Social Markers Research Articles

Social mobility as a driver of employee silence in India: toward a contextualized understanding of silence in emerging markets

PurposeThis paper aims to explore how the context in a dynamically developing country affects employee silence in India.Design/methodology/approachQualitative design involving semi-structured interviews with employees and managers from different sectors in the Mumbai and Delhi areas. An abductive approach was used to analyze the data.FindingsTwo types of social mobility concerns – advancement aspiration and fear of social decline – emerged as salient drivers of silence and can be attributed to a volatile job market, social status markers, transferability of qualification, someone’s socio-economic situation and the overall economic situation. Pathways were specified from social mobility concerns to silence tendencies that are motivated by both low approach and high avoidance.Research limitations/implicationsSocial mobility as a specific factor in the Indian distal context and as a characteristic of emerging markets can motivate silence while organization-related concepts like job satisfaction or commitment may have less predictive value. Propositions that were derived from the interview study need to be validated by deductive research. Generalizability of Indian findings across other emergent markets needs to be shown.Originality/valueTo the organizational behavior (OB) scholarship on silence, this research contributes by identifying antecedents of silence that are situated beyond the organizational boundaries challenging the dominant role of established factors at the team- and organizational level. To the human resource management/employment relations (HRM/ER) scholarship, this research contributes by theorizing psychological processes that link environmental factors to silence behaviors.

Portrayals of Voice and Mental Disability in Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts

The article examines portrayals of mental disability in the final chapter of Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts . By examining three characters in “A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe,” the article demonstrates how divergence is foregrounded in the narrative, how a standard for “normality” is constructed in a community, as well as how this affects the narrator. The last chapter foregrounds the first-person narrator’s childhood community, and sheds light on how that community disseminates standards for “normality.” The analysis shows that the narrator sees mental disability as a social marker that dictates how a person is perceived and received within her community. The way in which the mentally disabled characters are portrayed in the narrative implies that, regardless of the nature of the divergence or how it is manifested, the divergence itself is the key element that proves detrimental to both the narrator and the characters who are described. The article suggests that Kingston, by foregrounding mentally disabled characters in the final chapter of The Woman Warrior , ultimately highlights the power that communities wield over an individual in determining what is considered “normal” and “acceptable.”

Beyond Instrumentarianism: Automated Facial Recognition Systems in Brazil and Digital Colonialism’s Violence

Although critical of contemporary capitalism, and the injustices and asymmetries derived from it, current conceptualisations of ‘surveillance capitalism’ have been developed from within the Global North, paying little attention to the effects and ramifications of this new phase of capitalism for the global periphery. This text looks at this phenomenon from the Global South, emphasising the concept not as a territorial marker but contingent on social relations, intersecting ethnic, nationality and social class markers. Its objective is to explore the applications of automated facial recognition systems in Brazil, discussing how they reinforce a disciplinary logic of social subordination and diversify forms of symbolic violence. In this context, from the perspective of digital colonialism, we aim to highlight how the operation of such systems in the Global South contests and challenges the idea of soft instrumentarian control. It analyses the manifestations of surveillance capitalism in the Global South as enablers of digital colonialism, where disciplinary and violent social effects are fostered. It describes the functioning of AFR and its extensive relationship with colonial practices. To deepen our discussion, we will briefly focus on the application in public security and schools in Brazil, describing its controversies and disciplinary logic. Furthermore, it addresses the problematisation of instrumentarian power through post-colonial and digital colonialism approaches, arguing that the effects of deploying digital technologies globally are not restricted to data plundering but also foster complex social effects, such as dependency and violence.

