Economic Marginalization Research Articles

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS THE USE OF FORCE

The existence of gender differences in public attitudes has long been debated and it is maintained that women and men have different attitudes towards certain policy areas. One of those areas is the use of force in foreign policy. Women are less supportive of the use of force in foreign policy than men. The reasons for these differences have been tried to be explained through the impact of the factors such as partisanship or ideology; economic marginalization; political marginalization; negative responses to war casualties; feminist consciousness; motherhood; socialization; issue salience. While public opinion surveys have been regularly conducted on foreign policy in Turkey, the gender dimension is rather understudied. In this article, I first argue that there are gender differences in public perceptions towards the use of force in Turkey and I aim to explore the reasons for these differences based on two sets of focus group discussions data gathered in 2021 and 2022.

Examining predictors and outcomes of future decent work perception among Nigerian emerging adults

High levels of poverty and unemployment are pervasive barriers to Nigerian emerging adults entering the job market. The current study employed the Psychology of Working Theory to explore career engagement, academic satisfaction, and life satisfaction predictors in a nation experiencing the intersections of high poverty and high unemployment rate. We tested a model predicting these outcomes from economic constraints and marginalization mediated by work volition, career adaptability, and perceptions of future decent work. We administered online surveys to 310 undergraduates in Nigeria. Career adaptability and work volition predicted the perception of future access to decent work. Also, those who reported higher chances of securing decent work after graduation reported greater academic and life satisfaction and career engagement. While economic constraints predicted career adaptability in this model, marginalization did not predict career adaptability. In contrast with previous studies, economic constraints, and marginalization were not predictive of work volition or future decent work perception. We also found a positive relationship between economic challenges and career adaptability against the propositions of the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT). The implications of our findings were discussed.

Latent Constructs of Economic Marginality Associated with Sexual Behavior, Healthcare Access and HIV Outcomes Among Transgender and Nonbinary People in Three U.S. Cities.

Transgender and nonbinary people (TNB) in the U.S. experience high HIV prevalence and diverse economic hardships. Yet a comprehensive understanding of how multiple, simultaneously occurring hardships-termed economic marginality-are together associated with healthcare and HIV outcomes is needed. Leveraging survey data from a sample of 330 TNB people in three U.S. cities, we conducted an exploratory mixed-source principal component analysis of latent factors of economic experience, then estimated their associations with sexual behavior, access to healthcare, HIV status, and HIV testing frequency. Two factors emerged: a traditional socioeconomic factor related to income, education, and employment (SES), and one related to housing precarity and (lack of) assets (Precarity). Higher Precarity scores were associated with sexual behavior, cost-based healthcare avoidance, discrimination-based healthcare avoidance, and more frequent HIV testing. Findings highlight the importance of understanding profiles of economic marginalization among trans and nonbinary people and can inform efforts to address upstream, structural factors shaping healthcare access and HIV outcomes in this key population.

FEMALE WRITER IN LATIN AMERICA: REFLECTION ON THE INFLUENCE OF FEMINISM AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE

The cultural, political, social, economic marginalization of women and the little intellectual authority granted to them negatively influenced the writing, publication and dissemination of female writers’ materials, but with the transcendental changes in Latin America, greatly influenced by the feminist movement, it made with a new configuration of social and cultural spaces, favoring the consolidation of feminist organizations and popular women's organizations. In addition, the increasing inclusion of women in the labor market reflected changes in the family and created a new collective imagination. With that in mind, this work aimed to evaluate and raise a reflection on the evolution of female writer literature in Latin America and the impacts generated in today's productions, the 21st century. Through research carried out through books and digital articles in a period from 2010 to 2022, it was found that women are gaining a little more space in the publishing market and becoming avid readers, however, even as the majority in the search for books, women still do not dominate the production of works in Latin American countries and still do not influence the favoritism of the male public.

Precision agriculture and competitive advantage: Economic efficiency of the mechanized harvesting of Chardonnay and Nero d’Avola grapes

In this work, the results of the research activity carried out on wineries are presented to demonstrate the economic convenience of carrying out mechanical harvesting. After determining the break-even point, for the introduction of the grape harvester in the company, the production costs and the relative profitability of two cultivars (Chardonnay and Nero d'Avola) were estimated. The research results highlight that the wine entrepreneur can improve profit margins with mechanical harvesting, operating with his machine on a minimum business area of 41.62 ha, otherwise resorting to renting the operation is always convenient as lowering production costs improves economic margins. The positive effects are therefore recorded both in the case of introducing the machine into the company and in the case that the entrepreneur rents the machine.

