Privileged Position Research Articles

A China e a Hierarquia do Sistema Monetário Internacional

This article aims to examine whether China's rise in the existing hierarchies of the world economy and the International System has the capacity to undermine the foundations of US hegemony. To this end, we focused on two of the pillars of this hegemony – the role of the dollar and the privileged position of the United States in the International Monetary System (IMS) – and the actions developed by China that impact these pillars, namely, its activities aimed at the internationalization of the Renminbi and China's rise in the IMS hierarchy. We conclude that, despite China's advances, US hegemony remains stable.

Resonant listening: embracing vulnerability as generative in dialogic organizing

Organization and management are all about visions, brands and presentations. Speech is everywhere while listening lives in the shadows. In this article, we inquire into listening, which has only received sparse attention in organization studies, just like Western thought on democracy has been preoccupied with (human) voice and arguments rather than with listening. Drawing on enactive experiments with listening, which we analyze along the (post-)phenomenological philosophies of Jean-Luc Nancy and Rosalyn Diprose, we propose the notion of ‘resonant listening’ to 1) emphasize vulnerability as generative for listening, 2) move listening beyond the horizon of a stable human subject, and 3) attend to how different spatial compositions condition listening in particular ways. Based on ‘resonant listening’, we encourage organizations to think about how they can diversify and intensify spaces for listening and suggest that we, as an academic community, could use our privileged position to experiment with spaces for more plural bodies to resonate and be listened into speech.

Disruptive Masculinities? Male Workers Challenging Gender(ed) Norms in Technology Startup Organizations

The tech industry is one of the most influential and profitable sectors of the new economy, with startup organizations playing a significant role within it. Existing research highlights that these emerging companies remain male-dominated—structurally, normatively, and symbolically. However, researchers rarely consider how norms and gender inequalities, which privilege men and masculinities, might be questioned and negotiated by male employees, especially those in positions of privilege. This article examines how men occupying different roles in tech startups contest, transgress, or redefine dominant gender(ed) norms in their workplaces. Drawing on semi-structured interviews conducted between 2021 and 2023 with 43 male and female startup employees—as part of a broader study funded by the Polish National Science Centre (grant no. 2020/37/N/HS6/03913)—this analysis demonstrates how men engaging in emotional labor (on individual and collective levels), actively reconfigure the gender regime and “disrupt” the reproduction of normative models of masculinity within their companies.

Teaching and proximity to whiteness: a Black biracial and light-skinned Latina professor reflect

ABSTRACT In this critical reflection, a Black/white 1 biracial woman professor and light-skinned Latina professor reflect on how their teaching experiences are shaped by their proximity to whiteness. Teaching provides unique insights into the ways students’ whiteness is enacted and reproduced in the classroom when the instructor is a woman of colour and simultaneously occupies a privileged position via skin tone and/or partial white parentage. Importantly, we challenge applications of the concept of white privilege which rely exclusively on skin tone and monoracial ancestry without consideration of (1) the multiple and regionally specific logics through which whites identify race and (2) the interactional processes through which students recognise, reward, and rescind the dignities of, whiteness. We discuss the implications of our experiences for women faculty of colour, and we offer practical institutional strategies of support.

Vulnerability and the coloniality of performativity

ABSTRACT What happens when vulnerability is addressed by considering the historical positioning of subjects crossed by or on the other side of the colonial difference? Our text answers this question by revealing some of the limits of current feminist understandings of vulnerability thought from intersectional positions of privilege as a passive, or negative condition [Gilson, E. (2011). Vulnerability, ignorance, and oppression. Hypatia, 26(2), 308–332. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2010.01158.x], or that remain within the confines of those who can perform within the polity and enacting therein forms of resistance to power and/or oppression [Butler, J. (2015). Notes towards a performative theory of assembly. Harvard University Press; Butler, J., Gambetti, Z., & Sabsay, L. (Eds) (2016). Vulnerability in resistance. Duke University Press]. We are concerned with thinking vulnerability under conditions of erasure, of eviction from ‘sociability’, in dialogue with approaches inspired by Jacquie Alexander, Gloria Anzaldua and Maria Lugones Black, Chicana and Decolonial femnisms.

Eusebius of Caesarea on Constantine the good shepherd: constructing the Christian basileus and lawgiver

Summary The present article is the second in a diptych looking at the pastoral characterisation of Constantine in the works of Eusebius of Caesarea through the lens of institutional theory. Through pastoral discourse, I argue, Eusebius systematises key elements of the policy and functions of the first Christian emperor, thus contributing to the institutional construction of the early Christian basileiā. It is an early attempt to ask, and answer, what would become a central question of Christendom: what has a Christian prince to do with religion and the church? Established by God and an earthly image of the pastoral functions of Christ, Eusebius’ shepherd-basileus is in a privileged position to perform the traditional functions of the metaphorical shepherd, including that of procuring the salvation of the flock through moral instruction and the knowledge of God. Applied to a Roman emperor, this means the establishment of norms of conduct and the true religion through the law.

