Communal Terms Research Articles

How teaching surgeons communicate: An analysis of intraoperative discourse among male and female surgeons

BackgroundOur objective was to compare the use of agentic (“I”) and communal (“we”) spoken intraoperative discourse between male and female attending and resident surgeons. MethodsWe analyzed transcripts involving attending and resident surgeons from 5 specialties at a single Midwestern academic teaching hospital. We adapted and expanded Grebelsky-Lichtman's codes, assessed rater agreement, and systematically coded transcripts for agentic and communal terms. Differences between genders and roles were evaluated using Mann-Whitney U tests. ResultsIn the operating room, attendings used significantly more Action Demands, Rationality, Collective Speech, Passive Speech, Nurturing Speech, and Degree Modifiers. Conversely, residents used significantly more Assertive Speech, and Display Solution. Attendings were also more likely to use Action Demands combined with Passive Speech. No significant gender differences were found in any categories. ConclusionsLanguage use in the OR is more closely associated with professional role rather than gender and may reflect underlying power dynamics and the nature of the surgical teaching environment.

Toll Disputes, Grain Marketing, and Economic Culture in England, c. 1550–1800

AbstractTolls were not only fundamental to the operation of early modern English markets, but also had the capacity to generate tensions that belied their seemingly unremarkable role in contemporary economic affairs. Yet, tolls and toll disputes have received little attention in studies of market regulation and have also been neglected in studies of the politics of grain supply and marketing. This article revives tolls as an object of enquiry and suggests that they occupied an ambiguous position within early modern English economic culture. Tolls raised complex questions about how self-interest operated in a society that conceptualized bargaining primarily in communal terms and emphasized the social and moral obligations that should underpin it. While this was arguably true of tolls on all goods, it was especially true of tolls on grain – a commodity that occupied a singular place in contemporary socio-economic relations. By examining how competing parties in toll disputes articulated and sought to defend their interests, and how their respective tactics changed over time, this article sheds new light on the dynamics involved in England’s transition from one way of thinking about economic activity to another.

Gender and Language in Letters of Recommendation for Obstetrics and Gynecology Fellowship Applications

To delineate the use of gender-biased language in letters of recommendation for Obstetrics and Gynecology fellowships and its impact on applicants. Fellowship letters of recommendation from 4 Obstetrics and Gynecology specialties at a single institution in 2020 were included. frequency of agentic and communal language in letters of recommendation using Linguistics Inquiry Word Count software. letter of recommendation length and language utilization by author gender and applicant success measured by interviews and match success. Marginal models were fit to determine if language varied by applicant and writer gender and subspecialty. Modified Poisson regression models were used to determine associations between language and interview receipt. Single academic institution (Duke University); 2020 OB/GYN fellowship application cycle. A total of 1216 letters of recommendation submitted by 326 unique applicants for OB/GYN subspecialty fellowships at our institution. Rates of gender-biased language were low (Agentic:1.3%; communal: 0.8%). Agentic term use did not vary by applicant or author gender (p = 0.78 and 0.16) Male authors utilized 19% fewer communal terms than females (p < 0.001). Each 0.25% increase in agentic language was associated with an 18% reduction in the probability of interview invitation at our institution (p = 0.004). Percentage of agentic or communal language was not associated with successful matching into any subspecialty. No differences in agentic vs communal language based on applicant gender were found in this cohort, though female letter writers wrote longer letters with more communal terms. Increasing agentic terms negatively impacted interview invitation but did not affect successful matching.

Parmanu: the story of Pokhran (2018)- the saffronization of India’s quest for a nuclear weapon

ABSTRACT Parmanu (2018) is a commercial action-cum-spy flick that recounts a highly stylized history of India’s efforts to become a Pokhrannuclear weapons state through the narrative device of the Mahabharat, one of India’s two great Sanskrit epics. In doing so, it renders India’s quest for nuclear weapons in explicitly communal terms rather than national terms. Parmanu exemplifies Modi’s co-optation of Bollywood for his personal gain and that of his party, the BJP. It also participates in the BJP’s communal agenda of forging new, muscular image of India at home and abroad.

