 edible plant and fungal species from 48 taxonomic families, with Rosaceae (N = 11) standing out. Young and soft leaves (N = 60) are an important component of various culinary preparations, with vegetables (N = 65) being the main use, followed by fruits (N = 19). This use is seasonal, with collection peaks in March–April and June–August (N = 12). The study also highlights the importance of use value (UV), with Portulaca oleracea standing out as the plant taxon (UV = 0.61), while Asyneuma thomsoni has the lowest use value (UV = 0.15). Many species such as Senecio chrysanthemoides, Asperugo procumbens, Asyneuma thomsoni, and Potentilla nepalensis were classified as new for gastronomic use. Furthermore, the study underlines the great cultural importance of mushrooms such as Morchella esculenta and Geopora arenicola in influencing social hierarchies within the community. However, the transmission of traditional knowledge across generations is declining in the region. At the same time, the conservation of endangered plant species on the IUCN Red List, such as Trillium govanianum, Taxus wallichiana, Saussurea costus, and Podophyllum hexandrum, requires immediate attention.ConclusionConservation measures should be prioritized, and proactive remedial action is needed. Further research into the nutritional value of these edible species could pave the way for their commercial cultivation, which would mean potential economic growth for local communities, make an important contribution to food security in the area under study, and contribute to scientific progress.

Self-organization of social hierarchies studied with Monte-Carlo simulations; self-destroying join-believe-fight system as an inevitable outcome

Monte-Carlo simulations were used to describe the interactions between cellular automata, socio-economic ‘agents’, in society. In a first simulation we repeat work in literature of a system of independent agents. We repeat the finding that the strongest agent will confiscate all wealth. In a second simulation we show how agents can prevent against such theft, or steal better, by joining forces. So-called join-believe-fight (joining, believing unquestionably in the narrative of the faction, and fighting other factions). We now take cooperations between factions of joined agents into account. The final outcome is that society obliterates libertarians (those that are reluctant to join forces) and winds up in a situation in which all surviving agents are joined in a single faction. However, it is reasoned that then fights within this single faction will start, since this end situation resembles the starting point of entire society; the single faction has become entire society and the game recommences. It is a snake that bites its own tail and goes around forever attacking.

Marital Discord and Pursuit of Gender Equality in Manju Kapur’s Custody Novel

The landscape of Indian literature has never been found to be equal in contribution from both the genders. It has always been dominated by male writers. It is very fair to say that the aspirations and expectations of Indian women have been largely confined to the ambit of moral and social commitments prevailing in our country. By and large, the Indian women writers in English have come from higher social strata and they do not have felt experience regarding reality of life in India. Despite it, they have started questioning the wisdom of prominent old patriarchal domination and they are no longer willing to play a subservient role to men. They have proved their mettle in literature both qualitative and quantitative wise. In the modern English fiction, the emergence of women centred or feminist approaches have been major developments. For establishing their identity, several Indian women writers have been delving deep into female subjectivity. The image portrayed by these writers regarding women has undergone a complete change. It is due to a paradigm shift in the attitude of the Indian women writers in portraying women as self -sacrificing persons to strong individuals trying to establish their identity. Among the prominent Indian women writers, Manju Kapur has carved a niche for herself by highlighting issues pertaining to patriarchy, family bonding, male –female bonding, inter religious marriage and co -existence of past and present. In 20th century, the works of Indian women writers have been considered as powerful equipment for making modernist and feminist statements. Feminism in India became an accepted doctrine and it was able to gradually set aside the male supremacy prevailing in the society. In fact, the history of feminism in India can be considered in three different phases. The first phase started when the British initiated steps against evil Sati practice. The next co-related with Quit India movement and the third took place after independence when there was a clamour for fair treatment from feminine gender after marriage. This article explains the part played by feminine gender at the domestic front and their willingness to be economically and socially independent and the challenges faced by them in attaining independence in a male dominated society.

Determinants of Inequalities in the Exposure to and Adoption of Multiple Health Risk Behaviors among Brazilian Adolescents, 2009-2019.