Fire victims as policy narrators: Affect and narrator trust

AbstractThe participatory processes used by local governments after a disaster are essential for successful community disaster recovery and integral to local land use and planning decisions. Within that process, disaster victims may hold privileged positions as narrators of policy conflicts due to the trust that officials place in these individuals. In 2021, Louisville, Colorado, adopted stringent green building codes with the intention of increasing the community's climate resilience. Shortly after these building codes were adopted, the Marshall Fire destroyed over 1000 homes in Boulder County, 550 of which were in Louisville, making this the most destructive fire in Colorado history. This paper uses the Narrative Policy Framework to understand how the content of narratives changed by comparing public comments before and after the Marshall Fire to understand the extent to which community support for climate‐resilient policies may shift after a disaster. We find support for the importance of narrator trust through the identification of the unique persuasive power of fire victim narrators. We use these findings to offer a potential pathway through which learning that appears normatively “bad” can occur after a disaster.

Cancer nanomedicine from a clinician-scientist perspective: Lessons and prospects.

The nanomedicine field has progressed enormously in the last couple of decades. From a loose group of liposomologists, polymer scientists, chemical engineers, and experts in metal nanoparticles, mesoporous silica, and other nanomaterials, the field has gradually consolidated and has generated vast amounts of research and clinical data, but, until the development of lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-based vaccinations for Covid-19, has remained with low visibility in the clinic. Applications in the cancer field are the most frequently sought projects in nanomedicine. For the last 45 years, my clinical career has mingled with my research career focusing on ways to formulate drugs in liposomes to improve their safety and efficacy in cancer therapy. In this review, I will discuss my contribution to the development of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin and other cancer nanomedicines from my privileged position as a clinician and scientist.

Leonard Feather and the Gender Ignorant Language of Jazz Mastery

Abstract Leonard Feather (1914−1994) was one of the first (and only) prominent jazz critics to recognize gender discrimination within jazz and attempt to redress the issue. But even by the 1950s, Feather grew frustrated with his inability to effect meaningful change for women musicians. He could not understand why women like Beryl Booker, Melba Liston, Vi Redd, and others did not receive more attention, even after he arranged tours and produced record dates for them (Feather 1987). The privileged position he held within the music industry—a position he had cultivated and leveraged in support of other musicians he felt had been unfairly discriminated against—ultimately seemed to do little for many of the women he championed. Women jazz masters remain few and far between. What does it mean to be a jazz master, and who determines modes of mastery? In this article, I examine some of the musicians for whom he advocated and how he advocated for them, including columns he authored, albums he produced, and Blindfold Tests he administered. To conclude, I follow Feather into the 1990s to examine how he dealt with who was to blame for jazz’s gender discrimination. In doing so, I reveal how jazz patriarchy maintained dominance over one of jazz’s most prominent decision-makers. I demonstrate how, despite his intentions, Feather’s embeddedness and investment in jazz patriarchy (in its ideological and commercial systems) resulted in a gender ignorant failure to critique the systems of mastery at the root of his connoisseurship.

Changing men in conflict-affected settings: masculinity, everyday suffering and intersectionality in the Democratic Republic of Congo

ABSTRACT This article explores the conceptual underpinnings of the agenda to ‘change men’ in the Democratic Republic of Congo and interrogates the extent to which continued reliance on the reductive sole framing of ‘men as perpetrators’ can have negative consequences on the success of GBV prevention programming. Through vignettes of Congolese men’s life stories and their experiences as participants in a gender-transformative men’s group, the analysis shows that men’s (relative) position of privilege conferred by their gender identity is in fact significantly challenged by their experiences of everyday violence. I use intersectionality as an analytical tool to overcome the sole focus on gender and masculinity and to introduce class as an additional ‘intersecting’ standpoint to analyse men’s experiences. In doing so, I argue that one-dimensional narratives of ‘men as perpetrators’ preclude those experiencing violence, discrimination and loss from being heard and create frustrations from men who feel blamed, and this in turn hinders their full and meaningful engagement in GBV prevention interventions. In fine, the article calls for incorporating men’s suffering into programming, moving away from a focus on men and masculinities and towards intersectionality for a more inclusive approach which has the potential to successfully incorporate the combined drivers of violence as well as men’s experiences of loss, humiliation and violence.

