Social Debate Research Articles

Newspaper Headlines and Intimate Partner Femicide in Portugal

The media’s representation of intimate partner femicides has been contributing to addressing gender-based violence as a structural phenomenon. Aiming to understand which crime elements are valued and how they might contribute to victim blaming, the present study explores the portrayal of intimate partner femicides in Portugal through the analysis of newspaper headlines. The core of the analysis comprises 853 newspaper headlines published between 2000 and 2017, which were subjected to a categorical content analysis. The results suggest two major trends that are aligned with the scope of the two newspapers analyzed. While some headlines offer informative perspectives on crime and its characteristics, the majority tend to sensationalize the narratives, potentially legitimizing violence against women. The results of this study enrich the social and academic debate on the media’s potential influence in preventing and combating gender-based violence. Moreover, by shedding light on the media’s representation of intimate partner femicides, the study reinforces the importance of a broader discussion on the role of journalism in fostering social change.

The Constitutionalization of Social Rights in Italy, Germany, and Portugal: Legislative Discretion, Minimal Guarantees, and Distributive Integration

Abstract In an international social rights debate disproportionately focused on English-speaking countries, redundant emphasis has been placed on justiciability. While constitutionalization does challenge stable relations between powers, especially in the post-colonial and developing world, solid insights for a workable interpretative method can be derived from continental Europe, where the difficulties typically associated with justiciability have long been settled. The constitutions of Italy, Germany, and Portugal take socioeconomic democracy seriously, tempering socialist claims and refuting libertarian stances, and have managed to spur a legitimate judicial increment of substantive equality. Through a threefold comparison, this paper describes the peculiarities of these fundamental texts across the spectrum of possible constitutional design choices, and draws from comparative constitutional caselaw to highlight a cross-national convergence on a set of interpretative standards. These blend together a strong safeguard of legislative discretion with justiciable minimal guarantees, and a value-assertive orientation of balancing coextensive with the integrationist function of constitutionalized social and economic rights.

Intercultural Design Approach. Narrative Design for a Multicultural Society

As part of an increasingly multicultural society issues concerning integration and relationships between ethnic groups and different communities are receiving a great deal of attention in the social and scientific debate. The skills of design can be made available as a tool to systematise this multiplicity, promoting an innovation respectful of diversity, comparison, and interaction between people and cultures. This article concerns practical product design applications, that explore the relationship between multi-cultural society and cultural accessibility. Moreover, this contribution aims to reflect on which and how methodological strategies could be implemented within a design process that focuses on an intercultural approach. A series of case studies of narrative artifacts capable of bringing different cultures together and making them recognizable to different users will be analysed with the lens proposed in the methodological overview.

Affective, defective, and infective narratives on social media about nuclear energy and atomic conflict during the 2022 Italian electoral campaign

In the digital age, poor public communication catalyzes the spread of disinformation within public opinion. Anyone can produce political content that can reach a global audience, and social media has become a vital tool for political leaders to convey messages to the electorate. The 2022 Italian election campaign has seen the term “nuclear” debated with two different declinations: on the one hand, regarding nuclear energy for civilian use, and on the other hand, regarding the fear of an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and the use of atomic weapons. This research aims to analyze the social media debate by exploring multiplatform dynamics to qualitatively identify and analyze the connections between social media platforms that we have termed Bridges, a concept drawn from Transmedia Theory to describe the narrative relationship between platforms. The methodological approach will follow an explanatory sequential design that will rely on digital methods to identify connections between platforms (bridges) and then apply an exploratory qualitative approach to enrich the data and capture the nuances of the debate. As expected, we found polarized positions and fragmentation on both issues of civilian nuclear energy and the atomic conflict narrative. Primary evidence shows bridges spreading affective, defective, and infective content across platforms in a multifaceted social media ecosystem. Affective refers to rhetoric that appeals to people’s feelings. Defective means the discussion that brings attention to hyper-partisan news channels, fake news, and misinformation. Infective means bridges with below-the-radar platforms, niche channels, or pseudo-information channels. They use bridges with mainstream platforms to gain the potential to go viral. The paper highlights the importance of cross-platform and interdisciplinary approaches to addressing disinformation in a media ecosystem where social media plays an increasing role in a country’s democratic dynamics.

