Social Position Research Articles

Intersectional Burdens: How Social Location Shapes Interactions with the Administrative State

Intersectional Burdens: How Social Location Shapes Interactions with the Administrative State

Ignored inequities: Critical analysis of the pre-launch development of British Columbia's “Stop Overdose” campaign

BackgroundSubstance use stigma has been positioned as a major driver of drug toxicity mortality. In response, governmental and public health organizations across Canada have invested significant resources into mass media campaigns that target stigma. Many of these campaigns feature images or stories about people who use drugs (PWUD). Although stigma and drug toxicity death disproportionately impact racially and economically marginalized PWUD, these campaigns often over-represent White, middle-class individuals. This effectively ignores intersecting roles of racism and classism in the experience of stigma and drug toxicity mortality. MethodsTo investigate how this pattern of representation might occur, we examined the development process of the British Columbia (BC) Government's “Stop Overdose” anti-stigma campaign launched in 2018. We aimed to identify strategic goals, decisions, and underlying ideas that could help explain the campaign's eventual focus on White, middle-class PWUD. Through a Freedom of Information request we obtained 320 pages of documents from the BC Government outlining the real-time development, testing, and evaluation of the first wave of the campaign. We analyzed these documents using reflexive thematic analysis. ResultsWe identified that campaign developers had a marked focus on challenging stereotypes about PWUD and humanizing PWUD, while ensuring the campaign was relevant to BC residents. To achieve these goals, campaign developers ultimately avoided images of what they deemed the inaccurately “stereotypical” marginalized drug user. Instead, they featured PWUD in more privileged social positions. By attaching labels like “co-worker” to this imagery, developers felt mainstream BC residents could relate to and have more empathy for these PWUD compared to marginalized PWUD. ConclusionsIn effect, these strategies perpetuated the exclusion and dehumanization of marginalized PWUD facing disproportionate harms of the drug toxicity crisis. Since anti-stigma campaigns remain a common intervention, we highlight a need for strategic approaches informed by more critical perspectives on substance use stigma.

Commodities of Work Positions become Monopoly Behavior

The article aims to systematize buying and selling labor power under the condition of money as a measure, showing that job positions are just commodities bought, resold, and traded like any other commodity, making monopoly behavior popular. The article's content is approached from human and social philosophy to achieve the above purpose while simultaneously combining qualitative methods and synthetic analysis. The result is to clarify that all human attributes have the survival value of species; they become different commodities in production and business, measured by standards and money. Throughout the article, the natural world is diverse, with many species, and each species has unique survival characteristics. While animals live mainly in nature, humans create and live on the products of labor. The division of labor has created a complex society with many different occupations and social positions. Money, a tool of exchange, gradually becomes a measure of the value of everything, from labor and products to people. When money becomes the goal of life, people can lose higher spiritual values. This raises questions about the nature of happiness and the meaning of life in a society where money plays a significant role.

The reporting of social determinants of health in pediatric dermatology clinical trials: a systematic review.

Despite the acknowledgment of the importance of social determinants of health (SDOH) on clinical outcomes, few clinical trials provide information about SDOH. Including these markers in pediatric dermatologic clinical trials may lead to improved care and novel observations about the disease. Using a systematic review, assess the use of SDOH in pediatric dermatology clinical trials. CINAHL Plus, Cochrane: CENTRAL, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus were searched. English language randomized controlled trials about pediatric dermatology diseases published from January 2011 to May 2022 were included. Two authors independently screened all records using Covidence at 2 levels. Two authors independently collected data using Covidence and Microsoft Excel and assessed study quality. A protocol was registered at Open Science Framework: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/B93VY. A total of 6463 records were retrieved and 4298 were screened at title/abstract. Next, 1738 records were screened at full text and 1085 were included. Of these, 119 reported an SDOH factor for a pediatric dermatology disease. Income or socioeconomic status was the factor most reported followed by social support, location, and health insurance. Most of the studies were conducted outside of the United States. There are a limited number of dermatology clinical trials that include a pediatric population. Despite including over 1000 pediatric dermatology clinical trials, only 119 used SDOH. Pediatric dermatology researchers must prioritize including and reporting additional SDOH in clinical trials if the goal is to impact and improve clinical care and innovate for diverse populations of patients.