Plant-Based Diets and Climate Change, A Perspective for Infectious Disease Providers

Abstract Global climate change driven by human activity is a pressing concern. Recent medical literature highlights the negative consequences of climate change on human health, including changing patterns and rising rates of global infectious diseases. Livestock production and animal agriculture are large contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, and rising rates of antimicrobial resistance is propagated by antibiotic use in livestock feed. Despite this, the global demand for animal-based food production continues to rapidly grow. Furthermore, meat consumption is linked to negative health consequences while plant-based diets provide health benefits that are endorsed by multiple medical associations as part of a healthy lifestyle. Healthcare providers, including infectious diseases physicians, are in a privileged position to provide dietary counseling. This review advocates for the adoption of plant-based diets as a dual strategy to combat climate change and improve health outcomes, particularly in the context of infectious diseases.

Women's Access to Public Space in the Late Ottoman, Early Republican Period: Istanbul Through a Woman Painter's Diary

This study examines women's experiences in public spaces and the restrictions they faced in late Ottoman and early Republican Istanbul. It aims to make visible the boundaries imposed on women in public spaces, despite the privileged positions of different social groups. Utilizing the methodologies offered by feminist history and geography, the study provides a gendered reinterpretation of urban history and analyzes the connections between related publications. The study focuses on the biography of painter Sabiha Bozca-lı, based on her 1941 diary and personal archive, to explore how women experienced public spaces and mobility in early Republican Istanbul. It investigates how women’s everyday lives were shaped by the complex interactions between gender norms, space, and social change. In this context, the study examines the opportunities and obstacles women encountered in urban spaces and analyzes the evolving and persistent aspects of these experiences throughout history. It evaluates how women living in different parts of Istanbul were constrained by spatial arrangements and social dynamics or created new spaces of movement. By adopting a historical perspective, this study aims to reveal the gendered structure of public spaces and the role of women in the city.

A reflexive thematic analysis of existential losses in men with osteoporosis: “I’m not the person I was somehow … although I am”

BackgroundOsteoporosis is a global health concern that is likely to increase with a rapidly ageing world population. It affects one in three women and one in five men over the age of 50. Although there is a large body of qualitative research exploring the experience of living with osteoporosis, far fewer studies have focused on men. We aimed to explore the experiences of men with osteoporotic vertebral fracture.MethodsWe interviewed 13 White British men aged 63 to 94 with an osteoporotic vertebral fracture. We used the six stages of reflexive thematic analysis: familiarisation with the data; coding; generating initial themes; developing and reviewing themes through discussion; refining and naming themes; writing up.ResultsWe developed six themes giving insight into the existential losses of men with osteoporosis: I have felt a step change coming; I regret that I am no longer the person I once was; it is demeaning (but others are worse off than me); I need to know where I am heading; I need to understand why me; I need to feel like I am in someone’s hands. We describe moral narratives used in defence of self.ConclusionsOur findings highlight the challenge of deciphering the symptoms of osteoporosis and age-related changes. We also see the impact on self and a struggle to repair self. Healthcare providers are in a unique and privileged position to accompany their patients at points of existential crisis. As such, they attend to the repair of both identity and body. This comes with an ethical responsibility and has implications for clinical education. Health professionals should feel equipped to be alongside people facing existential losses. Qualitative research can give valuable insight into the phenomenology of illness and contribute to improvements in care pathways.

Informal strategies in transnational mobilities and their implications for European lifestyle migration

Informality encompasses a wide range of unregulated activities that has usually been associated with the activities of marginalised groups. However, it has been recognised that affluent lifestyle migrants use informal strategies to pursue a good life across borders. How lifestyle migrants resort to informality and how it affects their lives is less well understood. To fill this gap, we present findings from 22 qualitative interviews with Swedish lifestyle migrants in Portugal. Lifestyle migrants can navigate webs of (in)formalities thanks to their privileged position as citizens of the European Union. First, lifestyle migrants gradually appropriate informality, which illustrates their privileged use of informal strategies to establish themselves in a new country. Second, lifestyle migrants never have to settle down in one place because they can employ informal strategies across countries to support their desired life in one of them. Finally, lifestyle migrants end up facing a paradox of immobility because their use of informal strategies to retain connections between countries creates dependency and immobility. Not unlike marginalised groups, lifestyle migrants exploit gaps in formal frameworks of the global mobility regime. Informality is intertwined with the privileged pursuit of a momentarily better life abroad and is thus essential to lifestyle migration.

What Was a Monk in Joseon Korea?: Competing Monastic Identities According to the State, a Monastic Biographer, and a Confucian Literatus

The question, what was a monastic? is a complex issue, whether in the context of China, Korea or even in the homeland of Buddhism, India. Nonetheless, this is especially so in the case of Joseon Korea due to the dramatic historical changes that took place with the Imjin War. This obviously brought about shifts not only in the social status but also in the societal role of the monastics. The most substantive factors in the late-Joseon period (1600–1910) was the loss of state patronage and no longer being under the auspices of the state. Simply put, the discussed materials in this paper evince diverse images and roles of monks that range from being state officials, laborers, soldier-monks, and Seon meditators, to thieving bandits. A single descriptor would be unable to capture the diverse identities of the late-Joseon monks. Moreover, the monastics also presented themselves as highly organized with organizational aims, no different from an organization existing inescapably in everyday socio-economic and political conditions. The shared goal of the Buddhist community, by way of presenting certain images, was to regain social recognition and legitimation, to a position of power and privilege perhaps similar to what it once had during the Goryeo period (918–1392).

