Middle-class Groups Research Articles

Keruangan Perkotaan Medan dalam Tinjauan Transportasi Perkotaan Masa Kolonial

<p align="center"><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p> </p><p>This research discusses the development of urban transport in Medan during the first half of 20<sup>th</sup> century. In this period, Medan was the city at outside Java that had the most good strides in social and economic life. Although the urban situation had a remarkable development, but the transport system was not complicated as well as Batavia or Surabaya. Therefore, the problem of this thesis emphasize the urban transportation development in the midst of Medan urban’s development. The urban spaces, the dynamics of employing transportation, and regulation are some important factors which discuss in this thesis. This research analyzing primary and secondary sources which include archives, newspapers, magazines, photographs, and other references. There are several findings in this thesis. <em>First</em>, most of the urban streets in Medan were built originally for the plantation needs, before then became the public road and the urban main street. <em>Second</em>, although the mechanic vehicle had existed, but generally, the urban center was filled by the smaller number of upper middle class rather than lower middle class groups which generally live at suburbs. <em>Third</em>, the policy on the Medan urban transport system was not fully held by the city government, because the other parties of non-government also intervenes to adjust their personal or group interests. <em>Fourth</em>, public transport which could carry mass passenger tends to be marginalized by economic reasons, i.e. the economic opportunity where people engaged in transportation was lost and effect on peoples income. <em>Fifth</em>, the sorts of urban transport in Medan are connoting also to social symbol.</p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> Development, transportation, city, spatial.</p>

Re-imagining Bernstein’s restricted codes

While accepting that the concept of restricted code has a troubled history that resulted in Bernstein being associated with deficit models of working-class life, it is argued that the concept should be re-imagined rather than abandoned. Bernstein’s early work refers to restricted code as a form of condensed, shorthand established through familiarity that was not tied to class per se. In Volume 2 of Class, Codes and Control social class was an independent variable in the research designs and coding only that which could be explicitly spoken, produced working class groups as inferior in comparison to middle class groups: Bernstein’s disquiet can be sensed in many places across his work where he explicitly renounced a deficit model. Methodological and theoretical work on embodied knowledge is used here to explicate the more-than, codeable features of restricted codes. An illustration from studies in ex-coalmining, working-class communities is used to explore what is missed in conventional approaches to data coding. Other studies in ex-mining communities reveal the intergenerational transmission of rich resources that were vital for community survival. Re-imagining restricted codes as relational assemblages recognises the value of the dynamic, creative and intergenerational features of localised, embodied knowledge.

No Condition is Permanent: Middle Class in Nigeria in the Last Decade

The economic debate on the existence and definition of the middle class has become particularly lively in many developing countries. Building on a recently developed framework called the Vulnerability Approach to Middle Class (VAMC) to define the middle class, this paper tries to estimate the size of the Nigerian middle class in a rigorous quantitative manner and to gauge its evolution over time. Using the VAMC method, the middle class group can be defined residually from the vulnerability analysis as those for which the probability of falling into poverty is below a certain threshold. The results show the size of the Nigerian middle class from is around 20 percent of the total population in 2012/13. However, the rate has been slower than expected given the high growth rates experienced in the country over the same period. The results also paint a heterogeneous picture of the middle class in Nigeria with large spatial differences. The southern regions have a higher share and experienced more growth of the middle class compared with the northern regions.

A cognitive cost of the need to achieve?

Although students in affluent communities most often excel in academic performance, potential downsides of their achievement focus are an increasing concern. Common risk factors in the socio-emotional domain have been identified. Yet less explored is the possibility that such risk extends to intellectual dimensions. In a multi-method study, we administered two measures of self-regulation to middle-schoolers (n=90) – an individually administered measure of cognitive regulation and an observational assessment of behavior regulation, in addition to a learning task in which students had to discover how multiple variables were related and apply this knowledge. In both an affluent and a middle-class sample, cognitive regulation, not behavior regulation, predicted learning. A comparison of the two samples showed the affluent group to be superior to the middle-class group in behavior regulation. However, middle-class students outperformed affluent students in learning and, even more strikingly, in cognitive regulation. These findings suggest that potential learning and cognitive development may be compromised in environments that put very high value on scholastic achievement.

