Social Boundaries Research Articles

Beyond contagion: Unveiling the transformative impact of pandemics on lifestyle paradigms

COVID-19 has severely affected the economic and social aspects of a community. This research explored the welfare of Zamboanga families to determine distinct yet significant changes in regard to their lifestyle that includes food preferences, recreational activities, and community involvement before and after the pandemic. The study used quantitative research that describes a deeper understanding of the eighteen participant’s lifestyle changes. The ethnolinguistic groups in Zamboanga encountered an abrupt economic and social boundary in their everyday lives with the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Food preferences, recreational activities, and community involvement had drastically changed but even with this, the families remained in solidarity and resiliency overcoming the burdens. Healthier food preferences, stronger ties of families and more involvement within and outside of their homes are evident. Specifically, it understood differences among ethnolinguistic groups and socio-economic states and how these determine lifestyle behaviors during a crisis.

Managing boundaries: exploring the experiences of line-managers who provide mental health support in the workplace

The increase in mental ill-health amongst the working population presents a serious challenge for organisations. Line-managers are an important provider of support to staff with psychological distress (PD), their experiences however, are under-researched. In response, we interviewed 15 line-managers from the private, public, and voluntary sector about their support provision to subordinates with PD. Drawing upon workplace social support and boundary management theory we explored line-manager confidence, boundaries of the manager/subordinate relationship, and how they navigate the competing demands of their role. We found that organisational psychosocial climate and context are key factors: a stressful or demanding working environment, and/or unsupportive colleagues can undermine the capacity of line-managers to provide social support. Theoretical contributions include focusing on the provider, rather than recipient, of social support and integrating social support and boundary management theory. Practical recommendations include removing the onus on line-managers to provide support and advocating shared organisational responsibility for support from multiple sources, underpinned by a wider remit of policies and procedures. This paper includes line-manager narratives around employee mental ill-health including reference to suicide, that some readers may find distressing.

Morality boundary work in the making of the needle and syringe exchange program in Stockholm

Background Drug policy is prone to build on rationales based on different moralities rather than evidence. Less is known about how moralities influence drug policy implementation in practice. The aim was to analyze expressions of moralities among local policy-makers, professionals, and drug users in the context of the Stockholm needle and syringe exchange program (NSP). Methods Using political documentation from Stockholm (2003–2016), focus group (12 NSP staff), and 32 drug user interviews, moralities concerning drug policy and harm reduction were analyzed based on moral foundations theory and boundary work. Results Three main moral dilemmas were identified concerning the subjects, aims, and orientation of drug policy: whether drug users are worthy of inclusion to society; if the general public should be prioritized or the health of drug users, and the orientation of practices as based on control or autonomy. Policy debate was driven by virtues such as purity and authority, whereas staff and drug users valued care, fairness and liberty. Conclusions The prohibitionist and abstinence-oriented Swedish drug policy has created social boundaries on the practice-level. Hence, users’ perspectives, and those who care about them, should be extensively involved in political discussions to foster a more moral and humane drug policy.

Art-Based Approaches to Health Promotion Policy Development

This paper examines the intersection of art and health promotion policy development, highlighting the role of arts-based approaches in shaping health interventions. By examining various case studies and methodologies, the paper discusses how arts, particularly visual and performing arts, have been utilized to communicate health messages, foster community engagement, and influence public health policy. The power of art to transcend cultural and social boundaries, provoke emotional responses, and offer new ways of thinking is emphasized. The paper concludes that while arts-based approaches show promise in health policy development, further research and sustained support are needed to enhance their long-term effectiveness and scalability. Keywords: Art-based health promotion, Health policy development, Community engagement, Visual and performing arts, Public health interventions.

