Milieu Research Articles

Embracing Global Englishes in Thailand: Linguistic Diversity and Cultural Integration

The concept of Global Englishes (GE) redefines English as a pluralistic and dynamic entity shaped by sociocultural contexts worldwide, challenging traditional native-speaker norms. This study explores the historical, sociopolitical, and linguistic dimensions of GE, focusing on its implications for English language education and policy in Thailand. Thai English, a localized variety influenced by Thai linguistic and cultural norms, exemplifies how non-native speakers creatively adapt English to suit local communicative needs. Key linguistic features of Thai English, including distinct pronunciation patterns, lexical innovations, grammatical adaptations, and discourse strategies, reflect the intersection of global and local influences. The study critiques Thailand’s traditional English language teaching (ELT) models, which often privilege Standard English over localized varieties, thereby marginalizing linguistic diversity and limiting students’ communicative competence in global contexts. This paper advocates for integrating diverse English varieties into curricula, enhancing teacher training programs to include GE pedagogy, and promoting multilingualism through inclusive language policies. Emphasizing linguistic diversity and intercultural competence, the study also underscores the need for public awareness campaigns and sustained research to transform societal attitudes and institutional practices. By embracing Global Englishes, Thailand can align its language education policies with the realities of global communication, empowering learners to navigate multicultural contexts confidently. Such an approach contributes to social equity, intercultural understanding, and the development of a more inclusive and globally relevant educational framework.

Using internet-assisted geocoding of 1940 census addresses to reconstruct enumeration districts for use with redlining and longitudinal health datasets.

Many historical administrative documents, such as the 1940 census, have been digitized and thus could be merged with geographic data. Merged data could reveal social determinants of health, health and social policy milieu, life course events, and selection effects otherwise masked in longitudinal datasets. However, most exact boundaries of 1940 census enumeration districts have not yet been georeferenced. These exact boundaries could aid in analysis of redlining and other geographic and social contextual factors important for health outcomes today. Our objective is to locate and map a large set of 1940 enumeration districts. We use online resources and algorithmic solutions to locate and georeference unknown 1940 enumeration districts. We geocode addresses using the OpenCage API and construct "virtual" enumeration districts by using a convex hull algorithm on those geocoded addresses. We also merge in Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) redlining maps from the 1930s to demonstrate how 1940 enumeration districts could be used in future work to examine the association between historic redlining and current health. We geocode 7,228,656 1940 census addresses from the largest 191 US cities in 1940 that contained 84% of the 1940 US urban population from the Geographic Reference File and construct 34,472 virtual enumeration districts in areas that had HOLC redlining maps. 18,340 virtual enumeration districts were previously unmapped, covering cities containing an additional 40% of the 1940 US urban population. Where virtual enumeration districts match with previously mapped districts, 96.8% of paired districts share HOLC redlining categorization. Researchers can use algorithmic methods to quickly process, geocode, merge, and analyze large scale repositories of historical documents that provide important data on social determinants of health. These 1940 enumeration district maps could be used with studies such as the Health and Retirement Study, Panel Study for Income Dynamics, and Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.

#recovery – creating common ground through visual and textual information shared in the eating disorder recovery community on Instagram

Introduction. This exploratory study contributes to information practice research, aiming at increasing the understanding of the perspective of individuals in the social setting of a health community by focusing on the common ground created through shared information. The investigation concentrates on individuals sharing health information in an eating disorder recovery community on Instagram. Method. This study analyses representations of eating disorder recovery on Instagram, focusing on visual and textual shared information. The Instagram posts (pictures and texts) were collected structurally with a crawler based on four selected hashtags. Analysis. The analysis was data-driven, using qualitative and quantified content analysis. The centre of analysis was on image types, and structure, tone and content of the captions. Results. Four types of posts emerged that represent the common ground of affected individuals on Instagram: the Eating Disorder Recovery diary, the proof of eating, the personal transformation, and affirmations. Reflections on community participation and the information practice of sharing were identified. Conclusion. This study provides a deeper understanding of the eating disorder recovery community on Instagram, offering insights into the individuals' personal experiences and thoughts on eating disorder recovery, as well as topics essential for individuals going through recovery. Further, first insights on the health information sharing practices of individuals in eating disorder recovery were gained.

Shaping sustainable perceptions: The role of metaphors in Olympic news discourse.