Demonstrating a smart controller in a hospital integrated energy system

Integrated energy systems have recently gained primary importance in clean energy transition. The combination of the electricity, heating and gas sectors can improve the overall system efficiency and integration of renewables by exploiting the synergies among the energy vectors. In particular, real-time optimization tools based on Model Predictive Control (MPC) can considerably improve the performance of systems with several conversion units and distribution networks by automatically coordinating all interacting technologies. Despite the relevance of several simulation studies on the topic, however, it is significantly harder to have an experimental demonstration of this improvement. This work presents a methodology for the real-world implementation of a novel smart control strategy for integrated energy systems, based on two coordinated MPC levels, which optimize the operation of all conversion units and all energy vectors in the short- and long-term, respectively, to account also for economic incentives on critical units. The strategy that was previously developed and evaluated in a simulation environment has now been implemented, as a supervisory controller, in the integrated energy system of a hospital in Italy. The optimal control logic is easily actuated by dynamically communicating the optimal set-points to the existing Building Management System, without having to alter the system configuration. Field data collected over a two-year period, firstly when it was business as usual and when the new operation was introduced, show that the MPC increased the economic margin and revenues from yearly incentives and lowered the amount of electricity purchased, reducing dependency on the power grid.

Experiences of a Community-Based Digital Intervention Among Older People Living in a Low-Income Neighborhood: Qualitative Study.

Older adults worldwide experienced heightened risks of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and poor mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this period, digital technology emerged as a means to mitigate social isolation and enhance social connectedness among older adults. However, older adults' behaviors and attitudes toward the adoption and use of digital technology are heterogeneous and shaped by factors such as age, income, and education. Few empirical studies have examined how older adults experiencing social and economic disadvantages perceive the learning of digital tools. This study aims to examine the motivations, experiences, and perceptions toward a community-based digital intervention among older adults residing in public rental flats in a low-income neighborhood. Specifically, we explored how their attitudes and behaviors toward learning the use of smartphones are shaped by their experiences related to age and socioeconomic challenges. This study adopted a qualitative methodology. Between December 2020 and March 2021, we conducted semistructured in-depth interviews with 19 participants aged ≥60 years who had completed the community-based digital intervention. We asked participants questions about the challenges encountered amid the pandemic, their perceived benefits of and difficulties with smartphone use, and their experiences with participating in the intervention. All interviews were audio recorded and analyzed using a reflexive thematic approach. Although older learners stated varying levels of motivation to learn, most expressed ambivalence about the perceived utility and relevance of the smartphone to their current needs and priorities. While participants valued the social interaction with volunteers and the personalized learning model of the digital intervention, they also articulated barriers such as age-related cognitive and physical limitations and language and illiteracy that hindered their sustained use of these digital devices. Most importantly, the internalization of ageist stereotypes of being less worthy learners and the perception of smartphone use as being in the realm of the privileged other further reduced self-efficacy and interest in learning. To improve learning and sustained use of smartphones for older adults with low income, it is essential to explore avenues that render digital tools pertinent to their daily lives, such as creating opportunities for social connections and relationship building. Future studies should investigate the relationships between older adults' social, economic, and health marginality and their ability to access digital technologies. We recommend that the design and implementation of digital interventions should prioritize catering to the needs and preferences of various segments of older adults, while working to bridge rather than perpetuate the digital divide.

Thinking with relations in nature conservation? A case study of the Etosha National Park and Haiǁom

AbstractThe area of the Etosha National Park in Namibia has been inhabited for many centuries by Haiǁom, a group of (now former) hunter‐gatherers. In 1907, Etosha was proclaimed as a game reserve, although Haiǁom were still allowed to live in the area until they were expelled in the 1950s due to then‐dominant ideas of fortress conservation. In recent years, Haiǁom have been provided with several resettlement farms by the Namibian government as a reaction to the colonial land dispossession. In this article, I explore the onto‐epistemology of Haiǁom (i.e. their being in and knowing the Etosha area), focusing on their relations with the land and with human and beyond‐the‐human beings before their eviction. I argue that the eviction implies not only economic marginalization but also social deprivation, which is inadequately addressed with resettlement. I suggest that thinking with relations, illustrated with the Haiǁom case, would call for other solutions in the context of measures taken for past land dispossessions and would open new paths for Namibia's nature conservation initiatives.

