Social Position Research Articles

“Silver Age” of the Middle Оka. To the issues of social differentiation and location of the Ryazan-Oka archaeological culture at the intersection of river and land trade routes in the first millennium AD

“Silver Age” of the Middle Оka. To the issues of social differentiation and location of the Ryazan-Oka archaeological culture at the intersection of river and land trade routes in the first millennium AD

Some Liked It and Some Did Not: (Re)Circulating Lesbian Culture Among Queer Generations

Naming oneself, and claiming an identity and a community, depends largely upon how people define and represent themselves, and whether that self-definition and representation is accepted by, or legible to, others who inhabit different social positions based on age, gender, sexuality, and often generation. My aim is neither to rehabilitate the lesbian past or lesbian words for identity, nor to reject the increasingly broad use of the term queer. Rather, as a Generation X lesbian, I contend that lesbian culture, identity, and community continue to have much to offer for other categories of queerness that are similarly “untidy”, contested, or less well-understood by the mainstream. Approaching lesbian history, culture, and identity as dynamic and complex broadens possibilities for who might find connection and belonging in a lesbian past and a queer future. I explore an eclectic lesbian archive with an intergenerational Canadian focus that centers lesbian identity, community, and representation. My analysis supports my assertion that lesbian and queer inheritance flow multi-directionally, across and among people of varied generations and different social locations. I further posit that far from being anachronistic, lesbian, as a term for identity and culture, and as a political project, has ongoing productive potential, vitality, and agility that exceeds generational or linear understandings due to its fundamental grounding in self-definition. (Re)circulating lesbian and queer culture, therefore, functions as intergenerational wealth, community building, and cultural memory, bridging past pleasures, knowledge, and affective attachments with present and future possibilities for living.

How position in the network determines the fate of lexical innovations on Twitter

This study analyzes the diffusion of lexical innovations on Twitter to understand how the social network position of adopters impacts their success. Looking at both successful and failed neologisms, we categorize them into "changes" which become established and "buzzes" which decline over time. Using a corpus of 650 million French tweets, we reconstruct user networks and characterize adopters of innovations during different diffusion phases based on prestige, centrality, clustering, and external ties. In the early innovation phase, change and buzz adopters have similar peripheral profiles. During propagation, changes spread to prestigious, central individuals while buzzes do not, which predicts their eventual success or failure. By the establishment phase, changes reach highly central users with closer external ties. The results align with sociolinguistic theories about weak ties for innovation and strong ties for establishment. Additionally, logistic regression models based on early adopter profiles can predict the fate of innovations. This work sheds light on the diffusion dynamics of online lexical innovations and the crucial role of user network factors.

Women Empowerment in India

Women's empowerment is a contentious issue. Women enjoyed equal status and power to men throughout the earlier Stone Age period. However, during the post-Vedic and epic times, they began to have certain challenges. History demonstrates that women were frequently treated like slaves. The standing of women has been progressively shifting from the early 20th century (national movement), and the British people are to thank for this. It is only after the Independence of India, under the able leadership of Dr. Ambedkhar , the constitutional makers and national leaders started strongly demanding and also reiterating the equal social position of women with men. it is good to learn that a few number of women have been able to establish their potentialities. Therefore, this paper suggests that each and every human being should be careful in taking steps to promote the statuses of women and respect their dignity

Request for confirmation sequences in Egyptian Arabic

Abstract The article presents a description of request for confirmation (RfC) sequences in everyday conversation in Egyptian Arabic. Through a quantitative analysis of 200 sequences excerpted from telephone calls, the analysis is concerned to identify the main design features of RfC sequences and their context-sensitive distribution and use. Analysis reveals that RfCs in Egyptian Arabic often do not bear special syntactic or prosodic marking. Lexical devices, such as inference markers, tag questions, and modulation markers, make explicit the specific epistemic position of the requesters. RfCs mostly attract confirmations. These can be accomplished by minimal responses; however, in most cases, a more elaborate format is used. Greater epistemic independence is suggested in confirmations in which no token is used. Non-minimal responses seem to be normative in the case of disconfirmations. Responders can also employ dedicated means for declining to provide a dis/confirmation. The findings of this study support the view of RfC sequences as a complex site for the display and negotiation of knowledge and social positioning.

