Social Nature Research Articles

»Meine furchtbaren Träume / habe ich erlebt!«

Abstract This article focuses on Paula Ludwig’s dream texts (›Traumtexte‹) and her dream conception. Fundamental to understand her concept of dreams is her stay in Munich, where she encountered numerous intellectuals and lovers of culture, including Grete Weisberger and Karl Wolfskehl. It is likely in this context that she came into contact with Ludwig Klages’ dream theories, which have left clear traces in the paratexts of her dream collections. However the development of National Socialism and the outbreak of the Second World War soon disrupted European and world history, which was reflected in Paula Ludwig’s life and work. Accordingly, the article aims to shed light on the incursion of history into Paula Ludwig’s dream world, using a philological and hermeneutic method that also considers biographical, historical and cultural aspects.

The Perils of Privacy and Passivity: Antidemocratic, Racist, and Antisemitic Sentiments in Postwar West Germany

Abstract This article analyzes the affective economy of West Germany's postwar society. After delineating the intellectual history of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research's “Gruppenexperiment,” which consisted of 137 group interviews with different segments of West German society, my article focuses on one transcript of a 1950 group discussion of young fashion-designer apprentices. Based on a close reading, I study how the younger generation in West Germany constructed a passive and privatist self-image in which they could both articulate their emotional dissociation from National Socialism while clinging to antidemocratic, racist, and antisemitic feelings in metamorphosed form. The micrological focus of the analysis of the group's emotions is balanced by a rereading of both Helmut Schelsky's study about the “skeptical generation” and texts by researchers associated with the Institute for Social Research who came to markedly different conclusions about the West German youth.

Examining peer review network dynamics in higher education visual communication courses using ERGM

Peer review plays a pivotal role in shaping collaborative learning environments and evaluating student engagement, but there is a lack of research on the relational dynamics that underlie the interactions between students during the peer review process, which is critical for understanding the effectiveness of peer review for students’ learning outcomes. Using explanatory sequential study design, this study’s objectives are to explore the dynamics of peer review as a feedback mechanism in higher education within a social network context, focusing on student interactions during the feedback process. Specifically, we applied dyadic-independent Exponential Random Graph Modeling (ERGM), along with mixed-methods design to analyze peer review interactions within a visual communication course at a large state university. We collected and analyzed two samples: a quantitative sample of 167 students for network analysis, drawn from 3082 peer reviews and rubric scores, and a qualitative sample of 136 students from post-course surveys that provided feedback on the peer review process and course methodologies. Our investigation revealed the inherently social network nature of peer review, shedding light on its significance in engaging students and assessing student engagement. Specifically, we examined the role of students’ performance levels, edge-based attributes derived from the visual peer review rubric, and language used in the feedback on the likelihood of forming peer review connections in the network. Our findings indicate that attributes derived from the visual peer review rubric significantly influence the likelihood of peer connections. On the other hand, students’ performance levels do not have any impact on the formation of peer connections. The findings highlight the importance of visual peer review activities in shaping peer connections in the classroom. Future studies will incorporate higher-order structures, such as transitivity and triadic closure, into our ERGM model to further enhance our understanding of peer review dynamics in educational settings.

Balancing efficiency and public interest: The impact of AI automation on social benefit provision in Brazil

This article examines the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) systems by Brazil's National Social Security Institute (INSS) to automate the granting of social benefits. Using audit reports from government agencies, it analyses the efficiency improvements brought about by AI, such as the speed with which benefits are granted, as well as the unintended consequences of this automation, such as the increase in the number of automatic denials and the creation of barriers for less digitally literate users, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable populations. The research points to the need for transparency, public justification, adequate risk monitoring tools, governance design, and participation in the implementation of these systems to ensure that they serve the public interest and promote equity. The paper argues that without proper regulation and consideration of ethical principles, AI automation could exacerbate inequalities and undermine trust in public services. The authors conclude by stressing the importance of a balanced approach that weighs in both technological innovation with the public interest.

