Social Crisis Research Articles

An Ecological (Re)presentation of Depravity and Environmental Depletion in Adamu Kyuka’s The Death of Eternity

The notion that the environment has always served as a thematic and aesthetic base for the production of texts in the literary enterprise, globally is inarguable. In attestation, of the afore claim, this paper draws cogent data from Adamu Kyuka’s The Death of Eternity to closely examine the natural world and the environment as underscoring the relationship between man and his environment. The paper is exponential in its portrayal of man’s symphonic interaction with the environment as a blessing or a curse. Going forward, this paper builds a composite philosophy around the intersection between literature and environment. Where it argues that Nigerian literature has become more conscious of issues arising from resource control, as it especially relates to the devastating effect it melts on the environment. In concretizing these arguments, the paper deploys Ecocriticism as its analytical/investigative mechanism to explore the selected text as a fair representation of the environmental degradation Nigeria suffers at large. Seemingly, the choice of Ecocriticism as the investigative tool identifies the selected author as keenly aware of the devastating effect of industrial pollution as portrayed in the text under study as an expression of the commitment of the course of environmental preservation. The paper therefore finds that, Kyuka’s The Death of Eternity is critical in its examination of the social injustices, greed, corruption, political crisis and economic setbacks as social ills which are inspired by the scramble for natural resources.

Depressive and anxiety symptom trajectories in Polish adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic and the outbreak of war in Ukraine: uncovering the role of family relations.

The aim of the study was to investigate longitudinal trajectories of change in anxiety and depression symptoms in Polish adolescents during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic and after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Additionally, we aimed to identify risk/protective factors and outcomes associated with these trajectories. We collected data in three waves between November 2021 and May 2022. Adolescents (N = 281 in the first wave) completed the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, the Filial Responsibility Scale for Youth, and questions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine. We identified three trajectories of depressive symptoms: resilient with low, stable symptoms (71% of participants), chronically elevated symptoms (11%), and acute symptoms followed by recovery (18%). We distinguished two trajectories of anxiety symptoms: resilient (75%) and chronic (25%). Non-resilient trajectories were predicted by higher levels of familial unfairness (perceived lack of equality and reciprocity in the family), relationship difficulties at school and at home, older age, and poor socioeconomic status. Chronic depressive and anxiety symptoms were associated with higher war-related concerns. These findings can inform preventive and therapeutic interventions for at-risk adolescents to reduce negative long-term outcomes of social crises.

Facing Disaster: Ordinary Fictions, Resilience, and the Demand for Recognition in Eastern DR Congo

Abstract In DR Congo, there is a proliferation of fictions and spoken word texts that addresses aspects of the on-going conflict. Fiction in Congo does not concern itself with the rules of literary orthodoxy (verisimilitude, linguistic correctness, references), nor does it rely on the existence of a literary and editorial system that is structured and operating to guarantee a predetermined readership. Its main objective is to express emotions in an aesthetic way that touches the hearts of readers and spectators. However, the primary motivation for these proliferating literary initiatives is to resonate in the social space of the place from which they originate. In this respect, the productions examined here are ordinary aesthetic creations distilled through the alembic of everyday existence. Beginning with the observation of a profusion of love stories in the literature produced in the Congo during the last quarter-century, I demonstrate how the particular orientation of these contemporary love fictions responds to societal objectives regarding social cohesion and crisis management, particularly the call for resilience. I then analyse how the issues involved in this injunction are related to care, which is presented as the only possible, acceptable, and even desirable path in this context of violence.

The Interaction between Custom and Ritual in Chinese Society

Abstract In traditional China’s complicated social system, the interaction between custom and ritual laid the foundation for a national political framework and local societal functions, and has continued to play a role in modern Chinese nation-building since the May Fourth Movement. The essence of this interaction is that it draws together national politics with non-governmental micropolitics; by engaging widespread support from across society, it ensures that society’s internal mechanisms function smoothly through a shared cultural identity, thereby eliminating real or potential social crises. Today, in a time of rapid globalization, all nations are faced with issues such as international regulations, national legal rights, and civil governance. Chinese traditional political wisdom and social mechanisms embedded in the interaction between custom and ritual may be useful.