The occurrence of multiple risk behaviors among adolescents imposes challenges in the context of public policies of health, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Evidence on the conditions leading to the exposure to and adoption of multiple risk behaviors allows the identification of vulnerable groups of adolescents, and may support the proposition of targeted strategies directed to individuals at risk. Therefore, the aim of this study was to perform a quantitative analysis to identify recent trends in the exposure to and adoption of multiple health risk behaviors among Brazilian adolescents, highlighting individual-, household-, and school-level characteristics linked to inequalities among social groups. The analysis was based on cross-sectional data from the National Student Health Survey (PeNSE), conducted by the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics in 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2019. The trends in the occurrence of multiple risk behaviors among adolescents were estimated according to social strata, allowing the calculation of concentration indexes and their disaggregation into major determinants of inequalities in the exposure and adoption of risk behaviors. The analyses were conducted using a complex survey design to allow representativeness at the population level. The results showed a rise in the incidence of multiple risk behaviors among youngsters in Brazil from 2009 to 2019. Factors influencing inequalities in the exposure to multiple risk behaviors were socioeconomic status and the characteristics of the household and school environments, whilst the adoption of multiple risk behaviors was also influenced by early exposure to multiple risk behaviors. Furthermore, trends in inequalities in the exposure to and adoption of multiple risk behaviors showed an intensification from 2009 to 2019, being initially concentrated among wealthier adolescents, followed by a transition to higher incidence in the lower socioeconomic strata in 2012 and 2015, respectively. The findings underscore the role of support systems for adolescents at risk within the familial and school contexts, whereas strategies of public policies of health based on the strengthening of community ties may require improvements to tackle socioeconomic inequalities in the occurrence of risk behaviors among youngsters.

Expression of novel androgen receptors in three GnRH neuron subtypes in the cichlid brain.

In teleosts, GnRH1 neurons stand at the apex of the Hypothalamo-Pituitary-Gonadal (HPG) axis, which is responsible for the production of sex steroids by the gonads (notably, androgens). To exert their actions, androgens need to bind to their specific receptors, called androgen receptors (ARs). Due to a teleost-specific whole genome duplication, A. burtoni possess two AR paralogs (ARα and ARβ) that are encoded by two different genes, ar1 and ar2, respectively. In A. burtoni, males stratify along dominance hierarchies, in which an individuals' social status determines its physiology and behavior. GnRH1 neurons have been strongly linked with dominance and circulating androgen levels. Similarly, GnRH3 neurons are implicated in the display of male specific behaviors. Some studies have shown that these GnRH neurons are responsive to fluctuations in circulating androgens levels, suggesting a link between GnRH neurons and ARs. While female A. burtoni do not naturally form a social hierarchy, their reproductive state is positively correlated to androgen levels and GnRH1 neuron size. Although there are reports related to the expression of ar genes in GnRH neurons in cichlid species, the expression of each ar gene remains inconclusive due to technical limitations. Here, we used immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization chain reaction (HCR), and spatial transcriptomics to investigate ar1 and ar2 expression specifically in GnRH neurons. We find that all GnRH1 neurons intensely express ar1 but only a few of them express ar2, suggesting the presence of genetically-distinct GnRH1 subtypes. Very few ar1 and ar2 transcripts were found in GnRH2 neurons. GnRH3 neurons were found to express both ar genes. The presence of distinct ar genes within GnRH neuron subtypes, most clearly observed for GnRH1 neurons, suggests differential control of these neurons by androgenic signaling. These findings provide valuable insight for future studies aimed at disentangling the androgenic control of GnRH neuron plasticity and reproductive plasticity across teleosts.