The dissemination of sustainable development concepts in large international events like the Olympics has garnered great attention. As a major international sports event, the Beijing Winter Olympics served as an important platform for showcasing China's sustainable development philosophy through its official news coverage. In this context, metaphor, as a powerful cognitive tool, plays a crucial role in shaping public perception and facilitating the dissemination of values by mapping concrete source domains onto abstract target domains. This paper constructs a critical metaphor analysis framework for sustainable development, analyzing the mechanisms by which metaphors map the concepts of social, economic, and ecological sustainability, and their multifaceted roles in conveying policy proposals, ideologies, cultural values, and social group behaviors. The findings indicate that metaphors effectively facilitate public understanding of sustainability by concretizing abstract concepts. In the social dimension, metaphors emphasize fairness, cultural diversity, and social solidarity; in the economic dimension, they highlight resource recycling, technological innovation, and industrial upgrading; while in the ecological dimension, the focus is on environmental protection and the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature. Metaphors play a crucial role in shaping public perceptions of policy, reflecting specific values and socio-cultural contexts, facilitating cultural communication and understanding, and enhancing public responsibility and participation awareness.

Investigating Online Quran Interpretation: Methods and Sources on Muslimah.or.id and its Contribution to Online Islamic Discourse

Technological advancements are increasingly shaping daily life. This includes the dissemination of information, with Muslims utilizing technology for Islamic da'wah, particularly Qur'anic interpretation (Tafsīr). While traditionally accessed through physical prints, Tafsīr is now readily available on websites. This study analyzes the sources, methods, and patterns of interpretation employed by http://muslimah.or.id. Employing a qualitative research method with a descriptive-qualitative approach, the study reveals several key features of the website's Tafsīr approach. Interpretations focus on individual letters, specific themes, and contemporary Muslim women's issues. Authors cite reference sources, and interpretations are diverse, reflecting at least four distinct methods. The website incorporates both traditional (bi al-Maʼthūr) and rational (bi al-Ra'y) methods, drawing from classical Tafsīr works like Jalalain, at-Ṭabarī, and Ibn Kathīr. Notably, the website utilizes thematic (Mawḍūʻī) and comparative (Muqāran) approaches. The website prioritizes socio-literary (Adabī ijtimāʻī) aspects, focusing on linguistic, literary, and socio-cultural contexts. However, the inconsistent nature of interpretations due to the website's multiple contributors presents a potential challenge.

The Impact of Creative Contexts: An Application Cases Review

The article delves into the multifaceted nature of creativity, moving beyond traditional associations of creativity with artistic or cultural disciplines. Instead, it presents creativity as a complex cognitive process essential for addressing multidisciplinary challenges. Drawing from various studies, it emphasises how creativity flourishes in sociocultural contexts and is shaped by both individual learning and group dynamics, such as those described by Florida’s concept of the Creative Class. The dissertation’s core focuses on exploring various creative contexts and environments that nurture creativity. The methodology considers a Systemic Innovation Design perspective to analyse thirty application cases of creative spaces, identifying key characteristics and impacts. The results show a clear direction of creative contexts involving multidisciplinary and practice-based actions, with a predominant focus on social and applied sciences.

Cultural Contours of Justice: Law and Crimes Narratives in Popular Imagination

This research delves into the cultural contours of justice in the context of Pakistan, with special emphasis on the complex relationship between the media, the ever-shifting norms in a given society, and the laws of the land. It reveals how regional legacies of colonialism and Sharia law shape attitudes toward justice, crime, and punishment. The research highlights a significant discrepancy between the public experience and the reality of crime trends, suffering from the amplification of sensationalistic media coverage, leading to a decline in trust towards police and the system of justice. By employing qualitative assessments of media representations and public opinion surveys, as well as quantitative analyses of crime statistics, to investigate the socio-cultural contexts shaping local perceptions of justice in Pakistan, the report exposes how sensationalist media heighten social fear; how they misrepresent marginalized populations; and how they reinforce existing stereotypes of criminality, thus developing warped views of the extent and nature of crime. The study also highlights notable differences in how justice is practised across different regions, particularly rural settings where traditional normative values differ from codified legal norms. These results highlight the importance of culturally competent legal reform and ethical journalism to mitigate the gap between perception and reality so that the public can trust the justice system.

Jews and Muslims in the 19th district of Paris: Together or apart?