The development of a smart political moral economy in Africa: discourse, legitimisation, disciplining, and hegemony

This paper uses and expands the concept of a ‘political moral economy’ to better understand elite attempts to justify and promote capitalist development strategies linked to the proliferation of ‘smart technologies’ such as big data, mobile communications, and the construction of hi-tech cities. Drawing on an Ideology and Discourse analysis perspective on hegemony introduced by Ernesto Laclau and Chantel Mouffe, it aims to show how market-based ‘smart development’ across the African continent has discursively incorporated resistance moralities associated with popular critiques of elite corruption, foreign exploitation, and local economic marginalisation for its overall political success. To do so, it will focus on the case of ‘Leapfrogging development’ discourses and the planned construction of the Technopolis Konza in Kenya. The key advance of this article is showing how dominant ideologies – and the domestic and foreign regimes of elite power they support – can be strengthened through processes of ‘moral legitimisation’ and ‘moral disciplining’. Specifically, this moral dimension of hegemony involves the ongoing incorporation and strategic redeployment of existing and emergent normative discourses for the purpose of providing political legitimacy to these governing ideologies and further attempting to normatively regulate populations in accordance with their core values and interests – even in the face of their practical and ongoing failures as policies.

A rural‐centric model for understanding women's later life precarity in an agrarian economy in Uganda

AbstractAging as a woman within the context of agricultural transformation where production and consumption values shape everyday life raises concerns of later life precarity. Gender economic inclusion is imperative in the achievement of inclusive rural development. But there is a tendency to homogenize female experiences of poverty based on gender and class, ignoring the impact of global economic and social changes on Uganda's rural economy and the elderly. Furthermore, in the agrarian context, precarity hinges on gender images of a desirable agricultural worker and neoliberal policies that exacerbate vulnerabilities of elderly women already living on the economic margins of global capitalism. Drawing on rural‐dwelling older women's narratives, this article reveals that precarity in an environment of agrarian capitalism is a product of conflict between the desire to maintain relationships of reciprocity and engagement in production. In this article, a five‐tier rural‐centric model relevant to conceptualizing risk factors to precarity is proposed. The model is influenced by the Bourdieusian theory of capital and Gudeman's economy theory. The model provides an opportunity to re‐imagine and situate older women's later life precarity within the wider sociopolitical and economic context, and consequently design appropriate social protection initiatives.

Prevalence, risk factors, and comorbidities of psychotic experiences in Afghanistan: a highly stressful environment.

To estimate the prevalence and demographic, psychiatric, and trauma-focused correlates of psychotic experiences (PEs) in the Afghan general population. Data were drawn from a cross-sectional household survey implemented in eight regions of Afghanistan (N = 4445). The CIDI structured instrument was administered to adults to assess psychiatric disorders and psychotic experiences; life events and PTSD were assessed using validated instruments. Weighted multivariate models integrated socio-demographics, regions, traumas as determinants of PE. PEs were frequently reported in the Afghan population: 27.50% of the population reported a lifetime PE. PEs were more common among specific ethnic groups, and were associated with lower income in adjusted regression models. PEs were associated with mental health problems including major depressive disorders (OR = 3.43), PTSD (OR = 5.08), generalized anxiety (OR = 4.2); lifetime suicidal attempts (OR 6.04), lifetime suicidal thoughts (OR = 3.42), addiction (OR = 2.18); and psychological distress and impairment due to mental health (OR = 2.95 and 2.46, respectively). Psychotic experiences in the Afghan general population confirm general population findings in other countries, that psychotic experiences are common and associated with economic and social marginalization, and part of a continuum of mental health problems experienced in populations. Efforts to reduce and treat psychotic experiences within a broad array of psychiatric conditions are needed.

