Societal Processes Research Articles

Educators’ and Parents’ Perspectives About Belonging in Early Years Education in Europe

AbstractThe overall goal of this project is to gain a broad picture of belonging and the politics of belonging in early education settings (In Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland the children attend school from 6 or 7 years. In the Netherlands children attend compulsory school at 4 years of age. Using the terms early education settings and (pre)schools with parenthesis we refer to educational institutions (preschool, day-care, compulsory school) involving children between 4 and 6 years) in five European countries: Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. By ‘belonging’ we refer to children´s sense of feeling safe and ‘at home’. By ‘politics of belonging’ we refer to societal structures and processes of safeguarding communities and their borders among children (and educators) in their early education settings. Educators (n = 648) and parents (n = 1,598) were surveyed about their perspectives about, and pedagogies for, belonging. Results indicated that, in general, parents and educators felt positively about belonging in their (pre)schools. Even so the study shows that experiences of belonging cannot be taken for granted, and a number of parents and educators worry about children being excluded and alienated. The study also revealed a relation between the educational level of educators and the complexity of pedagogic methods educators used to support children´s belonging in early education settings.

Climate risk maps as boundary objects for future forests

Climate change poses significant threats to ecosystems and biodiversity. Conventional management strategies often fall short, leading to uncertainties in addressing these challenges. Natural and environmental scientists play a crucial role by providing evidence-based guidance. Social science research, at the same time, highlights the complexity of transferring and applying knowledge across different social and professional groups and shows that further research is needed. Using a German case study, my research addresses this issue by examining the dynamics between predictive climate risk maps, intended as decision-support tool for forest management, the developing scientists, the receiving environmental managers and further political actors. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with representatives from these groups were conducted and analyzed, revealing that climate risk maps can function as predictive boundary objects, balancing flexibility and robustness. With their high level of visual and epistemic power, these maps generate knowledge tensions, facilitate interactions, and foster the implicit co-production of broader environmental management discourse. At the same time the maps are continuously contested, discussed, and updated through feedback, becoming themselves part of an ongoing informal co-productive process. This dual role creates ambiguity: they provide concrete answers to specific management related questions while highlighting simultaneously limitations that prompt more fundamental inquiries, driving an overall societal learning process. Hence, future efforts should enhance formal support for co-productive processes to ensure evidence-based advisory tools are scientifically robust, contextually adapted, and democratize knowledge dynamics through continuous dialogue, mutual learning, and integration of scientific as well as local knowledge.

Master Narratives: Ideology Embedded and Embodied

While I agree with most of Maiese and Hanna’s (2019) claims in The Mind-Body Politic, I argue that it is possible to offer a fuller explanation of the effects of ideologies and how they are implemented by adopting a narrative analysis to examine the role that narratives play in shaping the social and material conditions of institutions, and individuals’ cognitive habits and affective frames. A narrative analysis maintains that much of our perceptions of and experiences in the world are shaped by the synthesis of conceptual and affective knowledge that we encounter in socio-cultural narratives. Socio-cultural narratives are understood here as narratives that establish, shape, and reinforce cultural beliefs and practices or societal social structures, process, and organizations. By utilizing a narrative analysis we can then employ an additional methodology to examine and understand how we, as individuals, develop and change our particular embodied habits and affective framing patterns. I show how this can be done by focusing on, and expanding upon, Maiese and Hanna’s discussion of neoliberalism and the backfire effect, where individuals resist changes to their affective framing patterns and habitual ways of being in the world.

Social Determinants of COVID-19 Pandemic Control: Participatory Learnings From Everyday Experiences in Cape Town, South Africa.

As countries adapted their disaster responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa responded with an alert-level risk approach based on epidemiological principles that impacted all societal levels. We explored the everyday experiences of people in Cape Town whose basic needs were met and who could report on the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic control. Gaining insight into their perspectives contributes to knowledge that can inform policies and practices for managing future public health crises. Community-Based Participatory Research principles guided the design and a series of facilitated dialogues with 18 research participants. The thematic analysis was deepened through two colloquiums with members of an overarching research consortium and a participant reflection workshop. The pandemic impacted individuals, their interpersonal relationships, workplaces and communities, leading to societal processes such as stigma, virtue signalling and the subversion of mandates. The public health response had mixed reactions, with useful information about preventive measures being diluted by COVID-19 denialism and fake news. Health and other authorities were frequently perceived as out of touch with, and unresponsive to, the everyday realities of local communities. Our study demonstrates the connectedness of people and the need to maintain and re-establish severed connections. A holistic approach to health care and promotion from social determinants of health and a community-engaged perspective may significantly increase the outcomes of public health responses. People with everyday experience of the COVID-19 pandemic-including community members, healthcare workers, case managers, carers and researchers-collaborated on the study design, interview schedule, data interpretation, analysis and refinement of this article.

