Positions Of Power Research Articles

Subversões narrativas femininas no 'narcoreality show' Cartel Crew

Abstract: This article analyses the depiction of female characters on the reality show Cartel Crew, which was broadcast on the US cable network VH1. For this analysis, a summary sheet was developed as a methodological instrument, with categories reflecting sociodemographic aspects and other elements related to relationships, violence, and objectification/sexualisation. These categories help to identify the level of empowerment female characters are given. The study has found that the autonomy and agency of leading female characters in this reality show continue to be mostly mediated by men, even when the women attain positions of power. The findings suggest that women continue to be assigned a particular role defined by a male gaze. While that role has been reconfigured to appear more fashionable and universally appealing, it cannot conceal the signs of the patriarchal vision that informs these productions.

Commitment to inclusion: The importance of collaboration in gender equity work.

Despite decades of faculty professional development programs created to prepare women for leadership, gender inequities persist in salary, promotion, and leadership roles. Indeed, men still earn more than women, are more likely than women to hold the rank of professor, and hold the vast majority of positions of power in academic medicine. Institutions demonstrate commitment to their faculty's growth by investing resources, including creating faculty development programs. These programs are essential to help prepare women to lead and navigate the highly matrixed, complex systems of academic medicine. However, data still show that women persistently lag behind men in their career advancement and salary. Clearly, training women to adapt to existing structures and norms alone is not sufficient. To effectively generate organizational change, leaders with power and resources must commit to gender equity. This article describes several efforts by the Office of Faculty in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine to broaden inclusivity in collaborative work for gender equity. The authors are women and men leaders in the Office of Faculty, which is within the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine dean's office and includes Women in Science and Medicine. Here, we discuss potential methods to advance gender equity using inclusivity based on our institutional experience and on the findings of other studies. Ongoing data collection to evaluate programmatic outcomes in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine will be reported in the future.

“Superstition ain’t the way”. The Optimism of the Conspiracy Theorist

This article addresses the topic of conspiracy theories from a rhetorical and philosophical perspective through a recent case study: the Netflix docuseries The Ancient Apocalypse by Graham Hancock1. In this TV series, the host – the author – hypothesizes a conspiracy by academic archaeology, which does not accept the idea of the existence of a highly technically developed ancient civilization that disappeared before the last ice age. The reason for this resistance on the part of archaeologists would be their desire to maintain a position of power and prestige that they would have to give up if they accepted a paradigm shift. We will use Hancock’s speeches as a textual corpus to be analyzed from a rhetorical point of view, and we will follow the philosophical hypothesis that conspiracy theories should be understood through the phenomenon of superstition (which is different from magic, § 1). We devote a paragraph to each technical proof used to achieve persuasion. First, éthos (§ 2), which focuses on the construction of the speaker as an outsider, credible because he is inconvenient. We then analyze the logos (§ 3), characterized by fallacies, ambivalent logic, and the mythological narrative as historical evidence. Finally (§ 4), we focus on pathos, which exhibits a form of detachment and a disposition to inaction.

Reinforcing the Status Quo: The Complexities of Female Success in Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls

In Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls, the portrayal of successful women offers a nuanced account of workplace and domestic dynamics, highlighting the ways in which women in positions of power navigate and perpetuate mainstream male values. This essay delves into the attitudes and behaviors of these top girls, revealing how their achievements inadvertently reinforce traditional gender norms and patriarchal structures. Through an examination of character interactions and thematic elements, this essay uncover the complexities of female empowerment within a society shaped by systemic inequality. By dissecting the tension between personal ambition and collective struggle, this essay sheds light on the challenges faced by women in challenging and reshaping dominant narratives of success.

Inpatient Psychiatric Care in the United States: Former Patients' Perspectives on Opportunities for Quality Improvement.

Patient-centered care is a salient value expressed by stakeholders, but a commitment to implementing patient-centered care environments lags in the context of inpatient psychiatry. The current study aimed to describe patients' suggestions for improving the quality of inpatient psychiatry. We fielded a national survey online in 2021, in which we asked participants to report their recommendations for care improvement through a free-response box. We used an inductive qualitative approach to synthesize responses into themes. Most responses described negative experiences, with suggested improvements implied as the inverse or absence of the respondent's negative experience. Among 510 participants, we identified 10 themes: personalized care, empathetic connection, communication, whole health approach, humane care, physical safety, respecting patients' rights and autonomy, structural environment, equitable treatment, and continuity of care and systems. To implement the value of patient-centered care, we suggest that those in positions of power prioritize improvement initiatives around these aspects of care that patients find most in need of improvement.

