Social Agencies Research Articles

Deception detection in educational AI: challenges for Japanese middle school students in interacting with generative AI robots

Educational materials that utilize generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT) have been developed, thus, allowing students to learn through conversations with robots or agents. However, if these artificial entities provide incorrect information (hallucinating), it could lead to confusion among students. To investigate whether students can detect lies from these artificial entities, we conducted an experiment using the social robot Furhat and we make it engage in various types of deceptive interactions. Twenty-two Japanese middle school students participated in ten teaching sessions with Furhat using a human and an anime facial appearances while employing different types of deception: Lying, Paltering, Pandering, and Bullshit. The results revealed that the majority of students were deceived by those lies. Additionally, the robot's facial appearance (i.e., social agency) affected both the learning effectiveness and the likelihood of being deceived. We conclude that an anime robot face is recommended to be used as it excelled in learning effectiveness as it attracts students attention. An anime face also provided protection against deceptive techniques due to its low social agency which leads to ineffectiveness in persuasion and deception. This study underscores the importance of preparing AI-based educational tools and scripts carefully to prevent the dissemination of false information produced through generative AI hallucinations to students.

Study tour reflections: revisiting curricula through an international lens

ABSTRACT This article compiles Canadian social work students’ reflections of an Austrian study tour and its influence on how they now view, interpret, and analyze the curricula from previously completed undergraduate social work courses. Overall, the study tour appears to have re-animated previous course material and brought new insight into curricula already covered in classes. Of particular interest is the recurring theme of one notable aspect of the tour, a site visit to the former Mauthausen Concentration Camp, which surfaces as an important factor in reflections on numerous courses. Other social service agency visits in the host city invited the students to consider alternate theories in social work practice, building on the ones covered in completed curricula. Further, the students considered ways in which social workers can consider these new study-tour-informed insights and perspectives in everyday social service delivery on macro, mezzo, and micro levels. In sum, international study tours appear to not only notably influence future social work practice but also invite new critical thinking regarding previous learnings.

Gendered Experiences of Ontological Insecurity Among Women Who Use Drugs and Experience Housing Insecurity: A Critical Narrative Analysis

Introduction: Research has established that experiences of substance use and housing insecurity leads to violence, alienation, and health deterioration for women. However, no literature has assessed how the gendered nature of substance use and housing insecurity influence the ontological insecurity of women. This paper examines the relationship between ontological insecurity, substance use, and housing insecurity for women. We provide considerations for the theorization of ontological (in)security to account for gender. Methods: Feminist-informed interviews were conducted with 20 women who were clients of a safer supply program located in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. Interviews took place in person, were audio-recorded, and transcribed. Interviews focused on women’s experiences of substance use and housing insecurity across their lives. Data analysis was guided by a feminist re-reading of the theory of ontological security. All women completed a socio-demographic questionnaire. Results: Most women were aged between 22 and 43 ( n = 11), with nine being over the age of 44. Fifteen women identified as white, with five identifying as First Nation, Indigenous, or Metis. Ten women resided in supportive housing units, five resided in transitional housing units, social service agency run motels, or in the private rental market, and five resided in tents or encampments. Women shared how gendered experiences of substance use and housing insecurity, which were associated with trauma and violence, contributed to perceptions of ontological insecurity. Dimensions of ontological insecurity which were discussed by women included a disrupted sense of self, instability, and a loss of autonomy. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate how mechanisms of ontological insecurity for women who use drugs and experience housing insecurity are engrained in the gendered structuring of society. These findings suggest that the current theorization of ontological (in)security is insufficient in examining complete mechanisms which promote ontological security or insecurity for women. Future work which explores ontological (in)security must consider the gendered ordering of society.

Peer socialization processes in the development of callous-unemotional traits.