Insights on student-centred and knowledge-centred teaching: Jewish studies teachers, pedagogy and community

ABSTRACT The contrast between student-centred and knowledge-centred teaching is explored through a qualitative case study exploration of the pedagogies (Bruner’s ‘folk pedagogies’) of six teachers of Jewish studies. These teachers, based in orthodox Jewish schools in the UK and Australia, discussed their roles as teachers in the context of their responsibility for inducting students into the Jewish community. They appear to overcome (or at least mitigate) the tensions between being student-centred and knowledge-centred through understanding both students and knowledge in communal terms. This communally-focused approach, drawing on the philosophers of ‘personal’ knowledge such as Polanyi, and of personalist approaches to schooling such as those of Macmurray and Noddings, is then proposed as of value in debates on schooling and the curriculum in general, well beyond the religious context of this particular research.

Toward a theory of ability‐based friendship competence: Agentic and communal substrates

AbstractSucceeding within the friendship domain is likely to require skills related to both agency and communion. Based on such thinking, this study assessed variations in friendship competence (FC) using a recently developed test that conceptualizes FC in ability‐based terms. In addition, extensive information was obtained from participants (n = 188), their best friends (n = 161), and peers (n = 453) who were knowledgeable concerning the best friend relationship. Participants obtaining higher (relative to lower) FC scores responded to simulated challenges in ways implicating greater attention to both helpfulness and practicality and they reported higher levels of intimacy in their best friend relationships. Although friendship competence was less successful in predicting best friend outcomes, peers of participants with higher FC levels viewed their targets as more socially skilled in both agentic and communal terms. The results, in total, provide critical knowledge concerning competent friendship functioning.

Elite perceptions about power-sharing in Nigeria

This article examines the perceptions of the elite about the practice of power-sharing in Nigeria. It looks at the range of meanings the elite attribute to power-sharing, their assessment of its effectiveness, and how the practice can be modified. Elite perceptions of power-sharing in Nigeria were investigated through a series of interviews with selected federal legislators. The article observes that the elite interpret power-sharing in institutional and communal terms, although the communal perspective appears more widespread. The study also found that there is a strong feeling among the elite that power-sharing is working. This belief is based on the claim that power-sharing has effectively widened the scope of political representation in Nigeria, eliminated uncertainty and tension in political competition, and inspired the people to easily converge around political institutions and organisations. The study notes that power-sharing is however limited by its tendency to discourage the application of merit in the recruitment of political office holders while over emphasising communal and sectarian differences among Nigerians.

The Role of Gender in Neurosurgical Residency Applicants' Letters of Recommendation.

Letters of recommendation (LORs) are one of the most important components of the neurosurgical residency application. Studies in other fields and surgical subspecialties have found gender bias. To determine whether neurosurgical LORs contain significant linguistic gendered differences. We performed a retrospective review and linguistic analysis of all LORs submitted on behalf of applicants offered an interview invitation to a single neurosurgical residency program at an academic medical center between 2015-2016 and 2018-2019. A total of 599 letters from 156 applicants (120 males and 36 females) were included. Background demographics, including United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 score and publications, were not significantly different between applicants. Male faculty authored 93% of all letters. Female faculty were more likely to write letters for female applicants than male applicants (12.1%vs 5.5%, P <.001). Letters for women were significantly longer (334 words vs 277 words, P <.001). Overall, 1754 agentic terms and 854 communal terms were coded. Letters for men contained significantly fewer agentic terms (10.7vs 13.1, per applicant, P <.01) and communal terms (5.2vs 6.4, P <.034). This difference, however, is nonsignificant when word count was used as a covariate. Female applicants were more significantly likely to be labeled "Outstanding" (2.4vs 1.6 mentions per applicant). Overall, there are more similarities than differences between genders in LORs for neurosurgical applicants. This finding is at odds with what has previously been reported in most other surgical specialties.