Peculiarities of Organising Events under Martial Law Conditions

The aim of the article is to analyse the social purpose and to ground peculiarities of organising events under martial law conditions. Results. To achieve the goal of the scientific research, the comparative and systematic methods are used. They allowed to identify and substantiate the specifics of organising events in Ukraine after the Russian full-scale invasion, as well as to outline main directions of functioning and prospects for the development of events in the post-war time. The events are viewed as a symbolic capital of culture, its social marker, a universal means of realising the culture creating potential of the public, which stimulates the study of organisational features of events under martial law conditions. The article traces the relationship between social tendencies and event formats during the Russian aggression; specifies the problems that accompany the process of organising events since the beginning of the full-scale invasion; grounds their content and thematic direction; outlines the directions of functioning of events in the post-war time. Scientific novelty. It is proved that events held in Ukraine during the martial law go through a few stages of functioning: the stage of stagnation and re-profiling, which is inherent to event agencies in the first months of the war; the stage of a peculiar revival, which begins in the summer of 2022 and lasts until the end of 2023; the stage of adaptation and recovery, which begins in early 2024 and continues to nowadays. These periods differ in terms of event formats, target audience, and functional focus. Conclusions. It is proved that the specifics of event organisation under martial law conditions are relevant goals and objectives of a certain event; theming and structure of the event, innovative approaches to the format of the event and the way of its implementation. Such a vision is substantiated that in the post-war years the Ukrainian event industry will be characterised by a symbiosis of international, Ukrainian and local tendencies in the development of the event industry with an emphasis on the cultural ecosystem and public activity

Transnational Intersectionality at Sea: Gender, Appearance, Ethnicity, Age and Marine Knowledge Production

<p>Knowledge production is inherently social, as humans interpret their environment. Scientific knowledge production differs from non-scientific ones in their systematic data collection for validation, yet both involve a social element shaping our understanding of the world. The article investigates social contestation processes as part of knowledge producing processes on a German research vessel and in German and Brazilian marine science institutes with a particular focus on the social identity markers of gender, ethnicity, and age and how they affect team-based sense-making processes. Methodologically, our research draws on participant observation of following marine scientists and associated non-scientists in their daily working routines, as well as semi-structured interviews on a research vessel in 2021 and in marine science institutes from 2022 to 2024. Conceptually, the research follows approaches of the Sociology of Knowledge (Keller et al., 2018) and intersectional approaches (Grabe & Else-Quest, 2012; Patil, 2013) that integrate transnational experiences across national borders and other (physical) boundaries. Based on the empirical research, we assess transnational intersectional sense-making practices at sea. Our findings show that 1) (sexual) harassment in marine knowledge production processes occurs independent of localities, 2) intersectional discrimination at sea leads either to emancipation processes or to withdrawal, 3) tensions especially arise between scientists and non-scientists, which broadens the gap between these social groups and knowledge systems. We conclude by providing recommendations for increased intersectional and female workforce at sea and in marine sciences, so that the doing of research and work at sea can be more inclusive, equal, and safe.</p>

Beyond “Pressure”: Peer Influences on e-Cigarette Use in Young Australian Narratives of Vaping

Background In the early 2020s, Australian media and public health organizations described the rapid rise in youth e-cigarette uptake, portraying this as a “peer pressure” problem wherein vulnerable young people were being led or bullied into vaping by the “cool” kids. Yet, the peer pressure framing of vaping fails to account for young people's rituals of nicotine consumption and ways social drug economies are organized. Methods In 2023, we conducted qualitative interviews and ethnographic research with 24 young people ages 17 to 25, both vapers and nonvapers, in New South Wales, Australia. We investigated their embodied experiences of vaping, observations of peers’ vaping practices, and beliefs about vaping policy. We analyzed their accounts for themes and here report our findings, illustrated with participants’ quotes and an ethnographic portrait of a Sydney high school vape seller. Results The notion that young people are “pressured” into vaping lacked emic meaning for our participants. Their accounts reveal three ways that vaping is social beyond “pressure.” First, social vape market offers entrepreneurial teens money-earning opportunities, mediated by social networks and markers of peer esteem, prestige, and trust. Second, vapes are exchanged as both gifts and commodities in sharing economies, offering social opportunities and scripts for recreational interactions. Third, e-cigarettes as material objects provide esthetic and gustatory pleasures that are both individually enjoyed and socially performed in rituals of taste and display. Discussion These three perspectives on the sociality of vaping help nuance our understanding of how and why young people vape, and also suggest why public health outreach efforts may not be effective when they reduce youth vaping uptake to peer pressure. As youth vape use is on the rise in Australia, these perspectives matter for understanding this important social phenomenon and may help policy development move beyond simplifications of youth cultural motivations.