Resilience in the Time of a Pandemic: Developing Public Policies for Ollas Comunes in Peru

The coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has created economic, social, and food security crises in many countries throughout the world. Faced with growing hunger in Peru, and the government’s delayed and inadequate reaction, the most important response came from the citizens themselves, particularly the women, in the form of thousands of social care initiatives known as ollas comunes (literally ‘communal pots’, similar to soup kitchens, whereby local communities pool their resources to supply food for everyone in the neighbourhood). This article tells the parallel stories of the resurgence of these ollas comunes and the state-funded support initiatives, alongside the process followed by GRADE (Group for the Analysis of Development – Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo; a non-profit research centre founded in Peru) that enabled it to contribute to those institutions looking to improve access to food for the most vulnerable people. Both stories are underpinned by a common ability to adapt quickly, which is crucial for achieving objectives in uncertain and ever‑changing situations.

The Navigate framework: How the ecosystem services and resilience concepts can help us navigate in the current crises

In the last decades, humanity has considerably altered the functioning of Earth, resulting in global and inter-related social, economic, and environmental crises. To address these crises, the concepts of ES and resilience look promising to understand the complexity of the social-ecological system (SES) and its dynamics. However, operational frameworks that bring together these two concepts are still lacking. We therefore propose the Navigate framework to guide the researchers and the managers in finding sustainable solutions, in other words safe and just strategies.This framework was built from a literature review, interviews with leading experts, and feedback from its implementation in a case study.The conceptual part of the Navigate framework illustrates the multiple interactions between nature and society, depicted by the ES, occurring at various scales. Following disturbances, the SES responds by either persisting, adapting or even transforming (i.e. three forms of resilience). The operational part of Navigate suggests six steps to follow in an iterative process: (1) define the system, (2) define the problem, the stakes and goals, (3) define the pathways, (4) assess the ES, (5) assess the resilience, and (6) design the action plan.The implementation of this framework to a case study demonstrated that together ES and resilience with a participatory process gave a comprehensive picture of the SES, essential to making sound sustainable decisions. Indeed, the integrated assessment of ES combining various complementary methods highlights the stakeholders’ needs and perspectives, the various forms of knowledge, the scales, and the interactions. Resilience broadened the analysis by understanding how the important drivers impacted the SES and its ES.In conclusion, the Navigate framework shows the way (i.e. which ES the stakeholders have requested) while considering the dynamic properties of the SES, amidst increasing social and ecological uncertainties, to navigate together toward sustainability.

Tiempos difíciles: Crisis políticas y esperanza en las dimensiones individual y colectiva

Crises are constant individual and collective phenomena in human history and, therefore, have profound implications in the lives of individuals and their communities of reference. When we speak of a political crisis we mean the problems that originate, directly or indirectly, in the spheres of management of a given political system and can also derive in economic, social or environmental crises, among others. The purpose of this editorial is, on the one hand, to serve as a presentation for the October-December issue of Cuestiones Políticas, Vol. 41 No. 79 of the year 2023, on the other hand, to develop an editorial on a topic of general interest. The reflections developed allow us to conclude that, at least in some crises, organized civil society, without the participation of state actors or agencies, can build forms of social capital that, although they are not enough to solve systemic problems, improve the situation of many people by solving everyday problems through community organization practices, the emergence of non-partisan leadership and intersubjective relationships of solidarity that strengthen the social fabric.

