Cultural Forces Research Articles

Where Is Capitalism? Unmasking Its Hidden Role in Psychology.

Our thoughts, behaviors, and well-being are deeply influenced by the economic system we live in-capitalism. While psychologists have explored capitalist ideologies like neoliberalism, they often overlook capitalism's core foundations driving inequality. This work argues that capitalism, rooted in Western colonial history, generates powerful cultural narratives prioritizing profit, competition, and private ownership. These capitalist principles manifest as pervasive societal mindsets obsessed with personal gain, viewing life as a zero-sum rivalry, and deriving self-worth from possessions. Collectively, they breed an individualistic syndrome of selfish striving at the expense of community. By understanding how these capitalist cultural forces psychologically shape us, maintaining oppressive societal hierarchies, we can reimagine economic systems that truly uplift the human spirit across all peoples and the planet we share. Unveiling capitalism's influence is crucial to recover from its alienating effects and envision liberating alternatives.

ESTATES AS PLACES OF POWER

Book Review: The estate and the dacha in the literature of the Soviet era: losses and acquisitions: collective monograph; comp. O.A. Bogdanova; ed. by V.G. Andreeva, O.A. Bogdanova. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2024, 672 p. (Russian Estate in the World Context; issue 8) The object of the review is the eighth issue of the book series “Russian Estate in the World Context”, the collective monograph “Estate and Dacha in the Literature of the Soviet Era: Losses and Gains” (2024). Project manager about the estate, Doctor of Philology O.A. Bogdanova and other prominent scientists, using material from a large number of writers, explore the metamorphosis of the estate text in Soviet times. The author of the review notes the integrity of the concept, the unified style with the brightness of the idiostyles of individual scientists (the reviewer pays special attention to their points of view) and the overall high analytical level of the monograph. The estate text of the Soviet era, for the first time comprehensively studied in this publication, appears as different open facets – it is part of the “garden city” as a development of the locus of the noble estate, and a rhetorical cluster of meanings, and a place for a “journey around the house”, and a regional estate as a place concentration of cultural forces, and, most importantly, the degeneration in the post-estate world of the estate into a dacha, so poeticized by B.L. Pasternak. The reviewer draws attention to the fact that the collective monograph provides materials for compiling an anthology of excerpts from world estate texts.

Entangled Sainthood: Imperial Canonisations and the Invention of Saints in Colonial Latin America

This article examines the impact of canonisation trials on the promotion of new saints across the Spanish Empire. Focusing on New Spain and Peru, it demonstrates that the physical arrival of copies and summaries of a canonisation trial or hagiographies of a saintly candidate supported by the Spanish crown in Colonial America served as a catalyst for revitalising pre-existing devotions and even inspiring the creation of new ones. By examining the start of the canonisations of Fray Sebastián de Aparicio in Puebla (Mexico) and Toribio of Mogrovejo in Lima (Peru), the work provides an introduction to an often neglected phenomenon: the entanglement between religious, political and cultural forces in the formation of Latin American sainthood, mainly in four ways: causality, opposition, dialecticism and affiliation. *