A RELEVÂNCIA DO ASSISTENTE SOCIAL NA ANÁLISE DO BENEFÍCIO DE PRESTAÇÃO CONTINUADA (BPC/LOAS) À PESSOA COM DEFICIÊNCIA JUNTO AO INSTITUTO NACIONAL DO SEGURO SOCIAL1.

This research consists of discussing the real importance of professional social workers when analyzing the granting of continuous provision benefits carried out by the National Social Security Institute. To this end, the theme of the benefit in question is initially addressed, its concepts, requirements and disability assessment procedure, carried out by social assessment and medical expertise. Understanding the disability assessment tool demonstrates the progress that the inclusion of social services has brought to the concession process. However, it makes it clear that improvements need to be sought to fairly guarantee the rights of the vulnerable population. The study was carried out through a bibliographic and documentary survey, about books, dissertations and scientific articles with an approach around the analyzed topic, with the aim of building a well- founded theoretical framework. In short, it was concluded that the presence of the social worker in the evaluation stages for granting social support is fundamental, although it requires reforms in the evaluation tools used by the social security authority, to achieve the right to social security established in the Brazilian system.

Sanskrit scholars in Nazi Germany

Abstract German Sanskrit scholars from the beginning of the 19th century addressed the problem of the kinship between the ancient Germans and Aryans – while romantic patriotism was gradually replaced by militant nationalism. After World War I racism, widespread not only in Germany, but also in other Western countries, became the essential element of the ideology of National Socialism. In the 30s all German scholars were forced to make compromises under the pressure of totalitarian power. However, only a few Sanskrit scholars can be called active supporters of the regime. They have different motives: from the frank careerism of Walter Wüst to the cautious conformism of Ludwig Alsdorf. Religious scholar Jakob Wilhelm Hauer claimed to be the prophet of the “Aryan Worldview”, and Bernhard Breloer was passionate about plans of building a new social and political system, in which the individual is completely subordinate to the state. The anti-Semitic policies and political persecutions of the Nazi period had disastrous consequences for classical German Indology.

США как социальный проект: уроки «Американского проекта»

The article deals with the history of the birth of the United States, presented in the form of the so-called “American Project (AP).” The creation of the United States has never been conceived in the form of any one document, plan or program of action, which may be called “a project”. The main reason that the experience of creating a new nation-country is conceptualized as a project is the intention of politicians and consultants to transmit this experience to another country. AP refers to state and political institutions and traditions embedded in the history of the country, principles and rights enshrined in fundamental documents, primarily the Constitution. The article details the understanding of AP, focusing on the social nature of this project, its characteristics and the history of its implementation. The design and redesign of states after revolutions, independence or the collapse of empires has become a mass phenomenon in the 20th and 21st centuries. A list of Russian projects is provided that compare Russia with America, look back at the American experience and draw lessons from it. The article analyzes the characteristics of AP, which make up its genome and can be used in the creation of new states: a) value-oriented project (“city on a hill”, natural rights of citizens); b) the formula of a republic (self-government) over a vast territory; c) moral and legal justifi cation for the necessity and legality of leaving the empire, where the rights of citizens are violated; d) sovereignty, divided according to the Constitution between the state and federal levels, the priority of society over the state; e) a system of checks and balances of different branches of government; f) built-in adjustment and development mechanism; g) compliance of the project with the subject of its implementation, his experience and ideals; i) two parallel and interconnected processes: the construction of a sovereign state and the construction of a new nation. The last characteristic is described in detail – the formation of a new nation in the process of creating the United States. Also analyzed attempts to compromise AP by protest movements and replace it with new state projects.The article deals with the history of the birth of the United States, presented in the form of the so-called “American Project (AP).” The creation of the United States has never been conceived in the form of any one document, plan or program of action, which may be called “a project”. The main reason that the experience of creating a new nation-country is conceptualized as a project is the intention of politicians and consultants to transmit this experience to another country. AP refers to state and political institutions and traditions embedded in the history of the country, principles and rights enshrined in fundamental documents, primarily the Constitution. The article details the understanding of AP, focusing on the social nature of this project, its characteristics and the history of its implementation. The design and redesign of states after revolutions, independence or the collapse of empires has become a mass phenomenon in the 20th and 21st centuries. A list of Russian projects is provided that compare Russia with America, look back at the American experience and draw lessons from it. The article analyzes the characteristics of AP, which make up its genome and can be used in the creation of new states: a) value-oriented project (“city on a hill”, natural rights of citizens); b) the formula of a republic (self-government) over a vast territory; c) moral and legal justifi cation for the necessity and legality of leaving the empire, where the rights of citizens are violated; d) sovereignty, divided according to the Constitution between the state and federal levels, the priority of society over the state; e) a system of checks and balances of different branches of government; f) built-in adjustment and development mechanism; g) compliance of the project with the subject of its implementation, his experience and ideals; i) two parallel and interconnected processes: the construction of a sovereign state and the construction of a new nation. The last characteristic is described in detail – the formation of a new nation in the process of creating the United States. Also analyzed attempts to compromise AP by protest movements and replace it with new state projects.