Eco-social policy in the global political economy: Analysing shifting discourses on agricultural subsidies

While critical political economy (CPE) has yet to play a prominent role in eco-social policy research, this paper argues that a deeper engagement with CPE and a better understanding of the global political economy can enhance eco-social policy debates. CPE can help us to see the contradictions in and impediments to integrating environmental and social policies, and particularly why both of these categories continue to be mediated and shaped by economic logics. In order to develop these arguments, we analyse recent international discourses on agricultural subsidies promoted by key policy actors such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the World Bank, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. By examining agriculture as a nodal point between diverse scales and domains such as the local, global, environmental, social, and economic spheres, we explore how certain positions are prioritised over others. We argue that the discourse on ‘repurposing subsidies’ in global agricultural policy expresses a ‘new critical orthodoxy’ that recognises the need for transformation but fails to address the structural conditions of the global political economy responsible for environmental and social crises. Instead, the proposed solutions rely on existing institutions and capitalist logics to resolve current crises, even if the latter are underpinned by these logics. Our analysis underlines the need for eco-social policy scholarship to be cognizant of how environmental and social policy integration is always embedded within a particular global political economy that reproduces certain inequalities and is not a neutral policy terrain.

Sociopolitical consequences of COVID‐19 in the Americas, Europe, and Asia: A multilevel, multicountry investigation of risk perceptions and support for antidemocratic practices

AbstractAlthough different social crises may eventually favor undemocratic and authoritarian forms of governance, at some point, such antidemocratic practices require the support of a significant part of the population to be implemented. The present research investigates how and whether the COVID‐19 pandemic might have favoured greater support for antidemocratic governmental practices, on the premise of regaining control and security. Using data from 17 countries (N = 4364) and national‐level indicators (i.e., real number of contagions and deaths, and sociopolitical indicators), we test how the risk of contagion and death from COVID‐19, along with personal orientations (i.e., social dominance orientation [SDO], right‐wing authoritarianism [RWA], and perceived anomie) motivate authoritarian and antidemocratic practices. Results from multilevel models indicate that risk perception and perceptions of political instability predict a wish for stronger leadership, agreement with martial law, and support for a controlling government especially when SDO and RWA are high, while more egalitarian and less conservative people agree less with these authoritarian measures in spite of the levels of risk perception. We discuss the implications for these findings for future research on similar but also dissimilar external events (natural disasters, war, or terror incidents) and the consequences for societies with higher authoritarian tendencies.

Designing basic income pilots for community development: What are the key community concerns? Evidence from citizen engagement in Northern England

ABSTRACT Policymakers worldwide are realizing that traditional welfare systems need modernization. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and with economic, ecological, and social crises intensifying, these systems are being exposed as inefficient, ineffective, and unjust. Policymakers have therefore begun exploring Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a potential alternative. This is leading to rising interest in basic income trials, with pilots proposed or in the pipeline in many countries, including Scotland and Wales. However, pilots are often designed without meaningful community participation, which raises significant ethical and practical concerns. Through a series of qualitative workshops in Jarrow, one of the most deprived areas in the UK and an archetypal target for “Leveling Up” policy, we explored and categorized local concerns, hopes, and suggestions for piloting basic income in the area. This article presents those findings and thereby builds the knowledge base around community perspectives on local basic income pilots.

Priorities for the development of the social field in Ukraine and its legal regulation in the context of adaptation to European standards

A functioning democratic regime that can meet the basic needs of citizens and guarantee material security for the vulnerable and most vulnerable segments of the population is the primary foundation of the European path of development of Ukraine. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the key goals of the state social policy of Ukraine in the context of the implementation of European Union standards and examine the current state of implementation of declared social and legal principles on the territory of the Ukrainian state. The leading methods of the study were methods of analysis and generalisation, through which the existing conflicts of the normative foundation in the field of social protection were identified, and a comparison method, the use of which demonstrated the existing shortcomings of the development strategy. investigating social priorities, the authors identify the main strategic goals of state social regulation, the main omissions of modern social policy, and the primary causes of the current social crisis. Therewith, the current state of the legislative social framework is investigated and an objective assessment of the implementation of European legislation in the national regulatory field of Ukraine is provided. Therewith, positive trends in establishing social justice by declaring gender equality and overcoming discrimination and integrating information systems into the provision of social services were analysed, and practical recommendations for successful euro adaptation, the decisive task of which is to improve the quality of life of Ukrainian citizens, were provided

