Social Constraints Research Articles

“Saying ‘thank you’ or something more than lip service”: a variational analysis of the influence of gender and social status on responses to congratulations on Chinese WeChat

Abstract Existing studies on responses to congratulations to date have displayed a general culturally-bound finding that Chinese speakers prefer to take a detour approach. However, the effect of social constraints on response strategies have not received the attention it deserves. Drawing on a variational pragmatic approach, this study explores the constraints of gender and social status on the pragmatic variation of Chinese WeChat users’ responses to congratulations. Building upon an integrative data set of congratulatory interactions in actual online messages, the findings suggest that gender and social status overlap in complex ways, but with a clear tendency: both men and women significantly tend towards an acceptance strategy when responding to congratulations on WeChat, while social status influences the sub-strategies used in accepting congratulations across both male and female groups. The findings challenge previous stereotypes about Chinese language variation in responses to congratulations. The current results suggest that Chinese speakers have already made a transition from following the Modesty Maxim to using the Agreement Maxim, and have also incorporated the Obligation Maxim. Chinese speakers also consider rapport and reciprocity when responding to kind congratulatory remarks.

Linking the evolution of two prefrontal brain regions to social and foraging challenges in primates.

The diversity of cognitive skills across primates remains both a fascinating and a controversial issue. Recent comparative studies provided conflicting results regarding the contribution of social vs ecological constraints to the evolution of cognition. Here, we used an interdisciplinary approach combining comparative cognitive neurosciences and behavioral ecology. Using brain imaging data from 16 primate species, we measured the size of two prefrontal brain regions, the frontal pole (FP) and the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), respectively, involved in metacognition and working memory, and examined their relation to a combination of socio-ecological variables. The size of these prefrontal regions, as well as the whole brain, was best explained by three variables: body mass, daily traveled distance (an index of ecological constraints), and population density (an index of social constraints). The strong influence of ecological constraints on FP and DLPFC volumes suggests that both metacognition and working memory are critical for foraging in primates. Interestingly, FP volume was much more sensitive to social constraints than DLPFC volume, in line with laboratory studies showing an implication of FP in complex social interactions. Thus, our data highlights the relative weight of social vs ecological constraints on the evolution of specific prefrontal brain regions and their associated cognitive operations in primates.

Toronto Heritage Italian (r): Maintaining homeland patterns

Contrary to experimental research, comparative variationist approaches find for heritage speakers many cases of maintenance of the homeland grammar. We analyze patterns of rhotic production in spontaneous speech of the heritage Calabrese Italian community of Toronto, Canada, and its homeland counterpart in Calabria, Italy. 1,555 tokens of word-internal, singleton /r/ were collected from the HLVC corpus and analyzed using mixed-effects models. Results show an ongoing pattern of lenition for both homeland and heritage speakers. Heritage speakers further develop this language internal trend, indicating grammar boosting. Homeland social constraints are maintained by heritage speakers. We find no evidence of transfer from English or simplification in the heritage language. Similar patterns of rhotic lenition are found in heritage Tagalog (Umbal & Nagy 2021) and Russian (Nagy 2024), though with different social constraints. Cross-linguistic comparison proves that variation in heritage languages is not necessarily caused by contact, and that change needn’t be related to indexicality.

Individual, community and health systems factors influencing time to notification of tuberculosis: situating software and hardware bottlenecks in local health systems

BackgroundDespite several global interventions, tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of death affecting millions of people globally. Many TB patients either have no access to quality care or go undetected by national health systems. Several multilevel factors account for under-detection of persons with TB. This study sought to explore patient-related software, community and health systems software and hardware factors influencing time to notification of TB in Lusaka District, Zambia.MethodsThis was an exploratory qualitative case study that adopted a software and hardware lens of conceptualizing health systems. Data were collected from across three sites – urban and peri-urban areas: Chongwe, Kafue, and Lusaka – within Lusaka Province, Zambia. Sixteen key informants - TB corner nurses, community TB treatment supporters, and TB program managers - were interviewed. Six focus groups were held with TB patients. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.ResultsThe study identified factors influencing timely TB notification, categorized into software and hardware elements.Patient-related software elements, including TB knowledge and awareness, and health-seeking behavior, are crucial for prompt notification among TB patients.In the community health system, software elements like social stigma and undesirable community attitudes towards contact tracing, and hardware elements such as unbalanced schedules, excessive workload and limited capacity of community TB treatment supporters contribute to delayed TB notification.In the formal health system, software elements like negative attitudes of health providers towards TB patients and demotivation of TB staff, and hardware elements such as high diagnostics and transportation costs, outdated diagnostics in primary care facilities, and slow referral mechanisms, can also delay TB notification.ConclusionDelays in time to TB notification are influenced by a combination of software (attitudinal and behavioral) and hardware (resource-related) elements across TB patients, community health systems, community TB treatment supporters, health providers, and TB staff. Addressing these factors, particularly social stigma, negative attitudes, and resource constraints, is crucial to improving timely TB detection and treatment.