Social health markers in the context of cognitive decline and dementia: an international qualitative study.

Social health in the context of dementia has recently gained interest. The development of a social health conceptual framework at the individual and social environmental levels, has revealed a critical need for a further exploration of social health markers that can be used in the development of dementia intervention and to construct social health measures. To identify social health markers in the context of dementia. This international qualitative study included six countries: Australia, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Poland, and the Netherlands. Using purposive sampling, three to five cases per country were recruited to the study, with each case consisting of a person living with dementia, a primary informal caregiver, an active network member, and a health care professional involved in the care of the person with dementia. In-depth interviews, using an agreed topic guide, and content analysis were conducted to identify known and new social health markers. The codes were then categorized against our conceptual framework of social health. Sixty-seven participants were interviewed. We identified various social health markers, ranging from those that are commonly used in epidemiological studies such as loneliness to novel markers of social health at the individual and the social environmental level. Examples of novel individual-level markers were efforts to comply with social norms and making own choices in, for example, keeping contact or refusing support. At a social environmental level, examples of novel markers were proximity (physical distance) and the function of the social network of helping the person maintaining dignity. The current study identified both well-known and novel social health markers in the context of dementia, mapped to the social health framework we developed. Future research should focus on translating these markers into validated measures and on developing social health focused interventions for persons with dementia.

Predicting newborn birth outcomes with prenatal maternal health features and correlates in the United States: a machine learning approach using archival data

BackgroundNewborns are shaped by prenatal maternal experiences. These include a pregnant person’s physical health, prior pregnancy experiences, emotion regulation, and socially determined health markers. We used a series of machine learning models to predict markers of fetal growth and development—specifically, newborn birthweight and head circumference (HC).MethodsWe used a pre-registered archival data analytic approach. These data consisted of maternal and newborn characteristics of 594 maternal-infant dyads in the western U.S. Participants also completed a measure of emotion dysregulation. In total, there were 22 predictors of newborn HC and birthweight. We used regularized regression for predictor selection and linear prediction, followed by nonlinear models if linear models were overfit.ResultsHC was predicted best with a linear model (ridge regression). Newborn sex (male), number of living children, and maternal BMI predicted a larger HC, whereas maternal preeclampsia, number of prior preterm births, and race/ethnicity (Latina) predicted a smaller HC. Birthweight was predicted best with a nonlinear model (support vector machine). Occupational prestige (a marker similar to socioeconomic status) predicted higher birthweight, maternal race/ethnicity (non-White and non-Latina) predicted lower birthweight, and the number of living children, prior preterm births, and difficulty with emotional clarity had nonlinear effects.ConclusionsHC and birthweight were predicted by a variety of variables associated with prenatal stressful experiences, spanning medical, psychological, and social markers of health and stress. These findings may highlight the importance of viewing prenatal maternal health across multiple dimensions. Findings also suggest that assessing difficulties with emotional clarity during standard obstetric care (in the U.S.) may help identify risk for adverse newborn outcomes.

Social Markers of Differences in Fruit and/or Vegetable Consumption Among Brazilians: An Intersectional Analysis

Objective The objective of this study was to examine the differences in fruit and/or vegetable consumption (FVC) among Brazilian adults by examining various social markers, such as gender, race, income, and education level. Method A cross-sectional study of 88,531 Brazilian adults aged 18 years or older who participated in the 2019 National Health Survey was conducted. The dependent variable was irregular FVC (<5 d/wk). Individuals at the highest risk for irregular FVC include those who are men and Black and who have lower education levels and lower income. Individuals at lower risk include those who are women and White and who have higher education levels and higher income. The prevalence of irregular FVC was calculated considering the levels of the social risk index for FVC and the intersections among two, three, and four risk categories. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) analyses were performed to compare groups at higher risk with those at lower risk. Results The prevalence of irregular FVC was 57.2% in the general population, 38.1% for individuals in the lowest risk group, 47.5% for individuals in one risk category, 57.9% for individuals in two risk categories, 67.6% for individuals in three risk categories, and 74.4% for individuals in the highest-risk group, and there were significant differences at each level. The highest risk group had a 4.36 (95% CI, 3.86–4.92) times greater chance of irregular FVC. Conclusions The complex path to promote FVC among the Brazilian population underscores the need for intersectoral policies aimed at reducing inequalities.