The role of letters of recommendation in perpetuating or challenging the social stratification of American secondary schools: a quantitative analysis of admission officer assessments in highly selective college admission

Admission to highly selective institutions offers a pathway to upward social mobility, particularly for low-resource students. However, entrenched wealth disparities in the United States present serious challenges for admission officers at highly selective institutions. Utilizing individualized holistic review (IHR), including letters of recommendation (LOR), and contextual consideration, highly selective institutions aim to account for wealth inequities. This quantitative analysis, conducted at a highly selective research university, examined 95,326 applicants across 4 years to explore if admission officers’ internal assessments of LORs relate to contextual independent variables beyond students’ control. Statistical methods, including ANOVA, Two-Way ANOVA, Chi-Square, multiple linear regression, and logistic regression, were employed, controlling for standard measures of academic readiness. Findings revealed higher LOR assessments for students facing greater contextual challenge levels, underscoring the ability of the admission process to identify high achieving students from high challenge contexts. Paradoxically, elevated LOR ratings were also observed for students from private and smaller schools, indicating a nuanced interplay of factors in the admission process. Importantly, LOR assessments significantly correlated with admission outcomes, emphasizing the pivotal role of LORs in highly selective college admissions. This study reveals the nuanced role of LORs in admissions, exposing their potential to tackle inequities. It calls for improved IHR training and heightened consideration of contextual variables, offering a crucial contribution to advancing equity in highly selective institutions, fostering more informed admission practices.

Sociological measures of inequality

Abstract Concepts and measures of ‘social class’ and of ‘social stratification’ are used extensively within sociology and its cognate disciplines, but differ from indicators of inequality such as earnings, income, wealth, educational attainment and local area deprivation that are used elsewhere in this collection. This commentary outlines characteristics of sociological measures of inequality, discusses their relative merits and highlights some different conclusions and interpretations that a focus on sociological measures can bring to our understanding of inequality.

A longitudinal behavioral analysis of aquarium whale sharks (Rhincodon typus): insights into anticipatory cues, individual variation, and social interaction

Rhincodon typus, or the whale shark, is the largest extant fish in the world and is classified as endangered on the IUCN’s Red List. Due to their enormous size and conservation status, whale sharks are rarely housed in aquaria. Here we present a behavioral analysis culminating from a large effort by 89 observers from 2008–2012 to study four R. typus (ID codes: AL, TA, TR, YU) longitudinally in an aquarium setting. We found that relatively simple behavioral metrics such as swim speed, depth occupation, swimming direction, and lead-follow interactions demonstrated R. typus individual variation and responses to habitat changes. All sharks displayed increased swim speeds 30-minutes before regimented feed times, when there was scent of food being fed to other animals in the habitat. Consistently in the habitat, one male shark (YU) was recorded swimming more at depth, faster, almost exclusively clockwise, and engaged in fewer close proximity interactions with others than expected by chance. In contrast, a larger female shark (AL) was observed swimming the slowest, at the surface more than others, led other sharks more than she followed, and had strong lead-follow interactions with another shark of the opposite sex (TA). TA and TR did not differ from each other in depth profiles or speed, but did differ in their proclivity to lead or follow. Depth preferences and lead-follow interactions suggest some partitioning of the habitat and the possibility of social hierarchy in this species. These results represent the first longitudinal behavioral analysis of aquarium R. typus, offering meaningful similarities and contrasts to field observations.

Grappling with real property supremacy in US urban climate finance

In US cities, drives to secure property value against climate risks have become a preoccupation for mainstream climate finance. This real property bias sidelines non-owners and inhabitants of historically marginalized housing types, limiting their capacity to prepare for and recover from climate change events. In this intervention, we survey major pathways of existing climate finance, before turning to emerging trends for residential ‘climate-proofing,’ retrofitting efforts that bring climate finance ‘home’ to the building level. Building on the concept of ‘real property supremacy,’ we demonstrate how resourcing climate response is limited by the privileging of real property in the structure and distribution of low-carbon financial tools and incentives. We argue that this privileging reproduces hierarchies of protection for some, while exacerbating existing social inequalities, exclusions, and predations for others—ultimately, yielding greater control over climate futures to those with asymmetrical power over real property. This structurally unequal treatment risks locking-in extant social hierarchies embedded in US real property relationships instead of seizing opportunities to transform them via the historic urban investments required for climate change.