Offices and subdistricts of magistrates in pre-revolutionary Siberia

In the late Russian Empire, the world court stood out from the institutions of justice by the simplicity of procedures and territorial proximity to the submitted. The article is devoted to its introduction, organization, and activities in the Siberian situation. Which forced to pay special attention to the spatial factors of justice, to find ways to optimally localize the offices of justices of the peace and delimit their subdistricts. In the conditions of the region, the implementation of this caused extreme difficulties, since it required simultaneously considering numerous circumstances of a geographical, social and economic nature that distinguished Siberia from other regions of the country.

Extending sexual scripting theory through critical discursive psychology: An analytical approach to explore the performance of sexual identities

Sexual scripting theory, a widely used tool in sexuality research, was originally developed by Gagnon and Simon to illuminate the social nature of sexual practices and identity construction. Later, they sought to develop the theory further to align with a social constructionist perspective. However, vestiges of individualism and cognitivism haunt sexual scripting theory largely due to the use of the symbolic interactionist concept of performance. To address this, we draw on the performance–performativity approach in critical discursive psychology that develops the notion of performance from a discursive perspective and offers a way of extending sexual scripting theory that offers a truly social explication of sexual identity construction. We provide a practical illustration of this extended theorising, drawing on data from a project about young people’s online engagement with pornography. We demonstrate how developing the notion of sexual scripts as discursive resources that enable the performance of sexual identities allows us to illuminate the social and situated nature of identity construction. This framework enhances understanding of the process of sexual identity construction and provides a valuable tool for studying how broader sexual scripts that are sociohistorically specific provide a scaffolding for the ways an individual can construct sexual identities. Overall, this paper offers a valuable contribution to discursive scholarship in psychology by presenting a nuanced analytical framework that coheres with a constructionist, performative view of identity.

Friend or phisher: how known senders and fear of missing out affect young adults' phishing susceptibility on social media

Phishers exploit the social nature of social media, thereby targeting young adults, who are highly susceptible to phishing. This study focuses on two under-researched factors influencing young adults’ susceptibility to social media phishing: the user’s relation to the message sender and Fear of Missing Out (FoMO). In an online vignette study, 193 young adults were presented with Instagram chat messages from either known or unknown senders, accompanied by varying consequences for not clicking. These ranged from missing an event with no other user (no consequences) to missing an event with one (low) or several other users (high consequences). The analysis focused on intended behaviour and suspicion, while also capturing young adults’ situational fear of missing out on the scenario-based event with the message sender (State FoMO) and their individual Trait FoMO. The results highlight that the user-sender relation is a strong predictor of phishing susceptibility and a crucial contributor to State FoMO. Furthermore, young adults who are high in Trait FoMO exhibited lower suspicion towards phishing attempts. These findings are discussed along with methodological considerations. In addition, strategies to mitigate the identified vulnerabilities are suggested, focusing on areas where social media phishing is most likely to affect young adults.