Disability, accessibility, and inclusivity in mobility: struggles for the right of mobility for disabled individuals in South Korea

The right to mobility is a fundamental human right that must be accessible to all individuals, regardless of their disability. To disabled people, the right of mobility is closely related to their survival such as labor and employment, and access to public transportation systems is especially crucial in their ability to fully join the society. This article explores the state of the mobility and accessibility of people with disabilities in public transportation, focusing on the challenges faced by disabled individuals in South Korea and their advocacy efforts aimed at dealing with these challenges. The recent wheelchair demonstrations of disabled people at Seoul subways has attracted widespread social debate over disabled mobility rights, along with increased awareness and governmental declaration of further support. The journey to full accessibility and inclusivity is ongoing and it is a journey that every country should pursue together with determination and commitment.

Disentangling social impacts in global value chains through structural path analysis: Investigating forced labor in the cotton industry

AbstractThis analysis proposes an analytical method to trace the precise pathways through which impacts from a specific origin are disseminated worldwide and embodied in high‐income nations' consumption. Our methodological approach is based on a multi‐regional input–output model developed using EXIOBASE data for 2019. The model is extended with the structural path analysis (SPA) methodology, which allows us to trace and quantify the critical interactions in the impacts' dissemination process from their origin until reaching their destination as final demand in a specific industry and region. The SPA method is explored both in gross and net terms as complementary perspectives to disentangle the complexity of global value chains, which is the main contribution of our approach. The net assessment accounts just for interindustry transactions, whereas the gross analysis considers all steps of the value chain, even those occurring at an intraindustry level. In this work, we analyze a case study to expose the features of this proposal, which focuses on assessing the global reach of forced labor in the cotton industry in the two leading worldwide cotton producers. Textile global value chains are intricate and complex, making it hard to trace the negative social impacts linked to them. Therefore, a deeper understanding of how forced labor is disseminated worldwide until reaching developed nations is necessary to shed light on the social sustainability debate. Although this kind of forced labor seems to be a regional affair, our results show that more than 13% of the estimated forced workers are attributed to the European Union and the United States consumption, respectively, with apparel, footwear, and textiles as key goods embodying these workers. After analyzing the specific paths of dissemination linked to the fashion demand of the European Union and the United States, our key findings show the predominant role of the Chinese and Indian textile industries in most paths given the high number of intrasectoral transformations inside this sector. We also show that forced labor in the Chinese cotton industry is even more distant to the final consumer than usual unskilled labor, which is an additional obstacle to its traceability.

When will the «Battle for the Dnipro» end in public consciousness: a discussion around the re-exposition of diorama and the hall of the history of the World War II in the Dmytro Yavornitskiy Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum

The article highlights the key issues of the social debate that broke out in the city of Dnipro in 2017‒2022 as part of the modernization of the «Battle for the Dnipro» diorama and the re-exposition of the hall of the history of the WWII in Dmytro Yavornitskiy Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum. The need for re-exposition was caused by the technical condition of the existing museum space and the challenges of de- Sovietization and decolonization. Despite the obvious need for periodic renewal of the museum space, a large part of the city’s public took a confrontational approach to the museum. This social confrontation was caused by nostalgia for the Soviet Union, the mass perception of the museum as an unchanging space, the desire of individual citizens to see the stories of their ancestors in the exposition, that is, a kind of «appropriation of memories». The war for the heroes and symbols of the new exhibition and for the dead lines of implementation of this museum project, which is taking place in the public consciousness of our time, seems to metaphorically continue the «Battle for the Dnipro» of 1943. Currently, due to the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, active repair work in the museum has stopped. Despite the social pressure, the group working on the re-exposition, nevertheless, continues to stand on the positions of anthropocentrism, the importance to highlight uncomfortable issues and fill the "blind spots" of history with museum methods. The «Battle for the Dnipro» diorama, the World War II History Hall, and the Museum of the Modern Russian- Ukrainian War, combined in space, will become a complete complex of the military history of the region.

Researching Attitude–Identity Dynamics to Understand Social Conflict and Change

AbstractSocieties undergo constant change, manifested in various ways such as technological developments, economic transitions, reorganization of cultural values and beliefs, or changes in social structures. Individuals play an active role in shaping social and societal change by interactively negotiating its manifestation. However, this shaping of change is seldom harmonious; instead, it is often characterized by dissent and conflict. This special section gathers a collection of articles concerned with the role of attitude–identity dynamics in contexts of contemporary conflict and change. The corpus of research that builds this special section describes mutual impacts of attitudes and identities, explores different actors in social debates and covers a wide range of both established and innovative research methodology. This introduction summarizes and synthesizes the various contributions and offers insights into future research directions.

