Everyday Social Life Research Articles

Self- and proxy-reported impaired social interaction in young adults with simple congenital heart defects.

Simple Congenital Heart Defects such as septal defects constitute a large proportion of Congenital Heart Defects. New research has demonstrated more co-morbidities than previously thought. In particular, co-morbidities involving neurocognitive, psychiatric, and social difficulties have been described. Neurocognitive and psychiatric morbidities affect social interaction. Social interaction is important in everyday social life (education, work life, family life). In this study, we investigated social interaction through self- and proxy-answered Social Responsiveness Scale 2 (SRS-2) in young adults with simple Congenital Heart Defects and compared their social interaction profile to healthy matched controls. We included a total of 80 patients with either atrial or ventricular septal defect (age 26.6 years) and 38 heart-healthy, age, sex, and ISCED educational matched controls (age: 25.3 years). A close relative proxy from each participant took part in the study as well. All participants answered the Social Responsiveness Scale 2 (SRS-2) (n = 225). Our primary and secondary outcomes were the SRS-2 Total score and the SRS-2 sub-scores. In the Congenital Heart Defects group, 31.3% had a Total score above 60 compared to 7.9% in the control group (p = 0.005, RR = 3.96). The participants with a septal defect had a higher Total score (52.5 vs. 45.5, p = 0.004), a higher Social Cognition sub-score (55.0 vs. 47.0, p = 0.0004), and a higher Social Motivation sub-score (50.0 vs. 45.0, p = 0.003) than the heart-healthy participants. We found no difference between the two groups regarding the sub-scores of Social Awareness and Social Communication. A multiple linear regression model showed that the variable that explained most of the variation in Total Score was having a previously diagnosed psychiatric disorder. We found that young adults with atrial or ventricular septal defects have a fourfold increased risk of social interaction difficulties compared to heart-healthy peers. They have a social interaction profile, with difficulties in social cognition and social motivation, and preserved social awareness and social communication. Psychiatric morbidity explained most of the variation in social interaction problems. As social difficulties and psychiatric morbidities are intertwined, social interaction difficulties could be an indication of already underlying psychiatric morbidities or a risk factor for future psychiatric morbidity.

Sztuka jako potrzeba kształtowania pozytywnych zmian w przestrzeni społecznej

Nowadays we live in an unfavorable multicultural reality that generates a number of difficult situations that society must constantly get used to. This reality requires constant adaptation to it, causing various attitudes and behaviors. The main good for the entire society is the acquisition of appropriate skills and dispositions, so that the everyday world becomes possible to carry out everyday tasks. In search of the positive patterns of behavior and conditions for the desired changes, art becomes helpful, the value and potential of which can contribute to modeling reality and social attitudes. Performing its social and educational functions, art significantly revitalizes social space, it just needs to be given a chance to do so. The aim of the research was an attempt to show the possibility of changes in the life of an individual, his/her attitudes, and in the social space under the influence of the presence of art. In the adopted orientation of qualitative research, such methods of data acquisition as free-targeted interviews and analysis of the content of the subject literature were used. An important method was also the opinion of artists/experts. The results of the research were presented in the form of the respondents’ statements, which show that the respondents mostly perceive the social and educational functions of art and are able to locate them in the space of social change. By fulfilling its artistic and, above all, social and educational functions, it allows for changes in the everyday functioning of a person, the implementation of his/her attitudes, and the perception of the need to shape social reality through positive own activity. Art is conducive to building social awareness, which contributes to compensating the area of social life. Reaching the recipient, not only allows them to become interested in it but also awakens their sensitivity and willingness to introduce the proposed solutions into everyday social life. It has an integrating and revitalizing function.

The effects of body dissatisfaction and depression levels on the dietary habits of university students in southern China during COVID-19.

The novel coronavirus disease of 2019 has impacted people's lives greatly. The spread of the pandemic has restricted many everyday social lives. Some studies have shown that strict risk control during the pandemic threatens people's mental health and eating habits. University students vulnerable to mental health problems may have more prominent mental health and eating disorders during the pandemic. This study aims to elucidate the relationship between body dissatisfaction, depression, body mass index, and emotional eating among university students in the context of the pandemic in southern China. It provides a theoretical basis for developing future approaches to improve depression and emotional eating among university students. A total of 1,135 university students were recruited for the study. All participants completed anthropometric, body dissatisfaction, eating behavior, and depression level surveys. The study finds that female students have higher levels of body dissatisfaction, depression, and emotional eating than male students. University students in the high body dissatisfaction group had higher levels of depression. Depression level (β = 0.33, p < 0.01), body dissatisfaction (β = 0.22, p < 0.01), sex (β = 0.16, p < 0.01), and income (β = 0.06, p < 0.01) were significant predictors of emotional eating. Fundamentally, this study highlights the impact of body dissatisfaction on depression and emotional eating. The potential to improve depression and emotional eating among university students by improving their levels of body dissatisfaction was demonstrated.

