Members Of Different Social Groups Research Articles

Political Awareness and the Identity-to-Politics Link in Public Opinion

Members of different social groups often hold distinctive political attitudes. Research shows substantial divides based on characteristics like religion, race, gender, and sexuality, suggesting a straightforward identity-to-politics link. But making that link requires some knowledge and understanding of politics, which not everyone has. As a result, I show, political awareness often moderates the link between social identity and political views. Among the least engaged, identity is only weakly related to politics, and the differences between groups are muted. As awareness increases, the connection between group membership and political attitudes tightens, and the magnitude of identity gaps grows. The substantive impact of awareness varies across groups, and there are notable exceptions to these findings. In general though, the identity-to-politics link—and thus many of the divisions attributed to demographic characteristics—is conditional on political awareness.

SOCIAL AND PEDAGOGICAL ASPECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH OF SPECIALISTS

Social aspects in the modern world play a very important role as factors directly and indirectly shaping the sphere of personal health. At the same time, most of the parameters of quality of life and health are correlated with psychological variables that reveal an uneven distribution between members of different social groups. All this makes the differentiated approaches to the organization of programs of primary prevention of diseases and the support of the treatment and rehabilitation process relevant. The purpose of the article is to identify socio-pedagogical aspects of labor protection of specialists. The methodological basis of the research is the theoretical analysis, comparison and generalization of scientific literature on research problems. Thus, the analysis of the influence of social conditions on the formation of the health sphere of a specialist can be carried out only in the context of interaction, that is, taking into account the individual’s ability to actively create the social environment in accordance with individual needs and values, and on the other hand, taking into account social and cultural mediation personality, its basic attitudes and behavior patterns, including in the case of occupational health.

Моделирование речевого поведения персонажей в драматургическом тексте: комплексный подход

The article offers the development of the complex methodology for the study of the speech behavior of the intelligentsia characters. The material of the research is the plays and screenplays of the 60–80s of the 20th century by the Soviet authors such as Valentin Azernikov, Alexei Arbuzov, Vladimir Arro, Emil Braginsky and Eldar Ryazanov, Alexander Vampilov, Alexander Volodin and Leonid Zorin, and others. The article considers methodological approaches to the study of the speech behavior of literary characters belonging to the same social group. Patterns of linguistic persona and patterns of speech behavior are analyzed. The main definitions applied within the scope of the approaches are linguistic, speech, communicative, or discursive persona; linguistic, verbal, communicative, or discursive behavior, as well as units of description of speech behavior: speech acts, parameters, actions, steps, speech or communicative strategies and tactics, speech genres, speech acts and speech behavior patterns. The approaches under consideration are discovered to have points of convergence, the prospects of developing the research are outlined. It is concluded to be necessary to conduct a contrastive study, namely, to compare the communicative features of the behavior of the members of different social groups in typical communicative situations and to identify specific patterns of speech behavior, which the authors use in creating the intelligentsia characters of the 60–80s of the 20th century. The prospects of the study include the consideration of various communicative situations with the participation of only intelligentsia members, or an intelligentsia character and a member of another social group; formal and informal communication situations, the status of communicants, communication participants complying with etiquette norms, emotionality and reasonableness of communication, ways of expressing evaluation, influence on the organization of communication, as well as other linguistic and extralinguistic factors, should be taken into account in the study.

Chronic Codeswitching: Shaping Black/White Multiracial Student Sense of Belonging

Multiracial students grapple with experiences around mixedness which can hinder their sense of belonging among different social groups. Constantly feeling unaccepted and receiving the comment “You are too Black” or “You are too White” capture some of the common microaggressions faced by Black/White multiracial students. Using a phenomenological design, this study examines the ways in which Black/White multiracial students develop their sense of belonging at a predominantly White institution (PWI). While codeswitching has the ability to impact the sense of belonging in racial and ethnic minority groups, our study findings suggest that Black/White multiracial students tend to rely on chronic codeswitching as ways of seeking acceptance, balancing “otherness” and carefully minimizing exclusion when interacting with members of different social groups. Chronic codeswitching is particularly relevant as an everyday strategy in how Black/White multiracial students foster their sense of belonging and a sense of community. Research and practice implications are included.