The role of traditional ecological knowledge, given the transformation of pastoralism in Central and Eastern Mongolia.

Mongolian nomadic herders traditionally pass on ecological knowledge intergenerationally, mainly within families. However, little is known about how current societal transformation processes may impact the application and transfer of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) amongst herders. Combining quantitative household survey data with qualitative interviews, we show that TEK is still widely applied amongst herders. Our data show that households living under conditions of greater societal transformation apply TEK more often in order to adapt to the situation than households under lower transformation pressure. High transformation pressure goes along with high human population and livestock density and thus competition for good pastureland. In addition, our results show that intragenerational knowledge transfer between families is gaining more importance nowadays. For Mongolia, we recommend facilitating access to and strengthening the exchange of TEK to prepare herders for the future due to the high level of uncertainty accompanying societal transformations.

Multiple ways to bend the curve of biodiversity loss: An analytical framework to support transformative change

Abstract Humans are significantly impacting ecosystems worldwide. Scientists of the IPBES Global Assessment are therefore calling for a transformative change that includes all aspects of society in order to address drivers of biodiversity loss. However, these calls are rather abstract, and thus it remains unclear how this goal can be achieved. With this conceptual contribution, we present an analytical framework for evaluating existing processes of societal change which are enhancing biodiversity, and we illustrate its application using three case studies in Germany. We argue that an empirical analysis provides insights into the causal mechanisms that initiate or promote change processes. In doing so, we can draw recommendations for future transformative change processes with regard to biodiversity conservation. In our analysis, we are dealing with questions concerning the following three areas: the drivers and context of societal change processes, the change processes themselves and finally their impacts. Subsequently, we generate recommendations on how to enhance and support the process of future societal transformation that aims at biodiversity conservation: (a) Retaining co‐benefits for biodiversity with goals that are primarily focussing on other objectives; (b) harmonising biodiversity use and conservation by turning conflicts into drivers of transformation; (c) prioritising biodiversity conservation by taking advantage of windows of opportunity. With our conceptual framework, we provide an analytical tool to learn from existing processes of societal change how to support future transformative change. This is an important step that contributes to the generation of relevant knowledge of promoting transformative change for nature and people. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Combating climate change through sustainable cattle ranching in the global south: The role of societal corporatism

The contours of the collective action necessary to limit climate change remain difficult to discern. In this context, societal corporatist political processes, fueled by crisis narratives, have shown some promise as political devices for mobilizing people. Corporatist processes have, historically, brought political competitors like employers and labor unions together to negotiate compacts that have advanced collective goods during times of crisis. In response to the climate crisis in the Global South, affluent donor groups, state officials, some farmers, and indigenous peoples have begun to assemble corporatist-like coalitions to pursue climate stabilization. A comparative case study of efforts to promote sustainable cattle ranching through the spread of silvopastoral landscapes in Colombia and Ecuador illustrates this political dynamic, its shortcomings, and its accomplishments.

Analyzing Monofractal Short and Very Short Time Series: A Comparison of Detrended Fluctuation Analysis and Convolutional Neural Networks as Classifiers

Time series data are a crucial information source for various natural and societal processes. Short time series can exhibit long-range correlations that reveal significant features not easily discernible in longer ones. Such short time series find utility in AI applications for training models to recognize patterns, make predictions, and perform classification tasks. However, traditional methods like DFA fail as classifiers for monofractal short time series, especially when the series are very short. In this study, we evaluate the performance of the traditional DFA method against the CNN-SVM approach of neural networks as classifiers for different monofractal models. We examine their performance as a function of the decreasing length of synthetic samples. The results demonstrate that CNN-SVM achieves superior classification rates compared to DFA. The overall accuracy rate of CNN-SVM ranges between 64% and 98%, whereas DFA’s accuracy rate ranges between 16% and 64%.

The narcissism of minor resemblances: searching for allies at times of threat.

Humans must identify others as enemies or allies to develop, protect, maintain, and refine their sense of self. This is a part of their normal psychological development. These phenomena operate on individual and large group levels and are pronounced under threat. In peril, they help create psychological boundaries between conflicting parties and bonds between allies. These boundaries and bonds are invested with strong emotions. The narcissism of minor differences concept is involved in identifying and delineating enemies at times of perceived danger. This article introduces the concept of the narcissism of minor resemblances. This concept is discussed from the psychodynamic perspective and illustrated with examples of socio-political developments from modern history. The narcissism of minor resemblances concept may help us understand the underlying dynamics of bonding with allies and identifying with others when undergoing threat and hardship. This concept connects the public arena of political action with individual psychological development. Awareness of this phenomenon can help mitigate the negative aspects of rigid enemy-ally distinctions and promote cooperation and peace. It may also help individuals impacted by psychological trauma to make meaning of psychological and societal processes experienced and contribute to their healing.

