Social Class Research Articles

Stained glass ceilings: Gender and race in accounting academia in Brazil

AbstractBrazil is divided into five large regions marked by profound economic and social inequalities. Such vast differences can make people feel like “foreigners”, even though they live in the same country. Here, meritocracy is seen as the criterion for assessing and promoting people, which is conflicting given the absurdly unequal contexts in the country. This choice widens inequalities of gender, race and, above all, social class. Between 2000 and 2018, Brazil experienced profound social transformations. Female participation in the labor market grew, although there were still barriers to access and professional advancement for women, which were exacerbated in the case of black women. When it came to leadership positions, they were almost always blocked by processes which depended on subjective decisions from evaluators. These circumstances occur through daily confrontations with processes of sexualisation and racialisation. These transformations were followed in the most recent period by clear setbacks, deepened by the COVID‐19 pandemic and intense political polarization. A milestone in terms of Esperançar, a verb proposed by Paulo Freire (1992), were the 2022 presidential elections, understood as a process of re‐democratisation. The social achievements that have been maintained, however, are ‘advances’ that work differently when the diversity of the population and regional differences are taken into account. With this particular context in mind, the aim of this study is to investigate how the “glass ceiling” phenomenon has been present in the daily interactions and academic trajectory of black women in the accounting field. The question that underpinned this study was: how can the academic accounting environment, considering practice and discourse, boost or hinder the “glass ceiling” phenomenon in the professional career of black female academics? This is a qualitative study with a post‐structuralist approach, based on the adoption of auto‐ethnographic and oral history techniques. The evidence was built up through semi‐structured, in‐depth interviews with female academics who had graduated from postgraduate programmes. This corpus was analyzed from an interpretivist perspective and the findings reveal that the “glass ceiling” phenomenon is present in accounting academia in Brazil and is expressed in barriers specific to the field. Barriers are erected in processes of closure, blocking the path of black women who aim to succeed in prestigious academic spaces, regardless of their level of qualification. In this way, they are conceptualized as “stained glass ceilings”, because the barriers become visible and concrete in a country where racism is a structuring element of social relations.

Older women migrants in Malaysia and their left-behind families

This paper looks at older Filipino female migrants in Malaysia. Based on semi-structured interviews and FGDs I conducted in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya from February to March 2018 and in August 2018, I found that women’s experiences of aging are linked to gender, social class and societal expectations of their familial roles. For them, family obligations as breadwinners meant working as domestic workers in Malaysia even way into their older years. While old age is not a hindrance to them to perform transnational care toward their left-behind families, tensions and ambivalence are present within their intergenerational relationships.

Socioeconomic Status and Age at Menarche in Türkiye.

The trend in declining age at menarche (AAM) largely continues while body size increases globally. The aim was to investigate trends in AAM, menstrual characteristics, and post-menarcheal anthropometric parameters in adolescents living in an urban area in Türkiye between 1999 and 2018. Female adolescent high school students in the Manisa region were asked about menarche and socioeconomic status (SES). There were 1017 girls in the first study (1999-2001) and 1304 (2016-2018) in the second study. Height and weight were measured. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Adolescent girls were grouped into three socioeconomic status (SES) groups based on parental education and occupation, and all parameters were evaluated using SES. The mean ± standard deviation for AAM in the first period was 12.82 ± 1.07 years and 12.83 ± 0.9 years in the second. AAM did not differ between the two periods nor between SES groups in either period. Post-menarcheal height, weight, and BMI increased in the second period compared to the first study and across all SES groups (p < 0.05). The whole group AAM was similar in both periods, only 3 months earlier in the second period than in the first period. However, the AAM in girls with a post-menarcheal BMI indicating being overweight or obese was significantly earlier than that of those with a normal post-menarcheal BMI in both periods (p < 0.05). Despite changing sociodemographic characteristics and an increasing trend in height, weight, and BMI in all socioeconomic groups, no change was observed in mean AAM in an urban region of Western Türkiye over 18 years. While the inverse relationship between BMI and postmenarcheal BMI continued in both periods, the decline in AAM became more pronounced over the years in the presence of high postmenarcheal BMI.