Calling in Context: Social Location and Vocational Formation by Susan Maros (review)

Calling in Context: Social Location and Vocational Formation by Susan Maros (review)

Ángeles Vicente’s 1911 sapphic scandals: queer intermedia and transatlantic gender history

ABSTRACT Ángeles Vicente (1878–1918) was a Spanish-born author who lived most of her life in Argentina. Starting in 1907, she was a prolific author and released several important texts during the Spanish Silver Age (1898–1936). In 1911, she was involved in several scandals, related to gender and sexuality, which received extensive coverage at the time of their occurrence. This paper explores Vicente’s scandals in 1911, drawing on the methodology of queer intermedia, to explore networks of queer world-building at the dawn of identarian politics related to sexual orientation and gender expression. Using the past as a resource to explore potential futures, we argue that understanding the lives and work from queer figures of past eras, particularly in different cultural and social locations, is vital to creating a robust knowledge of the universe of possibilities that accompany gender and sexual non-normativity.

Models of Disability as Research Frameworks in Biology Education Research.

Advancing equity and justice in undergraduate biology education requires research to address the experiences of disabled students. Scholars working in disability studies have developed models of disability that inform Discipline-Based Education Research (DBER). To date, DBER literature has been predominantly informed by the medical and social models of disability. The medical model focuses on challenges that affect people with disabilities on an individual basis, while the social model focuses on how one's surrounding environment contributes to the construction of disability. In this essay, we discuss past DBER research and opportunities for future research using each of these models. We will also discuss a third, less commonly used model that offers exciting opportunities to drive future research: complex embodiment. Complex embodiment positions disability as a social location that reflects a greater societal value structure. Further examining this value structure reveals how ability itself is constructed and conventionally understood to be hierarchical. Additionally, we explain epistemic injustice as it affects disabled people, and how future education research can both address and counteract this injustice. We discuss how expanding the frameworks that serve as lenses for DBER scholarship on disability will offer new research directions.

Spiritual capital and spiritual entrepreneurship: The new spiritualities and the processes of subjectivation

AbstractThis paper critically examines the constructs of spiritual capital and spiritual entrepreneurship/entrepreneur. These concepts have recently become widespread in the social sciences and the psychology of the New Age, or the new spiritualities, and they are also increasingly present in business literature, organizational management, and personal improvement in managerial terms. From a critical social psychology position, the paper will consider the usefulness of these concepts in revealing how the field of spirituality currently seems to be a favoured space of governmentality and subjectivation for neoliberalism.

In Search of Women’s Identity

Abstract The aim of this article is an attempt women’s identity. uthors search for answers for this question in history, gender stereotypes and feminism. It should be remembered that the process of socialization plays a significant role in the process of identity construction. It is associated with the specific social environments in which human socialization takes place. The concept of identity raises the issue of social position as well as past and present position in the social system. Both collective and individual identities are fluid, change over time and are created throughout life.

Refugee Women’s Intersecting Social Locations: A Contemporary Perspective on the Process of Becoming a Refugee Woman

This article explores the convergence of narrative criminology and refugee women’s experiences, framing the intricate process of becoming a refugee woman as “Refugee women’s intersecting social locations”. Building on previous research addressing violence (Borges, in J Int Migr Integr 25:673–693. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-023-01102-z, 2023) and agency (Borges, in Comp Migr Stud, 2024), this study incorporates insights from 24 interviews with Middle Eastern and African refugee women living in Portugal, their host country. It challenges the dichotomy of violence and agency, emphasizing their interconnected nature in shaping a better life. Aligned with (Pemberton & Aarten, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 41:541–556, 2018) narrative constructs, the discussion underscores the centrality of narrative to identity, its role in emotions, and its importance in connecting individual lives to broader cultural contexts. This narrative-centric approach contributes valuable insights to migration studies, informing gender-based policies and practices for enhanced support and offering a model for future research in the field.