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits represent a risk factor for persistent, severe levels of externalizing problems. Irritability may predict the development of CU traits for some individuals, who are thought to acquire them in reaction to negative environmental experiences. Models on the development of CU traits have emphasized the socializing role of harsh parenting to the neglect of negative peer experiences. The present study 1) tested primary and alternative models of physical and relational peer victimization as socialization agents in relations between irritability and CU traits; and 2) considered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis functioning as a moderator of these associations. Gender moderation was also considered. Aims were tested from middle childhood to adolescence using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, which includes a large national sample (N = 1,077) and multiple methods and informants for the constructs of interest. Positive associations between irritability, peer victimization, and CU traits were supported, with indirect effects on CU traits supported specifically from peer victimization through increases in irritability. Associations between relational victimization, irritability, and CU traits may be particularly salient for females, whose experiences have been neglected to date. However, effects were small, and replication efforts are needed.

Employment in the performance of pre-paid educational and scientific works: social and economic aspects

Relevance. Currently, the market for custom-made educational and scientific work is a large segment of the shadow economy characterized by significant volumes. In the structure of this market, we may observe the formation of special types of social and economic agents and their interaction practices. However nowadays both the essential social and economic characteristics of such employment and its cultural value aspects, which form the social subjectivity of the performers of the work, have not fully become the object of scientific reflection.The purpose is to study the social and economic aspects of employment in the field of contract work.Objectives: to reveal the theoretical and methodological foundations of actualization of employment for the performance of commissioned educational and scientific works in the general structure of freelancing; to specify the content of the main social and economic characteristics of the performance of commissioned works; to implement a typology of motivation of authors of commissioned works; to determine the current directions of further scientific research on the stated problem.Methodology. The article uses sociological concepts of post-industrial society and sociological theories of postmodernity. Special attention is paid to the provision of a number of basic general scientific methods, as well as modeling and generalization methods. The empirical basis of the study was the results of the author's sociological study conducted by the method of an expert online survey (N=50).Results. The employment volume in the sphere of contract work in the general structure of freelancing was considered in the article. The content of socio-economic characteristics of employment in the performance of commissioned works (at the personal and subjective levels) is revealed as well as the typology of value and motivational orientations of the authors of commissioned works was carried out.Conclusions. Pre-paid educational and scientific works tends to professionalize, though this sphere is hindered by the low average income from this customers. It is financial motivation that is predominant in the structure of work factors for the authors of commissioned works.

Self-Regulation, Healing Processes, and Post-Traumatic Growth Among Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Multiple Case Study

The study investigates how self-regulation aids in processing their abuse, the mechanisms of their healing journey, and the impact of post-traumatic growth on adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse with different elaboration of their attitudes, managing themselves, and their positive disposition. Qualitative research is designed to comprehend phenomena in context-specific settings, such as a real-world setting, where the researcher refrains from attempting to manipulate the phenomenon of interest. The researcher entails a multiple-case study that focuses on the examination of numerous individual cases within a single study to acquire a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of a phenomenon. By capturing diverse perspectives and contexts through the analysis of multiple cases, the researcher enhances the richness and validity of their findings. Data were obtained from interviews and documentary analysis. The adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse shared common experiences of initial negative emotions but demonstrated significant self-regulation over time, reframing their perspectives positively. The proposed intervention plan integrates principles from positive psychology, aiming to enhance participants’ resilience and maintain their psychological well-being. This proposed intervention plan not only supports ongoing healing but also aims to inspire a positive outlook and improve self-esteem among survivors and victims’ alike. The findings emphasize the importance of social support and personal agency in the healing journey from CSA, highlighting the nonlinear nature of recovery and the enduring impact survivors can have in supporting others within their communities.

English Language Exposure, Immersion, and Development Among Chinese English Majors