Samson in the Galilee—and Beyond

The authors of the present essay have been working together since 2014 to publish the mosaics from the late Roman synagogue in the village of Huqoq in eastern Lower Galilee. The final season of active excavation in summer 2023 has prompted us to reflect on how the task of interpreting the Huqoq mosaics has been informed by and has responded to ongoing excavation at the site. We focus here on the mosaic that depicts the exploits of the biblical figure Samson, emphasizing the serendipitous nature of the sequence and pace of discovery and how these factors shaped our analysis and interpretation of the mosaic fragments. The story of this discovery offers a cautionary tale, demonstrating the dangers of cordoning off the study of synagogue art from its wider contexts. We argue that an air of exceptionalism surrounds the study of ancient synagogues in Israel. Methodologies that constrain the scope of research to conform to fixed ideas about social, cultural, and religious boundaries end up offering sterile interpretations of material that is better viewed in dynamic and open-ended terms. The Huqoq mosaics have demonstrated, again and again, the interconnectedness of Mediterranean visual culture.

Love On The Different Spectrum

People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have often been wrongly viewed as asexual. However, research suggests that their romantic and sexual experiences are more nuanced and deserving of further exploration. By addressing these areas, the study aimed to foster a more supportive and understanding environment for individuals with ASD as they navigate the complexities of relationships. This study delved into the romantic and sexual lives of young adults with ASD, focusing on a young man to understand how his condition influenced his partner preferences and relationships with friends, classmates, and family. Through a semi-structured interview and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), the study uncovered three key themes: (a) navigating social interactions and boundaries; (b) understanding love and relationships; and (c) desires and expectations in relationships. These insights highlighted the need for tailored sex education, family support, and positive media portrayals. According to the study, a male adolescent with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has difficulty interacting socially, particularly when it comes to recognizing cues and establishing limits with others. His romantic aspirations may be impacted by his inability to comprehend emotions and the impact of societal prejudices. The results show that to normalize his experiences and promote healthy relationships, family support, specialized sex education, and favorable media portrayals are essential.

Young Women’s Sexual Expression and Vulnerability in Youth Leisure Spaces: The Affective Atmosphere of “Attacking”

AbstractThis article analyzes the phenomenon of “attacking”, a slang term referring to a common Israeli heterosexual script for casual sexual interactions in youth nightclubs, in order to reveal different affective relations that inform young women’s intensified vulnerability and sexual expression. Based on the theory of vulnerability and the theory of affect, it applies the relational standpoint to suggest the ambiguity of the affective atmosphere as a path to rethinking young women’s sexual expression in youth leisure spaces. Based on 39 semi-structured interviews with young women aged 18–23, this framework uses a wide range of affective responses as epistemic resources. The findings show how the affective atmosphere in “attacking” spaces reflects blurred social boundaries, intensified vulnerability, and affective relations, all of which inform young women’s sexual expression. They demonstrate the manifestations of the gender role division but also show how young women’s vulnerability serves as an affective resource for subjectification. The findings contribute to theorizing young women’s vulnerability as ambiguous, revealing how the leisure space offers different affective experiences – some deconstruct the subject, while others allow relational subjectification.

Ethnic Identity and Violence in Urban Spaces: Looking Through the Lens of ‘Cultural Conditioning’

In the recent past, the episodes of violence against the Northeast migrants in major metropolitan cities have raised debates on the racial nature of such violence and have drawn scholarly attention. This article maps the experiences of differential treatment and violence among the Northeast migrants in the national capital city and looks into the consequences of such experiences and strategies to cope with various challenges in daily life. It critically examines the experiences through the sociocultural dynamics of the local societies within the city where the ethnic migrants live. It considers the experiential accounts of a sample of 130 Northeast migrants from different urban local cultures in the national capital of India. Data on lived experiences and various perspectives of the Northeast migrants are collected using a mixed-method approach. The article reveals that ethnic identity plays a role in everyday experiences with some sorts of disadvantages. The ‘construction of otherness’ is found to have a disproportionate impact on their day-to-day life. However, there have been perceived positive changes in the ‘perceptual distance’ and inter-group behaviours. Given that most of the experiences of differential treatment and violence among Northeast migrants are located within the context of the local societies in the city and they have everyday encounters for social acceptance, the article argues that the inter-group relationships are exceedingly shaped by the sociocultural orientations of the people in local societies. The article asserts that understanding the violence against a migrant ethnic minority in cosmopolitan cities cannot undermine the role of social and cultural boundaries of urban local societies.

