Societal Power Structures Research Articles

Empowering Young People in Shaping an Intersectional Future for Public Spaces

Public spaces, such as squares, urban parks, and communal areas are arenas that reflect societal values and power structures, influencing who has access and how they engage with these spaces. This viewpoint explores the application of intersectionality—considering factors like gender, race, and socioeconomic status—in understanding how diverse identities shape the lived experience of young people in public spaces. More specifically, it focuses on girls, and it reflects on the intersectional challenges girls face in four different contexts to include Belgium, South Africa, Iran, and Sweden. The analysis reveals the complexities of safety, accessibility, and inclusion girls face across all cases. This viewpoint underscores the value in using an intersectional lens in designing inclusive public spaces and highlights the pivotal role of young people as advocates for change.

The concept of intersectionality in bioethics: a systematic review

BackgroundIntersectionality is a concept that originated in Black feminist movements in the US-American context of the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in the work of feminist scholar and lawyer Kimberlé W. Crenshaw. Intersectional approaches aim to highlight the interconnectedness of gender and sexuality with other social categories, such as race, class, age, and ability to look at how individuals are discriminated against and privileged in institutions and societal power structures. Intersectionality is a “traveling concept”, which also made its way into bioethical research.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review to answer the question of where and how the concept of intersectionality is applied in bioethical research. The PubMed and Web of Science databases were systematically searched and 192 articles addressing bioethical topics and intersectionality were finally included.ResultsThe qualitative analysis resulted in a category system with five main categories: (1) application purpose and function, (2) social dimensions, (3) levels, (4) health-care disciplines and academic fields, and (5) challenges, limitations, and critique. The variety of academic fields and health-care disciplines working with the concept ranges from psychology, through gynaecology to palliative care and deaf studies. Important functions that the concept of intersectionality fulfils in bioethical research are making inequities visible, creating better health data collections and embracing self-reflection. Intersectionality is also a critical praxis and fits neatly into the overarching goal of bioethics to work toward social justice in health care. Intersectionality aims at making research results relevant for respective communities and patients, and informs the development of policies.ConclusionsThis systematic review is, to the best of our knowledge, the first one to provide a full overview of the reference to intersectionality in bioethical scholarship. It creates a basis for future research that applies intersectionality as a theoretical and methodical tool for analysing bioethical questions.

Patriarchal Dominance in English Literature

Patriarchal dominance has been a prevalent theme in English literature throughout its history. Many literary works reflect and critique the societal norms and power structures that have historically favored men over women. Patriarchal norms prescribe rigid gender roles and expectations for men and women, reinforcing stereotypes and inequalities. Women are often relegated to traditional roles as caregivers, homemakers, and subordinate members of the family, while men are expected to be the primary breadwinners and decision-makers. These gender roles perpetuate unequal power dynamics and limit women's autonomy and agency. Prominent examples include Shakespeare's plays, where gender roles and power imbalances are often central to the plot, and classic novels like Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," which explores women's limited options in a patriarchal society. Over time, literature has evolved to challenge and subvert these patriarchal norms, with authors like Virginia Woolf and Charlotte Perkins Gilman addressing issues of gender inequality and women's autonomy. Feminist literature and criticism have also played a significant role in analyzing and deconstructing patriarchal themes in English literature. Patriarchal dominance, characterized by the historical and societal power imbalance that favors men over women, has been a recurring theme in English literature throughout the ages. This theme reflects and critiques the prevailing gender norms, roles, and inequalities that have persisted within different periods and cultures of English-speaking societies. From early literary works to contemporary literature, patriarchal dominance remains a complex and enduring subject of exploration.