Fostering Democratic Values for the Future

delving into the subjects that contribute to the democratic values frame. We will investigate the active role of individuals in shaping cultural norms and emphasize the importance of their participation in manifesting democratic power within the state. Moreover, the study questions whether the education system effectively prepares the future generation to be responsible members of society. The paper starts with the concept of co-creation and assesses whether individuals are ready to understand or know its implications. It reviews the empowerment of individuals as active decision-makers in societal processes and their ability to critically reflect on social movements and evolution. Furthermore, the research explores whether the upcoming generation possesses values that enable them to reject or aspire to different ideologies. In addressing the relationship between individuals and civil society, the paper investigates when and how nongovernmentalorganizations play a role in the education of future generations' values. An essential aspect of the study is an analysis of the education system's contribution to promoting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Romania. The research evaluates whether citizens have the necessary values to protect and support a sustainable future. The methodological framework for the paper is structured around a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, such as literature and document review, content and comparative analysis, and a multidisciplinary approach to gather comprehensive insights. Through this comprehensive examination, the paper aims to contribute valuable insights and recommendations for enhancing Romania's preuniversity education system, strengthening civil society, and promoting a sustainable future.

Unraveling elements of value-based pricing from a pharmaceutical industry's perspective: a scoping review.

Health authorities use value-based pricing models to determine the value of innovative drugs and to establish a price. Pharmaceutical companies prefer value-based pricing over cost-based pricing. It is ambiguous whether value-based pricing has the same meaning to these stakeholders. We aimed to identify the elements that attribute to value-based pricing of innovative drugs from a pharmaceutical industry's perspective and as possible starting point for (value-based) contracting of drugs. We performed a scoping review of publications available in scientific databases with terms such as 'value-based pricing', 'pharmacoeconomics', 'drug cost', 'innovative drug' and 'drug therapy'. We included 31 publications, covering value elements of innovative drugs from a pharmaceutical industry's perspective. Overall, all found elements of value-based pricing were congruent with the elements of value-based pricing from a health authority's perspective. However, the emphasis placed on the elements differed. The most frequently mentioned elements in our review were economic considerations and cost aspects. Least mentioned were elements regarding cost-effectiveness, disease characteristics and patient characteristics. Although all elements in the drug value framework were present which indicate congruity, there seems controversy on the importance of cost-effectiveness as an element of value. Consequently, establishing a coherent and to all stakeholders' acceptable framework to value and price innovative drugs seems complicated. Mutual understanding can be found in the value elements societal considerations and healthcare process benefits. Our results supported the importance of economic and cost aspects regarding determination of prices of innovative drugs. Further research is required to quantify the weights of all relevant elements in the drug value framework, observe their possible interlinkages, and to weigh them over time.

The lived experiences of transformations: The role of sense-making and phenomenology analyses

Studies of transformative change have been making headway in understanding the complexity of societal transformation processes. Yet, we lack understanding of how people’s lived experiences of transformations both shape and are shaped by meaning-making processes. In addressing this gap, we make two assumptions: Firstly, change processes comprise interactions between social actors that shape the way they are made sense of and experienced by the people involved in such interactions. Secondly, such change processes involve transformative experiences, which can bring to light previously taken-for-granted dimensions of lived experience. To address this research gap, we describe two complementary tools for analysing transformations: dialogical sense-making and critical phenomenology. These approaches share a focus on the experiential and sense-making dimensions, yet ask distinctly different kinds of questions and use different methods. Dialogical sense-making explores how people create meanings around transformations through various social interactions. Critical phenomenology analyses subjectivity, lived experience and structures that make possible and help shape experience. When brought into dialogue with each other, they allow for richer analyses of how the sense or meaning of transformations is constituted in experience.

(Why) did it turn wrong? Wholeness or totality of the Internet.

The Internet was created as a space and a structure to share knowledge, information, and opinions for the sake of science and progression of humanity. Today, the Internet is co-created and modified by its users networking from all over the world. It is a representation of humankind, a social structure reactive to local and global societal processes. For the youngest generations the Internet is an integral part of their social milieu influencing both normal and pathological development from their very first year of life. Discussing the roots of totalitarianism, Erik H. Erikson distinguished between wholeness and totality in personal and social development and provided a wonderful metaphor of productive and pathogenic functioning for the impact of the Internet. Conceived as a fruitful association and organization for the development of wholeness in individuals and a future humanity, it largely keeps this promise. But under unfavorable social conditions and/or pathogenic individual predispositions, it can take a totalitarian structure and mode of action.