Tracking the cost of living, for whom and at what price? A political economy of price indicators in Madagascar

This article studies the production and meaning of price indicators in Madagascar, a post-colonial context characterized by a weak state, the prominence of international aid, and repeated food crises. We observe a profusion of indicators, data, and analyses related to prices. Such profusion illustrates not only different meanings of the cost of living but also fragmented economies and a fragmented mode of government in which nongovernmental organizations and international organizations play a leading role. Whatever their efforts, these initiatives struggle to capture the specific features of the cost of living in a context where the subsistence economy remains hardly convertible into numbers. Our analysis confirms the close links between statistical production and modes of government. The Malagasy Consumer Price Index coexists with many disparate initiatives aimed to cope with inequalities and emergencies, reflecting a country in the throes of repeated political, economic, and social crises.

International environmental policy processes that dispossessed developing societies of public land resources: A case study of Nepal

AbstractPublic lands including forests and community pastures are still crucial means of local livelihood, social security, and environmental conservation in many developing countries including Nepal. However, these resources are increasingly managed primarily to offset greenhouse gas emissions of developed countries. The new management has exacerbated many local problems: livelihood constriction, social crises, human casualties (deaths and serious injuries), biodiversity degradation, and water scarcity including cryosphere retreating. Drawing data from multiple sources, this study attempted to explain the international political objectives and processes that dispossessed developing societies of public land resources for the benefit of developed countries. It shows that representatives of the developed countries were proactively and strategically involved in agenda formation, solutions negotiations, and decision-making while developing international environmental policies, and succeeded to structure the policies for managing the resources of developing countries for the best benefit of their own countries. The developed countries provided funds and experts, as strategic tools, through international aid agencies to implement the policies of their interest in institutionally weak countries. In Nepal, the aid agencies influenced the thinking of the public and the decisions of the government and other stakeholders through a series of strategic measures. They propagandized false crises, worked with a coalition of powerful international agencies, offered free technical support, and changed national policies proactively to manage the land resources for achieving their missions. Active involvement in policy implementation also helped the agencies to monitor implementation hurdles and apply other tactics to resolve them. Lucrative flash incentives were provided to motivate and get the support of communities, powerful stakeholders, and politicians to implement the policies. Psychosocial pressures were also applied to persuade local communities and their leaders for getting local cooperation in making and practicing new legal institutions (government authority rules or orders, user group rules, and forest management plans) that bind and control local communities for forest protection. The institutions obliged local communities to contribute free labor or cash for developing, modifying, and protecting the forests. These two levels of interventions led to the further development of reinforcing institutions, resource conditions, and social-ecological systems that secured benefits for developed countries and deprived local communities of power to control, produce and access the public land resources in their own backyard for years. This study also showed that international environmental policies and aid agencies have respectively served as institutional weapons and vehicles for materially and institutionally powerful countries to colonize the land resources of weaker countries, without using of physical coercion or deplyment of military forces.

Evaluating Importance of Community Gardens in Times of Calm and Crisis: From Relaxation to Food Self-Provisioning

The functions of community gardens (CGs) are determined by the preferences of their users and external factors such as government restrictions or the situation of the food market. Recent food prices increases and COVID-19 restrictions have shown the importance of CGs as a place for both food self-provisioning (FSP) and relaxation. These have influenced how much the benefits provided by CGs in the form of ecosystem services (ES) are appreciated. This study aims to demonstrate how ES provided by the CG ‘Žížala na Terase’ in Czechia are affected in times of crisis related to the COVID-19 pandemic and to increased food prices, which trigger a demand for greater FSP. The results indicate that the importance of social interaction and educational ES decreased significantly in the COVID-19 scenario. On the contrary, the role of CGs as places for recreation increased. In the FSP scenario, the provisioning ES increased at the expense of recreational ES. The results of the economic assessment further show that the most important monetarily valued ES provided by CGs are cultural ES, followed by provisioning ES. This study demonstrates both the multifunctionality and adaptability of CGs to the current social crises and dynamic urban conditions.