The Zimbabwe political space

Zimbabwe's post-independence election processes have been predominantly male-dominated, with women relegated to the periphery as electorates or party ‘cheerleaders’. Since the Beijing conference in 1995, Zimbabwe enacted several laws to overcome bottlenecks that have impeded women's participation in political processes, with the 2013 Constitution serving as the ultimate template for promoting women's engagement in mainstream electoral systems. Nonetheless, women’s participation as candidates or leaders in electoral processes has declined significantly since the 2013 Constitution. The study brings to the fore, findings to respond to 3 fundamental research questions which are: 1) what is the interlinkage between economic, cultural, social, and physical spaces with the electoral processes, 2) what are the complex social inclusion factors in political spaces, and 3) what recommendations can be proffered to enhance inclusion of women in electoral processes. In answering the questions, the research draws on content analysis of reports from the Project on Preventing Violence Against Women in Politics Project (VAWP/E), face-to-face interviews, and focus group discussions to offer insights and investigate the opportunities provided by various legal frameworks to increase women's engagement in electoral and political processes in Zimbabwe. The article further systematically explores other important factors and elements that impede and contribute to women's full participation in electoral processes as candidates. This study contends that the availability of excellent legal provisions does not result in increased women's participation in electoral politics as candidates unless there is political will. The study further asserts that participation in social, cultural, economic, and physical spaces interacts in a complex manner and influences women's participation in Zimbabwe's electoral political processes as candidates. Because of the country's political polarisation and the impunity of perpetrators of political violence, the political arena is believed to be intimidating and discouraging, thus not ripe, for women to participate as candidates. The study recommends a wholesome approach to dismantling the complex interlinkages between cultural, social, economic, and physical spaces as obstacles affecting the inclusion of women in electoral processes as candidates. Thus, the study further recommends that existing legal instruments should be complemented by progressively dismantling the social, cultural, and physical forces prohibiting women's participation as leaders in electoral processes. Specific provisions in the Electoral Act may further be used to penalise failure by political parties to field a reasonable number of women as candidates in elections.

Ellen Churchill Semple: Navigating a Patriarchal Discipline

Ellen Churchill Semple is a notorious figure in the geographical realm whose complicated legacy renders her place within a historiography of geography uncertain. While Semple is hailed as the first female geographer, it is also widely acknowledged that her work is tainted with racism. Contemporary scholars wish to erase her contributions, declaring that they would “prefer to forget” her infamous text Influences of Geographic Environment in which she claimed that physical geography determined human behaviour. Mona Domosh complicates this desire to erase Semple from memory by advocating for a feminist historiography of geography. Through foregrounding the contributions that women have made to the development of geographic knowledge, Domosh challenges the exclusion of women from accounts of the discipline’s past. This paper therefore addresses the question: Should Semple be included in a feminist historiography of geography? Furthermore, was Semple a feminist? To interrogate this, I reimagine Pearson’s take on violent women. Just as Atwood describes a woman’s disbelief at her ability to cause harm in the opening quote, Pearson centres the misperception that women are simply compassionate caregivers and victims of their circumstances – the ‘myth of female innocence’. This is useful for exploring Semple’s role in epistemological violence where her data interpretations brought negative consequences for certain groups. An intersectional lens is crucial for examining the connections between race, class, and gender which shaped the experiences of Semple and those she deemed ‘inferior’. The structure-agency debate emerges, asking whether individuals are entirely socialised by structures or can act autonomously. I take a relational approach to acknowledge the interrelatedness of social processes and argue that Semple both actively challenged and perpetuated patriarchy. Firstly, this paper outlines Semple’s theoretical contributions and other key insights provided by contemporary female geographers which are useful for assessing Semple’s impact today. Secondly, Semple’s infiltration of male-dominated space is examined to demonstrate her resistance to traditional gender expectations. Thirdly, her imperial entanglements are traced to illustrate her perpetuation of the patriarchal state. Finally, a contemporary manifestation of the Semple dilemma is considered. I conclude that by today’s standards of intersectional feminism Semple is not a feminist role model, however she can be considered an early feminist for her active reconfiguration of an all-male discipline. Ultimately, I advocate for the critical inclusion of Semple’s work in a feminist historiography of geography. This project of decoding knowledge to understand the influence of cultural forces offers a step towards decolonising the academy.