Voters, Activists, and Politicians: Forms of Middle Class Political Participation in India

The literature on political participation expects the middle class in the global south to be less engaged in electoral politics. As reflected by the surge of global mass protests in recent years, the middle class is known to exert its citizenship through activism in civil society. This article challenges this dominant perspective by exploring the variation in forms of middle class political participation – voting, activism in civil society, and mobilization in electoral politics. Based on qualitative fieldwork in India spanning almost eight years, I argue that the nature of middle class political engagement is mediated by two factors – one, the perceived electoral potential of the middle class, and two, its preexisting networks within the state. If the political establishment identifies the middle class as electorally significant, it is likely to engage with it through existing institutional channels, as voters. Electoral alienation of the middle class can generate two outcomes. Sections of the middle class that have informal networks within the higher reaches of the state are most likely to engage in activism in the civil society almost exclusively. In contrast, middle class groups that lack networks within the state in addition to being perceived as electorally insignificant seek to become part of the formal state through mobilization in electoral politics.

Social class and the emergent organised sporting habits of primary-aged children

This paper reports on the patterns of participation in organised sports of youngsters coming towards the end of primary school, with a view to identifying emergent sporting habits in relation to social class gradients. The data for the study were generated via 90 semi-structured interviews with parents and children from 62 families. The data revealed differences in organised activity participation (both at and beyond school) between an ‘under-class’ and combined middle-class groups of children, as well as within-class gradients among the middle-class sub-groups. There were, for example, substantial differences between the under-class group and the combined middle-class group in terms of both the average number of bouts of organised sports participation and the repertoire or variety of sports engaged with. In effect, the mid- and upper-middle-class children were already sporting and cultural omnivores by the final years of primary schooling. We conclude that while the primary school organised sporting ‘offer’ may be neither a sufficient nor even a necessary contribution to the emerging sporting habits of mid- and upper-middle-class children, for under-class children it is likely to be necessary even though it may still prove, in the longer run, insufficient.

Greening cities – To be socially inclusive? About the alleged paradox of society and ecology in cities

Greening cities, namely installing new parks, rooftop gardens or planting trees along the streets, undoubtedly contributes to an increase in wellbeing and enhances the attractiveness of open spaces in cities. At the same time, we observe an increasing use of greening strategies as ingredients of urban renewal, upgrading and urban revitalization as primarily market-driven endeavours targeting middle class and higher income groups sometimes at the expense of less privileged residents. This paper reflects on the current debate of the social effects of greening using selected examples. We discuss what trade-offs between social and ecological developments in cities mean for the future debate on greening cities and a socially balanced and inclusive way of developing our cities for various groups of urban dwellers. We conclude that current and future functions and features of greening cities have to be discussed more critically including a greater awareness of social impacts.

“A Voice From ‘the Northern Capital of the Caribbean’: An Interview with Moira Crone”

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A study on prevalence and causative factors of megaloblastic anaemia in Hadoti region.