“A million other factors killing us”: Black women's health and refusing necropolitics-as-usual during COVID-19

Ongoing social, economic, and political marginalization combined with racialized gender violence has sentenced Black women in the United States to disproportionate harm in the form of premature illness and death. Despite widespread recognition within the medical social sciences, public health, and social work of the health inequities that unevenly impact Black women, as a population, their suffering continues to be overlooked and marginalized in biomedical research, healthcare institutions, and health policy. This omission contributes to the naturalization and normalization of heightened morbidity and mortality of Black women. In this article, we draw from theory on necropolitics, misogynoir, and Black ecologies of care in analyzing findings from semi-structured interviews conducted between February and June 2021 with African American women (n = 16) who were experiencing a chronic health condition or caring for someone with a chronic health condition in Tucson, Arizona. Interviews explored women’s healthcare-seeking behaviors, experiences with healthcare providers, and self-care and caregiving during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings suggest that necropolitical logics in the form of naturalization and normalization of Black women's suffering – and of the structures that render such suffering – permeated but did not entirely define women's experiences of the pandemic, including how they navigated biomedical spaces and negotiated interactions with healthcare providers, engaged in practices of care (including self-care), and perceived and made meaning of their own health statuses. We advance a Black ecologies of care framework: (1) to make visible and hold accountable necropolitical structures in tabulations of morbidity and mortality; and (2), despite the myriad harms represented in logics of necropolitics-as-usual, to foreground the life-affirming practices by women that persist nevertheless.

Recommendations for Conceptualizing and Measuring Constructs Within Psychology of Working Theory

Psychology of Working Theory (PWT) has been increasingly adopted by counseling and vocational psychologists since its inception in 2016, and approximately 100 quantitative studies to date have tested various propositions of the Theory. As a relatively new theory, there has been lack of consistency in how the main constructs are conceptualized and measured by scholars, thus limiting further application of PWT. The following paper is aimed at addressing this inconsistency by providing a guide for researchers interested in using PWT as a theoretical framework in their studies. First, we provide an overview of PWT and the definitions of its core constructs: economic constraints, marginalization, work volition, career adaptability, decent work, and need satisfaction. Then, we review quantitative studies conducted to date to show how each of the constructs have been conceptualized and measured. Finally, we provide specific recommendations that researchers can follow in their future studies based on this review. It is hoped that the recommendations can provide a more streamlined way of measuring the constructs as well as ideas for researchers to expand the psychology of working literature.

Dhanyang dan Prewangan: Kuasa Roh Halus dalam Dunia Mistik Orang Jawa Perantau di Dataran Tinggi Gayo

The purpose of this study is to investigate how members of disadvantaged communities imagine "other lives," and how such perceptions influence their own lives. This study will explore how society defines things that are unseen but are believed to exist and may impact human existence by having a look at the overseas Javanese population in the Gayo highlands in Aceh. The findings of this study will be used to illustrate how society views these creatures. This study, in contrast to the majority of other studies of overseas Javanese, is interested in how the construction efforts of danyang and prewangan are and how they communicate with each other. Other studies of overseas Javanese focus on topics such as cultural assimilation, conflict, and resilience. The information needed for this study was gleaned through participant observation and in-depth interviews with local Javanese residents of Aceh's Bener Meriah District. Because of the economic and cultural marginalization they face when interacting with the dominant ethnic groups of Gayo and Aceh, which persuades them to seek alternative protection, this article demonstrates that the concepts of danyang and prewangan are part of the identity that was brought from Javanese culture.

Cumulative adversity, mindfulness, and mental health in first-time mothers experiencing low income

BackgroundSocioeconomic adversity can negatively impact the mental and physical health of mothers and their offspring. This paper extends understanding of the interrelationship of these factors during the perinatal time frame, specifically to: 1.) evaluate the impact of adverse childhood events (ACES), negative life events (NLEs), and socioeconomic factors on the mental health of low-income expecting mothers; 2) evaluate for differences by race/ethnicity in adversity predicting perinatal mental health; 3) examine how mindfulness interacts with socioeconomic adversity in predicting prenatal mental health. Methods202 predominately non-white primiparous females with household income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level participated. Measures included ACEs, NLEs, and several descriptors of socioeconomic status. Resilience and mindfulness were measured as possible protective factors. In the sequence of socioeconomic factors, ACEs, and NLEs, hierarchical multiple regression tested these measures as predictors of prenatal depression and anxiety, also evaluating for interaction effects. ResultsControlling for socioeconomic factors, higher ACEs and NLEs independently predicted worse prenatal mental health. Cumulative socioeconomic risk interacted with ACEs to predict higher prenatal anxiety and more accurately predict prenatal depression scores. Higher mindfulness predicted lower anxiety and depression regardless of adversity, but was also significantly negatively correlated with ACEs. LimitationsGeneralizability of results are limited by the sample size and specific geographic region. ConclusionSocioeconomic and psychosocial adversity cumulatively impact prenatal mental health. Mindfulness may be a valuable target for resilience-enhancing interventions prepartum but is not a solution to the clear detriments that social and economic marginalization have on mental health.