MAKNA PENAMAAN SAJIAN RITUAL KABASA DARI PERSPEKTIF GASTROLINGUISTIK

This article is about Munanese (an ethnic group in Southeast Sulawesi) traditional dish kabasa as a form of referential support to the gastrodiplomacy trend. Kabasa is a part of the haroa ritual that features a range of dishes with various ingredients, which is strongly connected to various aspects of the community such as social position, psychology, and environment. In this study, a combination between linguistics as language science and gastronomy which examines food within its culture is considered effective for investigating the semantics of the naming pattern of kabasa dishes in order to document this unique culinary tradition and introduce new concepts in Indonesian gastronomy, particularly that of Southeast Sulawesi. Using the qualitative descriptive method and macrolinguistic approach, this study shows that kabasa naming pattern consists of three semantic levels. Meanwhile, more comprehensive gastrolinguistic analysis on the data suggests that the meanings of the names can be found based on (1) the food ingredients, which are tied to the region’s geographical features and (2) the semantic convention of kabasa itself, which shows an associative relationship between an object, its name, and environmental aspects as contextual clues.

Centering Asian Americans in Social Work Education, Research, and Policy

ABSTRACT The Asian American population is incredibly diverse in terms of ethnicity, culture, language, religion, class, and histories of war shaped by U.S. imperialism. Understanding this immense diversity is crucial for engaging with communities while recognizing the diversity–convergence paradox - the idea that Asian Americans share common experiences of discrimination and racialization despite their varied backgrounds and social locations. This paradox offers a critical lens to address health and social challenges for Asian Americans and other minoritized populations. Drawing on insights that account for this paradox, this article reflects on the authors’ experiences as Asian American social work scholars and alumni of the Council on Social Work Education’s Minority Fellowship Program. We discuss contemporary and historical issues facing Asian American communities as well as offer recommendations for advancing antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion within social work and beyond.

Consumers' familiarity level shapes motives and contexts for preparing and consuming dishes.

Consumers' familiarity with foods influences their expectations and experiences upon consumption. Familiarity has mostly been assessed using perceived familiarity when studying single foods. However, foods are often combined to create dishes, complex compositions eaten at various mealtimes. Hence, this paper aimed to study if and how the level of consumers' dish familiarity shapes their motives and preferred contexts for home cooking and consuming three dishes: one traditional dish, one adopted ethnic dish, and one mainly unavailable and unknown ethnic dish. First, we describe the operationalization of familiarity into the qualitative "consumer's dish familiarity index" (CDFI) used to determine participants' familiarity level to the dishes. CDFI includes four indicators (perceived availability, consumer's knowledge, preparation, and consumption). In-depth interviews (n=27) were conducted with Dutch and Chilean women, as the countries have contrasting levels of immigration and globalization, which are expected to shape their inhabitants' familiarity level with ethnic dishes. Most experienced consumers (high familiarity) mentioned more dishes and individual-related motives to prepare and consume a traditional or an adopted ethnic dish. Social- and individual-related motives were salient when a dish was unknown and/or not previously consumed. Consumers' familiarity level also guided their preferred social context and location when consuming the dishes. A dish barely available will likely be first consumed in a restaurant to try a new dish that is perceived as appetizing to eat. Results showed that convenience, wanting to eat comfort foods, and showing affection to others are important motivators to facilitate the adoption of dishes to be home cooked. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: This paper provides a novel approach to assess consumer familiarity to dishes. The qualitative consumer's dish familiarity index (CDFI) can be used in future investigations to assess and classify consumers into different dish familiarity levels by using four indicators. The outcomes of this study suggest consumers' familiarity level could serve as a reference for designing and/or improving (ethnic) foods and creating marketing campaigns to introduce them into (foreign) countries.

Cultural risk & adaptation: Contributions to psychopathology by social position

Culturally-influenced adaptation and maladaptation may influence college students' mental health across various forms of cultural identity (e.g., racial/ethnic identity, socioeconomic status [SES]). In this cross-sectional study, 925 college students (Mage = 19.9, 67% self-identified female, 64% White, 25% Hispanic/Latino, 69% middle class or below) responded to a one-time questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that cultural risk (insecurity, stress, discrimination) and adaptation (centrality, routine behaviors, motivation, resilience) were differentially associated with internalizing symptoms. Multigroup analyses by cultural identity subgroups indicated that cultural risk was associated with greater internalizing symptoms across all SES groups, but most salient for high SES students, and more strongly associated with anxiety among White students compared to racial/ethnically minoritized students. Cultural adaptation more saliently predicted internalizing symptoms for students with lower-middle/working-class SES identity. College students experience multi-faceted risk and adaptation related to their cultural identities, experiences of which are shaped by social position and differentially contribute to mental health.