Examining Societal Expectations and Power Structures in Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl" Using Van Dijk's Framework

This research employs Van Dijk's framework to analyze societal expectations and power structures depicted in Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl." This study, utilizing Van Dijk's Critical Discourse Analysis approach, explores how text and talk within the story manifest, perpetuate, and challenge social power abuse, dominance, and inequality. Through a descriptive qualitative analysis, this research delves into the power dynamics, language use, and gender roles within the narrative, uncovering instances of power relations and disciplinary mechanisms. The study explores how language functions as a form of power, regulating social realities and constructing gendered norms. It also examines the ways in which the characters negotiate and resist societal expectations, revealing moments of agency within the text. Ultimately, this analysis sheds light on the complex interplay between language, power, and societal expectations in "Girl," contributing to a deeper understanding of the narrative's socio-political implications.

Transformation or Indoctrination through Critical Pedagogy: Strategic Planning, Digital Literacy, and Technology Infusion in K-12

The impact of critical theory on students has sparked false accusations, leading to book banning and restrictive policies in the classroom. While some argue that teachers are being radicalized, scholars advocate for integrating critical pedagogy in teacher education to address the influences of media messages on students’ thinking. Critical literacy involves recognizing and challenging societal power structures in media. To support diverse student perspectives, educators must understand social and cultural forces. Digital literacy is crucial for critically evaluating digital content and ensures safety and privacy. The graduate programs emphasize the application of critical pedagogy for infusing technology in schooling to prepare culturally diverse students. The importance of critical media education is emphasized by the essential task of fostering intelligent, critical thinkers among students as they interact with media.

Sosiaalinen oikeudenmukaisuus, kieli ja koulutus

Socially just education calls for recognizing societal power structures, working actively towards dismantling oppression and implementing more equitable educational practices. Cultural diversity has gained a foothold in Finnish education policies and core curricula, but there is a great deal of variation in how themes related to social justice are dealt with on the practical level. As an entry point to social justice-oriented education, we first discuss social identities and intersectionality in language learning. Then we discuss the decolonization of teaching and learning and introduce two approaches to more equitable education: translanguaging and raciolinguistics. Finally, we suggest some further directions towards more social justice-oriented language education. These would entail for example adopting an explicit decolonial and anti- oppressive stance and incorporating pedagogies developed and led by minoritized scholars, activists and practitioners. Raciolinguistic and intersectional approaches would lend themselves well towards this end. Teachers need training and support in implementing these pedagogies.

Flavour, culture and food security: The spicy entanglements of chile pepper conservation in 21st century Mexico

Societal Impact StatementPolitical interests and power structures shape state‐led crop conservation and food policy. As a crop that relates to culture and belonging, the chile crop is ideal for exploring how food security policy and crop conservation schemes integrate aspects beyond staple crops, calories and/or electoral incentives. What do these schemes mean for the food and ingredients we love? Reflecting from this perspective can be useful to grasp, re‐frame and create more effective and inclusive food policies—ones that embody and valorise flavour, identities and territories beyond statements on paper.Summary In line with the Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) international action plan for crop genetic resources, the Mexican state inaugurated the National System of Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (SINAREFI) in 2002. In this paper, I explore SINAREFI's interest in landraces and in situ conservation through the case of chile pepper, set under the Ministry of Agriculture's interests of promoting industrial agriculture and paternalistic food security welfare programmes. Through the analyses of existing literature on food security in Mexico state programmes, archival work and interviews, this article analyses how discourses on food security shape research trajectories, some of which are inevitably constrained by current market‐based agricultural systems. By exploring the state's chile research and conservation programme, this work demonstrates the complexity of international food security discourse and its application domestically. Particularly, this analysis highlights the limitations of state crop research and conservation efforts imposed by contradictory agricultural policies. In the case of chile, its link to Mexican culture and diet uncovers an important, but often overlooked, aspect of food security: flavour. In the case of chile, a non‐staple but culturally symbolic crop, welfare programmes remained paternalistic and focused on caloric intake despite the transformation of national discourse on food security towards the integration of landraces and local cultures through the inauguration of SINAREFI. This case study reflects on the limits of current framings and strategies regarding food security and the need to direct policies towards local food sovereignty to achieve the necessary stability for food security to endure.