One guild, two merchants, and common property. A social capital crisis in textile manufacturing during the eighteenth century

A case study of the wool carders’ guild in Estella-Lizarra (Navarre) from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries questions prevalent opinions among historians, which have tended to define these collective action institutions as monopolies. This study complements the traditional ‘outside in’ approach that considers the guild to be a monolithic agent, adopting an inside perspective that reveals the tensions between collective and individual interests. The research focuses on the collective management of common properties (fulling-mill and dyeing house) until their disappearance in 1758, and guild relations with commercial capital in the form of a major financial sponsor and a new factory. Difficulties associated with the guild’s financial management and the loss of its social capital lay at the heart of its troubles.

Trends in suicide mortality in Spain from 1998 to 2021 and its relationship with the COVID-19 pandemic: A joinpoint regression analysis

In the European Union, a rate of 11.9 cases per 100,000 was estimated in 2019.In Spain, suicide is the leading cause of external death. Social crises can have an impact on suicide rates. We analyzed changes in suicide mortality trends in Spain following the COVID-19 pandemic. We used statistical data from the National Institute of Statistics of Spain (1998–2021). We calculated age-specific rates, age and sex-adjusted rates, and analyzed trends and changes using joinpoint-regression models. Rates decrease in both sexes at the ages of 65 and older. In women, they increase in the ages of 1–29 years and 45–59 years. In men, they decrease in the ages of 15–39 years. Among women, age-adjusted rates remained stable between 1998 and 2021, with a non-significant annual decrease of 0.4 %. Among men, there was a significant annual decrease of 0.7 %. The years 2020 and 2021 had 8 % higher mortality compared to the two years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Suicide mortality in Spain slightly decreased among men and remained stable among women between 1998 and 2021, but there seems to be an increase following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Capitalist catastrophism and eco-apartheid

In September 2020 Deutsche Bank published a report entitled “The Age of Disorder.” Fronted dramatically by the image of a volcano and volley of lightning across a brooding sky, the report warned that the global economy was on the precipice of a phase shift from neo-liberal quasi-stability to an era characterized by dramatic social, economic, and ecological upheavals. Deutsche Bank’s researchers call this new period “the age of disorder”. This paper proposes Deutsche Bank’s appraisal is part of a broader condition that it calls capitalist catastrophism and an emerging regime of eco-apartheid. Taking as its point of departure Geoff Mann and Joel Wainwright’s call for geographers to construct concepts that might help navigate a hotter planet, the paper introduces capitalist catastrophism as a concept that names and theorizes the effects of a dramatic and asymmetrically catastrophic reconfiguration of the capitalist world-system. Capitalist catastrophism has three characteristics. First, a newfound ability for social movements and theorists to imagine post-capitalist futures combined with an inability to realize them. Second, cascading and mutually amplifying social and ecological crises that outrun the capacities of states and capital to contain them. Third, an unevenly distributed cancellation of human and non-human futures. Drawing on Marxist political economy and Nyasha Mboti’s theorization of apartheid, the paper concludes that capitalist catastrophism is resolving itself into a global system of eco-apartheid in which a green transition for some is secured by putting the exploited and oppressed majority in harm’s way.