“I’m a Monster, but I’m Not a Monster”: Symbolic and Social Identity Work Among Child Sexual Exploitation Material Users

Child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) users elicit strong negative reactions from society and people within their networks. There are symbolic and social boundaries that these individuals have transgressed, and subsequent identity work involves the negotiation of self and self-presentation. This article combines results from two studies to explore negotiation of identity, symbolic and social boundaries, and associated narratives among 103 CSEM users. One study was an anthropological ethnography with 17 months of UK fieldwork in community-based group programs, and the other involved four months of interviews in sexual offense treatment units of a US prison. Participants’ identity work had commonalities: distinguishing between acts vs identities; differentiating crimes from identities; comparing offenses to others viewed as worse; framing childhood experiences as influencing offending; and situating both offending and post-offending identities within larger society. Results are discussed in the context of debates about risk, treatment, prevention, harm, denial/downplay/minimization, and reintegration. Furthermore, we highlight how identity work occurs within potentially competing/contrasting personal, judicial, treatment, media, and societal reactions to and expectations of individuals who have committed sexual offenses. Finally, we demonstrate the methodological and analytical value of cross-disciplinary comparative qualitative research by showing similarities across participants from different countries, settings, timeframes, and interventions.

The psychological experience of flexibility in the workplace: How psychological job control and boundary control profiles relate to the wellbeing of flexible workers

Rather than studying workplace flexibility as the availability or usage of flexible work practices, in this study, we theorize workplace flexibility as a subjective psychological experience influenced by employees' perceptions of control over where and when they work (psychological job control) and control over their social boundaries (boundary control). Based on boundary and border theory, using a two-wave study conducted at an Italian bank (N = 1423) and adopting a person-centered approach through latent transition analysis (LTA), we identified four flexibility profiles characterized by different levels of psychological job control and boundary control, with the same structure, dispersion, and sizes over time. The four profiles were: (1) flexible non-dividers (3.46 %), marked by high psychological job control and low boundary control; (2) flexible dividers (34.83 %), characterized by high levels of both psychological job control and boundary control; (3) non-flexible dividers (50.74 %), featuring low psychological job control but high boundary control; and (4) non-flexible non-dividers (10.97 %), with low levels of both types of control. Three of these profiles exhibited high within-person stability across time, while the flexible non-dividers profile was highly unstable, with many members transitioning to profiles with higher boundary control at Time 2. Organizational investments in training and communication programs may have contributed to these transitions from low to high boundary control profiles. Gender and age emerged as significant predictors of profile membership, with gender effects shifting over time: at Time 1, men were more likely to be in non-flexible dividers profile, while at Time 2, they were more likely to be in the flexible non-dividers profile. Age effects also changed: older workers were more likely to be in the flexible non-dividers profile at Time 1 but shifted toward the flexible dividers profile by Time 2. Parental status was not significant, whereas carer status was significant only at Time 1, where being a carer increased the likelihood of employees belonging to the flexible dividers profile compared to the non-flexible dividers. Our findings further revealed that the psychological experience of work flexibility positively impacts wellbeing when employees experience control over both work and social boundaries. Flexible dividers consistently exhibited the highest levels of work engagement, job satisfaction, and work-life balance across both Time 1 and Time 2. In contrast, flexible non-dividers showed a significant decline in these outcomes over time. Profiles with low boundary control, especially flexible non-dividers and non-flexible non-dividers, reported the lowest levels of wellbeing. Despite some improvements in non-flexible non-dividers profile from Time 1 to Time 2, it remained to have the lowest scores on all outcomes, emphasizing the critical role of boundary control in maintaining employee wellbeing over time. These findings provide a possible explanation regarding the “autonomy-control paradox,” where flexibility in work location and timing may reduce autonomy unless social boundaries are effectively managed. Having control over one's social domains allows for the benefits of workplace flexibility and reduces the risk that flexibility in where and when to work undermines the autonomy it is meant to provide.