Producing ‘The Right Candidate’: The Social Embeddedness of Labour Market Intermediaries for Migrant Workers in the Belgian Construction Sector

Structural labour shortages have increased demand for skilled and documented migrant workers in Western European labour markets. In response, private recruitment agencies are playing a more significant role in the identification, placement and integration of migrant workers. While the literature on labour intermediation practices has largely focused on the commercial and contractual work of matching workers with employers, this article develops an embedded understanding of labour intermediation that foregrounds the increasingly social and relational nature of intermediation practices in contexts of labour shortage. Through a qualitative study of intermediation in the Belgian construction sector, the article demonstrates the ways in which private agencies seek to produce the ‘right candidate’ through (i) the infiltration of migrant networks, (ii) the regularisation of migrant workers and (iii) the facilitation of their integration into host societies. These findings advance an expanded understanding of labour intermediation that transcends the conventional matchmaking process.

A Hungarian National Socialist in the Role of a “Russian Scholar”

A Hungarian National Socialist in the Role of a “Russian Scholar”

On the Question of the Social Origins of Early Cossack Communities: Results, Methodology and Prospects of Research

Introduction. Addressing the complex and controversial problem of domestic Cossack studies – the determination of the stage affiliation of early Slavic Cossack communities – the author sets himself the task of summing up many years of discussions, identifying the most promising directions for further research, and identifying the associated methodological guidelines. Methods and materials. Many studies of the problem of the stage affiliation of early Cossack communities, carried out by pre-revolutionary, Soviet, and modern Russian Cossack researchers, as well as works on male unions and communities of the Slavic, Caucasian, and Turkic worlds, served as materials for the article. The analysis of sources and scientific publications was carried out using comparative historical and structural-functional methods, as well as methods of classification and typologization. Analysis. The available scientific papers on the problem were classified based on the social and political prototypes of early Cossack communities determined by scientists. Three groups of versions about the social nature of early Cossack communities have been identified, which correlate them: 1) with state structures; 2) with paramilitary communities that existed in the South Russian steppes and adjacent territories at the same time as the Cossacks; 3) with archaic structures (the so-called military democracy and male unions). Results. Defining the third direction as the most promising, the author of the article suggests expanding research on the cultural and historical comparison of Cossack organizations with archaic male unions and their later forms known in the Turkic, Caucasian, and Slavic worlds. We should start this case by adhering to a set of crucial methodological principles. These principles indicate that male unions were cultural universals, and their correlation with Cossack organizations may indicate not so much (and not only) genetic connections as typological ones. In contrast to the Caucasian and Central Asian unions, Cossack communities arose outside the metropolis, which, on the one hand, led to the need for them to build their own potestar structures and, on the other hand, determined the strong external impact on them from the Russian state. The development of Cossack communities did not follow the path of evolution but was first carried out in the form of a rollback to the archaic and then was associated with a series of sociocultural transformations.

Loneliness and pain among community-dwelling middle-aged and older Black, Latino, and White adults in the United States.

Prior research has demonstrated a strong and independent association between loneliness and pain, but few studies to date have explored this relationship in racially and ethnically diverse groups of midlife and older adults. We drew on the diathesis stress model of chronic pain and cumulative inequality theory to examine the relationship of loneliness and the presence and intensity of pain in a nationally representative sample of Black, Latino, and White adults aged 50 or older in the United States. Data were from Wave 3 of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (n = 2,706). We used weighted logistic and ordinary least squares regression analyses to explore main and interactive effects of loneliness and race and ethnicity while adjusting for well-documented risk and protective factors (e.g., educational attainment, perceived relative income, inadequate health insurance, perceived discrimination) and salient social and health factors. Almost half (46%) of the participants reported feeling lonely and 70% reported the presence of pain. Among those who reported pain (n = 1,910), the mean intensity score was 2.89 (range = 1-6) and 22% reported severe or stronger pain. Greater loneliness was associated with increased odds of pain presence (AOR = 1.154, 95% CI [1.072, 1.242]) and higher pain intensity (β = 0.039, p < 0.01). We found no significant interaction effects involving Black participants. However, Latino participants who reported greater loneliness had significantly higher levels of pain (β = 0.187, p < 0.001) than their White counterparts with similar levels of loneliness. Loneliness is an important correlate of pain presence and intensity and may have a stronger effect on pain intensity among Latino adults aged 50 or older. We discuss clinical and research implications of these findings, including the need for more fine-grained analyses of different types of loneliness (e.g., social, emotional, existential) and their impact on these and other pain-related outcomes (e.g., interference). Our findings suggest a need for interventions to prevent and manage pain by targeting loneliness among middle-aged and older adults, particularly Latino persons.