Beyond the Grid: The Micropolitics of Off‐Grid Energy in Qandu‐Qandu, South Africa

AbstractIn this paper, we argue using smart technologies beyond the grid disrupts the access and use of existing energy sources, with profound impacts on everyday social life. We show how off‐grid smart energy solutions constitute their own politics when considering existing conceptualisations of urban infrastructures in geography and the social sciences. To expose its politics, or “micropolitics”, we consider how tensions occur at the interface between infrastructures, where there are additions and modifications. We draw on an empirical example of Qandu‐Qandu, an informal settlement in South Africa, to highlight how the placement, technical capabilities, and flexible financing options associated with off‐grid solar energy create micropolitics with profound implications for everyday life. To conclude, we reflect on the value of using disruptions for understanding and enhancing equity in off‐grid settings, contributing to the broader sustainability transitions narrative, and its “liveliness”.

Introduction

Abstract How is conflict reshaped by and through the displacement of millions of people into neighboring countries? Does conflict follow displaced people and how does this spatial rupture reconfigure conflict itself? Based on ethnographies of Syrians in Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Syria, this introduction to a special section on displaced conflict argues that displacement, generating a spatial rupture between people and the state, layers conflict by embedding state level competitions over power in intimate relationships. Moreover, displacement inscribes the altered stakes of everyday social life into state level politics. In displacement, the Syrian conflict re-emerges as a layer of decision about, for instance, where and how to bury the deceased, just as shifting forms of solidarity between Syrians and Lebanese becomes one layer of what the conflict is all about. As such, comprehending the conflict and the transformations it instigates in people's lifeworlds requires attention to the layering induced by spatial rupture.

Functional role of the theory of mind network in integrating mentalistic prior information with action kinematics during action observation

Inferring intentions from verbal and nonverbal human behaviour is critical for everyday social life. Here, we combined Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) with a behavioural priming paradigm to test whether key nodes of the Theory of Mind network (ToMn) contribute to understanding others' intentions by integrating prior knowledge about an agent with the observed action kinematics. We used a modified version of the Faked-Action Discrimination Task (FAD), a forced-choice paradigm in which participants watch videos of actors lifting a cube and judge whether the actors are trying to deceive them concerning the weight of the cube. Videos could be preceded or not by verbal description (prior) about the agent's truthful or deceitful intent. We applied single pulse TMS over three key nodes of the ToMn, namely dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), right posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) and right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ). Sham-TMS served as a control (baseline) condition. Following sham or rTPJ stimulation, we observed no consistent influence of priors on FAD performance. In contrast, following dmPFC stimulation, and to a lesser extent pSTS stimulation, truthful and deceitful actions were perceived as more deceptive only when the prior suggested a dishonest intention. These findings highlight a functional role of dmPFC and pSTS in coupling prior knowledge about deceptive intents with observed action kinematics in order to judge faked actions. Our study provides causal evidence that fronto-temporal nodes of the ToMn are functionally relevant to mental state inference during action observation.

Lower‐Class Reading in Late Imperial Russia

AbstractThis article demonstrates widespread engagement of lower‐class people with the written word in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Russian Empire, in rural and urban locales, in homes, workplaces, and social spaces. We explore how lower‐class people read: the daily habits, personal relationships, and social spaces that shaped engagement with texts, and especially collective reading, a widespread phenomenon that extended the reach of the written word to less‐ or non‐literate audiences. Many lower‐class Russians experienced reading as a collective, public, aural activity, not a solitary, private, internal one. Reading was entwined with the rhythms of everyday social life and provoked critical thought and active engagement within countless lower‐class reading groups, as evidenced by collective letter‐writing and observations of post‐reading discussions. This article therefore contributes to scholarship exploring lower‐class Russians’ conscious and meaningful engagement with the textual world, and by association with late imperial Russia’s transforming social and political spheres.