Unyielding Tenacity: The Power of Establishing Occupational Legitimacy

ABSTRACT This study examines the pursuit of occupational legitimacy by Korean tattooists, a profession considered illegal in South Korea. Based on in-depth interviews with 10 Korean tattooists, it explores how they navigate legal and cultural challenges, developing their skills and identities through practice. The process of professional specialization among institutionally marginalized tattooists manifests itself in an unusual form of professional skill development that inevitably requires the relentless refinement of manual skills. The author introduces the concept of unyielding tenacity, which refers to the tattooists’ attitude of persistent practice in the face of harsh conditions created by social constraints. Repetitive practice immerses them in their actions, helping them understand their work, address shortcomings, and question the injustice of the social constraints they face. This points out that before tattooists can adopt the strategy of gaining occupational legitimacy through the artification of their work, a prerequisite is the repetitive performance of their craft.

The invisible community in contemporary China: a visual narrative framework for Chinese lesbian identity

This study employs the photo-elicitation (PE) interview method to explore the social construction of contemporary Chinese lesbian identity. It examines how individuals use visual symbols in their daily lives to construct and express their sexual orientation. The research highlights the diversity and creativity in Chinese lesbian identity expression, while addressing challenges from traditional family values, gender norms, and evolving social attitudes. Introducing the “Visual Narratives of Identity” (VNI) framework, this study bridges the gap between academic research and lived experiences, offering insights into identity expression under social and cultural constraints. The findings emphasize the complex strategies participants use to navigate social expectations and maintain personal authenticity. This study enriches the theoretical landscape of sexual orientation identity in visual culture studies, advocates for methodological diversity, and deepens our understanding of the complexities within Chinese lesbian subcultures.

A Feminist Approach to the Images of Women in <i>That Long Silence </i>and <i>Palace of Desire (Qasr Al-Shawq)</i>: A Comparative Study

This paper investigates the depiction of women in Shashi Deshpande's That Long Silence and Naguib Mahfouz's Palace of Desire (Qasr Al-Shawq) according to the feminist approach. The study seeks to compare and contrast the way these two novels, which are considered among reputable 20th century fiction, represent female characters and their struggles for asserting their individualities in two types of male-dominated societies. That is to say, Shashi Deshpande, the Indian authoress of That Long Silence fathoms the struggles of women in a traditional Indian society. In this novel, she mirrors the great challenges that women face in such a patriarchal system. Therefore, this research traces the heroines’ experience highlighting how the novelist has tackled misogynism and biased societal prospects. On the other hand, Mahfouz's Palace of Desire sheds light on the stereotyped images of women and feminists attempts to free women within the changing political and societal setting of Egypt then. Aida's personality represents the ambitious woman who reconciles with her desires and does her best to assert herself in a male-dominated society despite all the social constraints trying to limit her aspirations. In this comparative study between the two concerned novels, the researcher seeks to reveal the similarities and differences in the representations of women in two different cultural backgrounds. So, the paper examines how each of these two novelists criticizes the patriarchal structures and advocates feminism in his/ her society exposing the ways through which gender roles and societal norms are presented. The study shows a deep understanding of feminist literary criticism by highlighting the cultural influence of the two societies in which women’s sufferings are revealed. So, the findings of the research offer new insights into the gender roles, misogynism, stereotyped images of women, old traditions and patriarchal systems in literature.

Psychosocial Facilitators and Barriers to Type 2 Diabetes Management in Adults: A Meta-Synthesis.