From an intercultural perspective, this article explores majority/minority and between minorities interactions, and revisits Allport’s contact theory, in a socially and ethnically diverse urban area hosting a large proportion of Jews and Muslims. The data comes from a telephone survey of a sample of inhabitants of the 19th arrondissement of Paris. Open and closed questions explore the symbolic social and political boundaries respondents construct between ‘us’ and ‘them’, and their patterns of sociability. Survey experiments with vignettes deal with more sensitive issues (reactions to circulating cartoons at school and police reactions to verbal assault, according to the ethnicity of the victim). The immediate social and ethnic surrounding of each respondent is reconstructed on the basis of census and ethnographic data. The results go against several common beliefs. Religion is not the only dimension of respondents’ identity; it intersects with social class, gender and generation. The relations between Jews and Muslims are not so much conflictual as ambivalent. Being minorities and feeling discriminated against as such brings them together. They both are more religious than the majority population, more traditional on sexual issues and more family-oriented, and most of them consider that Jews and Muslims have a common cultural heritage and should be united against discrimination. Nevertheless, there are friction points (Israeli-Palestinian conflict/the colonial past of France). Politically and socially Muslims are closer to the non-European immigrants, while Jews are closer to the French and the European-born ‘white’ population. Antisemitism is a clear taboo; anti-Jewish cartoons are seen as far more reprehensible than any other. But a majority of the sample, and Muslims a little more than average, see Jews as a ‘group apart’, and believe in the old stereotype about Jews having more influence, being more likely, for instance, to be helped by the police if needed.

"Due to These Restrictions, Girls Think of Themselves as Nothing": A Qualitative and Quantitative Description of Menstrual Restrictions and Stigma Among Adolescent Girls Across Religious and Other Sociocultural Contexts.

Girls in Tanzania often experience menstrual restrictions (i.e., expectations about behaviors prohibited during menstruation) and menstrual stigma (i.e., negative attitudes toward people who menstruate). A better understanding of sociocultural contexts contributing to menstrual stigma and restrictions is needed. In 2018, two conceptually linked quantitative and qualitative studies were conducted to describe menstrual restrictions and stigma among girls in Tanzania, examine how sociocultural contexts influence menstrual restrictions and stigma, and investigate the relationship between menstrual restrictions and stigma. A cross-sectional survey of 509 post-menarche girls from five schools assessed associations between religion, religion-based menstrual restrictions, and menstrual stigma while controlling for differences between schools. In-depth interviews with 10 adolescent girls and 10 adult key informants explored broader menstrual experiences. We analyzed themes pertaining to sociocultural contexts and other mechanisms that shape menstrual restrictions and stigma, their impacts on girls, and opportunities for intervention. In the surveys, 52% of Christian girls and 76% of Muslim girls experienced religion-based menstrual restrictions. Some restrictions, such as prohibitions against praying during menstruation, were more common among Muslim girls, who also had higher menstrual stigma. Menstrual stigma differed by school. Although menstrual restrictions did not show an association with stigma in the surveys, interview participants described how menstrual restrictions contribute to stigma and indicated that religion, tribe, education, family support, and menstrual resources influence menstrual restrictions and stigma. Sociocultural contexts influence menstrual restrictions and stigma. Working with religious, school, and family leaders may provide opportunities to implement interventions to reduce menstrual stigma.

Body image research among sexual minority men in the Mekong region: A scoping review.

Body image among sexual minority men (SMM) has received increasing attention. However, the current literature has primarily focused on white SMM and body image and physical appearance concerns among SMM. In response to a call for more nuance in understanding how SMM perceive and make sense of their body image in a broader sociocultural context, we conducted a scoping review to examine the extent and nature of body image research among SMM in the Mekong region. We searched CINAHL, MEDLINE, Scopus, PsycInfo-1806 (Ovid), ProQuest Central, Social Science Premium Collection, and Web of Science and identified 25 studies that met the inclusion criteria. Overall, the findings suggest that body image research in the Mekong region is limited in the range of topics, study populations, and methods, with quantitative studies on preferences for masculine physical traits among young and well-educated Chinese SMM dominating. Furthermore, the current literature is primarily influenced by Western scholarship, which predominantly uses Western measurement and theories. We encourage scholars from other countries in the region, including Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand, to engage sociocultural approaches in research on the body image of SMM.