THE PEDAGOGICAL TECHNOLOGY OF MEANS OF PHYSICAL TRAINING OF YOUTH

Physical education is the basis for the formation of health and vitality of young people. The use of modern technologies makes it possible to increase the effectiveness of pedagogical technologies in maintaining students’ interest in physical education classes. In this article, the author examines modern pedagogical technologies in physical education lessons, which help to form ideas about a healthy lifestyle. Special attention is paid to digital tools of the pedagogical process. Modern learning technologies create opportunities for upbringing a well-rounded personality and help to instill in young people the concept of a healthy lifestyle.

Trends in Toddler Diet Quality in the United States: 1999 to 2018.

Diet quality has improved over time for US adults and youth aged ≥2 years. Trends over time and disparities in the diet quality of toddlers 12 through 23 months old have not been documented. Our objective was to investigate the direction and magnitude of toddler diet quality trends from 1999 to 2018 overall and by household socioeconomic status. This serial cross-sectional analysis of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data was performed with 2541 toddlers from 10 NHANES cycles from 1999 to 2018. Dietary intake was measured by NHANES study staff using proxy-reported 24-hour recalls. Healthy Eating Index-Toddlers-2020 total scores (0-100 points, higher scores indicate healthier diets) and component scores were calculated from the 24-hour dietary recalls using the population ratio method. Multivariable linear regression was used to evaluate the association between time in years (measured as the midpoint of each NHANES cycle) and diet quality. Toddler diet quality improved significantly from 1999 to 2018 (P < .001), from 63.7 points on average in 1999-2000 to 67.7 points in 2017-2018. A significant positive linear trend in total diet quality was observed for all socioeconomic status groups (P < .05). Several dietary component scores improved, as follows: Whole Fruits (P < .001), Whole Grains (P = .016), Fatty Acids (P = .002), Refined Grains (P = .009), and Added Sugars (P < .001). Scores did not significantly change for Total Fruit, Total Vegetables, Greens and Beans, Dairy, Total Protein Foods, Seafood and Plant Proteins, Sodium, or Saturated Fats. From 1999 to 2018, toddler diet quality improved significantly, but mean scores still fell short of dietary guidance.

A multi-paradigm approach to characterize dominance behaviors in CD1 and C57BL6 male mice.

Social status and dominance are critical factors influencing well-being and survival across multiple species. However, dominance behaviors vary widely across species, from elaborate feather displays in birds to aggression in chimps. To effectively study dominance, it is essential to clearly define and reliably measure dominance behaviors. In laboratory settings, C57BL/6 mice are commonly used to study dominance due to their stable and linear social hierarchies. However, other mouse strains are also used for laboratory research. Despite substantial evidence for strain effects on behavioral repertoires, the impact of strain on dominance in mice remains largely unstudied. To address this gap, we compared dominance behaviors between CD1 and C57BL/6 male mice across four assays: observation of agonistic behaviors, urine marking, tube test, and a reward competition. We found that CD1 mice demonstrate increased fighting, increased territorial marking through urination, and increased pushing and resisting in the tube test. We used unsupervised machine learning and pose estimation data from the reward competitions to uncover behavioral differences across strains and across rank differences between competing pairs. Of the four assays, urine marking and agonistic behaviors showed the strongest correlation with dominance in both strains. Most notably, we found that CD1 dominance rankings based on the tube test negatively correlated with rankings from all three other assays, suggesting that the tube test may measure a different behavior in CD1 mice. Our results highlight that behaviors can be strain-specific in mice and studies that measure social rank should consider assays carefully to promote reproducibility.Significance Statement Recent studies have highlighted that social dominance can significantly impact behavior and the brain. As such, accurately measuring dominance behavior in laboratory settings is crucial in neuroscience research. In this study, we investigated the consistency of four dominance assays for male mice across two common mouse strains. We find that not all assays result in the same dominance rankings and dominance behaviors differ across strains. Our study sheds light on the importance of considering strains for assay selection, rigor, and reproducibility.

