Occupational Class Research Articles

Origin and Development of Caste System in Ancient Indian Aryan Society

This study explores the origin and development of the caste system in ancient Aryan society in India. The caste system is a social construct that has shaped the social, economic, and political landscape of communities for centuries. The study uses a qualitative research design, with the framework based on the principle of the Varna System, meaning the division of labor according to social class. The caste system was established based on occupation and social class, dividing people into four groups: priests, rulers, producers or traders, and manual workers or servants. The caste system has endured throughout history, deeply rooted in cultural and traditional practices. The term 'caste' used to describe social hierarchy in Western countries has its roots in the Spanish and Portuguese as well as the Latin word 'casta' which only came into use in the 15th century. In India, the word 'caste' was originally used to refer to a social division system designed to preserve the purity of bloodlines within a group. Over time, the term expanded to include people with close social or blood ties as well as groups with economic privileges and rights, and it became associated with hereditary equality, independent traditional organizations, and customs. The study's objective is to explain the origins and evolution of the caste system in ancient Indian society.

Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice towards the usage of antibiotics amongst outpatients of the department of general medicine

BackgroundAdequate knowledge, attitude and practices about the use of antibiotics are essential for effective treatment and the cure of diseases. ObjectiveTo assess the knowledge, attitude and practice towards the use of antibiotics among the outpatients of the general medicine department and to find the factors that are significantly associated with it. Materials and methodsA prospective cross-sectional study of eight months duration was carried out among 263 outpatients, in the department of general medicine. The socio-demographic details pertaining to the patients were collected in a well-designed data collection form. The knowledge, attitude and practice of the subjects were assessed by using previously validated KAP questionnaire. ResultsThe highest number of subjects were found to be females, 135 (51.3%), and most of the subjects belonged to the age category of 18–34 years, 107 (40.7%). The mean score of knowledge, attitude and practice were found to be 62.74 ± 23.28, 76.96 ± 17.73, and 52.55 ± 14.06 respectively. Age, domiciliary status, educational qualification, occupation, and socio-economic class were found to be the factors significantly associated with knowledge. Factors significantly associated with attitude were found to be age, educational qualification and socio-economic class whereas only educational qualification and occupation were found associated with practice. ConclusionThe results of the current study will serve as the foundation for future implications to enhance public knowledge and perceptions regarding antibiotic usage.

Is the association between alcohol use and sickness absence modified by socioeconomic position? findings from the Stockholm public health cohort

BackgroundThe distribution of sickness absence tends to be socially patterned less is however known about the underlying mechanisms and pathways of the social gradient found in sickness absence. The present study aims to investigate (i) if the risk function between average volume of alcohol consumption and sickness absence is modified by socio-economic position (SEP), and (ii) whether such an effect modification can be attributed to differences in drinking patterns and other risk factors including other lifestyle behaviours, health status, and working conditions.MethodsThe study was based on data from the Stockholm public health cohort 2006, with an analytical sample of 13 855 respondents aged 18–64 years. Self-reported information on occupational class (a measure of SEP), alcohol consumption, other lifestyle behaviour, health and working conditions was collected from the survey. The outcome of long-term (> 14 days) sickness absence between 2006 and 2008 was obtained from national registers. Negative binomial regression was used to estimate the Incidence Rate Ratios (IRR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).ResultsIn the initial analyses, heavy drinking manual workers had a 5-fold increased risk of long-term sickness absence compared to non-manual employees who were moderate drinkers, and approximately 60% of the excess risk among heavy drinking manual workers was attributable to an interaction between alcohol use and SEP. Adjusting for working conditions was associated with the largest attenuation of the risk estimate, compared to other lifestyle behaviors and health. In the fully adjusted model, the IRR was further attenuated for the manual workers and the joint effect of SEP and heavy drinking remained in the final model with an attributable proportion of 49%.ConclusionsIndividuals in Sweden with lower levels of SEP appear to be more vulnerable to alcohol consumption in relation to sickness absence, where differences in working conditions explained a large part but not all of the differential vulnerability.