Research on thrust allocation for power positioning system based on improved sparrow search algorithm with multi-strategy fusion

Research on thrust allocation for power positioning system based on improved sparrow search algorithm with multi-strategy fusion

Diskurs protiv rodno osjetljivog jezika / Discourse Against Gender Sensitive Language

This paper provides an overview of critical discourse analysis (CDA) methodology, focusing on the linguistic basis of the descriptive phase of Norman Fairclough’s CDA. This methodological tool is used to analyse the discourse against gender-sensitive language which is broadly defined as a collection of texts and speeches that propagate ideas contrary to the principles of gender-sensitive language and gender equality, i.e., texts and speeches that act against those ideas. In relation to discursive practices, the paper analyses to whom such texts are addressed and how they are disseminated, and in relation to socio-cultural practices, i.e., the social conditions under which such texts are produced, it analyses who actually has power and an underlying ideology. Because it is critical to examine power relations in an analysis, those in positions of power are used as examples of discourse, such as the Board for the Standardisation of the Serbian Language as a standardisation institution. Taking their decision on the adoption of the Law on Gender Equality in Serbia in 2021 as an illustrative example of the discourse, this paper tests the hypothesis that the Board for the Standardisation of the Serbian Language shapes the discourse against gender-sensitive language.

The position of soft power in Turkish foreign policy towards the Middle East region after 2002

تهدف الدراسة للتعرف على طبيعة القوة الناعمة التركية بعد وصول حزب العدالة والتنمية للسلطة، كواحدة من العناصر الأساسية للسياسة الخارجية التركية في العصر الحديث. احتلت تركيا مكانة بارزة على الساحة الإقليمية بفضل توجهاتها وجهودها الرامية إلى توسيع نفودها وتأثيرها خارج حدودها. ستتناول الدراسة مفهوم القوة الناعمة وتحليلها في سياق تركيا، بالإضافة إلى استكشاف كيفية استخدام تركيا لهذه الأداة في تحقيق أهدافها السياسية على الساحة الإقليمية. وتنقسم الدراسة إلى ثلاثة محاور: يتطرق الأول إلى الأسس النظرية للقوة الناعمة، وأبعادها، واندماجها في السياسة الخارجية التركية. ويتناول المحور الثاني الموارد والمكونات المتنوعة التي تشكل القوة الناعمة التركية. ويركز المحور الثالث بشكل خاص على استراتيجيات تركيا في استخدام القوة الناعمة في الشرق الأوسط. اعتمدت الدراسة على مقاربة منهجية، تجمع بين الأساليب الوصفية والتحليلية. ويوضح المنهج الوصفي التحولات التي طرأت على السياسة الخارجية التركية بعد وصول حزب العدالة والتنمية للسلطة. وفي الوقت نفسه، يسعى النهج التحليلي إلى تحليل الظواهر المترتبة على استخدام القوة الناعمة في السياسة الخارجية التركية ، ومحاولة استشراف الرؤية المستقبلة لتأثيرها. من خلال التركيز على التعاون الثقافي ومبادرات تركيا لنشر اللغة التركية والآداب والثقافة التركية في المنطقة، تهدف الدراسة إلى فك رموز دور تركيا وتأثيرها. بالإضافة إلى ذلك، تستقصي الدراسة تأثير الفنون ووسائل الإعلام التركية والمنح الدراسية التي تقدمها تركيا على تعزيز فهم الثقافة التركية بين الطلاب والباحثين في المنطقة. تسهم هذه الدراسة ليس فقط في فهم القوة الناعمة التركية ولكن أيضا في إلقاء الضوء على تداولات العلاقات الدولية بشكل أوسع.

Il padre dorme, i figli parlano. La legge del padre riscritta nel "Cortegiano"

The essay examines the birth of the fraternal order, that is ‘democracy’ in its widest sense, in a key text of the Renais-sance, Baldassarre Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier. Here courtiers reunited one evening at the Urbino court steadily create a position of power for themselves by disposing of the father figure of Duke Guidubaldo while suppressing their own rivalries and fashioning a common ideal I. Just as patriarchy, however, this essay argues that the collaborative regime of the brother is constructed on the silencing of women—sis-ters, wives, and mothers—and not just the court ladies of the early 16th century.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN «POLITICAL POWER» AND «PSYCHIATRIC POWER» IN THE WORKS OF MICHEL FOUCAULT