From Parliament to Party: The Gender‐Sensitive Parliamentary Group

Gender-sensitive parliaments are an emergent international norm. Research primarily focused on parliaments as gendered workplaces functioning with formal and informal rules and routines that either constrain or promote gender equality. We shift the focus to parliamentary groups and parties in public office as key actors in achieving a gender-sensitive parliament. We argue that they play a crucial role in many parliamentary systems and can actively contribute to gender-sensitive transformations. Building on the gender-sensitive parliament literature, we first explore the potential of parliamentary groups to improve parliamentary functioning across four aspects: representation, policy-making, engagement with societal interests, and groups as gender-sensitive workplaces. Secondly, we delve into the broader parliamentary and party contexts, recognizing how factors such as the diversity of parliamentary systems, organizational structures, parties in central office, and political dynamics shape parliamentary groups’ room for manoeuvre. We conclude by calling for further empirical, but especially conceptual, research to develop intersectionality-sensitive parliaments which we suggest are crucial for dismantling existing power hierarchies based on social markers.

Exploring gerontology in Tuku’s selected songs: the case of ‘Wasakara’ (2000) and ‘Ndakuvara’ (2002)

ABSTRACT This paper critically discusses two (2) songs of Oliver Mtukudzi (Tuku) to decipher his perceptions and imaginings of the process and experience of aging in Zimbabwe. These songs are Wasakara (2000) and Ndakuvara (2002). Mtukudzi’s music popularly known as Tuku music is hailed for entertaining and admonishing the public through powerful moral messages of personhood and self-discipline. It is important to appreciate his teachings regarding aging, especially seeing how population aging is fast becoming a reality in southern Africa and Zimbabwe. While the entertainment and pedagogical value of Tuku music has been widely acknowledged, the gerontological meaning deriving from it may not always be apparent. Gerontologists appreciate how music, as a cultural medium, communicates messages of aging to society, especially messages from famous musicians such as Oliver Mtukudzi. Among the important themes pursued by Mtukudzi are the intergenerational reciprocity of care and the physiological, psychological and social markers of aging.

South Sudanese Refugee Higher Education Access in Uganda: An Intersectionality Enquiry

This study was guided by the intersectionality theory, originally developed by Kimberlé Crenshaw. According to Crenshaw, the theory assumes that people have multiple biological, social and cultural identity markers that intersect, resulting in experiences of privilege or disadvantage, inclusion or discrimination. However, the theory maintains that marginalized individuals are not homogeneous and they experience discrimination and inclusion in different ways. The intersectionality theory also recognizes power dynamics and how structural, political and representational domains, intersect and produce complex patterns of discrimination, inequality and disadvantage. Ultimately, the intersectionality theory asserts that effective activism and social change require recognizing and addressing the intersections of various forms of oppression, and advocating for justice across multiple fronts. This exposes discrimination and exclusion that would have otherwise gone unnoticed, also giving voice to the disadvantaged and excluded. The study adopted a qualitative approach, an exploratory case study design, and an advocacy/ participatory philosophical lens. Twenty-seven purposively sampled participants took part in the study. They included 12 undergraduates from two private Ugandan universities, 13 government and non-governmental organization (NGO) officials, two officials from public and private universities, all involved in refugee higher education. Data was collected through a literature review, in-depth interviews with key informants and students, and a students’ focus group discussion. The study established that higher education access for South Sudanese refugees in Uganda involves multiple intersectional prohibitive and also supportive factors. The study therefore recommends that through situational analysis and needs assessment, Uganda develops clear objectives, activities and outcomes in the Education Response Plan, to establish the divergent supportive and prohibitive factors and cater for the various refugee student needs. The study also designed the refugee access and resilience (RARE) model to assist in the aforementioned regard