The Crisis of Artificial Intelligence: A New Digital Humanities Curriculum for Human-Centred AI

This article outlines what a successful artificial intelligence digital humanities (AI DH) curriculum entails and why it is so critical now. Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping our world and is poised to exacerbate long-standing crises including (1) the crisis of higher education and the humanities, (2) the lack of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in computer science and technology fields and (3) the wider social and economic crises facilitated by new technologies. We outline a number of ways in which an AI DH curriculum offers concrete and impactful responses to these many crises. AI DH yields meaningful new avenues of research for the humanities and the humanistic social sciences, and offers new ways that higher education can better prepare students for the world into which they graduate. DEI metrics show how an AI DH curriculum can engage students traditionally underserved by conventional STEM courses. Finally, AI DH educates all students for civic engagement in order to address both the social and economic impacts of emerging AI technologies. This article provides an overview of an AI DH curriculum, the motivating theory behind design decisions, and a detailed look into two sample courses.

Youth and climate justice: Representations of young people in action for sustainable futures

AbstractFrom fossil fuel corporations sponsoring climate change education to youth‐washing international gatherings, young people are bombarded, and simultaneously abandoned, by struggles for climate justice. The root issues fuelling interlocking environmental and social crises are often erased in initiatives involving youth. These crises are a direct result of broader, structural conditions that have become the de facto global order and propel notions of sustainable development. In settler colonial contexts such as Canada, colonialism, capitalism and inequitable forms of violence mutually depend upon one another to perpetuate climate injustice. Youth are increasingly aware of these entanglements, while seemingly discouraged from transformative action. With these tensions in mind, this commentary investigates the obstacles youth face despite making key contributions to justice‐focused climate action, and draws attention to the necessity of strengthening meaningful youth engagement. To explore this issue, we engage with climate and environmental justice literature, youth‐led initiatives, and youth representation on a global stage.

ІНТЕРНЕТ-ЗАЛЕЖНІСТЬ ЯК АДИКЦІЯ СУЧАСНОЇ ЛЮДИНИ

The article is devoted to highlighting a number of issues of destructive Internet activities, in particular, Internet addiction as a psychosocial disorder, which prompts a modern person to escape from a frustrating reality in order to improve his psychological well-being with the help of Internet resources. The article presents an analysis of theoretical and applied researches of foreign and Ukrainian scientists and practitioners, which provides an opportunity to deeply understand this issue as extremely relevant for modern information societies. Definitions of the terms "Internet activity", "addiction", "Internet addiction", "addictive behavior" described in the professional literature were analyzed. The socio-psychological nature of Internet addiction is defined, attention is focused on the causes of the emergence and establishment of addictive behavior, as well as on neurophysiological, sociocultural and psychological mechanisms that "trigger" the destructive processes of addiction. It is shown that depending on the individual characteristics of the psyche and the nature of unsatisfied needs (which are not always realized), a modern person finds their substitutes in various types of surrogate activities, including Internet activities. The conditions under which Internet activity eventually becomes an almost full-fledged substitute for traditional social activity and even dependent on this activity are analyzed. Attention is focused on the symptoms of dependence on Internet activity (Internet addiction), in particular, such as loss of control over the time spent on the Internet, loss of control over the content of consumed content, loss of control over one's life in general. The social and psychological characteristics of active Internet users, which contribute to the excessive involvement of potential Internet addicts in the network, as well as signs of constructive and destructive Internet activity, are analyzed. A number of assumptions have been put forward regarding the possibilities of prevention and correction of Internet addiction and destructive, dependent behavior. The peculiarities and stages of inclusion (attraction) of potential Internet addicts to Internet networks and the dynamics of the growth of Internet addiction indicators among different segments of the population in conditions of stress caused by social and information crisis, in particular in conditions of war, are analyzed. It is shown how the crisis situation affects children, their behavior, their emotional state, their way of life and their involvement in Internet activities. It is demonstrated how the authors and developers of Internet content, Internet games, relevant services and applications, social networks, etc., stimulate interest, positive emotional experiences and activity among members of their target audiences, as well as how they attract new visitors to the network, acting for this various positive reinforcements in the form of "likes", bonuses, intrigues, reminders, bright images, incentives, etc. and thus encourage users to return to the network again and again.