The article demonstrates a retrospective analysis of the problem of the formation of the concept of power in the scientific activity of the French philosopher Michel Foucault. The transformational socio-political processes of the postmodern era require a radical rethinking of classical theories and concepts. Foucault proposes to look at historical structures and social phenomena in a new way, to modernize them away from superficial explanations and primitive interpretations revealing hidden and less obvious political mechanisms and their functioning. The problems of the 20th century draw the thinker's attention to a deep rethinking of power and strongly recommends abandoning classical canons in order to avoid social problems in the future. M. Foucault's post-structuralist concept of power proves that the variety of types of power generates not only reality and objects of knowledge, but also the «rituals» of their understanding. Contemporaries point out that the philosopher's writings lack a logical process of understanding a problem, but this is why he attracts not only scientists. Foucault's cognitive process is dynamic and discursive. Having associative thinking, the thinker engaged in a pure search, free from any biased attitude. M. Foucault suggests considering power relations in the broadest context, which includes the following power positions: men to women, parents to children, psychiatrists to mentally ill patients, doctors to patients, and authorities to people's lifestyles. However, the philosopher's most interesting explanation of power is medical power, particularly power in psychiatry. M. Foucault interprets power and knowledge in classical psychiatry, the problems of psychiatry of the 20th century and explains the meaning of mental illnesses from the patient's point of view. While studying at the «Ecole Normale» school, where a unique atmosphere reigned, despite his erudition and organizational skills as a leader, M. Foucault began to experience psychological disorders. This is what provoked the future thinker to investigate the power relations between the psychiatrist and the patient. This paper also examines the philosophical paradigm of the formation of psychiatry and the phenomenon of mental illness. Foucault understands mental disorders as alienation from reality, as a desire to exist in a hostile world. Madness, or alienation in the deep sense of the word, becomes the main problem of anthropology.

The evolution of ideas about pacifism in the global Pentecostal tradition

The article presents opinions in global Pentecostalism about pacifism and nonviolence. In most European countries and the United States, the topic of pacifism became relevant during the World Wars. Over time, pacifism as a dominant was replaced by the possibility of independent choice of believers in accordance with their convictions of conscience. The Global Pentecostal movement has developed different strategies of action in relation to participation in military operations: from categorical refusal to total acceptance of the need for military service. Those strategies were influenced by changes in the views of religious leaders, and the power position on statements from individual churches. In the Soviet Union, Pentecostals already in the 1920s held loyalist views on the military issue. The Soviet state forced Pentecostals to declare the need to fulfill civic obligations, including with arms in hand. Soviet Pentecostals officially proclaimed the principle of personal responsibility for one’s choices and the need to comply with state laws. In the late Soviet period, for most believers, military service was a way to test the "perseverance of faith" and at the same time demonstrate law-abidingness and inclusion in the life of Soviet society.

Invisibility of the Discourse of Backwardness in Pre-Independent India

The question of backwardness in India has been a contested and unfinished discourse. The censuses of 1911, 1921, and 1931 shed light on the stark disparities between the Shudra population and their representation in positions of power. The Miller Commission, appointed in 1918, played a significant role in defining backwardness and proposing measures for representation. However, the overarching discourse on representation and backwardness remained confined to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), and the other backward castes (OBCs) were left unresolved and put under the administrative jurisdiction of respective state governments. In this backdrop, this paper explores the discourse surrounding the issue of backwardness in pre-independent India, focusing on representation and reservation in government jobs and educational institutions. This paper embarks on outlining an overview of the reservation policy in pre-independent India. It draws upon the findings of the ICSSR sponsored national research project titled “Status of Reservation Policy: A Study of Higher Educational Institutions in Bihar” (F. No. 02/151/2016-17/RP).

Between What They Are and What They Were: Power Dynamics and Knowledge Production in Fieldwork with Argentine Perpetrators

This article reflects on fieldwork with Argentine perpetrators who were tried between 2015 and 2017 for crimes against humanity. The majority of these retired officials were interviewed while they were in prison, subject to widespread social condemnation, and no longer held positions of power. Consequently, this article focuses on how these conditions influenced the power dynamics between the interviewees and the researcher, the type of data collected, and the production of knowledge. Additionally, it examines how the emotions that emerged in the interaction with perpetrators affected the researcher and the course of the research.