Inhibiting or Contributing? How Global Liberal Forces Impact Climate Change Skepticism

Although climate change remains a top environmental threat, significant portions of the global population continue to exhibit climate change skepticism. Currently, an extensive literature identifies the micro-level determinants of climate skepticism, often manifesting as a form of populist “backlash” to the adverse effects of globalization. However, the potential of macro-level global cultural forces—particularly embeddedness in liberal world society—to counter such pushback is unclear. Using multilevel modeling to analyze International Social Survey Program data spanning 37 countries from 2000 to 2020, we find that in general, increased embeddedness is linked to reduced climate skepticism. However, when global liberal forces encounter anti-liberal undercurrents within nation-states, a situation we refer to as cultural dissonance, the impact of liberal world society on tempering skepticism varies. Embeddedness mitigates skepticism at the national level, particularly within authoritarian regimes, but not at the individual level, especially among right-wing individuals. Paradoxically, world society also heightens ideological polarization of individual worldviews on climate change. By illuminating the contradictory role of liberal world society, which simultaneously exacerbates and inhibits anti-liberal, populist attitudes about climate change, we advance existing work examining the post-liberal turn and holds promise for making sense of other issue domains where liberal perspectives are contested.

Innovations through crop switching happen on the diverse margins of US agriculture

Crop switching, in which farmers grow a crop that is novel to a given field, can help agricultural systems adapt to changing environmental, cultural, and market forces. Yet while regional crop production trends receive significant attention, relatively little is known about the local-scale crop switching that underlies these macrotrends. We characterized local crop-switching patterns across the United States using the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Cropland Data Layer, an annual time series of high resolution (30 m pixel size) remote-sensed cropland data from 2008 to 2022. We found that at multiple spatial scales, crop switching was most common in sparsely cultivated landscapes and in landscapes with high crop diversity, whereas it was low in homogeneous, highly agricultural areas such as the Midwestern corn belt, suggesting a number of potential social and economic mechanisms influencing farmers' crop choices. Crop-switching rates were high overall, occurring on more than 6% of all US cropland in the average year. Applying a framework that classified crop switches based on their temporal novelty (crop introduction versus discontinuation), spatial novelty (locally divergent versus convergent switching), and categorical novelty (transformative versus incremental switching), we found distinct spatial patterns for these three novelty dimensions, indicating a dynamic and multifaceted set of cropping changes across US farms. Collectively, these results suggest that innovation through crop switching is playing out very differently in various parts of the country, with potentially significant implications for the resilience of agricultural systems to changes in climate and other systemic trends.

ABBAS SƏHHƏT – UŞAQ ƏDƏBİYYATININ ƏVƏZSİZ SİMASI

Abbas Sahhat – the Independent Face of Children's Literature Summary The mobility that began in the first decades of the 19th century gained serious content in the literary and cultural environment with enrichments throughout the century, with the arrival of new creative forces in science, culture, and literature. It explains what is standing in the general flow of coming to the twentieth century and also the specifics of the directions. A.Sahhat with all its activity, exuberant and rich talent becomes an example of this awakening, of demonstrating high cultural intelligence as a concept of national self-awareness. School, textbook, science, education, upbringing of the young generation, etc. multifaceted activities carried out in the directions clarify the irreversibility of the peripheral content and the specificity of the strengthening trends to the national aspect. "Farmer", "Ziya", "Kashkul", "Eastern Rus", etc. the problems raised on the pages of such press organizations, as well as the correspondence of large groups of intellectuals and the piling up of ongoing difficulties brought the solution to the forefront at different levels, and also focused attention on it. A.Sahhat's rich literary heritage, the content covered by him at the level of children's poetry aims to explain them with complete clarity. Rooted in the romantic spirit, this river specifies mobility over the riches of the people as a rock. Analyzing them in a broad context necessitates synchronic and diachronic approaches. Key words: A.Sahhat, children's poems, story, fable, play, article

Commercialization of Hip-Hop Culture and the Evolution of Youth Consumption Patterns from Symbols of Rebellion to Fashion Trends