Generating "Différance" or an Ontology That Is Same Old Same Old Comment on "The Generative Mechanisms of Financial Strain and Financial Well-Being: A Critical Realist Analysis of Ideology and Difference"

Glenn and colleagues carefully conducted a realist review of initiatives introduced in high-income countries intended to improve financial well-being (FWB) or reduce financial strain (FS) during the early days of the pandemic. They found that these initiatives were underpinned by either neoliberal or social equity ideologies, within which, social location acted on different groups. In this commentary, we suggest caution in applying labels such as neoliberalism and social equity when lumping social welfare policies; labour policies; housing and financial services policies; and service provision for health, seniors, childcare, and education across welfare state regimes. We also caution against aggregating equity-deserving groups from different contexts into a single otherness. We suggest a pragmatic reinterpretation of the study’s findings and in future examinations of post-pandemic recovery in accordance with long-standing pragmatic methods of working in public health that seek to improve population health and well-being through collective action.

For Whom Does One Toil? Time Use Differentials, Social Reproduction, and Occupational Prestige

Social reproduction theory builds upon Marxist theories that center on the extent to which labor power is the source of capital’s growth through the exploitation of the working class, providing a unique lens for analyzing how labor power differences may contribute to structural inequity. While research has shown that women and girls are primarily responsible for the majority of unpaid reproductive labor, little research has considered how time spent in unpaid work may also vary by social class position. We utilize nationally representative data from the American Time Use Survey to estimate time use differentials across occupational prestige deciles, separately by gender, to address this question. We find that higher occupational prestige is significantly associated with less time spent on unpaid household labor for women, but not for men. Our results highlight the complex nature of unpaid reproductive work under capitalism, emphasizing the importance of considering social class positions when examining inequities in the unpaid work burden.

“Successful” ageing in later older age: A sociology of class and ageing in place

Supporting people to ‘age in place’ – to live independently at home and remain connected to the community – is an international policy priority. But the process of ageing in place is mediated in a socio-cultural context where neoliberal tropes of successful ageing reproduce a pervasive model about ‘ageing well’ by elevating ideals of individualised choice and self-governance.Based on two waves of qualitative interviews and interim observations, we employ a Bourdieusian logic to explore the ramifications of this context on the experiences of 46 people in later older age (80+) ageing in place in North East England. All participants enacted everyday improvisatory practices to render their homes habitable. But our participants – most of whom were located in middle-class social positions – supplemented such improvisions with a strategic disposition to plan for and actively shape their ageing-in-place futures. Our participants conveyed a distinct sense of agency over their ageing futures. Underpinning their orientations to practice was an awareness of the value attached to individually ‘ageing well’ and a distancing from the agedness associated with the fourth age.Our analysis demonstrates the role of capital, accrued throughout the life course, in bringing such future trajectories into effect. The central argument of this paper therefore is that the embodiment of (neoliberal) ideals of successful ageing in place requires the deployment of classed capital. In sum, contrary to the individualising narratives ubiquitous in policy pertaining to ageing well, we show the importance of classed structural moorings in this process.

Banter as transformative practice: linguistic play and joking relationships in a UK swimming club.

This article investigates the multiple interpretations and uses of banter as an inclusive and exclusionary practice amongst competitive youth swimmers inthe Southeast of England. As a metacommunicative act, banter is a form of linguistic play that focuses on the ways in which the words are delivered, and the social relationships involved between those engaged in banter. Through an immersive "apprenticeship" within a competitive swimming club from 2018 to 2022, I was party to particular forms of English "humorous" communication and invitations to join in banter with coaches and swimmers. As competitive swimming can be a monotonous activity, with long periods between competitions and nigh endless repetition of training drills, coaches encouraged swimmers' engagement in banter as an inclusive strategy for squad cohesiveness and to stave off boredom throughout the swimming season. Playful teasing was used to invite engagement in banter from one or more people, helping to foster social bonds, develop joking relationships, and create a relaxed atmosphere within training spaces. Mockery and teasing used to initiate banter were also mobilized as exclusionary social positioning strategies to test the limits of social interaction and define oneself against others. This article asserts that despite the nearly-totalitarian position of the coach within high-performance swimming humorous or joking banter does not simply function as a morale-booting activity or as a substitute for active resistance against monotonous training requirements. By paying attention to the intersubjective processes within joking relationships, here through banter, we can see how youth actively navigate sociality and assert their agency within institutional training environments.

