Poorest Members Of Society Research Articles

Application of Frailty Index in Anthropological Material: Two 17th-18th Century Vilnius Cases

In recent years, a new method of measuring stress and frailty in archaeological populations has been developed – the Skeletal Frailty Index (SFI), which can determine changes in the overall health of past people through time. This study considers the applicability of the skeletal frailty index (SFI) in anthropological material by comparing 13 biomarkers of stress between two different 17th-18th century Vilnius communities (Algirdas St. 48C and Subačius St. 7). A sample of 187 individuals (Subačius St. 7, n=105, Algirdas St. 48C, n= 82) between the ages of 18 and over 45 years old was examined. Anova: single factor programme in Excel showed statistically significant differences between the two groups, with Subačius St. 7 individuals (SFI=3,86), who based on archaeological records were the commoners, exhibiting higher frailty than the Algirdas St. 48C individuals (SFI=2,23), who are thought to be the poorest members of society. These differences are explained by the osteological paradox, “cumulative effect” and migration factors. No statistically significant results (p>0.05) were found between female and male individuals in both communities. However, statistically significant results were found between different age groups (p<0.05). The research results of this thesis revealed that the Skeletal Frailty Index (SFI) is a useful tool for assessing the quality of life and health of anthropological data.

Surviving the influenza; The use of traditional medicines to combat the Spanish flu in colonial Indonesia, 1918-1919

The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1919 was widely regarded as the deadliest in modern history, claiming more lives than World War I. Colonial Indonesia was not spared. Several scholars have estimated that around 1.5 to 4.37 million people in the colony perished, making the death rate one of the highest in Asia. In the midst of the chaos and confusion caused by the pandemic, many people in colonial Indonesia turned to traditional medicines, particularly the poorer members of society who were inexperienced in Western medicine. Herbal treatment was considered a viable option for those who frequently faced discrimination when visiting Dutch clinics or hospitals. This essay demonstrates how more than a century ago, various ethnic groups in colonial Indonesia relied on nature to develop their own “vaccine” and medication in the fight against the Spanish flu. In the context of the pandemic, Sin Po and other newspapers played an essential role in spreading information about herbal medicines as an alternative, more affordable remedy than modern Western medicine. These newspapers provided the inspiration to investigate traditional Indonesian therapies more thoroughly. An examination of this subject reveals that there is nothing new under the sun. The colonial government never had a grand design to combat or stop the spread of a pandemic. It made almost no efforts at prevention and the outcome of this lack of preparedness was clear. Unfortunately, even more than a hundred years later, when COVID-19 struck Indonesia, nothing had really changed.

UČINKOVITOST NAKNADA OPĆE SOCIJALNE POMOĆI I ULOGA CENTRA ZA SOCIJALNU SKRB U BORBI PROTIV SIROMAŠTVA

THE EFFICIENCY OF GENERAL SOCIAL ASSISTANCE BENEFITS AND THE ROLE OF SOCIAL WELFARE CENTERS IN COMBATING POVERTY The social work profession is rooted in combating poverty and the fight for human rights. Social welfare centers represent a key institution in that area, particularly the cash benefits departments in which social workers daily work with the poorest members of society. The system of social assistance benefits in Croatia includes the general and categorical social assistance programs. This paper is focused on general assistance programs, guaranteed minimum benefit and one-time allowance. The aforementioned rights are regulated by the Social Welfare Act which has been amended six times since 2011, thus bringing novelties to the area of realization of the right to general social assistance benefits. The paper presents the most important changes and provides an overview of their practical applicability. It also provides guidelines for improving efficiency of the two most important cash benefits with regard to the amount of the benefits and their targeting, efficiency with regard to beneficiary groups including children and retired persons and work activation of young persons (and) beneficiaries who are capable for work. Considering the crucial role of social workers in the deciding on the recognition of the right to benefits, special attention was paid to a critical overview the role of social workers n the cash benefits departments.

