Drastic Social Changes Research Articles

The “I” as Implicated Subject: Performative Confession in Rian Malan’s My Traitor’s Heart

Confessional forms of autobiographical writing have predominated in post-apartheid South African literary studies. This paper discusses Rian Malan’s My Traitor’s Heart, published in 1990 during drastic social and political changes in South Africa’s transition to democracy. It was one of the first and most prominent examples of this genre. Focusing on Malan’s perspective as a white Afrikaner and an “implicated subject”, this study explored how his confessional account grappled with the existential dilemma of post-apartheid Afrikaner identity. Malan simultaneously affirmed his Afrikaner identity to confront his implication in apartheid and sought to establish a legitimate place for this identity within the new multicultural society. Through a close reading of Malan’s strategic performance, this paper argues that his work offers a means of reimagining the collective self in a new community and understanding historical injustices from a multidimensional perspective. Ultimately, My Traitor’s Heart contributes to the post-apartheid project of envisioning a more inclusive psychological and topographical construction of individual and collective identity, with the implicated subject as its centre.

Особенности психического состояния, совладающего поведения и их взаимосвязь у студентов в ситуации резких социальных перемен

The article presents the results of a study of the characteristics of the mental state, self-regulation, coping strategies and the interrelationships between them among university students during the period of drastic social changes that occurred in the winter and spring of 2022 and continue to influence people's lives at the present time. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to implement support for boys and girls to ensure their effective solution of life tasks and further progressive development against the background of modern social challenges. 86 full-time undergraduate students took part in it. The results of the study showed that the tension, comfort, and level of subjective well-being of students are in the middle range, but boys and girls need emotional support from others and assistance in processing unpleasant experiences. Through a rich set of coping strategies (planning, positive reformulation and personal growth, active coping, search for emotional social support, acceptance, concentration on emotions and their active expression), young people search for opportunities for self-realization in a situation of drastic social changes. Positive reformulation and personal growth, active coping, suppression of competing activities, and the search for emotional social support allow boys and girls to maintain a high level of subjective well-being and a positive attitude, while avoiding problems and denial leads to the opposite result. Interest plays the role of a motivational resource for the effective adaptation of young people, and emotional tone provides the energy level necessary for processing unpleasant emotions and carrying out constructive actions in difficult circumstances.

Perceptions and Reuse of Concrete Building Structures

Concrete has gone through significant changes in popularity in the United Kingdom. This paper explores factors associated with shifts in the perception, and reuse of concrete buildings. and how these changes have influenced the use of concrete in Architecture and Design in the UK. The popularity of concrete has fluctuated over the past few decades. This is driven by a combination of cultural, aesthetic and sustainability factors. In the 1980’s and 90’s fairfaced, textured, bush-hammered concrete acquired a reputation which took some three decades to reverse. UK public opinion on concrete ‘Brutalist’ buildings of these decades is mixed, but tends to often be negative, where terms used include ‘Depressing’, ‘Hideous’, ‘Monstrosities’, ‘Eyesores’. There is currently a growing appreciation for the history and cultural significance of concrete and specifically ‘Brutalist’ architecture. Although these buildings were previously despised, they are now recognised as part of the UK’s architectural heritage and efforts are made to preserve them for future generations. Buildings and complexes, which were once run-down urban environments, are now changed into more desirable housing complexes often leading to drastic social changes in the area. Concrete has been generally seen as a material that has significant environmental impact, especially in terms of carbon emissions. Concrete’s durability, thermal mass and fire protection properties paired with advances in technology that can improve the appearance and consistency of finishes, have all improved the popularity of concrete. Strides are also being made to improve the sustainability of concrete constituent materials. The positioning of concrete as a sustainable, energy efficient building material that can also have an aesthetic appeal, combined with its versatility and durability, make concrete once again a popular choice for contemporary architecture and Interior design.