Various ways towards animal product limiting – Practical and social engagements in initial phase of dietary change

Reducing one's consumption of foods containing animal products, or avoiding such foods altogether, has become part of everyday life for many people in the Western world. People's motivations for such “animal product limiting” are well-established, but the ways in which individuals enact and experience dietary change in the initial phase are not well understood. Nor is it clear whether, and how, these people present their dietary changes to others. Through the analysis of interviews with 28 people residing in Denmark who had recently (<9 months) embarked on flexitarian, pescetarian, vegetarian or vegan diets, this paper explores how people, in the initial phase of trying to consume fewer, or no, foods with animal products, (i) engage in the practicalities of daily food activities and (ii) communicate their experiences with, and opinions about, the dietary changes they are making in interpersonal interactions. The findings reveal two very different ways of organising the daily food activities: Foodism and Convenience. They also disclose three different ways of communicating in interpersonal interactions: Ethical advocacy, Plant food demonstration and Anonymisation of diet. The paper offers insights into the variation in practices underlying animal product limiting. It suggests that the plant food sector should cater for people relying on convenient food practices as well as those engaged in more advanced (“foodie”) practices. Further, in discussing interpersonal communication in the light of community-based social marketing, we argue that the findings highlight how animal product limiters, in everyday social life, may be able to encourage more people to embark on animal product limiting.

‘Like a piece of meat in a pack of wolves’: gay/bisexual men and sexual racialization

Human geographers have analyzed the co-constitutive relationship between race, gender and sexualities across different spaces and social contexts and have called for intersectional approaches in discussions of identities, power and space. This article applies an intersectional framework to the processes of sexualization, racialization and exoticization that shape the daily lives and erotic/romantic encounters experienced and narrated by participants to two different projects: gay and bisexual men from a North African background living in Belgium; Italian gay men living in England; non-White gay men living in Italy. By discussing qualitative data collected during interviews with these men, and through a continued dialogue about this data between the authors, the paper explores both the effects of these processes on the lives of participants, and the strategies they enact to navigate their social worlds. The focus is on two elements, central to participants’ narratives: the specificity of the intersectional experience of encountering men who expect a specifically gendered and racialized performance based on ‘roughness’ and ‘wildness’, and the capitalization on these exoticizing and racializing images to increase one’s desirability on the dating/hook-up scene and everyday social and work life. By highlighting these elements, this paper shows the importance of applying an intersectional approach to analyses of the entanglements of racialization and sexualization in order to complicate linear accounts of these processes.

Understanding the popularity and affordances of TikTok through user experiences

In this paper I discuss the affordances and popularity of the short-video app TikTok from an audience studies point of view. I do so by drawing on findings from ethnographic fieldwork with young adult TikTok users based in the United Kingdom that was conducted in 2020 and 2021. I trace how using the app, specifically scrolling through the TikTok For You Page, the app’s algorithmic content feed, became a fixed part of the everyday routines of young adults. I show how TikTok appealed to them as a convenient means of escape and relief that they were unable to find elsewhere during and beyond times of lockdown. Further, I highlight the complex nature of TikTok as an app and the active role that users play in imagining and appropriating the app’s affordances as meaningful parts of their everyday social life. Closing the paper, I reflect on future directions of TikTok scholarship by stressing the importance of situated audience studies.

Concepts of Labour and Conduct in proverbs: a comparative study

Languages change with time. As a result, new structures appear, and new approaches are developed in them. Language is a link in decoding forms of cognition between the past and the present – and the role of proverbs here is really significant. In every language, proverbs carry the color of the era. They are directly related to folk traditions and help to preserve history, culture, and the mentality of society. Phraseological units such as proverbs differ across cultures, although similar forms can sometimes be found in various sociocultural contexts. Likewise, the system of conduct rules is expected to be different from society to society, since the values of people of each individual national group are determined by their traditions and culture. The present article is based on a comparative analysis of proverbs in the Russian, Ukrainian and Hungarian languages. Proverbs that describe labor principles and rules of conduct in everyday social life were selected from (bilingual) dictionaries and the Internet resources with the aim of identifying the main similarities and differences between Russian, Ukrainian and Hungarian societies. A few proverbs regarding leisure time and friendly relations were also analyzed as linking subtopics to the concepts of labor and conduct. Some proverbs containing an animal-element that are used to describe humans’ behavior also appear in the present work. The study shows that the national and cultural components of proverbs depict physical activity and other realities of communities, but proverbs might have their own national coloring and moral content. In our study, proverbs are viewed as statements that are often rhymed, usually have two parts, and express a complete thought. The present paper is of practical importance as the research results can be applied for theoretical courses in comparative linguistics, especially in courses on the study of proverbs.

Sociological perspectives of social media, rumors, and attacks on minorities: Evidence from Bangladesh.