Long-term sickness absence trajectories among ageing municipal employees – the contribution of social and health-related factors

BackgroundThe ageing work force is heterogeneous, following distinct development in work ability. This study aims to identify trajectories of long-term sickness absence (SA) in later careers and to examine potentially modifiable factors associated with the development of SA.MethodsData comprised of municipal employees of the city of Helsinki aged 50–60 years during 2004–2018 (N = 4729, 80% women). The developmental trajectories of long-term (> 10 working days) SA were examined with Group-based trajectory modelling (GBTM) using SA records of the Social Insurance Institution of Finland during 2004–2018. All-cause and diagnosis-specific (mental disorder– and musculoskeletal disease–related) SA days were analysed. The association of social and health-related factors with trajectory membership was examined using multinomial logistic regression (odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals).ResultsA model with three trajectories was selected for both all-cause and diagnosis-specific SA. Regarding all-cause long-term SA trajectories, 42% had no long-term SA, 46% had low levels of SA, and 12% had a high rate of SA during follow-up. Lower occupational class, reporting smoking, overweight or obesity, moderate or low leisure-time physical activity, and sleep problems were associated with a higher likelihood of belonging to the trajectory with a high rate of SA in both all-cause and diagnosis-specific models.ConclusionsMost ageing employees have no or little long-term SA. Modifiable factors associated with trajectories with more SA could be targeted when designing and timing interventions in occupational healthcare.

The role of labor market inequalities in explaining the gender gap in depression risk among older US adults

We aim to investigate to what extent gender inequality at the labor market explains higher depression risk for older US women compared to men. We analyze data from 35,699 US adults aged 50–80 years that participated in the Health and Retirement Study. The gender gap is calculated as the difference in prevalence in elevated depressive symptoms (score ≥ 3 on the 8-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale) between women and men. We employ a dynamic causal decomposition and simulate the life course of a synthetic cohort from ages 50–80 with the longitudinal g-formula and introduce four nested interventions by assigning women the same probabilities of A) being in an employment category, B) occupation class, C) current income and D) prior income group as men, conditional on women's health and family status until age 70. The gender gap in depression risk is 2.9%-points at ages 50–51 which increases to 7.6%-points at ages 70–71. Intervention A decreases the gender gap over ages 50–71 by 1.2%-points (95%CI for change: 2.81 to 0.4), intervention D by 1.64%-points (95%CI for change: 3.28 to −0.15) or 32% (95%CI: 1.39 to 62.83), and the effects of interventions B and C are in between those of A and D. The impact is particularly large for Hispanics and low educated groups. Gender inequalities at the labor market substantially explain the gender gap in depression risk in older US adults. Reducing these inequalities has the potential to narrow the gender gap in depression.

Why do some followers remain silent in response to abusive supervision? A system justification perspective

This study investigates how the system justification motive manifests in employees’ voice/silence behavior at the workplace. It also explores the moderating effects of system justification on the linkage between abusive supervision and voice/silence behavior for blue- and white-collar employees. The field study generated responses from 905 employees in Turkey. Multi-group analysis reveals that the moderating effect of system justification motives varies by occupational class. In particular, the impact of abusive supervision on silence becomes more salient when white-collar employees endorse higher system justification motives. However, in the blue-collar sample, the absence of a moderating effect could be attributed to the strong main effect of system justification motives. The current study adds to the extant literature by applying a system justification perspective to voice and silence behavior by collar differences at work. It also provides important implications for managers in dealing with workplace mistreatment affecting all occupational groups, mainly when blue-collar employee silence is endemic and regulatory policies are inadequate.

‘China doll snatched away my husband’: The intersectional othering of Chinese migrant women in a Malaysian newspaper

This article examines the role of a mainstream newspaper in perpetuating the othering of an under-researched migrant sub-group in Malaysia, Chinese national women who work in low-paid jobs and the illegal sex trade. While issues surrounding these women’s economic and social vulnerability have been largely ignored in media discourse, their involvement in sex work as well as their extramarital relationships with Chinese-Malaysian men have garnered negative press coverage. Using critical discourse analysis and critical stylistics, this study analyses the mediatised representations of these economic migrants, the adulterous husbands and their Chinese-Malaysian wives in a local Chinese-owned news site. Our findings show that the articles position the migrant women as sexual predators, sexual commodities and criminals; the men as prey as well as deserting spouses and fathers; and the local Chinese women as moral wives. We argue that these representations facilitate a co-ethnic racism that intersects with gender, sexuality, nationality, migrant status, occupation and social class. These representational choices are inscribed with patriarchal, neoliberal and xenophobic ideologies that converge in the media coverage to reinforce social fictions that justify and entrench the marginalisation of this highly stigmatised group of migrant women.