Background: Anaemia is the most common problems encountered by clinicians in Hadoti Region. The affected population includes male, female as well as children. Over the last two decades, it has been found that incidence of megaloblastic anaemia is increasing. Folic Acid and Vitamin B12 deficiency are the most common cause of megaloblastic anemia. Of these two micronutrients, Vitamin B12 deficiency is more common now, due to vegetarian life style of people. At present, Anemia control or prophylaxis program give only Iron and Folic acid. This study has been chosen to focus on this issue. The cases for increasing incidences of Folate / Vit. B12 deficiency needs to be elucidated. Objectives – To focus on the incidence of megaloblastic anaemia in Hadoti Region. & Probable Causative factors will be analysed Methods: All patients presenting to our hospital over a period of 2 months with a haemoglobin <10 g/dl and peripheral smear findings consistent with megaloblastic anaemia will be included in the study. Diet, drug intake, previous blood transfusion, presenting symptoms and other relevant history will be taken into consideration. Complete blood counts, peripheral film examination, reticulocyte count and cobalamin and folate assays will be recorded. Patients with chronic disease like renal disease, cancer, tuberculosis, liver disease etc will be excluded from the study. All data will be collected and evaluated statistically. Result: In the present study, total 500 patients who were admitted in medicine, paediatric and gynaecology ward were evaluated. All these patients met the inclusion criteria. Depending on the MCV value, serum assay and peripheral smear finding, they were categorised into 3 groups- Macrocytic, normocytic and microcytic anaemia. The normal MCV value but with megaloblastic blood film or low serum markers were considered into macrocytic anaemia. Total 100 patients were diagnosed as macrocytic anaemia. The sex distribution were-70(male), 30(female). Fifty five per cent of patients with cobalamin deficiency and 08% of patients with folate deficiency were found. All the patients were vegetarian and from middle class and low socio economic group. Conclusion: Cobalamin deficiency was responsible for megaloblastic anaemia in the majority of our patients. The supplementation program for Anemia control and prophylaxis should vary according to the regional requirements. Vitamin B12 should be included in the nutritional programme along with iron and folic acid. Awareness camp and Education program about megaloblastic anemia can be implemented for the prevention. DOI: 10.21276/AABS.2017.1313

How We Got Here: The Transition of Colombia’s Middle Class in Social Mobility Perspective

In this article, we present the results of a qualitative study on representations of social classes and social mobility between classes. The self-identified middle-class group attributes itself positive characteristics such as perseverance, entrepreneurship, work ethic, and consecration to an improvement plan. Staying in the middle class is perceived as a constant struggle to survive in an adverse economic, political and social context. The social relations between the classes are perceived as highly differentiated, with little mixture and a net desire to demarcate one from the others. The elements that structure social classes, according to this perspective, include education in the first instance, occupation, income, and the amounts of cultural and social capital accumulated in a variety of family and social conditions that vary by region and place of birth amid a common context of social policies and programs that are present for all social classes. The component that enables social mobility versus immobility for social groups of similar origin is the use of the fragile opportunities available throughout life. This is how the middle class is formed and recomposed in processes of upward mobility of low fluidity and little stability. This process, for some, has not been fully achieved in the present generation, but will only be achieved in their children’s generation and in some cases, by sacrificing the expectations of parents and older siblings.

Family income and body mass index - what have we learned from China.

Obesity poses lots of health risks in both developing and developed countries. One thing that remains unclear is the relationship between family income and weight gain. This paper explores the relationship between family income and Body Mass Index (BMI) given variations in individual choice towards basic consumption and life quality improvement consumption as income increases. We use a nationally representative longitudinal data from China, the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), to estimate the relationship between income and weight gain. We conduct both cross sectional and panel data analysis to study the causal effects of family income on weight development. Unlike other literature that found inverse relationship between prevalence of obesity and family income in developing countries, in this paper, we find that BMI will first increase with family income at a decreasing rate, and then decrease which suggests that the group of middle class may suffer the high risk of being overweight and obese.

Tingkat penerimaan penggunaan jamu sebagai alternatif penggunaan obat modern pada masyarakat ekonomi rendah-menengah dan atas

Herbs have become an important cultural heritage from Indonesia, as the consumption of herbs increased into 50%. This research is particularly important to analyze health quality of society through herbs as alternative of modern medicine to lower, middle, upper-social class group. The research problem addressed is how is the acceptance level of herb as alternative of modern medicine to middle, lower and upper class society in East Java. After finding the acceptance level of lower, middle, and upper class group toward herb usage, further analysis was focused on herbs management model in order to enhance society's health quality. Analysis unit in this research are society and bureaucracy. Informant was chosen by purposive sampling method (for keyinformants) and snowball method for complementary informant. Data was analyzed using qualitative technique. The research shows that the use of herbs as alternative of modern medicine in lower-middle class group was relatively high (58 %). The local government have a strategic role in managing herbs through policy innovation for health service in the local community. There is also an urgency to conduct a guidance, research, tax reduction, a more sophisticated method of herbal plant cultivation, herbs standardization, and strict supervision for herbs usage.