The Livelihood Patters of the Imams in Rural Bangladesh: A Qualitative Analysis

The Imams of the mosques are woefully lagged behind from the development in rural areas. Therefore, the author aimed to conduct this study for generating knowledge on the living standards of Imams in the context of rural areas of Bangladesh. In this case, he applied the qualitative research method and collected data based on the observation and the Focus Group Discussion methods. In consequence, this study identified that a student can be appointed as an Imam of the mosque as usual by studying at the religious educational institutions. Along with they are far away from many activities, banned by religion, society, and the country’s law. As a result, they get the highest honor from all and sundry in the society. But as a matter of fact, the economic conditions of them are vastly lowest among all professionals, signaling inequity towards them. Even so, it is worth noting that they are poor members of society. Therefore, the rich people and policymakers have to pay all attention to reduce the economic vulnerabilities of them so that they can exist to serve the people as usual.

The livelihood patters of the imams in rural Bangladesh: a qualitative analysis

The Imams of the mosques are woefully lagged behind from the development in rural areas. Therefore, the author aimed to conduct this study for generating knowledge on the living standards of Imams in the context of rural areas of Bangladesh. In this case, he applied the qualitative research method and collected data based on the observation and the Focus Group Discussion methods. In consequence, this study identified that a student can be appointed as an Imam of the mosque as usual by studying at the religious educational institutions. Along with they are far away from many activities, banned by religion, society, and the country’s law. As a result, they get the highest honor from all and sundry in the society. But as a matter of fact, the economic conditions of them are vastly lowest among all professionals, signaling inequity towards them. Even so, it is worth noting that they are poor members of society. Therefore, the rich people and policymakers have to pay all attention to reduce the economic vulnerabilities of them so that they can exist to serve the people as usual

The Flipped Classroom: Its Effectiveness & impact on the learners in Asian schools and institutes.

The Imams of the mosques are woefully lagged behind from the development in rural areas. Therefore, the author aimed to conduct this study for generating knowledge on the living standards of Imams in the context of rural areas of Bangladesh. In this case, he applied the qualitative research method and collected data based on the observation and the Focus Group Discussion methods. In consequence, this study identified that a student can be appointed as an Imam of the mosque as usual by studying at the religious educational institutions. Along with they are far away from many activities, banned by religion, society, and the country’s law. As a result, they get the highest honor from all and sundry in the society. But as a matter of fact, the economic conditions of them are vastly lowest among all professionals, signaling inequity towards them. Even so, it is worth noting that they are poor members of society. Therefore, the rich people and policymakers have to pay all attention to reduce the economic vulnerabilities of them so that they can exist to serve the people as usual.

Sir Matthew Tierney and the foundation of the 1804 Sussex Vaccine Institution.

Irish physician Sir Matthew John Tierney (1776-1845) was a vaccine pioneer who learnt the procedure directly from Edward Jenner in Gloucestershire. In 1802 Tierney completed an MD at Glasgow on vaccination and moved to Brighton, where he was appointed physician to the Prince of Wales (the future King George IV). This paper considers Tierney's role in the foundation of the 1804 Sussex Vaccine Institution. Tierney was the first president of the Institution's Medical Council. His leadership lay in his knowledge of vaccination (including transporting cowpox material) and his close relationship with the Prince of Wales. The Institution's official name was the Royal Sussex Jennerian Society for the Extermination of the Small-pox and offered vaccination at 16 stations across the county and one in Kent. Vaccination was undertaken by local surgeons at their houses at set hours. In its first year, the Institution vaccinated 946 individuals, of whom 509 for free. Despite this, concerns were raised over uptake by poorer members of society. The Institution's Brighton station was probably absorbed into the new 1809 dispensary. Tierney's promotion of vaccination and instructions for new practitioners represent the embryonic beginnings of evidence-based medicine and modern medical education in Brighton.

Limitarianism and Relative Thresholds

In her groundbreaking paper “Having too much” Ingrid Robeyns presents a limitarian theory of justice, the crux of which is that it is morally impermissible to have more resources than needed for a maximally flourishing life. This paper focuses on one component of Robeyns’ limitarian theory, namely the nature of the riches threshold, the point above which the limitarian restriction kicks in. The threshold, according to Robeyns, is located at the point in which human flourishing is satiated; above this threshold, surplus resources do not have any moral weight. In this paper I offer an alternative account of the riches threshold: a relative, resource based threshold. On this account, the riches threshold represents the maximal permissible ratio between the resources available to the richest and poorest members of society. For example, limitarianism could maintain that it is morally impermissible to have more than one hundred times the resources that the poorest member of society has. A relative threshold, I argue, offers a more attractive account of limitarianism: it is more compatible with the intuition underlying limitarianism, better attuned to the justifications of limitarianism, and it is not susceptible to objections that the flourishing satiation threshold faces.