Neural representations of others’ traits predict social decisions

To guide social interaction, people often rely on expectations about the traits of other people, based on markers of social group membership (i.e., stereotypes). Although the influence of stereotypes on social behavior is widespread, key questions remain about how traits inferred from social-group membership are instantiated in the brain and incorporated into neural computations that guide social behavior. Here, we show that the human lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) represents the content of stereotypes about members of different social groups in the service of social decision-making. During functional MRI scanning, participants decided how to distribute resources across themselves and members of a variety of social groups in a modified Dictator Game. Behaviorally, we replicated our recent finding that inferences about others' traits, captured by a two-dimensional framework of stereotype content (warmth and competence), had dissociable effects on participants' monetary-allocation choices: recipients' warmth increased participants’ aversion to advantageous inequity (i.e., earning more than recipients), and recipients’ competence increased participants’ aversion to disadvantageous inequity (i.e., earning less than recipients). Neurally, representational similarity analysis revealed that others' traits in the two-dimensional space were represented in the temporoparietal junction and superior temporal sulcus, two regions associated with mentalizing, and in the lateral OFC, known to represent inferred features of a decision context outside the social domain. Critically, only the latter predicted individual choices, suggesting that the effect of stereotypes on behavior is mediated by inference-based decision-making processes in the OFC.

Embracing challenging complexity: exploring handwashing behavior from a combined socioecological and intersectional perspective in Sierra Leone

BackgroundHandwashing with soap is a cost-effective, efficient health behavior to prevent various diseases. Despite its immense health benefits, the lowest prevalence of handwashing is found in low-income countries. Here, its practice is not only determined by individual behavior, but also heavily shaped by deprivations in the social and structural ecology. Moreover, handwashing barriers are not equally experienced as overlapping social identities (e.g., age and gender) intersect and create inequities between members of different social groups. To embrace the complexities of handwashing beyond individual-level behavior and singular social identities, a combined socioecological and intersectional perspective is employed. This multi-level approach with regards to intersecting privileges and disadvantages serves as a basis to promote this highly important health behavior.MethodsThis study used a qualitative, theory-based approach and combined data from two samples: experts in health promotion (n = 22) and local citizens stratified by gender and rural/urban location (n = 56). Data was collected in face-to-face interviews in Sierra Leone between November 2018 and January 2019 and analyzed using thematic analysis and typology of the qualitative data.ResultsThe conceptualization of multi-level determinants of handwashing within a socioecological model showed the high relevance of inhibiting social and structural factors for handwashing practice. By establishing seven distinguishing social identity dimensions, data demonstrates that individuals within the same social setting yet with distinct social identities experience strikingly differing degrees of power and privileges to enact handwashing. While a local leader is influential and may also change structural-level determinants, a young, rural wife experiences multiple social and structural constraints to perform handwashing with soap, even if she has high handwashing intentions.ConclusionThis study provides a holistic analytical framework for the identification of determinants on multiple levels and accumulating intersections of socially produced inequalities for handwashing and is applicable to other health topics. As the exploration of handwashing was approached from a solution-focused instead of a problem-focused perspective, the analysis can guide multi-level intervention approaches (e.g., using low-cost, participatory activities at the community level to make use of the available social capital).

Educational Inequality and Professional Motivation of a Future Teacher

The professional motivation and interest of the teacher in the students’ educational results are the key resources that allow educational institutions to minimize the existing inequality of educational opportunities for members of different social groups. On this point, one of the important issues of professional training of future teachers is the formation of motivation for their professional activity regarded as a factor that ensures the equality of educational opportunities for students from different social groups. Based on the results of empirical studies of different years, the article analyzes the changes that occurred in the professional motivation of students after the Ussuriysk State Pedagogical Institute joined the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) in 2011 as the School of Education. The use of the same measuring instruments made it possible to conduct a comparative analysis of the professional motivation of students in different periods.