This paper explores the commercialization of hip-hop culture and its profound influence on fashion and youth consumption patterns. Originally a symbol of rebellion and a voice for marginalized communities, hip-hop has evolved into a mainstream cultural force, reshaping global fashion trends. The transition from underground streetwear to luxury fashion is analyzed through key moments in hip-hop’s history, including collaborations with major brands like Adidas, Nike, and Gucci. The rise of streetwear brands such as Supreme, Off-White, and Yeezy exemplifies how hip-hop’s commercial success has transformed it into a powerful influence on youth identity and social status. However, this commercialization presents a double-edged sword, raising concerns about the loss of authenticity and cultural roots. The paper examines how social media and digital platforms have amplified hip-hop’s reach and discusses the ongoing tension between its original rebellious spirit and its role as a commercial enterprise. The study also highlights the global impact of hip-hop on consumption behaviors, focusing on the rise of exclusive product drops and the commodification of streetwear.

Ольга и Борис Морозовы через Монголию в Китай (из семейного архива)

The publication is dedicated to the archival collection of Olga Alexandrovna (nee Kolosova, 1877–1968, Los Angeles) and Boris Ivanovich / Ioanovich (1902–1960, Lakewood, USA), who from Russia came to Mongolia,then emigrated to China (Tianjin and Shanghai), where they published their literary (autobiographical novel "Fate", "Irreversible" and "Nora") and scientific and educational works. In recent years they lived in the USA. An excerpt from the book by B.I. Morozov is published. "Mongolia: from a traveler’s notebook" (Tianjin: Knowledge, 1935). The last unpublished works of O.A. are noted. Morozova: "Notes about Tubabao" and "Cultural forces of Russian emigration." Materials for publication were identified from the personal collection of O.A. Morozova (3 boxes and an album of photographs. Inventory compiled by A. Shmelev), stored in the Museum of Russian Culture (MRC) in San Francisco and the Russian collection of the University of Hawaii. Illustrations from the author's personal collection were used.

Social, cultural and institutional forces in corporate and patrimonial states and their relations with corporate governance: a North–South contrast

Social, cultural and institutional forces in corporate and patrimonial states and their relations with corporate governance: a North–South contrast

Empowering Female Voices: The Impact of Produce 101 on Self-Worth and Gender Equality

Reality television has become a dominant cultural force, influencing views and ideals. Produce 101, a Chinese talent competition show, goes beyond entertainment to empower its female competitors and promote gender equality. This qualitative study dives into the show's mechanics, examining its impact on female participants' self-esteem and its role in shaping viewer attitudes. Based on 10 in-depth interviews with senior talent show fans, the study investigates audience involvement, candidate development, and societal standards. The findings highlight the show's significant impact on empowering women and promoting gender equality narratives. providing valuable insights for individuals considering reality TV participation, emphasizing the importance of self-confidence, resilience, and determination. It showcases how contestants on Produce 101 leveraged their experiences to advance their careers and advocate for gender equality, inspiring others to pursue their passions and embrace empowerment. By highlighting the transformative potential of reality television, this study underscores its role in shaping a more inclusive and equitable society, demonstrating that reality TV can be a powerful platform for social change.

Towards precarity? The occupational situation of physical education teachers in Poland

Many studies indicate that the teaching profession is influenced by social, cultural, economic, and political forces. In this article, we used Standing's theory of precarity to explore economic, social, and political challenges experienced by Polish physical education (PE) teachers. The purpose of this research was to explore the working conditions and perceptions of the profession among Polish upper-secondary school PE teachers. Data were collected using in-depth interviews with 37 participants and analyzed using a blended approach (i.e. inductive–deductive). The findings showed that PE teachers experienced difficulties associated with the marginalization of their work and manifestations of precarity typical for all teachers in Poland, namely poor working arrangements. PE teachers declared feelings of anomie and alienation as a result of uncertainty and, at times, anger, mainly due to the political factors affecting their work. Thus, this research also presented the direct entanglement of PE teachers in national-level politics. Participants expressed feeling powerless, out of control, and not prepared for the ongoing changes resulting from the political context in which they found themselves. The utilization of Standing's theory highlighted how neoliberal practices concerning the labour market reinforced the challenges faced by PE teachers, diminished the prestige of the teaching profession as a whole, and impacted the attitudes of PE teachers towards their work. Further, this research confirmed that the experience of precarity can be highly heterogeneous, underscoring the importance of examining local contexts to understand the complexity of the precarization process in education.