Quilombola women confronting digital discrimination in Brazil

This work discusses the relationship between digital disconnection and the violation of rights in Quilombola territories. Quilombolas are an ethnic-racial group with Black origins associated with oppression and resistance over the centuries in Brazil. The research was conducted with 41 women aged between 18 and 73 who are leaders in 35 remaining Quilombola communities in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The impacts of limited access to information and communications technology (ICT) were assessed using an intersectional perspective, considering social markers of difference such as gender, social class, ethnic-racial belonging, and territory. The results show that 11 territories lack internet service, significantly restricting access to information, health, education, and social participation. The research points to the need for considering digital inequity as another matrix of intersectional oppression, as being disconnected or having restrictions on access and use of ICT increases the vulnerability of these territories, especially for the Quilombola women.

Social markers in brazilian education: between right and professional qualifications

Social markers in brazilian education: between right and professional qualifications

SOCIAL FACTORS AFFECTING STYLE VARIATION

This research delves into how gender, age, ethnicity, social network, socioeconomic status, and other social factors impact language choices regarding style. This is called style variation, when people's speech patterns, dialects, and registers change based on social circumstances. Vocabulary is a powerful tool for self-expression and group identification, and this analysis shows how people change their vocabulary to fit in or stand out from their social circles. How prevailing social standards impact linguistic prestige and stigmatization is one area that the article delves into, as does the impact of power dynamics and social stratification on language patterns more generally. The study shows how language is a social identity marker that reflects larger social structures and interactions through case studies and sociolinguistic research. The results indicate that differences in style are not static but depend on the surrounding environment. They are an integral part of society and lighten the relationship between language, culture, and personal identity.

Evidence That Pervasive Body Gaze Behavior in Heterosexual Men Is a Social Marker for Implicit, Physiological, and Explicit Sexual Assault Propensities.

Deliberate and effortful attempts to gaze at the bodies of women is emerging as a valuable marker of sexual objectification in men. Some preliminary evidence suggests that pervasive body gaze behavior may also accompany insidious attitudes which can facilitate sexual assault. The present study aimed to further explore this potential by examining pervasive body gaze associations with explicit, implicit, and physiological sexual assault propensity measures. We presented 110 heterosexual male participants with images of fully and partially dressed women with and without injuries while measuring their skin conductance responses. We also captured implicit and explicit sexual assault measures in addition to self-reported pervasive body gaze behavior. Pervasive body gaze behavior was significantly correlated with rape myth acceptance attitudes, prior perpetration of sexual assault, a stronger implicit association between erotica and aggression, and lower physiological reactivity during exposure to partially dressed injured women. These findings suggest that body gaze towards women could be a behavioral marker for inclinations to victim blame, preferences for rough sexual conduct, and a physiological desensitization towards female victims. This study further validates a five item self-reported body gaze measure as a valuable tool for detecting deviant sexual objectification attitudes and affective states. As such, measurement and observation of body gaze behavior could be useful for developing risk assessments, estimating intervention efficacy, and enhancing public awareness.

MTV Brazil: musical repertoire and construction of a televised youth (1990)

Objective/context: this article analyzes the construction of youth representations through the musical repertoire produced by MTV Brasil in its first year. The objective is to understand the musical segments most explored by the broadcaster during this period, as well as how to articulate their protagonism in the transformation of the “youth music” category, with a singular impact on Brazilian youth culture. mtv was a television channel aimed at young audiences, which started in the United States in 1981 and arrived in Brazil in 1990 through Grupo Abril, a national media conglomerate. The broadcast on Brazilian soil is based on the American format, showing musical videos from artists and specific musical segments, with a strong attraction for consumption in this sector of the population. Methodology: considering music as a social marker, this study analyzes the specific repertoire of musical segments and artists produced by the broadcaster as a means of identification. Therefore, an examination based on the first musical videos by Brazilian artists produced by the broadcaster and broadcast in its first year is proposed. Originality: the level of importance of certain media or media programs in the constitution of the identities of social agents, especially in the development of juvenile identities in the recent past, is only a little analyzed. Conclusions: it can be concluded that MTV operated as a musical authority for young people, acting as a curator of what they should consume to perform their youthful condition, acting as an artificer of youth. The broadcaster was based on its initial repertoire among a group of artists linked to rock music, with a strong influence on the recording industry in the 1990s and a decisive impact on Brazilian youth.