"I arrived with just $1 in my pocket": Narratives of immigrant exceptionalism on X

Narratives of immigrant exceptionalism such as “I arrived with just $1 in my pocket” are commonly used by established immigrants in Canada to signal their personal achievement, their resilience, their claims to legitimacy on Canadian issues, or simply to counter narratives of an unwelcoming place. The convenience of the temporal and seemingly causal communicative form of the narrative, further combined with the social position of the established immigrant, the narratives of immigrant exceptionalism are highly amenable for reproduction. These narratives must be contextualized within the wider discourse of Canadian exceptionalism that allow such narratives to be further reproduced over generations and cohorts of new immigrant arrivals through the creation of the imaginary integrated immigrant. The framing of the narratives of immigrant exceptionalism tells us about the spectrum of meanings that people attach to immigrant exceptionalism, as well as what Canadian exceptionalism means to them. I collected 165 posts from X/Twitter and categorized the tweets into frames. I find that relevant problem frames such as “taking responsibility” and “threat“ stand out, as well as benefit frames such as “solidarity”.

Naked modernisation: the rise and fall of the erotic humour magazines in 1930s Turkey

This article discusses four erotic humour magazines – Piliç (Chick) (1930–1931), Bıldırcın (Quail) (1931), Çapkın Kız (The Flirtatious Girl) (1931) and Güvercin (Pigeon) (1931) – that appeared one after the other between 1930 and 1931 within the political, social and cultural atmosphere of the period in Turkey. It argues that the sudden emergence of these magazines was due to two important factors. The first factor is related to the rapidly reviving nightlife and entertainment scene in Istanbul from the 1920s onwards. The second factor is that the print media gave more space to sexual images of women to recover its sales figures, which suddenly dropped after the adoption of the Latin script in 1929. These magazines, published by well-known publishers in Istanbul and fuelled by the images in erotic magazines and postcards coming from abroad, promoted Western notions of beauty and fashion trends while glorifying monogamous relationships and sexual heteronormativity achieved through marriage along the lines of the modernist elites. This visual and textual erotica, which soon became the centre of controversy and was curbed by criminal sanctions, constitutes an important source to contribute to the literature on women's social position and sexual lives in early republican Turkey.

"Losing access to outdoor spaces was the biggest challenge for children to be healthy": pandemic restrictions and community supports for children's movement in Nova Scotia.

Health-focused communities can promote physical activity for children by providing them with safe and supportive environments to move. Across the COVID-19 pandemic many community spaces and services were closed due to public health restrictions. During the pandemic, Atlantic Canada uniquely implemented an agreement between four provinces to restrict travel and reduce the spread of the virus. The "Atlantic bubble" led to fewer cases of COVID-19 and restrictions to community spaces and services. With restrictions now removed, community spaces and services likely play a critical role in facilitating the recalibration of children's movement. Perspectives from families who experienced the "Atlantic bubble" may offer valuable insights to the use of these spaces during and after the removal of restrictions. This study explored the role of community spaces and services on their child's physical activity across the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspectives of Nova Scotia caregivers. We employed a qualitative description approach and conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 caregivers of children aged 5-11 years who lived in Nova Scotia, Canada. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Four themes were generated: (1) Public health restrictions limited community movement behaviors and social connections, (2) Spaces, locations, and environments influenced how families experienced physical activity during public health restrictions, (3) Virtual realities: screens supported a new sense of community for children throughout the pandemic, and (4) "Facilitated" and "forced adaptability": public health restrictions changed family dynamics, routines, and movement behaviors. Despite living in the "Atlantic bubble," Nova Scotian caregivers shared that COVID-19 related public health restrictions shifted their family's dynamics, routines, and ability to engage in physical activity within their communities. Community spaces and services can be leveraged to recalibrate children's movement as pandemic-related restrictions are reduced. In future public health crises, community spaces and services should remain in place to whatever extent possible to reduce the collateral consequences of public health restrictions on children's health.

A functional intervention within a cognitive approach to chronic cervical radiculopathy

BackgroundMost patients with cervical radiculopathy improve within the first months without treatment or with non-surgical treatment. A systematic review concluded that these patients improve, regardless of their intervention. Still, many patients are offered surgery, despite limited evidence regarding the indications for surgical treatments. The aim of this article is to describe the intervention that is going to be followed in the non-surgical treatment arm of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) comparing the effectiveness of surgical and non-surgical treatment for patients with cervical radiculopathy.MethodsThe non-surgical intervention is a functional intervention within a cognitive approach founded on previous experiences, and current recommendations for best practice care of musculoskeletal pain and cervical radiculopathy. It is based on the biopsychosocial rather than a biomedical perspective, comprises an interdisciplinary approach (physicians, physiotherapy specialists), and includes brief intervention and graded activities. The intervention consists of 6 sessions over 12 weeks. The primary goals are first, to validate the patients´ symptoms and build a therapeutic alliance, second, to explore the understanding and promote alternatives, and third, to explore problems and opportunities based on patients´ symptoms and function. Motivational factors toward self-management are challenging. We will attempt shared decision-making in planning progress for the individual patient and emphasise learning of practical self-help strategies and encouragement to stay active (reinforcing the positive natural course). General physical activities such as walking will be promoted along with simple functional exercises for the neck- and shoulder region. We will also explore social activity, comorbidities, pain location, sleep, and work-related factors. The health providers will set individualised goals together with each patient.DiscussionThe aim of the intervention is to describe a functional intervention within a cognitive approach for patients with chronic cervical radiculopathy. The effectiveness of the present program will be compared to surgery in a randomised controlled trial.