The Concept of Socially Inclusive Library in Changing Society

The Concept of Socially Inclusive Library in Changing Society

It's only funny if we say it: Disparagement humor is better received if it originates from a member of the group being disparaged

Three studies investigated whether disparagement humor would be received more positively if the source of the humor is part of the group being disparaged than if they are not a member of the disparaged group. In Study 1, participants examined a straight or gay source making either a disparaging joke targeting gay people or a control joke not disparaging gay people. In Study 2, participants examined a White, Black, or Asian source making a disparaging joke targeting Asian people. In Study 3, participants evaluated how generally acceptable it was for members of different social groups to make certain disparaging jokes. In all three studies, participants evaluated disparagement humor more favorably if the source belonged to the group being disparaged than if they did not. These findings uncover a conventional wisdom in the domain of disparagement humor – it is more permissible for people to make disparaging jokes about their own social groups.

От игры к доверию: роль игровых практик в формировании социального капитала

The article discusses the role of play in the formation and accumulation of social capital understood as an aggregate of social norms, social networks and trustworthiness. It is shown that play is the primary space of accumulation of social capital. The child in play learns how to observe voluntarily regulations and create social norms. In addition, play, familiarizing relations and destroying hierarchical structures, contributes to the formation of horizontal networks supporting social capital. For this reason, play today is the main space for social capital building. Finally, play stimulates the development of various levels of trust: to co-players, opponents, people in general, player and the institution of play. The latter, in its turn, helps to enforce credence to other social institutions. The author shows that the difference between types of trust depends on the conditions in which social capital is formed. The trust built in the situation of play differs from the trust built in other activities and in closed group. Play trust is the trust in its pure form, not mixed with cost-benefit considerations and external circumstances. It goes beyond the narrow-group (ethnic, confessional, gender, etc.) identity, helping to establish good relations between members of different social groups. In addition it allows playing numerous scenarios, including those that are unlikely to happen or even completely impossible in real life. It helps to highlight each player from all possible angles and to understand whether he or she is really trustworthy.

Predicting human behavior toward members of different social groups

Disparities in outcomes across social groups pervade human societies and are of central interest to the social sciences. How people treat others is known to depend on a multitude of factors (e.g., others' gender, ethnicity, appearance) even when these should be irrelevant. However, despite substantial progress, much remains unknown regarding (i) the set of mechanisms shaping people's behavior toward members of different social groups and (ii) the extent to which these mechanisms can explain the structure of existing societal disparities. Here, we show in a set of experiments the important interplay between social perception and social valuation processes in explaining how people treat members of different social groups. Building on the idea that stereotypes can be organized onto basic, underlying dimensions, we first found using laboratory economic games that quantitative variation in stereotypes about different groups' warmth and competence translated meaningfully into resource allocation behavior toward those groups. Computational modeling further revealed that these effects operated via the interaction of social perception and social valuation processes, with warmth and competence exerting diverging effects on participants' preferences for equitable distributions of resources. This framework successfully predicted behavior toward members of a diverse set of social groups across samples and successfully generalized to predict societal disparities documented in labor and education settings with substantial precision and accuracy. Together, these results highlight a common set of mechanisms linking social group information to social treatment and show how preexisting, societally shared assumptions about different social groups can produce and reinforce societal disparities.

Active and latent social groups and their interactional expertise

As a part of their normative theory of expertise, Harry Collins and Robert Evans proposed that interactional expertise forms the third kind of knowledge, located between formal propositional knowledge and embodied skills. Interactional expertise refers to the capability to grasp the conceptual structure of another’s social world, and it is expressed as the ability to speak fluently the language spoken in that social world. According to their theory, it is a key concept of sociology, because it refers to the understanding and coordination of joint actions between members of different social groups. Collins and Evans have further claimed that minority social group members tend to outpace majority social group members in terms of interactional expertise. Drawing on ethnomethodology, we detail the ways in which interactional expertise is displayed and revealed in experiments. This allowed us to specify the underlying reasons for the distribution of interactional expertise between social groups. Our results indicate that the difference between the groups depends on whether a group is either actively maintained or a passive latent category, because interactional expertise provides for not only the crossing of social boundaries but also their maintenance. The minority social group members’ greater interactional expertise or competence is therefore proven to be illusory.