Husbands and wives: power, peril and female participation in a Ugandan coffee cooperative

PurposeFemale smallholder farmers in low-income countries face barriers to accessing capital and commodity markets. While agricultural cooperatives provide services that contribute to the income and productivity of small-scale producers, evidence of cooperatives' social and economic empowerment of female smallholders remains limited. We apply Sen's capability approach to female entrepreneurs' socioeconomic empowerment to examine whether women's participation in a coffee and microfinance cooperative from rural western Uganda benefits their social and economic position within their household. First, we study the relationship between women's cooperative participation and their household coffee sales and savings. Second, we investigate the link between women's cooperative participation and their intra-household decision-making and whether the inclusion of the husband in his wife's cooperative strengthens or lowers women's decision-making power.Design/methodology/approachWe carry out a case study of a hybrid coffee and microfinance cooperative that promotes social innovation through the integration and empowerment of female smallholders in rural Uganda. Using a cross-sectional survey of 411 married female cooperative members from 26 randomly selected self-help groups of Bukonzo Joint Cooperative and 196 female non-members from the identical area, employing propensity score matching, this paper investigates the benefits of women's participation in a coffee and microfinance cooperative in the Rwenzori Mountains of western Uganda. We present and discuss the results of our case study within an extensive literature on the role of institutions in collective action for women's empowerment.FindingsOur findings provide new empirical evidence on female smallholders' participation in mixed cooperatives. Our results indicate that women's participation in microfinance-producer cooperatives appears to be a conditional blessing: even though membership is linked to increased women's intra-household decision-making and raised household savings and income from coffee sales, a wife with a husband in the same cooperative self-help group is associated with diminished women's household decision-making power.Research limitations/implicationsThe focus of this study is on female coffee smallholders in an agricultural cooperative in rural western Uganda. In particular, we focus on a case study of one major coffee cooperative. Our cross-sectional survey does not allow us to infer causal interpretations. Also, the survey does not include variables that allow us to measure other dimensions of women's empowerment beyond decision-making over household expenditures and women's financial performance related to savings and income from coffee cultivation.Practical implicationsOur empirical results indicate that female smallholders' cooperative membership is associated with higher incomes and coffee sales. However, husband co-participation in their wives' cooperative group diminishes wives' decision-making, which suggests that including husbands and other family members in the same cooperative group may not be perceived as an attractive route to empowerment for female smallholders. For these reasons, an intervention that encourages the cooperation of both spouses and that is sensitive to context-specific gender inequalities, may be more successful at stimulating social change toward household gender equality than interventions that focus on women's autonomous spheres only.Originality/valueWhile the literature thus far has focused on microfinance's potential for women's empowerment, evidence on agricultural cooperatives' affecting women's social and economic position is limited. First, our findings provide novel empirical evidence on the empowering effects of women's participation in a self-help group-based coffee cooperative in rural Uganda. Second, our data allows us to explore the role of husbands' participation in their wives' cooperative and SGH. We embed our hypotheses and empirical results in a rich discussion of female entrepreneurship, microfinance and cooperative literature.

Partisipasi Masyarakat dalam Pengelolaan Pariwisata Berkelanjutan Desa Wisata Samiran, Kecamatan Kabupaten Boyolali