Exploration of Language Functions as an Ideological State Apparatus in the Novel Lord of the Flies

William Golding's novel "Lord of the Flies" explores the role of language in shaping societal norms, values, and power structures. The language used by the characters reflects their respective ideologies and contributes to the development of their positions. Language also reveals power dynamics and social hierarchies within the group, with characters who speak Standard English portrayed as more intelligent and civilised. The use of language perpetuates the dominant ideology of the group, with Jack using aggressive language to exert control over others while Ralph employs more collaborative and inclusive language. This paper demonstrates how language is not merely a means of communication but a tool for shaping and reinforcing societal norms, values, and power structures. Using language as an ideological state apparatus plays a significant role in shaping the characters' ideological positions and the dynamics within the group.

Two Trains Running Oyununda Hayatta Kalma Mücadelesi

August Wilson’s play, Two Trains Running is the seventh play of his Century Cycle which chronicles black people’s experiences in American society. Since the structure and dynamics of each society are distinctive, the experiences of individuals belonging to that society are naturally shaped by these factors. The complicated relationship between societal norms, values, and power structures play a pivotal role in shaping the individual and collective experiences in society. In that respect, the social practices of black people in American society are notably outstanding as they have been subjected to slavery and segregation through systematic racism. Ideologically, racism has been used as a strategic tool to control the black people, who were pushed out of social boundaries because of their skin color and to sustain the white dominance for economic and politic reasons. Significantly, black authors have tried to be the voice of the oppressed black people on the literary arena and considered the theater as a way of resistance. Based on the societal awareness aroused by black authors, this study analyzes the struggle of black people in Wilson’s Two Trains Running. Drawing attention to the significant fact that black people are the members of the white society with their loyalty to their own cultural values and their African-American identity, Wilson is an antiracist playwright. Relatedly, the central focus of this study is the ways of coping with the unequal, unfair and discriminative practices of the white supremacy.

A Pragmatic Analysis of Negative Politeness Strategies in D.H. Lawrence’s The Blind Man

The paper offers a practical assessment of negative politeness techniques employed in ‘The Blind Man’, a short story by D.H. Lawrence. The research focuses on how language is utilized in the interactions between characters, with special attention given to the societal norms and power structures that are used in the story. The research reveals that the characters engage in negative politeness tactics, such as indirectness and hedging, to avoid offending while still communicating their intended message. Additionally, the analysis exposes that characters use negative politeness methods in diverse ways, with hedging emerging as the most prevalent tactic.

Unraveling Madness: Linguistic Complexities in ‘Waiting for the Barbarian’ and ‘The Secret History’

The research paper is a qualitative study of the multifaceted role of language as a potent tool of power and its connection to the theme of madness within the novels "Waiting for the Barbarians" by Coetzee and "The Secret History" by Tartt. Within the world of fiction, language emerges as a dynamic force, enabling creators to craft narratives that draw upon intricate emotions and characterizations. Close textual reading and analysis serve as the primary instruments for data collection, and this research contextualizes itself within the broader landscape of literary analysis, postcolonial studies, and discourse analysis, and unveils the dynamic ways in which language becomes a tool for wielding power, from economic and political dominance to coercive control. Ultimately, the paper underscores the impact of language on societal power structures, and its role in constructing and dismantling narratives, offering a compelling lens through which to examine the theme of madness in these literary works.

Analyzing Dominance: Revealing the Interplay of Power and Knowledge in the Field of Social Psychology Beyond Traditional Narratives

