Popular Claims Research Articles

The Curious Case of Black “Conservatives”: Assessing the Validity of the Liberal-Conservative Scale among Black Americans

Abstract Many Black Americans identify as conservative on surveys, despite their allegiance to the Democratic Party. Prominent theoretical accounts claim this mismatch results from identity-based considerations. I revisit this long-standing puzzle and offer an alternative explanation with broad implications for studying political attitudes and behavior across the social sciences. Leveraging data from the American National Election Studies, I demonstrate that the terms “liberal” and “conservative” are unfamiliar to many Black Americans, compromising the usefulness and validity of the liberal-conservative scale for Black respondents. Respondents unfamiliar with these terms misapply them and choose ideological labels that fail to align with their partisan preferences. Consequently, scholars and political actors make incorrect and imprecise inferences about the contours of Black politics. Findings also raise new concerns about the generalizability of claims that rely on ideological self-identification measures, including popular claims about mass polarization and partisan-ideological sorting among the American public. Critically, this work suggests a need for caution when using concepts that vary in their meaningfulness across social groups.

Do women only apply when they are 100% qualified, whereas men already apply when they are 60% qualified?

AbstractWe tested the popular claim that women only apply for jobs when they are 100% qualified, whereas men apply already with as little as a 60% qualification fit. In Study 1, we presented a job advertisement and a CV with different levels of qualification fit. Participants were asked to imagine that the presented CV was their own and to indicate whether they would apply for the advertised job. No gender difference emerged in participants’ application intentions, neither at 60% nor at 100% qualification fit. To enhance personal involvement, in Studies 2–4 we presented a job advertisement and asked participants to indicate whether they themselves would apply for the advertised job. Afterwards, participants indicated for every qualification criterion listed in the job advertisement whether they fulfilled it or not. We found a significant, but not robust gender difference in the predicted direction in the relationship between application intention and qualification fit. In addition, when asking how much women and men wanted to be prepared in application situations, women robustly indicated a higher desire for preparedness than men. Overall, our results indicate that for women psychological hurdles (i.e., desire for preparedness, fears and other gender‐relevant indicators assessed) are higher in application situations than for men. However, these do not seem to translate reliably into differential application intentions in the experimental paradigms used in our studies. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

Nutritional insights into broths in relation to elemental composition

Despite the popular claim that broths are a good source of essential elements, few studies have been devoted to clarifying this narrative. In fact, there is growing concern about the risk of ingesting toxic elements. This study focused on assessing the content of important elements (Ca, Cd, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Na, and Pb) in various types of broths (beef, fish, poultry, pork, and vegetable). The samples (n = 30) included broths of different origins, including laboratory-prepared broths and broths prepared by professional cooks from Czech school canteens. The broths were evaluated as potential sources of essential elements in relation to their reference daily intake, as well as their potential toxicity risk in relation to Cd and Pb. Although significant variability was observed in the contents of the investigated elements, the results generally contradicted the popular narrative that broths are a good source of Ca, Cu, Fe, and Mg, as their contents did not achieve even 5% of the recommended daily intake. The amount of Ca in the broths was minimal even compared to the amount in tap water. The consumption of broths poses minimal risk regarding the presence of Cd and Pb.Graphic abstract

Mycoheterotrophy in the wood-wide web.

The prevalence and potential functions of common mycorrhizal networks, or the 'wood-wide web', resulting from the simultaneous interaction of mycorrhizal fungi and roots of different neighbouring plants have been increasingly capturing the interest of science and society, sometimes leading to hyperbole and misinterpretation. Several recent reviews conclude that popular claims regarding the widespread nature of these networks in forests and their role in the transfer of resources and information between plants lack evidence. Here we argue that mycoheterotrophic plants associated with ectomycorrhizal or arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi require resource transfer through common mycorrhizal networks and thus are natural evidence for the occurrence and function of these networks, offering a largely overlooked window into this methodologically challenging underground phenomenon. The wide evolutionary and geographic distribution of mycoheterotrophs and their interactions with a broad phylogenetic range of mycorrhizal fungi indicate that common mycorrhizal networks are prevalent, particularly in forests, and result in net carbon transfer among diverse plants through shared mycorrhizal fungi. On the basis of the available scientific evidence, we propose a continuum of carbon transfer options within common mycorrhizal networks, and we discuss how knowledge on the biology of mycoheterotrophic plants can be instrumental for the study of mycorrhizal-mediated transfers between plants.