Social media platforms serve as essential modes of communication for billions of people around the world. They host a diverse range of content-from the personal and social to the political serving as an important channel for connecting people for spreading ideas. However, given their widespread penetration into everyday social and political life, they have become a tool for spreading rumors and disinformation that may often misrepresent or distort reality and have in many cases incited violence. In Bangladesh, perpetrators over the last decade have utilized social media platforms to spread rumors and to mobilize mobs to launch violent attacks on minority groups. Drawing from social movement theories on how the nexus between social media and political violence works, this paper examines a sample of five cases during the periods of 2011-2022. We exemplify minority attacks being instigated by social media rumors to understand their nature and causes thereof. The study finds that religious extremism, the absence of legal safeguards, and the culture of impunity are the primary triggers, to a varying degree, for the social media rumor-instigated attacks on minorities in Bangladesh.

Trust as a participant in the adaptation of technological changes

Purpose: Trust is an important relational element in everyday social life and influences the efficiency of the communication process of the whole society. In the literature on the subject, there are different definitions of this concept. Most often, trust is described as an element of the personality formed at the beginning of life. This thesis examines the concepts of trust and trust in technology. It discusses the differences, connections, and dependencies between them, which determine the process of adaptation of technology recipients to its advanced development. Design/methodology/approach: In the content of the paper, the authors focused on a review of the literature on the selected issue. The content attempts to refer to the aspects of trust that emerge during the implementation and adaptation of new technologies. Findings: The analysis of the research carried out by individual authors allows us to conclude that the concepts of interpersonal and technological trust are not identical, but complementary. Due to technological progress and the fact that it plays an increasingly important role in society, trust in technology is gaining in importance. There is also a growing need on the part of manufacturers to provide trustworthy IT solutions, as audience trust is crucial in the sense of user acceptance of technological solutions and thus their turnover in the market. Social implications: The development of new technologies changes the shape and perception of reality. Technology determines the progress of development as well as the dynamics of functioning in this technological reality of society. New technologies throw many challenges at the social level, one of them is the issue of trust in what technology can change as a causal effect. Originality/value: In its content, the article tries to cross the horizon of current events in the dimension of technological changes. Many futurologists like Y.N. Harrari is trying to see possible scenarios that will be a consequence of implementing the technology. It is important to emphasize that technology itself is not deterministic, it is programs of use, common sense, trust and human morality that determine the ultimate agency and use of technology. Keywords: technology, trust, adaptation.

ПЕРЕКЛАД ТЕКСТІВ ПОЛІТИЧНОГО ДИСКУРСУ

The paper is focused on the research of translation peculiarities of the texts of political discourse in the global contemporary information space. Politics is one of the constituents of cultural system of society which possesses high influence on social everyday life. In its turn, a language plays a fundamental role in the process of any political activity, as it makes basis of gaining and holding power, as well as ruling the society. Considering that texts of political discourse are an important instrument of impact on national and international public, it is obvious that they need a detailed analysis and a careful interpretation in transmission to a target language. Texts of political discourse may belong to different genres and possess various stylistic characteristics. From a functional point of view, texts of political discourse have a different aim depending on the type of political activity, being a part or result of it. Among them we define texts of diplomatic discourse, texts of official speech of politicians for certain public of a certain country, and texts of political discourse, the authors of which are not politicians. Texts of political discourse are complex multilayer structures, marked by cultural, ideological and stylistic features, which make translators highly responsible and careful in the transmission of the author’s ideas and messages in other languages.

Influencer as a Special Sociocultural Category in Modern Media Communications

The purpose of the study is to substantiate the influencer as a special sociocultural category in modern media communications. A set of methods is used: case study; comparative analysis; sociocultural modeling; secondary analysis of statistical data. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study is P. Lazarsfeld’s model of two stage communication, A. Ya. Flier’s theory of cultural genesis, and the author’s concept of an influencer as a special type of public opinion leader. Based on the results of the study, it is concluded that the emergence of an influencer is due to sociocultural progress, which is determined by the dynamic development of modern media communications, primarily, the strengthening of products of the Internet field — mainly social media — in social everyday life. An influencer is a “representative” of the culture that has developed at a given stage of sociocultural development, and a “creator of the cultural world”. In this regard, the influencer is considered as a special sociocultural category in modern media communications, which is the result of sociocultural progress caused by the need to endow selected actors with the symbolic status of a public opinion leader in the disposition of social media in order to most organically influence the audience in accordance with the pragmatically inherent effect.