The prolonged dilemma: Refugees' impact on labour market in Türkiye

AbstractTürkiye has a long history of hosting millions of refugees, but since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, it has emerged as the world's leading refugee‐hosting country. Due to this fact, the frequency of refugee inflows to Türkiye has attracted us to explore refugees' macroeconomic impacts as the ongoing political and social debates in Türkiye regarding refugees are immensely focused on their economic impacts. Hence, this paper investigates the effect of refugees on unemployment in Türkiye. The study utilizes the Auto Regressive Distributed Lags (ARDL) Bounds Test approach from 1991 to 2021. Our results yield the pronounced positive and aggravating impact of refugees on unemployment rates in Türkiye. Türkiye's policymakers should focus on local economic policies to improve the refugees' formal integration into the labour market to resolve the negative economic effect of refugee hosting on the labour market.

The gender pay gap (GPG): Evidence and comparisons between the Italian and UK pay systems

The gender pay gap (GPG) is a very relevant issue in Italy, but also in the international context, and it generates significant political and social debate. This study contributes to this discussion by presenting the empirical results of an analysis of the impact of the new provisions set out in Law No. 162/2021 for Italian companies that are required, with more than 50 employees, to submit a periodic report on the GPG. This significant change in progress requires companies to understand both which indicator to use to calculate the level of the pay gap and how to report the information, especially in the non-financial report.

The Question of Democracy: Universal Value or An Ideal

Democracy signifies the rule of the people by which decisions are made by the majority in terms of how they are governed, and this concept has finally come to be construed as a form of government where sovereign powers are vested in elected representatives. Social scientists debate whether democracy is an ideal or a value. In that sense, we argue that it is a value that can lead to good governance and makes a State meet its obligation of ensuring that its citizens enjoy their rights fully and if there are derogations, done within the limits of the prescribed law. However, we treat democracy as an ideal because it can never be realized in totality and Dahl’s concept of polyarchy takes center stage in the practice of democracy.

Empreendedorismo 50+: Superando barreiras e promovendo um ecossistema empreendedor

ABSTRACT Purpose: This article investigates the main initiatives that contribute to developing a sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) aimed at entrepreneurs 50+ (E50+) in Brazil. Originality/value: Entrepreneurs 50+ more present in political, social, and academic debates, and the EE emerge as a dynamic force that shapes the economic performance of regions, companies, and individuals. Entrepreneurs 50+ are active in various ecosystems, which can be formal—such as those composed of universities, governments, private initiatives, or funders—and informal—such as those formed by family, friends, or personal contacts. The lack of a specific representation for senior entrepreneurs in ecosystems has been the subject of discussions in the field of scientific knowledge of entrepreneurship. However, they are still incipient in studies in the area. Design/methodology/approach: This is a qualitative and descriptive research. Data was collected through a Focus Group conducted online with seven experts in 50+ entrepreneurship. The data was then entered into the ATLAS.ti software and analyzed using content analysis. Findings: The suggested initiatives focus on coaching training, access to financial resources, training and specialization courses, support, and communication from public and private entities. The survey results point to the need for greater attention from representative bodies concerning this specific niche, highlighting the importance of developing a set of political, governmental, and private initiatives. From an integrated perspective, there is a need to implement actions that minimize potential barriers and trends related to the growth of unemployment among older adults, whose objective is to promote the inclusion of entrepreneurs 50+ in the EE.

THE RIGHT TO WEAR HIJAB: CONSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND EQUALITY

The right to wear the hijab has been at the center of law and social debates, especially in light of constitutional rights to religious freedom and equal rights. While people argue about the idea of secularism and how it should be interpreted in different law settings, the principle of equality, which says that no one should be treated differently because of their religion, is at the heart of this argument. The study stresses how hard it is to balance religious freedom with secular policies that try to make public spaces more uniform, especially in multicultural and diverse countries. The Karnataka High Court ruled that wearing the hijab is not an essential religious practice for Muslim women and upheld the State's authority to prescribe dress codes in government educational institutions, considering it a reasonable restriction under Articles 19(1)(a) and 21 of the Constitution which is a setback that takes away women's right to "freedom of choice, individual autonomy or freedom of conscience, and freedom of religion." This is despite the fact that India's Constitutional courts have made many decisions in favor of women's rights. In the controversial decision, it was said that wearing the Hijab is not a required religious practice in Islam. There are still a lot of problems that need to be fixed when looking at the issue of "freedom of conscience" under Article 25 of the Constitution.