Socioeconomic Attainments of Second-Generation South Asian Americans: Evidence from the American Community Survey, 2014–2018

Using data from the American Community Survey for 2014–2018, we provide empirical evidence about the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of South Asian Americans. Our study investigates not only Indians, but also provides the first multivariate analyses for Bangladeshi, Nepalese, Pakistani, and Sri Lankans. The focus is on second-generation South Asians, but some descriptive statistics are shown for first-generation immigrants. In comparison to Whites, the educational distributions of first-generation immigrants are bimodal to varying degrees across the South Asian groups. However, with the exception of the Nepalese, all of the native-born South Asian groups obtain higher levels of education than Whites. Poverty among South Asian groups tends to reflect their educational levels so that poverty rates decline between the first-generation and the native-born, but second-generation Bangladeshi and Pakistani have somewhat higher than expected poverty due to family size and composition. Second-generation Indians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans are more likely to be affluent than Whites, and these differences are partly but not fully explained by educational and other demographic characteristics. Other findings provide no support for the popular claim that the wages of second-generation South Asian groups are disadvantaged in comparison to Whites.

The Pen Behind the Pathogen: Yersinia pestis and the Lombard Conquest in Paul the Deacon's Historia Langobardorum

Abstract: Paul the Deacon's Historia Langobardorum has long underpinned histories of the First Pandemic in Italy, with the text's narrative account of a plague outbreak in Liguria, Venetia, and greater Italy typically dated to 565. The following pages examine the modern and premodern treatment of the Ligurian Plague, highlighting the problems with and debates about its date, reconsidering its murky origins in Paul's writing, and reframing it as an editorially complex account of disease. A thematic and structural analysis of Paul's text alongside those of other key western Mediterranean plague narrators—namely, Gregory of Tours and Gregory the Great—suggests this Historia Langobardorum plague passage was neither wholly original nor based on detailed accounts from northern Italy. Instead, it was a product of the geography of Paul's narrative and his wider attempt to rehabilitate the history of the Lombard conquest, resulting in an apocalyptically-tinged report of mid-sixth-century plague that is both geographically and chronologically unreliable. In calling into question popular claims about the Ligurian Plague's geography and chronology, this microstudy offers a novel method of interrogating late antique plague texts and further elucidates Paul's process as a narrator of Lombard and Italian history.

The spatio-temporal distribution of small-scale fisheries along the northern Panay Gulf, Philippines: Implications for management

The small-scale fisheries along the northern region of the Panay Gulf face a distinctive challenge as multiple communities compete for access to the same fishing areas and resources. In response, neighboring coastal municipalities implemented conventional management measures, such as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and seasonal closures, aiming to enhance the abundance of fisheries resources. However, these measures only imposed economic hardships on artisanal fishermen. To address this issue, a survey involving 135 informants from coastal barangays was conducted between June to November 2021. The study used semi-structured questionnaires and GPS data loggers to collect essential information on the spatial and temporal distribution of fishing activities and specific target catches. The integration of local knowledge played a crucial role in bridging critical data gaps within the study site, facilitating the identification of more effective management reforms. The findings revealed that traditional harvest locations for various gear types exhibited zonation patterns across the gulf. Fishing activities were strategically conducted in areas with available resources, often disregarding municipal fishing boundaries. Coordinated management strategies are deemed imperative due to the varying timing of seasonal closures among municipalities. On the other hand, the temporal analysis of fishing activities revealed peak seasons of fisheries resources, providing a basis for adjusting the selection of target species and the duration of seasonal closures. Interestingly, the existing management measures failed to reduce the annual fishing activities and were ineffective, contrary to popular claims. This outcome was primarily due to constant shifts in the types of fishing gear used and target catches between seasons, highlighting the displacement of exploitation. In conclusion, this study underscores the importance of aligning fisheries policies with the dynamic nature of small-scale fisheries. Unless these policies adapt to the evolving conditions of the sector, they are likely to remain ineffective in addressing issues faced by artisanal fishermen in the region.

3D Printed Prostheses: The Path from Hype to Reality.

3D printing has an over forty-year history but has only become popular in the last fifteen years with the expiration of restrictive patents which allowed open access and unfettered innovation by a broad range of technology developers. During the last decade interest in prostheses made by 3D printing has grown in popularity. The interest in devices has followed the Gartner Hype Cycle as 3D printing companies and associated organizations have used popular claims about 3D printed prostheses to increase their own company's popularity. These claims created unrealistic expectations which outran the early-stage limitations of the technology, causing disillusion. Currently, the industry is moving beyond these limitations and the field seems to be advancing at a sustainable rate. This article provides an understanding of the history of popular misconceptions surrounding the technology. It provides a basis for separating the myth from reality in 3D printing technology so the reader can question the popular preconceived ideas and find the real value. With a greater understanding of the past, one can apply lessons to present technology use and guide the direction of future 3D printing. This paper will also discuss lessons applicable to both high and low-income countries along with providing recommendations for the future development.