Addressing urban social and spatial stratification: testing the potential for integration of public housing

The legacy of public housing in the American city is dominated by a condition of social and spatial stratification. In New York City, inadequate funding exacerbates the conditions of isolated public housing residents, raising questions about the stability and sustainability of public housing. At a time when a severe housing crisis is impacting on the affordability of and access to urban housing generally, addressing this legacy of public housing can be the impetus for a long-term vision that integrates public housing into the fabric of the city, providing new housing options for public housing residents while merging them into mixed-income neighbourhoods with redefined public spaces and increased services and amenities. This approach to a long-term vision, built around high-density mid-rise development, contrasts with the incremental approach currently expedient due to the social and political climate surrounding public housing. However, current resistance to an aggressive strategy belies another part of the legacy of public housing: the major demolition of city streets and blocks that made possible the anti-urban planning that undergirds this isolation and stratification. Empirical evidence supports urban design that builds on the nineteenth-century city’s urban form of small blocks and active streets as the foundation for vital urban neighbourhoods. This study of the political and urban design efforts to address the severe challenges facing public housing tests the potential for a path, when the political and social climate allows, for an aggressive strategy to preserve public housing that centres on social and spatial integration.

Selection effects in education and implications for educational opportunity: state of the field and future directions

ABSTRACT Whether intended by education policy (e.g., via school entrance examinations) or unintended (e.g., via social stratification), selection effects in education (who goes where, gets what, and how much) shape educational opportunities – influencing the life chances of individuals and groups, and the structure of societies. However, within the quantitative approach to educational research, current statistical methods can struggle to simultaneously evaluate both the presence and impacts of these effects. In turn, this methodological limitation impedes efforts to facilitate equality of educational opportunity. This paper responds with a critical overview of types of selection effects in education, their consequences for educational opportunity, and the statistical methods used for their identification. Two empirical illustrations show how a new statistical method (“airbag moderation”) can enable better detection and evaluation of selection effects in education and help direct future research into selection effects in education with a focus on opportunities for equality of educational opportunity.

The slowness of language, the speed of capital: conflicting temporalities of the “green transition” in the Swedish north

Abstract Following substantial investments in battery production and fossil-free steel, a few select places in northern Sweden are currently undergoing rapid economic and cultural changes. The aim of this article is to explore the role language education plays for three different groups of (im)mobile subjects – refugees, labor migrants, and cosmopolitan elites – in the ongoing social transformations. By using the time-consuming and ideologically charged social practice of teaching and learning languages as a lens, it is argued that although framed as a sustainability project, the pace of the transformation is set by the accelerating logic of capitalism, posing a challenge to the democratic planning of inclusive local communities, as well as to societal subsystems characterized by much slower temporal regimes. Hence, although Sweden is committed to a “just transition” as part of the Paris Agreement, some are obviously benefiting much more than others from this transition. This paper further highlights the potentially high costs for the local communities that “win” the bids for the new green industries. Apart from considerable economic costs in the present, another result might also be increased social stratification and weakening social cohesion in the long term.

Bordering and status-harms

ABSTRACT This paper examines how everyday practices of ‘bordering’, as conceived by Yuval- Davis, Wemyss, and Cassidy (2019) as the ongoing proliferation of border sites where migrants are assessed to be fit for inclusion or exclusion, may violate moral respect by subjecting migrants to a wide array of discriminatory treatment, leading to what I call ‘status-harms’. Section II begins by providing an overview of bordering and the various forms it has taken, such as internal immigration checkpoints or even online visa application processes. Section III develops an account of comparative and non-comparative status-harms and why they constitute violations of moral respect. There, I pay special attention to comparative status-harms by proposing three conditions under which a comparative status-harm can be said to have occurred: (a) if an individual or group is singled out for disadvantageous treatment that others are not subjected to on the basis of a socially salient attribute, (b) if the attribute marks them out as inferior relative to those who are not affected thus, and (c) ascriptions of inferior status occur within a morally objectionable social hierarchy where they are targeted by hostile norms and practices centred around that attribute. I then consider how discriminatory practices of bordering routinely imposes status-harms on migrants. Section IV draws a distinction between two types of discrimination that migrants may be subjected to at border sites, which I term policy-based discrimination and procedure-based discrimination, and explores their relationship to the comparative and non-comparative status-harms suffered by migrants. I conclude in Section V.