This study provides an examination of the dynamic relationship between power and knowledge within the realm of social psychology, surpassing conventional narratives. The field of social psychology has historically been shaped by prevailing narratives that serve to uphold and perpetuate established power dynamics. This study adopts a critical standpoint, interrogating the mechanisms through which power influences the generation of knowledge as well as the formulation of theories. This study aims to enhance this study’s comprehension of power and knowledge in the field of social psychology by engaging in the deconstruction of conventional narratives. This study employs a multidimensional approach to examine the diverse manifestations of power within the field, encompassing societal power structures, organisational dynamics, and personal viewpoints. Through the process of interrogating prevailing discourses and exploring alternative perspectives, this research uncovers latent power dynamics that influence the formulation of research inquiries, the selection of methodologies, and the interpretation of findings. Through the incorporation of a wide range of voices and perspectives, it becomes possible to cultivate a more comprehensive comprehension of power dynamics and generate knowledge that is equitable and fair in its social implications. This study enhances the author’s understanding of the dynamic relationship between power and knowledge within the field of social psychology, thereby enabling a transformative perspective on the examination of human behaviour and society

Ways Forward in Preventing Severe Maternal Morbidity and Maternal Health Inequities: Conceptual Frameworks, Definitions, and Data, from a Population Health Perspective.

Ways Forward in Preventing Severe Maternal Morbidity and Maternal Health Inequities: Conceptual Frameworks, Definitions, and Data, from a Population Health Perspective.

From individual to organisational bias

It is generally accepted in organisation and management studies that individuals are implicitly biased, and that biased behaviour has organisational consequences for diversity, equality and inclusion. Existing bias interventions are found not to lead to significant changes in terms of eliminating individual bias, reducing discrimination or increasing the numbers of underrepresented minorities in organisations. This article links that absence of positive change to a lack of engagement with the structural-organisational contexts, processes and practices that reproduce bias. We identify three concrete shortcomings in the literature: that interventions are 1) largely ignorant of broader societal power structures, 2) detached from specific organisational contexts and 3) decoupled from concrete organisational action. By combining insights from unconscious bias research with norm critique and design thinking, we develop a proposition for a new intervention model that forgoes the individualisation of unconscious bias and extends to a structural understanding of bias as embedded in organisational norms. The article draws on data from an action research project which included a workshop series developed and organised in three Scandinavian countries over the course of one year. The data provides the basis for an empirically grounded conceptualisation of the organisational bias intervention advanced by the authors.

Towards climate resilient peace: an intersectional and degrowth approach

How can peace be climate resilient? How can peace and environmental sustainability be advanced simultaneously? To address these questions, I develop a new conceptual and theoretical framework for climate resilient peace through degrowth. This paper calls for stronger consideration of positive conceptualizations of peace and of intersectionality and degrowth in pursuit of peace and resilience. Not only does climate change make planetary limitations more salient, but it also highlights rising inequalities. In light of this, peace necessitates transforming societal power structures that are both driving climate change and influencing people’s experiences of climate impacts. Addressing imbalanced power structures then is key to understanding and fostering climate resilient peace. This paper conceptualizes climate resilient peace based on an intersectional understanding of positive peace, highlighting that peace depends on the negation of structural violence experienced at the intersection of political and social identities. In relation to this, I argue that a process of climate resilient peace must address underlying power structures influencing people’s experience of climate harms, and driving climate change so as to mitigate further damage. This paper demonstrates such a process through degrowth, wherein growth is no longer the central economic goal, exemplifying social and ecological means for disrupting structural violence within climate limitations. I discuss and give examples of three key degrowth processes—redistribution, reprioritized care economies, and global equity—as opportunities to foster peace in a changing climate. This framework, thus, contributes a new approach to climate resilient peace that addresses challenges of both social and environmental sustainability.

SUBVERSIVE IMAGINATION AND POSSIBILITIES OF CRITICAL AGENCY IN THE LANDSCAPES OF CODE?