Peculiarities of consideration of cases in the ECtHR regarding the protection of constitutional human rights related to the fourth generation of somatic rights

The issue of the emergence, development, and existence of the most relevant, but least doctrinally researched human rights, which constitute the so-called fourth generation of such rights, with the acquisition of their wide social prevalence, requires appropriate theoretical elaboration and legal regulation. Because the fourth group of human rights is quite controversial, the law as a system of norms should give a quick and adequate reaction to such drastic social changes through their normative consolidation, in particular, the transformation of the constitutional and legal status of a person. The practice of the European Court of Human Rights continues to acquire fundamental importance in the context of the study of modern standards of somatic human rights of the fourth generation, which we will dwell on in more detail in this study. The general scientific, group, and special scientific research approaches, methods, and techniques were the methodological basis of scientific research. The purpose of the article is to carry out a legal analysis of the issue of protection of somatic rights through the prism of the judicial practice of the ECtHR. Keywords: somatic

Indian cricket, popular culture and “national Thing”: Reflections from sport‐induced nationalism

AbstractCricket in India has evolved much beyond its fundamental definition as a game or form of entertainment in the present century. The liberalization process in the 1990s, followed by the drastic social changes in the country, impacted the game, leading it to acquire new meanings as cultural text. Currently, Indian cricket forms part of collective enjoyment, forming people's habitus and playing a central ideological role in the politics of ethnonationalism. This article attempts to analyze Indian Cricket using Slavoj Zizek's concept of “national Thing,” to critically understand its potential to evoke hyper‐nationalism in the Indian polity. The concept of “national Thing,” proposed by Zizek, postulates that the recourse to nationalism can cause a pleasure‐in‐pain situation and evoke extreme “enjoyment” (jouissance), which functions on the idea of sudden sense of loss. Drawing insights from this, this paper theoretically investigates sport‐induced nationalism in cricket in the backdrop of escalating neo‐nationalist sentiments in India. Additionally, the article expounds on how cricket becomes a “lost Thing” in Indian popular culture by critically analyzing the Indian film Kai Po Che (2013), in which cricket emerges as a social and political entity, intervening with the lives of ordinary youths in India.

BROOKFIELD AND MEZIROW ON CRITICAL REFLECTION: EMPOWERING ONESELF, TRANSFORMING SOCIETY

BROOKFIELD AND MEZIROW ON CRITICAL REFLECTION: EMPOWERING ONESELF, TRANSFORMING SOCIETY

Marital status, household size, and lifestyle changes during the first COVID-19 pandemic: NIPPON DATA2010.

Stay-at-home strategies taken during the COVID-19 pandemic changed our lifestyle drastically. Although marital status and household size are important social determinants of health that affect lifestyle, their impacts on lifestyle during the pandemic are still unclear. We aimed to evaluate the association between marital status, household size, and lifestyle changes during the first pandemic in Japan. Questionnaire surveys on lifestyle changes from before to during the first COVID-19 pandemic were conducted on October 2020 in Japan. Classified into age groups, multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the combined association of marital status and household size on lifestyle, adjusted for potential confounders including socioeconomic factors. In our prospective cohort study, 1928 participants were included. Among older participants, the singles living alone were likely to perceive more unhealthy lifestyle changes (45.8%), compared with the married (33.2%), and significantly associated with at least one unhealthy change [adjusted odds ratio (OR): 1.81, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1,18-2.78], mainly due to decreased physical activity and increased alcohol consumption. Meanwhile, the younger participants showed no significant association between marital status, household size, and unhealthy changes, while those living alone had 2.87 times higher odds of weight gain (≥ 3 kg) than the married (adjusted OR: 2.87, 95% CI: 0.96-8.54) during the pandemic. Our findings suggest that older singles living alone are potentially vulnerable subgroups to drastic social changes which warrant special attention to prevent adverse health outcomes and additional burden on health systems in the following future.