Globally, the cases of type 2 diabetes are increasing, and this is largely attributed to lifestyle changes. Though diabetes is primarily a metabolic disease determined by biological factors, psychosocial aspects play a crucial role in its progression and management. However, the literature on psychosocial dimensions of diabetes management is minuscule and scattered. This synthesis sought to understand the psychosocial facilitators and barriers to type 2 diabetes management and coping among adults. We have adopted a meta-synthesis to review available qualitative studies using Pub- Med and Scopus databases. Based on inclusion criteria, we have chosen 24 studies published between 2010 and 2023. We have considered studies across countries, among which 63% of the studies included were from Western countries, and most have employed qualitative descriptive design. The selected studies were analyzed thematically using a deductive framework. Six themes emerged as the psychosocial barriers and facilitators of managing and coping with type 2 diabetes: 1) cognitive-emotional factors, 2) faith, 3) constraints to behavioural change, 4) social constraints and support, 5) healthcare provider-patient relationship, and 6) awareness. Further, a conceptual framework was developed from the synthesis. The patients' experiences evident from this synthesis signify the crucial role of psychosocial factors in diabetes management and coping. This evidence emphasizes the need for integrated care so that psychosocial aspects are addressed by healthcare providers and behavioural health professionals, which may lead to the promotion of facilitators and the minimization of barriers.

Belongingness in higher education: Fostering decent education to sustain academic progress and equitable access to decent work

Given the critical role of higher education in fostering social mobility and access to decent work, our study investigates how the college experience, shaped by social marginalization and economic constraints, influences students’ academic engagement and work volition before and during COVID-19. Drawing from the psychology of working theory (PWT) and decent education, we assess the mediating role of school belongingness and the moderating effect of COVID-19 timing through structural equation modeling. Our findings suggest that COVID-19 exacerbated the negative effect of social and economic marginalization on work volition and the negative effects of economic constraints on academic engagement, while also diminishing the moderating effect of school belongingness. These insights are crucial considering the profound disruptions in higher education due to the pandemic and underscore the importance of fostering school belongingness as a component of decent education to sustain student engagement and positive views of their work futures.

Vegetal/digital: Photogrammetry point-clouds of Australian flowers

Arising out of the heightened sensory perceptions of extended lockdown, this creative investigation began with contemplation of flowering street-trees. Through 262 days of lock down, residents of Melbourne retreated to the hyper-local, often reinforced by a 5-km travel bubble and a one-hour daily time limit outdoors. The sublime ephemeral springtime flowers of street-trees were amplified by the extreme sensory and social constraints of social distancing. Drawing us into a suspended moment of slow encounter, we attuned to the contained glowing pulse of plants. The works were created using photogrammetry, a technique for generating 3D models from a large set of photographs taken from all angles of the botanical specimen. Whilst the point-cloud models remain the central artefact of vegetal/digital, it has been presented in a range of formats throughout 2022–23, including multichannel video loops, augmented reality, webXR, gestural interactive works and still prints. This work invites an embodied experience of attuning to both the vegetal and the digital. This is consistent with my alignment with queer and autistic politics, of siding with the object. Increasingly, queer cultural practices are employing new materialism and posthumanism to interrogate the agency of things and the culturally constituted hierarchies of objects and subjects. The reconfiguration of embodied relations is necessary in order to reconceive a viable future.

The Nexus of Fiscal Policy and Growth in the Optimal Control Framework

This research investigates the effect of fiscal policy on economic growth, focusing on the intertwined relationship between public goods provision, taxation policies, and their impact on economic dynamics and growth. The study aims to contribute to this research domain by introducing an economic model within the optimal control framework that integrates taxation policies into the social constraint and incorporates public goods into the social utility function, addressing recent limitations in this research area. Through numerical analysis, the study examines the potential effects of taxes and public goods provision on consumption and economic growth, as reflected by the level of capital. Results indicate that increasing government spending on public goods can decrease private goods consumption without significant economic growth benefits. At the same time, high tax rates could potentially hinder economic growth by overly relying on government intervention. The research findings highlight the importance of an optimal approach to fiscal policy, with policy implications including the need to carefully evaluate public funds' allocation, enhance public spending efficiency, and implement optimal tax to foster economic growth.