Thank You for Being a Comadre: Recommendations from Latina Senior Faculty Members on Supporting Junior Faculty

The importance of mentorship amongst Latinas in higher education is well documented in the literature, however less common are contextualized recommendations for how to do it. This narrative inquiry depicts how two senior faculty members utilized their experiential knowledge and positions of privilege to support a Latina junior faculty member as she led a faculty search. Utilizing comadrismo critical framework authors will share how they navigated their way through the highly political occurrence of a faculty job search and give recommendations for how to support junior faculty and how to seek support from senior faculty.

Does the Dollar Global Financial System Simply Intermediate Savings?

ABSTRACT The main point of this article is to debunk the idea that the global monetary and financial system simply intermediates savings across countries. A corollary of this idea is that US hegemony derives from the recycling of the savings of countries with surplus current accounts to those with deficit current accounts. This article argues that the international monetary system creates dollar-denominated assets and liabilities regardless of the current account positions of the countries in which borrowers reside. Furthermore, it is argued that the hegemony of the United States does not depend on the recycling of foreign surpluses. It enjoys a privileged position as a result of the differential in the return of its foreign investments compared to those of other countries, particularly emerging and developing countries. However, this yield differential does not depend only on liquidity, as the proponents of the money view argue, but also on the economic policies that emerging and developing countries put in place. This article argues that the international monetary system is rapidly changing. A sign of this change is the different composition of external financial assets in China’s balance of payments, with a greater share of loans to developing countries than foreign reserves.

When Social Hierarchy, Power, and Collective Autonomy Motivate Social Movement and Counter-Movement Mobilization Among Disadvantaged and Advantaged Groups.

What happens when disadvantaged groups feel that their freedom to define and practice their collective identity (i.e., collective autonomy) is restricted? The present theoretical review outlines the conditions under which social inequality activates the feelings of collective autonomy restriction among disadvantaged group members and motivates the mobilization of social movements seeking social equality. As these social movements gain traction, advantaged group members may feel that their privileged position and collective autonomy are threatened. These feelings of threat and collective autonomy restriction among advantaged groups in turn motivate them to mobilize counter-movements that seek to protect social hierarchy and their privileged position within it. The process outlined in this case is relevant to individuals from both marginalized and privileged backgrounds, as it illustrates the different ways in which real-world power structures shape the way they experience and navigate social movements and counter-movements as they unfold in real time.

Gender and privilege. The singular femininity of Pilar Careaga in interwar Spain

ABSTRACT The naturalization of sex difference seems like an almost infallible mechanism for constructing gender identities. Nevertheless, gender does not lose its performative character even in contexts of radical naturalization of sex-based differences. This article explores this idea through the case of Pilar Careaga, a singular woman in twentieth-century Spain. A pioneer in both the political and professional realms, Careaga conceived of herself more as a member of a select minority than a woman. This vision led her to develop strategies that allowed her to elevate herself above the conditions of her gender and evade the mandates of normative femininity. To do so, Careaga used all of the resources available in the traditionalist political culture she belonged to. Her disobedience was not linked to a feminist project; on the contrary, she always defended the social and gender orders that sustained her position of privilege.

Science fiction as subversion: Péter Kuczka, the Hungarian ‘Apostle of Science Fiction’ (1965–1989)

ABSTRACT At the intersection of sociology of translation, cultural transfer studies and Cold War studies, this paper explores the role of the Hungarian Péter Kuczka in the translation of Angloamerican science fiction in Hungar between 1965 and 1989. It sheds light into the agency of Péter Kuczka, an excellent cultural mediator who applying his cultural capital, privileged position within the literary-cultural field and wide-ranging network, established and managed the genre until the collapse of the Communist rule in Hungary. His pursuits were conducive to the expansion of Anglophone soft power in an environment set against Western cultural imperialism. Both translation and entertainment were major ‘weapons’ used in the Cold War, consequently their study contributes to a better understanding of the interactions between actors of the two blocs. After providing the historical-cultural context, this paper presents the reach and influence of translated popular fiction in the period, followed by the position of science fiction and Kuczka’s life before 1965. Next, Kuczka’s multiple and overlapping roles in introducing and mediating Anglophone science fiction are analysed with particular attention to institutionalisation. The paper then concludes that Kuczka contributed to the diversification of ideology, not just the genre makeup of Hungarian literary repertoire.