Racial and Gender Discrimination in Hand Surgery Letters of Recommendation

We sought to evaluate hand surgery applicants' letters of recommendations to understand whether applicant and letter writer demographics contribute to racial and gender bias. All applications submitted through the American Society for Surgery of the Hand match to a single institution fellowship program for the 2017 to 2019 application cycles were analyzed using validated text analysis software. Race/ethnicity information was derived from an analysis of applicant photos using the Face Secret Pro software. Primary outcome measures were differences in communal and agentic language used in letters of recommendation, stratified by both race/ethnicity and gender. A total of 912 letters of recommendation were analyzed for 233 applicants (51 female and 172 male). Of these, 88 were written by female letter writers and 824 were written by male letter writers. There were 8 Black, 12 Hispanic, 36 Asian, and 167 White applicants. Letter writers used more agentic language with Asian applicants and non-White applicants overall. Female letter writers used more communal terms and were not associated with applicant race or gender. Letters of recommendation in hand surgery demonstrate disparities in language based on race and gender. Alerting letter writers to the role of implicit bias will hopefully spur a discussion on tools to mitigate the use of biased language and provide a foundation for an equitable selection process. Efforts to improve policies and procedures pertaining to diversity and inclusion are paramount to ensuring that fellows more completely represent the population hand surgeons wish to serve.

Race and Gender Bias in Internal Medicine Program Director Letters of Recommendation.

While program director (PD) letters of recommendation (LOR) are subject to bias, especially against those underrepresented in medicine, these letters are one of the most important factors in fellowship selection. Bias manifests in LOR in a number of ways, including biased use of agentic and communal terms, doubt raising language, and description of career trajectory. To reduce bias, specialty organizations have recommended standardized PD LOR. This study examined PD LOR for applicants to a cardiology fellowship program to determine the mechanism of how bias is expressed and whether the 2017 Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM) guidelines reduce bias. Fifty-six LOR from applicants selected to interview at a cardiology fellowship during the 2019 and 2020 application cycles were selected using convenience sampling. LOR for underrepresented (Black, Latinx, women) and non-underrepresented applicants were analyzed using directed qualitative content analysis. Two coders used an iteratively refined codebook to code the transcripts. Data were analyzed using outputs from these codes, analytical memos were maintained, and themes summarized. With AAIM guidelines, there appeared to be reduced use of communal language for underrepresented applicants, which may represent less bias. However, in both LOR adherent and not adherent to the guidelines, underrepresented applicants were still more likely to be described using communal language, doubt raising language, and career trajectory bias. PDs used language in a biased way to describe underrepresented applicants in LOR. The AAIM guidelines reduced but did not eliminate this bias. We provide recommendations to PDs and the AAIM on how to continue to work to reduce this bias.

Letters of recommendation for pediatric surgery fellowship: Analysis of linguistic differences based on gender of the applicant

Background: Gender bias in letters of recommendation (LOR) has been reported for candidate selection in academic medicine, typically with females frequently described with communal terms (e.g. helpful, kind, interpersonal) and males described more with agentic terms (e.g. assertive, intellectual, ambitious). This study examined the presence of linguistic gender differences in LOR for Pediatric Surgery Fellowship. Methods: LOR submitted to a single pediatric surgery fellowship program between 2014 and 2018 were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed using a previously validated Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count Software (LIWC) program. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis were employed in our analysis. Multivariable logistic regression models were built to assess independent association of LIWC variables with applicant gender, LOR writer gender, and applicant-writer gender concordance. Results: 1264 LOR from 325 applicants (51% female) were analyzed. Of the letter writers, 83% were male, 57% were professors, and 7.6% were Pediatric Surgery Fellowship Program Directors. The overall median average word count was 518 words, with no significant difference in LOR word count between applicant genders. Compared to male applicants, female applicants were described significantly more with work words (e.g. excellent, work; p = 0.04). Male LOR writers used authentic words (e.g. honest, humble; p = 0.006) and home words (e.g. family, house; p = 0.04) significantly more than female LOR writers. There were no significant differences in the use of agentic and communal words between genders. Conclusion: While there are linguistic differences in LOR for candidates in the Pediatric Surgery match based on gender, previously described overt gender bias was not seen in this study. Interestingly, female candidates were described more with work words, like excellent; a reversal of previously described gender bias in academic medicine. These findings may be due to the unique interpersonal and multidisciplinary skills required in pediatric surgery and may represent a unique form of gender bias that warrants further study.