The Vicious Circle of Marginalization of the Kokoda Tribe in Sorong, Southwest Papua

Objective: to analyze the complexity of marginalization faced by the Kokoda Tribe in Sorong, Southwest Papua. Theoretical framework: The Gramsci's theory of hegemony explains that the dominance of intellectual and moral leadership by the ruling class caused the complexity of marginalization. Methods: qualitative research with a critical ethnographic approach. Data were found through field observations, in-depth interviews, and documentation. The data were processed through the stages of ethnographic discovery, making ethnographic notes, and ethnographic descriptions. Data were analyzed through four stages: domain analysis, taxonomy analysis, component analysis, and theme analysis. Results and conclusion: the complexity of marginalization of the Kokoda Tribe, including psychological marginalization: negative stereotypes such as destroyers of nature, criminals, and low work ethic. Political marginalization: political monopoly and political victimization. Economic marginalization: jobs that only come from nature, such as stone breaking and selling mangroves. Social marginalization: ostracism and limited information. Educational marginalization: very low education. The vicious circle of marginalization experienced by the Kokoda Tribe is the result of the hegemony of the dominant group's power. Research implications: Suggestions to the government, academics, and social institutions to help improve the quality of life of the Kokoda Tribe who are independent, dignified, and able to create a sustainable living environment. Originality: The causes of marginalization are not always external, but can also be internal, such as the domination of indigenous Papuan ruling groups.

Displacement and Marginalisation of Haitian Immigrants

Displacement is the forced or voluntary migration of people. Colonialism and Imperialism are the significant factors that lead to the displacement and dislocation of people. Economic poverty and natural calamities add to the physical movement of people from one country to another. The migrants suffer physically and psychologically in the host countries. The fear of non-acceptance leads to their marginalisation in society. Marginalisation is a social phenomenon in which ethnic minorities or sub-groups are excluded from mainstream society. When an individual migrates, he aspires to acceptance in the host country. The natives do not find any semblance to the migrants and do not accept them; they treat them indifferently, demean them, and use derogatory terms for them. The immigrants find it difficult to adapt and feel secluded and marginalised. Edwidge Danticat writes about the immigration of Haitians and the problems they faced after immigration. The immigrants are displaced in the host country and feel alienated when they do not find any help or solace. They face social, economic, political, cultural and psychological marginalisation. The marginalised are always at the receiving end, and their needs are ignored. These marginalised people may develop low self-confidence and self-esteem.

Social Genomics Model of Health Disparities

Social stress such as financial scarcity, childhood trauma, and neighborhood violence has been associated with worse health outcomes. Furthemore, the social stress one experiences is not accidental. Rather, it can be the result of systematic economic and social marginalization through social policies, built environment and neighborhood underdevelopment from structural racism and discrimination. The psychological and physical stress associated with social exposure risk has been identified as possible explanatory variables for the disparities in health outcomes we have previously assigned to “race.” We will use lung cancer as a use case to illustrate a novel model that links social exposure, behavioral risk and the stress response to outcomes.

Plastic monsters: Abjection, worms, the Cthulhic, and the black single-use plastic bag

The single-use plastic bag is the most legislated item of plastic in the world, banned in over 92 countries. The bans are largely concentrated in Africa and the Caribbean, where the plastic bags are often black and the plastic footprints small. The bans have destabilised essential economic, social, and technical arrangements of marginalised communities reliant on plastic engagements and adaptations to improvise against multiple, overlapping, incursive forms of violence. This article seeks to understand the spatial and material nature of these legislative actions and the particular item of single-use plastic they target. Acknowledging the (spatialised) material realities of the single-use plastic bag, this article argues that these bans are a legislative response to the black plastic bag as spatialised, racialised, sexualised, abject Other. Drawing from monster theory, the article reflects on the trans-corporeal body burdening of black plastic bags and the black hands, black bodies, black markets, and black, corrupt, illicit actions with whom and which they are associated. Reconceptualising the (black) single-use plastic bag as an agape, plastic monster that defines, patrols, and transgresses cultural/economic boundaries, this article calls for making explicit the vermicular activities within economic marginalisation and distinguishing them from the discursively constructed amorphous, tentacled mass.

Lifetime experiences of economic constraints and marginalization among incoming college students: A latent profile analysis.

Lifetime experiences of economic constraints and marginalization among incoming college students: A latent profile analysis.