The study investigates how self-regulation aids in processing their abuse, the mechanisms of their healing journey, and the impact of post-traumatic growth on adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse with different elaboration of their attitudes, managing themselves, and their positive disposition. Qualitative research is designed to comprehend phenomena in context-specific settings, such as a real-world setting, where the researcher refrains from attempting to manipulate the phenomenon of interest. The researcher entails a multiple-case study that focuses on the examination of numerous individual cases within a single study to acquire a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of a phenomenon. By capturing diverse perspectives and contexts through the analysis of multiple cases, the researcher enhances the richness and validity of their findings. Data were obtained from interviews and documentary analysis. The adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse shared common experiences of initial negative emotions but demonstrated significant self-regulation over time, reframing their perspectives positively. The proposed intervention plan integrates principles from positive psychology, aiming to enhance participants’ resilience and maintain their psychological well-being. This proposed intervention plan not only supports ongoing healing but also aims to inspire a positive outlook and improve self-esteem among survivors and victims’ alike. The findings emphasize the importance of social support and personal agency in the healing journey from CSA, highlighting the nonlinear nature of recovery and the enduring impact survivors can have in supporting others within their communities.

Toward the role of social agency in explaining the personalization effect

Toward the role of social agency in explaining the personalization effect

Design and Framework of a Technology-Based Closed-Loop Referral Project for Care Coordination of Social Determinants of Health.

Screening for social determinants of health (SDOH) has been mandated by health systems nationwide. However, a gap exists in closed-loop referral for care coordination between health care and social services. This article presents the framework of a technology-based project to facilitate closed-loop referral between health care and social service agencies in Greater Houston by leveraging and connecting the existing care coordination technology infrastructure. Ten health care and social service organizations in Greater Houston participated in the demonstration project initiated in January 2023. The authors leveraged and linked regional health information exchange (HIE) technology with a master patient index of >18 million, and sector-specific care coordination platforms to build closed-loop referral capacity between HIE-participating health care organizations and social service organizations to meet patient SDOH needs. Evaluation efforts will assess the reach, adoption, implementation, and the effectiveness of the closed-loop framework in improving social and health outcomes. The framework comprised the following 4 components: (1) establishment of collaborative governance for shared decision-making processes, fostering trust, alignment, and transparency among organizations; (2) development of technology linkages between existing platforms to facilitate seamless referrals between organizations and ensure visibility of referral outcomes; (3) integration of regional resource directories into technology infrastructure to ensure resource accessibility/quality; and (4) evaluation of the system's impact on health equity, efficiency, and cost reduction. This project aimed to close the loop for care coordination between health care and social service agencies, enable data evaluation to determine care coordination effectiveness, and lay the foundation for SDOH-related research/practice equitably.

Изучение искусственного интеллекта через призму теории социального конструирования

Artificial intelligence (AI) in sociological science is a multifaceted object for study. Rapidly developing technolo-gy encourages sociologists and specialists in related fields to pay attention to various research issues (social risks and consequences, ethical and legal aspects of using AI, social interaction between humans and ma-chines, etc.). Thus, modern approaches to understanding AI can be divided into three groups: AI as a social construct, AI as a socio-technical phenomenon, AI as a social agent. The article presents the stages of studying artificial intelligence in the social sciences: from an exclusively technical context to a social phenomenon. In addition, a methodological approach to the study of AI in the sociological field (AI as a methodological tool) is highlighted. The article attempts to take a deeper look at artificial intelligence through the prism of the theory of social construction and identify the advantages of the theory for further study of AI.

The Perspective of Young Maghrebi People With a Migratory Background and Their Social Agents on Substance Use During the Migration Process: A Qualitative Study.

People with a migratory background often face traumatic experiences increasing the risk of mental health problems and substance use. It is important to gain a greater understanding of the perspectives of substance use among North African young people with a migratory background and social agents. A qualitative phenomenological study was conducted. Purposive sampling methods were used to recruit 14 male participants and 9 social agents. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focus groups, and processed by thematic analysis. Four themes were identified: beginning of cross-border consumption that worsens at the reception centers; different ways of obtaining and accessing substances; reasons leading to substance use; and mental health care needs during the migration process. The implementation of individual-centered and culturally adapted psychosocial support programs can significantly contribute to mitigating psychological challenges, preventing substance use, and promoting greater well-being among people with a migratory background.