Model Komunikasi Kelompok Tentang Makna Pernikahan Antargenerasi di Kalangan Kelas Menengah Jakarta

Nowadays the meaning of marriage has changed as found in various phenomena of exiting from state regulations and laws, religion, customs and norms in society. The research aims at finding interaction model and group communication leading to changes of meaning of marriage among inter-generation of middle-class groups in in DKI Jakarta. This research refers to Alfred Schutz teories of symbolic interactionism, group-communication, and social phenomenology. Qualitative research method is used to analyze data completed by depth interview and FGD as data collection technique. The results shows that interaction model on mariage meaning is influenced by the way people grow, interact, and communicate within their group. The meaning of marriage symbols which is exchanged in the interaction of a group has changed from one generation to the next generation. Marriage is perceived as destiny, the unity between man and woman as a way of preserving human beings, justifying sexual intercourse and holding religious order. The research also fond contradictive phenomenon of marriage meaning between marriage meaning with the sacred law of marriage, whether it is in state regulations, customs and norms of society, such as same-sex marriage phenomenon (gay/lesbian), swinging behavior, samen leven, and free sex.

Middle Class and Democracy: An Assessment on the 2014 Indonesian’s Presidential Election

This paper aims to assess the role of middle class in Indonesia’s democracy, with the particular focus of the last Indonesian Presidential election. This study uses econometric analyses to assess preferences of middle class in presidential election by exploring data at district/city and provincial. The main finding in this study strongly suggests that religious and personality are still important elements under the race of Indonesia president. This study also found that different group of middle class has different attitudes in selecting the presidential candidate and the upper group of middle class is more likely to select Joko Widodo. Finally, a fragile middle class and a relatively high number of abstainers could be a barrier toward more substantive democracy.AbstrakMakalah ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis peran kelompok kelas menengah dalam proses demokrasi di Indonesia, secara khusus peran mereka difokuskan pada hasil pemilihan presiden yang terakhir. Studi ini menggunakan pendekatan ekonometrik untuk mengalisis preferensi kelompok kelas menengah dalam memilih calon presiden, dengan melakukan eksplorasi data pada tingkat kabupaten/kota dan provinsi. Hasil studi menunjukkan, agama dan personalitas calon presiden menjadi faktor penting dalam pertarungan pemilihan presiden. Studi ini juga menunjukkan, berbagai kelompok dalam kelas menengah memiliki preferensi yang berbeda dalam memilih kandidat presiden dan kelompok kelas menengah atas cenderung memilih Joko Widodo. Akhirnya, kelas menengah yang rentan dan tingginya kelompok yang abstain, akan menjadi hambatan untuk menuju demokrasi yang lebih substantif.Kata kunci: Kelas Menengah; Demokrasi; Pemilihan Presiden; IndonesiaJEL classifications: A12; C33

Domesticating the church: the reuse of urban churches as loft living in the post-secular city

In recent years, numerous mainline Christian denominations throughout Canada have sold their places of worship in the real estate market in response to declines in religious membership and participation. At the same time, a growing demand for creative residential spaces by a group of the new middle class encourages the redevelopment of churches into upscale lofts, a practice connected to but divergent from the post-industrial loft living made popular in cities like New York. In this paper, I explore how the production and consumption of churches as lofts represents a novel terrain of private urban redevelopment. Church lofts are an emergent form of housing and the latest frontier in the remaking of material, cultural and religious landscapes in the post-secular city – a context where novel forms of secularity take shape alongside new expressions of religion. With an empirical focus on Toronto, I investigate how ‘redundant’ worship spaces are appropriated and transformed into private domestic spaces of commodified religion and heritage. Rebuilt as unique but exclusive places to live, church lofts are part of a secular upscaling of the central city, a process that increasingly remakes the city as a place of capital reinvestment, middle-class colonization and socio-secular upgrading.