Dynamics of discrimination and prejudice via two types of social contagion

Discriminatory behavior can occur suddenly in association with an external shock that amplifies discrimination and prejudice, such as the election of politicians who tolerate or encourage discrimination. Consequently, discrimination can become more normalized in society. Using population dynamics, we modeled discriminatory behavior and the dynamics of prejudicial attitudes to explain such social shifts. In this model, we consider the propagation of discrimination behaviors via two types of social contagion, including direct or immediate, which is rapidly evoked by observing others’ discriminatory actions (behavior-to-behavior), and indirect or slow, via social learning of prejudice from others’ actions and speech (behavior-to-attitude). The latter mediates people’s behavior, which reflects their prejudice. An analysis of the equilibrium status of this model illustrates how social conditions mediate whether an external shock normalizes discrimination and prejudice beyond what was already established in the society. We show that transitions between stable points caused by external shocks in a bistable system can describe drastic social changes. This bistability emerges when discrimination evokes discriminatory behavior from observers. Then, discrimination inhibitors, such as anti-discriminatory education, determine whether prejudice spreads through discriminatory behavior. This result can contribute to explanations of how societies such as countries or social media spaces exhibit fragility to external shocks, and suggests implications for estimating social parameters linked to discrimination and prejudice in future research.

The Genteel Realist James as a Pessimistic Naturalist in The Princess Casamassima

This paper highlights James as a naturalistic pessimist in his late fiction and, more specifically, in his late novel The Princess Casamassima (1986). Although James was identified as a pioneer genteel idealistic realist in his early fiction, his mode of writing shifted in his late fiction to cope with the new environmental settings in Europe and post-civil war American conditions. This dynamic change in his writing modes renders James as an experimental writer responsive to the drastic social, economic and intellectual changes in the late nineteenth century. To fictionalize the historical changes that occurred in Europe, James inscribes in The Princess Casamassima the harsh reality of life as it is, without idealization and aestheticization. He fictionalizes Hyacinth as drawn into the secret world of revolutionary politics and projects him as helpless and determined by biological, social, political and environmental forces which he can neither understand nor control. In dealing with themes of the lower order of society, violence, suicide, revolutionary politics, as well as social contrasts and environmental determinism not attempted at all in his early fiction, we witness in The Princess Casamassima a new naturalistic pessimist James. Delineating Hyacinth as strikingly determined, immersed in grim settings, together with being victimized by fate, the paper concludes, renders James a typical naturalist.

ARTISTIC LIKES AND AESTHETIC ORIENTATIONS IN THE WORKS OF KOSTY GORDIENKA “PRO COMMUNE”

The research focuses on the fact that showing the destruction of the patriarchal world of the Ukrainian village as a heroic struggle between light and darkness, a tragic past and a happy future, transferred to the plan of the present time, glorification of the economic and social innovations of the Bolsheviks, related to collective farming, determines the general thematic dominant in literature of a socialist orientation. The article focuses on the fact that forced to adapt to the format of the then government, Kost Gordienko changes his artistic preferences and aesthetic orientations, but also masters the methods of developing ideologically oriented prose that corresponded to the voluntarist intentions of revolutionary culture. It is emphasized that Kostya Gordienko’s attention is focused on the problem of the Ukrainian village during the period of drastic social changes, on the topic of the land-nurture and its owners, which was understandable and close to the writer due to many objective reasons. In the picture of the world modeled by Kost Gordienko, the concrete and realistic representation of the Ukrainian village during the period of Soviet “reformation” is fundamental, hence the noticeable stylistic, plot and figurative homogeneity. It is indicated that in order to realize his creative intentions, the novelist uses essay genres, which gave a much larger space for reproducing the dynamics and panorama of the “new time”, for depicting the actual everyday life of “communist life”. The stylistic manner of the writer has a narrative-journalistic and artistic-informative character, characterized by the use of extensive factual material. The conclusions indicate that Kostya Gordienko’s works of 1928–1930, which are diverse in terms of style and poetics, demonstrate the process of the writer’s adaptation to political and ideological requirements: first, the combination of an individual artistic vision and defined political attitudes, then the subordination of artistic thinking to the dictates of power. The most popular small-format genres – essays and short stories – are focused on reproducing the dynamics and panorama of the “new time”.