Mathematics for Social Justice: An Action Research Study with Working-Class Children in a Pakistani Classroom

This paper investigates the integration of social justice in mathematics teaching in Pakistani classrooms. It has been widely observed that mathematics lessons usually focus on factual recall and procedural fluency which do not promote students’ capability of using mathematics for critical analysis of societal practices. Therefore, critical mathematics education makes an effort to shift the focus of mathematics teaching from procedural fluency to thinking critically about mathematical concepts, understanding the socio-political context of mathematics, and promoting a more inclusive and equitable learning environment. Hence, this approach recognizes that mathematics is not a neutral subject but is influenced by cultural, social, and historical factors. Like many countries, Pakistan also views education as a prerequisite for fighting poverty, improving living standards, and eliminating all forms of discrimination. So, these purposes of education can be better achieved by developing a sense of awareness and importance of social issues among students. Therefore, this action research explored the integration of the concepts of social justice in teaching mathematics. Consequently, the study incorporated a range of mathematical concepts such as percentages, fractions, and decimals to engage students in discussion, debate, and thinking to explore alternatives to address the inequalities prevalent in the society. The study concludes that social justice pedagogy allows students to explore mathematics beyond the classrooms, develop a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts, and acquire knowledge to become critical individuals. Moreover, integrating social justice issues into teaching mathematics has potential to help students develop an awareness of social inequality and a sense of social agency.

Looking for Daisies: The Hidden Attraction and Arrival Infrastructures of Welcoming Spaces in Rural Spain

In recent decades, shrinking areas in rural Spain have sought the arrival of newcomers. This migration is driven mainly by economic reasons and is not related to regionalizing or redistribution migration policies. The main contribution of this article is to highlight how the articulation between social agents’ (public administrations, third sector, enterprises, migrant communities, and civil society) strategies and infrastructuring practices, within the framework of political, social, and economic structural contexts, has crystalized into specific “welcoming spaces,” impacting newcomers’ access to resources. The main innovation lies in the identification of an analysis model applied to three different types of “welcoming spaces” of attraction, arrival, and settlement, considering their impact on other mobilities. We have named them in order to represent the connection of rural territories with nature: the waves, the oak, and the river. The analysis reveals the factors that favor but also block access to resources for newcomers. This has allowed us to design an ideal type of welcoming space, which we have called “Daisy,” and which beyond its theoretical value, could facilitate the revitalization of shrinking areas. “Looking for Daisies” represents the desire of local social actors, lost in the disjointed way in which infrastructuring practices are managed, to reach this goal. Framed under the Horizon 2020-funded program Welcoming Spaces—Investing in “Welcoming Spaces” in Europe: Revitalizing Shrinking Areas by Hosting non-EU Migrants (H2020-SC6-Migration-2019-870952), the research is based on qualitative fieldwork (comprising 75 semi-structured interviews and participant observation), carried out in three localities in two regions of Spain (Galicia and Castilla León).

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ СОЦІАЛІЗАЦІЇ ПІДЛІТКІВ В УМОВАХ ВОЄННОГО СТАНУ В УКРАЇНІ

The article deals with the analysis of the peculiarities of socialisation of adolescents under martial law in Ukraine. It was noted that the socialisation of adolescents is a process of acquiring knowledge, skills, values and social norms necessary for life in the society; it is based on interaction with various agents of socialisation: family, educational institutions, media, peers, cultural and ethnic groups, and the state. The factors of negative influence on the socialisation of adolescents were outlined: lack of basic life resources or understanding of their possible loss, constant fear for their own life and health, as well as for their relatives, violation of the volitional and self-value spheres, cognitive dissonance between experience and reality, etc. Based on the analysis the consequences of the impact on the formation of social qualities of adolescents it was concluded the following: deterioration of communication with others, manifestations of irritability, aggressiveness, anxiety, lack of trust in others, feelings of loneliness, isolation and inferiority, complication of the adaptation process, destruction of the usual picture of the world, etc. It was emphasized the importance of the work of the social and psychological service of the educational institution to create conditions for successful adaptation to new living conditions and ensure their further integration into the social environment. The following areas of socio-pedagogical support for adolescents were singled out: emotional, psycho-social and informational support, development of interpersonal skills, cooperation with parents, support in social adaptation of children who have lost their usual social context due to the war, cooperation with volunteers and public organizations.