Revising Robert Burns and the ‘No Female Bards’ of Ulster-Scots Poetry

John Hewitt’s claim to ‘no female bards’ as part of the revival of what he called the rhyming weaver poets tradition narrowed the scope of scholarly interest, just as the once popular claim that many of the writers in this tradition were simply Robert Burns imitators had done. A variety of publications have provided a range of in-depth studies on the impact of Robert Burns in Ireland, and have done much to challenge the latter claim. However, the presence and output of Ulster-Scots women writers within this wider area of scholarship remains little known. Consequently, by exploring poetry from three writers, Olivia Elder, Sarah Leech and Margaret Dixon McDougall, this essay aims to advance several lesser-known eighteenth and nineteenth-century female Irish poets, add depth to the study of Ulster-Scots women’s writing, and provide new perspectives on Burns in Ireland.

Images of the “future of work”. A discourse analysis of visual data on the internet

This paper presents findings from a critical discourse analysis of visual data gathered in regular, monthly data sampling on Google, DuckDuckGo and Bing on the theme ‘the future of work’ that were published online on Polish and Swedish websites during 2018–2021. Visions about the future in the form of images create an archive of ideas on the potential directions of societal development, where discourse is present both in what is visible, and what is invisible. The study shows predominantly stereotypical framings of work by young office workers. Conclusions are drawn on how the future is visualized contrary to popular claims of job losses that are predicted to strike mainly the younger, middle-class population. In the images collected, humans appear as mainly content in a working life without manual labour, frustration or clutter, but also without leisure, displaying a lack of visions of an older workforce, as well as the possible role of humans as useful and fulfilled without work in the future.

THE RELIABILITY OF RESERVES VALUATION IN INSURANCE COMPANIES

Starting from the theory of probabilities, which represents an attempt to investigate uncertainty, insurance companies must calculate their insurance premiums in such a way as to cover all their operational expenses and obtain the expected benefit, preserving the principle of equity and solidarity. In commercial insurance, statistical research plays a special role in estimating the level of insurance activity and its prospects. For this purpose, the events that take place in insurance are measured, ordered, systematized and aggregated through observation (collection), processing and analysis. Estimating the risk and the insurer’s obligations based on inadequate or incorrect data is an extremely dangerous situation. Therefore, it is extremely important for the insurer to establish the best possibility of observing and using the data. Basing premium rates and reserves is an important activity for insurance companies. If insurers do not accurately set premium rates that reflect the size of the risk, they may suffer losses due to the financial imbalance created between premiums and indemnities or due to adverse selection. The actuary deals with this within the insurance company, using various actuarial statistical methods. The Chain-Ladder method is one of the most popular claims reserving techniques. The aim of this study is to back-test the chain-ladder method. We use a stochastic scenario generator that allows us to simulate arbitrarily many upper claims reserving triangles of similar characteristics for which we also know the corresponding lower triangles. Based on these simulated triangles, we analyse the performance of the chain-ladder claims reserving method. The substantiation of technical reserves must be based on specific methods because there is a possibility that two insurers may use different calculation techniques for similar obligations and obtain totally different results, thus disrupting profitability and financial soundness.

Cannabis, research ethics, and a duty of care

Despite growing evidence to the contrary, researchers continue to posit causal links between cannabis, crime, psychosis, and violence. These spurious connections are rooted in history and fueled decades of structural limitations that shaped how researchers studied cannabis. Until recently, research in this area was explicitly funded to link cannabis use and harm and ignore any potential benefits. Post-prohibition cannabis research has failed to replicate the dire findings of the past. This article outlines how the history of controlling cannabis research has led to various harms, injustices, and ethical complications. We compare commonly cited research from both the prohibition and post-prohibition eras and argue that many popular claims about the dangers of cannabis are the result of ethical lapses by researchers, journals, and funders. We propose researchers in this area adopt a duty of care in cannabis research going forward. This would oblige individual researchers to establish robust research designs, employ careful analytic strategies, and acknowledge limitations in more detail. This duty involves the institutional recognition by funders, journals, and others that cannabis research has been deliberately misconstrued to criminalize, stigmatize, and pathologize.