Unmasking white delusion: a critical analysis for the organization

The article summarizes the arguments of the social debate regarding white delusion in the organization. This article delves into the phenomenon of white delusion, a term coined by the author, Stacey Morin, which signifies a lack of awareness and denial of systemic racial disparities in marginalized communities. The analysis focuses on Morin’s and Bishop’s conceptualization of white delusion in the organization and the subsequent development of the Unmasking White Delusion: DEI model. This model, grounded in the framework of critical race theory, explores the denial, evaluation, and implementation phases, which aim to address and eliminate white delusion within organizations. The research contributes to the ongoing dialogue surrounding diversity and inclusion and addresses a gap in knowledge. The systematization of literary sources and approaches to solving the problem indicates that the white delusion is harmful to the organization. The urgency of addressing this problem stems from the absence of an inclusive and diverse culture, leading to diminished productivity and innovation. Our research methodology followed a logical sequence, beginning with a systematic literature review that critically analyzed the issue of white delusion within the organizational context. The objective was to unravel its complexities and comprehend how it impedes progress toward a more inclusive and equitable culture. The literature was critically analyzed based on concepts aligned with each phase of the Unmasking White Delusion: DEI model within the overarching framework of critical race theory. We contend that adopting the Unmasking White Delusion DEI model will play a pivotal role in mitigating the adverse effects of white delusion within the organization. The results from our thorough analysis of the literature review spurred the development of the Unmasking White Delusion: DEI model. This model serves as a visual guide and strategic tool for organizations seeking to eradicate white delusion and cultivate a culture of psychological safety for minority employees. By applying this model and integrating the Critical Race Theory framework, organizations can effectively confront white delusion through a comprehensive three-phase approach—denial, evaluation, and implementation. This entails organizations recognizing, assessing, and translating insights into actionable strategies, fostering a more inclusive and equitable workplace. The main conclusions of the research highlight the multifaceted process of eliminating white delusion in the organization.

Gendered Childhoods, Linear Sex Development and Unruly Temporalities

AbstractThis article addresses a growing social and legal debate around healthcare provision for gender diverse children. Temporality is used as a theoretical lens to highlight how biological determinism has informed legal approaches to gender diverse children in a series of recent cases. In these cases, accounts of sex and gender as temporally linear are troubled by gender diverse children whose gender does not arise ‘inevitably’ from their sex. The Court’s reaction to this conflicts with recent shifts in healthcare which have begun to reframe the temporal pathways from childhood to adulthood away from singular towards multiple futures where gender is capable of being both ‘paused’ and ‘reversed’. Law’s commitment to ‘linearity’ and ‘permenance’ in its conceptions of the temporality of childhood are a key but emerging locus in the reinforcement of heteronormative temporalities downplaying contemporary harms to the child in favour of speculative future harm.

The politicizing clinic: insights on ‘the social’ for mental health policy and practice

PurposeIn this paper, we explore how Brazilian socially sensitive therapy can respond to care-users’ desire to change the social and political forces shaping their lives. We use this case to demonstrate the limits of the “social determinants of health” agenda which, when operationalized, tends to leave questions of lasting structural change aside.MethodsWe report on mixed methods ethnographic and epidemiological results from the 1982 Pelotas (Brazil) birth cohort study, a prospective study of 5914 children. Ethnographic analysis explored the cyclical relationship between schooling, mental health care, conceptualizations of mental distress, social and political engagement, and experiences with diverse forms of discrimination. Epidemiological bivariate and multivariate analyses examined differences in socio-political participation and the reporting of discrimination at different time-points for participants who used therapy with those who did not. Effect modification analysis tested the hypothesis that the socially empowering effects of therapy were greater for marginalized and minoritized youth. ResultsMost young people living in situations of precarity experienced therapy, particularly when based in schools, to be a blame-inducing process. A more fulfilling and impactful therapeutic experience took shape when young people were able to shift the focus away from symptom reduction and behavioral management toward narrative life analyses, social debate, and political agency. Use of socially sensitive therapy was statistically associated with increased political participation and reporting of discrimination after controlling for confounders. The empowering effects of therapy were greater for those with less formal education and family income, but not for young people who identified as black, brown, or non-white.ConclusionThe findings underscore the importance of considering agency, sociality, and politics when theorizing “the social” in clinical practice, and health and social policy.