An Encounter in Hong Kong Streets, 60 Years Apart

Hong Kong has a history punctuated by waves of immigrants and influxes of expats, especially during years of wars, famine, and drastic social changes. The wide wealth gap among different classes contributes to the diverse cityscapes within walking distance of one another. Street photography in the international and multicultural metropolis has continued to fascinate photographers – some sojourning and others rooting. With two sets of photos – from British traveller Nick Howard and Hong Kong native Phil M.F. Shek – laid side by side, this essay questions the meanings generated through the juxtaposition of these images. Since the photo sets were taken in the 1950s and the 2010s respectively, does the time gap make a statement about Hong Kong today?

Family still matters: Human social motivation across 42 countries during a global pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused drastic social changes for many people, including separation from friends and coworkers, enforced close contact with family, and reductions in mobility. Here we assess the extent to which people's evolutionarily-relevant basic motivations and goals—fundamental social motives such as Affiliation and Kin Care—might have been affected. To address this question, we gathered data on fundamental social motives in 42 countries (N = 15,915) across two waves, including 19 countries (N = 10,907) for which data were gathered both before and during the pandemic (pre-pandemic wave: 32 countries, N = 8998; 3302 male, 5585 female; Mage = 24.43, SD = 7.91; mid-pandemic wave: 29 countries, N = 6917; 2249 male, 4218 female; Mage = 28.59, SD = 11.31). Samples include data collected online (e.g., Prolific, MTurk), at universities, and via community sampling. We found that Disease Avoidance motivation was substantially higher during the pandemic, and that most of the other fundamental social motives showed small, yet significant, differences across waves. Most sensibly, concern with caring for one's children was higher during the pandemic, and concerns with Mate Seeking and Status were lower. Earlier findings showing the prioritization of family motives over mating motives (and even over Disease Avoidance motives) were replicated during the pandemic. Finally, well-being remained positively associated with family-related motives and negatively associated with mating motives during the pandemic, as in the pre-pandemic samples. Our results provide further evidence for the robust primacy of family-related motivations even during this unique disruption of social life.

Widening inequality: The evolution of the motherhood penalty in China (1989–2015)

The motherhood penalty is an important issue in the field of family and gender inequality research. China has experienced rapid economic growth and drastic social change in recent decades, but existing studies fail to provide an overview of changes in the effect of the motherhood penalty during this period. This article uses data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey from 1989 to 2015 and applies a multi-layer mixed-effects model to study the severity of the motherhood penalty and the various mechanisms affecting it over that period. This study shows the following: (a) childbirth has a negative impact on women's wages and the severity of this impact continues to increase, showing that the effect of the motherhood penalty has become harsher over time; (b) although the motherhood penalty was initially lower for single mothers than for married ones, it has increased for both groups of women over the period and the rate of growth has been much faster for single mothers and, thus, the difference between the two groups in terms of the effect of the motherhood penalty has narrowed gradually over the period; (c) the long-term effect of the motherhood penalty is normally less pronounced than the short-term effect, but the long-term effect has grown at a much quicker rate over recent years compared with the short-term effect, and in more recent years these two effects are almost the same; (d) the higher the education level of women, the lower the effect of the motherhood penalty, but as the effect of the penalty has intensified over the period of study, the difference across different education levels has decreased; and (e) the effect of the motherhood penalty on female employees in the non-state sector is greater than that on female employees in the state sector, and the effect of the motherhood penalty on female employees in the non-state sector has increased rapidly, while the change has remained slow in the state sector, resulting in a widening gap between the two sectors. This study shows that the dramatic social and economic change in recent decades has subjected women to greater and greater maternal responsibilities but has afforded them disproportionately fewer benefits in relation to economic development.

Trajectories of adolescent perceived stress and symptoms of depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic

Adolescents might be particularly affected by the drastic social changes as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, given the increased stress-sensitivity and importance of the social environment in this developmental phase. In order to examine heterogeneity during the pandemic, the current study aimed to identify whether subgroups of adolescents could be distinguished based on their levels of perceived stress and symptoms of depression and anxiety. In addition, we examined which prepandemic factors predicted these trajectories. Adolescents were assessed before the pandemic (N = 188, Mage = 13.49, SD = 0.81) and at three timepoints during the pandemic (i.e., eight, ten, and 15 months after the start of the pandemic in the Netherlands). Results showed no support for distinct trajectories of perceived stress, adolescents experienced stable moderate levels during the pandemic. In contrast, results showed three trajectories for depression and anxiety. The majority of adolescents reported stable low or moderate levels and one small subgroup reported high levels of depression and anxiety that decreased during the pandemic. Certain prepandemic factors predicted higher initial levels of stress and symptoms of depression and anxiety during the pandemic. To support adolescents with prepandemic vulnerabilities, strategies could be developed, for instance enhancing adolescents’ social support.