Hospitality and ritual: A discursive study of toasting in Chinese dining contexts

The paper aims to explore toasting conventions and strategies in Chinese dining contexts from a discursive perspective by analyzing naturally occurring cases of toasting from Douyin and Haokan Video. Particular attention is paid to how Chinese hospitality, interpersonal achievements through toasting rituals, and the culture behind them are interactively constructed. The findings indicate that toasting conventions in Chinese dining contexts can be metaphorically divided into two stages: the ‘planned economy’ stage, characterized by a high degree of conventionalization, and the ‘market economy’ stage, which highlights relatively high autonomy. During these two stages, toasters adopt strategies centered on Renqing (人情), rooted in Qing (情) and Yi (义) of Confucianism, through which hospitality is fully demonstrated. In this sense, toasting as a ritual is confirmed through the analysis and discussion of its interactive and social nature in China.

Conservation beyond biopolitics: Vulnerability and abundance in Chennai's nature‐cultures

AbstractThis paper examines the possibilities for nature in contemporary times through a ground‐up investigation of nature practices in Chennai, India. It navigates dissonant strands of scholarship on the promise of urban regions as sites of exemplary social natures with an analytical framework that examines how autonomous nonhuman life in Chennai is variously enabled and inhibited. By studying a breadth of natures and nature practices within this urban site (instead of focusing on a particular species or habitat), the paper illuminates the socio‐material processes that undermine some natures even while supporting others, highlighting paradoxical responses to nonhuman agencies and resilience within the domain of ecological concern. The simultaneous analysis of Chennai's abundant and diminishing natures explains dissonances in urban natures scholarship, while offering fresh insights on more equitable approaches to nonhuman nature in human‐dominated landscapes. Specifically, it points to the value of reconfiguring concepts and practices of nature, both within and beyond conservation, in ways that are attentive to the plural forms of nonhuman flourishing and experiential vulnerability. Any meaningful prospect for more‐than‐human futures in urbanising worlds, the paper argues, rests not on biopolitical conservation that seeks to reproduce the past or build future ecologies of ‘legitimate’ natures, but on desisting from the displacement of, and re‐allowing room – conceptual, material and ethical – for already existing natures, whether scientifically valued or unintentional, whether imperilled or flourishing.

A Longitudinal Decline in Walking Speed Is Linked with Coexisting Hypertension and Arthritis in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

Objective: The aim was to investigate the association between baseline coexistence of hypertension (HTN) and arthritis, HTN alone, or arthritis alone, and their impact on longitudinal physical function measures among community-dwelling older adults over 5 years of follow-up. Methods: Ours was a longitudinal prospective cohort study from the second wave (2010-2011) and third wave (2015-2016) of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP). Data for older adults were used. Participants were categorized based on self-reported diagnoses into four groups: coexisting HTN and arthritis, HTN only, arthritis only, or neither. Physical performance measures included walking speed using the 3-Meter Walk Test and the Five Times Sit-to-Stand Test (FTSST). Multiple generalized estimating equations with linear regression analyses were conducted, adjusting for age, sex, race, body mass index (BMI) educational level, pain severity, and baseline use of pain and hypertension medications. Results: Data for 1769 participants were analyzed. Slower walking speed was only associated with coexisting HTN and arthritis (B = -0.43, p < 0.001) after accounting for covariates. The coexisting HTN and arthritis group showed no significant association with FTSST (B = 0.80, p = 0.072) after accounting for covariates. Conclusions: The coexistence of baseline HTN and arthritis in older adults is associated with a gradual decline in only walking speed as a physical performance measure in older adults.