This paper reflects the intertwinements of ‘agency’, ‘infrastructuration’, and ‘imagination’ in our increasingly networked technological everyday life. The focus of the research, navigating at the interfaces of critical media studies, domestication theory, STS, and critical software studies, is on the ways in which imaginations on agency are constructed and stabilized. Likewise, attention is directed to how societal power structures are produced, reproduced, and possibly challenged in the processes of constructing imaginaries of agency. To study the above mentioned perspectives together, critical cultural studies scholar Stuart Hall’s famous encoding/decoding model is applied and updated in the contemporary media technological context (Hall, 1973; 1980). Hall’s concept of ‘maps of meaning’ is brought in dialogue with the concepts of ‘sociotechnical imaginaries’ by Sheila Jasanoff and ‘social imaginaries’ by Charles Taylor. The multidisciplinary, multimethod, and multidata approach of the research sheds light on the diversity and complexity of imaginaries of agency in our times. Based on the results, it is suggested that there prevails an almost resigned sense of agency that many people share in relation to the conditions of their technologically mediated everyday life. Despite sporadic negotiations and dissonances, it seems that people have become accustomed to the idea that they have very little, if any, chances to influence the structures of their networked daily environments. It is suggested that future research should concentrate on making visible alternatives to modes of technology-related action as well as develop ways to challenge people to creatively (re)imagine the kind of technology they want to live with.

Durkheim and the Sociology of Education in Britain

ABSTRACT National styles of ‘doing sociology’ exist, all celebrating respective ‘founding fathers’. Timid, British pragmatism has tended to misrecognise Durkheim ever since our barely transcended early 20th century origins. In relatively low-status teacher education, even when sociology of education was popularly taught from the late sixties through the seventies, Durkheim was presented as a conservative anti-hero. The only important exception to this condition was the teaching and research of Basil Bernstein, unfortunately buried by the excesses both of ‘New Directions’ and the neo-Marxisms which recoiled from it in the seventies. His always numerous and active group of research students became the main carriers of his voice. There are now some signs that failure strewn, maligned and substantially dispersed sociology of education is evincing fresh interest in his and Durkheim’s work. Bernstein’s interest, since the middle 1950s, has been the study of symbolic systems which function as pedagogic relays. He alone in modern sociology has attempted to move from the seconds that make up the classroom moment, through institutional to societal power structures, in a way that not only insists on conceptual consistency but thinks it not worth having unless it produces both models and empirical markers. This paper first appeared as: Brian Davies (1994) Durkheim and the Sociology of Education in Britain, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 15:1, 3-25, DOI: 10.1080/0142569940150101 (see https://www.tandfonline.com/). I am very grateful to Taylor & Francis for their permission to reproduce this paper in this journal.

Leveraging the ‘power’ of big data in the production of ‘responsible gamblers’: a Foucauldian perspective

ABSTRACT This article examines the big data practices employed by the online gambling industry to illustrate the wider societal power structures involved. As well as using data for commercial ends, gambling operators in the UK market are obligated by law to utilise gamblers’ data to protect problem gamblers. This paper argues that the use of data in this way can be interpreted as a form of social control when observed through a Foucauldian lens. Contrary to the dominant narrative of free and informed choice, gamblers’ behaviour is arguably being governed both at an individual level through disciplinary mechanisms of surveillance and correction, and at the level of the population through governmentality techniques applied to the gambling environment. Through big data practices and industry discourse, these mechanisms of power are used to frame the choices of individuals and shape them into a productive population of ‘responsible gamblers’.

The Hysteric Rebels: Rethinking Radical Socio-Political Transformation with Foucault and Lacan