The Influence of Cognitive Appraisals on the Association between Callous-Unemotional Traits and Conduct Problems during Middle Childhood.

Existing research on callous-unemotional (CU) traits and conduct problems primarily focuses on the concurrent or unidirectional associations between these constructs (i.e., from CU traits to CP), with less attention given to their dynamic interplay during middle childhood. It is possible that socialization agents, such as peers, play a significant role in shaping the dynamic relation between CU traits and conduct problems early in development. Additionally, prior studies have shown that both CU traits and conduct problems are associated with poorer peer functioning. Considering the social information processing theory, which emphasizes the impact of cognitive processes on emotions and behavior in youth, this study evaluated the moderating role of cognitive appraisals (i.e., rumination, self-blame, and other-blame) in the context of peer conflict on the bidirectional association between callous-unemotional (CU) traits and conduct problems over the course of 1 academic year. The sample included 349 third- through fifth-grade students (51% boys; 53.2% Hispanic/Latinx) and their homeroom teachers (n = 30). At Time 1, children reported on their cognitive appraisals in response to peer conflict. Teachers provided reports of children's CU traits and conduct problems at Time 1 and Time 2. Results indicated that conduct problems and other-blame uniquely predicted increases in CU traits over time. Further, high levels of self-blame and rumination exacerbated the prospective link from CU traits to subsequent conduct problems. These findings highlight the importance of addressing cognitive processes in prevention approaches aimed at reducing the risk of conduct problems and CU traits among children.

Confronting the neoliberal challenge: Recognition, social freedom and depth realism

AbstractThis article explores how Axel Honneth's critical theory, when adapted to a materialist depth realism, can be utilised as a critique of Fredrick Hayek's ‘neoliberalism’, an antipolitics influenced by Karl Popper's neo‐positivism. In response to the neoliberal challenge, it is proposed that Axel Honneth's theories of recognition, when grounded in anthropological (‘critical’) materialism, provides a robust defence of an irreducible social agency. When interpreted through this lens, recognition is one aspect of the system of human needs based on subject–subject interactions, the other being a subject–object interaction of humans with non‐human objects. By contrast, Honneth's more recent theory of social freedom relies on a Hegelian process of historical reconstruction and so remains vulnerable to the same epistemic errors that inform neoliberal attempts to universalise homo economicus, that is, of reducing reality to various ways in which it is conceptualised. In this regard, anthropological materialism must presuppose depth realism. The importance of this can be seen when the implications for Honneth's move towards a more orthodox Hegelianism in his more recent works are considered.

Media engagement during Russia’s war against Ukraine

The contribution explores the contested relationship with media among young Russian-speaking Estonians from migrant family backgrounds since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Our analysis sheds light on how the war context, characterized by the securitization of Russian state-controlled media usage and ideological tensions within the Estonian Russian-speaking community, impacts the media-related perceptions and practices of young Russian-speaking Estonians. We also investigate media professionals’ views on building relationships with their audience. Our investigation reveals an existing gap in connectivity between Estonian local Russian-language media outlets and their young audience. This gap is rooted in the production logic of these media platforms, which has previously hindered effective engagement. The context of Russia’s war against Ukraine exacerbates this disconnect. Improving the currently poor professional practices of audience engagement, particularly production-oriented approaches, would enhance connectivity and the epistemic power of Estonian Russian-language media and motivate young Russian-speaking Estonians to use it as a vehicle for their social agency.