Communication strategies for moral rebels: How to talk about change in order to inspire self‐efficacy in others

AbstractCurrent carbon‐intensive lifestyles are unsustainable and drastic social changes are required to combat climate change. To achieve such change, moral rebels (i.e., individuals who deviate from current behavioral norms based on ethical considerations) may be crucial catalyzers. However, the current literature holds that moral rebels may do more harm than good. By deviating from what most people do, based on a moral concern, moral rebels pose a threat to the moral self‐view of their observers who share but fail to uphold that concern. Those observers may realize that their behavior does not live up to their moral values, and feel morally inadequate as a result. Work on “do‐gooder derogation” demonstrates that rebel‐induced threat can elicit defensive reactance among observers, resulting in the rejection of moral rebels and their behavioral choices. Such findings suggest that advocates for social change should avoid triggering moral threat by, for example, presenting nonmoral justifications for their choices. We challenge this view by arguing that moral threat may be a necessary ingredient to achieve social change precisely because it triggers ethical dissonance. Thus, instead of avoiding moral justifications, it may be more effective to harness that threat. Ethical dissonance may offer the fuel needed for observers to engage in self‐improvement after being exposed to moral rebels, provided that observers feel capable of changing. Whether or not observers feel capable of changing, however, depends on how rebels communicate their moral choices to others—how they talk about change.This article is categorized under: Perceptions, Behaviour and Communication of Climate Change > Behaviour Change and Responses

Life skills education: a coping strategy against substance abuse

Substance abuse has been a topic of discussion for healthcare professionals. It involves using harmful or hazardous psychoactive substances that, if administered into one's system, can affect the mental processes. Consumption of these substances leads to societal as well as health problems among its users there by indirectly affecting their families too. These substances mainly include alcohol, tobacco, opiates, cocaine, amphetamines, hallucinogens, prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse.1,2 According to the world drug report 2020 by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), there are about 35 million people who suffer from drug use disorders and require treatment services globally.2 In India, the substance abuse epidemic in the younger generation has increased rapidly. The crucial factors which lead to these problems involve familial, social as well as individual problems. Familial issues may involve childhood maltreatment or familial substance abuse. Similarly, social issues involves deviant peer pressure and association with popular groups in order to prevent from being bullied. Individual factors which might lead to substance abuse includes depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).3 Its prevalence at the national level varies for different substance abuse forms, accompanied by drastic regional variations. Issues regarding treatment access and adherence concerning substance user disorders (SUD) already existed. Due to the current COVID-19 situation, drastic social and economic changes have further worsened the situation. So in this regard, newer strategies have to be brought up in place.4 It has been found that life skills education is one of the most influential activities in school-based substance abuse prevention.

Overview of Bat and Wildlife Coronavirus Surveillance in Africa: A Framework for Global Investigations.

The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had devastating health and socio-economic impacts. Human activities, especially at the wildlife interphase, are at the core of forces driving the emergence of new viral agents. Global surveillance activities have identified bats as the natural hosts of diverse coronaviruses, with other domestic and wildlife animal species possibly acting as intermediate or spillover hosts. The African continent is confronted by several factors that challenge prevention and response to novel disease emergences, such as high species diversity, inadequate health systems, and drastic social and ecosystem changes. We reviewed published animal coronavirus surveillance studies conducted in Africa, specifically summarizing surveillance approaches, species numbers tested, and findings. Far more surveillance has been initiated among bat populations than other wildlife and domestic animals, with nearly 26,000 bat individuals tested. Though coronaviruses have been identified from approximately 7% of the total bats tested, surveillance among other animals identified coronaviruses in less than 1%. In addition to a large undescribed diversity, sequences related to four of the seven human coronaviruses have been reported from African bats. The review highlights research gaps and the disparity in surveillance efforts between different animal groups (particularly potential spillover hosts) and concludes with proposed strategies for improved future biosurveillance.