Relationship between social cognition and emotional markers and acoustic-verbal hallucination in youth with post-traumatic stress disorder: Protocol for a prospective, 2-year, longitudinal case-control study.

Auditory-verbal hallucinatory experiences (AVH) have a 12% prevalence in the general pediatric population. Literature reports a higher risk of developing AVH in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The persistence of AVHs during adolescence represents a risk of evolution into psychotic disorders. Social cognition and emotional markers could be considered prodromes markers of this evolution. The objectives of this prospective observational study are to observe social cognition and emotional markers correlation with the presence and persistence of AVH over two years and with the evolution of PTSD and psychotic diagnosis. This prospective case-control study, longitudinal over two years (with an interim reassessment at six months and one year), will include 40 participants aged 8 to 16 years old with a diagnosis of PTSD and without a diagnosis of psychosis according to the criteria of DSM-5 (K-SADS-PL). Subjects included are divided into two groups with AVH and without AVH matched by gender, age and diagnosis. The primary outcome measure will be the correlation between social cognition and emotional makers and the presence of AVH in the PTSD pediatric population without psychotic disorders. The social cognition marker is assessed with the NEPSY II test. The emotional marker is assessed with the Differential Emotion Scale IV and the Revised Beliefs About Voices Questionnaire. The secondary outcome measures are the correlation of these markers with the persistence of AVH and the evolution of the patient's initial diagnosis two years later. The originality of our protocol is to explore the potential progression to psychosis from PTSD by cognitive biases. This study supports the hypothesis of connections between PTSD and AVH through sensory, emotional and cognitive biases. It proposes a continuum model from PTSD to psychotic disorder due to impaired perception like AVH. Clinical trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03356028.

THE PANDEMIC AND THE FEMININE: An analysis of the impacts of the post covid-19 scenario for women

The Covid-19 pandemic has re-signified numerous approaches to the social relationships established until then, especially those marked by gender, as women were greatly and differently impacted due to historically delineated specificities. This work focused on analyzing the consequences of the pandemic among women from the perspective of extracting a critical reflection of social markers, such as class and race/ethnicity, as predominant in women’s exclusion from the labor market and their difficult reallocation in the post-pandemic. This work is a cross-sectional and exploratory study, including a qualitative approach and with field research, realized through semi-structured interviews by carried out by phone calls to record the implications of the post-pandemic period for women. It was observed that the reabsorption of women by the labor market in the post-pandemic period is still a major challenge for public policies to combat gender inequality. The present study was approved by the Ethics and Research Committee of the University of Franca/UNIFRAN.

Is It Possible to Decolonize the Field of Physical Activity and Health?

Is it possible to decolonize the field of physical activity and health? Decoloniality presupposes a body-geopolitical location, such as in the Brazilian and Latin American context, where it is crucial to use social identity lenses related to race, gender, sexuality, and other social markers that affect the body. Understanding health and physical activity from a decolonial perspective would bring the oppressions that connect capitalism, patriarchy, and racism to the center of the discussion. For a "physical activity other," we challenged the general recommendation of physical activity in the 4 domains. Physical activity should be understood as an end in itself, as a right, and as human development. Approaches that advocate physical activity at work, at home, and while commuting use other human activities to relate these domains to health without considering the inequalities and oppressions that constitute them in most parts of the world. Is it fair to apply "global recommendations" for physical activity to scenarios such as Brazil and Latin America, using models that are inappropriate to the context and history of these places, people, and cultures? Perhaps it is time to socially reorient and reposition physical activity from a decolonial perspective. We need Black, Indigenous, Latino, African, and other people from the Global South to move the research agenda, recommendations, and policies on physical activity from "any" health to a fair health.