The enigma of caste atrocities: Do scheduled castes and scheduled tribes face excessive violence in India?

The dominant narrative on caste today asserts that the people belonging to the Scheduled Castes or “Dalits” and Scheduled Tribes or “Tribals” face pervasive and disproportionately more violence. The situation is considered further accentuated by the alleged “caste bias” against these communities in the police and the judiciary. The stringent legal provisions passed by the Indian Parliament, specifically to address crimes against these communities, have been presented as ineffectual or insufficient in curbing this violence. The official crime statistics are often cited as supporting these claims. However, a closer look at this data on crimes against SCs and STs, including the rates of crimes, court convictions and pendency, shows that these popular claims are not based on the evidence that the data provides. Further, a scrutiny of the claims itself reveals serious conceptual problems, fallacies, and errors. This article, while analyzing the currently available data on crimes against SCs and STs, also traces the source of the problems that have marred their understanding and interpretation. We specifically look at the evolution of the word ‘atrocity’ in the context of caste, how the term acquired a strange definition, how it came to mediate the understanding of caste violence and the collection of crime statistics, and how its usage is incredibly loaded to prove the point that there is excessive violence against SCs and STs.

The link between foreign institutional owners and multinational enterprises’ environmental outcomes

Many institutional investors claim to be leaders in their commitment to sustainability, yet their real impact is undetermined. We look at the relationship between the presence of foreign institutional owners and the firm’s environmental outcomes in terms of performance and innovation. We argue that foreign institutional owners seek to mitigate their exposure to reputational risks by encouraging their investee firms to move towards better environmental performance. However, these owners are less likely to engage in long-term investments derived from environmental innovations. We examine these paradoxical motivations in the context of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the chemical industry across 33 countries in emerging and developed markets and further explore how these investee firms’ international diversification affects these relationships. Our findings contribute to international corporate governance and sustainability research by uncovering that, contrary to institutional owners’ popular claims, foreign institutional owners have a positive effect on their investees’ environmental performance, but their influence is not statistically significant on environmental innovation. Specifically, the influence of foreign institutional owners on environmental performance is strong for MNEs with a low level of international diversification and marginal for those with a higher level of internationalization; meanwhile, domestic institutional owners are committed to advancing both environmental performance and innovation in their MNE investees. In sum, we show that environmental concerns are still quite localized.

Interpersonal Comparisons of What?

I examine the once popular claim according to which interpersonal comparisons of welfare are necessary for social choice. I side with current social choice theorists in emphasizing that, on a narrow construal, this necessity claim is refuted beyond appeal. However, I depart from the opinion presently prevailing in social choice theory in highlighting that on a broader construal, this claim proves not only compatible with, but even comforted by, the current state of the field. I submit that all in all, the most accurate philosophical assessment consists not in flatly rejecting this necessity claim, but in accepting it in a suitably revised form.

Resilience, responsibility and state abandon: The changing role of the government in emergencies

Scholars have explored how governmental agendas pursued in the name of resilience redistribute the responsibility for attending to emergencies amongst governments and communities. In this paper, we draw on two years of research with community groups responding to Covid-19 in the United Kingdom to deepen these debates concerning the effects of so-called 'responsibilization' amid appeals for resilience. Against popular claims that equate resilience to state abandonment in an era of neo-liberal reform, we argue that resilience has also prompted new forms of coordination between government and non-government community actors that in themselves are fraught with political complications warranting critical scrutiny. After years of public spending cuts, the government increasingly plays an enabler role in emergencies; orchestrating other actors rather than directly intervening themselves. This role is important to consider because it reshapes people's affective encounter with the figure of ‘the government’ when emergencies happen by sequestering the government's activities and generating feelings of government inaction. With the government's obfuscation, community actors valorise their own interpretation of 'resilience' as a way to deal with emergencies without government support, despite the government's ongoing presence. This belief in successful non-state resilience could have grave consequences if it is used to justify future government-led attempts to accelerate a long-established policy of reducing expenditure on public services, thus engendering in the future the very state abandon through which some scholars diagnose the present. Overall, the paper challenges popular conceptualisations of the re-distribution of responsibility under resilience agendas, unpacks how resilience agendas reconfigure relationships between people and governments in times of crisis and elaborates on the ramifications for public emergency governance if belief in resilience as non-state responsibility proliferates in the future.