Exploring Socio-Cultural Determinants of Female Suicides: A Qualitative Study of Gahkuch, Gilgit-Baltistan

This qualitative ethnographic study investigates the socio-cultural determinants of female suicides in Gahkuch, District Ghizer, Gilgit-Baltistan, where alarming rates of such incidents have been reported. The research aims to uncover the perceptions of the community, and affected families regarding the underlying causes of female suicides, while exploring the broader socio-cultural and psychological contexts. Data were collected through purposive sampling, employing in-depth interviews with diverse participants, including relatives of victims, community members, land alongside direct observations. Thematic analysis of the data reveals that patriarchal norms, restricted decision-making autonomy for women, domestic violence, forced marriages, and societal rejection of personal choices are pivotal factors driving women toward suicide. Additional determinants include the unavailability of ideal life partners, marital conflicts, societal pressure to conform to traditional roles, and the stigma attached to non-conventional behavior, such as pursuing love marriages or modern lifestyles. The study also identifies cases of honor killings misrepresented as suicides due to societal taboos around disclosing the true causes of death. Psychological stressors, compounded by inadequate acknowledgment of women’s contributions to households and society, were found to exacerbate vulnerabilities. Unique local factors, such as the misuse of technology, excessive salt consumption linked to aggressive behavior, and limited mental health support, were also highlighted as contributing elements. The study concludes that Gahkuch’s traditional and patriarchal social structure, despite progress in education and empowerment, perpetuates systemic inequalities and cultural restrictions that leave women vulnerable. To address these issues, the research emphasizes the need for societal reforms, enhanced religious and mental health awareness, and initiatives promoting gender equality and female empowerment. It further advocates for targeted interventions, including community-based awareness campaigns, institutional mechanisms for addressing domestic violence, and the inclusion of women in decision-making processes, to mitigate the factors leading to female suicides and create a more inclusive and supportive environment for women in the region.

Using Anti-Blackness and Historical Inquiry to Ground Nursing and Research Practice in Black Populations.

Since the "Black Lives Matter" reckoning of 2020, professional health organizations have made public statements and apologized for not recognizing the role of racism in the creation of health disparities. For the American Nurses Association, this has taken the form of the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing. One result of that work has been the Report on the History of Racism in Nursing, which details the constant maligning of the competence of Black nurses and their systematic exclusion from institutions within the profession. In this article, we want to take these ideas further and argue that the issue for nursing is not so much a generic kind of racism that a professional reorganization can address, but rather a deep and abiding "anti-blackness" that is intrinsic to the heart and soul of medical and health knowledge itself. Anti-blackness as an idea comes from a collection of theoretical interventions developed by Black philosophers, literary theorists, sociologists, and historians who continue to grapple with the question posed by W.E.B. DuBois: "How does it feel to be a problem?" Anti-blackness is the "relegation of Black people to inhumanity and non-being" and "is a global phenomenon that takes on distinct forms of expression in each sociocultural context." Given the call to understand the role of historical, social, political, environmental, and economic factors via the social determinants of health, a more expansive approach is needed to articulate the Black lived experience. Anti-blackness is one tool available to nurses interested in a deeper level of analysis.

Oscillation Between Resist and to Not? Users’ Folk Theories and Resistance to Algorithmic Curation on Douyin

An increasing number of users are aware of algorithmically driven content curation. Yet, while numerous studies have examined how people understand algorithmic power, there are insufficient numbers of studies about how people respond to and resist algorithmic curation in different sociocultural contexts. This article adopts a walk-through method and a diary-interview approach with 31 participants to investigate user resistance to algorithmic curation in different sociocultural circumstances. Drawing on the theoretical framework of folk theories and user resistance to algorithms, this study reveals a paradox in users’ algorithmic awareness and resistance behaviors: although respondents said they expressed annoyance with algorithmic simplification, commercial exploitation, and political agenda-setting, they often behaved in ways that contradict those claims with oscillated resistance to algorithmic curation. This study found that this paradox of resistance not only reflects users’ efforts to reconcile sociocultural needs with digital irritations caused by algorithmic mismatches but also arises from a sense of digital resignation in response to the platform’s strict regulations and censorship. Thus, this article argues that although people espouse folk theories as resources to resist algorithmic curation in different sociocultural contexts, most of their resistance behaviors remain constrained within the dominant use of technological affordances, which largely functions as a process of continuous negotiation rather than a subversive force capable of disrupting the ideological power relations embedded in algorithm-driven platforms.