Ethnic/Racial Bias in Medical School Performance Evaluation of General Surgery Residency Applicants

Differential use of communal terms (caring/unselfish traits) versus agentic terms (goal-oriented/leadership/achievement traits) may reveal bias and has been extensively reported in letters of recommendation for residency. We evaluated bias in medical student performance evaluations (MSPE) of general surgery residency applicants. This is a retrospective study evaluating ethnic/race bias, as measured by differential use of agentic and communal terms, in MSPEs of residency applicants. 50% of MSPEs were randomly selected. An ethnic bias calculator derived from an open-source online gender bias calculator was populated with a list of validated agentic and communal terms. Relative frequency of communal and agentic terms was used to estimate bias. Multivariable regression was used to assess the association between the terms and ethnicity/race. US medical students applying for a categorical surgery residency position at a single academic institution for a single Match cycle. A total of 339 MSPEs were reviewed from 119 US medical schools. Genders were equally represented (women, 51.6%); most participants were white and Asian applicants (79.1%). Overall, MSPEs were more agency biased (65.2%) than communal biased (16.2%) or neutral (18.6%). MSPEs for Black and Hispanic/Latinx applicants were more likely to contain communal rather than agentic terms (adjusted OR: 3.02, 95% CI: 1.52-6.02) when compared to white and Asian applicants. This finding was independent of MSPE writer's gender or rank. Surgery residency applicants self-identifying as Black and Hispanic/Latinx were more likely to be described using communal traits compared to white and Asian applicants, suggesting ethnic/racial bias. Such differences in language utilized in MSPEs may impact residency opportunities for applicants who are under-represented in medicine. Educational efforts aimed at MSPE writers may help to reduce bias.

Gender-Biased Language of the Workplace

Introduction. The World Economic Forum reports that in 2018 only 34 % of managerial positions globally were occupied by women, and the wage gap between male and female employees constitutes 63 % on average with only 67 % of women doing paid jobs. While there are multiple economic, social and cultural reasons why women are not being employed or promoted, the goal of the present study is to look at the linguistic biases hindering women's careers. We will be looking at the previous research devoted language of job advertisements, resumes, job interviews, letters of recommendation and performance reviews in order to uncover the gender-specific language and its possible effect on women's employability and analyzing the language of the public professional recommendations. Methodology and sources. We looked at the research devoted to the gender-biased language in the workplace in the last ten years which helped us to formulate three hypotheses. Then we tested these hypotheses against the data we collected from 80 public professional profiles of male and female managers. Our goal was to discover quantitative differences in usage of communal and agentic terms in reference to men and women. Results and discussion. Confirming previous findings we found out that the difference in usage of agentic terms is statistically significant across genders. Men are more often described as "leaders", "mentors", and "achievers" and attributed sense of humor than women. On the other hand, communal terms are equally used for both male and female managers. Conclusion. The gendered language can be found in all texts related to recruitment and promotion and maybe one of the reasons for the professional gender-gap. Continuous research on the topic and bringing awareness to human resource professionals and career coaches may be helpful in improving inclusion and diversity especially in higher management of the companies and in academia.

Gender and Racial Bias in Radiology Residency Letters of Recommendation

ObjectivePerceptions of agency and communality vary by race and gender, which may be contributing to the persistent gender and racial inequality in radiology. The objective of this study was to determine if there are differences in the use of agentic and communal language in letters of recommendation for radiology residency programs based on the demographics of the applicant and letter writer. MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed letters of recommendation for 736 diagnostic radiology residency applicants to Duke University from the 2015 to 2016 interview season. We then used computerized text analysis software to calculate the frequency of agentic and communal terms and multilevel negative binominal regression to compare differences in count by applicant and letter writer demographics. ResultsWe analyzed 2,624 letters of recommendation, comprising 976,489 words. The majority of applicants were male (75%, 549 of 736) and white or Asian (77%, 565 of 736). Letter writers, who were mostly male (75%, 1,979 of 2,624) and of senior rank (50%, 1,313 of 2,624), described female applicants as more agentic than men (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.08, P < .05) and described blacks and Latinx applicants as less agentic than whites and Asians (IRR = 0.932, P < .05). Secondary analysis showed that female letters writers described applicants as more agentic (IRR = 1.09, P < .05) and more communal (IRR = 1.12, P < .01) than did male writers, and senior rank faculty used agentic (IRR = 0.95, P < .05) and communal (IRR = 0.88, P < .01) language less often than did junior faculty. ConclusionThe extent to which agentic and communal language is used in letters of recommendation for diagnostic radiology residency programs differs by applicant and letter writer demographics.