Development of an algorithm to detect feed bunk replacement events in growing cattle from feeding event data acquired by an electronic feed intake measurement system

Visual observations of competitive feeding behavior in cattle have been associated with animal productivity, health, and social hierarchy. However, human visual observations are time consuming, limiting the number of animals that can be evaluated. The objective of this study was to develop and assess an algorithm to detect disruptive feed bunk replacement events using feeding event data acquired from the Vytelle SENSE feed intake measurement system. Crossbred beef steers (N = 20) fed a grower diet were housed in one of two pens each equipped with three electronic feed bunks and a video recorder. A trained video observer recorded all feed bunk replacement events (when an actor animal displaced a reactor animal from the feed bunk and occupied the same feed bunk within a specified time interval, termed as the replacement criterion) and other agonistic activities at the feed bunk during a 4-d period. The Vytelle SENSE feed intake measurement system recorded the start and end timestamps of individual bunk visit (BV) events of animals. An algorithm was developed to determine replacement events based on the start and end times of consecutive BV events. Using video observation as the gold standard, the recall, precision, and F-score of the algorithm was calculated corresponding to time intervals from 1 to 60 s. The optimum replacement criterion was determined to be ≤ 18 s and ≤ 22 s for pens 1 and 2 respectively. The recall, precision, and F-score of the algorithm using these replacement criterions were high (> 0.75). A competition index was computed for each steer, calculated as the number of actor-initiated events divided by the number of actor and reactor events at the feed bunk. Spearman’s rank correlations (rs) between total visually observed agonistic interactions at the feed bunk and the replacement events detected from the electronic feeding event data using the algorithm and replacement criterion of the respective pen was determined. There were strong correlations (rs ≥ 0.71; P < 0.05) between the observed and electronic values for the number of actor and reactor events, and the competition index. These results demonstrate the potential to quantify disruptive feed bunk replacement events in confined beef cattle using electronically collected feeding event data from the Vytelle SENSE feed intake measurement system.

POSTMODERNIST VIEWS OF TIME AND SPACE IN LITERATURE

The paper analyzes the postmodernist perspectives on time and space portrayed in literature. Postmodernism, as a literary and cultural movement, questions conventional ideas about time and space by highlighting their flexibility, disintegration, and subjective characteristics. Postmodernist literature frequently feature non-linear storylines that blur the distinctions among past, present, and future, interrupting the conventional linear flow of time. Postmodernist literature examines how space is created and dismantled, highlighting its dependence on social and political factors. Spaces are considered to be socially produced structures that mirror and sustain power dynamics and social hierarchies. This paper summarizes the main features of postmodernist perspectives on time and space, emphasizing their influence on narrative organization, identity development, and the examination of power dynamics. The paper highlights the impact of postmodernist views on time and space, such as disrupting conventional narratives, shifting authority, and offering different interpretations of reality. This abstract provides insights on how postmodernist literature questions traditional concepts of time and space, creating opportunities for fresh inquiry and interpretation.

Comments on technological intervention and influence on human communication: From the perspective of folkloristics

This paper explores the evolution of human communication technologies, emphasizing the intertwined relationship between oral and written mediums across different stages: orality, literacy, printing, and the internet. The study underscores the persistent importance of orality, indicating that despite technological advancements, language's core role remains unchallenged in human communication. Delving into the limitations of orality, such as constraints in human memory and auditory abilities, the work addresses the crucial invention of devices and symbolic systems to record and transmit information more effectively. The transition from oral to written communication is analyzed not merely as a technical progression, but also as a factor impacting cultural dynamics and social hierarchies. Significant changes in communication practices are traced from the creation of writing scripts to the advent of printing and digital technology. The examination of such evolutions reveals the constant human effort to overcome biological constraints and leverage technology to meet increasingly complex communication needs. The study ultimately draws a fascinating parallel between ancient oral traditions and contemporary internet communication, stressing the ongoing relevance of orality even in our digitized era.