The Hysteric Rebels:Rethinking Radical Socio-Political Transformation with Foucault and Lacan Claudia Leeb (bio) 1. Introduction The hysteric was an important subject for Jacques Lacan and Michel Foucault, insofar as s/he sheds light on the ways in which knowledge, truth and power converge in scientific discourses. Furthermore, both thinkers turned to the hysteric subject, because s/he exposes the ways in which scientific discourses produce the hysteric subject, "woman," as a subordinated being. Finally, both thinkers discussed the hysteric subject to find an answer to the question: how we can theorize the political subject, who not only resist but radically rebel against power structures that subordinate us in modern capitalist societies?1 Foucault and Lacan are rarely brought into conversation with each other, particularly when it comes to theorizing political subjectivity. One reason for this is Foucault's own reservations towards psychoanalysis,2 and the reservations harbored by contemporary scholars who draw on Foucault, who are mostly opposed, if not hostile, to Lacan. These scholars suggest that Lacan, in contrast to Foucault, either operates with a repressive notion of power,3 conceptualizes the symbolic domain as an all-powerful force,4 or gives up on the subject altogether,5 and as such he is (unlike Foucault) of no use when it comes to theorizing political subjectivity. However, such pitting of Foucault against Lacan misses the ways in which both thinkers theorize subject constitution in relation to discourse, and most importantly, how both thinkers elaborate the hysteric as the political subject who not only resists but transforms power structures in a particular—namely capitalist—society, which is a topic that has so far been overlooked in the literature. Furthermore, both thinkers assist in shedding light on Freud's classic interpretation of the "hysteric" Dora,6 as an example of a scientific master discourse on hysteria aimed to discipline her into the norm of the bourgeois, female and heterosexual subject. I show that hysteric symptoms are not the result of an individual pathology, but rather the oppressive societal norms and power structures along the lines of class, gender, and sexuality against which Dora rebelled. [End Page 607] While thinkers have pointed to the ways in which Freud's interpretation of the Dora case spun off into the master's discourse (Verhaeghe, 1999; Mahoney, 20005; Cottet, 2012, Gammelgaard, 2017),7 these thinkers did not elaborate on the ways in which the hysteric's (Dora's) discourse not only resisted but radically transformed the master's discourse. Also, while some thinkers have foregrounded the ways in which Dora was a victim of patriarchal and heteronormative power structures (Mitchell, 1982; Moi, 1985; Rose, 1985, Gammelgaard, 2017), these thinkers missed the ways in which such power structures were enmeshed in capitalism, which aimed to discipline the hysteric into classed, gendered and sexed norms against which Dora successfully rebelled.8 This paper also contributes to foregrounding another dimension of Lacan's thought. While most Lacanian-inspired thinkers suggest that it is the psychoanalytic discourse, and in particular the "psychoanalytic act," that brings radical change about,9 they have largely ignored is what Lacan had to say about hysteria and the ways it is connected to the psychoanalytic act. This paper shows that the psychoanalytic discourse, which we find on the other side of the master's discourse, unfolds through the hysteric's discourse.10 Furthermore, because the psychoanalytic discourse often spins off into the master's discourse (such as Freud's discourse on Dora), the hysteric's discourse remains the main discourse in a position to radically transform power. Furthermore, while some thinkers who assess Lacan's reading of the hysteric (Dora) point to the ways in which (unconscious) knowledge is on the side of the hysteric (Verhaeghe, 1999, Soler, 2006, Giraldo, 2017), these thinkers do not elaborate on the ways such knowledge can lead to radical change.11 In bringing Lacan and Foucault together, I do not aim to cover over their differences. One important difference is that for Lacan, the rebellion of the hysteric is the result of knowledge located in the unconscious, which comes to surface in her/his symptoms, whereas for Foucault the hysteric rebels in her/his knowingly lying about...

A communal perspective of occupation: Community change in a senior center welcoming Spanish-speaking immigrants

ABSTRACT Occupational scientists across the globe are increasingly attending to social change and its connection to occupation and communities. The discipline is actively studying the role of communal everyday doing in social movements, community development, and systemic transformation. This paper describes a 6-month enthnographic study that explored community change at a senior center as it welcomed Spanish-speaking older adults into its programming and spaces. Data collection was informed by both pragmatist and critical theoretical perspectives to explore communal change in a manner that honored the potency of societal power structures without dismissing human agency. Focusing on communal processes of occupation during semi-structured individual interviews and participatory group community mapping revealed complex and interwoven sociopolitical relationships among the community. Additionally, this communal perspective of occupation seemed to contribute to rapid action toward positive community change. A communal perspective of occupation shows promise in further understanding how communities change and the role occupational science may have in contributing to positive community development.