Forced private tutoring in Egypt: Moving away from a corrupt social norm

Egypt stands as a showcase for a practice of private tutoring which severely impedes quality of education. Teachers compel students to pay for additional private tutoring, putting increased financial strain on the poorest members of society. Based on an original dataset on primary education in public schools, this paper joins empirical data and evolutionary theory to study the impact of policies to alleviate Forced Private Tutoring (FPT). Our model explains the limited impact of increases to teachers’ wages in 2012. We identify alternative policies which foster a FPT-free social norm and improve the quality of education in public schools.

“The Might of My Own Hand Has Gotten Me This Wealth”: Reflections on Wealth and Poverty in the Hebrew Bible and Today

The growing gap between the wealthiest and poorest members of society is a pressing social concern regularly invoked in discussions surrounding taxation, the minimum wage, and the social safety net. Advocates of particular positions at times reference various biblical passages. This essay examines several relevant themes and passages within the Hebrew Bible in order to explore ways the Bible might be brought into productive conversation with these contemporary issues.

Welfare measures and the composition of the bottom decile: The example of gender and extreme poverty in South Africa

ABSTRACTWe examine the composition of the bottom decile in South Africa using three alternative measures of socio-economic status (SES): an asset index, household income per capita and household expenditure per capita. We show that the gender composition of the bottom decile is sensitive to the measure used. We discuss possible reasons for these discrepancies, highlighting gender differences in asset ownership and location. This has implications for the use of asset indices for identifying the poorest members of society.

Can Neoliberal Capitalism Affect Human Evolution?

The connection between genes and health outcomes is significantly moderated by social factors. Health inequalities result from the differential accumulation of exposures and resource access rooted in class-based circumstances. In the neoliberal era in the United States, changed physical and socioeconomic conditions facing the poorer members of society have been characterized as traumatogenic (capable of producing a wound or injury). This paper will argue that research that points to the transgenerational influence of environmental impacts on health suggests 2 important reconsiderations of the link between the economy and health. First, an understanding of the health of any society requires an understanding not only of current but also past environmental conditions and the economy that produces those conditions. Second, it suggests that the way in which economic policy is analyzed needs to be reconsidered to incorporate the transgenerational impacts of environmental conditions produced by those policies.

Beauty for All

These four short essays contemplate different types of beauty. The first essay emphasizes the importance of creating a harmonizing, bright, and comfortable domestic interior, with the emphasis on craftsmanship as well as functionalism. The second highlights the importance of feeding the senses: of appreciating the beauty of art, literature, and music. Even the poorest members of society may not have access to original works of art, but can draw inspiration from the sights and sounds of nature. The third recommends the observation of traditional customs, especially around Christmas, New Year, Easter, and birthdays. The final essay celebrates the beauty of the hearth and the memories associated with gathering around the fireplace.

Etyka troski a gospodarka przyszłości

For decades, economic theories have been changing due to historical events and economic turbulences, yet each time they have had an actual impact on the lives of societies. Today, when neo-liberal theories are no longer appreciated, the divide between the richest and the poorest members of society is growing almost exponentially, and technological development drastically changes working conditions, new visions of a future economy are needed – ones in which everyone can find their place and live a life worth living. My suggestion is that this economy should be based on the ethics of care – a line of argument presented in this article. It opens with an outline of the ongoing economic changes. There then follows an explanation of the importance of ethics of care, as well as of the care necessary for the development and reproduction of societies, as the main framework for further consideration of job guarantee and unconditional basic income, to which the subsequent sections of the article are devoted. The analysis of these theories from a feminist perspective will also be enriched with proposals for additional solutions that go beyond the current paradigm of growth.