Untying the Gordian Knot: Process, Reality, and Context

Untying the Gordian Knot: Process, Reality, and Context

Paleozoic Extinctions in Cosmoclimatological Context: ‘Non-Bolide’ Extraterrestrial Causes for Global Chilling

The Paleozoic Era experienced 4 major mass extinctions; i.e., end-Ordovician, Late Devonian, end-Guadalupian, and end-Permian episodes. As a cause of significant biodiversity decline, non-biological environmental change on global scale was inevitable; nonetheless, popular claims of bolide impact and/or large igneous province (LIP) with too many ad-hoc assumptions have not yet been accepted as common/universal explanations for the Paleozoic extinctions. Recent research on extinction causes evolved through two stages; i.e., the heyday of the bolide impact scenario in the 1980s, and the overtaking by a LIP-mantle plume scenario in the 1990–2000s. Lately, we may sense a return trend to extraterrestrial causes since the late 2000s, which is not a simple revival of the old bolide-impact model but a new proposal for a cosmoclimatological scenario relevant to extra-solar processes; i.e., supernovae explosions and relevant migration of dark clouds over the Solar System. This short article reviews the current status of extinction-related research, which emphasizes two key issues; i.e., the categorization of extinction causes and new perspectives on non-bolide extraterrestrial causes. The categorizing of extinction causes at four distinct levels is effective in separating “global triggers” on the Earth's surface from more essential “ultimate cases” within the Earth and/or on outside of the planet. Causes of extinction can be grouped into four distinct categories in a hierarchy, from small to large scale: i.e., Category 1 – direct kill mechanism for each local biota, Category 2 – background change in global environment, Category 3 – major geological phenomenon on the planet's surface, and Category 4 – ultimate cause from the interior and exterior of the planet. Recent advances in He isotope analysis for extinction-related sedimentary records suggest extraterrestrial causes, not of bolide impact but of the encounter with a dark cloud (nebula). Emerging new perspectives of cosmoclimatology leads to an alternative extinction scenario; e.g. 1) increased flux of galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) with extensive cloud cover and 2) passage of a dark cloud (nebula) enriched with micro-dusts (IDPs) enveloping the Solar System. Both meteoric cloud coverage and IDP-screen can induce lowering/shutdown of solar irradiance, which may drive global cooling and sea-level drop associated with biodiversity decline. The past star-burst events detected in the Milky Way Galaxy apparently coincide in timing with the cooling episodes associated with major extinctions of the Paleozoic, i.e., at the end-Ordovician, Late Devonian, and Late Permian. Given such astronomical processes associated with global cooling in the past, much older global freezing episodes, i.e., Proterozoic snowball Earth events developed under high atmospheric CO2 levels, can be likewise explained. The study of mass extinctions on the Earth is entering a new stage under new astrobiological perspectives.

The educational dynamics of populism: schooling, teacher expertise and popular claims to knowledge

ABSTRACT In response to the contemporary problematic of populism and associated reactionary right-wing politics, this paper argues for a greater analytic focus on the role of schools and teacher expertise in understanding the social relations of populism. This conceptual paper builds a conjunctural conceptualisation of populism that understands it as an invariable political modality of modern democracies, mobilised to different political ends. Extending this analysis, I explore the ways in which schools and teacher expertise lie at the heart of the populist tension between the ‘expert’ and the ‘layperson’. The social relationships to knowledge and knowledge-making institutions are fundamental to populism as well as the hierarchies of being understood (or not) as a ‘knower’ capable of truth-claims in modern liberal democracies. I conclude by arguing the need to engage in the social relations of ‘popular’ and ‘expert’ knowledge claims and the politics that underlie them.

Has There Been a Transgender Tipping Point? Gender Identification Differences in U.S. Cohorts Born between 1935 and 2001.

Using a probability-based sample from 39 U.S. states from a general health survey, the author evaluates popular claims of a "transgender tipping point" by estimating probabilities of identifying as transgender and gender nonconforming among cohorts of respondents born between 1935 and 2001. Respondents born after 1984 are significantly more likely to identify as transgender or gender nonconforming than respondents in earlier cohorts. However, cohort changes in identification as transgender and gender nonconforming vary along lines of sex assigned at birth, race/ethnicity, and college attendance. Within different cohorts, these factors have different associations with higher or lower odds of identifying as transgender or gender nonconforming, sometimes contrasting with popular narratives and media representation patterns. Analyzed in context, these findings provide empirical evidence that several distinct population-level biographical availability patterns, including convergences, reversals, and persistence of demographic associations, have shaped the prevalence and composition of U.S. transgender and gender nonconforming populations over time.