‘I can literally change the world’: Longitudinal research on the impacts of the Champions of Caring Ambassadors Leadership Program

Few studies assess the long-term impacts of programs for teenagers designed to foster leadership and public service. Here we contact former participants in one such program, the Champions of Caring Ambassadors Leadership Program, to see how they may have been influenced in adulthood. We find that participants remember specific aspects of the program vividly, and they apply the lessons they learned as Ambassadors in their adult lives. Specifically, they have used the program as a launch pad into other leadership and service roles. They employ the practical and organization skills from the program, and they recall the sense of belonging and the value of meaningful interactions across race, social class, religion, and other social background characteristics. Finally, many saw the lessons learned during their time as Ambassadors a legacy they have incorporated into their adult lives. Many continue two decades later to be engaged in social justice activism.

The impact of exposure to green or bluespace on dietary intake and food choices among adults—A systematic literature review

AbstractExtensive research has shown that spending time in natural greenspaces has a positive impact on health. However, there is limited evidence regarding potential factors that may influence these effects. This review aimed to assess the strength of the evidence and potential impact of exposure to green and bluespaces on dietary outcomes in adults. Inclusion criteria for the review were based on the PICO criteria. Following PRISMA guidelines, an initial search of five databases was conducted: CINAHL, GreenFILE, AMED, Medline, and PubMed, accessed on 14th June 2021 and augmented by an updated rerun in January 2024. All studies used the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklist for Analytical Cross‐Sectional Studies for quality assessment. Due to heterogeneity, a narrative synthesis was conducted to evaluate the relationships between the included studies. Four observational studies that reported diet‐related outcomes were included in the review, and participants within the studies ranged from 554 to &gt;350,000 participants. Other health outcomes, including physical activity and obesity, were also reported. Two studies found that dietary patterns were not correlated with exposure to greenspace. Due to the small number of articles retrieved and the paucity of evidence, the findings must be interpreted cautiously. In conclusion, further research is essential to clarify the intricate mechanisms involved in greenspace‐related health benefits. Additionally, investigating the specific greenspace attributes influencing adult dietary intake and food choices is warranted. When devising public health interventions, it is crucial to account for the substantial health advantages associated with various socioeconomic groups.

How Civil Resistance Improves Inclusive Democracy

When do political transitions lead to greater inclusion for groups historically excluded from power? Scholars and policymakers often assume the answer is simple: a transition will result in more inclusion when it ends in democracy. Yet this answer is incomplete at best, since many democracies systematically exclude women, particular ethnic groups, or lower economic classes from power. Using data on political transitions around the world from 1945 to 2014, this study shows that a political transition’s initiating force critically shapes post-transition political inclusion. When transitions are initiated through unarmed civil resistance campaigns they achieve greater advances in inclusion relative to other types of transition. We propose three mechanisms to explain this effect: civil resistance leads to greater continued mobilization and civic activism among the historically excluded, provides greater opportunities for elites from historically excluded groups to rise to positions of leadership in new regimes, and forges more pluralistic norms of political behavior.

Using Intersectionality to Understand How Structural Domains Are Embedded in Life Narratives.