Narratives of Disconnection: A Life Course Perspective of Methamphetamine Use Among Sexual Minority Men Living with HIV.

Sexual minority men (SMM) are exposed to societal and structural stressors that translate into poor health outcomes. One such outcome is substance use, which research has long documented as a prominent disparity among SMM. Methamphetamine is a particularly deleterious substance for SMM because its use is often framed as a coping response to social and structural stressors. Guided by stress and coping theory and a life course perspective, the purpose of this qualitative study is to assess the development of coping strategies in the context of prominent social and structural determinants among SMM living with HIV who use methamphetamine. Data were collected from 2016 to 2018 via in-depth interviews with 24 SMM living with HIV who use methamphetamine in San Francisco, CA. Mean age of participants was 47 and over half self-identified as ethnoracial minorities. Narrative analysis surfaced a sequential pattern of disconnection at foundational, relational, and recovery levels. This analysis revealed that multi-level stressors were present across the life course that amplified engagement in methamphetamine use. Findings highlight the benefits of holistic, integrated, and trauma-informed approaches to address the function of methamphetamine use as a response to societal, cultural, and institutional processes of stigmatization and discrimination. Peer-based approaches may also be beneficial to reframe the ways in which SMM living with HIV who use methamphetamine form and sustain relationships.

Climate Conscious Communities: Navigating Transformation through Simulation Games and Creative Engagement

In the context of the European Green Deal and rapid climate change, significant changes in people's habits are necessary, transforming their behavior from resource consumers to climate-responsible individuals. Addressing challenges such as biodiversity loss, engagement in the development of a circular economy, responsible energy consumption, and resource sharing requires changes in individuals' attitudes and behaviors. However, individuals often lack understanding of the climate system, its link to quality of life, and the impact of actions based on individual interests on societal transformation processes as a whole. Governments and international organizations implement various complex measures, but the dynamics of climate change far exceed society's ability to adapt.To address these challenges, the authors of this paper propose using simulation games as an effective learning method. These games provide individuals with an opportunity to gain a new, community-oriented decision-making experience without creating negative effects on real systems due to inappropriate decisions. Simulation games help to better understand cause-and-effect relationships, factors influencing individual attitudes and behaviors, evaluate the consequences of decisions made, and motivate practical involvement in mitigating climate change. In order to improve the attractiveness of using the simulation game, cultural and creative industry competences are integrated, which contribute to the improvement of content, visualization and interaction.The paper examines an organizational model for simulation games that assists municipalities and other stakeholders in developing customized simulation games to promote the development of climate-responsible communities. Considering the necessity to engage diverse social groups with varying levels of digital skills, an analog format has been chosen for the simulation game, without excluding the possibility of transforming it into a digital one.The proposed model includes setting objectives, integrating elements into a holistic simulation game, and piloting the framework using examples from municipal practice. To optimize the applicability of simulation games, they need to be adapted to the geographic area and community due to individual processes and structures.

Проблемы формирования налоговой культуры в России

This article addresses the issues surrounding the formation of the domestic tax culture in Russia. These issues are largely attributed to the state of “cultural tax shock” experienced by the Russian population in the post-perestroika period. However, even in Soviet times and earlier, a characteristic feature of Russian mentality known as “tax nihilism” was observed. The current state of tax culture can be characterized in two aspects: by examining the level of tax literacy among the population and taxpayers’ trust in tax authorities. Particular attention should be paid to youth in the formation of tax culture due to their detachment from the consequences of the societal transformation processes at the end of the last century. The article analyzes ways to increase the level of tax literacy among Russian schoolchildren. However, the problem of tax literacy among Russian students persists, coupled with the increasing prevalence of secondary employment among them. Measures to enhance public trust in tax authorities are also considered. The article emphasizes the role of developing the theoretical basis of tax culture, which requires attention not only to developments in traditional fields of law and economics but also in social research on fiscal sociology and the philosophy of taxation. In conclusion, the formation of tax culture in Russia faces multifaceted challenges stemming from historical legacies, societal perceptions, and educational gaps. By addressing these issues holistically, Russia can progress towards cultivating a more informed and cooperative tax culture among its populace.

Mechanisms in sociology-a critical intervention.