EmoiPlanner: Human emotion and intention aware socially acceptable robot navigation in human‐centric environments

AbstractThe deployment of robots in human‐centric environments has significantly increased in recent years. It is crucial for robots to navigate human environments while understanding social norms and personal boundaries to ensure a harmonious coexistence between humans and robots. A socially aware robot should be capable of interpreting and responding appropriately to human cues, expressions, and intentions, thereby fostering trust and confidence among humans. However, prior studies were insufficient or unable to address the navigation challenges in human‐populated environments, as they perceive people as obstacles rather than social agents. Recent studies have utilized proxemic areas that are present in interpersonal interactions for human‐robot interaction scenarios, but they have enforced consistent proxemic areas for social robot navigation. This approach fails to fully capture the highly sophisticated behaviour and preferences of humans. Therefore, we propose a psychologically‐based adaptive proxemic area that fluctuates based on the human's emotional state. Furthermore, we integrate this feature into a reinforcement learning‐based social navigation framework, making our navigation framework robust to the unpredictable affections of humans. Additionally, our navigation framework includes human intention prediction to approximate the future proxemic area, thereby avoiding interference with the path to be taken by individuals. We have named our framework the Human Emotion and Intention Aware Path Planner (EmoiPlanner). Our framework has been subjected to case studies involving realistic crowd navigation scenarios, and the results indicate that it enables robots to navigate through crowds without causing discomfort to pedestrians who exhibit stochastic behaviours and emotional states, while also ensuring efficient path planning.

Pedagogical boundary work: when the welfare state becomes entangled with family affairs

ABSTRACT In recent years, early interventions concerning children living in social housing areas have received increased political attention, resulting in a range of pedagogical strategies for identifying children and families at risk within Danish daycare institutions. Drawing on empirical material from a recent research project that was carried out in four Danish daycare centers, this article explores pedagogical work that moves beyond the physical and social boundaries of the daycare center and enters family life. Thus, Pedagogues do not solely focus on children’s learning and development, but also on the conditions that promote the well-being of both children and their families. When pedagogues support families in their conduct of everyday life, the welfare state is enacted in and through its relations, both in everyday life and across the division between private and public. The state becomes an ‘intimate state’, resulting in blurred lines and ‘in-between’ positions, as well as new action possibilities and risks for both parents and pedagogues.

Modelling what matters: How do current models handle environmental limits and social outcomes?

Models that represent the economy, society, and environment are critical macroeconomic policy tools. However, economic output as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is increasingly being seen as an unreliable and undesirable economic indicator and policy goal. Instead, multiple indicators of environmental impacts and social outcomes are needed to make decisions about sustainable development.Drawing on the Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries, and the Sustainable Development Goals, we analyse 50 models to assess the state of the art in modelling the environment, society, and economy. We categorise models according to their economic foundation and modelling approach, assess their coverage of 15 environmental and 21 social indicators, and identify feedbacks between different model parts. We further construct a targeted sample of 15 models that represents the diversity in modelling approaches and indicator coverage, and use this sample to investigate how environmental and social indicators are linked to macroeconomic drivers.For the environment, indicator coverage is best for climate change, energy use, and land conversion. Within current models, environmental impact is largely driven by GDP and agricultural production. For society, coverage is best for jobs, income (wages and inequality), and productivity. Within current models, social outcomes are largely driven by income per capita, government spending, and governance. Models rarely contain feedbacks from the environment and society to the economy, and few include any biophysical limits.The current focus on monetary flows limits understanding of the interconnections between environmental, social, and economic systems. We argue that modellers should rely less on economic variables as determinants of social and environmental outcomes. Specific provisioning systems could be modelled in more detail to allow models to explore growth-agnostic ways of achieving a good life for all within environmental limits.