Gays Against Groomers and the politics of digital ventriloquism

ABSTRACT Prior to its political appropriation, “groomer” characterized adults earning children's trust, so they can manipulate and sexually exploit them. Conservative activists have recently transformed “groomer” into an anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) slur. This critique of anti-“groomer” rhetoric examines an organization called Gays Against Groomers (GAG). GAG's website, which is presumably run by “gays,” depicts children as especially vulnerable to queer “indoctrination” and “mutilation.” Investigative probes recently conducted by The Advocate, the Anti-Defamation League (“Online Amplifiers,” 2023), and Media Matters revealed that far-right hate groups and anti-LGBTQ conservative media strategists are largely responsible for the group's genesis. GAG participates in a duplicitous online discourse I call digital ventriloquism. In this context, digital ventriloquy describes online communication where anti-LGBTQ cadres throw their voices into a “dummy” organization that seemingly operates from a divergent social location. GAG's homonormative cooptation of the groomer pejorative results in a dangerous paradox of speaker location, or social identity, that virtually erases child molestation from anti-“grooming” speech, and recasts transgender people and progressive gender education as child pollutants.

The effect of preferential associations on the reproductive performance of group-housed sows

The investigation of social bonds as a measure to improve reproduction in farmed species is an underrepresented research area. This study investigated the effects of preferential associations between group housed sows (average herd size, n = 59) on stillborn and crushed piglet numbers. Preferential associations were described as resting within < 1 m of a conspecific in which the proximity was tolerated > 60 s. The study occurred over 63 consecutive days, broken down into three 21-day periods referred to as cycles. The 21-day cycles represent the time between reintegrating events. Seven days per cycle were selected for observations providing 63 h of footage covering the functional areas of the barn. Production data were taken from one farrowing that occurred after a sow had been transferred from the barn to the farrowing house during the study period. For group-level analysis, the sows were categorised as socially prominent or non-socially prominent. Social prominence is defined as an individual that engages in significantly higher levels of interactions than their sub-group conspecifics. The subgroups were determined by our previous work that identified assortment by social connectivity within the same study herd. Each subgroup was defined as a k-core, in which the k-value represents the level of connectivity of those in the group (i.e., subgroup K1 means sows are connecting with at least one other conspecific). For individual-level analysis, sows were categorised as a sow with stillborn (at least one stillborn piglet) or a sow without stillborn (no stillborn piglets) and as a crushing sow (at least one crushed piglet) or a non-crushing sow (no crushed piglets). Degree centrality was applied to determine the number of interactions that individuals initiated and received. Results showed no overall effects of social prominence on live-born piglets (p = 0.436). Socially prominent sows demonstrated a lower mean rate of stillborn than non-socially prominent sows. Sows with stillborn had significantly lower degree centrality than sows without stillborn (p < 0.05). The numbers of crushed piglets between socially prominent and non-socially prominent sows were variable with crushing sows demonstrating significantly higher degree centrality than non-crushing sows (p < 0.05). Overall, the evidence does not provide a clear relationship between social prominence during gestation and the reproductive outputs of sows. Therefore, further work is required to validate the effects of social position in affiliative networks on the production indices of farmed pigs.

The influencing factors of health status among low-income individuals living alone in Wuxi, China

This study aimed to understand the health status of low-income individuals living alone and to identify influencing factors. Using systematic random sampling methods, low-income individuals living alone were randomly selected. Via telephone interviews, we gathered information about their general health status. A logistic regression model was used to analyze relevant factors about the physical health of this population. The study included 1583 low-income individuals living alone. The prevalence rate of all kinds of diseases in low-income living alone in this survey was 88.63%. The multifactorial logistic regression analysis revealed that the risk factors for illness in this population were age ≥ 60 (OR 1.842, 95% CI 1.135–2.926, P = 0.006), self-rated poor mental health (OR 2.538, 95% CI 1.128–3.828, P = 0.005), and self-rated poor hearing status (OR 2.781, 95% CI 1.586–3.647, P = 0.001). Being female (OR 0.469, 95% CI 0.178–0.821, P = 0.033) was identified as a protective factor. Low-income individuals living alone are a unique group who lack familial care and economic and social support, and are thus in a disadvantaged social position. Therefore, this population requires increased attention, especially regarding their physical health. Implementing targeted assistance policies to improve their health status and enhance their quality of life is essential.