This study draws on life narrative data and an intersectional framework to explore features of narratives around structural domains, aiming to better understand the possible impacts of these domains on identity. Through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 177 young adults from primarily minoritized groups (73% Asian American or Latine, 59% Women, Median Parent Income = $50,001 to $75,000), we gathered 885 life narratives. Young adults narrated a domain-general, ethnic/racial, gender, social class, and intersectional experience. Features capturing the content (Presence of Structural Domains, Connection to and Between Structural Domains) and process (Meaning Making, Affective Tone) of narratives were explored. Structural domains manifested uniquely within narratives such that ethnicity/race was discussed most frequently across narratives, whereas gender and social class were mentioned more in narratives about those domains. Additionally, Meaning Making was highest in self-defining narratives and positively correlated with the number of structural domains present within and across narratives. Affective Tone was most positive in self-defining narratives and most negative in social class narratives, which also contained the lowest Connection to Structural Domain. This study combines an intersectional framework and life narrative data to understand how structural domains manifest within young adults' experiences, revealing how those domains are interconnected and may impact identity.

Many Caring Marys: Feminised Care in Mary Seacole’s Wonderful Adventures and Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Marys Seacole

Drawing upon a growing body of research in feminist care theory, this essay argues that Mary Seacole’s representation of care in her 1857 autobiography, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, uses maternal rhetoric to reinforce a Victorian vision of care grounded in feminine hospitality and domestic comfort. The essay considers Seacole’s narrative as both a sentimentalist story that sanitises care labour through her use of the figurative ‘mother,’ and as a testimony to the centrality of care labour, so often invisibilised, in grand narratives of history. I analyse this vision alongside Jackie Sibblies Drury’s 2019 play Marys Seacole, which reconsiders Seacole’s legacy by arguing instead for an entangled, interdependent model of care relations that explicitly attends to differences in class and race. Drury’s play ambivalently explores what is both inspiring and fraught within Seacole’s original narrative; its final dramatic thrust, which finds its characters clinging to the iconography of ‘Mother Seacole’ while physically clutching onto one another, registers the inadequacy of a care model dependent upon exploited mother figures and suggests the need for lateral, multiracial, and multigenerational networks of mutual support.

The privilege to play: race, gender, & SES advantages in boys’ high school athletic opportunities

ABSTRACT In this study, with an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design, we considered the components and implications of a habitus that (re)produces racial/ethnic, social class, and gender differences in US interscholastic sport participation. We drew from independently collected qualitative (N = 19 men and 47 total college athletes) and quantitative (N = 4,097 high school boys) data and noted and investigated dynamic links between individual choices; family, community, and school contexts; and power structures that inform interscholastic athletics. Findings positioned sports as offering valuable institutionalized cultural capital but being rife with reproductive struggles. Schools serve as fields that co-construct unequal athletic opportunity structures by nurturing and rewarding a cultivated athletic habitus associated with masculinity, whiteness, and affluent dispositions. These processes situate athletic advantages and successes as purely meritorious but restrict who is most likely to receive the individual and social benefits of high school sports participation.

External validation of SCORE2-Diabetes in the Netherlands across various Socioeconomic levels in native-Dutch and non-Dutch populations.

Adults with type 2 diabetes have an increased risk of cardiovascular events (CVE), the world's leading cause of mortality. The SCORE2-Diabetes model is a tool designed to estimate the 10-year risk of CVE specifically in individuals with type 2 diabetes. However, the performance of such models may vary across different demographic and socioeconomic groups, necessitating validation and assessment in diverse populations. This study aims to externally validate SCORE2-Diabetes and assess its performance across various socioeconomic and migration origins in the Netherlands. We selected adults with type 2 diabetes, aged 40-79 years and without previous CVE from the Extramural LUMC Academic Network (ELAN) primary care data cohort from 2007 to 2023. ELAN data were linked with Statistics Netherlands registry data to obtain information about the country of origin and socioeconomic status (SES). CVE was defined as myocardial infarction, stroke, or CV mortality. Non-CV mortality was considered a competing event. Analyses were stratified by sex, Dutch versus other non-Dutch countries of origin, and quintiles of SES. Of the 26,544 included adults with type 2 diabetes, 2,518 developed CVE. SCORE2-Diabetes showed strong predictive accuracy for CVE in the Dutch population (observed-to-expected ratio (OE)=1.000, 95% CI=0.990-1.008 for men, and OE=1.050, 95% CI=1.042-1.057 for women). For non-Dutch individuals, the model underestimated CVE risk (OE=1.121, 95% CI=1.108-1.131 for men, and OE=1.100, 95% CI=1.092-1.111 for women). The model also underestimated the CVE risk (OE>1) in low SES groups and overestimated the risk (OE<1) in high SES groups. Discrimination was moderate across subgroups with c-indices between 0.6 and 0.7. SCORE2-Diabetes accurately predicted the risk of CVE in the Dutch population. However, it underpredicted the risk of CVE in the low SES groups and non-Dutch origins, while overpredicting the risk in high SES men and women. Additional clinical judgment must be considered when using SCORE2-Diabetes for different SES and countries of origin.