Samiran Tourism Village has developed since 2009 based on community empowerment, so it is necessary to identify its management aspects to realize sustainable tourism. The research method is a qualitative approach through data collection of literature studies, observation, in-depth and semi-structured interviews. The interview informants were Samiran Tourism Village stakeholders who were determined by purposive sampling method tailored to the research objectives. Data analysis was conducted descriptively qualitatively through three steps of reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. Samiran Tourism Village has achieved sustainable tourism management by involving various stakeholders but still placing the community as the main actor through the management structure and framework, stakeholder involvement, and management of change. The level of participation was identified through 5 stages. The high category level is at the implementation stage of enjoying results, and reporting because the community is fully involved in it, while the moderate level of participation is at the decision-making and evaluation stages, where the community still plays a role but is not independent / cooperates with other stakeholders. The factors that determine the level of participation can be divided into two, internal and external. Internal factors that influence are gender, social position, length of stay, and local hero, while external factors are influenced by policies made by the government, so that it is beyond the authority of the tourist village and cannot be controlled.Keywords: participation, management, sustainability, tourism village

Embedding Cultural Knowledge in Social Work Education: Reflections from Master of Social Work Students at a Regional Australian University

Abstract Social work students (SWS) are increasingly demanding diverse curriculums and training in skills that will help them decentre whiteness as their default position of professional practice. This article reports on findings from a qualitative study exploring how Masters of SWS at a regional Australian university engaged with content delivered in a core unit with a strong focus on anti-racist, anti-oppressive practices. The unit’s structure and delivery facilitated a dialogue that compelled students, especially those from dominant cultural groups, to ‘think of and reflect on themselves as ‘raced’ rather than the invisible ‘norm’ to which all other cultural groups are compared’ (Walter et al., 2011, p. 8).The unit raised complex questions about how social services and policies unwittingly reproduce discourses of rescue and saviourism towards racially and culturally marginalised communities and how students could challenge such practices. The article’s emphasis on supporting SWS towards a triangulated trajectory reports on how experiences of cultural knowledge in the classroom are facilitated by (i) the experience (or lived expertise) of the educator, (ii) the willingness of the student to interrogate their intersectional social positioning in society and (iii) a practice framework that focuses on curiosity and humility rather than competence.

Deras, Identity, and Caste Cleavages in the Sikh-Dominated Society of Punjab

The argument of the paper is that deras, as religio-spiritual and philanthropic organizations, play a critical role in the identity formation of their followers (by providing them distinct symbols, sacred texts, gurus, cultural traits, codes of conduct, rituals, and prayers), which score the social surface and carve out numbers of distinct religio-cultural groups in the Sikh-dominated society of Punjab. Moreover, the value gainsay, along with the orchestrated identity formation process of deras, generates conflict in the Sikh-dominated society of Punjab, which deepens the prevailing social cleavages as well as generating new conflicts in the society. Such conflicts further degrade the social position of deras’ followers (who invariably belong to Scheduled Castes and Backward Castes) and even marginalize them within their own erstwhile caste(s) and community. By taking Dera Sacha Sauda as a reference, the paper shows that the value gainsay and the identity formation processes of the dera generate social conflict between its followers and radical Sikhs in Punjab. The study reveals that such conflict not only generates new social cleavage(s) (viz., Premies vs. Sikhs) between the two ideologically distinct segments but also engenders the prevailing caste and class cleavages in society.

Voices from the Pulpit: Islamic Religious Leaders’ Perspectives on Green Open Space Corruption and Their Prevention Efforts in Bandung

This article examines the views of Islamic religious figures regarding the Green Open Space (RTH) corruption case in Cisurupan Village, Cibiru District, Bandung City, as well as their role in preventing similar corruption. Considering that the majority of Cisurupan residents are Muslim, this research highlights the views of religious figures from various backgrounds. Qualitative research methods with a field study approach were used. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with four religious figures who play a role in society, education, MUI, and government, as well as secondary data from literature and internet sources. Data analysis compares interview results with literature to understand the perceptions and role of religious figures in RTH corruption cases. The research results show that religious figures' views on corruption vary. Some consider corruption a religious violation due to a lack of understanding of religious teachings, while others see it as a personal choice influenced by individual and environmental factors. The role of religious figures in preventing corruption includes moral education, anti-corruption outreach, and education on the values of honesty in schools. The conclusion of this research shows that the views and roles of religious figures are greatly influenced by their social background, personal experiences and position in society. This research provides insight into the perceptions and roles of Islamic religious leaders in preventing corruption in Muslim-majority areas. It is recommended that further research involve more religious figures for a more comprehensive understanding.