Patient engagement in the development and implementation of navigation services: a scoping review protocol

IntroductionPatient navigation, a complex health intervention meant to address widespread fragmentation across the healthcare landscape, has been widely adopted internationally. This rapid uptake in patient navigation has led to a...

Request for confirmation sequences in German

Abstract In request for confirmation (RfC) sequences, interlocutors negotiate their social positions regarding access and rights to knowledge. The article presents an overview of a quantitative analysis of 200 RfCs and their responses in German conversations to highlight the relevant linguistic resources speakers of the language deployed to position themselves vis-à-vis a confirmable proposition. In German RfCs, modal particles and tags play an important role in expressing the requester’s epistemic stance; explicit inference marking is used less frequently. Responses usually include response tokens (among others doch as a token specialized for disconfirming negatively formatted RfCs) and an expansion. The article shows that such expansions do important work to tailor the response to the situated informational needs of the requester in a cooperative way beyond the constraints of type-conformity.

Беструдовое общество: право на лень и новая мотивация труда

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of the “end of labour” and the con­sideration of this problem in modern social thought. Anti-labour rhetoric, which originated in the 19th century, finds its development in the 20th century in the dis­course of refusal to work and the prospect of preserving human individuation in the conditions of a technical society. As a result of the comparison of approaches to the issue of liberation from labour, the authors of the article come to the conclu­sion that the proposed concepts in assessing labour and its role in the development of society are inconsistent, the untimeliness of abandoning work (as a fundamental type of activity) and work-centrism (as a way of life). Insisting on the need for li­beration from labour, supporters of the rejection of work ethics and work culture leave out of discussion the possible consequences of the transition to a labour-free society. The proposed projects lack convincing options for effectively replacing work activity in its high social position and a model of a new work ethic based on the comprehensive improvement of a person. The article attempts to contrast ideas about the creative evolution of labour activity in the works of Russian thinkers of the twentieth century (A. Bogdanov, A. Gastev) with the post-labour discussion (N. Srnicek, A. Williams, group “Crisis”). An alternative to the discussion about a society without labour at the turn of the 2020s is the question of a new labour paradigm, a revision of the motivation of work and the preservation of its social significance, a new work ethic and individual planning for the future (A. Hines, B. Stigler, O. Nesterov, A. Pisarev, etc.)

Explore the Chinese Feminism Breaking Through by Analyzing the Unconventional Images of Female Roles in the Movie Buddha Mountain

In the twentieth century, Chinese females' social position seems to be enhanced. In fact, because of the problem of development of Chinese history, more and more potential threats for females occur. In order to revolt against the oppression from the males and society, Chinese female directors display the description of unconventional images of female roles to the public, as in the case of the movie Buddha Mountain. By analyzing the movie Buddha Mountain created by the female director Li Yu, the author finds that Li Yu used imagery, camera language, and queer theory to show the female characters unconventional images and thereby going against the patriarchal society. From the study, the author indicates that if there will be more and more female directors like Li Yu appears, the females power in Chinese society could be equal as males in one day, as the public film communication promoted by movie of feminism.

Moving from opportunity: Intergenerational mobility of rural–urban return migrants in Sweden, 1890s–1940s

AbstractUsing a novel longitudinal dataset, we study the intergenerational mobility of rural–urban migrants who returned to the countryside in due course. By examining pairs of brothers during the entire migration lifecycle – from childhood until age 34 – we estimate the effect of temporarily relocating to an urban area on occupational income over the mature working ages of 35–44 between the 1890s and the 1940s in Sweden. The results show that rural–urban migrants who returned to the countryside were not failures who did not improve their social position, but instead experienced substantial gains compared with their non‐migrant brothers. These gains were similar to those of migrants who had permanently settled in urban areas. This pattern is mainly attributed to their capacities to leave farming and enter white‐collar positions to a greater extent than non‐migrants. The extent of temporary rural–urban migration, combined with the high levels of intergenerational mobility of return migrants in Sweden during the period examined, suggests that rural–urban migration to towns resulted in positive feedback effects for the countryside.