Gender differences in autobiographical memory: females latently express communality more than do males

ABSTRACTGender differences have been found in several aspects of autobiographical memory (i.e. personally experienced events). For example, previous studies have shown that females’ autobiographical memories contain more communal and emotional expressions than do males. However, an important question concerns whether these differences can be observed both in the manifest content (i.e. what is actually said) and in the latent content (i.e. the underlying meaning of what is said). In the present exploratory study, we extended the current knowledge concerning gender differences in autobiographical memory by investigating the manifestly expressed words, as well as the latently expressed words in autobiographical memory descriptions. We observed an overall gender difference in the latent content of the autobiographical memories. Furthermore, females latently described their memories in more communal terms than males did. No other gender differences were found. Our results indicate that females’ autobiographical memories are more communally oriented than male's.

Elites regimentales y pecheros: prácticas coactivas y resistencias en el concejo de Ávila

Las elites regimentales de Ávila llevan a cabo una serie de prácticas coactivas sobre los pecheros que afectan de manera significativa sus condiciones de reproducción: usurpan sus tierras y términos comunales, imponen prendas y tributos, obstaculizan su accionar político dentro del concejo, entre otras. El presente artículo se propone arribar a una caracterización de estas prácticas; a la vez que identificar sus efectos y las distintas resistencias que elabora la comunidad de campesinos.

Gendered Differences in Letters of Recommendation for Transplant Surgery Fellowship Applicants

No published study has explored gender differences in letters of recommendation for applicants entering surgical subspecialty fellowships. We conducted a retrospective review of letters of recommendation to a transplant surgery fellowship written for residents finishing general surgery residency programs. A dictionary of communal and agentic terms was used to explore differences of the letters based on applicant's gender as well as the academic rank and gender of the author. Of the 311 reviewed letters, 228 were letters of recommendation written for male applicants. Male surgeons wrote 92.4% of the letters. Male applicant letters were significantly more likely to contain agentic terms such as superb, intelligent, and exceptional (p = 0.00086). Additionally, male applicant letters were significantly more likely to contain "future leader" (p = 0.047). Letters written by full professors, division chiefs, and program directors were significantly more likely to describe female applicants using communal terms like compassionate, calm, and delightful (p = 0.0301, p = 0.036, p = 0.036, respectively). In letters written by assistant professors, female letters of recommendation had significantly more references to family (p = 0.036). Gendered differences exist in letters of recommendation for surgical fellowship applicants. This research may provide insight into the inherent gender bias that is revealed in letters supporting candidates entering the field.

The Production of American Religious Freedom

The secular liberal commonplace that religion in America is a private concern needing political and legal safeguards presents religious freedom as a static, abstract right that “protects individual choices in a marketplace” (pp. 1–2). This conception is wrong, Finbarr Curtis insists, because “religious freedom” is not a single thing but a “malleable rhetoric” produced by contests within a larger political economy that is anything but a neutral domain in which rational actors choose their faiths without constraint (p. 2). Far from “liberat[ing] people from rules,” the varieties of religious freedom are in fact “forms of government” reflecting historical actors' values and circumstances (p. 168). Curtis develops this argument over six case studies that range across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. New York governor Al Smith, for instance, disputed this norm as privileging Protestant definitions of citizenship, and he articulated a countermodel that allowed full political participation for people who saw their religious identities in communal terms. Contrarily, Malcolm X excoriated it as instantiating racism, denying that it could ever secure equality for blacks. There is a disjuncture between Curtis's goal to highlight how religious freedom has been “contested, challenged, and transformed” and his method, which exposits how particular persons have thought about religious freedom and the contingencies that shaped their ideas (p. 5).