Fuzzy-stochastic distributional robust approach for microalgae-based bio-plastic supply chain with new sustainability aspects

The current study offers a sustainable supply chain model that can be used to identify opportunities and constraints for the future of the microalgae-based bio-diesel and bio-plastic industry. The network’s carbon emissions are restricted by an uncertain constraint that allows for flexibility in controlling emissions as needed. The social constraints of the model provides a transparent depiction of labour needs in dynamic business landscape and foster women’s empowerment through a preference coefficient. The proposed model introduces a new upside risk measures under fuzzy-stochastic setting to quantify the upward financial risk. To characterize and manage the model uncertainty, a fuzzy-stochastic distributional robust model is presented. Credibility distribution is utilized to handle fuzzy uncertainty, while box and polyhedral uncertainty sets are included to handle stochastic uncertainty. After that, tractable deterministic formulations of the uncertain model for two ambiguity sets are presented to solve the model. Finally, a number of insights are obtained by means of five test problems that are implemented in Python and resolved by one exact and five meta-heuristic algorithms. Experiments indicate that, when faced with uncertainty, two robust models have produced more stable solutions (16.23% and 19.67% higher stability, respectively) than nominal stochastic model. Further, a 4.68% decline in total cost and 3.27% increment in bio-diesel production can be achieved by increasing bio-diesel conversion rate to 10%. In addition, a 9.09% downturn in total cost and 10.44% rise in bio-plastic production can be obtained by 10% increment in bio-plastic conversion rate. Moreover, 45.38% more woman labours can be recruited by increasing the preference coefficient from −0.2 to +0.2.

Death euphemisms on tombstones: A case of the Vhavenḓa’s metaphorical conceptualisation of death

Direct reference to death has long been taboo in Tshivenḓa culture, and it is sanctioned by social, psychological and religious constraints. Like in other African societies, explicit reference to death is considered a taboo by the Vhavenḓa. This is because the Vhavenḓa view death as a transition from the land of the living to the land of the dead, which ultimately foregrounds their belief that a dead person transforms into an ancestor who has the power to care, protect, bless and even curse the living. Consequently, the subject of death and reference to it is treated as sacred among the Vhavenḓa. For this reason, the Vhavenḓa utilise euphemisms when discussing death. Against this backdrop, this qualitative study explored whether death-related conceptual metaphors on tombstones in Tshivenḓa lessen pain and the impact of death on those affected using the framework of the conceptual metaphor theory (CMT). A corpus of 160 epitaphs from the Khubvi Cemetery in Thulamela Local Municipality served as the source of the study’s data. The study’s findings showed that gravestone conceptualisations of death imply a favourable value judgment of human mortality and help those who are still alive cope with the loss and pain associated with death. The study lays the groundwork for further research into why conceptual metaphors of death emphasise the negative features of death, while language use emphasises the positive aspects.

Equity-oriented food supports: Learnings from the Nova Scotia COVID-19 pandemic response.

Public health measures enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted Nova Scotians experiencing food insecurity. Public Health (PH), Nova Scotia Health, created a provincial Housing Isolation Program (HIP) which addressed barriers to isolation, including food access, for COVID-19 cases and contacts being followed by PH. HIP worked with partners to coordinate and respond to urgent food needs of isolating clients by providing grocery and meal delivery options. HIP also made referrals to government and community partners for income and food supports. This program was intended to minimize the spread of COVID-19 by facilitating isolation while meeting basic needs for people with no other means of support. From December 2020 to March 2022, HIP completed grocery and meal deliveries for 579 clients, 1351 referrals to a provincial Income Support Program, and 231 referrals to external food supports. HIP staff worked with clients to manage potential perceptions of stigma. Challenges reported included the urgency of food needs, lack of social supports, and availability and accessibility constraints in rural communities, as well as difficulty accessing culturally appropriate foods and special diets. This intervention demonstrates the importance of addressing food insecurity during emergency preparedness, planning, and response. During emergencies, planning and mobilizing food access requires an equity-oriented approach to overcome stigma. Broadly, continued reliance on charitable responses creates significant vulnerability during emergencies and addressing root causes of food insecurity through social policy will provide longer-term protection.