The notion of the mechanism is one of the most popular and widely used concepts in science and sociology is no exception. This paper problematizes the widespread and often uncritical use of the term "mechanism" in contemporary sociology. Drawing on the mechanistic worldview associated with leading figures of the scientific revolution, the paper emphasizes the impact of mechanistic thinking on the societal rationalization process identified by Max Weber and the Frankfurt School. The analysis suggests that mechanisms, when applied to sociological theories, may uncritically reproduce a cultural fetish of the rational society with potentially dehumanizing consequences. The author advocates for a critical reflection on the cultural and historical context of mechanisms, urging sociologists to view them not merely as analytical tools but as active contributors to the creation and shaping of social worlds erected on a belief in instrumental reason.

Regional transformation pathways for the bioeconomy: A novel monitoring approach for complex transitions

AbstractAddressing the complexities of transitioning to a sustainable bioeconomy, this paper presents a novel approach for developing regional transformation pathways (RTPs) based on narratives derived from the shared socioeconomic pathways. The methodology emphasizes a comprehensive understanding of underlying perspectives and perceptions, incorporating socio‐economic, environmental, and political dimensions. The developed indicator framework captures a balanced representation of diverse interests by integrating insights from stakeholder analyses. The case study in the Rheinisches Revier region, Germany, exemplifies the approach's applicability, providing valuable insights for decision‐making processes in the context of regional transitions toward a low‐carbon economy. The results consist of five developed RTPs, offering a multitude of potential future trajectories of possible directions for regional transformations. Understanding potential pathways and related consequences is crucial for informed decision‐making concerning resource use optimization since transformations of that scale influence the composition of supply chains and resource networks. This informed approach contributes to strategic planning and helps ensure resources are utilized efficiently and sustainably. By emphasizing the crucial role of transparency and reflection of assumptions in addressing the complexities of societal transformation processes, our approach seeks to support the implementation of a sustainable and inclusive bioeconomy at the regional level.

Exploring the Pareto front of multi-objective COVID-19 mitigation policies using reinforcement learning

Infectious disease outbreaks can have a disruptive impact on public health and societal processes. As decision-making in the context of epidemic mitigation is multi-dimensional hence complex, reinforcement learning in combination with complex epidemic models provides a methodology to design refined prevention strategies. Current research focuses on optimizing policies with respect to a single objective, such as the pathogen’s attack rate. However, as the mitigation of epidemics involves distinct, and possibly conflicting, criteria (i.a., mortality, morbidity, economic cost, well-being), a multi-objective decision approach is warranted to obtain balanced policies. To enhance future decision-making, we propose a deep multi-objective reinforcement learning approach by building upon a state-of-the-art algorithm called Pareto Conditioned Networks (PCN) to obtain a set of solutions for distinct outcomes of the decision problem. We consider different deconfinement strategies after the first Belgian lockdown within the COVID-19 pandemic and aim to minimize both COVID-19 cases (i.e., infections and hospitalizations) and the societal burden induced by the mitigation measures. As such, we connected a multi-objective Markov decision process with a stochastic compartment model designed to approximate the Belgian COVID-19 waves and explore reactive strategies. As these social mitigation measures are implemented in a continuous action space that modulates the contact matrix of the age-structured epidemic model, we extend PCN to this setting. We evaluate the solution set that PCN returns, and observe that it explored the whole range of possible social restrictions, leading to high-quality trade-offs, as it captured the problem dynamics. In this work, we demonstrate that multi-objective reinforcement learning adds value to epidemiological modeling and provides essential insights to balance mitigation policies.

Evaluation of changes in the lingual situation in the Kazakhstan lingual policy

Relevance. Language policy and societal language processes are crucial in forming nation-states with distinct linguistic and cultural identities, particularly in post-Soviet countries like Kazakhstan. Purpose. This purpose of the study is to analyze language changes in Kazakhstan since independence and evaluate current language policies and their future prospects. Methodology. The research employs comparative, statistical, analytical-synthetic, and graphic methods to examine language modernization parameters and policy perspectives in Kazakhstan. Results. The study analyzed population census data from 1999, 2009, and 2021, presenting statistical information through diagrams and tables. It compared different stages of Kazakh language identity formation from the early 20th century to the present. The research focused on the educational system parameters and the implementation of the trinity of languages concept in secondary and higher education. Conclusions. The study highlights that Kazakhstan�s language policy emphasizes the trilingual concept, promoting Kazakh, Russian, and English to foster national identity and international competitiveness. The research underscores the significant progress in increasing Kazakh language usage and proficiency, alongside the need to further integrate the language into various societal sectors such as science, business, and technology to enhance its functionality and influence. Keywords: language modernization; trinity concept; national linguistic identity; multilingual education; sociolinguistics