Discrimination and Collaboration in Science

We use game theoretic models to take an in-depth look at the dynamics of discrimination and academic collaboration. We find that in collaboration networks, small minority groups may be more likely to end up being discriminated against while collaborating. We also find that discrimination can lead members of different social groups to mostly collaborate with in-group members, decreasing the effective diversity of the social network. Drawing on previous work, we discuss how decreases in the diversity of scientific collaborations might negatively affect the progress of epistemic communities.

When is computer-mediated intergroup contact most promising? Examining the effect of out-group members' anonymity on prejudice

Computer-mediated intergroup contact (CMIC) is a valuable strategy to reduce negative sentiments towards members of different social groups. We examined whether characteristics of communication media that facilitate intergroup encounters shape its effect on out-group attitudes. Specifically, we propose that concealing individuating cues about out-group members during CMIC increases prejudice, as interaction partners are perceived as less socially present. To assess these hypotheses, we conducted two mixed-factorial experiments. Participants engaged in synchronous text-chat with out-group members (Study 1) and a confederate (Study 2) who either shared or concealed their name and photo. Overall, CMIC reduced negative out-group sentiments. Study 2 showed, however, that out-group members' anonymity decreased perceived social presence, which was associated with less positive evaluations of the CMIC and higher prejudice. In conclusion, CMIC can contribute to conflict resolution interventions, preparing individuals for direct intergroup contact, if its affordances or conversation topics enhance interaction partners' social presence.

Gender and ethnic stereotypes in student teachers’ judgments: a new look from a shifting standards perspective

Teacher judgments of student performance might be biased by stereotypes, which can result in disadvantages for members of negatively stereotyped social groups. On the basis of the shifting standards theory, we examined gender and ethnic biases in student teachers’ judgments. According to this theory, whether such judgment biases are masked or revealed depends on the judgment context. Specifically, the use of subjective scales allows different standards of judgment to be applied to members of different social groups and should therefore mask biases, whereas the use of objective scales does not allow for a standard shift and should therefore reveal stereotyped expectations. The present studies tested predictions derived from this theory by varying the judgment context: using “educational standards” as a setting that requires objective scales and “inclusion” as a setting that employs subjective scales. Study 1 explored the stereotype that girls are not as good in mathematics as boys, Study 2 the stereotype that students of Turkish origin are not as good in German as nonimmigrants. Participants in two experimental vignette studies (Study 1: N = 155; Study 2: N = 265) were asked to evaluate the performance of a stereotyped or nonstereotyped target student in a context requiring ratings on either objective or subjective scales (2 × 2 between-subjects design). In line with the shifting standards theory, stereotyped students were evaluated similarly to nonstereotyped students on subjective scales but were evaluated more negatively on objective scales. Results indicate that student teachers’ judgments are biased by gender and ethnic stereotypes.

Democratic deliberation, respect and personal storytelling

In pluralistic deliberative settings, where people come from different cultural and social backgrounds, sharing personal experiences and narratives in the first person is often advocated as a preferential means to bridge the informational and motivational gap between members of different social groups. Whatever the epistemic merits of personal storytelling in democratic deliberation may be, the request for transparency and disclosure of people’s private experiences that this practice entails may be objectionable on moral grounds, because it disrespects people as agents who have practical authority over their own lives. Having people disclose their personal stories in public can humiliate them, reify them and abridge their personal liberties. What is worse, these harms are especially likely to be inflicted upon members of marginalised or disadvantaged minorities. For deliberativists, this should be a matter of concern because respect for people as agents is arguably one of the founding principles of democratic deliberation.