Patterns of alcohol consumption in Mexico and mortality from alcohol consumption related diseases: an epidemiological state-clustered study

ABSTRACT Objective The present study aims to describe the patterns of alcohol consumption in Mexico by state, emphasizing the age at onset of alcohol consumption and the epidemiologic magnitude of deaths due to the selected causes related to these medical conditions. Methods This epidemiological study has an observational, descriptive, and retrospective design. A total of 73,088 deaths occurred in Mexico due to alcoholic cardiomyopathy, alcohol-induced pancreatitis, and alcoholic liver disease between 2016 and 2020; the annual rate was 11.3 in 2016 and 12.3 in 2020, showing an increase in the studied period. Results The early onset of alcohol drinking was reported by one of every four responders. Individuals with binge drinking patterns reported an onset of < 18 years of age in 37.8%. At the state level, in Mexico, the early onset of alcohol consumption and binge drinking are directly correlated with age at death due to alcoholic cardiomyopathy, alcohol-induced pancreatitis, and alcoholic liver disease, with average age at death of 55.5 years. Discussion Multilevel, cross-national, and multidisciplinary measures are urgently needed because mortality due to alcohol consumption is a preventable problem. Still, many more issues of social and health-related nature can also be prevented by approaching the alcohol consumption patterns.

Framing silence: the Nazi persecution of gay men in Michel Dufranne and Milorad Vicanović-Maza’s graphic novel, Triangle rose (2011)

ABSTRACT Writer Michel Dufranne and illustrator Maza’s French-language graphic novel, Triangle rose, (2011) features a Berlin homosexual deported under Paragraph 175. In this frame narrative, the elderly survivor’s story never reaches its potential diegetic audience, Parisian students, including the protagonist’s great-grandson. The framed narrative represents the protagonist’s unarticulated memories. This narrative glitch reflects 1) the historic failure to acknowledge homosexuals as legitimate Nazi victims, and 2) ongoing homophobia in Berlin and Paris, resulting in shame, as conceptualized by Sara Ahmed and Ruth Leys. Portraylng the Nazi persecution of gay men, Triangle rose highlights an important, underrepresented chapter of National Socialist history.

Położenie polityczno-wojskowe Rzeszy Niemieckiej u progu II wojny światowej w świetle wykładu szefa wywiadu wojskowego pułkownika dyplomowanego Tadeusza Pełczyńskiego

After Adolf Hitler took power in Germany, the country was quickly remilitarised. Large-scale rearmament and expansion of the armed forces were closely monitored by the Polish military intelligence, which kept the supreme military authorities of the Second Polish Republic informed about the Third Reich’s preparations for war. The main task of the Second Department was to determine the probable date of the attack from this country. Already at the end of 1934, it was estimated that Germany would be ready for war within 6-8 years. The information reaching the headquarters of the “two” showed that at the turn of 1937 and 1938, the Third Reich’s preparations for a future armed conflict were intensified. At the end of the 1930s, the Second Department organized special lectures for senior commanders of the Polish army, presenting the military, political, economic and social situation of the Third Reich and the Soviet Union, i.e. the countries from which Poland faced the greatest danger. The idea was to make the senior command staff of the Polish Army acquainted with the current military and political situation of the Second Polish Republic and the scale of the threat from the two most dangerous neighbours. The presented lecture was delivered by the head of Polish military intelligence on November 29, 1937 in Rembertów and concerned Germany. It has great cognitive value because it allows us to understand the assessments of the Second Division regarding the military potential of the Third Reich and the expansion of the German armed forces. It is, in fact, a synthesis of the knowledge that the military intelligence of the Second Polish Republic had in 1937 about the German state ruled by the National Socialists.