The External Hierarchy of French Film Discourse

This study explores the external hierarchy of French film discourse, proposing a model that accounts for the elements generating this discourse and its interactions with other discourses within a hierarchical framework. The empirical material includes French films from 1990 to 2024 and elements of film text embedded in advertising, music, media, internet, and online literature discourses. Addressing the limited research on discourse hierarchy in modern linguistics, the study aims to identify and systematize the external hierarchy of French film discourse. The relevance of this research stems from the growing academic interest in film discourse and the lack of dedicated studies on its hierarchical organization. The author introduces a novel model that not only explains the generative elements of French film discourse but also situates it in a broader matrix of interacting discourses. The study employs discourse analysis, alongside theoretical methods such as generalization, synthesis, induction, and deduction. The findings reveal that the external hierarchy is shaped by generative elements – works of art, folklore, historical events, biographical details, and philosophical ideas – which occupy higher hierarchical levels relative to the discourse itself. Film production is also influenced by the socio-cultural context, emphasizing culturally significant elements and suppressing taboo topics. The research further demonstrates that the hierarchy of French film discourse relative to other discourses is mediated by poly-discursive units. These units function within one discourse while bearing content from another, positioning film discourse hierarchically above advertising, internet, media, online literature, and partially music discourses. This study enhances our understanding of the structural and functional properties of French film discourse and its broader cultural implications.

Introducing the Next Era in Assessment.

In this introduction, the guest editors of the "Next Era in Assessment" special collection frame the invited papers by envisioning a next era in assessment of medical education, based on ideas developed during a summit that convened professional and educational leaders and scholars. The authors posit that the next era of assessment will focus unambiguously on serving patients and the health of society, reflect its sociocultural context, and support learners' longitudinal growth and development. As such, assessment will be characterized as transformational, development-oriented and socially accountable. The authors introduce the papers in this special collection, which represent elements of a roadmap towards the next era in assessment by exploring several foundational considerations that will make the next era successful. These include the equally important issues of (1) focusing on accountability, trust and power in assessment, (2) addressing implementation and contextualization of assessment systems, (3) optimizing the use of technology in assessment, (4) establishing infrastructure for data sharing and data storage, (5) developing a vocabulary around emerging sources of assessment data, and (6) reconceptualizing validity around patient care and learner equity. Attending to these priority areas will help leaders create authentic assessment systems that are responsive to learners' and society's needs, while reaping the full promise of competency-based medical education (CBME) as well as emerging data science and artificial intelligence technologies.

Negotiating Silence: A Comparative Study of Female Agency in Shashi Deshpande's That Long Silence and Anita Desai's Fasting, Feasting

Silence often functions as a nuanced metaphor in literature, encapsulating themes of suppression, resilience, and resistance. In Shashi Deshpande's That Long Silence and Anita Desai's Fasting, Feasting, silence emerges as a central motif that shapes the protagonists' lives within patriarchal frameworks. This paper explores how silence is used to reflect and negotiate female agency in these two novels. Deshpande’s Jaya and Desai’s Uma, though different in their socio-cultural contexts, grapple with similar struggles of identity and autonomy. Jaya’s imposed silence in marriage and Uma’s enforced silence in a patriarchal household underscore how silence perpetuates gender inequality. However, both authors also depict silence as a space for introspection and a subtle form of defiance. Through a comparative analysis, this paper examines how the interplay between silence and voice is integral to the characters' journeys toward self-realization. Drawing from feminist literary theory and cultural criticism, it investigates the layered role of silence as both a tool of oppression and a strategy for survival. Ultimately, the study reveals how silence is repurposed by the protagonists to assert their agency and resist patriarchal constraints.

Individual variation in activity budgets of a stable population of killer whales in managed care across a year.