1896: A Populist Insurgency in America’s First Gilded Age

1896: A Populist Insurgency in America’s First Gilded Age Katherine Unterman (bio) The last time I taught the class “America in the Gilded Age,” I read my students two quotes. One came from a newspaper editorial in the 1890s. The other came from Bernie Sanders in 2015. When guessing which was which, about half of the students got it wrong. The first quote read: “Ninety nine percent of the people of the United States feel that they have a standing grievance against the other one percent because of the excessive inequality in the distribution of wealth [. . .] As this inequality is continually growing greater [. . .] we are drifting toward a revolution.” While this statement could have come straight out of Sanders’ mouth, it is actually from 1891, in the midst of the period that historians call the Gilded Age. Some commentators have called the contemporary era a “Second Gilded Age” because of the similarly growing gap between the richest and the poorest members of society. The term “Gilded Age” comes from a book co-authored by Mark Twain, and the name says a lot about the 1880s and 1890s. It was not the golden age; it was the gilded age. Something that is gilded is gold on the surface, but worthless or rotten underneath. Likewise, the last two decades of the 19th century saw famous “captains of industry” like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie accumulating vast fortunes and living in opulent mansions. These were the country’s first billionaires; they were some of the richest men not just of their day, but in modern history. However, underneath the shiny surface, the workers in the steel mills and oil refineries were living in poverty. They resided in crowded tenements and worked long hours, in dangerous conditions, for low pay. The average income for 11 million of the nation’s 12 million families was $380 annually. In 1896, the country was in the third year of a major economic depression. Unemployment nationally was around 15%, even higher in major cities. Farmers were struggling just as much. Throughout the 1890s, they faced falling crop prices, exorbitant railroad rates, high interest on their debts, and costly charges to store their crops. Farmers were barely hanging on before the economic depression, and by 1896, many were on the brink of starvation. Thousands went bankrupt and had to auction off their farms to pay their debts. [End Page 26] Meanwhile, the government was staunchly opposed to the idea of doing anything to help the disadvantaged. President Grover Cleveland, upon vetoing a bill to provide aid to drought-stricken farmers in Texas, said, “I find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and the duty of the General Government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering.” Later he stated, more succinctly, that government functions “do not include the support of the people.” This was the era of Social Darwinism, and the economic counterpoint to “survival of the fittest” was “laissez faire.” In other words, leave capitalism unregulated and let the free market reign. Government action to help struggling workers and farmers was considered counterproductive and morally wrong. However, an insurgency was brewing from below. Calling themselves “Populists,” impoverished wheat farmers from the West and cotton farmers from the South banded together in their opposition to Wall Street and economic elites. The Populists had a novel demand: that when the people were suffering, the government should step in and help. “Man over money” was their refrain. In 1891, they formally organized a third party, the People’s Party. At the top of their program, called the Omaha Platform: abandoning the gold standard and adding silver as “legal tender.” At this point in time, all currency was redeemable in gold, so the amount of money in circulation was dependent upon the amount of gold in the treasury. By making bills also redeemable in silver (with 16 ounces of silver worth 1 ounce of gold), this would increase the money supply. Farmers wanted this because they believed that, with more money in circulation, they would earn more for their crops and would be able to...

Substantial Life Extension and the Fair Distribution of Healthspans

One of the strongest objections to the development and use of substantially life-extending interventions is that they would exacerbate existing unjust disparities of healthy lifespans between rich and poor members of society. In both popular opinion and ethical theory, this consequence is sometimes thought to justify a ban on life-prolonging technologies. However, the practical and ethical drawbacks of banning receive little attention, and the viability of alternative policies is seldom considered. Moreover, where ethicists do propose alternatives, there is scant effort to consider their merits in light of developing world priorities. In response to these shortcomings, I distinguish four policy options and, on the basis of a plausible intuition about fairness, evaluate their implications for a fair distribution of healthy lifespans. I claim that even in developing nations it would be fairest to favor policies that promote equal access to at least one promising category of substantially life-extending intervention: calorie restriction mimetics.