Navigating Social Boundaries and Belonging: People Without Migration Background in Majority–Minority Cities

This editorial introduces the articles in this thematic issue, which revolves around the ERC Advanced research project Becoming a Minority (BaM), carried out between 2018 and 2023. The aim of the project was to understand how people without a migration background think about and live in diversity. Through this aim, the BaM project has tried to advance our thinking about the concept of integration.

“We Met in a Place that Fostered Exploring”: Campus Environments that Influence Boundary-Crossing Friendships

AbstractThe college years represent a prime opportunity for students to develop prosocial skills through friendships that cross social boundaries (i.e., in which the two friends differ on at least one aspect of sociocultural identity such as race, political affiliation, or religion). By cultivating empathy and reducing social stratification, these friendships may serve as a needed remedy for the ongoing and deepening tribalism dominating the current U.S. political climate, ultimately advancing a more justice-oriented society. We utilized data from 55 focus groups with 268 participants at 18 U.S. institutions of various sizes, locations, and affiliations to explore how campus environments and experiences influence college students’ boundary-crossing friendships. Participants highlighted how aspects of their campus climates (size, structural diversity, norms, and identity support) encouraged as well as discouraged crossing social boundaries. They discussed how programs (curricular and co-curricular), spaces (residence and dining halls, prayer spaces), and informal social opportunities (such as studying, dining, socializing, or having meaningful conversations) helped them develop and deepen friendships across the social boundaries of religious, secular, and spiritual (RSS) identity; political beliefs; race/ethnicity; and other identities. They also described the power of early campus experiences in setting the stage for crossing social boundaries. Our findings add texture to prior quantitative research documenting the power of campus conditions and environments for fostering friendship across social boundaries, and they illuminate effective ways for colleges and universities to create environments and experiences that provide students with opportunities and reasons to connect and build friendships that bridge social divisions.

Creating ‘safe’ spaces through exclusionary boundaries: Examining employers’ treatment of domestic workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in India

Our study illustrates how boundary mechanisms exacerbated the marginalization of paid domestic workers in India, after they resumed their employment at the end of the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. We draw upon in-depth interviews with the middle-class employers of these workers to show how the employers renegotiated boundary rules and created bubbles of safe interaction for themselves. We contribute to boundary theory by explaining how pre-existing symbolic boundaries intensify and materialize into social boundaries. Social boundaries often result in unequal access to resources, further increasing disparities. But how do these boundaries get invoked? What forms do they take? So far, we do not have enough empirical research examining the creation and maintenance of social boundaries. This study shows how social boundaries get created and stabilized within gated communities through deployment of material resources, regulations and routinization of boundary tactics. These exclusionary social boundaries are further strengthened by the presence of an external agency, emerging as a new and significant actor in the hitherto private employer–worker relationship. Finally, we note that these boundaries result in normalized differential treatment of domestic workers, thus accentuating the class divide.

Teachers’ challenges encountered in the marketisation of education systems at primary schools in the Mbare-Hatfield district