The Model of the Police System in Modern China: Research on the Establishment and Operating Mechanism of the Beijing Police Department

The Beijing Police Department was founded in a period of great revolution in our country’s knowledge system and drastic social changes. As a “model” for the construction of police administration throughout the country, the daily operation, development, and evolution of the Beijing Police Department has promoted the integration of modern Western policing thoughts and the innovation of traditional public security concepts, and promoted the inheritance of police knowledge and the construction of police theories. The conflict interweaving and interest entanglement under the background of the struggle of the Beiyang factions promoted the transition from ancient policing to modern policing, and realized the development and transformation of the modern police system.

LABOR MARKET OF UKRAINE IN CONDITIONS OF SYSTEM CRISIS

Abstract. The study deals with identifying trends in the labor market in Ukraine, which is significantly influenced by threatening external and internal factors. The authors prove in the article that the incentives to reform this market today are significantly weakened by the negative effects of the crisis, which covers all spheres of life — from the economy to health care. It was found that the negative trends of the world and national markets contribute to the decline in the quality of human capital of labor resources, worsen the structure of the national labor market. The multi-vector nature of the crisis leads to the formation of a multiplicative effect — its various aspects increase the influence of each other. As a result, the negative pressure of the crisis factors on the national labor market is increasing with growing pace. The authors prove that the old extensive approach of managers to the use of labor resources of Ukraine has outlived itself. The existing model and approaches to its reform given the current scale of threatening trends do not meet the criteria of effectiveness. Ukraine needs a new labor market model. The efforts of government officials and the influence of the business community should be aimed at forming a model whose goals will be: stabilizing the economic, social and political situation in Ukraine, reducing the risk of uncontrolled growth of social tensions, forming a flexible response to neutralize the effects of the crisis. It is pointed out that the lack or even slowdown of the reaction to the existing negative tendencies inherent in the labor market in Ukraine can cause significant and drastic social and political changes. The originality of the article is stipulated by the need to identify labor market trends under the influence of the crisis and the situation on the world labor market, identify factors that lead to the consolidation of an extensive labor market model in a permanent crisis, identify factors that contribute to this and negative consequences for the economy. Keywords: labor market, impact of the crisis, labor migration, quality of human capital, employment dynamics. Formulas: 0; fig.: 5; tabl.: 0; bibl.: 22.

The intellectual as zaṭāṭ: the public sphere, the state, and the field of contentious politics in Morocco

ABSTRACT Taking cue from Abdelahad Sebti’s study of the social history of the zaṭāṭ (زطَا طَ) (the escort who in precolonial Morocco was hired to protect travellers from highway robbers and thieves), this paper attempts, in the words of Edward Said (1996. Representations of the Intellectual: The 1993 Reith Lectures. New York: Vintage Books, XV), a ‘coherent description’ of the vocation of the Moroccan intellectual in a public sphere characterised by a crisis in hegemony and public distrust of institutional politics. I argue that the Moroccan intellectual tends to avoid engagement with radical politics that aim to create social disorder (al-siba) or unrest (fitna), and embraces instead hybrid approaches that alternate resilience and resistance, dissent and compromise, critique of the a’mma (the general public) and state politics, and advocacy for endogenous ‘reforms from within’ over drastic social change. In this, the intellectual emulates the role of the zaṭāṭ in that they see their function as a road architect, social navigation engineer, and a link in a plural and contesting social and political organisation. The paper uses the hirak movement in northern Morocco as a case study to illustrate the role of the intellectual as a mediator of social contention. While there are different ways to ‘speak the truth to power’, confrontation has been the least favoured style of the Moroccan intellectual who has generally conceived of their role as a facilitator of social peace rather than an instigator of revolt.