Class, Family, Income and Wealth: Farming and Non-Farming Landowners in the Occupational and Social Class Orders in Turkey

This study presents the trajectory of changes in land ownership and land use and of the differences observed since the mid-1990s in the average amount of annual disposable income (and of wealth) within and between farming and non-farming landowning households in Turkey. The study makes use of the data sets of the Household Budget Surveys conducted by the Turkish Institute of Statistics (TUIK) in 1994, 2002, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2017. The data sets have been analysed in connection with four main themes: (i) the patterns of structural change in landownership and land use, (ii) the patterns of structural change in the locations of farming and non-farming landowners in the occupational and social class orders, (iii) the patterns of changes and the persistence of differences in the average amounts of annual disposable incomes and wealth within and between the social classes of farming and non-farming landowners and (iv) the effect of family type on the differences of income and wealth. The results indicate that Turkish agrarian structures have undergone significant structural changes in the last quarter of a century, and there are persisting and significant differences of income (and of wealth) at the national level as well as among farming and non-farming landowning households. However, the same kind of differences do not hold true for differences in the average amount of farm land owned. On the contrary, these differences have strong associations with family type among farming as well as non-farming households.

Temporal evolution analysis of the use and occupation of the soil in the Jucuruçu hydrographic basin, Bahia

The process of replacing areas of native vegetation with agricultural plantation areas is becoming more and more intense. This fact generates concern regarding the deforestation and occupation of the regions of Atlantic Forest. The aim’s work was to identify the change in land use and occupation between 1990 and 2013 in the Jucuruçu river basin, Brazil. Soil use and occupation data were obtained through images from the Landsat 5 Sensor Thematic Maper for the years between 1990 and 2006, and exclusively in the year of 2013 images of the RapidEye Satellite were used. These images were pre-processed and classified by manual classification. Based on the results presented, there were variations in all classes of land use and occupation during the analyzed period, generating 19 classes for analysis. According to the results obtained, the Jucuruçu river basin presented the classes well-kept pasture and pasture were predominant in its territory during the entire study period, corresponding to 63% of the total area of the basin, while the areas of native vegetation presented a reduction of 52% in their areas.

Dementia-related disability in the population aged 90 years and over: differences over time and the role of comorbidity in the vitality 90 + study

BackgroundThe burden of dementia, multimorbidity, and disability is high in the oldest old. However, the contribution of dementia and comorbidities to functional ability in this age group remains unclear. We examined the combined effects of dementia and comorbidities on ADL and mobility disability and differences between dementia-related disability between 2001, 2010, and 2018.MethodsOur data came from three repeated cross-sectional surveys in the population aged 90 + in the Finnish Vitality 90 + Study. The associations of dementia with disability and the combined effects of dementia and comorbidity on disability adjusted for age, gender, occupational class, number of chronic conditions, and study year were determined by generalized estimating equations. An interaction term was calculated to assess differences in the effects of dementia on disability over time.ResultsIn people with dementia, the odds of ADL disability were almost five-fold compared to people with three other diseases but no dementia. Among those with dementia, comorbidities did not increase ADL disability but did increase mobility disability. Differences in disability between people with and without dementia were greater in 2010 and 2018 than in 2001.ConclusionWe found a widening gap in disability between people with and without dementia over time as functional ability improved mainly in people without dementia. Dementia was the main driver of disability and among those with dementia, comorbidities were associated with mobility disability but not with ADL disability. These results imply the need for strategies to maintain functioning and for clinical updates, rehabilitative services, care planning, and capacity building among care providers.