School District Housing Buyers and Educational Investment Returns: A Case Study of X District in Shanghai

As a dual carrier of educational resources and economic assets, school district housing has become an important tool for family educational investment and social class reproduction. This paper takes Shanghai's X District as an example to explore, from a sociological perspective, the purchasing behaviors of different groups regarding school district housing and their educational investment returns. It reveals the key role of school district housing in the accumulation of cultural and social capital. The study finds that high-income families, the middle class, and the working class in X District exhibit different demand tendencies when purchasing school district housing, reflecting goals of obtaining high-quality educational resources, expanding social capital, and achieving upward social mobility, respectively. The phenomenon of school district housing exacerbates the imbalance in the distribution of educational resources and limits social mobility.

Total elbow arthroplasty in England.

The aim of this study was to review the provision of total elbow arthroplasties (TEAs) in England, including the incidence, the characteristics of the patients and the service providers, the types of implant, and the outcomes. We analyzed the primary TEAs recorded in the National Joint Registry (NJR) between April 2012 and December 2022, with mortality data from the Civil Registration of Deaths dataset. Linkage with Hospital Episode Statistics-Admitted Patient Care (HES-APC) data provided further information not collected by the NJR. The incidences were calculated using estimations of the populations from the Office for National Statistics. The annual number of TEAs performed by surgeons and hospitals was analyzed on a national and regional basis. A total of 3,891 primary TEAs were included. The annual incidence of TEA was between 0.72 and 0.82 per 100,000 persons before 2020 and declined to 0.4 due to a decrease in elective TEAs during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a slight recovery in 2022. Older patients, those of white ethnicity and females, were more likely to undergo TEA. Those who underwent elective TEA had a median wait of between 89 (IQR 41 to 221) and 122 days (IQR 74 to 189) in the years before 2021, and this increased to 183 days (IQR 66 to 350) in 2021. The number of TEAs performed by surgeons per annum remained unchanged, with a median of two (IQR 1 to 3). The median annual number of TEAs per region was three to six times higher than the median annual case load of the highest volume hospital in a region. Patients in the lowest socioeconomic group had a higher rate of serious adverse events and mortality (11%) when undergoing TEA for acute trauma. In England, TEA is more common in older age groups, those of white ethnicity, and females. The COVID-19 pandemic affected the incidence of elective TEA and waiting times, and the provision of TEA has not yet recovered. The Getting it Right First Time recommendation of centralizing services to one centre per region could result in up to a six-fold increase in the number of TEAs being performed in some centres.

Exploring the use of Language in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Focus on Social Class and Patriarchal Mindset of Victorian England