The COVID-19, a crossroads for female directors

PurposeFor almost half a century, society has been aware of the existence of a glass ceiling, a term that describes the invisible barriers that hinder women’s access to power positions despite having equal or greater qualifications, skills and merits than their male counterparts. Nowadays, although there are signs of slow progress, women are still underrepresented in the upper echelons of large corporations and the risk of reversing the progress made in gender parity has increased because of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper contributes to previous literature by analysing the impact that the uncertainty and cognitive effects associated with COVID-19 in 2020 had on the presence of women on the board of directors and whether this impact has been moderated by the regulatory and policy system on gender quotas in place at the time.Design/methodology/approachTo test the authors' research hypotheses, the authors selected the major global companies worldwide with economic-financial and non-financial information available in the Thomson Reuters EIKON database over the 2015–2020 period. As a result, the authors' final sample is made up of 1,761 companies from 52 countries with different institutional settings that constitute an unbalanced data panel of 8,963 observations. The nature of the dependent variables requires the use of logistic regressions. The models incorporate the terms to control for any unobservable heterogeneity and the error term. Any endogeneity issues were addressed by considering the explanatory variables with a time lag.FindingsThe authors find that almost 30% of the companies downsized their boards in 2020. This decision resulted in more female than male directors being made redundant, causing a reversal in the fulfilment of gender quotas focussed on ensuring balanced boards with a female presence of 40% or more. This effect was enhanced in countries with hard-law regulation because the penalty for non-compliance with gender quotas had led to a significant increase in the size of these bodies in previous years through the inclusion of the required number of female directors. In contrast, the reduction in board size in soft-law countries does not differ from that in laissez-faire countries, lacking any moderating effect or impact on the number of female board members dismissed as a result of the pandemic.Originality/valueThis paper aims to contribute to current knowledge by analysing the impact that the countries' regulatory and normative systems on gender parity on boards of directors have had on the decisions made in relation to leadership positions, moderating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender equality at a global level.

INTERROGATING AGEISM

Abstract This paper identifies and addresses a puzzle within the conceptualization of ageism. According to the Reframing Aging Initiative, “Ageism refers to stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination directed toward people on the basis of age”; these adversely affect older people’s lives in daily lives, including in employment and healthcare. Yet, unlike other marginalized groups, like people of color and women, older people are not underrepresented in powerful positions nor are they worse off. Indeed, they tend to fare better than the population overall: the mean age of US CEOs is 59 years; US Representatives and Senators are 58.4 and 64.3, respectively. Older Americans are more likely to be homeowners and less likely to be unemployed or food-insecure than the overall population. This paper considers several possible explanations. First, unlike racism or sexism, ageism may not be structural, but personal: present in individuals’ attitudes and interactions, but without population-level effects, codification, or institutionalization. Second, ageism may only hold intersectionally, becoming operational under conditions of structural oppression like racism and sexism. For example, while older US whites have less risk of food insecurity than younger whites, older Black Americans are at greater risk than younger Blacks. Finally, ageism may be mitigated by selective mortality: while older people face ageism daily, not everyone reaches older age. Wealthier people and whites are more likely to live to older age; older people’s greater power and welfare reflect their earlier status. Each option presents benefits and drawbacks; together they allow us to address those whom ageism most harms.

A novel bidirectional non-contact plucking rotary energy harvester with an orthogonal piezoelectric oscillator: Design and experimental investigation

One key challenge of the energy harvesting technology lies in how to fully utilize external environmental excitation to collect ambient energy and convert it into electrical energy efficiently. To address this challenge, this work proposed a bidirectional non-contact plucking rotary piezoelectric energy harvester, based on the spatial distribution characteristics of magnetism. This work was initiated by establishing a mathematical model for the rotating magnetic field and calculating the magnitude of the magnetic forces. Numerical findings indicated that the quantity of rotating magnets had an impact on the magnitude and distribution of these magnetic forces. Leveraging the distinctive attributes of the rotating magnetic forces, this work introduced an orthogonal piezo-oscillator, designed to concurrently respond to magnetic forces along two orthogonal directions. Subsequently, this work conducted experimental research on the piezoelectric oscillators. The experimental results indicated that the number of magnets affects the power output bandwidth and position of the effective frequency. A mathematical relationship exists between the resonant frequency, the number of magnets, and the natural frequency. The results demonstrate that the total peak output power of the harvester could reach 3.29mW calculated by RMS voltage at 301 rpm, and the charging rate could reach 0.39 V/s at 300 rpm.

Why Gerontology Needs Anthropology: Toward an Applied Anthropological Gerontology.