The emotional labour of peer work: encountering stigma in mental healthcare spaces

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the workplace experiences of peer workers with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD) in mental healthcare settings in Australia. Our article is located at the intersection of political, social, cultural, and legislative forces that have fostered the development of peer work as a paid profession. We draw on the concept of stigma to analyse findings from qualitative interviews with peer workers conducted in [state], Australia. By examining peer work in the broader context of lifeworlds of BPD, we address the interplay of work and professional identity, and the experience of a profoundly stigmatised diagnosis at this intersection. Our findings demonstrate the physical and emotional effects of stigma and how it produces boundaries and inequalities between peer workers and other health practitioners. These boundaries are reinforced by invisible markers that delineate what is expected, ‘normal’ and deemed professional in the workplace. Moreover, these same medico-socio-political relations help shape peer workers’ identities and experiences. The development of peer workforces in mental healthcare service delivery is a prominent area of reform in Australia and internationally. Our research highlights the urgency of efforts to transform current socio-cultural-political relations that inhibit peer workers in their roles and impact workplace experiences.

Ageing, consumption and middle-classness: implications for intergenerational relations in India

In this piece, I use consumption as a lens to argue how urban, middle-class Indians in their middle and later ages are emerging as a distinctive consumer society while rewriting the scripts of growing old in India. This cultural shift is happening at a time when novel modes of ageing are imagined against the backdrop of transnational family arrangements, market-based care and a quest for vitality and autonomy among older Indians, altering the cultural continuities of intergenerational relationships. I show how consumption as a cultural force both expands the expressive capabilities of older persons but, at the same time, imposes disciplinary discourses around the family and social relationships. Overall, I critically reflect on what the ‘downward blurring’ of the ageing self does to the contemporary frameworks of intergenerational relationships in India. I conclude by discussing both the possibility and the (cultural) limit of theories developed in the industrialised West to capture the shifting realities of transitional societies.

Saving behavior among immigrant and native youth

This study investigates the role of migration background in the saving behavior of youth, with a focus on immigrant generation, national origin, and the influence of cultural and socioeconomic factors. Drawing on a nationally representative dataset of over 28,000 secondary school students in the Netherlands, we employ binary logit models to analyze two dimensions of saving behavior: the likelihood of saving money and the propensity to use bank accounts for savings. Our findings reveal significant disparities in saving behavior among immigrant and non-immigrant youth. Migrant youth are less likely to save overall, and when they do, they exhibit a reduced inclination to use bank accounts for their savings. Furthermore, the study uncovers nuanced patterns within the immigrant youth population. First-generation immigrant youth display lower levels of saving and bank account usage compared to their second-generation counterparts, particularly to those with one foreign-born parent. Distinct national origin effects are observed, as Turkish and Moroccan youth exhibit reduced likelihoods of saving, particularly through bank accounts, compared to Surinamese and Dutch Antillean youth. The results also indicate that the disparities in saving behavior across migration background, immigrant generation, and national origin are partly explained by socioeconomic and cultural forces. Socio-economic status and parental education emerge as key determinants, with higher parental socio-economic resources and education levels positively associated with youth saving behavior and bank account usage. Additionally, religious affiliation, particularly among Muslim youth, contributes to variations in saving behavior due to the prohibition of interest-bearing transactions.