Tess of the d’Urbervilles written by Thomas Hardy explores the complicated social structure and patriarchal injustice existing during the Victorian era. In this novel, Hardy uses refined and colloquial language for characters belonging to different classes in order to portray social differences and highlight power and position.Tess, being a girl from lower class was a subject of exploitation and received physical and mental abuse from Alec, Angel and overall, the society. Alec often abused her verbally using words reflectinghis ownership over Tess while Angel and the society blamed her for her rape. This paper aims to examine the role of language in Tess of the d’Urbervilles that represents the deep-rooted domination based on gender and class. Through Hardy’s narrative style and variation in linguistics pattern themes of male dominance and abuse, possession, control, victim blaming, identity, social class. and the patriarchal mindset of the society has been explored. The findings are basedon the primary and secondary data collected from the text Tess of the d’Urbervilles and other journals, articles, research paper of various scholars respectively. Besides, it also focuses on the sympathetic narrative tone of the writer where he expressed his compassion and presented Tess as a tragic character to the readers, who had gone through all sorts of sufferings due to her gender and class. The paper also presents a connection between Tess and the women of all ages who have similar experience and how language has always been an instrument of oppression and control over women by men. Hardy’s use of language is a reflection of the social and gender oppression during the Victorian era and how words can be a way of humiliating women.

The Role of the Merchant Class in Japanese History: A Case Study of the Mitsui Family (1639-1895)

The birth of the Mitsui family was a necessity in the historical development of Japan in the context of changes in social classes, in particular, the role of the merchant class is increasingly recognized by the government through the contributions of merchants to the economic development of the country, onward, the unstable political situation and complicated financial and monetary confusion when there are two types of money, old and new, circulating at the same time. The Mitsui family which specialized in foreign trade and monetary finance, was born to promptly meet the changing and developing needs of Japan at that time. The main research methods are historical and logical. Using historical methods, we began to research the origins of the Mitsui family and the process of development and transformation of the business model from feudal society to capitalism. The logical method is used to determine the characteristics and nature of the relationship between economics and political values when analyzing the role of the Mitsui family according to a system. This study clarifies the formation conditions, ownership characteristics, form of management, and fields of activity of the Mitsui family as well as analyzes the role of this family in the development of Japan during the period of capitalism.

몽골인의 사회계층이 관광 목적지 숙식 및 체험활동 선택에 미치는 영향 : 홉스골 국립공원 지역 관광자를 대상으로 한 이항 로지스틱 회귀분석

Looking at Mongolian tourists to the Khuvsgul National Park area, this study examines the impacts of tourists’ social stratification on their accommodation, dining, and experiential activity choices. The survey was conducted both online and offline at five different accommodations in the Khuvsgul National Park area between January 2024 and March 2024, and 288 valid questionnaires were used for the binary logistic regression analysis. The results showed that tourists’ occupation, average monthly household income, and subjective social class significantly influenced their choice of either luxury (e.g., hotels and resorts) or inexpensive accommodation (e.g., traditional Mongolian ger camps). Specifically, office workers were about 4.24 times more likely to stay in hotels or resorts than unskilled laborers, and the probability of staying at a hotel or resort increased by 1.45 times with each increment in subjective social stratification. In regard to tourists' dining choices (i.e., eating at hotel or resort restaurants vs. bringing their own food or eating at regular restaurants), average monthly household income and subjective social class had significant effects. However, education level influenced neither accommodation nor dining choices. Finally, tourists’ choices of some experiential activities (e.g., Tsaatan experience and Sukhbaatar ship travels) were influenced by their occupation and other control variables such as gender and age. The study findings and their implications were further discussed at the conclusion of this article.

The Invisible Social Class: Relational Equality and Extreme Social Exclusion

In this article, I develop a novel relational egalitarian theory of social exclusion that explains how society fails to treat socially excluded individuals – such as people experiencing homelessness, individuals with substance use disorders and mental illness and sex workers – as equals. I argue that society places and keeps excluded individuals at the very bottom of the social status hierarchy by treating them as socially invisible, or by rendering them physically invisible, or both. The upshot, then, is that part of what is wrong with social exclusion is that it creates the invisible social class.

Do Rearing Group‐Size and Social Rank Influence the Affective State of a Cooperatively‐Breeding Cichlid Fish?

Do Rearing Group‐Size and Social Rank Influence the Affective State of a Cooperatively‐Breeding Cichlid Fish?