Who Is the Other?: An Indian Christian Perspective

Who Is the Other? An Indian Christian Perspective M. Thomas Thangaraj (bio) salvific necessity of Christ, historical settings, windows into God, Trinity, eschatology, exclusivity of God, the church One way to address the question of the “other” is to begin with the tradition in its earliest form and then travel through history to see how our vision of the other has either changed or stayed constant. However, I have decided to start from how my ancestors and I defined the other in the Tamil Protestant Christian settings and then travel back to New Testament times. Tamil Protestant Christianity is a vast, comprehensive, and misleading term. It includes the Church of South India (consisting of former Anglicans, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists who came together in 1947 to form a united church), 1 the Methodist Church of India (which has linkages with the United Methodist Church in the U.S.A.), 2 the Lutheran churches (three separate denominations such as Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church, Arcot Lutheran Church, and the Indian Evangelical Lutheran Church), and other Protestant groups such as Seventh-day Adventists, the Assembly of God, the Pentecostal Church, the Church of Christ, the Reorganized Church of Latter-Day Saints, and others. Here I am directing my attention to the South Tirunelveli area in Tamilnadu, focusing more on the Church of South India congregation in my home town, Nazareth, in India. Nazareth is a small town whose original name was canpattu. During the period preceding 1800, eight persons had converted to Christianity, thanks [End Page 149] to the work of the native evangelists, especially Satyanathan of Tanjore, under the leadership of the missionaries of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Church Missionary Society of the Church of England. 3 From 1800 to 1804, the number of converts increased to include the whole population of canpattu, through the work of native evangelists. These early Christians created a village of their own and named it Nazareth. Today, Nazareth is a booming town with several high schools and a liberal arts college, businesses, and factories. As one enters the town, one is impressed by the tall steeple of St. John’s Church, which stands at the center of town. It was built in the same architectural style as the Anglican churches in England during the nineteenth century. The steeple has clocks on all four sides announcing every hour of the day with the chiming of bells. As one enters the main sanctuary, one is impressed by the high altar with crosses and candles, adorned in the appropriate liturgical color, with three stained-glass windows above the altar. Today there are more than 1,500 households living in Nazareth, a great majority of them Christians. The early converts to Christianity lived in the midst of multiple loyalties with regard to their identity formation. Who was the “other” to them in their attempt to define themselves? Before they embraced Christianity, two groups were considered the other—Muslims in that area, and those who belonged to other sub-castes within the caste structure. It is important to note that the other is defined either in communal terms or in sub-communal terms. To put it differently, one’s definition of the other can be in either intercommunal or intracommunal terms. The Muslims were the intercommunal other, and those who belonged to other castes were the intracommunal other. Once they became Christians, this picture of the other was made complex. Two other categories were introduced to the definition of the “other.” Now the Hindus as a whole became the other in intercommunal terms, and the European missionaries became the other in intracommunal terms. So there are now four categories of the other for Nazareth Christians. This leads to their self-definition in these terms: We are Christians and not [End Page 150] Muslims or Hindus. We are Indian Christians and not other-caste Christians or European Christians. It is clear that these Christians went through a tension between their identity as Indians and Tamils on the one hand and their identity as Christians on the other. The way they negotiated between these two loyalties was through a dynamics of difference, of claiming the otherness of...

The Development of a Bi-Lingual Assessment Instrument to Measure Agentic and Communal Consumer Motives in English and French.

Consumer behavior is driven, in part, by the degree to which goods and services appeal to underlying motives for agency and communion. The purpose of this research was to develop a brief individual differences measure of these motivations for use in behavioral research and theoretical and applied consumer psychology and marketing studies. We employed a bi-lingual scale development procedure to create the 10-item Agentic and Communal Consumer Motivation Inventory (ACCMI) in English and French. Two studies show that the ACCMI is language invariant, demonstrates convergent and discriminant validity with consumer, motivational, and interpersonal constructs, and predicts evaluations of products described in agentic and communal terms, respectively, in both languages. The general conclusion of this research is that agency and communion provide a useful framework for understanding and studying consumer buying motivations. Discussion focuses on the relevance of motivational factors for studying human behavior and the applied utility of the ACCMI.