סוגיית העדפת בני המקום בהקצאות קרקע למגורים בסוגי יישוב שונים בישראל

The question of who has the right to reside in a particular locality has been at the center of public and legal discourse in Israel for many years. This is the result of official and unofficial mechanisms intended to exclude certain individuals or groups. This article deals with a related though different issue, which focuses on the preference given to locals during the allocation of state land. Addressing this question requires a discussion of issues such as individual freedom, the meaning of home, the importance of family, the significance of residency in a particular place, the nature of various types of settlements in Israel, justice in land distribution and the necessity of correcting of historical wrongs versus the perpetuation of existing social stratification, as well as the preservation of existing communities versus concerns about pushing them out of a neighborhood or settlement. After presenting a framework for thinking about the issue of preference of locals, the article conducts a critical examination of the existing legal framework in Israel in both rural areas, where the right of residency is managed by cooperative associations, and urban areas, which include, for this purpose, the settlements of minorities. The conclusion drawn from this analysis is that the same flaws in legal decision making with respect to acceptance by a settlement also exist in the regulation of the preference for locals. The social and economic outcomes that affect the lives of individuals and the distribution of land in Israel perpetuate established ways of thinking about forms of residency and about disparities and social differentiation in Israel.

Socioeconomic and gender disparities in depression among elderly Chinese individuals

The positive relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and health is well established in Western societies. However, while research mainly focuses on SES measures such as education and income, these measures may not completely capture the characteristics of social stratification in China. In the socio-historical context of China, for example, the work unit sector is a crucial SES factor. Yet, few health studies have paid attention to unique SES factors in China. Furthermore, women generally report worse mental health than men, but it is unclear whether this gender gap could be influenced by SES. In this article, using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we (1) expand SES measures to explore the impact of the work unit sector and use other SES measures, including Communist Party of China (CPC) membership and hukou (household registration) status, to examine the relationship between SES and depression and (2) investigate whether SES could modify the relationship between gender and depression. We find that all the SES measures negatively predict the depression symptoms of elderly individuals. We also find that women on average report higher depressive symptom scores than men. However, the gender differences in depressive symptom scores are smaller among elderly individuals with higher SES than among those with lower SES. We demonstrate that the work unit sector and CPC membership are crucial SES factors affecting the mental health of elderly Chinese individuals. Moreover, we show that the gender gap in depression could vary by SES, suggesting that women might benefit more from obtaining higher SES.

Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges: Towards Inclusive and Resilient Cities through Social Diversity and Participation

In a world facing displacement, violent conflicts, climate change, and urban sprawl, urban settings are plagued byinequality, poverty, injustice, and racial and class divisions. These divisions exacerbate violence, crime, and racism. Asurban planners, it is crucial to recognize and develop solutions for present and emerging challenges. Evaluating diversesocial activities with stakeholder participation is essential for fulfilling public interests. This study aims to identify bestpractices for socially sustainable urban environments by leveraging urban diversity and social participation. Byenvisioning inclusive, resilient, and socially sustainable cities, this research investigates participatory urban designthrough case studies of social-diversity-focused projects worldwide. The methodology includes selecting case studiesbased on criteria like geographical representation and levels of community engagement. The objective is to deriveimplementable recommendations for creating inclusive, resilient, and socially sustainable urban environments byanalyzing the impact of social diversity and participation on urban resilience.

Producing labour stratification: how migration policies affect the working, living and housing conditions of migrant farmworkers

ABSTRACT Based on a long-term investigation of migrant farmworkers within the Sicilian agricultural districts, this paper aims to use the lens of migratory stratification to scrutinize the various changes that have occurred in the agricultural sector over the past decade. Drawing on ethnographic data from an empirical study conducted on the working and living conditions of migrant farmworkers, this paper will shed light on the economic and social stratification strategies fostered by EU migration policies. In line with the issues addressed in this special issue, the paper analyses how migrant regulatory procedures have resulted in the deterioration of migrant farmworkers’ working, living and housing conditions. Before the so-called ‘refugee crisis’, the stratification of migrant farmworkers was mainly based on country of origin and involved labourers due to different times of arrival and legal status; with the onset of the ‘refugee crisis’, the mechanisms of stratification and labour substitution mainly involved asylum seekers.