Activity budget investigations are necessary to understand how individuals within a group manage their daily activities, thus providing insights into the social dynamics of a species. Our objective was to explore and describe the behavioral activities within a group of managed care killer whales. From 261 hours of coded surface video collected from April 2022 to January 2023, we scan-sampled day-time hours to examine eight behavioral categories exhibited by 8-9 killer whales bimonthly. Minimal sex differences were found within each behavioral category across month and hour block. Females exhibited significantly more attention to trainers and rubbing on the environment than males. Individual variability was documented for all behavioral categories. The youngest male showed the most (43 % of scans) proximity and social interactions with conspecifics whereas all adults, both females and males, showed similar levels of social behavior. Three adult females and one adult male spent about a third of all scans observing their trainer(s) as they moved around the habitat. This observational behavior has been described in other delphinids as anticipatory behavior indicating a willingness to participate in future interactions with their trainers whether food rewards were available or not, and has been confirmed to represent a state of positive well-being. All killer whales actively engaged with peers and their environment in about 40 % of the documented scans. These findings are similar in degree to that observed in various other delphinid populations and support the interpretation that this killer whale group is in receive of positive welfare, displaying normal levels of social and individual behaviors for this species. Our results add to the growing body of knowledge about how killer whales manage their actions, both with conspecifics and their environment, across different social settings given their surroundings.

Sexual socialization and the sexual debut of Laotian adolescents in sociocultural context: a qualitative approach

ABSTRACT This study aims to discover how sexual socialization shapes adolescents’ sexual behaviours and attitudes by considering various socialization agents and the sociocultural context of the country. Sexual socialization in adolescents is vital to formulating sexual attitudes and behaviours that determine their health and well-being. However, little is known about how various socialization agents share their norms, ideas, and beliefs about sexuality, influencing adolescents’ sexual attitudes and behaviours from a sociocultural perspective. In order to conduct a qualitative study, in-depth semi-structured interviews were used with 21 young people aged 15 to 24 in the capital of Lao PDR. A thematic analysis presents three significant themes that emerged from the data, including social norms about premarital sex, the taboo on sexual discussion and expression, and the normalization of sexual violence. The findings contribute to theories of sexual socialization and provide suggestions for projects and policies to prevent sexual risk behaviours and sexual violence.

AGING IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Abstract Aging in sub-Saharan Africa is a relatively neglected area of research despite the increasing proportion of the population aging. This collection of papers highlights how the varied cultures in sub-Saharan Africa shape development in later adulthood and emphasizes the critical need for research on aging to consider the sociocultural context. First, Chukwuorji and colleagues focus on how health behaviors and self-esteem explain the association between social support and successful aging among Nigerian retirees. Second, Porter and colleagues present a collaboration between scientists and older adults in knowledge generation. They find that access to both social and physical environmental elements are necessary to promote physical activity in their communities. Third, Burns and colleagues explore how place and gender interact when examining disability prevalence among older adults in Ghana. Fourth, Silverstein and colleagues report that culture and religion play an important role in shaping how palliative care is perceived. For example, a cultural norm for medical secrecy and a hesitancy to talk about death present unique barriers for palliative care. Fifth, in a qualitative study examining how older chronically ill Nigerians cope with their diagnosis, Mahmoud and colleagues report that older Nigerians do not want individuals outside their close family circle to know that they are ill. Individuals conceal their illness because they fear discrimination and want to maintain normalcy when interacting with others. All the papers presented in this symposium highlight the importance of considering the sociocultural context to understand the aging experience.

비정년트랙 전임교원의 경계인으로서 삶에 대한 자문화기술지

Objectives This study attempted to see how the social structure affects an individual’s life, that is, the career of researchers who shape, teach, and study, through autoethnogrphy on the life of non-tenure track full-time professor as a marginal man. Methods To this end, this study conducted a autoethnography that can view and interpret the researcher’s experience within a socio-cultural context using the researhcer’s diary, KakaoTalk conversation, recall data, and literature data, and attempted to analyze socio-cultural interactions through the concept of habitus and symbolic boundaries. Results Through my experience as a professor in charge of projects, I came to recognize the identity of a professor in university society, and after becoming a full-time non-tenure track professor, I had time to embody my habihus as a professor in a disconnected room(cocoon). The strategy of distinguishing between various unequal systems and policies in society and universities was giving legitimacy to the boundary by changing the symbolic boundary of the non-tenure track into a social boundary. Theses boundaries had the effect of excluding researchers and themselves, thereby affecting their sense of belonging and other choices. Conclusions Unequal systems and polices affect the perception, identity, and lives of professors, which also affects the original purpose of university education. In order for university innovation to be successful, the participation and effort of all members, not just dedicated personnel, is required.