Нейробиология и социология: пройти между Сциллой и Харибдой. Бёртон Р. Разум vs мозг: Разговор на разных языках / Пер. с англ. Ю.В. Рябининой. М.: Изд-во «Э», 2016

Considered are certain theses from Robert A. Burton’s book, which could be useful for the development of a new research area — neurosociology. Analyzed are ideas on the social consequences of human brain functioning neural regularities revealed in neurobiological studies. These regularities show the biological nature of the following: (1) the sensation of personal space; (2) agentivity; (3) intention as a conscious process of choosing thoughts and actions; (4) perceiving information which is presented concisely and in a symmetrical manner as being correct, regardless of its contents; (5) variations in cognitive abilities of the members of different social groups; (6) high self-esteem associated with a low level of cognitive abilities and competencies. And finally, pointed out is the complexity of finding causal connections between social and neural levels. Following in the wake of the reviewed book’s author, we call for being cautious and skeptical when formulating any conclusions about social behavior based on currently available neuroscientific data.

Global Diversity and Local Consensus in Status Beliefs: The Role of Network Clustering and Resistance to Belief Change

Formal models of status construction theory suggest that beliefs about the relative social worth and competence of members of different social groups can emerge from face-to-face interactions in task-focused groups and eventually become consensual in large populations. We propose two extensions of earlier models. First, we incorporate the microlevel behavioral assumption of status construction theory that people can become resistant to belief change when a belief appears consensual in their local social environment. Second, we integrate the insight that the macro-level social structure of face-to-face interactions in large populations often is a clustered network structure. Computational experiments identify an outcome that was not anticipated by earlier formalizations. The combination of network clustering at the macrolevel and resistance to belief change at the microlevel can constrain the diffusion of status beliefs and generate regional variation in status beliefs. Further experiments identify conditions under which this outcome obtains.

Extended diurnal activity patterns of European rabbits along a rural-to-urban gradient

Effects of urbanization on the population dynamics of wildlife species range from entirely negative (leading to local population extirpation) to positive effects. Relaxed predation on species like European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in cities not only lowers extrinsic mortality rates, but could also facilitate advantageous behavioral modifications, as less time needs to be invested in anti-predator behaviors. We studied diurnal activity patterns of rabbits along a rural-to-urban gradient in and around Frankfurt am Main (Germany), where population densities increase from the periphery towards the city center. Compared to individuals from rural sites, rabbits from urban and suburban sites spent, on average, more time outside their burrows, invested less time in anti-predator behavior, and showed reduced rhythmicity in daytime activity patterns, including a weaker midday resting phase. Anthropogenic disturbance was considerably higher at urban and suburban sites compared to rural ones; still, rabbit behavior was less affected by anthropogenic disturbance. This was confirmed experimentally by chasing the members of different social groups into their burrows: while rabbits at rural and suburban sites uniformly fled into their burrows, this was not the case in 93% of urban rabbit groups. Also, times until individuals reappeared above ground decreased when we repeated this measurement on several subsequent days. Our study provides further evidence that not only direct effects (like landscape alterations and altered resource availability), but also indirect effects (here: behavioral changes following altered predation regimes and subsequent habituation to other sources of disturbance) need to be considered when formulating predictions about how urbanization affects wildlife populations.

Візія Першої світової війни у прозі Йозефа Рота: часопростір, ідентичність, катастрофізм

The study analyzed the prose of the famous Austrian writer, Joseph Roth (1894–1939), dedicated to the First World War in its existential dimensions. The leitmotif of the author’s artistic and journalistic universe is the destruction of the old world, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the decay of the existing system of cultural references, and the impact of history and fate on the individual. The era of historical cataclysms reformats time and space. In particular, Roth’s characters want to live in the past; they have nostalgia for the lost «golden age», which, in fact, is a myth of monarchy. The broad social panorama created by the writer let the reader track a new identity searched for by members of different social groups.