A Social Constraints and Personal Freedom in The Myth of Sisyphus: Examining the Impact of External Forces on Existential Autonomy

This paper explores the intricate relationship between social constraints and personal freedom in Albert Camus’s The Myth of Sisyphus, focusing on the impact of external forces on existential autonomy. Camus’s philosophy, centered on the concept of the “absurd,” challenges traditional notions of freedom by highlighting the tension between human beings’ inherent desire for meaning and the indifferent, chaotic universe. The essay examines how social constraints—such as cultural norms, laws, economic conditions, and political ideologies—further complicate this quest for autonomy by imposing additional layers of limitation on individuals. Rather than viewing freedom as the absence of constraints, Camus redefines it as the capacity to confront these external forces with awareness and defiance, choosing one’s own path even within a constrained environment. Through a deeper analysis of Sisyphus as a symbol of human struggle against both cosmic and social limitations, this paper argues that true freedom is found not in escaping these constraints but in navigating and resisting them, asserting one’s values and identity in the face of both the absurd and societal expectations. The conclusion emphasizes the dynamic interplay between freedom and constraint, presenting a vision of autonomy as a continuous, courageous engagement with the world.

A framework for the emergence and analysis of language in social learning agents

Neural systems have evolved not only to solve environmental challenges through internal representations but also, under social constraints, to communicate these to conspecifics. In this work, we aim to understand the structure of these internal representations and how they may be optimized to transmit pertinent information from one individual to another. Thus, we build on previous teacher-student communication protocols to analyze the formation of individual and shared abstractions and their impact on task performance. We use reinforcement learning in grid-world mazes where a teacher network passes a message to a student to improve task performance. This framework allows us to relate environmental variables with individual and shared representations. We compress high-dimensional task information within a low-dimensional representational space to mimic natural language features. In coherence with previous results, we find that providing teacher information to the student leads to a higher task completion rate and an ability to generalize tasks it has not seen before. Further, optimizing message content to maximize student reward improves information encoding, suggesting that an accurate representation in the space of messages requires bi-directional input. These results highlight the role of language as a common representation among agents and its implications on generalization capabilities.

Farmers’ Use of Social Media and Constraints Faced: A Study in Uttarakhand, India

Farmers’ Use of Social Media and Constraints Faced: A Study in Uttarakhand, India

The Diffusion of Exclusion: Medieval Expulsions of Jews

What social processes guide the spread of ethnic or racial exclusion? I investigate the diffusion of medieval expulsions of Jews among over 500 polities in the western Holy Roman Empire, 1385–1520 CE. For medieval governors, religious and material concerns were strong rationales against expulsion. Yet expulsions increase markedly in the 15th century. Did an expulsion by one government affect another government’s choices about expulsion? I appraise three common theories of policy diffusion: learning, social reinterpretation, and social structural and resource constraints. Statistical models provide evidence only for the latter two. While theological changes gave expulsion fresh political value, the adoption of expulsion followed political and economic incentives that were embedded in inter-city relationships of power and dependency. The results indicate that social influence, especially spatial proximity, cannot be assumed to accelerate ethnoracial extremism.

Progressive Formalisation of Household Solid Waste Source-Segregation in Khulna City, Bangladesh

Integrating circular economy into solid waste management is challenging for the local government authorities in Bangladesh, though its necessity is well recognised. The absence of household waste segregation in overcrowded urban areas is an obstacle for achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of reduced waste generation by 2030. This research in Khulna city found that recyclable and reusable products are separated informally by grassroots people in seven stages, instead of a source. Relevant stakeholders and grassroots people working at different level of solid waste governance were interviewed to find out the current status. The thematic analysis reveals that policy gaps, limited budgets, inadequate facilities, social constraints, behavioural inertia, non-engagement of private organisations and insufficient community participation are significant challenges to circular economy transition. Stakeholders have proposed a series of actions, beginning with proper policy formulation, followed by facility provision, awareness building and enforcement in the event of excessive public ignorance.

Cultural Differences Predict Palliative Care Development Across the United States: The Role of Cultural Tightness and Looseness

Across the United States, some regions demonstrate greater readiness to adopt palliative care than others. This geographic variation in access and utilization may be due to cultural variation in “tightness” and “looseness,” which can be understood as the relative strength and enforcement of social norms and behavioral constraint within a culture. The present study examined the influence of cultural tightness-looseness on access to palliative care (i.e., statewide percentage of hospitals with palliative care programs) across the 50 U.S. states while controlling for demographic covariates. Results of regression analyses demonstrated that states with looser cultures (i.e., less adherence to norms) had better palliative care access (β = .501, p = .012). Additionally, access was better in states with greater proportions of female (β = .455, p = .004) and white, non-Hispanic or Latino/a (β = .359, p = .002) residents. Strategies to improve utilization should consider the influence of culture and the relative strength of existing social norms within the region.