Sociodemographic Characteristics and Forensic Evidence of Sexual Assault Victims

Objective: To evaluate sociodemographic characteristics and forensic evidence of sexual assault victims. Study Design: Retrospective study. Place and Duration of Study: Medicolegal section of Peoples Medical College Hospital (PMCH) and Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Peoples University of Medical & Health Sciences, Nawabshah District Shaheed Benazirabad from 1st January 2019 to 31st December 2021. Methodology: One hundred and forty female victims of sexual assaults were enrolled. Results: The reports of sexual assaults were higher in females of 15-25 years age group (55.71%) as compared to the age group of 26-35 years (34.29%). With reference to marital status, occupation, and socio-economic class, most of the females were unmarried (66.43%), nonworking (44.29%), and from the lower class (65.71%). A discrepancy was found between positive penetration history (72.14%) and positive laboratory findings (43.57%) which could be attributed to reporting of a sufficient number of sexual assaults after 48 hours (37.86%). Conclusion: The women of younger age (15-25 years) and having low access to paid employment were more prone to sexual assaults. The time-lapse between the occurrence of incidence and collection of forensic evidence could impact the agreement between penetration history and laboratory analysis. Keywords: Sociodemographic, Forensic evidence, Sexual assault victim

Estimation of socioeconomic inequalities in mortality in Japan using national census-linked longitudinal mortality data.

We aimed to develop census-linked longitudinal mortality data for Japan and assess its validity as a new resource for estimating socioeconomic inequalities in health. Using deterministic linkage, we identified, from national censuses for 2000 and 2010 and national death records, persons and deceased persons who had unique personal identifiers (generated using sex, birth year/month, address, and marital status). For the period 2010-2015, 1 537 337 Japanese men and women aged 30-79 years (1.9% in national census) were extracted to represent the sample population. This population was weighted to adjust for confounding factors. We estimated age-standardized mortality rates (ASMRs) by education level and occupational class. The slope index of inequality (SII) and relative index inequality (RII) by educational level were calculated as inequality measures. The reweighted sample population's mortality rates were somewhat higher than those of the complete registry, especially in younger age-groups and for external causes. All-cause ASMRs (per 100 000 person-years) for individuals aged 40-79 years with high, middle, and low education levels were 1078 (95% confidence interval: 1051-1105), 1299 (1279-1320), and 1670 (1634-1707) for men, and 561 (536-587), 601 (589-613), and 777 (745-808) for women, respectively, during 2010-2015. SII and RII by educational level increased among both sexes between 2000-2005 and 2010-2015, which indicates mortality inequalities increased. The developed census-linked longitudinal mortality data provide new estimates of socioeconomic inequalities in Japan that can be triangulated with estimates obtained with other methods.

LEXICAL BASE OF SURNAMES (BASED ON THE MATERIAL OF THE MIZIAKIVSKI KHUTORY VILLAGE, VINNYTSIA DISTRICT, VINNYTSIA REGION)

The surnames of the Miziakivski Khutory village are divided into two groups: ones derived from appellatives and others from onyms. Particularly surnames that are derived from appellatives contain lexical items that can be derived from personal appellatives (when the common name acquired individualizing features in a one-step process) and non-personal appellatives (there is a two-step anthroponymization). Surnames motivated by appellatives with personal significance : surnames that characterize the names of people by their external features; surnames that characterize the names of people by their internal features; surnames that indicate profession, type of occupation and social class; surnames that indicate the place of origin or residence and the specifics of their appearance in a local community. 2.Surnames motivated by appellatives with non-personal significance: surnames based on flora names; surnames associated with faunal names; surnames based on household items; surnames derived from clothing names; surnames associated with time concepts and natural phenomena. As a result, we were able to analyze 240 anthropo-units derived from personal and impersonal appellatives. It was found that the most common surnames in the Miziakivski Khutory village are those derived from fauna names, names of professions, type of occupation, and social class. It is worth noting that the study of surnames of this type is an important issue in the scientific study of Ukrainian anthroponymy, which is focused on enriching and deepening this segment of the lexicon. In the future, it is planned to study surnames derived from names, word-structural analysis of surnames of the Miziakivski Khutory village, Vinnytsia district, Vinnytsia region, which are an important component of the Ukrainian, in particular Podillia anthroponymic system.