Different forms of markertisation and privatisation have encircled the teaching profession. Internet sites that offer to produce academic work for a fee make academic work into a commodity that can be bought and sold. Most schools in Zimbabwe, the Southern African Development Community region, Africa, and beyond cannot easily afford internet services. This study explored the teachers’ challenges in understanding the educational systems due to the marketisation of education. This study utilized the mixed methods approach and the case study design because of its strength in discovering more about unexplored problems. Two school head participants and forty teachers were selected from schools in the district. Semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were used to get data from the research participants. The results unearthed that the education system is one such tool for perpetuating class divisions and social inequality. Contemporary literature has provided evidence in the exploration of teachers’ challenges encountered in the marketisation of education. To the extent that I have reviewed the literature, I found a substantial gap in knowledge about the impact of the challenges encountered in the marketisation of education. The study's objective was to determine the challenges teachers face in giving equal opportunities to poor and minority students due to the marketisation of education. There are some gaps caused by digital divides and government withdrawal from funding for public schools since the early 1990s when ESAP was embraced as an economic blueprint. The marketisation of education has negatively affected teacher integrity, sometimes leading to teacher misconduct. In recent years, the professional status of teachers seems to have been compromised. This is probably due to the changing nature of teacher professional work. Modern-day teaching practices are embroiled in an increasing struggle for private gain. Teachers must learn to cross social boundaries to make learning meaningful and relevant for all students.

Setting boundaries between crime and rights

Abstract In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson overturned two precedents, thus ending American women’s 50-year-old constitutional right to abortion. Drawing on Van Leeuwen’s legitimation framework and Labov’s model of narrative structure, this study focuses on how justices (de)legitimate abortion rights in contrasting narratives in Dobbs through authorization, moral evaluation, rationalization, and mythopoesis. Specifically, we propose a theoretical model of judicial narrative strata to deconstruct the language of justices and explain how judicial narratives set boundaries between two different moral economies around abortion and realize the transformation of a conceived right into a punishable crime. Furthermore, this study suggests that in the post-Dobbs era, the justices’ narrative reconfiguration of moral boundaries may turn into social boundaries and trigger more gender segregation, which might also have theoretical and practical implications for legislation and judicial practices in other jurisdictions.

Autistic re-creation: Live action role-play as a safe and brave space for social learning

Live action role-play (larp) is an improvised and embodied form of storytelling that develops through co-creation. While autistic individuals generally dislike unpredictable situations and social interaction in larger groups, anecdotal reports suggest that they often are found in the larping community. Through interviews with 10 autistic, experienced adult larpers, this study investigates larp as a scene for social learning. The examination focuses on the attraction of larps; what the participants learn about social interaction through larping; and how such insights transfer to everyday life. From a cognitive point of view, larping comes through as an optimal autistic space where players feel safe enough to dare push their social boundaries, which conceivably contributes to the formation of more precise social predictions since experimentation and mistakes facilitate embodied learning. From the participants’ point of view, larping improved their understanding of social nuances, which in turn increased social confidence and well-being in everyday life.

Religious Disaffiliates' Experiences and Challenges with Sex, Sexuality, and Body Image.

In recent years, an increasing number of ultra-Orthodox Jews have left their insular communities, choosing instead to lead a secular life. This article illuminates their perceptions and experiences related to sexuality, sexual behavior, and sexual health. Based on thematic analysis of 37 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with ultra-Orthodox disaffiliates, we found that sexual experiences have played a decisive role in the disaffiliates' lives. First, some participants shared that experiencing sexual abuse during childhood led them to disaffiliate. Second, prior to disaffiliating, participants had very little knowledge about sex, which was an unspoken issue. This resulted in misunderstandings and miscommunication related to courtship and dating after disaffiliating. Moreover, the knowledge gap of secular social norms led to disaffiliates being sexually exploited, as well as to male disaffiliates behaving inappropriately and consequently suffering from social rejection and loneliness. While some participants celebrated their new sexual freedom, others were fearful and reluctant to have sex. We suggest that in transgressing social, cultural, and identity boundaries, disaffiliates experience "cleft habitus" and are situated in a prolonged liminal position that affects their sexual behavior, intimate relations, sexual health, and body image. During the liminal period, disaffiliates typically learn threshold concepts, which are often troublesome and threatening. There is a striking need to offer disaffiliates assistance and support throughout this difficult process. This analysis can shed light on other groups of religious disaffiliates and cultural immigrants.