Un club para “nosotros” en la Reforma del 18. Sentidos de la universidad y la nación en jóvenes universitarios no reformistas

Este trabajo analiza el campo social de los jóvenes universitarios de 1918 en Argentina, para describir las posiciones de un grupo de jóvenes universitarios fundadores de un club social y deportivo que toma distancia del proceso de politización de las instituciones universitarias. Se trata de un grupo de jóvenes de sectores medios altos y altos para los cuales la Universidad ya no bastaría para constituir un espacio social diferenciado, definido según sus reglas y valores. Las juventudes universitarias conciben la educación, la sociedad y su rol posicionándose y diferenciándose en torno a un proceso social y político que indica la heterogeneización de las clases medias altas y altas de Buenos Aires, y un posicionamiento explícito como grupo dirigente que resuelve su conformación y reclutamiento en un espacio social cuyas reglas controlan

PEMIKIRAN SUFISTIK NURCHOLISH MADJID

Nurcholish Madjid (Cak Nur) is well known especially among Indonesian middle class and well-educated group in Indonesia. Between the 1970s and the 2000s, his thoughts, received great attention because his ideas about the renewal of Islamic thought were to some extent controversial. Nevertheless, there are still many people who do not know Cak Nur's thought outside the field of the renewal of Islamic thought . In fact, as a qualified and knowledgeable scholar, Cak Nur talked in many ways and in many fields of Islam , one of them is Sufism. Just like his thinking in the field of renewal which are weighty and meaningful, his thought in Mysticism was also pivotal. Therefore it is important to introduce his thinking widely to the public in order to take benefit from it.Key words: Nurchulis Madjid, Sufism, Neo -Sufism

Assessing inequalities on public transport affordability in two latin American cities: Montevideo (Uruguay) and Córdoba (Argentina)

This paper addresses public transport affordability inequities for Córdoba, Argentina, and Montevideo, Uruguay. In calculating public transport affordability, we consider two different criteria based on the “observed mobility” and the “potential mobility”. Using household travel survey data, we estimate that on average, observed public transport affordability indexes are below 7% (6.2% in Córdoba and 3.8% in Montevideo). Nonetheless, for the lower quintile, this index reaches 11.7% in Córdoba and 6.4% in Montevideo. The observed affordability index is based on the expenditure on observed public transport trips, which does not consider those trips that, even when necessary, may not be performed due to financial restrictions. Because this measure underestimates financial constraints for the poorest groups, we propose to consider a new measure: potential affordability as an attempt into build a more realistic basket trip. It is computed considering motorized trip rates of the middle-class groups’ as a benchmark. After analyzing potential affordability results, assessing its limitations and controlling by household composition we conclude that this is a very promising complementary measure since it helps to better understand the affordability gap for low-income groups.

The Role of Organized Cottage Settlements in Suburbanization in Post-Soviet Russia

The article examines patterns of formation of organized cottage settlements in the suburban areas of major Russian cities, including the evolution of their types and sizes, shifts in their spatial organization and way of life of the population. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of cottage suburbs in Moscow metropolitan area, where they are most developed, highlighting the specificity of settlements in New Moscow. In Russia, the formation of cottage suburbs spatially was spreading according to the principle of diffusion of innovations from the capitals. Starting from Moscow, they appeared around St. Petersburg, and since the mid-2000s in major cities and resort areas, especially on the Black Sea coast. As in Moscow suburbs, the formation of cottage settlements began in inner suburban area with a gradual territorial expansion. Virtually every major Russian city has its prestigious “Rublevka” cottage area, and many of them have a large number of cottage settlements located within the city borders. In the postcrisis period, there was a shift from elite cottages towards settlements focused on the wider middle class groups, stimulating the suburbanization.

The Emerging Middle Classes in India: Mobilizing for Inclusive Development?

The recent numerical expansion of the middle classes in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) has (re)opened the debate on their positioning in the broader political and social development processes within each of these countries, and the emergence of global Southern perspectives on alternative development paradigms (Wiemann, 2015, this volume; Koonings, 2012). That middle-class groups are concerned about national development trajectories has been clearly illustrated in recent street protests in 2013-2014 around the quality of public services and the choices national government made on spending public funds on the World Cup in Brazil, and on public sector corruption by the Anna Hazare movement in New Delhi, India.