The ‘Normalization’ of Young Protestors in Greece

During the last decades, the number of demonstrations as well as of demonstrators has significantly increased in most Western European countries. Some scholars support that protesting has become so widespread leading to the ‘normalization’ of the demonstrators. Overall research examining the ‘normalization thesis’ of street youth protest by analyzing representative datasets is extremely scarce. The chapter by analyzing youth-over-sampled survey data collected as part of the EURYKA project examines key socioeconomic determinants in participating in demonstrations among Greek young adults aged 18-34 years old. Greece is an exceptionally interesting case study to examine the ‘normalization thesis’ of youth protesting as the recent recession and its severe socioeconomic impacts triggered an exceptional wave of protest mobilization where Greek youth was one of the main protest claimants. The findings indicate that the socioeconomic determinants under study, such as gender, educational attainment, income, and occupational class, do not play a significant role in predicting youth demonstrating in Greece. Such preliminary evidence provides empirical support to the ‘normalization thesis’ and accords with related studies underscoring that during the massive anti-austerity protests Greek citizens from a broad range of social strata were mobilized in protest activities.

Socio-economic status and trajectories of a novel multidimensional metric of Active and Healthy Ageing: the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Healthy ageing research largely has a unidimensional focus on physical health, negating the importance of psychosocial factors in the maintenance of a good quality-of-life. In this cohort study, we aimed to identify trajectories of a new multidimensional metric of Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA), including their associations with socio-economic variables. A latent AHA metric was created for 14,755 participants across eight waves of data (collected between 2004 and 2019) from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), using Bayesian Multilevel Item Response Theory (MLIRT). Then, Growth Mixture Modelling (GMM) was employed to identify sub-groups of individuals with similar trajectories of AHA, and multinomial logistic regression examined associations of these trajectories with socio-economic variables: education, occupational class, and wealth. Three latent classes of AHA trajectories were suggested. Participants in higher quintiles of the wealth distribution had decreased odds of being in the groups with consistently moderate AHA scores (i.e., ‘moderate-stable’), or the steepest deterioration (i.e., ‘decliners’), compared to the ‘high-stable’ group. Education and occupational class were not consistently associated with AHA trajectories. Our findings reiterate the need for more holistic measures of AHA and prevention strategies targeted at limiting socio-economic disparities in older adults’ quality-of-life.

Trajectories in physical functioning by occupational class among retiring women: the significance of type of retirement and social and health-related factors

BackgroundOccupational class inequalities in physical functioning and their changes after retirement are poorly understood. We examined occupational class trajectories in physical functioning 10 years before and after transition to old-age...

Moderate Beer Consumption Is Associated with Good Physical and Mental Health Status and Increased Social Support

There is little large-scale evidence on the effect of alcoholic beer consumption on physical, mental and, above all, socio-emotional health. Here, we conducted a secondary data analysis of the 2012 and 2017 National Health Surveys with 33,185 individuals aged 18 years and older to assess beer consumption in relation to self-perceived health, functional limitations, mental health, and social support. Logistic regression models assessed the association of alcohol consumption (abstainers, ex-drinkers, occasional drinkers, moderate beer drinkers, and heavy beer drinkers) with self-perceived health (poor or good), limitations of type (none, physical, mental, or both) and intensity (none, mild, or severe), mental health (poor, average, or good) and social support (poor, average, or good). Analyses were adjusted for sex, age, occupational social class, educational level, place of residence, survey, part-time physical activity, dietary information, smoking, and body mass index. Compared to abstainers, occasional and moderate beer drinkers were associated with better mental and self-perceived health and social support, and were less likely to report mild or severe physical limitations. In contrast, former drinkers were associated with worse indicators of self-perceived health, physical health, mental health, and social support than abstainers. Alcoholic beer consumption showed a J-shaped relationship with self-perceived, physical, mental, and social-emotional health, with better values at moderate levels.

Occupational class suicide risk: 12-year study of national coronial data.