In this essay, we argue that gerontologists should increase their engagement with anthropologists to increase transdisciplinary collaboration, fulfill the interdisciplinary promise of gerontology as a field, and to ensure the work of anthropologists is formed by, and employed in, situations where meaningful engagement with practitioners and policymakers can lead to social change. Anthropology is the study of human societies in historical, biological, and sociocultural context, comprising a holistic field of study that can contribute unique methods, approaches, and theories to the field of gerontology. Although increasing amounts of anthropological scholarship have focused on older adulthood, this critical work of anthropologists still needs to be utilized by those in positions of power to enact change. Furthermore, the work conducted by anthropologists of aging has not consistently been recognized as anthropological scholarship. Therefore, a notable gap exists between the promise of the anthropology of aging and the utilization of the field, its findings, and engagement with the broader gerontological academy. As such, the contributions of anthropology to aging scholarship and the resulting reduction in inequities in the aging experience are not always adequately recognized. By examining the history of anthropology's engagement with aging and the lifecourse, we argue for a more applied anthropological gerontology. We conclude with a call to action to ensure that anthropological gerontology is seen as a fundamental branch of scholarship, both within anthropology and gerontology, which can be used to improve the lived experiences of older adults globally.

The waning fortunes of traditional leadership in South Africa: From pre-colonial to apartheid periods

There is a disturbing trend in the public arena by traditional leaders and their communities that their role and power in the development of their communities have been downplayed by the colonial, apartheid and democratic governments. This article examines a history of traditional leadership and African communities from pre-colonial times to the apartheid period. The traditional leaders’ status, place and role in the development of the communities are examined. It is argued that traditional leadership as a heritage was jealously guarded, strengthened and maintained by traditional leaders and rural communities in spite of successive governments’ assault on chiefs (iiNkosi) and kings (iiKumkani). In the past, traditional leaders worked collaboratively with their communities in exerting pressure on the previous governments to recognise traditional leadership as an institution worth maintaining and treasuring. They were the law-makers. Succession was a criterion for access to positions of power and had the power and the final say in matters of national importance.Contribution: The purpose of this article is to bring to the surface the fact that traditional leaders collaborated with colonial governing authorities and apartheid government not so much to serve as stooges but for personal interest. Hence, oral sources are also used to delve deep into the dynamics of traditional leadership.

Narratives of ‘bad leadership‘: Experiences and perspectives of successful Icelandic female leaders

Conservative, male-oriented company culture makes the corporate ladder more slippery for women, who are probably more likely to deal with “bad leadership” from superiors. The lessons drawn from the experiences of women, who have ac[1]complished unusual success as top directors in their organizations, are important guidelines to improve management. This paper reports primary findings from an Icelandic study on the characteristics of exemplary Icelandic female leaders and top managers and their leadership styles. Data was collected through qualitative semi-structured interviews with a chosen group of women that have got nominations and/or prizes for excellent leadership record in recent years in Icelandic organizations. Participants provided various narratives on their experiences of bad leadership (mainly from men in management positions), the more experienced interviewees felt pressured at times in their career to assimilate themselves to the male culture in their corporations and that the glass ceiling was indeed visible until they tried to break it by pushing forward and obtain power positions. Majority of the interviewees had experienced tunnel-vision, narrow-mindedness and resistance to change among their male counterparts and tendencies of top-down management, arrogance and pride, leading to incompetent mode of communication that can lead to weaker, non-professional decision-making with lack of diversity and open dialog ending in worse results for the organizations. Findings indicated that unacceptable working conditions, and the implication of stress and too much workload can transform a good leader to demonstrate some characteristics of a bad leader.

Self-Transcendence: Servant-Leadership and the Doorway of Life

Robert Greenleaf speaks of his relationship to Robert Frost’s poem Directive as a symbol in understanding servant-leadership, offering meaning for others in their reconciliation of who and where they are on life’s inward journey. Reflecting on my personal journey, in searching for a higher purpose and identifying what needs changing, a closer examination into the learnings inspired by my family is exposing the limitations in my predisposed self-orientation approach to leadership and challenging my relationship to a life of meaning. My inward desire to become a better person is opening my heart towards an other-orientation approach to serving, and towards servant-leadership; a framework that encourages dreaming bigger dreams and healing previously ignored wounds. Through the lens of self-responsibility, this article explores the progression from assimilating into a position of power, to redefining meaning through the freedom of choice, to prioritizing the well-being of others as an expression of love. This article ultimately affirms how servant-leadership, through the demonstration of awareness, conceptualization, and healing, leads to self-transcendence; reframing life from being a linear problem to solve to being a mystery to embrace.