Keeping the academy queer: Lessons from the queer community for the future of public affairs education

ABSTRACT Academics are becoming more thoughtful on where they want to live as the culture war on queerness has entered higher education. Universities, in order to recruit the best and the brightest, need to consider how to create an environment that retains and attracts diverse talent. In this article, we examine how to recruit and support LGBTQIA+ faculty, acknowledging that universities are part of wider cultural and political forces. We use heteronormativities, creative class, and queer geographies to better understand the current state of the LGBTQIA+ community. We start by exploring the heteronormative and cisnormative assumptions about the community. We link university and creative class cultures and their impact on town-gown queer realities. Finally, we conclude with a look at the different steps a university can take to make their organization a more welcoming and inclusive place for LGBTQIA+ faculty and their families.

Welcome to SportsWorld: An Introduction to the 1970s

In 1975, New York Times sports columnist Robert Lipsyte published SportsWorld: An American Dreamland, a critical examination of how the values of American sports had become corrupted and distorted by power brokers who pulled the purse strings. “SportsWorld” was an infrastructure first built in the late nineteenth century by industrialists, educators, politicians, promoters, journalists, and military leaders who believed in the potency of sports and American exceptionalism. For the faithful, SportsWorld represented a positive cultural force that unified the nation, strengthened vigorous manhood, and advanced the country's democratic ideals of equal opportunity and fair play. “In sports,” Lipsyte reflected, Americans believed “children will learn courage and self-control, old people will find blissful nostalgia, and families will discover new ways to communicate among themselves. Immigrants will find shortcuts to recognition as Americans. Rich and poor, black and white, educated and unskilled, we will all find a unifying language. The melting pot may be a myth, but we will all come together in the ballpark.”

EATING LIKE THE ELITE AT NEO‐PALATIAL KNOSSOS

SummaryDiachronic research of social status differences in diet reveals a dynamic interplay of cultural, economic, and technological forces that have shaped the food choices of individuals across the past centuries. In this paper we focus on food and related practices at Palatial Knossos on Crete in the mid‐second millennium BC and review palaeodietary stable carbon and nitrogen isotope (δ13C and δ15N) data from two cemeteries to explore evidence for embodied social variation during the site’s uncontested heyday in the Neo‐palatial Period (c.1700 to 1500 BC). We show that analysis by sex and tomb suggests no significant social differentiation in access to food resources. Instead, temporal trends reveal increased availability of animal protein during the Neo‐palatial period, aligning with Knossos' political and economic supremacy. We argue that the equitable living circumstances at Knossos during the Neo‐palatial period may have contributed to the absence of factional competition and social unrest, potentially explaining the site's continuity into Post‐palatial times despite widespread destructions elsewhere on Crete. Overall, the findings shed light on the complex interplay between diet, social structure, and historical context at Neo‐palatial Knossos.

Serat gumuyu: Sumber pengaruh untuk membentuk persepsi kebahagiaan dan kesehatan mental masyarakat

The manuscript is one of the cultural relics of the past which is a source of cultural institutions of the community. The manuscript is also used as a reflection of local wisdom and a foundation for oral traditions, art, and Javanese values, as is the case with the Serat Gumuyu script. This study uses a qualitative descriptive approach to obtain complete information about laughter can shape the perception of each individual to manage a more positive mindset so as to form happiness and improve people's mental health from Serat Gumuyu. The theory used is Seligman's mental health theory, which focuses on the psychological aspects of mental health and which focuses on positive psychological theories, especially happiness. This research data is in the form of quotes derived from Serat Gumuyu. The source of this research data is Serat Gumuyu, serial number NB 1567 code obtained from manuscripts in the collection of the National Library of the Republic of Indonesia. The data collection method uses content analysis techniques to describe the manuscript, editing and transliteration. The text is hermeniutic analyzed by Ricoeur to explore the axis of the roots of cultural forces socially and mental health in Javanese society. This research presents how laughter in Serat Gumuyu contains the benefits and factors that make someone laugh. This serat invites us that the positive influence of laughter can provide many benefits and is not visible physically but in human mental health also becomes better and optimal. Keywords: Serat Gumuyu, laugh, mental health