Previous research showed that the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) was associated with a widening disparity in suicide rates between lower-class occupations and the highest-class occupations in Australia. There has been no research investigating whether this trend continued post-GFC. This study aimed to investigate suicide rates by occupational class among employed Australians aged 15 years and over, between 2007 and 2018. A population-level retrospective mortality study was conducted using data from the National Coronial Information System. Adjusted suicide rates were calculated over the period 2007 to 2018. Negative binomial regression models were used to assess the relationship between occupational class, gender and time, comparing post-GFC years (2010-2012, 2013-2015 and 2016-2018) with GFC years (2007-2009). Relative to the GFC period of 2007-2009, a significant reduction in suicide disparity between managers and other occupation groups was only observed among male labourers (rate ratios (RR) = 0.65, 95% CI 0.49-0.86) and male technicians/trades workers (RR = 0.73, 95% CI 0.56-0.96) for the period 2013-2015. Skilled manual and lower-skilled occupational classes remain at elevated risk of suicide in Australia. While a decreasing divergence in suicide rates was only observed between labourer and manager occupational classes post-GFC, this trend was not maintained over the later part of the study period (2016-2018). There is a need to further understand the relationship between contextual factors associated with suicide among the employed population, especially during periods of economic downturn.

Long-Term Outcomes and Return to Work After Isolated Coronal Shear Fractures of the Capitellum

The purpose of this study was to analyze the ability of patients to return to work after ORIF of isolated capitellar shear fractures and assess long-term functional outcomes. We retrospectively reviewed the cases of 18 patients with isolated capitellar shear fractures with or without lateral trochlear extension and investigated demographic data, occupation, worker's compensation status, injury characteristics, surgical details, motion, radiographic appearance at final in-person follow-up, complications, and return to work status via in-person and long-term telemedicine follow-ups. Final follow-up was at an average of 76.6 (7-222.6) months or 6.4 (0.58-18.6) years. Of the 14 patients working at the time of injury, 13 patients had returned to work at final clinical follow-up. The work status of the remaining patient was not documented. Mean elbow motion at final follow-up was 4° (range, 0-30) to 138° (range, 130-145) of flexion, 83° of supination, 83° of pronation. Two patients had complications that required reoperation but had no further complications. For the 13 of 18 patients with long-term telemedicine follow-up, the average Quick Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand score was 6.8 (0-25). In our series, rates of return to work were high after ORIF of coronal shear fractures of the capitellum with or without lateral trochlear extension. This was true across all occupational classes including manual labor, clerical, and professional. With anatomic restoration of articular congruity, stable internal fixation, and postoperative rehabilitation, these patients had excellent ROM and functional scores at an average of 7.9 years of follow-up. After ORIF of isolated capitellar shear fractures with or without lateral trochlear extension, patients can expect a high rate of return to work with excellent ROM and functionality and low long-term disability.

Who Gains Mental Health Benefits from Work Autonomy? The Roles of Gender and Occupational Class

In recent years, improving work autonomy as an important priority in the UK labour market has been shown to enhance employee mental health and well-being. However, previous theories and empirical studies have paid little attention to the intersectional inequalities in the mental health benefits of work autonomy, preventing us from gaining a comprehensive understanding of the mental consequences of work autonomy. By integrating literature from occupational psychology, gender and social class, this study develops theoretical hypotheses regarding whether and how the mental health benefits of work autonomy vary alongside the intersectional axes of gender and occupational class and tests these hypotheses using long-term panel data in the UK (2010–2021). Overall, we find that those from higher occupational class and male employees acquire significantly more mental health benefits from high work autonomy compared with those from lower occupational class and female employees. Moreover, further analyses show significant intersectional inequalities of gender and occupational class. While male employees from all occupational classes gain significant mental health benefits from work autonomy, only female employees from higher (but not lower) occupational classes benefit from work autonomy. These findings contribute to the literature in the sociology of work by demonstrating the intersectional inequalities in mental health consequences of work autonomy, especially for women in the lower occupational class, highlighting the need for a more gender- and occupation-sensitive design in future labour market policies.