REDD+ and human rights: addressing the urgent need for a full community-based human rights impact assessment

This article makes the case for carrying out a series of community-based human rights impact assessments (HRIA) on the international mechanism, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation plus conservation and sustainable development (REDD+). In outlining the prima facie case, this article discusses the key areas of concern surrounding REDD+ and the repercussions for the rights and interests of local forest and indigenous communities. Furthermore, in its discussion on why REDD+ necessitates a HRIA, the article explores the implications that a specific link between human rights and REDD+ would have on the promotion and protection of forest peoples and indigenous human rights. In the context of the climate change crisis, formulating a specific link between human rights and climate change mitigation strategies such as REDD+ is highly pertinent if they are to have a positive impact at a local level. Formulating this connection could potentially secure the protection of traditional knowledge, law, customs and lands of those communities in which it operates, ensuring that the most vulnerable and poorest members of society do not bare the negative costs of such policies.

Targeting voter registration with incentives: A randomized controlled trial of a lottery in a London borough

Does an incentive—in the form of a lottery—increase voter registration, particularly among poorer members of society? In the summer of 2012, two groups of 20,000 randomly selected households from a London Borough were informed that they would be placed into a prize draw if they registered to vote by 28 September 2012. One group was offered £5000 and the other £1000 while the remaining households in the borough received the standard letter with the same deadline but no lottery offer. The registration rates after the deadline were 46.2 per cent in the £1000 group and 46.6 per cent in the £5000 group compared to 44.7 in the control. Levels of registration in the two treatment groups are statistically different to the control, but not from each other. Households in poorer locations are more receptive of the lottery offer whereas there is no effect in places where richer households live. After the face-to-face canvass of all remaining non-registered households, which took place after the experiment, there were no statistically significant differences between the treatment groups and the control. The study builds on the work of Raja and Schaffner (2012) and Panagopoulos (2013) by finding that incentives work in different ways depending on their level and who is targeted.

Measuring the Impact of a Conditional Cash Transfer Program on Consumption Behavior with Propensity Scoring

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs are quickly replacing old welfare programs because they help the poorest members of society both on the short and long terms. On the short term, the extra discretionary income provided by these programs help participant families meet their pressing basic needs. On the long term, these cash transfers are conditional on participants engaging in health and education-related activities that directly benefit their children, as an attempt to extract the new generation from the vicious circle of poverty. The impact of CCT programs on their main goals (health, education, and nutrition) has already been widely tested and documented. The main purpose of our current study is to assess the impact of a fully implemented program (Bolsa Familia in Brazil) on consumption behavior. This is important for several reasons. First, CCT programs represent a substantial boost in participants’ discretionary income, all funneled into consumption, resulting into a substantial additional demand for certain product categories. Second, critics of CCT programs claim that most of this discretionary income is squandered in superfluous consumption, pushing these poor households into new unsustainable lifestyle. Third, most tests of the impact of CCT programs are based on controlled experiments conducted either before or at the beginning of the program’s full implementation. In contrast, our assessment is done after Bolsa Familia has been fully implemented, which required us to design a natural experiment combining propensity scoring with econometric modeling. Based on this natural experiment, we are able to quantify the effect of Bolsa Familia on its participants and also the incremental demand for various product categories generated by this CCT program. Contrary to what detractors of the program claim, we find that most of the extra cash is devoted to essential goods (food, clothing, etc.) rather than superfluous consumption.

Final Draft of the Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Submitted by the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights

People living in extreme poverty are often neglected or overlooked by politicians, service providers and policy-makers due to their lack of political voice, financial and social capital and their chronic social exclusion. They are disproportionately affected by many human rights violations. Discrimination against people living in poverty is widespread and widely tolerated.The Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights are the first global policy parameters focused specifically on the human rights of people living in poverty. They are intended for use by governments to ensure public policies, including poverty eradication efforts, reach the poorest members of society, that they respect and uphold the rights of the poor, and take into account the significant social, cultural, economic and structural obstacles to human rights enjoyment faced by them.The Human Rights Council adopted the “Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights” by consensus through its resolution 21/11, in September 2012. The process for the development of the Guiding Principles had been initiated by the former Commission on Human Rights in 2001, and their content refined over more than a decade of consultations with States, civil society organisations, United Nations agencies and communities living in poverty. This final draft was written by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Magdalena Sepulveda Carmona, and presented in her report to the Human Rights Council 21st session (A/HRC/21/39).