Forming of modern Russian youth’s social representations about maintaining health: condition and problems

The article deals with the study of health maintaining among Russian youth. Based on data from all-Russian surveys and presented in relevant studies, the contradictions between the value perception of health and destructive health practices among young people were found. In this regard, based on the understanding of health conservation as a purposeful activity, in the structure of which the cognitive component plays a significant role, the author underlines to study young people’s ideas about health and health caring in order to realise the reasons of differences between the state of health and the attitude of Russian youth. In this regard, the author conducted a study of the structure of social ideas of young Russians. The theoretical basis of the study was the key provisions of the concept of social representations by S. Moscovici. The empirical basis was the data of the author’s empirical study “Health Saving of Modern Russian Youth: Ideas and Practices”. Based on the results of the study, it was established that the core of modern youth’s social ideas about health conservation are traditional images and ideas that reflect the most characteristic of Russian society and its health conservation culture, but in a limited format. The peripheral zone includes components such as breaking bad habits, well-being, and maintaining emotional stability. The least characteristic of young Russians is the connection between ideas about health and health preservation with institutional practices of clinical examination and preventive examinations, which suggests a decrease in the role of the medical institute as an agent of social control in relation to health in the ideas of the younger generation. Thus, the social ideas of young Russians about health and the practices of its preservation, along with traditional ideas, are distinguished by features, the formation of which, according to the author, is due to the influence of new agents of healthy lifestyle socialization and the online-sources

TRANSIÇÃO ENERGÉTICA, JUSTIÇA CLIMÁTICA E DIREITO À EXISTÊNCIA: CAMINHOS DA TRANSIÇÃO PARA SOCIEDADE HIPOCARBÔNICA E FUNÇÃO JURISDICIONAL NO IMBRÓGLIO DO CLIMA

The climate emergency has imposed a new agenda in the scope of international relations, bringing to regulation the need to reconcile fields of knowledge that are different from each other, such as law, the study of energy, issues of an economic, political and social nature, with multiple interests, agendas, claims that need to be modulated, not in favor of immediate interests, but equating in an equitable way the needs of present and future generations and, more broadly, of the conservation of life (human and non-human) on the planet. Thus, based on an approximation of the concepts of climate justice and energy transition, the text seeks to analyze the role of social, political, and economic agents and their actions at the global, regional, and subnational levels in creating possible solutions in this context of urgent needs of climate change. The text highlights how the capitalocene (era of capital in the interior of the Holocene) is responsible for an unprecedented crisis that threatens the existence of life on the planet. It was highlighted that the solutions to the problem posed are permeated by two needs, one immediate and rapid with the transition of use of clean, efficient and accessible technologies associated with another change or social transformation, this one deeper with an ontological basis in modern society, with the abandonment of utilitarianism and the estrangement of the human in relation to nature and the product of his work, with a turn towards a society of non-exploitation. In this perspective, the change in the human relationship with nature is reflected in the need for technologies that need to be more than sustainable, because it is no longer enough to be renewable, it is necessary that they are also clean – understood as low emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) – to be able to break the catastrophic future that lies ahead. In this context, given the need for regulation and the difficulty in promoting large global pacts for this purpose, such as the possibility of regional, bi- and multilateral regulations, they can play a more effective role in achieving global emissions targets. And so the hypothesis of unification of anti-systemic struggles for the formulation of a new low-carbon society arises, based on the concept of the right to existence (or the right to the material conditions of natural and social existence) highlighting that the sense of action of climate justice can establish a meeting of interests and the possibility of strategic use of climate litigation as a mechanism to induce public policies at the subnational levels, national and regional governments, so that they can contribute to the fight against climate change and to the construction of another society, low-carbon and anti-capitalist.

CATALYSTS FOR SELF-RELIANCE IN WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING BY DELIA OWENS

This research aims to provide an in-depth analysis of self-reliance and its major causes, focusing on the concept proposed by Emerson and other related theories and concepts. The study employs a sociology of literature approach, which is well-suited to examine the social environment of the characters within the literary work. Additionally, the behaviorism perspective is utilized to analyze the behavioral phenomena that arise in relation to self-reliance. According to Savatagi, the causes of self-reliance include social, economic, political, and human agency factors, which set the boundaries for this analysis. Delia Owens' novel Where the Crawdads Sing serves as the primary source for this qualitative descriptive study, with additional books and related publications as secondary sources. The findings indicate that Kya's self-reliance is primarily driven by unsupportive social conditions, which prevent her from becoming dependent on others. Instead, these conditions foster a perception of self-reliance that helps Kya develop into a strong, independent individual who does not rely on external help.