Identifying the components of foundational Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy - Early results from a Delphi study

This article provides some initial results from the first phase of a Delphi study to identify the critical components of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy curriculum. This article explores the study results that address a four-level capability model, but only the lowest level of this model. The Delphi panel comprised 17 experts in AI, and the first round of the study used a survey to gather the experts' responses in three areas that were based on previous literature - knowledge (and concepts) of AI, skills related to AI, and understanding AI in context. A structured thematic analysis revealed several themes under these categories. For foundational knowledge and concepts, it was determined that three areas were needed, namely 1) what is AI? 2) applications of AI, and 3) AI technologies. Skills were divided into cognitive and technical skills, with cognitive skills further divided into 21st-century and applied skills. Understandings comprised social issues, risks, and debates. The repeated ideas that formed these themes gave rich insights into how an AI literacy curriculum might be structured and provided a firm foundation for subsequent rounds of the study, which will involve further iteration and consolidation of these ideas.

The decolonial wor(l)ds of Indigenous women

ABSTRACT This article focuses on Indigenous women’s narrative and storytelling tradition and its relation to decolonial ecologies. It argues that Indigenous women’s narratives, both written and orally transmitted, constitute sites of defiance to the eco-social structures of settler colonialism and imperialism. Drawing on the case of Palestine, the article reveals that ‘zoocentric environmentalism,’ as represented by an Israeli installation at the Venice Biennale, incarnates the material and symbolic constituents of Zionist blooming enterprise. That is, such presumed forms of progressive ‘non-anthropocentric’ engagements with ecological calamities unveil the historical continuity of the Zionist project that aims to erase Indigenous Palestinians and their multigenerational, more-than-human place thought. To counter universalising environmental projects and their inherent colonial violence, the article engages with place-based stories of a Palestinian woman’s novella; more-than-human ancestral knowledge shared by Palestinian women elders; and a visual-media project showing Palestinian refugee women returning to their ancestral villages. The article’s overall aim is to advance an Indigenous situated approach to decolonising today’s environmentalism and to centre Palestine in the wider social and cultural geography debate on Indigeneity, decolonial ecologies, and storytelling.

The Conflict over Białowieża Forest in the Light of Philip Kitcher's Ideal Deliberation.

Environmental conflicts involve many participants in the social life: citizens, foresters, the media, activists, politicians, officials and scientists. In this paper we pay special attention to scientists who provide the others with expert knowledge and proposals for solutions to ecological problems. Using the example of the ecological conflict around the strategy of protection of Białowieża Forest against the invasion of the spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus), we will present how these scientific functions were performed as well as what communication mistakes were made, and formulate a postulate to enrich forest management with a participatory model of social debate involving scientists representing all possible approaches to the problem. Our proposal applies Kitcher's framework giving a ground for different stakeholders to come together to address complex environmental issues. Fitting into the trend of deliberative democracy, the paper provides an insight from philosophy that can be applied to controversial issues of policy and management, and how to influence an environmental change.

Sanctity of Life or God's Command? Investigating Religious Determinants of Attitudes Toward Three Cases of Unnatural Death: Capital Punishment, Abortion, and Euthanasia.

Whether individuals may decide to end other people's or their own lives has always been a matter of ethical and social debate. The current research explores attitudes toward three cases of unnatural death: capital punishment, abortion, and euthanasia. One considerable factor that shapes individuals' attitudes toward human intervention in death is religion. This paper argues that religion causes significant changes in individuals' mindsets toward human intervention in the death process. Therefore, the present research examines how religion affects attitudes toward the death penalty, abortion, and euthanasia. This study proposes differentiating religion into four dimensions: religiosity, spirituality, afterlife beliefs, and religious affiliation. Using data from the 2018 wave of the General Social Survey (GSS), the present research found that religion's various dimensions have distinct effects on attitudes toward the death penalty, abortion, and euthanasia.