A társadalmi élet alszférái

According to my conception, we can distinguish the four main spheres of modern human life: the spheres of private life, community life, social life, and coercive life. The modern state (or national) society is a heterogeneous society in which the main life spheres mentioned have been developed, and in which the sphere of social life is of fundamental importance. In this paper, the focus of inquiry is that the sphere of social life is also complex, from the point of view that it is differentiated into social sub-spheres. First, I point out the main conceptions regarding the differentiation of society into subsystems, fields, or spheres, especially Bourdieu’s field theory, and then I define the concept of social sub-sphere. After that, I distinguish the sphere of everyday social life on the one hand, and the sphere of political life on the other; and within the former sphere (or partly in the area of other life spheres) I make a distinction between further sub-spheres: the relatively pure social sub-sphere, the semi-social sub-sphere, and the mixed life sphere.

Intersubjectivity levels in organising everyday social life of individuals with disabilities

The article institutionalises a variety of approaches to comprehension, interpretation and understanding of the concepts of constructing an inclusive society (society of inclusion) with a focus on the study of everyday reality of people characterised by various restrictions on the conditions of their life (limited needs, disabilities, persons with disabilities). It is shown that the use of concepts and categories of modern philosophy allows to integrate complexes of ideas about specificity of subjective time of people with disabilities in the world of everyday life of included society with priority use of phenomenological characteristics of intersubjectivity and intensional-temporal coordination. The concept of intersubjectivity is seen in the broad context of cognitive subject's constituting other subjects as conscious objects through intensionality, using internal experience, interpretation and comprehension of person's own individual being. The aim of the article is to investigate the formation of everyday life of individuals with disabilities in the space of levels of intersubjectivity of the inclusive society. The research methodology is based on philosophical, multidisciplinary and pedagogical complexes which allow demonstrating heuristic and expressive possibilities of conceptual apparatus used at different levels of intersubjectivity as a basic characteristic of subjective time of a person with disabilities in the inclusion society. The results and conclusions are of practical importance in solving socio-cultural and philosophical problems of conceptual and methodological nature. They show the peculiarities of application of temporal concepts in the context of constructing the social field of communication and life of individuals with disabilities.

The Phenomenon of Video Games in the Context of the Genesis of Screen Culture and the Space of Social Everyday Life

The Phenomenon of Video Games in the Context of the Genesis of Screen Culture and the Space of Social Everyday Life

Theme of Resistance in The Prison We Broke and The Weave of My Life

In this paper I want to explore the theme of Resistance which is very common in Dalit writings. Sometimes their resistance is against the dominant class, sometimes it is against economic deprivation and the other time it is strongly against the age old caste system. Earlier Dalit Literature was not given a prominent place in the mainstream literature but by the efforts of Dalit writers this scenario has been changed. Today Dalit Literature has acquired a significant place amongst other literature. In fact, Dalit Literary Studies have also been introduced in several universities. The notion of Caste is very crucial for understanding the system of structural inequalities. Dalits have often been marginalized and oppressed in several ways. Therefore, it can be said that this discrimination was the major factor which gave birth to resistance. Although, the term “resistance” should not only be seen in a negative manner because sometimes resistance is very essential in bringing up a social transformation in the society. I have selected two autobiographies namely The Prison We Broke and The Weave of My Life which are written by dalit female writers to depict the discriminatory system prevailed in the society and the harsh realities faced by dalit people. Autobiographies are generally considered personal narratives which provide a first-hand account of their experience and struggle for human dignity. For many Dalit writers literature has becomes a medium to raise their voice against the evil power of oppression and injustice. In their narratives they depict how their people have been exploited and treated inhumanly in everyday social life. Thus, these poor down trodden people ended up in a life full of pain and misery. In the last section I also want to discuss the role of B. R. Ambedkar in spreading awareness amongst the masses regarding their rights. He believed that the role of education is very important for social emancipation and eliminating the discriminatory attitude of upper caste people.&#x0D;

Marine Fishing Community in South India and Impacts of Technological Transformation

Over the past two decades, India’s marine fisheries sector has experienced significant changes. Adopting various technological interventions has brought substantial changes to the everyday social life of fishing communities, affecting their economic and social well-being. This article provides an ethnographic analysis of how modernized fishing practices have impacted the industry and people’s lives. It is also observed how, partly as a result changing marine ecological conditions introduced further coping mechanisms and adaptive livelihood practices in this fishing community, including gender-based changes. This article articulated recent technological innovations which have led to economic and livelihood distress in small-scale fisheries. There should be a balanced and smooth way of shifting towards these modern technologies, not at the cost of their invaluable knowledge systems and practices, which must be included.